Angels
by Mark Shea
As the existence of everything from SETI to Star Trek attests, our civilization is fascinated with the question of the existence of non-human intelligences. The Faith says that we already know of at least one such class of creature. It is called an "angel". However, our culture's response to the existence of the angelic is deeply confused.
Materialists have long scoffed at angels in their knee-jerk way, but now are (unwittingly) placing themselves in a bit of a bind in their effort to go on scoffing at God.
It's like this: the universe science is discovering is fantastically fine-tuned. If the strong nuclear force constant were not just so, either no hydrogen or nothing but hydrogen would form after the Big Bang. If the gravitational force constant were not just so stars would be too hot or too cold for life. If the electromagnetic force constant were not just so, chemical bonding for life could not occur. If the expansion rate of the universe were not just so, either no galaxies would form or the universe would collapse back to a singularity. And on and on this goes for over thirty different variables, all requiring fine tuning of such a degree that expressing the odds of getting them all right would require writing more zeros than I can fit in an 800 word article.
Because of the immense fine-tuning of the universe, sensible theists are rather understandably reminded of Paul's remarks in Romans 1 that "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." But fallen man is nothing if not ingenious, so not a few materialists have lately attempted to lick this problem of the fine-tuned universe by positing what is known as the "Multiverse" theory. According to this evidence-free theory, the ultra-super-duper fine tuning of basic physical laws which strongly suggests that You Know Who might have had a hand in the creation is just a statistical illusion. Based on absolutely no facts at all, some materialists insist the reason the universe looks ultra-fined for life is that we just happen to be lucky enough to live in the one-out-of-an-infinite-number-of-universes where all the physical laws happen to be fine-tuned enough to produce us. According to this theory, there are, in fact, an infinite number of other universes with other physical laws tuned to other variables. This is not the sort of thing that would keep you from getting shot in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1880s ("Wal, pardner, I cain't hep it if every hand I'm dealt is four aces. We jes' happen to live in the multiverse where I always git four aces!") but it is a consolation to atheist materialists desperate to avoid You Know Who.
The problem for the atheist is this: If, for the special purpose of getting rid of God, you can say there are an infinite number of "natures" out there, why can't the Christian say the same thing?
Christianity does not really posit a three story universe (Hell, Earth, Heaven). It posits a universe with (potentially) any number of natures—and even the possibility that such natures can interact. In the Tradition, "Earth" refers to the creation we can see: not just the planet on which we live but the whole field of time, space, matter and energy to the furthest reaches of the furthest galaxy. Similarly, "Heaven" refers, not simply to God (the "Highest Heaven"), but to the realm(s) of the angels and even of the demonic "powers and principalities". Such natures are "higher" than we are in the order of nature and so the angels are traditionally pictured floating around in Heaven next to God. But, of course, there is an infinite gulf between the Creator and his angels just as there is an infinite gulf between the Creator and us (in the order of nature).
Revelation speaks of these "in between" angelic natures only insofar as it concerns us so we know only a little. The angels, which are pure intelligence without corporeal bodies, exist to praise God and to help us in our salvation. The demons are angels who have refused an affirmative to the fundamental law of existence: to worship the Triune God who is life, love, truth, goodness and beauty. They are the enemies of creation because they are the enemies of the Creator. For the purposes of our salvation, all we need to know is that.
Unfortunately, the devil being a liar, we have been fuddled. So rejecting atheistic materialism is not enough. Next week, we will look at the opposite problem from atheistic materialism: the New Age tendency to love angels more than angels want to be loved.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
parang ayaw ko nang bumalik sa culion...
parang ayaw ko nang bumalik sa culion...
i'm not surprise to learn this statement
from someone who LOVE culion
it's really sad view of our town
but the pictures in our site
can tell some HOPE
to restore our beloved place
we'll both promote eco-tourism
and at the same time
earn some income
by saving the environment
that people will now realize
how good it is and can be a beautiful source
of income... kalikasan is where we live.
if you lost it even if you have millions
of gold it's nothing... so let's go for it
we'll start on the health
then environment as what ate cynthia & rachelle suggested...
the unique park in balala that kids used to play wala na po.
there's a new swimming ground at the back of the big church
that is one of the beauties of culion now!
kami ng mga taga balala ang dumadayo ngayon doon
wala na kasi sa panatalan...
now the quest is who's going to lead this projects
are the new leaders aware or concerned about it...?
or do we have the 'rights' to lead this objectives.?
but we already started imagine we have scholars now!
and the projects of rachelle and ate cynthia!
plus the balikatan culion. wow
we need more groups in culion
we have to stablish stable community there now
and start rebuilding culion sphere under the economy of
culion eco-tourism even just what had left for our children...
we still have mountains, sea, and landmarks...
we can still have the natural resources.. hopefully
let's plant trees now...
so the office near leonard wood park
will not be possible for us...
the park is really nice
i think that should be the main park now of culion...
a very historic place... where the oldest town of culion stand
town hall... :) plus the beautiful acasias...
let's generate incomes to culion
and one of them is eco-tourism
can anyone define
eco-tourism......?
thanks po kuya renato liwanag
mabuhay po kayo
nakakalungkot pong talaga
ang kalagayan natin doon
but we're survivors.....
hope to meet yo there...
we need to find ways in many ways
cheers
jong
q8
--- In Culion_Palawan_Online@yahoogroups.com, Renato Liwanag
wrote:
>
> hello Karen, magandang idea yan potscards,you need capital o
funding dyan,ano ba purpose ng card.pag bibili o to promote lang ng
culion.if pag bibili yes babalik ang capital mo.tanong ko lang
karen,meron naba kau committee,strickly for fund raising??dapat mag
karoon kau,alam mo sa lahat ng liwanag,ako lang tagala lumaki sa
culion,,dyan ako nag aral ng elementary at high school,kaya i know
how culion use to be.
> i was there last may during the 100th.yr ng culion and i was
disappointed,ibang iba na,,parang ayaw ko na bumalik,but i still
love culion,,,so karen count mo na ako tulong sa inyo..any way i
can,,uwi ko next month uli.visit ko sa culion..madami ako suggest na
need na ngaun ng mga bata sa culion.kawawa mga bata don.walang mapag
laruan na lugar,,beautification ng culion wala.,kung meron lang mag
lead sana madali magawa yon.dapat ang baranggay at community kahit
sa landskaping ng area nila',gawin na..siguro ngaun na iba na mayor,
mag iiba na ang culion.
>
>
salamat,from toronto,canada
>
renato t. liwanag
> Karen Fami wrote:
>
> Hello folks!
>
> We just came up with an idea of making postcards out of Jong's
> collection of pictures then sell them to Culion tourists,to be
able to
> raise fund for our lined up Projects.
>
> What do you think? We want to hear your comments. We understand we
need
> a certain amount of money to print post cards, so we need your
> suggestions.
>
> Thanks
>
> Karen Fami
i'm not surprise to learn this statement
from someone who LOVE culion
it's really sad view of our town
but the pictures in our site
can tell some HOPE
to restore our beloved place
we'll both promote eco-tourism
and at the same time
earn some income
by saving the environment
that people will now realize
how good it is and can be a beautiful source
of income... kalikasan is where we live.
if you lost it even if you have millions
of gold it's nothing... so let's go for it
we'll start on the health
then environment as what ate cynthia & rachelle suggested...
the unique park in balala that kids used to play wala na po.
there's a new swimming ground at the back of the big church
that is one of the beauties of culion now!
kami ng mga taga balala ang dumadayo ngayon doon
wala na kasi sa panatalan...
now the quest is who's going to lead this projects
are the new leaders aware or concerned about it...?
or do we have the 'rights' to lead this objectives.?
but we already started imagine we have scholars now!
and the projects of rachelle and ate cynthia!
plus the balikatan culion. wow
we need more groups in culion
we have to stablish stable community there now
and start rebuilding culion sphere under the economy of
culion eco-tourism even just what had left for our children...
we still have mountains, sea, and landmarks...
we can still have the natural resources.. hopefully
let's plant trees now...
so the office near leonard wood park
will not be possible for us...
the park is really nice
i think that should be the main park now of culion...
a very historic place... where the oldest town of culion stand
town hall... :) plus the beautiful acasias...
let's generate incomes to culion
and one of them is eco-tourism
can anyone define
eco-tourism......?
thanks po kuya renato liwanag
mabuhay po kayo
nakakalungkot pong talaga
ang kalagayan natin doon
but we're survivors.....
hope to meet yo there...
we need to find ways in many ways
cheers
jong
q8
--- In Culion_Palawan_Online@yahoogroups.com, Renato Liwanag
>
> hello Karen, magandang idea yan potscards,you need capital o
funding dyan,ano ba purpose ng card.pag bibili o to promote lang ng
culion.if pag bibili yes babalik ang capital mo.tanong ko lang
karen,meron naba kau committee,strickly for fund raising??dapat mag
karoon kau,alam mo sa lahat ng liwanag,ako lang tagala lumaki sa
culion,,dyan ako nag aral ng elementary at high school,kaya i know
how culion use to be.
> i was there last may during the 100th.yr ng culion and i was
disappointed,ibang iba na,,parang ayaw ko na bumalik,but i still
love culion,,,so karen count mo na ako tulong sa inyo..any way i
can,,uwi ko next month uli.visit ko sa culion..madami ako suggest na
need na ngaun ng mga bata sa culion.kawawa mga bata don.walang mapag
laruan na lugar,,beautification ng culion wala.,kung meron lang mag
lead sana madali magawa yon.dapat ang baranggay at community kahit
sa landskaping ng area nila',gawin na..siguro ngaun na iba na mayor,
mag iiba na ang culion.
>
>
salamat,from toronto,canada
>
renato t. liwanag
> Karen Fami
>
> Hello folks!
>
> We just came up with an idea of making postcards out of Jong's
> collection of pictures then sell them to Culion tourists,to be
able to
> raise fund for our lined up Projects.
>
> What do you think? We want to hear your comments. We understand we
need
> a certain amount of money to print post cards, so we need your
> suggestions.
>
> Thanks
>
> Karen Fami
GREAT FUTURE indeed!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7582986795752940587&q=2057+world&total=26&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
GREAT FUTURE indeed!
but...
"for people of faith, and Christians in particular,
we know that technology is not to be our God,
and technology is most definitely not our Savior.
Each of us has to examine the role of technology in our own lives,
and how it squares with what we consider to be most important in life.
This does not mean that we become luddites,
rejecting new forms of technology.
What it means is that we carefully consider
how technology fits into our lives,
whether it helps or hinders the goals we've set for ourselves"
and what goals could that be...?!!
we need to involve taking a closer look at those very goals.
where do we draw the line...
and what should happen to those who cannot
afford or access this kind of tech. again a giant gap...
We can't afford to be unaware of the challenges facing us today.
The future is almost here.
(bioethics:)
the 11th hour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IBG2V98IBY
GREAT FUTURE indeed!
but...
"for people of faith, and Christians in particular,
we know that technology is not to be our God,
and technology is most definitely not our Savior.
Each of us has to examine the role of technology in our own lives,
and how it squares with what we consider to be most important in life.
This does not mean that we become luddites,
rejecting new forms of technology.
What it means is that we carefully consider
how technology fits into our lives,
whether it helps or hinders the goals we've set for ourselves"
and what goals could that be...?!!
we need to involve taking a closer look at those very goals.
where do we draw the line...
and what should happen to those who cannot
afford or access this kind of tech. again a giant gap...
We can't afford to be unaware of the challenges facing us today.
The future is almost here.
(bioethics:)
the 11th hour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IBG2V98IBY
Monday, July 16, 2007
'BALIKATAN'
yes
let's find first the alternative jobs
as solutions for our poor peoples
before we can solve our
eco-system problems and all.
we'll just like filling
a bucket full of holes...
and worst make their lives more misery.
the quest is source of economy
then everything follows...
first let's eradicate the kind of systems
like ppa, dpwh, dnr, customs, justice,
education, health, comelec etc etc etc...
look at our edu. system
the billions of pesos of books they
printed full of wrong informations
being given to our children!!!
where is justice?
dr. were there
in culion for a life time
but... look at culion!
the question is who gives permit
to the first talipapa?
and tapping of spring waters...
anyway we'll just blame poverty
that's all it is
but
it's not about the talipapa
it's not about the kamidling
it's not about the spring or anesvad
it's about the quest for love
beacause our God is not punitive God
It is love for other human beings
that permits us to go beyond or transcend death.
Greed, selfishness, poverty, exploitation --
these are all lingering manifestations
of a failure to love.
They show how far we are
from achieving full humanity.
i'm just being an advocate of it all
nothing personal...
cause we're already facing consequences.
for a long long long time
can we define quest?
simply perception
My advocacy or perspective
is more on evolutionary.
If we really have LOVE,
we need to develop our true institutions -- (mentioned above!)
institutions that enjoy independence, (no pressures from above)
institutions that operate
according to their own MORAL CodeS! (vitues + values = morality)
Whether this is to be done by (green)revolution, (or others)
or by (buying)election, or by (pork-barrel)charter change.
IT is not as important as knowing
what kind of society or
coron city we should put in place. (demo. or revo.)
There are no shortcuts to developments. (just what ppa did)
it will never be possible (even dev't)
for as long as there is mass POVERTY.
So, the first business of the day (now)
should be the elimination of mass poverty
and the large GAPs in wealth and power
that characterize present-day COMMUNITY.
not only culion but our country itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jongnono
buscucolin city palawan
:)
just having fun...
sorry
but yo can make it personal if yo want
cause we're just doing it to gain ourselves
this is our
'balikatan'
minus
the foreign men
plus
'mga dayuhan sa sariling bayan...'
cheers
life is beautiful in the midst of them all
but the greatest of them all is always love
thanks po kuya alex
mabuhay kayo!!
let's find first the alternative jobs
as solutions for our poor peoples
before we can solve our
eco-system problems and all.
we'll just like filling
a bucket full of holes...
and worst make their lives more misery.
the quest is source of economy
then everything follows...
first let's eradicate the kind of systems
like ppa, dpwh, dnr, customs, justice,
education, health, comelec etc etc etc...
look at our edu. system
the billions of pesos of books they
printed full of wrong informations
being given to our children!!!
where is justice?
dr. were there
in culion for a life time
but... look at culion!
the question is who gives permit
to the first talipapa?
and tapping of spring waters...
anyway we'll just blame poverty
that's all it is
but
it's not about the talipapa
it's not about the kamidling
it's not about the spring or anesvad
it's about the quest for love
beacause our God is not punitive God
It is love for other human beings
that permits us to go beyond or transcend death.
Greed, selfishness, poverty, exploitation --
these are all lingering manifestations
of a failure to love.
They show how far we are
from achieving full humanity.
i'm just being an advocate of it all
nothing personal...
cause we're already facing consequences.
for a long long long time
can we define quest?
simply perception
My advocacy or perspective
is more on evolutionary.
If we really have LOVE,
we need to develop our true institutions -- (mentioned above!)
institutions that enjoy independence, (no pressures from above)
institutions that operate
according to their own MORAL CodeS! (vitues + values = morality)
Whether this is to be done by (green)revolution, (or others)
or by (buying)election, or by (pork-barrel)charter change.
IT is not as important as knowing
what kind of society or
coron city we should put in place. (demo. or revo.)
There are no shortcuts to developments. (just what ppa did)
it will never be possible (even dev't)
for as long as there is mass POVERTY.
So, the first business of the day (now)
should be the elimination of mass poverty
and the large GAPs in wealth and power
that characterize present-day COMMUNITY.
not only culion but our country itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jongnono
buscucolin city palawan
:)
just having fun...
sorry
but yo can make it personal if yo want
cause we're just doing it to gain ourselves
this is our
'balikatan'
minus
the foreign men
plus
'mga dayuhan sa sariling bayan...'
cheers
life is beautiful in the midst of them all
but the greatest of them all is always love
thanks po kuya alex
mabuhay kayo!!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
coron city
yes indeed
reality in the making...
maybe the puerto just forgot
to mentioned city
cause of their hectic minds
and how to get their bonuses & rewards... :)
but there will always be the clashes
of dev't vs nature or environment
(again basin)
where are they going to put the
int'l airport
int'l port (ppa) waaaaaa! :((((
int'l hotels & malls
and
dams & powers???
a bridge too far
then culion will become coron 2!?
let's name it
buscoculin city
welcome
busuanga-coron-culion-linapakan city
panlaytan & maglalambay(ethans place now:) is busuanga??
so the whole calamianes
wow!
let's start it now
but first let's save earth
watch
inconvenient truth!!!
50 years from now earth will never be the same
hi rachelle
how can we be member of greenpeace
let's put it in culion 2
welcome po
cap. mercado
i'm sure he knows
the inconvenient truth about culion
we'll do documentary
as al gore... slides presentations
we're simply cog not sec. :) po
our specialties were distributed evenly
simply like a body of a human being
mind-body-soul
of course with the anatomy
& spirit
as a good samaritan
we will try to become
the good neighbor
fulfilling our duties & commandments
loving our neighbors as ourselves totally-
with all our heart-mind-soul-strength
that could be loving culion or maybe coron city
by this we'll show our love of God
with the option of justice!
cause we already have mercy
maybe coron city is a lie
that will enable us
to see the (inconvenient) truth....
better remove all the dogs :))
cheers again
reality in the making...
maybe the puerto just forgot
to mentioned city
cause of their hectic minds
and how to get their bonuses & rewards... :)
but there will always be the clashes
of dev't vs nature or environment
(again basin)
where are they going to put the
int'l airport
int'l port (ppa) waaaaaa! :((((
int'l hotels & malls
and
dams & powers???
a bridge too far
then culion will become coron 2!?
let's name it
buscoculin city
welcome
busuanga-coron-culion-linapakan city
panlaytan & maglalambay(ethans place now:) is busuanga??
so the whole calamianes
wow!
let's start it now
but first let's save earth
watch
inconvenient truth!!!
