Commandments Framework

I had the privilege to instruct on the First 3 Commandments recently and my research to outline the discussion revealed a different dimension on them than I had expected. So much so that I am still studying the subject a few weeks later now.

Many seekers struggle with finding a connection to God in their journey to discover Christianity. We (yes I will always be a seeker as well) come under the circumstances of our lives and pray for Guidance, or, in other words, seek "His Will" for us. Our Mass is full of Liturgical prayer seeking Gods Will be done as well. While studying for this presentation, I kept being drawn back to Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 :

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."

If we seek the Will of God we don't have to look very far. God made a series of communications to us in various styles, physical, verbal and written which is shown throughout the OT to reveal his "Will". He demonstrated his Natural-Moral Law through Abraham's obedient Sacrifice of Isaac, through the passover and many other events which all point toward obedience to His Will. God called upon Moses, made a Covenant with Moses, gave Moses a kingdom and judgement power. When Moses tried to argue and debate Gods intention...with God ....God then set him straight with what exactly he wants his children to obey.

Exodus 19:9 :

"The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever."

Here is our Father, once again finding even His chosen not getting it right. So in Exodus 20, God writes the 10 Commandments on tablets, with His finger, so we get it right, and he adds the word(s) for ever. This Law is carried over from the OT into the NT, and forever.

Moses doesn't handle it well, Moses later breaks the tablets in utter confusion and frustration and then is given another set, which may or may not be in the Ark. Here we are in only the second book of 73 books of the Word and it was clearly documented what the Will of God is.

Just to be on the safe side, God made another full revelation of His Will. If we couldn't comprehend his teaching from the physical examples (IE. Abraham) or verbal (IE. Orders to Moses) or written (the Tablets), He would just come down and show us how to find and do His Will. He begot Jesus. And Jesus illuminated what it is to obey the Commandments (God's Will). Jesus Christ is the only living human example of complete obedience to all 10 Commandments. Christ also made clear the Law carry-over from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant in Matthew.

Matthew 5:17:

"Do not think I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, I have come…to fulfil them."

This is the Natural Law and the Moral Law of His teaching, written in our hearts. It is also known as Forming our Conscience.

While we like to think we can simplify a comprehension of the Commandments, boiling the Ten down into two main concepts ( as Love of God [1-3] and Love of Neighbor[4-10] ), and leave it there, we should not. The first 3 are held as Love of God by literal hermeneutics, the first 3 are also 3 functions of that Love.

• The first Commandment is the Object of our Worship
• The second Commandment is the Manner of our Worship
• The third Commandment is Time for our Worship

Christ expands and amplifies the Commandments with excruciating detail and examples of violation, motive and intent in Matthew 7 and His Sermon on the Mount, its so hyperbolic...its almost embarrassing to read. The fact that he had to spell it out with such detail says so much about how repeatedly foolish and weak we are as children.

What I get from this first level of study, and as a product of obedience is stated by Christ in Matthew 6. We don't need to think that Gods Will is something mysterious and out of our mental reach. Be like Christ, behaviorally, in love and motive, and we have nothing to fear about all other concerns. He will take care of the rest.
(continued here)

Catholics continue to dominate in U.S.

Thats what "RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll, Ap Religion Writer" should have written on Mon Mar 9, 12:14 am ET. Here are excerpts from the study (article link in title):

"Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.

In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.

Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues."

A Concert for Peace

Our Church Choirs combined recently to perform "A Concert for Peace". It contains a variety of Traditional Choir/Organ, Contemporary Lifeteen Band, Soloists and a Harpist performances.

Here is the player:




Here is a link to the songlist/performers and streams for download.

A Concert for Peace.

We Interupt this Blogcast #5..

...to say Big Bangist George Smoot would be far more credible as a Papist...then again, notice how many times he uses the word "Creation":

There is one thing I loathe more than Plagiarism

...and that is myself wanting to commit Plagiarism.

I'm sure I am in good company saying while I struggle to develop a writing "voice" that is as dramatic, compelling, hilarious and meaningful as the committee that I hear carrying on in my skull, I run into those who scribe exactly how I feel and perceive a given thing so well...I wish their words were my own. Example thus:

Blogger Civitas Occiduus said...(On defending any Clergy Sex scandal in the media):

"The Bishops of the Church must defend their flocks -- even to the point of suffering the attacks of civil society.

But I should think that prudence dictates that on such an emotional issue the Bishops should be less on the offensive in public. Rather than attacking the media, the humble thing to do in light of our collective guilt as Catholics on this issue should be to say, "You're absolutly right. I pledge to work tirelessly with civil authorities to bring predators to justice. No child, no adult, no human being deserves this."

