Pentecost

Hi.

Today being Pentecost, it's the obvious time for celebration for our local group of cuddly Catholic charismatics, the Emmanuel Community. Our housegroup is with them, and yesterday we were all charismatic and prayed for one another, laying on hands and generally welcoming the Holy Spirit. When someone felt that they had a piece of scripture for someone, they made it known, so I thought I'd share what was passed on for me:

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. - Luke 12:27-32

He said therefore, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches." - Luke 13:18-19

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. - 1 Peter 3:3-4

'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.' So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island." - Acts 27:24b-26

And one from Monica's mate the nun:

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth. - Psalm 34:1

Mortal Sin

Image via Wikipedia

Following on from a discussion which started at Dave's blog:

I agree that we need to understand what God says in one part of the Bible in the context of what he says to us in the rest of the Bible when considering individual passages. However, a Scripture in isolation also has to make sense in its own right and in its immediate context, which is why I made the points that I did. If there's an apparent contradiction between passages then there must be a solution which makes sense of both. I think that your interpretation doesn't do justice to 1 Jn 5:16-17; I don't see any indication in the passage that he is referring to forgiven sin and, in its immediate context, 1:9 ("If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.") and 5:13 ("I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.") seem, taken together, to explicitly contradict it.

One of the reasons that I became a Catholic was because I was impressed at the coherence of the Church's teaching - even on controversial topics like faith and works - passages that seemed to contradict each other seemed endlessly to be explained, rather than being explained away or ignored, as you might suspect. The Church certainly makes a big deal about the importance of rigorous study of Scripture.

I don't see that the rest of the bible does contradict distinction between sins that do and don't lead to death and therefore think that John's teaching should be taken at face value. Scripture does indicate distinctions between the seriousness of various sins:

Luke 12:47-48
47"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

John 19:11
11Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

Acts 17:30
30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

1 Timothy 1:13
13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

Hebrews 10:26
26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left

and that there are sins that will cost a believer their salvation:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 cf. 5:1 & 1:2
9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Matthew 5:21-22
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Ephesians 5:3-5 c.f. 1:1
3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

James 1:13-15 c.f. 1:2
13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

For a Catholic, there's no need to tie oneself in knots over the interpretation of Scripture, as both the interpretation of Scripture and forgiveness belong to the whole Church (1 Tim 3:15, Mt 10:40,16:17-19,18:17-18, Jn 20:21-23) rather to any individual in the one body of Christ.

For Catholics, mortal sin is defined by the Church as involving grave matter (along the lines of the ten commandments, but defined explicitly by the Church in some cases - Mt 19:16-19 c.f. 5:17-20), sufficient knowledge and reflection (Lk 12:47-48, Acts 17:30, 1 Tm 1:13) and full consent of the will e.g. not at gunpoint (Hb 10:26). This kind of sin, we teach, kills the life of grace. Other (venial) sin is no laughing matter though; it's like the difference between having a fever and being a corpse. This, to me, makes sense of both "the wages of sin is death" (Rm 6:23) and "there is sin which does not lead to death" (1 Jn 5:17), especially as Jm 1:15 speaks of death as the consequence of sin "when it is full-grown". Venial sin might be said to lead to death in a different sense to mortal sin, as a man might die through a series of injuries rather than one fatal blow.

In practical/spiritual terms, I don't think it's as problematic as you suggest that it might be. I remember having more agonising doubts and fears over my sin before I became a Catholic, especially worrying about the sincerity of my repentance. In any case, the best thing to do with all sin is to confess it; you might think a sin is more or less serious, but you need any kind of sin like a hole in your head, and we know where to go for forgiveness, so, in practical terms, it's not something to agonise over unless you happen to like agony.

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Mark no unemployed no more!

Hey,

Had an "informal chat" yesterday for working as a call logger for the IT department, based at the RD&E hospital. Got the gig. Very nice - should last for a month at least, which is just what the doctor ordered, work-wise.

(H)Allelui(j)a.

Just Because

And I'll use the Nick one for his posts.

Starling Invasion

Good morning,

Today has already been fairly eventful; while I was watching BBC News 24, it came to pass that a significant amount of fluttering was heard from the direction of the chimney, and little bits of debris were falling down. I popped upstairs to ask Ed if he was doing anything with the chimney. He was not. Apprehensively I returned to further flapping and debris, followed by the emergence of a unnecessarily pointy-looking beak attached to a brown and black mottled head, which also bore two beady little eyes. I'm not really good with animals; they all have the capacity to make me pretty nervous, so I enlisted Ed to poke his head near the sharply-beak'ed thing and he said that it looked like there was a board up there, which was inhibiting his egress.