50 years from now earth will never be the same
hi rachelle
how can we be member of greenpeace
let's put it in culion 2
welcome po
cap. mercado
i'm sure he knows
the inconvenient truth about culion
we'll do documentary
as al gore... slides presentations
we're simply cog not sec. :) po
our specialties were distributed evenly
simply like a body of a human being
mind-body-soul
of course with the anatomy
& spirit
as a good samaritan
we will try to become
the good neighbor
fulfilling our duties & commandments
loving our neighbors as ourselves totally-
with all our heart-mind-soul-strength
that could be loving culion or maybe coron city
by this we'll show our love of God
with the option of justice!
cause we already have mercy
maybe coron city is a lie
that will enable us
to see the (inconvenient) truth....
better remove all the dogs :))
cheers again
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
PAPAL POINT
PAPAL POINT
Inquirer
Last updated 05:55am (Mla time) 09/24/2006
Published on page A10 of the September 24, 2006 issue of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer
POPE BENEDICT XVI HAD INTENDED HIS SIX-DAY visit to his native Germany
to be a restful but meaningful homecoming. Like his great predecessor
who had been the first non-Italian in 400 years to become pope and who
had made a moving homecoming to his native Poland a year after his
election to the papacy in 1979, Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, had wanted to make his Bavarian visit a symbolic "return of
the native," a reaffirmation of the roots of his person and the roots
of the faith.
The visit turned out to be too meaningful for comfort; and it was
anything but restful. By quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor on
Islam�"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you
will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread
by the sword the faith he preached"�during a university address,
Benedict has riled Muslims and even some Christians and sparked a
global conflagration. Catholic churches and Catholics in Islamic
countries have been attacked.
The Pope has said he is "deeply sorry" (some linguists say the English
translation should have been "deeply saddened") that Muslims have been
offended by the quotation. He clarified that in no way does the
quotation reflect his opinion. He has also explained that his
university address has been misinterpreted and that he has a "deep
respect" for Islam.
In hindsight, the "misinterpretation" seems a "miscontextualization."
The quote from the emperor of Constantinople, Manuel II Paleologus,
consists of 32 words out of a text of more than 3,000 words (at least
in the English translation of the German original)!
To be sure, the overall text must balance and complement those 32
words, which everyone must be reminded is a quotation that merely
served to illustrate a point. And what was the point of the address?
It was about the rationality of faith, about the Hellenic or rational
influence on Christianity that makes of the religion a marriage of
faith and reason. Definitely the hysterical reaction in the Muslim
world and some sectors of Christianity is an ironic counterpoint to
what the Pope was trying to say in an eminently academic,
level-headed, and, yes, rational way.
But was the Pope irresponsible in using the controversial quotation?
However incendiary the import of the quotation, the Pope indicated he
did not share the opinion of the emperor about the evil and inhumanity
of Islam. But he indicated that the quotation from the "erudite"
emperor should show that rationality plays an essential role in the
faith, and this rationality is translated into peaceful resolution of
differences; in short, in dialogue.
That rationality is eminently dialogical and peaceful was demonstrated
by the fact that the Pope was delivering an address to his old
university of Regensburg. In fact, he opened his address to the
students and faculty with a fond recollection of those days in the
academe when "despite our specializations which at times make it
difficult to communicate with each other, we made up a whole, working
in everything on the basis of a single rationality with its various
aspects and sharing responsibility for the right use of reason."
And the dialogical rationality of the faith was also embodied by the
Pope's quotation of the emperor that was uttered in the context of a
discussion with a Persian scholar�and a Muslim at that!
The Pope, in fact, said that the remark about Islam as "evil and
inhuman" was delivered with "startling brusqueness." The severity of
the remark then was merely a dramatic flourish to what the emperor was
trying to point out:
"The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to
explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence
is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of
God and the nature of the soul. `God,' he says, `is not pleased by
blood�and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is
born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith
needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without
violence and threats.'"
The pre-eminent rationality of the faith, the Pope went on to expound,
must be maintained amid a Europe that has lost all sense of faith
because of extreme rationality and secularity. He said rational faith
is needed in the discussion with the great cultures and religions of
the world.
It is the tragedy of our time that a great address that exalts reason
and dialogue should be drowned in the din and blare of hatred and
irrationality.
Inquirer
Last updated 05:55am (Mla time) 09/24/2006
Published on page A10 of the September 24, 2006 issue of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer
POPE BENEDICT XVI HAD INTENDED HIS SIX-DAY visit to his native Germany
to be a restful but meaningful homecoming. Like his great predecessor
who had been the first non-Italian in 400 years to become pope and who
had made a moving homecoming to his native Poland a year after his
election to the papacy in 1979, Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, had wanted to make his Bavarian visit a symbolic "return of
the native," a reaffirmation of the roots of his person and the roots
of the faith.
The visit turned out to be too meaningful for comfort; and it was
anything but restful. By quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor on
Islam�"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you
will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread
by the sword the faith he preached"�during a university address,
Benedict has riled Muslims and even some Christians and sparked a
global conflagration. Catholic churches and Catholics in Islamic
countries have been attacked.
The Pope has said he is "deeply sorry" (some linguists say the English
translation should have been "deeply saddened") that Muslims have been
offended by the quotation. He clarified that in no way does the
quotation reflect his opinion. He has also explained that his
university address has been misinterpreted and that he has a "deep
respect" for Islam.
In hindsight, the "misinterpretation" seems a "miscontextualization."
The quote from the emperor of Constantinople, Manuel II Paleologus,
consists of 32 words out of a text of more than 3,000 words (at least
in the English translation of the German original)!
To be sure, the overall text must balance and complement those 32
words, which everyone must be reminded is a quotation that merely
served to illustrate a point. And what was the point of the address?
It was about the rationality of faith, about the Hellenic or rational
influence on Christianity that makes of the religion a marriage of
faith and reason. Definitely the hysterical reaction in the Muslim
world and some sectors of Christianity is an ironic counterpoint to
what the Pope was trying to say in an eminently academic,
level-headed, and, yes, rational way.
But was the Pope irresponsible in using the controversial quotation?
However incendiary the import of the quotation, the Pope indicated he
did not share the opinion of the emperor about the evil and inhumanity
of Islam. But he indicated that the quotation from the "erudite"
emperor should show that rationality plays an essential role in the
faith, and this rationality is translated into peaceful resolution of
differences; in short, in dialogue.
That rationality is eminently dialogical and peaceful was demonstrated
by the fact that the Pope was delivering an address to his old
university of Regensburg. In fact, he opened his address to the
students and faculty with a fond recollection of those days in the
academe when "despite our specializations which at times make it
difficult to communicate with each other, we made up a whole, working
in everything on the basis of a single rationality with its various
aspects and sharing responsibility for the right use of reason."
And the dialogical rationality of the faith was also embodied by the
Pope's quotation of the emperor that was uttered in the context of a
discussion with a Persian scholar�and a Muslim at that!
The Pope, in fact, said that the remark about Islam as "evil and
inhuman" was delivered with "startling brusqueness." The severity of
the remark then was merely a dramatic flourish to what the emperor was
trying to point out:
"The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to
explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence
is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of
God and the nature of the soul. `God,' he says, `is not pleased by
blood�and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is
born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith
needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without
violence and threats.'"
The pre-eminent rationality of the faith, the Pope went on to expound,
must be maintained amid a Europe that has lost all sense of faith
because of extreme rationality and secularity. He said rational faith
is needed in the discussion with the great cultures and religions of
the world.
It is the tragedy of our time that a great address that exalts reason
and dialogue should be drowned in the din and blare of hatred and
irrationality.
Psalm 23 Revisited
Psalm 23 Revisited
by Aneel Aranha (HSI)
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff�they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
One of the things I love about Scripture is the way it paints
pictures in bright, vibrant colors that are so vivid, I feel drawn
right into them. Psalm 23�which is nearly everybody's favorite
psalm�is an ideal example. The instant I start reading it, I find
myself transported into a meadow with lush green grass stretching out
as far as the eye can see. A clear blue lake shimmers on one side. On
the other side, a shepherd walks among his flock, staff in hand,
watching over them.
The sheep are safe, because they are under the care of a shepherd who
loves them enough to give his life for them. He won't run away when he
sees the wolf coming, like the hired hand would. The sheep need never
fear any danger�as long as they stay close to their master. But, as
wooly headed as they are wooly bodied, they keep straying close to the
gate, tempted by the lure of greener pastures on the other side of the
fence. It is only when they wander across and begin feeding do they
discover the grass is infested with snakes.
Sheep are, admittedly, foolish creatures and have no real concept of
the danger that awaits them. But we are surely wiser. Or are we? It
seems to me that we can be woollier headed than sheep. A lady once
came to me for advice. Married with two children, she found herself
attracted to another man. I spent the better part of a morning telling
her what she undoubtedly already knew she had to do, and how to do it.
She went away promising she would break off all contact with the man
and immerse herself in prayer. Two weeks later she called to say she
was deep into an affair and couldn't extricate herself from it. Or
wouldn't. "It is so beautiful," she simpered.
That's a good description of sin: beautiful. If it was ugly, we
wouldn't engage in it. But it's gorgeous to look at. It entices us,
like lush green grass entices the sheep to the other side of the
fence, and only once we embrace it do we see it's real face, with its
beady eyes protruding out of bloody sockets and its fetid breath. By
then it is too late; we are locked in its evil grip and it isn't long
before our lives begin resembling the aftermath of a bomb blast. The
woman's marriage is in shreds today�as is the man's�and strewn amidst
the wreckage are the lives of innocent children and countless other
casualties, all the result of two people who willfully chose the path
of destruction.
The same story, with minor variations in theme, is being repeated all
over the world. We're lured into hundreds of sins�all with the promise
that "it's so beautiful", and are then devastated by the pain and
anguish that sin always brings. What causes me the most sadness is
that it is so unnecessary. The pastures where the good shepherd�Jesus,
of course�has us lie down are far greener than anything that you will
find elsewhere. They are so satisfying and filling, it is positively
stupid to even look for, much less want to graze in, other pastures.
True, danger abounds here too, but nobody who stays close to the
shepherd has reason to be afraid. Though we "walk through the valley
of the shadow of death" we need fear no evil, because Jesus is with
us, protecting us. The level of protection is directly proportional to
the distance that we keep to him. The farther you move away from him,
the greater the risk you put yourself in. I have been hurt so badly as
a result of my recklessness in the past, I rarely move more than a
couple of feet away from him anymore. It puts me in a position of
immense strength and though the enemy does launch his assaults every
now and then, he ends up utterly humiliated. I have a few experiences
in this matter that you might take some encouragement from, so I
relate them here.
I formally launched Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI) on January 1, 2004.
A few months earlier, I invited a few friends to take a look at the
HSI web site, which was to be one of the pillars of the HSI ministry.
The invitation was a private one, mainly intended to get some feedback
on the site. One of the invitees picked up on what he believed to be
an anti-Mary slant in two of the pages on the site, although all those
pages contained were verses from Scripture, with both Catholic and
Protestant interpretations presented. He promptly spread the word that
the site wasn't kosher. I will never forget what followed.
Self-appointed guardians of the church�all lay people posturing as
leaders of the Catholic community�took it upon themselves to defend
what they thought was an onslaught against the Church, and came down
heavily on me.
Given the obsessive�often irrational�hatred many Catholics seem to
have for their Protestant brothers, the easiest way to destroy a
Catholic ministry is to call its founder Protestant and rumors to the
effect started flying. Never mind that I had acknowledged the vital
role that Mary had played in bringing me back to God, never mind that
I went for mass every morning, never mind that I was under spiritual
direction from a Catholic priest, never mind that I was out there
engaged in promoting, teaching and defending Catholicism: a few people
seemed determined to prove that I was Protestant in my beliefs and
went about doing so with a vehemence that was frightening to see.
Soon, thereafter, scurrilous rumors about my character began floating
about, along with questions about my motives in being a Christian.
There were some people who actually went about saying that I was
working under instructions from the evil one! This would have been
laughable had it not been for the fact that the people making these
claims were allegedly "anointed" people whom quite a few took seriously!
Gandhi once said that he loved Christianity but loathed Christians
because he found so little of Christ in them. I couldn't help finding
myself in agreement, and for the second time in my life, I didn't want
to have anything to do with Christians or Christianity anymore! I
wanted to return to my old life and the people I knew. They were an
unholy lot, for sure, but at least they didn't pretend to be anything
else. It was then that Jesus spoke to me through Psalm 23. "Don't
quit," he said. "Stick with me and I promise you that I will set a
banquet before you in the presence of your enemies."
I nearly quit anyway, but in the end sheer bullheadedness made me hang
on. I am so glad that I did. HSI took off like a space shuttle leaving
the ground at Cape Canaveral. It gained almost immediate acceptance in
Catholic circles, with priests advising parishioners from pulpits
across the world to visit the site. Praise poured in from the clergy,
including Bishops and even the occasional Cardinal. Some very anointed
Catholic writers, most associated with powerful ministries, began
contributing material. And to cap it all, the Vicariate adopted it as
its own. The "enemies" could only watch in stunned silence as Jesus
kept his promise, serving up meal after meal after meal right before
their very eyes!
HSI completed a year on December 2005, and as I thanked God for making
it far more successful than even I had ever dreamed in just twelve
months, he made another promise. "That was only for starters," he
said. "The main course is yet to come!" It is being served even as I
write this. HSI now has an Outreach Program, which uses music, drama
and dance to reach out to people. An ongoing Discipleship Program is
bringing countless Christians closer to God and one another. A Global
Intercessory Prayer Circle has hundreds of people from all over the
world putting differences aside and uniting in prayer. And much else
is happening that is truly wonderful.
I tell this story for a reason, and it has nothing to do with blowing
any trumpets. I tell this story to encourage all those out there who
want to spread the word of God not to quit when they find themselves
persecuted. Being a Christian is not easy; it is one of the hardest
things you could think of doing in this world. Bringing other people
to Christ is harder still, and often made practically impossible by an
abundance of "enemies". These are, of course, the evil one and his
lackeys, but they have to use people to perpetrate their schemes.
You might think the people being used would come from outside the
Church, but most of them lie right within: small minded,
self-righteous and sanctimonious people who are more concerned with
guarding their turfs, or ensuring that "rules" are followed, rather
than being the people whom Christ asks them to be. Most people who
want to take Jesus to others give up in frustration or, more often,
leave the Church to start up splinter units, doing no real good other
than dividing the body of Christ further.
I tell them what Jesus told me: Don't give up! Don't give up what you
feel called to do, or the Church, because giving up plays right into
the hands of the enemy. Find yourself a good spiritual
advisor�preferably a priest�who can help you in discerning what is
right and what isn't, and steer you in the correct direction. Then put
your trust in the Good Shepherd who will lead you in paths of
righteousness. He will protect you as you travel through the valley of
death. And when the enemy launches his assaults on you�and he most
certainly will�Jesus will invite you to a banquet and prepare the
table just for you! And as your enemies watch in shock, unable to
understand why their schemes to take you down didn't work, he will
anoint your head with oil and bless you so abundantly, your cup will
overflow.
Surely, only goodness and mercy can then follow you for the rest of
your life.
May the Spirit be with you.
by Aneel Aranha (HSI)
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff�they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
One of the things I love about Scripture is the way it paints
pictures in bright, vibrant colors that are so vivid, I feel drawn
right into them. Psalm 23�which is nearly everybody's favorite
psalm�is an ideal example. The instant I start reading it, I find
myself transported into a meadow with lush green grass stretching out
as far as the eye can see. A clear blue lake shimmers on one side. On
the other side, a shepherd walks among his flock, staff in hand,
watching over them.
The sheep are safe, because they are under the care of a shepherd who
loves them enough to give his life for them. He won't run away when he
sees the wolf coming, like the hired hand would. The sheep need never
fear any danger�as long as they stay close to their master. But, as
wooly headed as they are wooly bodied, they keep straying close to the
gate, tempted by the lure of greener pastures on the other side of the
fence. It is only when they wander across and begin feeding do they
discover the grass is infested with snakes.
Sheep are, admittedly, foolish creatures and have no real concept of
the danger that awaits them. But we are surely wiser. Or are we? It
seems to me that we can be woollier headed than sheep. A lady once
came to me for advice. Married with two children, she found herself
attracted to another man. I spent the better part of a morning telling
her what she undoubtedly already knew she had to do, and how to do it.
She went away promising she would break off all contact with the man
and immerse herself in prayer. Two weeks later she called to say she
was deep into an affair and couldn't extricate herself from it. Or
wouldn't. "It is so beautiful," she simpered.
That's a good description of sin: beautiful. If it was ugly, we
wouldn't engage in it. But it's gorgeous to look at. It entices us,
like lush green grass entices the sheep to the other side of the
fence, and only once we embrace it do we see it's real face, with its
beady eyes protruding out of bloody sockets and its fetid breath. By
then it is too late; we are locked in its evil grip and it isn't long
before our lives begin resembling the aftermath of a bomb blast. The
woman's marriage is in shreds today�as is the man's�and strewn amidst
the wreckage are the lives of innocent children and countless other
casualties, all the result of two people who willfully chose the path
of destruction.
