The Trouble with Works

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Original image from Pixabay.

This Sunday, the second reading will be from James 2:14-18 (the link goes to a bit more). I’d strongly encourage you to read the other readings as well. It’s lectionary #131, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

I don’t think there is another issue that is as contentious between Catholics and most Protestants as that of the role of works in salvation.

On the one hand, Protestants have one strong point in their favor. We cannot earn our Salvation. Not by doing good works, not by study, not by any means. And any Catholic who is worth their salt will tell you the same thing.

What we can Learn from the Early Church about Loving Other Christians

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Ephesians 2:13-18. I’d suggest reading the other readings. It’s Lectionary #107, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

This section is primarily addressed to the Christians who were once Gentiles. It speaks of how the Messiah is able to reconcile all people in himself, not just the Israelites.

This was kind of a big deal in the early Christian church. The idea that God might have reconciled people from every nation was revolutionary in the Jewish community.

And in some ways we need to take a lesson from this, in the same way as the early Jewish Christians.

The Benedict Option: What We Should Do Instead

Last week, I discussed what is becoming known as “The Benedict Option”, why it’s attractive to some (myself included), and why I don’t think it’s an appropriate option for the Catholic Church.

The question of what should we do instead is a hard one to fully answer, largely because there are a lot of components to it, but we certainly can’t keep banging our heads against a wall like we have been. It leads to the kind of emotional exhaustion that led me to abandon Facebook entirely for over six months.

Something I heard on Catholic Answers recently really touched me. They were taking questions about the SCOTUS marriage decision and where we go from here, and the guest mentioned as part of an answer that before we do anything else, we first have a morale problem to handle.

I immediately knew this woman couldn’t be wrong - because I know that what I have experienced is first and foremost a morale problem.

I don’t think I can fully address the morale problem itself, as I am neither a spiritual director, nor a professional counselor. If you’re frustrated and angry, and really struggling emotionally or spiritually, I would suggest seeing a spiritual or mental health professional to help you dig out of the hole you’ve found yourself in, then I have a few practical suggestions to help keep this from happening again, in addition to whatever they suggest for you.

Unique in the World

 

Original photo from Pixabay.

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Ephesians 1:3-14. I also suggest reading the other readings, but for the first reading, begin at 7:10.

In this section from the beginning of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives thanks for the blessings received from God in the community of the Ephesians, and in the Christian community at large.

God made us to be holy before him, to be adopted by him, he’s give us forgiveness of our sins, and given us rich graces by which we are able to do his will in an unfriendly world, he’s revealed to us his will, and given us knowledge of his plan for us.

Opposition from Within

Original photo from Pixabay.

 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from 2 Cor 12:7-10. I’d also strongly recommend the other readings.

God warns Ezekiel in the first reading of opposition in Israel, on account of the Israelites being a rebellious and obstinate people.

In the Gospel, Christ himself encounters resistance in his hometown, which hindered the propagation of the Gospel.

And Paul encounters problem people of his own. There are lots of valid interpretations on what this “thorn in the flesh” was. According to one of my footnotes, it is a similar expression to the English, “A thorn in my side”, which we often use to refer to obnoxious, persistent, and frustrating people.

Transubstantiation: Prefigured in the Old Testament

  Feast of Corpus Christi

Original photo from Pixabay.

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Hebrews 9:11-15. I’d suggest starting at verse 1, for context, and also reading both of the other readings. It's lectionary #168, if you're reading from a hard copy.

Why do we believe in transubstantiation? Logistically, it seems to cause us nothing but trouble, so why is it theologically so important?

This Sunday, the readings point us to one of the reasons as laid out in the Bible. (To my mind, a case based solely on the Last Supper, when Jesus says, “this is my body”, is not a good one, because it doesn’t lay out any evidence that might actually convince a skeptic.)

In John 6, Jesus says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink,” and at the last supper he says of the bread they shared, “this is my body.”

These (or something like them) is what most Catholics quote when challenged on transubstantiation and think that’s the end of it, but it can’t be. It may be enough for someone who already trusts the Church, but when you’re challenged like this, you’re speaking to someone who doesn’t yet have that trust. You need to show them the Church’s work, so that you can help lay a strong foundation of reasons to trust.

Two Things Love is Not

I’ve spent the last five weeks of reading reflections talking about love. What is it. How it animates our faith. How it should permeate everything that we do. Now it’s time to talk about what love is not.

It’s easy to assume that we know the full meaning of a word just because we can use it in a sentence. You can’t make that assumption with the word “love”.

And let’s exclude romantic love, and loving God, just to make the discussion simpler. Let’s just talk about loving someone as another human being.

There are two common fallacies about love that I think need addressing in light of John’s first epistle.

The Most Important Thing to do in Marital Interfaith Dialogue

Daniel and I were married in the Catholic Church, but only I am Catholic. He is a Presbyterian of the PCA variety. Our marriage works, in part, because our churches’ values are the same. Even though their doctrines differ in some very significant ways, practice is nearly indistinguishable in everyday life.

Every few months, we have one of those serious religious conversations in which we each learn a great deal about what the other does (or doesn’t) believe about a given subject. They tend to be mostly about doctrine, rather than practice.

One of my posts from a few weeks ago sparked one of those conversations. I will make a post outlining that discussion and its repercussions, but this is not that post.

I want to emphasize that these are not fights. They are serious conversations. No voices are raised, and we are careful not to hurt one another’s feelings.

Some of these are more productive than others.

On the Importance of Sacred Tradition

Fifth Sunday of Lent

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Hebrews 5:7-9. I strongly recommend reading verses 1-10, to get a little context.

This is one of those verses that it’s REALLY important that we don’t take it out of its context in the rest of Sacred Scripture. Taken out of context, you could easily err in to Arianism, which heretically taught that Christ was not God.

And yet, one COULD proof text it into legitimacy, if we believed that Scripture was our one, and only highest authority, and that nothing existed (apart from mortal man) that could determine what was the correct belief. To guide us in understanding what the writings in Sacred Scripture don’t mean.

With nothing to play referee (especially about the relative importance of different passages), we could proof-text our way into all sorts of heretical places.