This post is from a blog I do as part of a men’s prayer group at the Basilica of St. Peter, Columbia, SC. Recommendation of an impressive book is included. https://stpetersmpg.blog/2021/07/22/july-21-2021-the-exodus-fact-or-fiction/
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Massacre of the Innocents
Saturday December 28 on the Catholic Liturgical Calendar is a Feast day in memory of The Holy Innocents, those slain by King Herod in fear of a new King having recently been born, eventually to replace him as King. If only Herod had known that he had less than a year to live!
Much academic analysis of Sacred Scripture of the last century seems aimed at disputation of details, and many scholars have disputed the story of the Massacre of the Innocents found only in Matthew 2. There is no proof of, or absence of, the events reported, but it is refreshing to find some detailed, well referenced, analysis supporting the reasonableness of the Biblical account. I just stumbled on this Paul L. Maier article which has helpful information about 1st Century history and context, an interesting analysis of the mind of Herod, some surprising details, and a surprising ending. Don't start reading unless you have ten or fifteen minutes to get to the end. The article (which is not Sacred Scripture) is HERE.
Part of the problem in defending these mysterious Bible stories is that we read into them more than is actually written, especially in art. For example, here is an influential 1590 painting depicting the Massacre of the Innocents. Imaginations sometimes run wild, and that seems to be excessive artistic license taken with these simple lines in the Gospel According to St. Matthew. (Matthew 2:16-18)
Much academic analysis of Sacred Scripture of the last century seems aimed at disputation of details, and many scholars have disputed the story of the Massacre of the Innocents found only in Matthew 2. There is no proof of, or absence of, the events reported, but it is refreshing to find some detailed, well referenced, analysis supporting the reasonableness of the Biblical account. I just stumbled on this Paul L. Maier article which has helpful information about 1st Century history and context, an interesting analysis of the mind of Herod, some surprising details, and a surprising ending. Don't start reading unless you have ten or fifteen minutes to get to the end. The article (which is not Sacred Scripture) is HERE.
Part of the problem in defending these mysterious Bible stories is that we read into them more than is actually written, especially in art. For example, here is an influential 1590 painting depicting the Massacre of the Innocents. Imaginations sometimes run wild, and that seems to be excessive artistic license taken with these simple lines in the Gospel According to St. Matthew. (Matthew 2:16-18)
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”Maier, by the way, is a historian and novelist and a prominent Lutheran leader, writer, and spokesman. You can read about him HERE.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Life in Christ and Getting a Job
Saint Peter Chrysologous was a bishop of the early church, a preacher so skilled in his presentation of the Truth that he is known as the "Doctor of Homilies." He was born about 350 years after the resurrection of Jesus and lived about 70 years, finally as Bishop of Ravenna, a city in northern Italy and the capital of the Western Roman Empire. His preaching probably drew large crowds in that populous city. Maybe it was a mega-church.
But maybe his crowds were smaller because St. Peter Chrysologous spoke simple and direct Truth about what it means to be transformed rather than conformed to the ways of this world. This morning the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours included this paragraph from one of his homilies. (This screen shot is from the Universalis APP.)
But maybe his crowds were smaller because St. Peter Chrysologous spoke simple and direct Truth about what it means to be transformed rather than conformed to the ways of this world. This morning the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours included this paragraph from one of his homilies. (This screen shot is from the Universalis APP.)
Well, those are not personal qualities that we would tend to point out and brag about on our applications for employment in the 21st century are they? They are somewhat other worldly. It is fascinating to me that this comes on the heels of reading, just this week, an inspiring book about the Monks of Mepkin Abbey and the philosophy which guides their personal and business lives. And, yes, they are in business, formerly poultry and eggs and currently mushrooms. So, I suppose that if one wanted to join the Monks, to be employed, so to speak, at Mepkin Abbey, those qualities recommended by St. Peter Chrysologous are the ones that would offer a chance of success.