The same story, with minor variations in theme, is being repeated all
over the world. We're lured into hundreds of sins�all with the promise
that "it's so beautiful", and are then devastated by the pain and
anguish that sin always brings. What causes me the most sadness is
that it is so unnecessary. The pastures where the good shepherd�Jesus,
of course�has us lie down are far greener than anything that you will
find elsewhere. They are so satisfying and filling, it is positively
stupid to even look for, much less want to graze in, other pastures.
True, danger abounds here too, but nobody who stays close to the
shepherd has reason to be afraid. Though we "walk through the valley
of the shadow of death" we need fear no evil, because Jesus is with
us, protecting us. The level of protection is directly proportional to
the distance that we keep to him. The farther you move away from him,
the greater the risk you put yourself in. I have been hurt so badly as
a result of my recklessness in the past, I rarely move more than a
couple of feet away from him anymore. It puts me in a position of
immense strength and though the enemy does launch his assaults every
now and then, he ends up utterly humiliated. I have a few experiences
in this matter that you might take some encouragement from, so I
relate them here.
I formally launched Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI) on January 1, 2004.
A few months earlier, I invited a few friends to take a look at the
HSI web site, which was to be one of the pillars of the HSI ministry.
The invitation was a private one, mainly intended to get some feedback
on the site. One of the invitees picked up on what he believed to be
an anti-Mary slant in two of the pages on the site, although all those
pages contained were verses from Scripture, with both Catholic and
Protestant interpretations presented. He promptly spread the word that
the site wasn't kosher. I will never forget what followed.
Self-appointed guardians of the church�all lay people posturing as
leaders of the Catholic community�took it upon themselves to defend
what they thought was an onslaught against the Church, and came down
heavily on me.
Given the obsessive�often irrational�hatred many Catholics seem to
have for their Protestant brothers, the easiest way to destroy a
Catholic ministry is to call its founder Protestant and rumors to the
effect started flying. Never mind that I had acknowledged the vital
role that Mary had played in bringing me back to God, never mind that
I went for mass every morning, never mind that I was under spiritual
direction from a Catholic priest, never mind that I was out there
engaged in promoting, teaching and defending Catholicism: a few people
seemed determined to prove that I was Protestant in my beliefs and
went about doing so with a vehemence that was frightening to see.
Soon, thereafter, scurrilous rumors about my character began floating
about, along with questions about my motives in being a Christian.
There were some people who actually went about saying that I was
working under instructions from the evil one! This would have been
laughable had it not been for the fact that the people making these
claims were allegedly "anointed" people whom quite a few took seriously!
Gandhi once said that he loved Christianity but loathed Christians
because he found so little of Christ in them. I couldn't help finding
myself in agreement, and for the second time in my life, I didn't want
to have anything to do with Christians or Christianity anymore! I
wanted to return to my old life and the people I knew. They were an
unholy lot, for sure, but at least they didn't pretend to be anything
else. It was then that Jesus spoke to me through Psalm 23. "Don't
quit," he said. "Stick with me and I promise you that I will set a
banquet before you in the presence of your enemies."
I nearly quit anyway, but in the end sheer bullheadedness made me hang
on. I am so glad that I did. HSI took off like a space shuttle leaving
the ground at Cape Canaveral. It gained almost immediate acceptance in
Catholic circles, with priests advising parishioners from pulpits
across the world to visit the site. Praise poured in from the clergy,
including Bishops and even the occasional Cardinal. Some very anointed
Catholic writers, most associated with powerful ministries, began
contributing material. And to cap it all, the Vicariate adopted it as
its own. The "enemies" could only watch in stunned silence as Jesus
kept his promise, serving up meal after meal after meal right before
their very eyes!
HSI completed a year on December 2005, and as I thanked God for making
it far more successful than even I had ever dreamed in just twelve
months, he made another promise. "That was only for starters," he
said. "The main course is yet to come!" It is being served even as I
write this. HSI now has an Outreach Program, which uses music, drama
and dance to reach out to people. An ongoing Discipleship Program is
bringing countless Christians closer to God and one another. A Global
Intercessory Prayer Circle has hundreds of people from all over the
world putting differences aside and uniting in prayer. And much else
is happening that is truly wonderful.
I tell this story for a reason, and it has nothing to do with blowing
any trumpets. I tell this story to encourage all those out there who
want to spread the word of God not to quit when they find themselves
persecuted. Being a Christian is not easy; it is one of the hardest
things you could think of doing in this world. Bringing other people
to Christ is harder still, and often made practically impossible by an
abundance of "enemies". These are, of course, the evil one and his
lackeys, but they have to use people to perpetrate their schemes.
You might think the people being used would come from outside the
Church, but most of them lie right within: small minded,
self-righteous and sanctimonious people who are more concerned with
guarding their turfs, or ensuring that "rules" are followed, rather
than being the people whom Christ asks them to be. Most people who
want to take Jesus to others give up in frustration or, more often,
leave the Church to start up splinter units, doing no real good other
than dividing the body of Christ further.
I tell them what Jesus told me: Don't give up! Don't give up what you
feel called to do, or the Church, because giving up plays right into
the hands of the enemy. Find yourself a good spiritual
advisor�preferably a priest�who can help you in discerning what is
right and what isn't, and steer you in the correct direction. Then put
your trust in the Good Shepherd who will lead you in paths of
righteousness. He will protect you as you travel through the valley of
death. And when the enemy launches his assaults on you�and he most
certainly will�Jesus will invite you to a banquet and prepare the
table just for you! And as your enemies watch in shock, unable to
understand why their schemes to take you down didn't work, he will
anoint your head with oil and bless you so abundantly, your cup will
overflow.
Surely, only goodness and mercy can then follow you for the rest of
your life.
May the Spirit be with you.
Self-mastery
Self-mastery
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Inquirer
Last updated 10:54pm (Mla time) 09/22/2006
WE have to be more aware of this need of ours. While we normally like
to be spontaneous in our behavior, we sooner or later realize that
spontaneity alone, without self-mastery, can be dangerous. That would
be like energy without direction.
You see, we are a very complex creature, with many layers of awareness
and tendencies, with conflicting forces and competing impulses, due to
the many different parts, aspects and stages of our life.
We are at once body and soul, material and spiritual, individual and
social, private and public, local and global, in time and outside of
it, etc. Each aspect has its peculiar properties that need to be
integrated with those of the other aspects.
We are subject to different times and places, historical and cultural
conditionings that certainly exert some influences on us, often in
very subtle but effective ways.
Besides, our Christian faith teaches us about our sinful origin and
wounded nature that would make our life more complicated and exciting,
and our need to integrate things properly more challenging.
"Breaking the relation of communion with God causes a rupture in the
internal unity of the human person, in the relations of communion
between man and woman and of the harmonious relations between mankind
and other creatures," (29) the Compendium of the Church's Social
Doctrine explains.
If there's no conscious and well-thought-out effort at self-mastery,
we'll soon find out we are terribly lost, we can unwittingly harm
ourselves and others. We'll be adrift in some ocean not knowing where
we would be heading. We'd be ill-prepared to face our increasingly
complex world.
There are different forces, both inside and outside us, that tend to
dominate us in their own selfish terms without due regard to what is
truly good to us, according to an objective truth about man or to any
reference to the common good.
What worsens this is the modern attitude that denies there's such
thing as an objective truth about man. The truth about man, they say,
will always be changing and shifting. Nothing can be held absolute and
permanent. And so what our Christian faith tells us about ourselves is
thrown out of the window.
Thus, our mind can go one way, while the heart can go the other. Our
speech can just be some mindless chatter, rid of balance and
direction. Bad manners, instead of refinement and delicacy, prevail.
There is chaos instead of peace and order.
Sometimes, our appearance has nothing to do with what is inside us.
Hypocrisy and deception get systematically cultivated, undermining our
integrity. And these discrepancies and anomalies can go on endlessly.
Then you have the hormones and the urges that can just pop up anytime,
urgently needing discipline. The young ones are most vulnerable to
these, often leading them to obsessions and addictions, to harmful
practices and vices.
If we consider our environment just a little, we'll realize we are
constantly teased and titillated, often arousing the body while
killing the spirit. We easily become victims of the so-called freedom
of expression or artistic rights that often go their own selfish and
shallow ways.
This explains why we have to struggle against laziness, complacency,
disorder, proneness to discouragement, imprudence. There's also the
propensity to lack focus and determination in our activities, to be
dominated by changing moods.
We should not be surprised therefore that given this state of affairs,
we often find ourselves in some quarrels, both small and big, from
petty feuds with neighbors to devastating wars between countries.
We have to understand that underlying the big conflicts we have, for
example, in politics is this often ignored problem in the personal
level where self-mastery is missing.
There has to be a continuing awareness of this need, starting in the
personal level and always reinforced by the family, community, the
Church, schools, etc. Plans and strategies to attain or improve in it
should be initiated and pursued.
We need to foster greater self-knowledge among ourselves. Networks of
helping others cope with their personal difficulties should be put in
place. If we put our mind and heart into this, we will realize this
ideal is quite feasible. It's not quixotic.
Together with the appropriate human means, the spiritual and
supernatural means should never be neglected. These are prayer,
sacrifices, sacraments, ascetical struggle, doctrinal formation,
spiritual direction, etc. These are indispensable.
ciao
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Inquirer
Last updated 10:54pm (Mla time) 09/22/2006
WE have to be more aware of this need of ours. While we normally like
to be spontaneous in our behavior, we sooner or later realize that
spontaneity alone, without self-mastery, can be dangerous. That would
be like energy without direction.
You see, we are a very complex creature, with many layers of awareness
and tendencies, with conflicting forces and competing impulses, due to
the many different parts, aspects and stages of our life.
We are at once body and soul, material and spiritual, individual and
social, private and public, local and global, in time and outside of
it, etc. Each aspect has its peculiar properties that need to be
integrated with those of the other aspects.
We are subject to different times and places, historical and cultural
conditionings that certainly exert some influences on us, often in
very subtle but effective ways.
Besides, our Christian faith teaches us about our sinful origin and
wounded nature that would make our life more complicated and exciting,
and our need to integrate things properly more challenging.
"Breaking the relation of communion with God causes a rupture in the
internal unity of the human person, in the relations of communion
between man and woman and of the harmonious relations between mankind
and other creatures," (29) the Compendium of the Church's Social
Doctrine explains.
If there's no conscious and well-thought-out effort at self-mastery,
we'll soon find out we are terribly lost, we can unwittingly harm
ourselves and others. We'll be adrift in some ocean not knowing where
we would be heading. We'd be ill-prepared to face our increasingly
complex world.
There are different forces, both inside and outside us, that tend to
dominate us in their own selfish terms without due regard to what is
truly good to us, according to an objective truth about man or to any
reference to the common good.
What worsens this is the modern attitude that denies there's such
thing as an objective truth about man. The truth about man, they say,
will always be changing and shifting. Nothing can be held absolute and
permanent. And so what our Christian faith tells us about ourselves is
thrown out of the window.
Thus, our mind can go one way, while the heart can go the other. Our
speech can just be some mindless chatter, rid of balance and
direction. Bad manners, instead of refinement and delicacy, prevail.
There is chaos instead of peace and order.
Sometimes, our appearance has nothing to do with what is inside us.
Hypocrisy and deception get systematically cultivated, undermining our
integrity. And these discrepancies and anomalies can go on endlessly.
Then you have the hormones and the urges that can just pop up anytime,
urgently needing discipline. The young ones are most vulnerable to
these, often leading them to obsessions and addictions, to harmful
practices and vices.
If we consider our environment just a little, we'll realize we are
constantly teased and titillated, often arousing the body while
killing the spirit. We easily become victims of the so-called freedom
of expression or artistic rights that often go their own selfish and
shallow ways.
This explains why we have to struggle against laziness, complacency,
disorder, proneness to discouragement, imprudence. There's also the
propensity to lack focus and determination in our activities, to be
dominated by changing moods.
We should not be surprised therefore that given this state of affairs,
we often find ourselves in some quarrels, both small and big, from
petty feuds with neighbors to devastating wars between countries.
We have to understand that underlying the big conflicts we have, for
example, in politics is this often ignored problem in the personal
level where self-mastery is missing.
There has to be a continuing awareness of this need, starting in the
personal level and always reinforced by the family, community, the
Church, schools, etc. Plans and strategies to attain or improve in it
should be initiated and pursued.
We need to foster greater self-knowledge among ourselves. Networks of
helping others cope with their personal difficulties should be put in
place. If we put our mind and heart into this, we will realize this
ideal is quite feasible. It's not quixotic.
Together with the appropriate human means, the spiritual and
supernatural means should never be neglected. These are prayer,
sacrifices, sacraments, ascetical struggle, doctrinal formation,
spiritual direction, etc. These are indispensable.
ciao
the Word becomes crying.
the Word becomes crying.
We have to look at the point to which it is leading us:
to a naked infant in a crib.
a being who is helpless,
"flesh" we are to understand weakness,
finiteness, mortal createdness.
Here is the scandal of the Christian faith.
A scandal that is not restricted to Christ's birth,
nor even to his earthly existence,
but continues in his way of being present today.
And so God is linked to a process of becoming.
Who is this God who get involved in the history of human beings,
with its density and even its darkness?
"What child is this?"
a virgin birth?
if Mary goes home to Mom and Dad and says, `Well, I've got good news
and bad news. Here's the good news. The good news I'm going to be the
mother of the Messiah. The bad news is, I'm already pregnant. But, not
to worry. I'm pregnant by means of the Holy Spirit.' And, you know, if
I'm a normal parent I'm going, `Uh-huh'. And where was Joseph when all
this was happening?' ...there's a scandalous element to the story?
ok ...let's find the mystery.
do i look athiest?
:)
We have to look at the point to which it is leading us:
to a naked infant in a crib.
a being who is helpless,
"flesh" we are to understand weakness,
finiteness, mortal createdness.
Here is the scandal of the Christian faith.
A scandal that is not restricted to Christ's birth,
nor even to his earthly existence,
but continues in his way of being present today.
And so God is linked to a process of becoming.
Who is this God who get involved in the history of human beings,
with its density and even its darkness?
"What child is this?"
a virgin birth?
if Mary goes home to Mom and Dad and says, `Well, I've got good news
and bad news. Here's the good news. The good news I'm going to be the
mother of the Messiah. The bad news is, I'm already pregnant. But, not
to worry. I'm pregnant by means of the Holy Spirit.' And, you know, if
I'm a normal parent I'm going, `Uh-huh'. And where was Joseph when all
this was happening?' ...there's a scandalous element to the story?
ok ...let's find the mystery.
do i look athiest?
:)
faith & reason
Muslim leaders accept Pope's invitation to dialogue
(by CWNews)
Oct. 16 (CWNews.com) - In an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI (bio -
news), a group of 38 Muslim religious leaders have taken up the
Pontiff's invitation to a serious dialogue between Christianity and
Islam.
In their 4-page message, the Islamic scholars offer a detailed
response to the Pope's lecture at the University of Regensburg. They
write:
While we applaud your efforts to oppose the dominance of positivism
and materialism in human life, we must point out some errors in the
way you mentioned Islam as a counterpoint to the proper use of
reason, as well as some mistakes in the assertions you put forward
in support of your argument.
The open letter is signed by representatives of every major branch
of Islam, including the grand muftis of Egypt, Russia. Bosnia,
Croatia, Kosovo, Oman, and Uzbekistan; the Iraqi Ayatollah Mohammed
al Tashiri; Prince Ghzi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan; and
authorities from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia,
Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Morocco. Their message was decribed by
FAther Justo Lacunza, the former rector of the Vatican's Islamic
institute, as a gesture "of great importance" to inter-faith
dialogue.
The full text of the Islamic leaders' letter has been reproduced on
the American Islamica web site, through which the message first
appeared.
The letter respectfully cites what the authors see as errors or
oversimplications in the Pope's treatment of Islam during the
Regensburg speech. The authors argue, for example, that the teaching
in the Qu'ran that "there is no compulsion in religion" is intended
to restrain Muslim leaders from any attempt to force conversion.
They say that the term "holy war" is foreign to traditional Islamic
languages, and the term jihad is properly used only to refer to the
believer's struggle to be faithful. Rejecting any use of violence in
the name of religion, the Islamic scholars cite their belief that
Allah is all-merciful and all-compassionate; they ask
rhetorically: "Is it not self-evident that spilling innocent blood
goes against mercy and compassion?"
The open letter assures Pope Benedict that Islamic thought does not
see a conflict between faith and reason. The text says:
There are two extremes which the Islamic intellectual tradition has
generally managed to avoid: one is to make the analytical mind the
ultimate arbiter of truth, and the other is to deny the power of
human understanding to address ultimate questions.
Welcoming the Pope's clarifications of his Regensburg speech, the 38
Islamic leaders express their own desire for a "frank and sincere
dialogue." They say: "We hope that we will all avoid the mistakes of
the past and live together in the future in peace, mutual acceptance
and respect."
"Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions
in the world and in history," the letter notes. "Together they make
up more than ??% of the world's population, making the relationship
between these two religious communities the most important factor in
contributing to meaningful peace around the world."
COMMENTS:
Posted by: Tominellay - Oct. 19, 2006 4:18 PM ET USA
The comments of saufun are exactly correct. I see the decline of
Islam from this watershed moment.
