Wise Words on Wednesday: Experience of others

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
– Voltaire
"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
– Voltaire

One of my great discoveries upon engaging with the Catholic faith was that the Liturgy was saturated with Scripture. In my exploration of the eastern liturgies of the Church, I’ve found this to be no less true.
Below is a summary of the Scriptural allusions of the Liturgy which was compiled by V. Rev. John J. Matusiak from St. Joseph Russian Orthodox Church, OCA in Wheaton, IL.
Opening Doxology (“Blessed in the Kingdom…”)
Mark: 11:10; Luke: 22:29-30, Matthew: 28:19; Revelation: 7:12.
The Great Litany
Philippians: 4:6-7; Psalm 51:1 Luke: 18:13; John: 14:27; 1 Timothy: 2:1-2; Hebrews: 13:7; Psalm 109:26; Luke: 1:42.
The First Antiphon (“Bless the Lord, O my soul…”)
Selected verses from Psalm 103.
The Second Antiphon (“Praise the Lord, O my soul”)
Psalm 103.
The Hymn to Christ Incarnate (“Only-begotten Son…”)
John: 1:1, 3:16, 17:5, 19:18; Luke: 1:35; Hebrews: 2:14; Matthew: 8:25.
I always like it when musicians try and put the Creed to music. Here’s one of my favourites, “We Believe” by the Newsboys:
In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe
We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He’s given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He’s comin’ back again, we believe
So, let our faith be more than anthems
Greater than the songs we sing
And in our weakness and temptations
We believe, we believe!
Let the lost be found and the dead be raised!
In the here and now, let love invade!
Let the church live loud our God we’ll say
We believe, we believe!
And the gates of hell will not prevail!
For the power of God, has torn the veil!
Now we know Your love will never fail!
We believe, we believe!
Let’s try again next week 🙂
Despite the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi is Catholic, according to Stephen Colbert the Vatican isn’t feeling the Force…
If you ever visit an Eastern Catholic or Eastern Orthodox parish, you’ll find them adorned with many icons and, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, these icons are dense with meaning.
At one point last year I brought a friend to my parish and we spent some time looking at the icons. He noticed that in the icons of the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), each of them is holding a book, symbolic of the Gospel attributed him. He then noticed the icon of St. Thomas and asked a question which caught me off-guard:
“Is the scroll he’s holding a reference to the ‘Gospel of Thomas’?”
I had never considered that association before! You see, the “Gospel of Thomas” is a non-Canonical work from the mid 2nd Century and was rejected by the Catholic Church. Bishop Eusebius from 3rd Century described it as “the fictions of heretics”. Given all that, it’s rather unlikely that the scroll in Thomas’ hand in a Catholic Church is a reference to a heretical work of antiquity!
So…what does the scroll in the Apostle’s hand represent? In Eastern iconography, a scroll represents holy wisdom and indicates that the person preached and held the rank of apostle.