Thursday, August 24, 2017

FEAST OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW

Psalm 5, Verse 8

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]

Do as He did[2]

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.

St Bartholomew[3]

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.

Shaslik[4]

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”.

Daily Devotions/Prayers

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood

·         Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·         National 54 day Rosary day 10

• Novena to the Holy Face Day 2

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[1]https://discovertheword.org/2010/10/18/the-hebrew-term-hesed-and-what-it-means-for-our-lives-today/

[2]https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2009/05/new-life-in-christ-what-it-loo

[3] http://www.wincalendar.com/St-Bartholomew

[4]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=241