Dr. M I L K

2012-02-02T21:45:00.001-06:00

February 2, 2012 – Hebrews 3 – 4

Another definition look-up.

Midrashic - an early Jewish interpretation of or commentary on a Biblical text, clarifying or expounding a point of law or developing or illustrating a moral principle. Footnote for 3:1-6.

I think sometimes we have a short memory. We forget what God has done for us and lose our focus in our Spiritual journey. Here we see a warning against that and the use of Israel in the wilderness as an example. Even thought they saw God’s miracles, were released from slavery, had Manna in the dessert, they were disobedient and lost faith. We are called to not lose that faith, to remember what God has done for us and to continually rely on God.

The idea of entering into God’s rest and the relationship with the Sabbath is interesting. Here, it does not relate so much to a day of the week, but the eternal Sabbath that comes after all time or that we enter into after our earthly life is over. Everyone will rest at that time. Whether you enter into God’s rest, depends on whether you did God’s work. God did His work and on the 7^th day rested. We are called, not only to live this out on a weekly basis, but throughout our lives to do God’s work, so that we can enter into His rest on the Eternal Sabbath. I don’t think I have ever seen it explained that way before.

Pierced by a two edged sword is something that we discussed in a Bible study I was in. I had the imagery that a two edge sword would be used more for piercing, for finding the crack in the armor and piercing it. It seems that with a one edged blade, you are striking at the person instead of trying to pierce them. Think of a sword stabbing verses an axe chopping. This may not be historically accurate with weaponry, but it was no accident that a two edge sword is described and described as piercing. God is not a glancing blow, He is a piercing strike that drives deeply into us.

2012-02-01T13:30:00.001-06:00

February 1, 2012 – Zephaniah 1 - 2:11

1:12 - “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” This seemed an interesting sentiment to me. It has the appearance of the “lukewarm” that will be spit out. It is the same feeling you get today when you hear people talk about religion. They say it is a private thing, a personal matter, it isn’t suppose to effect the public world. They have the attitude that God will really do no good. But they don’t fear God either or that He will do them any harm. It isn’t exactly atheistic, because it believes in God. But it takes away all God’s power. I don’t know what category that belongs to.

After chatting with some people, indifferentism appears close to what this might be called. Catholic Encyclopedia says this, “ This error (indifferentism) is shared also by the Deists, who, while they admit the existence of a personal God, deny that he demands any worship from His creatures. That seems close to what I was looking for. They believe in God, but don’t believe He needs to be worshipped (I take that also to mean obedience). They would not look for any good or ill to come their way from such a God.

2012-01-31T11:33:00.000-06:00

January 31, 2012 – Joshua 14 - 15:12

Ah, we have another Caleb sighting. I wonder why he is not brought out more. He is the only one beside Joshua that trust God, yet Joshua gets all this glory and Caleb isn’t heard from in forty-five years. And we finally have a time set out. If they were wandering for forty years, then crossed the Jordan, they took almost 5 years to conquer the lands in the first 12 chapters. I almost wish they had laid this out as it was happening because I think you might read it differently if you know how long it is taking.

Caleb gets Hebron, which the map shows is in Judah. I don’t know if Caleb is in the tribe of Judah or not (it doesn’t say). Answered my own question Numbers 13:6 - Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

The map I linked to doesn’t appear very accurate, at least with the description of Judah, since it says the western border is the great sea (Mediterranean) but the map doesn’t extend it that far.

2012-01-30T11:08:00.000-06:00

January 30, 2012 – Catechism 1293-1301

I like the list of characteristics of oil. When thinking about confirmation and getting prepared for a new step in your faith, these characteristics are good to reflect on before receiving them. It cleanses, limbers, heals, and makes beautiful. What a great way to enter into Confirmation. The understanding that you are going to be cleansed and healed. It will help you be limber for the exercises ahead. It makes you beautiful in the sight of God. What a beautiful symbol of the Grace that is being given.

Does your life give off the “aroma of Christ”. That is a good way to reflect on how you are living. An aroma does not take any speaking or action to accomplish, it is just there, all the time, for people to sense. What aroma do you give off to the people around you.

We become sealed and committed to God’s work. This has two sides to it. Our commitment to act is one side. The other side is God’s promise to be our protection as we do that work. It feels like many times people give up or lose hope because they lose sight of this second part of the agreement. We can rely on God for His strength and help, if we are doing His work. That promise of protection will never waiver.

The prayer the Bishop prays over those being confirmed is a beautiful prayer for strength. It seems like one that could be tweaked a bit for a daily prayer for strength.

2012-01-29T18:18:00.001-06:00

January 29, 2012 – Hebrews 1 – 2

A few words I had to look up. One from the readings and two from the footnotes.

Refulgence - to shine brightly. 1:3 - who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word. If you look at other translations, this makes sense.’

Fortiori Argument - The Latin phrase argumentum a fortiori denotes "argument 'from [the] stronger [reason]'." For example, if it has been established that a person is deceased, then one can, with equal or greater certainty, argue that the person is not breathing. The Christian apostle Paul makes frequent use of the argument for purpose, often signaling it with the phrase "... if [A], then how much more [B]" Footnote for 2:1-4.

Leitmotif - a motif or theme associated throughout a music drama with a particular person, situation, or idea. Footnote for 2:5-18 - The reference to Jesus as leader (Heb 2:10) sounds the first note of an important leitmotif in Hebrews.

The basic idea here is about how Christ is not only superior to the angels, but in the very same breath humbled Himself to become below angels and be human. It wants to make very clear that Christ was not an angel and that He was greater than the angels. This makes His becoming human all the more humbling. But He had to become human to save humans.

If you read the introduction, this letter was thought to be written by Paul, but that is not thought as true anymore. They don’t know who wrote it. It listed off several possibilities, but it is amazing to think we don’t know the author of such a large and important letter.

2012-01-28T16:41:00.000-06:00

January 28, 2012 – Psalms 100 – 102

100 – It seems odd for us to think about being thankful to be of service to others. We are to be thankful when we are served, it is not as natural the other way around. But that is what we are called to. We are to be servants of God, to do His will, and to walk about in constant thanksgiving for the privilege to do so. Just seems a little off kilter for us today.

101 – This is a prayer that seeks God’s help to be perfect in the way of integrity and to guard against all those that are not of integrity. The daily readings, at least the last couple of weeks, have been about David and Saul and their relationship. I always thought it was interesting that David is seen as one after God’s heart. We also believe that many of the Psalms were written by David. Maybe this one was written early on in his career, but towards the end, especially with Bathsheba, he did not have that integrity. But the goal is not to be perfect, because that cannot happen. The goal is to strive for perfection and seek forgiveness when we fail, which we will. I guess the story of Bathsheba does show us that, because David does seek forgiveness.

102 – Since the topic of David and Bathsheba came to mind, this Psalm has the feel of something David might have prayed after that sinful act. God, through Nathan, calls him out, and he ask for forgiveness, and God gives it to him, but not without consequences. This prayer could have come while David’s son is dying because of David’s sin.

2012-01-27T21:55:00.000-06:00

January 27, 2012 – Joshua 13

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/12_Tribes_of_Israel_Map.svg

Here is a great map of the tribes as they are divided. You can look at it and see how much land Israel conquered. You can also so see what God is talking about at the beginning of the chapter. Although Israel went to a lot of places and conquered 31 Kings, the land they divide up covers more than they went over. There is still land to be taken. I think we are going to discover that the lands still left to be conquered are going to be the responsibility of the tribe that gets the land.

2012-01-26T18:56:00.000-06:00

January 26, 2012 – Catechism 1285-1292

I don’t remember much about my Confirmation. I don’t think I was very well prepared for it. That doesn’t take away from its effect, just a fact. In helping get teens ready for Confirmation, I have tried to help them realize what is happening. One of the things I think makes the moment “bigger” for them is the story of Pentecost. That same Holy Spirit that descended on the Apostles is the Holy Spirit that will descend on them at that moment. It doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit was not there before (the Apostles received it from Christ on Easter Sunday) but it does come to them in a very special way. It may not be visible as in tongues of fire, but it will descend upon them in a unique way and build them up for going out and showing the world Christ in more substantial way. I think it is important for them to read the Pentecost story and reflect on it. What the attitude of the Apostles were before and after. What the Apostles did after. They should receive strength, hope and courage from this and be able to experience their confirmation in a more fulfilling way and be ready for what is expected of them after. I don’t know if I would have cherished mine anymore if someone had explained it to me in that way or not, but I do think it helps to look at it in the light of the Apostles Pentecost.

2012-01-25T18:54:00.000-06:00

January 25, 2012 – 2 Peter 2:11 - 3:18

“They promise them freedom, though they themselves are slaves” 2:19 This is a perfect statement about what the secular world describes as freedom. I will put a couple of links below. One is the popular video about loving Jesus but hating religion. He obviously does not understand the true nature of freedom. Freedom is not about living beyond all rules and boundaries, but living inside the boundaries set up by God so you can be truly free from sin that enslaves. You are completely free to choice to live in sin, but sin enslaves and the boundaries are there to protect you from those sins. I wouldn’t be very responsible if I didn’t link to the Catholic responses to the video. Although they are not as equally viewed I number, they do counter the video very well.

The last link is a clip from one of the resent debates. It is Rick Santorum speaking about freedom and rights and the freedom that God has given us verses the “freedoms” that the Government says they have given us. The Government is not suppose to give freedom, but protect freedoms that God has given us. That is what the country was established on.

http://youtu.be/1IAhDGYlpqY

http://youtu.be/Ru_tC4fv6FE

http://youtu.be/TLta2b9zQ64

http://youtu.be/53sx8FxzCxA

2012-01-24T18:54:00.000-06:00

January 24, 2012 – Isaiah 64-65

There is a picture painted of a perfect world. Long life, peace among animals, no death or illness. This picture is made for those that follows God’s will. The footnotes call it an apocalyptic type text. Usually when you hear apocalyptic, you think devastation and wrath and things being destroyed. Here, apocalyptic is pictured as perfection. I guess we should see it that way if we truly have hope in God. The end, for those that believe and hope in God, is going to be a heavenly peace. That is the end we hope and pray for. There may be the destruction before it comes, but our apocalyptic view should focus on the end that will be coming. Maybe there wouldn’t be the fascination with the end of days and the popularity of describing it in such a way if when we think apocalyptic we think of the heavenly peace that we hope for instead of the death on destruction that comes to mind now.

2012-01-23T18:53:00.000-06:00

January 23, 2012 – Joshua 12

I didn’t know if there was any significance to the number 31. I could not think of any. It is a prime number, but other than that. The is a lot of kings to take out, but again, we don’t know how long this lasted. We may find out eventually how long the campaigns went, but I have not seen anything yet.

2012-01-22T18:18:00.000-06:00

January 22, 2012 – Catechism 1275-1284

I love Baptism, the permanence, the idea of being re-born into a new life, the understanding of reuniting with God, of crossing that divide that was brought by original sin. I loved having my two boys Baptized and it means a great deal to me that I am responsible for bringing them up in a way that God would want. I don’t regret at all the fact that I don’t remember my Baptism and don’t hold it against my parents for Baptizing me as an infant. I am thankful that God’s grace was with me during those years when I wasn’t even aware of it and only when I see my life fully after all is said and done will I understand how that Grace aided me in those early years. I cannot for the life of me understand the downside of having an infant Baptized. If you think it should be a choice that a person makes on their own, a person can make a choice to follow God or not. We all have free will. Baptizing and infant does not take away their free will. They have the choice to follow God when they grow up, same as everyone else. Accept they will have that added Grace, that mark of God, to help them. Someone who is baptized as an adult has the same free will to turn away from God after they are Baptized. I don’t know if I will ever understand the objections to infant Baptism.

2012-01-21T18:13:00.000-06:00

January 21, 2012 – 2 Peter 1 - 2:10

I have never heard anyone have an interpretation about 1:20 and how that gels with the idea that we are all free to interpret the Bible ourselves. It says that “there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation”. That begs the question as to how are we suppose to interpret the Bible. There must be some way or source that interprets the scripture so that it can be understood and followed. That source and authority would be the Church. What does it say will happen if personal interpretation is allowed. It will lead to destructive heresies that many will follow. CHECK. Because of this, the way of truth will be reviled. CHECK. The Christian brotherhood is a divided house and becomes more and more divided as different denominations split off based on one person or a groups personal interpretation of the Scripture divides them. This split of Christianity takes away its ability to be a united guide to the world. There must be a proper authority to give a truthful and accurate interpretation of the Scriptures for Gods followers. Any other notion leads only to division and collapse and does not make rational sense. We are allowed and encouraged to study the scriptures and reflect on them and allow them to influence our life, but we must do so with a guide.

2012-01-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

January 20, 2012 – Proverbs 30

Verse 8-9 talk about having an abundance of wealth or goods and not relying on the Lord. It recommends asking just for the bare necessities so that you do trust in the Lord. If we have too much we will say “Who is the Lord”, thinking that we have received all of these things through our own actions. Everything is a gift from God and as I talked about in a previous post, we are stewards of it, not owners.

