Sunday, August 13, 2023
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Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
ST.
HIPPOYTUS-LEFTY DAY-Filet Mignon Day
Then all the people,
great and small, left with the army commanders and went to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.
In view of the modern
world, I wonder: Are we still hiding in the fleshpots of Egypt for fear of the
Chaldeans? Mary daughter of David help us!
Here we see the last
remnants of David’s Kingdom in shambles. Now the Jews finally realize that
Israel’s hope is gone. Yet, God has not totally snuffed out the line of David
and through David’s line will come the Christ. Oh, that Israel would recognize
Him.
The Fall
·
In
the ninth year of his reign, Zedekiah rebels and Nebuchadnezzar besieged
Jerusalem for two whole years.
·
The
famine grows extremely severe in a short period of time.
·
Zedekiah
tries to escape at night with his soldiers, but he gets captured by the
Babylonians (Chaldeans) before they make it very far.
·
The
Chaldeans kill Zedekiah's sons before his eyes, stab his eyes out, and take him
in chains to Babylon.
·
Nebuchadnezzar's
captain of the bodyguard, Nebuzaradan, comes to Jerusalem and burns down the
Temple, the King's palace, and all the houses of the city.
·
The
Babylonian army tears down the city walls. Nebuzaradan takes all the remaining
people to Babylon—except for the very poorest, who still remain to be
vinedressers and do farmwork.
Brunch
with the King
·
The
Chaldeans break the bronze pillars that were in the Temple and carry them to
Babylon.
·
They
completely loot all the remaining silver and gold from the Temple, stripping
away all the treasures and bringing them to Babylon.
·
Nebuzaradan
sends the two highest priests of the Temple and the three guardians of the
Temple's threshold to Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar has them put to death.
·
Shaphan's
grandson, Gedaliah, becomes the new governor of Judah, which has been virtually
emptied out and put in exile.
·
Gedaliah
tells some of the remaining warriors of Judah to put down their weapons and
live peacefully under Babylon's rule.
·
They
do this for a while, but then a warrior named Ishmael leads ten men to kill
Gedaliah.
·
The
remaining people then run away to Egypt, afraid of what the Babylonians will do
to them as punishment.
·
After
thirty-seven years of exile and imprisonment, Jehoiachin is freed by King
Evil-merodoch of Babylon. The king lets Jehoiachin eat at his own table in
luxury and also gives him a generous, regular allowance.
·
In fact, Jehoiachin eats daily at the Babylonian table is an
assertion that there is hope and after the gospel of Matthew, for instance is
quick to name Jesus as “son of David”.
Mary is from the line
of David and as Queen of Heaven desires to lead us to the promised land of Her
son. We should listen to Her Fatima messages.
Fatima
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --
While conversion and prayer are at the heart of Mary's messages at Fatima,
Portugal, the miracles and unexplained phenomenon that accompanied the events
100 years ago continue to intrigue believers and nonbelievers alike. The
apparitions of Mary at Fatima in 1917 were not the first supernatural events
reported there. Two years before Mary appeared to the three shepherd children
-- Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto -- they saw a
strange sight while praying the rosary in the field, according to the memoirs
of Sister Lucia, who had become a Carmelite nun. "We had hardly begun
when, there before our eyes, we saw a figure poised in the air above the trees;
it looked like a statue made of snow, rendered almost transparent by the rays
of the sun," she wrote, describing what they saw in 1915. The next year,
Francisco and Jacinta received permission to tend their family's flocks and
Lucia decided to join her cousins in a field owned by their families. It was
1916 when the mysterious figure appeared again, this time approaching close
enough "to distinguish its features." "Do not be afraid! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with
me," Sister Lucia recalled the angel saying. The three told no one about
the angel's visit and received no more heavenly visits until May 13, 1917.
While the children tended their sheep and played, they were startled by two
flashes of lightning. As they made their way down a slope, the children saw a
"lady all dressed in white" standing on a small tree. It was the first
of six apparitions of Mary, who gave a particular message or revelation each
time:
· May 13, 1917. When asked by the
children who she was and where she came from, the lady said she was "from
heaven" and that she would reveal her identity later. She asked the
children to come back to the Cova da Iria on the 13th day of the month for the
next six months, and she asked them to pray the rosary every day "in order
to obtain peace for the world" and the end of World War I.
· June 13, 1917. The lady said she would
take Francisco and Jacinta to heaven soon while Lucia would remain on earth for
"sometime longer" to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart.
