House rules/notes…
1. Our meeting/classes are In-Person at St. John Neumann Catholic Church 11900 Lawyers Road, Reston, VA 20191 https://saintjn.org/ (usually held downstairs in Room 5), or ONLINE via Zoom (see #2).
2. To sign up for Zoom notifications and to receive the Meeting Recaps, go to www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy and join us! The Zoom Logon is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952.
3. After each meeting, I send out Meeting Recaps of what we discussed. Please remember these recaps are unedited and without the pictures. The edited version with pictures will be posted before the next class on the Website – www.CatholicCatacombs.org. Taylor will notify everyone at that time and provide a link.
4. Questions encouraged. If you have questions, we ask that you keep them on topic and brief. You can ask in the chat box during the class, or email through Meetup.com, or email me at ron@hallagan.net afterwards.
5. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and between Christian denominations, and we agree to be respectful at all times. Protestants especially 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 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!
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: www.CatholicCatacombs.org
Bible Study Format: Each week of the month has a repeating topic, as noted below.
Each meeting: 5 min greet, prayer, 15 min next Sun Gospel, 40 min main topic.
Week 1: Gospel Week: all Gospels!
Week 2: Bible Week (Gen to Rev): We are in 1 SAMUEL
Week 3: Survey Topics Voted on by Members:
x 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables x 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven x 3) Comparative Religions
x 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) Book of Revelation 6) Fathers, Heresies, and Church Councils
Week 4: Member Questions:
1. What is “conscience?” To answer this we must also define our soul, free will, and our passions, and how these relate to each other.
2. How do I live my Christian faith at work when my faith is not accepted there?
3. What should our response be to those who ask us about priestly sex abuse?
4. What about the atheist who leads a good life? Can I be a person be good apart from God?
5. Miracles since the NT
6. Was King David good or bad? Was Emperor Constantine good or bad? Was he a Christian? What is a prophet?
7. Why does God allow suffering?
8. What is Tradition? Is Tradition equal to Scripture in importance? (2Thes2:15)
Opening Prayer
LORD, thank you for your promise that where two or three of us are gathered in your name
You are there.
We welcome You among us today!
We thank you for the gift of life that you have lavished upon each of us.
We ask that You open our ears so that we hear your voice, our minds so that we receive your wisdom,
And our spirits so we may recognize your guidance.
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. Amen.
Upcoming major holy days in the Liturgy of the Church
August 15 – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Reader for tonight…
The Chosen Season 4 has started.
Today
1. Apologetics – History of Incense; Hallowed Be Thy Name
2. Gospel reading – 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Mark 4:35-41
3. Book of Revelation
Quote of the Week: How we are to practice Christhood…
“Look at the face of the other and discover that he has a soul, a history, and a life, that he is a person, and that God loves this person as much as he loves me.” – Pope Benedict XVI, 2010
Apologetics and Exegesis Terms
Exegesis is the study and interpretation of the Word of God. It is what we do every week. We are all exegetes now!
Catholic Apologetics – apologetics means to defend a belief. Catholic Apologetics, specifically, is the art of defending the Catholic faith using reason, tradition, and Scripture.
Progressive Revelation – The gradual and step-by-step manner in which God has revealed himself and his plan of salvation to humanity from the Fall of Man to the Ten Commandments to the Sermon on the Mount, culminating in the revelation of Jesus Christ as our Savior and a Member of the Holy Trinity.
Apologetics of the Week:
Hallowed means holy and perfect (whole), set apart (treated with respect), “to see something as the highest there is.”
Q: But what is meant by “name”?
‘Name’ has come to mean a designation for how something is known, identified, or called. The names things are given were originally intended to represent what something was - or did. Even names of humans started out that way. “John Taylor” usually meant that “John” usually came from his father (or someone meaningful) and he was a “tailer.” Go back further in time and we have St. Peter who was “Simon bar Jona” (Simon, son of John) or “Jesus of Nazareth” (loc).
There is a creative power behind giving names to things (even “sandwich” was named after the Earl of Sandwich!), and therefore it should not surprise us that this was one of the first tasks given to Adam in the Garden of Eden. In Gen 2:19-20, Adam begins to give names to everything, and God is interested to see what he names them!
