Category Archives: Commentaries

Spiritual Direction in a Pandemic

18 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by in Commentaries, Faith

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Every now and then, a Biblical writer gives a snippet of wisdom that pulls together a host of theological ideas into a short space of words. It is like a tinny dose of a vaccine shot inside the body to help protect the whole of it (ok… bad analogy for anti-vaxxers, but you get the point).

One of these passages stuck out to me the other day and seemed conspicuously apt for our bizarro pandemic time right now.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

1 Thess. 5:16-24 (NRSVCE)

Rejoice Always…Give Thanks in all Circumstances

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Is it ok to mourn the many who have died or lost their jobs during this pandemic? Of course. Can we voice our frustration? Absolutely, and we should.

But somewhere in our hearts, maybe buried deep, there needs to be at least an ounce of rejoicing – a peaceful acknowledgment that Jesus is still king and we are going to be ok because of this. We need to dig and dig until we can find that little piece of thanksgiving, not for some future time that will be, or the past that was so much better than the present, but for right here, right now.

Paul feels the need to not simply request patiently that we rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances. He does not plead with us. No, he commands us, because even though it is true that things suck right now, it is also true that there is something in all of this that we can be thankful for.

What is that for you?

Pray without Ceasing

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I am embarrassed over how little I have gotten on my knees with everything going on in 2020. How lax I have been in pleading with God for this scourge to end.

Every day brings new reasons to pray. For us in the states, after months of dithering, Congress is FINALLY pushing through a bill that could bring some financial relief to citizens on the verge of losing their homes or businesses. The political climate over here is still terribly divided. Masses in many places are still not being celebrated publicly.

Even on a good day, Paul commands us to pray without ceasing. How much more should we do it when the world is falling apart?

If this seems difficult to do (and it is), something that has helped me fulfill this at least partially is to pray some of the short, powerful prayers throughout the day that have been used for centuries. Here are two.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners both now and at the hour of our death.”

“Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” You could pray that one in the plural for the world as well.

You might counter that Jesus told us not to “heap up empty phrases” when we pray. Fair enough. But they are not empty if you mean them. Is there ever a minute we could not use Mary’s intercession on our behalf? Is there a minute that goes by that we and our world are not in need of mercy?

Do not Quench the Spirit

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God is trying to tell us something today. He is speaking to our heart. Are we listening?

He speaks in all sorts of ways. He speaks through our pastors. He speaks through our friends. He speaks through our circumstances.

There is definitely something mystical about this, and we need to be cautious – “test everything.” God will never contradict himself by saying one thing in Scripture and Tradition and then saying something different to you personally. But we need courage in our daily lives to follow the promptings of the Spirit of God.

I confess, again, that I do not listen to him as well as I should. The day slips through my fingers and before I know it, I am lost in a YouTube video at 11pm about a guy whose comedy sketch was edited out of the Late Show with David Letterman. Fascinating, yes, but seriously, what in the world am I doing?

On the days I do listen, what a difference! I see his hand moving in one of my children, or I experience a breakthrough with my wife. I see things I didn’t know were there. I experience a depth of living that I did not have on a typical frenetic day.

Abstain from Every Form of Evil

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Another spiritual practice that I give less attention to than I should is the examination of conscience. One priest, Fr. Sweeney over here in California, counseled us in the evening to look over our day with Jesus and ask him what he sees there. Where did I not love as much as I should have? What did I look at that took me a peg down spiritually? What conversations remain with me? Did I speak as I should have with them? Should I pray for that person?

I cannot abstain from evil if I cannot see the evil I need to abstain from. More often than not, I just don’t slow down long enough to see it. If I did, the pitfalls and stumbling blocks that pepper my day would not hinder me so much.

May the God of Peace Himself Sanctify You

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Is it entirely our responsibility to make sure we rejoice always, give thanks in everything, pray without ceasing, and abstain from every form of evil? Thank God, no! We needs God’s help, and he is right there with us to give it. As St. Patrick prayed, so can we.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

From the Prayer of St. Patrick

When we attempt to live the Christian life in our own strength, we fail. We burn out. When we come to the end of ourselves and ask God for his grace, his strength in our lives, we mount up with wings like eagles. We run without becoming weary. We walk without becoming faint.

