St.Peter's Men Society

07/05/2026

If you want to be committed to the organization you belong to don’t scheme against your fellow members. It will only cause division among you and in the end it will bounce back to you.

We may not be in a position to advise because we're not part of your group. But as Catholic and fellow apologist we cannot bear the sight of seeing division within ourselves.

One piece of advice: go talk over your differences and accept correction for your misbehavior. Don’t plan against one another and pray for each other.

03/05/2026

FAITH AND WORKS

Understanding the beautiful harmony between grace and righteous living in Christian salvation.

By: Justine Joy Z. Cortejo

TWO ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

1. How do I become right with God?
(Exploring the path to justification through grace and faith in Christ)

2. What happens after God makes me right?
(Understanding the fruit of salvation in daily Christian living)

These questions guide our journey through Scripture and Catholic teaching to discover the reconciliatory truth about faith and works.

THE FOUNDATION OF SALVATION

Our minds often direct us to the moment when Christ died on the cross for our sins. Through the love of God, He sent His only begotten Son to give eternal life to those who believe in Him.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." — John 3:16

Jesus lived, died, and rose again from the dead. This salvation is a gift offered through grace necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. But where does the line intersect between faith and works?

TWO PERSPECTIVES OF JUSTIFICATION

Reformers' View

Salvation is grounded in the completeness of Christ's work, which further invalidates the value of good works as a means to be justified.

• Faith alone justifies
• Works cannot add value to salvation
• Christ's work is sufficient

Catholic View

While salvation is a gift from God, we need to both assent and put our entire trust in God along with works that activate this faith.

• Faith must be active
• Works of love and charity are essential
• Sacraments as means of grace

JUSTIFICATION: GOD'S TRANSFORMING WORK

1. Detaches from Sin

Justification frees us from the power of sin and separates us from our old nature.

2. Accepts God's Righteousness

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive God's own righteousness infused into our souls

3. Transforms the Interior

Sanctification renews the whole person, making us just and holy in our entire being

4. Creates Communion

Transforms us from being opposed to God into living communion with Him.

JUSTIFICATION AND THE LAW

The Law as Disciplinarian:

Paul explains in Galatians 3:23-27 that the law served as a disciplinarian until Christ.

Not Basis for Justification:

Works of the law cannot be the basis for salvation or justification.

Justified by Faith:

People might be justified by faith, not by works of law-observance.

Key distinction: Paul was referring to the works of law or Torah, not the good works of love and charity that God has prepared for us.

JUSTIFICATION BEFORE CHRIST:

The Question:

If justification was merited for us by Christ's passion, how were people before Christ justified?

The Answer:

The Church teaches that Christ's saving merit reaches them anticipatively. God's grace is eternal, transcending time.

Pope Francis expressed in Lumen Fidei: "The patriarchs were saved by faith, not faith in Christ who had come but in Christ who was yet to come, a faith pressing towards the future of Jesus."

Ephesians 2:8-10

Verse 8-9: Grace Through Faith:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast."

Verse 10: Created for Good Works:

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

We are God's handiwork – whatever good we possess is not from ourselves but from the action of God. Life calls us to be just continually.

THE ROLE OF THE SACRAMENTS

Baptism

Justification is merited for us by Christ's passion and conferred in Baptism. We are baptized into His death and obtain grace by partaking in God's life (Romans 6:3-4).

Reconciliation

God offered us this sacrament to bring us back to Himself through
Christ Jesus when we fall into sin (2 Corinthians 5:18).

Sanctifying Grace

Sacraments function as means to obtain sanctifying grace, not as
replacements for Christ's passion but as instruments of Christ to give justification.

LIVING THE JUSTIFIED LIFE

Faith Must Be Active:

Faith alone is dead if we don't pair it with works of love and charity (James 2:14)

Merit Through Grace:

We merit grace by doing works of love and charity, activated by faith in Christ.

Grace Bears Fruit:

Good works are the fruit of grace, not a substitute for it.

"Justification is the most excellent work of God's love. It is the merciful and freely given act of God which takes away our sins and makes us just and holy in our whole being." — Pope Benedict XVI

03/05/2026

02/05/2026

Thomas’s exclamation in John 20:28, "My Lord and my God" (Greek: Ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou), is widely considered the climax of the Gospel of John and a foundational scriptural text for the doctrine of the divinity of Christ.