I'm keeping this post short like Father Peter's famously short homilies. For better explanation and understanding of how it is not only possible but beneficial and even life-changing to follow his counter-cultural advice in the 21st century, buy and read Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks. Having visited them several times and having participated in service projects there, I can vouch for its truth. You can download it to your Kindle from Amazon for about $10 and read it in three or four hours. Then you may want to read it again. I certainly need and want to do so because I have a way to go to follow Father Peter's sound advice.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Baptismal Sticking Points
Introduction
When I was received into the Catholic Church in 2011, it was
after a few months of weekly meetings in a membership class on Catholic
theology and practice, preparation for and reception of the sacrament of
reconciliation (confession), and presentation of documentation of my April 15,
1951, baptism at the First Baptist Church, Maryville, TN. I had been eight
years old and had “walked the aisle” on March 30, 1951, in response to the
traditional Baptist end-of-service invitational hymn, probably on the first or
second of the unknown number of verses of “Just as I Am,” and confessed faith in Jesus as my
savior and asked to be baptized and received into the church. That simple process is a key
element of Baptist “liturgy.”
To be asked to provide that ancient history was a bit
surprising to me at the time because I knew that the baptismal practices of
Catholics and Baptists were quite different, and that my former
Baptist church would have required re-baptism of former Catholics
wanting to become Baptist. Here are brief summaries of the key beliefs of the two.
Baptist Baptism
- Only for “believers” who have reached the “age of accountability” and “made a decision” for Christ
- By total immersion in water
- An act of obedience and testimony by the believer
- Symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and the believer’s death to sin, burial, and resurrection to new life in Christ.
- May be repeated if some new level of commitment or conversion is reached or if the baptized person feels his or her conversion at the initial baptism was not sincere (enough).
Catholic Baptism
- For any who have never been baptized and desire entry into the Church, the Body of Christ, following a period of instruction about the faith.
- For the children, even infants, of Baptized and Confirmed believers who promise, in faith, to instruct and raise those children and infants in the faith of the Church. Full membership in the Body of Christ requires Christian Education and the Sacrament of Confirmation at an accountable age.
- Immersion is fine but not required. Baptism must be by water, with right intent, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
- An act of Grace by the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, through which the baptized are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God.
- Done once only since the effectiveness depends only on the Grace of God and not on the person baptized or the person doing the baptizing. To doubt is an expression of lack of faith. (Baptism done by force, with wrong intent, in some name other than that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or in lemonade or beer instead of water, is not considered valid. Throughout Sacred Scripture, washing with water is always a symbol of cleaning and removal of sin.)
The bottom line is that Catholics take the act of Baptism,
done properly and with proper intent, very seriously and will not re-baptize
Christians who have been so baptized. Catholics do, however, welcome the chance to
educate and Confirm such persons in the Catholic faith. The results of that process depend on
The Holy Spirit at work in the lives of all involved.
Reconciling the Two
I have never doubted the validity or sincerity of that innocent
and childlike “conversion” and baptism I experienced at age 8 in the Baptist Church, but I
have learned that conversion is not a “once and done” thing but a life-long
process of learning and serving, examining and confessing, and increasing
commitment, a process that I have observed both Baptists and Catholics
experiencing.
I remember an insightful statement by a Lutheran seminary
professor: “Don’t be concerned about whether you have crossed some imaginary or subjective line. Just focus on making progress in the right direction.”
To
oversimplify a bit, I would say that the line to be crossed is key in Baptist
theology while Catholic theology focuses more on continually moving in the right
direction toward the holiness commanded by Jesus. I suppose that is why
Catholics are accused by the “faith alone” adherents of “works righteousness.” Well,
anyone familiar with the New Testament will know of lots of uses of such imperatives as study, work, endure, persist, fight, finish, etc. as well as to instances of
failure or falling away by believers. And all those “works” can be done in
perfect (or even imperfect) faith.
At least two things we Catholics and Baptists can agree on
are:
- Baptism is important
- We are saved by grace through faith and it is not from us but is a gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)
What About Those Other "Denominations?"