How often I think I am alone in all of this – especially now. Physically we have to be separated from others. Spiritually, for many of us, it feels the same.

Being an introvert, that might not bother me as much as others, but that probably makes it even worse. I can turn inward like a turtle and never come out which isn’t a good thing.

Whatever our condition, though, the God of peace is with us.

Even in Prison

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It is amazing to think about these passages in light of what Paul himself actually went through. In his lifetime, he was imprisoned, stoned near to death, shipwrecked, hated by his fellow countrymen, I could go on.

Knowing how much he went through, his words mean even more. I need to rejoice. I need to be thankful. I need to pray more. I need to abstain more from evil. I need to do it all in God’s strength and not my own.

If Paul could do all this locked in a prison and in chains, we can do it locked in our homes. And I think the same comfort and peace it brought to his own spirit will come to us as well.

©2020 Catholic Anonymous

Romans 1

22 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by in Bible, Commentaries, Faith, Reading Romans

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While each Epistle has several purposes, there is often a main purpose that strikes the reader. Galatians was intended to address issues around Gentiles being part of the Church; 2 Thessalonians addresses eschatological doctrine; 1 Corinthians addresses chaos, morality, and discipline in church conduct and governance. We could say that the predominant purpose of Romans is to preach the Gospel and hand it on for posterity.

Romans is a long epistle and the Gospel portion of it is lengthy. This may seem odd to modern Christians who may be used to condensed versions of the Gospel along the lines of “Jesus died in our place so that our sins could be forgiven.” I hasten to add that I am not opposed to shortened versions of the Gospel where appropriate, but do point out that frequently in Acts the Gospel is preached in a narrative format, just as Paul chooses to in Romans.

Paul’s Gospel is international and rooted in the Jewish Scriptures, which he presents as a record of oracles, covenants, and promises made by God to His people Israel. Paul depicts Christ as Jewish and human, thus both particular and universal. He also presents Him as man and God: both perfect and able to identify with us in our plight. Paul’s Jesus is the Saviour, the One who fulfils God’s promises to Israel and delivers us from darkness and the wrath of God.

Paul makes clear from the beginning that this salvation is a gift from God, not merited by our works and to be received by coming to God and trusting Him, forsaking former religious ties, and holding on for the end, though we do not see God with our eyes in this life.

Paul tells the story of our descent into darkness, which simultaneously reveals both our need for salvation and the fate of those who will not repent. He illustrates our spiritual darkness with examples, ranging from polytheism and idolatry, which would have been familiar to the Roman’s, littered and Rome was with temples and statues, to sexual misconduct and general disobedience and selfishness.

Here Paul’s theology moves on to two points: God’s temporary abandonment of the Gentiles (Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 82); and the fact that God does not force salvation on anyone: we must freely accept the Gospel.

This allows Paul to set up the election and purpose of Israel, which is an essential element of his Gospel narrative. Paul also begins warning that sin leads to death: there is something from which we are to be saved as well as Someone we are to be saved for.

Feeding the needs of others

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Bible, Commentaries, Faith, St Matthew's Gospel

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In today’s Gospel reading Jesus feeds a crowd of people who have come to follow Him. There are those who find this improbable and who even feel the need to emphasise the metaphorical aspect of the event. That would be a mistake on at least two levels. In the first place one can hardly profess a belief in the most miraculuous event of all, the Resurrection of Jesus, and doubt that He had the ability to feed those who needed Him. In the second place, it risks taking away from the deep meaning of the event.

It is prefaced by what must have been a truly awful event for Jesus – the execution of His cousin, John at the whim of the tyrant, Herod. Like so many of us His first reaction was to find a place of solitude where He could mourn and perhaps come to terms with what had just happened. It is a need common to humanity, and reminds us that Jesus truly was human as well as divine. It is in His reaction to those who interrupted His need for solitude that we glimpse the Divine. Where you or I might have been irritated, Jesus is “moved to pity.” The Greek goes further and refers to a stirring of the body’s “inward parts,” which tells us something of the depth of His compassion. Where life has been taken, despite His own sorrow, Jesus gives life.

