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This week, the wisdom book offered for meditation and reflection in the liturgy is that of Tobit. The story of Tobit is set outside of the Holy Land and was written as an edifying story for the Israelite who wishes to live faithful to Yahweh and His Ways at a time and place that greatly discourages it. The plot of the story is simple: Tobit goes blind after doing the duty of an Israelite towards the dead. His situation raises a question: “Why do the innocent suffer?” The rest of the story tells of how the “fate” (if you may call it that) of Tobit is reversed, through his son Tobias. While the story is about Tobit, the main character is Tobias who, following the wisdom imparted to him by his father not only helps to heal his father but also “heals” the lot of Sarah a woman under the power of a demon.

The story is edifying primarily because Jewish wisdom is illustrated in concrete ways withing the story. Love and devotion to parents, choice of companions, choice of a wife, love… all these are shown as practical and concrete ways of living according to the ways of Yahweh. It is also the book which is the basis for the Catholic Church’s doctrine of Guardian Angels. Raphael, masquerading as a guide, becomes the companion of Tobias and helps this latter accomplish what he set out to do and more.

The story has a lot in common with Ruth, a novella which deals with a matriarch’s reversal of fortune through the fidelity of her daughter-in-law. Both also deal with the question of levirate marriage, an issue which may have been important for the Jews during times of national crisis (in war, or even in exile). And in both the image of the devoted son/daughter on the one hand and the formative relevance that the father/mother have towards them is highlighted.

Below is a table that shows how selections from the book will be used during these days. There are breaks in the reading of the book because of the feast of the Visitation and the Sacred Heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Jerome Neyrey describes the plan of his “Questions, Chreiai and Honor Challenges: The Interface of Rhetoric and Culture in Mark’s Gospel” thus:

First, we need data on “questions” in antiquity: who asked questions of whom, why and in what context? Second, we examine the chreia for two reasons: (1) many chreiai begin with a question asked of a sage and (2) the chreia is undoubtedly the dominant form in which Mark reports the controversies of Jesus. Scholarship indicates that chreiai often served to celebrate the wisdom or cleverness of a sage(4) and thus honor him for this prowess. Third, this rhetorical material embodies the pivotal cultural values of antiquity, namely, honor and shame. We argue, then, that the chreia describes the typical “challenge/riposte” exchange which is a common form of social intercourse among ancient Mediterraneans. Hence, an in-depth appreciation of Jesus’ controversies requires analysis of all three aspects for a truly thorough study of Mark’s presentation of Jesus as an honorable person. Jesus is at least as good as the best of the ancient sages!

Interesting stuff. It may be too technical for the casual reader though. Go here.

The selections from Sirach in this week’s liturgy is about the worship of God. The passages proposed for meditation bear on conversion, sacrifices and offerings, prayer and contemplation, among others. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is how Fr. Cantalamessa explains the Mystery of the Trinity. The main premise in the explanation is that “God is Love” (1 John 4:16b)

Christians believe that God is triune because they believe that God is love! It is the revelation of God as love, made by Jesus, which has obliges us to admit the Trinity. It is not a human invention. There is no love for the void, no love that is not directed to someone. So we must ask: who does God love to be defined as love? A first answer might be: He loves mankind. But we have existed for some millions of years, no more. And before then, who did God love? He could not in fact have begun to be love at a certain point in time, because God cannot change.

Second answer: Before then he loved the cosmos, the universe. But the universe has existed for some thousands of millions of years. Before then, who did God love to be able to define himself as love? We cannot say that he loved himself because to love oneself is not love, but egoism or, as psychologists say, narcissism.

Here is the answer of Christian revelation. God is love in himself, before time, because he has always had in himself a Son, the word, whom he loves with an infinite love, that is, in the Holy Spirit. In all love there are always three realities or subjects: one who loves, one who is loved, and the love that unites them.

The God of Christian revelation is one and triune because he is communion of love. Theology has made use of the term “nature” or “substance” to indicate unity in God, and of the term “person” to indicate the distinction. Because of this we say that our God is one God in three persons. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is not a regression, a compromise between monotheism and polytheism. It is a step further that only God himself could make the human mind take.

