Someone recently asked Rev. Billy Graham, in his daily column, why humans should not also worship angels. He, as always, gave a fine reply. He explained that God alone is all powerful and has always been, while angels are beings created by God, and therefore cannot be worshipped.
For those of you who like definitive scripture, I point you to St. Paul.
1 Colossians 2:18
Let no one cheat you who takes pleasure in self-abasement and worship of the angels, and enters vainly into what he has not seen, puffed up by his mere human mind.
This is included in Paul's list of erroneous practices.
I hope you have found this helpful. Check the Bible: it's all in there.
Showing posts with label St. Paul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Paul. Show all posts
Monday, August 10, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Bible Reading: Acts 14:19-23
I selected this reading just as a reminder of how incredibly tough St. Paul was, as we particularly honor St. Paul in this, his year.
However, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds.
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city.
On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, "It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."
They appointed presbyters for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.
However, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds.
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city.
On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, "It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."
They appointed presbyters for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Bible Reading: Hebrews 13:5-8
Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never forsake you or abandon you." Thus we may say with confidence:
"The Lord is my helper,
[and] I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?"
Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
"The Lord is my helper,
[and] I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?"
Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Bible Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
Finally, brothers, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith.
But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you [both] are doing well, and will continue to do.
May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Bible Reading: Hebrews 5:1-9
[These are the words of St. Paul describing the Christian priesthood, modeled upon Christ as the High Priest.]
For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in the things pertaining to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to have compassion on the ignorant and erring, because he himself also is beset with weakness, and by reason thereof is obliged to offer for sins, as on behalf of the people, so also for himself.
And no man takes the honor to himself; he takes it who is called by God, as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not glorify himself with the high priesthood, but he who spoke to him, Thou art my son, I this day have begotten thee.
As he says in another place, Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
For Jesus, in the days of his earthly life, with a loud cry and tears, offered up prayers and supplications to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his reverent submission.
And he, Son though he was, learned obedience from the things that he suffered; and when perfected, he became to all who obey him the cause of eternal salvation, called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech.
[When St. Paul says that Jesus became "perfected," he does not mean that Jesus was not already perfect. St. Paul means that after Jesus resurrected from the dead he was perfected in wearing his glorified heavenly body, even as he stayed on earth in that glorified body for forty days before ascending to heaven. Remember that St. Paul never met Jesus of the earthly body, but met the resurrected Jesus in the glory of heaven on the road to Damascus.
Likewise, when St. Paul says Jesus "learned" obedience, it is not like Jesus wasn't already in perfect obedience from boyhood. In the Bible "learned" often means the same as "practiced." Thus St. Paul is explaining that Jesus practiced and thus provided the role model of perfect obedience even when there is great suffering, if it is God's will. You have to use common sense when reading the Bible. For example they use the word "knew" his wife to indicate having intimacy to bear a child; it's not like the husband and wife didn't "know" each other until that moment. Likewise perfected and learning are words that describe repetitions and progressive actions, not indicating the lack of those qualities "previously."]
Friday, December 12, 2008
Highly recommend Advent sermon about St. Paul
Here is another wonderful (and at the same time, very scholarly and thought provoking) sermon by Fr. Cantalamessa, the Pontifical Household preacher.
It is not just a moving sermon but one I'd call a spiritual chiropractor spine realignment, teaching those who read and revere St. Paul how to actually understand his full relationship with God and Jesus Christ. This has been a stumbling block for many Reformation children.
http://www.zenit.org/article-24546?l=english
It is not just a moving sermon but one I'd call a spiritual chiropractor spine realignment, teaching those who read and revere St. Paul how to actually understand his full relationship with God and Jesus Christ. This has been a stumbling block for many Reformation children.
http://www.zenit.org/article-24546?l=english
Friday, September 12, 2008
Excellent faith/reason/St. Paul article! A+++
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804649.htm
St. Paul alive: Scholars tell how his Christian teaching applies now
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- By proclaiming a year dedicated to St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI has brought attention to a figure who often has been off the church's radar. One noted U.S. Scripture scholar said most priests think preaching the Gospel means focusing on Jesus' biography as recounted by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This has meant St. Paul's letters usually got "lip service" by most preachers and scholars, Father Raymond F. Collins told Catholic News Service.
Compounding the problem was that Martin Luther, the 16th-century leader of the Protestant Reformation, drew heavily upon St. Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians. This led many Catholics to feel Scripture was "Protestant" and St. Paul's letters were "dangerous," said Father Collins.
As a result, the apostle's teachings "didn't really enter into our Catholic thinking," although in recent years the apostle's letters have been getting more attention from Catholic scholars and theologians, he said.
Father Collins, a New Testament scholar retired from The Catholic University of America in Washington, was one of 30 international experts who attended a weeklong Pauline symposium at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in early September. The St. Paul's Colloquium is an ecumenical initiative sponsored by the basilica's Benedictine community. Participants have been meeting every two years since 1968.
U.S. Lutheran and New Testament scholar Karl Donfried, a symposium participant, told CNS that the saint's life and teachings are timely examples of dealing with a secularized world and healing a divided Christianity. He said there is "a remarkable parallel" between the multicultural, secularized societies of today and the complex, pagan world of St. Paul.
Despite enormous challenges, St. Paul was "always proclaiming the Gospel -- the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ -- in a very specific situation that is always complex, controverted and difficult," said the retired professor of religion at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
Father Collins said St. Paul was "a pathfinder," showing today's disciples that they need to find new ways to translate the Gospel message into different cultures and generational divides.
The Pauline year also is meant to focus on the saint's call for Christian unity, and Father Collins and Donfried said St. Paul plays a significant role in fostering ecumenism. Christian unity was a problem in the early church and the first-century saint proposed practical ideas for bringing Christians from Jewish, Greek and Roman cultures together "in a basic unity of faith," Father Collins said.
Donfried said St. Paul warned against the "inherent contradiction between saying on the one hand we are in Christ and yet holding sharply diverging opinions and doing things ... anti-Gospel." The Jewish-born apostle tried to strip away superficial, cultural baggage and drive his audience back to the central questions for all Christians about the Gospel, Jesus and what it means "to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a new life and not be conformed to the world," he said.
