Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics
Every Tuesday, 7PM-8PM. This meeting is a lecture/Q&A format. It is free.
Catholic Catacombs Website: www.CatholicCatacombs.org
Zoom Meetings: www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy
House rules/notes…
Our meetings/classes are on ZOOM every Tuesday, 7-8 PM. Sign up for Zoom notifications and to receive meeting reminders at www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy. Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952.
Our meeting/classes are also In-Person on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of every month at St. John Neumann Catholic Church 11900 Lawyers Road, Reston, VA 20191, downstairs in Room 5. https://saintjn.org/
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!
Recaps. Within a day or two after each meeting, we will post the edited meeting notes of our discussions on our website, www.catholiccatacombs.org. Taylor will notify everyone when this is posted and also provide you with a link.
Questions. We encourage questions although we ask that you keep them on topic and brief. You can ask during the meeting, or in the chat box, or if you prefer you can email us through Meetup.com, or Ron directly: ron@hallagan.net.
Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between Christian denominations and religions in general, and we seek to be respectful at all times. Protestants especially are our friends and brothers-in-Christ; in fact, I personally owe much of my return to the faith to them!
No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal :). Our goal is to learn, understand, and apply the Bible and our Catholic faith to our everyday lives.
“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 series captures Jesus better than any show I have ever seen. Highly recommended.
Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying the rosary, etc. with other Catholics during the week? Follow fellow member Jason Goldberg at https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/. Daily/weekly prayer is saintly!
Our Bible Study is a combination of Exegesis and Apologetics.
Study and interpretation of Scripture A reasoned defense of the faith
Format: Each week of the month has a repeating theme, as shown below.
Wk 1: Gospel Week – we study several Gospel stories, especially the tough ones.
Wk 2: Bible Week – we are working our way through the Bible. We are studying the Prophets.
Wk 3: Survey Topics Voted on by Members:
x 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables, x 2) Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, x 3) World Religions, x 4) Great Women in the Bible x 5) Book of Revelation 6) Sacraments 7)Fathers of the Church, Heresies, Church Councils.
Wk 4: Member Questions/Apologetics:
Class on Angels and Fallen Angels
Adam & Eve, the Fall of Man, The Meaning of the Trees in the Garden of Eden
What happens to animals after they die. Will we see our pets?
Could you review of Plenary and Partial Indulgences again?
Prison ministry/inmate discussions
Each meeting is (roughly) as follows:
15 min Catholic topic/catechesis
15 min Upcoming Gospel reading
30 min Weekly topic/theme
1 hour
Reader for the day… (if one is needed, Taylor will select)
Opening Prayer:
O Lord, long ago You promised to send us a Redeemer born of a virgin.
In the fullness of time, when all was ready, You send Your Son, Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary.
Dear God, please help us to prepare the way for Jesus to be born again in our hears this Christmas.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake, Amen.
And as you taught us to pray together:
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.
For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever and ever. Amen
Where did this last phrase come from?
The Lord’s Prayer is found in Matthew and Luke but neither has this phrase. It is from the “Didache,” a Catholic document that tradition states the Apostles wrote in the 1st century. (pronounced: did–uh–kay)
Upcoming major holy days: We are in Week 2 of Advent (this Sunday starts Week 3 of Advent).
TODAY:
Gospel reading for Sun 12/15: The Preaching of John the Baptist, Luke 3:10-18
Advent reflection
Which Bible should I use?
Bible Timeline: The Prophets Hosea, Amos, Jonah
Gospel reading for Sun 12/15: The Preaching of John the Baptist, Luke 3:10-18
Context: This early passage is only found in Luke’s Gospel, which shows the Christ-like wisdom in John’s preaching. John was well-known throughout Judea and many thought he was the Messiah. Given that this passage is only in Luke, it is very possible he received it from Mary.
The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?”
He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him, “And what is it that we should do?”
He told them, “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.
Exegesis
John speaks to three groups of people – the crowds, the tax collectors, and the soldiers. What does this imply for us?
It means his advice is for everyone, all walks of life, the rich and poor, the loved and the unloved.
What is John’s advice?
Charity/almsgiving – to share our gifts that God enabled us to have.
Be honest and just – tax collectors should not take advantage of people or use their position for personal gain.
