• The Crucifix Prayer

    Blessed are you, Lord God,
    Father all-holy,
    for your boundless love
    The tree, once the source of shame
    and death for humankind,
    has become the cross
    of our redemption and life.

    When his hour had come to
    return to you in glory,
    the Lord Jesus,
    Our King, our Priest, and our Teacher,
    freely mounted the scaffold of the cross
    and made it his royal throne,
    his altar of sacrifice, his pulpit of truth.

    On the cross,
    lifted above the earth,
    he triumphed over our age-old enemy.
    Cloaked in his own blood,
    he drew all things to himself.

    On the cross,
    he opened out his arms
    and offered you his life;
    the sacrifice of the New Law
    that gives to the sacraments
    their saving power.

    On the cross,
    he proved what he had prophesied:
    the grain of wheat must die
    to bring forth an abundant harvest.

    Father,
    we honour this cross as the sign
    of our redemption.
    May we reap the harvest of salvation
    planted in pain by Christ Jesus.
    May our sins be nailed to his cross,
    the power of life released,
    pride conquered,
    and weakness turned to strength.

    May the cross be our comfort in trouble,
    our refuge in the face of danger,
    our safeguard on life’s journey
    until you welcome us to
    our heavenly home.

    Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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  • The Prayer of St. Ephrem

    {Making a prostration}

    O LORD, Master of my life,
    grant that I may not be infected with the
    spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness,
    with the spirit of ambition and vain talking.

    {Making a prostration}

    Grant instead to me, your servant,
    the spirit of purity and of humility,
    the spirit of patience and neighborly love.

    {Making a third prostration}

    O Lord and King,
    grant me the grace of being aware of my sins
    and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren.
    For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever.

    Amen.

    Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings,
    You have power over life and death.
    You know what is secret and hidden,
    and neither our thoughts nor our feelings
    are concealed from You.
    Cure me of duplicity;
    I have done evil before You.
    Now my life declines from day to day
    and my sins increase.
    O Lord, God of souls and bodies,
    You know the extreme frailty of my soul and my flesh.
    Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord,
    and sustain me in my misery.
    Give me a grateful soul that I may
    never cease to recall Your benefits,
    O Lord most bountiful.
    Be not mindful of my many sins,
    but forgive me all my misdeeds.
    O Lord, disdain not my prayer –
    the prayer of a wretched sinner;
    sustain me with Your grace until the end,
    that it may protect me as in the past.
    It is Your grace which has taught me wisdom;
    blessed are they who follow her ways,
    for they shall receive the crown of glory.
    In spite of my unworthiness,
    I praise You and I glorify You,
    O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit.
    You have been my help and my protection.
    May the name of Your majesty be praised forever.
    To you, our God, be glory.
    Amen.

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  • PWJ: S4E103 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 2)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 2 of that Finale. Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/X4zq7Uk69KmYo1v3A

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  • PWJ: S4E102 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 1)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 1…

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  • PWJ: S4E101 – Bonus – “Jack vs Tollers”

    After the previously-planned interview fell through at the last minute, David sat down to record a solo episode to talk about his newborn son, Sidecar Day, blue flowers in Narnia, and also to make his tongue-in-cheek case as to why C.S. Lewis is better than J.R.R. Tolkien.

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  • PWJ: S4E100 – AH – “After Hours” with The Gray Havens

    The Gray Havens are an American Christian folk pop husband and wife duo, David and Licia Radford, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. On October 8th they will be releasing their new album, Blue Flower, so David Radford came on the show to talk to Andrew and David about how C.S. Lewis inspired their recent work.

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  • PWJ: S4E99 – AH – “After Hours” with Mike “Gomer” Gormley

    As we approach the end of Season 4, David is joined on the show by Michael “Gomer” Gormley. Among other things, they discuss Ted Lasso, tea, and the Atonement. Also, find out what Gomer would do if he ever became the Pope!

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  • PWJ: S4E98 – AH – “After Hours” with Patti Callahan

    New York Times bestselling author, Patti Callahan, returns to the show to talk about her forthcoming book, “Once Upon A Wardrobe”, which will be released on October 19th.

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  • PWJ: S4E97 – AH – “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road

    A few months ago, John and Greta from The Tolkien Road podcast did a series of episodes on religion in Tolkien’s Legendarium. David invited him onto the show to talk about those episodes and to encourage the Pints With Jack listeners to listen to them.

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  • PWJ: S4E96 – AH – “After Hours” with Rod Bennett

    Author Rod Bennett joined David to talk about a presentation on he gave at a big Christian rock festival about C.S. Lewis’ relationship to “Pulp Fiction”.

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Catholic Dating: True love waits…and waits…

In this series I’m trying to examine some of the issues and problems within the Catholic dating world. However, before I get underway with today’s post I would like very briefly to reply to an important question which was raised in response to an earlier post. The question was asked, is there actually even a problem here to address?!