The problems preventing full unity 2,000 years later are similar, he said. "Throughout the history of the church there are cultural ideologies ... that people easily adapt to; they become a kind of 'cultural Christian' insofar as they have a superficial understanding of the Gospel and the church," Donfried said. When people become driven and motivated only by their culture, they risk drowning out Christ's power to transform, he said.
He said the current fixation on social justice or the "political agenda of good works" is obscuring God's true message and impoverishing spirituality.
Churches and the faithful should not be looking to see whether the Democratic or Republican parties resonate more with their beliefs; rather they should be asking, "How does Jesus Christ transform my understanding of the political, social or cultural" world, Donfried said.
While Christians must be concerned about rectifying injustices, he said, they first must be "transformed and informed" by Jesus, who gives people courage.
Pope Benedict has been known to focus on similar ideas.
Donfried recalled once explaining to Jesuit acquaintances why this shy German pope could draw huge crowds at his general audiences, telling them "because he's a good Lutheran." Pope Benedict, he said, is so spiritually and theologically anchored in the Scriptures that he can explain them with great simplicity.
Just how important is St. Paul to the successor of Peter?
Donfried said that when he told then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger several years ago that the colloquium was on the verge of extinction due to lack of funds and a dwindling monastic community at the basilica, the cardinal was adamant it be saved because "the church can't do without the study of Scripture." Donfried credited the pope with saving the colloquium and the basilica's Benedictine community.
Soon after his election in 2005, Pope Benedict confirmed the monks' new Abbot Edmund Power and assigned an archpriest to help the basilica. And where did Pope Benedict head for his first official visit outside the Vatican as pope? To the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to pray at the tomb of the apostle and pay homage to his legacy of spreading the Gospel.
***
Hope they don't mind I copied the whole article here! Every word is really excellent and I didn't want anyone to miss a thing.
St. Paul alive: Scholars tell how his Christian teaching applies now
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- By proclaiming a year dedicated to St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI has brought attention to a figure who often has been off the church's radar. One noted U.S. Scripture scholar said most priests think preaching the Gospel means focusing on Jesus' biography as recounted by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This has meant St. Paul's letters usually got "lip service" by most preachers and scholars, Father Raymond F. Collins told Catholic News Service.
Compounding the problem was that Martin Luther, the 16th-century leader of the Protestant Reformation, drew heavily upon St. Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians. This led many Catholics to feel Scripture was "Protestant" and St. Paul's letters were "dangerous," said Father Collins.
As a result, the apostle's teachings "didn't really enter into our Catholic thinking," although in recent years the apostle's letters have been getting more attention from Catholic scholars and theologians, he said.
Father Collins, a New Testament scholar retired from The Catholic University of America in Washington, was one of 30 international experts who attended a weeklong Pauline symposium at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in early September. The St. Paul's Colloquium is an ecumenical initiative sponsored by the basilica's Benedictine community. Participants have been meeting every two years since 1968.
U.S. Lutheran and New Testament scholar Karl Donfried, a symposium participant, told CNS that the saint's life and teachings are timely examples of dealing with a secularized world and healing a divided Christianity. He said there is "a remarkable parallel" between the multicultural, secularized societies of today and the complex, pagan world of St. Paul.
Despite enormous challenges, St. Paul was "always proclaiming the Gospel -- the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ -- in a very specific situation that is always complex, controverted and difficult," said the retired professor of religion at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
Father Collins said St. Paul was "a pathfinder," showing today's disciples that they need to find new ways to translate the Gospel message into different cultures and generational divides.
The Pauline year also is meant to focus on the saint's call for Christian unity, and Father Collins and Donfried said St. Paul plays a significant role in fostering ecumenism. Christian unity was a problem in the early church and the first-century saint proposed practical ideas for bringing Christians from Jewish, Greek and Roman cultures together "in a basic unity of faith," Father Collins said.
Donfried said St. Paul warned against the "inherent contradiction between saying on the one hand we are in Christ and yet holding sharply diverging opinions and doing things ... anti-Gospel." The Jewish-born apostle tried to strip away superficial, cultural baggage and drive his audience back to the central questions for all Christians about the Gospel, Jesus and what it means "to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a new life and not be conformed to the world," he said.
The problems preventing full unity 2,000 years later are similar, he said. "Throughout the history of the church there are cultural ideologies ... that people easily adapt to; they become a kind of 'cultural Christian' insofar as they have a superficial understanding of the Gospel and the church," Donfried said. When people become driven and motivated only by their culture, they risk drowning out Christ's power to transform, he said.
He said the current fixation on social justice or the "political agenda of good works" is obscuring God's true message and impoverishing spirituality.
Churches and the faithful should not be looking to see whether the Democratic or Republican parties resonate more with their beliefs; rather they should be asking, "How does Jesus Christ transform my understanding of the political, social or cultural" world, Donfried said.
While Christians must be concerned about rectifying injustices, he said, they first must be "transformed and informed" by Jesus, who gives people courage.
Pope Benedict has been known to focus on similar ideas.
Donfried recalled once explaining to Jesuit acquaintances why this shy German pope could draw huge crowds at his general audiences, telling them "because he's a good Lutheran." Pope Benedict, he said, is so spiritually and theologically anchored in the Scriptures that he can explain them with great simplicity.
Just how important is St. Paul to the successor of Peter?
Donfried said that when he told then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger several years ago that the colloquium was on the verge of extinction due to lack of funds and a dwindling monastic community at the basilica, the cardinal was adamant it be saved because "the church can't do without the study of Scripture." Donfried credited the pope with saving the colloquium and the basilica's Benedictine community.
Soon after his election in 2005, Pope Benedict confirmed the monks' new Abbot Edmund Power and assigned an archpriest to help the basilica. And where did Pope Benedict head for his first official visit outside the Vatican as pope? To the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to pray at the tomb of the apostle and pay homage to his legacy of spreading the Gospel.
***
Hope they don't mind I copied the whole article here! Every word is really excellent and I didn't want anyone to miss a thing.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New suggestion for reading the Bible
I have alluded to it and now I'd like to package for you a suggestion regarding an approach to reading the entire Bible for the first time, or re-reading it in a way that will be in depth yet interesting and fresh.
