Christ: His Church, His Father's Marriage, and His Nourishment.: The Church Christ founded; God is a married man; Day by day for 40 days.

By Fr. Yozefu B Ssemakula

This piece of work, coming after the monumental prior work of Fr. Yozefu with his publication of The Healing of Families, is best used after one has gone through the healing of families prayer process offered in that prior work. Fr. Yozefu's approach here is: after the Lord has healed your family, which He does super effectively when the process is taken seriously, we begin to live a different kind of life. Our preoccupations and concerns radically change. We discover all of a sudden that what preoccupied us for the most part in the past no longer does; that prior issues of life have become non-issues because God's healing has been ushered into my family, even extended family, in a big way. So then what next? What do I do? Why did God heal me and my family? Just to sit around and louse? Certainly not. God has a plan too, not just you; in fact He always had plans for you that He wished all along that you stepped into for even a bigger share of His life in you! That is called blessing, a prolife activity of God in your favor, an enhancement of your life. But what happened very often was that you were nowhere near capturing those plans because you were so busy "solving" life's problems one after another, things that you had always thought had to be part of life, and now you discover that they didn't have to be, because they are now gone! Life could have been different been from way back, if you had known how to pray effectively to clear lots of unnecessary burdens on life, like you are discovering after that has happened.
And so next is to brace up for yet another type of adventure with God, because now we can move ahead with Him! Remember that very last commission of Our Lord as He flies out of this world? - now that I have told and showed you all this, now that you know what you know, go out and tell it out to everyone -! Just to say that our walk with the Lord is completely devoid of sense if it's private. It is always communal, it's never just "my business".
My life platform now having been cleared by my participation in the Healing of Families process, it's time now to step ahead and walk with God, walk with God for the world because I'm no longer hampered and burdened with the bondages that I dealt with for probably the most part of my life up to now. A very important note here is that this sharing of the walk with God with others now isn't anymore a very planned, scheduled, and thought out process or activity! It comes all just naturally! With family bondages cleared for the most part we become a whole different person to ourselves and others! You will not have to go find people to talk to about this, they will come to find you and to ask you what happened to you?! And, " be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you …" ( 1 Peter 3:15)! This will come to you all naturally and spontaneously, because you will be having a very different aspect to yourself from what you always had … That will be the magnet that will draw people to you to ask you some real life questions …, which questions you will be very able to answer from experience.
So in this walk with the Lord, in this very tangible relationship with Him, as it always becomes after the Healing of Families process, and in this sharing of myself with others, what is the optimum context in which all this will be? This book is the answer to that question. It is the answer to the what next?-, now what?- question after the heavenly Father has healed me and my family. This context will be my foundation as I go about the mission that His Son left me with as He ascended back to heaven. And He will find me doing this as He gets back, "the same way as you saw Him go to heaven."(Acts 1:11).
And what will this context be? The Community that He leaves behind, so the Church that He founded; and living in relationship to or with that most fundamental life-generating institution that He gives us when He gave us life, - knowing that God is alw

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098310653

Book preview

NOTE: All Scriptures are taken from the New American Bible.

With any comments about this book, please email us at [e-mail].

For more supplies of related materials,

please go to www.healingforfamilies.com.

Copyright © 2020, by Fr. Yozefu-B. Ssemakula

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9781098310653

All materials in this book, except those quoted as indicated, are the property of the author and may not be copied or distributed without the permission of the author.

Dedication

To all the children of God worldwide who, through the years,

have come to live the experience of the Healing

of Families Seminar.

~Philippians 4:4-8

Table of Contents

PREFACE

Part I: Christ's Church:

The Church That Christ Founded

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: Catholic? No Way!

Ordinary Historical and Social Reasons

Historical Reasons

Social Reasons

The Church's Influence: Education - Technology

Human Rights

The Church's Numbers

CHAPTER TWO: Scriptal Reasons

Peter

The Institution and Celebration of the Eucharist

Apostolic Succession

CHAPTER THREE: Important Digressions

Martin Luther

The Church of England: King Henry VIII

Hooking Back?

