"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Okay…today’s Friday Frivolity was a little nerdy…computer nerdy. So, for today only, I’m posting a second Friday Frivolity which is Hebrew nerdy…
In honour of Rosh Hashanah, please welcome once more the Torah-tastic Maccabeats…
Want to hear more? Go listen to the Book of Good Life…
Okay, either you’re going to get this one or you’re not…
Click on the image for something of an explanation…
This video did the rounds a while ago. I came across it again the other day and realized that I never shared it here. So here you go… 🙂
Happy New Year!
Sunset tonight marked the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah (literally “head of the year”), described in the Torah as “The Day of the Blowing of the Shofar”, a Ram’s Horn:
“Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts” – Leviticus 23:24
“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.” – Billy Graham, Evangelist
Sorry it’s a bit late this week – I had two big posts that I wanted to write at the weekend and I kinda ran out of time… :-/
Last week we heard Jesus’ parable of the two sons and the vineyard. The Readings this week also focus around the image of the vineyard…
The bold refrain of the psalm this week is “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel”. In our First Reading this image of the vineyard is used to describe how God gave Israel every possible blessing, yet all these graces were scorned. For this, Israel will have to pay the price. Yet, in our Gospel we hear how, through the rejection of Christ, the Gentiles come to have a share in God’s Kingdom.
For this week’s Readings I would suggest reading the Psalm first since it clearly establishes the metaphor of the vineyard and explains Israel’s exodus in those terms. I would then move on to the First Reading to hear how this metaphor is also used to describe God’s coming judgement. Next, I would read the Gospel as it shows how Jesus uses this familiar image to predicts His own death. I would optionally conclude with the Second Reading.
Today I wanted to do a little bit of advertising for Instant Escriva, a website recently launched by my friend Charbel. The site provides inspirational quotations from the Opus Dei founder, Josemaría Escrivá:
Just sit at your desk and keep hitting “Refresh”… 🙂