What is This Fascination with Altars?

adoration

I traveled to many countries during my career, and in my travels, my hosts took me to many religious shrines they and their people were proud of. Some of them were very ornate, like the temples in Taiwan. There are several religions in Taiwan that go back many centuries depicting the basic yearning of humans to connect with the God who created all of us. I was particularly attracted to a custom of placing artificial money on statues to assist departed loved ones in the next life. I could tell by the expression on people’s faces that they were genuinely interested in helping their loved ones in the next life. Of course, we are all interested in helping others no matter which religion we adhere to.

I’m Catholic, so I’m aware that I should not take part in a pagan service because it is a violation of the adoration we owe to God alone, but human compassion allows me to offer God a quiet prayer in my own heart for others not of my religion. My prayers would be joined to theirs as I would ask Jesus to answer their prayers as they were seeking God’s blessings for their departed loved ones.

Revealed religion

I realize that, unlike many other naturally occurring religions, the Catholic religion is based on a revelation from God, teaching who He is and how He wants us to worship Him. The Catholic Church recognizes only three religions based on the same revelation given to Moses several thousand years ago.

I also think all religions, no matter their origin, realize there are other spiritual beings that God created, even if others don’t understand them as we do. God revealed to Moses and the prophets a great deal about these spiritual beings. The principle one is Lucifer, whose rebellion against God has compromised every human being.

We Christians all know the revelation about Lucifer: how he got thrown out of heaven and was cast down upon the earth and how he has compromised every single one of us by taking advantage of our concupiscence to help him in his attempts to overthrow God and take over God’s world himself.

You would think that all churches and temples would in some way display the goodness of God and His desire that we all share in His happiness eternally, but Catholicism is different. Of course, all Catholic churches display God’s goodness, but every single one of them, from a small chapel in a basement to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, has an altar on very prominent display in the very heart of the church. Why is this?

Why this fixation on an altar?

The difference between the Catholic Church and all other religions is that God wants the Catholic Church to spread His teaching throughout the whole world because all human beings will find salvation through the action of Jesus. All Catholics know this, but I wonder how fervently they believe it. Outside of Jesus there is no salvation. When God exiled Lucifer from heaven to earth, somehow mysteriously He allowed those on earth to be the victims of Lucifer. Humans began to oppose one another causing strife, wars, and killing each other. All humans are targets of Lucifer’s venom against God. Lucifer foments murders and wars, and evil, and all other sin to stimulate the slaying of humans at every turn.

This is why there is an altar in every Catholic Church. Jesus is the appointed Messiah chosen by the Father to rule the universe. Lucifer is at war with Jesus and will use every means possible to destroy His mission. The only way God will forgive sin is to have someone entirely innocent plea for forgiveness. Jesus is entirely free from sin. The Father will listen to His innocent Son’s pleas and forgive all sin. This is why God asked the Jews to slaughter innocent lambs, why the lamb’s blood saved the Jews during the exit from Egypt, why a goat is symbolically laden with the people’s sins and sent off into the dessert to die. It’s hard to understand why God wants this, but, being God, He knows what He is doing.

I wonder what would have happened if all humans would had believed things this way. I wonder if Lucifer would have had so much success in stirring up wars and murders in the past. The world would have been much different if people had understood the message displayed by the altars. It is easy to say that Jesus is the Victim and just shrug it off. But in another very real sense, you and I, in union with Jesus, are victims also when we offer our sufferings for the salvation of others.

Weapons of war

All through history, humans have developed more and more intricate and expensive weapons of war. Some of the greatest endeavors of humans have been sophisticated weapons of destruction. I wonder: if all the time and effort humans have put into development of weapons of war had been utilized in other peaceful endeavors and if peaceful goals had been pursued, probably all disease today would be curable. Farming and manufacturing would be much more mechanized and productive than it is now, and the dream of many scientists of space colonization would have been with us for a long time.

The altar has a meaning and a warning to both humans and wicked angels. If the warnings had been heeded, we humans could have been so much happier and feel so much safer than we do today.

Spread the Gospel to the whole world

When Christ first established His Church, He encouraged all of us to spread His Gospel   throughout the whole earth, baptizing others, and bringing them into His heavenly kingdom. The Church was very small and vulnerable during its early years, so God had Lucifer chained for 1000 years so he could not easily mislead the early Christians into failing in this goal of worldwide evangelization. Try to look at history from a different perceptive.

The Emperor Theodosius I made Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. As the official state religion, it was a civil crime to argue against the Church just like it was for Jews and early Christians to argue against the official pagan religion of Rome. Lucifer had a difficult time undermining the Church during those years. The Church flourished during those times and constructed a very enlightened and prosperous society throughout Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire.

Some thousand years later, around 1380 AD, Lucifer was unchained and many people in most European countries began to question the religious convictions of the state. I can see Lucifer very active during this period destroying the Catholic faith. This Church was founded on the teaching of the divine Son of God. There is something permanent about that teaching, just like there is something permanent about the physical laws of nature. It is not wise to allow a revealed religion to become dominated by private opinion.

