Sunday, January 28, 2024
The Final War
Septuagesima Sunday
FEAST of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Psalm 105, Verse 38
Egypt rejoiced when they left, for FEAR had seized them.
This
psalm is a hymn to God who promised the land of Canaan to the holy people.
Israel is invited to praise and seek the presence of God, who is faithful to
the promise of land to the ancestors. In every phase of the national story—the
ancestors in the land of Canaan, Joseph in Egypt, Israel in Egypt, Israel in
the desert on the way to Canaan—God remained faithful, reiterating the promise
of the land to successive servants.[1]
All of life is a journey to discover the eternal faithfulness of the Lord. When we take this journey, we can either choose fear or faith.
ON KEEPING
THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[2]
CHAPTER II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord
and of the Gift
of the Holy Spirit
The weekly Easter
20. According to the common witness of
the Gospels, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead took place on
"the first day after the Sabbath" (Mk 16:2,9; Lk 24:1; Jn
20:1). On the same day, the Risen Lord appeared to the two disciples of Emmaus
(cf. Lk 24:13-35) and to the eleven Apostles gathered together (cf. Lk
24:36; Jn 20:19). A week later — as the Gospel of John recounts (cf.
20:26) — the disciples were gathered together once again, when Jesus appeared
to them and made himself known to Thomas by showing him the signs of his
Passion. The day of Pentecost — the first day of the eighth week after the
Jewish Passover (cf. Acts 2:1), when the promise made by Jesus to the
Apostles after the Resurrection was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit (cf. Lk 24:49; Acts 1:4-5) — also fell on a Sunday. This
was the day of the first proclamation and the first baptisms: Peter announced
to the assembled crowd that Christ was risen and "those who received his
word were baptized" (Acts 2:41). This was the epiphany of the
Church, revealed as the people into which are gathered in unity, beyond all
their differences, the scattered children of God.
Septuagesima[3]Pre-Lent
Three
weeks prior to Ash Wednesday, on the day before Septuagesima Sunday, a touching
ceremony is held. A choir assembles, chants the divine office and, afterwards,
sings a bittersweet hymn bidding farewell to the word
"Alleluia":
We do not now deserve to sing the Alleluia forever; Guilt forces us to
dismiss you, O Alleluia. For the time approaches in which we must weep for our
sins.
·
So
important was Lent to both Eastern and Western Christians that they actually
had a separate season to prepare for it. Thus, the day after Septuagesima
Sunday, they would begin a period of voluntary fasting that would grow more severe as it approached the full
and obligatory fast of Lent. The amount of food would be reduced, and the
consumption of certain items, such as butter, milk, eggs, and cheese, would
gradually be abandoned. Starting on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, this
self-imposed asceticism would culminate in abstinence from meat. Thus the name
for this seven-day period before Ash Wednesday, is "Carnival,"
from the Latin carne levarium, meaning "removal of meat."
Finally, within the week of Carnival, the last three days (the three days prior
to Lent) would be reserved for going to confession This period was known
as "Shrovetide," from the old English word "to
shrive," or to have one's sins forgiven through absolution.
·
These
incremental steps eased the faithful into what was one of the holiest -- and
most demanding -- times of the year. Lent is a sacred period of forty days set
aside for penance, contrition, and good works. Just as Septuagesima imitates the
seventy years of Babylonian exile (see elsewhere), Quadragesima ("forty,"
the Latin name for Lent) imitates the holy periods of purgation recorded in the
Old Testament. The Hebrews spent forty years wandering in the wilderness after
their deliverance from the Pharoah and before their entrance into the Promised
Land. Moses, representative of the Law, fasted and prepared forty days before
ascending Mount Sinai, as did Elias, the greatest of the Hebrew prophets. (So
too did the gentile Ninevites in response to Jonah's prophecy.) Moreover, these
Old Testament types are ratified by the example of our Lord, who fasted forty
days in the desert before beginning His public ministry.
