Category: Catholicism

The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp

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Amy Donahue (http://www.thisisamy.com)

I’ve previously written about one of my favourite Early Church Fathers, St. Polycarp and I’ve just finished preparing the account of his martyrdom that we’re going to be reading in the JP2 Group, starting next week.

Whenever we read documents from the Early Church I always work hard to try and produce the most readable translation for us to study. I do this by comparing many of the different translations and I do this in an attempt to eliminate all possible barriers to people reading, engaging with and actually enjoying these early Christian writers.

If you would like to view this document, links are provided below. The document is available in both Microsoft Word (.docx) and Adobe Reader formats (.pdf).

I’ve also recorded this document in an MP3 fjle because I personally learn best when I use audio. So…if you’re looking for something to listen to while you’re sunbathing at Pacific Beach over Memorial Day Weekend, look no further!

Martyrdom of Polycarp (DOCX | PDF | MP3)

If you would like to join us in our study, we will begin on 2nd June at St. John the Evangelist.

3 Minute Philosophy

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Do you remember the bit in the Acts of the Apostles where Paul is in Athens? We’re told that “A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him…When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered” (Acts 17:18, 32). Ever wondered who these guys were?

Well, wonder no more! I’ve recently come across a collection of “Three Minute Philosophy” videos on YouTube:

Warning! This guy’s videos can contain rather colourful language…
(Also, his video on St. Thomas Aquinus has a few errors in it…)

Prophet and loss

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On Saturday, Harold Camping proved himself to be a false prophet when no rapture materialized…

Three days before the supposed event, I wrote the following:

When the predictions of such groups fail to come true and Jesus inconveniently decides not to turn up, excuses are usually given e.g. “Jesus did return, but did so invisibly!”.  I’m guessing that probably the same thing will happen with Christian Family Radio on May 22nd.

I just read the following:

“Radio evangelist Harold Camping said in a special broadcast Monday night on his radio program Open Forum that his predicted May 21, 2011 Rapture was ‘an invisible judgment day’ that he has come to understand as a spiritual, rather than physical event.”

Straight out of the Jehovah Witness play book! Camping’s prophetic credentials seem to be shot, but mine are looking pretty good, hey? 🙂

Artwork of God’s Artwork

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In a previous post I explained the meaning of the text “IC XC” which is found in Eastern icons. I thought today I would do a quick follow-up to explain the letters which commonly appear around the Theotokos…

The Theo-what?

“The Theotokos” (pronounced “th-ay-oh-to-kos”) is the name that Eastern Christians (both Orthodox and Catholic) typically give to Jesus’ mother, Mary. It was also the word used in the proclamation of the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. In the Western Church, “Theotokos” is often loosely translated into English as “Mother Of God” (whereas it literally means “God-bearer”).

Giving Mary the title “Mother of God” has certainly caused some heated arguments in the history of Christianity. Some have mistakenly seen this title as an elevation of Mary to a height even greater than that of Jesus (if such a thing were possible!). Yet the title “Mother Of God” is really much more about Jesus than Mary, since to say that Mary is not the mother of God is to say that she gave birth only to His humanity, which would indicate  some kind of rupture between Jesus’ human and divine natures. That’s kind of a weighty topic…I think I’ll come back to that another time….

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Don’t be too eager to hit "Send"

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I had this blog entry in my “drafts” folder for over six months and it’s been quite some time since I posted an entry for the “Stuff I’ve had to learn“ category. Today I would like to remedy this situation by presenting a piece of wisdom that I’ve been forced to learn over the years.

This bit of advice has certainly resolved many tense situations and has saved more than one friendship:

Don’t be too eager to hit…

Turbo-Charged Communication

Communication today is certainly quicker than it was in the past.  It is now extremely easy to fire off a quick message to someone on the other side of the world, whereas in times past it required the purchase of stationery equipment, the composition of a letter, the purchase of the appropriate stamp and delivery to the nearest postbox.  A substantial wait was then required before a reply would be received.

I’m all in favour of modern communication methods – cell phones, skype, email and text messaging make communicating with those in far-flung places both efficient and cheap. For me personally, it’s what makes living in America and staying in close contact with friends in England possible. However, I would suggest that our advances in technology sometimes make communication just a little bit *too* easy…

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Patron Saint of…unattractive people?!

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In this month’s “Theology on Tap” here in San Diego we had a talk by Bernadeane Carr entitled “Saints: Our friends in high places”. In it, she talked about the Saints who are associated with a particular cause, complaint or profession, the Saints whom we call “Patron Saints”. I therefore wanted to share with you some of the more…erm…”interesting” patron Saints I’ve come across. Believe it or not, there is a Patron Saint of unattractive people…

His name is Saint Drogo, the son of Flemish nobility. Unfortunately, his mother died giving birth to him (for which he always felt responsible) and his father died while he was a teenager. At the age of 18 he disposed of all of his property, lived a life of extreme penance and became a permanent pilgrim (I’m sure he’d have liked this blog if he was around today). He also worked as a shepherd for some time and it was claimed that he was able to bi-locate – being at Mass and being out in the fields at the same time (many football fans today pray for this gift).

Saint Drogo is the patron Saint of unattractive people because during one pilgrimage he contracted a disease which caused him to develop severe bodily deformities. The people of the village built a small cell attached to the local church to provide him with a place to live and to also protect them from seeing his deformities (nice, hey?!). St. Drogo stayed in his cell for the next forty years, having no contact with anyone, except to receive his simple sustenance: barley, water and the Eucharist.

His feast day is April 16th….my birthday. I think this blog just found its patron Saint.

My Country Music Confession

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I have a confession.

I like Country Music.

There, I said it.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think there’s definitely a stigma attached to Country Music. There is the perception that the music is quite hokey and that every song is about how the singer has lost his woman, his pickup truck, his favourite horse and/or dog.

A while ago, a girl whom I was rather rather sweet on, unashamedly declared that she really liked Country Music. For this, of course, I mercilessly teased her. In fact, that reminds of a joke…

Q. What happens when you play a country song backwards?
A. The guy gets his wife back, his truck back, stops drinking, and his dog comes back to life.

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