There is also an interesting take on those that want more and keep seeking more and more. Eventually, maybe not at the beginning or even on purpose, but eventually you will go about getting it in evil ways or it will lead you down evil paths. Ask for only what you need, “or being in want, I steal and profane the name of my God” v.9. As I said this is not out of malice or intended; it is just the natural progression because we will never be satisfied with material things. We will only grow more and more in lust over them and when our means will not obtain them for us, we will seek them out my other means.

Being in the midst of a political season, you wonder how many politicians have traveled this road. They might have started with the best of intentions, but power and authority can begin to control you and little by little you start going into the gray to get what you want. Eventually, you do not see the right from the wrong anymore, only the want and desire, the power and control. I have always thought about jumping into those waters, but I am always leery about whether I am strong enough to resist going down that path and having it devour me, change me, in the end destroy me. You balance staying in your quite home, living your quite life verses risking it all to try to help the world that is struggling. However, Christ did not call us to sit on the sidelines. Ah, the thoughts that run through a mind when you ponder the future.

2012-01-19T22:04:00.001-06:00

January 19, 2012 – Joshua 11

Chinneroth is another name for Sea of Galilee. Didn’t know that.

I tried to get my map to pull up, but it was giving me issues. The northern conquest goes really far North, up past the sea of Galilee.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but I always thought it was interesting that God brings these nations together to be more efficient in conquering them. Imagine how much more it would have taken to go to each individual city and attack their army. Instead, they all come together and most the armies of the land is defeated all at once. You can imagine there would not have been much resistance after the main bulks of the armies were defeated, plus who is going to resist after seeing what happened to them.

I also thought it was interesting that nobody tried to ask for peace after the one town did. It says that God hardened their hearts, much like He did for pharaoh, in order to allow them to be conquered. I questioned what God was going to do because Joshua allowed that agreement, but you must think that God set it into motion if He hardened the hearts of others.

2012-01-18T20:38:00.001-06:00

January 18, 2012 – Catechism 1267-1274

Two things. That all Baptized Christians are recognized as Christians by the Catholic Church. I don’t know if non-Catholics recognize this. I don’t know if they understand this or feel that Catholics see them in a different light. Catholics do draw a distinction between Christians and those Catholics in full communion with the Catholic Church. I wonder if non-Catholic Christians feel the same about Catholics. Do they consider Catholics Christians or do they not even put us in that category. And I used “Catholics in full communion” on purpose. Cafeteria Catholics are still Christians and may even call themselves Catholics, but it may be in word alone. The Catechism makes it pretty clear that a true Catholic is one that is in full communion or believes and joins in all the teachings of the Church. You could make the argument that a Cafeteria Catholic is no different than a non-Catholic Christian as far as their standing with the Church.

The second thing is that after Baptism we are marked forever. Nothing we can do can ever take away that mark of God. There is no sin so great that we can erase what God has given to us. Remember this when you think that you cannot come back to Him. I have heard many people talk about how much they have done and that they don’t feel right about coming back or don’t deserve to come back. This is the one sin that God cannot forgive, the one that is never is asked to be forgiven. There is nothing that God cannot forgive you and if you have been Baptized, He has already marked you and is longing for you to come back to Him.

2012-01-17T20:37:00.000-06:00

January 17, 2012 – 1 Peter 4 – 5

I think sometimes we don’t understand that we are stewards of God’s gifts to us. (4:10) A steward is a person who manages another's property or financial affairs. The things we have from God are not ours. We are not free to do whatever we want with them. Well, we are free to do whatever we want, but then we are not being good stewards. What we have is not ours, but God’s, given to us to manage, as the definition puts it. The owner is God. Keep that in mind when you feel free to go about doing whatever you please. Would you drive recklessly with someone else’s car. Would you spend someone else’s money unwisely. Would you treat someone else’s child negligently if you were caring for them. We are called to treat all of our gifts with the same care because they do not belong to us.

5:8 reminded me of the nature videos you always see of the lion going after the herd of animals. The one he catches is always the one that isn’t quite fast enough or is crippled for some reason. Picturing the devil as a lion going after a herd, then picture the person that is not “sober and vigilant”. This is on a spiritual sense, when we cripple ourselves or do not exercise our faith and gifts, we become the one that is left behind and devoured by the lion. Except in our case, there are many lions prowling and we must be on constant guard.

That imagery has a bit of a flaw when you think about what the herd doesn’t do for the one that is caught. We are not called to abandon those that are ensnared by the devil in order to save ourselves. We are called to reach out and save them. But, we may not be called to reach out so far that we leave ourselves vulnerable to attack (here I am thinking of a person that joins a cult to get their friend out of it. That is a grave risk that I don’t think we are called to do).

2012-01-16T20:36:00.000-06:00

January 16, 2012 – Wisdom 10

This chapter is a walkthrough of Genesis and Exodus, but Wisdom is the guide. Obviously, God is Wisdom, but the way it is walked through gives you a slightly different take. Read it again and look. Verse 7 refers to Sodom and Gomorra (remains a smoking desert) and Lot’s wife (pillar of salt). Verses 8-9 seems to speak of the tower of Babel (left the world a memorial of their folly). 10 – 12 speaks of Jacob (fled his brother, prospered from labors). 13 – 14 speaks of Joseph (sold, authority over oppressors). And 15 – 19 speaks of Moses (withstood fearsome king, across the Red Sea). We have wisdom being the guide for all these major events of Israel’s past. We take it for granted or as obvious that God was there through all these things. Maybe it will invite us to reflect on events a little deeper if we stop thinking of it as just “God”, but from the individual attributes like this. Can we do it our own life. If we look back at a turning point, do we see God acting in our lives. Can we look back and see that it was Wisdom that was working. Maybe it was Love, or Justice, Healing or any of the other perfect attributes of God.

2012-01-15T19:54:00.002-06:00

January 15, 2012 – Joshua 10

There is a lot to put on this map, so instead of putting the red tags and green arrows, I thought I would just underline the towns mentioned and black arrows for Israel’s movement. My last map has Israel going to Gibeon, but they must have come back to Gilgal, because that is where Israel starts in this chapter and where their main camp lies and where they seem to always return. I only finished a map from verses 1-27. I will add the rest later. You get a sense of why they needed more than one day to finish the victory because they followed them a long way.

2012-01-14T23:40:00.000-06:00

January 14, 2012 – Catechism 1257-1266

One of the comments made before about those in the process of becoming Catholic, but die before their baptism, appears to be answered by paragraph 1259.

Paragraph 1261 speaks about children who die that are not baptized. This was discussed in the comments from a post a week or so ago. Here the church confirms the hope that God’s mercy will save those children who are not baptized and enforces its theology on baptizing infants so that they do not die without this gift of grace. So, it is not Catholic teaching that children that die without baptism go to hell. But Catholic teaching is that we don’t have a specific answer for what happens to those children. We place our hope in God’s mercy and love, but understand that they have the stain of original sin that is with them from birth and not removed because they have not received baptism.

I wonder if concupiscence is really understood. This is the understanding that even with the gift of baptism taking away the punishment for our sin, humans are left with the tendency to sin that is a part of us because of original sin. This is fairly obvious when think about how much we struggle with doing what we know is right. I can also see it when I look at my young boy when he is being incredibly bad.

John 3:5 - 5: Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Matthew 28:19 - Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:

2012-01-13T20:46:00.001-06:00

January 13, 2012 – 1 Peter 2:11 - 3:22

2:16 - “Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God”

How can anyone believe in the Bible and still support a pro-choice stance. You are free to choose, but that freedom does not give you the freedom to choose evil. You are free to do God’s will, which may not sound like freedom to some, but you are also free to ignore and go against God’s will. If that is the choice you make, then you deserve what you get. You cannot ask for it to go both ways. If you want God to give you your freedom to make choices, you must be responsible for those choices.

In writing the above I was thinking how can anyone believe in Sola Fide. It is obvious that our works and deeds are something we will be judged upon. I understand that they say a person with “true” faith automatically has good works, but that isn’t true. There are no sinless people around, so there appears to be no one that has “real” faith. If someone with “real” faith can make mistakes, how are we suppose to determine someone with “real” faith verses a lesser faith. You might say that God knows, but how does that help a person trying to find salvation. Tell them that their faith alone saves them if they have the right kind of faith, but we really cannot tell you how to know if you have the right faith. That seems out of whack to me.

3:7 calls the female the weaker sex. A statement like that will cause an uproar. But look at what is surrounding it. Husbands are to honor their wives. This not only means to respect them, but when you honor them you place them above you and revere them. And after it, it states that we are joint heirs of the gift of life. Joint heirs means that we receive equally. The feminist movement has tried to make male and female equal in all things, causing confusion in many areas and leading to many negative things. Male and female are not equal in all things. We were not created to be so, it is not our purpose to be so, and to move in that direction damages both. We are equal in the gift of life from God, but we are unique in many very special areas and we were created to unit and benefit from each other’s unique gifts. Every step we take to make males more feminine and females more masculine takes us in the opposite direction of God’s plan. God’s plan is about unity and community. We are not supposed to be the same because it takes away the effect of unity.

2012-01-12T19:37:00.001-06:00

January 12, 2012 – Sirach 16

There are those in the world that will not change their ways and believe that a merciful God will not punish them for their sins because of God’s infinite mercy. This is a mistake. We can rely on God’s infinite mercy, but only if we are actively seeking to live as God calls us to live. God’s will be merciful to those that seek to follow Him and fall. But mercy is not for those who ignore God’s call and seek their own pleasure. Those are the sinful that are to be punished. God’s mercy is infinite, but great as His mercy is His punishment (verse 12). What can a person who willfully disobeys the commands laid out by God expect. If you listen to some, they expect God to just ignore that fact. God cannot do this, or He is not God. God, if He is God, is perfect in everything, including justice and must give us what we deserve, or He is not God. A god who ignores all our wrongs so that we can be with him in eternity may be the god that people believe in, but that is not God, the God of the Bible, the true God. I am sure there are many people that left this world relying on the infinite mercy of God to wipe away all the wrongs they choose in this world only to find out what infinite justice looks like. After we leave this world we are given what we have chosen while we were here. If we did not choose God here, He is not going to give that to us for eternity. And if we aren’t with Him in Heaven, there is only one other place that awaits us. Be careful on how we view God’s mercy. It is infinite and given freely by God to bring us to Heaven, but it is not a license to live life on Earth as we desire. There is a price to choosing to live life that way and we may be surprised at the difference between God’s understanding of mercy and our own.

2012-01-11T18:41:00.003-06:00

January 11, 2012 – Joshua 9

There are 2 Gilgal’s on the map, so I don’t know which they would be camping at. One is close to

Ai, the last city conquered, but one is closer to the mounts where Joshua read the law to them and there is another on the other side of Jericho, so it is unclear. On my map I use the one

closest to Ai, because it makes sense with the direction of the next towns they go to. The site I am using for my maps did not have Chephirah, but the other three are very close together, so it must have been near there.

I don’t know what God is going to do about this decision that was not made with His consultation. We don’t know God’s reaction from this chapter, but He has reacted

pretty swiftly when Israel has step out of bounds so far. Speaking of acting swiftly, we really don’t know how quickly God is acting because there really haven’t been any timeframes given since the 7 days at Jericho. We don’t know how long it was between Jericho and Ai, then second Ai, then this journey by the Gibeonites. Could be days or weeks or months. I wonder if we find out later how long everything took.here are 2 Gilgal’s on the map, so I don’t know which they would be camping at. One is close to Ai, the last city conquered, but one is closer to the mounts where Joshua read the law to them and there is another on the other side of Jericho, so it is unclear. On my map I use the one closest to Ai, because it makes sense with the direction of the next towns they go to. The site I am using for my maps did not have Chephirah, but the other three are very close together, so it must have been near there.

We can learn a lesson about always bringing God into our decision making. That should be the person we always consult with any time we have a choice to make.

2012-01-10T18:40:00.000-06:00

January 10, 2012 – Catechism 1246-1256

I am not interested in having another discussion on infant Baptism. I think that has been covered. It may not be literally word for word in the Bible, but it can be implied and it is accepted in the very earliest of Church writings from the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries.

I am more interested in the RCIA program. This is the program that adults use when they are being brought into the church. I was wondering why they are not Baptized at the beginning of the class. It is my understanding, and I could be wrong, that they receive all the Sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil, at the end of their education. Why wouldn’t they receive Baptism at the beginning. If it is viewed as the entrance into the faith and the doorway that one walks through in beginning their journey, it seems appropriate to do this from the start. The paragraphs talk about how we are suppose to continue to grow after Baptism, and that is what the classes are about. It just seems that Baptism, if infants receive it and start their journey, should be given to those that want to enter the Church at the beginning of their journey.

2012-01-09T17:46:00.001-06:00

January 9, 2012 – 1 Peter 1 - 2:10

A few thoughts on these verses. Peter, from the introduction, is writing t encourage those that are being persecuted for their faith. Keep that in mind as you read it. Also keep in mind that we, Christians, are persecuted by the world today with all of its secular ideas and beliefs. So, as you read, think about those Christians that were in fear for their lives but continue to believe, but also take the lessons to heart and use them to persevere in your own faith journey.

