Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God: Difference between revisions

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So it brings us to the topic of the Eucharist itself. We'll look at [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/6:22 John 6:22-71], "The Bread of Life Discourse." and why Jesus told his disciples to eat, chew and gnaw his flesh and, if that wasn't enough, to drink his blood. To make sense of it, however, we need to look at the Mosaic sacrifice and make sense of God's instructions in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/leviticus/1 Leviticus Chapters 1-7] and [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/numbers/28 Numbers Ch. 28-30]. What's up with all that blood and flesh?

Here for some thoughts on Old Temple [[Sacrifice]].

== Friday, Nov 29: the improbable story of Saint Joan of Arc (1412-1431 AD) ==

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[[File:Second_Temple.jpg|thumb|Herod's Temple as imagined in the Holyland Model of Jerusalem. It is currently situated adjacent to the Shrine of the Book exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. (Wikipedia)]]

Matthew distinguishes the events more clearly than does Mark, who, perhaps, expected the second coming along with the ruin of the temple. But Jesus is speaking of separate events, three, in fact.

The first is the "beginnings of the labor pains,"<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:8]</ref> and the "Coming Persecution" (verses 9-13), which is what the Apostles will face. The next is the Great Tribulation (verses 14-23), which is about the destruction of the Temple. The Third is the "Coming of the Son of Man," which event, Jesus tells them,<blockquote>Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?30 Mk 13:30]</ref></blockquote>will be during their lifetimes.

The first is the "beginnings of the labor pains,"<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:8]</ref> and the "Coming Persecution" (verses 9-13), which is what the Apostles will face. The next is the Great Tribulation (verses 14-23), which is about the destruction of the Temple. The Third is the "Coming of the Son of Man," which event, Jesus tells them,<blockquote>Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?30 Mk 13:30]</ref></blockquote>will be during their lifetimes. But only John would survive through the destruction of the Temple. So how is it during "this generation"?

~~But only John would survive through the destruction of the Temple. So how is it during "this generation"?~~

Aquinas quotes the 11th century Byzantine thinker, Theophylact of Ohrid, who understands the "generation" to be the overall "generation of Christians", thus the Tribulations are signs of a distant end of times (at least until the present): <blockquote>'''THEOPHYLACT'''. Or else, This generation shall not pass away, that is, the generation of Christians, until all things be fulfilled, which were spoken concerning Jerusalem and the coming of Antichrist; for He does not mean the generation of the Apostles, for the greater part of the Apostles did not live up to the destruction of Jerusalem. But He says this of the generation of Christians, wishing to console His disciples, lest they should believe that the faith should fail at that time; for the immoveable elements shall first fail, before the words of Christ fail; wherefore it is added, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas]</ref></blockquote>

Our friend ~~The~~ Venerable Bede is less certain,<blockquote>

Our friend the Venerable Bede is less certain,<blockquote>

'''BEDE'''. (ubi sup.) By generation He either means the whole race of mankind, or specially the Jews.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas]</ref></blockquote>Perhaps there's another way to look at it. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible<ref>Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Ignatius Press, p. 52</ref> suggests a way to harmonize the Coming of the Son of Man and the darkening of the sun and the moon and the falling of the stars, as well as the earthquakes with the First Coming of the Son of Man, not the second.

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But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.</blockquote>The Temple housed the Sanctuary which [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/78?69 Psalms 78:69] describes for us,<blockquote>''He built his shrine like the heavens,''

''like the earth which he founded forever.''</blockquote>In this view, Jesus is describing the end of the Old Testament worship, as the sanctuary was a replica of the God's creation the universe, and the sanctuary and Temple worship were to be eclipsed at his death upon the Cross. The Destruction of the Temple fits in better with Tribulations as a connected event. Only John will live to see the Destruction of the Temple (as far as we know), but they all, even Judas, who killed himself after Jesus' death, lived through the Tearing of the Veil, God's sign that the Old Testament, as Jesus said in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:30 Jn 19:30],<blockquote>“It is finished.”</blockquote>The one missing element is the Son of Man coming down from the clouds, but who knows. Maybe the Centurion, by tradition, Saint Longinus, as part of "all that was happening," saw Jesus on a surfboard, riding the clouds in his glory, when he said,<blockquote>The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”</blockquote>That the Tribulation and coming of the Son of Man regarded the first coming makes sense to me, but with all things Biblical, we need to reach further. Jesus is talking about both the First and Second Coming. ~~Either way,~~ he wants us to be prepared for it and for it unexpectedly.

