"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
On Catholic Memes, I just saw a video where Stephen Colbert challenged another celebrity to a Catholic throwdown. This time his opponent was Patricia Heaton, star of “Everybody loves Raymond” and “The Middle”:
Oh Stephen…you disappoint me.
I counted at least three major Catholic mistakes in this throwdown, three “maxima culpas”, if you will. So get out your sackcloth and ashes, and let me I teach you something about the Catholic Faith…
This past weekend, I drove out to Imperial Valley, a couple of hours east of San Diego, to give a talk at “Java & Jesus”. The event was rather similar to a traditional “Theology On Tap”, except that it was held at a coffee shop.
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Timestamps
01:34 – Introduction
01:50 – Prayer
03:13 – The Purpose of the Church
08:25 – Tool #1: Your Life
11:19 – Tool #2: Your Testimony
30:08 – Tool #3: Your Community
47:00 – Conclusion and Prayer
Earlier this week, I wrote a couple more parts to my series which exames the story of a girl named Samantha, who remained a virgin until her wedding night, but who now regrets this decision.
So far in this series, I have spoken about the distinction between chastity and abstinence and I have also presented the Catholic vision for sex and marriage, contrasting this to the woefully inadequate formation which Samantha appears to have received.
Today I would like to begin by looking at the reasons Samantha was taught for remaining a virgin until marriage and then look at what she wrote about the road to her wedding day.
The Qur’an speaks about Allah helping the followers of Jesus and keeping them “uppermost”, but this presents a dilemma since, historically, this has to refer to Trinitarian Christians… which is a very strange thing for Allah to support. If it wasn’t Trinitarian Christians, who exactly has remained “uppermost” since the time of Christ?
O believers! Stand up for Allah, as Jesus, son of Mary, asked the disciples, “Who will stand up with me for Allah?” The disciples replied, “We will stand up for Allah.” Then a group from the Children of Israel believed while another disbelieved. We then supported the believers against their enemies, so they prevailed. – 61:14
˹Remember˺ when Allah said, “O Jesus! I will take you and raise you up to Myself. I will deliver you from those who disbelieve, and elevate your followers above the disbelievers until the Day of Judgment. Then to Me you will ˹all˺ return, and I will settle all your disputes. – 3:55
Continuing my attempts to produce these Lectionary Notes in under four hours…
The Readings this week focus around life in Christ.
We begin with an account of St. Paul’s failed attempts in Jerusalem to commune with Christ’s Body, the Church. Strangely enough, it turns out that people tend to be a bit stand-offish if you’ve previously tried to kill them! In our Gospel Reading, Jesus teaches his disciples using the metaphor of the vine, showing us that union with Him is essential if we are to live. He gives us a warning too, that if we do not produce fruit, we will be cut off from Him and deprived of His Divine life. St. John restates this sentiment in the Second Reading, exhorting his readers to “love not in word…but in deed”.
Let us come to Mass this week thirsty for the grace of Christ which is communicated through His Church. Let us drink deeply, returning to the world refreshed, ready to share the life of Christ and to bear fruit which will last.
Through Him, and with Him, and in Him…
We’re currently having some venue issues, but I’m pleased to announce that Daughters Of The King is making a return at the start of next year…
I remember some time ago I was reading a book (possibly Bill Bryson’s “The Mother Tongue”) and found out that Latin anagrams were, at one point in history, all the rage. Well, what can you expect? These were the days before YouTube… Anyway, the author then gave an example of a Latin phrase which sounded rather familiar:
“Quid est veritas?”
This is the (rather cynical) question asked of Jesus by Pontius Pilate; what is truth? Well, it turns out that there is a rather appropriate anagram for Pilate’s words:
“Est vir qui adest”
The translation for this is “It is the man who is here”. Cool, huh?
The article A little Latin anagram first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net