Posted by: saufun - Oct. 19, 2006 12:09 PM ET USA
Pope Benedict, like all great teachers, has succeeded (at great
personal sacrifice, probably) in stimulating his listeners (in this
case, the world) to reason and reflect. This response by the Moslem
moderates is among the first fruits. Post-Regensburg I have been
astounded by all manners of journalists, politicians and bishops
(yes, bishops too) using the words "faith and reason".
Posted by: normnuke - Oct. 18, 2006 9:04 PM ET USA
Once again we CWNers have news that the MSM folks look the other way
over. In today's newspaper I saw yet another story about how Muslims
worldwide are still furious over the Regensburg address.
BTW, will this one day be as famous as the Gettysburg address?
Posted by: saufun - Oct. 18, 2006 10:54 AM ET USA
I think this was a hard won opening. Even my very secular friends
acknowledge that since the Regensberg speech, public discussion of
Islam is freer and more courageous, and moderate Moslems are daring
to speak openly (having criticized the Pope first, of course- and
that is probably understandable from a pragmatic point of view). Way
to go, Pope.
Posted by: surewish - Oct. 17, 2006 7:10 PM ET USA
Before waxing too optimistic, consider the situation of Christians,
and the Orthodox Patriarch, in Turkey. It is a nightmare. And this
is a "tolerant" Islamic society. The military is the only bar to
Sharia justice and 85% of the people want an Islamic rpuublic. Seems
to me, the Pope is trying to begin by establishing a common lexicon.
Posted by: Cupertino - Oct. 17, 2006 11:20 AM ET USA
This is a grace filled moment. Certainly there are two views in
Islam and one of them proclaims that violence and conversion by the
sword are called for. But these men who want to dialogue with our
gentle Pope think otherwise and may very well speak for the vast
majority in Islam. We should pray that talks begin soon and are
continuous. It is the only hope, really, now that extreme Islamists
will soon have nuclear weapons.
Posted by: CJ - Oct. 17, 2006 11:07 AM ET USA
I agree with Truth over Sentiment - Good news indeed! The response
from the Grand Muftis is encouraging. I have always found it
possible to acknowledge and share the commonalities of belief and
reverence that Catholics and Muslims share, (love of the same God,
for one thing) whilst in no way feeling the need to hide or minimise
anything of our own faith. I am sure my Muslim friends feel the
same. God is with all those who seek Him sincerely.
Posted by: TRUTH over SENTIMENT - Oct. 16, 2006 7:49 PM ET USA
This is very good news. It is clear now why the Holy Father said
what he did and how he said it. Makes one wonder if these Imans knew
what he was to say.
These 38 Imams obviously teach Islam in a different tone than do the
radicals that get all the press. If this dialog does go on, it could
put a wedge between moderate and radical Islam at a time when the
world needs it most. Look for the Ayatollahs in Iraq to disown these
38 men.
Posted by: trinnie - Oct. 16, 2006 6:36 PM ET USA
The full text of the Muslim leaders puts the best interpretation on
texts in the Koran dealing with violence against non-Muslims and on
conversion, but there are many other Koranic texts that do not
favour this 'peaceful' view. Still, this document is of sensational
importance, in the way it condemns violence now (although Islam did
spread across the Middle East and North Africa by sheer aggression,
not in self-defence). Muslim suicide bombers can never claim that
their acts are justified.
(by CWNews)
Oct. 16 (CWNews.com) - In an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI (bio -
news), a group of 38 Muslim religious leaders have taken up the
Pontiff's invitation to a serious dialogue between Christianity and
Islam.
In their 4-page message, the Islamic scholars offer a detailed
response to the Pope's lecture at the University of Regensburg. They
write:
While we applaud your efforts to oppose the dominance of positivism
and materialism in human life, we must point out some errors in the
way you mentioned Islam as a counterpoint to the proper use of
reason, as well as some mistakes in the assertions you put forward
in support of your argument.
The open letter is signed by representatives of every major branch
of Islam, including the grand muftis of Egypt, Russia. Bosnia,
Croatia, Kosovo, Oman, and Uzbekistan; the Iraqi Ayatollah Mohammed
al Tashiri; Prince Ghzi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan; and
authorities from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia,
Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Morocco. Their message was decribed by
FAther Justo Lacunza, the former rector of the Vatican's Islamic
institute, as a gesture "of great importance" to inter-faith
dialogue.
The full text of the Islamic leaders' letter has been reproduced on
the American Islamica web site, through which the message first
appeared.
The letter respectfully cites what the authors see as errors or
oversimplications in the Pope's treatment of Islam during the
Regensburg speech. The authors argue, for example, that the teaching
in the Qu'ran that "there is no compulsion in religion" is intended
to restrain Muslim leaders from any attempt to force conversion.
They say that the term "holy war" is foreign to traditional Islamic
languages, and the term jihad is properly used only to refer to the
believer's struggle to be faithful. Rejecting any use of violence in
the name of religion, the Islamic scholars cite their belief that
Allah is all-merciful and all-compassionate; they ask
rhetorically: "Is it not self-evident that spilling innocent blood
goes against mercy and compassion?"
The open letter assures Pope Benedict that Islamic thought does not
see a conflict between faith and reason. The text says:
There are two extremes which the Islamic intellectual tradition has
generally managed to avoid: one is to make the analytical mind the
ultimate arbiter of truth, and the other is to deny the power of
human understanding to address ultimate questions.
Welcoming the Pope's clarifications of his Regensburg speech, the 38
Islamic leaders express their own desire for a "frank and sincere
dialogue." They say: "We hope that we will all avoid the mistakes of
the past and live together in the future in peace, mutual acceptance
and respect."
"Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions
in the world and in history," the letter notes. "Together they make
up more than ??% of the world's population, making the relationship
between these two religious communities the most important factor in
contributing to meaningful peace around the world."
COMMENTS:
Posted by: Tominellay - Oct. 19, 2006 4:18 PM ET USA
The comments of saufun are exactly correct. I see the decline of
Islam from this watershed moment.
Posted by: saufun - Oct. 19, 2006 12:09 PM ET USA
Pope Benedict, like all great teachers, has succeeded (at great
personal sacrifice, probably) in stimulating his listeners (in this
case, the world) to reason and reflect. This response by the Moslem
moderates is among the first fruits. Post-Regensburg I have been
astounded by all manners of journalists, politicians and bishops
(yes, bishops too) using the words "faith and reason".
Posted by: normnuke - Oct. 18, 2006 9:04 PM ET USA
Once again we CWNers have news that the MSM folks look the other way
over. In today's newspaper I saw yet another story about how Muslims
worldwide are still furious over the Regensburg address.
BTW, will this one day be as famous as the Gettysburg address?
Posted by: saufun - Oct. 18, 2006 10:54 AM ET USA
I think this was a hard won opening. Even my very secular friends
acknowledge that since the Regensberg speech, public discussion of
Islam is freer and more courageous, and moderate Moslems are daring
to speak openly (having criticized the Pope first, of course- and
that is probably understandable from a pragmatic point of view). Way
to go, Pope.
Posted by: surewish - Oct. 17, 2006 7:10 PM ET USA
Before waxing too optimistic, consider the situation of Christians,
and the Orthodox Patriarch, in Turkey. It is a nightmare. And this
is a "tolerant" Islamic society. The military is the only bar to
Sharia justice and 85% of the people want an Islamic rpuublic. Seems
to me, the Pope is trying to begin by establishing a common lexicon.
Posted by: Cupertino - Oct. 17, 2006 11:20 AM ET USA
This is a grace filled moment. Certainly there are two views in
Islam and one of them proclaims that violence and conversion by the
sword are called for. But these men who want to dialogue with our
gentle Pope think otherwise and may very well speak for the vast
majority in Islam. We should pray that talks begin soon and are
continuous. It is the only hope, really, now that extreme Islamists
will soon have nuclear weapons.
Posted by: CJ - Oct. 17, 2006 11:07 AM ET USA
I agree with Truth over Sentiment - Good news indeed! The response
from the Grand Muftis is encouraging. I have always found it
possible to acknowledge and share the commonalities of belief and
reverence that Catholics and Muslims share, (love of the same God,
for one thing) whilst in no way feeling the need to hide or minimise
anything of our own faith. I am sure my Muslim friends feel the
same. God is with all those who seek Him sincerely.
Posted by: TRUTH over SENTIMENT - Oct. 16, 2006 7:49 PM ET USA
This is very good news. It is clear now why the Holy Father said
what he did and how he said it. Makes one wonder if these Imans knew
what he was to say.
These 38 Imams obviously teach Islam in a different tone than do the
radicals that get all the press. If this dialog does go on, it could
put a wedge between moderate and radical Islam at a time when the
world needs it most. Look for the Ayatollahs in Iraq to disown these
38 men.
Posted by: trinnie - Oct. 16, 2006 6:36 PM ET USA
The full text of the Muslim leaders puts the best interpretation on
texts in the Koran dealing with violence against non-Muslims and on
conversion, but there are many other Koranic texts that do not
favour this 'peaceful' view. Still, this document is of sensational
importance, in the way it condemns violence now (although Islam did
spread across the Middle East and North Africa by sheer aggression,
not in self-defence). Muslim suicide bombers can never claim that
their acts are justified.
The Martyr's Cup... Eucharist.
The Martyr's Cup... Eucharist.
by Mike Aquilina
In July of A.D. 64, during the tenth year of Nero's reign, a great
fire consumed much of the city of Rome. The fire raged out of control
for seven days�and then it started again, mysteriously, a day later.
Many in Rome knew that Nero had been eager to do some urban
redevelopment. He had a plan that included an opulent golden palace
for himself. The problem was that so many buildings were standing in
his way�many of them teeming wooden tenements housing Rome's poor and
working class.
Convenient Fire
The fire seemed too convenient for Nero's purposes�and his delight in
watching the blaze didn't relieve anybody's suspicions. If he didn't
exactly fiddle while Rome burned, he at least recited his poems. Nero
needed a scapegoat, and an upstart religious cult, Jewish in origin
and with foreign associations, served his purposes well. Nero, who was
a perverse expert at human torment, had some of its members tortured
till they were so mad they would confess to any crime. Once they had
confessed, he had others arrested.
He must have known, however, that the charges would not hold up. So he
condemned them not for arson, or treason, or conspiracy, but for
"hatred of humanity."
To amuse the people, he arranged for their execution to be a
spectacle, entertainment on a grand scale. The Roman historian Tacitus
(who had contempt for the religion, but greater contempt for Nero)
describes in gruesome detail the tortures that took place amid a party
in Nero's gardens.
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the
skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed
to crosses, or were doomed to the flames. These served to illuminate
the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open the gardens for
the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he
mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or drove about in
a chariot. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and
exemplary punishment there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was
not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty,
that they were being punished.
That is all we know about the first Roman martyrs. We know none of
their names. Tacitus doesn't tell us why they were willing to die this
way rather than renounce their faith. Yet this should be an important
question for us to consider. Why did the martyrs do this? What
prepared them to face death so bravely? To what exactly did they bear
witness with their death?
Let us begin with the witness we know best and ask ourselves: How can
we spot a Christian today? What are the unmistakable signs that tell
us we're with a fellow believer?
Christian Signs
In the first generation of the Church, there were several unmistakable
signs. St. Luke tells us that the first Christians, one and all,
"devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the
communion (koinonia), to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers"
(Acts 2:42). The teaching of the apostles, the communion, the breaking
of the bread, and the prayers.
This is a precious snapshot, because we do not know as much about
those first Christians as we would like to know. They were a small
group, not especially wealthy, without social or political status, and
often operating underground. What's more, over the next 275 years,
imperial and local governments tried fairly regularly to wipe out all
traces of Christianity�destroying not only the Christians' bodies, but
their books and their possessions as well. So what we have left are
the handful of documents that survived�mostly sermons, letters, and
liturgies�as well as a few other scraps of parchment or painted wood,
and the shards of pottery that the desert sands have preserved for us.
Yet what we see in those surviving documents and what we find in the
archeological digs confirm all that we learn in the Acts of the
Apostles, especially in one small detail: The first Christians
"devoted themselves to the apostolic teaching, to the communion, and
to the breaking of the bread and the prayers." One phrase
especially�the breaking of the bread�recurs in many of the scraps we
have from those first centuries, and it always refers to the
Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord's Supper.
Our first Christian ancestors devoted themselves to the Eucharist, and
that is perhaps the most important way they showed themselves to be
Christians. No Christian practice is so well attested from those early
years. No doctrine is so systematically worked out as the doctrine of
the Eucharist.
It was when they gathered for the Eucharist that all this�their common
life, their charity, their fidelity to the teaching of the
apostles�happened most clearly, directly, intensely. They experienced
fellowship with each other and together heard the apostles' teaching,
and they broke the bread in the accustomed way, as they said the
customary prayers.
So it was in the newborn Church. The Church took its identity from its
unity in belief and charity, which was sustained by the Eucharist.
A Eucharist Everywhere
Christianity spread rapidly through the Roman Empire. One modern
sociologist estimates that, in the centuries that concern us here, the
Church grew at a rate of forty percent per decade. By the middle of
the fourth century, there were 33 million Christians in an empire of
60 million people.
That meant that the Eucharist was celebrated everywhere. And the fact
that it was celebrated everywhere was itself a favorite theme of the
earliest church fathers. Justin the Martyr commented in the Dialogue
with Trypho that, by the year 150, "There is not one single race of
men . . . among whom prayers and Eucharist are not offered through the
name of the crucified Jesus."
The ancient Fathers commonly applied the Old Testament prophecy of
Malachi to the liturgy: "from the rising of the sun to its setting my
name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered
to my name, and a pure offering." Those lines found their way into
many Eucharistic prayers, where they remain even to this day. (They
appear, for example, in the third Eucharistic prayer in the Roman
Missal: "so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to
the glory of your name.")
As the Church moved outward from Jerusalem, this is what believers
did. They offered the Eucharist. The early histories tell us that the
first thing the Apostle Jude did when he established the Church in the
city of Edessa was to ordain priests and to teach them to celebrate
the Eucharist.
This is what the early Church was about. Everything that was good in
Christian life flowed naturally and supernaturally from that one great
Eucharistic reality: from the Christians' sacramental experience of
fellowship and communion, of the teaching of the apostles, of the
breaking of the bread, and of the prayers.
Real Martyrdom
But there was another dominant reality in the ancient Church. It is
something that appears just as often in the archeological record and
in the paper trail of the early Christians. That something is
martyrdom. Persecution.
Martyrdom occupied the attention of the first Christians because it
was always a real possibility. Shortly after Christianity arrived in
the city of Rome, the emperor Nero discovered that Christians could
provide an almost unlimited supply of victims for his circus
spectacles. The emperors needed to keep the people amused, and one way
to do so was by giving them spectacularly violent and bloody
entertainments.
The Christians' morality made them none too popular with their
neighbors anyway, so the citizens were more than willing to cheer as
the Christians were doused with pitch and set on fire, or sent into
the ring to battle hungry wild animals or armed gladiators. It was all
in a day's fun in ancient Rome. Over time, Nero's perverted whims
settled into laws and legal precedents, as later emperors issued
further rulings on the Christian problem. Outside the law, mob
violence against Christians was fairly common and rarely punished.
The Christians applied a certain term to their co-religionists who
were made victims of persecution. They called them "martyrs"�which
means, literally, witnesses in a court of law. And to the martyrs they
accorded a reverence matched only by their reverence for the Eucharist.
In fact, the early Christians used the same language to describe
martyrdom as they used to describe the Eucharist. We see this in the
New Testament Book of Revelation, when John describes his vision of
heaven. There, he saw "under the altar the souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne." There,
under the altar of sacrifice, were the martyrs, the witnesses.
That image brings it all together. For, in those first generations of
the Church, the most common phrase used to describe the Eucharist was
"the sacrifice." Both the Didache and St. Ignatius refer to it as "the
sacrifice." And yet martyrdom, too, was the sacrifice.
God's Wheat Ground
And so, in A.D. 107, when Ignatius described his own impending
execution, he imagined it in Eucharistic terms. He said he was like
the wine at the offertory. He wrote to the Romans: "Grant me nothing
more than that I be poured out to God, while an altar is still ready."
Later in the same letter he wrote: "Let me be food for the wild
beasts, through whom I can reach God. I am God's wheat, ground fine by
the lion's teeth to be made purest bread for Christ." Ignatius is
bread, and he is wine; his martyrdom is a sacrifice. It is, in a
sense, a eucharist.
Ignatius's good friend Polycarp also died a martyr's death. Polycarp
was bishop of Smyrna, and had been converted by the Apostle John
himself. His secretary described the bishop's martyrdom, once again,
as a kind of eucharist. Polycarp's final words are a long prayer of
thanksgiving that echoes the great eucharistic prayers of the ancient
world and today. It includes an invocation of the Holy Spirit, a
doxology of the Trinity, and a great Amen at the end.
When the flames reached the body of the old bishop, his secretary
tells us that the pyre gave off not the odor of burning flesh but the
aroma of baking bread. In yet another martyrdom, then, we find a pure
offering of bread�a eucharist.
The Eucharistic images in Ignatius and Polycarp echo again in the
future writings and histories of the martyrs. Even in the court
transcripts, presumably taken down by pagan Romans, the Christians
reply to the charges against them with lines from the liturgy. They
lift up their hearts. And when they are sentenced, they say Deo
gratias�thanks be to God.
The story of the martyr Pionius proceeds in the words, verbatim, of
the eucharistic prayer: "and looking up to heaven he gave thanks to
God." The Greek word for "thanks" there is eucharistesas. So we might
read it as, "Looking up to heaven, he offered the Eucharist to God,"
even as the flames consumed him. In a similar way, the priest Irenaeus
cried out, in the midst of torture, "With my endurance I am even now
offering sacrifice to my God to whom I have always offered sacrifice."
