Talk:Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God: Difference between revisions

← Older edit

Add topic

@@ Line 149: / Line 149: @@
 If that's the case, then the people of 30 AD were ready for God. In fact, we see a remarkable progression of Old Testament violence from divine to human agency. Whereas, around 600 BC, God dispatched 180,000 Assyrians, in 180 BC the Maccabees had to take down the 80,000 Greeks themselves. Both events were manifestations of God's greatness, but the latter event was in faith in support of man's actions, whereas the earlier event was a show of God's power unto itself.
-== Three crosses on Calvary ==
+<div style="background-color:lightgray">
+== FF Feb 21/2025; Three crosses on Calvary ==
 My RE students went blank when I showed them an image of Calvary with the three crucifixes. Never heard about the thieves.
@@ Line 159: / Line 160: @@
 * only one repents
 * Christ absolves him
+>> see :
+Parable of the Workers (Mt 20:1-16)
+</div>
+== Christian and pro-Abortion?  ==
+We are all sinners. At some point, we regularly compromise our Christian principles out of pride, lust, fear, or some form of hypocrisy.
+Abortion, however challenges a Christian believer in it far more profoundly.
+Take the death penalty: scripture neither condemns it nor hides it: it's all over the Bible, especially that little part about the Crucifix. Think about it: Christ does not condemn the execution itself (a grotesque and cruel punishment), and neither do the Apostles. Peter condemns the Jews killing God, not the two thieves. The Catholic Church burned heretics starting in 1022 and various principalities adopted it as matter of law in the 13th century. (Joan of Arc, of course, was burned at the stake; the remains of proto-Protestants John Wycliff were exhumed and burned in 1428 and Jan Hus was burned at the stake for heresy in 1415; others were burned for crimes other than heresy, such as treason, sodomy, bestiality, witchcraft, with that last conducted mostly under protestant regimes; England outlawed burning in 1676 under Charles II.)
+Yet, one gets a sincere hatred of putting a fellow man to death. However, to love you neighbor is not incompatible with the consequences of sin. Sin is, after all, death.
+With abortion, there is no ambiguity: the infant committed no crime; the Bible condemns child sacrifice; and Scripture is clear that the life of the soul starts at conception. Look no further than the Annunciation.
+== Out of Pride or Fear? ==
+I'm looking at the corrupt world around me, and I ponder its cause. Indeed, it is a sinful world, built upon the threefold sins of Adam and Eve, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride.
+I wonder though, how much of our world is built on fear?
+Humans loathe uncertainty
+> corruption: getting along for fear of job?
+> self-defense
+>
+Ultimately, God condemns fear, for it denies him. As head usher at our church, I am responsible for the safety of attendees at Mass, the priests, the choir and the faithful. Now and then we receive security warnings for DC area Christian institutions, of which the Catholic Church is the most visible. We practice vigilance. The thought creeps in of what I would do were there an attack. All hesitation disperses with a simple glance upon the Cross. (Yes, my protestant friends, Christ was crucified.)
+Fear itself is not sinful. Like the pain signals in our nervous system, our minds and bodies are hard-wired with fear, as it is a necessary trigger and motivation behind self-preservation. To be sinful, and act must be willful.
+"when, caught in a violent thunderstorm on July 2, 1505, he made a vow to God, through the intercession of Saint Ann, that he would become a monk if saved from death."
+https://catholicinsight.com/luthers-re-formation/
+== Are politics downstream from culture?  ==
+I'm not so sure.
+In the Stripping of the Altars, we see how English elites forced protestantism upon existing practices.
+OTOH, did Constantine's endorsement reflect or create Roman Christianity?
+It cang go either way.  What's important to learn here is that culture and faith are symbiotic and not usually synchronos.
+== The Parable of the Dishonest Steward ==
+Friday, Nov 15: The Parable of the Deceitful Steward
+Luke 16 1-9 was the Gospel reading on Nov. 8. Constable calls it "the most diffikcult passage in Luke <<
+Here from St. Thomas’ Catena, a couple explanations for why the boss praised the lying, thieving steward in Luke 16:1-8.
+First, though, what’s most confusing about this parable when we read it in Church it ends at verse 9, whereas Jesus connects the parable in verses 10-13 to his more famous line, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” (!) And it continues with the Pharisees scoffing at him and Jesus’ rebuke in verse 15.
+Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas
+Here, AUgustine sees a contrary lesson:
+AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) On the other hand this parable is spoken, that we should understand that if the steward who acted deceitfully, could be praised by his lord, how much more they please God who do their works according to His commandment.
+Here, though,
+PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM.