· July 13, 1917. The lady said she would
reveal her identity in October and "perform a miracle for all to see and
believe." After telling the children to make sacrifices for sinners, she
revealed three secrets; two of the secrets were not shared publicly until 1941
and the third secret, written down by Sister Lucia and sent to the Vatican, was
not released until 2000.
The first secret involved a vision of hell in
which the children saw "a sea of fire" with demons and human souls
shrieking "in pain and despair." In her memoir, Sister Lucia said
people nearby, who had begun gathering around the children on the 13th of the
month, heard her "cry out" during the frightening revelation.
The second secret was that while World War I
would come to end, a "worse one will break out" if people continued
offending God. The children were told that calamity would be prevented if
Russia was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart. Although Sister Lucia confirmed
that the consecration was done properly by Pope Pius XII in 1942 and by St.
John Paul II in 1984, some Fatima devotees continue to argue that it was not.
The third and final secret, published 83 years after the
Fatima apparitions, was a vision of a "bishop dressed in white" shot
down amid the rubble of a ruined city. The official Vatican interpretation,
discussed with Sister Lucia before its publication, was that it referred to the
persecution of Christians in the 20th century and, specifically, to the 1981
assassination attempt on the life of St. John Paul II. Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was prefect of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of Faith at the time of the third secret's publication in 2000.
Presenting the secret and the interpretation to the press, he said the vision's
purpose was not to show an "irrevocably fixed future" but to
"mobilize the forces of change in the right direction."
· Aug. 19, 1917. The lady again said she
would perform a miracle in October and asked that the money given by pilgrims
be used to build a chapel on the site of the apparitions.
· Sept. 13, 1917. The lady asked them to
continue to pray the rosary "to obtain the end of the war," and she
said that Jesus, St. Joseph, Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Carmel would
appear during the miracle in October.
· -- Oct. 13, 1917. Despite the pouring rain, tens of thousands of people went to the Cova da Iria to witness the long-awaited miracle. The lady identified herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary" and said the war would end and the soldiers would return home. After asking that people cease to offend God, she opened her hands, which reflected a light toward the sun. Sister Lucia recalled crying out, "Look at the sun!" As the crowds looked on, the sun appeared to "dance," spinning and changing colors. The children also saw the promised figures of Jesus, St. Joseph and Mary. Amazement at the "dancing sun" turned to panic when the sun seemed to hurl toward earth. Fearing the end of the world, some people screamed and ran, some tried to hide and others remained on their knees, praying for mercy. Then the sun returned to its place. Thirteen years after Mary's final apparition at Fatima, the bishop of Leiria declared the visions of the three shepherd children "worthy of belief" and allowed the veneration of Our Lady of Fatima. However, the bishop did not recognize the "dancing sun" as miraculous.
ON KEEPING THE
LORDS DAY HOLY[1]
CHAPTER V
DIES DIERUM
Sunday: The
Primordial Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time
CONCLUSION
85.
As she strains towards her goal, the Church is sustained and enlivened by the
Spirit. It is he who awakens memory and makes present for every generation of
believers the event of the Resurrection. He is the inward gift uniting us to
the Risen Lord and to our brothers and sisters in the intimacy of a single
body, reviving our faith, filling our hearts with charity and renewing our
hope. The Spirit is unfailingly present to every one of the Church's days,
appearing unpredictably and lavishly with the wealth of his gifts. But it is in
the Sunday gathering for the weekly celebration of Easter that the Church
listens to the Spirit in a special way and reaches out with him to Christ in
the ardent desire that he return in glory: "The Spirit and the Bride say,
'Come!'" (Rev 22:17). Precisely in consideration of the role of the
Spirit, I have wished that this exhortation aimed at rediscovering the meaning
of Sunday should appear in this year which, in the immediate preparation for
the Jubilee, is dedicated to the Holy Spirit.
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost[2]
Daily
dying to our sins and rising to new life in Christ.
AT
the Introit of the Mass, with the priest, pray God for brotherly love, and for
protection against enemies, within and without. God, in His holy place; God,
Who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house, He shall give power and
strength to His people. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered; and
let them that hate Him flee before His face (Ps. Ixvii.).
Prayer. almighty and everlasting God, Who
in the abundance of Thy mercy dost exceed the desires and deserts of Thy
suppliants, pour forth Thy mercy upon us, that Thou mayest forgive what our
conscience fears, and grant what our prayer does not presume to ask.
EPISTLE,
i. Cor. xv. 1-10.
