Chapter Three presents Paul’s logic of the Law. Again, he admits a good to the law and circumcision. God’s goodness is not nullified because of the law, nor is His justice because of grace. The punishment from God does not make Him a tyrant. God is just and ought to exact justice. How many of us would complain when justice is not served to someone who has done wrong to us? Yet how many of us would complain if justice is given to us when we have wronged others? Justice is a two-way street. We never look to ourselves and our own actions. Yet all this justice does not mean that God is not merciful.
All that being said, does God enjoy exacting punishment? No. God really does not have to actively punish us anyways. As said in Chapter One, God leaves us to our own design. The fruit of our sins will always come back to bite us. It is the nature of sin to cause the sinner to suffer. If we do not want God in our lives, then He makes His absence happen. He does not impose His goodness on us. It is all based on, for lack of better terms, the nature of who God is. What is this nature? Goodness itself. God is goodness itself. Anything opposed to this goodness is opposed to God. When goodness is absent, humanity suffers.
We are all under the yoke of sin, Jew or Greek (v9). What Paul is getting at here is that no matter where you are from, every human being in the world is under the yoke of sin. We are all sinners. The law makes us more conscious of our actions in morals (v20). The law teaches us of God’s ways and how to be good and to avoid evil. So the law is good. Since all human beings are subject to sin, we are in need of God’s grace equally (v23-24). But the grace of Jesus’ blood proves God’s goodness (v25). We have access to God’s mercy and the forgiveness of sins through His blood and our faith in Jesus. So without faith, we cannot attain eternal salvation. Faith is absolutely necessary.
There are some assumptions about faith that open us to salvation. First, faith implies that we trust in God. This trust assumes that God wants what is good for us. God has no evil in His heart and would never deceive us. Second: that God loves us. If we do not trust God, we are doubting that God actually loves us. Jesus dying on the cross is the proof we need that He really does love us. Third, that we love God. It is hard to love a person whom we do not trust or believe in. But Scripture says, “even the devils believe” (Jas 2:19). Those in hell believe in God, they just hate Him. But if we believe that God is trustworthy and loves us, we ought to love Him back. Fourth: that a relationship is enjoyed. The faith we have in God is not that of some thing; I trust that my printer will print the page I want when I tell it to. It is a faith in persons, three persons to be exact, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three persons have entered our lives and bring us grace to every part of our lives. Fifth: that faith itself is a gift. God gives us the gift of faith. We cannot get faith for ourselves or purchase it by any means. God freely gives it to all who would accept it. We have to be willing to accept it and do so. Our actions play a part in this acceptance of Faith in many ways. A book could be written on this alone. Sixth: faith is integrated. The entire person is involved in faith. It incorporates body and soul. It involves all the powers of the soul: the intellect, passions and the will. How are you doing in all these assumptions of faith?
Works cannot provide for grace no more than the natural can provide for the supernatural. Works are natural and mere human. Grace and faith is supernatural and come from the divine. Grace can build upon works, but works by themselves can only do so much by themselves. With that in mind, works cannot give us sufficient reason to boast (v27), but faith in Him can give a reason to rejoice.
Domingo XX Tiempo Ordinario ciclo B 2018
La primera lectura de este Vigésimo Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario habla de la sabiduría y la sitúa frente –en contra– de la insensatez. El conocimiento de Dios –ya lo hemos dicho otras veces– nos coloca en una realidad personal más objetiva con olvido de fantasías inalcanzables o de deseos imposibles que suelen llenar nuestros tiempos insensatos cuando estamos lejos de Dios. La búsqueda de Dios ha de ser, además, placentera y humilde. No se trata de una asignatura técnica, ni tampoco de un ejercicio histórico de investigación. Basados en las Escrituras y en lo que los cristianos, a través de los siglos e inmersos en esa conexión valida llamada Comunión de los Santos, nos han ido aportando: la Tradición.
