"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Today was the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest scholastic minds in the Church’s history. Despite his intellect, when he studied in Cologne his size and quiet nature earned him the nickname “The Dumb Ox”…
Continuing the answers to the New Testament Warm-Up questions…
28. What appears after Thessalonians?
The four letters from St. Paul to individuals: Timothy (x2), Titus and Philemon. The first three of these (and sometimes all four) are commonly known as the “Pastoral Epistles”.
29. Who was Timothy?
Timothy was a constant companion of Paul, recruited during Paul’s 2nd missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). He also traveled with Paul on the subsequent 3rd missionary journey.
30. What background information do you know about Timothy?
He was from Asia Minor with a Christian Jewish mother (“Eunice”) and a Greek (probably Pagan) father (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15). Timothy was the co-sender of six of Paul’s letters (2nd Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, as well as this letter). Tradition asserts that Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus and was martyred there as an old man.
31. Who was Titus?
Titus was a companion of Paul. He was a Gentile Christian who traveled with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem and with Paul on his 3rd missionary journey.
32. Who was Philemon?
Philemon was man of Paul’s acquaintance. Paul was possibly instrumental in his conversion to the Faith (Philemon 1:19) and Philemon was possibly involved in some ministerial capacity (Philemon 1:2).
33. Where did Philemon most likely live?
The letter doesn’t indicate the exact location of Philemon and his family, but it is assumed that they were residents of Colossae or a neighbouring city in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). This assumption is based upon the common belief that the slave mentioned in this letter, Onesimus, is the same man delivering the Letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:7-9).
34. What is the context of the letter?
Paul is sending back to Philemon his slave Onesimus. Additionally, Paul thinks that his captivity will soon be at an end, so he tells Philemon to prepare for his arrival (Philemon 1:22).
35. What was the name of Philemon’s slave?
Onesimus
36. What is the meaning of the slave’s name?
His name means “Useful” or “Benefit”. St. Paul makes a couple of puns on his name in the letter.
37. What does Paul ask of Philemon?
Paul requests that Philemon to forgive his runaway slave Onesimus (Philemon 1:9,17)
38. What book appears after Philemon?
The book of Hebrews.
39. Why does Hebrews appear here?
It appears at the end of the collection of Paul’s work (the “Pauline Corpus”) because of the dispute in the Early Church as to whether or not Paul was its author. Additionally, one would not really call it an epistle.
40. What literary genre is Hebrews?
It is a sermon.
41. What is the main theme of the book?
It explains Jesus in terms of the Old Covenant priesthood and sacrificial system.
42. What did St. Thomas Aquinas think about the authorship of this epistle?
“Catholic tradition holds that Luke redacted the final version of the anonymous epistle to the Hebrews on Paul’s behalf, a view endorsed by none other than Saint Thomas Aquinas.” – Source
1-16 | 17-27 | 27-42 | 43-52 | 53-57 | 58-67 | 68-71 | 72-81
All Questions
The article New Testament Warm-Ups: Answers 27-42 first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net
So this is what I did today…
I’ve just got back home from my Holy Hour. Despite being brought up a practising Catholic and being in Catholic education for the majority of my schooling, I somehow missed out on many quintessentially Catholic experiences, two of which are Adoration and Benediction.
I remember an incident a few years ago when my girlfriend and I were asked to do the music at a healing Mass. We presented our song suggestions to the planning team and they were well received, but it was also requested that, at Benediction after Mass, we play “Tantum Ergo”.
At this point in my journey I was vaguely aware of what Benediction was, but neither of us were familiar with the hymn “Tantum Ergo”. We tried to “push back” on this suggestion and recommended other songs instead, ones with which we were more familiar. However, the planning team was adamant, we had to do “Tantum Ergo”…
After spending some time looking at the music we eventually concluded that it was “actually not too bad”. However, because of the unusually strong reaction to our suggestion to play something else, that hymn was forever dubbed in our minds as “The Tantrum Song”!
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!
Okay…theology nerds, you’ll appreciate this. Everyone else will think that this is just weird 🙂
Below is an entry from the childhood journal of St. Thomas Aquinas which formed part of his early Summa Theologica:
Article XXXI: Whether I stole Laurie’s apple juice during nap time?
Objection I: It would seem that I stole Laurie’s apple juice during nap time. For it was said: “Thomas, go sit in the corner. And say you’re sorry to Laurie for drinking her juice” (Miss Ellen).
Objection II: Further, once in the corner, I wedgied Billy and made him eat glue.
On the contrary, it is written: “Share everything” (that poster on the wall, right above the carpet where Billy puked up the glue).
I answer that we all have to share like it says on the poster. Firstly, because Holy Writ says so: “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Also, everyone has to share because sometimes they have lots of something (juice, for example) that they never even drink and that someone else (me, for example) wants. When I play with my blocks, Miss Ellen makes me share with that Greek Orthodox kid, even though they’re my blocks and he picks his nose and smells and is dumb. Hence, I should get to have juice when I’m thirsty. For the best part about school is the juice (except on Fridays when we get chocolate milk).
Reply to Objection I: If I have to share my blocks with a smelly nose-picker, then Laurie has to share her juice. I was only sharing her juice, just like the poster says. For the poster says to share everything, and “everything” includes juice. Hence, Miss Ellen shouldn’t have made me sit in the corner.
Reply to Objection II: He started it