The power to name things usually belongs to a thing’s creator (i.e., a painter names his painting, an author names his book (and the characters in it); and it is something that beings with higher authority usually assign to beings with less authority (i.e., we name our children). God grants this ability to humans because He made us in his image and likeness – in a small way, we are co-creators with one difference: God retains ownership of everything in the universe because he created it, and He makes us “stewards” (managers/caretakers) over it (recall the Parable of the Vineyard). Everything in the universe – including the things we “own” in our lives – are technically God’s. We are his “stewards,” learning to care for everything in creation for which we have been given responsibility.
Q: What about God’s name?
In Genesis, scripture uses the name Elohim for God. When God said, “Let us make man in our image and likeness” (Gen 1:26), Elohim is used. El means God or Majesty and ohim makes the word plural, even though the Adam knew personally that there was only One God. Some Jewish traditions interpreted the plural to refer to His greatness, or else the “God of many”; others thought that “us” and “our” may have meant that God was speaking with his host of angels. Of course, they didn’t know any better because God had not yet revealed his Trinitarian nature, even though the Trinity is implicitly present in Gen 1:1-3 (God’s “Spirit” hovered over the waters; God said (his Word), “Let there be light…”).
Then, in the Book of Exodus, Moses asks what God’s name is so He can tell Pharoah who is sending him. God says to Moses, “I am who I am” (Hebrew: Yahweh). In the deepest sense, God is saying that that He cannot be named. He is beyond names. Names belong to created things! However, “I AM” stuck, and so that’s where we get Yahweh from. Also, if you ever wondered why Jews don’t write the full name of God (they write “G-d”), it’s because He cannot be named!
The next best thing we humans can do to describe God (his name) is to look at His characteristics or attributes because at the very least, we can imagine that God is what He does, or is what He stands for, right?
Q: What are we told is God’s greatest attribute, or essence?
Love (self-giving love). Not only do the Gospels say that God IS love, but He is our source of love (1 Jn 4:7). It’s not easy but the paradox is that love – of God and our fellow man – is where true freedom lies. Everything else is a kind of slavery to self, or to this material world. And if we seek the love of God first, then the power to love that will be granted to us will be infinite. Conversely, if we just employ our own controlled version of love, it will remain finite, limited, and likely diminish over time. Our version of loves stretches thin the more we use it, whereas God’s love expands the more we use it. To think that all of existence is a part of this universal expansion of love boggles the mind.
Ok, so God is love. What other ideas might describe God? Hint: what is most important to humans?
What about justice? Justice/fairness are the opposite of survival of the fittest. That’s why Christians created hospitals of all kinds, which defies survival of the fittest in the extreme. Justice is a subset of love.
What about happiness? True happiness is rooted in love. Everything else is self-gratification and temporary. What about forgiveness and mercy? These are from love. What about compassion? Charity? What about truth? The desire for truth is a love of knowledge, and when you think about it, all knowledge begins with God since He created everything.
“Hallowed Be Thy Name” – hallowed means holy, set apart, “to see as the highest there is.” Combined with God’s Name which = love, happiness, justice, and mercy – all the things that humans desire to be/have – we ought to try to be mindful, grateful, and understanding when we repeat these words. Jesus is teaching us to raise our minds to God to begin our prayer.
Gospel for this Sunday, June 23, Mark 4:35-41: Jesus Calms the Storm at Sea,
Context: Last week, Mark talked about why Jesus used parables and then discussed the Parables of the Seed and the Mustard Tree. After this, Jesus decided to cross the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum to the other side (the Decapolis).
The Sea of Galilee is about 7 miles across at its widest, 13 miles long, and 150+ feet deep. Because it is surrounded by a mountains and hills, the weather is unpredictable. It can be beautiful and balmy one moment and suddenly windy and rough the next. The Sea of Galilee is known for having very rough/dangerous waters during storms.
Keep in mind that high winds and rough water are enough to unnerve even experiences sailors, because they know they cannot control them and that many people die in them. In our reading tonight, one of those unpredictable storms hits their boat when they are already several miles out to sea.
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
There are two messages being communicated to us in today’s reading. Let’s start with the first.
Q: Jesus asked why they were terrified, and then asks why they don’t have faith. Was this fair of Jesus?
It does not seem fair – at least on the face of it. Who of us would have done better? But whenever Jesus says the unexpected or seemingly unreasonable, it usually means he is doing that on purpose because there’s a deeper message.
Q: After Jesus quiets the wind and the sea, the Apostle ask, “Who is this that even the wind and sea obey?”
Psalm 107 may have been in their minds when the God saved the sailors (LORD = God):
Sound familiar?!
Is Jesus not doing what God does?