I
make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also
you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved: if you
hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received: how
that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures: and that He was
buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures: and
that He was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven. Then was He seen by
more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain until this
present, and some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by
all the apostles: and last of all, He was seen also by me as by one born out of
due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am
what I am: and His grace in me hath not been void.
Explanation. This epistle teaches us that as
the holy apostle Paul was not elated with vanity by the revelations he had
received from God, but rather felt himself unworthy of them, ascribing it to
God’s grace that he was what he was, even so the truly humble man thinks little
of himself, is willing to be despised by others, and gives glory to God alone.
Such humility is a most difficult lesson to our sensual nature. But are we not
sinners, and far greater sinners, than St. Paul was? and shall we then esteem
ourselves highly? And granting that we have not to reproach ourselves with any
great sins, and have even done much good, is it not presumption and robbery to
claim for ourselves what belongs to grace? Let us learn, therefore, to be
humble, and to count ourselves always unprofitable servants.
Aspiration. O most humble Savior, banish from
my heart the spirit of pride, and impart to me the most necessary grace of
humility. Give me grace to know that, of myself, I can do nothing that is
pleasing to Thee, that all my sufficiency for good comes from Thee, and that
Thou workest in us both to will and to accomplish (n. Cor. iii. 5; Phil. ii.
13).
GOSPEL Mark vii 31-37
At that
time, Jesus, going out of the coasts of Tyre, came by Sidon to the Sea of
Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring to Him
one deaf and dumb: and they besought Him that He would lay His hand upon him. And
taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and
spitting, He touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, He groaned, and said
to him: Ephpheta, which is, be thou opened. And immediately his ears were opened,
and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And He charged
them that they should tell no man. But the more He charged them, so much the
more a great deal did they publish it: and so much the more did they wonder,
saying: He hath done all things well; He hath made both the deaf to hear, and
the dumb to speak.
·
Who among Christians are like the
deaf and dumb of this gospel? Those who are deaf to the voice of God, and
dumb in prayer, in the praise of God, in the defense of religion, and of the
good name of their neighbor, and in confessing their sins.
·
Why did Christ take the deaf and dumb man
aside? Because He did not seek the praise of men, and at the same time was
loath to provoke too soon the hatred of His enemies.
·
Why did Jesus put His fingers into
the ears of the deaf and dumb, and spitting, touched his tongue? To show this unfortunate person by
signs that it was He Who freed him from his bodily evils, and that the healing
power was not the consequence of secretly given remedies but proceeded
immediately from Himself.
·
Why did Jesus look up to heaven and
groan?
1. To show that He acted not as
mere man, but that He had received all power from His eternal Father.
2. That He might thereby awaken and
animate the deaf and dumb man to confidence in His power and belief in His
divine mission. Learn hence to practice the beautiful virtue of compassion for
others sufferings, and to acknowledge that every good gift is from above.
·
Why did Christ charge them that
they should tell no man?
That we might learn not to seek the praise of men for our good deeds. Let us
learn to make known the works of God to His glory; for He is continually
working before our eyes everyday so many wonders, in order that we may praise
His benignity and omnipotence.
Aspiration: O Jesus, great
physician of souls, open mine ears to attend to Thy holy will; loosen my tongue
to proclaim and praise forever Thy love and goodness.
Christians at Rome in Post-Apostolic Times[3]
The Saint of today-St. Hippoytus was a priest and a person of some
importance in the Church in Rome who in his book, “The Apostolic Traditions”, displays
the liturgical life of the Christian at Rome in the first centuries. Of
interest is the tradition of the hours.
Divine Office:
6 a.m. Prime:
"All the faithful, men and women, upon rising in the morning before
beginning work, should wash their hands and pray to God."
9 a.m. Terce: "When you are at home, pray at
the third hour and praise God. But if you are away when this hour comes, pray
in your heart to God. For at this hour Christ was nailed to the Cross."
12 p.m. Sext: "In a similar way you should pray
again at the sixth hour. For at the time when Christ was nailed to the Cross,
there came a great darkness. Prayer should therefore be said in imitation of
Him who prayed at that hour, viz., Christ before His death."
3 p.m. None: "The ninth hour too should be made
perfect by prayer and praise . . . in that hour Christ was pierced by the
spear."
6 p.m. Vespers: "Once more ought you to pray
before you go to bed."
Matins: "At midnight rise from your bed, wash
yourself and pray. If you have a wife, pray together in antiphonal fashion. If
she is not yet of the faith, withdraw and pray alone and return again to your
place. If you are bound by the bond of marriage duties, do not cease your
prayers, for you are not stained thereby. It is necessary that we pray at that
hour (i.e., Matins), for at that hour all creation is resting and praising God.
