"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
It’s probably worth mentioning that I’ve created an RSS feed to allow people to subscribe to the St. Ignatius podcasts in iTunes:
If you have problems with this, or don’t use iTunes, simply point your media player software towards:
http://www.trycatch.net/audio/ignatius/IgnatiusOfAntioch.rss
UPDATE 03/16/2015: Please note, this link no longer works.
The final two letters of St. Ignatius which we read are both sent to the city of Smyrna. The first letter is sent to the Church as a whole, the second specifically to their bishop, Polycarp.
This first letter is special for many reasons, but particularly because it contains Ignatius’ clearest declaration of faith about the Eucharist, as well as being the earliest recorded use of the phrase “Catholic Church”. Invented at Nicea? I don’t think so.
Here is my abridged version of the letter:
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Smyrnaeans” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Smyrnaeans” Audio
The Scripture which will be proclaimed at Mass in the upcoming weeks looks at the subject of prayer.
The other day, whilst surfing the Internet, I came across the prayer which I used during my time of preparation prior to receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. To my surprise, I found that there was an “extra bit” that I had not heard before. Here it is:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.
–Reinhold Niebuhr
I think I need this right now.
A few weeks ago I compiled the list of “Top Twenty Catholic Pick-up Lines” (Part 1, Part 2). Did you wonder what it might be like if somebody incorporated them into a song? Well, wonder no more! Thanks to Jenna for bringing this video to my attention.
(The song begins about about the 1:10 mark)
As I was watching this I realized that a lot of these lines aren’t new, they’ve been used at least since ever there was a Romeo and a Juliet…
Romeo: “If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss”
Juliet: “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss”
Romeo: “Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?”
Juliet: “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer”
Romeo: “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair”
Juliet: “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake”
Romeo: “Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged…”
[kissing noises]
Ignatius is moving!
Thus far we have been reading the letters this inspirational martyr wrote from the city of Smyrna, but we must now follow him to Troas where he will write his last three letters before completing his journey to Rome and to the mouths of the wild beasts!
Ignatius now addresses the schism and the Judaising attempts at the church in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. Here is my abridged version of the letter:
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Philadelphians” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Philadelphians” Audio
“All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever” – Daniel 3:81
This week in the JP2 Group we will be continuing our study of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr of the early 2nd Century.
Last week we read his words to the Trallians where Ignatius presents unity with the bishop as a defence against heresy. This week we move on to the letter he wrote to the Ephesians, the community in which Paul lived for three years and to whom he wrote a letter which we find in Sacred Scripture.
In this letter Ignatius pulls together all the different topics we have seen him address in his letters thus far: unity, the episcopacy, heresy, the Eucharist etc. However, as well as being a nice revision of all we have seen thus far, he also gives us some advice on how to deal with those outside the Church.
After looking at several different translations, I have, again, created my own abridged version so that we will be able to complete our study of this letter in a single evening. The letter to the Ephesians is quite long so unfortunately I had to cut quite a bit. Anyway, here it is:
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians” Audio