Category: Catholicism

Ignatius of Antioch and Friends

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Today is the Feast Day of probably my favourite Early Church Father, St. Ignatius of Antioch:

Office Of Readings

Today in the Office of Readings we read a section of one of the letters he wrote on his way to martyrdom sometime around AD 107:

“I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

“No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.”

– Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans

Early Church Relationships

Here is a diagram showing the relationships between Jesus, His Apostles, Ignatius of Antioch and some of the other Early Church Fathers:

Want to know more?

If you would like to read more of St. Ignatius’ writings, or listen to them free on MP3, be sure to check out the Church History section of this blog.

What should I say?

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The other day a friend of mine sent me a text message saying her coworker was mourning. It was the anniversary of her husband’s death in Afghanistan. Her coworker was asking the question: “Why would God let this happen?”. My friend asked “What should I say?”. Here’s the text message I wrote in reply:

I would say something like “I could talk about some of the different reasons why bad things happen to good people (fallen world, free will, sinful man, God’s plan etc.), but the truth is I don’t know… None of us fully comprehends why terrible things like this happen.

What I do know is that God is the expert at drawing good out of bad, bringing healing out of pain. When Jesus hung on the cross it looked to the world like defeat, but out of the cross came victory over death so Jesus endured it for love of the world.

Your husband, no doubt,  joined the military because he thought that it was the right thing to do, to protect the country and people he loved. Jesus did the same.

I can’t explain specifically WHY your husband died, but I CAN say that, if Jesus’ death shows us anything, it’s that suffering is not meaningless and that great acts of love and sacrifice can change the world”

When we encounter someone who is suffering, there is always the temptation to talk about big theological concepts of God’s will, His sovereignty and the fallen nature of humanity. However, in my experience, when people are suffering, this kind of talk is neither helpful nor comforting. We can only point them to the Cross. Apart from the Cross, suffering has no meaning or purpose.

Even then, words are often ineffective. Actions speak much louder. When someone is suffering and I don’t know what to say, there’s a temptation to just avoid that person since I can’t “do” anything. We must fight that temptation! Sometimes all I really need to do is just show up. Be there for my friend. Listen to her. Cry with her. Pray with her. If that person is English, make a cup of tea 🙂

The presence of a friend during a time of suffering speaks much more loudly of the love of God than any words ever could. Love them like Jesus.


Mark Hall, Casting Crowns

Things to give up

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A friend sent me an article the other day entitled 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy…

1. Give up your need to always be right
2. Give up your need for control
3. Give up on blame
4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk
5. Give up your limiting beliefs
6. Give up complaining
7. Give up the luxury of criticism
8. Give up your need to impress others
9. Give up your resistance to change
10. Give up labels
11. Give up on your fears
12. Give up your excuses
13. Give up the past
14. Give up attachment
15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations

Update on “Twelve for 2012″…

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I was reading Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog entry The Mystery of the Catholic Book Buyer and it prompted me to write another update for my Twelve for 2012…

Here are the finished books:

The Church and the New Media – Brandon Vogt
I’m Not Being Fed!  – Jeff Cavins
The Passion of Jesus Christ – John Piper
Father Brown of the Church of Rome – G.K Chesterton
The Story of Christianity – Justo Gonzalez
How To Listen When God Is Speaking – Mitch Pacwa, SJ
Godless Delusion – Patrick Madrid & Kenneth Hensley

Here are the bonus books/documents I’ve read which were not on the list:

The One Thing – Matthew Kelly
Pillar of Fire and Truth – Catholic Answers
Quitter – Jon Acuff
The meaning of Vocation – Pope John Paul II
Orientalium Ecclesiarum – Second Vatican Council
Deus Caritas Est – Pope Benedict XVI

I am currently reading:

Jesus of Nazareth – Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican II: The Crisis And The Promise – Alan Schreck (I’m reading this for the course I’m doing)

The books still to read:

Rediscover Catholicism – Matthew Kelly
Jesus Among Other Gods – Ravi Zacharias
Philosophy For Dummies – Thomas Morris
The Path of Life – Cyprian Smith OSB

Pauline Tools

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As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently leading a Bible study through the Book of Acts. I wanted to do a quick post to make a note of where I got the maps for the study. I got them from the Archdiocese of Toronoto. The site gives a brief synopsis of each of Paul’s letters and also has three great maps showing St. Paul’s missionary journeys:

First Missionary JourneySecond Missionary JourneyThird Missionary Journey

TOT: Social Media – How to use it without being used by it

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Faith on Fire“Faith on Fire” is a new initiative here in San Diego to help nurture the younger young adult community.

Like “Theology On Tap”, it is held at a bar or restaurant where there is a talk given by a speaker which is followed by Q&A and some discussion. However, unlike “Theology On Tap”, it is restricted to only those between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five.

As I mentioned the other day, this Tuesday I was drafted in at the last minute to cover for the speaker who was ill. Fr. Jacob was scheduled to speak on the topic:

“Social Media and Faith: How to use it without being used by it” 

Since he couldn’t make it, I gave the talk instead. The presentation file is available for download here and the audio of the evening is available for download below:

Main Talk (Download)

I based part of my talk on my blog post Don’t Be Too Eager To Hit “Send” and The Mobile Challenge. At some point in the future I’ll hopefully do some other posts on the subject of Social Media to help consolidate my thoughts in this area.

(The book which gave away at the beginning of the Q&A time was The Church and New Media by Brandon Vogt)

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