Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics House rules/notes… 1. Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 2. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can ask in the chat, email the Meetup group, or me directly at ron@hallagan.net. 3. Unedited recaps of meetings are posted via Meetup after our meeting. The final edited recap is posted within a week by Taylor on our Catholic Catacombs Light website at https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps. Taylor will notify everyone on Meetup with the link. 4. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and between Christian denominations, and agree to be respectful at all times. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ; in fact, I personally owe part of my return to the faith to them! 5. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn/understand/apply the Bible and our Catholic faith. 6. Prison fellowship – opportunities to volunteer one Saturday per month for 2 hours (12-2 or 2-4) serving Catholic prisoners at the Fairfax County Jail. Ask Ron (ron@hallagan.net) or Gina (gmasterson99@gmail.com) for details. Why do this? "I was in prison, and you visited me." – Matt 25:36 7. Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying with other Catholics during the week? Fellow member Jason Goldberg has started just this at “Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup.” Sign up at: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/ 8. I highly recommend seeing “The Chosen” TV series. We seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not easy at first. It helps when we can relate to a person that we have seen and heard. They have captured the real Jesus as close as any film I’ve ever seen. https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7. 9. RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recap notes afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give us exposure, which will draw more people to us, which is our way of evangelizing! Please RSVP when you get the Meetup invite weekly. Our Bible Study Format: 5 min prayers, 10-15 min Catholic topic, 40-45 min on the main topic from weekly List below: Week 1: Jan 3 - Gospel Week: Zacchaeus, Epiphany, 12 Days of Christmas, Nativity Scene Week 2: Jan 10 – Bible Week (Gen àRev): We are in EXODUS, the 2nd book of Moses, meeting #5. Week 3: Jan 17 – Survey Topics Voted on by Members: We are currently beginning Heaven.
Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Christian Comparisons 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) World Religions 6) Book of Revelation 7) Major Heresies and Church Councils
1. Love and Unity are two of the Holy Spirit’s Trinitarian descriptions. How are these different? How do they affect us?
2. The knowledge of God is “participatory.” Is that why nonbelievers have difficulty?
3. Are Charity and Love synonymous? How are they different? What are the 4 highest forms of Charity?
4. The History of the Mass going back to Cain & Abel, all leading to the sublime meaning of the Eucharist.
5. Can you review origin and meaning of the 12 statements of belief in the Creed?
6. Since you said that Gen 1-3 is likely mostly allegory, how do you think The Fall actually took place?
7. Who am I? It seems we all ask that question at some point; some ask it all the time. Can you answer this?
Next Holy Days of Obligation
Lent – Wed, Feb 22 – Thurs April 6
Triduum – Friday, Apr 7–Sun Apr 9, Easter – April 9
Opening Prayer
Dear Lord
Thank you for your promise that where two or three of us are gathered in your name
You are there! We welcome you among us tonight.
Lord, please bless our lives, our health, our work, our families, and our friends
And we also pray for your blessings to be poured out upon those less fortunate than us and those suffering in the world today.
And as You taught us to pray:
Our Father
Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily Bread;
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us all.
Amen.
Notice: Adding In-person Meetings. There have been requests over the past year to have in-person meetings again like we did pre-Covid, and we have been searching various locations and parishes for about six months. We need a place that we can count on every week at the same time, at no cost, and that has media capability/connectivity. Some parishes already have adult Bible study, some want to control the agenda, and others cannot meet our media needs.
A few weeks ago, we were invited to become the Adult Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics Program at St. John Neumann parish in Reston, VA. They love our agenda and are providing us guaranteed space and the media we need (at no cost) so that we can continue our Zoom meetings to all of you via Zoom and MeetUp.com.
For those who continue to join us on Zoom, nothing should change except maybe the first meeting if we have any initial glitches. For those who would like to come in person at any time, the address is below. This will begin Tuesday, February 7, from 7-8pm, as usual.
St. John Neumann Catholic Church
11900 Lawyers Road
Reston, VA 20191
Member Questions Week
1. You said that the Holy Spirit is the love and unity of the Trinity - and for the human race? Please explain how that is/works.
2. I have said in the past that the knowledge of God is “participatory.” Is that why nonbelievers have difficulty? Can an atheist know God?
