Prayers of St. Bridget
I have just posted a series of recording by my friend Joseph Enright of the fifteen prayers of St. Bridget. To allow for easy consumption of these prayers, I’ve created a podcast feed for them:
Tag: featured
Weedy Christians and Odd Fish
I’ve had quite a few conversations recently where I’ve referenced two of Christ’s parables. In the process of having these discussions, I’ve started to see the importance of these stories and seen the need for every Christian to spend some time with them to grasp the truths they contain, particularly with regards to the nature of the Church. Both of these parables are found in Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, in the section known as “The Parables Discourse”…
A new definition of love
A short post today…
A while ago there was this girl who was…well, she was pretty amazing…I was kinda nuts about her…
One evening I went to a Young Adult Diocesan event and was all all set to ask her out. Before I could speak to her that evening, the speaker got up and began his talk. During his presentation he gave a definition of “love” that I had never heard before:
“Love….is seeking the good of ‘the other’, in preference to your own, even at the expense of your own happiness”
New Ark of the Covenant Response (Introduction)
Last week a comment appeared on my post Biblical Mary: The Ark of the New Covenant by a lady named Monica. Here’s what she had to say:
People praying the rosary, singing Mary songs, etc is a form a worship no matter how much catholics want to deny it. These things only belong to God. I have seen pictures of Mary sitting next to God in His throne as she was was co-equal with God when she was only a human like any of us. Of course she was blessed by God and deserves to be honored but it does not imply a godly position. God chose her by His grace, grace is God giving us something we dont deserve.
Why do we need Mary as mediator when Jesus Christ already paid the price for our sins so that we could approach God directly? Saying that we need Mary as mediator is like saying that what Christ did in the cross is worthless or meaningless. Read Luke 23:45 which says that the curtain in the temple was broken apart in two, this symbolizing that the use of mediators (like in the old testament where only the priests could enter the most holy of the holy places and approach God to intercede for people) was terminated.
Canon Dates
Since I’m going to be discussing the question of the canon with some Jehovah Witnesses this weekend, I thought I’d post a few of the important dates which I often need to look up when talking about the setting of the canon of Scripture:
AD 170
The Muratorian fragment describes a New Testament canon which includes all of today’s books, with the exception of Hebrews, James, and 3rd John.
AD 180
Melito of Sardis provides a list of Old Testament books, including Wisdom but excluding Esther.
AD 367
Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria lists in his 39th Festal Letter the canon. His Old Testament canon generally excludes the deutercanon, but includes Baruch and excludes Esther. He includes the entire New Testament canon.
AD 382
The Synod of Rome lists the 73 books of the Catholic Canon.
AD 393
The Council of Hippo lists the Catholic Canon. As with the other local councils, the pronouncements of the council were sent to Rome to be ratified by the Pope.
AD 397
The Council of Carthage confirms the pronouncements of Council of Hippo.
AD 405
Bishop of Toulouse requests a list of all the books of Scripture from the Bishop of Rome. Pope Innocent I sends him the list of 73.
Jerome completes the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible.
AD 419
The Second Council of Carthage confirms the Catholic canon.
AD 1441
The Council of Florence also lists the 73 book canon.
AD 1563
The Council of Trent also lists the current day Catholic canon.
For a detailed list of books used in the Early Church, please check out this post from Shameless Popery.
But what about Church Scandal?
I was recently corresponding with someone who kept bringing up the recent scandals in the Catholic Church. Here’s how I replied:
Your constant refrain concerning scandal in the Church suggests to me that this is a significant issue for you. It’s understandable. It is for many people. In fact, during the early centuries of Christianity this was an extremely important and controversial question: should those who denied Christ under persecution, or who surrendered the Holy Scriptures to be burnt, be readmitted to the Church if they repented? Should those ordained members who renounced their faith be able to return to ministry? There was a schismatic group called the Donatists who said “Absolutely not!”
At the heart of the matter was the question: what is the Church? The Donatists viewed the Church as a Museum of Saints. The Catholic Church rejected this limited and narrow understanding. Instead, She said that the Church was a Hospital for Sinners. She would therefore readmit fallen away Christians if they repented.
As a consequence, the Church often looks (and smells!) like a hospital. The Church is full of medicine, nurses and doctors, but She is also full of damaged people and the walking wounded. There are often outbreaks of disease. It often doesn’t look pleasant, but it is the best place to be for those who need healing. For this, I’m grateful, otherwise I fear I could never be admitted.
Things to do in London
I will be going to London later this year. In preparation for that, I decided to compile a list of my favourite things to do in my home country’s capital city…
