Bible Tidbits

The Biible and Contraception

2012-02-16T04:35:00.000-08:00

Because it is such a hot topic today, I thought that I should provide a defense for anyone who is interested in the five minute version.

So why do Catholics say that using contraception is sinful?

Catholics say that using contraception is sinful because God says that it is sinful. Now before you turn the program off give me a minute because this is reasonable.

God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. That means have babies:

Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Our first parents are called to fill the earth. Now it doesn’t say to trash it, filling it and trashing it aren’t the same. The conditions on the earth at that time were, al least for a little bit – perfect. Plenty of food, water, and land to go around.
Yet they fell into sin, and the earth now is less than perfect.

Finally things get into such a terrible state that God floods the earth and begins again with Noah.

Now to Noah he gives this command:

Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

God gives Noah the same command, in now what is most definitely an imperfect world. Does this mean that God wants every single person in the world to have as many children as possible, no. People aren’t even designed for that. There are certain times given to men and women for the conceiving of children, and because we are imperfect, this doesn’t always work out.

Now in Genesis 38 we have an a clear case of contraception and what God thinks of it.

Here is the situation, Judah has some sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah finds a wife for Er and her name is Tamar. Er marries her, but because he is wicked, God kills him. Now at that time, if your brother had a wife, yet had no children, the new brother in line would marry her, have children with her, but the children would be considered the dead brothers children.

Now that Er is dead, it is Onan’s duty to marry her and try to have children with her for his dead brother, so they could continue his name.

Genesis 38:8-10 Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD, and he slew him also.

Now some people have an objection here: Hey, God isn’t killing him because he spilled his seed on the ground, but because he didn’t want to give his brother children.

Now this is a legitimate objection, because it seems as though God could be punishing him for that very reason. Yet if we continue reading the Bible, we see there would latter be laws concerning giving your brother children. There would also be laws concerning what would happen if you didn’t want to do that for your brother like Onan.

Deuteronomy 25:7-10 "But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' "Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, 'I do not desire to take her,' then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, 'Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' "And in Israel his name shall be called, 'The house of him whose sandal is removed.'

So when you do not give your dead brother children, you get your sandal taken off and spit in the face and called a name. This is clearly not the death penalty. So when we revisit Onan back in Genesis 38, we see that he was struck down by God, not for not desiring to give his brother a child, but because he spilled his seed on the ground.

This is now called Onanism. Whenever you put the seed in place it isn’t suppose to go in scripture, that is a deadly sin. Today, a mortal sin.

The Jews, and the Christians have taught this for over three thousand years until 1930 at the Lambath conference, the Anglicans said that contraception could be used in certain circumstances. Thus the protestants opened the door to contraceptives and the flood has not ended. Now not all protestants teach that contraception is ok, but like many catholics, it isn’t even on the list of things to consider bad.

What should we do?

We need to talk about it. I recently saw an add in the paper that suggested over 90% of catholic women favored contraceptives. So I called the creator of the add and told them in a charitable tone that the church is not a democracy, but a monarchy. We have a king, who is in Heaven, whom we must obey first. I then asked – so who should I choose to follow, this 98% or Jesus? The receptionist said that she didn’t understand my question. I said, I would explain it again. So called 98% of women want contraceptives, but Jesus said that using them is sinful – So who do I choose to serve? Who do I follow? She recommended that I look on their website for answers. I said – I am asking you Betty, I am asking you.
She didn’t answer. But we must keep trying, we must keep calling, we must be vocal, but overall, prayerful, charitable, and blameless

Mary as an Image of the Church

2012-02-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

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The destiny of the Church is wrapped up in the destiny of Mary. Mary shares an intimate role as a type for the Church. She shares in the many paradoxes that our faith expresses For it is Mary who brought forth the body of Christ, yet the Body of Christ is mystically one with the Church of which Mary is a part.

We meet Mary for the first time at the Annunciation, being approached by an angel and consenting to the Will of the Father to allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow her and bring forth the Son of God. Mary then travels to Judea where the Holy Spirit is communicated through her greeting of Elizabeth . This event is repeated with the Twelve Apostles at Pentecost. Angels appear promising the return of Jesus . The Holy Spirit then comes upon the Apostles and then through their preaching and Baptism, the Holy Spirit is given to those who hear them .

At the visitation, Elizabeth proclaims that Mary is "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb !” This phrase “blessed are you” brings promises from the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New by both Mary and the Church. This phrase points us back to only two women in the Old Testament who received a similar blessing. They received this blessing because both women, Jael and Judith had defeated the enemy of their people by destroying the general of the enemy’s camp by a blow to the head . This blessing is now being given to Mary who is fulfilling the prophecy of Genesis 3 “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel .” Moses records this prophecy as a curse against the serpent who is the devil , that one day a woman would come whose seed would destroy the devil and those who follow him. This crushing of the devil finds its fulfillment not only in our Lady but again in the Church. St. Paul tells the Romans, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet .”

Just as Mary became the dwelling place of God on Earth, so the church does the same. Mary in the most physical way, by being the Mother of God is temple, because it is in her the God chooses to dwell when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her . At the birth of Our Lord, it is Mary who brings Him forth and places Him in a manger giving us a figure of Christ in the Eucharist who came that we might consume Him. Likewise the Church, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit , through the priesthood gives us Christ in the Eucharist for our adoration and salvation.

In the Gospel of John, Mary is presented as a New Eve who will cooperate in the restoration of men and women and God and men . This role is fulfilled as well in the Church. John opens his Gospel with, “In the beginning… ” to put us in the mindset of that first creation . In that first creation there were two covenants made, one between God and Man and the other between man and woman. The covenant between God and Man is made when God fathers man, “in our image, after our likeness” . The covenant between man and woman is established at the creation of woman. God takes from the side of Adam a rib and from it creates his bride, Woman, saying, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh .”

As we soon find out, sin corrupts both of these covenants. There is a struggle now between not only man and woman, but between man and all men. There is now also contention between God and men.

In the Gospel of John, Mary is present at the restoration of both covenants, though never called ‘Mary’ by Jesus, she is seen in the eyes of Jesus as being a New Eve and is called ‘Woman’. At the wedding at Cana, when the wine runs dry, we see Mary who intercedes for the wedding couple and tells Jesus of the problem. Jesus’ response points us to his work on the cross, "O woman… My hour has not yet come. " He then proceeds to bring about his first miracle and blesses the marriage with not only the best wine but in superabundance. It is here at this miracle, through the intercession of the ‘woman’ with the New Adam that the church “sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence .”

Mary appears one more time in the Gospel of John at the Redemption. While Jesus is on the Cross He addresses Mary as ‘woman’ and it is at the cross that Jesus and Mary beget children not in any natural way but in a supernatural way. “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home .” Then John reports another event that coincides with Jesus’ words to his mother “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water .” This event is seen by the church as the moment of its birth, “"For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.'" As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross .”

So we see that at both the wedding at Cana and the Cross there is the New Adam and the New Eve reconciling both covenants between woman and man and God and Men.

Finally, in brief, just as Mary was taken into heaven body and soul and was glorified, so the Church will one day be taken up in the Resurrection, body and soul, and be glorified.

The Holy Name of Jesus

2012-01-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

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Recently, a young evangelist by the name of Paul Meyers passed away. He wanted everyone to know about The Most Holy Name of Jesus. What does the Bible say about the name of Jesus?
The name Jesus is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua; pronounced yeshua, which means salvation. It is, of course, of no coincidence that Jesus and Joshua share the same name. Joshua’s mission was fulfilled in the mission of Jesus.

Joshua was the successor to Moses way back after that exodus from Egypt. It is Joshua who actually led the people from their time of wandering through the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Jesus does the same. He leads us through the waters of Baptism into the Promised Land of Heaven.
So right away the name of Jesus is associated with Salvation and Heaven. There aren’t any other contenders out there, like Buddha or Mohammed, where you have to know their names to be saved or be enlightened. Others preach a message that is to be believed, Christianity preaches a Person.

And in Biblical times as well as today, names were associated with the person whom they represented. So much so that to say a person’s name was inviting them to be present. That is why God said that we aren’t to use His name in vain because to speak of His Holy Name is to ask Him to be present. His Holy Name is for Holy conversations or prayer, not occasions of great surprise, like certain websites advertise today.
What did Jesus say about his own name?

John 15:16 so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

John 16:23-24 Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

What is happening here? Jesus is telling us that it is through his name that God the Father acts. Jesus name is associated with real power. Listen to Acts of the apostles.

Acts 3:2-6 And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called "the Beautiful Gate" every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, "I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, (rise and) walk."
That miracle occurred because St. Peter called on the name of Jesus with faith. Consequently, look at what happens when we call on the name of Jesus without faith:
Acts 19:13-17 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
So clearly, it is faith in the name of Jesus that brings fourth this Power. The early Christians even got persecuted because of the name Jesus.
That is right. After Pentecost and the Apostles receiving the Holy Spirit, they can’t stop talking about Jesus. This so offended the Jewish officials at the time that the Apostles were persecuted just for talking about Jesus.

Acts 5:40-41 So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
Today is no different, for some Catholics the name of Jesus is an embarrassment in public. We need to ask God for help in this area of our lives and be not afraid to talk about Jesus in public.

Matthew 10:32-33 So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
We need to be a people who not only confess the name of Jesus, but also have reverence for His Most Holy Name.

Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now while we can’t be genuflecting every time we hear the name of Jesus, what can we do to honor His Name in a physical way?

This is what Paul Meyers wanted everyone to know. It is an old custom that has been kind of forgotten to bow our heads when we say or hear the name of Jesus. By doing this, we are honoring His Name and thus honoring Jesus himself.

This is a public witness to the Holiness, Power, and Salvation that is found in the name of Jesus. We are of course short on time, but I want to encourage everyone to get a little booklet by TAN publishers and share it with others. It is called, “The Wonders of the Holy Name.”

Also, please pray for the repose of Paul Meyers’ soul.
The Wonders of His Holy Name - Click Here

Luke 15 - How They Were Lost

2012-01-19T04:46:00.000-08:00

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In Luke chapter 15 we have three parables about being lost. Some have even called it the ‘lost chapter of the Bible’, because it speaks of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. What we are looking at today is yet another great aspect of Luke Chapter 15. We usually focus on God searching so diligently to find us and the joy that is experienced over being found. Today though we are going to examine each parable and see why the things were lost to begin with. To start, this idea came from Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
The shepherd has a 100 sheep and one is lost. Why? What would compel a sheep to leave the fold. Well sheep are kind of dumb. There is a great riddle – If you have 100 sheep and 3 wander off into another field – how many do you have left? None – they all followed the three sheep into the other field. Sheep just go where were they think they will find grass.
So we can conclude that some people leave the church out of ignorance. I truly believe that there are some Catholics who are attending a protestant service on Sundays thinking that they are fulfilling their Sunday obligation. The preaching is better, the music is more lively, the people were more friendly and so on, yet they miss the most improtant event in the world - The Mass. The leave because on some level they didn’t know any better.
I have heard on EWTN before how in the past few decades that people just haven’t been catechized properly. I can bear witness to that. I think that is why some churches are getting depopulated, people in general don’t even know why they are suppose to be there. I think the older generation is leaving for other churches because, while they are aware of the Sunday obligation, they are unaware that the Catholic Church is the one true Church of Christ. I think the younger generation is even ignorant of the Sunday obligation rule.
So we need some great and drastic catechesis.
Now concerning the parable of the lost coin, how is this person lost. Coins don’t loose themselves, people loose coins. Unfortunately here the people are the church and the coins are some of those who are leaving because of the church itself.
These people are lost through carelessness; the carelessness of parents, schools, and others that teach the faith. Sometimes the Christ that is proclaimed is just another great teacher like Mohamed or Buddha. Sometimes the Christ that is proclaimed is only one of social justice and not holiness.
We have a responsibility of instructing our neighbor. Listen to what Moses says:
Deuteronomy 6:4-7 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
How often is that we are to speak of God’s word and teach them to our children? From the time you get up until you go to bed. Now I admit here that I fall short, yet this message is for us today as St. Paul says
2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.
In season and out of season – that means when it is popular and when it isn’t. St. Paul tells us to convince people – let me tell you there is plenty to be convinced about, but we must get educated. He says to rebuke – wildly unpopular today. I count as best friends those who look at me and tell me I am headed in the wrong direction, because that tells me three things about them. First there is a right direction, second that they think I should be going that way, third they care enough to tell me.

Then St. Paul says to exhort people – get them excited about the faith. There is plenty to be excited about. Finally be unfailing that we are to be unfailing in patience and also in teaching. Don’t fail to be patient and don’t fail to teach.
Concerning the parable about the lost son; how do we find this in the church? There are people who want to remove themselves from the whole church equation. Their own desires pull them out. They let their fleshly desires run amuck. This happens to all of us sometimes, but there are some that leave and have no desire for reconciliation until things get really bad.
So what is the solution to these parables.
While nothing is going to be perfect we can creation near occasions of grace. We talk about near occasions of sin is when you pass by that bar on the way home you get tempted to go in and get too many drink so you should avoid that bar and you will avoid the sin of drunkenness.
I think we need to create more near occasions of grace. We should saturate our lives with our faith. Almost everybody it seems is busy these days. Be busy with the Lord’s work. Adoration, Bible study, prayer group, soup kitchen, feast day party.
We need to do this without fear. Yes some people will call us fanatics and we will loose some friends possibly. Then on the other hand we will strengthen our faith, strengthen the faith of those around us and build a culture that is attractive to everyone.
Our faith is the fulfillment if every other religions desire and we will attract people to our church to Jesus by just living it in its fullness.
I think we can bring back the lost sheep people by helping them grow in knowledge of their faith.
I think we can attract back to the faith the lost coin people by being dedicated to our hope in our Lord Jesus.
I think we can bring back those who have left the faith through their own lusts, by out loving them. Loving them more than they love themselves, just like Jesus does for us.

A Markan Sandwich with a dash of Mustard

2012-01-12T04:31:00.000-08:00

Mark Chapter 4 is filled with parables about scattering and sowing seeds.

Mark Chapter 4 has at least 5 parables in it all about, I believe, the spreading of the word of God.
Jesus opens the chapter with the parable of the sower who sows seed and it falls into 4 different types of ground. To begin, this is one of the great parables where we don’t have to guess what it means. Jesus himself tells us the meaning. He says that the seed that is being sown is the word of God. The differing places that the words of God falls are on different kinds of hearts.

The 4 different types of ground are as follows: the road, stony ground, thorny ground, and good soil. The seed that falls on the road that is picked up by birds is like where someone hears the word of God and immediately rejects what he hears. Jesus says that Satan comes and takes it away.

Two thoughts about this part of the parable: first the road. The road or the path is mentioned elsewhere:

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

When he says – I am the “way”, he is using the same word. Jesus is the “road” to the Father. But Jesus does speak of another road.

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. "For the gate is small, and the road is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.

Jesus here speaks of a broad road that leads to destruction. I think this might be appropriate for what he is speaking of in the gospel of Mark. Some seed fell on the road, but Satan picked it up. To me this is comparable to the modernist scholarship that we see on certain cable stations that talk about history and discovery. When they examine the Bible, they begin with asking questions about the Bible and in the end leave you with more questions than when they began. So when you do hear the Good News of Jesus, you begin to count it all as myth and fluff.

There is an example of this in the Gospel of Mark itself:

Mark 8:31-33 And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."

Next we see the word that falls on the rocky ground of little soil. This is the person who is excited about the faith, but when challenged, tucks tail and runs for cover. Jesus’ disciples again give an example of this in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus is arrested, his disciples run for their own lives.
Then we have the word of God that falls into the thorny ground of the - I believe – three lusts: The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. It is these worldly things that choke the word of God i.e. entertainment, possessions, pornography.

Finally, there is the word of God that leads us to eternal life and finds in our souls fertile ground. We heard God’s word and put it to work for the Kingdom of God.

But now Jesus’ words take a strange turn. He says this: Mark 4:21-22 "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.”

What is hid and secret? What is manifest and will come to light? It is the seed that was sown, the word of God that is spread in the world. We don’t usually see the effects of our words when we sow them in the souls of people, but in time they will be seen.

Again another seemingly unrelated parable:

Jesus then says this: Mark 4:24-25 "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

I ask, the measure of what? What more will be given to me? It again is that seed, that word of God. This ultimately isn’t a message of philosophy or a way of life but a person and a relationship with HIM. The more we spread Christ, the more Christ will be given to us. Yes we will see more people reject the Gospel we present, but we will also see more fruit. The measure you give will be the measure you get.
Jesus then continues with the seed theme:

He says that the kingdom is like seed scattered but the sower doesn’t know how the seed grows. Meaning that the word of God goes out but who will accept and reject is a mystery to the preacher. St. Paul says as much in: 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Finally, Jesus compares the kingdom to a mustard seed. It is one of the smallest of seeds and yet it grows to be a big shrub. The seed again is the word in the world, and while it is small, beginning with 12 men hiding in an upper room. It is today covering the whole earth in which people of every nation rest and make their homes.

When Did The Millenium Begin?

2011-12-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

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When it comes to Bible interpretation, we have a lot in common with most non-Catholics. Yet there are those verses that are defining of our position to the exclusion to any other interpretation that do divide us. One such set of verses is in the Book of Revelation.

Today we are talking about the Millennium, which means 1000 years.

Revelation 20:1-3 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

The controversy is how we interpret those verses, when do they occur and are they literal?

There are two points here that I would like to raise.

#1 what is meant by 1000 years?
#2 When is Satan bound?

#1 what is meant by 1000 years? I think we must first keep in mind that the book of Revelation is highly symbolic. Next we see the number 1000 used in symbolic ways.

Psalm 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
Do we ask the question, “Which thousand hills is that exactly?” No, because God owns all the cattle on all the hills. Here in the Psalm, 1000 just means – a lot. We believe that is means the same thing here in Rev 20:3

#2 When is Satan bound? Obviously Satan is bound at the beginning of the 1000 years, but do other scriptures talk about when this happens – They do:

Matthew 12:28-29 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
Luke 13:16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.

Here is my reasoning at least. Satan had the power to bind people. Jesus came and loosed those that Satan had bound (Luke 3:16). By the work of Jesus binding the Satan - the strong man (Matt 12:29) - Jesus was showing that this was evidence that the Kingdom of God had in fact come.
Just to reiterate; with the first coming of Christ we see Jesus’ kingdom inaugurated and at the same, Satan is cast out and bound.

There is another topic addressed in Revelation 20 that points us again to a first century fulfillment of the beginning of the 1000 years.

Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, … and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
So what is the first resurrection? When does that happen?
Notice first that it says that the saints reign with Christ for 1000. Now listen to St. Paul

Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus…

- St. Paul here uses the past tense and links us reigning with Christ with his resurrection.
Here in Rev 20 St. John tells us that those who are a part of the first resurrection are priests, and they reign with Christ for the thousand years.

My question here “when is the first resurrection?”

Scripture suggests that the first resurrection is at our Baptism.

Romans 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Ephesians 2:1, 5-6 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 5:14 For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you."
Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
To pick up a point from earlier. Jesus associates the binding of Satan with the coming of the Kingdom (Luke 3:16, Mat 12:29). Further confirmation that the kingdom was established in Christ’s first coming is as follows:
Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

In conclusion, seeing as how the kingdom was established with Jesus’ first coming the next logical question to ask then is- where is it? We believe that the Catholic Church is this Kingdom.

The 10 Plagues and the gods of Egypt

2011-12-01T14:26:00.001-08:00

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The 10 plagues that God used to bring Israel out of Egypt have always captured our imagination. Why did God send those plagues and what was their significance?
Here was the situation: Moses flees Egypt because he murdered an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite. Some people found out about this and he fled to Median. While there, he sees the burning bush where God speaks to him and tells him “the plan”.
Exodus 3:12 And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."
So the whole purpose of the Exodus is to bring the people out to Mt. Sinai to worship God. Yet there is a two-fold problem. Naturally, pharaoh doesn’t want to lose his 500,000 slaves and more surprisingly, the slaves don’t want to go either. Not only is Israel stuck in Egypt, but Egypt is stuck in Israel. Israel, as we will come to see, has adopted for themselves the false gods of Egypt.
The “gods” that the Egyptians were worshipping are none other than fallen angels.
Acts 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. And God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven,

Exodus 12:12 - against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments-- I am the LORD.
These demons were worshipped under many forms: cattle, sheep, frogs, water, etc.
God intends to bring them out into the desert and reveal Himself to them so they can finally break away from these false gods and serve the true God.
They can’t do this in Egypt because how they would intend to worship God would offend the Egyptians.
Exodus 8:25-26 And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land." But Moses said, "It is not right to do so, for we shall sacrifice to the LORD our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us?
What they are sacrificing are the animals that represent the false gods of the Egyptians. It is like renouncing your addiction to television by throwing it in the trash and beating it with a baseball bat. It will be good medicine for you but your housemate will get upset. So they need to go outside of Egypt to perform this sacrifice.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t go as smoothly as we would all hope.
God gives Moses three amazing signs to convince Pharaoh that this message is from God and should be obeyed. Staff to snake. Leperous hand. Pour water on the ground and it becomes blood.
So Moses returns and tells the Pharaoh to let the people go to worship.