His disciples get the point that you or I might have got, that He needs silence and space; Jesus gets the larger point, which is that where there is need, there He must be with God’s love. So He heals. Then, rather than disperse the crowd, He feeds them. There is a reference back here to the Manna in the wilderness, as well as a resonance forward to the Last Supper. Here Jesus offers His time and patience, later it will be His body and His blood.

The miracle upon which we tend to focus is the feeding of the five thousand (although, given the women and children who were not counted, it must have been more), but we should not forget the sign of God’s Grace in Jesus putting aside His own needs for ours. There is love, not that we love Him, but that He loved us first. The miracle is God’s compassion for us. However much we may feel undeserving, it is ours all the same. Can we go and do likewise?

Luminous Christianity (1)

09 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in Bible, Commentaries, Faith, Homilies, Marian devotion

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2-the-light-of-the-world-william-holman-hunt9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Thus we read in St Mark, and thus did St John Paul II begin the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

One of the most frequent words used in Scripture to describe Jesus is “Light.” Jesus tells the people that He is “the light of the world,” while St John reminds us that the “light” came into the world but the world heeded it not because men preferred the darkness which hid the evil that they did. But we are told, also, that the darkness did not overcome the Light. Here, in the first of the Mysteries of Light, the Light of the World is revealed, and as we know, though the world, in the sense of the worldly, rejected Him, He prevailed and will triumph; but here, for the first time, parts of the world see Jesus for who He is – the Son of God.

And yet how strange. Isaiah told us that:

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

But why does it dawn in this way? We are told in Hebrews:

15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

So why, if He is without sin is baptism the first revelation to the wider world that Jesus is the Light of the world? It is precisely because He is like us in every way, and in being baptised He makes baptism sacramental. It is our entry into His Church. Just as Jesus submitted to the humiliation of death upon the Cross for us and for our salvation, so He submits to baptism; where we go, the Incarnate Word has already been.

We see, in the Baptist’s reaction a recognition that he is not worthy to baptise the Son of God, yet Jesus insists, and John submits his will to that of God. The result of that obedience is that the Heavens are opened and God speaks. We see, here, how close Heaven is and the way to it; if we will submit our will to God’s, then the Kingdom of Heaven is, indeed, at hand.

Jesus begins His Ministry as He would continue it, identifying Himself with the sinners and the outcasts. The Baptist, like us, questions when he thinks he knows the answer. Jesus is the one for whom he has been preparing the way, so there is no way He needs to be baptised. God knows better. How often are we like the Baptist?

In Christ’s obedience the eyes of others are opened and His identity confirmed. If we love Him then we will respond to His love, and one of the fruits of that is obedience. We are not left alone, the Spirit is with us always, and the Church into which we are baptised is His Church and is here for us. The recognition of who Jesus is was the beginning of His earthly Ministry, and for us, it is the beginning of our life in Him.

I understand the arguments of those who would restrict baptism to adults, but my heart tells me that if the Apostles baptised whole families, so should we, and I know from my own experience, that the mark of infant baptism has been a gift of Grace for which I have always been grateful to my parents, well, to be honest, to my mother, as my father could not have cared one way or the other.

But Baptism is just a beginning, a vitally important one, but unless we persevere, then its fruits will be limited. How often do we wish we could see more clearly, rather than through a glass darkly? But how often do we remember that too much light in this world can be used as an instrument of torture? There is a limit to the light mankind can bear. We need faith, for, as the author of Hebrews reminds us:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2For by it the people of old received their commendation.

The Baptist is shown the Truth, we are given the assurance of hope.

So, we begin the Mysteries of Light on Jordan’s bank with the Baptist night and with the Lord setting us an example. We shall continue them with His first public miracle, which is another sign that the Dayspring from on high had dawned on the world.

 

Eugenics, Icelandic Style

25 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in Abortion, Anglicanism, Catholic Tradition, Commentaries, Consequences, Early Church, Lutheranism

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Webster’s defines Eugenics as, “a science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed”. Pretty innocuous, isn’t it? It merely means that as we have children we should be aware that our characteristics; looks, intelligence, and such, will likely carry on. In other words, we should find smart, attractive, whatever matters to you, partners. I think we all knew that even before 1883 when the term was coined.