The explanation is lifted from today’s dispatch from Zenit: ZE05052002

The week after Pentecost Sunday continues ordinary time (that is, in the liturgical parlance, the weeks in ordinal numbers). And while the Gospels continue with selections from the Marcan gospel that follow the Transfiguration, the OT readings (for Year 1) are taken from the Wisdom books, specifically the Book of Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus.

After a season where the liturgy offered texts for contemplation and recollection, in ordinary time we go back to what we need for daily living: admonitions, exhortations, instructions for right living. The rich Wisdom literature of the Old Testament provides us with a source for reflection and study. Below is a table showing how selections from the Book of Sirach has been distributed from Monday to Saturday during the 7th Week of Ordinary Time:
Read the rest of this entry »

John 15:1-8 is about the vital relationship that exists between Jesus and his disciples. Verses 9-17 look at this relationship from a different perspective: that of the disciples among themselves IN the Lord.

⁹ ? As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.
¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love: as I also have kept my Father?s commandments and do abide in his love.
¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.
¹² This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

The “Love” spoken of here is agape (agape); it is a self-giving, life-giving love. It is the kind of love that God has shown to manking in His Son. The following verse (v. 13) is an illustration of what this love means: Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.
¹⁵ I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends. because all things, whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

“Friends”. This is the name that the Lord gives His disciples. He calls them friends since he is about to give his life for them. He promotes them from being “servants”. If one reads the synoptic parables about what a disciple should be, one would see that a lot of these draws from the servant-master relationship. In the present discourse the Lord gives us a different perspective. His disciples are now friends because He shares with them the revelations of the Father.

¹⁶ You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

“I have chosen you…” This is the mystery. Paul writes that “he chose us even before the foundation of the world.” The disciple is the Lord’s friend from all eternity. And the Lord chooses those who are to bear fruit. In the beginning paragraphs of John 15 the Lord has said: “I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” The Lord chooses but at the same time enables. The fruits that he desires are of course the same fruits that God always looked for in Israel — the “fruits of righteousness”, the proofs that His work has not been in vain. But while in the Old Dispensation — as Paul would observe — righteousness was made to be inseparable from the law, in the New Dispensation, grace is given full sway such that through the operation of faith “active in charity” the disciples are empowered to bear fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:5). When the disciple truly lives out his baptism, he becomes the fertile soil that the Word irrigates and the Creator tends with the Life-Giving Spirit. And all these becomes possible in the life of communion that he has with other disciples with whom he commits himself to a life of self-giving, life-giving, love.

1 Peter 3:15-18 is the classic passage for “apologetics” that branch of theology which explains the reasonability of one’s beliefs. “Apologetics” has fallen into disuse in places where the majority are Catholics and its place has been taken by the idea of “inter-religious dialogue”. In the Philippines, however, the need for “apologetics” is being felt in the grassroots level, where families witness how people baptized in the Catholic faith are experiencing the attacks of Christian fundamentalists and are succumbing to their apparently bible-based discourse. In the past, “apologetics” was addressed to non-believers; today, there is a need for an “apologetics” that is addressed to professed anti-Catholic and apparently-Christian groups.

In 1 Peter 3:15-18, there is a clear spirituality pointed out. Read the rest of this entry »

John 15:9-17 is the second movement in the discourse that one finds in chapter 15. John 15:1-8 explains in a graphic way the vital relationship that exists between Jesus and his disciples. In this section, Jesus also describes that relationship as a love relationship. But the kind of love that is described here is “agape” — it is a self-giving and life-giving love. Read the rest of this entry »

John 3 has been read in continuation during yesterday’s and today’s mass. A lot of born again christians look to this chapter in John for a lot of their faith convictions. I’ll pick out three and comment on them…

1. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3, NIV)

The phrase that is translated as “born again” can also have the meaning “born from above.” John applies an “above-below” paradigm where he contrasts two worlds: the one from “above” is the realm of God, the “place” from which the Son has been sent and to which He will return. It is the “place” from which God’s gifts to Israel descended. The one from “below” is the “place” where Jesus is sent. It is also the place that resists him. The one born from “above” will be born of “water and Spirit.” (John 3:5). To these are given the kingdom of God.

