Tag: featured

Catholic Church: Established AD 33 or AD 300? (5)

62 comments

At the moment on this blog, I am responding to a reader who commented on a post I wrote about Mary, Ark of the New Covenant. In my earlier posts, I dealt with her comments concerning Our Lady, but in her closing paragraph she made a number of assertions concerning the origins of the Catholic Church. In these last two posts I would like to respond to these final assertions:

I would suggest you do… more research about the origins of the roman catholic church which comes from pagan origins when it was founded in Rome by Constantine about 300AD. This is well known in history. Constantine was the first pope, and he mixed paganism with Christianity and that is how the Roman catholic church was born. You will find many parallels between the Roman catholic church and paganism.

In this particular post I think I’d like to spice things up with a little help from Barney Stinson. Since Monica has challenged me to investigate history…

Challenge

Let’s take a look at each of the assertions in turn…

Read more

One and a half thousand!

4 comments

This morning’s post marks the 1,500th entry on this blog. I don’t know about you, but I can tell you that Stephen Colbert is extremely excited about this…

I began this blog about four years ago, on 11th June 2010 to be exact. At that time in my life, a few things converged and I decided that I’d have a go at running a blog. I began with a free blog at WordPress.com and, after completing a hundred posts, I decided to buy my own domain name and do things “properly”!

Since 1,500 posts is quite a milestone, I’ve put in a little bit of thought into what I could do to mark this anniversary and help take this blog to “the next level”, whatever that is! So, with that, I have a couple of announcements…

Read more

Epicurians and Stoics

Leave a comment

Yesterday, during our Acts of the Apostles Bible study, we read the section in Acts 17 where St. Luke talks about St. Paul’s interaction with some philosophers in Athens:

“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him” – Acts 17:16-18

Who were these “Epicurean and Stoic philosophers”? What did they believe? All will be answered in the video below:

So, the Epicureans were founded by Epicurus. They believed that things are “good” and “bad” based upon whether they give pleasure or pain. The Epicureans were negative hedonists, attempting to eliminate desires since Epicurus regarded it as a kind of pain. His followers didn’t fear death because once you’re dead no harm can come to you.

Zeno was the founder of the Stoics. They determined “good” and “bad” based upon whether something was seen as virtue or vice. Pleasure was seen as a vice and was therefore to be avoided. Unrealistic expectations were seen as the source of grief in life.

Bishop Flores RIP

Leave a comment

As those of you who live in San Diego will doubtless know by now, a few days ago, Bishop Flores passed away. A few months ago he suffered a stroke and we heard recently that his condition had seriously deteriorated.

Bishop Flores

I was a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council around the time Bishop Flores took over the care of San Diego Diocese from Bishop Brom. Through these Council meetings, as well as through various diocesan events, I got to know this shepherd of Christ reasonably well. He was kind and had a great sense of joy, as well as certainly having some fire in his bones! He was extremely supportive of the Young Adult Catholic Community here in San Diego.

At 7:30pm the Young Adult Community in San Diego will be praying a rosary for Bishop Flores. Please join us in prayer, even if you can’t make it to the church.

My favourite memory of the Bishop was at the Rite of Election this year. My roommate Nathan was entering the Church and I was (for my sins) his sponsor. As we stood with the other candidates and catechumens having a group photograph, Nathan whispered to me “I want to high five the bishop”. As Nathan is always a bad influence on me, I whispered back “Do it!”. Nathan quickly made his way down to the bishop. Oh, it was the highest of fives… 🙂

Now that Bishop Flores has gone to be with the Lord, I can’t help but think of the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the young Bishop Polycarp at the beginning of the Second Century:

The times call for you, as pilots do for the winds, and as one tossed with tempest seeks
for the haven, so that both you and those under your care may attain to God. Be sober
as God’s athlete: the prize set before you is immortality and eternal life
– St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. Polycarp

You have run your race, Bishop Flores. May you rest in peace.

Chalking the doors

Leave a comment

epiphany

Tomorrow is the celebration of Epiphany, the day in the Church’s calendar when we remember the visitation of the Wise Men to the infant Christ.

A couple of years ago I was at visiting a parish in Los Angeles for Epiphany and I encountered a tradition with which I was not familiar. As the priest entered the nave of the church, he ascended some portable steps and scribbled something in chalk above the doorway. This tradition is apparently quite common in other parts of the globe, but less common in the United States and I don’t ever recall coming across it in England.

The text

So what did the priest write above the doorway? Well, tomorrow you may see a priest write the following:

20 + C + M + B + 17

The 20 at the beginning and the 17 at the end refer to the new year, 2017. The C, M and B have a two-fold meaning:

1. The Initials of the Wise Men
CMB refers to the first letter of each of the traditional names for the Wise Men: Caspar, Malchior, and Balthazar.

2. Latin Abbreviation
It is also short for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat”, which means “Christ bless this home”.

The crosses between each of the letters naturally refer to the cross of Christ.

Not just on church doors…

In countries where the tradition is more prevalent, this doesn’t just take place at church, but it also happens in every home. All it takes is some chalk and a prayer.

This tradition represents another wonderful way in which to bring the Liturgy that we experience in church back into the home. It also provides a wonderful teaching opportunity for children. I think that, as a boy, I’d have been extremely excited at the possibility of writing on the walls outside the house without fear of repercussions!

1 … 38 39 40 41 42 … 137