No one commands the Pharaoh, though. It is at this point that he says that the Israelites can make the same amount of bricks without straw. So this gets the Israelites mad at Moses. So at this point everyone is against Moses, both Pharaoh and Israelites.
When Moses does get a chance to prove that this command was from God, he throws his staff on the ground and it turns into a snake.
Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.
Huh, wonder who gave them that power?
Next, Moses turns the water into blood, but the Pharaoh’s magicians can do that as well.
Then God, through Moses, has frogs cover the land, and again Pharaoh’s magicians can repeat this miracle.
Finally, though, God has gnats come as a plague and cover the land.

Exodus 8:18-19 And the magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God."
Even the Pharaoh’s magicians recognize a more powerful God, even though Pharaoh doesn’t.

Let’s see which of these plagues were against specific false gods:

The Plagues of Egypt                      The Gods of Egypt

1. Nile turned to Blood                    1. Hapi, god of the Nile, fertility

2. Frogs                                          2. Heket, frog goddess of fruitfulness

3. Gnats                                          3. Kepher, beetle god; symbol of sun

4. Flies

5. Cattle                                          5. Amon, Hathor, etc.(male and female cow-gods)

6. Boils                                           6. Sekhmet, goddess of healing

7. Hail (kills remainder of crops)      7. Nut, sky-goddess fails

8. Locusts                                        8. Serapia, protector from locusts

9. Darkness                                     9. Re the Sun god

The 10th plague was against all the first born sons
With the 10th plague, Israel does make a sacrifice inside of Egypt and that was a sacrifice of sheep, which the Egyptians did apparently worship.
The Israelites are instructed to slaughter the lamb and put the blood on the door. This had a two-fold effect, it would protect their homes from the angel of death, but it also stained the door and labeled which households sacrificed the gods of the Egyptians.

The 10th plague was so devastating that it was a bit of time before the Egyptians probably noticed that a ton of sheep were missing and that they had been sacrificed by the Israelites.
This would be probably one of the factors why, though desiring to go back to Egypt, Israel couldn’t and stuck with Moses instead.
Israel would constantly struggle with false god worship throughout their 40 years in the wilderness and beyond. Since we too have been freed from false gods through the blood of Christ, we too should persevere in faith lest we not make it to the promised land like a lot of them didn’t.

Jesus as the New Adam in the Gospel of Mark

2011-11-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

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It is clear that 3 of the 4 Gospel writers link Jesus to Genesis. The most famous is John who begins his Gospel in the same words as Genesis “In the beginning” and continues on with a 7-day creation story. You have to hunt a little, but the creation week is there. Luke has the genealogy of Jesus and traces His line all the way back to Adam, who he calls “the son of God.” Matthew opens his Gospel with a genealogy that traces Jesus as far back as Abraham, who lives from Genesis 11- 25.

Mark surprised me though. It seemed clear to me that there is no direct reference between the Gospel of Mark and Genesis. I wasn’t looking for one. I had read Genesis and Mark several times especially the beginning chapters of each book and nothing jumped from the page as being obvious, until this past week.

Mark is portraying Jesus as a New Adam, come to conquer where Adam failed and restore this weary world so lost and damaged by sin.

Starting into verse one Mark says, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Two things here began raising my suspicions about a Genesis connection. First the opening words “The beginning”, Genesis opens, “In the beginning”. Is a guy allowed to say the words ‘the beginning’ and not refer to Genesis? Sure. Now the second thing is how Mark calls Jesus the “Son of God.” While on the surface, we might all be thinking, yes, what’s the big connection to Genesis? Genesis and St. Luke tell us that Adam was a son of God. Not in the same way of course.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” We see this same phrase again in Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

So reading Genesis 5 can help us interpret Genesis 1, when it says that Adam and Eve were made in God’s image and likeness. It means that God is fathering children, and that Adam is God’s son. Besides that, St. Luke tells us in his Genealogy of Jesus that Jesus came from Luke 3:38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Mark continues this Genesis theme at Jesus’ baptism. In Mark 1:10-11 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased."

Again Jesus’ Sonship is being proclaimed and a vision of the Holy Spirit like a dove descends upon Him. Adam receives God’s Spirit as well.

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Jesus already had the Holy Spirit, yet this was done to show us what would happen at our own baptism. Also at our baptism, like with Jesus, the heavens were opened. So at our own baptism the heavens are opened to us, which were at one time closed beginning with Adam.

Look what happens next to Jesus in Mark. Just like after Adam’s creation with the wild animals, He was then tempted by the devil, and then God drove him out of the garden. So now Jesus. Mark 1:12, 13 And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert. And he was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan; and he was with beasts, and the angels ministered to him.

After Jesus successfully defeats the devil’s temptations, Jesus begins proclaiming the Good News that finally the Kingdom of God is once again at hand.

Jesus then goes into a synagogue on the Sabbath, that 7th day of the week, when our first parents fell to the temptation of the devil. Jesus casts out a demon out of a man, and then continues on that same day to Simon Peters’ house where his mother-in-law is in bed sick. He then heals this woman on the Sabbath. I think that the man with the demon and the sick woman represent a kind of healing for the old Adam and Eve.

Mark continues to tell us strange but important details. He says Mark 1:32 And when it was evening, after sunset,

Why even mention when this is taking place? What is significant about sunset? To the Jews, it means the beginnings of a new day. This day is Sunday, the first day of the week. The day Jesus would rise from the dead and begin a new creation beginning with Himself and then extending to the rest of humanity.

Mark says this Mark 1:32 And when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils.

This is the story of the whole world, ill and possessed with devils. Jesus comes as a new beginning, one filled with hope.

Mark concludes chapter 1 of his Gospel with the story of a leper. Now a leper was not allowed to enter into the towns and had to cry out to near-by people that he had leprosy. The leper had to stay out of the towns. Jesus, on the other hand, had been going from town to town to proclaim the Gospel.

They meet, the leper asks to be healed, and Jesus heals him on the spot.

The leper in his joy proclaims Jesus in all of the towns. Jesus is then too popular to openly enter a town least He be crushed. He must stay in the country.

Jesus and the leper switch roles. The leper had to stay away from the towns, but now healed, goes from town to town to proclaim Jesus. Jesus, on the other hand, was going town to town to proclaim the Gospel, had to now stay in the country. When Jesus healed the leper, Jesus did not get leprosy, but He got the effects of it in that He had to stay out of the towns.

This is what happens to Jesus on the Cross, that new tree of life, where the New Adam lays down His life for His Bride, the Church. He does not sin, but receives the effects of sin, namely suffering and death.

Mark proclaims a New Adam and a new creation in the beginning of his Gospel.

Luke 15:1-10 - The 'Lost' Chapter of the Bible

2011-11-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to examine the popular parables given in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15:1-10 Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." And He told them this parable, saying,
      "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? "And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
        "Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 "And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!' "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
The Situation
     Now the scribes and Pharisees don’t have it completely wrong. We really shouldn’t be hanging out with some sinners because they can tempt us to sin as well. If you are married and there is a co-worker flirting with you, you probably shouldn’t be hanging out with that person because they might tempt you to sin. Yet these tax-collectors and sinners are gathered to hear what Jesus has to say about the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. The scribes and Pharisees were grumbling because they were looking down at those sinners from pride. They were looking down upon those sinners as if they themselves had conquered sin. In general though it is good to kind of hang out with sinners so we can attract them to the truth of Jesus. IN doing this we will be imitating Jesus which is what we want to do in all things.
The Parables in General
     Jesus, to instruct both groups – the tax-collectors and sinners, as well as the scribes and Pharisees – tells the following parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In both stories there are two parties; the thing lost and the one searching for them.

     The things that are lost represent the sinners and tax-collectors, and Jesus is trying to tell this group. “Hey, God will go through great lengths to find you and bring you home and there is going to be so much rejoicing you won’t believe it. Angels and the whole of heaven is going to rejoice, just respond to the grace God is giving you, turn around and get on the path to God.”

     The one searching for them is of course God, but God’s usual method for searching for sinners isn’t be knocking people down and blinding them like he did with St. Paul, but by working through other people like scribes and Pharisees. These are the one who are suppose to be searching for those who are lost and bring them back. And when they bring them back it is to be with a spirit of rejoicing. Jesus is trying to tell this group “Hey, You have been blessed with brains and high social status, you should be seeking out people like these sinners to bring them back to God.”

     The problem is that they aren’t rejoicing with Jesus when he is bring back sinners to God. Yet in the parable Jesus says that the shepherd and woman called her friends and neighbors to rejoice with them. If they refuse to rejoice with them, then it is implied that they aren’t friends and neighbors of the shepherd or the woman. Meaning they aren’t friends of God.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
     I found some beautiful interpretations of these parables.

     Cornelius Lapide points out this: in Verse 5 when it says - "And when the shepherd has found the sheep, he lays it on his shoulders”

     Isaiah the prophet says this: Isaiah 53:4 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried”

     So Lapide links the shepherd bearing the sheep with Christ bearing our sins. The shepherd bearing the sheep to bring it back to the fold, and Christ bearing our sins to bring us back to heaven.

     Lapide continues: Hence Gregory of Nyssa, writes …"When the shepherd had found the sheep, he did not punish it, he did not drive it to the fold, but placing it on his shoulder, and carrying it gently, he reunited it with the flock." Oh how wondrous is the meekness, clemency, and love of Christ our Lord!

     The beauty of this is so true – think of the simplicity of both baptism and confession to restore our relationship with God. There is no gauntlet that we must run through or some herculean task that must be accomplished on our part. Jesus does all the real work on the cross and then gently call us back to him.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
     A possible insight into this parable could be that the coin which has on it a royal image of not only an earthly king, but also the image of God. This image has been lost under the dirt of sin and the darkness of this world. The woman brings a light into the house that is – God becomes incarnate in the world to illumine it and sweep it clean of sin until the image is recovered. Once the image is found rejoicing commences with the friends and neighbors – the saints and angels in heavenly places.

Getting a Better Senses of Scriptures

2011-10-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

As Catholics we are encouraged to read the Bible daily, both publically in Mass and privately. We don’t read the Bible like we do every other book and I don’t just mean reading it as a Holy Book. God had put inside of the Bible different layers which make the Bible a much later book than it already is.

This is called the senses of Scripture. The Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about this in paragraphs 115-118

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."

117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.

2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".

3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.

118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.

Beginning with the literal sense.

The literal sense of scripture is just a fancy title for how we read every piece of literature. We read the literature as the author intended. Some authors write poems, and we should read them and interpret them as poems. Other authors write history and they should be read as history. Parables are just that – parables. Mystical visions probably shouldn’t be read as history, they should be read as mystical visions. This is the literal sense, what did the author intend, and all the other senses of scripture should be based on the literal.

Next is the allegorical.

That is right St. Paul gives us an example of this in Galatians 4:22-31 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. …Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now. But what does the scripture say? "Cast out the slave and her son; for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." So, brethren, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

So St. Paul is saying that these real women who really lived on a deeper level represent two whole groups of people. Reading the OT with Christ in mind makes the Bible twice as thick and infinitely more beautiful.

What does the Bible say about the moral sense?

The moral sense really asks – what does this have to do with me? Again St. Paul gives us an answer:

1 Corinthians 10:1-11 I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance." We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents; nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

So St. Paul is saying – see how they messed up – don’t do that. The opposite is true as well with being virtuous and holy.

Finally how about the anagogical sense?

The anagogical sense says – what does this have to do with heaven?

Jerusalem, the city is seen in Scripture as a figure for heaven.

Psalm 122:1-9 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! "May they prosper who love you! Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!" For my brethren and companions' sake I will say, "Peace be within you!" For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

So while the original readers are praising the city of Jerusalem, we sing the Psalm to sing of our Heavenly Jerusalem.

The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church Fathers

2011-10-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

(Yes, you should!)

When Jehovah’s Witnesses come to the door, we can get tempted to respond with either rudeness for interrupting our afternoon, hiding and on occasion the charitable chat. Usually though the chats can turn toward the subject of the center of our Faith: the Most Holy Trinity.

What do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe about the Trinity?

They don’t believe in a Triune God, Three persons that share one nature. The say that there is one person – Jehovah God and no other. They believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel and the Holy Spirit is not even a person at all. They say he is like electricity or as they describe him – God’s active force.

Usually when someone ventures onto this conversation with them, they receive the JW publication – Should you believe in the Trinity? This publication is jam packed with arguments against the Trinity which would take several hours to take apart but one group that they try to rope into this is the Early Church Fathers. – Big Mistake.

How do the Jehovah’s Witnesses use the Church Fathers in their publication?

The Jehovah’s Witnesses on page 7 of their publication – ‘Should you believe in the Trinity?’ – quote 6 church fathers: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen. They conclude the quotes of the church fathers which this line – “Thus, the testimony of the Bible and of history makes clear that the Trinity was unknown throughout Biblical times and for several centuries thereafter.”

Well let’s test that quote as far as the church fathers are concerned?

Right off the bat I looked up the word “Trinity” in each one of these church fathers cited and right away I found that 4 of the 6 church fathers used the word “ Trinity” in a positive light. They are Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen.

So even before getting into one quote from this magazine, the reader should know that at least 67% of those quoted are misquoted.

Let’s get into some details here – how do they quote Justin Martyr?

Here is what they say Justin Martyr said –

Justin calls the prehuman Jesus a created angel who is “other than the God who made all things” – He said that Jesus was inferior to God and “ never did anything except what the Creator…willed him to do and say.”

So does St. Justin Martyr call Jesus an angel? Yes he does, which when I saw some quotes were shocking for about 2 seconds until I read the context.

This is from the Dialogue with Trypho:

“Moreover, I consider it necessary to repeat to you the words which narrate how He who is both Angel and God and Lord, and who appeared as a man to Abraham, and who wrestled in human form with Jacob, was seen by him when he fled from his brother Esau.”

"Have you perceived, sirs, that this very God whom Moses speaks of as an Angel that talked to him in the flame of fire, declares to Moses that He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob?"

St. Justin is saying that the prehuman Jesus was not an angel, but only appeared as one, and not only that he is the very God of the Old Testament . All of this JW’s would disagree with.

What about Irenaeus how do the JW’s quote him?

They say:

…”the prehuman Jesus had a separate existence from God and was inferior to him. He showed that Jesus was not equal to the “one true and only God” who is “supreme over all, and besides whom there is no other.”

I could not find this chopped up quote anywhere but what I did find is this:

"For the Church, although dispersed throughout the whole world even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and from their disciples the faith in one God, Father Almighty, … and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who announced through the prophets the dispensations and the comings, and the birth from a Virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father to reestablish all things; and the raising up again of all flesh of all humanity, in order that to Jesus Christ our Lord and God and Savior and King, in accord with the approval of the invisible Father, every knee shall bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth . . . " (Against Heresies 1:10:1 [A.D. 189]).
So with even a minimal amount of work, we can show the Jehovah’s Witness at the door that not only was pretty much the entirety of page 7 in error in the brochure – Should you believe in the Trinity? – but also that the early church did believe in the Trinity even before the word was used to describe God. This is not just poor scholarship on those in charge of the JW’s, but deceitful.

IF you live around the Greater Cincinnati area and you would like help answering Jehovah's Witnesses, I am available to give a talk to a parish or group. Please contact me through email - catholic4areason@gmail.com

When Sons Try To Become Daddys

2011-09-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting Bible tidbit about sons and their mothers and what they shouldn't do with them. We will try to keep this cryptic for the children listening to the program. So Dan what does the Bible say about sons who try to become the daddy's of the family.
The whole point of doing such a terrible thing was to gain control of the family, so it was a move to gain power. Whoever has the Mommy IS the Daddy and therefore has the power over the family.
The first time that this happens is probably right after the flood with Noah and his son Ham.
This is Genesis 9:20-24 Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.

And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.

So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."
So why is Canaan, the son of Ham cursed? Why not Ham himself? possibly because Canaan was the result of what just took place. Now it appears as though it is Noah who is been seen here in Genesis, but look at
Leviticus 18:1-3 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God.

'You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. 'None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the LORD.

'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness.
So Moses is saying - Hey - when you get to Canaan, don't do what they do there - In Canaan the sons try to become the daddys - this is wrong.

Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob Israel tries to become the daddy when in

Genesis 35:22 And it came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it.
Something you should know is that Bilhah was Rachel's maid. And Rachel was Israel's favorite wife.
And when it came time for Reuben to get the Blessing of the firstborn, he is refused - Here is what Jacob Israel says:
Genesis 49:3-4 "Reuben, you are my first-born; My might and the beginning of my strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. "Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled it-- he went up to my couch.

1 Kings 2 we have a scene where Adonijah, who is a son of King David, comes to Bathsheba (the mother of the new king Solomon) and asks her to ask King Solomon for him for the hand of Abishag in marriage.
So this sounds simple enough - Adonijah wants to marry Abishag. But there is more here about Abishag that you must know. Let me back up a bit.
1 Kings 1:1-4 Now King David was old, advanced in age; and they covered him with clothes, but he could not keep warm.

So his servants said to him, "Let them seek a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm."

So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

And the girl was very beautiful; and she became the king's nurse and served him, but the king did not cohabit with her.
So Abishag, while she was not a mother, was someone laying down with Adonijah's Dad, King David.
Now Adonijah is asking for her hand in marriage. He asks Bathsheba, who asks King Solomon. Now with this background information in mind - look at King Solomons response
1 Kings 2:21-24 So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife."

And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom-- for he is my older brother-- Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

"Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah will be put to death today."
So Solomon sees through Adonijah's request and has him put to death for trying to usurp his power.

The 7 Sacrament and the Cross

2011-09-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to talk about the Sacraments and the Cross.

I have just finished listening to an awesome CD set by Brant Pitre on Sacramental Theology and while he is totally speculating, he links the seven last words of Christ on the Cross to the seven Sacraments.
Let's begin with the sacraments of initiation, where does he speak about Baptism?
Dr. Pitre points out that in Baptism we are born again into the family of God. Where God is our Father we participate in the sonship of Christ and Mary becomes our Mother. So when from the cross St. John records

John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Jesus here is giving his mother to the disciple whom he loved. Now while tradition tells us that this was John, a deeper reading of this tells us that this is all of Christ disciples, namely us. And when do we become his disciples except in our Baptism.
What about confirmation?

Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.
So we see it is first on the cross that he gives up his Spirit and it will be this same Spirit that Jesus breathes on the apostles in John 20 when it says Jesus breathed on them and said recieve the Holy Spirit. And on the whole church at pentacost.

Finally the Eucharist?

When Jesus

John 19:28 Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth.
Jesus at this point is finishing the passover and now Eucharistic meal that he began the night before. Evidence of this is what they put the wine on, a branch of hyssop. I did a word search on my computer it is used 12 times in the Bible beginning with the first passover, but 11 of those 12 times that it uses this word is always in the context of a sacrifice.
So certainly when Jesus says - I thirst - it is some reference to the Eucharist.
I did a word search on "thirst" (Except for Matthew 5:6 - hunger and thirst for righteousness) Jesus uses it in the context of the Sammaritan woman in John 4 in John 6 with the Eucharist and at the cross and think of the cross when you read this:

John 4:13-14 Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
So where are the sacraments of healing, confession and anointing of the sick?

Well confession is very clear Luke 23:38-43 - One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Jesus hears the confession of the "good thief." And what a better absolution than saying that the thief would be with with him in paradise.

How about the anointing of the sick?

Listen to what the Catechism says about the anointing of the sick in reference to the Cross.

CCC Jesus did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the "sin of the world,"of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion. [440, 307]
This is so clear when Christ says in Mark 15:34 "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He is quoting psalm 22 here which while it does end in triumph, it is certainly a psalm of suffering.

What about the priesthood?

In every culture the role of the priest is to intercede for the people, and we see even on the cross, Jesus is interceding for those crucifying him right then, as well as us with our sins.

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.

It is significant here that they are casting lots for his garments, because in another place it mentions that he was wearing a seamless garment, which is what a priest would wear when he is offering sacrifice. This further points to Jesus's priestly role on the Cross.
Finally Marriage, where do we see marriage at the cross?

I can't get into it right now but, some scholars have called the cross a wedding bed. We see Christ dying ( or a biblical euphemism is falling asleep) and then from his side is brought forth like Adam, his bride the church through the water and the blood.

Listen to these verses:

John 13:1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

John 19:30 When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished";

The Greek here brings out a better paralell. In John 13 it says that he loved them to the end and then John 19 really says that it is ended. The greek word for end/ or finish is teleos.

In Latin Jesus says - it is consumated. Think what things we consumate - our marrages on our wedding night. It is here when we see Jesus's corps is at deaths door we should think of his marital words - "This is My Body"

Again this was taken from Dr. Brant Pitre's CD set

Sacramental Theology which can be purchaced here:

http://www.catholicproductions.com/store/audio/pitre/index.html

7 Sacraments Foreshadowed in the Garden of Eden

2011-09-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today we are talking about the 7 Sacraments and how they are foreshadowed in the Garden of Eden. Let’s begin with the Sacraments of Initiation.

Baptism is seen in the very beginning

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

We see this imagery again in the very Baptism of our Lord Jesus

Mark 1:9-10 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;

So we see that the Spirit moving over the waters of creation are also at the new creation of the Baptismal waters.

Confirmation in the Garden of Eden

In Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

God here gives to Adam the breath of life, which not only gives his body life but his soul life as well. It is when they sin that this spirit of God would be taken from our first parents.

But we see Christ (God in the flesh), who had just conquered death come to the apostles on Easter as recorded in

John 20:21-23 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Finally there is peace Matt, because the forgiveness of sins has been given to men here. This is like a mini Penecost, The Holy Spirit would later fall on the entire church on its birthday.