Verse 17 says that we will be judged impartially according to our works. This is just one verse among many that point this out, but I wanted to highlight it in opposition to the theology of salvation by faith alone. Catholics do not believe in “faith alone” nor do they teach works alone, but a unity of the two with works being done with faith and both stemming from the Grace of God. Peter talks throughout the letter about the faith that will save and the faith that is had in something unseen, but here he does mention that we are judged on our works as well. And judged impartially, by God, not as the world sees.

Wondered what anyone thought of 2:3 and the idea that Peter says they have “tasted that the Lord is good” and whether that might be a allusion to the Eucharist. It jumps out at you that he uses the verb “tasted” when talking about coming into contact with the Lord. And directly before this he talks about infants longing for milk, that which they will consume and nourishes them. Two similar descriptions of the Eucharist, that we consume it and it nourishes us.

2012-01-08T17:35:00.000-06:00

January 8, 2012 – Wisdom 3

I am not good with death. I don’t seem to do very well at funerals and I find it uncomfortable when people are laughing and cheery at funerals. I understand it, that they are celebrating a good life lived and maybe even dealing with their grief with humor, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable. I never know what to say or how to act. I tend to just be quite and by myself if I can manage. The times when I have had to participate or stand in the family line have been the worst because I am forced to be around people and interact when I don’t want to. I can’t imagine this is a healthy way to deal with death and funerals, but I just can’t get over that wall to the celebration of a life that quickly. When I think about my grandparents that have died, the funerals I really remember the most, I can think of them now and remember the good lives they lived and be grateful, but not at the funerals. It just seems to be too close to the lose. I wonder if it is ok to ask that my funeral take place 2 or 3 weeks after my death so that people like me have more time to let it sink in. Granted, I am assuming anyone comes.

The lack of humor at a funeral also may come from the fact that the things I think are funny are only funny to others 1 out of 10 times and nothing is more awkward that bombing a joke than doing it at a funeral.

This first part of the chapter comes at a time when we just finished going to the funeral of a friend’s funeral for their baby that died at 3 days old. I don’t know how much the infant suffered or felt pain. One of my co-workers lost a friend’s family member to cancer recently to, so I sent her the first part of the chapter. It is a very reassuring piece and goes along with what we just talked about, God’s ways not being ours.

2012-01-07T11:59:00.000-06:00

January 7, 2012 – Joshua 8

Map of Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim

The mounts that they go to seem a ways North to be heading that far. Maybe the cities that are shown on this map weren’t there and it was just land between Ai (near Bethel) and the Mounts.

Here we see God able to use the attempt by Israel that did not work because they disobeyed Him. Granted, God could have defeated Ai in any way He chose, but He uses the wrongs of Israel to fulfill His will. We don’t often realize the good God can do with the wrongs we perceive in the world. We only see the wrong and curse it. God sees a tool that He can shape into a good. And the good maybe something that we never understand or see, but God’s good is not limited to our understanding of good. But boy is it difficult to feel that way when you are in the middle of sadness or turmoil or whatever the situation is that you do not understand. Always try to focus on God and that He knows what He is doing and His plan is always heading for good.

2012-01-06T19:51:00.001-06:00

January 6, 2012 – Catechism 1234-1245

This talks about the infant that is baptized being brought to the alter during the Our Father instead of receiving Holy Communion, but that didn’t happen in our baptisms of the boys. I do wonder about Holy Communion and if our boys should wait until their “class” goes. Paul already ask if he can eat Jesus too. I know he doesn’t fully understand what he is asking, but then again, I don’t fully understand transubstantiation either. His belief is strong enough that he feels he can call it Jesus when he sees it. And he calls Jesus on the crucifix Jesus as well. Whether he knows it is the same Jesus may not be there yet. When he hears names, they all tend to mean the same person. St. Edward was yesterday’s saint and he thought it was St. Edward, the train from Thomas. He also asked for St. Diesel to pray for us one night. So, obviously I don’t think he is there yet, but he is asking and I am not sure if he should wait another 5-7 years.

2012-01-05T18:23:00.001-06:00

January 5, 2012 – Titus 1-3

Here we have the short letter to Titus. It appears to be a short instruction manual on how to handle a new Christian community. A couple of things that are pointed out and I believe are important. There is an established authority. There is a hierarchy set up, there is an understood Truth coming from the top to the community through sources, Titus is called to set up others who will continue to teach this Truth and there is a call to admonish those that are not teaching the Truth. I have talked at length about authority and Truth and the disconnect non-Catholics have to this understanding, but here is just one more example that disagreements in teachings on faith and morals is not something that is Biblical. It is against such division that Paul is writing to Titus to stop and avoid. Yet we have 30,000 denominations teaching different varieties of Christianity and all believing they are following Christ commands. There is not 30,000 different Truths, but only one. This is what Paul knew and instructed.

We see that the instruction for a leader in the community has its foundation in self-control. How true this is today and yet the world teaches to indulge. We are in the midst of an election in which it seems every candidate has skeleton’s popping up. We want a leader that has self-control over themselves. How else can you trust them to make sound decisions. How else can you trust them to not just go with the flow and react on emotions. Self-control is such a lost characteristic and is viewed by some (thanks Freud) as harmful. Yet, if we give in to whatever we want (some would call this freedom), are we really in any kind of control or are we being controlled (opposite of freedom). If we cannot say no, our yes means nothing. I thought it was interesting that the first thing to look for in a leader of the Church is someone who shows self-control in their own life and actions. Maybe we should look for that in our leaders.

2012-01-04T19:34:00.001-06:00

January 4, 2012 – Obadiah 1

At first I thought this was rather confusing and too short to really make much sense, but when you stop and think about the imagery of a brother, seeing another brother suffering, and not taking action to help but actually aiding in the suffering, you get a sense of what God is saying to Edom. This action of hurting your own brother is not something that is singular here. Joseph suffered at the hand of his brothers. Jacob left for fear of his brother. There is a deep betrayal that God is trying to get across here and because of the deep betrayal, the repercussions will be that much more severe. Looking at the footnotes, the destruction of Edom will be complete when it happens. Verse 5 and its note talk about how a thief will not steal everything, only what they want, and a person picking grapes will miss some or leave some behind, but God will leave nothing left of Edom when their time comes. What do we take from this? Being unfaithful to your family or your relation leads to greater punishment than unfaithfulness to others. That is something to think about when we here about people working so hard and so long at work that they disregard their family. Are they being more faithful to Babylon as opposed to Israel. Edom profited from siding with Babylon, for a time, but in the long run, God wants us to focus on our brother, our family. Not doing so brings about serious consequences for us.

2012-01-03T19:03:00.003-06:00

January 3, 2012 – Joshua 7

It didn’t take long for Israel to violate the rules from God. The first city they attack they take things they are not suppose to. And it cost them the

lives of many soldiers. This was all done because one person could not keep their mitts off of some gold and silver. We often don’t feel we should be blamed for what other people do wrong, but sin is never private. That is something that isn’t realized by the people that think things like pornography and other sexual sins are private matters. Sin is never private. It always has its effects. Whether it is the family that is hurt by the lack of love, the spouse that is hurt because of the image they cannot compete with, the person who is exploited by the industry to send out that junk, sexual sins, no matter how many walls they have or how many doors are locked, are never private. They have their effect on the community, small and large, and are always negative and build up the lie that they try to sell as love.

2012-01-02T19:02:00.000-06:00

January 2, 2012 – Catechism 1226 – 1233

Infant baptism is something that is discussed a lot. Many say it is not biblical, yet in these paragraphs it talks about the verses in which entire families were baptized. This does not exclude the children, even the youngest. True, it does not specifically list all the children, but it doesn’t list all the women either. I cannot think of a single woman who is baptized. That doesn’t mean that women cannot be baptized, but if you think not listing infant baptism in the Bible means the Bible restricts it, you could make the same argument for women, which would be ludicrous.

Secondly, Christ calls us to be childlike, He called the Children to Him, and the most innocent and in tune with God that we are is in our youngest ages. Why would we keep them from the grace of Baptism. Just a couple of thoughts on infant baptism.

2012-01-01T19:01:00.000-06:00

January 1, 2012 – 1 Timothy 5-6

In reading about the rules for presbyters (priest) my thoughts went immediately to the sex abuse scandal. I don’t know if that is a bad thing or not, but that is what I thought about. First I thought about the rule in reprimanding publicly who do sin. The biggest issue is that these acts occurred, which is awful. However, what made them worse is the covering up that was attempted in many of the cases. Men that were known to be doing these things were shoved into different settings, in worst cases, into settings where they might commit more harm. If, as the readings say, the sinners were brought to the public, would we still be talking about it. If at the first confirmation that acts occurred, the priest is brought to light, action is taken to stop it, aid given to the victims, and healing started, would it have been the scandal that it is. We won’t know because so much was covered up that the healing will take that much longer.

The second thing I thought about is the part was two or three witnesses should be required. There are many times when allegations may be thrown out there and because of the past, they are automatically thought to be true. People sometimes to have the wrong motivation and go about making allegations that are not true only to hurt people. We claim to be a country of being innocent until proven guilty, but this seems less and less the case (and not only when dealing with allegations like this but with politicians, celebrities, basically anything in the media.) As soon as something hits the news, most people believe it because the news is telling it to them. They do not rely on any source other than the talking head, who may not be relying on anything more than another talking head, which could be getting it from somebody who is not reliable or making it up. The reading holds both sides accountable. We are to bring the bad out into the public, but we are also to make sure that the bad is accurate.

I was also thinking about slaves. The Bible talks a lot about slavery and how to treat your slaves. Logically this implies that the Bible does not forbid slavery. You could use this to argue that slavery is ok, and I would imagine that argument was made during the 1800’s when this country fought over that issue. But the slavery that took place in the Bible seems different than what we had in our country. In the Bible there seems to be slavery either from conquered enemies or if someone became too indebted. In the slavery that we are familiar with, it was the enslavement of an entire race of people, on an entire continent for the most part. Not one that we defeated either. We bought and sold slaves from lands that other nations conquered. Not only this, but we determined that slaves were not really human, a sub-class of person. They did not have the same rights nor the ability to gain those rights. It seems to be two entirely different understandings of slavery. I don’t think the Bible in anyway supports the notion of slavery that we as a nation employed.

2011-12-31T17:32:00.000-06:00

December 31, 2011 – 2 Maccabees 12 – 12:25

This is a very violent reading. A lot of brutal actions, on both ends. Mostly you only hear about how brutal Israel is under God’s commands, but here we see Israel’s enemies being brutal. They took women and children out and drowned them. Not only that, but they did it during a time when there was an agreed peace and did so under the disguise of friendship. I think it is complete coincidence that they mention Jericho, which we read about yesterday, and that siege and the siege here.

2011-12-30T13:33:00.002-06:00

December 30, 2011 – Joshua 5 – 6

First camp of Israel after the crossing. About 5 miles from the river.

Here is the moment when Israel’s enemies should have taken advantage. All the men of fighting age were vulnerable and needed time to recover. Joshua did not need to be circumcised because he had it done the first time around. I guess I never thought about whether they did this or not while in the wilderness. I thought they would have, just making it part of the ritual when a male was born, but evidently this was not done so that this new generation had to recommit themselves to this covenant with God.

Is this commander of the army of god St. Michael I wonder. And I was thinking the manna had stopped coming long ago, but evidently it went until the very eve of Joshua’s campaign.

If you ever watch the Veggie Tales version of this story, it brings up a point that isn’t really talked about hear. How close did they march to the walls and did Jericho attack them from the walls while they walked. If Israel was far enough away, then it really isn’t an issue, except that the distance they walked was longer and doing it 7 times on the last day might have taken all day. If they walked close enough, why wouldn’t Jericho attack them while they walked and if Israel just kept walking while being attacked, it took a lot of persevering to keep doing it for 7 days, going out an walking and being quite while being attacked. Especially since, according to the way I read it, Joshua didn’t let them know what was going on until the very end. This shows their trust in Joshua.

Rahab, before she was in the line of Christ, was in the line of David. I don’t know if that is brought up when David is made king, but you would think they would make that connection. Not only did God pick the youngest of a poor shepherd, but he has Rahab the prostitute in his line.

2011-12-29T17:10:00.001-06:00

December 29, 2011 – Catechism 1217 – 1225

I just started a book by Charles Chaput called “Living the Catholic Faith”. His first chapter talks a lot about baptism. He tells the story of a brother and sister surviving Niagara Falls. His focus is on the sister who was rescued before going over. He equates this to baptism. We are in the water and heading towards the fall. There is absolutely nothing we can do to prevent it. Out of nowhere and only because He chooses to, Christ jumps into the river and saves us from the fall. This is what happens in Baptism, we are cleansed of the stain of original sin (from going over the falls) and given a new life in Christ. Just as the sister was given a new life that was unexpected (after falling in, you could not expect to survive) and unearned, we are given a new life based solely on God giving it to us. So far it is a very good book and I would encourage you to pick it up (after I am finished of course).

2011-12-28T20:58:00.001-06:00

December 28, 2011 – 1 Timothy 3 – 4

4:12 is one that we often focus on in youth ministry to encourage young people to be bold in their faith. I know growing up I had the impression that religion was for grown-ups and we were told what we should know or what was important. Young people should be encouraged to learn about the Faith and proclaim it and their example can convert those much older than themselves. It is an inspirational verse that we can all take encouragement from, but especially for those that feel they may be too young to make a difference and for those that feel they are too old to listen to a young person’s views.

