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
1. What does it mean to be born again? Does this change the self?
2. “How do we know we are following Jesus?
3. Does the path get harder or easier the closer we get to God?
4. Is the peace of Christ different from peace of the world?
5. Why doesn’t God just show himself?
6. Jesus says in John 14:28, “The Father is greater than I.” What does this mean? I thought they were one.
7. In Genesis and somewhere else, it says that God changed his mind. In another place, it says God repented that he made humans. I thought God was unchangeable. Can you explain this?
8. Please provide an intro or overview of the OT books.
9. Is sex good or bad?
10. What’s the difference between Charity and Love? What are the highest forms of charity?
11. Can you provide a brief review of the origin/meaning of the (12) statements in the Creed?
12. How many Gospels have the story of Jesus’ calming the storm? They seem different. Are they the same story?
13. Why does God seem full of vengeance or violence in the OT? Is this a misinterpretation?
Catholic Catacombs Website: https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps
Major upcoming holy days in the Church…
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Father…
For loving us into existence,
And giving us a second chance when we failed.
Thank you for coming back for us, for walking in our shoes, and for showing us how to live and love.
Thank you for opening the gates of Heaven to us, and for paying our way.
Thank you for leaving yourself behind in Your Word and in the Eucharist,
And for sending us the Holy Spirit to assist us the rest of the Way.
And thank you for teaching us how 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.
1. Faith and Doubts. Are doubts bad? What do we do with them?
2. What is Catholic happiness?
Week 4: Member Questions
Q: The first question is about doubting one's faith. Why does this happen? Is it a bad sign?
If you never have any doubts, the comments that follow may not be necessary for you. Some people have pure faith, no questions asked, no theology needed. My mother was one of those! This is a rare gift.
Doubts come about for a variety of reasons. Most doubts are not attacks on our core beliefs, but rather attacks at the periphery of our beliefs. One may hear that the Church did something immoral in the past, or that the Church made up the Assumption of Mary in 1950, etc. We need to remember to give the benefit of the doubt to the Church until we can do our homework, just like you would want to be given the benefit of the doubt if someone was spreading a bad rumor about you. In fact, the “Church” can do nothing immoral, but people in the Church can and do. We are all sinners, starting with the apostles. It is also true that Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of the Church in 1950, but the Church held that position for 2000 years. The Church only makes proclamations like this if there is a need for clarification or to dispel misunderstandings or contrarian claims. But even when we give the Church the benefit of the doubt until we learn the truth, we can still have twinges of doubts. It’s normal.
So no, it is not a sign something is wrong with us. Doubts are to be expected. They can even be said to be necessary to the advancement of one’s faith. The issue is not that we have doubts but how we respond to them.
At the end of the day, there is nothing more freeing or liberating than religious faith. There's nothing nobler than the dignity of the human being, regardless who you are in the world, or what you have or don’t have, or what you have done. The sacredness and dignity of human beings comes from religious beliefs, not from materialism.
Q: Who doesn’t wish for certitude? What does that mean, exactly … what would it look like?
Definitionally speaking, “certitude” requires concrete, observable evidence that we have verified for ourselves, personally. Anything else requires us to “believe” that someone else has done this, and we are going to take it on faith that they have been completely truthful, which is nearly impossible.
Many of life’s daily activities fall into this category. We drive our cars without personally verifying how or why they work and yet we drive them at high speeds and around sharp corners. Have we personally verified that humans have been to the moon, or do we just take it on faith? For that matter, don’t we accept all of history on faith? And BTW, have you personally been to Bangladesh or Antarctica to verify their existence?
All that said, of course we are willing to accept many things on faith that others have verified and observed. We do this when we take medicine, do math, use computers, and for all kinds of science. The point of these comments is simply to show that humans not only have the capability for faith, we are also infused with it and couldn’t function one day without it.
Faith – the ability to believe things we have not observed and verified ourselves – is actually one of the most amazing tool humanity has because it allows us to build on whatever our predecessors have created or invented (to stand on their shoulders, so to speak) without each generation having to start over again proving everything from scratch.
So let’s be clear – all humans have faith. Where the use of faith becomes more difficult or risky is when we believe in things that aren’t physical and can’t be observed. Yet, this too is part of daily human life.
Q: What are some routine, nonphysical examples that require our belief/faith?
What about relationships – love and friendship? Can these be measured, observed, and verified? Can we prove people love us? What about justice? We all want perfect justice but has anyone ever seen it? What about truth and happiness? Humans apply faith in the existence of these things even though science can’t validate them. Remember, modern science only deals in the study and understanding of the physical universe.
“Certainty is a closing of the mind. To create anything new, you must begin with doubts.” – Milton Glaser
This quote instructs us that doubts/questions are the beginning of advancement. And the greatest advancement for human beings lie not as much in our material advancement as in our spiritual advancement.
