Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study House rules/notes… Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 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. The unedited recaps from our meetings will be posted on Meetup immediately after our meeting. The final edited recap will be posted on our Catholic Catacombs Light website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/blog, a week later. You will be notified via Meetup of both. See The Chosen. Knowing Jesus Christ means being able to better relate to God. Check it out: The Chosen at https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and even between Christian denominations, but we agree to use respectful words and tones in doing so. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ, and I personally owe part of my return to the faith to them. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct; however, that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn the Bible, explain the Catholic faith, and help members develop a closer relationship with the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup led by fellow member Jason Goldberg: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/ 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? "I was in prison and you visited me." – Matt 25:36 Bible Study Format: 5 min prayer, 15 min Catholic topic, 40 min main topic from the weeks listed below Week 1: July 5 – Gospel Week: Stop judging? (Mt7:1-5); Left behind? (Mt: 24:37-41); The Meaning of 70 (Luke 10:1-12,16-20) Week 2: July 12 – Bible Week (Gen àRev): The Story of Joseph I (Gen 37, 39-42) Week 3: July 19 – Survey Topic of Choice: Purgatory III Final à Heaven I
Ö 1) Jesus’ Great Parables 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Christian Comparisons 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) Why is there suffering? 6) World Religions 7) Book of Revelation 8) Major Councils/Crusades/Inquisitions
Week 4: June 28 – Open Mic: What is Grace? What is Justice? What of Roe v. Wade?
Opening Prayer
Dear Lord, we thank you for everyone gathered here today
and ask that you surround us with your powerful, life-changing presence.
Thank you for loving each of us and for calling us to walk with you.
We come before you as we meet and declare our dependence on you.
Be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Fill our hearts with your love and fill our words and conversations with truth and grace.
We ask all of these things in praise and adoration of You...
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your 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 have trespassed against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Upcoming Catholic Holy Days
Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul Wed, June 29
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mon, August 15
Open Mic Night
Q1. Why does the body of Christ predominate these days rather than the blood of Christ?
Sharing wine has always raised some health concerns so many Churches shied away from it. I personally liked receiving both “species” and would often go out of my way to attend services that offered both. However, that’s been impossible since Covid. I have a feeling most Churches that did offer it will not go back to it.
All that being said, it does not make any practical or spiritual difference for us. One microcopic crumb of the consecrated host, or one drop of the consecrated wine, contains all of Jesus Christ’s body and blood (actually, it’s body, blood, soul, and divinity). So, only taking one or the other does not reduce in anyway the full experience or grace you receive.
Q2: Why do we dip our fingers in holy water when we enter the Church and make the sign of the cross.
1) In a small way it recalls your Baptism, which used holy water along with the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (similar to when you make the sign of the cross). The Church wants to call our attention to our Baptism as often as possible, because it was our entrance into the Body of Christ and gave us sanctifying grace, which is necessary to enter heaven.
2) It is at the entrance of the Church as a sign that we are leaving the secular and entering the sacred.
3) When we enter the Church, we are blessing ourselves as we do before a meal.
4) It is also a reminder of Jesus washing the feet of the apostles before the Last Supper.
5) Finally, if we ask for forgiveness at this time, we can be forgiven of our venial sins.
Q:3 Why do Orthodox make the sign of the cross touching their right shoulders first rather than their left?
Mike and Jim, you guys were on the right track.
Okay, here it is:
IN THE BEGINNING, the sign of the cross was made on the forehead. This was attested to by Church Fathers, Tertullian in AD 250 and St. Cyril of Jerusalem in AD 386. It was made with the forefinger, middle finger, and thumb together, representing the Trinity.
The first we see a full sign of the cross like we do today – except with touching the right shoulder first – was in the AD 400s. Keep in mind, for the first thousand years after Christ there was only one Catholic Church, so this was the practice everywhere. There were no East and West Churches at the time.
Fast forward to a hundred or so years after the Orthodox (“East”) split from the Catholic Church (“West”) when in AD 1054, Pope Innocence III explained that there was another acceptable way to make the sign of the cross – touching the left shoulder first:
“This is how it is traditionally done: from above to below, and from the right to the left, because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth, and from the Jews (right) He passed to the Gentiles (left). While this custom has been for both the western and eastern Churches, others make the sign of the cross from the left to the right, because from misery (left) we must cross over to glory (right), just as Christ crossed over from death to life, and from Hades to Paradise. Some priests also do it this way so that they and the people will be signing themselves in the same way. You can easily verify this - picture the priest facing the people for the blessing - when we make the sign of the cross over the people, it is from left to right...."
Therefore, about this time, the faithful in the West began to imitate the priest imparting the blessing, going from the left shoulder to the right shoulder with an open hand. Eventually, this practice became the custom for the Western Church.
Abortion – this topic is for our education about what the Church teaches.
Q:4 Can you speak to the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade?
I am willing to discuss it. We agreed no politics so we should also refrain from any personal commentary. What I will primarily discuss is the official Catholic positions on the subject of abortion.
Q: The recent Supreme Court ruling does not mention the word abortion. Why?
It does not mention abortion because the Court did not rule on the morality or the merits of abortion. It only ruled on the Constitutionality of the decision made in 1973 (Roe v. Wade). The Court concluded that the Federal Court in 1973 had no authority to make that decision. The Constitution was written carefully to limit the authority of the Federal Government to prevent another dictatorship or empire. It stipulates that all matters not specifically assigned to the Federal Government, such as protecting the country, remained with the states. The United “States” is set up to let the fifty states decide how they want to run their government, particularly on cultural matters; such matters therefore remain closer to the people it represents.