And then there are the Orthodox, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist,
Presbyterian, Church of God, etc. understandings of Baptism.
Below are some official statements from church websites. At most of the links
there is much more explanation than the simple screen shots I have posted.
Southern Baptist
Catholic
Episcopal
Orthodox
Methodist
Presbyterian (PCUSA)
Summary
Sunday, July 28, 2019
The Gospel of John Movie (2003)
This dramatization of The Gospel According to St. John
is a work of art, beautifully staged and acted, the words coming directly from
Sacred Scripture, the American Bible Society’s Good News Bible, nothing omitted
and nothing added. A viewer can read along with the movie. Simply summarized,
it is a pure proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God incarnate. It
begins with creation, placing Jesus, the Word, with God and actually being God,
at the creation, and ends with his post resurrection, pre ascension,
appearances to the disciples. Scottish actor Henry Cusick and Canadian
actor Daniel Kash are
excellent as Jesus and Simon Peter. Christopher Plummer is the narrator.
I don’t remember when I first heard of the movie or watched
it, but I found it very helpful a dozen or so years ago with Lutheran
Confirmation classes of students around age 12. They were spellbound. And I
found it to be a perfect aid and conversation stimulator in an Adult Bible
Study of John’s Gospel. The faintest
praise I have read is an Associated Press quote on the DVD box: “Thought
Provoking Entertainment.” I suggest it may also be, for some viewers, Life
Changing Entertainment resulting from belated realization of who Jesus was and
is and what He did and does, and what He asks of his followers.
This Wikipedia
article gives details of backers, artists, cast, and musical score and
points out the one controversial and sometimes questioned scene in the movie,
the silent presence of Mary Magdalene at the Last Supper. I would guess she was
not present there, but the Gospel of John certainly considers her a prominent
member of the close followers of Jesus. And, in writings of the first century
and earlier, it was not unusual to omit mention of women. The scene at the
Wedding at Cana, Mary, Mother of Jesus, instructing the servers to “Do
whatever he tells you,” the dialogue with the woman at the well and her
resulting evangelization of her community, the interactions with Mary and
Martha, and the important role of the women at his resurrection all speak to
the importance and prominence of the women followers of Jesus.
Check out the movie. If you get through Jesus’s dialogue
with the Samaritan Woman at the Well in John Chapter 4, I predict you will be
hooked and will end up watching the movie more than once. And of course, it is
no longer necessary to buy the DVD (photo above) since the movie is free on Amazon
Prime (Average Rating of 4.5) and on YouTube as well.
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Pentecost 2019 - Eight Years Catholic
Introduction
I was received into the Catholic Church at Pentecost 2011
and, in 2016 wrote a blog post titled Pentecost
2016 – Five Years Catholic. Three years later, I wrote this one without
first reading the earlier one. There are a couple of common themes and some new
current thoughts, but I just enjoyed going back and reading the earlier one and
think it was better. I believe there is a lot of truth in the (approximate)
words of Flannery O’Conner: “I don’t know what I think until I read what I
wrote.” But, here goes with the current thinking.
Becoming Catholic
It is common among Catholic Christians, and Christian
Catholics, to share how and when and why we became Catholic. Some are so-called
“cradle Catholics,” born to Catholic parents, baptized and confirmed in a
Catholic church, perhaps educated in Catholic schools and married in a Catholic
ceremony and sometimes with little knowledge about or interest in other
Christian faiths.
Some are convicted, converted, and reborn former atheists or
agnostics drawn into the Church by the Holy Spirit.
And many are
"converts," former Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist,
Episcopalian, Pentecostal, or whatever Christians who became convinced that the
Catholic Church, with all its warts and wounds and problematic history, really
is the Church that Jesus established and left people in charge of when he
returned to the Father and is the Church with which they want to be in full
communion. They too usually credit the Holy Spirit with motivating their
move.
