Category: Catholicism

Courageous

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At the end of this month, the movie “Courageous” is going to be released…

I was fortunate enough to be invited to see a preview screening of this film a while back and thought it was superb. The essential focus of the movie is Fatherhood and, more broadly, masculinity. The tagline of the film is from the book of Joshua:

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” – Joshua 24:15

This film is coming from the same group of people who brought us the movie “Fireproof” and includes some of the same actors. I actually think that Courageous is a more polished film than Fireproof, which I felt was, at times, slightly clunky and a little bit cheesy. Courageous has a few moments that made me wince, but they were generally few and far between.

One of the actors was at the screening I attended and he said that they hoped that Courageous would do for Fatherhood what Fireproof did for marriage. I think it certainly does hit its mark in this respect and I left the movie theatre feeling inspired. I’ve organized a group “man trip” to the cinema shortly after it goes on general release and I hope that those coming will be likewise inspired.

Oh yes, one other thing. The title soundtrack comes from the greatest band in the world, Casting Crowns…

“Master, it is good for us to be here…”

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Tonight, after Benediction, I felt drawn to tarry in the church a while longer than usual. Soon there were only one or two other people left in the church.

While sitting there, I felt a deep, tremendous peace; a peace I haven’t felt in some time.

As I sat there, just enjoying the moment, I was reminded of something that my patron Saint, St. Peter, said at the Transfiguration when he beheld the Jesus’ glory:

“Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah” – Luke 9:33

I know there’s a lot of theological significance in what Peter is saying here, but sitting in that church tonight I understood those words in a slightly different light. Peter was seeing the beauty of the Lord and wanted to prolong that mountaintop experience. He didn’t want to go back down the mountain just yet – he wanted to setup camp for a little while…

After Benediction, I, too, wanted to prolong the experience, remain in my pew and maybe setup camp for a little while…

The purpose of getting to higher ground isn’t so we can just enjoy the view, it’s so that, when we come back down from the mountain, we can approach the terrain ahead with a new perspective and with confidence.

Thanks for the memories (Part 2 of 2)

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Yesterday I told the story of a friend of mine who asked me about how non-Catholics memorize Scripture.

I began by offering a few techniques that I’ve used in the past for committing Bible passages to memory. I then went on to explain that, memory techniques aside, non-Catholics tend to be more familiar with Scripture simply because they make it more of a priority in their lives.

Today I’d like to take a look at the Catholic response to this…

The Catholic Response

First of all, what does the Church teach on the subject? The Catechism says:

The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures…” – CCC #133 

Well, you can’t really get much more forceful than that! The Church says that “all” Catholics should get to know Jesus better through “frequent” reading of the Bible. The Catechism then goes on to sum up the Church’s position beautifully and succinctly with a quotation from one of the Church’s greatest biblical scholars, Jerome:

“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” – St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

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Thanks for the memories (Part 1 of 2)

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The other day a friend asked me how, in my experience, non-Catholic Christians memorize Sacred Scripture. This is a very reasonable question. It is common to hear Catholics say how impressed (and intimidated) they are when their Protestant work colleges or classmates quote Scripture at them chapter and verse.

Answer

I responded initially with the suitably vague answer saying that, in my experience, it varies from denomination to denomination and from congregation to congregation. There are certainly some groups which emphasize Scripture memorization more than others.

“Memory! All alone in the moonlight…”

Personally, I’ve never been very good at Scripture memorization, at least as an activity in its own right. When I quote Scripture, it’s usually a rough paraphrase and it’s pretty rare that I can give the chapter, let alone the verse.

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A little bit of listening…

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 One of the complaints you often hear from women about men is that they don’t listen. I think they say other stuff after that but I tend to zone out a bit… 😉

Well anyway…below is quite a sweet video which proves that, on occasion, men can actually listen…

Here the groom is throwing a surprise wedding for his finacée… This chap goes for broke and really pulls off something quite amazing. However, what I really liked about this video is that it’s clear that he listened to his fiancée and made certain that he knew exactly what she wanted. Way to man-up! I salute you sir!

And as a follow-up, I’d invite you to read “Marriage is like wine” from one of my favourite blogs, Almost Not Catholic.

Sunday Lectionary: September 4, 2011

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Unfortunately a little rushed this week, but here you go…

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings this week concern themselves with the tricky subject of relationships and, in particular, relationships between Christians. The passages address the question of how sin and disputes are to be handled in the Church.

 

Reading I: Ezekiel 33:7-9

Last week we heard from the Prophet Jeremiah. This week we have switched to the Prophet Ezekiel, but continue with the theme of God’s word.

Thus says the LORD:

“You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. If I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked one, you shall surely die’  and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself”

Watchmen 😉

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JP2 Resources

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Every week since the start of the year I have brought a handful of CDs to the JP2 Group to hand out. These CDs have contained a selection of the best faith-related podcasts I’ve found on the Internet. Previous CDs have included material from Peter Kreeft, Catholic Answers, Devin Rose, A Good Story Is Hard to Find, Fr. Robert Barron and, of course, the legendary Catholic Stuff You Should Know.

My aim in doing this has been to bring people into contact with a wide range of Catholic resources, in the hope that they find a few speakers they really enjoy and who help them in their spiritual journey. So today I thought that I would write this short post, pointing to the Resources page of the JP2 website in the hope that the readers of this blog may also benefit.

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