In other words, God.
Faith gets harder the greater the risk.
Faith is easiest when other people tell us stuff and there is little or no risk to us. Such as Atilla the Hun or the planet Neptune: how much sleep would you lose if you found out these were mistakes?
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The next step up the difficulty list is when people tell us stuff and there is some risk involved. I.e., if you fly on this plane, you will be safe.
Next up the list is when people tell us stuff and there is more risk involved, such as: Bungee jumping is safe, you have nothing to worry about. Or, “I love you, will you marry me?”
Q: How does “faith in God” fit into all this?
God is the very highest calling of our faith. Our relationship with God is the ultimate use of faith and the main reason we have it.
Believing in the Christian God is a particularly high risk because we are suddenly accountable to someone else for our lives and our behavior – our honesty and dishonesty, our charity and our greed, our good and bad actions. We are also required to develop a relationship with Him and check in with him all the time. This is sometimes why other religions are preferable to many people – they are easier, they are accountable to no one but themselves, and they get a spiritual “feeling” while they pursue “self”-actualization.
Q: How does free will fit into faith?
Clearly, we can choose what we want to believe and what we don’t want to believe. We can choose to believe that man has not really been to the moon. We can choose to believe that we are in love, or that we can’t love. Or that someone loves us, or that they don’t. We choose. Yes, faith is a gift – a human spiritual attribute – but we choose whether or not to make use of it in all circumstances. So if someone says they don’t have faith, a) they don’t realize that they do and in fact use it all the time, and b) they have simply chosen not to use it regarding whatever the issue is being discussed.
Q: What makes this world work… run … flow?
Money is our worldly currency. It makes things happen, it makes things flow. There’s not much we can do without money, right?
The exception is our spiritual goals and desires (peace, love, truth, justice, happiness). Money is NOT the currency for anything spiritual.
Q: What is spiritual currency?
Faith is our spiritual currency. In the spiritual marketplace, faith is only currency for any transactions: conversations with God, prayer requests, miracles, love, truth, and any/all forms of spiritual progress. Without using faith, we can’t get anywhere or do anything.
Material proof and worldly currencies are part of our lower/animal selves.
Faith is part of our higher/spiritual selves. Think of the power of the “force” in Star Wars. It’s kind of like that.
Here are some interesting/paradoxical comparisons between earthly currency and spiritual currency:
· Unlike money, we all have faith!
· Both money and faith must be spent (used) to transact anything.
· We can run out of money, but we can’t run out of faith.
· When we spend money, we have less of it. When we spend/use faith, it increases.
· Money can’t buy happiness, relationships, or Heaven. Faith can acquire all of these.
Q: When is using faith the hardest?
When faith itself is challenged. However, this is kind of a boot camp test, part of the faith growth plan. It’s kind of paradoxical that when we aren’t feeling faith is when we need to connect with God the most.
Why?
Just as we have learned about all things in life, growth and wisdom come from overcoming obstacles, and from hard work and adversity. Why would our faith be any different?
In fact, the greater the impossibility or uncertainty, the greater our reward if we stick with it.
Q: How exactly do we practice faith in the face of such challenges (uncertainty and doubts)?
By giving it back to God. Faith comes from God, and we can’t own it. When it seems to be failing us, take it to God just like you would take your car into the shop for repair. We only need to say, “God, I’m not feeling good about this and so I’m giving it back to you. Please help fix it and I will wait for you, may your will be done!” Then move on and see what happens.
Stairwell of Doubts/Stairway to Heaven
Doubts are not impenetrable walls. They are Steps to higher places.
Remember, when doubts hit, it’s our ego that says, "See, I told you so. This is a waste of time. Now, let’s get back to something more manageable that we can control!"
What is Catholic Christian Happiness?
First, let’s explain the words in the question.
“Catholic Christianity” is the original Christianity established by Christ 2000 years ago, so as far as we are concerned, there is no other truth, meaning no other full truth.
Catholic happiness first of all means universal happiness – true for all humanity, and secondly, it means what has been revealed to humans by God, himself. Catholic happiness is the fullness of happiness now and eternally. It doesn’t get any fuller.
Now let’s discuss happiness.
Comfort versus Happiness
I think we can agree that everyone wants happiness and everyone wants comfort. A wise person once said you can
have one or the other, but you can’t have both. Of course, that's seems to be a nearly implausible thought in today's society, right? But is it true?
Actually, it depends on our definition of happiness. If we consider materialistic, short-term happiness, then sure, we can have material happiness and comfort at the same time. But that is a definition of happiness fitting our animal nature. We are talking more about comfort than happiness.