3. Open questions
Question 1: The first question has to do with the love and unity of the Holy Spirit. To get anywhere with this question, one must first be clear about the Christian meaning (God’s meaning) of love.
What is love?
Many people in modern times have forgotten is that love is much more than a feeling – it is first and foremost a function of the will, which makes love an action word, a verb. The wonderful feeling we may get from love is a byproduct – the sweet-smelling, colorful flowers in the garden after the gardener has tilled the soil, planted the flowers, pruned, and weeded. Without tending the garden, it would slowly become all weeds. You see, that is 100% choice, your “will.”
Relationships are just like gardens. The more attention we give them and the better we tend them, the better the relationship. This relationship is directly proportional. The care and attention we give them exactly equals the success of the relationship.
The choice to tend the garden – in good times and in bad – is love in motion. When both people in a relationship see the garden this way, and tend it this way, the sky is the limit.
Q: What are both the simplest descriptions of love and it’s surest path?
1) To will the good of another. Love expands (or contracts) from this starting point. It is the basis for all friendships, and relationships with all other humans, whether at work or church or at a club or “teamwork” in sports. In good times and in bad, you wish to help the other person regardless.
2) To put the other person first, ahead of yourself. This is the anthesis of the Fall of Man, which seeks to put self first. We all know this intuitively, but “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41). But if we practice, we get better and better at it. This is spiritual growth. If both people in a relationship do this, look out! It will grow higher and last longer than in any combination of conditions. It is also more God-like, but then that is the point.
3) To make God a third party to the relationship. All love – and therefore all love’s potential – comes from God. He is the source of love. And He has an interest in helping love grow. When you have a disagreement, you can appeal to the Lord for guidance. His goal is to get you to step back and see things through the lens of this higher view of love. No doubt He is likely to come down on the side of apologies, forgiveness, and giving, but God is also is creative how He helps us see this in difficult times.
Q: Why does God have an interest in seeing love grow?
First, because that is the nature of love – to reach upwards and outwards, never inward.
Second, because the more people who succeed at love will likewise give it away to others. It’s kind of like “paying if forward.” Love begets love. And because God is the source, love never runs out.
Q: Wait! What is that overwhelming feeling at the beginning of a romantic relationship? Is that not love?
No, sir. That is a physical-emotional connection that can lead to love but, by itself, is a form of infatuation. The Greeks call it Eros, which refers to physical/emotional attraction. People who think Eros is true love are greatly disappointed when those heart-thumping feelings wear off; but the truth is that this was not love to begin with. If you think about it, infatuation takes no effort, which is our first indication that it isn’t love yet. They haven’t planted the garden yet, where they must spend time working through trials and errors together.
Q: What does “loving one’s enemy” mean?
Let’s return to “willing the good of the other.” When we encounter people we don’t like, our first inclination is to judge them (often condemn them). Judging and condemning them helps no one and even drags you down in a sense to their level. It’s an animal response from our lower selves. If instead we said,
“Lord, I am experiencing dislike or hatred for this person and I know that’s not right. I’m sorry. Please help this person become who You want them to be, and to whatever extent I may be wrong, please help my misunderstanding. Thank you, Amen.”
When you do something as simple as this, you have loved your enemy. Remember, you don't have to "like" them and you don't have to approve of their behavior. You are asking God to help them and FIX THEM. That's a thousand percent more Godly – and productive – than condemning them.
Now let’s discuss love vis a vis the Trinity and the Holy Spirit.
The mind of God – like the free-will minds he gave us – has two faculties: knowledge/understanding and will/love. This “knowing” and this “loving” will help us understand the Son and the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that both the Son and the HS are present in the Trinity eternally, so you can’t apply time as we know it.
The Son
The Trinity is complicated for sure but let’s take a shot at this. Essentially, in knowing Himself, God eternally begets the Son. You could almost say that the Son is the manifestation of God’s mind, but that would come up short because it doesn’t convey the Son’s distinct personhood. But the idea gets you to 2nd base.
The Son is also call “The Word” - Logos in Greek - meaning mind, knowledge, wisdom, reason, logic, order. It is through the Son that the universe is created in the beginning; hence, the logic and order in everything. “The Word” eventually becomes incarnated as a human, Jesus Christ. Recall chapter 1 in John’s Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived amongst us.
