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The hem of His garment…

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I’m winding down for the evening, but I wanted to quickly share something from Divine Liturgy this morning. The Gospel today on the Byzantine Calendar was the healing of the woman with a haemorrhage:

 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.” And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. – Mark 5:25-29

As I heard the Scriptures proclaimed today I had an epiphany, seeing an Old Testament connection to this passage which I had not previously seen:

And when [the priests] go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, lest they communicate holiness to the people with their garments – Ezekiel 44:19

As you can see, in the Old Covenant the garments of the priests where to be kept away from the rest of Israel, but what a wonderful reversal we have with the New Covenant! Jesus, “our Great High Priest”, goes about among His flock, freely available to the people, with His vestments bringing healing and holiness.

There’s a beautiful practice in the Eastern Churches which is inspired by today’s Gospel. I first saw it at my old Ruthenian parish, but I’m told that it’s more common in Melkite and Antiochian churches. As the priest passes along the aisles, you’ll occasionally see members of the congregation reach out and touch the priest’s vestments, made holy not by his own sanctity, but by virtue of the office given to him by Christ through the Church.

Vestments

 

TOT: Christina Barba on “Truth”

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April 11th 2018: Christina Barba @ Mission San Diego

About the speaker: Proclaiming the dignity of human life has been a lifelong passion for Cristina. Since her early childhood, she has been involved in the pro-life movement with her family at events such as prayer vigils, life chains, and much more. While attending The Pennsylvania State University, she served as president of Penn State Students for Life organization, leading the efforts to build the culture of life on campus. Upon graduation, Cristina attended the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome, Italy, a mission organization sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Laity. She has spent the last decade in full time mission in the pro-life, chastity and new evangelization world.

In July of 2014, Cristina founded The Culture Project International. Her vision was to restore culture through the experience of virtue. Since its inception, The Culture Project has provided a mission program to more than 50 missionaries who have served 45 dioceses and invited over 100,000 students to reclaim sexual integrity and the meaning of life, thereby inviting our culture to be fully alive.

Cristina received Honorable Mention by Our Sunday Visitor as one of the Inspiring Catholics of 2012. In 2016, she was one of the recipients of the Students for Life of America, Defender of Life Award.

You can subscribe to the San Diego Theology On Tap Podcast using either iTunes or Google Play.

Main Talk (Download)

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Catholics Come Home

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There are many worrying statistics concerning the Catholic Faith in the USA. One in ten Americans consider themselves ex-Catholics. In fact, if “ex-Catholics” were counted as their own religious group, they would be the third-largest denomination, right after Catholics and Baptists. As many as 100,000 drift away from the Faith each year. These figures should give us serious pause for thought since, as Christians, we are called to evangelize the world, to witness to Jesus Christ and His Church.

leave church

Today I’d like to begin a series of posts which are based on a talk I recently gave at my parish. The talk was entitled “Catholics Come Home”.

Over the next two posts, I would like to tell a little bit my own story, of my journey away from and eventual return to the Catholic Church. I’ve told parts of this story before, but in this retelling I hope to focus on some of the things which attracted and repelled me along the way. In subsequent posts, I’ll attempt to pull these experiences together and distill them into a list of suggestions as to what can be done to draw people back to the Church.

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Rest

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The term “Desert Father” is generally used to refer to the Christian monks, hermits and ascetics who began to appear in about the Third Century. They were often located in the Scetes desert of Egypt, but their lifestyle was subsequently imitated throughout the world. A visitor to Egypt in the 4th Century wrote:

“One can see them in the desert waiting for Christ as loyal sons watching for their father… There is only the expectation of the coming of Christ in the singing of hymns… There is no town or village in Egypt and the Thebaid which is not surrounded by hermitages as if by walls”
– The Lives of the Desert Fathers, Norman Russel

The most famous of these Desert Father was probably St. Anthony The Great whose biography, written by St. Athanasius, inspired many to follow his example to renounce wealth, enter the desert and live a simple life of prayer.

St. Anthony of Egypt

One of the books which I’m reading this year is Sayings of the Desert Fathers, so you can expect to see quite a few quotations from these early Christian witnesses over the course of next year. I’d like to begin with a story of St. Anthony which I hope to set the tone for my 2013…

A hunter happened to come by and saw Anthony talking in a relaxed way with the brothers, and he was shocked. The hermit wanted to show him how we should sometimes be less austere for the sake of the brothers, and said to him, “Put an arrow in your bow, and draw it.” He did so, and Anthony said, “Draw it further” and he drew it further. He said again, “Draw it yet further,” and he drew it some more. Then the hunter said to him, “If I draw it too far, the bow will snap.” Anthony answered, “so it is with God’s work. If we always go to excess, the brothers quickly become exhausted. It is sometimes best not to be rigid”
– Sayings, Anthony, 13

Androgynous Israel?

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A very short post today. I just wanted to share a little “ah hah!” moment I had recently.

A little while back I went to vespers at an Eastern Orthodox parish. The format of the service was almost identical to that of my Eastern Catholic parish. The only real differences were alternative melodic forms and slightly different English translations.

Vespers

During my visit I noticed something about the translation of one of the psalms. Several times Israel was referred to in the masculine form, “him”. This rather surprised me since I typically think of Israel as feminine, the people to whom God has espoused Himself and which, under the New Testament, flowers into the Church, the Bride of Christ.

…I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers…which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. – Jeremiah 31:32

After Vespers a few of us were talking to the priest and I raised this question. We agreed that Israel was probably referred to using the masculine gender to highlight the relationship of sonship between God and Israel:

And you [Moses] shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me”…’ – Exodus 4:22-23

Under the Old Covenant, God became Father to Israel and Israel became God’s first-born son, the elder brother among the nations, to manifest the wisdom of God and to lead the Gentiles back home.

The article Androgynous Israel? first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

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