But what about this, Iceland has all but eradicated Down’s Syndrome. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? A real victory for eugenics. Or is it? Iceland has done this by aborting just about every unborn baby that shows a possibility of Down’s. Rather a different sort of thing, I think.

The worst part is that they seem proud of it. David Harsanyi writing in The Federalist (and you really should read it) tells us:

Now, the word “eradication” typically implies that an ailment is being cured or beaten by some technological advancement. Not so in this case. Nearly 100 percent of women who receive positive tests for Down syndrome in that small nation end up eradicatingtheir pregnancies. Iceland averages only one or two Down syndrome children per year, and this seems mostly a result of parents receiving inaccurate test results.

It’s just a matter of time until the rest of the world catches up. In the United States around 67 percent of women who find out their child will be born with Down syndrome opt to have an abortion. In the United Kingdom it’s around 90 percent. More and more women are taking these prenatal tests, and the tests are becoming increasingly accurate.

For now, however, Iceland has completed one of the most successful eugenics programs in the contemporary world. If you think that’s overstated, consider that eugenics — the word itself derived from Greek, meaning “well born” — is nothing more than an effort to control breeding to increase desirable heritable characteristics within a population. This can be done through “positive” selection, as in breeding the “right” kinds of people with each other, or in “negative” selection, which is stopping the wrong kinds of people from having children.

The latter was the hallmark of the progressive movement of the 1900s. It was the rationalization behind the coerced sterilization of thousands of mentally ill, poor, and minorities here in America. It is why real-life Nazis required doctors to register all newborns born with Down syndrome. And the first humans they gassed were children under three years old with “serious hereditary diseases” like Down syndrome.

Now, as a general rule Down’s Syndrome is not inheritable, and this story “reflects a relatively heavy-handed genetic counseling,” as geneticist Kari Stefansson admits in a video. One is led to ask, what else can we control for in our kids? Want one son and maybe a daughter later? That can certainly be done. Why not, it’s the mother’s body, after all. Isn’t it?

But what about that child, essentially murdered even before he or she had a chance at life?

Over at Landspitali University Hospital, Helga Sol Olafsdottir counsels women who have a pregnancy with a chromosomal abnormality. They speak to her when deciding whether to continue or end their pregnancies. Olafsdottir tells women who are wrestling with the decision or feelings of guilt: ‘This is your life — you have the right to choose how your life will look like.’

Marie Stopes and Margeret Sanger must be so proud of her.

You know, back in the day, when Christianity was known as ‘The Way’, one of the markers of Christians was the way they loved each other, no matter the station, and more to our point, they did not leave unwanted children to die of exposure. As just about every other culture in antiquity did

Seems to me that for all our prattling about human rights, we’re doing a really terrible job of practicing what we preach.

Raising Lazarus: the view from the Church Fathers

02 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by in Bible, Commentaries, Early Church, Faith, St John

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What follow is a collection of the reflections of the Fathers on today’s Gospel reading.

 

John 11:1-45

St Augustine reminds us that Lazarus is raised from the dead by the one who created all things and brings new life to all mankind. St Cyril of Alexandria tells us that in mentioning the names of Martha and Mary, the Evangelist is showing us why the Lord loved them for their piety and devotion to Him. He mentions the tale of Mary and the ointment to show that she had such a thirst for Him that she wiped His feet with her hair, seeking to fasten to herself the spiritual blessing that comes from the Holy flesh. She often sits close to Him and is clearly devoted to her Lord. All the more reason then to stress, as Chrysostom does, that this Mary is not the harlot mentioned in Matthew 26:7.

Gregory of Nyssa’s account describes how Christ’s absence gives death the chance to do its work. Chrysostom is not slow to point out that even those closest to Jesus are not spared suffering, sorrow and death. Those, he tells us, who are offended by such things ‘do not know that those who are especially dear to God have it as their lot to endure such things.’

Peter Chrysologus describes the way in which the miracle of Lazarus is quite different from those where Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus, or the widow’s only son. Here death has already exerted its full power. Jesus lets death do its worst, and then he does His best – and we see here the power of the Son of God writ large in all its glory.