Stars, trees, water are as if they were standing still; all the hosts of angels
are holding divine services together with the souls of the just. They are
praising almighty God at that hour." What an inspiring passage!
Sunrise-Lauds: "In like manner rise and pray at
the hour at which the cock crows . . . full of hope look forward to the day of
eternal light that will shine upon us eternally after the resurrection from the
dead." Motivation for these "hour prayers" of the early
Christians was the conviction that daily they were reliving Christ's death and
resurrection. Every new day was a day of resurrection, and daily they were
raised with Christ on the Cross. It is an example that should spur us on to
give the Mass, the Breviary, and the Bible the place of honor in our lives.
International Left-Handers Day[4]
International
Left-Handers Day is a day to bring attention to the struggles which lefties
face daily in a right-handed society. August 13th is observed as
International Left-Handers Day.
International
Left-Handers Day Facts
·
10%
of people are left-handed according to a report by Scientific American.
·
Geniuses
are more likely to be left-handed - 20% of the top scoring SAT takers are
left-handed.
·
In
2013, 31% of Major League Baseball pitchers are left-handed.
· lefties: Albert Einstein, Bill
Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo da Vinci
Filet Mignon Day[5]
” When you’re a failure in Hollywood, that’s like starving to
death outside a banquet hall, with smells of Filet Mignon driving you crazy.”
~ Marilyn Monroe
There is a cut of meat that is the very definition of luxury and
decadence, one that falls from the lips of the common people and the rich
debutante royalty of Hollywood in equal measure. Filet Mignon is French for
“dainty fillet” and first found its way into the world in the 1906 book,” The Four Million”. Filet Minion
Day celebrates the history of this steak and the delicious role it has played
in exquisite meals. Tenderloin. The very word implies a rich and succulent meal
that absolutely melts on the tongue, but even in this most perfect cut of meat,
there is a portion that is unquestionably the best. This portion is the fabled
Filet Mignon. This delicious cut is served in 4 to 8oz portions and comes
prepared in one of three varieties, seared in a pan, grilled over coals or the
most famous, wrapped in bacon. The bacon is typically added to enrich the piece
with fat, as Filet Mignon tends to leanness. Even though it comes from the
tenderloin, there are still multiple cuts of Filet Mignon one can choose to
indulge in. The prime cut is the most popular and is available from any form of
cattle, the Angus Cut, however, comes specifically from vegetarian fed beef and
is far and away one of the best forms of beef available. If you’re truly
feeling decadent, you can purchase a 32oz whole Filet Mignon Roast. It may set
you back about $65 a pound (That’s $130) but it’ll be worth every succulent
bite.
How to Celebrate
Filet Mignon Day
If you don’t have a talent with cooking, you can head out to
your local steakhouse and enjoy an expertly prepared cut of Filet Mignon. If
you’re feeling more adventurous you can head down to your local butcher and get
an excellent cut of meat that you can prepare yourself! Marinate it in a
wonderful sauce while you get the coals ready, wrap it in bacon, and set it
upon the grill to cook. Gently though! Filet Mignon is best-served medium rare
so that the soft tender nature of the meat will be preserved. This is just the
first step on enjoying Filet Mignon Day, but it doesn’t have to be the last!
Carpetbag Steak[6]
Australia’s carpetbag steak combines two of the country’s most celebrated products: fresh, sea-bright oysters and (ideally) free-range, grass-fed beef. The name of this specialty derives from the shape of the finished dish. Although many recipes call for broiling the steaks or grilling them over charcoal, those methods tend to dry out the meat and prevent its beefy juices from mingling into the oozy lushness of the salty oysters. Better to sauté the steaks for a moistly tender result with maximum flavor contrast. Carpetbag Steaks
Serves
4
Necessary
equipment: Kitchen string and a trussing needle or small satay-type skewers 4
filet mignon steaks, each about 2 inches thick or 7 to 8 ounces Salt and
freshly ground black pepper 8 medium-size oysters, as freshly shucked as
possible 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter 2 tablespoons finely chopped
fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 to 3 anchovy fillets (optional), finely mashed.
1. Using a very
sharp knife with a thin blade, cut a 2-inch-long horizontal slit on the edge of
each steak to make a pocket about 2 inches deep.
2. Sprinkle
salt and pepper onto both sides of each oyster. Slip 2 oysters, side by side,
into the pocket of each steak.
