Scraps From A Spiritual Diary

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Saturday, January 5, 2008

The First Letter of John: An Exhortation to Fellowship

The first letter of John is the liturgy's Christmas treat. We began reading it during the weekdays following Christmas and will be reading it until the week after Epiphany Sunday, the traditional closing feast of the Christmas season. That the letter is read during Christmas should not be a surprise... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Temple: Its Place In Salvation History

Why is the Temple's destruction announced first before that of the end of heaven and earth? The answer is to be found in the importance that the Temple has in salvation history. The pattern Heaven and Earth --> Jerusalem --> Temple is the progress that salvation history takes from Genesis to 1 Kgs... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Make Disciples of all Nations

I was going through some of my older blogs at the Mystical Geek and I found out that I have quite enough materials for a mystagogy of the baptismal rite. "Mystagogy" is such a big word, but it does reduce to just one idea what we usually talk of us a "running commentary on a liturgical rite." We... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The Way of Faith

The last phase of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem contains events and teachings that prepare the disciple for the narration of the entrance into Jerusalem, the brief ministry of Jesus there and his arrest and subsequent suffering and death on the cross. The way of the suffering Messiah is also the way... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Rich Man, Poor Man

The parable of Dives and Lazarus falls under the set of themes that Jesus deals with beginning from Luke 15:1. In short, it is about handling people and wealth. The section began with Jesus' reply to the reaction of the Pharisees to the way he handles people, especially the sinners and the... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Dealing with the Mammon of Iniquity: The Parable of the Unjust Steward

The parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16:1-13 confuses a lot of people because of one factor that is assumed by Luke and which a lot of modern day readers do not know: that the unjust steward was praised by his lord for having given a good impression of him to his debtors. In first century... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Interiority, Memory and Return

There is hardly anything to add to what we know about the parable of the prodigal son, I guess. The parable and its immediate context target="_blank">appears a number of times in the mass lectionary.. Apart from that, the whole season of Lent is arranged in such a way that the faithful would... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Greed, Envy and the Kingdom of God

Today's gospel reading is best seen in the light of the readings from the two previous Sundays. Two Sundays ago we read about the one and the many: the one thing necessary as against the many things over which Martha was anxious and troubled. The Lord told her that "Mary has chosen the better part... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

God Will Make A Way

I am not a Don Moen fan and I don't mind listening to his music, but this morning I saw the lyrics of "God Will Make A Way" for the first time. I must say that it sent my mind to Isaiah's Book of Consolation. Below is a diagram of the way the song lyrics echo parts of Isaiah Looking at this way also... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 9, 2007

The Mystery That Is Christ

In Colossians 1:24-28 Paul posits the thesis of the letter: the gospel as the revelation of the mystery that is Christ. Below is an illustration of how the passage connects with the rest of the letter. The gospel that Paul preaches is the mystery hidden in the past but now made known. It is... Sign in to see full entry.

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