Where do we see the Eucharist?

Certainly in the Tree of Life. Look what God does in Genesis 3:22 now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" --

Keep these words in mind - eat and live forever, eat and live forever.

Listen not to Jesus in John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Jesus himself is practically quoting Genesis 3:22 here there is no question about it.

Is confession in Eden?

After the fall there is a kind of confession without a real admission of guilt. They play the blame game, so it is sloppy to say the least, but present none the less.

Marriage is most certainly prefigured.

Marriage was the hardest sacrament to find in my study (said with great sarcasm). Yes obviously our first parents were married.

Priesthood

The priesthood was tougher to find in Eden, until you study it in Hebrew. Then it is pretty clear in

Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

I know what you are thinking, and no you didn't miss it. When God puts man in the garden to till it and keep it. The Hebrew says that he is to Work the garden and guard it.

This doesn't sound like a big deal until you do a Bible study on these two words and then they always show up in the context of worship. Some examples

Numbers 3:7 "And they shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

Numbers 18:7 "But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."

Our priests do this as well. They are to guard the teachings handed on from the apostles and work the Liturgy. Liturgy literally means the work of the people.

Finally the anointing of the sick.

It must be remembered that this sacrament is the sacrament of those who are suffering. All suffering had its beginnings in the beginning with the fall of our first parents. With sin came suffering. The pains of birth and the thorns of the field. Also that we are headed toward the dust of the earth in death.
But Christ, who compares his Passion to a woman in labor pains in John 16:21 and he wears a crown of thorns, grabs hold of the pains and sufferings of sin and reorders them toward healing and salvation.
So much so that Peter can say in 1 Peter 4:1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

So while not explicitly in the Garden of Eden but foreshadowed.

I got this Bible tidbit from an awesome Bible study by Dr. Brant Pitre on the seven sacraments. Sacramental Theology. This will take you both deep into theology and scripture.

http://www.catholic-productions.com/store/audio/pitre/index.html

5 Reasons We Can't Go By The Bible Alone - & 3 Questions for Thought

2011-08-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

Our Protestant brothers and sisters for the last 500 have said that all we need as an authority is the Bible. They reject Sacred Tradition and the teaching authority of the Magisterium. Instead they have been replaced by man's traditions (such as "saved by faith alone" 1517 A.D. and "the rapture" 1830's) and self appointed authority.

But here are (at least) 5 reasons why we can’t go by the Bible alone.

#1 The idea that we can go by the Bible alone – Isn’t Biblical.
#2 Scripture doesn’t teach which books belong in it.
#3 For all historical purposes it couldn’t have worked.
#4 No one in the first 1400 years of the church taught that we can go by the Bible alone.
#5 For all practical purposes it doesn’t work.

I chose these 5 because I thought they were the best of all the arguments and you can remember them on one hand. The first two are biblical the second two are historical and the last one you can remember on your thumb is practical.

#1 The idea that "we can go by the Bible alone" – isn’t Biblical.
If you are going to go by the Bible alone you had better find some Biblical ground for teaching that or you don’t have a leg to stand on. Now of course folks who go by the Bible alone feel as though they have found some verses that support their view point but upon further investigation, they are taken out of context or just made to say something they aren’t saying.

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.
Amen – this verse as well as all the verses in the Bible are true and inspired by the Holy Spirit. But is this verse teaching me – you only need to follow and obey the written word of God? no.

Didn’t Jesus teach us to go by the Bible alone in Matthew chapter 4 when he said three times to the devil – it is written, it is written, it is written. He appealed to scripture alone to refute the devil.
Again Amen – In THIS particular he did refer to scripture, but other times he referred to himself as an authority outside of scripture – He told the demons – I rebuke you. And we need to come back to the question – is he teaching us here - you only need to follow and obey the written word of God? no.

Here is the most popular verse referred to. St. Paul tells Timothy -
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Amen – I have no problem with this verse. But the context is problematic for this kind of interpretation. If we look at the context and back up one verse to verse 2 Timothy 3:15 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Wait a second – St. Timothy knew these sacred writings – these scriptures from childhood. This reference to scripture isn’t concerning the New Testament, this is concerning the Old Testament.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
St. Paul here is in context referring to the Old Testament which points us to Jesus.

#2 Scripture doesn’t teach which books belong in it.
The Bible doesn’t have an inspired table of contents anywhere. There is no inspired list of books – these are the books which make up the Bible. So to find out which books belong in the Bible we have to go outside of the Bible to the teaching authority of the Church and tradition to see which books are in fact inspired.

#3 For all historical purposes it couldn’t have worked.
Where the apostles to go by the Bible alone, because they were the ones who wrote the New Testament and they took their time doing it also. You would think that if they knew about this going by the Bible alone doctrine that they would have been more systematic in their writings. Instead they assume that their readers have already heard the Gospel and they are referring to specific problems in these early communities. Also the Bible as we know it today wasn’t formally canonized until 381 at the Council of Rome – No – Constantine was not there.

#4 No one in the first 1400 years of the church taught that we can go by the Bible alone.
Church history is unaware of this doctrine of going by the Bible alone for the first 1400 years of her existence. Sounds like a relatively new doctrine.

#5 For all practical purposes it doesn’t work.
In brief this doctrine teaches that any believer who is a true believer in Jesus Christ and is filled with the Holy Spirit, can understand easily what the Bible teaches. They themselves are the interpreter guided by the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately many people are confused and don’t follow the Holy Spirit as closely as I myself do who alone holds the true interpretation.
- So we see that this doctrine leads to nothing but division and more division. Too many competing interpretations.

I have a 3 question solution that we as Catholics can use to focus our friends and neighbors attention.

#1 Do you believe the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit? – they should say – yes. This is good because we do too. Reaffirm this and add that it is 100% infallible.

#2 So the Holy Spirit inspired the books to be written – do we need the same Holy Spirit to recognize which books are inspired? Do we need the Holy Spirit to recognize which books belong in the Bible?
- They will say yes – ADD, good because it is a historical fact that in 381 A.D. the Catholic Church at the Council of Rome was the one to put the Bible together. So they at that time MUST have had the Holy Spirit to recognize which books were inspired.

#3 Now since it took the Holy Spirit to write the Bible. It took the Holy Spirit to lead the early Church to pick out those inspired books. Certainly we need the Holy Spirit to interpret the Bible. Since you trust that the Holy Spirit was leading the Church to choose the right books, why not trust that the Holy Spirit was leading the Church to choose the correct interpretation?

IN BRIEF – The Holy Spirit inspired the writing.
The Holy Spirit guides the choosing.
The Holy Spirit guards the interpretation.

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Biblical Images of the Church

2011-08-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to talk about Biblical symbols that ‘are often used to convey the revelation of the kingdom [of God] and similarly the inner nature of the church.’

These “different images taken either from tending sheep or cultivating the land, from building or even from family life and betrothals, the images are prepared in the books of the Prophets.”

The first image of the church is a sheepfold by which we only enter into through Christ Jesus.
John 10:1-10 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. …. "When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice… "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.

This image was prefigured in the Old Testament
Isaiah 40:10-11 Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, And His recompense before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs, And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
Ezekiel 34:11-12 For thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. "As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.

So Jesus – who is God incarnate - fulfills these prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel and he even lays down his life for the church.
John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

The church is also compared to a field

1Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field…

This field is filled with imagery. Jesus compares it to a vineyard.
Matthew 21:33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey…
Now to paraphrase – they don’t give the owner any of its fruit and ultimately beat and kill anyone who tries to collect the produce – even the owners son. What will be done with these murderers?
Jesus continues…Matthew 21:41-43 They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes '? "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.
So right here – Jesus links the vineyard image to the kingdom of God image, yet there is further background.
This image of the vineyard is right from Isaiah 5, where the kingdom is Isarel.

Isaiah 5:1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill…
The problem is here is that nothing grows in the vineyard so the Lord lets it get trampled by wild animals.
Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel. So Israel will get trampled not by wild animals but by the gentiles.
Here though is the next link and Jesus puts them all together – the vineyard, the kingdom, and Israel are all the same thing and they find their fulfillment in the New Testament Church as Jesus said Matthew 21:43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.
The church is the New Israel.

The church is also compared to a building.
1 Timothy 3:15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, 20 having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Finally the church is compared to a spouse of Jesus.
The best place for this is that infamous chapter from St. Paul – Ephesians 5. Yet listen.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; 31-32 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
Revelation 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 21:9 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

All of these images point us to differing aspects of the Catholic Church prefigured in the OT and fulfilled by Jesus.

I found this BIble tidbit in a Vatican 2 document called Lumen Gentium paragraph 6. Who knew church documents would be filled with Bible tidbits?

The Mass and the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes

2011-08-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

In the Gospels we read that Jesus multiplied bread and fish on two occasions. Here is their possible significance.

While you do need to link all of the Gospels together to get the best picture of both feedings, the Gospel of Mark ties them together very well.

In Mark the feeding of the 5000 is in chapter 6 and the feeding of the 4000 is in chapter 8.
Jesus himself links these two multiplications of loaves together

Mark 8:15-21 And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? "Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." "And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

Jesus places special emphasis on the numbers of loaves, people, and baskets collected.
What is also significant is where these multiplications took place.
In Mark 6 we see Jesus feeding the 5000 people with 5 loaves and some fish in
Mark 6:32 And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart.

This takes place in a desert. This is sounding a lot like the exodus where Moses was with a crowd in a desert and they all received bread miraculously. Jesus is taking that same event and begins to bring it to completion in the New Testament times. The significance of the 5000 and the 5 loaves points us back to the 5 books of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Here we see in this miraculous feeding the number of baskets left over – 12. There are twelve baskets left over - for whom? For the twelve tribes. It is also significant that the word basket here is the Jewish word – for the word basket.

There is a problem though. At the time of Jesus there were not twelve tribes of Israel, there were really just 2 tribes – Benjamin and Judah and these were called Jews – from Judah. The other 10 tribes had been scattered to the four winds by the Assyrians and had become – lost. These 10 called themselves Israel before they were lost. This happened 722 years before Jesus was born. Those 10 tribes called Israel had become to wicked that as a punishment God allowed the Assyrians to conquer them and disperse them.

Yet God promised that one day he would reunite the Judah and Israel again.
Isaiah 11:10-12 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. In that day the LORD will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel (=10 tribes) and gather the dispersed of Judah (=2 tribes) from the four corners of the earth.

Now let’s look at the next multiplication.

This is the 4000 with 7 loaves and a few fish. Again the numbers are significant. I think the 4000 represent those that Isaiah said were sent to the four corners of the earth. Those 10 tribes of Israel that now have become gentile and lost. Jesus intends to feed them as well.

We see at this feeding of the 4000 that the location is significant. Mark 8:4 And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?"

So again we are in a desert, Jesus is being a New Moses to this crowd as well, but the word here for basket is a different word than the one we saw in chapter 6 – this is a gentile/Greek word for basket and this takes place in the Gentile territory of the Decapolis.

Now how many baskets get taken up? Seven – what is the significance of that number. Who are the seven baskets for?

Well we just read it in Isaiah 11:10-12 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. In that day the LORD will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel (=10 tribes) and gather the dispersed of Judah (=2 tribes) from the four corners of the earth.

Jesus is now being a new Moses for the dispersed, not just for the Jew, but for the Gentile as well.

Now Jesus’ vocabulary in both multiplications is similar he takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it.

This links not only the two miracles together but also links this to a greater miracle – that of the last supper where
Mark 14:22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body."

It is through this Eucharist that the Jews and Gentiles. The 12 tribes are reunited and gathered together once again in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass. Prefigured by the two miraculous multiplication of bread and flesh and fulfilled in the Mass.

This Bible tidbit is based on Dr. Brant Pitre's talk: The Last Supper and the Lost Tribes of Israel.
http://www.catholicproductions.com/store/audio/pitre/lost_tribes.html

Objections to the Catholic interpretation of John 6 answered (in brief).

2011-08-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

We have spoken before about why we should read John chapter 6 literally when Jesus says eat my flesh and drink my blood. Here are some objections that are brought up concerning this interpretation.

So what are some objections to the Catholic view of – eat my flesh and drink my blood as interpreted literally.

OBJECTION - Some objectors would say – if Jesus meant it literally that we should eat his flesh and drink his blood – that would be cannibalism.

This isn’t cannibalism because the flesh and blood that we are receiving are supernatural and not natural. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist it is the whole Jesus - body, blood, soul, and divinity. And while it is that he is consumed he is not destroyed or hurt by our reception of Him.

OBJECTION - Another objection – The Jews were prohibited from drinking blood.
Leviticus 17:14 "For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.'
This continues into New Testament times:
Acts 15:29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood.
Therefore to take this literally would mean that both the OT and NT laws were being violated by Jesus.

The answer to this objection is in part in the Leviticus quote - Leviticus 17:14 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood.
Now why would the Israelites be told not to drink the blood of animals – is it tasty? No. Their pagan neighbors would drink the blood of an animal in the hope of becoming like that animal. Harnessing its power because its life is in the blood. It kind of makes sense, you drink the blood of a bull to get its strength. But bull blood doesn’t literally give you power, but on a religious level it lowers the man drinking the blood to an animal state. We are to have dominion over the animals not lower ourselves to their level.
But what about Jesus, what life is in his blood? Eternal life. Eternal life runs through the veins of Jesus. The life that his blood gives doesn’t lower us, but raises us up to supernatural life.

OBJECTION – Jesus spoke figuratively on other occasions like when he said:
I am the light of the world – John 8:12
I am the door – John 10:9
I am the true vine – John 15:1
They say – you don’t believe Jesus is literally a light, a door and a vine do you? When he was speaking here about eating his flesh and drinking his blood he was just speaking metaphorically.

The problem, which I brought up in the other tidbit is that the Jews already had a metaphorical interpretation to ‘eat the flesh and drink the blood’ – The metaphorical interpretation means to persecute someone.
Isaiah 9:19-20 By the fury of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother. And they slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.
Psalm 27:2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
By saying that it is a metaphor it has Jesus commanding us to persecute him to have eternal life. Jesus would never command us to harm him, that would be sinful.

OBJECTION – Four of the five senses tell us that the bread and wine to not become the body and blood of Jesus. If it smells like bread, tastes like bread, looks and feels like bread – it must be bread.

I heard the best answer to this from Steve Ray who gave a talk on the Eucharist. (this is in essence what he responded) He said that a Christian friend had challenged him on this very point. So Steve Ray answers back – what then do we has about Jesus, who looks, feels, smells, and sounds only like a man. Even if we cut him open we won’t find a divine liver or supernatural lungs. Our eyes tell us one thing, but the spirit tells us another. Which leads us to our last objection.

OBJECTION – Jesus says at the end of John 6 this - John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
See the words ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’ are spirit – they are symbolic, not literal.

I would respond with a few things – first, where anywhere else in scripture does the word ‘spirit’ ever mean ‘symbolic’? Are you saying that the Holy Symbolic fell on the apostles on the day of Pentecost? I don’t think so.
Secondly - When Jesus said that ‘the flesh profits nothing’ was he including the sacrifice of his flesh on the cross – does that profit nothing? Of course His flesh profits something or we wouldn’t be saved.
Thirdly - when he says ‘the flesh’ we see how Jesus uses this term later in John 8:15 where he says "You people judge according to the flesh”, meaning according to external, worldly appearances.

OBJECTION – This whole discourse has nothing to do with eating Jesus, but receiving him in faith. Jesus uses the word ‘faith’ 9 times in John 6.

Amen to that – Jesus does begin this discourse talking about faith - John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. – I agree that this is an invitation to faith in Jesus - John 6:47 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”
The problem (with the faith alone interpretation) is that Jesus doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood so many times with such literal words that you need faith to believe what he is saying. That is why we begins with a brief discourse on faith.

8 Reasons Jesus was being literal in John 6

2011-07-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

The Eucharist, or communion is the source and the summit of our Catholic faith, but many people believe that Jesus’ words at the last supper and John 6 should be taken symbolically, not literally.

There may be more, but I found 8 Reasons that Jesus meant John 6 literally.
Remind out listeners the part of John 6 that we are talking about.
John 6:53-58 Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever."
Let’s go through the reasons

1. Context of four other eating events – Passover, multiplication of the loaves, manna, tree of life.
John 6:4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
- Jews eat Lamb on Passover.
John 6:13 And so they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.
- Crowd ate bread and fish.
John 6:31-32 "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'" Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.
- Israel in the desert ate manna.
John 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh." - Adam and Eve were kept from eating of the tree of life in Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever "--

2. Repetition of command and instruction that Jesus is to be eaten.
John 6:35 I am the bread of life;
John 6:41 I am the bread that came down out of heaven
John 6:48 I am the bread of life.
John 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh."
John 6:53 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
John 6:54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life
John 6:55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
John 6:56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

3. Change of vocabulary from eat to gnaw.
Fago – 11 times – can mean eat, consume, devour
To trogo - 4 times – gnaw, crunch, eat – gets more explicit.

John 6:5 Jesus...said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat (FAGO)?"
John 6:23 There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate(FAGO) the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate(FAGO) of the loaves, and were filled.
John 6:31 "Our fathers ate(FAGO) the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat(FAGO).'"
John 6:49 "Your fathers ate(FAGO) the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
John 6:50 "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat(FAGO) of it and not die.
John 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats(FAGO) of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh."
John 6:52 The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat(FAGO)?"
John 6:53 Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat(FAGO) the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
John 6:54 "He who eats(TROGO) My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
John 6:56 "He who eats(TROGO) My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
John 6:57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats(TROGO) Me, he also shall live because of Me.
John 6:58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate(FAGO), and died, he who eats(TROGO) this bread shall live forever."
s before?

4. Symbolic doesn’t make sense – persecution.
Some people say that when Jesus said - eat my flesh and drink my blood - that he was speaking in a symbolic or metaphorical sense. Yet this interpretation would not make sense because in the Jewish mind they had two interpretations of -to eat flesh and blood - the literal and the symbolic which meant to persecute someone.
Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
- Is this woman in Revelation literally drinking blood of saints - no she is persecuting them. Besides you can't get drunk on blood.
Micah 3:2-3 "You who hate good and love evil... who eat the flesh of my people.
- Were God's people literally getting eaten up? No, they were getting persecuted.

So Jesus is either being literal when he says - eat my flesh and drink my blood - or he is being metaphorical and he was us to persecute him to have eternal life, which make no sense.

5. Symbolic doesn’t make sense – no correction of scandal.
The Catholic interpretation is to take Jesus literally which is still scandalous today. The protestant interpretation of these words means that we should believe in Jesus. Who has been scandalized at a protestant church interpreting these words symbolically? I have never heard of such a case.

6. We take him at his word – believe.
Jesus just meant what he said - John 6:55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink." - Dear reader, ask yourself this question. Is Jesus' flesh true food and his blood true drink? if your answer is no then you are disagreeing with Jesus.

7. Early Christians interpreted it literally
"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (Ignatius of Antioch - Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 [A.D. 110]).
FOR MORE QUOTES SEE - http://www.catholic.com/library/Real_Presence.asp

8. Eucharistic miracles.
I read that there are 120 approves Eucharistic miracles. Miracles that either deal with the Eucharist Himself, like the host turning to flesh during consecration in Lanciano, Italy in the 700’s which you can still go and see today.
Some miracles surround the presence of the Eucharist. St. Anthony of Padua once challenged an atheist to not feed his donkey for three days and then see if the donkey would come to his Lord God in the Eucharist or food from his master. When the donkey starved donkey knelt before the Eucharist the atheist converted.
FOR MORE STORIES SEE http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/engl_mir.htm

Do Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 Contadict?

2011-07-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

I have three new posts. Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. This summer has been the busiest in history.

Have you ever heard that there are contradictions in the Bible? The biggest and most popular one that people suggest is the apparent contradiction between Genesis 1, and 2. What does the church say about such matters ?

Here is the apparent problem that some people point out to say that scripture contradicts itself. In Genesis chapter 1 it says that on that God made plants, animals, and the man and woman – in that order; plants, animals, and the man and woman. But in Genesis chapter 2 God makes Man, plants, animals, then woman.

So the objector concludes that the Bible right off the bat contradicts itself in the creation accounts. They say – see the author is confused about when plants animals and man were made therefore the Bible is filled with error and doesn’t need to be obeyed.

Of course the Bible is not filled with error and does need to be obeyed, but we must read it as it was intended.

Listen to what Pope Benedict said -
Pope Benedict XV: No Real Contradictions in Scripture Again, “Scripture cannot lie”; it is wrong to say Scripture lies, nay, it is impious even to admit the very notion of error where the Bible is concerned. “The Apostles,” [Saint Jerome] says, “are one thing; other writers” - that is, profane writers – “are another; the former always tell the truth; the latter - as being mere men - sometimes err,” and though many things are said in the Bible which seem incredible, yet they are true; in this “word of truth” you cannot find things or statements which are contradictory, “there is nothing discordant nor conflicting”; consequently, “when Scripture seems to be in conflict with itself both passages are true despite their diversity.” (Benedict XV, Spiritus Paraclitus 5)

Now if someone should present us with this Genesis argument or any other argument, a poor response is – nu uh the pope said your wrong.

I just wanted everyone to know that the Pope said that there aren’t any contradictions in scripture, that’s all. If you have ears to hear then hear.

Now how do we respond to such an objection?