3. Close the
opening of each pocket, either by sewing it shut using kitchen string and a
trussing needle, or by fastening it with a small skewer. Pat the steaks dry on
both sides with paper towels.
4. Heat 3
tablespoons of the butter in a large, heavy skillet, preferably cast-iron or
copper, over moderate heat. When the bubbling subsides, arrange the
oyster-stuffed steaks in the skillet, making sure that they do not touch one
another.
5. Cook the
steaks on one side until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes, then turn them over
and lightly brown them on the second side, about 3 to 4 minutes time. Reduce
the heat to low and cook the steaks, turning them frequently, 7 minutes longer
for very rare steak, or 9 to 10 minutes for medium-rare. Anything more cooked
than that will hardly be worth eating. Transfer the steaks to individual
serving plates.
6. Melt the
remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in the skillet and stir in the parsley. Spoon
some of the parsley butter over each steak before serving. If you like the edgy
sophistication that anchovies can impart, stir the mashed fillets into the
parsley butter before spooning it over
the steaks.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO-I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER THREE-I BELIEVE IN THE
HOLY SPIRIT
Article
11-"I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY"
I. Christ's Resurrection and Ours
The progressive revelation of the
Resurrection
992 God revealed the resurrection
of the dead to his people progressively. Hope in the bodily resurrection of the
dead established itself as a consequence intrinsic to faith in God as creator
of the whole man, soul and body. the creator of heaven and earth is also the
one who faithfully maintains his covenant with Abraham and his posterity. It
was in this double perspective that faith in the resurrection came to be
expressed. In their trials, the Maccabean martyrs confessed:
The King of
the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we
have died for his laws. One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men
and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him.
993 The Pharisees and many of the
Lord's contemporaries hoped for the resurrection. Jesus teaches it firmly. To
the Sadducees who deny it he answers, "Is not this why you are wrong, that
you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?" Faith in the
resurrection rests on faith in God who "is not God of the dead, but of the
living."
994 But there is more. Jesus
links faith in the resurrection to his own person: "I am the Resurrection
and the life." It is Jesus himself who on the last day will raise up
those who have believed in him, who have eaten his body and drunk his blood. Already
now in this present life he gives a sign and pledge of this by restoring some
of the dead to life, announcing thereby his own Resurrection, though it
was to be of another order. He speaks of this unique event as the "sign of
Jonah," The sign of the temple: he announces that he will be put to
death but rise thereafter on the third day.
995 To be a witness to Christ is
to be a "witness to his Resurrection," to "[have eaten and
drunk] with him after he rose from the dead." Encounters with the
risen Christ characterize the Christian hope of resurrection. We shall rise
like Christ, with him, and through him.
996 From the beginning, Christian
faith in the resurrection has met with incomprehension and opposition. "On
no point does the Christian faith encounter more opposition than on the
resurrection of the body." It is very commonly accepted that the life
of the human person continues in a spiritual fashion after death. But how can
we believe that this body, so clearly mortal, could rise to everlasting life?
How do the dead rise?
997 What is "rising"?
In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and
the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body.
God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our
bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus'
Resurrection.
998 Who will rise? All the dead
will rise, "those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and
those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."
999 How? Christ is raised with
his own body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself"; but
he did not return to an earthly life. So, in him, "all of them will rise
again with their own bodies which they now bear," but Christ "will
change our lowly body to be like his glorious body," into a
"spiritual body":
But someone
will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?" You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
and what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel ....What is
sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.... the dead will be raised
imperishable.... For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and
this mortal nature must put on immortality.
1000 This "how" exceeds
our imagination and understanding; it is accessible only to faith. Yet our
participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ's
transfiguration of our bodies:
Just as bread
that comes from the earth, after God's blessing has been invoked upon it, is no
longer ordinary bread, but Eucharist, formed of two things, the one earthly and
the other heavenly: so too our bodies, which partake of the Eucharist, are no
longer corruptible, but possess the hope of resurrection.
1001 When? Definitively "at
the last day," "at the end of the world." Indeed, the
resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ's Parousia:
For the Lord
himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the archangel's
call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will
rise first.
Risen with Christ
1002 Christ will raise us up
"on the last day"; but it is also true that, in a certain way, we
have already risen with Christ. For, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Christian
life is already now on earth a participation in the death and Resurrection of
Christ:
And you were
buried with him in Baptism, in which you were also raised with him through
faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead .... If then you have
been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
1003 United with Christ by
Baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen
Christ, but this life remains "hidden with Christ in God." The
Father has already "raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Nourished with his body in the
Eucharist, we already belong to the Body of Christ. When we rise on the last
day we "also will appear with him in glory."
