Ecclesiastes 3:14 God’s Work Is Eternal

09-12-2023
Tuesday
Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary
COL 2:6-15
Brothers and sisters:
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.
For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross; despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it.
Responsorial Psalm: PS 145:1B-2, 8-9, 10-11
R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. R. The Lord is compassionate toward all his works.
Alleluia JN 15:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I chose you from the world, that you may go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: LK 6:12-19
Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.
Župa Navještenja BDM Gospić
10 tim
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12. RUJNA – PRESVETO IME MARIJINO
Blagdan Imena Marijina, (Marijin imendan), spominje se 1513.g., kao lokalni blagdan u spanjolskoj biskupiji Cuenca, a potom se prosirio na cijelu Spanjolsku i Napuljsko kraljevstvo. Papa Inocent XI. prosiruje ga na cijelu Crkvu i to kao “dan pobjede”, na spomendan velike pobjede krscanske vojske nad Turcima kod Beca 1683.g. Dolazak Turaka sve do pod Bec bila je ozbiljna prijetnja cijelom Zapadu. Kada je turska vojska opsjela Bec, becke crkve bile su prepune vjernika koji su vapili Mariji za pomoc: “Sveta Marijo, Majko Bozja, moli za nas!” Pobjeda je izvojevana 12. rujna 1683.g., nakon sto su na bojiste prispjele poljske cete na celu s poljskim kraljem Janom Sobieskim i vojvode Karla iz Lorene. Dvojica se vodje zagrlise u ctkvi Majke Bozje. Na dan presudne bitke vojska je sudjelovala na misi. Svetu Misu sluzio je kapucin o. Marko iz Aviana, kod kojeg posluzivase kralj Jan Sobieski i pod kojim se pricesti. Molila se i krunica, a u boj se krenulo s pouzdanjem u sveto i nepobjedivo Ime Marijino. Nakon Mise i molitve kralj dodje pred svoje vojnike i rece: “Pouzdavajci se u sveto i nepobjedivo Ime Marijino, hrabro naprijed!” Uz mocni Marijin zagovor neprijatelj je pobijedjen, a poljska vojska pobjedonosno je usla u Bec. Pobjeda je bila pocetak sloma velike turske sile.
Ovo nije jedini blagdan potaknut Marijinom pomoci u nevolji. Mariju se zazivalo i u drugim ratnim i drugim opasnostima kojima je covjek bio izlozen. Crkva biljezi brojne prigode Marijina zagovora. Za njih joj se zahvaljuje blagdanima i drugim molitvama i slavljima, a u sjecanju drze spasenjski Bozji zahvati
Opci crkveni kalendar, obnovljen 1969.g., ovaj blagdan vise ne spominje kao obvezan za cijelu Crkvu, ali se slavi u mnogim krajevima, na lokalnoj razini. Cijela Austrija ga, iz razumljivih povijesnih razloga, i nadalje svecano slavi. Kako je taj blagdan u nasem puku jos uvijek prilicno uvrijezen, mi cemo ga i dalje pobozno slaviti na danasnji dan.
Bec nije bio prvi ni jedini koji bi se kao “bedem krscanstva” – nalazeci se u opasnoj situaciji – stavio pod posebnu zastitu Majke Bozje. Prema staroj predaji, vec je carigradski patrijarh German I., naredio god. 718., da se svake godine na Blagovijest u cast Majke Bozje pjeva himan “Akathistos” u zahvalu sto je grad na Bosporu tri puta bio spasen: god.627., 677., i 718. Iz divnih zaziva toga himna razvili su se i drugi koje nalazimo i u homolijama patrijarha Germana I. (+733.), a i daleko prije njega bilo je slicnih zaziva kod Theodota iz Ancire. Ti zazivi govore bas o vjeri u zastitu Majke Bozje. Evo nekih od njih: “Ti pomocnice svijeta!” “Ti utociste krscana!” “Ti nasa nado i nasa snago!”
Na Zapadu istu vjeru izrice molitva “Zdravo Kraljice”, koja se pripisuje Hermanu Grbavcu (+1054.). Ta se vjera u zapadnoj ikonografiji, pocevsi tamo od XIII.st., izrice na slikama koje prikazuju kako Gospa svojim plastem pruza sigurnu zastitu onima koji Joj se u obranu utjecu.
I nasi hodocasnici u Mariju Bistricu pjevaju jos i danas:
“Sa svojim svetim plastem Ti zakrili nas,
O Marijo Bistricka, moli se za nas”!
I mi danas, s narastajima prije nas, vjerujemo da je opravdano i spasonosno castiti Ime Marijino.
Marija je biblijsko ime. Nosi ga vise osoba koje se spominju u Svetom pismu. jeste li znali da mariolozi donose sezdesetak tumacenja znacenja biblijskoga imena Marija? Izdvojim slijedeca: prema jednom tumacenju ime dolazi od aramejske rijeci mar(a)-gospodja, uzvisena. Drugi smatraju da ime potjece od hetitske rijeci Maria, sto znaci-koja je kao koplje. Iz niza oblika i inacica ovoga imena navodimo samo neke: Marica, Maca, Mareta, Marela, Masa, Mija, Mirjana, Maja, Jana, Marieta, Meri, Merilin, Lina.
Od imena Marija dolaze i muska imena: Marijan, Janko, Maro, Mario, Marinko, Maroje i druga.
Zato od srca svima zelimo sretan i blagoslovljen imendan. Zelja je jedna jedina….Neka vas i nas cuva plast Njene ljubavi uvijek, neka nikada ne zaboravimo da nosimo Ime Najvece Ljubavi svijeta, Majke Marije!
Suzana Monika
Have you ever read Saint John Chrysostom‘s advice for married couples?⁣
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The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” cites this brilliant saint and Doctor of the Church, referencing his 20th homily on Eph. 5:22-24.⁣
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“Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself is the Savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.” (Eph. 5:22-24)⁣
In his homily, Saint John Chrysostom addresses love between husbands and wives. One excerpt discusses the words a young husband should say to his wife.⁣
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Chrysostom emphasizes the eternal over the temporal–putting one’s spouse before all other riches and placing Christ at the center of the relationship.⁣
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Here’s the excerpt:⁣
“I courted you, and I love you, and prefer you to my own soul. For the present life is nothing. And I pray, and beseech, and do all I can, that we may be counted worthy so to live this present life, as that we may be able also there in the world to come to be united to one another in perfect security. For our time here is brief and fleeting. But if we shall be counted worthy by having pleased God to so exchange this life for that one, then shall we ever be both with Christ and with each other, with more abundant pleasure. I value your affection above all things, and nothing is so bitter or so painful to me, as ever to be at variance with you.”⁣
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Let us pray for all married couples, those discerning, and those preparing for marriage.⁣
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Prayer for Married Couples:⁣
Almighty and eternal God,⁣
You blessed the union of married couples⁣
so that they might reflect the union of Christ⁣
with his Church: look with kindness on them.⁣
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Renew their marriage covenant,⁣
increase your love in them,⁣
and strengthen their bond of peace⁣
so that, with their children,⁣
they may always rejoice in the gift of⁣
your blessing.⁣
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We ask this through Christ our Lord.⁣
Amen.⁣
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Prayer Source: USCCB⁣
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St. John Chrysostom, pray for us!⁣
https://fb.watch/n0d_Qw_PxD/