Matt we have to be people who are constantly studying our faith so that we can be better equipped to answer people, and build up ourselves then each other in the truth.

Next we might have to do some research. Here is what I found in answering this particular question about Genesis 1 and 2.

In brief, Genesis chapter 1 is like a panoramic view of creation – it is the big picture.

Genesis 2 on the other hand is a zoomed in look at the 6th day and the special creation of humanity.

So there is no contradiction. What further evidence pans this out?

The Hebrew vocabulary words in the text reveal that there is a difference between what is created in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.

It says in genesis 1 that on the third say that God made vegetation. This is wild vegetation. IN Genesis two it opens with this… Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food,
There is a distinction in plant life. One is wild the other is cultivated, there is no contradiction.

Genesis 1 talks about animals being created on the 5th and 6th days. Genesis 2 says this. Genesis 2:19 So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air. See it is here that God makes the beasts of the field, where as before he had created the wild animals like koala bears and raccoons.

Finally with the creation of man and woman on the 6th day, yet being separated in Genesis 2, I think that this gives us a hint that Genesis 2 is the 6th day. While Genesis 1 just say that man and woman were created in that day. Genesis 2 is the zoomed in version which gives us the details of the events. Man was created first, then given domesticated plants and animals but no partner for himself. So later that day God makes woman from his side. There is no contradiction and in the Hebrew it is even more clear with the differing vocabulary words.

Indulgences

2011-07-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today many people have forgotten or are confused about indulgences. What is an indulgence? Can we buy them? Does it mean we can indulge in things? Let’s see what they are and how they work.

To understand what an indulgence is, you must first understand what sin does to the soul. When you sin it effects two things, the spiritual order and the temporal order; essentially heaven and earth.

The spiritual order is effected because what you are doing offends God. You hurt or damage your relationship with God, the church, and your own soul. The temporal order or earth is effected because you have done something unnatural and disordered here in this time and place.

We are called to repair both orders, the heavenly one and the earthly one. Here is an earthly example. One day while playing baseball in the street I hit a ball strait through the neighbor’s window into their flat screen TV. I knock on the door and the kind Mr. Owens answers. I explain to him what happened and that I am sorry. He forgives me but then we discuss making reparation for the window and the TV.

Now in this example I have shown an earthly example of what would be confession and penance. I confessed that I sinned and now I do what I can to repair the damage.

Here is a great Biblical example of this

In 2 Samuel 11 is tells the history of how King David sinned. First he committed adultery with Bathsheba and got her pregnant, then he had her husband murdered.

Nathan the prophet confronts David about this sin and this is what David says:

2 Samuel 12:13-14 David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die."

This is a hard passage to our ears, we think hey why is the baby being punished for David’s sin. But we have to be biblically minded people. Death is not the worst thing in the world. Going to hell is the worst thing. This passage teaches us at least two things. #1 Our sins effect our children. #2 We will see here on earth how they effect our children and think about them until the day we die.

Back to the point though, David is forgiven yet he still experiences a punishment. Why? Because our sins effect both heaven and earth.

So where do indulgences fit in to all of this?

Back to our example with Mr. Owens and the baseball through the window. So I did hit the ball through the window. I said I was sorry he forgives me we talk about reparation. But then Mr. Owens does something shocking, He says you “know what Dan, just help me clean up the glass from the window and the TV and that will be enough.” I say, ”Hold on, what do you mean?” He says, “He says, Just as I said, you help me clean up this glass from the window and the pieces from this TV and we will be even.” I say “How is that?” He says, “Because when I was a boy, your dad took care of me in the hospital and worked tirelessly to find a cure for the disease I had and he saved my life. So for the sake of your father and his work I will spare you this bill you owe me.”

You can imagine a real life example of a young man before the police. I will let you off because you dad was a great man for the people in this town and did great things. We know this happens. This happens in the Bible too.

It is when they say, for the sake of so-in-so – I will do or not do such and such a thing.

Abraham asks God, hey if there are 10 righteous people will you destroy the whole town of Sodom? God says - Genesis 18:32 "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." So for the righteousness of those 10 people, the town of Sodom would have been spared, yet not even ten could be found.

2Kings 8 talks about how King Jehoram was a wicked king. 2 Kings 8:18-19 and he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons for ever.

So Judah was spared punishment because of King David. While we of course read earlier of the sins of David. He was overall righteous because he continued to turn to the Lord after he had sinned.

In Numbers 9 Moses relates that when Israel made the Golden Calf that God was going to destroy Israel but then Moses says.

Deuteronomy 9:18-19 Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened to me that time also.

So we see that Israel is spared the punishment for the sake of what penance Moses did.

Now let’s here what the catechism says about indulgences and this fits perfectly the biblical pattern.
Here is what the catechism says about indulgences.

CCC 1471
An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven,
- So we have been forgiven in confession, and now the indulgence is to rid us of the temporal punishment.
which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions
- So we have to be a right attitude and certain conditions must be met to obtain them.
through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.
- Finally it is the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints that we are calling upon to mend this temporal punishment.
Ultimately we are saying – for the sake of what Jesus and the saints did, help me mend this world that I have damaged by my sins.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Section 1473
The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man."

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sections 1478-1479
An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity. Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.

Purgatory

2011-07-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

If there is a topic that is misunderstood by both Protestants and Catholics it is Purgatory. What is Purgatory, and how can we better explain it to people?

In kind of crude terminology, Purgatory is the doormat to the gates of Heaven. It is where you go if your soul needs wiping off on your way to heaven.

In brief here is how I explain it to people:

I ask – are you perfect?

They say – no.

I say – will you be perfect in Heaven.

They say – yes.

I say – So in between here and heaven you are made perfect.

They say – yes.

I say – that is what we call purgatory. That place before you get to heaven that you were made perfect.

Now that we have a simple explanations of it, what are some common misconceptions about purgatory.

Some people say that it is a place where you get a second chance. Others say that Purgatory undermines Christ work on the cross, like Christ couldn’t save us but purgatory can.

How are both of those things untrue?

Scripture and tradition are clear that once you are dead, you are going to really either heaven or hell. Purgatory is preparation for Heaven.

Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment,

So that should clear up the misconception that we get a second chance.

Does purgatory undermine Christ’s work on the cross? No. In fact it is a continuation of the work of the cross on our soul after we have died.

What did Jesus do for us on the cross? He reconciled us to God that we might be God’s Children once more. 1 John 3:1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

We who have come to believe in Jesus are children of God. But Jesus didn’t carry his cross so that we wouldn’t have to carry our cross. Jesus carried and died on his cross so that we would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the same.

Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting that God, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.

What was that? Jesus was made perfect through suffering? Wait I thought he already was perfect. He was already perfect, but when the time came for Jesus to suffer through the passion for the salvation of the world. He obeyed his Heavenly Father and thus in his continual obedience was perfected. It is this perfect obedience that we are called to imitate here on earth.

Listen to St. Paul

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

So we are to imitate St. Paul as he imitates Christ. How are we to do that – listen to Jesus.

Luke 9:23-24 And he said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.

What will carrying my cross daily do? It will do for me as it did for Christ – made him perfect.

Matthew 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So this whole Christian life is about carrying our cross, dying to self, conforming our lives to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. But we don’t like to do that. We rebel against carrying our cross and being obedient to the Father. Now we can outright rebel and remain like that until hell. Or I think for some of us, we carry the cross for a while, complain for a while, come back pick it up again, put it down. Now this is better than outright rebellion, but we are called to perfection.

St. John says in

Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean shall enter it the heavenly Jerusalem.

Our Heavenly Father loves us and wants to help us. St. Paul says in

Hebrews 12:4-6 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? -- "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

God chastises us because he loves us. And this love continues after death if we have not been perfected.
St. Paul says that we are responsible how we build on our soul. That ever work will be tested with fire. What stands the test will be rewarded, what doesn’t stand the test will be burned up, and the person will suffer. He then warns that if we destroy our soul, God will destroy us.

1 Corinthians 3:10-17 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw -- each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

But that fire he speaks of is a purifying fire. It is a fire where the soul is saved, but suffers.

It is this fire we call purgatory.

Is the Rapture this weekend?

2011-05-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

Will Catholics be "Left Behind"? This week we are going to talk about the rapture and what the Bible says about it.
Let’s start by discussing what the Rapture is and what, we, as Catholics, are to make of it.

The word Rapture means to ‘be caught up’ and the doctrine is taken from 1Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 4:17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.

What rapturists believe is that at some secret time, all the true believers in Christ will be caught up with Jesus in the air and then taken to Heaven, while non-believers will be left behind on earth to suffer through the tribulation of the antichrist.

Christ will later destroy the antichrist with His second coming a set up His Kingdom here on earth and finally reign as King from Jerusalem for 1000 years, or as they teach the millennium.

There are many problems with this belief.

The first problem is that this teaching is only 200 years old and not 2000 years old. It traces itself back to John Nelson Darby who was a preacher, and not back to Christ or the Apostles.

The second problem is that they have Christ coming back more than once, which Scripture doesn't teach. The rapturists read in scripture about differing aspects of the second coming of Christ and read them not as differing aspects of one event, but differing events. So in their theology, Jesus returns more than a second time.

The third problem is that Christ is already reigning, and already has set up a kingdom called the Church.

There are several verses that are used to support the ideas on rapture.

The most popular one is 1 Thessalonians 4:17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.

But this verse is happening on the last day, not in some period before Jesus comes again in His second coming.

Another verse is Matthew 24:36-42 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.
Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

So rapturists say, “see, one is taken at our Lord’s coming and one is left. The one that is taken is faithful and the one that is left behind is the unfaithful one.”

The problem is the context of these verses. The context that we just read actually gave us the answer of who is taken and who was left behind. Here is what Jesus says again:

Matthew 24:38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away.

Was Noah taken or was he left behind? It would appear that the context gives us the answer that Noah was left behind and that to be taken is not what you want to happen.

Now this Saturday, May 21, 2011. There is a group claiming that the rapture will occur. What are we to make of this?

My heart goes out to them. I have tried with little success to find a name for this group and I can’t seem to find one. They are touring the country in vans and handing out fliers concerning this Saturday and I fear several things when it doesn’t happen as they may plan.

#1 They will fall into despair and no longer follow the Lord, or even try to say that the Scriptures are false.

#2 They will say that they actually miscalculated the date and it is next year or something equally as ridiculous. Having a rolling end of days timeline like the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

#3 They will, in humility, say that they are in error and look no longer for the traditions of men but for the Tradition that comes from God that resides in the Catholic Church.

But I will not hold my breath for #3. These people need our prayers for conversion.

So you want to start a new denomination...

2011-05-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

In the Acts of the Apostles we hear about the early Church. Yet there are many people today that say that the early Church fell away. Why do they say that?

They say it because they need to justify why their church exists but its historical record is a bit short. Let’s say there is a guy, for example, Joe Smith, who in the 1800’s wants to start a church. He has some problems. Namely, that he is starting his church 1800 years after Jesus supposedly started one. How does he justify starting one so late in time? What reason does he have to start a church that doesn’t historically trace itself back to Christ?

At this point, Joe Smith has some options. Ultimately, he has to deal with one church in particular, that is the Catholic Church. Historically, the Catholic Church is the only one that can trace itself back to Christ and the Apostles.

So what does Joe Smith do? He says that the early church of Acts of the Apostles was persecuted into oblivion and that it stopped existing until he, Joe Smith, restored it. The Catholic Church was the by-product and remains of this true church that was persecuted so long ago. This is the restoration argument. OR he could say that it never stopped existing and that his church can trace itself back through time, but it exists in different times and places under differing names like the Donatists, the Albagensians, and so forth. He is just bringing the church out in the open in his day of the 1800’s. The reason why we haven’t heard of it so much through history is that the Catholic Church was always persecuting it, but finally it can come in the open again. This is the “we always existed in secret” argument. OR he could ignore the Catholic Church altogether and say I am just trying to start a church like they did in Acts of the Apostles. This is the “I am just trying to start my own church and who cares about history” argument. Finally, the most popular of Joe Smith’s arguments is that the early church was the church Jesus started but it fell into error and now we need to fix it. I know thousands of men have come before me and tried to fix it and they did an ok job but now I, yes I, know how to really fix it.

I think the Bible is the best argument against all of these arguments, both the Bible itself and its content.

It is another historical fact that the Bible was put together by Bishops of the Catholic Church. We know they were Catholics because they called themselves Catholic and interpreted scripture exactly like we do today. So however Joe Smith starts his church he is always doing it with the Bible that the Catholic Church put together.

But let’s look at his 4 main arguments for starting a church.
#1 The early church disappeared and now it is getting restored.
- Let’s just think about this for a minute. God creates the world and it falls into sin, so He begins a 4000 year program to set up the world for His Son to become incarnate to die and rise for us, but after 4000 years of set up it all gets destroyed 100 years after it got started? That makes zero sense.
- The Bible clearly says that the Church is being built by God. Listen to the Gamaliel who is a Jew who says(Acts 5) that the Jews should stop persecuting Christians …for if this plan or this undertaking is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!"
- So according to the Jewish councilman’s argument, if Christianity is from God we will not be able to stop it.
- Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
- Jesus, who is God, would certainly know if the early church was going to survive, if it was going to disappear in a few decades why send them out to all nations knowing that this would be an impossible task? Besides, He says that He will be with them always even till the end of the world. That sounds like it is going to last.

What about Joe Smith’s second “we always existed in secret” argument.
This doesn’t hold up at all because if you study what those groups throughout history believed you find that they disagree fundamentally with what Joe Smith is trying to teach. I have seen a great number of groups point back to the Donatists and claim that they were reformer type people but when you read about what they taught you see that they were super strict Catholics that said if you ever fell away from the faith you could never come back. Joe Smith would disagree with this.

His third argument for starting a new church is that he doesn’t care about history, he just wants to follow the Bible. Again, if we look in scripture we see a model of continuity.
This is what we mean when we say that the Church is Apostolic. It means that we can be traced back to the Apostles. In Acts 1 we see Judas being replaced by Matthias. Listen to what St. Paul says to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2:2 “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
- That is four generations right there – “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
- The faith is to be passed on from one person to another. This is how they did it all through the Old Testament through the Apostles even up to our day.

Finally, the fourth and most popular argument of, “the Church’s teachings need fixing and my church will fix them.” This again falls under the weight of scripture.

#1 Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16 – I will build MY church. It is Jesus’ Church. I think He knows how to build.
#2 Jesus told this to the Apostles who held offices that Jesus established:
Luke 10:16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
- To hear Christ’s representatives and to reject them is rejecting Christ Himself, and Christ doesn’t err. Therefore, the Church’s teachings will never wonder into error.

Did Peter have Primacy

2011-04-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

Around this time of the year be look at the beginnings of the church. Unfortunately in our day unlike those first days after the resurrection there is great division about who is in charge of the Church. Is your local pastor in charge? Is it you? Or did our Lord set up certain men like Peter and the papacy to be a guide and rock of the church?

Let’s begin with Peter, did he have any special role to play in the early Church?

Certainly he did. I think to see his role though you have to do some digging. Sometimes we get caught up in the narrative and miss the details.

The first detail is from the Greek word Protos – which means first. We see a derivative of protos in the English word – prototype. A prototype of a car is an sample of a new kind of car.

We see this word protos – first, used in two ways though in Greek. It of course means first, yet it also has the meaning of best. The best, or chief. You can naturaly see why protos can mean first, best, or chief. Here are some examples from the Bible.

When the prodigal son returns the father says this:
Luke 15:22 "… 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him”
The word best here is protos.

When St. Paul lands on Matla it says this:
Acts 28:7 In the vicinity of that place were lands belonging to a man named Publius, the chief of the island. He welcomed us and received us cordially as his guests for three days.
The “chief of the island” The Greek uses the word protos to mean chief.

Now we come to Peter. Matthew says this:
Matthew 10:2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;

Now the significance of this is great. There are four lists of the apostles and Peter is always listed first and Judas 3 of the 4 times is always listed last. The 4th time being in Acts of the apostles after he had died so he wasn’t listed. They list Peter always first and Judas always last because Peter was chief and Judas was the betrayer.

Some might object and say that Peter is first because he was the first one to be called an apostle.

That is a possibility until you learn in the Gospel of John chapter one that Andrew was called by Christ before Peter, so that answers that objection.

Other verses suggest that Peter has primacy.

Peter is distinguished by others.

Tax collectors approach Peter alone:
Matthew 17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

At the resurrection an angel says:
Mark 16:7 But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'"

Peter recognizes that Judas’ office should be filled by another. Acts 1
Acts 1:15 During those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers …

Peter gives the first sermon in Acts of the apostles.
Acts 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, "You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

Peter works the first miracle:
Acts 3:6 Peter said, "I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, (rise and) walk."

It is to Peter in Acts 10 that God reveals to Peter that Gentiles are to be baptized.

It is Peter in Acts 15 that says that Gentiles don’t have to be circumcised in order to be saved, but it is through grace.
I could go on, but I had better stop.

Now concerning Acts 15, some people claim that it isn’t Peter who makes the final decision but it is James, who speaks after Peter who makes the final decision.

That is a common objection and if we take a step back and look at what is happening, we get a clearer picture.

The issue in Acts 15 is this:
Acts 15:5 But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law."

There was some debating because circumcision began with Abraham, is that a good thing to stop doing what God told Abraham to do?

So they hold a council in Jerusalem and there is a debate: Peter says that no we don’t need to circumcise people any more. That is the decision.

Paul and Barnabas then stand up and say how God has been working through the Gentiles.

James then says – Hey Peter is fulfilling the Scriptures from Amos 9 with that decree. We should tell the Gentiles though to stay away from practices that will trip up people like idolatry, and things associated with it.

Yet the big picture shows that Peter is the one who answered the question that Paul came to ask. Do Gentiles need to be circumcised – Peter says – Nope.

So to get back to our original question. Yes Peter had Primacy.

When Did The Millenium Begin?

2011-04-28T04:18:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Bible interpretation, we have a lot in common with most non-Catholics. Yet there are those verses that are defining of our position to the exclusion to any other interpretation that do divide us. One such set of verses is in the Book of Revelation.

Today we are talking about the Millennium, which means 1000 years.
Revelation 20:1-3 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

The controversy is how we interpret those verses, when do they occur and are they literal?

There are two points here that I would like to raise.
#1 what is meant by 1000 years?
#2 When is Satan bound?

#1 what is meant by 1000 years? I think we must first keep in mind that the book of Revelation is highly symbolic. Next we see the number 1000 used in symbolic ways.
Psalm 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
Do we ask the question, “Which thousand hills is that exactly?” No, because God owns all the cattle on all the hills. Here in the Psalm, 1000 just means – a lot. We believe that is means the same thing here in Rev 20:3

#2 When is Satan bound?Obviously Satan is bound at the beginning of the 1000 years, but do other scriptures talk about when this happens – They do:
Matthew 12:28-29 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
Luke 13:16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.

Here is my reasoning at least. Satan had the power to bind people. Jesus came and loosed those that Satan had bound (Luke 3:16). By the work of Jesus binding the Satan - the strong man (Matt 12:29) - Jesus was showing that this was evidence that the Kingdom of God had in fact come.

Just to reiterate; with the first coming of Christ we see Jesus’ kingdom inaugurated and at the same, Satan is cast out and bound.

There is another topic addressed in Revelation 20 that points us again to a first century fulfillment of the beginning of the 1000 years.

Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, … and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

So what is the first resurrection? When does that happen?

Notice first that it says that the saints reign with Christ for 1000. Now listen to St. Paul
Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus…
- St. Paul here uses the past tense and links us reigning with Christ with his resurrection.

Here in Rev 20 St. John tells us that those who are a part of the first resurrection are priests, and they reign with Christ for the thousand years.
My question here “when is the first resurrection?”
Scripture suggests that the first resurrection is at our Baptism.
Romans 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Ephesians 2:1, 5-6 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 5:14 For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you."
Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

To pick up a point from earlier. Jesus associates the binding of Satan with the coming of the Kingdom (Luke 3:16, Mat 12:29). Further confirmation that the kingdom was established in Christ’s first coming is as follows:

Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

In conclusion, seeing as how the kingdom was established with Jesus’ first coming the next logical question to ask then is- where is it? We believe that the Catholic Church is this Kingdom.