2011-12-27T20:57:00.000-06:00

December 27, 2011 – Jonah 1 – 4

I was looking at maps for past post and thought I would look at Nineveh. It is a long way from the Holy Land. Tarshish and Joppa are also mentioned. It is unclear where Jonah starts from, but you can see, from the maps, that when he decides to run, he is going to run far. Tarshish is on the coast of Spain, so he is going to the far side of the world to avoid God. This point maybe isn’t as clear if you do not know the geography.

When the Apostles were in the ship with Christ and He was asleep during the storm, do you think this story popped into their minds. Matthew 8:24

This book not only shows the power of God, storms, control of fish, but the great mercy of God and the sense, as is evident in many places, that God’s ways are not ours. Jonah wants the destruction that was promised. He does not care about repentance. From God’s point of view, repentance, a return to God, is all He ever wants, from the very first break in the covenant. How much are we like Jonah and cannot forgive and accept others repentance.

2011-12-26T20:54:00.000-06:00

December 26, 2011 – Joshua 3 – 4

Shittim, Adam, and the Jordan are all areas mentioned. When Joshua crosses, he is going to take Israel on a journey all over the place conquering lands. I am hoping to map it out (I am sure there are maps out there, but I want to do my own.) Adam is north of Shittim and the Jordan flows south, so if I am reading it correctly, the water stopped flowing or was blocked around Adam and the river, from Adam south, dried up allowing them to cross.

Just FYI because I was looking at the maps, the Jordan and where we are talking about are around the 31 or 32 degree latitude. That is roughly the gulf coast, New Orleans is around 30, Jackson, MS is around 32.

Location of Shittim

Location of Adam

2011-12-25T20:53:00.000-06:00

December 25, 2011 – Catechism 1210 – 1216

The 7 Sacraments are such an intricate part of the faith that most Catholics can name them even if they do not know what they completely entail. Hopefully, going through them one at a time, we can get a better understanding of where they come from, why they are so important and why the Church puts such an importance to them. I have received 5 of them so far. I have never receive anointing of the sick or holy orders. I would image I will receive the one some years from now and there is an outside chance I could receive the other if I were to become a Deacon. So far as I can tell, a Deacon is the only person that receives or will receive all 7 Sacraments.

2011-12-24T20:50:00.000-06:00

December 24, 2011 – 1 Timothy 1 – 2

1:3-6 appears to be an instruction for Timothy to not get caught up in certain parts of the history and law of the Scriptures because it can cause people to lose focus on the teachings of Christ. This happens sometimes when people focus on the differences in the stories of the Gospel and not the message. It also happens when people discredit the Bible because of the Genesis story vs. science and miss what God is trying to tell us. Paul is warning Timothy, I believe, that the Scriptures are a tool to be used and relied on, but that focusing on them entirely can cause people to go astray.

2011-12-23T20:42:00.001-06:00

December 23, 2011 – Isaiah 33 – 34

In looking at the Restoration of Zion one sees a king restored and the Lord majestic. I don’t know what to make of the river that is not sailed upon. The rigging hanging and the sails not full implies that there is no wind. What does no wind have to do with the coming of the Heavenly King. Perhaps the peace that it brings. Christ did calm the storm. I am trying to picture Heaven and whether there is wind or not. Obviously a nice breeze is pleasant, but they are pleasant when needed, when a person is hot and needs a cool breeze. There would not be storms in Heaven, so no strong winds and the temperature is perfect, if there is such a thing as temperature in Heaven, so I guess there is no wind, or what we would consider wind in Heaven. I have no idea if that what it was trying to point to when it talks about ships never being able to go and rigging and sails without wind, but that is what I thought about.

2011-12-22T16:01:00.001-06:00

December 22, 2011 – Joshua 1 - 2

1:9 – “I command you: be strong and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD, your God, is with you wherever you go.” This is a great verse and should be one that is memorized and repeated every day. Here we have Rahab, one of the few women in the lineage of Christ laid out in Matthew. She is neither Israelite nor a extremely holy person, a prostitute, yet she is laid out as an example of someone in Christ line. Why? Possibly to show us Christ humanity. Possibly to emphasis the power of God, taking this line and bringing about God despite its sins. Possibly to show the redemptive nature of faith and acting according to God’s will. We talk about Mary’s “yes”. Would you say that this was Rahab’s “yes” in agreeing to save them or Rahab’s “no” to the leaders of Jericho in saying that the spies were no longer with her. Both risked much in their reply

2011-12-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

December 21, 2011 – Catechism 1200 – 1209

We see here that the Liturgy is suppose to integrate different forms and traditions of different cultures into itself in order to better evangelize to those different cultures. That being said, these differences are not suppose to change the foundational nature of the liturgy or go against the teachings of the Catholic Church. As we saw in the Road to Emmaus story, the liturgy of the Mass has had the same format from the beginning. Certain things about the Mass are not to be compromised, even though the outer shell may look different from culture to culture to better serve those communities.

In reading the book interview of the Pope, before he was Pope, in regards to Vatican II, this understanding was lost soon after the Council. There have been many changes that were not foreseen by the council and which have tried to change the actual underlying format of the Mass. Taking away the authenticity of the priest, changing postures or words of the prayers, taking away the traditional Latin or music, are all things that have been done that are not laid out in Vatican II but have been done under its guise. Just like changes from culture to culture, the changes that were purposed by Vatican II were went to aid it evangelizing to a broader group of people and to build the church. What has happened is a deteriorating of the Church because people took the changes too far. Just as these paragraphs warn against changes that are to the fundamental base of the Liturgy, so it should have been a warning to the Church after Vatican II. Damage has been done that, at this point, living among the destruction, seems irreparable. It sometimes seems like we are waking up to the destruction of our town in a tornado. Many questions arise about where to begin rebuilding, who will stay, what will it be like in the meantime. We have to realize that Christ said the Church would be here until the end, He didn’t say what it would look like or that it would always be flourishing. We wait to see what may arise out of the ashes, but that may not be something we actually see. That may be for our children and grandchildren. It may be on us to start rebuilding and to maintain our perseverance.

Another aspect that I thought about in comparison to the image of waking up in a town ruined by a tornado is what those outside the town see or how they act. Everyone knows about Joplin and the destruction and it was news for several days, but then it was gone and forgotten. You still here things said about it every once in a while, but not very often. During this time of turmoil, the Catholic Church has been made the spotlight of many controversies and attacked by the world at an enormous rate. Perhaps, after the destruction appears complete, which is hard to say whether we have seen the bottom, the world may forget about the Church and allow it to rebuild itself with little or no care, like we may not see Joplin rebuild. That Church may bloom into something even greater and stronger, but as I said, it is likely that we will not see it. It is only our job to start.

2011-12-20T15:59:00.000-06:00

December 20, 2011 – Luke 24:13 – 24:53

I love the Road to Emmaus story. Have you ever seen it as a clear description of the Mass. Here is a simple breakdown.First, Christ appeared to them and walked with them. The Priest of a Catholic Mass is in the place of Christ and begins Mass by walking in among us or with us.Second, Christ breaks open the Scriptures. This is what happens at the Liturgy of the Word. Readings from Scriptures and the Gospels are read and a homily is given that is suppose to break them open and reveal their meaning to us. Thirdly, Christ is revealed in the breaking of the Bread. This is a clear description of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Christ is made present to us in a special and unique way in the consecrated Eucharist. After we receive Christ in the Eucharist, that form disappears and is held inside us giving us grace and peace. Fourth, they, being filled with Christ’s Grace, go out and share what they have received. This is what we are called to do after Mass. After all that we have received we are called to take that gift out and share it with the world. The entire story is a formulation of the very Mass we celebrate today, laid out on the first Easter.

2011-12-19T15:58:00.000-06:00

December 19, 2011 – Psalms 68

Here we have a Psalm that talks about bringing Israel out of Egypt and Sinai into the Holy Land. This correlates with the Gospels in that Christ has brought us out of the slavery of sin with the Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. It also fits in well with the fact that we just finished the books of Moses and will be digging into Joshua soon. This is the actual entry into the Holy Land. There is the imagery of God leaving Sinai to enter the Temple, of stepping on the heads of enemies, of the defeat of sinners (washing boots in their blood). Christ will go to a mountain (Sinai) and enter the Temple (Heaven), defeat enemies of sin and death. We see singers and harpist leading the way. There is just a lot of images that can remind us of Christ being taken up into Heaven, the celebration that would ensue there.

2011-12-18T15:57:00.000-06:00

December 18, 2011 – Deuteronomy 33 - 34

Here we have the end of Moses. I had always thought that he had gone up the mountain and never come down, but here it says that they saw him die and buried him, it’s just that no one knows where. You wonder what Moses was thinking at the end. Was he upset that he wasn’t going in or did he understand why he couldn’t. How much about the future did he know or understand. Did he know what the people would do, or had he just spoken the words God gave him without really understanding. Did he know much about Christ or that they would meet on a mountain. Had they already met during the time God spent with Moses. Did he die smiling knowing of the coming savior or sad knowing the failure of his people in the future. God spent so much time with him, you would think he would have full faith in God’s plan

2011-12-17T15:56:00.000-06:00

December 17, 2011 – Catechism 1187-1199

This may be something that is obvious, but I have never thought about it. The Catholic Church often says things like, Christ, with Mary, the mother of God, the Apostles, Martyrs and all the Saints, when it refers to Heaven, especially in the Mass. But when it mentions the Apostles, is it talking about Judas. He was an apostle, regardless of what he did. We consider Bishops to be the direct lines from the Apostles and can be traced back to the original 12. And they are bishops/apostles until death. And the office is not vacated after they die, but a new appointment is made. Matthias was named to replace Judas’ spot. So, a couple of questions. Was Matthias considered and apostle or a bishop. Paul says that he was an apostle, but I think that is because his mission was straight from Christ, like the original 12. If we are talking just about those select few being called “apostles”, it goes back to my original question, are we talking about Judas. Dante has Judas in hell, very close to Satan, but the Catholic Church has never announced that there is any specific person in hell. I was just curious about what is meant by the Apostles when we are talking about those at the Heavenly liturgy.

2011-12-16T15:56:00.000-06:00

December 16, 2011 – Luke 23:50 - 24:12

There is something about the name, Joseph. It appears to mean “part of a group, but different from them.” Joseph, after Moses, was part of the group of 12 that went up to the land, but apart from them because he believed God could bring victory and thus he was allowed to see the promise land. Here, Joseph is a member of the Council, but not a part of group that worked to kill Jesus. And Joseph, step-father of Jesus, was in the royal Davidic line, but he was a lowly carpenter. It is a little confusing whether Peter believed or not. It says that the women told them but they didn’t believe “but Peter” went to the tomb. So, either Peter didn’t believe but went to the tomb for himself or did believe and just went to the tomb on his own. I think it makes more sense that he didn’t believe and this follows better with the other Gospels were Peter runs in and the other Apostle runs there faster and sees and believes. But maybe even seeing the tomb was not enough for Peter, because it still doesn’t say that he believed.

2011-12-15T15:55:00.000-06:00

December 15, 2011 – 2 Maccabees 3

We are suppose to see a correlation with the two dazzling men here that perform these acts and the two dazzling men at the Resurrection. I found it interesting that the apparitions, as they are described can physically harm someone. We get the sense from thinking about ghost and the like that they are just visions or air, but these two whipped the leader severely. I was also reflecting on the idea of allowing someone to do something bad in order to stop someone else from doing something worse. Here, they thought if the stopped one, the bigger fish would come and do worse. We often explain away our actions by reasoning that the ends justify the means. I was just reading about this in an interview with Pope Benedict, before he was Pope. He called it consequentialism or in a lesser degree proportionalism. We can justify anything we do as long as the end is a good or the end is of a greater proportion to the bad that is done. What this does and take God out of the picture.

We may think that the end is good, but if we sacrifice our morals to get there, we have gained nothing. If you feel that he end is good and the will of God, then the means to get there must also be in accord with God and His teachings. If you think that the only way for you to get there is to do bad, then you are separating yourself from God. All things are possible with God, so why do you think the only way to get to your end is through bad acts. This does not measure with God. Here we see Israel letting something happen that is wrong because they think it will be beneficial in the long run, but they are wrong and God must step in. The ends justifies the means is never a valid argument for achieving the will of God if you have to go against God’s goodness to get there.

2011-12-14T15:54:00.000-06:00

December 14, 2011 – Deuteronomy 32:30 - 32:52

Verse 47 stuck out to me. “For this is no trivial matter for you, but rather your very life”. There are so many times that people put religion to the side or on the back burner, but this is a matter of life or death. I have been told by more than one person that I should really think about starting to go to church so I can get my children baptized. Those that go to church on Easter and Christmas, those that are the last ones in and first ones out, those that are texting during Mass, do you not realize it is a matter of life and death. It is that important.