Does God Have Free Choice?
2h sedan
The Christian Life
Worship
Listening to God
Philosophy
God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?

Numbers 23:19
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Malachi 3:6
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Exodus 23:13
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
…
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

Isaiah 40:8, 28
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 90:1-2
“Two major implications follow from this. Duns stressed the freedom of God. Things are the way that they are not because reason requires it but because God freely chose it. (But Duns did not teach that God’s will is arbitrary or beyond all constraint — God cannot contradict himself, for instance.) One aspect of God’s freedom lies in his predestination. Duns identifies four ‘moments’ in God’s predestination. First, he predestines Peter (representing the elect) to eternal glory. Secondly, he decides to give Peter the means to this end — grace. Thirdly, he permits both Peter and judas (representing the non-elect) to sin. Finally, Peter is saved by God’s grace, while Judas is justly rejected because he perseveres in sin.
“Duns’s stress on the freedom of God means that the role of reason and philosophy is necessarily limited. ‘Anselm had claimed that the incarnation and the cross of Jesus Christ are so necessary that God had no choice but to act in this way. But Duns held that they happened because God chose that they should. This emphasized God’s freedom and also limited the possibility of showing such doctrines to be reasonable. In his stress on God’s freedom, Duns went so far as to suggest that the Son would have become incarnate even had Adam not sinned – making the incarnation a free choice on God’s part, not a necessity imposed on him by human sin. Duns believed that reason and philosophy could prove God’s existence and some of his attributes, such as his infinity. But much that Thomas believed to be demonstrated by reason (God’s goodness, justice and mercy, predestination) Duns held to be known only by revelation. Such doctrines are accepted by faith alone, not proved by reason.”

Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought
John Duns Scotus (1265-1308) was a Franciscan Friar. He was a leading philosopher in the thought that Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, was immaculate, without sin, from birth. Odd that the Catholic church followed his thinking when the previous philosophers (Anselm, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure) all had the idea that she was made immaculate at some point after birth. A concept of Duns’ regarding three views on the subject was the only quote in the book I am quoting from. Some of Duns’ contemporaries felt his philosophy to fall short, even creating the word “dunce” from his name.

I would rather look at a topic that could also be controversial, but in some ways is rather brilliant. It is dangerous as the scriptures above point to God not changing. When we consider God having free choice, it seems to indicate that God could change His mind. But when we consider that within the parameters of God doing various things, Anselm’s concept of God not being able to choose is limiting God’s power and God is infinite. Yet, God chose to do as He has done.

The Bible has a few instances where God laments, “regretting He ever made mankind, or chosen the Israelites as His Chosen People, etc.” This does not mean that God changed His mind. Even in the use of the word “relented” does it mean God changed His mind? Telling Moses that He could simply wipe out all the Israelites and establish a new covenant with Moses does not state, “Moses, I am going to do this.” But after Moses pleads for God’s Mercy with His people, God relents. But God did not change His mind. He just presented to Moses an alternative, possibly to test Moses. Even in God’s anger, God is still perfect.

And when I stated that Duns’ philosophy is dangerous, the idea that God is in Heaven, changing His mind because He can. If you can change your mind, at some point, you will. Transferring this concept to a God who never changes provides fear that God might renege on His promises.

Ah, under that scenario, I could not accept the philosophy of Duns, and possibly why many of his contemporaries called him a dunce. They saw the folly rather than the brilliance.

Because if we create a God who cannot choose, then how were the Israelites his Chosen People? And how can the elect be the elect? How can my sins be washed away while someone else’s sins remain?

We must hold fast to the truth in the Scriptures above, but at the same time, we must also take comfort that when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, God had known us before time began. God chose us, and He freely chose to send His Son as an atonement for our sins. But no, He is never going to change His mind about that.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other ”heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.