Children of Mary or Brothers of Jesus

2011-04-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited to help a friend of a friend answer an objection about Mary's perpetual virginity. This person presented two main objections. The Bible says that Jesus had brothers and that brothers in the Greek language means 'from the same mother.' The second argument that he presents is that the Bible says that Joseph did not 'know' Mary UNTIL she had Jesus. He points out that Joseph then DID KNOW Mary after she had Jesus, that is what the word 'until' implies. We begin in the middle of his argument from the Hebrew about the word brother. #1 I would say that [objector] is slightly off when he talks about the Hebrew and Greek words. He says that “Genesis was written in Hebrew, not Greek.” It is true that it was originally written in Hebrew, but the Jews 200 B.C. translated it from Hebrew into Greek. Here is a great example Genesis 14:14 “And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive…” Abram’s brother here is Lot who is Abram’s nephew. Like James says the Hebrew word here is “ach” which can mean brother and all these other things: ‘ach’Hebrew 1. full brother (same father & mother) Gn 4:8 2. half-brother (different mothers) Gn 37:4 3. blood relative Gn 9:25, = cousin (male) 29:15 4. (without blood relationship) fellow 2S 1:26 5. fellow tribesman Gn 31:32 6. fellow-countryman Ex 2:11 7. in general, of belonging Jb 3029; in reciprocal expr.: °îš l®°¹µîw each to the other Gn 26:31 & the like 8. term of politeness to stranger Gn 29:4 9. in public, official dealings 1K 9:13 10. in song of mourning, hôy °¹µî Je 22:18. When the Jews who knew Hebrew translated this into Greek they chose the word adelphos which is the regular Greek word for brother, but it also has a wide range of meaning: Adelphos - Greek brother: litural. J 1:41; figurative. Mk 3:35; Phil 1:14. Fellow countryman or national Ro 9:3; neighbor Mt 5:22ff. Pl. brothers and sisters Lk 21:16; Eph 6:23. The problem is that the Jews had no word in Hebrew for cousin or uncle. So when James says “The common translation for the Greek "adelphos" was a brother. As in a sibling by the same mother. It was very rarely used to mean anything else.” That is a bit mistaken as seen above. Yet Greek DOES have words for different relatives. The question is, why didn’t they use them in for example Genesis 14:14? It is because they are taking their Hebrew culture and slapping the Greek language on top of it to make it fit. So we see this sometimes used in the New Testament times as well (see above) Acts 1:15-16 “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren…” So who were the 120 brethren here? He just means countrymen as stated above. Something else significant is that St. Luke and St. Paul both use specific Greek words to refer to other relatives. But something to keep in mind is that they were both Masters of the Greek language. Relatively speaking their vocabularies are huge compared to the rest of the New Testament writers. Probably because St. Luke was a gentile and St. Paul was born and raised in a Roman colony. #2 [Objector] says that Matthew 1:25 “And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.” Saying that Mary did not have sexual relations with Joseph until Jesus was born, but then after she did. Yet scripture uses the Greek word “until” to have another meaning. It can have the first meaning but it can also mean “up to that point”. 2 Samuel 6:23 “Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto [GK until] the day of her death.” Does this mean that after her death she started having children? No 1 Timothy 4:13 “Till [until] I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Does this mean that after St. Paul comes St. Timothy can then stop doing those things? No Both of these examples show that there can be a continuation of a matter previously stated. St. Matthew here is just stressing that St. Joseph didn’t have sex with Mary before Jesus was born. But it also is not implying that they did have sex after. #3 The main reason that we interpret those passages in Scripture that speak of Jesus’ brothers as cousins is because that is how the Church has always interpreted them. Yet Scripture has enough evidence to point us in the right direction. #4 If anything, these so-called brothers would have been half-brothers to Jesus because they did not have the same father. Jesus’ father was God The Father. #5 The Bible never calls the “brothers” of Jesus, the sons of Mary. #6 Jesus is always called ‘the’ son of Mary, never ‘a’ son of Mary. #7 When Jesus was left in the temple as a boy and Joseph and Mary go to find him, there is no record of brothers and sisters looking for him as well. #8 A devout Jew would have never left the care of his mother to anyone but his family, yet Jesus gives Mary to John (John 19:26, 27). #9 At the Annunciation while Mary is espoused to Joseph, the angel tells her that she is going to have a baby. Mary asks “how can this happen since I do not know man?” If Mary was about to get married wouldn’t it be common sense how she would have a baby? Unless of course, like tradition says that she had taken a vow of virginity. Then the question of breaking her vow would naturally be asked. Zechariah asked the same question and had his doubts because he and Elizabeth were old and he got punished. Mary is engaged to be married, asks a similar question yet doesn’t get punished. #10 A prophecy in Ezekiel 44:2 - And he said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut.” This is a prophecy about how God came to dwell with the people of Israel in the Old Testament beginning back in Ezekiel 43. Notice that when God came the first time to dwell there that the gate that he came through was shut, never to be opened again because God had passed through it. Well through what gate did God come through in the New Testament times to dwell with his people? Was it not through Mary? And because the Lord passed through her, who dare come after? #11 Finally, some of the ones that are called Jesus’ brothers are other places called the children of another Mary. John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.(Jesus’ mom Mary) (Mary, wife of Cleophas) (Mary Magdalene) Matthew 27:61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. (Mary, wife of Cleophas) (Mary Magdalene) Matthew 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. (Mary, wife of Cleophas) (Mary Magdalene) Matthew 27:56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. (Mary Magdalene) (Mary, wife of Cleophas) (mother of Zebedee's children) -So Mary, wife of Cleophas, is also the mother of James and Joses. Mark 15:47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. - (Mary Magdalene) (Mary, wife of Cleophas) Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. -We just saw that Mary, wife of Cleophas is the mother of James and Joses. Therefore when it calls them here Jesuss brothers, it certainly does not mean blood brothers.

Hey, I have printed a new old commentary!

2011-03-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Over there---> I have a newly published commentary which is really just four commentaries in one.
What these commentaries form are a timeline of biblical interpretation on the Gospel of Matthew. there are over 7000 comments! it is 738 pages. This is GREAT for any Bible study on Matthew. It is for both student and teacher of Scripture. And it is only $29.95. A Perfect gift for this liturgical year of Matthew.

Overview and Themes in the Readings of Lent

2011-03-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

This blog has been for the most part focused on digging deeper into scripture, yet on occasion we step back and look at the big picture. Today, let’s look at the big picture of the important readings that we will hear during Lent.

Beginning with Ash Wednesday, Joel 2calls us to Fast so that “the LORD will be stirred to concern for his land
and take pity on his people.
Why do these things? The Psalm 51 asks Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
St. Paul says We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made [Jesus] to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him… And not to receive the grace of God in vain.
Jesus then in Matthew 6 calls us again to Pray, Fast and Give Alms.

The first Sunday of Lent’s readings from Genesis chapters 2 and 3 tell us of our origins, “The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.” God had given us His Holy Spirit.
Yet, our Parents tempted through the Devil saw that “the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.” They ate and lost the Holy Spirit and fellowship with God
Again Psalm 51 asks Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
St. Paul then reminds us “just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.
In the Gospel, we find Jesus the New Adam according to St. Paul, not in a Paradise, but in a desert. He is not feasting, but fasting. The devil confronts Him there with the same threefold temptation that he tempted our parents with; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Jesus, our new Adam, is victorious.

The second Sunday of Lent’s readings are from Genesis chapter 12. We meet Abram, who is told by God to come out of where you live to a New Land that I will show you and I will bless you. He obeys.
Psalm 33 asks the Lord “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.” We are called to trust the Lord like Abraham to go to this new Land where God is leading us.
St. Paul tells Timothy “He saved us and called us to a holy life” Holy means set apart. We are no longer supposed to live for this place , but for a New Place like Abram.
The Gospel then shows us Jesus on top of the mountain transfigured talking with Moses and Elijah. Why these two men, what did they talk about? St. Luke tells us in his Gospel.
Luke 9:31 [they] spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
This is the theme of Lent, the Exodus. Moses was a part of the first Exodus and Elijah, represents the prophets, calling us to the New Exodus that Jesus was going to accomplish at His death and this is the entire theme of this Sunday’s readings and Lent. We, like Abram and the Israelites, are called from how we live, to die with Christ and live a new and holy life as we travel to the heavenly promised land.

The third Sunday of Lent’s readings begin, now of course, in Exodus. The people get thirsty, but God tells Moses to “Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel. The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
Now Psalm 95 harkens back to this event. Keep in mind that the people didn’t want to leave Egypt because this road to the promised land was hard. Here are parts of the Psalm: Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence (this answers the questions from earlier. Yes, he is in our(their) midst.) with thanksgiving;… Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.”
St. Paul speaks to the Romans about faith, hope and charity. The three things despaired of in the garden, and in the wilderness with Israel, but proven by Christ in the desert. St. Paul says that “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Jesus as the water poured out of the rock, so the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. This leads us to the Gospel.”
Continuing on with this theme in the Gospel of John, Jesus is talking with the Samaritan woman and says to her “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”… “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
This water is the Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts from Christ who, like the rock in the Desert was struck, and out came water and blood. It is the Holy Spirit that satisfies our thirst.

The fourth Sunday of Lent’s readings begin linking the Exodus theme from the Old Testament and then tying it to the New Exodus of Christ, namely His Death and Resurrection.
1Samuel talks about the anointing of David as young man and how David is ultimately taken from the fields of Israel as a shepherd and made by the grace and Holy Spirit of God, king over God’s people.
Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.
In the Psalm 23 brings to mind many of the themes we have heard thus far: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. There is the water theme again.
St. Paul then tells the Ephesians: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Harkening back to the psalm we just heard how God “leads us through the valley of death.”
The Gospel of John continues with St. Paul’s theme about light and darkness. We, like the man, were born blind spiritually, it wasn’t until Christ came and opened our eyes to the light that we can now see. Jesus says “Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The fifth Sunday of Lent’s readings begin with Ezekiel proclaiming that I will open your graves and have you rise from them, I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land.” This points us to the Resurrection.
Psalm 130 reminds us that “The Lord will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.” This points us to the cross.
St. Paul tells the Romans “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.” See through the Death and Resurrection of Christ, the Holy Spirit has been restored now. We can go back to Eden.
The Gospel again brings us to John and the resurrection of Lazarus which prefigures Jesus’ own Resurrection from the dead.

So, Jesus is inaugurating a New Passover, a New Exodus, from death to Life, from in to Salvation. He is restoring the Holy Spirit that our Parents lost, so to bring us to the New Promised Land of Heaven.

The paralytic - and other points of view.

2011-03-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

There are so many layers in Scripture. You can read a verse or whole story several times and each time find new insights in the text. Here are some layers inside the story of the healing of the paralytic.

Even by themselves there are so many stories in the Bible that are beautiful that alone they capture the world’s attention. Yet, put them back into the context from where they came, and they come alive all the more.

Today I want to look at the story of the paralytic that is healed with the help of his friends.

Mark 2:1-12 And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. And being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Arise, and take up your pallet and walk '? "But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins "-- He said to the paralytic-- "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

This would have been incredible to see. Imagine yourself as any one of the characters and this story teams with life.

As the man on the pallet, did he want to see Jesus? When he saw the crowds did he say, “maybe some other time?”

As one of the four men carrying their friend or relative, had they seeTn or just heard about Jesus and what he was able to do?

As the owner of the house, privileged to have such a man as Jesus choose your house to preach in and then to question why someone would be ripping apart the roof. Did he get mad?

This is one aspect to think about.

Doctrinally, this event is packed with information.

#1 The four friends are interceding for their friend. They are carrying him when he is not about to carry himself.
#2 It says Jesus saw their faith. While this may include the faith of the paralytic, it is certainly talking about the faith of the four friends. So on account of someone else’s faith, blessings are being bestowed on a third party.
#3 It says : “But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Notice it says, “in their hearts,” not out loud. Christ here is revealing His Divinity in three ways. First, He is claiming to be God by forgiving the man’s sins. Second, He is reading the hearts of those present.
Listen to what the Bible says about reading the heart:
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
Jeremiah 20:12 Yet, O LORD of hosts, Thou who dost test the righteous, Who seest the mind and the heart;
So Jesus is then proving himself to be God by saying, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?”
Then He proves that He has authority in and of Himself by saying, "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose.
Jesus never says, “In the name of God, I say do these things,” or, “By the power of the Holy Name do I command you.” He just gives the command and it happens, like at Creation.
#4 See what St. Matthew adds in Matthew 9:8 But when the multitudes saw this, they were filled with awe, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Yes, God gave this authority to men, plural. What authority is that? Not just the authority to perform miracles, but also the authority to forgive sins.

Now on a moral level what does this have to do with me?

Are you the kind of person that would carry a friend to Jesus? What if there are obstacles, do you give up? What if a third party needs help bringing his friend to Jesus, are you willing to help?
Are you spiritually paralyzed? Do you need a doctor for your soul? Jesus is the Divine Physician and has given us a new heart in our Baptism, yet we need to have regular checkups and receive the medicine that keeps us healthy, namely the Eucharist. Ask some friends for help, if they say no, it is my opinion that you should get new friends! Spiritually, we were all paralyzed at one time. Our meetings are not anonymous though, they are public and we need to support each other every day on our road to recovery, called Heaven.

Finally, I heard a beautiful spiritual interpretation of this event.

The four friends are the four Gospels, and they carry us, who are paralyzed by sin, to Christ. Christ then forgives our sins so that we can walk with Him toward our Heavenly home.

Why We Honor The Saints

2011-02-24T04:26:00.000-08:00

We have spoken on this show before of why we have statues of saints and angels in our churches. Yet we have never spoken of why we have those particular statues of those saints. Ultimately why do we honor saints?

We honor the saints because God honors the saints and they are worthy of our honor.
Now what do I mean when I say that God honors the saints? I mean that our whole religion is about having a relationship with God. It is a real relationship. It can grow in warmth and fire or grow cold and die.

God honors us by letting us be made in his image. That is one way he honors us. Another way is by stooping down to speak with us in our fallen state. Most of the time God responds in a still small voice, but other times it is with great pomp.

Let’s looks at the Joseph from the OT in Egypt. The Pharaoh has had a dream and no one can tell him the meaning except for Joseph.

Genesis 41:38-43 Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?" So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. "You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you." And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See I have set you over all the land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put the gold necklace around his neck. And he had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, "Bow the knee!" And he set him over all the land of Egypt.
Now hold on a second. Joseph tells him what the dream means and then gets to be second in command of the most power nation on earth at the time? Why is that? Why does he get so much honor?

I answer that Pharaoh is only honoring Joseph in such a way because he thinks that God is honoring Joseph in such a way. Seriously how many people can interpret someone else’s dream and be correct? We all speak to God, but here it is clear that Joseph has a special relationship with God where God in a very loud way speaks back. Pharaoh is just honoring that relationship. Not only that, but by honoring Joseph, he is honoring God as well.

Here is another example but more extreme. King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and it is important enough that he asks his own wise men to tell him the dream and the interpretation. They protest and say you tell us the dream and we tell you the interpretation. King Nebuchadnezzar say no you tell me the dream and the interpretation or you will be put to death! I imagine that they were saying to themselves – we didn’t learn this in wise man’s school.

Yet Daniel comes after some time in prayer and tells the king BOTH the dream and the interpretation. Here is how the King responds:

Daniel 2:46-48 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

Again, why such an intense response? I think it is because of Daniel’s association with God. This man is so close to God that God reveals to him the dreams of Kings AND their interpretation. I want to honor that relationship and so he does.

St. Paul tells us to do the same thing
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

We know that some people get honor – God tells us in the fourth commandment to honor our father and mother. But Saint Paul tells us to give someone double honor.

This is exactly why we honor the saints. Because it is God who has made them saints. We are just recognizing His handy-work, and by honoring His work in them, we are honoring God.

Imagine a man who has dedicated his life to learning about Bach or Mozart but feared to listen to their music because they thought it would interrupt their studies of these men?
Or falling in love with a woman but refusing to meet her family and friends fearing it might interfere with your relationship with the woman?

None of this makes sense. The same is true when we refuse to honor those people that God has honored with His relationship with them namely the saints in heaven.

I call this elevation through association. The saints are elevated because of their relationship with God. They are elevated by both God and people who recognize their relationship.

This elevation through association is even natural. Let’s say that I had in my phone the actor Harrison Ford’s phone number. One day you are flipping through it and you say to me, “why in the world do you have his number in your phone.”

I explain we use to be neighbors and we see him on major holidays or something like that. Well automatically, your idea of me would change a bit. Because Harrison Ford is honored as a good actor, you would naturally look on me as honored too because of my relationship to him.

If I had the Pope’s phone number your idea of me would be raised even further because we give more honor to the Pope than to Harrison Ford.

This is elevation through association. The same is true with the saints. We honor them because of who they are associated with namely God.

Finally listen to what God told Abraham.

Genesis 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

What if I honor Abraham today will I be blessed – Yes. Because ultimately I am honoring God and his work.

His greatest work being Our Lady who is certainly the most associated with God then anyone in creation. That is my we give her the most honor. But not worship. Only God gets that.

Luminous Mysteries in the Old Testament

2011-02-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

In our quest of looking ever deeper into the scriptures, today we dive into the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary to see where they have their roots in the Old Testament. Let us begin with the Baptism of our Lord.

There are so many deep and rich aspects in Jesus’ baptism that it is hard to try to summarize them all. We begin with a dual theme of water and Spirit.

Matthew 3:16-17 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

We see that in Jesus’ baptism he in inaugurating a theme of a new creation.

In Genesis 1:2 - the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Just as in Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit is moving over the waters just as he was in the original creation.

It is also significant that Matthew tells us the “Spirit of God descending as a dove.” Again in Genesis chapter 8 we are told that after the flood, Noah releases a dove that flies over the waters. This again is pointing us to a new creation theme where the sinful world was plunged again in water only to be brought out again renewed.

We are reminded of the Exodus where the Israelites passed through the waters of the Red Sea under the Shekinah Glory cloud of God, leaving the slavery of Egypt behind.

It is also significant that it is the Jordan river where again all of Israel, (who God calls his “first born son”) crossed over on dry ground to go into the promised land. Lead by the prophet Joshua whose name in Greek is Jesus. When Joshua had crossed over it was the promised land that was opened unto the Israelites. Now it is the promised land of heaven that is now open for us.

There is more, but I had better stop.

Where is the wedding at Cana prefigured in the Old Testament?

I would suggest that the wedding at Cana, points us right back to the Garden of Eden. St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that Christ is the New Adam. I think that it is significant that Jesus is at a wedding where they are asking the bridegroom where he got this great wine, when it is really Jesus who is the true bridegroom who gave it to them. It is also significant that he calls his mother “woman” harkening back to our first mother Eve. Mary is our New Eve, not the mother of all who are physically alive but the mother of all who are spiritually alive.

What about the third mystery of the Luminous mysteries – the Proclamation of the Kingdom.

This deals with the body of what Jesus said and did, and the theme of the New Testament, the Kingdom of God.

St. Matthew suggests that Jesus is like a new Moses, when in Matthew chapter 5 he ascends a mountain and gives a new law.

Also Jesus himself is pointing us back to King David. King David and also his son Solomon established a Kingdom the spread beyond the borders of Israel to attract others to the true God.
Jesus like King David would invite non Israelites into the covenant, namely the Gentiles. And Solomon would write the wisdom literature attracting Gentiles to the worship of the true God.

What about the transfiguration?

The transfiguration is just loaded with Old Testament Imagery.

Luke 9:29-31 And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His Exodus which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

The main representatives of the Law and the Prophets come to talk to Jesus about the fulfillment of the biggest event in the Old Testament, namely the Exodus.

It is significant that in the Old Testament God appeared to both Moses and Elijah but were prevented from seeing God’s face. A desire that is now fulfilled in Christ.

Finally the institution of the Eucharist.

Again there are just too many references to give it justice.

We can begin with the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The cross is the New tree of life and Christ’s body is the fruit from the tree.

Melchizedek bringing out bread and wine as a sacrifice in thanksgiving for the Abraham’s victory over the enemy of his people.

The Passover lamb that was slain and whose blood protected the firstborn of every house.

The manna and the quail in the desert given to sustain Israel as they journeyed to the promised land.

Do I HAVE to go to Mass?

2011-02-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

It is no real news that Mass attendance is down. What are some excuses that people use for not going to Mass and how can we respond to them?

I have heard: “I don’t get anything out of it.” “We had a soccer game.” “God is everywhere, and I just choose to worship Him from home, or the lake, or the golf course.”

I have also heard of people leaving the Church because they found somewhere more exciting to worship.

I will respond to the last excuse first. I will admit that as a youth I found Mass boring. I went with my parents because they made me, and later I went by myself because if I didn’t go I would feel bad. I knew that it was bad to miss Mass, but if you would have asked my why I couldn’t have given you a good answer, or any answer at all.

This changed when I found the Misselette, the book in the pew with the readings and some songs in it.

I realized that the Mass was in certain parts and that in the first part we did certain things and in the second part we did other things. Thus, I began learning very slowly that Mass had certain activities at certain times. I then wondered why we did them at those times and Mass became less boring. I was educating myself out of boredom. The more I understood, the more interesting Mass became.

I came to realize that Mass wasn’t just something that you go to “get something out of it.” Mass is something that you go to put into it. It is work. That is what liturgy means, “work of the people.” Mass is one big prayer that we are called to pray. That is why it is not appropriate to pray the Rosary while you are at Mass. It would be like saying an Our Father while at the same time saying a Hail Mary.

I think most of these objections are said in ignorance. If you learn more about Mass and what it is, then every other argument falls apart. Again the argument “I don’t get anything out of it.” Well, you do get your sins forgiven and you do get to receive in a unique way the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. You do mysteriously get connected with the Last Super, Calvary, the Resurrection, and the Worship that is taking place in Heaven. It is also participating in the event that frees us from sins.

Now, with this in mind, what else is there to compete with Mass?

Here are some verses to support this:

Hebrews 10:24-25 ..“and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

St. Paul is telling us not to neglect to meet together.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 "Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; … You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

Why were the Israelites commanded to keep the Sabbath that is Saturday holy? To use that time to remember what God had done for them in freeing them from the slavery of Egypt.

But now God has done something greater. There is a New Exodus.

God has not saved us from Egypt, but He has saved us from sin. And HOW did He do it, how did He save us from sin - with an outstretched arm!!

At Mass we are participating in this New Exodus.

Listen to Jesus’ words:

John 12:32-33 “when I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all men to myself.” He said this to show by what death He was to die.