2011-12-13T08:39:00.000-06:00

December 13, 2011 – Catechism 1179 - 1186

I love our new Church building. I would imagine it is done on purpose, but the art work really takes you on a visual tour of the life of Christ. You can walk in and without hearing a word, get a sense of Christ life and mission. You start at the statue to the left of the alter as you are facing it. It is Mary, expecting. It is hard to tell but she looks around 4-6 months along. The painting behind the alter is of the Epiphany (name of the church) when Christ is being adored by the wise men. To the right is Joseph with a young Jesus (5-7 years old) with wood working tools. The front of the church as you enter is a large statue of Christ being baptized. Around the inside are the stations of the Cross. Above the alter is the Crucifixion. Finally in the adoration chapel you have a painting of the Resurrection. Sitting in our Church, you are visually forced to reflect on Christ and His life and sacrifice. You are instantly brought into a meditative state of mind. That is what the building of a Church is suppose to do and I think ours does a wonderful job of it.

2011-12-12T08:39:00.001-06:00

December 12, 2011 – Luke 23:18 – 23:49

I had heard of the 7 last words Jesus spoke from the cross (meaning the last 7 sentences or phrases) and counting 3 here I was wondering how many were in the other Gospels. Here is a breakdown. The 3 we see here in Luke, then 3 in John and 1 that is common to Matthew and Mark. I thought that was a little surprising that Christ only spoke once from the cross in Matthew and Mark, but go back and look. Matthew 27:33-50 and Mark 15:22-37.

1) Jesus Speaks to the FatherLuke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (NIV) In the midst of his excruciating suffering, the heart of Jesus was focused on others rather than himself. Here we see the nature of his love—unconditional and divine.

2) Jesus Speaks to the Criminal on the CrossLuke 23:43 "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV) One of the criminals who was crucified with Christ, had recognized who Jesus was and expressed faith in him as Savior. Here we see grace poured out through faith, as Jesus assured the dying man of his forgiveness and eternal salvation.

3) Jesus' Last WordsLuke 23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV) Here Jesus closes with the words of Psalm 31:5, speaking to the Father. We see his complete trust in the Father. Jesus entered death in the same way he lived each day of his life, offering up his life as the perfect sacrifice and placing himself in God's hands.

4) Jesus Speaks to Mary and JohnJohn 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." (NIV) Jesus, looking down from the cross, was still filled with the concerns of a son for the earthly needs of his mother. None of his brothers were there to care for her, so he gave this task to the Apostle John. Here we clearly see Christ's humanity.

5) Jesus is ThirstyJohn 19:28 Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, "I am thirsty." (NLT) Jesus refused the initial drink of vinegar, gall and myrrh (Matthew 27:34 and Mark 15:23) offered to alleviate his suffering. But here, several hours later, we see Jesus fulfilling the messianic prophecy found in Psalm 69:21.

6) It is FinishedJohn 19:30 ... he said, "It is finished!" (NLT) Jesus knew he was suffering the crucifixion for a purpose. Earlier he had said in John 10:18 of his life, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." (NIV) These three words were packed with meaning, for what was finished here was not only Christ's earthly life, not only his suffering and dying, not only the payment for sin and the redemption of the world—but the very reason and purpose he came to earth was finished. His final act of obedience was complete. The Scriptures had been fulfilled.

7) Jesus Cries Out to the FatherMatthew 27:46 (also Mark 15:34) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (NKJV) In the darkest hours of his suffering, Jesus cried out the opening words of Psalm 22. And although much has been suggested regarding the meaning of this phrase, it was quite apparent the agony Christ felt as he expressed separation from God. Here we see the Father turning way from the Son as Jesus bore the full weight of our sin.

2011-12-11T08:38:00.000-06:00

December 11, 2011 – Psalms 30-31

I was thinking about whether “dust gives thanks”. I think there is a verse about the rocks praising God. I mention it because this Psalm is asking that the person be spared because if they are not, they would not be able to praise God as dust, but that may not be true. It also makes you think about martyrs praising God in their suffering. I think you can praise God after your gone if the way you went causes people to change.

Jesus quotes at least two Psalms from the Cross (this one and “why have you abandoned me” Psalm 22) I think if you read most of these two Psalms you will see a lot of images that bring to mind Christ Passion, but you must look at the end to get a full sense of the hope that Christ is trying to preach. This Psalm ends “be strong and take heart, all hope is in the Lord”. Psalm 22 also ends positively, with all the nations turning to God. We go back to the idea that those present would be very familiar with the psalms and would not only know where these lines come from, but how they end. They speak of brutal treatment and wickedness, but they end in hope. Christ was trying to prepare those that were listening and us today that suffering is not the end. We must have hope.

2011-12-10T08:38:00.000-06:00

December 10, 2011 – Deuteronomy 32 – 32:29

I was trying to see what word they used for Rock in the older translation and if it might be any relation to when Christ calls Peter the rock. I didn’t have any luck. But we can draw from the language that a rock is something that is not movable. Whether here, or the parable of building the house on rock, ROCK is a word that we are to associate with immovability. Peter is rock, and upon this rock I will build my church. The rock is faultless, we see the Pope as infallible when speaking on faith and morals. The rock is permanent. Christ said the Church would be here until the end. The rock will not shift. Teaching of the Catholic Church do not change and the things we believe today can be seen in the beliefs and writings of the earliest Christians. Think about what you believe in and where your foundation is laid. Is it on an immovable rock.

2011-12-09T20:36:00.001-06:00

December 9, 2011 – Catechism 1174 – 1178

http://divineoffice.org/

http://www.universalis.com/

Here are two web sites that you can do the liturgy of the hours without purchasing the books. Like I said in a previous podcast, I think I need to spend more time with the Psalms. Maybe that will be my New Year’s Resolution (it is time to start thinking about those). So, grab these links, put them into your favorites, and know that when you are praying them you are joining every priest and deacon and most religious throughout the world in a united prayer.

2011-12-08T21:00:00.001-06:00

December 8, 2011 – Luke 22:54 - 23:17

I don’t know if there is anything more difficult to watch than a judge or jury who has their mind made up before they have heard anything. I guess it extends to us as well when we judge people before we know them. That is what is going on in the Sanhedrin. They brought Jesus in front of everyone just to get their wishes made “official”. They had no intention of having a fair hearing. Most things I have read places this trial at night so that not everyone would be there, only those that were conspiring to kill Jesus would attend. As we have seen before, not all Pharisees and scribes were out to get Jesus, so it would make sense that the conspirators would want as many people against them not to show. In the movie the Passion of the Christ, this scene has a few people calling out that the trial isn’t right and even Mary trying to get the Romans to stop it because it is so unusual.

2011-12-07T20:59:00.000-06:00

December 7, 2011 – Psalm 38

It is hard to read this and not think about Jesus and the cross. You have to imagine the prayers He was praying as He was going through this ordeal. A psalm about enemies gaining strength, friends staying away, being beaten down and pleading the God not leave you.

The early Christians would have also known this psalm and likely had it memorized. It may have been one that they sung as they waited in the arena waiting for the lions. It is a dark psalm about the overwhelming strength of the enemy as it appears in this world. But it ends with the hope that we must have in calling out to God for His help and grace. I don’t think I spend enough time with the psalms.

2011-12-06T20:58:00.000-06:00

December 6, 2011 – Deuteronomy 31

God and Moses are so pessimistic (and rightly so). There is all this assuming that the Israelites are going to fail to act according to God. That has to be a bit disheartening for the Israelites. Their relationship with God appears very dysfunctional. They always are questioning God, then rely on His help to get out of trouble and accept His assistance, then begin to doubt Him again. God helps them, shows them miracles, but never believes that they are actually going to listen and obey Him. He makes promises and threats, yet it does not seem to convince them, they will always turn away.

Is it much different with us. I surprise myself with how critical I am of Israel, yet act the same way. I take God for granted, accept His assistance without thanks, have moments of doubt when things appear most dire, yet He is patient with me even though He knows I am going to fail and turn away. I don’t know if I have ever looked at Israel as a story of my life. What God gives, how we treat God, lessons He tries to teach us, the entire story of Israel can be reflected in our own lives.

2011-12-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

December 5, 2011 – Catechism 1168-1173

It is interesting reading about the importance of Easter during the Christmas season (actually advent season, Christmas season technically starts Christmas day). For all the hoopla around Christmas, Easter is the feast of feast. I think it is easy to see the hand of the world in the importance of Christmas when you look at the attitude towards the feast around it. Dec. 8^th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Mary’s Conception, not Christ). After Christmas you have Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ. St. Nicholas on December 6 is also there. Yet you don’t see any of these really talked about. The world wants the Christmas season, but do they really celebrate the season. And where is all the celebrating on December 26. How quickly they take everything down (I worked retail for many years, I know how quickly the decoration are replaced with normal stock). Christmas is being used by the world to sell product. Maybe it is a good thing that Easter is not as “big” as Christmas. It still remains for most a religious holiday, even though the Easter Bunny is something, the commercializing is not nearly on the level of Christmas. This may be God’s way of showing His importance to Easter, by saving it from the over commercializing that has happened to Christmas.

2011-12-04T20:57:00.000-06:00

December 4, 2011 – Luke 22:21 - 22:53

The supper ends in such an odd fashion. It is enough. And with the discussion about the swords, it just feels odd. The footnotes talk about Jesus statement being out of frustration that they still are not grasping what is about to happen or that He is trying to prepare them for what to do when He is gone. When they went out earlier, they didn’t seem to have any issues or backlash to their preaching. After He is gone, there will be persecutions and martyrdom. But they appear clueless.

I love how Christ tells Peter He is praying for Him in particular. Notice that He is not praying for Peter to not deny Him, He understands that this is going to happen and may even be necessary to build Peter up later. He is praying for what happens after the betrayal, that Peter seeks forgiveness and does not lose hope. Judas changes his mind after the betrayal, but he does not have the hope and does not seek forgiveness. He feels he is beyond it and so commits suicide. Christ understands the role Peter will play and prays not for his perfection, but actually for his humility to admit that he sinned. Notice the arrogance of Peter in saying he would not deny Jesus and even trying to fight in the garden. But that is not Christ way and Peter’s lesson of humility was needed for what was to come. Therefore Christ prays for Peter to get up after his fall, He does not pray that the fall not happen. We should keep that in mind when we wonder why rough times come upon us.

2011-12-03T20:56:00.000-06:00

December 3, 2011 – Daniel 14

In reading these last couple of chapters in Daniel, I think it would make for a great detective TV series. Daniel just goes around solving mysteries using logic and intelligent methods of catching the crooks. It appears that he is the first “Colombo” type.

It seems brutal to kill the children of the priest. We will be getting into Joshua pretty soon and it will seem very violent, the cities that are completely wiped away. Here, a pagan king, not God, does this killing. It just appears that things like this were more acceptable. We must not read these stories with our lenses of modern day sensitivity and miss the points of the story. You may imagine that if you were reading this back then and the story said that the women and children were spared, the reader would think that was so odd they would not give the story any credence. We must always remember when and to whom these were originally written.

2011-12-02T20:55:00.000-06:00

December 2, 2011 – Deuteronomy 30

It becomes so simple when God lays it out as a choice between life and death. Do what He commands and you will have life. God against Him and you will receive death. We do not fully see these things come to fruition because we see only as humans see and mainly the material world. We see people do things against God and receive and we see people act on God’s behalf and receive little. We often look at these and see it as unfair. We forget that we do not see as God sees. We see through a mirror that is cloudy. God’s ways are not our ways. Those that go against God will receive the justice that God promises them. Those that obey God will receive the life that is promised. What we cannot do is lose hope based on what we perceive with our human eyes. We must trust in God and humbly accept that we do not have all the answers.

Israel heard these words, but soon saw the nations around them with their kings and riches and wanted to do it their own way. They misunderstood what God meant be life and death. God does not give us material goods because we love Him. That has never been God’s message. What He offers is so much more that material.

2011-12-01T16:13:00.000-06:00

December 1, 2011 – Catechism 1163-1167

I think some people may get caught up in the idea that the Sabbath was on a Saturday for Jews and the Commandments say to keep the Sabbath Holy. When Christians move the Holy day of the week to Sunday and not Saturday, do they take away from the Commandments. I don’t think so. As Christ talks about, Sabbath is made for man, not for God. The purpose of the Sabbath is that we take time for God, set aside a day for Him, make Him the focus, shut the world away, for a day each week. When the day of the week is doesn’t appear as important as the fact that you take the day. I wonder how it works for priest and ministers. They work through most Sundays and probably Saturdays, do they give a day to God sometime during the week. A youth minister we had would take Monday off as his Sabbath day. I not sure if that is allowed of official, but it was his way of making sure he gave a day to God, which is the point. Sabbath is for us, the rest is for us, the time to build relationship is for us. Remember to take it and that it is not a punishment but completely for our benefit.

2011-11-30T20:17:00.001-06:00

November 30, 2011 – Luke 21:29 - 22:20

“drowsy from …the anxieties of daily life”. That isn’t a way that we usually think about anxiety. Usually I think of it as something that keeps us up or excited, not drowsy. But on reflection, they can cause similar things. If you are driving and drowsy, you are not going to be paying full attention. Same thing if you are anxious about your children in the backseat. You are being distracted from the true road you are suppose to be focusing on.

You can also see it as the anxieties of life are wearing you out and making you drowsy. You could say “there are so many things that I am so worn out”, or “there are so many things I don’t know where to begin”. In both cases the anxieties of daily life are causing you to take your eyes off the road.