·
Given the significance of the number forty as a sign
of perfection-through-purgation, it is little wonder that Lent became
associated early on with two groups of people: public penitents and
catechumens. The former were sinners guilty of particularly heinous crimes. To
atone for their sins, they received a stern punishment from their bishop on Ash
Wednesday and then spent the next forty days wearing sackloth and ash and not
bathing. The visual, tactile, and odiferous unpleasantness of this practice was
meant to remind others-- and themselves -- of the repulsiveness of sin. These
penitents would remain in this state until they were publicly welcomed back
into the Church during a special Mass on Maundy Thursday morning. Catechumens,
on the other hand, underwent a rigorous period of instruction and admonition
during Lent. They, too, were not allowed to bathe as part of their contrition
for past sins. Near the start of Lent they would be exorcized with the formula
that is still used in the traditional Roman rite of baptism: "Depart, thou
accursed one!" In the middle of Lent they would learn the Apostle's Creed
so that they could recite it on Holy Saturday, and on Palm Sunday they would
learn the Lord's Prayer. Finally, on Holy Thursday they would bathe and on Holy
Saturday undergo a dramatic ritual during the Easter Vigil formally initiating
them into the Body of Christ. Over time, all Catholics would imitate these two
groups as a recognition of personal sinfulness and as a yearly re-avowal of the
Christian faith. Lent is thus not only a time to probe the dark recesses of our
fallen souls and to purge ourselves, with the cooperative grace of Christ, of
our stains, but to be renewed in our commitment to live a holy Christian life.
·
Lent is often thought of as an undifferentiated
block of time preceding Easter: It is not. There are actually several distinct
"mini-seasons" within Lent designed to move the believer from a more
general recognition of the need for atonement (Ash Wednesday to the third
Sunday of Lent) to a more specific meditation on the passion of Jesus Christ
(Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday). These two periods, in turn, are separated by
a brief interlude of restrained joy called mid-Lent, which begins on the
Wednesday before Laetare Sunday and ends the Wednesday after. Finally, the
meditation on our Lord's suffering culminates during Holy Week with a Mass each
day presenting a different Gospel account of the Passion, the divine office of
Tenebrae on Spy Wednesday, and the three great liturgies of the Triduum (Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) that dwell at length on the final
events of Christ's earthly life and the mysteries of the Christian Pasch.
·
Voluntary Fasting As mentioned elsewhere, it was customary for some
Christians to voluntarily begin fasting in preparation for the Great Fast of
Lent. Their fasts would become progressively more ascetic, culminating in the
abstinence of meat beginning on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. The name for
this period, which ends the day before Ash Wednesday, is "Carnival,"
from the Latin carne levarium, meaning "removal of meat."
The
progression of Lent can be understood as follows:
Pre-Lent:
·
Septuagesima
Sunday. Exile and the need for asceticism. (Depositio of the Alleluia the night
before.)
·
Sexagesima
Sunday. The perils of exile (persecution) and the fruits of asceticism (the
Word being sown into our hearts).
·
Thursday
after Sexagesima: Carnival
·
Quinquagesima
Sunday (a.k.a. Carnival, or Shrove Sunday). "We are going up to
Jerusalem" -- a setting of the stage for the pilgrimage of Lent, and the
one thing we must bring with us: charity. [Also, traditional time for going to
confession]
·
Shrove
Monday. [Traditional time for going to confession]
·
Shrove
Tuesday. [Traditional time for going to confession]
Lent:
·
Ash
Wednesday. The solemn season begins with a reminder of our mortality and our
profound need for repentance and conversion.
·
First
Sunday of Lent. The model for our fasting, Christ in the desert, and the kinds
of temptations we can expect to encounter.
·
Lenten
Embertide (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). See Ember Days, etc.
·
Second
Sunday of Lent. As Paul exhorts us to keep up our progress, we hear the story
of the Transfiguration as a heartening foretaste of Christ's ultimate triumph.
·
Third
Sunday of Lent. Christ again foreshadows His victory (this time over the
devil), but as we move closer to Passiontide, He also hints at the way in which
this will be done.
Mid-Lent:
·
Wednesday
before Laetare Sunday: beginning of Mid-Lent.
·
Fourth
Sunday of Lent (a.k.a. Laetare, or Mid-Lent Sunday). A note of joy is struck,
for having died to sin with Christ during Lent, we will rise again with Him and
be part of His mystical Body, the Church which is the new Jerusalem. Thus the
Introit: "Rejoice, Jerusalem."
·
Wednesday
after Laetare Sunday: end of Mid-Lent.
Passiontide:
·
(First)
Passion Sunday. The Jews' growing hatred of Christ recorded in today's Gospel
makes plain His imminent death.
·
Friday
after Passion Sunday: Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A
special commemoration, one week before Good Friday, of Mary's com-passion for
(literally, "suffering with") Her innocent son.
