05.23.23 Recap: Member Questions Night

Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics House rules/notes… 1. Online via Meetup/Zoom or In Person at St. John Neumann Catholic Church 11900 Lawyers Road, Reston, VA 20191 https://saintjn.org/ 2. Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 3. I will send out Meeting Recaps the same night as our sessions – these are unedited versions without pictures. An edited version with pictures will be posted on our website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps before the next meeting. Taylor will notify everyone at that time. 4. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can ask in the chat box, email the Meetup group, or me at ron@hallagan.net. 5. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and Christian denominations, and we 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! 6. 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. 7. Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying with other Catholics during the week? Fellow member Jason Goldberg has started “Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup.” Sign up at: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/. 8. “The Chosen” TV series. All of us seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not always easy. It can help if we have seen and heard Him. The Chosen captures Jesus better than any show I have ever seen. Highly recommended. 9. RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recaps afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give exposure to “Catholic Bible Study” – a good thing! Catholic Catacombs Website: https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps Bible Study Format: Each week of the month has a repeating topic, as noted below. Each meeting: 5 min greet, prayer, 10-15 min Catholic topic, 40-45 min main topic. Week 1: Gospel Week: Week 2: Bible Week (Gen àRev): We are in EXODUS, the 2nd book of Moses. Week 3: Survey Topics Voted on by Members:

Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables Ö 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Comparative Religions 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) Book of Revelation 6) Major Heresies and Church Councils Week 4: Member Questions: 1. Personal Questions o “Who am I?” Who are we? Where do we get our idea of “self” from and what should our view be of it? It seems we all ask this question at some point in our lives. Some ask it all the time. How do you answer this? o What does it mean to be born again? Does this change the self? o What is happiness? o What do we do with doubts? 2. God Questions o “How do we know we are following Jesus? o Does the path get harder the closer we get to God? o Is the peace of Christ different from worldly peace? o In John 14:28 Jesus says “the Father is greater than I.” What does this mean? I thought they were one. o In Genesis and elsewhere, it says God changed his mind. In one place, it says he repented of man. I thought God was unchangeable. Can you explain this? o Why doesn’t God just show himself? 3. Can you provide an intro/overview of the OT books? 4. Are Charity and Love the same thing? How are they different? What are the 4 highest forms of charity? 5. Can you review the origin and meaning of the 12 statements of belief in the Creed? 6. How many Gospels have the story of Jesus’ calming the storm? Are they the same story? 7. Why does God seem full of vengeance or violence in the OT? Is this a misinterpretation? Major upcoming holy days in the Church… Ascension Thursday – May 18 (40 days after Easter) Pentecost Sunday – May 28 (10>Ascension/50>Easter) Opening Prayer (The first part of the prayer is part of the “Shema” (pronounced Shi-MAH), the Jewish prayer made twice each day; also, in the phylacteries of the Jews, and also on the lintel of the door which they would touch whenever entering or exiting. This was the first Creed of the Jews. Hear O Israel, O Body of Christ, Communion of Saints, and Universal Church The Lord is God and the Lord is One whom we love with all our hearts, all our minds, all our souls, and all our might (Deut 6:4-5, 11:13). We love our neighbors as ourselves (Lv 19:18), and this includes praying for our enemies (Mt 5). Our member, Flo, couldn’t make it tonight because her husband and had a stroke on Mother’s Day. Lord, please send your healing blessings the Flo's husband and the whole family. 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. Week 4: Member Questions 1. The Ascension 2. Personal Questions o “Who am I?” Who are we? Where do we get our idea of “self” from, and what should our view be of it? It seems we all ask this question at some point in our lives. Some ask it all the time. How do you answer this? o What does it mean to be born again? Does this change the self? o What is happiness? o What do we do with doubts?

