"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
This is why the Internet is great: a couple of months ago I got to hang out with Brock, a fellow commenter over at Shameless Popery. We got to share a pint and eat some delicious British food at my favourite pub 🙂
This Internet thing…I think some day it’s going to be HUGE!
Nearing the end of Chapter 4 of Philippians:
Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only; for even in Thessalonica you sent me help once and again. Not that I seek the gift; but I seek the fruit which increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more; I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. – Philippians 4:4-20
Here is my commentary:
For an audio-only version of this video, please click here.
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The other day a friend asked me how, in my experience, non-Catholic Christians memorize Sacred Scripture. This is a very reasonable question. It is common to hear Catholics say how impressed (and intimidated) they are when their Protestant work colleges or classmates quote Scripture at them chapter and verse.
I responded initially with the suitably vague answer saying that, in my experience, it varies from denomination to denomination and from congregation to congregation. There are certainly some groups which emphasize Scripture memorization more than others.
“Memory! All alone in the moonlight…”
Personally, I’ve never been very good at Scripture memorization, at least as an activity in its own right. When I quote Scripture, it’s usually a rough paraphrase and it’s pretty rare that I can give the chapter, let alone the verse.
A few years ago I went on a pilgrimage to Rome with some friends from Washington DC. We spent a wonderful few days touring the sights and praying in some of the most beautiful churches on earth.
Sadly, this weekend I received a message on Facebook that one of the priests who accompanied us, Fr. Bill Dunn, recently died. A doctor for thirty years before entering the seminary, he was a kind and gentle soul. I hadn’t met him prior to our trip, but he and I had the opportunity to become better acquainted on one of our itinerary-free days in “The Eternal City”. We ended up wandering around the city in a search for the best cappuccino money could buy:
Fr. William Dunn: Rest In Peace
The natural human response at the death of a friend is one of mourning, sadness at being physically parted from a loved one. For the Christian, however, death is not the end. As Christians, we also respond with thanksgiving, praising God for allowing us to share in the life of one who loved the Lord so deeply. Finally, the Catholic also responds with petition, that God will have mercy on our friend’s soul and grant entrance into Heaven. I say it is a Catholic’s natural response but, in truth, I think it is the natural response of every Christian, Catholic or otherwise. We want the best for our loved ones, in this life and the next, so we naturally want to intercede for them in this life and the next.
This week in the JP2 Group we will be beginning our study of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, an Early Church Father who died in about 107 AD.
We will begin with the letter which I think most clearly communicates Ignatius’ character, his inspiring letter to the Romans in which Ignatius pleads with that church not to try and get his death sentence changed.
After looking at several different translations of this letter, I have created my own abridged version so that we will be able to complete our study of this letter in a single evening. I have decided to make this abridged version, together with its audio, available on this blog:
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Romans” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Romans” Audio
In today’s letter, Matt and guest co-host Crystal Hurd discuss how Screwtape intends to counteract a dangerous new trait in the patient – humility!
S4E28: Letter #14 – “Humble and kind” (Download)
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Dr. Devin Brown wrote a series of books on “The Chronicles of Narnia” called “Inside Narnia”. In this episode, Dr. Brown returns to the show to talk about “The Silver Chair” and his unpublished manuscript.