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When West meets East

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PopeChotkiThis is one of the many reasons I love Pope Francis. A while ago, back when the Pope was visiting Rio de Janiero, the public saw the pope wearing something around his right wrist.

This series of beads is known as “chotki” or “komboskini”. It is a prayer rope, much like a rosary, whose invention is typically attributed to St. Pachomius in the fourth century and is still used today by eastern Christians, both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic.

One prays by the chotki by reciting “The Jesus Prayer” on each bead/knot:

“Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”

Although typically 100 beads, they can vary. There are also sometimes additional beads with invocations of Mary (“The Theotokos“).

One of the first things I noted reading Pope Francis’ bio upon being a elected Pope was that he had strong connections to Eastern Christianity. It’s great to see him exposing the West to more of what the East has to offer 🙂

The Dawah Dilemma

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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

Dealing with thorns

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In the Second Reading at Mass this weekend we had my favourite passage from Paul:

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The question of suffering is one that everyone has to struggle with at some point. For a good treatment on the subject I would invite you to head over to Canterbury Tales to read Taylor’s article Why do we suffer? The theological answer of St. Paul:

Nearly every religion seeks to make sense of the problem of pain. If God is both omnibenificent {all-loving} and omnipotent {all-powerful}, why then does He allow us to suffer?

The Eastern traditions such as Buddhism dismiss pain and suffering as “unreal.” This solution is difficult to explain to a child with cancer.

Other religious traditions attempt to accrue “good karma” in order to ensure that good times will come with a future reincarnated life. For these traditions, the origin of suffering is past sins, even sins committed in previous lives.

Still other religions, such as Islam, seem to place the origin of suffering in the capricious “will of Allah.”

The Catholic Faith offers an entirely different account of suffering… Continue Reading

The Epistle of Joy – Episode #17 (Video)

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Continuing on with Chapter 4, Paul discusses “contentment”…

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me; you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. – Philippians 4:10-13

Here’s what I had to say:

For an audio-only version of this video, please click here.

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PWJ: S4E6 – TSL 2 – “We are family”

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Like old times, Matt and I sit down to discuss a chapter of C.S. Lewis! In this chapter of The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape advises his nephew on how to handle the patient’s church-going…

S4E6: Letter #2 – “We are family” (Download)

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The roadmap for Season 4 is available here.

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New Testament Warm-ups

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Bible Question Mark

I am part of a Bible Study currently working through the Gospel of Matthew. The group has been meeting for over a year now and we’ve worked our way through several books of the New Testament.

When we come together, before we begin looking at the book in question, we have a bit of a question-and-answer session. The goal of these questions is to have a clear understanding as to the structure of the New Testament.

Over the months that we’ve been meeting, the number of  questions have increased. I thought it would be encouraging for everyone to see how many questions concerning the New Testament they can now answer. It turns out that, not only can they recite the books of the New Testament in order, but that they can answer over fifty questions about it:

1. In what language was the New Testament written?
2. What is the likely exception to this?
3. Which books appear first in the New Testament?
4. Why are these books placed first in the canon?
5. Why do they appear in this order?
6. Which Gospels are attributed to Apostles?
7. With whom is Mark associated?
8. What is Mark’s other name?
9. With whom is Luke associated?
10. What is Luke’s profession?
11. What comes after the Gospels?
12. By whom is it written?
13. To what genre does it belong?
14. What is the first main message of the Acts of the Apostles?
15. What is the second main point of the Acts of the Apostles?
16. Between what years do the events described in Acts of the Apostles take place?
17. What appears after Acts?
18. Why are these epistles placed in this order?
19. What are the names of the cities/communities?
20. From where did Paul write the epistle to the Philippians?
21. What city was he probably in at the time?
22. Why did Paul write that letter?
23. Who probably delivered this letter for Paul?
24. What are the main themes of that letter?
25. What Christian hymn does Paul quote in the letter in Chapter 2?
26. What is the main theme behind the letters to the Thessalonians?
27. What claim-to-fame do the Thessalonian letter have?
28. What appears after Thessalonians?
29. Who was Timothy?
30. What background information do you know about Timothy?
31. Who was Titus?
32. Who was Philemon?
33. Where did Philemon most likely live?
34. What is the context of the letter?
35. What was the name of Philemon’s slave?
36. What is the meaning of the slave’s name?
37. What does Paul ask of Philemon?
38. What appears after Philemon?
39. Why does Hebrews appear here?
40. What literary genre is Hebrews?
41. What is the main theme of the book?
42. What did St. Thomas Aquinas think about the authorship of this epistle?
43. What appears after Hebrews? What category of books do we call these?
44. Who most likely wrote James’ epistle?
45. How would you summarize James’ epistle?
46. What documents appear next?
47. What documents appear after that?
48. After that?
49. What is the final book of the Bible?
50. What is its literary genre?
51. What are the two main senses of Scripture according to the Catechism?
52. What are the three types of spiritual senses?

I wasn’t taught this stuff in school. In fact, I remember that when I was teaching Confirmation it came as a surprise to many of the students that there was an Old Testament and a New Testament. Why isn’t this stuff taught in Catholic schools?!

UPDATE: The answers have now been posted:

Answers 1-16 | Answers 17-27 | Answers 27-42 | Answers 43-52

The article New Testament Warm-Ups first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

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