The Threat

Archbishop Lefebvre

Archbishop Milingo

CHAPTER FOUR: More Scriptural Reasons

The Power to Forgive Sins

Renouncing Marriage for the Sake of the Kingdom

Celibacy in Action

The Obedience of Christ

CHAPTER FIVE: Extraordinary Historical and Social Reasons

Eucharistic Miralces

Eucharistic Fruits in Individuals

Apparitions of Our Lord

The Sacred Heart

The Divine Mercy

The Apparitions of Our Lady

A Note on Ecumenism

CONCLUSION

EPILOGUE

Suggestions for Further Reading and Selected Bibiography

Part II: Christ's Father's Marriage:

God is a Married Man

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: Marriage Hinge of all Scripture?

The Order of Things Begins with God: God Marries

Then Comes in Jesus

John the Baptist

Whom is Jesus Marrying?

Allegory?

CHAPTER TWO: Bible = Marriage?

Parables of Marriage Feasts

The Woman Caught in Adultery

Marriage in Crisis

CHAPTER THREE: Consequences for Our Marriages

When Then Can We Divorce?

The Prophet Malachi

Marriage: A Sacrament of What?

CHAPTER FOUR: Divorce: Matthew 5:32 and 19:9

The Greek Words Pornea and Moicheia

Then Why Call Them Marriage?

Contextual Reasons for the No-Divorce Interpretation

Conclusion

Suggestions for Further Reading and Selected Bibliography

Part III: Christ's Nourishment

Day by Day for 40 Days

An Exercise in Spiritual Nourishment

A Tip on Contemplative Prayer

Day 1 Through Day 40

PREFACE

This piece of work, coming after the monumental prior work of Fr. Yozefu with his publication of The Healing of Families, is best used after one has gone through the healing of families prayer process offered in that prior work. Fr. Yozefu’s approach here is: after the Lord has healed your family, which He does super effectively when the process is taken seriously, we begin to live a different kind of life. Our preoccupations and concerns radically change. We discover all of a sudden that what preoccupied us for the most part in the past no longer does; that prior issues of life have become non-issues because God’s healing has been ushered into my family, even extended family, in a big way. So then what next? What do I do? Why did God heal me and my family? Just to sit around and louse? Certainly not. God has a plan too, not just you; in fact He always had plans for you that He wished all along that you stepped into for even a bigger share of His life in you! That is called blessing, a prolife activity of God in your favor, an enhancement of your life. But what happened very often was that you were nowhere near capturing those plans because you were so busy solving life’s problems one after another, things that you had always thought had to be part of life, and now you discover that they didn’t have to be, because they are now gone!  Life could have been different been from way back, if you had known how to pray effectively to clear lots of unnecessary burdens on life, like you are discovering after that has happened.

And so next is to brace up for yet another type of adventure with God, because now we can move ahead with Him! Remember that very last commission of Our Lord as He flies out of this world? - now that I have told and showed you all this, now that you know what you know, go out and tell it out to everyone -! Just to say that our walk with the Lord is completely devoid of sense if it’s private. It is always communal, it’s never just my business.

My life platform now having been cleared by my participation in the Healing of Families process, it’s time now to step ahead and walk with God, walk with God for the world because I’m no longer hampered and burdened with the bondages that I dealt with for probably the most part of my life up to now. A very important note here is that this sharing of the walk with God with others now isn’t anymore a very planned, scheduled, and thought out process or activity! It comes all just naturally! With family bondages cleared for the most part we become a whole different person to ourselves and others! You will not have to go find people to talk to about this, they will come to find you and to ask you what happened to you?! And, be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope  you have in you … ( 1 Peter 3:15)! This will come to you all naturally and spontaneously, because you will be having a very different aspect to yourself from what you always had … That will be the magnet that will draw people to you to ask you some real life questions …, which questions you will be very able to answer from experience.

So in this walk with the Lord, in this very tangible relationship with Him, as it always becomes after the Healing of Families process, and in this sharing of myself with others, what is the optimum context in which all this will be? This book is the answer to that question. It is the answer to the what next?-, now what?- question after the heavenly Father has healed me and my family. This context will be my foundation as I go about the mission that His Son left me with as He ascended back to heaven. And He will find me doing this as He gets back, the same way as you saw Him go to heaven.(Acts 1:11).

