Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study House notes/rules… 1. The Zoom Meeting Logon information is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 2. The notes/recaps from our meetings are posted on our Catholic Catacombs Light website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/blog, usually within a day. 3. See The Chosen. Knowing Jesus Christ means being able to better relate to God. Check it out: The Chosen at https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7. 4. Respectfulness. Of course we will discuss 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 (I myself owe part of my return to the faith to them). 5. 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 – what it means and especially its origins in Scripture and Jesus Christ – and helping people develop a closer relationship with Jesus Christ in their daily lives. 6. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can email the group via Meetup, or me directly at ron@hallagan.net.
Bible Study Format
Week 1: Dec 7 – Gospel Readings: The Ten Lepers and Us; Miracles for Gentiles – did Jesus change his mind? The Lost Coin/Sheep
Week 2: Dec 14 – The Bible Timeline (Ascension Press): Genesis to Revelations. Next: The Call of Abraham (Gen 12)
Week 3: Dec 21 – Next Topic of Choice – Hell
Bible Topics Survey Results Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables
2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Christian Comparisons
4) Great Women in the Bible 6) Compare World Religions
5) Why is there suffering in the world 7) Revelations
Week 4: Dec 28 – Open Mic – Faith obstacles? Catholic teaching questions? You pick the topics. Those sent to Ron in advance will go first.
Tonight
Bible Narrative Exegesis from Genesis to Revelations: The Call of Abraham (Gen 12)
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, We gather here together in order to learn, to grow, and to change. We place our lives before you and ask that you would move amongst us.
May we all feel safe to think and question and share our thoughts;
As we seek to enter into a deeper understanding of your truth.
We ask that you send your blessings to all those in need, especially those we pray for now:
Special intentions:
Thank you for listening to our petitions, Lord, and for your mercy, grace, and blessings upon those for whom we invoke your assistance.
We pray together now just as you taught us at your Sermon on the Mount 2000 years ago:
Our Father…
Upcoming Jewish Holy Days:
Fast of Tevet 10: (December 14) A Day of fasting & repentance in solemn remembrance of when Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon) laid siege to Jerusalem in 597 BC, which led to the downfall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile.
Upcoming Catholic Holy Days
We are now in the Advent Season, which runs from the 4th Sunday before Christmas to the Christmas Vigil.
One of the things we don’t think about during Advent is that this is Mary’s 9th month of pregnancy. This is why we often see special devotions to Our Lady at this time. Just meditate for a bit on being in her shoes. It’s too much, actually, given what she knew and her humble place in her life.
That leads us to Dec 8th, which commemorated the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
The angel Gabriel addresses her as “full of grace.”
Q: What grace is Gabriel referring to?
Sanctifying grace, which humans lost at the Fall of man. (The loss of Sanctifying grace is the better description of Original Sin.)
Q: Why?
Because God saw it “fitting” that he enter this world in a womb untainted by the Fall.
Q: What other implication come with being full of Sanctifying grace?
Full of a Sanctifying grace means there is no room for evil, which is why the Church uses the word Immaculate.
Q: Why do we say Immaculate “Conception”?
The verb tense of the statement by Gabriel was not that grace had just come to her, but the past perfect tense, meaning she had already had it. The only possible meaning is she was born with Sanctifying grace.
Again, because God saw it “fitting” that he enter this world in a womb untainted by the Fall. It kind of makes sense since God contains no Fall, or evil. In fact, he’s coming here precisely to help us with this problem.
Q: Mary is often referred to by the Church as the Second Eve. In what two ways is this claim significant?
1) Eve was without sin before the Fall. Mary is also, the new Eve.
2) Eve makes a choice against God, leading to the Fall. Mary gives herself to God, making the choice that Eve didn’t.
Free will was integral to both decisions.
Q: Okay, so this all makes sense. But what about the accusation non-Catholics make that the Church didn’t announce this idea of the “Immaculate Conception” until Pope Pius IX made the declaration in 1854. So, it was a late invention. What is the answer to this?
It is a typical misconception that when the Church makes such statements in history that they are stating something new. But that is never the case. The church cannot make something new up. When the Church does make proclamations – such as the entire Nicene Creed – it is making clear what had already been so, but it needed to be put down in writing, often for some very good reason. It is similar to the Church defining the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as “Trinity.” Just because Augustine – who was part of the Church – helped give it further identity in the 4th century does not mean the idea was just invented. Jesus' last words to his Apostles before his Ascension were, “Go forth and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” New name: Tri (3) + Unity = Trinity.
When declarations or clarifications like this are made, it is for longstanding Christian beliefs often taken for granted before and in need of being stated and explained in writing to aid catechesis and avoid errors in teaching, especially in the early years when Christianity was in constant danger of being conflated with the pagan religions of the time.
If all this is true, then we shouldn’t we be able to find the idea of the Immaculate Conception early on in the Church?
Mary’s comparison between Eve while she was still immaculate and incorrupt (not subject to original sin of the Fall) was actually developed by the following early Fathers of the Church:
1) Justin (Dialogue with Trypho 100) – 150 AD
2) Irenaeus (Against Heresies III.22.4) – 178 AD
3) Tertullian (On the Flesh of Christ 17) – 204 AD
4) Julius Firmicus Maternus (De errore profan. relig xxvi),
5) Cyril of Jerusalem (Catecheses 12.29) – 375 AD
6) Epiphanius (Hæres., lxxviii, 18),
7) Theodotus of Ancyra (Or. in S. Deip n. 11), and
8) Sedulius (Carmen paschale, II, 28).
Some specific examples:
Origen (200 AD) calls her worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, most complete sanctity, perfect justice, neither deceived by the persuasion of the serpent, nor infected with his poisonous breathings ("Hom. i in diversa");
Theodotus of Ancyra, martyr (275 AD) terms her a virgin innocent, without spot, void of culpability, holy in body and in soul, a lily springing among thorns, untaught the ills of Eve, nor was there any communion in her of light with darkness, and, when not yet born, she was consecrated to God ("Orat. in S. Dei Genitr.").
Ambrose (370 AD) – Augustine’s teacher – says she is incorrupt, a virgin immune through grace from every stain of sin ("Sermo xxii in Ps. cxviii);
Maximus of Turin (400 AD) calls her a dwelling fit for Christ, not because of her habit of body, but because of original grace ("Nom. viii de Natali Domini");
In refuting Pelagius, Augustine (420 AD) declares that all the just have truly known of sin "except the Holy Virgin Mary, of whom, for the honour of the Lord, I will have no question whatever where sin is concerned" (On Nature and Grace 36).
Q: Is it reasonable to call Mary the Mother of God?
The Church has never suggested that God the Father had a mother. We are talking about God the Son – Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man. Mary was Jesus’ biological mother.
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