Since this is the year of St. Paul I suggest that instead of starting in the beginning of the Bible that you start with the Epistles of St. Paul. If you feel it would give you more continuity and context, you could start one book earlier which is The Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke with much information about St. Paul.
Now, the reason I am suggesting this is not because we are trying to focus on "honoring Paul" but rather, I'm going to let Paul be your "teacher" before you read the books of the Bible in sequence from Old Testament to the New. (Also in this year of St. Paul you may all want to be on the same page for Bible study and other activities, so this is another reason it would be good to couple a desire to read the entire Bible with starting with the books that are by St. Paul). How can you do that? By looking up and reading each footnoted Biblical reference as you read Acts and the letters of St. Paul. Yesterday I blogged an example of how to do that, where I cited a passage in 1 Corinthians and then, following the footnote, looked up and cited the passage in Psalms to which St. Paul can be inferred to be referencing.
By doing this exercise you will be following the footsteps of both St. Paul, where the footnotes indicate he is quoting, but also the centuries of Catholic biblical scholars, who use footnoting to indicate where ideas were previously raised, and also where prophecy is fulfilled. Thus you will be reading in sequence through the Bible but on each page of Bible text you will do on an average of something like ten or more look ups throughout the Bible.
For example, I have open over to my side on my table the New American Bible "The Catholic Bible: Personal Study Edition." So if you have that edition you can follow along with me. On page 185 of the new Testament is the first page of The Acts of the Apostles. On that page after the informative scholar introduction there is only 6 lines of scripture (Acts 1:1-6) yet there are five footnotes (a-e) citing fourteen (!) relevant references of Biblical passages. In this example they are all New Testament references. Sometimes they are informational, or parallel doctrine or events, so they are there for a variety of reasons. But like a net it weaves a three dimensional understanding of the Bible, and specifically the passages that you are reading, if you follow each and every one of those footnotes. You cannot look up and read each passage cited via footnote without understanding and perceiving the Bible as you never have before, and thus have a more accurate view, of placing you more fully within the reality of the human and divine life that real people doing real things in communion with a real faith community and their real One God experience.
So if you turn the page, to page 186, where there is a full page of Acts 1:7-26 through Acts 2:1, there are thirteen footnotes for that page, and since some footnotes have multiple citations, I see at a glance at least twenty two passages cited, from both Old Testament (Isaiah, Psalms, Kings, Proverbs, Deuteronomy, Leviticus) and New Testament (the Gospels, Ephesians, Revelation). By looking up each and every one of those passages you will gain an enormous sense of being "within" the events and the perspective of the Biblical authors and indeed, within God's greater plan, as you see how every verse is dense with both contemporary corroborative reference and drawing upon the roots of the faith in the Old Testament.
When you work your way through several books of the Bible in this fashion, even if you do not do the footnote reading for the entire Bible, when you read each chapter, especially now going back to the beginning to read from Genesis onward, you will recognize passages that you referenced but more important, you will feel in a way you never did the three dimensional continuity and deep significance of everything in the Bible within the fullness of its entire context. That is how the Bible is meant to be read and understood, and it is how it traditionally has been read and understood. It is only secular "self help," "self enabling," "question and 'right' answer look up" mentality of modern times that have ruined this experience.
Trust me, if you read the Bible the way I suggest here, you will marvel at the results. Try it! I hope you find this helpful and God bless.
Since this is the year of St. Paul I suggest that instead of starting in the beginning of the Bible that you start with the Epistles of St. Paul. If you feel it would give you more continuity and context, you could start one book earlier which is The Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke with much information about St. Paul.
Now, the reason I am suggesting this is not because we are trying to focus on "honoring Paul" but rather, I'm going to let Paul be your "teacher" before you read the books of the Bible in sequence from Old Testament to the New. (Also in this year of St. Paul you may all want to be on the same page for Bible study and other activities, so this is another reason it would be good to couple a desire to read the entire Bible with starting with the books that are by St. Paul). How can you do that? By looking up and reading each footnoted Biblical reference as you read Acts and the letters of St. Paul. Yesterday I blogged an example of how to do that, where I cited a passage in 1 Corinthians and then, following the footnote, looked up and cited the passage in Psalms to which St. Paul can be inferred to be referencing.
By doing this exercise you will be following the footsteps of both St. Paul, where the footnotes indicate he is quoting, but also the centuries of Catholic biblical scholars, who use footnoting to indicate where ideas were previously raised, and also where prophecy is fulfilled. Thus you will be reading in sequence through the Bible but on each page of Bible text you will do on an average of something like ten or more look ups throughout the Bible.
For example, I have open over to my side on my table the New American Bible "The Catholic Bible: Personal Study Edition." So if you have that edition you can follow along with me. On page 185 of the new Testament is the first page of The Acts of the Apostles. On that page after the informative scholar introduction there is only 6 lines of scripture (Acts 1:1-6) yet there are five footnotes (a-e) citing fourteen (!) relevant references of Biblical passages. In this example they are all New Testament references. Sometimes they are informational, or parallel doctrine or events, so they are there for a variety of reasons. But like a net it weaves a three dimensional understanding of the Bible, and specifically the passages that you are reading, if you follow each and every one of those footnotes. You cannot look up and read each passage cited via footnote without understanding and perceiving the Bible as you never have before, and thus have a more accurate view, of placing you more fully within the reality of the human and divine life that real people doing real things in communion with a real faith community and their real One God experience.
So if you turn the page, to page 186, where there is a full page of Acts 1:7-26 through Acts 2:1, there are thirteen footnotes for that page, and since some footnotes have multiple citations, I see at a glance at least twenty two passages cited, from both Old Testament (Isaiah, Psalms, Kings, Proverbs, Deuteronomy, Leviticus) and New Testament (the Gospels, Ephesians, Revelation). By looking up each and every one of those passages you will gain an enormous sense of being "within" the events and the perspective of the Biblical authors and indeed, within God's greater plan, as you see how every verse is dense with both contemporary corroborative reference and drawing upon the roots of the faith in the Old Testament.
When you work your way through several books of the Bible in this fashion, even if you do not do the footnote reading for the entire Bible, when you read each chapter, especially now going back to the beginning to read from Genesis onward, you will recognize passages that you referenced but more important, you will feel in a way you never did the three dimensional continuity and deep significance of everything in the Bible within the fullness of its entire context. That is how the Bible is meant to be read and understood, and it is how it traditionally has been read and understood. It is only secular "self help," "self enabling," "question and 'right' answer look up" mentality of modern times that have ruined this experience.