''like the earth which he founded forever.''</blockquote>In this view, Jesus is describing the end of the Old Testament worship, as the sanctuary was a replica of the God's creation the universe, and the sanctuary and Temple worship were to be eclipsed at his death upon the Cross. The Destruction of the Temple fits in better with Tribulations as a connected event. Only John will live to see the Destruction of the Temple (as far as we know), but they all, even Judas, who killed himself after Jesus' death, lived through the Tearing of the Veil, God's sign that the Old Testament, as Jesus said in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:30 Jn 19:30],<blockquote>“It is finished.”</blockquote>The one missing element is the Son of Man coming down from the clouds, but who knows. Maybe the Centurion, by tradition, Saint Longinus, as part of "all that was happening," saw Jesus on a surfboard, riding the clouds in his glory, when he said,<blockquote>The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”</blockquote>That the Tribulation and coming of the Son of Man regarded the first coming makes sense to me, but with all things Biblical, we need to reach further. Jesus is talking about both the First and Second Coming. And he wants us to be prepared for it and for it unexpectedly, for that's the moment we will see, like John in his vision,<blockquote>Then I looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/14?14 Rev 14:14]</ref></blockquote>

----A final thought on Mark 13, from [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:32 Verse 32], which is at first glance confusing:<blockquote>“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.</blockquote>Why does the Father but not the son know? (Soon we'll discuss harmonizing contradictions in the Scripture)

First of all, God is not going to tell us when the Second Coming is -- as that would violate free will, so he cannot tell us. Imagine that God announces the world will end next Thursday -- there'd be a Fat Week celebration through Tuesday, then impossibly long confessional lines through Wednesday night. No, our faith must be in the now, which is why Jesus teaches over and over not to wait. If you ever wondered, or felt a little uncomfortable about [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?57 Luke 9:57] and the "The Would-be Followers of Jesus" who would love to find the kingdom of God... but not right now, that's what the Lord is talking about. Parables of the lurking thief, the return of the boss, and so on, are all about this same point, which he makes quite literally.

First of all, God is not going to tell us when the Second Coming is -- as that would violate free will, so he cannot tell us.

Imagine that God announces the world will end next Thursday -- there'd be a Fat Week celebration through Tuesday, then impossibly long confessional lines through Wednesday night. No, our faith must be in the now, which is why Jesus teaches over and over not to wait. If you ever wondered, or felt a little uncomfortable about [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?57 Luke 9:57] and the "The Would-be Followers of Jesus" who would love to find the kingdom of God... ''but not right now'', that's what the Lord is talking about. Parables of the lurking thief, the return of the boss, and so on, are all about this same point, which he makes quite literally.

~~There~~'s no parable or allegory ~~here~~ about the Son of Man coming down on a cloud ~~and~~ "gather [his] elect" (sic)<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:27]</ref>:<blockquote>What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:37 Mk 13:37])</blockquote>

It's no parable or allegory about the Son of Man coming down on a cloud to "gather [his] elect" (sic)<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:27]</ref>, so we must take it literally, and, as Jesus teaches us, <blockquote>What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:37 Mk 13:37])</blockquote>

----Today we focused our discussion upon the limits of our understanding of the words of God and his meaning. He won't just plainly tell us -- because he wants our faith (just so that he won't say when the 2nd coming will be, as that would annul faith). We looked at the descriptions of the darkening of the sun and the moon and the stars falling from the heavens, and decided that we just don't know. We know, for example, that the stars are not stationary, so are they "falling"? But it doesn't matter so much as our faith and our preparedness for God. Great buildings fall -- the Twin Towers -- and God persists. The lesson is to focus on God and not things of this of man.