For decades, we have all been sinning when we suspected something and did not report it; when we looked the other way because the white collar held some magic aura. Our Holy Father has indicated the proper attitude and posture: humble acceptance and painful sorrow.

Someone else compared this issue to the Holocaust. While the murders of 6 million over 10 years are not the same as the molestations of hundreds of thousands worldwide over decades, the Church is much like Germany on this one: we should never deny, downplay, or object when people become angry over the sexual abuse scandal. Christ Himself told us to turn the other cheek. We have sinned and we add sin to sin when we grow indignant because Justice exacts its price.

Part of the consequences of this kind of horrendous sin are that the wolves of the world -- the lawyers, the atheists, the selfish -- smell blood. Because when one of us falls, all fall, we must be willing, for the Glory of God & the triumph of His cross, to do penance for these terrible crimes.

Bishop Jenky means well, and I give thanks to God for him, but the sooner we accept that victims of sexual abuse are not the enemy, but that the terrible sin that has been commited by those sad clerics is, the sooner everyone will be able to heal."

February 8, 2009 4:31 PM

Bravo, dangit...Bravo.

Messianic Secret – A Catholic Brief Study

Mark 8:30 “And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.”

There has been a popular revival recently of Christ’s often professed forbidding of anyone broadcasting his Messiahship, no doubt due to the Feb 1st Gospel reading (Mark 1:21-28). This subject is true enigmatic material, and fairly deep exegetical water making it worthy study. It is so magnetic, even Pope Benedict has published a take on the secret this month as well. A few other Catholic Blogs have posted about this and repeated the Pope’s reflection, I won’t reiterate that…I’d like to share the richness of truth to be found and studied in His professed restriction.

Late 19th and early 20th Century study yielded scholarly debate about Jesus’ full, but unspoken motive for this restriction. In particular, William (aka Wilhelm) Wrede published a fairly distracted viewpoint that fell into questioning the historicity level of Mark altogether. Wrede’s trajectory, digressing into a broadform History detour, drew majority angst from like Bibliophiles and by reaction, a dozen or so more opinions from Scholars assailed at Wrede’s work, as if the Inquisition began again suddenly.

While the Historical/Critical debate is a valid one, it loses the teaching in which I grasp a much richer lesson in Christ’s keeping his activity on the “down-low”. Using reason, I hear Jesus’ has much to say with little spoken in this avoidance of becoming a prominent figure by miracle witness word-of-mouth. But let’s take a few other viewpoints and ponder them: (Bart D. Ehrman from Wiki)

1. Literary explanations: a prominent example is proposed by the Exegetic School of Madrid (2007). The conclusion of the philological study is that the messianic secret, more than a theology by the first Church or by Mark, is an invention of modern writers. In fact, in the original Aramaic version Jesus never pronounced those sentences… However, there is no extant copy of this alleged Aramaic original to support this theory.

Nope…the words are there ESM. To say that they are not, while historical forensics reconciled nearly all translations to the contrary is a failure of research and majority of findings.

2. Historical: One possible historical explanation might be that Jesus wished to fulfill the envisaged role of the Jewish messiah only selectively: although he was the 'anointed one', or Christ, he did not appear as a military leader.

No real meat on the “why” in this one although the second half has traction, it should be explored further.

3. Historical: A) It is also reasonable to believe that Christ might want to suppress public fervor about himself until the opportune time.
B) According to the Gospel, he was already a celebrity in Palestine. He might want to retain some measure of anonymity in order to be able to move about Judea without a multitude of followers.


While 3A appears supported by even Christ himself, (speaking to his Mother in the context of performing a miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana…[John 2: 3-5] "O woman, what is it, to you in me? My time has not yet come.") Christ then reveals publicly his Messiahship, doing the exact opposite of keeping secret his Divinity. But, we are going after the “why” for his profession of secrecy, and “the opportune time” falls short of satisfying this inquiry.

3B however follows reason and even as it is vague, this becomes a significant perspective trail to pursue.

Look at the result of Christ’s admonitions to keep quiet those he healed or touched. They all ran off screaming his abilities using whatever lofty moniker for Him to everyone in earshot.