This time of year is a perfect time to fall into this pattern. There are so many parties, gifts, responsibilities that are added on to the daily issues that we become swamp. It is so easy to lose sight of what the season is all about. I just got done watching the Grinch with Paul and even though it is not a specifically Christian show, it does make you think about what the real meaning is behind the season. This gets lost many times in the hustle and bustle of everything else. The Who’s in Whoville were not deterred after all their Christmas things were taken because they were still together and could still celebrate the true meaning of the season. Although this is a perfect time of year to get overly anxious about daily life, it makes it a perfect time to practice focusing on the “road”, the real direction our lives are going and to stay alert.

2011-11-29T20:16:00.000-06:00

November 29, 2011 – Daniel 13:34 - 13:64

I like how they make it a point that the people believed them because they were judges and elders. How often do we see that people in position of power feel they can get away with it because of the position they hold or who they are. The politician who had an affair, the police officer who stalked women, the pro golfer who had a dozen mistresses, most recently the football program that covered up a sex abuse scandal. This goes without saying that the Catholic Church had its own scandal, and is still trying to deal with the aftermath, because people in power feel they are above judgment. And for the most part it is correct because like the people here, we believe them because they are in authority. Because they have this authority, they have more responsibility to not act in such a way, the paradox is they have the ability to get away with it easier.

Catching someone in a lie is exhilarating. Getting someone that is innocent free because you catch someone in a lie is on a whole other level. I played the role of Daniel once in a jury trial when I caught a police officer in a lie. I don’t remember the name of the officer or the client, but I don’t think I will ever forget the case. It was a resisting a police officer case. The officers said that my client would not obey the officers commands as they were yelling at them while they were in their car. The officers said the windows were down and they could clearly be heard. My client said the windows were broke and could not go down. Usually when our clients say an officer is lying, they are lying or we have no way of showing that the officer lied. This time I was able to have my Perry Mason moment. There was a police video of the stop and when the door opens, there was a reflection on the window of the door that was suppose to not be there. I played it for the jury three times and won the case. People with authority really believe they are bulletproof. It is sad to think how many times they actually are.

2011-11-28T20:15:00.000-06:00

November 28, 2011 – Deuteronomy 29

21-25 – “Future generations, your descendants who will rise up after you… when they see the calamities of this land and the ills the LORD has inflicted upon it…they and all the nations will ask, “Why has the LORD dealt thus with this land? Why this great outburst of wrath?” .And they will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, which he had made with …and they went and served other gods and bowed down to them.”

Will this be what they say about the United States in the future when they look back at us in our fallen state. When the dust settles from what we are going through and we are a shell of what we once were, will they see the connection with us abandoning the covenant we made with God at our founding. When we said that this nation was created under God, that God gave us rights that could never be taken away, that we were built on “these truths” laid down by God. When we have abandoned God and our country continues its descent to wherever we are heading, will they look back on us and wonder why we left God behind. Wonder why we thought we could do it on our own. Wonder how, after seeing God’s goodness and blessings could we abandon Him for our own ideas. History doesn’t repeat itself exactly, but it definitely has a certain theme that is repeated. When I read these words I could not help but think that 100 years from now somebody will look at them and think it speaks directly to the United States, not Moses’ Israel.

2011-11-27T20:14:00.000-06:00

November 27, 2011 - Catechism 1159-1162

It has been accepted in the Catholic Church almost since the beginning that images are to be accepted and cherished. Images of Christ, Mary, and other saints are to be placed so that they can aid in reflection and a reminder to us of how to live our lives. Before Christ, images of God were not allowed because no one had any idea what God looked like. When Christ took human form, that limitation changed. Christ took on a visible form and so a visible portrait could be made and shared. The question becomes, how do we really know that the images we have are accurate. There are two things I want to say about that.

First, have you ever realized that 90% of the images you do see of Christ are pretty similar. Dark brown hair, slender face, piercing eyes. Granted not all portraits are exactly the same and they all have their own details that may differ, but the basics are almost always the same. That gives some credence to the fact that they share the same source and are reliable. If half had red hair, some blonde, some brown, then I think there could be a question about their reliability. But with the vast majority looking very much alike, that appears to prove their accuracy.

Second, there are several, at least 4 that I know of, miraculous images of Christ that are out there. Not only do they look very similar to most portraits of Christ (it is actually the other way around because the artist portraits were likely taken from these images) but they all are miraculously similar to each other. It would benefit everyone to look into the stories of these images and what has been done to study them and how they have been adored throughout the centuries, and still today. We have seen the face of God and God came down to us so that we could relate to Him in a more familiar way. One of the ways this continues is by leaving us with accurate images of what He looked like when He was here so that we can have confidence that the incarnation was real and our hope can be more secure.

2011-11-26T20:13:00.000-06:00

November 26, 2011 – Luke 21 - 21:28

Whenever I read about Jesus talking about the end I think of what we complain about. Maybe that isn’t the best way to put it. Jesus talks about things not being all rainbows and butterflies before the end. It is going to be wars, disasters, and other tribulations that will come before the end. We are not to be terrified or worried. These things have to happen. When you think about it, the cycle we are looking at is heading in a direction that brings this close to home. With all the talk that Religious wars are the worst thing ever and that we need to stop religion to obtain peace, the opposite is actually true. Yes, the crusades were about religions fighting each other and the Muslim world appears to be very violent in nature (I said appears because I don’t really know a lot about the Muslim religion, just wanted to make a point about appearances), but the worst wars in our human history were brought about by those separated from religion. Mao, Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, were all non-religious leaders. Those wars had nothing to do with religion, other than attempting to wipe them out. The point is that as the world goes in a direction away from God, wars and tribulations appear more likely, not less. But Christ said there would be days like this.

We know that Jerusalem was destroyed along with the Temple in 70 AD and this is part of what Christ is talking about. But it also appears that He was talking about a more permanent end to things that would be coming. That is why many thought Christ coming was going to be soon after His death, because the of the great persecutions. And ever since then there have always been people saying that Christ is coming soon. And there are people that believe Christ is coming very soon because of what we see in the world today. If you read the above, you might think I am one of them. I don’t think I am. I see what is happening and think that it correlates to the readings, but I think the same could be said for many times in the last 2000 years. There were times when the Christian world was on the brink of annihilation by the Muslim Turks. There were plagues and killed a third of the people on Earth. I think today the “Godless” theology is stronger than it has ever been before and that may mean something is coming, but I also see that I am a practicing Catholic and am not afraid to live out my faith. There are many places in the world that cannot be said and it appears that our nation is trying to limit a person’s ability to live out their faith, but I don’t feel I am as persecuted as I think we will be leading up to the end. So, I don’t think it is the end yet. But be prepared because I could be wrong.

2011-11-25T20:12:00.000-06:00

November 25, 2011 – Sirach 28

“Watch your mouth”. I have heard that warning many times in my life. Most the time I earned it. Probably even more times I thought to myself, “How can I watch my mouth”, because I tend to be a smart-aleck. But they really are words of wisdom. Here we see God’s warning that we should watch our mouth. The words we speak have a great power to them and they are not something we can control when they leave. How many people have been brought down by the words they speak (or in Gov. Perry’s case the words they didn’t say). With so many types and means of conversation and medias out there, our words have even more power, for good and for ill. I like to think of this blog as a source of good, that my words are positive and have good reactions. The web is a tool to get these words out to more people than I could have ever done before. But there are many who use these same tools to spread words that are not positive and in worse cases are meant to cause harm. Once those words get out, they are uncontrollable. You not only know who will read or hear them, but you cannot control how people with interpret or use them. We put fences around our yards, lock our doors, put money in the bank, but we do almost nothing to protect ourselves from the words that come out of our mouths. And it can happen in an instant and can scar for a lifetime. I know of things I have said that have gotten me into trouble and things people have said to me that have cut me to the bone. Words are powerful and cannot be erased. Please, think before you speak and “watch your mouth.

2011-11-24T20:11:00.000-06:00

November 24, 2011 - Deuteronomy 28:36 - 28:69

What a horrible description of a siege. A siege so bad that a woman would eat her young after birth because of a lack of anything else. We really don’t have sieges anymore, or maybe we do. I guess if a person blockaded themselves in a home and tried to wait out the police, that would be something like it. But back then they would do it to entire cities. The way that cities were built, with the high fortified walls, they were difficult to defeat by an army. So, the army would wait outside, not letting anything in, until those inside had to give up or starve. It was a waiting game. If an enemy could wait long enough, the city could do nothing. If the army could not wait them out, either because they had other enemies, the city was getting reinforcements, or they were not supplied well, then the city would stay intact. The blockades done by navies were similar, but limited to stopping things by sea. If you had a landlocked city, your only hope was some tunnel. Things would get very barbaric when supplies would run low. Think of the movie “Alive” about the plane crash in the Andes.

I was trying to think of somebody trying to siege Bloomington/Normal and how difficult that would be. It is such a large area and so open. Yet, it wasn’t that long ago that East Germany was under a siege of their own government with the wall. As I speak, North Korea is under siege by their own government as well. It is not so much a siege of material as it is of ideas. Needless to say, they are not a pretty thing and God’s description of what will happen during the siege of Israel if they disobey is probably a “G” rated description compared to the actual horror that would ensue.

2011-11-23T20:10:00.000-06:00

November 23, 2011 - Catechism 1153-1158

It says that the sacramental celebration is a meeting of God’s children with their father. I understand that this, in our sense, should be an informal thing. When I see my dad after time apart it is with a warm greeting or a hug. There is no bowing or formality to it. That may be why we have taken the formality out of the Mass. We see this as time with our Father and there should be nothing formal about it. But is that really correct. Just because that is the way we relate to our father’s, is that the way it should be with our Father. I think we have lost a sense of formality that may have existed earlier in Church history. When your father was the King, you did not greet them informally. You would reverent to them, bowing, speaking when spoken to, strictly obeying. Anything less was inappropriate, even with your own father. Even lower levels of civilization the fathers of the home were respected. Yes sirs and no sirs and strict obedience was called for. I think we have lost some of that. We have lost some of the hierarchy in an attempt to make everyone equal. I don’t want to be the parent as much as a friend to my children mentality. But that isn’t what you are suppose to be. Your role is parent, period. If you are their friend first, you are doing them a disservice. And God is God. We are called to show Him that respect, especially at the Mass. It is a meeting with our Father, but in the sense of meeting our Father the King. Bows, obedience, subservience is required.

I love to sing. I am not the best, not the worst, but I do love to sing. And I have always found it important to sing at Mass. I don’t understand those that do not sing at Mass. Some of the songs may not be absolutely necessary to sing, but some (like the Amen or responses) are. They are our part to play. If they are spoke, we speak them, if they are sang, we need to sing them. I have been told that singing is praying twice. I don’t think I really believe that. I don’t think it boost your prayer, but I do find it enjoyable and it does help me in praying sometimes. One pet peeve that has happened recently at our Masses is the choir is singing songs that are not in the books. I really don’t like this. The Mass is a participation of all and not just time for the choir to put on a show. I really feel that there is time for this before Mass if they want to sing to give people an atmosphere to reflect in before Mass, but during Mass songs that everyone can join in should be used. It is a participation of the entire Church and to exclude us from praying these songs, I think, is wrong.

2011-11-22T20:39:00.001-06:00

November 22, 2011 – Luke 20:9 – 20:47

What do the people mean when they say, “let it not be so”. Do they understand the parable applies to God and Israel and what He gave them and what He is making available to the Gentiles. The Leaders see what the parable is saying because it says they do and they tried to grab Jesus right after that. But I don’t think the people understand it fully. So, what do they mean my “let it not be so”. They heard the story of the wicked people and Jesus says that they will get the land removed from them, why are the people against this.

I just finished a book called “Render unto Caesar” which I recommend to everyone. It is based on this story of Christ being questioned about taxes. The whole point of the book, if you could wrap it up into a few words, was trying to motivate Catholics to live out their Catholic belief in the political world and the world in general. There is a fear out there that Catholic politicians that live out their faith will try to push their beliefs on the country and the nation will become a nation ruled by Rome. But the book points out that being Catholic and living that out forms our morals and those morals influence our decisions and those morals need to shape Catholic politician decisions. Right now there are many “Catholic” politicians who appear to be voting without any moral compass, or at least not one based on Catholic beliefs. Voting for policies based on your morals is not pushing your religion on anyone, it is living your life as a good Catholic and having good morals. There is something to be said for the way the country is moving and the correlation with the lack of moral foundation that is out there.

I have already talked about Sacraments and marriage and the idea that when you get to Heaven, you do not need marriage or the other Sacraments because they are signs that point you to God and there you have God. We see Christ questioned about marriage and the Resurrection, which ties into that discussion.

2011-11-21T20:27:00.001-06:00

November 21, 2011 – Daniel 13 – 13:33

The story starts off with these two at least understanding that their thoughts are wrong. That is the case most the time. We understand that something is wrong and we resist it for a time, it becomes the giving in where the sin occurs. I wonder if Christ meant something like that when He told them if you lust after someone in your heart, you have already committed adultery. The thoughts that invade us are not sin, in and of themselves. It is the dwelling on them (where these two started to faulted) and in the acting on them.

If in those moments where the chose is something difficult or something hard could we have Susanna’s courage to always choose to act on God’s behalf and let the chips fall where they may. To trust in the Lord.

