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Sunday Lectionary: Bread from Heaven

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I’ve been on vacation this week so my notes are late and not quite as polished as they are normally.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 2nd August, 2012

Our Readings this week focus again on the subject of sacred food.

In the First Reading, we read how the Israelites were fed with manna in the desert. The manna is also the subject of this week’s Psalm, as psalmist proclaims “The Lord gave them bread from heaven”. These are also the words quoted by the crowd who come to Jesus after “The Feeding of the Multitude”. The crowd comes expecting another free meal, but rather than filling their stomachs, Jesus directs them towards deeper spiritual realities, declaring Himself to be “the bread of life” and that “whoever comes…will never hunger, and whoever believes…will never thirst”.

Our understanding of the Second Reading may be illuminated by considering the rite of Baptism in the early centuries of the Church. In preparation for the Sacrament, someone wishing to be baptised would receive a period of instruction. Afterwards, he would then arrive at the Baptismal pool and shed himself of his clothes, symbolically demonstrating that he wished to “put away the old self of [the] former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires”. He would then descend into the baptismal pool where he would be washed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, “renewed in the spirit of [his] mind”. He would then ascend and be clothed in a white garment to show that he had “put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth”. After having been washed in the waters of regeneration, this newly-born Christian would be admitted to the liturgy of the Eucharist where he would finally receive the bread of life.

We too have been washed in the waters of baptism, we too have been admitted to the altar.  Let us live our lives this week in the “holiness of truth” . We do not receive simply the “bread of angels”, but something even greater, “the bread of life”  Himself.

When, through the hand of the priest, you receive the Body of Christ, think not of the priest which you see, but of the Priest you do not see. The priest is the dispenser of this food, not the author. The Son of man gives Himself to us, that we may abide in Him, and He in us – Alcuin

Eucharist

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Distinctions

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I saw this on Brandon Vogts‘ Facebook page this morning about the Chick-fil-A kerfuffle. I felt it needed to be shared…

With the recent Chick-fil-A controversy, I now realize modern man is almost incapable of distinguishing between these four things:

1. The difference between “Approval” and “Implicit Condemnation”.
Just because you support one thing doesn’t mean you’re viciously antagonist toward another (i.e. “anti-” the opposite.) If Dan Cathy supports traditional marriage between one man and one woman, that doesn’t mean he ipso facto “hates gay people” or is “anti-gay.”

2. The difference between “Disagreeing” and “Hating”
I disagree with ideas all the time. This does not necessitate hating the person who proposed them. Your beliefs are not your identity.

3. The difference between “Beliefs” and “People”
This is somewhat similar to #2. Rejecting a belief does not equal rejecting a person. You can reject the validity of same-sex marriage on philosophical and social grounds while still profoundly loving people with same-sex attraction. I reject at least some opinions or actions from each of my friends (such as “double-rainbows are boring” or “playing the lottery is wise.”) They in turn reject plenty of my own. But we don’t hate each other. In fact, just the opposite is true. Our relationship is grounded on a communion of persons, not a symmetry of beliefs.

4. The difference between “Bigotry” and “Disagreement”
The definition of bigot is “one unwilling to tolerate opinions different than his own”–not “someone who disagrees with me.” Toleration doesn’t require agreement, merely recognition and respect. (Ironically, those quickest to accuse people of bigotry are often bigoted about their flawed definition of “bigot.”)

The solution to these failures is not more dialogue. It’s better philosophy, logic, and reason. Unfortunately, until two people are capable of making these distinctions, healthy, productive dialogue about same-sex marriage is almost impossible.

UPDATE: Brandon has now got around to posting this on his blog

So there you are. And now for something a little lighter…

Sunday Lectionary: Blessed and Broken

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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 29th July, 2012

The Readings this week focus on God’s gracious provision and in the First Reading and the Gospel this gracious provision is manifested through bread.

In the First Reading, bread is multiplied by the Prophet Elisha and in the Gospel, bread is multiplied at the hands of Jesus. These Readings teach us trust in God, to proclaim with the psalmist that “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs”. Both of these miracles allude to the Eucharist, pointing towards the time when Jesus will be consumed throughout the world under the appearance of bread and wine.

In our Second Reading St. Paul tells us that Christians are called to be united in “one body…one Spirit…one hope…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father”. This oneness and Church unity finds its clearest expression in the Eucharist. At the Mass, we come together as God’s family, and because though “many, [we are] are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthains 10:17).

