"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Last week I started a series in which I was commenting on an article written by a girl who regrets remaining a virgin until her wedding night. In my previous post I made some distinctions between abstinence and chastity which I think were lacking in her formation. In today’s post I would like to continue my discussion of Samantha’s article and look at the teaching she received concerning sex and marriage…
For the last few weeks, for one reason or another, I haven’t been able to attend the Divine Liturgy at my parish, meaning that I’ve had to go to a Roman Mass instead. The Readings for the last couple of weeks in the Roman Lectionary have been rather interesting. Over the next couple of days I wanted to share a few extremely brief thoughts…
The First Reading on 27th July caught my attention. We heard of Solomon’s encounter with the Lord, and God’s gift to him of divine wisdom. At the end of the passage, God says to Solomon the following:
“I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.” – 1 Kings 3:12
It struck me that this is a perfect example as to why we have to be careful when we interpret the Bible. If we were to take this passage literalistically*, we would have to conclude that Solomon is absolutely, categorically, the wisest man ever. However, from the Christian point of view, that’s not true, is it? What about Jesus? Wasn’t Jesus wiser than Solomon?
“Well, obviously, Jesus is the exception!” some might say. Now, that’s true, but it does at least demonstrate the point that words like “never” and phrases like “no one” aren’t always quite as absolute as they may first appear.
* This is in contrast to interpreting a passage literally, which is where we look to the meaning intended by the Author. The phrase “It’s raining cats and dogs”, when literally interpreted, means that it’s raining heavily. To interpret “It’s raining cats and dogs” literalistically means that family pets are falling form the sky.
Last week it was my Confirmation Anniversary. Today it’s my Baptism anniversary!
This year my baptism will mainly be celebrated with gelato…
For the last few weeks I’ve had Ezekiel 37 stuck in my head:
[The Lord] set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” – Ezekiel 37:1-3
The Lord then tells Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones and say:
“I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life…” – Ezekiel 37:5-6
We are then told that “there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them”. The Lord then commands Ezekiel to speak again, saying:
“Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live” – Ezekiel 37:9
Breath enters them, they come to life, “a vast army”…
Today I wanted to advertise Roman Catholic All Day, a Catholic clothing website which was recently started by two of my friends here in San Diego:
Not only do they have some great products, but 10% of the value of each order is donated to a Catholic organization. So, buying one of their t-shirts practically means you’re performing a spiritual or corporal work of mercy! 🙂
Their clothing line will be expanding soon through a Kickstarter Project. In the meantime, take a look at heir Facebook page and give them some feedback on their upcoming products.
Christmas is only a couple of months away now, so why not buy a t-shirt or two for the favourite Catholic in your life? Oh, and just in case you were wondering, my size is a “medium”… 😉
Welcome to Episode 2! In today’s show we tackle the tricky and sensitive subject of non-Catholic dating, the situation where a Catholic is considering dating someone who is not in full communion with the Catholic
Episode 2: Non-Catholic Dating (Download)
— Notes —
* For those of you who would like to dig deeper into this topic, you can find a two-part series I wrote earlier on the subject.
* If you have any feedback or would like to pose a question for an upcoming episode, you can always tweet us at @davidandnessa.
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Author Rod Bennett joined David to talk about a presentation on he gave at a big Christian rock festival about C.S. Lewis’ relationship to “Pulp Fiction”.