Now let’s recall John’s Gospel about Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God … and all things came to be through him” – John 1:1-3. This means the universe – nature – came to exist through the Word=Christ. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that nature would obey him? However, we can imagine that for the Apostles to see this kind of thing in person would be unnerving, especially after their boat almost went down with them in it.
Message #1: Taking all this into account, this event shows us that Jesus is God. It will take time for the Apostles to process because their education so far hasn’t prepared them for this. Remember, the Trinity has yet to be revealed explicitly to them. So, this is the first message of today’s passage. Jesus is God.
What about the second message of the story?
Q: Do you think Jesus didn’t know what was going on during the storm while he was “sleeping” in the stern?
Yes, of course Jesus knew.
Q: But then what could possibly be the meaning of that?
The answer to that is the same as the answer to Jesus questioning their faith. Faith isn’t just belief – the devil “believes” in Jesus. Faith is like love in that they both require ACTION to validate; to be real. Just like an apology requires action to be meaningful, not just words.
Q: When did they finally call upon Jesus’ help? Why did they wait until they were close to death before calling him?
Perhaps because they were fishermen? They were the experts? Hey, Jesus was just a carpenter – they knew better! But don’t we all do the same? Why do we leave Jesus sleeping in the back of the boat until we are having a crisis or an emergency before we call on Him? This seems especially true if we are “experts” at what we do; just like the Apostles didn’t need help, right?
Nor does this apply to just major crises, or life-threatening events.
Q: What else might the troublesome winds and rough waters represent in our lives?
Daily obstacles or conflicts; times of frustration or impatience; dealing with difficult decisions, or difficult people. The message here is that we don’t have to wait to involve him for any events, large or small. In fact, we really will advance our spiritual lives if we become proactive, which is when we can figure out how to keep Jesus in the game at all times.
We have free will, so remember, Jesus will remain asleep in the back of the boat until you wake him up and invite him into your life.
The Book of Revelation/Apocalypse – Intro/Overview
We will examine the last book of the New Testament – the Book of Revelation – in two sessions. Tonight, we will review an overview/outline of the book, the purpose of the book, and the meaning of “prophecies.” Next session, we will specifically address things like the Antichrist, the Four Horsemen, the Beast of the Apocalypse, the Mark of the Beast, the Millenium, the Great Tribulation, and the Rapture.
Overview: The book of Revelation is also commonly called the Apocalypse. “Apocalypse” is Greek and simply means “unveiling” or “revelation,” and in some Bibles the book’s title is “Apocalypse.”
The reason for this title is because it seeks to remove the veil from God’s plan for the future. Although much of it deals with the immediate future back when it was written in the first century, it also draws back the curtain on things like the final judgment when there will be “a new heaven and new earth” (Rev 21:1), and where God will dwell with his people and “wipe away ever tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
People have always wondered how close we might be to the end of time. Christianity even has a special branch of theology devoted to this subject, called eschatology (Greek, eschatos = last things). There are two parts to the study of eschatology – individual (or personal) eschatology and universal (or cosmic) eschatology. What are these?
Individual eschatology deals with the “Last 4 Things” that everyone faces individually: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell.
Universal/cosmic eschatology deals with the last things that the world as a whole will experience: the End Times, Christ’s Second Coming, and what happens afterwards. The Book of Revelation speaks to this part.
Q: What is prophecy?
According to the dictionary, it is…
a) the foretelling or prediction of what is to come;
b) a divinely inspired utterance or revelation:
In the Bible, prophecy is always (b) and oftentimes (a), although the future can mean next week, next month, next year, or at the end of time. Or an event coming soon and also an End of Time event. We must investigate/discern.
The purpose of prophecy is to help people understand the “signs of the times” so they can respond faithfully, rather than bow to the materialistic attractions and threats of this world. If we listen to the world first, our foundation will be on sand, not rock.
Prophets are individuals who receive divine illumination and are called to reveal it to others for the good of humanity. Prophets are more “messengers of God” than future soothsayers. Futurizing is to support the message.
The Book of Revelation
Revelation was written by the Apostle John and published toward the end of the reign of Emperor Domitian (~A.D. 95) while he was in exile on the island of Patmos. I say published in 95 AD because his writings/memoirs represent a work-in-process which likely began in the 60s.