Domingo XIX Tiempo Ordinario ciclo B 2018
From Last weeks bulletin
San Juan dice, en el evangelio y en sus Cartas, que tanto el pan de vida, como la fe en Cristo, producen el mismo efecto: la vida eterna. Como sabemos, San Juan no describe en su evangelio la institución de la eucaristía, pero en el capítulo sexto habla extensa y profundamente del pan de vida. El pan de vida nos dice San Juan, nos da la vida eterna. También nos dice San Juan en este mismo capítulo que el que cree en él tiene vida eterna. Para San Juan el pan de vida y la fe viva en Cristo producen, pues, el mismo efecto: la vida eterna. De donde debemos deducir que la fe viva en Cristo es también comunión con Cristo. Es decir, que comer el pan vivo y creer en Cristo, según San Juan, es vivir en comunión con él. Es evidente que no se trata aquí de un comer físicamente el cuerpo de Cristo, como tampoco se trata aquí de un simple creer racionalmente en Cristo. Comer el cuerpo de Cristo es comulgar con él, es identificarse místicamente con él, como también creer en Cristo es querer identificarme con él, es querer vivir en comunión con él. Cuando comemos físicamente el cuerpo sacramentado de Cristo en la eucaristía debemos comulgar mística y espiritualmente también con Cristo. Solo si comulgamos espiritualmente con Cristo cuando comemos físicamente el pan consagrado, habremos comido el pan vivo que nos hace vivir para siempre. En este sentido, se han aplicado estas palabras de San Juan a la participación de los fieles en el sacramento de la eucaristía. El pan que comulgamos lo recibimos como pan de vida, como vida de Cristo, y por eso creemos que este pan nos da la vida eterna. No debemos separar nunca la comunión física de la comunión espiritual, porque comulgar con Cristo es comulgar con el cuerpo místico de Cristo, del que todos nosotros somos miembros vivos. Continue reading “Domingo XIX Tiempo Ordinario ciclo B 2018”
Bible: Romans #7
From last weeks bulletin.
Paul begins with verse 17 of chapter 2 to warn those who are the official teachers of the Law and God’s ways. He does not say that they have no authority to do so, or that their sins make null and void their authority. But he does say, for it is written Because of you the name of God is reviled among the Gentiles (v24). So there is a very real judgement they will incur. Jesus is the good shepherd and is there to take care of the sheep, not be friends of the hired help (Jn 10:11-18). So Jesus makes a commitment to love His sheep. If the hired help does not do their part, there will be justice exacted on them. To avoid this judgement, verses 21-23 gives a brief examination of conscience by which to judge themselves and keep them honest.
Circumcision, to be sure has value, says Paul (v25); not what many expect him to say. The Old Law of circumcision is still in effect, but there is also a warning with it. That warning is that the law is in effect and the blessing and curse are still fully valid (Dt 11:26). We want the blessing, not the curse. That is why Paul warns of not getting circumcision. If you live the law, then fine and good. But Paul explains that the circumcision of the heart is just as much a blessing. Jesus will bless and fulfill every promise of circumcision as if they were physically circumcised. This is the graciousness of God. Continue reading “Bible: Romans #7”
Our Lady of Fatima is Coming to Our Parishes
We have the special graces that the very statue of Our Lady of Fatima that Sister Lucia had commissioned to be made will be visiting us. Sister Lucia was one of the three children who saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal. Continue reading “Our Lady of Fatima is Coming to Our Parishes”
St. Therese of Lisieux
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
Where is Jesus in the Midst of the Church’s Sex-Abuse Crisis
Father Thomas Berg is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, a former Legionary of Christ and professor of moral theology, vice rector and director of admissions at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. He is author of Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics. He spoke recently with CNA’s Courtney Grogan about the challenges Catholics face amid the Church’s sexual abuse and misconduct scandals. The interview is below, edited for clarity and length. …
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/where-is-jesus-in-the-midst-of-the-churchs-sex-abuse-crisis
Pennsylvania: Court Releases Report on Abuse in Six Dioceses
We have a long way to go yet. Weeding out the evil takes a lot of work.
The much-anticipated grand jury report on clerical abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses was released August 14, 2018.
The document – more than 1,350 pages long – cites credible accusations of abuse against more than 300 priests, with more than 1,000 victims involved. The study took two years and was overseen by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
“The cover-up was sophisticated. And all the while, shockingly, church leadership kept records of the abuse and the cover-up. These documents, from the dioceses’ own ‘Secret Archives,’ formed the backbone of this investigation,” he said at a news conference in Harrisburg, according to Associated Press.
“Most of the victims were…
https://zenit.org/articles/pennsylvania-court-releases-report-on-abuse-in-six-dioceses/
When Science and Technology Ignore a Deeper Truth
BISMARCK, N.D. — The announcement last month from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in the United Kingdom that changing the DNA of a human embryo could be “morally permissible” is the most recent example of how some applications of science and technology can conflict with Catholic teaching.
The codicil to the U.K. announcement, “if it is in the child’s best interest,” is also an example of the manipulative language used in
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/when-science-and-technology-ignore-a-deeper-truth
The Eucharist and the Real Presence of Jesus
Aug 16, 2018
Audio and Video
Fr Barr walked away from the ambo with dead batteries in his mic. We adjusted the volume, but the quality was affected.