The Ascension of Jesus Christ

Q: When did the Ascension of Jesus Christ take place, and where? Ascension Thursday, 40 days after the Resurrection, Bethany (eastern foot of the Mount of Olives) Q: What does the biblical number 40 represent? Purification, Preparation, Transition, Transformation (all aspects of the same thing) Noah, Exodus, Jesus’ temptation in the desert, Resurrection to Ascension Sunday 5/21 Gospel Reading This past Sunday’s Gospel reading from Matthew 28 takes place before the Ascension. Jesus meets his apostles on a mountain/hillside in Galilee to give them what is referred to as the “Great Commission”: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have instructed you.” You can see the beginnings of the Christian Creed taking place, which combines One God of the Shema and the Trinitarian nature of God revealed to us by Jesus. In this Great Commission, there are two things to note: First, this Commission is quite the gargantuan assignment. Jesus is telling these backwater apostles that it’s time for them to take over and start doing everything he has been doing for the past three years – and take it to the ends of the earth! It’s not a stretch to imagine they might have been more than a bit weak in the knees about this plan, especially since they hadn’t yet received the Holy Spirit. The second thing we might think about is that every time the disciples have seen Jesus since his resurrection, they have been a surprised at his appearance. Jesus has not been easy to recognize, at least not at first. This could be because of his glorified body, for we know now that a glorified body is not the same as an earthly body: Jesus was able to defy the physical laws of nature by going through doors, disappearing/appearing in different places, and yet able to eat/hold food. Some have pointed to similarities between his glorified body and his appearance at the Transfiguration. We also know that the disciples on the road to Emmaus could not recognize Jesus until later when he broke the bread at table with them – and then he disappeared. A fair question is: did Jesus prevent them from recognizing him? Certainly, that would have been in his power. Or is their lack of recognition tied to their slowness to believe? Or perhaps it was both – Jesus prevented them from recognizing Him because of their slowness of belief. Now, here we are once again at a scene where they meet up with Jesus at the mountain in Galilee; this is near the end of Jesus’ 40 days, and it says elsewhere that he has already appeared to more than 500 disciples. We do not know how many are at the mountainside in this reading – it only mentions the eleven – but it is not clear. Nevertheless, when they see him, it says they immediately worshipped him, which suggests they fell prostrate. We are left to our imaginations again as to how Jesus looked when he appeared to them. Let’s read the passage...

Matthew 28:16-21 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Then Jesus approached them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Q: What does it mean that “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me”? The Father vindicates Jesus for completing the mission he came for, and full dominion over creation is returned to him. Remember, he was/is Lord over creation: Through him all things were made; nothing came into being without him (John 1:3). Jesus will soon leave them, and yet he says, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Q: No wonder the apostles are confused. What does Jesus mean? First, he is fulfilling his title of “Emmanuel” prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 and confirmed in Matthew 1:22. Emmanuel means, “God is with us.” Second, he is remaining present to us personally in the Breaking of the Bread, now called the Eucharist/The Mass/The Last Supper/The Passover. In the Eucharist, Jesus passes over death and leaves that path open for us. Third, in 10 days he will send the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), so he will be with them through the Holy Spirit. The second verse in the reading above says, “When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted.” A: Some doubted?? You have to admire the Scripture writers for sticking with the truth, for how many of us would have gotten rid of that statement? So then, what are we to make of it? Can we possibly explain what this means? First, remember in exegesis, we need to take a look at the Greek word used for “doubt,” and secondly we need to see how that same word is used elsewhere by the same author. The Greek word being used is ἐδίστασαν (edistasan); verb - indicative active; 3rd person plural: To waver, hesitate, or doubt. So, hesitate and waver are possibilities. That may or may not help, but let’s see. Next, let’s look where else Matthew uses this word. We find it in one other place – Matt 14:22-33. Do you remember when Jesus was walking on the water during the storm on the Sea of Galilee? Peter sees him from the boat and calls out to him and says: If it is you, let me walk on the water to you. Jesus replies, “Come!” Peter steps outside the boat and begins walking on the water towards Jesus. Suddenly, Peter notices the wind kicking up, looks around and becomes frightened, and starts to sink. Then he cries out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus stretches out His hand and takes hold of him, and says to Peter, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Same word! So according to our options, we could say Peter wavered, or he hesitated, or he doubted. All seem to work. But the real question is this: Did Peter doubt Jesus? No! Peter doubted himself. Returning to our earlier story, Jesus is not only asking them to take over his job, but he is leaving them! If you were one of them, would you be confident? Would you not at least waver? Hesitate? The Ascension Q: Where did the Ascension take place? Bethany

