Tag: featured

Reading the Bible in a Year

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After doing so badly on my New Year Resolutions this year, I’ve decided to keep it simple next year. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy though! I’ve decided that in 2014 I am going to read the entirety of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

I’ve spent the last hour or so looking at different reading plans online. Many that I’ve found have been Protestant and have unfortunately therefore lacked the Deuterocanon.  If I were to use any of those I would have to squeeze in the extra books (Tobit, Wisdom, Maccabees, etc.) at some point in the year. Moving on…

Some reading plans, such as YouVersion, don’t actually cover the entire Bible and instead just cover the majority of the text. While practical, that also seems a bit “meh”. Moving on…

I also found one plan which has quite a mix of daily readings. Each day there there are two Old Testament readings, a Psalm and a New Testament reading. That is contrasted with the plans from Presentation Ministry and Catholic Doors, both of which assign one book at a time.

As far as I can tell, the most popular plan is one which is put out by the Coming Home Network, which is available in PDF here and which some nice person converted into hypertext format here. It has an Old Testament reading, New Testament reading and then something from the Wisdom literature, such as Psalms or Proverbs. I think this is the plan for me. It even has the option of reading through the Catechism too…but maybe I’ll think about that for 2015!

If anyone else has the same goal for 2014, please leave a message below 🙂

JeromeSt. Jerome, pray for me!

 UPDATE 05/20/14: Meg Hunter-Kilmer has added an article on this subject and presents an alternative reading plan.

St. Basil’s Priorities

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The Gospel this week (Luke 13:25-33) was all about what it means to follow Christ and to have Him as Lord over your life, in first place before anything or anyone.  Doing this, as hard as it is, is also immensely freeing since it results in the things of life being put back into their proper order.

As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the story of St. Basil.  Now here was a man with his priorities straight!  Basil is known as the father of Oriental monasticism and a forerunner of St. Benedict. Though his ascetic training Basil had very clear ideas about what was truly important in life. This clarity would be needed the day a representative from the Emperor came to visit…

The Emperor Valens was a resolute supporter of the Arians, those who said Jesus was created by and inferior to God the Father. The Emperor Valens had plantedArianism in other provinces of Asia Minor and came to Cappadocia withthe same aim. He sent the Prefect Modestus to Bishop Basil in order to convince him to join the Arians.  Modestus threatened Basil with ruin, exile, torture and even death if he didn’t fall in line.  Basil’s response was priceless:

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Unveiled Judgement

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Veil

A while back a friend posted a story and question on Facebook:

A husband and wife are attending a Tridentine Mass. During the consecration, the wife is tapped on the shoulder. A woman passes her a handwritten note that reads, “Shame on you for not covering your head while attending the sacred Mass” along with a cotton cloth of some sort and a pin.

How do you respond?

Needless to say, a very interesting Facebook discussion ensued…

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History and the dog who never barked

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A while ago, during a discussion in the comment section of this blog, I made the assertion that the historic Church of Christianity was the Catholic Church. A non-Catholic disputed this claim, asserting that the Catholic Church only came into existence with the reign of the Emperor Constantine.

In response to this claim, I shared with her my post entitled Before 300: Pre-Constantinian Christianity, where I provide evidence for twenty-one doctrines which were believed by Christians prior to AD 300 and the rise of Constantine.  The original purpose of that post was not only to show that the Catholic Church was in existence long before Constantine arrived on scene, but also to provide non-Catholics with a simple way to compare their own beliefs to that of the early Christians.

After reading that article, my internet friend appeared to concede that the Catholic Church did actually exist from the earliest of times. Wonderful! However, despite denying its existence only moments before, she now claimed that the Catholic Church had persecuted the “true” Christians in the early centuries! I’ve heard similar claims in the past made by other Protestants as well as Muslims, in an effort to explain why the belief system that we find in the Early Church is incompatible with their own.

Today I would like to examine the assertion that the Catholic Church suppressed “true” Christianity in the early centuries and I will attempt to dismantle it using an argument which may be referred to as “The dog who never barked”…

Sherlock3

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Best of British: Part 9

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I can’t believe I forgot these two shows when I previously shared my favourite British comedies…

Black Books

When I was living back in Cheltenham, “Black Books” was a shared love between myself and my flatmate, Amit.

The show is set in a book store, which obviously immediately made me love it. The shop is owned by Bernard Black, a drunken slob of an Irishman. Manny, played by the musical genius Bill Bailey, is Bernard’s shop assistant/lackey/human pet. The cast is completed by Fran, Bernard’s long-time friend/drinking buddy and owner of the store next door.

Over the course of the three seasons I would say that that the comedy style changes quite a bit and becomes increasingly farcical. I initially found this a little off putting. I don’t think it matters though; you really can’t help but love these three misfits.

The clip below comes from the second episode of the first season, where Manny arrives for his first day working at Black Books:

Spaced

I remember when the show “Spaced” being released in the UK. I didn’t like it at all. It was all just a bit random and a little too weird for my tastes at the time. However, a few years later, with an evening to spare and nothing on TV, I sat down with my flatmate’s Season 1 DVD and watched the entire series in one sitting. I absolutely loved it.

This programme is really a show for geeks. If you love star wars, video games and cult classic movies, this is the TV show for you!

Clinging to anger

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I was talking with someone recently about forgiveness and how, when we hold a grudge, we do damage to ourselves. I had a Scripture verse at the back of my head but I couldn’t remember where it was in the Bible. Today I found it:

“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?

Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults” – Sirach 27:30-28:7

We cling to anger and hold it tight. We nourish it so that it can grow even greater. What are we thinking?!

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you” – L. Smede

Time to dessert

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If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed that I’ve been slacking for a while. I haven’t really written anything substantial for at least a month. Sure, I’ve published every day, but the posts have been extremely brief.

At the beginning of October I began a new series, The Bogwash Epistles, a spin-off of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. Despite having notes for the next ten or so letters, I only completed a few. I had also intended to do a series of posts to supplement the talk I gave at Theology On Tap, expanding on some of the areas I had to truncate due to time constraints. That didn’t happen. I had wanted to do a post examining the logic of those who oppose Halloween. Nope, that didn’t happen either… 🙁

The last two months have certainly been busy, so time has been at a premium, but even though now my time constraints have relaxed a little I feel like I don’t have the “head space” to do much writing.

This is all a long-winded way of saying that I’m going to take another blogging hiatus. I’m going to take a break from writing for all of December. As before, quotations from the Desert Fathers are scheduled to keep you company while I’m away.

I’ve been studying Hosea recently and in that book the Lord speaks through His prophet saying that He will draw Israel back out into the desert, to the place where she first encountered Yahweh. It is there that He will speak tender words to her, restore her and rekindle the Divine Romance. I’ve booked myself a weekend silent retreat, blocked Facebook and cancelled a bunch of activities I had planned for December. I think t’s time to head back to the desert…

desert

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