Truth is power: Weekly Message for 11-26-2019

Dear Friends in Christ,

Yesterday we celebrated the Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria. At the Church of St. Clement in Rome there is a chapel with paintings depicting her martyrdom. When I took seminarians studying philosophy on a tour of the Church I’d always make a point of telling her story to them because she is the patron saint of philosophers. She earned this honor because the emperor Maximinus II (emperor from 308-313 A.D.) commanded a group of atheist philosophers to debate with her and convince her to abandon Christianity since the emperor had romantic aspirations toward her and she’d rejected him.

Catherine ended up converting the philosophers to Christianity and Maximinus had them burned alive. After attempting to martyr Catherine by lashing her to an elaborate wheeled contraption designed to tear her limb from limb (known from then on as a Catherine wheel), only to have it smashed to pieces by some unseen force before it could harm her (presumably by an angel), she was beheaded and entered into heavenly glory. Catherine was a noble and a scholar, and she used her knowledge to give witness to the Gospel, eventually giving even greater witness by rejecting the advances of Maximus and giving laying down her life for Christ. 

Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, but truth is the real power. St. Catherine couldn’t turn her back on the truth of the Gospel, just learn it, live it, and share it. At RC Spirituality one of the ways we help you learn, live, and share the truth is through the courses of our Online Classroom. Want to learn more about the Church’s social teaching? How to grow in Christian maturity? These are just some of the offerings on the Online Classroom.

Advent begins on Sunday and a good Advent resolution is to try and learn a little more of the Gospel, the gift of truth that literally keeps on giving. To help you do this, starting this Friday and until the end of Cyber Monday (December 2nd) we’re offering a discount of 20% on all online course purchases. Just enter the coupon code LEARNINGADVENT2019 when purchasing a course. 

Learn something new this Advent to help you appreciate the power of truth.

Father Nikola Derpich, L.C.
Online Classroom Manager
fr.nikola@rcspirituality.org