·
(Second
Passion or) Palm Sunday. Christ's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem and the
account of His Passion according to St. Matthew.
Holy
Week:
·
Christ's
Triumphant Entry in Jerusalem
·
Monday
of Holy Week. The Gospel for the Mass gives an account of Judas' character,
foreshadowing his act of betrayal.
·
Tuesday
of Holy Week. The account of Christ's Passion according to St. Mark.
·
Spy
Wednesday. The account of Christ's Passion according to St. Luke during the
daily Mass; and the nocturnal office of Tenebrae, a sustained reflection on the
treachery of Judas, the privation of holiness, and the need for conversion.
·
Maundy
Thursday. A celebration of the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood.
·
Jesus
before the High Priest
·
Good
Friday. A mournful commemoration of the death of our Lord.
·
Holy
Saturday. During the morning and afternoon, a mournful remembrance of our Lord
in the tomb.
Goffine’s
1896 Devout Instructions
WHY
is this Sunday traditionally called Septuagesima?
The word means seventy. According
to the First Council of Orleans, in the year A.D. 545, many pious ecclesiastics
and lay persons of the primitive Church used to fast seventy days before
Easter, and their fast was called, therefore, Septuagesima, a name which was
afterwards retained to distinguish this Sunday from others. The same was the
case with the three following Sundays; many Christians beginning their fast
sixty days before Easter, whence the name Sexagesima; others fifty days, whence
Quinquagesima; others forty days, whence Quadragesima.
Why
did the first Christians fast seventy days?
Alcuin and Amakrius say that the captivity of the Jews in Babylon first suggested it; for as the Jews were obliged to do penance seventy years, that they might thereby merit to return into the promised land, so Christians sought to regain the grace of God by fasting for seventy days.
Why does the Church, from this Sunday until Easter, omit all joyful chants, as the Te Deum, Alleluia, Gloria in Excelsis?
To remind the sinner of the grievousness of his errors, and to exhort him to penance. To incite us to sorrow for our sins, and to show us the necessity of repentance, the Church at the Introit in the name of all nations unites her prayers with David, saying, “The sorrows of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me, and in my affliction, I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice from His holy temple. I will love Thee! O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer.”
Prayer.
Graciously hear the prayers of Thy people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we, who are justly afflicted for our sins, may be mercifully delivered, for the glory of Thy name.
EPISTLE, i. Cor. ix. 24 x. 5.
Brethren: Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So, run that you may obtain. And everyone that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things, and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown: but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea: and did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ), but with the most of them God was not well pleased.
NOTE--Reflect, O Christian, what we poor sinners ought to be willing to do to gain heaven when the great apostle suffered so much to obtain eternal life.
Prayer.
O Jesus, assist me, that with Thy holy grace I may follow the example of St. Paul, and endeavor to deny myself, to chastise my body, and, by continual exercise of every virtue, to obtain perfection and everlasting life. Amen.
GOSPEL. Matt. xx. 1-16.
At that time Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle, and he said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. And they went their way. And again, he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour: and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them: Go you also into my vineyard. And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: Call the laborers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first. When therefore they were come that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more; and they also received every man a penny. And receiving it, they murmured against the master of the house, saying: These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats. But he answering said to one of them: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to thee. Or is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye evil because I am good? So, shall the last be first, and the first last; for many are called, but few chosen.
In these parables what is to be understood by the master of a family, the vineyard, the laborers, and the penny?
The master of a family is God, Who calls all men as laborers to His vineyard of the true religion, or Church, and to receive the promised penny, which is the divine grace and eternal salvation.
How and when does God call men?
By the instruction of parents and teachers, by preachers and confessors, by spiritual books, edifying conversation, good examples and inspirations; in early youth, in manhood, and in old age which stages of human life are also signified by the different hours of the day.
Who are the laborers in the vineyard?
Those who work, combat, and suffer for God and His honor, for their own salvation and that of others, particularly spiritual teachers.
How should we work in the vineyard of the Lord?
As in a vineyard men must dig, destroy the weeds, cut off what is useless and bad, manure, plant, and bind, in like manner must we, in the spiritual vineyard of our souls, destroy the weeds of vice by rooting out sinful inclinations and their causes, and by real penance.
In other words:
1. We must hate every sin.
2. We must produce in ourselves a fervent desire to destroy vice.
3. We must earnestly beg God’s grace, without which we can do nothing.
4. We must attend zealously at instructions, sermons, and catechism.
5. We must often go to confession and communion, and follow our confessor’s
directions.
