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The Epistle of Joy – Episode #10 (Video)

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Today we conclude Chapter 2 of Philippians by reading about Paul’s account of Epaphroditus:

I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy; and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete your service to me.

– Philippians 2:25-30

Here are my closing thoughts for Chapter 2:

For an audio-only version of this video, please click here.

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Catholic View of Salvation

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Quite some time ago I remember reading an article at Called To Communion where I was presented with the positive case for Catholic salvation and I had my mind blown. I hadn’t realized quite how many non-Catholic concepts had crept into my brain.

During this past Lenten season I sent an email to Nick over at Nick’s Catholic Blog. Nick writes a lot on the subject of justification so I asked him to write a post putting forward the positive case for the Catholic view of salvation. The Protestant identity is often a negative one i.e. “Not Catholic” and I didn’t want to see Catholic soteriology go in the same direction i.e. “Not Sola Fide”. Here’s what he wrote:

Nick

If you’d like to understand more about the Protestant Reformed view of salvation and Penal Substitution, Joe recently did an article on this subject over at Shameless Popery.

Manvotional: Winston Churchill

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I’m a regular reader of the website The Art of Manliness. I love their content, but wish that more of it was made available in audio format, in particular the “manvotionals”. At the moment I’m trying to get hold of the guys who run the site to make this request and also to offer my services as part of the team who’ll provide the audio version of their posts.

As part of my pitch, I’ve recorded a recent “manvotional” posted on their website from the autobiography of a man who is consistently voted as being the greatest Briton of all time, Sir Winston Churchill.

Screen Shot 2015-09-21 at 11.25.08 AM

Manvotional (Download)

“The Descent” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The unaccompanied MP3 is available here.

Liturgy of St. James

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St James Below is the text that we will be studying in JP2 on Thursday. It is an abridged form of the ancient Liturgy of St. James. This version of it comes from around the 4th Century.

This is the oldest Eucharistic liturgy still in use today. It was also the blueprint used for the Liturgy of St. Basil and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, both of which are regularly used among Byzantine Catholics and Eastern Orthodox today. 

Petitions

Priest: Peace be with you.

People: And with your spirit.

Priest: The Lord bless us all, and sanctify us for the…celebration of the divine and pure mysteries…  Amen.

Deacon: In peace let us pray to the Lord. For the peace that is from on high, and for God’s love to man, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord. For peace in the whole world, for the unity of all the holy churches of God, let us pray to the Lord. For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, … and distress…, let us pray to the Lord.

Singers: Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.

Priest: O compassionate and merciful, patient, gracious, and true God…hear us. Deliver us from every temptation of the devil and man… For we are unable to overcome what is opposed to us. But you are able, Lord, to save us… Because you are holy, Lord our God, … we send up the praise and the thrice-holy hymn to you, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever, and for all eternity.

People: Amen.

Priest: Peace be with you.

People: And with your spirit.

Singers: Alleluia.

[The liturgy proceeds with readings from the Old and New Testaments]

Deacon: Let us all say: Lord, have mercy.

Lord Almighty, the God of our fathers: We beseech you, hear us. For peace from on high, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord… For the people standing and waiting for the rich and bountiful mercy that comes from you, we beseech you, be merciful and gracious.

Save your people, O Lord, and bless your inheritance. Visit your world with mercy and compassion. Exalt the horn of Christians by the power of the precious and life-giving cross. We beseech you, most merciful Lord, hear our prayer, and have mercy upon us.

People: Lord, have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

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He-Man, Christian Allegory & Transubstantiation

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Christians have long made use of allegory to narrate the story of salvation. We have done this because, by utilizing fiction to retell the story of Jesus, we can present to an unbelieving world the archetypal themes of Christianity, as well as providing for ourselves a “novel” way 😉 to meditate upon our tale of grace…

A Common Example…

One popular example of Christian allegory would be “The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”  by C.S. Lewis. This is one of the first novels I can recall hearing as a child. However, it wasn’t until I was quite a bit older that I started to realize why the story felt so familiar…

C.S. Lewis’ goal in writing “The Chronicles Of Narnia”  was to write a good story rather than simply a Christian story. Fortunately for us he does both! In “The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”  Lewis tells the story of the great lion Aslan who offers his life in place of the disobedient boy Edmund. Even with this brief outline, it is clear to see that this story is an allegory of Jesus’ Crucifixion and the offering of His life for sinners.

In my mid-twenties I did a lot of babysitting and, because of this, I got to read the book out loud for the children I was babysitting (complete with voices, of course). Reading the book as an adult, I was stunned to find Christ on every page.

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Blessed are the Gifts

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A couple of days ago on Facebook, my friend Rachel referred to the “seven gifts of the Spirit”. These are the gifts mentioned in the Prophet Isaiah:

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of counsel [right judgement] and might [fortitude],
    the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord [piety]…

– Isaiah 11:2-3

I commented briefly on Rachel’s Facebook posting, saying that St. Augustine associated these seven gifts with Christ’s beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-10). In today’s post I wanted to explain in a little more detail what St. Augustine taught about the relationship between these gifts and the beatitudes…

Sermon on the Mount Copenhagen Church Alter Painting
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Peace, but not as the world gives…

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I didn’t want to let another week pass without commenting on a blog entry entitled The Sign of Peace – theory and practice by my favourite Australian monk over at Dominus Mihi Adjutor.

He opens the blog entry describing some of the awkwardness that routinely arises at the“Sign of Peace” in a typical parish.

For those unfamiliar with this moment of the Mass, it is when members of the congregation are encouraged to give “a sign of peace” to one another, usually in the form of a handshake, or sometimes a kiss or hug for family members or close friends.  This takes place shortly before receiving communion, with the priest saying:

Priest: Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you”.  Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

Priest: The Peace of the Lord be with you always.

All: And also with you.

Deacon or Priest: Let us offer each other a sign of peace…

[Sign of Peace]

All: Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us…

As Fr. Hugh mentions, the Sign of Peace is actually an optional part of the Mass and I quite often go to a Mass here in San Diego where the priest omits it entirely which some people love and others hate. The Byzantine Rite parish I visit whenever I can has no general Sign of Peace.

Fr. Hugh traces the development of the Sign of Peace from New Testament times through the early centuries and into the modern Church.  He argues that the Sign of Peace which takes place in most parishes today doesn’t really fulfill its intended liturgical purpose and is often more of a disturbance than anything else.

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