Looking at Jerusalem today from the Garden of Gethsemane

Our reading is from the beginning of the “Acts of the Apostles,” which immediately follows the four Gospels. If the Gospels are the stories of how Jesus lived and what he said, then the “Acts of the Apostles” are stories about how the Apostles lived and what they said in the very earliest years of the Church, starting with the Ascension. Timeline-wise, it is a direct continuation of the Gospels and many Bibles group this book with the Gospels, as though it is a 5th Gospel. The presence of the Holy Spirit is so pervasive in Acts that I have also heard it called the “Gospel of the Holy Spirit.” You will notice that the very beginning of the book of Acts says, “In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught… until the day he was taken up.” Q: Who wrote the book of Acts and who is Theophilus? Luke wrote the book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke. Acts was like Luke’s Volume II. Theophilus could have been a benefactor of Luke’s but the word is likely addressing all of us since it translates as, “lover of God.” I have highlighted some parts we will be discussing.

Acts 1:1-14 – The Ascension of Jesus IIn the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gathered together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they entered the city, they went to the upper room where they were staying– Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren.

In verse 1, note “after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit….” The Holy Spirit is already on the scene and, as Jesus promised, the HS figures prominently throughout the Acts of the Apostles. Given their odds of success – especially with the persecution from both Jews and Romans that followed – there is NO WAY their message (especially with their hero dying on the despicable Roman cross) would have overtaken the entire known world without the divine assistance! Q: The Apostles again ask if this is the time that he will restore the kingdom of Israel. What were they thinking? They were either still expecting an “earthly kingdom” or else the prophecy about end of the age – judgment day and Heaven. They can be forgiven for their confusion as nobody was ready for the incredible events that occurred during Holy Week. As Jesus tried to tell them, his mission was to undo the fall of man by paying for the sins of man. They he will open the gates of Heaven, and humans can begin reconnecting God in a much higher way. Jesus enables us to have one foot (or toe) in Heaven while we are still here. God also seems interested in sharing Heaven with as many people as possible. If the end times had come 2000 years ago, as some expected, then none of us here would ever have had the chance to be part of it. Q: Is there any special meaning to Jesus being taken up on a cloud? First, this was not really a “spatial” event. Jesus wasn’t being taken up to space or the stars. The Jews believed in three heavens: the first was the blue sky we see above with the clouds, the second was beyond that where the sun, moon, and stars are, and the “Third Heaven” was considered the realm of God. This was where Jesus was being taken. Second, in the Bible, God always came on clouds (not the angels or anyone else). In Exodus, “The LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night” (Ex 13:21); and again, in Ex 16:10, Num 16:42, and 1 Kings 8:12, and in the Transfiguration. There was also the prophetic vision of the prophet Daniel who saw the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven (Daniel 7:13-14): “As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man. When he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, He received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.”

Q: So Jesus enters the “Third Heaven.” Do we know what this realm of God is like, in human words? As we have already seen, a glorified body is so far superior to our earthly bodies that it is hard to put into words. Describing the realm of God’s kingdom would be a very similar problem for us to wrap our brains around. There is an expansion of reality that cannot be related to our experiences directly – notice the expansion of reality for Jesus’ glorified body – but I recently heard an interesting analogy that compares it to our world this way: The finite world is like a two-dimensional figure – think of a square or a triangle – whereas the spiritual realm is three-dimensional; therefore, the square is now a cube and the triangle is a pyramid. Or a flat circle becomes a sphere. This could explain part of Jesus’ glorified doings!

Q: Why is Jesus’ Ascension so important for humans? Jesus’ mission was not fully completed until he returned to the Father. Saving humanity not only meant becoming a human to undo man’s breakup with God and conquering death, but also taking his humanity back with him back to the Trinity - bodily. One saint commented that Jesus took some of earth with him into Heaven. The physical and spiritual were united. There’s a certain poetry to God becoming one with man so that man can become one with God.

Q: We have heard that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all mankind’s sins and therefore animal sacrifices at the Temple would no longer be necessary. So, is Jesus’ sacrifice over and done with? If so, why do we call it the “Sacrifice of the Mass”?