2. “You must be born again. The wind (=Spirit) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it is headed or coming from. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

The statement is packed. First Jesus reiterates the necessity of being born “from above.” Then he compares the one born “from above” (which is equivalent to “born of the Spirit” to the wind. The point of comparison is that no one knows where the one born of the Spirit is headed or comes from. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the one whose origins and final destination are greatly misunderstood:

John 6:42: “Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph … How can he now say “I came down from heaven?”

John 8:41-42: “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say the Christ will come from David’s family?…”

John 7:35: “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him?”

John 13:36: “Simon Peter said: ‘Lord where are you going?’.”

In other words, the one “born of the Spirit” will be like Jesus himself.

3. Just as MOses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

The statement recalls an event during the wandering of Israel in the desert when Moses lifted up a bronze serpent on a pole so that those who would look at it may be healed from snake bites (Num. 21). By this event, Jesus points to his own crucifixion — the moment when he hangs on the cross. However, if understood within the context of 3:13 and its allussion to a descent from heaven, one can also understand “lifting up” as referring to and ascent to heaven, that is, his glorification. In other words, Jesus death and glorification becomes the means through which eternal life may be given to those who believe in him.

In John 3:1-15, we find “baptism (born of water and Spirit) — kingdom of God/eternal life — belief in the Jesus who dies and is glorified” are tied up in a discourse about being “born from above”.

Luke 24:13-35 is interesting in that it is a story that arranges the scenes of a Resurrection appearance of Jesus according to an intention that is catechetical.

1. It emphasizes the idea that the events of Good Friday can only be understood through the Scriptures as interpreted by the Risen Lord

It is important to note that here the reading of the Scriptures is done in order that the events that the disciples have undergone and are asking about can be understood. The reading that they do is integral (”from Moses through the prophets, he interpreted for them all the pertinent passages that spoke about him.”). Understanding the Scriptures is not primarily about information; it is about life itself, its meaning and what God wants from his people.

2. The fact that the story starts with two disciples underscores the community setting in which number 1 takes place

The Scriptures is read in community. Individual readings of the Scriptures should be treated as an extension of the reading of the Scriptures done in community. This community orientation is important since the Scriptures was not written for individuals as individuals. Even Theophilus (the addressee of Luke’s gospel; cf. Luke 1:1) was given Luke’s gospel because he was a member of the Christian community.

3. The recognition of the Risen Lord occurs after the reading of the Word and during a meal

The pattern of the story follows closely the division of the Mass into two parts: the liturgy of the word gives way to the liturgy of the Eucharist. The liturgy of the Word is in function of the liturgy of the Eucharist. The two disciples recognize the Lord in that journey which is the Mass.

4. The remembrance that “our hearts were burning as He explained the Scriptures” is a hindsight provoked by the recognition of the Risen Lord.

The “burning hearts” are hearts whose faith are purified by the Word of the Lord. But the disciples recognize this only after they themselves have seen the Lord in the breaking of the bread.

5. The “discovery” of the two disciples is referred to the proclamation of Peter that the Lord is truly risen.

The two disciples return to Jerusalem, but they first had to listen to the proclamation of the apostles. No discovery about the Lord can be fully understood if not within the context of the apostolic proclamation. The faith in the Resurrection after all, must still be based on the faith of the apostles, for theirs is the foundation and Christ is the cornerstone.

Here is an online version of the summary to Shire’s “How The Cults Are Twisting The Scriptures”. I used to have the same page at the Bible Corner (http://www.nossumus.net/biblista) before it got deleted along with the website. If you are following the Bible Expositions of Ka Eli and the INK, that page can be very useful in identifying the tricks of these Biblicistic Rationalists.

I’ve been doing some research on the history of our Mother of Good Counsel from the perspective of ancient Albania. Here is what I got from Albanian.Com

Christianity manifested itself in Illyria during Roman rule, about the middle of the 1st century AD. At first the new religion had to compete with Oriental cults–among them that of Mithra, Persian god of light–which had entered the land in the wake of Illyria’s growing interaction with eastern regions of the empire. For a long time it also had to compete with gods worshiped by Illyrian pagans. The steady growth of the Christian community in Dyrrhachium (the Roman name for Epidamnus) led to the creation there of a bishopric in AD 58. Later, episcopal seats were established in Apollonia, Buthrotum (modern Butrint), and Scodra (modern Shkodr?). By the time the empire began to decline, the Illyrians, profiting from a long tradition of martial habits and skills, had acquired great influence in the Roman military hierarchy. Indeed, several of them went on from there to become emperors. From the mid-3rd to the mid-4th century AD the reins of the empire were almost continuously in the hands of emperors of Illyrian origin: Gaius Decius, Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, and Constantine the Great.