The Holy Spirit
In a similar statement to above, in loving Himself, the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the Father. Once again, you could almost say that this love is a manifestation of the perfect love that flows between them, but that again comes up short. This love is so infinitely powerful it takes on its own distinct personhood – the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the perfect love of God, which also means perfect giving – the perfect giving of one to the other. In this case, three.
Remember, God would not “be love” if there wasn’t this Trinitarian communion. Love in its essence requires more than one. If it was not, He would be a God of something else, but not love primarily. This “something else” is a good description of the many other gods.
Some have simplified all this by saying that Christ is the Mind (Word/Wisdom) of God and the Holy Spirit is the Love of God, and that’s certainly true. But the Holy Spirit has other qualities that flow from Him – such as truth, life, grace, and the other gifts of the HS. Yet, in even saying this, they are not ever distinct from the Father and Son. For example, the truth the HS teaches is Jesus Christ, the mind of God.
As for the individual personhood of the Holy Spirit, here are a few examples:
The Spirit of God hovered above the waters of the abyss and … – Gen 1:2. This led to the introduction of “life.”
The Holy Spirit will come over you (Mary)… – Luke 1:35. The Holy Spirit brings about the incarnated “life” of the Word, Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove … – Luke 3:22. The Holy Spirit is formally introduced into Baptism in Jesus himself.
I will ask the Father to send you another Advocate that he may abide in you forever – John 14:16-17. Jesus speaking at the Last Supper.
And numerous times Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as a separate person and God, leading him and guiding him from place to place.
Sure, the Trinity is beyond our current minds to grasp completely, but we will, later. Meanwhile, “We adore the God we know, but not fully.”
The thing that is integral to our being, and to our daily existence, is that God’s love has been given to us.
“The love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit...” – Rom 5:5
Q: Okay, what about UNITY?
First of all, unity is a function of love. Love unites, it does not divide.
Think of your families. When love is active, it unites, does it not? What happens when love is absent? Division.
This same is true for any group or team or community – if the spirit of love exists (“wanting the good of the other”), the group will become more united, and it will flourish.
When someone is more interested in putting their own accomplishment ahead of the others – or knocking someone else down to raise themselves up – what happens? Things divide and eventually break down.
By its nature, self-centeredness takes and divides. Selfishness brings entropy to everyone and everything around it.
Love gives of oneself and puts others first; it unites and builds up and this leads to everyone’s happiness and growth.
This principle applies to every area of human cohabitation and existence in the world.
Conclusion: Love and unity are two sides of the same coin; they are inseparable.
Q: What about the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of humans?
The role of the Holy Spirit is the same with humanity as it is in the Trinity: love and unity.
How often do you hear this in liturgical prayers:
“… through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirt, God, forever and ever.”
The Holy Spirit’s job is to unite all Christians and unite all humanity for the sake of everyone gaining Heaven. Tall order, huh?
In a cosmic sense, consider the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” This means the Kingdom of God’s perfect love is coming, whether humanity is on board or not. The Holy Spirit is trying to get as many humans on the train as possible before it happens, or before we die. Tickets are free.
In the individual sense, the Holy Spirit is a Trinitarian GPS. His goal is to help us see the world and our responses through the lens of this higher love. That is tough to do on our own.
If anything, the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the whole Trinity in human affairs. BUT we have free will so we must open the door and invite God in. If God were to force His way on us, He would have to withdraw everyone’s free will. Without free will, we would be lower beings and unable to have the “will to love.”
It should be obvious to all Christians that God’s love unites, builds up, and restores. This applies to all God’s characteristics. Examples:
Love unites, builds up, restores. Justice unites, builds up, restores.
Compassion unites, builds up, restores. Forgiveness unites, builds up, restores.
Sin, on the other hand, is simply the opposite of these: it divides, it breaks down, it does not restore, and it does not forgive.
We ought to get in the habit of asking ourselves: “Will what I am about to say/do unite or divide?” If unsure, seek the HS’s advice.
Q: What is the Body of Christ (The Communion of saints) – with us as the body and Christ as the head – all about?
Unity. The Holy Spirit’s main goal is to “build up” the Body of Christ.
Question 2: The knowledge of God is “participatory.” Is that why nonbelievers have difficulty? Can an atheist know God?