The Question of Authority
Many in that latter group had come to believe that the
Catholic Church has divinely assigned authority, under Holy Spirit guidance, over theological issues and
argue that the Church is not a democracy subject to the whims of its “members,”
many of whom may be still more conformed to the world than transformed by the
Holy Spirit. (And, yes, some Catholic leaders with that authority have been
imperfectly transformed also, but they still bear the responsibility and are
accountable for their actions.)
I have generally put myself in that “looking for authority”
group, having been baptized Baptist and having served and worshiped in Baptist,
Presbyterian and Lutheran churches, experiencing some discomfort with so-called
Baptist Distinctives, Presbyterian Predestination, and Lutheran open discussion
and votes on current theological issues such as requirements for
ordination and holy matrimony.
In my case, that search for authority was not
based on belief that the Catholic Church majesterium is and always has been right all the
time or to relieve me of responsibility for having a well-informed and
well-formed conscience, but to acknowledge the authority and to say to those
Catholic leader/servants, “It is your responsibility to open yourselves to The
Holy Spirit and to understand, explain, and defend true theology. Get to
work!”
Building Christian Unity
There is a second key issue I sometimes forget that
increased my interest in the Catholic Church, and that is the fragmentation of
and competitive squabbling among Christians and the resulting damage to the witness of the
Church. I was reminded of it by the Daily Mass readings for June 6, 2019.
First was from Acts 23:6-11. The “Jews,” the Chief Priests
and the whole Sanhedrin, Pharisees and Sadducees, had been assembled to
confront Paul, recent Christian convert and troublemaker, and hopefully hasten
his martyrdom. But Paul was a very smart guy, a Jewish Roman citizen,
well-educated and familiar with the Hebrew scriptures and all the political and
theological current issues.
Paul went right to the dividing issue, resurrection, which the Pharisees
believed in and the Sadducees rejected: "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the
son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead."
With that comment, the unity of the anti-Pauls was destroyed: "When he
said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the
group became divided. “Martyrdom delayed!
And then, in the Gospel reading, there was this from Jesus’s
“High Priestly Prayer,” part of his John 17 farewell to his disciples: Lifting
up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: "I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may
all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in
us, that the world may believe that you sent me."
Note the last phrase, the evangelistic purpose of Christian
unity: “…that the world may believe that you sent me.”
I first got interested in the idea of Christian unity while
living in Japan (1992-1995), enjoying worship and service at St. Paul’s
International Lutheran Church, and seeing the confusion, in a nation that was
2% Christian, caused by the multiplicity and diversity of mostly western groups
claiming the name of Christ. I specifically remember a co-worker telling me
that, yes, his relative is a Christian, a Mormon, and another co-worker, asking
me what is going on when he sees a Christian church in the USA on TV and
someone is putting his hand on another’s forehead and the latter then falls to
the floor unconscious. Well, how does one explain away those difficulties people
face in believing that the Father sent the Son?
So, a second important reason for my interest in
Catholicism, beyond the structure and authority, was that I wanted to cast a
vote in favor of Christian unity by submitting to and being received by the Church
that Jesus established and left someone in charge of, promising the Holy Spirit
as guide.
Moving in the Right Direction
I have no expectation that all Christians are going to join
together in the Catholic Church anytime soon, but I do have a reasonable
expectation that all Christians, Catholics included, may eventually obey the
two Greatest Commandments and replace criticism and competition with love for
each other. After all, the key theologies expressed in the Nicene Creed and the
Lord’s Prayer, both recited at every Catholic Mass, must be of primary
importance and must provide some common ground that can keep most of us from
arguing more complicated issues which may not be resolved for hundreds of
years.
Resolving Complicated Issues
The primary complicated issue is differences in
understanding of The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist, that, as
explained in John Chapter 6:52-71, has been a dividing issue since the very
beginning. It may keep us from full communion but need not prevent cooperation
in love and service. A key point for meaningful dialogue in the direction of
Christian unity in Truth is that concerned Christians in all faith traditions
should be able to respectfully explain not only why they believe as they do but
also why those in other faith traditions believe as they do. None of the
beliefs are without some, sometimes misunderstood or out-of-context, Biblical
foundation.
