07.14.08
Posted in Saints, Catholic Heroes, Submit or Die, English Martyrs, Church & State - The Debate at 5:00 pm by Brian Schuettler
A new article by Oliver Moore, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Canada. It appears in Law and Humanities (2008). Here’s the abstract:
Through an examination of Sir Thomas More’s final years, culminating with his trial on charges of treason, and with particular attention to the theme of silence, this article studies the profound constitutional amendment which attended the English Reformation. More is remarkable not only for having opposed Henry VIII’s procurement of this amendment, but particularly for having expressed his dissidence through a principled silence, thereby refusing to express either support for, or censure of, the king. The author begins by arguing that this silence expressed a precise anti-Reformation argument of constitutional law. The author then turns to More’s trial and, holding that it constituted the forum within which the new, post-Reformation, English constitution was founded, argues that the precise mode of the new constitution’s founding was the silencing of the old legal order by the new.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1155407
H/T to Mary L. Dudziak at Legal History Blog
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07.04.08
Posted in Daily Mass Readings, Saints at 9:59 am by Brian Schuettler
Alternate Readings for July 4:
Am 8:4-6, 9-12
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
“When will the new moon be over,” you ask,
“that we may sell our grain,
and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?”
We will diminish the containers for measuring,
add to the weights,
and fix our scales for cheating!
We will buy the lowly man for silver,
and the poor man for a pair of sandals;
even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!”
On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun set at midday
and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentations.
I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth
and make every head bald.
I will make them mourn as for an only son,
and bring their day to a bitter end.
Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send famine upon the land:
Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water,
but for hearing the word of the LORD.
Then shall they wander from sea to sea
and rove from the north to the east
In search of the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
Ps 119:2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131
R. (Matthew 4:4) One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands.
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
My soul is consumed with longing
for your ordinances at all times.
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Behold, I long for your precepts;
in your justice give me life.
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.
R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Mt 9:9-13
As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
He heard this and said,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Navarre Bible Commentary:
9. “Tax office”: a public place for the payment of taxes. On “following Jesus”, see the note on Matthew 8:18-22.
The Matthew whom Jesus calls here is the Apostle of the same name and the human author of the first Gospel. In Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 he is called Levi the son of Alphaeus or simply Levi.
In addition to Baptism, through which God calls all Christians (cf. note on Matthew 8:18-22), the Lord can also extend, to whomever He chooses, a further calling to engage in some specific mission in the Church. This second calling is a special grace (cf. Matthew 4:19-21; Mark 1:17-20; John 1:30; etc.) additional to the earlier calling through Baptism. In other words, it is not man who takes the initiative; it is Jesus who calls, and man who responds to this call by his free personal decision: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16).
Matthew’s promptitude in “following” Jesus’ call is to be noted. When God speaks, soul may be tempted to reply, “Tomorrow; I’m not ready yet.” In the last analysis this excuse, and other excuses, are nothing but a sign of selfishness and fear (different from that fear which can be an additional symptom of vocation: cf. John 1). “Tomorrow” runs the risk of being too late.
As in the case of the other Apostles, St. Matthew is called in the midst of the ordinary circumstances of his life: “What amazes you seems natural to me: that God has sought you out in the practice of your profession! That is how He sought the first, Peter and Andrew, James and John, beside their nets, and Matthew, sitting in the custom-house. And–wonder of wonders!–Paul, in his eagerness to destroy the seed of the Christians” ([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 799).
10-11. The attitude of these Pharisees, who are so prone to judge others and classify them as just men or sinners, is at odds with the attitude and teaching of Jesus. Earlier on, He said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1), and elsewhere He added, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).
The fact is that all of us are sinners; and our Lord has come to redeem all of us. There is no basis, therefore, for Christians to be scandalized by the sins of others, since any one of us is capable of committing the vilest of sins unless God’s grace comes to our aid.