But Christ is not just lifted up on the cross, He is lifted up from the dead, He is then lifted up from the earth in His Ascension, and finally He is lifted up at Mass in the elevation of the Eucharist.

And why, why is He lifted up? To draw all men to Himself.

This is more important than soccer. And this event is so holy that it isn’t meant to be entertaining. It is meant to be solemn and sanctifying.

Yes, God is everywhere, but what God is doing at Mass is something that He is NOT doing on a golf course, or in the woods, or on your couch.

We are called to gather together, just like we will be gathered together in heaven, to witness this event and even more so, to participate in it.

If you are still bored, pray that God enlighten you to better understand what is happening.

Jesus and the Destruction of Jerusalem

2011-01-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

I know that people don't like history much of the time because there are many dates involved, but certain years are engrained in our minds. The year 1776 with the forming of our country and September 11, 2001, unfortunately, are examples among many that will not be forgotten. There are also dates in scripture that are important to know.

70 A.D. with the destruction of the temple by the Romans is important for a few reasons:
It changed Judaism forever.
Jesus prophecies that it would be destroyed.
Jesus points us to a New Temple.

Jerusalem was the political, religious, and economic center in the life of every Jew.
Imagine Wall Street, Washington D.C. and Rome wrapped into one city.
The temple, in particular, was the center of Jerusalem where sacrifice was offered daily.
Several feasts each year called all the Jews of the world back to Jerusalem to celebrate these feasts.

When Jerusalem was destroyed, this ended those sacrifices prescribed by Moses even until today. Jews stopped having a priesthood and a sacrificial system the day that Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed.

Sometimes, Jesus is very blunt about it like in Matthew 24:1-2.
Matthew 24:1　 And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down."
Other times, though, He is cryptic about it like when he says in Matthew 12:39-40: But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Well, what people don't usually understand is that Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because he knew that God might be merciful to those wicked people and use them to bring judgment on his own sinful people back in Israel.
So Jonah was afraid that if Assyria did in fact repent, God would then use them to destroy the Israelites who would not repent. This is exactly what happens.
And 40 years after Jonah preached to those people, the Ninevites came and destroyed his people and spread them throughout the world, and now they are the ten lost tribes of Israel.
The same thing happens in Jesus’ day, 40 years after He rises from the earth, the Romans come and destroy Jerusalem.
　
Another example is when Jesus cleanses the temple.
Matthew 21:13 He said to them, "It is written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you make it a den of robbers."
Now Jesus is in fact quoting Jeremiah here and Jesus knows that the hearers know the context of the quote.
Jeremiah 7:11-13 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says the LORD. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer.

Jesus calls himself the new temple in John.
John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he spoke of the temple of his body.
John 19:33-35 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.
This is significant because during some of the temple sacrifices both blood and water would be poured out over and the altar and they would run as a stream out of the side of the temple. Out of Jesus’ side flows blood and water.

Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own.

So again this significance is that, first, it is in the person of Christ himself that we go to meet God.
Secondly, Christ is the place of sacrifice. We are to be united in Him and with Him with our own sacrifices.
And finally, it is in Christ that we participate as a temple builder. We help build the temple of God here on earth and then later in heaven.

Relics

2011-01-13T04:09:00.000-08:00

The Catholic Church is very incarnational in the sense that we believe that God still works through physical things. Sacraments, sacramentals and relics are examples of how God still works in the world through material things. Relics are what we will focus on today and we will see a Biblical basis for them. First, let’s discuss what is a relic.
The word relic comes from a Latin word that means “remains”.

When a Catholic is talking about a relic, they are talking about the remains of a saint, either part of their body, something they owned, or something that touched their body.
We believe that these things are special because God worked through the person that they belonged to, and not only that, but sometimes God continues to work through the remains of a saint.

For example, in the case of Elisha’s bones:
2 Kings 13:20-21 And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. And as they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.
Now what is happening here? Elisha, the successor to the prophet Elijah, has obviously died. Some men are burying their friend near Elisha’s remains when some bandits come so they place their dead friend’s body in Elisha’s grave. Suddenly, the dead friend comes back to life.

Why did this happen? To show that not only did God work through the prophet during his life, but that God would continue to work through the things that belonged to the prophet, namely his bones in this case.

There is another example with Elijah and Elisha.
2 Kings 2:11-14 Then it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. And Elisha saw it and cried out, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters and said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

So why does God work through the mantle of Elijah? Because it is Elijah’s. It isn’t magic, it’s holiness.
This is my science fiction analogy. While some day, an evil master mind might go on some grand quest to find Elijah’s mantle so he can strike some great sea, split the waters into two and then march his evil army through on dry ground to some poor unsuspecting neighboring country to attack, this is the world of science fiction.

God works through physical things because we are physical beings, not just spiritual. This is to be kept in mind as well. God works through relationships, not mechanisms.

We see more examples of this in the New Testament with Peter and Paul.

It would seem as though even Peter’s shadow healed people.
Acts 5:15-16 They even carried the sick out into the streets, and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. And also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits; and they were all being healed.

Paul, as well, had miraculous things happen through his handkerchief.
　
Acts 19:11-12 And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

What about the objection that “this is just religious superstition and borders on idolatry.”
While any legitimate devotion can be abused, usually what the objection entails is that God does not work through things anymore. Maybe He did at one time in those special circumstances, but He doesn’t any more.
I would stick with a more consistent view of God and say that God did at times work through things and He still does.

You can imagine that even protestants would do this. If someone’s father was particularly virtuous and was devoted to the study of Scripture, when he died, a faithful son would take great care of that Bible, maybe even having a special place for it in the house. Why? Because it’s that Bible, but not just any Bible. It was my dad’s Bible that he used and he was a holy man.
It seems natural. That is why we have museums, to save important things. Relics, though, aren’t just important. They are holy because they belonged to holy people.

The Cross in the Old Testament Part 2

2011-01-07T03:56:00.000-08:00

We continue looking at how the Cross of Christ is prefigured in the Old Testament.

Just after Moses and the Israelites leave Egypt, but before they reach Mount Sinai, they are attacked by the Amalek.
During the battle, Moses climbs a mountain and holds up his staff in his hands. Provided his arms were outstretched the battle was to be won.
Exodus 17:11-13 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
So Moses holding the staff over his head visually would have looked like a cross. I thought also how again the cross of Christ is like St. Paul says in
1 Corinthians 1:18 …the power of God.
Now in the same story of Moses and the defeat Amalek; after the battle Exodus 17:15 say that Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD is My Banner.
　
I wondered what the Hebrew word for banner was and what its significance was here in the story. Why call that altar - The LORD is My Banner.
The Hebrew word ‘banner’ here is nissi, which means a banner, standard, like a flag.
So then I see where the word is used next and sure enough it is the Book of Numbers Chapter 21.
The situation here is that the Israelites once again are being rebellious, so God sends firey serpents to bite them and some of them die.
Numbers 21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about,
that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Jesus links the brazen serpent to his crucifixion.
Jesus in the New Testament is drawing on this imagery in the Gospel of John when he is talking with Nicodemus.
John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
Now when is Jesus lifted up? In this context it is the cross. Yet there are even further connections. Jesus says to Nicodemus
John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
John 12:32 and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

So when Jesus is lifted on the cross all men will be drawn to himself. This idea has its roots again in the Old Testament. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus saying:
Isaiah 11:9-12 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a standard to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a standard for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

So this was prophesied about even in the Old Testament. Something else that struck me here was how Isaiah says “the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people”

When was the first time, but the first Exodus when God through Moses, extends his hands over the sea and at one time saves his people and destroys the enemy.
Moses says this after they get saved:
Exodus 15:6, 12 Thy right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, thy right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy...Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

So Jesus will do the same - extend his hands on the cross, to defeat sin and save his people.

I think that the death of Samson with the death of Jesus are also.

Samson as we recall is the strong man of the Old Testament with the long hair. Eventually he is captured by the Philistines who are occupying and enslaving Israel at that time. They cut out his eyes and bring him out to make fun of him.
Nowall of the leaders of the Philistines are there at this party, some 3,000 people.
Judges 16:26-30 "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them."…Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

So in Samson’s death he destroys the enemy of his people. Jesus does the same.

Hebrews 2:14-15 that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

The Cross in the Old Testament Part 1

2010-12-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

(Don't forget I have having a sale on these commentaries to your right - 20% off for Christmas)

Let us find some foreshadowings in the Old Testament concerning the Cross of Jesus.
Ironically, to see the first place in the Old Testament where the cross is prefigured, we must look to the New Testament.

The apostles call the cross a tree.
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree.
Acts 5:30 tells us that Jesus was put to death on a tree, which we know as the cross.
Keep that in mind as we look at a few other passages.
Then, earlier in John 6:51: Jesus says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
All of this was, of course, in the context of the Eucharist, and the words here eat and live forever are used only one other time together and that is in Genesis 3:22. God kicks Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden lest they eat of the Tree of life and live forever.
So, the Apostles, empowered with the Holy Spirit, recognize that Jesus was giving us His flesh on the cross, and that this flesh was given for eternal life, which we would experience in communion.
That is why, I imagine, they say that Jesus died on a tree, because they see that the cross is the New Tree of Life.

Now, let’s look to the book of Wisdom, which says some interesting things about the Noah’s Ark.
Wisdom 14:6-7 For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft, and guided by thy hand left to the world the seed of a new generation. For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.

It is as if the ark is a prefiguring of the cross. Solomon says that “the arrogant giants were perishing”. Now he is speaking of the Nephelim who were the offspring of the sons of God with the daughters of men. But we can also see this happening in Jesus’ day as well as our own day. The arrogant giants in politics, and entertainment ARE perishing, they do not last forever.

Solomon then says that “the hope of the world took refuge on a raft”. Solomon is comparing the ark to a raft. When the ark is compared to the flooding of the world it is likened to a raft, small and insignificant. The same is true with the Cross of Christ. A Jewish man was crucified 2000 years ago because he got some people upset. Yet Solomon says “the hope of the world took refuge on a raft.” The cross is exactly that; “the hope of the world”.

Solomon goes on and says that after the flood Noah and his sons were guided by God’s hand and gave to the world the “seed of a new generation.” Who better fits this than Christians? We are the Children of God born from water to eternal life. We are that new generation.
Finally, in verse 7 Solomon says, “For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.” Pointing backward, he is speaking of the ark, but pointing forward, he is talking about the wood of the cross by which righteousness comes.

We also see some powerful imagery with Abraham and Isaac.
We see poor Abraham in Genesis 22 being asked by God to sacrifice the son he was promised as a burnt offering. They travel three days to Mount Moriah, which is the same mountain Jesus would be crucified on. Here, we read:
Genesis 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son;
So Isaac here is carrying the wood up this mountain just like Jesus would do 1700 years later. It is as if they were preenacting the carrying of the cross.

Moses too points to the cross.
When Israelites had crossed over the Red Sea, the first thing they do is grumble and ask for water. Now the Hebrew word Marah, means bitter, or rebellion, so there is an interesting play on words here.
Exodus 15:23-24 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them,
saying, "If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD, your healer."

So, the water reflected the rebellious attitude of the people. But God heals the water and those who drink it become healed of their rebellion as well.
And then in the New Testament we see
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
I cannot help but think that Christ does the same thing on the cross. He takes the punishment of a rebel and He makes that punishment something that we are all called to imitate because it leads to eternal life.
Sirach 38:5 Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that his power might be known?
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

CHRISTMAS SALE!!!

2010-12-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

The Commentary's prices have been cut down by 20%. That is a savings of $7.99 per book. NOW IS THE TIME!

Do you have a gift for your parish priest? Get him a set and ask him to remember you at the altar!
Need a gift for a seminarian friend? This is it!
Are you in a Bible study and want to get deeper? These 1000 pages won't steer you wrong!
Have a friend who studies the Bible? This is the gift for them!

Together these were originally $79.90 but are now only $63.92 you save $15.98!
This sale will not last long. Get the savings today!

Was Jesus Breaking The Law Of Moses?

2010-12-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

(I hope this answers your questions Sharon)

Was Jesus too rough on the Scribes, Pharisees and Jewish leaders of his day. He seemed to be braking many Jewish laws; laws that Moses put in place from God. Then when the leadership give him grief about it Jesus seems to really lay into them. Was that fair?

Let’s begin by asking what laws Jesus seemed to be breaking?

Certainly he was accused of breaking the Sabbath for several reasons.
Exodus 20:8-10 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
Matthew 12:1-2 At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath."
Matthew 12:10 And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they questioned Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"-- in order that they might accuse Him.
When a woman who had been sick for 18 years was healed by Jesus…
Luke 13:14 And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, "There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

In the parable of the good Samaritan Jesus seems to criticize the priest and Levite for passing the man that got beat up. But if they would have touched him they would have been ritually unclean according to the law of Moses.
Leviticus 21:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people.
Luke 5:30 And the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax-gatherers and sinners?"

If you read almost any part of the Old Testament it is pretty clear that we aren’t suppose to have anything to do with sinners.

Those seem to be the examples that someone would point out if they had an objection. How could we answer those?

First we need to know why those laws in the Old Testament were given. Then we need to ask who does Jesus think that he is that he can break those laws?

So why were those laws given: Don’t associate with sinners?

If you read the Old Testament you see that every time that the Israelites got anywhere near their pagan neighbors they began to act like them. So God - as a punishment - said that they needed to stay separated from their pagan neighbors so they could focus on the Lord. By Jesus’ time the Jews were taking pride in the fact that God had told them that they couldn’t associate with sinners and were forgetting WHY they couldn’t associate with them. Jesus was reminding the Jews of their other mission to be an example to Gentiles like King David and Solomon who attracted Gentiles to the true God.

Not only did Jesus come to remind them, but to empower them with the ability to do it better than Solomon.

Next with the priest and Levite who don’t touch the dead man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho - oh wait, he wasn’t dead, he was only half dead, yet in the story they still walked on.

Why didn’t God want priests and Levites to touch dead people? Now they could actually touch them but they would haven had to go through some ritual purifications before they couldn’t participate in worship again.

The Temple is model of Heaven and paradise. Those in heaven or paradise have nothing to do with death.
Jesus quotes Hosea saying.
Matthew 9:13 `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.'

The priests main job is to be a mediator between God and man, and to extend God’s mercy to those who are in trouble. That is what a bunch of the psalms are about.

Finally the accusation that Jesus broke the Sabbath.
Jesus referring to himself said:
Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."
That is a clear statement of his Divinity. The Sabbath rest was given to recall what God had done for us in our creation and in God rescuing Israel from Egypt that place of bondage.

Heaven is that ultimate rest where we will once again have communion with God as in paradise and be ultimately free from bondage to worship him as he is.

Jesus is a walking Sabbath because he is God made man. He is in himself that communion that he extends to all. He heals specifically on the Sabbath because that is the day it makes the most sense to do so.

Listen to what he says here:

John 7:23 If on the sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the sabbath I made a man's whole body well?

Why isn’t the Sabbath broken by the work of circumcision? Because this work of joining a baby to the communion of God is again the fulfillment of the Sabbath.

So Jesus is giving them a hard time, because the scribes and Pharisees knew all of this already. The problem was that Jesus didn’t fit into their idea of what the Christ would be like and they were too hard hearted to even give him and chance.

For example in John 12 after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. It is THAT event that sets into motion their plotting Jesus’ and Lazarus’ death.

Ultimately it wasn’t that Jesus was breaking the law, but fulfilling it in a way that was unexpected and dangerous to the way of life of some of the scribes and Pharisees and all of us.

P.S. The Editor of this blog (my wife) went to bed, so all grammatical and spelling errors are mine.
P.S.S. I have having a sale on the commentaries - 20% off. Crazy I know but it is for a limited time. Great gift for your parish priest, seminarian, Bible loving friend or new convert!

CHRISTMAS SALE!!!

2010-11-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

The Commentary's prices have been cut down by 20%. That is a savings of $7.99 per book.

NOW IS THE TIME!

Do you have a gift for your parish priest? Get him a set and ask him to remember you at the altar!
Need a gift for a seminarian friend? This is it!
Are you in a Bible study and want to get deeper? These 1000 pages won't steer you wrong!
Have a friend who studies the Bible? This is the gift for them!

Together these were originally $79.90 but are now only $63.92 you save $15.98!

This sale will not last long. Get the savings today!

The Lawyer Who Didn't Know Where He Lived.

2010-11-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows the parable of the good Samaritan, but as we have seen on this show there are many layers of meaning within the word of God. Let’s refresh a bit with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:30-35 "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'

Here is some historical background, in brief. The Samaritans were Israelites who had intermarried with Gentiles and worshipped some place other than Jerusalem. The Jews considered them unclean and worse than Gentiles because they interpreted the scriptures differently. A priest and a Levite might not touch someone who was dying, lest the victim die and the priest or Levite become ritually unclean and unable to serve at the Temple for a time and be unable to offer sacrifice. The Samaritan, who was not obligated by these laws, had a better chance of helping this poor man. Unfortunately, he better understood God’s words to Hosea, “I desire mercy not sacrifice.”

With that in mind, this story is Jesus’ response to the question of “who is my neighbor?” This is the question that a lawyer asks Jesus. Now, the traditional response is that his neighbor is the one who is in need, in this case the man badly beaten on the side of the road. And truly, he is your neighbor, anyone who needs you.

Yet Jesus asks a question after this story. He says in Luke 10:36-37 “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" The Lawyer says , "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
So Jesus sort of twists the lawyers question back on him. The Lawyer asked “who is MY neighbor?”. Jesus asks the lawyer, “who was neighborly?”

Now this lawyer was probably a Jewish lawyer who would discuss the laws of Moses. So, he was a Bible scholar. Again two different questions were asked; “Who is my neighbor?” and “Who was neighborly?” The answer to the first question of “Who is my neighbor?” is anyone in need. The answer to the second question of “Who was neighborly?” is “The one who showed mercy on him." Namely, the Samaritan.

When Jesus tells the lawyer to “Go and do likewise,” I think He is saying, “Go and do likewise to the Samaritans, because they ARE your neighbors. They literally are, they live just north of Jerusalem. Go and show them mercy. AND the one who is in need” Both are your neighbors.

There seems to be an Old Testament parallel to this story.
In 2 Chronicles, it relates a story of how Northern Israelites took captive people from Judah after a war. Here is what happens:

In 2 Chronicles 28:8-15 The men of Israel took captive two hundred thousand of their kinsfolk, women, sons, and daughters; they also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, "Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven. And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the LORD your God? Now hear me, and send back the captives from your kinsfolk whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you." [Then some good guys] rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all that were naked among them; they clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them; and carrying all the feeble among them on asses, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

Jesus seems to be bring up a story of a time when the Samaritans were charitable toward the Jews and that they should do likewise.
　
A spiritual interpretation of this verse is a great one you can use to evangelize both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

The man leaving Jerusalem and going to Jericho is Adam. He is attacked by the devil and left for dead. The natural priesthood of Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham, can’t help him. The Levitical priesthood from the time of Moses until Jesus can’t help him. The only one that can help him is Jesus, who is the good Samaritan. He anoints him with the oil of the Holy Spirit and the wine of His Blood and takes him to the inn, the Church. He tells Peter, the keeper of the keys, to take care of him until He returns.

Twisted Scripture

2010-10-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Taking verses out of context can be dangerous and lead to some pretty strange interpretations of the Scriptures. Recently, I heard a radio show offering free information and I called in to receive a free book and CD on how to “properly” interpret the Bible.

In brief, the information says that we just need to pay attention to the Pauline books of the Bible, because the other ones are written to other folks.

From Genesis up to Acts of the Apostles was all to Jews according to this information. The Pauline Letters are for us Gentiles. From Hebrews to Revelation is for some future time for both Jews and Gentiles.

They reason to such a conclusion by pointing to a few verses in Ephesians, Chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:11-12 therefore remember …you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands -- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

- So that is the times past when God is just dealing with the Jews.

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.

- This is the present time we are in and have been brought near by the blood of Jesus.

Now, we have to back track to pick up verse 7.
Ephesians 2:7 that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So we have past, present, and future. How do they reason that the Gospels and Acts are a part of the past?

Romans 15:8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.

They say, “See, Jesus ministered to the circumcised, that is the “times past” spoken of by Paul, therefore, Jesus in the Gospels isn’t talking to us Gentiles. We only really need to listen to Paul.”

How do we untangle these scriptures? Especially the ones that suggest we don’t need to listen to the Gospels?

My answer to this is one verse at a time. You know if you change the meaning of any part of the Gospel, it changes the entire Gospel because it is so interconnected and unified.

The issue is finding for whom Jesus came. Did He come for the Jews only, or the whole world? The booklet I received quotes these three verses:

Matthew 10:5-6 These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 15:24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

John 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

From these verses they reason that Jesus was only sent to the Jews.

Now, Jesus did come to the Jews first. That is plain, but He came to those whom He had been preparing for the last 1500 years to receive Him. He went to the Jews as a kind of “first fruits” for the harvest of the world.

Each of the above verses is taken out of context.

When Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4 that salvation was from the Jews, it did come to the world through the Jews in the person is Jesus. Yet Jesus is talking with a Samaritan woman for her salvation and for the salvation of her town. These were not Jews.

When Jesus said in Matthew 15 that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, He was in a Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon. A woman comes up to Him and says "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

So, Jesus ministers not only to the Jews but the Gentiles as well.

Jesus also says in John 10:16 And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.
This has traditionally been understood to mean the Gentiles.