Revelation, the last book of the Bible, belongs to a genre of literature called apocalyptic writings (i.e., Daniel in OT). Its point of departure is a revelation in which God communicates to man by projecting a vision of the future that often employs symbolic – often cataclysmic – events and creatures. Joseph in Exodus was a prophet – recall his “dreams.”
Today, many non-Catholics assume that the events prophesied in Revelation are all still in our future, but as we discussed above it is in error to think that just because it involves prophecy means it hasn’t already taken place long ago. The Church already understood this by the end of the first century, but since tradition has been jettisoned by many Protestant religions, they are left with only the literal words of the Bible to discern.
Revelation is easily the most difficult book of the Bible to interpret, but its goals are actually very practical. It contains a series of warnings addressed to people of all ages about internal and external dangers which affect the Church, but often from an eternal perspective.
Q: What might the external perils be at the time John wrote this book?
By external perils, we are referring to the persecutions the early Christians suffered from the time of Nero onward, particularly those experienced in Rome and in Asia Minor (Turkey), which were the places where Christianity had put down its deepest roots.
Q: What might the internal perils be at the time John wrote this book?
By internal perils, we are referring to heresies and defections which expanded right alongside the growing Church, undermining its unity. The 3 main reasons for heresies and defections were persecutions, Christian teachings, and time.
1) Persecution. Why put your life at stake? It is not surprising that many new converts would not have the strength yet to hold to the faith. Nor was it difficult for charismatic cult leaders to combine local pagan beliefs with Christianity and draw people away from this new religion (and avoid persecution).
2) Christianity is not easy. It requires changes in behavior, including truthfulness and loving your neighbor and your enemies. It involves forgiving people who have caused you pain, and so on. These require one to bury their ego.
3) Time#1. After the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (AD 70), many Christians thought that with the removal of Judaism as a threat, the Church would finally enter into an era of peace and tranquility (since the initial persecution in the first century came mostly from Jewish authorities). Instead, Christians had to cope with new and violent persecutions, even more formidable than before, from the Roman Empire. Christians were perceived not only as an extension of the Jews, but they would not worship the Roman gods, least of all the Roman Emperor who was considered “son of god” in his own right. That Christians worshiped a Son of God that they considered higher than the emperor was treason!
1)
2) Time#2. Many thought the End of Time – the New Age spoken of in the OT and by Jesus – was coming sooner.
The gap in estimating/understanding God’s timing is not a new thing. Do you think the Jews in the Jesus’ time were not asking why God had waited a 1000 years since the promise to King David for a Messiah? And today, 2000 years later, Jews are still waiting!
God’s meaning for ‘near’ or ‘soon’ is not usually the same as humanity’s, and it’s not like we haven’t been warned about this. For example:
For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes… – Psalm 90:4
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. – 2 Peter 3:8
That being said, we should recognize that taking a longer time for the end time is NOT a bad thing. What would have happened if God sped things up? Would WE be here? No. God is trying to share his life in Heaven with as many humans as He can possibly get to accept His invitation, which happens to include us and our children and grandchildren!
Would you just look at my two grandkids? They MUST go to Heaven!
Remember, the Apostles asked Jesus AFTER his resurrection if it was time yet for him to establish his earthly kingdom.
In fact, the new age did come, and it is here, now. We are living in the Messianic Age right now. Also called the Age of the Holy Spirit and the age of the Church, it is during this age that man can once again pursue Heaven. Jesus reversed the Fall of Man and Heaven is open for business – that is the age we are in!
Regardless, people asked then (and now): When will our Lord show himself and come to the rescue of his own and establish his kingdom once and for all? In the Book of Revelation, John, inspired by God, deals with this question.
As I said in the beginning, in the next session we will specifically address things like the Antichrist, the Four Horsemen, the Beast of the Apocalypse, the Mark of the Beast, the Millenium, the Great Tribulation, the Rapture, and others. Actually, they will not be difficult to explain since you now have a framework.
The first thing God gives John to “see” is that Jesus is indeed triumphant, and that those who follow him are victors with him. However, God will also point out that the Church will be persecuted throughout its pilgrimage on earth, and the faithful will suffer along with the Church. And indeed it does, especially during its first two-and-a-half centuries. Clearly, the devil is still in play, since though Heaven has been reopened, people have free will and must still choose Christ.
But we should not be dismayed because Jesus has already won the war, which includes everyone who chooses to follow. Our temporary existence on earth is Heaven’s practice field. No matter how many mistakes we make, all we have to do is keep showing up.
Closing Prayer:
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil;
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the power of God,
Thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who
wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
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