The three major attacks of Lucifer against Christ

The 16th century Protestant Reformation opened Pandora’s Box of difficulties for the religion of Jesus. It almost destroyed the Catholic Church. On thing that saddens me the most is what the European nations did in addition to fulfilling Christ’s request to evangelize the whole world bringing everybody into God’s heavenly Kingdom. After they conquered them, they made slaves of some of them.

As a kid in grade school, I was surprised to learn how the Christian nations fought with each other as they colonized the world. England, France, and Spain colonized most of North America. The colonies grew into three great nations: United States, Mexico, and Canada. While religious wars and rivalries were raging in Europe, similar wars, fomented for the same reasons, were also raging in the new world.

This was all in the past. And there is nothing any of us can do about it today, but think of what the world would be like today if the United States, Mexico, and Canada were always friendly and always helped each other when help was needed. And think what Europe would be like today if the three mother countries remained friendly and cooperating. And those three weren’t the only Christian nations in Europe, all the European nations were Catholic before the Reformation.

Who is behind all this missed opportunity? None other than Lucifer. He must be very satisfied with himself ruining Our Lord’s ambition to evangelized the whole world.

My personal experience

In my travels around the world, I have always shown friendliness and acceptance of other countries. I had a very deep experiences of what it is like to encounter people in Catholic Quebec in Canada, and in Catholic Mexico.

I spent some time on a startup trip in Quebec. This was around the time when there were some separatist sentiments in Quebec trying to separate the French-speaking culture from the rest of Canada. The workers would not cooperate with management unless management spoke French to them, and they refused to speak English. I, being a Yank, was excused from having to speak French. I had a wonderful time in Canada serving as a liaison between the French-speaking workers and the English-speaking management people even though I did not understand a word of French, and my presence made the work proceed smoothly. I made many friends on both sides.

On another trip to Mexico, at a time when immoral pinups were hanging in virtually every room in American factories, I was surprised to see small shrines of Our Lady of Guadalupe surrounded by Christmas tree lights in that oilseed plant. If Lucifer had not been messing with our American minds, we also could have displayed better respect for women.

Our three nations could have been sister nations cooperating with the three mother nations in Europe, and together all six nations could have made an immense impact in spreading the Gospel of Jesus throughout the world. Blame our failure on the influence of Lucifer destroying whatever inspiration we had to labor in the vineyard of Our Lord.

Lucifer’s Second and Third Campaigns

The second campaign is Communism. Our Blessed Mother got involved in this one at Fatima in 1917, as we all know. And I am sad to say that, in spite of her warnings and encouragement, our Catholic leaders did not heed her requests soon enough, and we all had to experience WWII and the ravages of worldwide Communism, which came close to destroying faith in Jesus Christ throughout the world.

The third campaign is the teaching of Darwinian evolution. Charles Darwin published his general theory of evolution describing the descent of man on February 24, 1871, which theory, through subsequent years, almost destroyed faith in God as Creator. Around forty years earlier, on July 18, 1830, the Blessed Mother made an apparition to Catherine Labouré (in the Miraculous Medal) urging the world through the witness of Catherine to take the faith seriously, otherwise the Blessed Mother would no longer be able to hold back the hand of Jesus chastising us for our laxity and blindness in matters of our faith. This is another example of contrary issues influencing humans to abandon the faith.

Conclusion

I don’t know how well the Blessed Mother’s warnings will motivate the Church today, but I can see that the Church is much weaker today than it was 100 years ago. I really think we have reached the end of God’s patience. The next thing to worry about is the end of the world. What we are seeing in Ukraine certainly looks to me like the start of WWIII which, relying on nuclear weapons, could well end our planet being supportive of human occupation.

My final advice is for all to take what I write about seriously. You don’t have to do anything other than get your own house in order and be ready to welcome Jesus when He returns.

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3 thoughts on “What is This Fascination with Altars?”

  1. Pingback: Edith Stein Converted to Catholicism After Reading This Book, A Closer Look at Pope Pius X’s Leonine Mantum, and More Great Links! - JP2 Catholic Radio

  2. Pingback: VVEDNESDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit

  3. When God exiled Lucifer from heaven to earth, it is not mysterious as to why God allowed those on earth to be the victims of Lucifer. The disobedience of Adam caused a rift between him and God that has passed on to us. God’s protection was one of the casualties. Satan tempted Eve, but humanity complied with the temptation. Unredeemed humanity is part of the problem.
    During the 1000-year period, Christ’s High Priest intercessory function in heaven would have ended, and He would have left His place at the right hand of the Father to return to earth and rule over it as King of Kings. If this had happened, there would have been no need for the Church to exist during that time (cf. Revelation 19:11 thru 20:10).

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