Therefore, all the court decided was that Roe vs Wade should not have been decided at the Federal level. The matter has been returned to the States where the Constitution indicates it should be.
Q: What is the Catholic Church’s position?
The Catholic Church has always defended innocent life and always will. It cannot do anything else.
Q: Is life sacred or not?
According to God, it is. Life originates with God and it belongs to Him only. Because of this, life has dignity. Because life had dignity, innocent life is not ours to take.
“Thou shalt not murder” (kill innocent life) – 5th Commandment – Exodus 20:13, Deut 5:17
The United States similarly developed a similar belief when forming the government:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” – The Declaration of Independence
Q: Is the life in the womb fully human?
Fifty years ago, there was a debate about whether the baby in the womb was fully human. Since then, science (ultrasound, etc.) has advanced sufficiently such that this is no longer in question. It is fully human. That is why the debate changed from “it’s not fully human yet,” to “it’s a woman’s right to choose.”
The Bible seems to have known this all along:
“For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.” – Psalms 139: 13
“Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart.” – Jeremiah 1:5 (600 BC)
Q: What about those who use the argument that the fetus isn’t a human until it is “viable outside the womb”?.
Once the baby is born, it is dependent on others outside the womb to survive; so, why would dependence on the mother inside the womb be a justification for killing it?
Q: To whom do we belong?
Everything in creation belongs to God, including us. That is why taking our own lives (suicide) is wrong. It’s not ours to take.
The same goes for our children. Do we truly “own” them? No, we are responsible for raising them. If we abused this duty – or abused them – then the state will rightfully take them away.
Babies in the womb are spoken for by God, regardless how they came to be. Aside from this, there are many willing parents unable to have children who must wait for long periods of time and pay tens of thousands of dollars just to adopt one.
All children belong to God. It is our job to get them ready to meet the Lord.
Abortion is dressed up as a right, but it is killing a human being, and 93% are not due to the health of the mother; ½% for rape.
We may never perform an intrinsically evil act even to bring about a great good. For example, a just society cannot intentionally kill innocent civilians in a war, even for the praiseworthy goal of ending a conflict quickly and saving many lives. Likewise, in the context of pregnancy, a woman may not be killed in order to save the life of her child, and a child may not be killed in order to save the life of his mother. However, the Church does permit morally neutral medical procedures designed to save a pregnant woman’s life that may have an unintended side-effect of causing a child to die in the womb, such as the removal of a cancerous uterus.
In Romans 12:21 Paul says that we should not be conquered by evil but that we should conquer evil with good. The act of rape is a grave sin and an injustice that claims too many people, most often women and children, as victims. The Church teaches that victims of rape deserve immediate medical, emotional and spiritual care. The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (#36) states that Catholic healthcare providers have a duty to provide this care and to prevent the contraction of disease or the conception of a child. However, if a child is conceived in a pregnancy caused by rape, then this child is just as innocent and precious as the woman who was victimized, and he or she should not be killed because of the actions of the rapist. The Church teaches that through mercy and love, a non-violent solution for both mother and child is far superior to helping a victim of violence (the raped woman) commit violence against her own child through abortion.
With mercy, of course. Following is a special message written by Pope John Paul II to women who are post-abortive:
“I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To the same Father and his mercy you can with sure hope entrust your child.
Anyone who thoroughly reads the writings of the Church fathers and members of the magisterium will see that the Church has always opposed abortion. Here are some early examples of Church teaching on the issue:
“You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child” — Didache 2:1–2 70 A.D.
“We may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from the other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. It is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed” —Tertullian. Apology 9:8 – 197 A.D.
“Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years’ penance, whether the embryo were perfectly formed, or not.” —St. Basil the Great. First Canonical Letter, canon 2 – 374 A.D.
Q: Challenges to the Church and our beliefs come with the territory.
We should recognize that there will likely be violence. This may cause some of us to wish for an earlier, simpler time in life; that is normal. But the Church has had just as many turbulent times over the past 2000 years, the most recent being 175 years ago in 1848. The Pope was run out of town by an angry mob of Roman revolutionaries. Pius IX had to disguise himself as a simple country pastor and serve in the town of Gaeta for several years. Of course there will be trials and tribulations, but in the end, you know who wins. God already won when Jesus overcame death on our behalf 2000 years ago. All that remains is for humans to make their choice where they want to go when this is over.
Q: What about much of the extreme panic being promoted in the media?
Same answer as above except to add that you know that with all news/media these days, bad news sells. That’s why it’s all we read and see. Most is designed to get people up in arms, but they often lack complete truth. Many are outright mischaracterizations. The National Catholic Register just put out a news issue entitled “How to Debunk 7 Common Myths about Overturning Roe v. Wade.”
Q: What should we do now?
There are four things we can do:
1. Education. This is what we just did above. You should know where you stand in case you are asked to explain it, especially others who themselves need help. We believe the killing of innocent life is wrong. We don’t believe there is such thing as a “right” to kill innocent life. If further discussion is warranted, the details and Q&A are above.
2. Offer assistance to your local pregnancy centers as they may need either moral or financial support right now.
3. Offer support to “Right to Life” organizations who typically have extensive legal expenses lobbying members of Congress both on a state and local level on our behalf. Your Diocese will usually provide you with who they recommend to support. For the Northern Virginia Arlington Diocese: https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/family-life/respect-life-office/
4. Pray daily for all the parties involved. Pray for understanding, for healing, for reconciliation, for those women who are having anxiety/difficulty making a decision about their baby, for those who have had abortions, and of course that God’s will be done.
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