Speaking of materialistic happiness, the consensus is that money is the greatest enabler on the planet Earth. It would follow, then that wealthy individuals ought to be much happier than middle income and poor people; perhaps even thousands of percentage points happier. Yet, we all know that’s not the case. A study done by the journal Emotion reported in the LA Times in 2017 reported that rich people are only slightly happier than the unwealthy, but even this came with a further narrowing of the meaning of happiness:
“Research shows that instead of feeling positive emotions that involve family and other people, their happiness is more likely to be expressed as feelings that focus on themselves.” – Karen Kaplan, Science and Medicine Editor
As we can see, wealthy happiness is defined more as “comfort” (and self-centered).
Most of us knew money couldn’t buy happiness long before 2017. I knew it before coming back to religion 30+ years ago, but my attitude was, “So what? I’ll take ‘rich’ anyway, and I’ll let you know how it works for me and get back to you.”
There are endless examples of the failure of money and possessions to deliver happiness, but the point is that worldly gratifications, possessions, and achievements (comforts) are temporary or fleeting. And, even though we know this to be true, we still gaze at these things in the near or distant future and we are mesmerized because they appear to be permanent, as though we are finally going to “arrive” at this place of happiness, whether it’s marriage, a spouse, a career move, having kids, or some other personal accomplishment. But every time we “arrive,” things have changed and they are never as perfect as we first thought: the marriage takes more work, your spouse is hassling you or betrays you, the kids become teenagers, then go off to start trouble all on their own, and our weight loss and exercise program is a failure!
Yet, we are almost hypnotized by the possibilities. Let’s remember our first parents standing at the Tree of Good & Evil – they were mesmerized by what they saw, too. That desire is still within us. In fact, this wayward desire has a name for anyone who is interested.
Q: Anyone care to guess the word?
It is called “concupiscence.” It’s where the word Cupid comes from – uncontrollable desire.
Alas, the first step to defeating any enemy is to know him. So now that we know the enemy’s name, we can be on the lookout!
Definitions
The English word happiness is, unfortunately, a useless translation of the historical meanings of the word. The ancient philosophers and theologians used words like joy, peace, bliss, felicity, contentment, beatitude, and paradise to describe various aspects of this “happiness.” Sadly, the root of the English word is tied to happenstance and luck, as though it’s a place you get to with a little bit of lady luck. Oy vey. Nevertheless, all those cool words that the Latin and Greek philosophers used are generally translated into “happiness,” so that’s what we’ll stick with. But let’s be clear – happiness is NOT about a final Happy Place filled with Happy Meals that we “get to” with the help of Ms. Lady Luck.
Real happiness seems to be tied to a kind of wisdom, and wisdom comes in two ways, human and divine. The best wisdom is when human wisdom flows from the divine (goodness, justice…) versus human alone (power, self…). Thus, wisdom grows mostly out of taking risks and experiencing occasional failure and suffering. The beauty and hard edges of real-world experience yields a certain appreciation and contentment if one sticks to higher principles.
Happiness is never the result of commerce or economics. We can’t own happiness, we can’t control it, and we can’t buy it.
Comfort is easier to achieve than happiness because real happiness involves others and requires honesty, whereas comfort does not. Happiness needs other people; “comfort” does not. Happiness is never solitary.
All this being said, let’s be clear: comfort is not a bad thing! Who wouldn’t rather be by a fireplace in winter, or in a cool lake in the hot summer, or be healthy rather than sick, or fly to the Canary Islands rather than take a rowboat?
Yet, comfort is more about the self, about making things easier, and escaping inconvenience.
Modern secular society has tried to dumb down happiness to rid it of any moral or spiritual content. Hence, it defines happiness as comfort and evil as suffering. Neither is true.
Just watch the perfectly beautiful people in the commercials playing volleyball on the beach – all you have to do is
drink Coors beer! Eve mesmerized by the apple is ever before us.
Again, the real danger of this isn’t comfort itself, but that our ego’s uncontrolled appetite for comfort can dull our desire for true happiness. If we aren't careful, the pursuit of “comfort” can replace the pursuit of happiness altogether.
Q: There is one circumstance where comfort becomes happiness. Who can guess what it is?
When we provide it to another person or ease someone else’s burden or suffering.
Short-term or Long-term happiness?
Usually, comfort cravings are short-term, and they must often be given up in order to achieve some long-term happiness. For example, giving up recreation time to learn the piano. Giving up sitting around and eating whatever you want to get healthy. Giving up short-term benefits to save so your kids can go to college.
At this point, many people fall into the trap of thinking that short-term happiness must be given up for more important priorities in the long-term. But then how would we ever achieve happiness in the present?
When we talk about giving up short-term comforts, we are really talking about the self: giving up some immediate gratifications for some higher cause. But comforts do not equal happiness, they only equal physical comforts.
Happiness has two rules: It is only in the present and it is a verb.