2011-11-20T20:26:00.000-06:00

November 20, 2011 – Deuteronomy 28 – 28:35

Well the curses don’t sound very pleasant. There appears to be a lot of motivation to follow God’s laws, yet they do not. The whole idea of planting vineyards and someone else taking the fruits appears a prophecy of the exile. If you do not follow God, you will be taken from this land that you will build up. It isn’t the clearest on how that all will work, but there it is. I wonder sometimes if God’s warnings are too abstract and general that we don’t pay attention. Maybe if they were more specific we would take them series. If you disobey, on March 25 at 3 you will lose your job. You know what would happen then. Chances are we would live it up to a certain point and then try to make it up just in time. We love to push the envelope of God’s mercy.

2011-11-19T08:08:00.000-06:00

November 19, 2011 – Catechism 1145 – 1152

I don’t know what the percentage is, but it is a high percentage of our communication is non-verbal, mostly being visual. We learn a lot from someone’s expression, posture, reactions, and so on. It is no different with God. We have His words, but we also have His signs, our visual communication, to guide us. When John the Baptist’s disciples came and asked Jesus if He was the one or to look for another He told them, what do you SEE. He listed off the miracles and told them to go back and tell John. He never mentions the words He was preaching (although they are important) but focused on the signs, the non verbal, the visual actions that were taking place. They are brought in by the visual and once there, soak in the words. The witness of the Martyrs is another example. Many were converted by witnessing the martyrs having really no idea about the specific teachings of Christ, only that they saw people willing to die for what they believed in. They came because of what they saw and then were taught what the Words were.

I spend quite a bit of time in the library and like to pick up books to read that I don’t know anything about. I understand you cannot judge a book by its cover, but the cover can peak my interest and get me started. If the cover does not interest me, chances are I will not take it home unless someone has recommended it.

It cannot also work in the opposite way. How many are turned off from the Catholic Church because they see the action of “Catholics” and never take the time to learn about the words. Visual communication is very important in all aspects and God knows that. That is why He has given us visual and tangible signs to lead us to Him and His Words.

2011-11-18T20:25:00.000-06:00

November 18, 2011 – Luke 19:28 – 20:8

They couldn’t find a reason to put Him to death because everyone was hanging on His every word. Have you ever had that feeling. Not to put someone to death, obviously, but had that jealous feeling of someone and down deep you wanted to catch them slipping up so that you could have that “ah ha” moment. You can get the leaders sense of this as they are watching the crowds grow and Christ teaching them. I am sure there are also the back and forth challenges that the leaders always lose when testing Jesus. It is because of this popularity and inability to have that “ah ha” that they had to accuse Christ in secret, having His trial in the middle of the night, bringing false witnesses.

The question of authority is often brought up when talking about non-Catholic Christians. I have never heard anyone bring up this passage as part of the argument. The Christian could say that Christ would not disclose His authority, so I don’t need to disclose mine or define it or have one. My interpretation given by the Holy Spirit is my authority. But I don’t think Christ had that in mind at all. He was merely showing the motivation of the Leaders. Their sole motivation was to trap Christ. They didn’t care for His answer, only the reaction they could get from His answer. Much as any answer Christ gave they would use to destroy Him, Christ would use either answer to discredit them. Christ causes a stalemate for their testing and leads them nowhere. I don’t think Christ was saying there was no authority, He was only refusing to answer.

Matthew 28:18 - And Jesus came to them and spoke unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.

So, Christ says there is authority. And He gives this authority so that the world can be converted. This authority was not given to all but the 11 that were told to come to Galilee.

2011-11-17T20:11:00.001-06:00

November 17, 2011 – Zechariah 10-12

This section talks about the 30 pieces of silver, which we are getting close to in Luke, but it doesn’t really explain the significance of it or what it meant. There is a section in the Old Testament that talks about that. Exodus 21:32 talks about it being the price of a slave. Her it appears more to be the cost of betrayal and the breaking of a covenant. Both are suitable to reflect upon the relationship of Judas and Jesus. Jesus became a slave to sin, dying for our sin, although never succumbing to it. Nothing could be more humbling then being paid the price for a slave. And Judas betrayal is the ultimate in betrayal’s. He broke his covenant with Christ and turned him over to His enemies. There is also the image of throwing the 30 pieces back into the Temple, like Judas trying to take back his actions too late. I just never know how to feel about Judas. You want to be sympathetic because he appears to be confused about what Jesus is about. If he really did regret doing what he did, then you feel for him. Yet, sometimes this is hard to do because if a person was with Jesus for so long, they should never have done it. And with all of Christ talk of redemption, killing yourself after your regret is the last thing you should do. It just appears that he may have heard everything Christ said, but was not actually listening or taking it in. But when the Apostles come back and say “we have healed in your name” it doesn’t say “all except for Judas”, so something must have been there. Judas is a character that I think is hard to reflect on because of the depressing nature, but more to the point, I think sometimes it hits a little close to the mark for our own actions and that scares us.

2011-11-16T20:07:00.001-06:00

November 16, 2011 – Deuteronomy 27

I was thinking that it would be great if Catholics got together and made a list of things they believe and after reading what they were everyone would say “Amen”. That way there wouldn’t be any confusion about what Catholics are or aren’t suppose to believe. As I started to type that out I realized we do, the Creed we repeat every Sunday lays it out. But it doesn’t say anything about abortion, contraception, divorce, or other Cafeteria Catholic points that “Catholics” choose to ignore. Women as priest, homosexual relations, embryonic stem cells, to name a few others. Maybe we should write the Catholic teaching on these into the Creed. Then there would not be this option. If you don’t believe Catholic teaching on these, then you have some searching to do. Where is this language in the Creed. It is right there in the part where we say I believe in the One Holy and Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church. If you say that and believe it in the Creed, then you believe that the Church has God given authority to let us know what is right and wrong and we need to follow it, all of it. If you don’t believe that, if you believe the Catholic Church is another nice group that does good things and has good lessons but doesn’t require Catholics to believe or follow all of its teachings, you are wrong and you are not saying the Creed with any fullness. When you say the Creed, you pronounce what you believe and who and what you believe in. If you say that you believe in the Catholic Church with your lips but do not follow what she teaches in your thoughts and actions, what are you actually proclaiming during the Creed. “I BELIEVE” – think about what that means.

2011-11-15T20:05:00.000-06:00

November 15, 2011 – Catechism 1140 – 1144

Even though we do celebrate together, there are certain roles that some have that others do not. Priest are a specially ordained part of the community that have duties that cannot be taken on by the laity in the congregation. I don’t know if I have seen it as much, but I have some, of this attempt to hand off some of the duties for priest to the laity. Whether conscience of it or not, it is destroying our image of the priest and the important role that he plays and the special grace that comes from Holy Orders. Something as small as the people gathering around the alter (which we used to do on retreats) can take away from the understanding that a priest has a unique position and is there in the place of Christ. I remember when being an Extraordinary Minister holding the host and consuming it at the same time as the priest. These are just two example I can think of that are not allowed and for the reason that they bring the laity into a realm that is meant solely for the ordained. But this separation does not take away the responsibility to participate in the Mass. We each just have different roles to play.

2011-11-14T20:02:00.000-06:00

November 14, 2011 - Luke 18:35 - 19:27

The parable of the talents or gold coins has always interested me. I have never noticed that he gives the coins to ten different people. We only hear about three, I wonder about that. That means that the first person made 10 out of 1, which I would put him in charge of a great deal too. We should never shy away from using our gifts that God has given us. That is what the third man did. If you can sing, you should sing. If you can write, you should write. Wasted talent is one of the saddest things in the world. I know I wasted years not reaching my potential. When I think of the number of hours I played video games, watched TV, and wasted time, my talents were sitting there accomplishing nothing. Are we afraid of failing, that is what the third person was afraid of. He didn’t want to come back with nothing. I guess the parable should have had somebody like that to show the example. One of the servants took that gold and wisely invested it, but hit some bad luck and lost it. The King says I like the effort and you will not be punished but here is another coin to try again. We should not be afraid to step out there, we should only be afraid of sitting on the sidelines, to afraid of failing, that we let our talents sit there idle.

2011-11-13T20:00:00.000-06:00

November 13, 2011 – Zechariah 8 – 9

Here we have the oracle of the King’s entry into Jerusalem. Riding on a donkey. What could they have thought of this. It was an animal with no respect as compared to a horse. Would you even want the king that came riding on a donkey. You wouldn’t respect them. Yet this is what God was trying to get across, as throughout so much of the Bible, your ways are not My ways. Humble and gentle will be the king that comes. Peace and Love will He bring, not the sword and war that would be represented by and soldier king on a mighty steed. When you look for the king to come, look for a humble and obedient servant. When we read about Palm Sunday, remember that the Jews knew their scripture very well and so did the enemies of Christ. When they see Christ coming in on a donkey, this had to send of red flags in the leaders and it sent up cheers in the crowds. But still, you have to wonder if the people cheering for Christ fully understood that their new King was not a King of this world. You wonder if they were cheering for the right reasons. Did they see Him coming to free them from the tyranny that they lived under in the world. Did they understand He had come to free them from the tyranny of sin that they all suffered from. If they had known that, would they have cheered or would they have not really understood. Would they look for another. Would the leaders had worried so much about Him if they thought the new King was there to conquer their sin too.

2011-11-12T19:59:00.000-06:00

November 12, 2011 – Deuteronomy 25 – 26

I was thinking about the way that they punished people for crimes back then and how it is different now. We think that lashing or whipping them would be so cruel and we are much more humane. I think that may not be that obvious. After a person is whipped, they heal, should have learned not to do it again and then goes back into the community. Our system locks them away for long periods of time so that they lose touch and when brought back in they are behind and lost. Both can come back and commit crimes again, but I feel it is more likely that the person who is away and unconnected and not able to get back on their feet is more desperate and more likely to commit crime. The whipping happens quickly, in this reading, right there in front of the judge, and then it is over. I don’t know when courts moved away from physical punishment in favor of imprisonment, but do we see that this shift has moved into the realm of parenting. Now, you cannot spank your child, you must use “time outs”. Move away from the physical to the time of separation. I understand that smarter people than I have done all sorts of research and everyone says that this is the correct way, but I am still not convinced. Granted that I am not so unconvinced that I spank my children, but I just don’t feel that the debate should be over. It just appears that when you look at or criminal justice system and the idea of separation, or worse putting criminals together for lengths of time, what are we trying to do. In school, detention has taken the place of a ruler slap, same basic arguments. If separation is the only idea, I think it is flawed. If you go in a try to rehabilitate, I think the argument is much stronger. I will try to keep that in mind the next time Paul gets put in “time out” or a “break” or whatever the latest magazine my wife reads calls it. And detention in the same manner. If you are just keeping kids in a classroom for an hour, what is the benefit. Make it educational, maybe something practical or vocational. The whole idea of just getting bad people out of our hair seems almost as barbaric as 40 lashes.

2011-11-11T18:07:00.000-06:00

November 11, 2011 – Catechism 1135-1139

I think it is often forgotten that we are all celebrating in the liturgy. Many see the priest up there and figure that is the only important thing going on. But it is a whole church participation. Not only those in the pews, but all those in Heaven in God’s glory and all those celebrating Mass at the time in the world. It is one large and whole participation and is constant with at least a Mass being said around the clock somewhere in the world. It is a real and vital connection to Heaven that links us to the Heavenly host and allows Grace to flow from it. Think about that connection to Heaven the next time you are sitting and Mass and don’t feel like a participant.

2011-11-10T21:15:00.000-06:00

November 10, 2011 – Luke 18 - 18:34

I was thinking about the parable of the Persistent woman and how that might be misinterpreted. Someone might see this and say, Well, I have prayed for wealth every hour on the hour for 5 years and am still poor.” Where did persistence get them. And not just with wealth, but with health or employment or selling a home. Any of the things someone might offer up prayers for on a persistent basis. If they are not answered, someone could look at this parable and be turned away because of the lack of results. What would you say to them.

First, the woman was not asking for anything that was not due to her anyway. I think that is something that might be easily overlooked. All she was asking for is a just decision. God will give us justice, He can do nothing less than that. We may not like justice and what we receive as justice may not seem like justice in our eyes, but God is a perfectly just God and we will get exactly what we are suppose to. If we are persistent in prayer for things that we do not deserve, then we should not be upset when we don’t receive it. If ask God to give us justice, first of all be careful what you wish for, it will be done.

Second, the judge rules for her after all is said and done. God will not give us our full reward until the very end. Persistent prayer for things here on Earth is not what He is talking about here. Persistent prayer for eternal reward is what is being looked at here. When you look at the context, the last few sections have all been about the end. The persistence God wants is a life lived striving persistently towards God until our life is over. Then our just reward will be given as an eternal home in Heaven. Do not look to this as a parable that praying for whatever you think you want you will get. This parable is not about gaining material things but eternal dwellings.