Trust me, if you read the Bible the way I suggest here, you will marvel at the results. Try it! I hope you find this helpful and God bless.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Mary criticism hurts me deeply, Bible commentary
No one is forced to honor and love the Blessed Virgin Mary, but we all know that there are some people who go out of their way to defame and insult her memory and her reality in the Communion of Saints. These people do it for a variety of reasons, ranging from atheists who like to bull bait when they see the faithful gather to honor Mary all the way to certain Christians who misuse the Gospel to do what they think is "protecting giving Jesus all his due" so that like a bank account with limited funds "others beside Jesus don't get anything that is 'taken away' from Jesus." Honestly, I find both equally hurtful.
Since I'm in a mindset this early morning (pre dawn) to help readers in placing the Bible in its proper context, I will mention a few of the things that those of good genuine heart need to remember when interpreting scripture and the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Family, including all of the saints. By the way, I must take time to praise the many people who have become much more learned in these matters and express themselves so well in defense and amplification of the Catholic faith when they are commenting in inflammatory threads and so forth. I see that people are truly regrounding themselves in understanding and glorifying their faith, and patiently but firmly addressing the all too familiar and tiresome usual criticisms and insulting misstatements. So I do notice and am very gratified!
Many scripture quoters who diminish Mary quote how Jesus corrected the woman in the crowd who blessed Mary for being his mother, directing her to bless instead those who hear and believe. While most people understand what that is about in truth, there are persistent people who totally miss the point. If Jesus had yelled back, "Yeah, she's great, and you can be just like her if you hear and believe" I think that would have been abundantly clear. That IS what he was saying to the crowd. Jesus was pointing out that biological blessedness is not the highest form in the sense that spiritual family who believe in God have access to the same blessedness of Mary his mother. Jesus would have said the same thing if some guy had shouted out, "Blessed is your father Joseph who protected you when Herod slayed the infants, for we would not have you if Joseph had not been a good stepfather." Jesus would have agreed, but would have cut him off exactly the same way as he did the woman who blessed Mary, repointing the lesson back to the fundamental that it is not family connection and biological relationship, however holy and blessed, but the "virtual" (to use the modern term) family community of the faithful that should be blessed! So I really fume (and despair of the charity of the insulter) when people use this event of Jesus taking an opportunity to teach to look beyond biological reality to attack or diminish Mary, when Jesus was doing no such thing, and was in fact inviting people to operate at the same level of faith and virtue AS her!
Speaking of Joseph, Mary attackers and diminishers like to point out that she, to put it in modern business terms, does not have much "ad space" in the Gospels! They are so totally lost in understanding both the original purpose of the Gospels and Epistles AND their continuing purpose that like modern publicity hounds they read into lack of "press coverage" of Mary that she is not a significant mover and shaker and player. It's like they feel that there are only so many print pages and so many minutes on "Access Hollywood" aka the Gospel that they don't want "anything to take away from Jesus" and gloat that Mary therefore gets short press. Um, well, this was addressed even when I was a young girl and the nuns were excellent at pointing out that even the beloved Joseph, earthly father of Jesus, did not get a mention at all after the adult public ministry of Jesus began. Goodness, it just should not take much genius to understand that one cannot measure how much Jesus loved a person, whether Mary or Joseph, by how much "press" they got in the Gospels. And one certainly cannot deduce God's very opinion on the matter, except to continually remember how Gabriel sent by God and speaking for him greeted Mary. Again, this attitude of counting "mentions" as some sort of measure of importance is an example of modern day distortion of faith and giving in to temptation of giant egos who think human words have more importance than what God is saying with them.
As an aside, here is a useful Bible reading mental exercise. Remember that the Bible is totally accurate and is God inspired, and therefore holy. Let's open to a verse at random. Philippians 1:9:
And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge and all discernment.
(I'm not kidding, I actually opened my childhood Bible to that passage!)
By the way, this Epistle was written by St. Paul to his first European church.
Anyway, so here is an example of sacred scripture, the divinely inspired and protected words of St. Paul.
Here are two exercises to consider to help you be more fully accurate and enriched in your Biblical comprehension.
1) St. Paul is praying that this one church receive more discernment and knowledge regarding their charity. Since he doesn't mention any other churches does that mean they are all "OK?" Or that he doesn't care if they get more of the above? Is he implying that his first European church has special need for grace? Or a problem?
See, when you take one sentence out of the Bible and then obsess that no one else got mentioned that way, you totally miss the point of what is being said. In the Bible the vast majority of things are exactly as obvious as they seem to be, and humans should not word smith and read motives into what they set themselves up as judging what is and is not being said. And thus if you read the entire Epistle you have restored the context in which St. Paul, writing from prison, is praising this Christian community, and giving them some guidance about issues they are facing. Pulling one sentence out of inspired text and then applying paranoid human motivations could, and often does, result is total skewing of the intentions of both the writer but also of God himself.
2) "And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge and all discernment." This is sacred text.
Is this? :
"And this I pray"
"that your charity may"
"more and more abound in knowledge"
"and all discernment."
Are those four examples of sacred text? Obviously not. In fact, a mini anti-Christ wannabe could use each of those four sentence fragments to justify that he or she is the source of prayer, that he or she can dictate charity, that more and more knowledge (even of evil) is good, and that he or she is the source of all discernment. I'm only slightly exaggerating in order to make the point that one cannot take sacred scripture and word smith it to one's own interpretation, AND, to also point out that the sentence sections and the words themselves are not sacred. Is the word "and" sacred because it is in the Bible? Therefore, is each individual word and punctuation mark sacred? And those left out not? Obviously not.
People used to be motivated by common sense and charitable generosity, so you did not have to teach them these obvious matters and exercises. But modern society is so ego centric, narcissistic, agenda ridden, phony, false and plastic that it's like I feel I have to teach many people how to have a reality based clear uncomplicated thought process again. And I guess I do.