6. Every morning we must make firm resolutions, and every night an
examination of conscience.
7. We must read in some spiritual book, treating of the predominant sin
which we have to root out.
8. We must venerate some saint who in life committed the same sin, as,
for instance, Mary Magdalen, who from being a great sinner became a great
penitent.
9. We must fast, give alms, and do other good works.
Why did the last man, as mentioned in the gospel, receive as much as those who came first?
Because God does not reward men according to the time of their labor, but according to the zeal, love, fidelity, and humility with which they have concurred with His grace (Wis. iv. 7, 8, 11; n. Cor. ix. 6).
What is meant by “many are called, but few chosen?”
It is as if Our Savior should say, do not wonder that the last shall be first, and the first last, for many will not be received at all. From among the Jews and gentiles He has called many, but few only have followed Him, and of these again only few can be the chosen. How many Christians are there who do not accept His calling, or who fail to live according to their vocation, neither cooperating with His grace nor trying forcibly to enter the kingdom of heaven!
Prayer.
O most merciful and benign Lord, Who, without any merit of our own, hast called us, Thy unworthy servants, out of mere mercy, into Thy vineyard the Church and commanded us to work therein, grant us grace, we beseech Thee, never to be idle, but as faithful servants to be always doing Thy holy will. Whatever we have heretofore left undone, we will in future endeavor to do with persevering zeal, through the grace of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Things to Do[4]
·
Read the more detailed, corresponding passage in
Matthew 5:3-12 on the Beatitudes. Choose a beatitude to focus on for the rest
of this month. Write it in conspicuous places throughout your house — desk,
home altar, fridge, bathroom mirror. Think of some small practical ways to put
this beatitude into action in your daily life. For some ideas on how to live
the poverty and detachment prescribed by the first beatitude (Blessed
are the poor in spirit), read this interview with spiritual director and writer Fr. Dubay.
·
Read a summary of St. Bernard's advice for living the Beatitudes, and the Holy Father's exhortation to the youth at Toronto's World Youth Day to be
people of the Beatitudes.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church[5]
Thomas Aquinas
thoughts on Fear
Article
1. Whether God can be feared? I answer that, Just as hope has two objects, one
of which is the future good itself,
that one expects to obtain, while the other is someone's help, through whom one
expects to obtain what one hopes for, so, too, fear may have two objects, one of which is the very evil which a
man shrinks from, while the other is that from which the evil may
come. Accordingly, in the first way God, Who is goodness
itself, cannot be an object of fear; but He can be an object of fear in the
second way, in so far as there may come to us some evil either
from Him or in relation to Him. From Him there comes the evil of
punishment, but this is evil not
absolutely but relatively, and, absolutely speaking, is a good.
Because, since a thing is said to be good through
being ordered to an end, while evil implies
lack of this order, that which excludes the order to the last end is altogether
evil,
and such is the evil
of fault. On the other hand the evil of
punishment is indeed an evil, in so
far as it is the privation of some particular good, yet
absolutely speaking, it is a good, in so
far as it is ordained to the last end. In relation to God the evil of
fault can come to us, if we be separated from Him: and in this way God can and
ought to be feared.
Article
2. Whether fear is fittingly divided into filial, initial, servile and worldly
fear? I answer that,
We are speaking of fear now, in so far as it makes us turn, so to speak, to God or away
from Him. For, since the object of fear is an evil,
sometimes, on account of the evils he fears, man
withdraws from God,
and this is called human
fear; while sometimes, on account of the evils he fears, he
turns to God
and adheres to Him. This latter evil is
twofold, viz. evil
of punishment, and evil
of fault. Accordingly if a man turn to God and
adhere to Him, through fear of punishment, it will be servile fear; but if it
be on account of fear of committing a fault, it will be filial fear, for it
becomes a child to fear offending its father. If, however, it be on account of
both, it will be initial fear, which is between both these fears.
Article
3. Whether worldly fear is always evil? I answer that, moral acts and habits take
their name and species
from their objects. Now the proper object of the appetite's
movement is the final good: so
that, in consequence, every appetitive
movement is both specified and named from its proper end. For if anyone were to
describe covetousness
as love of work because men work on account of covetousness,
this description would be incorrect, since the covetous man seeks
work not as end but as a means: the end that he seeks is wealth,
wherefore covetousness
is rightly described as the desire or the love of wealth, and
this is evil.