So pervasive is this eucharistic language in the early Church's
account of martyrdom that one of the great scholars of Christian
antiquity, Robin Darling Young of Notre Dame, has spoken of the
ancient Church having two liturgies: the private liturgy of the
Eucharist and the public liturgy of martyrdom.
Loving Eucharist
But what is it about martyrdom that makes it like the Eucharist? Well,
what has Jesus done in the Eucharist? He has given himself to us, and
he has held nothing back. He gives us his body, blood, soul, and
divinity. He gives himself to us as food. And that is love: the total
gift of self. That is the very love the martyrs wanted to emulate.
Jesus had given himself entirely for them. They wanted to give
themselves entirely for him�everything they had, holding nothing back.
If Jesus would become bread for them, they would allow the lions to
make them finest wheat for Jesus.
So: Martyrdom was a total gift of self. The Eucharist was a total gift
of self. In the Eucharist, Jesus gave himself to us. In martyrdom, we
give ourselves back to him.
But there's a problem here. Very few of the ancient Christians died
for the faith. What about the rest? What was their gift? How did they
live the Eucharist?
Not long after Christianity was legalized by Constantine, St. Jerome
noted that some believers were already growing nostalgic for the good
old days of the martyrs. But Jerome stopped such fantasies in their
tracks. He told his congregation, "Let's not think that there is
martyrdom only in the shedding of blood. There is always martyrdom."
There is always martyrdom. For most of the early Christians, the
martyrdom came not with lions or fire or the rack or the sword. It
came not at the hands of a mob or a gladiator. For most of the early
Christians, "martyrdom" consisted in a daily dying to self in
imitation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus told them: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
. . . daily." So the Christians denied themselves, in imitation of
Jesus. What did this mean, in practical terms? It meant that they
would never eat lavishly as long as others were going hungry. They
would never keep an opulent wardrobe while others dressed in rags.
They would never hold back their testimony to the faith as long as any
of their neighbors were living in sin or in ignorance of the love of
Jesus Christ.
Whatever they had, these Christians gave. They gave of themselves�just
as the martyrs gave themselves in the arena�just as Jesus Christ gave
himself on the Cross�and just as Jesus Christ gave himself in the
Eucharist.
In Christ, these Christians had come into a Holy Communion. In
baptism, they were baptized into his death, into Christ's own
martyrdom. In the Eucharist, they became one with him, in the deepest,
and closest, and most intimate bond possible. They were closer to
Jesus than they were to their best friends, closer to him than they
were to their spouses. They were closer to Jesus than they were to
their own parents or their own children. He himself had promised them
that they would live in him, and he would live in them.
This was, and is, the deepest truth of the faith. In Jesus Christ, we
live as sons and daughters of the eternal Father�we share his own
divine life. In Jesus Christ, we can call God our Father because God
is eternally his Father. In the New Testament, St. Peter puts our Holy
Communion in the most powerful terms: We have become partakers of the
divine nature.
The Life the Martyrs Knew
And what is that nature? How does God live in eternity? What is the
Trinity for us, besides a theological abstraction and a mathematical
enigma?
John said it all: God is Love. God is self-giving, life-giving love.
From all eternity, God the Father pours himself out in love for the
Son. He holds nothing back. The Son returns that love to the Father
with everything he has. He holds nothing back. And (as the Western
tradition has understood it) the love that they share is the Holy Spirit.
This is the life the martyrs knew even at the moment of their death�
especially at the moment of their death. But they themselves had been
caught up into that life so long before and so many times. They
themselves had been caught up into the life-giving love of Jesus
Christ�the life-giving love of the Blessed Trinity�whenever they had
gone to the Eucharist. Whenever they had received Holy Communion.
Whenever they had joined with their brothers and sisters for the
teaching of the apostles and the communion, the breaking of the bread
and the prayers.
Jesus gave himself entirely to them, and they gave themselves in
return. At every Eucharist, he gives himself entirely to us, and we
give ourselves entirely in return. We say Amen�So be it!�I accept. And
when we do that, we consent to the communion.
We need to know what we're doing when we say "Amen." The life of
Christ is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling that everything (including
me) is okay and everything (no matter what I do) will work out fine.
It's accepting his cross. It's accepting our martyrdom. And in the
words of Garrison Keillor: If you don't want to go to Minneapolis,
what are you doing on the train?
There is always martyrdom. St. Paul had signaled this in his Letter to
the Romans, where he wrote: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Surely Paul's
words reached many future martyrs in Rome, where he himself would one
day die by beheading.
But his words reached many others as well, men and women whose
sacrifice would be something quiet and hidden and noticed only by God.
It is the same St. Paul who referred to our bodies as "temples of the
Holy Spirit." Let's not ever forget that, in the ancient world,
temples were not mere shrines; they were places of sacrifice.
And so are we. Our bodies are places of sacrifice, and our lives are
the offering on the altar. We ourselves are the Eucharist in motion.
The Look of Love
Our everyday life should be a voluntary sacrifice, voluntary
self-giving, voluntary martyrdom. Listen to the traditional language
about penance and reparation, mortification, fasting, pilgrimage, and
almsgiving. It's all about self-possession, self-denial, self-mastery.
And all that is great. It is good to be disciplined, and self-denial
is a means to achieving discipline. But discipline, too, is a means
and not an end in itself. Why do we want to possess ourselves?
Jesus shows us why. We possess ourselves in order to give ourselves
away�just like Jesus, just like the martyrs. Only then can we become
truly ourselves. For we are made in God's image, and God is
life-giving love, whose human life was a self-giving sacrifice. The
Eucharist is that sacrifice, and all our lives must be placed upon the
altar, all our lives must be taken up into the Eucharist.
Remember the question I asked earlier: How can we spot a Christian
today? The same way we could have spotted them on the streets of
first-century Rome: by their Eucharistic lives. When we give ourselves
without holding back, we are living like the early Christians. We are
living like the martyrs. We are living like the Most Blessed Trinity
in heaven.
St. Irenaeus put it well, around the year A.D. 190: "Our way of
thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn
confirms our way of thinking."
What does it look like in the day-to-day? It looks like a mother
staying up all night with a sick child�or a grandmother up late with
the child so that her daughter can get some sleep. It looks like a
husband working overtime at a job he doesn't particularly enjoy, so
that his family can know a better life. It looks like a family keeping
vigil by a deathbed. It looks like the dying man who musters a smile
for his loved ones.
It looks like the young couple who give up life in suburbia to head
off to the mission field. It looks like the religious sister who has
renounced family and liberty in order to give herself entirely to
Jesus Christ and his Church. It looks like a pastor, who must serve as
father and teacher and psychologist and sage and business manager�and
can't find enough hours in the day.
That's the total gift of self. It's what the early Christians knew.
And it's what we must come to know for ourselves, if we want to become
ourselves�if we want to become what God made us to be. There's no
other way to be happy. It's all there in the Mass of the early
Christians, and in the Eucharist we attend on Sunday, the Eucharist we
live every day of our lives.
hsi
by Mike Aquilina
In July of A.D. 64, during the tenth year of Nero's reign, a great
fire consumed much of the city of Rome. The fire raged out of control
for seven days�and then it started again, mysteriously, a day later.
Many in Rome knew that Nero had been eager to do some urban
redevelopment. He had a plan that included an opulent golden palace
for himself. The problem was that so many buildings were standing in
his way�many of them teeming wooden tenements housing Rome's poor and
working class.
Convenient Fire
The fire seemed too convenient for Nero's purposes�and his delight in
watching the blaze didn't relieve anybody's suspicions. If he didn't
exactly fiddle while Rome burned, he at least recited his poems. Nero
needed a scapegoat, and an upstart religious cult, Jewish in origin
and with foreign associations, served his purposes well. Nero, who was
a perverse expert at human torment, had some of its members tortured
till they were so mad they would confess to any crime. Once they had
confessed, he had others arrested.
He must have known, however, that the charges would not hold up. So he
condemned them not for arson, or treason, or conspiracy, but for
"hatred of humanity."
To amuse the people, he arranged for their execution to be a
spectacle, entertainment on a grand scale. The Roman historian Tacitus
(who had contempt for the religion, but greater contempt for Nero)
describes in gruesome detail the tortures that took place amid a party
in Nero's gardens.
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the
skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed
to crosses, or were doomed to the flames. These served to illuminate
the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open the gardens for
the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he
mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or drove about in
a chariot. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and
exemplary punishment there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was
not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty,
that they were being punished.
That is all we know about the first Roman martyrs. We know none of
their names. Tacitus doesn't tell us why they were willing to die this
way rather than renounce their faith. Yet this should be an important
question for us to consider. Why did the martyrs do this? What
prepared them to face death so bravely? To what exactly did they bear
witness with their death?
Let us begin with the witness we know best and ask ourselves: How can
we spot a Christian today? What are the unmistakable signs that tell
us we're with a fellow believer?
Christian Signs
In the first generation of the Church, there were several unmistakable
signs. St. Luke tells us that the first Christians, one and all,
"devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the
communion (koinonia), to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers"
(Acts 2:42). The teaching of the apostles, the communion, the breaking
of the bread, and the prayers.
This is a precious snapshot, because we do not know as much about
those first Christians as we would like to know. They were a small
group, not especially wealthy, without social or political status, and
often operating underground. What's more, over the next 275 years,
imperial and local governments tried fairly regularly to wipe out all
traces of Christianity�destroying not only the Christians' bodies, but
their books and their possessions as well. So what we have left are
the handful of documents that survived�mostly sermons, letters, and
liturgies�as well as a few other scraps of parchment or painted wood,
and the shards of pottery that the desert sands have preserved for us.
Yet what we see in those surviving documents and what we find in the
archeological digs confirm all that we learn in the Acts of the
Apostles, especially in one small detail: The first Christians
"devoted themselves to the apostolic teaching, to the communion, and
to the breaking of the bread and the prayers." One phrase
especially�the breaking of the bread�recurs in many of the scraps we
have from those first centuries, and it always refers to the
Eucharistic Liturgy, the Lord's Supper.
Our first Christian ancestors devoted themselves to the Eucharist, and
that is perhaps the most important way they showed themselves to be
Christians. No Christian practice is so well attested from those early
years. No doctrine is so systematically worked out as the doctrine of
the Eucharist.
It was when they gathered for the Eucharist that all this�their common
life, their charity, their fidelity to the teaching of the
apostles�happened most clearly, directly, intensely. They experienced
fellowship with each other and together heard the apostles' teaching,
and they broke the bread in the accustomed way, as they said the
customary prayers.
So it was in the newborn Church. The Church took its identity from its
unity in belief and charity, which was sustained by the Eucharist.
A Eucharist Everywhere
Christianity spread rapidly through the Roman Empire. One modern
sociologist estimates that, in the centuries that concern us here, the
Church grew at a rate of forty percent per decade. By the middle of
the fourth century, there were 33 million Christians in an empire of
60 million people.
That meant that the Eucharist was celebrated everywhere. And the fact
that it was celebrated everywhere was itself a favorite theme of the
earliest church fathers. Justin the Martyr commented in the Dialogue
with Trypho that, by the year 150, "There is not one single race of
men . . . among whom prayers and Eucharist are not offered through the
name of the crucified Jesus."
The ancient Fathers commonly applied the Old Testament prophecy of
Malachi to the liturgy: "from the rising of the sun to its setting my
name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered
to my name, and a pure offering." Those lines found their way into
many Eucharistic prayers, where they remain even to this day. (They
appear, for example, in the third Eucharistic prayer in the Roman
Missal: "so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to
the glory of your name.")
As the Church moved outward from Jerusalem, this is what believers
did. They offered the Eucharist. The early histories tell us that the
first thing the Apostle Jude did when he established the Church in the
city of Edessa was to ordain priests and to teach them to celebrate
the Eucharist.
This is what the early Church was about. Everything that was good in
Christian life flowed naturally and supernaturally from that one great
Eucharistic reality: from the Christians' sacramental experience of
fellowship and communion, of the teaching of the apostles, of the
breaking of the bread, and of the prayers.
Real Martyrdom
But there was another dominant reality in the ancient Church. It is
something that appears just as often in the archeological record and
in the paper trail of the early Christians. That something is
martyrdom. Persecution.
Martyrdom occupied the attention of the first Christians because it
was always a real possibility. Shortly after Christianity arrived in
the city of Rome, the emperor Nero discovered that Christians could
provide an almost unlimited supply of victims for his circus
spectacles. The emperors needed to keep the people amused, and one way
to do so was by giving them spectacularly violent and bloody
entertainments.
The Christians' morality made them none too popular with their
neighbors anyway, so the citizens were more than willing to cheer as
the Christians were doused with pitch and set on fire, or sent into
the ring to battle hungry wild animals or armed gladiators. It was all
in a day's fun in ancient Rome. Over time, Nero's perverted whims
settled into laws and legal precedents, as later emperors issued
further rulings on the Christian problem. Outside the law, mob
violence against Christians was fairly common and rarely punished.
The Christians applied a certain term to their co-religionists who
were made victims of persecution. They called them "martyrs"�which
means, literally, witnesses in a court of law. And to the martyrs they
accorded a reverence matched only by their reverence for the Eucharist.
In fact, the early Christians used the same language to describe
martyrdom as they used to describe the Eucharist. We see this in the
New Testament Book of Revelation, when John describes his vision of
heaven. There, he saw "under the altar the souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne." There,
under the altar of sacrifice, were the martyrs, the witnesses.
That image brings it all together. For, in those first generations of
the Church, the most common phrase used to describe the Eucharist was
"the sacrifice." Both the Didache and St. Ignatius refer to it as "the
sacrifice." And yet martyrdom, too, was the sacrifice.
God's Wheat Ground
And so, in A.D. 107, when Ignatius described his own impending
execution, he imagined it in Eucharistic terms. He said he was like
the wine at the offertory. He wrote to the Romans: "Grant me nothing
more than that I be poured out to God, while an altar is still ready."
Later in the same letter he wrote: "Let me be food for the wild
beasts, through whom I can reach God. I am God's wheat, ground fine by
the lion's teeth to be made purest bread for Christ." Ignatius is
bread, and he is wine; his martyrdom is a sacrifice. It is, in a
sense, a eucharist.
Ignatius's good friend Polycarp also died a martyr's death. Polycarp
was bishop of Smyrna, and had been converted by the Apostle John
himself. His secretary described the bishop's martyrdom, once again,
as a kind of eucharist. Polycarp's final words are a long prayer of
thanksgiving that echoes the great eucharistic prayers of the ancient
world and today. It includes an invocation of the Holy Spirit, a
doxology of the Trinity, and a great Amen at the end.
When the flames reached the body of the old bishop, his secretary
tells us that the pyre gave off not the odor of burning flesh but the
aroma of baking bread. In yet another martyrdom, then, we find a pure
offering of bread�a eucharist.
The Eucharistic images in Ignatius and Polycarp echo again in the
future writings and histories of the martyrs. Even in the court
transcripts, presumably taken down by pagan Romans, the Christians
reply to the charges against them with lines from the liturgy. They
lift up their hearts. And when they are sentenced, they say Deo
gratias�thanks be to God.
The story of the martyr Pionius proceeds in the words, verbatim, of
the eucharistic prayer: "and looking up to heaven he gave thanks to
God." The Greek word for "thanks" there is eucharistesas. So we might
read it as, "Looking up to heaven, he offered the Eucharist to God,"
even as the flames consumed him. In a similar way, the priest Irenaeus
cried out, in the midst of torture, "With my endurance I am even now
offering sacrifice to my God to whom I have always offered sacrifice."
So pervasive is this eucharistic language in the early Church's
account of martyrdom that one of the great scholars of Christian
antiquity, Robin Darling Young of Notre Dame, has spoken of the
ancient Church having two liturgies: the private liturgy of the
Eucharist and the public liturgy of martyrdom.
Loving Eucharist
But what is it about martyrdom that makes it like the Eucharist? Well,
what has Jesus done in the Eucharist? He has given himself to us, and
he has held nothing back. He gives us his body, blood, soul, and
divinity. He gives himself to us as food. And that is love: the total
gift of self. That is the very love the martyrs wanted to emulate.
Jesus had given himself entirely for them. They wanted to give
themselves entirely for him�everything they had, holding nothing back.
If Jesus would become bread for them, they would allow the lions to
make them finest wheat for Jesus.
So: Martyrdom was a total gift of self. The Eucharist was a total gift
of self. In the Eucharist, Jesus gave himself to us. In martyrdom, we
give ourselves back to him.
But there's a problem here. Very few of the ancient Christians died
for the faith. What about the rest? What was their gift? How did they
live the Eucharist?
Not long after Christianity was legalized by Constantine, St. Jerome
noted that some believers were already growing nostalgic for the good
old days of the martyrs. But Jerome stopped such fantasies in their
tracks. He told his congregation, "Let's not think that there is
martyrdom only in the shedding of blood. There is always martyrdom."
There is always martyrdom. For most of the early Christians, the
martyrdom came not with lions or fire or the rack or the sword. It
came not at the hands of a mob or a gladiator. For most of the early
Christians, "martyrdom" consisted in a daily dying to self in
imitation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus told them: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
. . . daily." So the Christians denied themselves, in imitation of
Jesus. What did this mean, in practical terms? It meant that they
would never eat lavishly as long as others were going hungry. They
would never keep an opulent wardrobe while others dressed in rags.