I would suggest that we do indeed have a problem. In addition to anecdotal evidence, there is statistical data to demonstrate that there are fewer and fewer marriages taking place today, even among practising Catholics:

Marriage-trends

This decline has far reaching consequences, both for Catholic schools and parishes, as well as for Catholic culture and the Church’s witness to the world. If you would like to read about this further then I would recommend this article by Msgr. Pope.

Choice and Commitment

So with that issue addressed, let’s return to the main question of this series: why aren’t more Catholic guys asking girls out on dates? One possible answer might be because many guys are in no hurry to settle down.

Society today praises choice. With regards to commitment, we are urged to be cautious: “Don’t commit yourself!”, “Someone better might be just around the corner!”, “Leave yourself an escape!”. I would suggest that, because of this, some guys refrain from dating in a misguided attempt to keep their options open (there is a related dynamic here on the part of the ladies, but I plan to deal with that in a later post).

To make matters worse, do we sometimes hear a message from the Church that can sound somewhat similar? In the Catholic Church, marriage is a Sacrament, something serious, important, binding and lifelong. We are therefore often urged to move with great caution. Additionally, with broken marriages all around us, isn’t it sensible to be extremely careful in selecting a future spouse?

I think there is good sense in caution, but have we gone too far? Are we encouraged to wait too long?

Read more

Audrey Assad On-Line Concert Tomorrow!

Audrey

Tomorrow there is going to be a free, online concert with Audrey Assad to promote her new album “Fortunate Fall”. As a supporter of her Kickstarter campaign I’ve had the album for a couple of weeks now and pretty much have it on constantly. Trust me, it’s kinda epic…

“Your rod and Your staff are a strange mercy / In a world where I’m not yet home”
– Lead Me On, Audrey Assad

So, if you’d like to tune in and watch Audrey sing three new songs, either click on the above picture or the following link tomorrow at 6pm CST: http://smarturl.com/FortunateStream. Use the hashtag ‪#‎fortunatefall‬ on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and possibly win prizes!

New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 43-52

Here are the final answers to the New Testament Warm-Up questions:

43. What appears after Hebrews? What category of books do we call these?
The Catholic Epistles (7 books): James, Peter (x2), John (x3) and Jude . These are letters written by Church leaders other than the Apostle Paul.

44. Who most likely wrote James’ epistle?
James of Jerusalem (“James the Just”). He was Jesus’ kinsman (see Mark 6:3), resurrection witness (see 1 Corinthians 15:7) and “pillar of the church” (see Galatians 2:9). Tradition tells us that he was Bishop of Jerusalem and Martyred in AD 62 (Stoned, clubbed or thrown from the Temple)

45. How would you summarize James’ epistle?
Faith without works is dead. This motif appears throughout. James speaks about practical Christian living and the life of faith.

46. What documents appear next?
1 & 2 Peter

47. What documents appear after that?
1, 2, & 3 John

48. After that?
Jude

49. What is the final book of the Bible?
The Book of Revelation

50. What is its literary genre?
It is an Apocalyptic Book

51. What are the two main senses of Scripture according to the Catechism?
Literal and Spiritual

52. What are the three types of spiritual senses?
Allegorical, moral and anagogical

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New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 28-42

Continuing the answers to the New Testament Warm-Up questions…

28. What appears after Thessalonians?
The four letters from St. Paul to individuals: Timothy (x2), Titus and Philemon. The first three of these (and sometimes all four) are commonly known as the “Pastoral Epistles”.

29. Who was Timothy?
Timothy was a constant companion of Paul, recruited during Paul’s 2nd missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). He also traveled with Paul on the subsequent 3rd missionary journey.

30. What background information do you know about Timothy?
He was from Asia Minor with a Christian Jewish mother (“Eunice”) and a Greek (probably Pagan) father (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15). Timothy was the co-sender of six of Paul’s letters (2nd Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, as well as this letter). Tradition asserts that Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus and was martyred there as an old man.

31. Who was Titus?
Titus was a companion of Paul. He was a Gentile Christian who traveled with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem and with Paul on his 3rd missionary journey.

32. Who was Philemon?
Philemon was man of Paul’s acquaintance. Paul was possibly instrumental in his conversion to the Faith (Philemon 1:19) and Philemon was possibly involved in some ministerial capacity (Philemon 1:2).

33. Where did Philemon most likely live?
The letter doesn’t indicate the exact location of Philemon and his family, but it is assumed that they were residents of Colossae or a neighbouring city in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). This assumption is based upon the common belief that the slave mentioned in this letter, Onesimus, is the same man delivering the Letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:7-9).

34. What is the context of the letter?
Paul is sending back to Philemon his slave Onesimus. Additionally, Paul thinks that his captivity will soon be at an end, so he tells Philemon to prepare for his arrival (Philemon 1:22).

