Month: July 2011

Secret city on a hill

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Often in Scripture we have to harmonize two passages which seem to present some kind of conflict with each other. Today I would like to present one such conflict,  one with which I’ve struggled over the years.

In the fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says:

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” – Matthew 5:14-16

So, we’re supposed to let our light shine before others. Got it. Yet…in the next chapter it says…

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” – Matthew 6:1-4

So we should let our light shine….but only in secret? Hmm….

I’ve had people ask me about these two passages before and I have given them an answer, providing some distinctions between each of these passages, but today I’d like to turn the question over to you. How do we reconcile these two passages? What is Jesus trying to teach us? And if we follow His teaching here, what does it practically look like?

Please answer in the comments below.

Lectionary Notes: Feeding The Hungry

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Things have been a bit non-stop this last week, so I’m afraid these notes are late, slightly shorter than usual and a little bit rushed, but as GK Chesterton said, “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly”…

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 31st July, 2011

Reading 1: Isaiah 55:1-3

After Jeremiah, Isaiah is my favourite prophet. This book is often called “The Fifth Gospel” and, with a passage like this, it’s easy to see why. Here, God gives a beautiful invitation to His people to come and be satisfied, to return to Him, to come and be filled free of charge! Why settle for anything less?

When we recognize our hunger and our dependence on God, He will fill us and give us life.

Thus says the LORD:

“All you who are thirsty, come to the water!
You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!

Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David”

Suggested Questions:

  • What is the general invitation of this passage?
  • What does this food and drink cost? What does this say about God?
  • What do you think the “water” here represents?
  • What do you think the “grain” here represents?
  • What do you think the “wine” here represents?
  • What do you think the “milk” here represents?
  • In what way do we “spend [our] money on what is not bread”?
  • Why do we do spend our “wages for what fails to satisfy”?
  • What is promised together with this food?
  • What was the promise God made to David?
  • How do we experience the invitation of this passage today?

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Restoring the soul

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For the last couple of days I’ve been listening to the following track pretty much continuously:

Beautiful.

Over at Shameless Popery, Joe recently did a really interesting post about The Shawshank Redemption and the Liturgy in which he quotes what Morgan Freeman’s character says after hearing a beautiful piece of opera:

“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.”

I don’t know about you, but when I listen to this music, this is how I feel.

Best Statue In Rome

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I just saw on Facebook that one of my friends is currently visiting Rome.

About a year and a half ago I also went to Rome. During my stay, my senses were flooded with beautiful architecture, paintings and statues, one of the highlights of which was Michelangelo’s Pieta found in St. Peter’s.

Now, no offense to Michelangelo (he is,  after all, my favourite Ninja Turtle), but the Pieta was’t my favourite statue. Rather, it was this statue found outside the “Ospedale Santo Spirito”:

“We are taught from the very first moment to discover Christ under the distressing disguise of the poor, the sick, the outcasts, Christ presents Himself to us under every disguise: the dying, the paralytic, the leper, the invalid, the orphan. It is faith that makes our work, which demands both special preparation and a special calling, easy or at least more bearable” (Mother Theresa, No Greater Love, 166)

Philippians Study Continues…

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Our Bible study of the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians continued at the JP2 Group last Thursday. I’ve just put up my notes for the last section we read, the latter part of the first chapter:

Philippians: Introduction
Chapter 1: Session 1, Session 2
Chapter 2: Session 1, Session 2
Chapter 3: Session 1, Session 2
Chapter 4: Session 1, Session 2

I should hopefully have the next section done sometime this weekend…

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