I made Scodra bold because it figures highly in the history of Our Lady of Shkodra, that is Good Counsel.
Below are other links worth checking:

• Scanderbeg
• Albania Today
• Albanian Gospel ministry website
• Albanian HIstory
• Albanian History from Albanian.Com
• Illyria in Encyclopedia.Com
• Illyria in the WikiPedia
• Illyria in the Catholic Encyclopedia

For more about the Shkodra-Genazzano connection, read this article.

We finished discussing Salvation History today with a lesson on the Apocalypse of John. I insisted on the intentio auctoris which was “hope and consolation in time of persecution.” Fundamentalists err in thinking that John’s vision is about the historical events of these days. That would mean fixing the historical background of the book in the twenty-first century. But we know that people in the Middle Ages have been that the events narrated in the same Book were supposed to occur during their time thus resulting in the failed prophecies of some would-be end-time prophet.
Interpretation of the text must take into account the Christian communities that John had before him, their concerns and their questions of the day. The Word of God addressed to the Christians persecuted during Domitian’s reign or even earlier than that was couched by John in an apocalyptic symbolism that the first hearers understood. The problem of subsequent Christians was to identify the historical situation beneath the symbols in order to unlock the Word of God. The book of the Apocalypse is best read in the same historical situation that the original addressees were immersed in. It is in that situation where they understand the same Word of God that was addressed to the original hearers. Exegesis assists by unlocking the meaning of the symbols and show how these “interact” with the events that occured in the life of the original hearers.
So how does one understand the Apocalypse? Like all the other books of the New Testament: intelligently and on one’s knees.

Ezekiel 37:12-14 comes at the climax of the magnificent vision that Ezekiel witnesses in the Valley of Dry Bones. The dried skeleton of the fallen are made to stand, take o?n flesh and receive the breath of life from the Spirit that God makes to pass among them. The vision is about the people of Israel, now practically dead, after the recent destruction of Judah. In 721 BC, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and its people exiled by the Emperor of Assyria. In 587 BC, the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell. At a time when there was no king, no Temple and no people in what o?nce was Israelite country, God through the prophet Ezekiel tells of a day when the people of Israel — both North and South — will be revived. As the dead bones in the valley was resurrected, so too, Israel will have new life.

When Paul speaks of Christ as the first-born from the dead, the first of many brothers (Colossians 1:18), wasn’t he perhaps alluding to this vision?

Romans 8:29

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Colossians 1:15

[ The Supremacy of Christ ] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Colossians 1:18

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Read about what Paul says about the new life here.

There is an interesting question at the Christian Forums: Did anyone call Jesus by the title "Son of God"? Did the Lord call himself by the name "Jesus"?

The question is tricky, but if one looks at the Gospels, one finds that Jesus refers to himself as “Son of Man.” This may look strange, but the title is exalted. It is used to refer to prophet in Ezekiel, and it is used in a special way in the book of the prophet Daniel as referring to the one who receives power and authority from God. We know that Peter calls Jesus “Son of the Living God” in his confession of faith, and we know too that the Lord refers to himself as “Jesus” in Acts 9 where he tells Saul: “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”

While reading Philippians 1:3-11 for my Bible Study blog, I got intrigued by the way Paul used “Day of Christ.” The phrase appears only three times and only in the letter to the Philppians. The similar sounding phrase “Day of the Lord” also appears three times in the Pauline corpus, twice in the letters to the Thessalonians and once in the first letter to the Corinthians. Here is what I write about those two phrases. and here. Given the results of my surve, I tend to thing that the expression “Day of the Lord” is used by Paul in the context of Judgment, while “Day of Christ” is more on the goal of Christian existence. It is interesting. Go here.. Here is a link to the phrase “That Day” in the synoptics.

I posted a question about Jude and Philemon at the Christian Forums to see whether these two documents are being read by Bible Christians. I posted the question at about 12 AM today, and only one has given me an answer albeit unsatisfactorily. You find the thread here.. I’ll let it cook for a week.

The Catechism refers to some verses of both documents.