Accordingly, worldly love is, properly speaking; the love whereby a man trusts
in the world as his end, so that worldly love is always evil. Now
fear is born of love, since man fears the
loss of what he loves, as Augustine
states. Now worldly fear is that which arises from worldly love as from an evil root,
for which reason worldly fear is always evil.
Saint Thomas Aquinas’ thoughts on
fear:[6]
1.
Fear is a shrinking back from evil. Hence, we cannot fear God in himself, for
God is infinite goodness. But one is said to fear God in the sense of
fearing the evil of being separated from God by sin, and in the sense of
fearing to incur his punishments for sin.
2.
Fear is called servile fear when it is the dread of punishment alone. It
is called filial fear or chaste
fear when it is primarily the dread of offending God, our loving father.
Between these two types of fear is initial fear, which is properly the
beginning of filial fear, and differs
from it only as imperfect differs from perfect. There is another type of fear
called worldly fear which is the dread of losing temporal things to
which the heart clings as to the ultimate good.
3. Worldly fear is always evil, for it
discounts God and eternity, and dreads only the loss of creatural goods.
4. Servile fear is not good in point of its
servility, but it is good inasmuch as it recognizes and dreads the evil that
attends upon sin. From such a dread a person may readily rise to the higher and
noble type of fear, and through this, to charity and repentance.
5.
However, servile fear is essentially
different from filial fear. Servile fear dreads punishment; filial fear dreads offending God. These
two types of fear differ in their specific objects, and therefore differ
essentially from each other.
6.
Yet servile fear, as we have seen,
has a good aspect, and, in this respect, it comes from the Holy Ghost; but it
is not the gift of the Holy Ghost that we call fear. Hence, servile fear, in so far as it is good,
can remain in the soul which has charity, that is, which is in the state of
sanctifying or habitual grace, and therefore in the friendship and love of God.
7.
Wisdom is knowledge of God together with the will to serve him and possess him.
Now, the beginning of wisdom itself is faith, for by faith we know God and are
directed to him. But the beginning of wisdom, in the sense of what arouses one
and stirs oneto be wise, is fear. This beginning of wisdom is both servile fear and filial fear; such fear puts spurs to a man, so to speak, and makes
him cultivate wisdom. In this sense, "the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 110).
8. Initial fear is, as we have said, beginning
fear. Both servile fear and filial fear may be, in some way, the
start of fearing the Lord. Yet initial
fear is closer to filial fear than to
servile fear; indeed, it is, properly
speaking, an imperfect form of filial
fear.
9. Filial or chaste fear of the Lord is one of the seven gifts of the Holy
Ghost. By it we revere God and avoid what separates us from him.
10.
Filial fear increases with charity,
for the more one loves God, the more one fears to offend him. Servile fear loses its servility as
charity increases, and then, as the non servile dread of deserved punishments,
it decreases in the glow of charity. For charity fixes the soul more and more
on God, and thus the thought of self, and even of deserved punishment of
oneself, becomes less and less. Besides, the greater one's charity is, the more
confident is one's soul of escape from punishment. And thus, finally, the only
fear in the charity-filled soul is filial
fear.
11.
Filial fear will exist in a perfected
state in heaven. It cannot be the same as it is during earthly life, for in
heaven all possibility of losing or offending God will be taken away. Servile fear will not exist at all in
heaven.
12. The first beatitude, "Blessed are the poor inspirit," corresponds to the gift of fear. For if a man fears God perfectly, as he may do by the gift, he does not pridefully seek to be rich or honored but is humble and poor inspirit.
Things to do:[7]
·
Read
G.K. Chesterton's biography, St. Thomas Aquinas, The Dumb Ox, which is full of Chestertonian
profundity and wit online or purchase it from Amazon.
·
Dive
into the intellectual depth and beauty of St. Thomas' thought in his Summa
Theologiae. Familiarize yourself with his method of inquiry by reading his
section on God's attributes, especially the goodness of God. Here is a Bibliography in English.
·
Nearly
everyone, especially young people, knows and appreciates the story of St.
Thomas chasing the prostitute from his room with a burning log. (She was sent
by his wealthy family to tempt him away from the religious life.) After he
drove away the temptress, two angels came to him and fastened a mystical
chastity cord around his waist. Buy or fashion your own chastity belt, easy to
make from braided yarn or thin, soft rope. (St. Joseph chastity belts are
available at some Catholic shops.) This would be a beautiful alternative or
addition to the "True Love Waits" chastity pledge and ring. It is a
wonderful low-key symbol for self-conscious teens. It also serves as an
excellent reminder to pray daily for the virtue of chastity.