Not wishing to put together any half-baked plans for shifting the blighter without consulting some kind of authority, I gave the RSPCA a call, after finding the line for the RSPB engaged. Needless to say, there wasn't a relevant option on the automated service, but the lady I spoke to didn't seem to mind that I wasn't phoning about a bird of prey. To cut a long story short, I was told that I'd have to try and remove the board to let him out, also that they'd phone back in about half an hour to see how I was getting on. Damn - I was hoping that there would be people to do these things, rather than muggins.

I gathered a hammer, screwdriver, oven gloves and various long pointy-things, screwed my courage to the sticking-place and tried to get one of the pointy things to make contact with the aforesaid board. There followed a period of cautiously advanced kitchen utensils followed by hastily retreating kitchen utensils at the merest suggestion of a flap. Mercifully I found that the top of the fireplace pulled out, so I did that, and subsequently ran away like a big chicken, only he seemed to have buggered off as there was no movement.

Luke and the girls were standing outside in their best bird-crap resistant garb, ostensibly to act as a kind of body of avian doormen, to intimidate said bird into exiting stage-right through the main door. When our recent acquaintance did decide to try the bottom of the chimney again, he naturally got stuck behind the curtains, and flapped dumbly at the invisible windows behind. Once again, my decisive come-on-you-big-girls-blouse-get-a-grip approach was called for as I persuaded our dumb chum towards one of the two conveniently open windows, from which he exited, leaving only a single piece of crap as a parting gesture.

I think I earned my cup of tea.

Organised Religion

How did it come to be acceptable to casually dismiss "organised religion"? Is a more disorganised religion more plausible? Isn't it just snobbery to brush a collective belief aside simply because it is a collective belief?

Unity & Catholicism

I was having a little mental ramble a while ago, and I thought I'd blog it, just because.

I went to the U-nite ecumenical prayer event, which was more of a U-evnin' this year. It was pleasant enough, and it's good that something ecumenical happens at the University (for the city, one of the more visible things is the Good Friday Walk of Witness, which this year has been re-branded the Exeter Passion Play by well-intentioned zeitgeist yoofy people) but it was a bit limp. The Christian Union has a habit of ignoring it - draw your own conclusions - which I think is a pretty important factor. So I was thinking about unity and ecumenism, and that for the benefit of the CU it would probably be best to use something scripturally heavy-handed to encourage them to come along, and it reminded me of these verses:

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? - 1 Cor 1:10-13

The bit in bold (my emphases, obviously) struck me the last time I read it. Whenever the subject of ecumenism comes up in a mixed-denominational setting, someone is always at pains to point out that we all follow Christ and that's the important thing. It's good that we all follow Christ of course, but I think it does tend to get used as an excuse for not seeking unity. I think it would be over-egging the pudding to suggest that we can't all call ourselves Christians, but it certainly doesn't seem to be getting a lot of approval from St. Paul. C.S. Lewis, as I don't doubt most of you know, wrote a very good little book called Mere Christianity on the core of Christian belief, but he took the time to say that it couldn't end there, likening it to a hallway from which it was necessary to choose a room (or presumably get in the way of the cleaners). And it's quite possible to use mere Christianity as a vehicle for smugness - it depends on the individual of course, but it's possible for "But we're all Christian." to be quite as self-satisfied as "I'm sure it's true for you."

I thought of a nice parallel too - at least I liked it:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. - Rm 6:1-4

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Eph 4:1-6

In the same way that Christians have died to sin, yet are commanded not to sin, Christians have unity in Christ, yet must seek unity:

["]Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. [...] I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.["] - Jn 17:11,20-23

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul[.] - Acts 4:32

I was thus reminded of how "catholic" is a very good word, as and when "Christian" doesn't seem to be delivering the goods, for it derives from the Greek kata and holou (genitive of holos, as in "holistic" and "holocaust" - a sacrifice burnt whole), meaning 'according to the whole'. In other words, it has unity built in, something which might be slightly less apparent from the briefer definition of "universal". This is a reason that you'll never hear me describing myself as a Roman Catholic; it doesn't make any sense. It's like proposing a Mancunian universe - just silly. I'm quite happy with English Catholic, because I am in fact English, but you can't put an imaginary hyphen between the two adjectives. Our head office is in Rome, but Catholicism is a property of existence, not a city-state within Italy.

It also occured to me that I can't think of another Christian group that takes as its appellation on of the notes of the Church as set out in the Nicene Creed (one, holy, catholic, apostolic).

I think I've done.

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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow free votes on the embryology and fathers components of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill when considered by the House of Commons.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/embryovote/

There is a tradition when dealing with matters of conscience that MPs are not whipped. This is particularly true when it comes to human embryos. When the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was considered by Parliament the (then) government allowed free votes on all matters up until the final vote.

The joint committee on the draft Human Tissues and Embryos bill recommended that this approach be adopted for questions over embryology and the role of fathers, but the Brown government has said that free votes will only be allowed on abortion.

This decision suggests that there is no room for conscience and conscientious objection in our politics. If the government is genuinely concerned about voter apathy and alienation it should demonstrate that British politics caters for conscience and conscientious objection through free votes.