In Luke, Chapter 2, Simeon takes Jesus in his arms and says that Jesus will be a light of revelation to the Gentiles.

So Jesus came to the Jews to fulfill what had been prophesied about Him so that both Jew and Gentile would believe in Him.

The apostles would continue this pattern in the Acts of the Apostles. They go to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. As they travel around the Mediterranean, they would enter into the synagogues first and then go to the Gentiles.

Remember when St. Paul in Romans said that Jesus came to minister to the circumcised? Let’s read that in context.

Romans 15:8-12 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name"; and again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; and again, "Praise the Lord, all Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him"; and further Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, he who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope."

The Catechesis of The "Our Father"

2010-10-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 2774, “The Lord’s Prayer is truly the summary of the whole gospel,” quoting Tertullian. It says that it is the “most perfect of prayers,” citing St. Thomas Aquinas. Finally, it says that the Lord’s Prayer is at the center of the Scriptures.

I believe a case can be made that each section of the Catechism is represented inside of the “Our Father” in one way or another, making the Lord’s Prayer a miniature Catechism.

There are four parts of the Catechism: the Creed, the Sacraments, Morality or the 10 Commandments, and Prayer.

Let’s start with Prayer. Obviously, the “Our Father” is a prayer and the Catechism uses it as a model for all prayer.

I think that the 10 Commandments are hinted at in the “Our Father.” The prayer has seven petitions. The first three are about God and the next is concerning ourselves and our neighbor. In the 10 Commandments, the first three are about God and the next seven are about ourselves and our neighbors. So that is in a general sense.

More specifically, in paragraph 1803 of the Catechism, we are introduced to the Virtues. The three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity and the four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance are discussed.

The Father’s name is made holy when we have FAITH in all that He has revealed. The Father’s name becomes set apart in our lives above every other name.

We have HOPE in the final coming of Christ’s Kingdom on the last day.

In CHARITY we love God above all things and do His will.

I think “give us this day our daily bread” points us to TEMPERANCE and that God is our only satisfaction.

In JUSTICE we need to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

We need to have FORTITUDE to persevere through any trials we might face.
Finally, we are delivered from evil choices when we are PRUDENT.

What about the Sacraments?

To begin, I will let the Catechism speak for itself as far as “Hallowed be thy name.”

2813 In the waters of BAPTISM, we have been “washed... Sanctified …in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and since “he is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and... sanctification,” both his glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition.

“Thy kingdom come” and “give us this day our daily bread” could sort of be interchangeable. I think they are the PRIESTHOOD and the EUCHARIST. The Kingdom comes and the daily bread are given at the hands of the priest. I am a bit torn on those.

“Thy will be done on earth and it is in Heaven” points us toward MARRIAGE, in this sense. Marriage is a picture of Christ, who is in Heaven, and His church, which is here on earth. These some day will be joined in the harmony of God’s Will.

“Forgive us our trespasses…” easily points us to CONFESSION.

“Lead us not into temptation” is more like “don’t put us to the test.” We know God doesn’t tempt anyone.
This is CONFIRMATION, and confirmation of this is in:
CCC 1296 This seal of the Holy Spirit marks our total belonging to Christ, our enrollment in his service for ever, as well as the promise of divine protection in the great eschatological trial.

Finally, “deliver us from evil.” Deliver us with the ANOINTING OF THE SICK, so that if we at least do not recover, our hearts are strengthened toward Heaven.

Finally, what about the Creed?

Well, the creeds that most of us know begin with the words, “We believe in God the Father…” That is how this prayer begins and then both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed have an outline of Salvation History.

So God’s name is Hallowed in the Incarnation of His Son.

The Kingdom comes - CCC 2816 - It is brought near in the Word incarnate, it is proclaimed throughout the whole Gospel, and it has come in Christ’s death and Resurrection. The Kingdom of God has been coming since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst.

“thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
CCC 2823 The catechism is citing Ephesians 1 here. “He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ... to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,

We obtained our inheritance when Christ ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Christ then sends the Holy Spirit to “give us our daily bread.” Both the Eucharist and our daily needs He provides.

We believe also in the forgiveness of sins, that is next in the creeds and in the “Our Father”.

We believe that there will be a final battle where we will be put to the test. We ask God to preserve us from that.

But finally, deliver us from evil in the resurrection of the dead and a New Heavens and a New Earth.

DON"T FORGET THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT COMMENTARY IS FINISHED AND IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE - CLICK ON THE LINK TO THE RIGHT.

A Wonderful Interpretation of Psalm 23 from a Great Commentary

2010-10-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

To purchase the commentary, click on the links in the right hand column.

For a beautiful interpretation of Psalm 23 paste this link into your browser.
http://bibletidbits.blogspot.com/2010/03/spiritual-interpretation-of-psalm-23.html

Finally Volume 1 is Finished!!!

2010-10-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

A Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Volume 1 - The Old Testament, is finally finished.
This commentary is spectacular. Each Book of the Bible has its own introduction. consisting of
1. The author
2. Context and Analysis
3. An outline of the book
4. Date and authorship
5. Doctrinal Value
6. Where is Christ in each book

Then a verse by verse commentary.

Here is a sample of the commentary from Psalm 23.

Two exquisite representations of God: the Good Shepherd (1-4) and the Kind Host (5-6).
The Good Shepherd leads his sheep to rich pastures beside running waters, where they rest without fear, for he is close to them, ready to defend them against attack. The Kind Host
invites his guests to his table; he anoints their hair; he fills their cup to the brim; throughout their stay at his house goodness and kindness are lavished upon them. This delicious
poem was written by the shepherd-poet who became a guest at Saul’s table. It is probably one of his earliest compositions.
When recited at Prime on Thursday it can be read as a eucharistic prayer. It may also be interpreted as a hymn on the Sacraments:

‘water of refreshment’ (Baptism),
‘led me on the paths of justice’ (Confirmation),
‘thy rod and thy staff’ (Penance),
‘prepared a table’ (Eucharist),
‘though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death’ (Extreme Unction),
‘anointed my head with oil, and my chalice’, etc. (Holy Orders),
‘goodness and kindness all the days of my life’ (Matrimony).

1. ‘ruleth me’: ‘is my shepherd’. 3. ‘converted my soul’: ‘revived me’. ‘paths of justice’ are right paths. 4. ‘The club for defending the flock, and the crook for guiding ita. 5. ‘against them that afflict me’, i.e. while my adversaries look on, astonished that the host should be favouring him. ‘anointed my head’—a sign of his host’s respect; cf. Amo 6:6; Luk 7:46. 5b-6a. ‘My cup overflows. Naught but goodness and kindness shall follow me’.

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What St. John Never Told Us

2010-09-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

While it is not listed last, the Gospel of John was probably the last book of the Bible to be written. Hidden inside is a code. That’s right, a Bible code.

The code that is hidden inside of the Gospel of John is called…Tradition!!! That is right, Tradition. And you thought it was going to be something boring. Now, what do I mean when I say that Tradition is the code for the Gospel of John?

I mean that John presupposes that you have already heard the Gospel message or have at least read one of the other Gospels. Inside the Gospel of John, if you pay close attention, you can see that John figures the reader already knows what is going on.

So, John’s audience has already heard the Good News, he is just giving this Gospel to fill in the gaps.

Where is the evidence of this inside the Gospel?

There are really four verses that suggest this:

Let’s begin in John 3:24. For John had not yet been put in prison.

Now, this sounds innocent enough except that it only makes sense if you already knew that at some time John the Baptist would be thrown into prison. How did the readers know? John or someone else would have had to have told them.

John 6:70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"

What are you trying to point out here? Seems pretty innocent. If this is the first book of the Bible that you have ever read, at this point you should be asking a question. “Who are the twelve? When did Jesus choose twelve?”

This is the first time that the apostles by number have been named. It is only in the other Gospels that Jesus actually chooses them.

The next verse is John 7:42. Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

Now, the Gospel of John NEVER says where Jesus is from. It says that He is from Heaven, but it never says that He was born in Bethlehem. You either have to have read Matthew, Luke, or heard that is where he was born. So John opens up a controversy that he never answers in his Gospel, yet the readers would have already had the answer.

One last verse.

In the Gospel of John chapter 11 it talks about the death of Lazarus and mentions Mary and Martha.

Then John clarifies in verse 2.
John 11:2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

The reader at this point would be saying, okay, that’s who it was. That is the woman that anointed Jesus’ head.

John is referring to the story in Mark.
Mark 14:3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

So, the woman is Mary. Now a funny thing about this is that while John mentions that this is the Mary in John 11, he actually then goes on to record the event in the next chapter. John knows that you already know the story, but he wil add a few more details.

John 12:1-3 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

In conclusion, John is writting this to Christians who have already heard the Gospel. When you come to see this, you also understand why he is more explicite in matters of doctrine; to solitify the faith of believers.

Once Saved Always Saved?

2010-09-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Let’s discuss the main Bible verses that some non-Catholics point to that suggest that we cannot loose our salvation.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

They say, “See, nothing at all can separate us from God’s love.”

Notice what is NOT mentioned here - Sin! Sin can separate us from the love of God. God will never stop loving us, but we can refuse to return that love. When we refuse to return that love we cut ourselves off from God.

Just like the Prodigal Son who asks for his inheritance. You would normally get the inheritance at the death of your parents. So what is the son saying to the Father, but that he wishes he were dead? It is in fact the son that in a sense dies. He goes off, realizes his error and when he comes back, the Father has been waiting for him and runs out to meet him. The Father tells the older son that the younger son was dead and now he is alive. That is spiritual death because he cut himself away from the Father.

John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

They say, “Once you are in the Son’s hand you cannot get out, you cannot even leap out through sin. Also, look at how it says that they shall never perish. See, once saved always saved.”

It is at this point that I would like to point out some great advise that my godfather, who is a lawyer, gave to me. He said that in secular courts, you interpret a sentence in the context of the paragraph that it is set in, and you interpret the paragraph in the context of the whole document.

Now if the entirety of the Gospel was John 10:27 - 29, I would agree with the protestant objector. Yet, there are 35,801 other verses that I need to keep in mind when I am interpreting these three verses. We also want to make sure that we don’t read everything through the lense of these three verses or we rob both of what they are really trying to say.

Let’s take for example Adam, who had eternal life. Provided that he didn’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it seems to suggest that he would have lived forever. Now, what happened? Wasn’t the hand of God protecting him? It was protecting him provided that he obeyed his Heavenly Father. He just chose not to obey.

The same thing is true here. Christians are protected by Christ and are in his hand. Yet, in John 15 it says that we need to stay connected to Christ through bearing fruit. If not, we are cut off and thrown into the fire. Now do we read John 15 through the lense of John 10 and say we don’t understand it? I have heard this. Or do we read them in light of each other. I think the latter makes John 10 more sensible.

Look at verse 37. Jesus says, “my sheep hear my voice.” The Greek word for hear is akouo. It means hear, learn, obey, and understand. Notice that it has the meaning of obedience. We use this sense all the time. I ask my children, “Didn’t you hear me? I said not to do that!” Oh, they did hear me, but they are being disobedient.

Jesus is saying in verse 37 that his sheep obey him and to them he gives eternal life. And John 15 tells us about those who stop obeying. They get cut off.

But the objector continues, telling us to look at verse 28 where Jesus says, “I give them eternal life.” So then they reason that if eternal life can be lost, then it is not eternal.

While on the surface this seems attractive and possible, I think that it is misplaced a bit.

We only have eternal life because we are connected to the source of that life, Jesus. When Jesus says that He gives us eternal life He is really just saying that He is giving us himself. Now, while He will never stop loving us, we can stop loving Him. God is a gentleman and will respect the great gift of free will that He has given to us.

We cannot confuse the possessor with what He possesses. Christ is the Eternal Life that is given to us. Provided we have Christ, we also have eternal life. Now, while someone that you hate can give you a gift and you can keep it and love the gift, but hate the giver, in the case of salvation, you cannot reject Christ and yet keep His eternal life, because the gift and the giver are one and the same.

One more final verse, which I have never seen a good response to is 2 Peter, Chapter 2. Peter is warning Christians against false prophets that will lead Christians astray.

2 Peter 2:20-22 For if, after they (Christians) have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire.

How Are We Saved?

2010-09-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

There are so many competing voices out there today all claiming to have the truth of the Gospel and the way of salvation. What does the Bible say on this subject of salvation?

The Bible says a lot about salvation and reading only part without reading the whole can confuse the matter. Let me give you some examples:

Romans 10:13 For, "every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 13:13 But he who endures to the end will be saved.
1 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God --
Acts 16:30-31 and brought them out and said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Matthew 19:16 And behold, one came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" Jesus lists some commandments and then tells him to sell his things.
Hebrews 5:9 and being made perfect Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

So how do we navigate through verses such as these?

A temptation among non-Catholics is to stress one verse and either ignore the others, which isn’t very often, or put the others into a kind of second-class category.

A great example of this is Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God -- not because of works, lest any man should boast.

Protestants interpret this verse to mean that works can’t ever save you, only grace through faith. But St. Paul is saying, in the context, that there is nothing we can do for our initial salvation, but once we are saved, we must obey God in faith.

Now, many protestants tend to put on the Ephesians 2:8 and 9 glasses and read the rest of the Scriptures through those lenses. So when they read any kind of verse that talks about obedience or works, it looses some weight because St. Paul said there is nothing we can do to be saved in Ephesians 2:8 and 9.

I am sure it is not intentional, it is just what they have been taught in Sunday school.

Even when you come up with a great verse like:
James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
It is often put in second place or explained away because it doesn’t pass the Ephesians 2: 8 and 9 test.

What we need to do is obey all the verses equally and not stress one over another.

We need to show them the proper interpretation of Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10.

Before I continue, I must confess three things: This apologetic argument comes from Gary Michuta. I have used it in three conversations with great success, and I will not be giving Gary’s complete argument. You will need to contact him for his awesome classes.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God --
not because of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

See, everything needs to be read in context.

St. Paul is saying that if I am not a believer in Christ, there isn’t a certain number of good works that I can do to earn salvation. I can’t say, “Look God, I just helped about 100 old ladies across the street. You owe me salvation and eternal life!”

St. Paul is saying that this attitude isn’t going to fly with God. God doesn’t owe us anything.

God doesn’t want an employee/employer relationship with us. He wants to make us His family by way of giving it to us as a gift. He does this so no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God --
not because of works, lest any man should boast.

Now comes verse 10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus. See, now our relationship has changed. Now we are a new creation in Christ as Paul says elsewhere. What did God make us a new creation in Christ FOR? FOR good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Absolutely all of this is given to us through God’s grace.

Now the playing field of Ephesians 2 has been leveled and now the other verses that we mentioned above can be re interpreted.

Acts 16:30-31 and brought them out and said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Romans 10:13 For, "every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
1 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you
Hebrews 5:9 and being made perfect Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
Matthew 19:16 And behold, one came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" Jesus lists some commandments and then tells him to sell his things.
Mark 13:13 But he who endures to the end will be saved.

The Bible As Tidbit

2010-09-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

Let’s look today into the Bible in general.

Beginning with the word Bible. The word Bible means book or scroll. The Holy Bible, as we know it, is a kind of library consisting of 73 books. It is divided into two parts the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Testament means witness. You might know that people in court give their testimony to an event. This is the same. There is an old witness and a new witness, but just because it is called old doesn’t mean that it is invalid. On the contrary, if you don’t understand the Old Testament, you will not understand the New Testament.

The Old Testament begins with the Torah, which is the Hebrew word for the Law. Moses records the early dealing of God with mankind in these books. This consists of the first five books of the Bible. It is also called the Pentateuch, which is Greek for “five books.”

The next set of books deals with the history of the people of Israel as a Nation. These are really a historical record.

Then there is the wisdom literature consisting of Job, Psalms, Proverbs Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, and Sirach.

Finally, there are the prophetic books like Jonah, Daniel, MalachI. These books were written by prophets and range from historical narratives like Jonah, to apocalyptic visions with Ezekiel.

You may heave heard of the major prophets and the minor prophets. The 4 major prophets; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, are called major because their books are longer.

There is a similar structure in the New Testament. Again we begin with the Law, not of Moses but of Jesus. It is not a law written on stone, but on hearts.

Then, like the Old Testament, we have the historical book of Acts, which tells of the early Church and the travels of St. Paul.

Then, in a sense, there is the wisdom literature from Romans to Jude. Inside of that we have the writings of St. Paul, which have an interesting structure in themselves.

The writings of St. Paul can be divided into two groups, letters to cities and letters to individuals. Inside both groups they go from longest to shortest. So, they are not in chronological order, but order by length.

Finally, also like the Old Testament, there is the prophetic book of Revelation.

Reading the Bible cover to cover might not be the best plan if you are going for the historical approach. Now, while any kind of reading of the Bible is good, there is a way to study it that is better. Right now I would say that Jeff Cavins and the Great Adventure Series is the best way to understand the story of the Bible.

While this Bible study is lengthy and kind of pricey, I would say get together with 10 friends and divide up the cost because it is worth every penny. His study is like one Bible tidbit after another.

It wasn’t until 380 at the council of Rome that the Bible and its 73 books were first recognized as a whole to be inspired.

So, people always pointed to the 4 gospels as being inspired and most of St. Paul’s writings, but there was dispute over other books. This was settled in 380.

It was not settled by Constantine either. I remember my friend telling me that Emperor Constantine put the books of the Bible together. When I asked him if he’d gotten that from the DaVinci Code or other nonsense, he said, “How did you know?”

Now while Dan Brown certainly believes that Constantine had his hand in choosing which books went into the Bible, all of history says otherwise.

Protestants have less books in their Bibles because some of the reformers said that they weren’t inspired. By “not inspired,” they sometimes meant, “these books are too Catholic and don‘t fit with my interpretation. Let’s get rid of them.”

So Protestants have 7 less books in their Bible, bringing their total down to 66.

Here are some questions that I like to ask Protestants, though:

Do you believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God?

They say yes, which is good. We believe that too.

I say, “Do you believe that that same Spirit that inspired them being written also guided those men who recognized them as being inspired to put them all together. So were those men in the 300’s also being driven by the same Holy Spirit to say officially that they are inspired?”

They say yes.

I point out that they also included those 7 books that the Reformers rejected. I ask, “Who should I trust? Should I trust the guys that said yes these 27 books of the New Testament are inspired along with these 46 books of the Old Testament?”

Or should I trust guys that came 1300 years later and said, “Well, they were right about the New Testament, but wrong about these 7 in the Old Testament? The Holy Spirit only partially lead them.”

To me that doesn’t make sense.

Christ: The Theme of the Old Testament

2010-08-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

You might wonder where I find all these bible tidbits. Well, I get them from reading, listening to the radio, speaking with others, but mostly from listening to CD’s of talks. Usually the talks are well prepared, clear, educational, and inside of that something jumps out and catches my attention. I think it is important to take those things and pass them on to others to attract them closer to our faith.

The tapes I listen to come from surprisingly few suppliers. St. Joseph Communications has a huge selection, Catholic Productions has some excellent material. John Matrignoni has a great selection and Catholic Answers as well.

Today, I’m using material from Sr. Rosalind Moss, who is a Jewish convert to Catholicism. She has a wonderful CD set, “The Jewish Roots of our Catholic Faith” produced by Catholic Answers.

She says that Christ is the theme of every book of the Old Testament because, ultimately, HE is the author and subject of each book. I must note that I modified it ever so slightly.

IN Genesis, Jesus is the Seed of the woman
- He is the Ark of Salvation
- He is Isaac, the Son of the Mighty Father Abram who is to be sacrificed on Mount Moriah
- He is Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers for the salvation of the world.
IN Exodus - He is the Paschal lamb
IN Leviticus - He is our High Priest and our sacrifice
IN Numbers - He is the Rock in the wilderness which was struck and water poured fourth.
IN Deuteronomy - He is The Prophet like Moses
IN Joshua - He is the one who leads us into the promised land
IN Judges - He is the judge that is raised up to defeat the enemies of the people of God
IN Ruth - He is our Kinsman Redeemer
IN 1 Samuel - He is the God that is rejected as King yet is still faithful to his people
IN 2 Samuel - He is the descendant of David who will sit on his Kingly throne for ever and ever
IN 1 Kings - He is the Wise King that attracts the Gentiles to the true God
IN 2 Kings - Jesus is the prophet calling all to repent
IN 1 Chronicles - He is the Priest King of Jerusalem
IN 2 Chronicles - He is the temple builder
IN Ezra - He restores the Laws of God
IN Nehemiah - He is the rebuilder of our souls.
IN Tobit - Jesus has broken the power of evil over his bride, the Church
IN Judith - He put to death the enemy of His people
IN Esther - He is an advocate like Mordecai
IN Job - He is our Dayspring and our Risen Returning Redeemer
IN Psalms - He is the Good Shepherd
IN Proverbs - He is our Wisdom
IN Ecclesiastes - He is the one to whom our spirit returns when this life is through
IN Song of Solomon - He is the Bridegroom
IN Wisdom - He is the wisdom for the nations
IN Sirach - He is the uncreated wisdom who planted the moral law in our heart
IN Isaiah - He is the Prince of Peace
IN Jeremiah - He is Our Righteousness
IN Lamentations - He is the Man of Sorrows
IN Baruch - He is our Happiness
IN Ezekiel - It is His glory the fills the heavenly temple
IN Daniel - He is the fourth man in the fiery furnace
IN Hosea - He is our Faithful husband
IN Joel - He is the Baptizer with the Spirit
IN Amos - He is our burden barer
IN Obadiah - He is our Savior
IN Jonah - He is the prophet to the nations
IN Micah - He is the messenger with the beautiful feet
IN Nahum - He is the avenger
IN Habakkuk - Jesus is the evangelist pleading for revival
IN Zephaniah - He is the Merciful Christ
IN Haggai - He is the restorer of the lost heritage
IN Zechariah - He is the fountain for sin and cleansing
IN Malachi - He is the Son of Righteousness with Healing in His Wings
IN the books of the Maccabees - He is the purifier, the resurrection, and the life for all who have fallen asleep in Godliness.

