The Beatitudes (The Message)

The other day I was praying the Beatitudes and remembered that years ago I rather enjoyed the version found in “The Message”.

“The Message” is a paraphrase, rather than a translation of Sacred Scripture. Its purpose is to produce the Bible in more contemporary language. Some of the rendering attempts are honestly pretty awful. However, I have found this book to be of some use, especially when reading passages with which I’ve been extremely familiar.

Here’s its attempt at the Beatitudes:

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

Read more

Catholic Cremation?

In the JP2 Group last week the question of cremation came up so I thought I’d write a quick post about it here.

Body Bad, Spirit Good?

Prior to the birth of Christianity, cremation was common. This stemmed in large part from the way Pagans viewed the body and soul. They did not believe in the resurrection of the body. In fact, they had a pretty dim view of the body and cremation was sometimes seen as a way of releasing the soul trapped inside the body.

The Gnostic groups which competed with Christianity in the early centuries held to a similar dualistic beliefs. They viewed the spirit as something good, but the body as something evil.

Image and Likeness

Christianity, on the other hand, stood in stark contrast to this worldview, affirming the goodness of the body:

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over…all the creatures…” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:26-27

St. Paul also spoke about the body in exalted terms, describing it as a temple:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Because of this, Christians afforded great respect to the body, both life and in death. We find this in the witness of the Early Church (AD 155) after the death of Polycarp:

[T]he centurion…declared [Polycarp’s] body property of the state and, according to their custom, burnt it. Afterwards, we collected Polycarp’s bones, being more precious than the most exquisite jewels and more purified than gold, we interred them in a fitting place. There the Lord will permit us…to assemble in rapturous joy and celebrate his martyrdom – his birthday – both in order to commemorate the heroes that have gone before, and to train the heroes yet to come… – Martyrdom of Polycarp, Chapter 18

The most important issue here though is that Christians proclaimed the resurrection from the dead:

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power…
– 1 Corinthians 15:42

Therefore, because of their belief in the sanctity of the body, as well as to affirm the resurrection of the body, Christians have historically not cremated their deceased. It is not that God would unable to resurrect a cremated body – He can do anything – it is that Christians simply wish to respect something made in God’s image and to affirm the resurrection from the dead. It is for these reasons that cremation has traditionally not been an option for Catholics.

Read more

Sunday Lectionary: Saving Shepherd

Producing these Lectionary Notes has been taking too long again. Therefore I’m giving myself a time limit of a few hours. Let’s do this…

Fourth Sunday of Easter: April 29th, 2012

The Readings at Mass this week focus around the person of Jesus Christ and his unique, fundamental place in Salvation History. In our First Reading, St. Peter boldly proclaims that There is no salvation through anyone else”. In our Psalm we sing the words quoted by Peter in that speech to the Sanhedrin, declaring that Jesus is “the stone rejected by the builders [which] has become the cornerstone”. In the Gospel Reading, Jesus declares that He is “the good shepherd”  who “lays down his life for the sheep” and, as we hear in our Second Reading, because of this we may truly be called “the children of God”.

At this Sunday’s Mass, confident in the goodness of our Shepherd, let us firmly put our trust in Him.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever – Psalm 23

Read more

Sunday Lectionary: A Father who keeps His Promises

Third Sunday of Easter: 22nd April, 2012

Happy Easter! Yes, it’s still Easter! This week we celebrate the third Sunday of the Easter season as we continue on the road towards Pentecost.

For our Gospel Reading we hear another resurrection account, this week from St. Luke. In it, the Lord appears to His disciples and demonstrates to them that He has risen bodily from the dead. He then “opens their minds” to see how all that had come to pass was the will of the Father, His plan and His promise from the beginning.

In our Responsorial Psalm, David speaks of a God who comes to the rescue, bestowing light and peace to those in trouble. God’s rescuing love finds its fullest expression, of course, in the coming of Jesus Christ and in our First Reading we hear St. Peter proclaim this Good News to the crowd. Peter explains that through Christ’s saving sacrifice can be saved and in our Second Reading St. John reflects upon this and upon our call to respond in obedience to this great love of God.

Read more

Why stop now?

For the last six weeks Catholics have been abstaining from meat on Fridays as part of their Lenten observance. Lent is over!…Easter is here!…does that mean that we can stop now?

In centuries past

Christians have historically done penance on Fridays to remember our Lord’s Passion, as well as on Wednesdays to recall Judas’ betrayal:

…fast on [Wednesday] and [Friday] – The Didache (1st Century), Chapter 8

What about now?

There has been some confusion over this subject in recent years, but Canon Law states:

The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent – Canon 1250

So, it’s clear that every Friday is a penitential day. But what kind of penance is required?

Read more

Sunday Lectionary: Doubt and Mercy

2nd Sunday of Easter: 15th April, 2012

This Sunday, as well being the Second Sunday of Easter, it is also Divine Mercy Sunday (declared by Pope John-Paul II in April 30, 2000). The Readings in the Lectionary therefore accordingly celebrate and proclaim the great mercy of God.

Three times in our psalm we sing “His mercy endures forever”. In our Gospel, when the fearful Apostles encounter the Lord whom they abandoned, they are greeted not with anger and condemnation but with invitations of “peace”. Our First Reading describes the early Christian community’s response to this Divine Mercy. Because of their experience of God’s great love for them, they in turn loved one another. They cared deeply for the brethren and put themselves and their possessions at the service of the community. This great love for God and neighbour is further explored by St. John in this week’s Second Reading.

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself – Divine Mercy Chaplet

Read more

Sounds like a the case of the Maundays…

Today is Holy Thursday. Last week at JP2 I referred to this day as “Maundy Thursday” and was greeted with a number of confused looks. Apparently this moniker isn’t used that often in the United States…

The name “Maundy Thursday” comes from a verse in John’s Gospel. The Latin translation in the Vulgate is as follows:

Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos”
– Johannes XIII:XXXIV

The word “Maundy”  is a corruption of the first word in the above quotation. That word, “Mandatum”, is the root from which we get the English words “mandate” and “mandatory”, terms which we use to indicate that something is required. This is because “Mandatum” literally means “commandment”, as we can see from the translation of the previous passage:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another”
– John 13:34

This is the passage which we will hear read at Mass today and which is then enacted by the priest, where he washes the feet of twelve of his parishioners, in imitation of Christ washing the feet of the Twelve:

1 139 140 141 142 143 171