eChurch Blog

Before going to St Augustine’s my belief in God – my faith, for want of a better word – had been a dry and tentative thing, an intellectual and rather provisional conclusion, based on careful reasoning and a study of the evidence. I would never have said that I knew the Christian doctrines to be true; indeed, I’d not say that even now. Knowledge and belief are different things. Prior to the seventeenth century, as Karen Armstrong keeps saying, the word ‘belief’ didn’t mean, as it now tends to, a mere intellectual assent to one or more propositions; rather it meant love, loyalty, and commitment. When Jesus demanded faith from us, then, he was looking for our commitment, not our credulity. I’ll return to this idea of faith much later on, but for now, just speaking for myself, what happened to me at St Augustine’s was that I learned that religious faith isn’t something merely to be subscribed to; it’s something to be lived. As Armstrong says, religion isn’t something we can learn it in the abstract, despite the ambitions of national curricula; like swimming, we have to plunge into the pool and acquire the knack by dedicated practice.

SOURCE: A Friend.

Different:

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has urged the country’s lapsed Catholics to have the maturity to leave the church.

Over the past two decades, rising numbers of ‘a la carte’ Catholics simply turn up at the altar for the sacraments like baptism, communion and marriage.

But in a new documentary on the future of the church, priests reveal they will expect a firmer commitment from their flock in the future. It shows how church pews swell to almost full capacity for celebratory sacraments, while Sunday services have dwindling numbers.

Archbishop Martin urged non-believers to walk away from the church.

He said: “It requires maturity on those people who want their children to become members of the church community and maturity on those people who say ‘I don’t believe in God and I really shouldn’t be hanging on to the vestiges of faith when I don’t really believe in it’.”

….continue

I know what you’re thinking: How can it be Gaudete Sunday on a Saturday evening? Well, I have it on the highest and most impeccable authority (Digital Nun) that:

Gaudete Sunday begins with first Vespers, so no problem about your beer this evening. Catholicism has its points (pints even).

And so one quick Vespers with Wifey and son, a trip to the shops and now making a mess of my keyboard with Doritos fingers and slurping beer for the first time since advent began.

It’s the first time I’ve treated Advent with any seriousness and must admit I haven’t found it all that easy; although, I have lost half a stone in weight and have never been so productive

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Gaudete Sunday as much as me and should I post a random music video on this blog late a night, you know what to blame it on.

In the meantime, this was a hit in 1972:

10th December

First Reading Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4.9-12

The prophet Elijah arose like a fire,
his word flaring like a torch.
It was he who brought famine on the people,
and who decimated them in his zeal.
By the word of the Lord, he shut up the heavens,
he also, three times, brought down fire.
How glorious you were in your miracles, Elijah!
Has anyone reason to boast as you have?
Taken up in the whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses;
designated in the prophecies of doom
to allay God’s wrath before the fury breaks,
to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children,
and to restore the tribes of Jacob,
Happy shall they be who see you,
and those who have fallen asleep in love.

Gospel Acclamation Luke 3:4,6

Alleluia, alleluia!
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight,
and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.
Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 17:10-13

As they came down from the mountain the disciples put this question to Jesus, ‘Why do the scribes say then that Elijah has to come first?’ ‘True;’ he replied ‘Elijah is to come to see that everything is once more as it should be; however, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands.’ The disciples understood then that he had been speaking of John the Baptist.

As I can’t seem to think of anything to blog, I thought I’d start an open thread.

Feel free to comment on anything you fancy: poems, questions, observations, gripes and moans, good news, prayer requests, struggles, what you’re reading or studying, eureka moments, things you think I should have blogged about, interesting links, upcoming events…..whatever you wish to share with us.

The floor is yours.

First Reading Isaiah 48:17-19

Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is good for you,
I lead you in the way that you must go.

Gospel Acclamation

Gospel  Matthew 11:16-19

The Church should fear the sin of its own members more than hatred against Christians, Pope Benedict XVI said.

SOURCE

I’m blogging this for a few reasons. Firstly as a record for myself, secondly for therapeutic reasons and thirdly for anyone else that may have experienced the same.

Just very recently (last few days) I have been assailed by the nauseous feeling that my faith is rubbish and based on fantasy. Believe me when I say this leaves me feeling wobbly and sick and thankfully it passes swiftly, but leaves the residue of an awful taste within me.

I think it was Paul who said that if Christ did not rise from the dead, then Christians were to be the most pitied people on earth.

This feeling even assaulted me in the church service this evening. Awful.

I wonder if this has been sparked by reading so many anti-Christian articles and literature. I wonder if it is witnessing the constant furious battles that take place within the Christian community. I wonder if I’m simply battle weary. I wonder if perhaps I’m not very well mentally. I wonder if it is waiting over a year to be received into the Catholic church and going without the Eucharist for that length of time.

This all comes at an ironic time for me in that I am adhering to a strict Advent fast.

In truth, I don’t know what’s causing this, but I sincerely hope it passes.

I’m interested to hear if anybody else has experienced anything similar.

I’m in perfect accord with Neil over at A Faith to Live By in relation to this BBC article exploring the origins of the slogan: “What Would Jesus Do?”.

The more pertinent question is: “What DID Jesus do?”

A sermon from the St Anselm 

Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night – everything that is subject to the power or use of man – rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace. All creatures were dead, as it were, useless for men or for the praise of God, who made them. The world, contrary to its true destiny, was corrupted and tainted by the acts of men who served idols. Now all creation has been restored to life and rejoices that it is controlled and given splendour by men who believe in God.

The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness. Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy. These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.

Through the fullness of the grace that was given you, dead things rejoice in their freedom, and those in heaven are glad to be made new. Through the Son who was the glorious fruit of your virgin womb, just souls who died before his life-giving death rejoice as they are freed from captivity, and the angels are glad at the restoration of their shattered domain.

Lady, full and overflowing with grace, all creation receives new life from your abundance. Virgin, blessed above all creatures, through your blessing all creation is blessed, not only creation from its Creator, but the Creator himself has been blessed by creation.

To Mary God gave his only-begotten Son, whom he loved as himself. Through Mary God made himself a Son, not different but the same, by nature Son of God and Son of Mary. The whole universe was created by God, and God was born of Mary. God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God. The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary.

God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the mother of the re-created world. God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the mother through whom all things were given new life. For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Saviour of the world. Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.

Truly the Lord is with you, to whom the Lord granted that all nature should owe as much to you as to himself.