Can you imagine, God says to you: “Jack, the cancer is gone now, and just so you know, I am God so shut up about it.” (sternly). People are healed from terminal or disabling disease, they cannot stop themselves from broadcasting that fact. Is it reasonable to think they will allow the shut up part to trump the primary victory of being healed? The legal gravity of a Gag Order was not understood back then. So when they attest to their being healed they use any word to describe the healer. They most likely were in such a state of Euphoria that when asked “who did this for you?”, any High Title was sufficient…King, Lord, Master, Prophet, etc. Christ did not say “well, if you have to tell, use only the term ‘Son of Man’”…because he likely knew the person would be so overcome with their purified state, the source character label is of little concern to them.

This also aligns well with the Catholic understanding of “both and” refuting those who believe in the “elect” theory of some Protestant denoms. [We understand that God chooses All, and we are free to choose God or not. No predestination or double predestination. Its both and.] Per Mark: “And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.” Yet there is no Biblical citation of Him doing anything about violating his order. Check it – He gave Himself to them, and instructed them on its visibility, yet they chose to violate it. The healings were not reversed or retracted as a result of our choosing as well. See the richness in this repeated example of accepting His Mercy and still failing to abide?

The preeminent motive deduction for secrecy is a combination of those that are supported through reason above and applying the reality of Christ’s teaching. Abp. Fulton Sheen explains it precisely and summarily:

"Our Blessed Lord saw thousands passing in the Passover Caravan on their way to Jerusalem. And his heart goes out to them…he proposes to feed them. Andrew the Apostle pointed to a boy who had 5 barley loaves and 2 fishes. These our Blessed Lord took. Notice the way the Gospel describes what our Lord did and notice also the parallel between this description and the last supper. We are quoting the Gospel of Mark 6:41:
“And he took up the 5 loaves and 2 fishes and looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave to His disciples.” With these 5 loaves and 2 fishes our Blessed Lord fed the multitude of thousands….it was indeed a miracle of multiplication…until, the Gospel says, everyone had his fill. Do you suppose that if our Blessed Lord gave out Money instead of Bread, the Gospel would have said… that everyone had his fill?

The effect of this miracle was stupendous, because they saw the bread and fishes increasing. And the people saw the possibility of making our Lord a King that would bring prosperity and plenty. So they sought to make Him King. That’s what people want, Economic Prosperity. Even from God that walks this Earth. The people now wanted to make our Lord King…an economic political King that would fill their gullets and their stomachs, and if he did that He would have Power according to them. And our Lord knowing they wished to make Him King, fled into the mountains alone.

They could not make Him King,
He was born a King.

It could very well have been that this flight from political kingship produced the disillusion in Judas, as he witnessed the flight and could not bear the thought of not being provided for economically by Christ. (Quoting from John 6:25 on) The next morning he is found at Capernaum and asked how he got there. His answer was to reprimand them as they were identifying Religion with Soup Kitchens. And He said
“Believe me, if you are looking for me now it is not because of the miracles you have seen, it is because you are fed with loaves and had your fill.”
By these words our Lord indicated that they had not taken the miracle as a sign of his Divinity. They were looking for him instead of to him. Our Lord continues in John 6:27:
“You should not work to earn food which parishes in the using, work to earn food which affords continually eternal life. Such food as the Son of Man will give you. God the Father has authorized him.”

Our Lord is here setting in contrast 2 kinds of bread, the bread that parishes, and the bread that endures to life everlasting. And He cautioned them against following Him as a donkey following a Master who holds a carrot. To lift their carnal minds to eternal food. He suggested that they seek the food that the Heavenly Father had sealed or authorized."(Abp)

The Consecrated Eucharist has this Seal does it not?

Christ knew his Ministry would be hindered by the forcing of a Kingship of earthly values. The Secrecy was His teaching of lifting the Carnal Mind to the Eternal Mind, which is not of this Economic and Political World.

Pope demands Bishop Recant Holocaust Position

(AP) "The Vatican on Wednesday demanded that a prelate who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church. It also said Pope Benedict XVI had not known about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops Jan. 21."

This appears to at least coincide with, or be a response to pressure from German Leadership, and many other highly visible world figures recently. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on the pope to clarify that the Vatican does not tolerate any denial of the Holocaust. Pope Benedict is from Germany, where Holocaust denial is a crime punishable with prison terms.

This also comes just a few days after Bishop Williamson apologized to the Pontiff for the "distress and problems" he caused by denying the Holocaust.

Bishop Williamson recently denied that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, is calling his remarks "imprudent" as he expresses his regrets in a letter posted on Friday on his personal blog.

The bishop also thanked the Pope for lifting the excommunication that the Vatican had imposed on him 20 years earlier because he had been elevated to bishop's rank by a renegade, ultraconservative prelate.