St Augustine comments on the terms in which the sisters wrote to Jesus. They said that the one whom he loved was ill. They did not ask for healing, but expressed their faith that love does not abandon the object of itself; they knew he would not abandon them. But rather, as St Cyril reminds us, Jesus saw that this would be turned to glory of God, when men saw His power; and He and God are one, for here Jesus says that ‘the Son of God’ might be glorified.

Yet the disciples were, as Augustine comments, fearful, so Jesus reproves them. Christ is the day, His Apostles the twelve hours, and it is not the time to withdraw whilst the Light is with them; the day is followed by the hours; the Apostles follow Jesus. St Athanasius reminds us that everyone who walks in the Light will be saved, but those who turn aside and walk in the darkness will be lost. The upright need fear no ill.

Augustine tells us that in saying that Lazarus is only sleeping, Jesus foreshadow what is to come, since all those who die in faith will be raised again, and so they are, indeed, only sleeping. Jesus did not need to go to Lazarus to raise him, but chose to do so in order that all men should know by whose power this miracle was wrought – including in this number his own disciples. Jesus uses this episode to instruct his own disciples who do not see clearly yet. Thomas the twin grasps the notion that one must die with Jesus to be raised with him, and yet he does not know the fullness of what he says; when the moment comes, he, like the others, will not be there. Of all the Apostles, only St John is at the foot of the Cross.

Origen sees in Mary’s absence the fact that she was quietly and prayerfully hopeful, trusting in the Lord, whilst the more active Martha wanted to rush to Jesus and seek his help. She, too, believes unconditionally. Augustine points out that she does not ask Jesus to raise her brother, she leaves to him the decision on what to do; our faith should imitate that; it is His will, not our will that must be done. Jesus is not the God of the dead but of the living, for those who believe on Him shall not die. As Paul tells us in 1 Thess 4:13-14, those who are asleep in Christ will rise with Him. He is the Life and the Resurrection.

Peter Chrysologus tells us that Christ, and Mary and the Jews all weep. That Mary should have wept was natural since she was the sister and had until that point no comforter. The Jews wept because they were in the presence of that death which is the lots of sons of Adam; as he was then, so would they be soon.. Jesus weeps because he is calling to mind the joy which the resurrection will give to those whom he loves. Chrysostom thinks that Jesus weeps here to show how human he is and to show he shares our sorrow. He asks where they have laid him so that the Jews will come with him to see the miracle.

Jesus is moved because he loves his friend, and his heart goes with those who sorrow. Martha, ever the practical one, intervenes to warn Jesus about what will happen if the stone is removed, but He reproaches her for her unbelief. She believes, and it is her belief and that of Mary which. St Cyril tells us, raises their brother to life. Jesus is the source of life and of hope, and if we will trust him then it will end as he wishes. Jesus thanks His Father, as we should, and like him, we should lift our eyes in prayer. This, Athanasius reminds us, is the voice that spoke the world into creation, and the one that will call us from the tomb at the last day. The unbinding of Lazarus is the type of our being freed from the bonds of sin; many of us are like Lazarus, trapped in the tomb until released by the word of Jesus. That word removes from death its sting, and we can look forward to the resurrection and death has to let us go. But the Jews were confused: some believed, some did not. How hard are the hearts of those who are blind.

Light from the East?

10 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by in Church/State, Commentaries, Politics

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Putin and AS

Here is the other one of Jessica’s from Christmas week on Neo, regarding Solzhenitsyn. The first is here. It is not comfortable reading, and given the topic it should not be. I do think it is both relevant and correct, and does outline, perhaps some of the unease we feel at the moment. In any case, the two posts were designed to go together, and they hold up immensely well, so enjoy.

The last few days we have been looking at two voices from the East – President Putin and Alexander Solzhenitsyn; in many ways they are far apart as you could want, but in another not; they both offer a critique of Western consumerism which derives from Russian Christian sources.  Putin may be doing this for a number of reasons, but the origin of his criticism is the same as Solzhenitsyn’s – which is the conviction that man is not at the centre of his own universe; whether Putin believes it, who can say? That Solzhenitsyn did is clear.

One of the most potent points Solzhenitsyn makes is that:

in early democracies, as in American democracy at the time of its birth, all individual human rights were granted because man is God’s creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility.