While the term homoousios ("of the same substance/essence") was not coined until the 4th-century Council of Nicaea, Christians believe this verse serves as direct biblical evidence that Jesus is homoousios with the Father.

Nang halos lahat ay napapaniwala ni Arius sa maling turo ukol kay Kristo, nanindigan si St. Athanasius (contra mundum) kaya nabuo ang Nicene Creed.

30/04/2026

A lot of misleading idea of Apologetics is now roaming the internet most especially among catholic circles. Apologetics does not equate to Christian life nor if any one failed to defend his faith is less of a Christian.

As an SPMS we are told to defend the faith as much as possible but NOT to attack other belief system. I remember the rule, we don’t challenge for debate but we never backout when circumstance calls for it. We do it humbly, with respect and with the objective for Evangelization.

We answer those who ask, with humility as St. Peter once said (1 Peter 3:15). We don’t brag, shout and curse those who don’t share our faith. The best defense is our good conscience. A lot of Christian Martyrs died without a single word. They seem to be defeated but God works differently because their blood was the trophy of God’s triumph.

IT IS NOT OUR WIN, IT IS GOD’S AS IT ALWAYS WILL.

22/04/2026

Isang libro ng apologetics na aking binasa kaya ko rin naisipang um-attend ng lingguhan dati sa Quiapo na bago ang pinaka-aantay na question at answer ay laging merong pahayag ng Doktrina mula sa dating pangulo ng SPMS na si Bro. Rolly Tesorero. Nang mabanggit ko sa kanya itong aklat sinabi nya na kilala nya si Bro. Demet.

07/04/2026

Sa ating pagpapaliwanag sa kanila, ating lakipan ng panalangin na ang Kanyang Banal na Awa ang magdala sa kanila sa katotohanan at sa banal na Simbahan.

Jesus I trust in You.

Amen

May Your Mercy find our separated brethren that they may see the light of Your truth, O Risen Christ. Amen.

04/04/2026

A Blessed Easter sa lahat !

See the 60s short for more on all eight properties of risen bodies: https://youtube.com/shorts/bHI0rM0Khd4?si=8rIUFMU-Uo6DMPy3

St. Thomas Aquinas proposed a total of eight properties for risen bodies; the first four are qualities that will be common to both the resurrected bodies of the saved and the damned, whereas the last four (usually divided today into five) are preternatural gifts proper to the glorious condition of the saints.

Christ's resurrection inaugurated a new creation, a new way of being for humanity (which is why Sunday is called the 8th day, a new day beyond the seven day week of the old creation). Resurrection is not miraculous resuscitation back to mortal life, but a transfiguration into an immortal existence that allows us to always live in communion with the God-man, Jesus Christ.

04/04/2026

Jesus’ descent into hell means that Jesus “sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection” (the Catechism 632). Like all men, Jesus experienced death, and thus his soul joined others in this realm. But as the Catechism points out, “he descended there as Savior” (CCC 632) and preached the good news to the spirits imprisoned there (1 Pet. 3:19).

The Apostle’s Creed says that after Jesus died "He descended into hell and rose again.” How could the Son of God go into hell? Karlo Broussard explains.

02/04/2026

Google says:

Yes, the Bible can interpret the Bible within a Catholic understanding, but this interpretation is guided by the Magisterium (the Church's teaching authority), the Holy Spirit, and the broader context of Catholic Tradition.

While Catholics are encouraged to read and engage with Scripture personally, the Magisterium has the authentic authority to interpret God's Word to prevent misunderstandings and ensure adherence to established Church doctrine

02/04/2026

Strong Protestants become Catholics 💪

“Once I saw the Church of the early Christians… I realized it wasn’t Protestant. It was Catholic.”

He wasn’t searching for Rome.

Jason Postma was a committed Protestant—and even an Anglican priest. But everything changed when his family began studying the early Church Fathers. What started as a defense of Protestantism turned into a discovery: the earliest Christians believed in things that looked unmistakably Catholic—apostolic succession, the Eucharist, and the authority of the Church.

At first, he resisted. The cost was too high—his ministry, his security, his future. But truth has a way of pressing in.

In the end, he faced a simple but life-altering reality:

If the early Church was Catholic… then where else could he go?

And so, he came home.