12. There is no reason why anyone should be depressed when he realizes he is full of failings: recognition that we are sinners is the only correct attitude for us to have in the presence of God. He has come to seek all men, but if a person considers himself to be righteous, by doing so he is closing the door to God; all of us in fact are sinners.
13. Here Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, keeping the hyperbole of the Semitic style. A more faithful translation would be: “I desire mercy MORE THAN sacrifice”. It is not that our Lord does not want the sacrifices we offer Him: He is stressing that every sacrifice should come from the heart, for charity should imbue everything a Christian does–especially his worship of God (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Matthew 5:23-24).
___________________________
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio (1599-1600; Oil on canvas, 10′ 7 1/2″ X 11′ 2″; Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome)
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06.28.08
Posted in Daily Mass Readings, Saints at 6:52 am by Brian Schuettler
Lamentations 2: 2, 10 - 14, 18 - 19
|
| 2 |
The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. |
| 10 |
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the maidens of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. |
| 11 |
My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. |
| 12 |
They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. |
| 13 |
What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can restore you? |
| 14 |
Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles false and misleading. |
| 18 |
Cry aloud to the Lord! O daughter of Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! |
| 19 |
Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. |
EWTN
Psalms 74: 1 - 7, 20 - 21
|
| 1 |
O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? |
| 2 |
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt. |
| 3 |
Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary! |
| 4 |
Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place; they set up their own signs for signs. |
| 5 |
At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes. |
| 6 |
And then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. |
| 7 |
They set thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name. |
| 20 |
Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. |
| 21 |
Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise thy name. |
EWTN
Matthew 8: 5 - 17
|
| 5 |
As he entered Caper’na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him |
| 6 |
and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” |
| 7 |
And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” |
| 8 |
But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. |
| 9 |
For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,’ and he goes, and to another, `Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,’ and he does it.” |
| 10 |
When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. |
| 11 |
I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, |
| 12 |
while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” |
| 13 |
And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; be it done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. |
| 14 |
And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever; |
| 15 |
he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served him. |
| 16 |
That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. |
| 17 |
This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” |
EWTN
We are well aware that it is not easy suddenly to change a mind possessed by ignorance, we intend to add a few things, for the sake of persuading those who love the truth, knowing that it is possible to put ignorance to flight by presenting the truth.
— St Justin the Martyr
The writings of St. Irenaeus entitle him to a high place among the fathers of the Church, for they not only laid the foundations of Christian theology but, by exposing and refuting the errors of the gnostics, they delivered the Catholic Faith from the real danger of the doctrines of those heretics.
He was probably born about the year 125, in one of those maritime provinces of Asia Minor where the memory of the apostles was still cherished and where Christians were numerous. He was most influenced by St. Polycarp who had known the apostles or their immediate disciples
Many Asian priests and missionaries brought the gospel to the pagan Gauls and founded a local church. To this church of Lyon, Irenaeus came to serve as a priest under its first bishop, St. Pothinus, an oriental like himself. In the year 177, Irenaeus was sent to Rome. This mission explains how it was that he was not called upon to share in the martyrdom of St Pothinus during the terrible persecution in Lyons. When he returned to Lyons it was to occupy the vacant bishopric. By this time, the persecution was over. It was the spread of gnosticism in Gaul, and the ravages it was making among the Christians of his diocese, that inspired him to undertake the task of exposing its errors. He produced a treatise in five books in which he sets forth fully the inner doctrines of the various sects, and afterwards contrasts them with the teaching of the Apostles and the text of the Holy Scripture. His work, written in Greek but quickly translated to Latin, was widely circulated and succeeded in dealing a death-blow to gnosticism. At any rate, from that time onwards, it ceased to offer a serious menace to the Catholic faith.
The date of death of St. Irenaeus is not known, but it is believed to be in the year 202. The bodily remains of St. Irenaeus were buried in a crypt under the altar of what was then called the church of St. John, but was later known by the name of St. Irenaeus himself. This tomb or shrine was destroyed by the Calvinists in 1562, and all trace of his relics seems to have perished.
Saint Irenaeus (c. 130-202)
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=291
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