As we gather together at the Liturgy this week, let us be mindful that the whole family of God, both in Heaven and on earth, is gathering together with us. United as one, we celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection and are once again fed by the hand of the Lord.

There He is: King of kings and Lord of lords, hidden in the bread. To this extreme He humbled Himself for love of you –St. Josemaria Escriva

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Impressing Girls at Bible Studies

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Have you ever been to a Bible study with a guy who always seems able to find the right page of the Bible in seconds? It’s impressive, right? You’re still flipping backwards and forwards through the Bible while he’s looking smug, polishing his glasses and helping the more attractive females in the group find the right page…

I would suggest that he’s able to find things so quickly, in large part, due to his understanding of the structure of the Bible. We looked at the structure of the New Testament yesterday, so let’s apply what we covered yesterday.

Let’s say that we’re looking for the 2 Timothy 3:15…

We know that Paul wrote this letter. Therefore 2 Timothy 3:15 must appear after the Gospels and Acts.

We also know that if we find ourselves flicking through the epistles from other Saints (James, Peter etc.) then we’ve gone too far.

When we’ve found the Pauline epistles, we have to narrow down our search…

We know that 2nd Timothy is a letter to a person (Timothy), so it must appear in the second half of Paul’s letters, after his letters to communities.

After a little bit of searching we finally come across 2nd Timothy. We turn to Chapter 3 and look to the 15th verse:

…from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. – 2 Timothy 3:15

So it’s clear that understanding the structure of the Bible makes it considerably easier to navigate. Now you can be a Bible ninja too 🙂

From Nathan Huang

The Shape of the New Testament

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One of the wonderful treasures of the Catholic faith in the Roman Rite is the Lectionary.

Pope Benedict and the Lectionary

Every Sunday the congregation hears large chunks of Scripture selected from different parts of the Bible, from both the Old and New Testaments:

1. Old Testament passage
2. Psalm
3. New Testament Epistle
4. Gospel Reading

Making Connections

The Readings selected for each week are usually united by a common theme. This is especially true for the Old Testament passage and the Gospel Reading. The brilliance of this arrangement is that it shows the unity between the Old and New Testaments. As the great Early Church Father, St. Augustine, wrote:

“The New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New”
– St. Augustine of Hippo, “Quaestiones in Heptateuchum” 2.73

However, as good as this arrangement is, I have found that it can lead to certain difficulties. In particular, Catholics can sometimes have difficulties understanding how the Readings they hear on Sunday relate to the respective books of Scripture from which they are drawn, and also how those books fit into the the New Testament as a whole.

What can be done to address this problem? Well, when leading small Bible study groups, I always begin by asking those present to walk me through their New Testament’s “Table of Contents” page. I do this because, as with most things, once one comprehends the overall structure of something, the contents becomes less intimidating and more memorable because one already understands the framework and context in which that content has been placed.

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Sunday Lectionary: If you want something done properly…

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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 22nd July 2012

good shepherd iconThe theme throughout the Readings this week is that of shepherding.

In our First Reading the Prophet Jeremiah berates the leaders of Israel who have failed in their duty to carefully shepherd the people. In response to their failure, God promises that He Himself will gather His people together and that there will come from the line of David an exemplary shepherd.

This good shepherd is, of course, Jesus Christ and this is demonstrated in our Gospel this week when we hear about our Lord’s compassion on the people “for they were like sheep without a shepherd”.

Likewise, in our Second Reading, St. Paul praises the wisdom of God who, through Christ, has “broke[n] down the dividing wall of enmity”, thus uniting two flocks, the flock of the the Jews and the flock of the Gentiles. These two flocks are gathered into the Church under one Shepherd, Christ.

And so in our Psalm we praise the Lord, our Shepherd, who is by our side even though the “dark valley” and who leads us “beside restful waters”  and to “verdant pastures”.

As the Lord “spread[s] the table before [us]”  this week in the Eucharistic feast, let us celebrate our Good Shepherd, who loves so much that He laid down His life for us, His sheep.

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Invented at Nicaea?

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A friend of mine recently told me about a conversation she had with her friend who considered himself a follower of Jesus, but who also held to the popular Dan Brown myth that one also often hears from Jehovah Witnesses and Muslims, that the divinity of Christ was something invented by the Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea.

albino monk

Don’t trust murdering albino monks when it comes to theology…

I promised my friend that I would put together a post to demonstrate the Divinity of Christ from both Sacred Scripture and Early Church history, so here it is…

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