And what will this context be? The Community that He leaves behind, so the Church that He founded; and living in relationship to or with that most fundamental life-generating institution that He gives us when He gave us life, - knowing that God is always and only a life giver -, and this is marriage, that generates the family, the obligatory entry of every human being into this life, such that the two, life and marriage, are definitely tied together, (that’s why, moreover, we began by healing the family first!); and then finally, all that being embedded into, and bathed with, a constant, ever present, and never lacking nourishment of God’s word ,(the Bible is always at arm’s length if you so wish!). Living like this we obviously cannot go wrong, and can never miss out on God’s planned immense blessings for us (Jer 29:11) that lie ahead of us!

There must be some distinctives signs that will identify the church community that Jesus the Son of God leaves on this earth. We shall go in pursuit of these signs. Is it possible to find a community with them all, or with some of them, or none of them are perhaps available?

And what is it that is so key about marriage? Why is it that from the dawn of humanity even the more ignorant peoples that have ever lived on earth somehow always envisioned marriage, and always had the most elaborate rituals for it? Who showed people marriage, this ubiquitous  institution that has never been absent from humans since the dawn of their existence? What is marriage? And why marriage? Whatever our answers, it is obvious that it is a reality that all human beings have lived, live, or will live, with. Its inevitability to human life automatically then constitutes it a key ingredient to life itself. But why? Therefore a consideration of marriage can never be missing in a place where there is deep talk about life, or we risk skewing our vision of life with the inevitable consequence of making it (life) dysfunctional.

But after all, from where do we get to navigate the waters of life? The Bible, God’s word has often been referred to as the user’s manual for life. The one who made life so central to life is the same author of the Bible, the book of life, where He talks to us about that life. How then can we ever ignore the manual? At least the simple fact that the author of this life that I love so much is the same author of the Bible is enough to make me curious enough just to know something more of His mind, whatever He may be talking about, even if I didn’t know that He talks about that same life in there. Just for curiosity’s sake. We do that all the time! When you read an author whose writing you end up liking, you will search out whatever else she wrote, and not just for the mere enjoyment but there is an element of: what else is in the mind of the author, given that what I have perceived of it so far is this good?

Therefore just as we have discovered above that talking about life we have to talk about marriage, because the two are so tied together (life + marriage), for serving the same goal: life; in the same way we discover here that talking about life we also have to talk about God’s word since the two are again so tied together, (life + God’s word) for serving the same goal: again life, and from a further fact of both having one and the same author: God. And we shall indeed discover in the first case that God is not only the author of life, He is also the author of marriage, and that He was the first ever to get married long before we ever thought of doing so ourselves!

This book is divided into three distinct but not unrelated parts: Christ; His Church: The Church that Christ Founded; His Father’s Marriage: God Is a Married Man; and His Nourishment: Day by Day for 40 Days; this last one being an exercise in spiritual nourishment.

My desire with this book, first, is to address a number of questions. The first is the question of the proliferation of churches and the confusion it brings to many Christians. Many Christians know where they want to be and to which church they want to belong, and they are content with where they are. But others do not know where they want to be. They want their church to be more than where it feels good. However, what they know about the myriad of churches is limited. The theological books are too heavy and dense to read for understanding. The first part of this book will come to the aid of these Christians. It will explain, in a few clear words, some fundamentals about the churches, and especially about the Catholic Church, the mother of all churches. But this first part is also written to help wavering Catholics know and better appreciate their Church, with greater knowledge and deeper understanding of the roots of their faith. And, finally, it is also written for the non-Catholic Christians of goodwill, who perhaps have Catholic friends. They have not always understood their Catholic friends because of those practices and beliefs that are uniquely Catholic, making it seem a church apart. Indeed, there are Christians today who do not even know that Catholics are Christians—to them, they are just Catholics! But because they are Christians of goodwill, the first part of the book will enlighten them about the Catholic faith and help them to better appreciate their Catholic friends.