Be content to do your work and accept your wages. Soldiers were known for reaping the “spoils” after conquering an enemy. Do not do this just because you have the opportunity and others are doing it.
What do John’s teachings remind you of?
A kind of “mini-Commandments” and “mini-Sermon on the Mount” (Matt 5-7).
John must have had the usual temptations when one develops a big following and everyone thinks your brilliant. What was John’s response when they asked him if he was the Messiah?
Humility and more humility, which tells you John gets it. He always points away from himself and towards Christ.
When he says he isn’t fit to loosen the sandals of the Messiah, it is worth noting that this was the job of a servant or slave. John was lowering himself below low.
What tells us that John understands the true significance of the Messiah?
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is a game-changer for humans. Baptism is being elevated to a Sacrament which opens the gates of Heaven and brings us Sanctifying Grace via the HS.
Note the first reading this Sunday is a Messianic prophecy from the prophet Zephaniah in about 620 BC.
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel!Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!The LORD has removed the judgment against you he has turned away your enemies; the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear.On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you – Zephaniah 3:14-18.
Advent
The 3rd Sunday in Advent is called Gaudete Sunday, which means rejoice, or joyful Sunday. It is the pink candle in the Advent wreath, and it is the supreme knowledge that the Lord is coming. We know that Jesus has already conquered evil and death, once and for all. The war is over!
If God’s war with evil is over, then what are we still doing here?
Humans continue to have free will and therefore each of us, just like Adam & Eve all over again, must make our own choice – to seek forgiveness and a relationship with God, or not. God is keeping the gates open to get as many humans as possible into Heaven.
Next week, we will have a joyful reflection: The New Heaven and New Earth. In the meantime, the Gospel reading for Sunday is more about “preparation.”
Reflection
Advent is the great liturgical season of waiting—but not a passive waiting as we reach out for the God who comes to us. Like John the Baptist before us, we must each actively prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ to come to us.
This preparation has a deep penitential dimension. We prepare for the coming of a Savior, but we don’t need a Savior unless we’re convinced there is something to be saved from. Surely, we know that we cannot buy our way into heaven with our personal/worldly accomplishments any more than we can buy God’s love. We need His forgiveness and in these forgiveness encounters our relationship builds up where God can send more and more grace.
Jesus is our bridge to Heaven; our bridge from here to there. There is no other. When we meet Christ at his first coming on Christmas, he takes our hand, and we start across that bridge. The cables that support the bridge are the cables of repentence. It’s a daily dialogue/encounter improvement plan. We become more like God as we move along this bridge towards God.
What else can we do to prepare?
It’s all about action and change. Action could involve charity, visiting the elderly, working in a soup kitchen, forgiving a difficult person, attending Mass daily, and so on. Change is what happens when we do these things – not only change in the world around us but in us, because our relationship with God grows through our love of others.
By the way, the meaning of the word ‘charity’ has narrowed in recent times to just mean donating money to a charitable cause. A better definition is giving or serving others without expecting anything in return. It comes from the Latin caritas which also means love. In Christian theology, charity means the same as agape love.
Speaking of which, does anyone want to share what they are doing for Advent?
I am often asked what Bible I use. Since this week is Bible Timeline, what Bible should you use?
The one you read.
You are safe reading most Christian Bibles. That said, there are some better than others. Here a few things to be aware of.
Be aware of the watered-down Bible… As a consequence of the “enlightenment” – part of which was the effort to slowly reduce humanity’s need for God because now man was smart enough to get along without him (yet one more Tower of Babel) – there was a scientific attempt to make the Bible more “believable” by reducing things like miracles to explainable natural phenomena. This new approach to biblical interpretation was called the “historical critical method.”
Everybody jumped on board, even Christian Bible translators. For example, in Genesis 1:2, “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters” (to bring about life) was changed to “A mighty wind swept over the waters.” There are common roots to the Hebrew words for spirit, breath, and wind, so that made it easy, even though the original Hebrew translations had always said Spirit. It meant trying to date the Gospels after 70 AD. Why? Because Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem within a generation, but secular historians said that was impossible, so it must have been written after 70 AD.
Giving the Gospels a later date also makes it easier to discount (or discredit) traditional events and interpretations since perhaps there weren’t eye-witnesses after all. The longer a period of time that passes, the more written documents become vulnerable to challenges. This approach, which was referred to as the “historical critical method,” was mostly been debunked in the last 30 years, especially by Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XV1, but these versions of the Bible were not condemned, and many are still in use.
