The final two letters of St. Ignatius which we read are both sent to the city of Smyrna. The first letter is sent to the Church as a whole, the second specifically to their bishop, Polycarp.
This first letter is special for many reasons, but particularly because it contains Ignatius’ clearest declaration of faith about the Eucharist, as well as being the earliest recorded use of the phrase “Catholic Church”. Invented at Nicea? I don’t think so.
Well, we’re finally here! The last letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch! I’m posting this a bit earlier than usual because the next couple of weeks are going to be rather busy.
Each of the Ignatius’ letters are special for different reasons, but his letter to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, holds a special place in my heart.
In some ways it reminds me of the book of Proverbs, since Ignatius often offers Polycarp advice in the form of short exhortations.
This is the only personal letter Ignatius wrote to a fellow bishop and should, in my not so humble opinion, be required reading for all pastors and all those who minister in the Church.
When I have friends who enter the seminary, they usually receive a card from me with a quotation which comes from somewhere in this letter. Whenever I become discouraged in the ministries in which I serve, this is the document I usually dig out.
I said this was Ignatius’ last letter, but that is not strictly true, for there was one final letter he wrote, to both his “God Jesus Christ” and to the “Catholic Church”. However, this was a letter of a different kind… Rather than being written in private, this letter was written in an amphitheatre before thousands of jeering Romans. Rather than using parchment, he used his own flesh and, in place of ink, his own blood.
The relationship between “The Simpsons” and religion has always been a rather interesting one. There was a bit of a hoopla in the press and blogsophere recently when an article in the Vatican newsletter, L’Osservatore Romano, had the headline “Homer and Bart are Catholics”. It was a silly piece which caused, in my opinion, a lot of fuss about nothing.
Having said that, the article was in reference to an analysis done by a certain Fr. Francesco Occhetta which concerned one of my favourite Simpsons episodes: “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star”, where Homer and Bart come into contact with the Catholic Church. So, for this week’s “Friday Fivolity”, here are some of my favourite quotations from that episode…
Marge: “All of that standing, sitting and kneeling…It’s like ‘Simon Says’ without a winner!”
Marge:“Catholics can be a peculiar bunch. No birth control, no meat on Friday…”
Homer:“No MEAT?! What do they eat, light bulbs?!”
Homer:“Face it, Marge. Catholics rule! We got Boston, South America, the good part of Ireland, and we’re makin’ serious inroads in Mozambique, baby!”
Marge:“Homer, you’ve been gone all night—and you look like you accepted someone as your personal something. Were you at that Catholic Church?” Homer:“Look, I know I was supposed to yell at that priest, but he’s so cool! He plays drums in a band with a bunch of other priests!” Marge:“I knew they’d try to convert you! That’s what they do! Well, I’m not having another twelve kids.” Homer:“Marge, no one’s saying twelve. Nine, ten, tops!” (Gets out a pamphlet entitled ‘Plop ’til You Drop’)
Bart:“This is a Catholic church. Chicks got no authority here”
Bart:“Don’t you get it? It’s all Christianity, people! The little, stupid differences are nothing next to the big stupid similarities!”
Homer: (after finishing confession) “Woo-hoo, I’m clean! In your face, Lord!“ Fr. Sean:“Not yet, Mr. Simpson. I can only absolve you if you’re a Catholic” Homer:“Uh-huh. And how do I join? Do I whale on some Unitarians?” Fr. Sean:“Well, it’s a little harder than that. It starts with looking deep inside yourself…” (Homer groans) “But it ends with bread and wine” Homer:“Woo-hoo!”
A slight “oopsie” when they had Ned, an Evangelical, praying before the statue of a Saint…
I hope you enjoy. Now, since it’s Friday, I’m off to go and eat some light bulbs… [wave]
The regularity of my posts in recent times has been pretty lamentable, but at least I can now finally explain why. Much of my time over the last couple of months has been taken up with preparations for “Daughters Of The King”…
Genesis
The whole idea began back in August at Dan’s bachelor weekend. Together with eight other guys, I spent the weekend hiking and camping a few hour’s drive from San Diego. While we were catching our breath halfway up a mountain, one of our number, Mike, shared with us an idea he had…
Mike wanted to put together some sort of event for all the ladies in our lives: friends, girlfriends, wives, sisters and mothers. He wanted an evening for the guys to gather together specifically to honour all of the ladies. Quite an extraordinary idea to come out of a bachelor weekend, hey?
Planning
Towards the end of September we began preparations. I sent out an email to all the men on the JP2 mailing list, inviting them to join us in this unique enterprise. Twenty men stepped up to the challenge…
We initially met at my apartment, drank some beer and discussed what kind of event we might organize. We were not short of ideas! (In later meetings we would institute the “Don’t suggest an idea unless you’re willing to take it on yourself”rule!) After much discussion, the idea we settled upon was to throw a classy gala evening in the parish hall of Our Lady of the Rosary. We decided that the event would be completely free to the ladies and that the men would cook and serve all of the food.
We had wanted to hold the event on the same date as some Marian Feast, but we ended up choosing November 21st, the Feast of Christ the King. From the title of this feast, we quickly settled upon the name of our event, since we would be spending the evening honouring the daughters of our aforementioned King. Only later would we realise that this date is, in fact, actually also a minor Marian Feast, The Presentation of Mary, the commemoration of Our Lady’s presentation as a child in the Temple.
Yesterday’s post was rather long, so I’ll keep this one nice and short.
After the Office Christmas Party this weekend one of my coworkers, Kevin, and his girlfriend got engaged. This put me in mind of two of my favourite quotations from the Early Church Fathers on the subject of love and marriage.
As I think I’ve said before, one of the things which constantly surprises me is that, although these men lived so long ago, they have so much wisdom from which today’s world could benefit.
The first quotation comes from a priest of the late 4th Century called John. His preaching was so renowned, he acquired the name “golden mouth” or in Greek “chrysostomos”. He is most commonly referred to as St. John Chrysostom. He is one of the few to be declared a “Doctor of the Church”, a greatly deserved title.
“An intelligent, discreet, and pious young woman is worth more than all the money in the world. Tell her that you love her more than your own life, because this present life is nothing, and that your only hope is that the two of you pass through this life in such a way that, in the world to come, you will be united in perfect love” – St. John Chrysostom
Beautiful, isn’t it? Superb advice – you’d never guess he was a celibate priest… 😉
The notion of leadership recently came up in discussion and the question was asked: What qualities make for a good leader?
If you go into a secular bookshop today you will find a large number of books which attempt to explain what it is you have to do in order to become a great leader.
In recent years, Christian bookshop shelves too have started to be filled with an increasingly large number of books which try to turn their readers into leaders by explaining the “eight key leadership principles” or the “five simple steps”, etc.
Like Father, Like Son…
The first passage of Scripture which comes to my mind when someone mentions to me the word “leadership” is from the Old Testament book of 1st Kings. In this passage, King Solomon has just died and his son Rehoboam has ascended to the Throne of David.
For western Christians, today is the “Feast of The Epiphany” where we commemorate the visitation of the Magi:
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him…
… On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route” – Matthew 2:1-12
Since the earliest times the appearance of the Magi has been interpreted by Christians as speaking of the universal nature of the God’s Kingdom and a foreshadowing of the incorporation of the gentiles into the promises of Israel.
The final two letters of St. Ignatius which we read are both sent to the city of Smyrna. The first letter is sent to the Church as a whole, the second specifically to their bishop, Polycarp.
Yesterday’s post was rather long, so I’ll keep this one nice and short.
For western Christians, today is the “Feast of The Epiphany” where we commemorate the visitation of the Magi: