catechetical
Matthew: A Second Time Around
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2008-08-11 02:03. :: Alia | catechetical
I was going through some of my archived posts from the Bible Notes website I used to maintain back in 2005 and found some articles on Matthew which may still come in handy this year, if they happen to coincide with the Sunday readings. I have written newer versions for some of the sections from the Gospel of Matthew (e.g., Jesus Walking on the Waters, the Canaanite Woman). Reading these just now reminds me of what I read somewhere from Origen: that the student of the Scriptures understands a passage better each time he studies it at different stages of his life. While 2005 isn't really that far off I can truthfully say that going back to the same passages I have already reflected on did allow me to see something that I missed the first time I worked on them.
You are Rock...
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2008-08-07 20:57. :: Alia | catechetical
The Gospel reading for the 21st is taken from Matthew 16:13-23. The first part of the selection -- Mt. 16:13-19 -- is about the Confession of Peter. The theme of the 21st Sunday is about the keys of the kingdom of David that Jesus gives to Peter, the chancellor of the Kingdom. In what follows, we have two Fathers of the Church meditating on this authority given to Peter. The first is on the service of unity that the Petrine office renders. The second is on the apostolic tradition that is guaranteed by the apostolic succession. This second is specially interesting because of the background: the gnostics were boasting that they have a secret knowledge passed on to them that is more efficacious than that of the Catholic Church. Irenaeus' argument is simple: if the Lord would have given a secret knowledge, he would have given it to the apostles and the apostles in turn would have given it to their successors, the ones who will later on take care of the Lord's flock in their absence. Irenaeus then how the knowledge of the apostles is handed down in a faithful traditioning that is guaranteed by the succession of bishops. The selection is also interesting because it provides us the list of the successors of Peter in Rome until the time of Irenaeus who lived between 115 and 202.
Augustine on the Canaanite Woman
Submitted by admin on Tue, 2008-08-05 01:55. :: Alia | catechetical
I have been looking for Augustine's sermon on the Canaanite woman so as to get additional insight into Matthew 15:21-28 and how it can be used in a homily or catechesis. I found not one but three. These are given in The Works of St. Augustine, III/3 edited by John Rotelle and translated by Edmund Hill. Two of these are really on the Canaanite woman episode (Serm. 77 and 77B); the other uses the text of the gospel as an occassion for an exhortation on Christian Combat based on the responsorial psalm for that day, Psalm 51 and the reading from Paul, Rom. 7:14ff about the struggles of the flesh and spirit (Serm. 77A)
On Humble and Persistent Prayer
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2008-08-02 18:42. :: Alia | catechetical
The story of the Canaanite woman -- which we will be reading for the 20th Sunday (Year A) is a story about humble and persevering prayer. At least that is the way Bede the Venerable understands it. In this selection from one of his homilies, Bede takes the Canaanite woman as a type of those whose conscience is stained by sin. These should submit themselves with humility, as the Canaanite woman did, and not cease from insistent prayer. Along this line, Cyprian's teaching on prayer -- taken from his catechism on the Our Father -- offers insights on "attentive" prayer. Interesting in this piece is the way he explains "Sursum corda", the beginning of the preface to the eucharistic prayer. Also interesting is the way he uses an observable fact -- people who pray with eyes closed and with moving lips -- as an illustration for vigilant prayer.
Lord, Command Me To Walk On The Sea
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2008-07-28 22:12. :: Alia | catechetical
Encountering the Lord in the Midst of Life's Upheavals
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2008-07-25 17:29. :: Alia | catechetical
The following is John Chrysostom's explanation of Matthew 14:22-33. In Matthew's narrative, vv. 22-23 sets the stage for the situation of the disciples alone in the midst of a tempestuous sea and prepares for the appearance of the Lord walking on the waters (v. 25). The terror that this sight gives the disciples (v. 26) is quelled by the reassuring words of the Lord (v.27) At this point, Matthew rewrites Mark, adding a scene involving Peter who asks that he too walk on the waters (v.28) Jesus bids him to do so (v.29), but the wind inspires a fear in Peter that is greater than his confidence in the presence of the Lord (v.30). Peter begins to sink but is saved in time by the Lord who rebukes him for his lack of faith (v. 31). The story concludes with Jesus and Peter in the boat and the disciples acknowledging Jesus as "Son of God" (v. 32-33)
The Feeding of the Multitudes
Submitted by admin on Tue, 2008-07-22 11:56. :: Alia | catechetical
Let’s have a taste of the Fathers. I have written about the Feeding of the Multitudes here, but what I’ve written is something that one can readily find better expressed in the classics of biblical interpretation.
The first selection is from Jerome who comments on the words
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
Hosea and God's Love
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2008-07-11 01:54. :: Alia | catechetical
This past week, the liturgy has been offering selections from Hosea, the 8th century prophet who becomes the human expression as it were of Yahweh’s jealous and compassionate love.
We might find “jealousy” to be a negative quality. But it is the way we render the Hebrew word 
; the Greek Septuagint renders it with a word from which the English “zealous” derives, zhloteV . Besides, the jealousy of God derives from the fidelity that is required from the covenant, not from a disordered passion. The way Hosea graphically illustrates the covenant-relationship of Yahweh and Israel in terms of family relationships has given writers from Jeremiah and Ezekiel to John of the Cross the inspiration of painting a portrait of God as a lover, father, husband and shepherd (the most apt image for a human being that is friendly with animals).
Where was the Church founded?
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2008-06-27 21:38. :: Alia | catechetical
I was going through the pages searched in this blog and found one query that was intriguing. It is expressed in a question that I found so strange, it made me reflect. “Where was the Church founded?” Every Catholic knows of course that the Church was publicly inaugurated in Jerusalem on the Feast of Pentecost sometime in the first half of the first century (c. 33 if we follow the traditional dating of Jesus having been crucified that year). This public inauguration is recounted by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. The Feast of Pentecost, originally a feast of the Jews commemorating the gift of the Law, now becomes for Christians, the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit who begins to act in history in and with the Church.
Our Father's Plan
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2008-06-05 15:47. :: Alia | catechetical
Remember Scott Hahn’s and Jeff Cavin’s hosted program at EWTN on Salvation History? That was shown more than ten years ago and is still periodically shown on the EWTN channel. The program was so useful to a lot of people that a few years ago, it was made available through the web via Real Player audio. Quite recently someone has made it available in MP3 format that one can play through WinAMP or with Windows Media Player with the proper MPEG-1 codec. The sound quality is excellent, and would be useful for those who would like to have copies of those files to be played over and over again.