They would never hold back their testimony to the faith as long as any
of their neighbors were living in sin or in ignorance of the love of
Jesus Christ.
Whatever they had, these Christians gave. They gave of themselves�just
as the martyrs gave themselves in the arena�just as Jesus Christ gave
himself on the Cross�and just as Jesus Christ gave himself in the
Eucharist.
In Christ, these Christians had come into a Holy Communion. In
baptism, they were baptized into his death, into Christ's own
martyrdom. In the Eucharist, they became one with him, in the deepest,
and closest, and most intimate bond possible. They were closer to
Jesus than they were to their best friends, closer to him than they
were to their spouses. They were closer to Jesus than they were to
their own parents or their own children. He himself had promised them
that they would live in him, and he would live in them.
This was, and is, the deepest truth of the faith. In Jesus Christ, we
live as sons and daughters of the eternal Father�we share his own
divine life. In Jesus Christ, we can call God our Father because God
is eternally his Father. In the New Testament, St. Peter puts our Holy
Communion in the most powerful terms: We have become partakers of the
divine nature.
The Life the Martyrs Knew
And what is that nature? How does God live in eternity? What is the
Trinity for us, besides a theological abstraction and a mathematical
enigma?
John said it all: God is Love. God is self-giving, life-giving love.
From all eternity, God the Father pours himself out in love for the
Son. He holds nothing back. The Son returns that love to the Father
with everything he has. He holds nothing back. And (as the Western
tradition has understood it) the love that they share is the Holy Spirit.
This is the life the martyrs knew even at the moment of their death�
especially at the moment of their death. But they themselves had been
caught up into that life so long before and so many times. They
themselves had been caught up into the life-giving love of Jesus
Christ�the life-giving love of the Blessed Trinity�whenever they had
gone to the Eucharist. Whenever they had received Holy Communion.
Whenever they had joined with their brothers and sisters for the
teaching of the apostles and the communion, the breaking of the bread
and the prayers.
Jesus gave himself entirely to them, and they gave themselves in
return. At every Eucharist, he gives himself entirely to us, and we
give ourselves entirely in return. We say Amen�So be it!�I accept. And
when we do that, we consent to the communion.
We need to know what we're doing when we say "Amen." The life of
Christ is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling that everything (including
me) is okay and everything (no matter what I do) will work out fine.
It's accepting his cross. It's accepting our martyrdom. And in the
words of Garrison Keillor: If you don't want to go to Minneapolis,
what are you doing on the train?
There is always martyrdom. St. Paul had signaled this in his Letter to
the Romans, where he wrote: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Surely Paul's
words reached many future martyrs in Rome, where he himself would one
day die by beheading.
But his words reached many others as well, men and women whose
sacrifice would be something quiet and hidden and noticed only by God.
It is the same St. Paul who referred to our bodies as "temples of the
Holy Spirit." Let's not ever forget that, in the ancient world,
temples were not mere shrines; they were places of sacrifice.
And so are we. Our bodies are places of sacrifice, and our lives are
the offering on the altar. We ourselves are the Eucharist in motion.
The Look of Love
Our everyday life should be a voluntary sacrifice, voluntary
self-giving, voluntary martyrdom. Listen to the traditional language
about penance and reparation, mortification, fasting, pilgrimage, and
almsgiving. It's all about self-possession, self-denial, self-mastery.
And all that is great. It is good to be disciplined, and self-denial
is a means to achieving discipline. But discipline, too, is a means
and not an end in itself. Why do we want to possess ourselves?
Jesus shows us why. We possess ourselves in order to give ourselves
away�just like Jesus, just like the martyrs. Only then can we become
truly ourselves. For we are made in God's image, and God is
life-giving love, whose human life was a self-giving sacrifice. The
Eucharist is that sacrifice, and all our lives must be placed upon the
altar, all our lives must be taken up into the Eucharist.
Remember the question I asked earlier: How can we spot a Christian
today? The same way we could have spotted them on the streets of
first-century Rome: by their Eucharistic lives. When we give ourselves
without holding back, we are living like the early Christians. We are
living like the martyrs. We are living like the Most Blessed Trinity
in heaven.
St. Irenaeus put it well, around the year A.D. 190: "Our way of
thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn
confirms our way of thinking."
What does it look like in the day-to-day? It looks like a mother
staying up all night with a sick child�or a grandmother up late with
the child so that her daughter can get some sleep. It looks like a
husband working overtime at a job he doesn't particularly enjoy, so
that his family can know a better life. It looks like a family keeping
vigil by a deathbed. It looks like the dying man who musters a smile
for his loved ones.
It looks like the young couple who give up life in suburbia to head
off to the mission field. It looks like the religious sister who has
renounced family and liberty in order to give herself entirely to
Jesus Christ and his Church. It looks like a pastor, who must serve as
father and teacher and psychologist and sage and business manager�and
can't find enough hours in the day.
That's the total gift of self. It's what the early Christians knew.
And it's what we must come to know for ourselves, if we want to become
ourselves�if we want to become what God made us to be. There's no
other way to be happy. It's all there in the Mass of the early
Christians, and in the Eucharist we attend on Sunday, the Eucharist we
live every day of our lives.
hsi
Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?...
Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?...
by Steven R. Hemler
The gospel or "good news" proclaimed since the beginning of
Christianity is essentially the news of Christ's Resurrection. This
"good news" is that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the
Savior of the world has indeed risen from the dead. For if Jesus
really rose from the dead then that validates everything he said and
did, including his claim to be divine and not merely human, because
rising from the dead is beyond human power. Given the centrality of
the Resurrection in Christian belief, how can we know the Resurrection
really happened? The best way to discover the truth about Jesus'
Resurrection is to rationally examine the alternatives. There are five
possible alternatives: swoon, hallucination, myth, conspiracy, and the
"good news" of Christianity.
First, the "swoon theory" is that Jesus did not die on the cross, but
that he revived while in the tomb. However, it is highly unlikely that
Jesus could have survived the crucifixion. Roman execution procedures
just didn't allow that to happen. Roman law even proscribed death to
any soldier who bungled a crucifixion and allowed a capital prisoner
to escape. By piercing his side with a spear and not breaking Jesus'
legs, which was done to hasten death by asphyxiation, the soldiers
established that Jesus was dead. Even if Jesus did survive his
crucifixion, how could he have moved the stone at the entrance of the
tomb, especially considering he had nail holes in his hands? It is
also very unlikely that he would have been able to walk very far with
pierced feet. However, even if Jesus did revive and get past the Roman
guards, he would have been a battered, bleeding pulp of a man who
would have been pitied by his followers, not worshiped. It is
impossible for Jesus' disciples to have been so transformed if he had
merely struggled out of a swoon, badly in need of medical treatment. A
half-dead, staggering man who had narrowly escaped death is not
fearlessly worshipped as divine and the conqueror of death!
Second, the Resurrection could not have been a hallucination because
hallucinations happen privately and only to individuals. Numerous
people do not simultaneously experience the same hallucination,
especially over a period of 40 days. Hallucinations usually last only
a few seconds or minutes. Furthermore, if the Resurrection was a
hallucination of the Apostles, why didn't the Jewish leaders just
produce the corpse of Jesus to refute their claim that he had risen?
Third, the Resurrection could not be a myth because there was not
enough time after the actual event for a myth to have developed. There
is not a single example in recorded history of where a great myth or
legend based on a historical figure has been written so soon after
that person's death. Several generations need to pass before added
mythological elements can be mistakenly taken as fact. Furthermore,
many of the recorded details of Jesus' life and Resurrection
distinguish the Gospels from myth. A prime example is the claim that
the first witnesses to the Resurrection were women. Given that women
at the time had low social status and were not even permitted to serve
as legal witnesses, why would a legend say that women were the first
witnesses to the Resurrection? If the empty tomb was an invented
legend, its inventors would not have had it discovered by women, whose
testimony was considered unreliable.
Fourth, the Apostles' proclamation of Jesus' Resurrection could not
have been a deliberate lie or conspiracy based on stealing his body
from the tomb because what would the Apostles have to gain by
promoting such a lie? What could possibly have been their motive? By
claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, they all faced persecution and
death. However, not one of them ever denied their claim of Jesus'
Resurrection, even when faced with death. People just don't give their
lives for what they know is a lie.
By far, the most compelling evidence of the truth of the Resurrection
is the radically transformed lives of Jesus' followers afterwards.
After Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and
disheartened. So they dispersed. Then, after a short time they
abandoned their occupations, gathered back together, and fully
committed themselves to spreading the "good news" that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God who after dying on a cross, returned to life and was
seen alive by all of them. They spent the rest of their lives
proclaiming this, without anything to gain from a human perspective.
They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food and slept
exposed to the elements. They were ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned.
They knew that torture and death would be their fate if they didn't
stop preaching about Jesus Christ. But they couldn't stop. They all
kept talking about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to anyone who
would listen. Eventually, most of them were executed in torturous
ways. However, all of them maintained to the very end that Jesus had
risen from the dead. Why didn't they recant? The only plausible
explanation is they were absolutely certain they had seen Jesus Christ
alive from the dead. Their bold courage and steadfast witness prove
their story is the truth. And that makes it, even for us today, a
truth worth living for.
i'm amazed by the good news...!
we are an immortal being!
can you believe that!!!
hsi
..................
morning animators,
for me, definitely no doubt about it, He did Rise from the Dead.
thats the mystery and wonders of our FAITH, that we must treasure more than anything else, every seconds of our existence.
junjun
.................
i think it's beyond faith....
.................
yup! but the very foundation of that 'beyond faith" is true FAITH itself.
no faith, means, more doubtful and more "no earth" we become....
as we norture our faith and let it grows deeper & deeper, the more crystal clear all those mysteries of Christ's Life will become....
junjun
................
it becomes more crystal
more clearer.
more tangible.
more real...
so it might not be even true faith
it's there staring at you face to face..
what can we say about it,
when hope and faith are gone...?
................
hmmm.....very well then, for sure we don't believed that Jesus did really rise from dead,,,
we belong to a "to see is to believe"....
tell then...have a nice weekend...
its me,
dudun
...............
they saw (even to the point of offering their lives)
and we believe..
the truth is...
...............
a winter breeze morning to all,
i felt the winter breeze is here already....brrrrrrrrrr
well,,,, "the truth is".... Jesus really Rise-up from the dead! and no matter what happen, hold on to your faith.... for faith is our only key to eternal glory.
dudun
by Steven R. Hemler
The gospel or "good news" proclaimed since the beginning of
Christianity is essentially the news of Christ's Resurrection. This
"good news" is that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the
Savior of the world has indeed risen from the dead. For if Jesus
really rose from the dead then that validates everything he said and
did, including his claim to be divine and not merely human, because
rising from the dead is beyond human power. Given the centrality of
the Resurrection in Christian belief, how can we know the Resurrection
really happened? The best way to discover the truth about Jesus'
Resurrection is to rationally examine the alternatives. There are five
possible alternatives: swoon, hallucination, myth, conspiracy, and the
"good news" of Christianity.
First, the "swoon theory" is that Jesus did not die on the cross, but
that he revived while in the tomb. However, it is highly unlikely that
Jesus could have survived the crucifixion. Roman execution procedures
just didn't allow that to happen. Roman law even proscribed death to
any soldier who bungled a crucifixion and allowed a capital prisoner
to escape. By piercing his side with a spear and not breaking Jesus'
legs, which was done to hasten death by asphyxiation, the soldiers
established that Jesus was dead. Even if Jesus did survive his
crucifixion, how could he have moved the stone at the entrance of the
tomb, especially considering he had nail holes in his hands? It is
also very unlikely that he would have been able to walk very far with
pierced feet. However, even if Jesus did revive and get past the Roman
guards, he would have been a battered, bleeding pulp of a man who
would have been pitied by his followers, not worshiped. It is
impossible for Jesus' disciples to have been so transformed if he had
merely struggled out of a swoon, badly in need of medical treatment. A
half-dead, staggering man who had narrowly escaped death is not
fearlessly worshipped as divine and the conqueror of death!
Second, the Resurrection could not have been a hallucination because
hallucinations happen privately and only to individuals. Numerous
people do not simultaneously experience the same hallucination,
especially over a period of 40 days. Hallucinations usually last only
a few seconds or minutes. Furthermore, if the Resurrection was a
hallucination of the Apostles, why didn't the Jewish leaders just
produce the corpse of Jesus to refute their claim that he had risen?
Third, the Resurrection could not be a myth because there was not
enough time after the actual event for a myth to have developed. There
is not a single example in recorded history of where a great myth or
legend based on a historical figure has been written so soon after
that person's death. Several generations need to pass before added
mythological elements can be mistakenly taken as fact. Furthermore,
many of the recorded details of Jesus' life and Resurrection
distinguish the Gospels from myth. A prime example is the claim that
the first witnesses to the Resurrection were women. Given that women
at the time had low social status and were not even permitted to serve
as legal witnesses, why would a legend say that women were the first
witnesses to the Resurrection? If the empty tomb was an invented
legend, its inventors would not have had it discovered by women, whose
testimony was considered unreliable.
Fourth, the Apostles' proclamation of Jesus' Resurrection could not
have been a deliberate lie or conspiracy based on stealing his body
from the tomb because what would the Apostles have to gain by
promoting such a lie? What could possibly have been their motive? By
claiming that Jesus rose from the dead, they all faced persecution and
death. However, not one of them ever denied their claim of Jesus'
Resurrection, even when faced with death. People just don't give their
lives for what they know is a lie.
By far, the most compelling evidence of the truth of the Resurrection
is the radically transformed lives of Jesus' followers afterwards.
After Jesus was crucified, his followers were discouraged and
disheartened. So they dispersed. Then, after a short time they
abandoned their occupations, gathered back together, and fully
committed themselves to spreading the "good news" that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God who after dying on a cross, returned to life and was
seen alive by all of them. They spent the rest of their lives
proclaiming this, without anything to gain from a human perspective.
They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food and slept
exposed to the elements. They were ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned.
They knew that torture and death would be their fate if they didn't
stop preaching about Jesus Christ. But they couldn't stop. They all
kept talking about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to anyone who
would listen. Eventually, most of them were executed in torturous
ways. However, all of them maintained to the very end that Jesus had
risen from the dead. Why didn't they recant? The only plausible
explanation is they were absolutely certain they had seen Jesus Christ
alive from the dead. Their bold courage and steadfast witness prove
their story is the truth. And that makes it, even for us today, a
truth worth living for.
i'm amazed by the good news...!
we are an immortal being!
can you believe that!!!
hsi
..................
morning animators,
for me, definitely no doubt about it, He did Rise from the Dead.
thats the mystery and wonders of our FAITH, that we must treasure more than anything else, every seconds of our existence.
junjun
.................
i think it's beyond faith....
.................
yup! but the very foundation of that 'beyond faith" is true FAITH itself.
no faith, means, more doubtful and more "no earth" we become....
as we norture our faith and let it grows deeper & deeper, the more crystal clear all those mysteries of Christ's Life will become....
junjun
................
it becomes more crystal
more clearer.
more tangible.
more real...
so it might not be even true faith
it's there staring at you face to face..
what can we say about it,
when hope and faith are gone...?
................
hmmm.....very well then, for sure we don't believed that Jesus did really rise from dead,,,
we belong to a "to see is to believe"....
tell then...have a nice weekend...
its me,
dudun
...............
they saw (even to the point of offering their lives)
and we believe..
the truth is...
...............
a winter breeze morning to all,
i felt the winter breeze is here already....brrrrrrrrrr
well,,,, "the truth is".... Jesus really Rise-up from the dead! and no matter what happen, hold on to your faith.... for faith is our only key to eternal glory.
dudun
What is the difference between the soul and the spirit of man?
What is the difference between the soul and the spirit of man?
soul is the spirit in man
the intangible within tangible
the innermost nature of man
the wholeness of man
the image of God. the emmanuel.
who can communicate with God.
the Spirit is the heart(soul) and mind(body) who act for or against
God. the end-result of man's supernatural being as the temple of the
Spirit.
so man is compose of
body which is the humanity and
soul which is the spirituality or divinity of man.
the body becomes immortal too because of their union forming a single
nature. the immortal body will be reunited with spiritual soul at the
final Resurrection...
spirit and soul are the same.
the spiritual soul who is the animator of our mind and body...
soul is the spirit in man
the intangible within tangible
the innermost nature of man
the wholeness of man
the image of God. the emmanuel.
who can communicate with God.
the Spirit is the heart(soul) and mind(body) who act for or against
God. the end-result of man's supernatural being as the temple of the
Spirit.
so man is compose of
body which is the humanity and
soul which is the spirituality or divinity of man.
the body becomes immortal too because of their union forming a single
nature. the immortal body will be reunited with spiritual soul at the
final Resurrection...
spirit and soul are the same.
the spiritual soul who is the animator of our mind and body...
enter into Way Less Travelled
The Way Less Travelled
"Enter through the narrow gate... few there are who find it."(Mt.
7:13-14). "Go out to the whole world..." (Mk. 16:15-18).
The mission entrusted to us as Christians has suffered greatly down
the centuries. It has suffered greatly in the many and various ways in
which it has been interpreted, changed, adopted, and compromised.
Without the faith that the Spirit inspires, one could easily despair
of this message ever getting a wide audience, or attracting
wide-spread attention.