So I will leave this topic, thinking that it actually is helpful in two points, the example of how it is uncharitable and Biblically incorrect to diminish people in the life of Jesus based on willful misinterpretation of what he said and did AND a reminder to discern (that word again, it is so important) the difference between sacred scripture and the words, punctuation and sounds that comprise its presentation in written format.
Since I'm in a mindset this early morning (pre dawn) to help readers in placing the Bible in its proper context, I will mention a few of the things that those of good genuine heart need to remember when interpreting scripture and the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Family, including all of the saints. By the way, I must take time to praise the many people who have become much more learned in these matters and express themselves so well in defense and amplification of the Catholic faith when they are commenting in inflammatory threads and so forth. I see that people are truly regrounding themselves in understanding and glorifying their faith, and patiently but firmly addressing the all too familiar and tiresome usual criticisms and insulting misstatements. So I do notice and am very gratified!
Many scripture quoters who diminish Mary quote how Jesus corrected the woman in the crowd who blessed Mary for being his mother, directing her to bless instead those who hear and believe. While most people understand what that is about in truth, there are persistent people who totally miss the point. If Jesus had yelled back, "Yeah, she's great, and you can be just like her if you hear and believe" I think that would have been abundantly clear. That IS what he was saying to the crowd. Jesus was pointing out that biological blessedness is not the highest form in the sense that spiritual family who believe in God have access to the same blessedness of Mary his mother. Jesus would have said the same thing if some guy had shouted out, "Blessed is your father Joseph who protected you when Herod slayed the infants, for we would not have you if Joseph had not been a good stepfather." Jesus would have agreed, but would have cut him off exactly the same way as he did the woman who blessed Mary, repointing the lesson back to the fundamental that it is not family connection and biological relationship, however holy and blessed, but the "virtual" (to use the modern term) family community of the faithful that should be blessed! So I really fume (and despair of the charity of the insulter) when people use this event of Jesus taking an opportunity to teach to look beyond biological reality to attack or diminish Mary, when Jesus was doing no such thing, and was in fact inviting people to operate at the same level of faith and virtue AS her!
Speaking of Joseph, Mary attackers and diminishers like to point out that she, to put it in modern business terms, does not have much "ad space" in the Gospels! They are so totally lost in understanding both the original purpose of the Gospels and Epistles AND their continuing purpose that like modern publicity hounds they read into lack of "press coverage" of Mary that she is not a significant mover and shaker and player. It's like they feel that there are only so many print pages and so many minutes on "Access Hollywood" aka the Gospel that they don't want "anything to take away from Jesus" and gloat that Mary therefore gets short press. Um, well, this was addressed even when I was a young girl and the nuns were excellent at pointing out that even the beloved Joseph, earthly father of Jesus, did not get a mention at all after the adult public ministry of Jesus began. Goodness, it just should not take much genius to understand that one cannot measure how much Jesus loved a person, whether Mary or Joseph, by how much "press" they got in the Gospels. And one certainly cannot deduce God's very opinion on the matter, except to continually remember how Gabriel sent by God and speaking for him greeted Mary. Again, this attitude of counting "mentions" as some sort of measure of importance is an example of modern day distortion of faith and giving in to temptation of giant egos who think human words have more importance than what God is saying with them.
As an aside, here is a useful Bible reading mental exercise. Remember that the Bible is totally accurate and is God inspired, and therefore holy. Let's open to a verse at random. Philippians 1:9:
And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge and all discernment.
(I'm not kidding, I actually opened my childhood Bible to that passage!)
By the way, this Epistle was written by St. Paul to his first European church.
Anyway, so here is an example of sacred scripture, the divinely inspired and protected words of St. Paul.
Here are two exercises to consider to help you be more fully accurate and enriched in your Biblical comprehension.
1) St. Paul is praying that this one church receive more discernment and knowledge regarding their charity. Since he doesn't mention any other churches does that mean they are all "OK?" Or that he doesn't care if they get more of the above? Is he implying that his first European church has special need for grace? Or a problem?
See, when you take one sentence out of the Bible and then obsess that no one else got mentioned that way, you totally miss the point of what is being said. In the Bible the vast majority of things are exactly as obvious as they seem to be, and humans should not word smith and read motives into what they set themselves up as judging what is and is not being said. And thus if you read the entire Epistle you have restored the context in which St. Paul, writing from prison, is praising this Christian community, and giving them some guidance about issues they are facing. Pulling one sentence out of inspired text and then applying paranoid human motivations could, and often does, result is total skewing of the intentions of both the writer but also of God himself.
2) "And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge and all discernment." This is sacred text.
Is this? :
"And this I pray"
"that your charity may"
"more and more abound in knowledge"
"and all discernment."
Are those four examples of sacred text? Obviously not. In fact, a mini anti-Christ wannabe could use each of those four sentence fragments to justify that he or she is the source of prayer, that he or she can dictate charity, that more and more knowledge (even of evil) is good, and that he or she is the source of all discernment. I'm only slightly exaggerating in order to make the point that one cannot take sacred scripture and word smith it to one's own interpretation, AND, to also point out that the sentence sections and the words themselves are not sacred. Is the word "and" sacred because it is in the Bible? Therefore, is each individual word and punctuation mark sacred? And those left out not? Obviously not.
People used to be motivated by common sense and charitable generosity, so you did not have to teach them these obvious matters and exercises. But modern society is so ego centric, narcissistic, agenda ridden, phony, false and plastic that it's like I feel I have to teach many people how to have a reality based clear uncomplicated thought process again. And I guess I do.
So I will leave this topic, thinking that it actually is helpful in two points, the example of how it is uncharitable and Biblically incorrect to diminish people in the life of Jesus based on willful misinterpretation of what he said and did AND a reminder to discern (that word again, it is so important) the difference between sacred scripture and the words, punctuation and sounds that comprise its presentation in written format.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Bible Reading: Romans 11:16-22
Now if the first handful of the dough is holy, so also is the lump of dough; and if the root is holy, so also are the branches. But if some of the branches have been broken off, and if thou, being a wild olive, art grafted in their place, and hast become a partaker of the strem and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if thou dost boast, still is is not thou that supportest the stem, but the stem thee.
Thou wilt say, then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." True, but they were broken off because of unbelief, whereas though by belief standest. Be not high minded, but fear. For if God has not spared the natural branches, perhaps he might not spare thee either. See, then, the goodness and the severity of God: his severity towards those who have fallen, but the goodness of God towards thee if thou abidest in his goodness; otherwise thou also wilt be cut off.