·
Meditate
upon the profound humility of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose intellectual capacity
far surpasses any since his time. He stopped writing at the end of his life
after having a vision of the glory of God, claiming that 'All that I have
written seems to me like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.'
How often do we take pride in our own intellectual achievements, fully
crediting them to ourselves?
·
If
you are a student or teacher, or at all concerned about the crisis of Catholic
education, make ample use of the Prayer to
St. Thomas Aquinas for Schools
and the Prayer to
the Angel of Schools.
·
Read
Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, Aeterni
Patris,
strangely relevant to our time in its exhortation towards a renewal in
philosophical study with a focus on the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas.
·
Finally,
read Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et
Ratio,
especially the section on The enduring originality of the thought of St.
Thomas Aquinas. He expresses a similar intent to that of Pope Leo XIII's in
the following words, "If it has been necessary from time to time to
intervene on this question, to reiterate the value of the Angelic Doctor's
insights and insist on the study of his thought, this has been because the
Magisterium's directives have not always been followed with the readiness one
would wish."
·
From
the Catholic Culture library: Light from
Aquinas , The
Meaning of Virtue in St. Thomas Aquinas and The
Philosophy of Woman of St. Thomas Aquinas. For many more documents search the library for
"Aquinas".
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION ONE-MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE
SPIRIT
CHAPTER THREE-GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND
GRACE
Article 1-THE MORAL LAW
IN BRIEF
1975
According to Scripture the Law is a fatherly instruction by God which
prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude, and proscribes
the ways of evil.
1976
"Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one
who is in charge of the community" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 90, 4).
1977
Christ is the end of the law (cf Rom 10:4); only he teaches and bestows the
justice of God.
1978 The
natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in
the image of his Creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person and
forms the basis of his fundamental rights and duties.
1979 The
natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. the rules that express
it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of
moral rules and civil law.
1980 The
Old Law is the first stage of revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed
up in the Ten Commandments.
1981 The
Law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has
revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts.
1982 The
Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel.
1983 The
New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating
through charity. It finds expression above all in the Lord's Sermon on the
Mount and uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us.
1984 The
Law of the Gospel fulfills and surpasses the Old Law and brings it to
perfection: its promises, through the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of heaven; its
commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts.
1985 The
New Law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom.
1986
Besides its precepts the New Law includes the evangelical counsels. "The
Church's holiness is fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which
the Lord proposes to his disciples in the Gospel" (LG 42 # 2).
Daily Devotions
·
Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day
to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t
forget the internet.
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: The
Sick, afflicted, and infirmed.
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Don’t be a Curmudgeon
·
Rosary
[7]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2020-01-28
Human wisdom[1]
Greek tradition of wisdom was based in argumentations. The Greeks lived to argue. Arguments (discussions) & logics were entertainments. Interests in philosophies and rhetoric was based not only what is said, but how it is said. Always looking for something profound (deep meaning)
Jews have their wisdom tradition which includes the wisdom Literatures.
1. Job – story of a man who did right & suffers
2. Psalms – classic wisdom, praise, laments, etc
3. Proverbs – classic wisdom: do right & no suffering
4. Ecclesiastes – meaning of life
5. Song of Songs – intimate relationship with God
Gnostics tradition of wisdom and knowledge was a heresy in the early church, a bad theology based on “Secret knowledge” that is needed for salvation. All matters are evil, spirit is good. Gnostics denied the humanity of Christ “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel –not with words of (human) wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (made void)” “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” The Cross – is the Message. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
FEAST of Saint AGATHA February 5th
Agatha came from, Catania, a city in Sicily. I was stationed there while in the Navy and lived in a small town of Nicolosi which was situated on the Volcano (Etna) near the city of Catania. I was impressed and formed as a young man by the faith and beauty of the people of Sicily.
Chill Out at Saranac Lake Winter Carnival
Party Adirondack style. Since its start back in 1897, the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival has grown into one of the oldest winter carnivals in America. The 10-day event showcases plenty of winter magic, from an ice palace made from blocks of ice to the coronation of a winter carnival king and queen.
· Devotion of the Seven Sundays: St Joseph-1st Sunday
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