2011-11-09T21:45:00.001-06:00

November 9, 2011 – Daniel 12

I was looking at the notes in my Bible and trying to find something to write about. I found this interesting. The author of Daniel wrote it in the 2nd century BC, during the persecution of Jews by Antiochus. It was written from the perspective of a holy man during the Babylonian exile because that was also a time of great persecution. The idea is to bring hope to those going through a struggle by telling them the story of someone who went through a struggle and persevered. I guess I always new Daniel was written after Daniel was to have existed, but I didn’t realize when and what the purpose was and what was happening to the Jews at that time. All the stories and heroics and perseverance of Daniel is to encourage those Jews seeing themselves be persecuted to stay faithful to God.

One of the things that is brought up in Daniel that is not mentioned in most other Old Testament books is the Resurrection of the Dead. Daniel clearly shows a belief that at some point individuals will rise up and good will get eternal blessings a bad will receive eternal punishment. Resurrection is important when the idea of martyrdom is a real possibility. When you are looking at death for a belief, believing that death is not the actual end is something that can hold you firm to your faith. This is why Daniel wants to point this out and steel the people resolve.

2011-11-08T20:28:00.001-06:00

November 8, 2011 – Deuteronomy 23 – 24

We just had a section about divorce and some discussion, and here we see it brought up again. It appears that here the discussion mainly deals with not getting remarried after a divorce. But it is obvious that divorce was allowed in Israel. And Christ admits that in Matthew 19:8. It was allowed because of their hardness of hearts. It was explained to me, and I don’t know where this comes from, but the husbands, if they were dissatisfied with their wives would just kill them rather than stay married. To stop this, Moses allowed divorce in order to save the wives. But Christ points out that in the beginning it was not so. Divorce was never suppose to be part of the plan and Christ commands that it is not allowed. Maybe that is not the best way to put it. Christ teaches that if you get divorce and remarry, you are committing adultery. I guess there is the option to get a divorce and not remarry. Basically, the marriage is still there, just not being lived out.

2011-11-07T17:58:00.001-06:00

November 7, 2011 – Catechism 1130-1134

The quote from St. Thomas reminds me again of the analogy of the Sacraments and sign post. I think it makes it so clear to understand the purpose of the Sacraments. When I am driving to Chicago, signs point me in the right direction. The Sacraments are signs that God has given to point us and get us to Heaven. Once you have made it to Chicago, you do not need that signs for Chicago, they have become obsolete. The same goes for Sacraments. Once you are in Heaven, you will not need the Sacraments or the signs of God’s love, you will have God. That is why there is not married or unmarried in Heaven. You will know your spouse in a even more intimate way that ever here on Earth and both of you will be totally focused on God. Even the Eucharist will not be there because God is there and completely a part of you.

2011-11-06T17:57:00.000-06:00

November 6, 2011 – Luke 17

I have always wondered about the nine lepers who didn’t come back. Did they remain cured. I think there are two ways to see it. They were cured by Christ, but their faith wasn’t strong enough (like the one that came back) to maintain it and they got leprosy again. Or they remained cured even after their lack of faith because of God’s good will. Many people receive gifts from God and do not thank Him for them. Those gifts are not taken away, so I am of the opinion that they remained clean. But you wonder how their lives were affected by that cleansing and what they went on to think. You would like to think that eventually they went on to become Christians after hearing about Christ and connecting the two things, but it is just as likely that they went on to be greedy tax collectors and wasted God’s precious gift.

The left behind sequence is a hard one to figure out. It is my understanding that in the rapture understanding, the ones that are taken are the saved ones. That doesn’t follow from the example that Christ gives. Both with Noah and with Lot, the ones that are left behind are the ones that God chose to save. The ones that were destroyed were the sinful ones. I thought this might be contradicted by the last line when Christ talks about the vultures around the body that is left, but I don’t think so. The left behind rapture group always interprets the taking as something where a person just disappears. Once again, that isn’t exactly the example that Christ gives. In Noah’s case, the flood would have killed people, but their bodies would still be there and the vultures would gather. In Lot’s case, even though it was fire from Heaven, it is not beyond belief that bodies would not have been left behind. So taken may not mean that the body is taken away, but just that the life is, much like the plague upon the first born of Egypt. That would mean that the vultures are around the bodies of those taken and that you want to be one of the ones left behind, like Noah and Lot.

2011-11-05T18:55:00.000-05:00

November 5, 2011 – Daniel 11

This is such a detailed prophecy that I was interested to see if there was a correlation that was out there to a certain time frame. I had thought that the great king who divided his kingdom was Alexander the Great, because I knew that he had conquered a great area and when he died he had broken it up. That appears to be this persons assessment as well. He goes into great detail, so I will just put the link here so you can read it for yourselves. It is very interesting to see a prophecy this detailed played out in a history lesson.

http://www.bibleplus.org/prophecy/kings.html

2011-11-04T21:27:00.001-05:00

November 4, 2011 – Deuteronomy 22

I never realized that cross dressing was also called an abomination in the Bible. But there it is. I don’t know if anybody else saw the story about the boy that wants to be in girl scouts because he has dressed like a girl most his life. Pray for him and his family and the healing that needs to happen there and for all those that have been lead to that type of confusion by the actions and lessons that the world is putting out there as ok.

2011-11-03T17:27:00.001-05:00

November 3, 2011 – Catechism 1122-1129

The fruits of the Sacrament depend on the disposition of those that receive them. The Sacrament has an infinite amount of Grace to give you if you are open to it. But if you are not in the correct frame of mind or have your heart in the right place, you may not receive all the Grace that is available to you. It is for this reason that some people go to receive the Eucharist and feel nothing afterwards and some can receive nothing but the Eucharist for sustenance for extended periods of time and not feel hunger. You are the gate keeper for Grace. Open the gate and it can change who you are, in fact you are suppose to be changed after receiving any of the Sacraments. (the story of the magi and the fact that they went home another way is an illustration of this. Of course they could not go back the same after encountering Christ.) But keep the gate closed and Grace will not enter and you will not change. Nothing will be forced upon you. You have all the control over the gate and whether you will open it or not.

2011-11-02T17:26:00.000-05:00

November 2, 2011 – Luke 16

There is a lot in this chapter. I love the story of Lazarus. I wonder why Lazarus is named but not the rich man. It may be something similar to the prodigal story we just read. We are to put ourselves into the story as the rich man and it is easier to do when there is no name. I think it does cause some confusion with the Lazarus of Bethany that Christ raises from the dead. They don’t appear to be the same people because Lazarus isn’t dead yet.

I don’t understand how any Christian denomination or Bible believer can accept that divorce is correct. Christ puts it plainly that divorce is not right. If you get divorced and marry another, it is adultery. There really isn’t any wiggle room. Divorce is such a damaging act to the family and to our country as a whole that its acceptance has led to the destruction of our moral fiber and the strength of our world. Yet it doesn’t seem that people really make that connection. People would still rather point to religion as a restriction to their life and freedom than to the moral decay of our nation because we have taken away the Christian foundation of morals that have been established. I don’t know where people think we are going to end up if we destroy the idea of marriage, love, holiness, life and other moral questions. Taking God out of our lives will only lead to destruction, there is no other destination that this can lead us to. The further we remove God, the farther we move into a land of darkness. Marriage and divorce are just two things that have been trampled by the understanding that we don’t need God and morals to rule our lives and we can find our own way. Religion is not there for our restriction but for our help.

2011-11-01T17:25:00.000-05:00

November 1, 2011 – Baruch 6:45 - 6:72

That last section appears to say that it is better for those that believe in no God than those that believe and worship idols.

I think it says a lot about the human nature of knowing there is a greater power over us that from early on people felt they needed to worship something. Although it is misguided, choosing to worship the idols is just a misguided attempt to fill that gap that could only be filled by God. That is the case for many of the things we fill our lives with now. We seek to fill this inherent need or hole in our lives with money, power, physical love, drugs, work, materials, when it is meant to be filled by God. Nothing will fill it other than God and filling it with other things only limits the room God has to work in our lives.

2011-10-31T17:24:00.000-05:00

October 31, 2011 – Deuteronomy 21

According to verse 22-23, Christ should have been brought down regardless of the fact that it was Passover. They were not to allow a body, killed because of a capital act, hang there over night but be buried. Now that I am typing and thinking about that, they broke the legs so they would die before Passover. So, they could leave a body hanging overnight as long as they were still alive. But Christ had already died (they didn’t break His legs but pierced His side) so He would have been removed either way, according to this rule. Then again, maybe not, since the Romans were in charge, they might have left a dead body up regardless of the Jewish rules.

2011-10-30T17:22:00.000-05:00

October 30, 2011 – Catechism 1113-1121

The Sacraments are such an important part of the Catholic faith. They are the ordinary means to receiving sanctifying Grace. Not only to they give that Grace, but they strengthen us against sin and help us to lead lives according to God’s will. Obviously, the Sacrament that stands out above the other is the Eucharist in which we receive Christ Himself, body, blood, soul, and divinity, but the other Sacraments all play their important roles leading and guiding us to the Eucharist and to Christ.

I don’t know if people realize that the three Sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and holy orders are indelible or permanent. Once baptized into Christ, you can never remove that mark from your soul. You can ignore it and try to cover it up, but it will always be there. Similar with priest. Even if a priest is found to be guilty of something and told not to say Masses, you cannot take away his mark of ordination. I guess I don’t know why marriage isn’t up there. Divorce is not allowed and has not effect on the marriage act, annulment means that there was not marriage act. I guess if you spouse dies then you are free to be ordained or marry again, so it is only permanent as long as you both live.

2011-10-29T17:21:00.000-05:00

October 29, 2011 – Luke 15

The prodigal son story has been told and talked about a lot, or at least I have heard it talked about a lot, so I don’t want to go into it in too much detail. I will point to the part I find most interesting and easiest to reflect on. The story is left unfinished. The bother comes home, the one brother is mad, father invites him in to celebrate, the end. We don’t know what the older brother chooses to do. Does he continue to be angry or does go in to welcome his brother. The fact that it is unfinished leaves us to reflect on what our choice is going to be. God is telling us that everything He has is ours if we choose to come and celebrate with Him. The answer is of course we want to, but then we see that God is letting in people that we think do not deserve it. Those people we know have lived sinful lives and that we feel more righteous than. And we balk. Why are we celebrating for them, where is our celebration. I have found myself in this boat many times when I think I am doing more than someone else or holier than though. We must be careful. God is willing to welcome back the biggest of sinners, the most lost sheep, and when that happens we are suppose to rejoice fully with God for their return, not be jealous of the grace shown to them.

This also feeds into situations that would come up soon after Christ, and even that He dealt with. In the context, this was mainly talking about sinners that have repented and how those that did not need repentance should rejoice in their conversion. I think it could also be seen as a foreshadowing of the Jewish Christians accepting the Gentiles into the Christian ranks. Christ is saying that it doesn’t matter what you were doing before repentance, everyone is My sheep and when a lost one comes back, you need to all celebrate.

2011-10-28T17:20:00.000-05:00

October 28, 2011 – Baruch 6:15 - 6:44

So many hundreds if not thousands of years did people worship idols made in the way that is talked about here. It just doesn’t seem reasonable to think that it would have lasted so long. As the reading talks about, if someone accidentally knocked it over and it broke or a fire destroyed the temple and the idol was destroyed, you would think they would realize it wasn’t a god. And if the person that made it died, you wouldn’t think a mortal could create an immortal god. I guess it would only take one answered prayer to convince someone it was real. All the unanswered prayers would lead you to believe that the god was angry and needed more sacrifice. One answered prayer could steal a person’s belief in the god so that they may never waver.

2011-10-27T17:19:00.000-05:00

October 27, 2011 – Deuteronomy 19-20

I really find the idea of having “safe” cities where people can go if they have accidentally killed someone a very unusual idea. I understand that people will seek revenge and the Lord wanted to put a stop to that if the act was done without malice, but it seems like He could have just made the law say that. I don’t understand why you had to dedicate cities for it. And would people really want to be associated with one of those cities. After many years, the only people that would be in there are people who have taken a life. It would be a very depressing place I think, especially because they did so without malice. They all must be dealing with a lot of grief and shame and to have a whole city of them doesn’t seem very efficient.

2011-10-26T21:58:00.000-05:00

October 26, 2011 – Catechism 1108-1112

I was thinking about the Holy Spirit and the work that it does through its influence on people. We have been reading about the importance of it in the Mass and other Liturgies, but I also know that many Christians believe the Holy Spirit influences their actions. I would venture to say that Martin Luther felt the Holy Spirit influenced his actions. I have talked before about the Holy Spirit being God and not being able the contradict itself, yet when people both say they are led by the Spirit and say two completely different and contrary moral beliefs, they cannot both be right because God is not a contradiction.

This all made me think about what is actually leading the side that is not right, because one side is wrong. People do great and holy actions, so it is really hard to say that they are being led astray by something evil, yet it is hard not to come to that conclusion when the wrong side of God is sin and evil.

You don’t want to put people into black and white categories because we spend so much time worrying about the grays and trying not to hurt anyone, yet Christ was pretty clear, get on my right and my left, the sheep and the goats, those on one side and those on the other.

I just think it is very important for everyone, Catholic or not, to think about this, because there is a right way and a wrong way. There is no grey with God, no matter how much we like to play in that realm. If there is a right way, we need to find it and need to be honest with ourselves. It doesn’t do us any good to left people off the hook with fluffy answers because salvation is something that you need firm answers for a explanations that stand firm.