Bishop Baron makes the following statement:
“In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, in an attempt to make Jesus more palatable to rationalists and “realists,” theologians put great stress on Jesus’ preaching, especially his ethical teaching. But this is not the Jesus that the Gospels present. Rather, Jesus is portrayed as a healer and a savior. In him, divinity and humanity have come together; in him, the divine life and divine power are breaking through. God’s deepest intentions for his beloved creatures appears—what God plans for us in the kingdom has now come to us in history.” – Bishop Barron
What Bible do I recommend?
I personally have a half dozen different versions although I’m not an “expert.” My quickest way to tell if I have the wrong version is simply check out Genesis 1:2. If it says, “Spirit of God,” I’m good. If says “a mighty wind,” I won’t use it.
I also agree with this quote from Catholic Answers:
We recommend staying away from translations with unconventional renderings, such as the TEV, and suggest using the Revised Standard Version–Catholic Edition. This is a Church-approved version of the RSV that has a few minor changes in the New Testament. It has been reissued by Ignatius Press under the title The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (available from Catholic Answers or the St. Paul Center in both hardcover and paperback formats). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPZmLRO0DXA
Bible Timeline
Review
Into what two kingdoms did Israel split?
Northern kingdom of Israel and Southern kingdom of Judah
Which kingdom did the descendants of Kings David and Solomon rule (also the line of Jesus)?
Kingdom of Judah
In 722 BC, who conquered the northern kingdom of Israel?
The Assyrians
In 597 BC, who conquered the southern kingdom of Judah?
The Babylonians
What is the Diaspora?
The scattering of Jews to other countries after being conquered (which also helped spread the idea of one God).
What did the Jews who returned to their homeland do?
Rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem.
How many major prophets?
Four
How many minor prophets?
Twelve
Hosea, Amos, and Jonah
We left off last month after studying Elijah and his successor, Elisha. Tonight we will review Hosea, Amos, and Jonah. As we discussed, the Northern Kingdom did not have many redeeming qualities after they split from Solomon. Note all the evil kings. God sent numerous prophets to try and get them to come back to Him.
Amos (~760-750 BC) – 2 Kings
Amos did not prophesy for very long – maybe only 5 years – but he left his writings to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, so that’s why we have anything on him at all.
Amos was a humble herdsman from Tekoa (near Bethlehem in Judah) but God calls him to travel to the Northern Kingdom and deliver his words of warning. Even though he is just a herdsman, the Holy Spirit gives him a powerful voice to speak against the rampant injustice in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. His prophetic mission, marked by vivid imagery and poetic language, delivers a stark warning of impending doom due to the oppression of the poor and the corruption of the elite. Amos boldly confronts the wealthy, declaring that mere rituals cannot appease God while the needy suffer. The Israelites basically tell Amos, “farmer go home!”
Amos’ passionate call for justice resonates through time, emphasizing that true worship is inseparable from righteous action, making him a pivotal figure in the biblical tradition of social justice.
Amos the Fearless Prophet
Hosea (~755-710 BC) – 2 Kings
The prophet Hosea of ancient Israel delivered a powerful message of divine love and unyielding mercy amidst a backdrop of national infidelity and moral decay.
Again the people didn’t listen. God then does an unusual thing. He instructs Hosea to make an example of Israel’s infidelity by marrying Gomer, a prostitute. In other words, the prostitute was Israel, and Hosea marrying Gomer was like God married to a prostitute, for they worshipped other gods, failed to follow the Commandments, and mistreated the poor. Even after Hosea took Gomer as his wife, she kept wandering into the arms of other lovers. She was unfaithful. And yet the Lord told Hosea to keep going after her again and again and again and bring her back home. She was no less unfaithful than Israel.
In this way and through many lamentations over a period of 50 years, Hosea continues to reveal God's deep pain, compassion, and desire for reconciliation, despite Israel's waywardness.
Hosea's prophecies foretell a call to return to God, judgment coming if they don’t, and even hope in their ultimate future.
As you may have guessed, Israel’s leaders and people do not listen to Hosea. The Assyrians are at the gate. They have already been attacking the outer areas and fear is overtaking them. They will fall.
Hosea redeems his unfaithful wife from being sold as a slave.
