The end of the world! The Second Coming! What is your reaction to these words? Do they elicit fear or joy and hope?
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The end of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus also occupied the thoughts of the early Christians who lived in Thessalonica. ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /
Last month we discovered that St. Paul does not teach that we are saved by faith alone apart from the "obedience of faith" (Romans 1:5, 16:26). As St. Paul says in Ephesians, "…live in a manner worthy of the call you have received" (4:1). We must live this way because we have received the one Spirit, from the one God and Father of us all, through baptism, which makes us one body in Christ. (cf. Ephesians 4:4-6). "We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as...
The Protestant says to the Catholic, “?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /
The Catholic says to the Protestant, unsure of exactly where the passage is in the Bible, “somewhere in Scripture it says, ‘…a person is...
“I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Galatians 2:19b-20).?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /
How many of us think of the sufferings we personally endure, and the sufferings others endure, as being “crucified with Christ?” Don’t we more often consider suffering meaningless?
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St. Stephen, deacon and martyr, was a man "filled with grace and power" (Acts 6:8). He endured many of the same sufferings of Christ.
Like Christ, he was accused of speaking "blasphemous words against Moses and God" (Acts 6:11). In the same way as the Lord Jesus, they "presented false witnesses who testified, ‘This man never stops saying things against [this] holy place and the law’" (Acts 6:13).
He spoke words of eloquence and condemnation to his accusers and persecutors (cf. Acts...
"For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord...
As I mentioned before the holidays, the Fruit of the Spirit matures in us to the degree that we are connected to Christ and cooperating with the Holy Spirit. This organic relationship at the heart of our sanctification (transforming us into Christ) is closely connected to the process of salvation/justification. It too, is a gift given at baptism.?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /
To understand best how to specifically begin cultivating/cooperating...
Several weeks ago, we reflected on the image of God as a Joyful Gardener in the Old Testament. The image didn’t end there, but had a kind of fulfillment one singular Sunday morning, when Christ burst forth from the tomb with all the brilliance of a bridegroom. According to the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene was the first witness of the “first-fruits of the Resurrection,” but didn’t recognize her Lord immediately. Maybe she was blinded by swollen eyes, or something more...
As I mentioned last week, the Bible is full of agricultural images, beginning with God as a joyful Gardener. Paul picks up similar metaphors to describe our life in Christ.
Our new life begins with the planting of the Seed, that is Christ (Gal. 3:16). This ultimate Gift is given us at Baptism, but like all the gifts received through the Sacraments, we must cooperate with them, or in theological language "be disposed" for the grace of the sacraments. We must cooperate with the gifts God...
Before we can explore the nine characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit, we must set them in their larger biblical context.?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /
Let’s begin at the beginning. Genesis 1-2 offers the reader two very different angles on a single Creation event. Genesis 1 reveals the transcendent and ineffable Elohim, pictured as a grand Architect whose temple is the Cosmos, which he will form and fill over seven days. Genesis 2 offers us...