If the Kingdom of God is not of this world, then neither is the
Message of God. The Christian message is such a direct contradiction
to the beliefs and values of this world, that it would be totally
unrealistic to expect it to be acceptable to those whose minds and
hearts are moulded and formed by this world. When I think of the
message, I must not think of a collection of words strung together,
containing great wisdom, and sound direction. I must think of the
SPIRIT in the words, because words, of themselves, would be incapable
of bringing change.
How come that, after all these years, only a minority have ever heard
of the Garden, and only a tiny minority of those show any great
interest in getting back there? This is something that I cannot
pretend to know, but I can, at least, express a few opinions on. Fr.
Christian de Cherge was the prior in a Cistercian monastery in
Algeria, when on May 21st. 1996, he and six of his confreres had their
throats slip by a gang of Muslim rebels.
In anticipation of such an event, because of the unleashed violence of
Algerians Muslims against all foreigners(the monks were French), Fr.
Christian had written a letter to Paris, expressing his views, loudly
proclaiming his forgiveness to those who might kill them, and asking
the French not to blame all Algerians and all Muslims for the actions
of a group of extremists. He expresses his admiration for the Muslim
religion, in which he finds 'so often the true strand of the gospel'.
He looks towards death with 'an avid curiosity' to be able to see
things from God's point of view, 'and to contemplate with him his
children of Islam just as he sees them, all shining with the glory of
Christ, the fruit of his Passion, and filled with the gift of the
Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion, and to
refashion the likeness, playfully delighting in the difference�".
Here was someone who knew that God has no grandchildren; that we all
are children of God. What I mean by this is, that I don't believe the
Christian message is for everyone, because that would imply that only
Christians can make it back to the Garden. In God's way of doing
things, such a possibility is unthinkable. I don't pretend, as I've
said already, that I fully understand the economy of God's salvation,
but I do believe that God is concerned with unity, and never uniformity.
Even among the Christian Churches, while the emphasis is on
uniformity, there is no possibility of them ever coming together. It
is a question of unity in diversity, that is based on mutual respect.
It is not a question of watering down one's beliefs, or compromising
one's truth, just to afford accommodation with another Church.
Ecumenism that is based on dishonesty cannot possibly be of God, and
cannot possibly lead to the good. Part of what it means to be a
Christian is to have total respect for other religions, that are
genuinely inspired, are obviously of God, and whose members are
sincere fellow-travellers on our journey back to the Garden.
I wrote that last paragraph to 'situate', as it were, the 'other'
religions, so that we could get back to our own, and see what we ought
to do to inherit eternal life.(Mt. 19:16). No matter which way we look
at it, we find ourselves in a minority. Better be in a minority, than
simple following the crowd, not sure where we are being led. Jesus is
very clear about what our presence on this earth should mean. We are
like yeast that is mixed with flour in baking a cake; although a tiny
portion, it completely effects the whole cake. "The kingdom of heaven
is like the yeast... until the whole mass of dough began to rise."(Mt.
13:33). "Do you not know that a little yeast makes the whole mass of
dough rise?"(1 Cor, 5:6).
We are also compared to salt which gives taste to food, and is a
preservative against food going rotten. We are also referred to as
light, and this image is easier to understand. One lit candle effects
the darkness in a whole room. Better light a candle than curse the
darkness. "You are the light of the world..."(Mt. 5:14-16).
Mother(Blessed) Teresa's witness had a profound effect on the lives of
many who are not, or never will be members of the Catholic Church.
Christianity is about attracting, not about promoting. "You will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends
of the earth."(Acts 1:8). As we all head back to the Garden, then, we
discover that different people are marching to the beat of different
drums. We share a common destiny. I would much prefer to be a sincere
Hindu than a hypocritical or lukewarm Christian. My vocation is to
respond with a generous heart to the call I hear; a call that I know
is addressed to me.
There are three groups of people in most gatherings, whether that be
Church, society, or organisation. There are those who cause things to
happen; those who watch things happening; and those who haven't a clue
what's happening! It is against this that I chose the title about the
way less travelled. When I read the description given of the General
Judgement (Mt. 25), I may be surprised to find that Jesus' questions
are scandalously materialistic. He never mentions prayer, attending
church, or visiting holy shrines. He speaks about a slice of bread, a
cup of water, an item of clothing, a simple visit to a prison.
In other words, what I am asked to do is very clearly specified and
spelt out, and there is absolutely no room for ambiguity or doubt.
Jesus even goes further, less there be any misunderstanding. He tells
us "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, I will
take as being done for me."(Mt. 25:40). He really does identify
himself very closely with each and all of us; while unashamedly
showing a great preference for the poor and the marginalised, just as
he did when he walked the roads of Galilee. I can approach
Christianity on two different levels. I can approach it as a road-map
for life, full of great wisdom, and imbued with wonderful insights.
Oh, I know that I can never be totally committed to anything, in that
any level of commitment is capable of being improved on. However, I
can get a fairly accurate reflection of where I'm at relative to
travelling down this road with Jesus. The whole secret, of course, is
to allow myself be led by the Spirit. By myself, I have no way of
measuring or assessing my progress on this journey; nor do I need to
know. Suffice it to know that my heart continues to be open to the
promptings of the Spirit, and that I take each new day as a gift, with
infinite possibilities.
"For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your
own land. Then I shall pour clean water over you, and you shall be
made clean. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within
you. I shall remove your heart of stone, and give you a heart of
flesh. I shall put my spirit within you... you shall be my people, and
I will be your God."(Ezek. 36:24-28).
by Fr. Jack McArdle
hsi
"Enter through the narrow gate... few there are who find it."(Mt.
7:13-14). "Go out to the whole world..." (Mk. 16:15-18).
The mission entrusted to us as Christians has suffered greatly down
the centuries. It has suffered greatly in the many and various ways in
which it has been interpreted, changed, adopted, and compromised.
Without the faith that the Spirit inspires, one could easily despair
of this message ever getting a wide audience, or attracting
wide-spread attention.
If the Kingdom of God is not of this world, then neither is the
Message of God. The Christian message is such a direct contradiction
to the beliefs and values of this world, that it would be totally
unrealistic to expect it to be acceptable to those whose minds and
hearts are moulded and formed by this world. When I think of the
message, I must not think of a collection of words strung together,
containing great wisdom, and sound direction. I must think of the
SPIRIT in the words, because words, of themselves, would be incapable
of bringing change.
How come that, after all these years, only a minority have ever heard
of the Garden, and only a tiny minority of those show any great
interest in getting back there? This is something that I cannot
pretend to know, but I can, at least, express a few opinions on. Fr.
Christian de Cherge was the prior in a Cistercian monastery in
Algeria, when on May 21st. 1996, he and six of his confreres had their
throats slip by a gang of Muslim rebels.
In anticipation of such an event, because of the unleashed violence of
Algerians Muslims against all foreigners(the monks were French), Fr.
Christian had written a letter to Paris, expressing his views, loudly
proclaiming his forgiveness to those who might kill them, and asking
the French not to blame all Algerians and all Muslims for the actions
of a group of extremists. He expresses his admiration for the Muslim
religion, in which he finds 'so often the true strand of the gospel'.
He looks towards death with 'an avid curiosity' to be able to see
things from God's point of view, 'and to contemplate with him his
children of Islam just as he sees them, all shining with the glory of
Christ, the fruit of his Passion, and filled with the gift of the
Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion, and to
refashion the likeness, playfully delighting in the difference�".
Here was someone who knew that God has no grandchildren; that we all
are children of God. What I mean by this is, that I don't believe the
Christian message is for everyone, because that would imply that only
Christians can make it back to the Garden. In God's way of doing
things, such a possibility is unthinkable. I don't pretend, as I've
said already, that I fully understand the economy of God's salvation,
but I do believe that God is concerned with unity, and never uniformity.
Even among the Christian Churches, while the emphasis is on
uniformity, there is no possibility of them ever coming together. It
is a question of unity in diversity, that is based on mutual respect.
It is not a question of watering down one's beliefs, or compromising
one's truth, just to afford accommodation with another Church.
Ecumenism that is based on dishonesty cannot possibly be of God, and
cannot possibly lead to the good. Part of what it means to be a
Christian is to have total respect for other religions, that are
genuinely inspired, are obviously of God, and whose members are
sincere fellow-travellers on our journey back to the Garden.
I wrote that last paragraph to 'situate', as it were, the 'other'
religions, so that we could get back to our own, and see what we ought
to do to inherit eternal life.(Mt. 19:16). No matter which way we look
at it, we find ourselves in a minority. Better be in a minority, than
simple following the crowd, not sure where we are being led. Jesus is
very clear about what our presence on this earth should mean. We are
like yeast that is mixed with flour in baking a cake; although a tiny
portion, it completely effects the whole cake. "The kingdom of heaven
is like the yeast... until the whole mass of dough began to rise."(Mt.
13:33). "Do you not know that a little yeast makes the whole mass of
dough rise?"(1 Cor, 5:6).
We are also compared to salt which gives taste to food, and is a
preservative against food going rotten. We are also referred to as
light, and this image is easier to understand. One lit candle effects
the darkness in a whole room. Better light a candle than curse the
darkness. "You are the light of the world..."(Mt. 5:14-16).
Mother(Blessed) Teresa's witness had a profound effect on the lives of
many who are not, or never will be members of the Catholic Church.
Christianity is about attracting, not about promoting. "You will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, even to the ends
of the earth."(Acts 1:8). As we all head back to the Garden, then, we
discover that different people are marching to the beat of different
drums. We share a common destiny. I would much prefer to be a sincere
Hindu than a hypocritical or lukewarm Christian. My vocation is to
respond with a generous heart to the call I hear; a call that I know
is addressed to me.
There are three groups of people in most gatherings, whether that be
Church, society, or organisation. There are those who cause things to
happen; those who watch things happening; and those who haven't a clue
what's happening! It is against this that I chose the title about the
way less travelled. When I read the description given of the General
Judgement (Mt. 25), I may be surprised to find that Jesus' questions
are scandalously materialistic. He never mentions prayer, attending
church, or visiting holy shrines. He speaks about a slice of bread, a
cup of water, an item of clothing, a simple visit to a prison.
In other words, what I am asked to do is very clearly specified and
spelt out, and there is absolutely no room for ambiguity or doubt.
Jesus even goes further, less there be any misunderstanding. He tells
us "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, I will
take as being done for me."(Mt. 25:40). He really does identify
himself very closely with each and all of us; while unashamedly
showing a great preference for the poor and the marginalised, just as
he did when he walked the roads of Galilee. I can approach
Christianity on two different levels. I can approach it as a road-map
for life, full of great wisdom, and imbued with wonderful insights.
Oh, I know that I can never be totally committed to anything, in that
any level of commitment is capable of being improved on. However, I
can get a fairly accurate reflection of where I'm at relative to
travelling down this road with Jesus. The whole secret, of course, is
to allow myself be led by the Spirit. By myself, I have no way of
measuring or assessing my progress on this journey; nor do I need to
know. Suffice it to know that my heart continues to be open to the
promptings of the Spirit, and that I take each new day as a gift, with
infinite possibilities.
"For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your
own land. Then I shall pour clean water over you, and you shall be
made clean. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within
you. I shall remove your heart of stone, and give you a heart of
flesh. I shall put my spirit within you... you shall be my people, and
I will be your God."(Ezek. 36:24-28).
by Fr. Jack McArdle
hsi
The Bible and Science
The Bible and Science
"In antiquity and in what is called the Dark Ages, men did not know
what they now know about humanity and the cosmos. They did not know
the lock but they posessed the key, which is God. Now many have
excellent descriptions of the lock, but they have lost the key. The
proper solution is union between religion and science. We should be
owners of the local and the key. The fact is that as science advances,
it discovers what was said thousands of years ago in the Bible."
Richard Wirmbrand, Proofs of God's Existence
Scientists Admit Genesis is "Close to the Truth"
Scientists get a little nervous when they realize that their
discoveries lead tem back to Genesis chapter one. Notice the use of
the word "uncanny" in the following quotes:
"Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution
of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in
imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth."
(Time, December 1976)
"The universe suddenly exploded into being ... The big bang bears an
uncanny resemblance to the Genesis command." Jim Holt, Wall Street
Journal science writer
"New scientific revelations about supernovas, black holes, quarks, and
the big bang even suggest to some scientists that there is a 'grand
design' in the universe. (U.S.News & World Report, March 31, 1997)
"In antiquity and in what is called the Dark Ages, men did not know
what they now know about humanity and the cosmos. They did not know
the lock but they posessed the key, which is God. Now many have
excellent descriptions of the lock, but they have lost the key. The
proper solution is union between religion and science. We should be
owners of the local and the key. The fact is that as science advances,
it discovers what was said thousands of years ago in the Bible."
Richard Wirmbrand, Proofs of God's Existence
Scientists Admit Genesis is "Close to the Truth"
Scientists get a little nervous when they realize that their
discoveries lead tem back to Genesis chapter one. Notice the use of
the word "uncanny" in the following quotes:
"Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution
of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in
imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth."
(Time, December 1976)
"The universe suddenly exploded into being ... The big bang bears an
uncanny resemblance to the Genesis command." Jim Holt, Wall Street
Journal science writer
"New scientific revelations about supernovas, black holes, quarks, and
the big bang even suggest to some scientists that there is a 'grand
design' in the universe. (U.S.News & World Report, March 31, 1997)
message to the youth of today
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD
ON THE OCCASION
OF THE 22nd WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2007
"Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
My dear young friends,
On the occasion of the 22nd World Youth Day that will be celebrated
in the dioceses on Palm Sunday, I would like to propose for your
meditation the words of Jesus: "Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
Is it possible to love?
Everybody feels the longing to love and to be loved. Yet, how
difficult it is to love, and how many mistakes and failures have to
be reckoned with in love! There are those who even come to doubt that
love is possible. But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can
cause us to think that love is utopian, an impossible dream, should
we then become resigned? No! Love is possible, and the purpose of my
message is to help reawaken in each one of you - you who are the
future and hope of humanity-, trust in a love that is true, faithful
and strong; a love that generates peace and joy; a love that binds
people together and allows them to feel free in respect for one
another. Let us now go on a journey together in three stages, as we
embark on a "discovery" of love.
God, the source of love
The first stage concerns the source of true love. There is only one
source, and that is God. Saint John makes this clear when he declares
that "God is love" (1 Jn 4: 8,16). He was not simply saying that God
loves us, but that the very being of God is love. Here we find
ourselves before the most dazzling revelation of the source of love,
the mystery of the Trinity: in God, one and triune, there is an
everlasting exchange of love between the persons of the Father and
the Son, and this love is not an energy or a sentiment, but it is a
person; it is the Holy Spirit.
The Cross of Christ fully reveals the love of God
How is God-Love revealed to us? We have now reached the second stage
of our journey. Even though the signs of divine love are already
clearly present in creation, the full revelation of the intimate
mystery of God came to us through the Incarnation when God himself
became man. In Christ, true God and true Man, we have come to know
love in all its magnitude. In fact, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus
caritas est, "the real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much
in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and
blood to those conceptsCan unprecedented realism" (n. 12). The
manifestation of divine love is total and perfect in the Cross where,
we are told by Saint Paul, "God proves his love for us in that while
we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rm 5:8). Therefore, each
one of us can truly say: "Christ loved me and gave himself up for me"
(cf Eph 5:2). Redeemed by his blood, no human life is useless or of
little value, because each of us is loved personally by Him with a
passionate and faithful love, a love without limits. The Cross, - for
the world a folly, for many believers a scandal-, is in fact
the "wisdom of God" for those who allow themselves to be touched
right to the innermost depths of their being, "for God's foolishness
is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human
strength" (1 Cor 1:25). Moreover, the Crucifix, which after the
Resurrection would carry forever the marks of his passion, exposes
the "distortions" and lies about God that underlie violence,
vengeance and exclusion. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes upon
himself the sins of the world and eradicates hatred from the heart of
humankind. This is the true "revolution" that He brings about: love.
Loving our neighbour as Christ loves us
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our reflection. Christ
cried out from the Cross: "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:28). This shows us
his burning thirst to love and to be loved by each one of us. It is
only by coming to perceive the depth and intensity of such a mystery
that we can realise the need and urgency to love him as He has loved
us. This also entails the commitment to even give our lives, if
necessary, for our brothers and sisters sustained by love for Him.
God had already said in the Old Testament: "You shall love your
neighbour as yourself" (Lev 19:18), but the innovation introduced by
Christ is the fact that to love as he loves us means loving everyone
without distinction, even our enemies, "to the end" (cf Jn 13:1).
Witnesses to the love of Christ
I would like to linger for a moment on three areas of daily life
where you, my dear young friends, are particularly called to
demonstrate the love of God. The first area is the Church, our
spiritual family, made up of all the disciples of Christ. Mindful of
his words: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35), you should stimulate, with
your enthusiasm and charity, the activities of the parishes, the
communities, the ecclesial movements and the youth groups to which
you belong. Be attentive in your concern for the welfare of others,
faithful to the commitments you have made. Do not hesitate to
joyfully abstain from some of your entertainments; cheerfully accept
the necessary sacrifices; testify to your faithful love for Jesus by
proclaiming his Gospel, especially among young people of your age.
Preparing for the future
The second area, where you are called to express your love and grow
in it, is your preparation for the future that awaits you. If you are
engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future as a
couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you discover
it with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that
says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places
obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the
happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love. The
love of a man and woman is at the origin of the human family and the
couple formed by a man and a woman has its foundation in God's
original plan (cf Gen 2:18-25). Learning to love each other as a
couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a
demanding "apprenticeship". The period of engagement, very necessary
in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation
that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you
to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it
helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for
each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not
place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare. In
your prayer together, ask the Lord to watch over and increase your
love and to purify it of all selfishness. Do not hesitate to respond
generously to the Lord's call, for Christian matrimony is truly and
wholly a vocation in the Church. Likewise, dear young men and women,
be ready to say "yes" if God should call you to follow the path of
ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life. Your example will be
one of encouragement for many of your peers who are seeking true
happiness.
