North of the Shire

…from Thoughts Blog;

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deuteronomy 17;
[2] “If there is found among you, within any of your towns which the LORD your God gives you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,
[3] and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden,
[4] and it is told you and you hear of it; then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done in Israel,
[5] then you shall bring forth to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.
[6] On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses he that is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
[7] The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

Continue Reading »

…for the Month of January 2010 are completed. This being the liturgical Year C of the Roman calendar.

You’ll find them at THOUGHTS.

I heard this on the news today and looked it up;

At least he has his priorities right and recognizes that the first duty of the Christian is to help those in trouble.

But this brings up an issue that seems to have infected a number of Protestant groups. Whether they are fringe or not is up to their peers to decide I suppose. But I think that it is one manifestation of something that has come to be known as a “prosperity gospel.”

This is perhaps the reverse side of that thinking, that disasters that happen are a result of the sin of those people involved. Well, if we look strictly at the Old Testament we can see a pattern there of disaster falling on Israel when they got away from God. But it must be remembered that they had a covenant with God, and it was not just religious but had to do with their lineage. That is why the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons.

But bad things happen to good people as well. How are we to explain that? Is it because of their sin specifically? Isn’t that just the inverse of the idea that God will bless you with good things, material wealth and health if you have enough faith?

We must remember that Jesus was asked a similar question;

John.9
[1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.
[2] And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
[3] Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
[4] We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.
[5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
[6] As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay,
[7] saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo’am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
RSV

Certainly, God can allow bad things to happen to people as a result of their own sin. Some sins carry their own punishment, such as drug abuse. But we must not pretend to judge the hearts of other people. It is difficult to avoid, and I am just as guilty of that as anyone at times.

Jesus’ answer is not an easy one to understand but we must accept it.
“…that the works of God might be made manifest in him.”

…regardless of how I understand the doctrine Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus, whether in the strict sense of Fr. Feeney or in a more nuanced sense that seems to prevail in the thinking of the Magisterium including Benedict XVI and John Paul II, as evidenced in encyclicals and the CCC.

Let’s say just a word about EENS. Continue Reading »

I listen to this first because I love the sound of Russian sacred music and I can stand shoulder to shoulder with our Orthodox brothers in praying the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. So much almost goes without saying.

But I notice this video in particular has a quality almost of the old days of the Soviet Union, such that it has been done surreptitiously, and even the singing of the Lord’s Prayer would be dangerous to those participating. The church itself seems almost barren and the videographer takes time to show the pipe organ, not being used for this musical selection.

This seems to me almost symbolic in the sense that under oppression the Christians are tested and survive and they have become very good at singing a cappella, so good in fact that it has its own quality that surpasses the instrument supported music. And indeed, there is something so beautiful about human voices in chorale sans instruments when it is well done that in my own mind it is really the highest form of music and liturgically speaking the highest form of praise to God.

It would be nice to get the recording. Fascinating that the monastery has been going without interruption since 1133. That’s one that was out of the reach of the kings of England.

I don’t entirely agree with his polar symmetry of error regarding the Intelligent Design theory and the atheists. There are nuances to ID and variations of theory that make this objection disappear.

Otherwise, thematically it is right on the mark, in my opinion.

Note: Thanks to Insight Scoop for the heads up.

Did you know that the Big Bang theory of the beginnings of the universe originated from a Belgian priest?

Here’s Father Barron’s sermon from Sunday Jan. 3/2010 called;
Religion, Science and the Journey of the Magi: Feast of the Epiphany

Some other not well known facts in this sermon;

Pascal, Descartes, Newton, Copernicus all devoutly religious men. Gregor Mendel, father of modern genetics, a priest.
Georges LeMaitre, Belgian Catholic priest, big bang theory.

His list goes on, the point being that science is only possible with a Christian foundation and that the myth that the two are opposed in principle is just that, a myth.

Here is one part of the Scripture reading for this morning’s mass (the fourth verse was omitted);

Ephesians Chapter 3;
[2] assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
[3] how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.
[4] When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,
[5] which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
[6] that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

It struck me, when reading this passage this morning that if we meditate on it a bit, there are many implications beyond the obvious here.

In fact, it seems to me that there are a number of factions and tangents within Christianity that might do well to pause here and meditate as well. Continue Reading »