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 So it brings us to the topic of the Eucharist itself. We'll look at [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/6:22 John 6:22-71], "The Bread of Life Discourse." and why Jesus told his disciples to eat, chew and gnaw his flesh and, if that wasn't enough, to drink his blood. To make sense of it, however, we need to look at the Mosaic sacrifice and make sense of God's instructions in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/leviticus/1 Leviticus Chapters 1-7] and [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/numbers/28 Numbers Ch. 28-30].  What's up with all that blood and flesh?
+Here for some thoughts on Old Temple [[Sacrifice]].
 == Friday, Nov 29: the improbable story of Saint Joan of Arc (1412-1431 AD) ==
@@ Line 88: / Line 90: @@
 [[File:Second_Temple.jpg|thumb|Herod's Temple as imagined in the Holyland Model of Jerusalem. It is currently situated adjacent to the Shrine of the Book exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. (Wikipedia)]]
 Matthew distinguishes the events more clearly than does Mark, who, perhaps, expected the second coming along with the ruin of the temple. But Jesus is speaking of separate events, three, in fact.
-The first is the "beginnings of the labor pains,"<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:8]</ref> and the "Coming Persecution" (verses 9-13), which is what the Apostles will face. The next is the Great Tribulation (verses 14-23), which is about the destruction of the Temple. The Third is the "Coming of the Son of Man," which event, Jesus tells them,<blockquote>Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?30 Mk 13:30]</ref></blockquote>will be during their lifetimes.
+The first is the "beginnings of the labor pains,"<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:8]</ref> and the "Coming Persecution" (verses 9-13), which is what the Apostles will face. The next is the Great Tribulation (verses 14-23), which is about the destruction of the Temple. The Third is the "Coming of the Son of Man," which event, Jesus tells them,<blockquote>Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?30 Mk 13:30]</ref></blockquote>will be during their lifetimes. But only John would survive through the destruction of the Temple. So how is it during "this generation"?
-But only John would survive through the destruction of the Temple. So how is it during "this generation"?
 Aquinas quotes the 11th century Byzantine thinker, Theophylact of Ohrid, who understands the "generation" to be the overall "generation of Christians", thus the Tribulations are signs of a distant end of times (at least until the present): <blockquote>'''THEOPHYLACT'''. Or else, This generation shall not pass away, that is, the generation of Christians, until all things be fulfilled, which were spoken concerning Jerusalem and the coming of Antichrist; for He does not mean the generation of the Apostles, for the greater part of the Apostles did not live up to the destruction of Jerusalem. But He says this of the generation of Christians, wishing to console His disciples, lest they should believe that the faith should fail at that time; for the immoveable elements shall first fail, before the words of Christ fail; wherefore it is added, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas]</ref></blockquote>
-Our friend The Venerable Bede is less certain,<blockquote>
+Our friend the Venerable Bede is less certain,<blockquote>
 '''BEDE'''. (ubi sup.) By generation He either means the whole race of mankind, or specially the Jews.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas]</ref></blockquote>Perhaps there's another way to look at it. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible<ref>Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Ignatius Press, p. 52</ref> suggests a way to harmonize the Coming of the Son of Man and the darkening of the sun and the moon and the falling of the stars, as well as the earthquakes with the First Coming of the Son of Man, not the second.
@@ Line 103: / Line 105: @@
 But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.</blockquote>The Temple housed the Sanctuary which [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/78?69 Psalms 78:69] describes for us,<blockquote>''He built his shrine like the heavens,''
-''like the earth which he founded forever.''</blockquote>In this view, Jesus is describing the end of the Old Testament worship, as the sanctuary was a replica of the God's creation the universe, and the sanctuary and Temple worship were to be eclipsed at his death upon the Cross. The Destruction of the Temple fits in better with Tribulations as a connected event. Only John will live to see the Destruction of the Temple (as far as we know), but they all, even Judas, who killed himself after Jesus' death, lived through the Tearing of the Veil, God's sign that the Old Testament, as Jesus said in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:30 Jn 19:30],<blockquote>“It is finished.”</blockquote>The one missing element is the Son of Man coming down from the clouds, but who knows. Maybe the Centurion, by tradition, Saint Longinus, as part of "all that was happening," saw Jesus on a surfboard, riding the clouds in his glory, when he said,<blockquote>The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”</blockquote>That the Tribulation and coming of the Son of Man regarded the first coming makes sense to me, but with all things Biblical, we need to reach further. Jesus is talking about both the First and Second Coming. Either way, he wants us to be prepared for it and for it unexpectedly.