Q: I was asked if Hosea’s and Gomer’s marriage justifies why the Church won’t annul a marriage for infidelity.
No. The grounds for annulment require that you demonstrate that the marriage was invalidly entered into. Moreover, Hosea and Gomer didn’t seek a divorce or annulment, so this story has no bearing on the question.
Jonah (~755-750 BC) – 2 Kings
Jonah is unique among the prophets because the book does not recount the sayings of the prophet but rather is a story about the prophet. The story is not very flattering of Jonah and sometimes comical.
Jonah is asked by God to go to Nineveh (like Mordor in those days) to tell them to repent. Yeah, right.
Jonah tries to run away and is on a small ship when a storm comes and threatens to kill them all. The other occupants wonder who has offended their gods to bring about this calamity, and so they cast lots; the blame falls to Jonah. Jonah comes clean and admits it was he who has offended his God, so they throw him overboard.
Jonah is swallowed by a large fish and lives in its belly for 3 days, which is a type of Jesus – in the tomb for 3 days before his resurrection – which is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 12:40.
In the belly of the fish, Jonah prays a hymn of thanksgiving. Why would he do that?
Jonah sang a prayer of thanksgiving because, despite his disobedience to God, he was still alive and God might give him another chance, leading him to express gratitude even while trapped inside the fish. Essentially, he was acknowledging God's power to save him from what seemed like a hopeless situation.
Once Jonah gets out, God tells him for the second time to go preach to Nineveh, and this time he does. He travels to Nineveh and tells everyone in the city they will be destroyed in 40 days if they don’t repent. Inexplicably, the people repent and fast, from the king to the animals!... and God forgave Nineveh... just as Jonah feared! Jonah was very patriotic and he hated his enemies. He did not want the Ninevites forgiven.
Jonah, angry and disappointed, wishes for death. He complains to the Lord, declaring that it was in anticipation of this result that he previously wished to flee to Tharsis to begin with.
Jonah withdraws from Nineveh and erects a booth under which he can rest. In this abode he enjoys for a time the refreshing shade of a gourd plant which the Lord prepared for him. Shortly, however, the gourd is stricken by a worm and dies, exposing Jonah to the burning rays of the sun, whereupon he complains about the dead plant and begs to die.
The Lord rebukes him for his selfish grief over the withering of a gourd plant, while exhibiting no such grief over the 120,000 people of Nineveh before God forgave them!
Jonah’s lesson was for all Jews and readers of this story: Do not be angry at God’s mercy for others who repent. God wants to save all people, even your enemies.
The miraculous repentance of Nineveh
Symbolic Interpretation
The story of Jonah is often interpreted for its rich symbolism, not just as a historical account. The "great fish" serves as the symbolic vehicle for Jonah's transformation and repentance, emphasizing themes of divine mercy and the possibility of redemption. Jonah’s penitential song in the fish’s belly probably motivated him to his return to God’s plan. As is often the case, the exact nature of the creature may be less significant than the theological implications of Jonah's experience.
I often look at Jewish commentary for symbolic clues and Messianic implications… here are two:
1. Jewish scholars have long analyzed Jonah’s reluctance to carry out God’s command. One explanation is that the Jewish people at the time were themselves far from perfect and in need of repentance. Jonah knew this so he feared Nineveh’s repentance might highlight his own nation’s failure to improve their behavior. Rather than risk enabling this condemnation, Jonah was willing to face the consequences of evading his mission, a testament to his care for his fellow Jews. Interesting!
2. Kabbalistic texts view Jonah’s journey as an allegory for the journey of the soul. Just as Jonah boarded a ship, the soul enters the body—its vessel for navigating the sea of life. Jonah’s descent into the fish’s belly represents the soul’s descent into the grave. But just as Jonah was released from the fish, the soul, too, will rise again with the resurrection of the dead in the Messianic era. (Kabbalah refers to the school of Jewish mysticism/hidden meanings.)
Closing Prayer:
Jonah in the Belly of the Fish (Jonah Chapter 2).
Out of my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me;
From the womb of Sheol I cried for help, and you heard my voice.
You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and the flood enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows passed over me.
When I became faint, I remembered the LORD;
My prayer came to you in your holy temple.
But I, with thankful voice, will sacrifice to you;
What I have vowed I will pay: deliverance is from the LORD!
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are 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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