1) Happiness can only exist in the present. It can’t exist in the past, and it can’t exist in the future. You either make it happen at the moment that you are thinking, breathing, and living, or you will miss it forever.
2) Happiness is a verb. It is an active choice we make.
Happiness is a Verb and a Choice
Verbs occur in the present. Actually, everything in our lives occurs in the present.
Faith, love, hope, justice, forgiveness, and happiness are all spiritual words that require us to choose them it can only happen in the present.
We can only love in the present moment – not in the past or future. We can only forgive in the present moment, we can only be kind in the present moment, and we can only change ourselves or the world in the present moment.
When bad things come our way, do we choose to be angry? Do we choose to be sad? Do we immediately think of someone or something to blame? If there is gossip or juicy rumors, do we contribute to it and join in? Remember, our ego will always be first at our door with these options, because the ego only wants the easiest, least painful, and least embarrassing. It doesn’t care about others. But all these negative choices are choices, and they all contribute to unhappiness.
Happiness is a virtue. Virtues are good habits; vices are bad habits. We simply choose them until they become habits. Did you know that all virtues (honesty, charity, forgiveness, patience, humility, happiness) are spiritual muscles? That means we need to work them out, practice them, exercise them, just like learning to play the piano. They will only grow strong and wise and become habits if we consciously practice them – in the present moments of our lives!
Problem: Since the future is coming at every minute – and then suddenly it’s moved into the past – how in the world do we capture these “moments” long enough to experience happiness, or make any changes which can only happen in the present?
The psychiatrist, Victor Frankel, gave us a clue. His experience in the German death camps helped him see it. (story)
He said that these moments exist between every stimulus and response. Stimulus means anything or anyone that comes our way and engages us. Response is how we respond to the stimulus. If we respond angrily, or blaming others, or complaining, etc., then we will never be any different, and we miss our chance to grow/change.
Victor said our responses are too often (like 99% of the time) our pre-conditioned, knee-jerk reactions. To change this, he deconstructed our “responses” into two categories: our reactions and our responses.
Our reactions are our immediate feelings or emotions that occur as part of our conditioning, habits, whatever.
Our responses are where our choices are. We often can’t help what our automatic reactions might be, but we can change our responses if we pause in the moment.
The trick is to begin catching our reactions as soon as we feel them and pause. This is the time we can change our response based on the muscle you want to develop, i.e., the humility muscle, the happiness muscle, etc.
If we choose to find something good or helpful in what we heard (not what we felt!), then we can alter our response. Note that others might notice your pause. So what, don’t sweat it. This is the most important new exercise you will ever undertake.
If we can’t find something good, then we should try shutting up. I found that I was able to listen much better! If we must speak, try, “Interesting,” or think of a positive question to ask.
If you do this, you will take control of the present like never before.
One last thing about managing your soul. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:22-23), he says:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If thy eye be single, the whole body will be full of light. But if thy eye is evil, the whole body will be full of darkness, and how great is that darkness.”
Q: What is the eye?
It is our mind, our conscience, our thoughts.
The fact that we have the option of a single eye (good/pure/undivided/seeking wisdom) or evil (self-centered, materialistic, world over God) means that we have a choice. Free will.
Jesus wants us to examine our thoughts and think about our choices before we act; before we respond. Not because we are bad people, but because he wants us to learn to distinguish between our knee-jerk judgements and the voice of the Holy Spirit who is also dwelling in us. He is trying to make us higher spiritual beings. Only by taking our thoughts captive in this way will we be able to develop the skill to hear the Spirit’s words of encouragement and direction.
The other way we can train our lamps is what we put into our eyes. If we fill our eyes with porn, we will be dark inside as our relationships with others are betrayed. What do the saints and theologians agree is the greatest lamp for the mind in the entire Earth?
Apparently, there is nothing quite as powerful as immersing ourselves in Scripture, just like we are doing at this moment. As we ponder the words of God, we’ll come to see more and more clearly the difference between godly and not-so-godly thoughts. Not only that, but we’ll come to love hearing the Spirit’s voice because of the fruit he bears in our lives—love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience – which are the ingredients of real happiness.
God’s word has the power to silence the false prophets within us that do not bring happiness. So take back your eyes and your minds and let the Holy Spirit set you free!
All of these principles are foundations of Catholic Christianity and represent the path to happiness.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Help me to find peace and happiness within your plan.
Make my lips smile longer as I practice moving my thoughts to amazing sunlit places.
Let me awaken each morning with hope for everything that the world has to offer.
Help me see in every encounter and circumstance goodness and silver linings, not “problems.”
Teach me how to touch each soul I meet and be thankful for every person in my life.
Teach me how to see a happy life in all of its infinite varieties.
Help me to find happiness in every moment as I go through each day.
Amen.
Next Tues is July 4 – no Bible Study! We shall return Tues, July 11.
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