35. What was the name of Philemon’s slave?
Onesimus

36. What is the meaning of the slave’s name?
His name means “Useful” or “Benefit”. St. Paul makes a couple of puns on his name in the letter.

37. What does Paul ask of Philemon?
Paul requests that Philemon to forgive his runaway slave Onesimus (Philemon 1:9,17)

38. What book appears after Philemon?
The book of Hebrews.

39. Why does Hebrews appear here?
It appears at the end of the collection of Paul’s work (the “Pauline Corpus”) because of the dispute in the Early Church as to whether or not Paul was its author. Additionally, one would not really call it an epistle.

40. What literary genre is Hebrews?
It is a sermon.

41. What is the main theme of the book?
It explains Jesus in terms of the Old Covenant priesthood and sacrificial system.

42. What did St. Thomas Aquinas think about the authorship of this epistle?
“Catholic tradition holds that Luke redacted the final version of the anonymous epistle to the Hebrews on Paul’s behalf, a view endorsed by none other than Saint Thomas Aquinas.”Source

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The article New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 27-42 first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 17-27

Bible Question Mark

Earlier today I started posting the answers to the New Testament Warm-Up questions. Here is the next set of answers…

17. What books appear in the Bible after Acts of the Apostles?
The 9 epistles sent by St. Paul to different Christian communities.

18. How are these epistles arranged?
They are arranged roughly in order of length, from the longest to the shortest.

19. What are the names of the cities/communities to which Paul writes?
Romans (City of Rome)
1 & 2 Corinthians (City of Corinth)
Galatians (The region of Galatia)
Ephesians (City of Ephesus)
Philippians (City of Philippi)
Colossians (City of Colossae)
1 & 2 Thessalonians (City of Thessalonica)

20. From where did Paul write the epistle to the Philippians?
He wrote it from prison (or while under house arrest).

21. What city was he in most likely at the time?
Rome.

22. Why did Paul write his letter to the Philippians?
Paul’s primary purpose in writing this letter was to thank the Philippians for the “gift” they sent him (probably money), which they sent to him upon hearing of his incarceration.

23. Who probably delivered this letter for Paul?
A man by the name of “Epaphroditus”. This man was the emissary from the Philippian congregation. He was quite sick and near death during his time with Paul.

24. What are the main themes of the letter to the Philippians?
Joy, regardless of the circumstances, through Jesus Christ.

25. What Christian hymn does Paul quote in the letter in Chapter 2?
He quotes the song known as “The Carmen Christi” (Latin for “hymn of Christ”): “Though he was in the form of God…”

26. What is the main theme behind the letters to the Thessalonians?
Christ’s Second Coming.

27. What claim-to-fame do the Thessalonian letter have?
It was most likely the first piece of the New Testament to ever be written.

I’ll post some more answers tomorrow. Happy Lord’s Day!

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The article New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 17-27 first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 1-16

A while ago I enumerated all the warm-up questions asked each week at the beginning of our Bible study group. Several people sent me messages asking me for the answers, but one reader, Alexandra, went ahead and sent me her own responses!

So, in case you were curious, over the next couple of days I’m going to be posting the answers to the questions, based upon Alexandra’s email…

1. In what language was the New Testament written?
(Koine) Greek

2. What is the likely exception to this?
The Gospel According to Mathew. The Early Church Fathers say that it was originally written in Aramaic and soon translated into Greek.

3. Which books appear first in the New Testament?
The four Gospels.

4. Why are these books placed first in the canon?
These books appear at the beginning of the New Testament because they contain the teaching, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and therefore hold pride of place in the New Testament.

5. Why do they appear in this order?
They are arranged in the order of composition as believed by Early Church Fathers.

6. Which Gospels are attributed to Apostles?
Matthew and John

7. With whom is Mark associated?
He was companion of Paul and later Peter. It is said that Mark’s Gospel is the preaching of Peter in Rome.

8. What is Mark’s other name?
Mark is also called John (Acts 12:12). We was the cause of some friction between Paul and Barnabas.

9. With whom is Luke associated?
He was a companion of Paul.

10. What is Luke’s profession?
Physician

11. What comes after the Gospels?
Acts of the Apostles

12. By whom is it written?
Luke, the author of the Gospel which bears his name.

13. To what genre does it belong?
“Acts” is a genre of books in the ancient world that described people’s great deeds. This book describes the history of the Early Church.

14. What is the first main message of the Acts of the Apostles?
The Church continues the mission of Jesus.

15. What is the second main point of the Acts of the Apostles?
The unity of the mission of Paul and Peter. There are numerous parallels between the acts and deeds of these two apostles.

16. Between what years do the events described in Acts of the Apostles take place?
Probably between about AD 30 and AD 60

I’ll post the next set of answers after lunch…

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The article New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 1-16 first appeared on RestlessPilrim.net

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