Great question. We know that when we get our glorified bodies, they will not have any blemishes – we will be perfect – even Taylor’s eye will be fixed! But notice that when Jesus came back in his glorified body, he still had holes in his hands, feet, and side. Therefore, he took his wounds with him back into the Trinity. This means his sacrifice was kind of frozen in time, or better yet, “ever-present,” because he is still forgiving our sins today, and for the rest of time.

Q: One would have thought that the disciples would still have been intensely worried about their Commission ahead of them, but the Ascension must have had an effect on them because in Luke 24:52, it says, “…they returned to Jerusalem with great joy!” Why? The only reason for their joy was they finally realized that Jesus wasn’t really leaving; Jesus was now going to be present to them even more, and in so many more ways. They realized they are in his “cube” now, not a finite square.

Q: Why is it fitting that the disciples of Jesus should be praying with the Virgin Mary as they await the coming of the Holy Spirit? Since the Holy Spirit brought Jesus to us at the Incarnation with Mary, it was only fitting that Mary be present now at the end of Jesus’ mission as the Holy Spirit brings about the birth of the Church.

Member Question: “Who am I?” Who am I? Who are we? Where do we get our idea of “self” from and what should our view be of it? It seems we all ask this question at some point in our lives. Some ask it all the time. How do you answer this? I can remember in college people (including myself) saying, “Who am I?” It was like, “Of course there’s a me, but what the he** is me? What is “me” supposed to be?” Was I born with it? Is it some inner, hidden self that we can only discover by exploring worldly experiences, or through Transcendental Meditation? ” There was no answer. I suppose we could be whatever we want to be, but the term for that is “self-will run riot.” Many secularists would say we are what we do. If you work on computers and you like to garden, then you are a computer technician and a gardener. However, if we are only what we do, then that kind of makes us “human doings,” not “human beings.” “To be” is something higher, and what human isn’t drawn to higher things? Somehow, we know that we have to be more than what we see on this materialistic plane. One of the sad conclusions of atheism and secularism is that there is no higher meaning to anything – not the universe, not us. And yet when we do things that have higher meaning in our lives, we feel closer to fulfillment and happiness than ever before. And humans have been saying that for 10,000+ years. The reason we struggle with this question is because we get our idea of “self” from God. Recall that all humans have the spirit of God breathed into them (Gen 2). This gave us a spiritual intellect, an immortal soul, and free will. These are what makes us in God’s image. And, surprise, we simply want to be like God our Father. We wouldn’t have this explanation for “Who am I” if God hadn’t revealed Himself to us. Who remembers what God replied to Moses when he asked what His name was at the burning bush in Exodus? God answered “Yahweh,” which is Hebrew for, “I AM.” But without God, we are left with the statement but in the form of a question, “Who AM I?” We all want to be “I AM,” do we not? I AM something, anything! We all want to be better, higher… like God; but we can’t be like God without God, that’s the deal. The spirits are connected. Without God in the equation, we are fallen again, like a laptop computer that chooses to become unplugged and is only operating on its back-up battery, until and unless it decides to plug in again. This is also why nobody can find true or lasting happiness on the material level. Our spiritual intellect can only seek a transcendent happiness, and the lifeline of our spirit is just our free will to connect with God. Q: What about the secular/atheist argument? True atheists must say there is no spirit, no meaning, no nothing except atoms, which can be measured scientifically. Most atheists tend to be somewhat successful because they can insulate themselves with their accomplishments, activities, and possessions, which is only fools’ gold if it is protecting this empty worldview. My opinion was that those who were religious were “dependent” on God because they needed a crutch. They were just weak people who needed to toughen up and not be so afraid of the world. Like I said, you can sustain this view if you are surrounded by enough comforts or money. People who are not so successful have an easier time believing in God because they have less material blockage in between them and God. Of course, as an atheist, it is easy to condescend and say poorer people tend to believe in God more because they obviously need bigger crutches! All that said, there are lots of nonreligious people who will say they believe that humans have a higher intrinsic value, and that we can all be good without God. First, their desire to be “good” comes from the spirit God gave us, but secondly, logically speaking, they can “believe” this all they want, but it can’t be proven scientifically so it is just an opinion, not a fact. Someone else may think just the opposite, and who would be right? Neither can prove a thing. Again, it is simply a personal claim that comes across as “high-minded.” The same for free will – nonbelievers will say they believe in free will, but this position cannot be defended or supported by science, because free will is a higher, spiritual belief. There are some “nonreligious” people today who think humans are evil and should be eradicated from the planet so that the world/nature can flourish in peace. Ha, they are partially right. Humans have free will and commit evils every day! But it is an error to call them ‘nonreligious’ because they are simply worshipping created things, such as nature, just like the pagans. All “worship” means is “worth-ship” – that which you hold to have higher “worth” than everything else. But we can’t blame them in a sense because all humans need to attach themselves to a more meaningful plane of existence. Unfortunately for the “nonbeliever,” that meaningful existence cannot exist here. It must transcend the material world. Whether we believe in God or not, humans cannot stop seeking the answer.