The "Full Gospel" Church
I have some hope that more and more Christians will
recognize that my occasional somewhat tongue-in-cheek description of the
Catholic Church as the “full-gospel church” has some merit and will
investigate. After all, we have The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
the promises of salvation and resurrection, the Greatest Commandments and Great
Commission, The Great Cloud of Witnesses, the saints, daily and frequent Sunday
Masses, Church Fathers, Martyrs, seven Sacraments, The Real Presence, Mary the
Mother of God whom “all nations will call blessed,” Women’s Sodality, Men’s
Knights of Columbus. St. Vincent de Paul Society, abbeys and convents, monks
and nuns, pilgrimages, and enough optional personal practices of piety to suit
any taste.
Since Vatican II, we even celebrate Mass in the language of the
people as recommended 500 years ago by Father Martin Luther. And, we offer
bingo to seniors for fellowship and entertainment, though I’m not sure where
that came from. Finally, we have the 700+ page Catechism of the Catholic Church
which explains the faith in four sections (Creeds, Sacraments, Christian
Living, and Christian Prayer), topics that should sound quite reasonable to any
Christian and to any agnostic or atheist interested in Christianity. At least
the last two should sound reasonable, and those are good starting
points.
Common Ground
Oh, and back to that first, perhaps confusing sentence
containing the terms “Christian Catholics” and “Catholic Christians.” I intend
the first to imply those cradle Catholics who are experiencing continuing conversion,
spiritual growth, and perseverance and the second to imply Christians for whom
reception into the Catholic Church has been one major event in their continuing
conversion, spiritual growth, and perseverance. We all have something in
common, wherever we are right now, the importance of sharing that continuing
conversion, spiritual growth, and perseverance.
Friday, March 8, 2019
The Penitential Psalms & Lent
Morning Prayer seems most beneficial when it results in some
searching beyond the provided texts and “learning” of some new things about
Sacred Scripture, theology, or Church history. The quotes around that word in
the previous sentence suggest that I don’t usually remember much from such
searches and depend on some personally written summary I can refer to later.
There is joy in organizing and summarizing information in a way that will be
useful. So, here is one such simple summary.
Today (3/8/2019), one of the Morning Prayer readings is
Psalm 51. I was inspired (or inclined) to look it up in the Catholic Study
Bible, 2nd Edition (NABRE) and found this commentary: “A lament, the most
famous of the seven penitential Psalms…” The first word of Psalm 51 in Latin
is Miserere (have mercy).
For the record, here are the seven Penitential Psalms including
a key phrase from each:
- Psalm 6: Have pity on me Lord, for I am weak (vs. 3)
- Psalm 32: Then I declared my sin to you; my guilt I did not hide (vs. 5)
- Psalm 38: I acknowledge my guilt and grieve over my sin (vs 19)
- Psalm 51: Have mercy on me God, in accord with your merciful love (vs. 3)
- Psalm 102: Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you (vs. 1)
- Psalm 130: But with you (Lord) is forgiveness and so you are revered (vs. 4)
- Psalm 143: Show me the path I should walk, for I entrust my life to you (vs. 8b)
All seven have traditionally been identified as Psalms of King
David, famous for his adultery, murder, disobedience, and love of and by God. No wonder these Psalms are associated with
and used during Lent!
I was aware of the Penitential Psalms but not of the first documentation
of Christian recognition of them nor of recognizer Cassiodorus, sixth century
monastery founder and author of Exposition
of the Psalms. An interesting quote is in this link about the exposition: “Cassiodorus,
like many patristic commentators, saw the psalms as the necessary starting
point for Scriptural study: one should learn the psalms first, he suggests, and
only then move on to the New Testament, for they serve as preparation for it.” Anybody
out there who has “learned the Psalms?”
And according to this link,
the seven were part of Jewish liturgy as early as the third century and have sometimes been associated with the Seven
Deadly Sins.
And below is some penitential music, Miserere Mei.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)