When America’s Founding Fathers separated Church and State they did not do so because they were atheists or thought Christianity wrong, they did so because they did not want one Church to dominate in their society; they do, indeed, seem to have assumed that man would be bound by the responsibilities which the Christian faith laid upon him; realists, they did not think man would always live up to these, but they did not see freedom as license; can we now say that of ourselves and our leaders? What is it which binds us?

Here, Neo often excoriates modern political leaders for what is essentially their lack of courage and morals. By that last he isn’t just talking about sex, he is talking across the range of things which ought to bind leaders: a concern for honesty, integrity and truth. Modern political leaders seem to have discovered that these things can be dispensed with, as long as it is not done ostentatiously; and they wonder why the electorate is disillusioned with them and their leadership?

Solzhenitsyn’s critique is a Christian one:

There is a disaster, however, that has already been under way for quite some time. I am referring to the calamity of a despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness.

Of such consciousness man is the touchstone, in judging everything on earth. Imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now experiencing the consequences of mistakes that were not noticed at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our day we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity, which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility.

For a true understanding of man’s real destiny, God is essential:

If humanism were right in declaring that man is born only to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature.

But if we refuse to recognise this, or think it of no importance, then we shan’t see any reasons for exercising any self-restraint save for that imposed by the law – and if the law is the only guide we have, then we have become a society without a spirit of self-sacrifice or restraint:

People in the West have acquired considerable skill in using, interpreting, and manipulating law. Any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law, and this is considered to be the supreme solution. If one is right from a legal point of view, nothing more is required. Nobody may mention that one could still not be entirely right, and urge self-restraint, a willingness to renounce such legal rights, sacrifice, and selfless risk: it would sound simply absurd. One almost never sees voluntary self-restraint. Everybody operates at the extreme limit of those legal frames. 

It seems here that this light from the East says much about where we are as a society, and why there is, in all quarters, a feeling that we have somehow taken the wrong turning. Maybe it takes men speaking from a society which took the wrong turn for many generations to see this.  It may well take more humility than we have to be told it and to learn from it.  But when a Russian President says:

We know that there are more and more people in the world who support our position on defending traditional values that have made up the spiritual and moral foundation of civilisation in every nation for thousands of years: the values of traditional families, real human life, including religious life, not just material existence but also spirituality, the values of humanism and global diversity

then we can either point fingers and say who is he to talk? Or we can ask whether there is not something in what he says from which we might learn? The choice is ours.

NT Readings 24th Sunday in OT Year C

10 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Commentaries, Early Church, Faith

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The commentary on the Gospel Reading can be found here. The Epistle is

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Chrysostom’s homilies invite us to note the humility with which St Paul refers to himself: he neither disguises his former sinfulness, not rejoices in his own strength – every thing is for and by Christ. He is not forgetful of his sins, but he knows they are forgiven him, and he wants to be an example to all sinners that there is none, no not one, not even the greatest is who beyond the redeeming love of Christ. It was, St Augustine says, solely by the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul, like all of us, was saved from the sins in which he languished; whilst the soul can injure itself, it cannot provide the medicine needed to heal itself. Just as, if we would heal the self-indulgences which harm the body, we must heed the advice of the doctor, so too, with the soul, must we heed the advice of Christ the healer. If we acquire the grace of faith, then we are just by that faith, and the just man lives thereby.

Chrysologus notes that that Paul does not exhort us by the might and power of God, but by his great mercy – for that alone saves us. But if men will not admit their sin and will not repent of it – if they persist in it and glory in their own righteousness, then they do so to their ultimate destruction, as Paul might have done had he not responded to God’s grace.

St Cyril of Jerusalem marvelled at the way in which it was the former persecutor, Paul, who contributed so many epistles to the Canon. It was not that the other Apostles did not have anything to say, but it was the case that no one could accuse Paul of always having followed Jesus. He is a perfect example of the prodigal son brought home.

St Athanasius points out St Paul’s method in passing on the true teaching. That which the Apostles received they passed on without change so that the doctrine of the mysteries (the sacraments) and Christ would remain correct. The Divine Word, the Son of God, wants us to follow their teaching – only from that source do we get ‘faithful words, worthy of acceptance’.