Q: Can you say anything more about those who deny God? First, we can only win people over by our example and our understanding. Nobody was ever forced to accept something they didn’t believe in the history of mankind. Second, I would call to mind the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Recall that it begins with the youngest son wanting his inheritance now, even before the father dies. This inheritance represents our spiritual intellect, our immortal souls, and free will. The young man runs off and lives a life just the way he wants… but, in the end, he squanders these gifts and crashes terribly. This not only describes the fall of man, but most of our self-centered, worldly circumstances. When the son ran off, he felt powerful and had no need for his father - just give me what is coming to me and don’t call me, I’ll call you. Is that not us? Fortunately, the story doesn’t end there. The son one day realizes his mistake and seeks a way to return to his father, hoping desperately the father will take him back. Good news: the father not only takes him back, but he is overjoyed to have him back. Note that the father never left the relationship, only the son. Like the prodigal son, all humans who reject God are still out spending their inheritance – their spiritual intellect, free will, and immortal souls – on worldly endeavors. To justify their lives, they must dumb down everything that suggests any serious meaning into materialist explanations, such as: there is no truth, just facts; love is just a biological and chemical reaction that serves the species; there is no such thing as free will – because if there truly was, it would mean we have control of our destiny, which is so packed full of transcendental meaning, it’s frightening. Q: So, what about our “self”? As said above, one of the gifts we “inherited” from the Father was an immortal soul. We want to take care of this soul if only because it will never die! It is immortal. Q: What is our soul? It is who we are, it is our “self” – our memories, our identity, our good and bad accomplishments – we are our soul! Now, we can either let our ‘self’ develop according to the ways of this world, or we can develop this ‘self’ in good ways. Note that one takes far less effort – we just go with the flow of the world – but it has a bad ending. The fall of humans occurred because, like the Prodigal Son, we chose this “self” over God. However, unlike the angels who did not have another chance, we do. We are given one lifetime to get our relationship with God back. That may seem hard, but if you remember the Prodigal Son story, the father is on the lookout for his son to return, and when He sees him off in the distance, he drops everything and runs after him to embrace him. So God is not the problem! Q: Jesus said if we want to follow him, we must leave self behind (Luke 9:23-25). Does this mean ‘self’ is bad? Isn’t there a good self? Jesus is referring our selfishness which is standing ever at our door. This fallen self is a freebie. There is a good self, but it is no longer our “own,” if you know what I mean. To “own” the self is to exclude God, to be self-centered rather than “other-centered, or “God-centered.” To be kind, forgiving, to put others before yourself – these represent the “higher self” that God will help us develop. This is the self we have been called to become – it is the reason for the season. It is where our true greatness is. It’s easy to put to the test. Have you ever worked for a boss that was selfish? How about one that cared about you and the others on the team? Would you not choose a boss like this if you could? Remember when Jesus ate with the Pharisees and lectured them not to take the most important seat at the banquet? He recommended that they “take the lowest seat” at the banquet. This is a “developed” behavior and is what humility looks like. Rather than identifying with the things of this world, we need to first identify with God. Jesus says then “the rest will be given to us.” (Mt 6:33) Closing Prayer Thank you, Lord For loving us into existence For giving us a second chance For coming back for us, opening the gates of Heaven, and paying our way. Thank you for leaving yourself behind In the Holy Spirit, in the Mass, and in the Word. Hail Mary…