+... But he whose wishes are on earth is troubled at his departing. Hence it is added of this steward, Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do, for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship? I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed. Weakness in action is the fault of a slothful life. For no one would shrink who had been accustomed to apply himself to labour. But if we take the parable allegorically, after our departure hence there is no more time for working; the present life contains the practice of what is commanded, the future, consolation. If thou hast done nothing here, in vain then art thou careful for the future, nor wilt thou gain any thing by begging. The foolish virgins are an instance of this, who unwisely begged of the wise, but returned empty. (Matt 25:8.) For every one puts on his daily life as his inner garment; it is not possible for him to put it off or exchange it with another. But the wicked steward aptly contrived the remission of debts, to provide for himself an escape from his misfortunes among his fellow-servants; for it follows, I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. For as often as a man, perceiving his end approaching, lightens by a kind deed the load of his sins, (either by forgiving a debtor his debts, or by giving abundance to the poor,) dispensing those things which are his Lord’s, he conciliates to himself many friends, who will afford him before the judge a real testimony, not by words, but by the demonstration of good works, nay moreover will provide for him by their testimony a resting-place of consolation. But nothing is our own, all things are in the power of God. Hence it follows, So he called every one of his Lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord? And he said, A hundred casks of oil.
+Bede focuses on the debts of the others -- so the steward is actually helping them out!
+BEDE. A cadus in Greek is a vessel containing three urns. It follows, And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty, forgiving him the half. It follows, Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. A corus is made up of thirty bushels. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore, forgiving him a fifth part. It may be then simply taken as follows: whosoever relieves the want of a poor man, either by supplying half or a fifth part, will be blessed with the reward of his mercy.
+AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) The steward whom his Lord cast out of his stewardship is nevertheless commended because he provided himself against the future. As it follows, And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely; we ought not however to take the whole for our imitation. For we should never act deceitfully against our Lord in order that from the fraud itself we may give alms.
+== Huh? Biblical contradictions ==
+see Fr. VFB's homily Dec 17
+When the Bible says something contradictory, they're both right!
+> find more
+== Good News? The Destruction of the Temple & the Tribulations ==
+started for Nov 22
+notes:
+same place and time that Jesus weaps for Jerusalem in the other Synoptics
+relate the Son of Man to what Jesus tells Caiaphas he is the Son of Man. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/14?61
+< he rips his tunic, which is against Mosaic Law (!!)
+Mt. Olives: Bede
+https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml
+== Arian Heresy ==
+Feast day of St. Nicolas always reminds me of hte Heretics Fight Club
+So why'd he punch Arius? Was the heresy that bad?
+Arius held: Son of God but not God the son  < = word games
+Theological and practical problems with misunderstanding Christ:
+. You can't love what you don't know.
+. If the Son is not divine, then other figures may be raised to equal stature (ahem, Islam)
+. If the Son is not God, then he is a mere intercessor for us (oops, Protestantism...)
+. If no incarnation then God was never man, and I'd not a man did not humble himself to our state and dogs not raise us to him
+. would negate the logic of curus homo
+See https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/111/#zoom=z on Jesus as central to Catholic worship
+== Confession ==
+Confession saves marriages
+== Historical review from Maccabees to Herod the Great ==
+which leads to birth of Christ and the situation he was born into:
+- second temple judaism
+- the Pharisees and Sadduccees
+- Greek rule, independence, Roman rule  [[User:Michael Bromley|Michael Bromley]] ([[User talk:Michael Bromley|talk]]) 18:41, 10 January 2025 (EST)
+== Holy Spirit ==
+Freaking out over the Holy Spirit
+st paul reading 1/19/24
+Stephen and the mshician [[User:Michael Bromley|Michael Bromley]] ([[User talk:Michael Bromley|talk]]) 13:57, 19 January 2025 (EST)
+== Tower of Siloam: Lk 13:4 ==
+don't wait for a tragedy
+When the Tower of Siloam collapsed, twelve innocents died -- or so we would say today. The Apostles, though, got to wondering what those people did to deserve. Jesus replied, essentially, walls fall, people die.
+Must have shocked the Apostles -- wait! didn't that blind man's father sin and cause the blindness (this is called generational sin --it's all over the Old Testament).
+But that wasn't Jesus' point.  If you wait for a tragedy to come together, that's all well and good, but not for the people who died at the wall. Were they ready for God? [[User:Michael Bromley|Michael Bromley]] ([[User talk:Michael Bromley|talk]]) 09:35, 7 February 2025 (EST)
+== approaching Holy Week  ==
+== Holy Week: Jesus makes it plain ==
+As we approach Holy Week, we can start considering the events of that week. Several come to mind today, the first two we'll take from Matthew, which our Gospels chronology puts at Monday and Tuesday, and the other from Luke, which we will see is related to it, marked as on Wed or Thurs: [https://biblechronology.net/ChronologyOfTheFourGospels-changes%20from%202019-06-05.pdf Chronology of the Four Gospels]
+First, we have the Cleansing of the Temple, which is in all the synoptics (John relates another instance the first year of his Ministry). It's like, ''whaaa''?  He comes into the city to Hosannas, then drives out the money changers? What's most remarkable is not that the Sanhedrin didn't arrest him then and there, but that immediately after declaring it a "den of thieves",<blockquote>The blind and the lame approached him in the temple area, and he cured them. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wondrous things he was doing, and the children crying out in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/21?23 Mt 21:12-15])</blockquote>The "priests and scribes" challenge him, but
+From Matthew, we have the Parable of the Tenants, in which Jesus lays it out there plainly. The Pharisees knew they were going to kill him. He knew they were going to kill him, and now they knew that Jesus knew that they were going to kill him. [[User:Michael Bromley|Michael Bromley]] ([[User talk:Michael Bromley|talk]]) 11:23, 21 March 2025 (EDT)