But I, through the abundance of your mercy, will enter into your house.
I will bow down toward your holy sanctuary out of fear of you.
David in this psalm used the Hebrew word, hesed
which is translated as mercy. This term speaks to a relationship between
persons. It is manifested in concrete
actions to persons with some need or desire. The one who offers hesed
has the ability to respond to that need of the other person. Hesed is
a quality of life that should characterize those who know God. Hesed
is difficult to translate. No single word in English captures its
meanings. Translators use words like "kindness,"
"loving-kindness," "mercy,"
"loyalty." Perhaps "loyal love" is close. Hesed
is one of the richest, most powerful words in the Old Testament. It
reflects the loyal love that people committed to the God of the Bible should
have for one another. It is not a "mood." Hesed is not
primarily something people "feel." It is something people DO
for other people who have no claim on them.[1]
Love the Church this is crucial: Know and revere what the Church teaches.
What the Church teaches is what Christ wants you and everyone else to know for
our own good and for our salvation. Know what the Church teaches so you can
live those teachings and share those teachings with others. The leaders of
today’s secularized societies like to fancy themselves as true humanists and
humanitarians. But these same societies justify killing millions of babies in
the womb and dismembering embryos in the laboratory. We dispatch the
handicapped and the elderly and call it “death with dignity.” Our very language
has become subverted. The family is no longer the covenant communion of a man
and woman that leads to new life and hence the future of society. In fact,
there are so few babies being born now in developed, Western-style countries
that we have to wonder whether our civilization has lost its will to survive. Only
the Church stands up against these inhuman trends in our societies. It’s your
mission, as lay men and lay women, to ensure that Christ’s teaching is preached
and explained and defended at every level of our society in politics, in the
workplace, in the culture. This takes real courage. There are all sorts of
pressures, subtle and not so subtle, to sell out Jesus. To water down or
diminish his gospel. To pick and choose among his teachings. But we can’t do
that. Make a promise to Jesus Christ never to contradict the Church’s teachings
by your words or actions. Only the truth can set people free. That truth is
Jesus Christ. So if we truly love our neighbors we will want them to know the
truth. The whole truth. Not just the parts of it that make them feel good and
don’t challenge them to change. It’s not possible for real Christians to lead a
double life; our whole way of thinking and acting needs to be transformed by
our faith, or we make ourselves into hypocrites. Being a halfway Christian is
like being a vegetable. It’s not really a life. It’s barely an existence.
Blessed Franz
Jägerstätter wrote beautiful letters to his wife from prison. In one of
them he talked about the great martyrs of the Church. He wrote: “If we hope to
reach our goal some day, then we, too, must
become heroes of the faith. For as long as we fear men more than God, we will
never make the grade.” “The important thing is that we do not let a single day
go by in vain without putting it to good use for eternity.”That’s the heart of
the matter for anyone who wants to be a real Christian. That’s the path to a
new life in Christ: Put every day to good use for eternity. And the
time to begin that is now.
The Feast of St. Bartholomew commemorates the life of Jesus' disciple
Bartholomew. It is observed in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches. St. Bartholomew is thought to have been from Galilee and was
probably one of Jesus' first followers. Traditionally, Bartholomew is believed
to have been a Jewish law scholar who was a close friend with the apostle
Philip. He is credited with converting many to Christianity, in particular in
Armenia as well as parts of India and Asia Minor.
St Bartholomew Facts
·Bartholomew
is simply just listed by name in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well
as in Acts. He is not mentioned in the Gospel of John, but some
theologians believe that he is referred to by the name Nathaniel. Most of
the information the church has about Bartholomew/Nathaniel is based on early
sermons and writings.
·In
the Gospel of John, Bartholomew (known as Nathaniel) is identified as being
from Galilee. He was one of Jesus' first disciples.
·Bartholomew
is thought to have been martyred in Armenia. His skin was flayed from his
body while he was still alive.
·St.
Bartholomew is the patron saint of Armenia because early church writers placed
him there spreading the gospel.
·Bartholomew
is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on June 30. In the Roman Catholic
tradition, his feast day is August 24.
St Bartholomew Top Events and Things to Do
·Travel
to Rome and visit St Bartholomew's relics. They are thought to be
entombed in the basilica, St Bartholomew on the Island (in Rome, Italy).
·Visit
the Sistine Chapel at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome or look at its images
online. St. Bartholomew appears in Michelangelo's "The Last
Judgment" with his skin flayed.
·Gingerbread
is a food associated with the St Bartholomew. Bake some gingerbread men
on his feast day.
Is a traditional seasoned
grilled meat for the Feast of St. Bart. While stationed in Belgium many years
ago with my young daughter Nicole there were none of the American fast food
places in close vicinity, but there were frites stands. Nicole loved Belgium
frites, which are “French Fries” with an attitude. We use to joke that someday
we will open our own Frite stand and on the placard we would proudly proclaim
the name of our stand, “DICK AND NIC’S FRITES AND SHASLIKS”.
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