Why do Christians worship on Sunday?

I was just speaking to a Seventh Day Adventist about why we celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday. A longer answer could be given, but I thought I’d just post here the quotation I just shared with him from St. Justin Martyr:

We hold our assembly on Sunday because it is the first day [of the week], on which God brought forth the world from darkness and matter. On the same day, Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before [Saturday]; and on the day of the Sun [Sunday[ he appeared to His apostles and disciples and taught them these things, which we have submitted to you for your consideration. 
– St. Justin Martyr, First Apology (c. AD 150)

If you would like to read a larger extract from St. Justin where he describes Christian worship in Rome during the Second Century, please see the Patristics Section of this website.

worship1

Memes and Heresy

Catholic Dating: “Pursuit”

Today’s post may be somewhat controversial, but I’d like to talk about this particular topic because it was an aspect of dating which most infuriated me in my early twenties.

In an earlier post, I spoke about a counterfeit, passive masculinity which one often finds within Christianity. However, thanks to writers such John Elridge and Jason Evert, there has been a growing shift with regards to the expected behaviour of men within the Church.

As a result, the ladies are encouraged to expect a lot more from the guys. Courageous valour, rather than niceness is the order of the day. Related to this, you hear constant mention of one word in particular, “pursuit”.

Pursuit

Today I would like to address some of the potential hazards with the idea of pursuit and suggest what can be done to safeguard against them.

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This may possibly get you canonized…

A while back I wrote about my friend Jenna and her attempt to join an order of nuns who look after terminal cancer patients. Well, I’ve just heard that, once the money from all the different fund raising efforts has come in, she will be only $269 away from achieving her goa

So, if you’d like to help turn one of these…

jenna

…into one of these…

hawthorne

…then go find one of these (preferably your own)….

credit cards

…and then go here…

Jenna

Wise Words on Wednesday: Our address

henry-nouwen

“One way to express the spiritual crisis of our time is to say that most of us have an address but cannot be found there. We know where we belong, but we keep being pulled away in many directions, as if we were still homeless. ‘All these other things’ keep demanding our attention. They lead us so far from home that we eventually forget our true address”

– Henry Nowen, “Making All Things New”

Catholic Dating: “Discernment”

Before we get to the subject of today’s post, I wanted to say that I can tell from the site statistics and the conversations I’ve had over the last couple of weeks that a lot of people have been reading these posts. I would like to thank everyone for taking the time out to read this Englishman’s musings on a rather delicate subject.

Additionally, I would just like to encourage everyone to give their two cents in the Comment Box at the end of each article. You don’t have to use your real name or email address if you’d prefer to remain anonymous. It’s perfectly acceptable to submit comments under the name of “Balaam’s Donkey” or with an email address of papa_francis@gmail.com

It was my hope that publishing this series would spark some much-needed open discussion among our community. I know that conversations certainly have been going on among different groups, but I’d invite everyone to make use of the Comment Box since, if you share your perspective here, you’ll get to enlighten the entire world (wide web)!

Benedict and iPad

“Hey guys, look! A new post at RestlessPilgrim.net!”

So, now that’s been said, let’s get underway with today’s subject. Today will be a short post about another potential cause for confusion in the Catholic dating scene and a reason why guys might sometimes refrain from asking out the lady folk. It is a uniquely Catholic issue, the question of “discernment”.

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