How well can you know someone if you have never had a relationship with them?
Can you trust someone you have never interacted with?
How well can you speak to a subject that you have no personal experience with?
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, so can we credibly judge a person we have never met?
When an atheist speaks against God, he is judging someone he doesn’t know. When he speaks about God, he is speaking about a subject he has no personal experience with. He is, frankly, ignorant on the subject of God.
For believers, the relationship with God is everything. It starts with prayer and learning about God, and it deepens the more time and attention you give to Him. Your faith and your relationship grow alongside your time spent with God and his Word.
This “relationship” doesn’t just grow by faith and belief – although that’s the starting point. That’s like partnering up to grow a garden together, but the work is still ahead. It grows by trusting God enough to share our problems as they arise, ask His advice, and try to put his advice into play in our lives. Then we return with “That didn’t work! What could I have done differently? What’s next?” This is how relationships flourish, especially since God wants nothing but for you to grow and succeed and will forgive every mistake.
In a sense, we learn to know God by matching our wills to His. Our wills mean doing, not just words, for it is more than just believing or feeling. Even the devil “believes” in God, but he does not do God’s will. Feelings come and go and are often unexplainable or misguided, or misdirected, and tied to our egos. We may not feel like loving our spouse every hour of every day, but we know to say, "I will do it anyway!" – and then we do it. And it makes all the difference in the world. The “doing” in turn improves our thinking, our believing, and our feelings. This is how one makes faith and love verbs, which is what they are intended to be.
What grows our relationship with God is the very fact that we can’t help but run into difficulties because we are learning to think and act like Christ! Of course, there will be thousands of missteps. But we have agreed to become willing apprentices and that requires continual back and forth, learning, and trust. Besides, each misstep becomes its own enlightenment, and each time we go back to Him for more our soul gains wisdom. Over time, we will advance to places we can’t even imagine, until we get there.
Non-believers
As for non-believers, a relationship with God can be compared to learning to ride a two-wheeler bike. Until you have experienced and mastered the feeling of “balance” on the bike, it is difficult to explain to a person who has never experienced it before. (It’s even worse when the same person tries to explain to you that balance doesn’t really exist and it’s all in your head.) The point is that they must experience God – which means relationship – for them to even understand the same language as you.
The relationship with God graph…
Conclusion: Without interacting with God and Him being part of your life, it is impossible for a person to know God. Of course, this does not mean that they can never know God – every human being can. But one must want to know Him and be open. Short of God knocking a person over the head with a 2x4, it is impossible for them to know God while rejecting Him at the same time.
Q: How should we handle someone who is hostile about God?
Often times, those who are hostile towards God have some baggage, some history, some bad experiences. This can result in blaming the very God they say they don’t believe in. This is a form of irrational revenge since if they don’t believe in God, then God should be a non-issue for them like the fairy godmother or the Easter Bunny. Instead, their anger towards God somehow feels like “justice” to them, in a vengeful sort of way, which often explains their vituperation.
If someone has rejected God, they never really had a relationship with Him. If they say they knew him, what they really mean is they knew “about” Him. That is like studying George Washington, not knowing George Washington. This happened to me when I was young. I knew “about” God, and I even prayed to Him, but usually it was for selfish things or to get out of trouble, and when I didn’t get what I wanted, I first began to think I just wasn’t good enough. I never considered that my requests were selfish and probably harmful. Eventually, my ego and me decided it was all just a waste of time. I felt much better then. I was back in charge!
In responding to a hostile atheist, I would recommend before you get too far into a discussion (or argument), that you ask them if they ever believed in God before. Often they will say yes, so ask them what happened. They will usually blame God for people who died or injustice in the world, but these are untrue and easy targets that bolster the ego. However, it will open some doors and explain a lot why they feel the way they do. But we must remember, the goal is to be Christ-like in our understanding and our responses, not be on the attack. Attacking just lowers us to their level of hostility and gives Christianity a black eye. We don’t need any more black-eyes.
Question 3: Open forum (8pm ran out of time!)
Closing Prayer
Today I will live empty with the Lord
O Michael protect me with your sword
For I wish with all my heart to be restored
So I may walk ever beside thee, my Lord.
Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Amen!
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