2/6/09 P.S. (Zenit published the Pope's stated motive on Lifting the excommunication):

the Holy Father made clear today that the lifting of the excommunication is about one thing only: Church unity.

"I have carried out this act of paternal mercy because repeatedly these prelates have manifested their sharp suffering in the situation in which they found themselves."

Furthermore, the Holy Father stated, there is the expectation of further steps from the four newly released bishops.

"I trust that following from this gesture of mine will be the prompt effort on their part to complete final necessary steps to arrive to full communion with the Church," the Bishop of Rome said, "thus giving testimony of true fidelity and true recognition of the magisterium and the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council."

Catholic Carnival #210

Is Here. Peace through Blogging.

Pray the Song

Taking some inspirational advice from songwriters, I must share it.

"When seeking Him, or inspiration from Him, pray song/hymn lyrics."

At times when its tough to spell out the interior truth I seek in praying, this song says it for me:

I'm finding myself at a loss for words,
and the funny thing is..
it's ok.
The last thing I need,
is to be heard,
but to hear what,
You would say...
Word of God Speak,
would you pour down like rain,
washing my eyes to see,
Your Majesty.
To be still and know,
that You're in this place,
please let me stay and rest,
in Your Holiness...
Word of God speak.

Link to the audio version, on Godtube

Father, Forgive them, please, because I, the sinner can yet not do so

There I was, reading along on one of the blogs I follow, and happened upon a post by a Protestant blogger, who is challenging the credibility of Catholic Answers in the all too familiar inflammatory fashion. I read the post, and as expected, it contains Contempt prior to Investigation about CA's influence and whether CA is sufficiently "overseen" by the local Bishop.
Catholic commenters, including myself tried in many attempts to keep the argument focused on the point, showing that CA is moderated and has imprimaturs on most publications, and a Priest on staff, but every Protestant (except one and you know who you are, H/T) escalated diversional opinions without fact finding or exercising any level of mutual observancy. One Catholic commenter put the argument well into focus, and then received the following Protestant take:

Protestant poster states:

"CA is engaged in a 'bait & switch' maneuver: in effect they are saying "we have trained apologists and a Dominican on staff, we're authoritative, but not binding; you can trust us." They remind of me of those "Bankruptcy advisors" who for a fee will help you fill out the IRS and legal forms you could have downloaded for free and filled in yourself. It's "magesterial-lite...".

To which I replied a 4th time:

6:28 PM, January 27, 2009
Blogger The Catholic Journeyman said...

...you just lied to try to advance your point
...and its no small deception
...you quoting CA as:

"...we're authoritative, but not binding..."

CA has never claimed such a thing or even implied it. You havent even read their mission, or all the other responses here which are consistent therein.

With that instigative dishonesty, you are not an example of any kind of Christian I would find credible.

The vast majority of Protestant/Evangelical/Fundamentalists that I have direct or face to face contact with, exhibit such wicked hate in defiance of logic, reason, scriptural support and/or a loving approach. Upon repeated encounter, one wonders how not to fall into sinful cynicism about these,.... individuals. Who would follow such a Christian? What Holy example is this person emulating? Not one that I would find as Christ taught.

I would likely pay a cover charge to converse with a Protestant that understood this perspective, and could maintain a dignified conversation.

It happens that we studied Matthew again tonight with the RCIA class and with the CA comments still in my memory...all these passages, teachings from Christ, flashed in front of me like Neon:


Mt 5:44 - "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven..."

Mt 7:1 - " Judge not, that you be not judged..."

Mt 7:5 - "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brothers eye."

Mt 7:12 - "So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."

Mt 12:31 - " Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit wiil not be forgiven."

Mt 12:36,37 - "I tell you, on the day of judgement men will render account for every careless word they utter, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Mt 15:10,11 - "And he called people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand, not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."(this parable fully explained by Christ in 15:15-20)

While it may appear this is solely aimed at the instigator...these scriptures speak to me as well, and by demonstration, the 3 people who read this blog occasionally can confirm...I have intentionally stopped posting the ongoing" a-C debate" content. I am through casting pearls before swine (thank you Tim Troutman). That approach results only in the same non-productive hate speech and I now deny giving it any platform other than an example of what not to follow.

We all deserve respect, and as Christ struggles to get it through our thick heads over and over again...this respect, this "communication", this reaching out...must be postured in Love, Mercy, non-judgement, or it is not of Christ. Its the way he ministered, personally with respect and dignity even for those who we as cultured humans often find undeserving of it.

Am I alone here? Can anyone dig this?