***
Every time I reread something written by St. Paul, I marvel at his great understanding of God and his ways. Here he gives an analogy that is of great importance. He starts with a small analogy to explain that if a part of bread dough is considered holy, then since it came from the main body of bread dough, that all of the bread dough must logically be understood to be holy.
He then proceeds into the main analogy which is that all the faithful believers in God are like branches on a holy tree. The roots of the tree is from God, and therefore all the branches that are on the tree are holy, since they draw upon the holy source, being God, and they are branches on the tree due to their faith. But St. Paul explains that if a person loses faith they are like branches that separate and fall from the tree. Those new to the faith (those who hear and have a conversion of heart) are like a wild olive branch that is now grafted onto this holy olive tree of God. He points out that while obviously this is a good thing, the newcomers should not be boastful out of proportion to the faithful branches that already exist on the tree, and certainly not delight in those who have fallen away. St. Paul explains in this analogy that it is not a cause to rejoice when a branch breaks and falls away through unfaith, but it is also God's severity that those who lose their faith will at some point be allowed to fall away, unsaved. Those who find their faith will be welcomed to graft to the tree in the place of those who are unfaithful, and that is the goodness of God, because he welcomes the wild olive branch to graft to the holy olive tree of God. St. Paul had a number of purposes in writing this section and using this analogy, but the one I am focusing on (rather than the subject of conversions or finding of faith) is that those who find the tree and graft onto it must remember that they are giving God his due; they are not some special breed of faithful who has gotten some great "enlightenment" in superiority to either those who fell away or those that remain as branches in fullness with God.
Human nature huh? St. Paul knew humans very well.
If you think about it, remember that St. Paul was the conversion story of the ages. In his own time his story would have been phenomenal. He would not be unaware of that and here he is using an analogy that he obviously knows by heart through personal experience. He correctly implies his own exemplary role model where he joined as the wild olive branch grafting to the tree of God, but hardly will lord it over the branches already there, just because he had a spectacular conversion at having viewed the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus. So St. Paul is revealing his conscious awareness of this ego danger that all humans share.
This should also give a clue to those who obsess about the "thorn" that St. Paul alludes to having. People like to read into the thorn all sorts of infirmities, and even try to apply sins or lusts to him that he must "control." Oh, that annoys me so much. It is obvious that the thorn St. Paul always had to deal with was his original pride and zealotry that had made him more than an extremely observant Jew, but an active persecutor and martyrer of Christians before his conversion.
If you could "read his mind," you would see that St. Paul views himself as having grafted himself onto the holy tree of God in a painful way, having grafted onto a thorn of his own pre-conversion persecution of Christians. That is the thorn that keeps him uneasy; St. Paul was always mindful that he came to God and the Lord Jesus Christ only because he had persecuted Christians so severely. St. Paul never let himself forget that for a moment, and thus he never had pride in his spectacular conversion and personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ. St. Paul always viewed himself as having grafted onto the holy tree of God because he took the place of a thorn that was of his own making through the pre-conversion persecutions.
Here's another thought that St. Paul was fully aware of regarding the incredibly humbling nature of his conversion, rather than a source of pride. St. Paul had his encounter with the resurrected Christ and his calling to conversion precisely because he was such a severe persecutor. Christ asked him why he was persecuting him. Thus, if St. Paul were just an average observant Jew living a normal life, he would not have had that spectacular calling by Christ himself, and would have been just an average Jew who may or may not have heard the traveling evangelizers of Christ, and who may or may not have become a Christian as a result. But having been such a thorn and scourge of Christians, St. Paul received the spectacular encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ who basically says to him, "Enough is enough!" Thus St. Paul pondered throughout his life as an Apostle of how he grafted to the tree of God, but first as a thorn to the tree. No "Jewish mother" could have put a bigger guilt trip on him than he did to himself throughout his life as an Apostle. This was the thorn that he constantly bore, and he certainly felt worse about it than Jesus would have wanted him to feel. So this remarkable analogy gives the Bible reader incredible insight into St. Paul's mind and heart. Analogies are often very autobiographical. Thus analogies help one to see the world through the eyes of the person creating and sharing the analogy. Interpretation of the thorn comment by St. Paul therefore becomes remarkably easy and clear to understand using the analogy that the saint himself provides overall.
He was a remarkable man. There never was one like him, nor will there be, because he was certainly one of a kind!
Thou wilt say, then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." True, but they were broken off because of unbelief, whereas though by belief standest. Be not high minded, but fear. For if God has not spared the natural branches, perhaps he might not spare thee either. See, then, the goodness and the severity of God: his severity towards those who have fallen, but the goodness of God towards thee if thou abidest in his goodness; otherwise thou also wilt be cut off.
***
Every time I reread something written by St. Paul, I marvel at his great understanding of God and his ways. Here he gives an analogy that is of great importance. He starts with a small analogy to explain that if a part of bread dough is considered holy, then since it came from the main body of bread dough, that all of the bread dough must logically be understood to be holy.
He then proceeds into the main analogy which is that all the faithful believers in God are like branches on a holy tree. The roots of the tree is from God, and therefore all the branches that are on the tree are holy, since they draw upon the holy source, being God, and they are branches on the tree due to their faith. But St. Paul explains that if a person loses faith they are like branches that separate and fall from the tree. Those new to the faith (those who hear and have a conversion of heart) are like a wild olive branch that is now grafted onto this holy olive tree of God. He points out that while obviously this is a good thing, the newcomers should not be boastful out of proportion to the faithful branches that already exist on the tree, and certainly not delight in those who have fallen away. St. Paul explains in this analogy that it is not a cause to rejoice when a branch breaks and falls away through unfaith, but it is also God's severity that those who lose their faith will at some point be allowed to fall away, unsaved. Those who find their faith will be welcomed to graft to the tree in the place of those who are unfaithful, and that is the goodness of God, because he welcomes the wild olive branch to graft to the holy olive tree of God. St. Paul had a number of purposes in writing this section and using this analogy, but the one I am focusing on (rather than the subject of conversions or finding of faith) is that those who find the tree and graft onto it must remember that they are giving God his due; they are not some special breed of faithful who has gotten some great "enlightenment" in superiority to either those who fell away or those that remain as branches in fullness with God.