The second part of the book is about how God the Father is married! Yes, God is a married man, married to His people, Israel. And oh yes, it is absolutely essential to speak about marriage after our first doctrinal input in the first part of this book for, what is the most basic way we live out our Christian faith in the Church? It is in our homes, and homes are made up of marriages; that’s the family. Pope John Paul II has said that marriage is the hinge of all Scripture. And I would add: of all Christian life as well! How could it be otherwise if it is the hinge of Scripture which Scripture is the basis of all Christian life?

However, this age-old institution, as you know, is greatly being shaken to its roots at this very moment of human history. Many Christians of goodwill, both Catholics and non-Catholics, as a result seriously question why many churches do not accept same-sex marriages. Such a stance looks like a contradiction in this age of freedoms and human rights. The churches in general, and the Catholic Church in a very particular way, have been the champions of human rights on the historical world scene. How then can they hold this contradictory position of denying gay and lesbian people their right to marry the one they love? In God Is a Married Man, you will find all the answers to those questions in a simple, understandable, and quotable way. Part two also contributes to a fuller understanding of the Catholic Church, in particular on issues such as the marriage and the non-marriage, or celibacy, of its priests. These topics also appear in the first part of this book.

For this second part of this book, His Father’s Marriage, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Bob Schuchts, PhD, and Mario Sacasa, MS, both once teachers at the Center for Biblical Studies, Tallahassee, Florida, for offering their course on Christian marriage at that center. I enjoyed their exposition on this great and important sacrament and the ensuing discussions by the students. This gave me a fresh look at the sacrament and added depth to my knowledge and appreciation of it. My gratitude also goes to Jo Anne Arnett, president of the center, and her staff for their availability in the service of God.

The third part of the book, Day by Day for 40 Days, is an exercise in spiritual nourishment. It is an attempt to concretely refresh the Christian. It is good to know certain doctrinal truths about the faith; knowledge is always a treasure and a pleasure. However, even if our relationship with God begins with knowledge of God, this knowledge does not necessarily nourish our hearts, nor does it give us faith. A clear example of those who possessed such high knowledge of the things of God were the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. They were the scholars of the time, professing to have great knowledge of the Law of Moses, of all things. Although Jesus’ relationship with them was often controversial, He found the Pharisees to be so knowledgeable about God, which led Him to tell the people of Israel to do as the Pharisees said, but not as they did. The Pharisees, it seems, were very knowledgeable about the things of God, but that knowledge did not lead them to put God in their hearts and their lives. Today, too, with so much knowledge available to us, including knowledge about God, we risk the Pharisaic syndrome: being full of the knowledge about God in our heads but having dry hearts; our knowledge not corresponding to much in our lives. The third part of this book is an attempt to address that imbalance. After an intellectual exercise of sorts in the first two parts of this book, the last one brings to us a practical experience of the life of the living Christ in us. For this, we shall use a derivative of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit Order of priests and brothers and one of the greatest spiritual masters that the providence of the Father has ever given to the Church. Saint Ignatius lived between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I use the word derivative because they are not the complete spiritual exercises of Ignatius. These are meant only to give the lay Christian a taste of the full exercises that have fed and led many saints to heaven over the centuries. We could not find a better tool to provide tangible and readily available spiritual food for the ordinary Christian. For those who would like to have more of this spiritual food, we refer you to any retreat house of the Jesuits, for the Ignatian spiritual retreat, wherever you can find one.

I am grateful to the administration of the Online Ministries of Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, for our dialogue over their 34-week Online Retreat on their web site: http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html. The retreat is based on the movements of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Day by Day for 40 Days spiritual exercise in this book drew its inspiration from the flow of the Spiritual Exercises from that Online Retreat.

Part I:

Christ’s Church

THE CHURCH THAT CHRIST FOUNDED

INTRODUCTION

In the world today are more than 35,000 different churches! And we may be conservative here. All of them use the same Bible, (or almost), and all their members call themselves Christians—that is, followers of Christ. And that Christ is one and the same.

But something else is also happening. When you go to Walmart to buy orange juice, you find about ten different types on the shelf. You have to know exactly which brand and type you want and then select it from among the many and go home. For someone like me, for whom this great variety is new, I simply don’t know which one to choose. A few times, I might even say to myself, "Well, I will pick