1004 In expectation of that day,
the believer's body and soul already participate in the dignity of belonging to
Christ. This dignity entails the demand that he should treat with respect his
own body, but also the body of every other person, especially the suffering:
The body [is
meant] for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. and God raised the Lord and
will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are
members of Christ? .... You are not your own; .... So glorify God in your body.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Victims
of clergy sexual abuse
·
Let
Freedom Ring Day 37 Freedom from Gossip
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
Introduction to Chronicles 1
Déjà vu[7],
that strange feeling we sometimes get that we've read something before. What
we're reading now has already been read. In 1 Chronicles, the
author decides to retell the entire history of Israel from the first week
of creation all
the way to the people's return from exile in Babylon in
538 BCE. After all, those really long genealogies from Numbers were
so fun, who wouldn't want to hear them again? But seriously, why would anyone
want to retell stories from the Bible? Those tales about the prophet Samuel and King David were pretty darn awesome
the first time around. If the originals are not broken, don't fix it, right?
Not quite. See, the author of Chronicles lived about 500 years after the death
of King David. A whole lot of distressing stuff has happened since then. Israel
had a string of terrible kings, it fractured into two separate countries, and
it was nearly annihilated by the big boys from Assyria and Babylon. It was a
rough half-millennium.
1
Chronicles is written as the people return to Jerusalem after spending nearly
70 years in exile in Babylon. They're struggling to put their lives back
together. Whether they're reestablishing the city, rebuilding the Temple, or
renewing their relationship with God, these guys have got a lot on their
plates. So, what better time than now to retell a classic and inspiring story
about Jerusalem's Golden Age? Think about it. Some of our favorite books and
movies are just rehashes of older tales. Easy A is The Scarlet Letter. Ten Things I Hate About You is The Taming of the Shrew. My Fair Lady is Pygmalion. Heck, even Twilight is loosely (very
loosely) based on Pride and Prejudice.
By telling a story again in a new and different way, you're saying that it's
valuable, important, and still has something to teach. Trust us, being
timelessly wise is no easy feat. So take a trip down memory lane as we examine
the phenomena of déjà vu, that strange feeling we sometimes
get that we've read something before. What we're reading now has already been
read.
Why Should I Care?
We
all need a hero. It's totally true. People do need heroes.
We need them to give us hope, show us the way, and to fight for everything
that's good in this crazy world. And no one needed a hero more than the
Chronicler and his friends in Jerusalem. They had really been through some
stuff. Death. Destruction. War. Exile. But now they've come back to the city
they once lost and they're looking to rebuild. Late at night they toss and they
turn and they dream of what they need. They need a hero. That's why the
Chronicler decides to write about King David. In his eyes, this ancient king is
the ultimate hero. Not only is he unbelievably handsome, he's also incredibly
loyal, faithful, humble, and strong. The guy is a kick-butt warrior. A just and
fair king. A devoted servant of God. He's the total package. Seriously, the
Chronicler loves David so much we're guessing he drew little hearts around his
name every time he wrote it. Of course, this isn't the first time King David's
heroic story has been told. But their portrayal of him is a little more, um,
complicated. Do you remember the time David's own son tried to usurp his
throne? Or that other time when he slept with a married woman, got her
pregnant, and then had her husband killed so he could marry her? Well, none of
that is in 1 Chronicles. It's not that the author is trying to hide all this
stuff from us (he knows his readers already have all the dirt on David and
Bathsheba). But he also knows his people need a story that will uplift them and
give them hope for the hard work that's ahead. No one wants to read about an
angry, brooding Superman who's struggling to find his
place in this world. They need a handsome, confident Christopher Reeve-style Superman who
fights for truth, justice, and the Yahweh way.
We all long for strong leaders who'll protect us from our enemies, unify the country and really care about us. Every four years, a few people try to convince us that they're exactly what we're looking for and that God's on their side. We can read about King David and think, "if only…" OTOH, we realize that, as much as we'd like to worship our leaders, there's no perfect leader, that running a country is way more complicated than invading foreign countries, citing Scripture, and handing out free food. We can relate to the author of Chronicles because we're willing to overlook a lot of moral failings and personal shenanigans in a charismatic political leader who makes us feel good about our country. Could the David of 1 Chronicles get elected today? We report. You decide.
[2]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[6] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods To Eat
Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List.
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