Human nature huh? St. Paul knew humans very well.
If you think about it, remember that St. Paul was the conversion story of the ages. In his own time his story would have been phenomenal. He would not be unaware of that and here he is using an analogy that he obviously knows by heart through personal experience. He correctly implies his own exemplary role model where he joined as the wild olive branch grafting to the tree of God, but hardly will lord it over the branches already there, just because he had a spectacular conversion at having viewed the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus. So St. Paul is revealing his conscious awareness of this ego danger that all humans share.
This should also give a clue to those who obsess about the "thorn" that St. Paul alludes to having. People like to read into the thorn all sorts of infirmities, and even try to apply sins or lusts to him that he must "control." Oh, that annoys me so much. It is obvious that the thorn St. Paul always had to deal with was his original pride and zealotry that had made him more than an extremely observant Jew, but an active persecutor and martyrer of Christians before his conversion.
If you could "read his mind," you would see that St. Paul views himself as having grafted himself onto the holy tree of God in a painful way, having grafted onto a thorn of his own pre-conversion persecution of Christians. That is the thorn that keeps him uneasy; St. Paul was always mindful that he came to God and the Lord Jesus Christ only because he had persecuted Christians so severely. St. Paul never let himself forget that for a moment, and thus he never had pride in his spectacular conversion and personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ. St. Paul always viewed himself as having grafted onto the holy tree of God because he took the place of a thorn that was of his own making through the pre-conversion persecutions.
Here's another thought that St. Paul was fully aware of regarding the incredibly humbling nature of his conversion, rather than a source of pride. St. Paul had his encounter with the resurrected Christ and his calling to conversion precisely because he was such a severe persecutor. Christ asked him why he was persecuting him. Thus, if St. Paul were just an average observant Jew living a normal life, he would not have had that spectacular calling by Christ himself, and would have been just an average Jew who may or may not have heard the traveling evangelizers of Christ, and who may or may not have become a Christian as a result. But having been such a thorn and scourge of Christians, St. Paul received the spectacular encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ who basically says to him, "Enough is enough!" Thus St. Paul pondered throughout his life as an Apostle of how he grafted to the tree of God, but first as a thorn to the tree. No "Jewish mother" could have put a bigger guilt trip on him than he did to himself throughout his life as an Apostle. This was the thorn that he constantly bore, and he certainly felt worse about it than Jesus would have wanted him to feel. So this remarkable analogy gives the Bible reader incredible insight into St. Paul's mind and heart. Analogies are often very autobiographical. Thus analogies help one to see the world through the eyes of the person creating and sharing the analogy. Interpretation of the thorn comment by St. Paul therefore becomes remarkably easy and clear to understand using the analogy that the saint himself provides overall.
He was a remarkable man. There never was one like him, nor will there be, because he was certainly one of a kind!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Marian pilgrim bus crash, words of comfort
Many are injured and are still in the struggle for survival and recovery. Those who have lost loved ones have experienced a terrible loss. It is especially sad as these were devout people on their way to the annual Marian pilgrimage. Many who are returning from the pilgrimage are having their buses stop at the site of the accident in Sherman, to leave items in a shrine, to honor those lost, injured, and shocked survivors, and to pray. Here is an update and two very tender photos:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5935397.html
If I were able to speak to the survivors, and to their parish communities, and to their families, colleagues and friends, I would share the following.
Sadly, there are frequent accidents involving the road ways. Regardless of the reasons for the accident, a family is always left to grieve. But it would be dishonest to not acknowledge a particular sadness and sense of stunned let down that these were people who were God loving and pious, on the way to honor the Mother Mary. Mary demonstrated through personal visitation a particular love for the Vietnamese people, appearing to them in their suffering at Lavang. The many martyrs of Vietnam pay witness to God's love for them and the right to be called his people. So how can we mend hearts that have been so terribly broken?
We can look to St. Paul for our friend in this tragedy. In the times of Jesus they had the equivalent of buses: boats and ships. Travel by boat was very precarious and of course, the life of a fisherman was dangerous, and it remains the most dangerous occupation today. In the times of Jesus if one was going to travel long distance, as these pilgrims last week were doing, one had to rely on provision of the vehicle and the mercies of wind and sea. Many nameless people, including some of the earliest Christians, died along with regular people of the time in the course of normal group transport by boat or ship. Some were just going about their business, while others were the first evangelizers after Jesus Christ, following in his footsteps to preach the Gospel. How sad we can be imagining that people who might have actually seen and spoken to Christ, might have taken to the evangelizing road as a group, in a boat, and sank beneath the waves, losing their lives, with no one ever knowing what became of them. What pathos there is to think that undoubtedly more than a few who were the earliest believers lost their lives in what was the equivalent of our times traffic accidents, by ship wreck in the sea. It is not hard to imagine how sad it would be if people had books and written records, telling stories of how early believers who actually saw Jesus, or the Apostles, ended up dying in a routine way, as they embark on their evangelizing, from the pointless and sad accidental sinking of their boat.
But we do not need to imagine because we have the word of that great illumination of the time, St. Paul, for he was victim of shipwreck. Your families therefore are very close to St. Paul, and you can be assured that in the communion of saints in heaven that St. Paul will have special interest and grace in their company, and will intercede with God to help the wounded survivors. It is not as though St. Paul did not have enough to cope with as people sought to persecute and martyr him, beating and harming him in many ways. St. Paul who survived all of those assaults up until his final martyrdom, also almost lost his life in the course of group travel to spread the word of God, as he was shipwrecked. So we know from his first hand relating that travel has always been a precarious and dangerous endeavor, even when one is pure of heart and wanting only to evangelize and spread the good news. And so I hope that you and your families can find solace in knowing that a death is never in vain if it happens when one is in full communion with God, as these graceful people most certainly were. St. Paul would, if he could speak to you, invite you to lean on him and recall his survival of shipwreck (while others did not survive), and know that all roads, short or long, eventually bring all of the faithful together to the same place.
God bless you, your families, your communities and the souls of those who perished in this accident.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5935397.html
If I were able to speak to the survivors, and to their parish communities, and to their families, colleagues and friends, I would share the following.