Growing in love each day
The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily
life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to
family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate
your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help
others to "grow". Develop your capacities, not only in order to
become more "competitive" and "productive", but to be "witnesses of
charity". In addition to your professional training, also make an
effort to acquire religious knowledge that will help you to carry out
your mission in a responsible way. In particular, I invite you to
carefully study the social doctrine of the Church so that its
principles may inspire and guide your action in the world. May the
Holy Spirit make you creative in charity, persevering in your
commitments, and brave in your initiatives, so that you will be able
to offer your contribution to the building up of the "civilisation of
love". The horizon of love is truly boundless: it is the whole world!
"Dare to love" by following the example of the saints
My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to love". Do not
desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and
beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a
joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your
brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred
and death forever through love (cf Rev 5:13). Love is the only force
capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all
humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women,
between rich and poor, between cultures and civilisations. This is
shown to us in the lives of the saints. They are true friends of God
who channel and reflect this very first love. Try to know them
better, entrust yourselves to their intercession, and strive to live
as they did. I shall just mention Mother Teresa. In order to respond
instantly to the cry of Jesus, "I thirst", a cry that had touched her
deeply, she began to take in the people who were dying on the streets
of Calcutta in India. From that time onward, the only desire of her
life was to quench the thirst of love felt by Jesus, not with words,
but with concrete action by recognising his disfigured countenance
thirsting for love in the faces of the poorest of the poor. Blessed
Teresa put the teachings of the Lord into practice: "Just as you did
it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did
it to me" (Mt 25:40). The message of this humble witness of divine
love has spread around the whole world.
The secret of love
Each one of us, my dear friends, has been given the possibility of
reaching this same level of love, but only by having recourse to the
indispensable support of divine Grace. Only the Lord's help will
allow us to keep away from resignation when faced with the enormity
of the task to be undertaken. It instills in us the courage to
accomplish that which is humanly inconceivable. Above all, the
Eucharist is the great school of love. When we participate regularly
and with devotion in Holy Mass, when we spend a sustained time of
adoration in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, it is easier to
understand the length, breadth, height and depth of his love that
goes beyond all knowledge (cf Eph 3:17-18). By sharing the
Eucharistic Bread with our brothers and sisters of the Church
community, we feel compelled, like Our Lady with Elizabeth, to
render "in haste" the love of Christ into generous service towards
our brothers and sisters.
Towards the encounter in Sydney
On this subject, the recommendation of the apostle John is
illuminating: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,
but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from
the truth" (1 Jn 3: 18-19). Dear young people, it is in this spirit
that I invite you to experience the next World Youth Day together
with your bishops in your respective dioceses. This will be an
important stage on the way to the meeting in Sydney where the theme
will be: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). May Mary, the Mother
of Christ and of the Church, help you to let that cry ring out
everywhere, the cry that has changed the world: "God is love!" I am
together with you all in prayer and extend to you my heartfelt
blessing.
From the Vatican, 27 January 2007
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD
ON THE OCCASION
OF THE 22nd WORLD YOUTH DAY, 2007
"Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
My dear young friends,
On the occasion of the 22nd World Youth Day that will be celebrated
in the dioceses on Palm Sunday, I would like to propose for your
meditation the words of Jesus: "Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
Is it possible to love?
Everybody feels the longing to love and to be loved. Yet, how
difficult it is to love, and how many mistakes and failures have to
be reckoned with in love! There are those who even come to doubt that
love is possible. But if emotional delusions or lack of affection can
cause us to think that love is utopian, an impossible dream, should
we then become resigned? No! Love is possible, and the purpose of my
message is to help reawaken in each one of you - you who are the
future and hope of humanity-, trust in a love that is true, faithful
and strong; a love that generates peace and joy; a love that binds
people together and allows them to feel free in respect for one
another. Let us now go on a journey together in three stages, as we
embark on a "discovery" of love.
God, the source of love
The first stage concerns the source of true love. There is only one
source, and that is God. Saint John makes this clear when he declares
that "God is love" (1 Jn 4: 8,16). He was not simply saying that God
loves us, but that the very being of God is love. Here we find
ourselves before the most dazzling revelation of the source of love,
the mystery of the Trinity: in God, one and triune, there is an
everlasting exchange of love between the persons of the Father and
the Son, and this love is not an energy or a sentiment, but it is a
person; it is the Holy Spirit.
The Cross of Christ fully reveals the love of God
How is God-Love revealed to us? We have now reached the second stage
of our journey. Even though the signs of divine love are already
clearly present in creation, the full revelation of the intimate
mystery of God came to us through the Incarnation when God himself
became man. In Christ, true God and true Man, we have come to know
love in all its magnitude. In fact, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus
caritas est, "the real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much
in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and
blood to those conceptsCan unprecedented realism" (n. 12). The
manifestation of divine love is total and perfect in the Cross where,
we are told by Saint Paul, "God proves his love for us in that while
we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rm 5:8). Therefore, each
one of us can truly say: "Christ loved me and gave himself up for me"
(cf Eph 5:2). Redeemed by his blood, no human life is useless or of
little value, because each of us is loved personally by Him with a
passionate and faithful love, a love without limits. The Cross, - for
the world a folly, for many believers a scandal-, is in fact
the "wisdom of God" for those who allow themselves to be touched
right to the innermost depths of their being, "for God's foolishness
is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human
strength" (1 Cor 1:25). Moreover, the Crucifix, which after the
Resurrection would carry forever the marks of his passion, exposes
the "distortions" and lies about God that underlie violence,
vengeance and exclusion. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes upon
himself the sins of the world and eradicates hatred from the heart of
humankind. This is the true "revolution" that He brings about: love.
Loving our neighbour as Christ loves us
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our reflection. Christ
cried out from the Cross: "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:28). This shows us
his burning thirst to love and to be loved by each one of us. It is
only by coming to perceive the depth and intensity of such a mystery
that we can realise the need and urgency to love him as He has loved
us. This also entails the commitment to even give our lives, if
necessary, for our brothers and sisters sustained by love for Him.
God had already said in the Old Testament: "You shall love your
neighbour as yourself" (Lev 19:18), but the innovation introduced by
Christ is the fact that to love as he loves us means loving everyone
without distinction, even our enemies, "to the end" (cf Jn 13:1).
Witnesses to the love of Christ
I would like to linger for a moment on three areas of daily life
where you, my dear young friends, are particularly called to
demonstrate the love of God. The first area is the Church, our
spiritual family, made up of all the disciples of Christ. Mindful of
his words: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35), you should stimulate, with
your enthusiasm and charity, the activities of the parishes, the
communities, the ecclesial movements and the youth groups to which
you belong. Be attentive in your concern for the welfare of others,
faithful to the commitments you have made. Do not hesitate to
joyfully abstain from some of your entertainments; cheerfully accept
the necessary sacrifices; testify to your faithful love for Jesus by
proclaiming his Gospel, especially among young people of your age.
Preparing for the future
The second area, where you are called to express your love and grow
in it, is your preparation for the future that awaits you. If you are
engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future as a
couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you discover
it with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that
says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places
obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the
happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love. The
love of a man and woman is at the origin of the human family and the
couple formed by a man and a woman has its foundation in God's
original plan (cf Gen 2:18-25). Learning to love each other as a
couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a
demanding "apprenticeship". The period of engagement, very necessary
in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation
that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you
to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it
helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for
each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not
place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare. In
your prayer together, ask the Lord to watch over and increase your
love and to purify it of all selfishness. Do not hesitate to respond
generously to the Lord's call, for Christian matrimony is truly and
wholly a vocation in the Church. Likewise, dear young men and women,
be ready to say "yes" if God should call you to follow the path of
ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life. Your example will be
one of encouragement for many of your peers who are seeking true
happiness.
Growing in love each day
The third area of commitment that comes with love is that of daily
life with its multiple relationships. I am particularly referring to
family, studies, work and free time. Dear young friends, cultivate
your talents, not only to obtain a social position, but also to help
others to "grow". Develop your capacities, not only in order to
become more "competitive" and "productive", but to be "witnesses of
charity". In addition to your professional training, also make an
effort to acquire religious knowledge that will help you to carry out
your mission in a responsible way. In particular, I invite you to
carefully study the social doctrine of the Church so that its
principles may inspire and guide your action in the world. May the
Holy Spirit make you creative in charity, persevering in your
commitments, and brave in your initiatives, so that you will be able
to offer your contribution to the building up of the "civilisation of
love". The horizon of love is truly boundless: it is the whole world!
"Dare to love" by following the example of the saints
My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to love". Do not
desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and
beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a
joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your
brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred
and death forever through love (cf Rev 5:13). Love is the only force
capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all
humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women,
between rich and poor, between cultures and civilisations. This is
shown to us in the lives of the saints. They are true friends of God
who channel and reflect this very first love. Try to know them
better, entrust yourselves to their intercession, and strive to live
as they did. I shall just mention Mother Teresa. In order to respond
instantly to the cry of Jesus, "I thirst", a cry that had touched her
deeply, she began to take in the people who were dying on the streets
of Calcutta in India. From that time onward, the only desire of her
life was to quench the thirst of love felt by Jesus, not with words,
but with concrete action by recognising his disfigured countenance
thirsting for love in the faces of the poorest of the poor. Blessed
Teresa put the teachings of the Lord into practice: "Just as you did
it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did
it to me" (Mt 25:40). The message of this humble witness of divine
love has spread around the whole world.
The secret of love
Each one of us, my dear friends, has been given the possibility of
reaching this same level of love, but only by having recourse to the
indispensable support of divine Grace. Only the Lord's help will
allow us to keep away from resignation when faced with the enormity
of the task to be undertaken. It instills in us the courage to
accomplish that which is humanly inconceivable. Above all, the
Eucharist is the great school of love. When we participate regularly
and with devotion in Holy Mass, when we spend a sustained time of
adoration in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, it is easier to
understand the length, breadth, height and depth of his love that
goes beyond all knowledge (cf Eph 3:17-18). By sharing the
Eucharistic Bread with our brothers and sisters of the Church
community, we feel compelled, like Our Lady with Elizabeth, to
render "in haste" the love of Christ into generous service towards
our brothers and sisters.
Towards the encounter in Sydney
On this subject, the recommendation of the apostle John is
illuminating: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,
but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from
the truth" (1 Jn 3: 18-19). Dear young people, it is in this spirit
that I invite you to experience the next World Youth Day together
with your bishops in your respective dioceses. This will be an
important stage on the way to the meeting in Sydney where the theme
will be: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). May Mary, the Mother
of Christ and of the Church, help you to let that cry ring out
everywhere, the cry that has changed the world: "God is love!" I am
together with you all in prayer and extend to you my heartfelt
blessing.
From the Vatican, 27 January 2007
"The Lost Tomb of Christ?"
"The Lost Tomb of Christ?"
The program (I cannot make myself call it a documentary) thrusts
directly at the heart of Christian faith, questioning the
Resurrection. The Discovery Channel will encourage credulous viewers
to believe that archeologists have discovered a tomb containing the
physical remains of Jesus Christ and members of his family.
If this claim is true-- that Jesus did not rise from the dead-- then
Christianity is a false religion. As St. Paul explained to the
Corinthians (1 Cor 15: 17-19):
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied.
hsi
The program (I cannot make myself call it a documentary) thrusts
directly at the heart of Christian faith, questioning the
Resurrection. The Discovery Channel will encourage credulous viewers
to believe that archeologists have discovered a tomb containing the
physical remains of Jesus Christ and members of his family.
If this claim is true-- that Jesus did not rise from the dead-- then
Christianity is a false religion. As St. Paul explained to the
Corinthians (1 Cor 15: 17-19):
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied.
hsi
in defence of theology
In Defense of Theology
by Mark Shea
"Wow!," said my friend, looking up from his science magazine, "Did
you know DNA is folded into each cell nucleus in your body in a very
precise and compact way? It says here it's like 30 miles of spider
web thread carefully folded into a cherry pit!"
I think this sort of thing is amazing too. But what strikes me funny
is that the same friends of mine who just love to read this sort of
thing in science magazines think nothing of dismissing theology as
just so much "angels on pinheads trivia". Religion, they say, should
be simple, not complex. They say this because moderns imagine
religious truth as an airy speculation, unconnected to "real life",
which somebody got a bunch of people to buy into. That's why we
think Christianity could be made simple if "The Church" wanted to
make it so, but we never imagine DNA could be made simple if "The
Scientists" wanted to make it so. We know that Science is
constrained to describe what is actually there, not what scientists
would like to be there. But we have somehow forgotten that Theology
is under the same obligation.
Christianity is not something somebody made up. It began, not with
philosophical speculation about angels and pins, but with a real
life event that hit a bunch of people between the eyes and left them
wondering, "What was that?" The event was the life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus came, not that we
might have More Abundant Theory, but to bring the Kingdom of God
with a power so frighteningly real that on more than one occasion he
was politely requested to leave the premises. The apostles
themselves did not know what to make of it at first. But Jesus
forced them to face, not some abstraction, but Himself.
"Who do you say that I am?" he asked them. Different theories were
kicked about. Jeremiah? John the Baptist back from the dead? None of
these fit the data till Peter spoke up and offered not theory, but
reality. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," he said.
He was right. And he and the billion or so Christians after him have
been engaged in one monumental exploration of the enormity folded
into those ten words just as molecular biology is an exploration of
the enormity deftly folded into a cell nucleus. All the meaning of
life, the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity, the dignity and
destiny of the human person and the salvation of the world are
folded up and compressed into Peter's words.
Which is why Christian theology has to be "complicated." Theology is
the study of supernatural life just as biology is the study of
natural life. We make no more sense demanding that Theology, the
Queen of the Sciences, be simple than we do demanding that the cells
be filled with a featureless jelly and not all those chromosomes,
ribosomes and mitochondria. Nor do we do ourselves a favor by
depriving ourselves of the sheer wonder and human dignity that is
ours in the task of theology. You think the cell is cool? You should
meet the One who invented it! You amazed by the size of the
Universe? That's just peanuts compared to God! You think the
adventurers who explored the Earth were interesting? Try the
adventure of exploring Heaven! It is, says Proverbs, the "glory of
kings" to search such matters out.
But most amazing of all is that this same God has folded his divine
life into something smaller than a cherry pit, something smaller
even than a mustard seed.
He has placed it in the heart of sinful people like you and me with
a promise to make it grow until it fills heaven and earth.
hsi
by Mark Shea
"Wow!," said my friend, looking up from his science magazine, "Did
you know DNA is folded into each cell nucleus in your body in a very
precise and compact way? It says here it's like 30 miles of spider
web thread carefully folded into a cherry pit!"
I think this sort of thing is amazing too. But what strikes me funny
is that the same friends of mine who just love to read this sort of
thing in science magazines think nothing of dismissing theology as
just so much "angels on pinheads trivia". Religion, they say, should
be simple, not complex. They say this because moderns imagine
religious truth as an airy speculation, unconnected to "real life",
which somebody got a bunch of people to buy into. That's why we
think Christianity could be made simple if "The Church" wanted to
make it so, but we never imagine DNA could be made simple if "The
Scientists" wanted to make it so. We know that Science is
constrained to describe what is actually there, not what scientists
would like to be there. But we have somehow forgotten that Theology
is under the same obligation.
Christianity is not something somebody made up. It began, not with
philosophical speculation about angels and pins, but with a real
life event that hit a bunch of people between the eyes and left them
wondering, "What was that?" The event was the life, teaching, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus came, not that we
might have More Abundant Theory, but to bring the Kingdom of God
with a power so frighteningly real that on more than one occasion he
was politely requested to leave the premises. The apostles
themselves did not know what to make of it at first. But Jesus
forced them to face, not some abstraction, but Himself.
"Who do you say that I am?" he asked them. Different theories were
kicked about. Jeremiah? John the Baptist back from the dead? None of
these fit the data till Peter spoke up and offered not theory, but
reality. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," he said.
He was right. And he and the billion or so Christians after him have
been engaged in one monumental exploration of the enormity folded
into those ten words just as molecular biology is an exploration of
the enormity deftly folded into a cell nucleus. All the meaning of
life, the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity, the dignity and
destiny of the human person and the salvation of the world are
folded up and compressed into Peter's words.
Which is why Christian theology has to be "complicated." Theology is
the study of supernatural life just as biology is the study of
natural life. We make no more sense demanding that Theology, the
Queen of the Sciences, be simple than we do demanding that the cells
be filled with a featureless jelly and not all those chromosomes,
ribosomes and mitochondria. Nor do we do ourselves a favor by
depriving ourselves of the sheer wonder and human dignity that is
ours in the task of theology. You think the cell is cool? You should
meet the One who invented it! You amazed by the size of the
Universe? That's just peanuts compared to God! You think the
adventurers who explored the Earth were interesting? Try the
adventure of exploring Heaven! It is, says Proverbs, the "glory of
kings" to search such matters out.
But most amazing of all is that this same God has folded his divine
life into something smaller than a cherry pit, something smaller
even than a mustard seed.
He has placed it in the heart of sinful people like you and me with
a promise to make it grow until it fills heaven and earth.
hsi
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