I had actually found a few lists like this on the internet, but tried to make this one unique.

If it's good enough for Tim Staples...

2010-08-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

"I was pleased when Daniel told me he was reprinting A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. This has been my favorite commentary for years, but I have always had to tell people to try and find a used copy. Not anymore. This is an excellent commentary - a must for every Catholic home". - Tim Staples

Within the next month or so we will be releasing the 1st Volume - The Old Testament.

If you are looking for a good commentary on the New Testament, consider "A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture." ---->

"Fishers and Shepherds of Men" in the Old Testament

2010-08-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

There are some phrases that we hear so often we never stop to ponder their meaning or where they come from. In the Gospel of Mark this year we will hear the phrase "fishers of men." Where does this come from and what does it mean?

The idea "fishing for men" comes originally from Jeremiah 16 - The context is that the 12 tribes of Israel are scattered among the nations and are there in bondage, just like they were in Egypt. So God is planning a new Exodus to bring them out of the nations, which will be greater than when He brought them out of Egypt.

Jeremiah 16:14-21 However, days will surely come, says the LORD, when it will no longer be said, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt"; but rather, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of the north and out of all the countries to which he had banished them." I will bring them back to the land which I gave their fathers.
Look! I will send many fishermen, says the LORD, to catch them....O LORD, my strength, my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress! To you will the nations come from the ends of the earth

Not only are the Israelites coming back to the Lord from the nations, but the
nations are coming to the Lord as well. So with the return of the Israelites
come the return of the nations back to the Lord.

So, when the disciples hear Jesus say to them, "I will make you fishers of men", would they have made the connection between this title and the prophesies of Jeremiah 16?

We do not know how well the disciples had the old testament committed to memory, probably far more that we in the modern world tend to guess. But one thing is sure. Jesus, in using the phrase "fishers of men", is doing far more than merely alluding to the occupation of the men He is calling to follow Him. By using an Old Testament image, He is announcing the fulfillment of this image in His mission, as being a new Moses with a New Exodus, drawing all nations out of the slavery of sin and into the new promise land of God's Kingdom.

There are other images that Jeremiah presents that our Lord draws on Throughout Jeremiah, the Lord promises to give the people new shepherds that the Lord will use to guide not only Israel out of the nations back to the promised land, but also the nations as well.

Jeremiah 23:1 Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD. Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply.

So here the Lord is removing the old shepherds, namely the Scribes and Pharisees, and is replacing them with the apostles. He continues...

I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD. Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land.

This righteous shoot is Jesus, of course.

In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security. This is the name they give him: "The LORD our righteousness." Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD, when they shall no longer say, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt";
but rather, "As the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the north"-- and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own land.

Just like in Jeremiah 16, we see here in Jeremiah 23 the foreshadowings of a New Exodus.

In a round about way Jesus links these two images of fishing and shepherding in the Gospel of John.

In the whole of John 21 we see the apostles going back to fishing. While doing that they see Jesus on the shore who instructs them where to catch a large number of fish. They catch a ton and realize that it is Jesus who is on the shore. Peter jumps in the water and then eats fish with Jesus and while there, Jesus asks Peter three times, "do you love me?" With each response Jesus is instituting His office of chief shepherd when He says: "feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep." This, of course, is fulfilling Jeremiah 23.

Another cool tidbit is that while the apostles are fishing and catching nothing Jesus says, "cast your nets over there." Peter hauls in 153 fish.

St. Jerome tells us that at his time Greek zoologists had identified 153 different kinds of fish. This points to the fact that men from every nation would be called to be saved. It is also important to know that it is Peter alone who hauls in the fishing net and that the net is not torn though under great strain. The Greek word for torn here is skizo, where we get the word schism. We see an image of the end times when all nations will be brought to the Lord through the net of Peter without schism.

To finish, I read a beautiful quote in St. Thomas Aquinas' Catena Aurea concerning the apostles new role to catch men for the Kingdom:

"How wonderful is fishing. For fish, when they are caught soon die, but when men are caught by the word of preaching are soon made alive."

I would also add that when you fish you bring the fish out of the water. But when men are converted they are put into the waters of Baptism.

Jesus - King, Priest, Healer of Israel

2010-07-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

There are some interesting parallels between 1 Kings chapters 12 and 13 and Matthew chapters 11, and 12

Back in the OT, they have thus far had three kings. Saul, the great King David, and Solomon, who begins as a wise king, but then uses that wisdom for corruption.

Now King Solomon has just died, and his son Rehoboam is up to be king. Representatives from the other tribes come to him and say this: ( listen to how many times he says the word yoke.)

1 Kings 12:4-14 "Your father made our YOKE heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy YOKE upon us, and we will serve you."

He says, “Give me some time to think.” Then he asks his old advisors, “Should I make things worse or easier for the tribes?“ The old advisors say - make it easier. Then he asks his own friends, the young advisors.

And he said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, `Lighten the YOKE that your father put upon us'?" And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, `Your father made our YOKE heavy, but do you lighten it for us'; thus shall you say to them, `My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy YOKE, I will add to your YOKE. he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your YOKE heavy, but I will add to your YOKE; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

Here is the parallel in Matthew.

Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

So Jesus is the new King of Israel who will lighten the yoke of the people who choose him to be King.

Back to 1 Kings. This news of course brings division and it is at this time that the 10 tribes of the north brake off and call themselves Israel, while the two tribes of the south call themselves Judah.

Now God has foreseen all of this and has already chosen a king for the north Israel and his name is Jeroboam.

(Note Jeroboam is the King of the North Israel, Rehoboam is the King of the South Judah. I remember it this way JERoboam is NOT the king of JERusalem)

Now Jeroboam sees that Israel will still have to go south to worship God. So for completely political reasons he sets up two temples in Israel, one in the north and one in the south, and reinstitutes calf worship.

He says in 1 Kings 12:28 "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

Then to make matters worse, 1 Kings 12:31 He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.

So he even gets rid of the legitimate priesthood and replaces it with a false priesthood. This is paralleled in Matthew, but in reverse. right after Jesus talks about the easy yoke:

Matthew 12:1-5 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?

You see, only priests were allowed to do this kind of work on the Sabbath. Jesus is telling us that these are the new priests. Then he brings King David into the picture. David was from the tribe of Judah, not Levi. He and his men ate the bread that only the priests could eat, yet he remained guiltless, why? Because he was trying to reinstitute an older priesthood, the priesthood like Melchizedek’s priesthood.

One more parallel: Back in 1 Kings.
After Jehoboam sets up these temples, he is worshipping in one of the false temples and God sends a prophet who says this:

1 Kings 13:3-4 "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: `Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.'" And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Lay hold of him." And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.

In Matthew, right after the grain field confrontation, Matthew tells us this:

Matthew 12:9-10 And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue. And behold, there was a man with a withered hand.

Who, of course, Jesus heals.

So I think the point of these parallels is this: Jesus is the New King of Israel, the New David, with the beginnings of a new Israel in His 12 apostles. He has come to restore a true priesthood and to heal the divisions that sin has caused. Typoligically this is happening in Israel, which represents what He has come to do for the whole world.

Jesus and the Jubilee

2010-07-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when we hear Jesus quote a scripture from the Old Testament, it doesn’t seem to have the same impact on us as it did the original hearers. The reason is that we aren’t as familiar with Old Testament as we should be.

That is right, we need to be a people who are familiar with the scriptures because they are God’s love letters to us.

Here is a place where Jesus quotes, or rather reads, from Isaiah. He says -

Luke 4:18-21 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Now what is significant about that verse that Jesus reads?

What is significant about that verse is all of the history behind it. This verse has to do with the Jubilee.

What is the Jubilee?

When Israel came out of Egypt, God gave them certain laws about resting. God said that every Saturday they should rest, that is the Sabbath. God also said that every seventh year, Israel should let the ground rest. Finally, at 50 years, they should celebrate a Jubilee.
On the Jubilee, not only does the ground rest, but three other things take place as well.
If any land is acquired during those 50 years, it is to be restored.
If you have made anyone a slave in those 50 years, they are to be released.
If you have acquired any debts in that time, they are to be forgiven.

So celebrating the Jubilee would have been a time of great joy and celebration. It seems like it would have also been a time of great trust for those who had to let the slaves, land, and debts go.

It really would have, but God was saying – You need to do this for each other because I have done this for you when I brought you out of Egypt. I gave you the land of Canaan, I broke your bonds of slavery, and I canceled your debts. Now, you need to do that for one another.

The problem is, of course, that no one actually celebrated the Jubilee. So God says that He will punish the people.

Jeremiah 34:2 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, `Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

So here is what Zedekiah does:
Jeremiah 34:8-10 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them, that every one should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. And they obeyed, all the princes and all the people who had entered into the covenant that every one would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again; they obeyed and set them free.

Yet the story continues in the next verse.

Jeremiah 34:16-17 but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves. Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty (Jubilee), every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty (Jubilee) to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, says the LORD. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

That is when Judah goes off to Babylon in exile.

That is right, and that is what God is saying – you don’t want freedom for your slaves, that is fine, then I will set you free from the land.
But not all hope was lost. Isaiah told the captives in Babylon this:

Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty (Jubilee) to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor

This is what Jesus reads in the synagogue and proclaims as being fulfilled.

Now each of those Jubilee promises has a heavenly fulfillment.

Remember that the Israelites were to do three things – forgive debts, restore the land, and free the slaves.
Well we ask God in the “Our Father” to forgive our debts (we say sins, because that is its true meaning),
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;
Our Heavenly homeland of heaven has been restored to us.
We are no longer slaves to sin and our passions.
All of these things were accomplished by Christ on the cross, and we are to pass them on to others.

Dan's Top 10 Bible Tidbits in a Minute

2010-07-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

#10
Genesis chapter 1 was tells us that when God created the heavens and the earth that the earth was formless and void.
God takes the first three days to give the earth form.
First by making day and night
Second by making the water and the sky.
and Third by making dry land appear.
Next God fills the void with rulers over these three forms.
On the 4th day he makes the sun, moon, and stars to rule the day and night.
on the 5th days he fills the water with fish and the sky with birds
On the 6th day he fills the land with animals and then finally land.

#9
In Genesis Chapter 15 God comes to Abraham and tells him that his reward will be great for his faithfulness. Abraham reminds God that he has no children. God brings Abraham outside and says - Look to heaven and number the stars if you can - this is how many your descendants will be.
What is interesting about this story is that if you drop down to verse 17 it says - when the sun had gone down…suggesting that the previous conversation took place during the day when the stars were not out to be numbered, yet Abraham still believed God. This is a man of great faith looking into the blue sky, knowing that stars are present but they just can't be seen. So he also believes God when God says that he will have descendants that number as the stars.

#8
The name Joshua is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. And just as Joshua in the OT led the Israelites from wandering through the Jordan into the promised land; Jesus through the waters of Baptism leads us into the heavenly promised land.

#7
The number 666 is used in reference to two people in the Bible; once in the Book of Revelation and once concerning how much Solomon had taxed the people and had really fallen from grace and had become a type of antichrist.

#6
Jonah (you know the guy in the fish story) went to the city of Jappa when fleeing the Lord's command for him to call the Gentile city of Ninevah to repent. After being spit up by the great fish he found himself once again at Jappa and did finally go to the tell the those Ninevites to repent.
Now Peter in the New testament was called by Jesus "the son of Jonah" also found himself at the port city of Jappa when he was commanded by the Lord to receive the first Gentile convert Cornelius into the Church.

#5
We all know the story after the resurrection in the Gospel of John Chapter 21 how Jesus had made a charcoal fire and asked Peter 3 times if he loved him. Peter responded in the affirmative. Now we can guess why Jesus asked three times, because Peter had denied Jesus three times. If we look closely at Peter's denial of Jesus we see another important detail. Peter denied Jesus while warming his hands over a charcoal fire. Jesus now recreates the situation as an opportunity for reconciliation.

#4
At the end of Mark Chapter 1 we hear the story of how Jesus healed the man with leprosy.
This story is a summery of the whole Gospel. There is a man who is sick who can not go into cities because of his sickness and must remain in the wilderness. Jesus who had only been going to cities now meets the man in the wilderness and cures his sickness but it is Jesus who can no longer go into the city. Jesus cures the man of his infirmity but takes on himself the effects of the infirmity, namely not being able to go into cities. The same thing happens with sin. Jesus cures us of our sins but takes on the effects of the sin through being put to death.

#3
In Leviticus 21:10 it says that the high priest is not allowed to tear his garments. (You know in the OT whenever they heard band news they were always tearing their garments and putting dirt on their head)
Well, while Jesus was on trial before the High Priest Caiphas, Jesus admits that he is the Christ and Caiphas the high priest tears his own robes breaking the law in Leviticus 21. But notice something else - in John 19:23 when they are dividing Jesus’ garments (which was a seamless garment, what a priest would where when offering sacrifice). Instead of tearing them they decide to draw lots for them, and his cloths do not get torn showing that Jesus is the new High Priest.

#2
The Good Samaritan - a spiritual interpretation.
The man is Adam leaving the city of God (Jerusalem) and going to the city of man (Jericho). He is attacked by the devil. Neither the natural priesthood before Moses nor the Levitical priesthood of the law can help man. Christ is the good Samaritan who anointed him with the sacraments represented by oil and wine. He then places him in the church and gives charge of him to the pope and promises a return.

#1
In John 6:51 we hear Jesus - I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever. Notice he says - eats ..will live forever.
These words are used in only one other verse in the Bible. Genesis 3:22 - Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever." Jesus, who died on a tree (acts 5:30), continues to say in the discourse that we are to eat his resurrected flesh and blood for eternal life. The cross is the new tree of life and Jesus is the fruit of the tree.

- Thanks for reading my blog. If you would like to discover some of your own Bible Tidbits or just deepen you knowledge of Sacred Scripture and Our Lord; consider purchasing "A Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture" (Volume 2: The New Testament) by Dom Bernard Orchard. To purchase: Click below or on the image at the top of the page. Thank you.

Steve DiCarlo and I are currently working on Volume 1: The Old Testament and Volume 3: Articles. We hope to have them out later this year.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/a-catholic-commentary-on-holy-scripture-%281953%29---new-testament-vol-2/6268680

9 Ways to Participate in the Blessings of Others

2010-07-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

We have spoken before on the 9 ways to participate in someone else’s sin. If we flip those around, I think we can use them to participate in someone's good works.

Read what Jesus says:

Matthew 10:41 He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

So I believe that we can say that when we support prophets and righteous men and radio stations, we will benefit from their rewards.

Also sometimes you can know learn things about a topic by studying its opposite and that is what I hope to accomplish today.

Now some of these things are of course obvious, but they are always good to meditate on and be reminded of.

So let’s go through those 9 ways to participate in someone’s sin, and see if we can turn these into blessings.

#1
The first is counsel, if we counsel someone to do wrong that is a sin, but if we counsel someone to do well, this will bring with it a blessing.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

#2
The second is Command. If we command someone to do evil, this is sinful. But if we command someone who do well, this is a blessing.

Naaman is a pagan who has leprosy, he is counseled by his Jewish slave to go to Elisha to be cured. Elisha tells him to wash in the Jordan 7 times.

2 Kings 5:11-13 But Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, `Wash, and be clean'?"

He then washes and is made clean because he obeys the prophet.

#3
The third is consent. If we are told to do something sinful and we consent, this is a sin. This is a response to either being counseled or commanded to do something evil. Now when we flip that on its head and consent to some good that has been counseled or commanded for us to do, then this is good.

This reminds me of the story of Gideon, who is in one of the smallest tribes of Israel, and in one of the smallest clans, and in one of the smallest families, and is the least in his family.

This is Judges chapter 6. He is asked by the Lord to go up and fight the Midianites, but their army is great in numbers. He asks for some signs from God that God was in fact the talking to him and God gave him the signs and he agreed to lead the army. There was just one problem. The army was too big. If it is too big then Gideon might get the glory if he wins. God wants the glory and has Gideon take his army from 32,000 men to 300. With these 300, God, through Gideon, freed the Israelites from the Midianite army. It was all because Gideon consented to God’s plan, and today we remember this guy from 3200 years ago. - How is that for glory?

#4
The fourth is provoke. If you provoke someone to sin, your provocation is sinful as well. While we don’t want to necessarily provoke someone into doing good, that seems like you are going to make fun of them until they give in. I would say that the opposite is to encourage someone to do something good.

#5
The fifth is praise. If you praise someone for going something evil, this is evil as well. Conversely if you praise someone for doing well, this brings with it a blessing.

#6
The sixth is conceal. If you conceal something evil that is done, let's say in confession, then that is sinful too. But if we flip this around and proclaim some good news, like the gospel, this is a blessing.

2 Timothy 4:1-2 charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.

#7
The seventh is help. If you help someone do something sinful, this is sinful. Likewise, if you help someone do something good, this is good.

This gets back to the verse about receiving a prophet. If you support the good that is going on, you will share in its blessings.

#8
The eight is silence. In certain cases silence is a sin. If someone is accused of a crime - let’s say - and you know that they didn’t do it, and yet you stay silent. This is a sin.
The opposite would be to speak up and tell what you know, even if it is hard.

#9
The ninth is to defend a wrong done. The opposite could be to defend something good done.

( if there is time I think this would be great to do )

Now here are the Nine ways to participate in someone elses blessings - listening to Catholic radio.

If you counsel to listen to Catholic radio - this is a blessing.
If you command someone (in charity) to turn on Catholic Radio - this is a blessing.
If you consent to listen to Catholic radio - this is a blessing.
If you encourage someone to listen to Catholic radio - this is a blessing.
If you praise someone for listening to Catholic radio - this is a blessing.
If you have a sticker, advertising your Catholic radio station - this is a blessing.
If you help someone to listen to Catholic radio by keeping it on the air through donations - this is a blessing.
If you are silent while others are listening to Catholic radio - this is a blessing
If you have defend someone who is being attacked for listening to Catholic radio - this a blessing.

The Good Samaritan - a "bit" Deeper

2010-06-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder - Here is what a Bible tidbit is.

A Bible tidbit is a brief lesson from the Scriptures that draw us a little deeper into the Bible. If you are not excited about the Scriptures, hopefully a Bible tidbit will get you excited about them. They are things that have gotten me excited about the Scriptures.

My first Bible tidbit came when I was in a dialogue about the scriptures with a Southern Baptist girl. I was 19 and she was asking me all sorts of hard questions from the Bible and I couldn’t tell the difference between a chapter and verse.

I went to my Godfather for help and he gave me some historical philosophical response to give to her. I said, "Look, I think I need to answer her from the Bible." He said, that her whole foundation was based on scripture alone, but the Bible teaches that the pillar and foundation of truth is the Church.

1 Timothy 3:15 But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.

I read that verse once, Matt, and it was as if my entire life had been lived in darkness and someone had turned on a light. I could then see two things. One, that the faith of the Church was alive, and that my own faith really began to live.

Here is the actual tidbit for today.

This is a great one that can be shared with Catholic and non-Catholic alike. It is the parable of the good Samaritan.

Luke 10:30-35 , "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'

In case someone doesn’t know, who are the Samaritans?

Back in 1040 B.C., King Saul had united all 12 tribes of Israel under his kingship. But in 930 B.C., the country split into two parts. The North was called Israel and the South was called Judah.

The capitol of the north was Samaria. In 722 B.C. the Assyrians came and removed most of the population of Israel and put in its place five pagan peoples. These people integrated their religions with the teachings of Moses, defiling true worship.

When it comes down to it they were half pagan, half Jewish. So the Jews didn't like them very much. They were in effect outcast by the Jews.

Why, though, do the priest and the Levite both pass up the man that was beaten?

One reason could be that they figured that he was already dead. If he was already dead, then touching him would have made them ritually unclean. Meaning, they would have to go through some cleaning rituals before they could go worship at the Temple.

Holiness in the Old Testament meant staying both spiritually and physically pure. These men chose to stay physically pure, but not spiritually pure because they denied their duty of loving their neighbor.

The Samaritan, who might not be as bound to the purity laws, does the right thing and helps the man.

So with that in mind, what else is there to notice about the story?

The Allegorical interpretation of this story is beautiful.
The man that gets attacked is Adam, who is leaving Jerusalem (city of God) and going to Jericho (city of the enemies of God). One his journey he is attacked by the devil.

The priesthood before Moses cannot help him. The priesthood instituted by Moses (Levitical priesthood) is also unable to help him.

Only Jesus, who is the Good Samaritan (the outcast), is able to help him.

Jesus pours on the sacraments of healing, oil representing the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and wine representing the Holy Eucharist.

Jesus then takes him to the Inn, which is the Church and tells the Innkeeper, Peter (keys to all the rooms), to take care of him until Christ returns in the second coming.

This tidbit is great because it is easy to see the second interpretation and you get to evangelize a little bit. So I hope folks out there share this with someone.