Sadly, there are frequent accidents involving the road ways. Regardless of the reasons for the accident, a family is always left to grieve. But it would be dishonest to not acknowledge a particular sadness and sense of stunned let down that these were people who were God loving and pious, on the way to honor the Mother Mary. Mary demonstrated through personal visitation a particular love for the Vietnamese people, appearing to them in their suffering at Lavang. The many martyrs of Vietnam pay witness to God's love for them and the right to be called his people. So how can we mend hearts that have been so terribly broken?
We can look to St. Paul for our friend in this tragedy. In the times of Jesus they had the equivalent of buses: boats and ships. Travel by boat was very precarious and of course, the life of a fisherman was dangerous, and it remains the most dangerous occupation today. In the times of Jesus if one was going to travel long distance, as these pilgrims last week were doing, one had to rely on provision of the vehicle and the mercies of wind and sea. Many nameless people, including some of the earliest Christians, died along with regular people of the time in the course of normal group transport by boat or ship. Some were just going about their business, while others were the first evangelizers after Jesus Christ, following in his footsteps to preach the Gospel. How sad we can be imagining that people who might have actually seen and spoken to Christ, might have taken to the evangelizing road as a group, in a boat, and sank beneath the waves, losing their lives, with no one ever knowing what became of them. What pathos there is to think that undoubtedly more than a few who were the earliest believers lost their lives in what was the equivalent of our times traffic accidents, by ship wreck in the sea. It is not hard to imagine how sad it would be if people had books and written records, telling stories of how early believers who actually saw Jesus, or the Apostles, ended up dying in a routine way, as they embark on their evangelizing, from the pointless and sad accidental sinking of their boat.
But we do not need to imagine because we have the word of that great illumination of the time, St. Paul, for he was victim of shipwreck. Your families therefore are very close to St. Paul, and you can be assured that in the communion of saints in heaven that St. Paul will have special interest and grace in their company, and will intercede with God to help the wounded survivors. It is not as though St. Paul did not have enough to cope with as people sought to persecute and martyr him, beating and harming him in many ways. St. Paul who survived all of those assaults up until his final martyrdom, also almost lost his life in the course of group travel to spread the word of God, as he was shipwrecked. So we know from his first hand relating that travel has always been a precarious and dangerous endeavor, even when one is pure of heart and wanting only to evangelize and spread the good news. And so I hope that you and your families can find solace in knowing that a death is never in vain if it happens when one is in full communion with God, as these graceful people most certainly were. St. Paul would, if he could speak to you, invite you to lean on him and recall his survival of shipwreck (while others did not survive), and know that all roads, short or long, eventually bring all of the faithful together to the same place.
God bless you, your families, your communities and the souls of those who perished in this accident.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Insight about St. Paul, thought for the day
St. Paul was an extremely tough man, make no mistake about it. But he would have a heart attack and die on the spot, and I'm only slightly exaggerating, if he walked down the sales aisle of any store, looking at the covers of video games and DVD's. I'm not talking about the sex, though obviously he would disapprove and immediately see the crisis in the world of pornography and faithlessness.
No, I mean the violence of "adventure," "science fiction," and "fantasy" titles that show demonic figures and horrible leering monstrosities that equally freak show "heroes" are battling. St. Paul, the real St. Paul, would instantly recognize that humanity has bartered much of their mental and soul "shelf space" to demonic content. I am not exaggerating at all to say it would strike him down in dismay and horror. I myself am unable to look at the covers of DVD's and video games when I go to Wal-mart or any other store. When a pop up on the computer produces such an image (as happens on AOL for example) I feel a physical strickening of pain and weakness in my heart. It is truly demonic and more horrifying because it is human "conceived" and produced, and not Satan's work. I cannot bear what is in many human's "minds" and what pours from their hands in the "media and entertainment business." It would absolutely strike down St. Paul in horror.
No, I mean the violence of "adventure," "science fiction," and "fantasy" titles that show demonic figures and horrible leering monstrosities that equally freak show "heroes" are battling. St. Paul, the real St. Paul, would instantly recognize that humanity has bartered much of their mental and soul "shelf space" to demonic content. I am not exaggerating at all to say it would strike him down in dismay and horror. I myself am unable to look at the covers of DVD's and video games when I go to Wal-mart or any other store. When a pop up on the computer produces such an image (as happens on AOL for example) I feel a physical strickening of pain and weakness in my heart. It is truly demonic and more horrifying because it is human "conceived" and produced, and not Satan's work. I cannot bear what is in many human's "minds" and what pours from their hands in the "media and entertainment business." It would absolutely strike down St. Paul in horror.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Our Sunday Visitor issue free online this month
In honor of this Year of St. Paul the magazine "Our Sunday Visitor" has its entire issue available for free online at this link:
http://www.osv.com/OSVNav/OSVNewsweeklyJune222008/tabid/6212/Default.aspx
I'm really enjoying reading the articles, including regular favorites Carl Olsen and Mark Shea.
They also have a great collection of articles and prayer aids regarding St. Paul, including a prayer card and a poster!
http://www.osv.com/OSVNav/OSVNewsweeklyJune222008/tabid/6212/Default.aspx
I'm really enjoying reading the articles, including regular favorites Carl Olsen and Mark Shea.
They also have a great collection of articles and prayer aids regarding St. Paul, including a prayer card and a poster!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Bible Reading: Paul, Book of Hebrews
Hebrews 6:13-20
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself;
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.
That by two immutable things; in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
***
Everything that St. Paul wrote is of great importance. Remember that he was personally instructed by the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus, and so he had a formidable insight. Even among so many great things that he wrote, this passage is one of the most profound. He is able to explain the foundations of salvation history, of the truth of the Church, like no one else except Jesus himself. Notice how your understanding and confidence builds and is illuminated line by line in this passage.
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself;
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.
That by two immutable things; in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
***
Everything that St. Paul wrote is of great importance. Remember that he was personally instructed by the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus, and so he had a formidable insight. Even among so many great things that he wrote, this passage is one of the most profound. He is able to explain the foundations of salvation history, of the truth of the Church, like no one else except Jesus himself. Notice how your understanding and confidence builds and is illuminated line by line in this passage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