St Augustine reminds us that there was one sole reason the Word became flesh – that was to eliminate the disease of sin. Every single person has fallen short of the will of God, and there is nothing for us but damnation; justice would be to damn us all. But here we are liberated by God’s redeeming love – we are ‘vessels of mercy’, freed not by our merits but by the love of Christ.

St Isaac the Syrian reminds us that St Paul says he is the greatest of sinners even though he has spent years proclaiming the Gospel in hard conditions and through much suffering. He knew that he must run the race to the end, and he hoped for the crown eternal at the end.

St Augustine comments that if we are to attain that vision by which we see God as he is, our hearts must be cleansed.

NT Readings 23rd Sunday in OT Year C

04 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by in Bible, Commentaries, Early Church, Faith, Philemon

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The commentary on the Gospel reading can be found here. The NT reading is

Philemon 9-10, 12-17

Paul appeals to Philemon on a number of grounds, Chrysostom tells us in his Homilies on Philemon: the quality of his person, his age, and most of all, because he is a ‘prisoner of Jesus’. Paul speaks eloquently of Onesimus, in exactly the same terms he uses for Timothy, and he reminds Philemon that his slave is born again in Christ. Paul is mindful that Onesimus still belongs to Philemon, and so he brings before him the admirable qualities which he says will be useful to him (Paul) in the service of Jesus. God rules, Paul reminds him, not by tyranny or coercion, but by love and encouragement – he wants us to willingly give ourselves to his service – and this is the model which Paul suggests to Philemon with regard to Onesimus. Since it would be to the glory and service of God, Paul suggests that in behaving as God wants, Philemon would be doing a good work in helping Onesimus to help Paul spread God’s word.

St Jerome thought that verse 14. in which Paul talks about goodness not being by compulsion, answers the question of why God gave man free will and did not just make us automatically good and obedient. God is good not by some impersonal necessity he is so, but because it is in his essence that he freely wills his own goodness, and since we are made in his image, he wants us to choose to be good.

Paul wisely uses the word ‘perhaps’ in verse 15, since Onesimus did not flee his master to achieve God’s work, but from the desire to escape his master; this is also designed to show Philemon that Paul is judging impartially.

Chrysostom comments on the uselessness of names in describing good and evil in men, for there are many who are masters who are wicked, drunkards and dissemblers, and many a slave who is upright and good. Is the man who is slave to drink or greed in any way really free? Sin is the harshest of slave masters. Paul shows Philemon how wonderful God’s ways are and invited him to cooperate in the spreading of the Good News.

NT Readings 22 Sunday in OT Year C

28 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by in Bible, Commentaries, Early Church, Faith

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The Gospel commentary can be found here. The NT reading is

Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24

Chrysostom tells us that wonderful indeed were the things in the Temple, the Holy of Holies. while those things which occurred at Mt Sinai were terrible – ‘a blazing fire, and darkess, and gloom, and a tempest (Deut 33:2). But the New Covenant was given in quite another way – through Jesus Christ, where there is nothing frightening, and where God reveals himself to us more fully than ever before, and through whom alone can we be saved. Where in the OT men feared that to hear the word of God was to die, (Ex 20:19) we know that the Word of God is life, and through Him we shall inherit life eternal.

Instead of Moses, we get Jesus, and instead of the people ‘innumerable angels’. When he speaks of the ‘first born’ he means the faithful – those who are saved in Christ. From the first, therefore, the Israelites were themselves the cause of God’s being manifested in the flesh, and we know, as they did not, that there is no need to fear God speaking to us – provided we follow His precepts through the revelation of Christ. We hear the voice not through the storm or the dark or the fire, but through Jesus Christ.

St Ambrose reminds us that we must always be anxious to hear the Word of God and to obey it. We must be on the watch always – the soul knows no peace until it finds it in Christ. Just as Christ raised Adam and Eve, so too did he raise Abel, for his offerings were pleasing to God. Jesus offered himself as the one perfect sacrifice acceptable to God. We are purified by that precious blood. What was prefigured in the Old testament is revealed more full in the New, and we are to attend on Christ and the revelation and the Good News he brings. There, alone, can salvation be found.