"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
You’ll often hear people say that, if you fall asleep while praying the rosary, your guardian angel will finish the rosary for you. If that’s true, I think mine is probably getting kinda sick of me at this point…
The article Guardian Angel Feast Day first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net
Before I left San Diego, I went through all the Johannine epistles (1, 2, 3 John). Here are the questions we devised:
72. Who wrote this letter?
The Early Church identified it as John the Apostle, son of Zebedee. This would explain the preservation of the letter as well as the numerous parallels with John’s Gospel and the Book of Revelation. In recent years some have suggested that it is a disciple known as “John the elder”, a character from the Early Church about whom we know relatively little.
73. When was this letter written?
It was probably written after the publication of John’s Gospel, sometime in the 90s.
74. To whom was it written?
Probably to the Christians around Ephesus where John is said to have settled.
75. Why was this letter written?
Primarily to respond to a heretical, schismatic group. These could have possibly been Docetists, Gnostics, Cerinthians or possibly even converts from Judaism. The issue seemed to surround the nature and identity of Christ. John spends most of the letter talking about the authentic fellowship with God.
76. What are some of the words which John uses a lot in his writings?
Life, death, light, dark, beginning, abide, …
77. To whom is this letter addressed?
It is addressed to “the elect lady and her children”. Although this could have possibly been an actual person, it is more likely that John is speaking of a neighbouring Church is sisterly, feminine terms.
78. What is the main content of this letter?
John is writing to a sister church. He encourages them and warns them of the antichrist
79. Who is the antichrist?
According to John, anyone who “will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh”.
80. To whom is this letter addressed?
It is addressed to “the beloved Gaius”. He is most likely in the leadership of the one of the local congregations.
81. What is the main content of the letter?
A man named “Diotrephes” is exalting himself, refusing to accept John’s authority, refusing welcome to those John sends and excommunicating anyone who does so.
1-16 | 17-27 | 27-42 | 43-52 | 53-57 | 58-67 | 68-71 | 72-81
I know that a lot of people who read this blog don’t live in San Diego. I also know that many of you are involved in ministry in some way, especially youth and young adult ministry. Therefore, I thought I’d do a post outlining some of the things we do here in San Diego which have proven popular, in case you wanted to try the same thing in your Diocese.
1. Theology On Tap
I expect most areas of the country have implemented a Theology On Tap programme. Simply put, you take over a restaurant or bar and have a speaker present on a topic for 45 minutes. There’s usually some Q&A and some group discussion. If you want a good turn-out make sure you do a talk on relationships every now and again 🙂
2. The Mega Series
This was something that we came up with in this diocese. Very often Catholics can feel isolated. This is particularly true of young Catholics when most of the people in their parish are significantly older. What the Mega Series attempts to do is bring large numbers of young adults together in traditional devotions, followed by a social. The goal of this is to remind Catholics that they are not alone and are part of a much larger Church. The three main “mega” events we’ve had have been:
(a) Mega Mass
(b) Mega Adoration
(c) Mega Rosary
3. Bible Study
One of the most popular events in the Diocese is the Young Adult Bible study and it’s very often one of the first “spiritual” events new arrivals attend. Given this, it’s important that the Bible study has a strong social and welcoming dimension.
4. Rosary and Adoration
Very often we try complicated, clever things to attract young adults and youths. However, I’ve seen time and again that simply having a night of adoration or recitation of the rosary attracts significant numbers of people.
5. Holiday Parties
The Young Adult Christmas Party in San Diego this is the social event of the year. Everyone gets dressed up, has dinner together and dances the night away. The other major holidays of the year (Memorial Day etc.) are likewise marked with a substantial gathering.
6. Sports
Here is San Diego there is a thriving Catholic Ultimate Frisbee community, in addition to many other sports.
7. Dancing
About four times a year I teach a dance lesson in the Diocese, usually either Salsa or Swing, and there’s always a solid turn-out.
Do any San Diegans have any other thoughts on what works well in our Diocese? What about those of you from elsewhere in the country? What events seem to be most engaging?
Today I wanted to honour another one of my favourite people. The person I would like to enthuse about today is Dr. Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College and, quite frankly, one of the most intellectually engaging speakers I’ve ever heard.
Professor Kreeft first came to my attention when one of my friends mentioned in an email that she really liked his books. Up until that point, I had never heard of him. Following the recommendation, I went to his website and listened to some of his talks which are available online.
After listening to the first talk, I concluded what I almost always conclude after listening to one of his lectures: “I am so dumb! My mind is so dull!”. Like Grandpa Sheen, Kreeft has an amazing ability to forge links between ideas which I would never have considered to be even remotely connected.
A friend of my posted the following text on her Facebook wall today. I thought it was so good I asked her if I could publish it here on the blog. One year since what she calls “the best day of my life”, here is her reflection on the seven things she learned as a Neophyte…
To put it in simple terms, a Neophyte is a new convert to a religion. New Advent describes Neophyte as originating from the word neophytoi meaning the newly planted and incorporated with the mystic Body of Christ. I converted to the Catholic Church from Protestantism last Easter, and have decided to do a bit of reflection on my last year. It has been filled with revelation after revelation but here are the top seven that have had the most impact on me.
1. Hungering for the Eucharist
To put it simply, hungering for the Eucharist is a real thing. To some that may sound crazy or impossible and to others, you may know exactly what I mean. For those reading this who aren’t Catholic, the Eucharist is what we call the transformation of the communion bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Early Church Father, St. Justin Martyr, writes in A.D. 151:
“For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and has both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food that has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.” [First Apology 66]
For further reference, read John 6 and watch “The Hour That Will Change Your Life.”
After partaking in my First Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil and the weeks following, I was somewhat stunned to find that I hungered for more of the Eucharist. I yearned for His Body and Blood, the peace that it brought, my human weaknesses obliterated by His strength, His divine life inside of me. This surreal and transcendent feeling is one I could never fully describe but pray all will come to experience.
In yesterday’s blog post I began a brief introduction to Islam. I focussed primarily on the founding of Islam and Muhammad.
Today I would like to look at the divine revelation which Islam claims to have received, which is found principally in the Qur’an/Koran.
As I said yesterday, I have done my best to ensure factual accuracy in all these posts and have used Islamic sources as much as possible to ensure that I’m not propagating Christian misconceptions of Islam. I did send this to some Muslim friends for comment, but I have yet to hear back. If you are a follower of Islam and believe that I have misrepresented your religion, please drop me an email and I will remedy the situation.
As mentioned in my previous post, the Qur’an (literally, “the recitation”) is a compilation of the messages given to Muhammad.
Christians and Muslims understand the concept of scripture differently. Christians describe the Bible, in the words of St. Paul, as being “God breathed” (theopneustos). As Dei Verbum explains:
“In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted” – Dei Verbum, Chapter 3
Muslims, on the other hand, view the Qur’an as the word of God in the most literal sense, believing that the text bears no imprint of the writer’s character whatsoever. Rather, they believe that the Qur’an is the literal word of God, dictated to Muhammad, written down verbatim.
A while ago I wrote a post where I listed all the resources I draw upon each week in the composition of my commentary on the Sunday Mass Readings. I realized today that I forgot to mention one very important resource: the “Catena Aurea”.
So what is this “Catena Aurea”? I first heard about it on an episode of the world’s greatest podcast, “Catholic Stuff You Should Know”. The Catena is a book, a Scriptural commentary whose name, when translated from the Latin, means “Golden Chain”.
Mr. T pities the fool who don’t read the Catena!