Polycarp, Micah & Pastoral Issues

Hello.

I just thought I'd blog a couple of things:

1. Today is the feast of St. Polycarp, who was runner up to be my name saint (bet he's well miffed).

Now, as Polycarp was entering into the stadium, there came to him a voice from heaven, saying, "Be strong, and show yourself a man, O Polycarp!" No one saw who it was that spoke to him; but those of our brethren who were present heard the voice. And as he was brought forward, the tumult became great when they heard that Polycarp was taken. And when he came near, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On his confessing that he was, [the proconsul] sought to persuade him to deny [Christ], saying, "Have respect to your old age," and other similar things, according to their custom, [such as], "Swear by the fortune of Cæsar; repent, and say, Away with the Atheists." But Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance on all the multitude of the wicked heathen then in the stadium, and waving his hand towards them, while with groans he looked up to heaven, said, "Away with the Atheists." Then, the proconsul urging him, and saying, "Swear, and I will set you at liberty, reproach Christ;" Polycarp declared, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" - from The Martyrdom of Polycarp

2. I liked today's Old Testament reading, which I wasn't familiar with:

With shepherd’s crook lead your people to pasture,
the flock that is your heritage,
living confined in a forest
with meadow land all around.
Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
As in the days when you came out of Egypt
grant us to see wonders.

What god can compare with you: taking fault away,
pardoning crime,
not cherishing anger for ever
but delighting in showing mercy?
Once more have pity on us,
tread down our faults,
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.
Grant Jacob your faithfulness,
and Abraham your mercy,
as you swore to our fathers
from the days of long ago. - Micah 7:14-20

3. A, presumably homeless, guy came into church after mass while we were waiting for confession and some people were praying the Rosary. He firmly told us that our religion was of the devil, and man-made, and that God wouldn't hear our prayers. What can you do eh? He didn't hang around to chat long after that. I gather that it was provoked because he approached our priest and didn't get what he was after. Tough one that; it reminds me of a story that was on Sunday on R4 a while back, which unfortunately I only seem to be able to find on the Daily Mail's web-site. I can't remember what Dad does when someone comes to his door. Luckily in Exeter we have a couple of excellent organisations which we can refer people to, St. Petrock's who we explicitly support periodically, and Crossline, which is student-led. People expect a lot of church leaders however, and mostly don't have an understanding of what a tough job it is, so I guess it's only to be expected that they're slammed for hypocrisy. This also reminds me of something I heard from Fr. Mike at an RCIA class - when a priest takes on a parish, he takes on the care of all the souls in that parish, which is a big deal when you think about it.

Dress, Christmas

I've got a dress! I found it on Saturday. It wasn't like they say, that you try it on and you recognise it. It was more like they all agreed it was really nice but I wasn't sure. Then the more I looked at it the more I liked it so I said yes. It's really smooth and soft I kept on touching it for the all time and Giò told me off.

I think I might go to the convent (Marghe's convent) tonight for midnight mass. They are having a small reception afterwards. These nuns really enjoy eating!

Today I'll help my mum preparing food for tomorrow. I should go to confession and look out for bagpipes! They are coming to my village, I really like them, it's so Christmassy.

It's almost a week now that I'm back home. I'm relaxing, sleeping, seeing my friends , not studying, everything is fine. But I left Mark behind and I really miss him. He misses me too, so much that he fell ill!

It snowed last Friday. It was really cold! But it was nice to wake up and see everything covered with snow.

On Tuesday my mum, my sister, my friend Giò and I went to a bridal dress shop ( I don't know how you say it). I was really excited and positive, I was the only one. They were a bit, just a bit, skeptical about the idea of me finding the right dress just in one go. I said I was being positive. They were right. After an hour and a half the shop assistant gave up. She didn't understand what I had in mind, I said I have nothing in mind, ( many people will agree with that, especially Giò). She said it was impossible, that I had something in mind but I didn't say.

It's hard because you think that something will suit you but then you try it on and it doesn't. And that happened with all the dresses I tried ( around 15) but one. Only one was decent, in the sense that I feel I can cope with that if I can't find anything else. What was good was that Giò agreed with me. There was nothing special and she agreed on the one being the possible solution if say I can't find anything else.

We' ve got another appointment on Saturday at 3 with a shop that seems to have more range. At least I hope so.

In the meantime I had an haircut and booked the hairdresser for the wedding.

My sister is BIG! She is 7 months pregnant and she's got a big belly. I felt the baby moving twice! It's so exciting! It seems they' ve got 2 possible names: Nicola or Federico. I'm tired of waiting I want to look at his face and hold him. But I have to wait. Not fair.

Christmas Wishes

Ah yes, Christmas. Hasn't exactly been top on my list or priorities... Have a link to my wishlist. I added a couple of things last night, will try and get round to adding some more...

Nick's Wishlist