+''like the earth which he founded forever.''</blockquote>In this view, Jesus is describing the end of the Old Testament worship, as the sanctuary was a replica of the God's creation the universe, and the sanctuary and Temple worship were to be eclipsed at his death upon the Cross. The Destruction of the Temple fits in better with Tribulations as a connected event. Only John will live to see the Destruction of the Temple (as far as we know), but they all, even Judas, who killed himself after Jesus' death, lived through the Tearing of the Veil, God's sign that the Old Testament, as Jesus said in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:30 Jn 19:30],<blockquote>“It is finished.”</blockquote>The one missing element is the Son of Man coming down from the clouds, but who knows. Maybe the Centurion, by tradition, Saint Longinus, as part of "all that was happening," saw Jesus on a surfboard, riding the clouds in his glory, when he said,<blockquote>The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”</blockquote>That the Tribulation and coming of the Son of Man regarded the first coming makes sense to me, but with all things Biblical, we need to reach further. Jesus is talking about both the First and Second Coming. And he wants us to be prepared for it and for it unexpectedly, for that's the moment we will see, like John in his vision,<blockquote>Then I looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/14?14 Rev 14:14]</ref></blockquote>
 ----A final thought on Mark 13, from [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:32 Verse 32], which is at first glance confusing:<blockquote>“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.</blockquote>Why does the Father but not the son know? (Soon we'll discuss harmonizing contradictions in the Scripture)
-First of all, God is not going to tell us when the Second Coming is -- as that would violate free will, so he cannot tell us. Imagine that God announces the world will end next Thursday -- there'd be a Fat Week celebration through Tuesday, then impossibly long confessional lines through Wednesday night. No, our faith must be in the now, which is why Jesus teaches over and over not to wait. If you ever wondered, or felt a little uncomfortable about [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?57 Luke 9:57] and the "The Would-be Followers of Jesus" who would love to find the kingdom of God... but not right now, that's what the Lord is talking about. Parables of the lurking thief, the return of the boss, and so on, are all about this same point, which he makes quite literally.
+First of all, God is not going to tell us when the Second Coming is -- as that would violate free will, so he cannot tell us.
+Imagine that God announces the world will end next Thursday -- there'd be a Fat Week celebration through Tuesday, then impossibly long confessional lines through Wednesday night. No, our faith must be in the now, which is why Jesus teaches over and over not to wait. If you ever wondered, or felt a little uncomfortable about [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?57 Luke 9:57] and the "The Would-be Followers of Jesus" who would love to find the kingdom of God... ''but not right now'', that's what the Lord is talking about. Parables of the lurking thief, the return of the boss, and so on, are all about this same point, which he makes quite literally.
-There's no parable or allegory here about the Son of Man coming down on a cloud and "gather [his] elect" (sic)<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:27]</ref>:<blockquote>What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:37 Mk 13:37])</blockquote>
+It's no parable or allegory about the Son of Man coming down on a cloud to "gather [his] elect" (sic)<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:27]</ref>, so we must take it literally, and, as Jesus teaches us, <blockquote>What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:37 Mk 13:37])</blockquote>
 ----Today we focused our discussion upon the limits of our understanding of the words of God and his meaning. He won't just plainly tell us -- because he wants our faith (just so that he won't say when the 2nd coming will be, as that would annul faith). We looked at the descriptions of the darkening of the sun and the moon and the stars falling from the heavens, and decided that we just don't know.  We know, for example, that the stars are not stationary, so are they "falling"? But it doesn't matter so much as our faith and our preparedness for God. Great buildings fall -- the Twin Towers -- and God persists. The lesson is to focus on God and not things of this of man.