3/31/11 - While listening to one of the christian channels on my radio I heard of the prophet Habakkuk. He was described as someone who saw the need to question God's inaction in perilous times and there are occasions when I too, have many "whys" for our God. Would you please give me your thoughts. Thank you
In a reading and study of Habakkuk several major religious motifs thread their way through the prophecy:
- God’s absolute trustworthiness;
- God’s control of the universe;
- Our inability to understand adequately the mysterious ways of God;
- Our failure to fathom the mysteries of the universe and the colossal struggles of nature and politics
The prophet feels an obligation to find an answer for his troubling questions. The first two chapters consist of a dialogue between the prophet and the Lord and for what may be the first time in Israelite literature, a man questions the ways of God, as Habakkuk calls God to account for his government of the world. To this question God replies that he has prepared a chastising rod, Babylon, which will be the avenging instrument in his hand. There is added the divine assurance that the just Israelite will not perish in the calamities about to be visited on the nation."The just man because of his faith shall live". 2:4
Your question echoes a universal sentiment in all of us: the tendency to ask 'why'. A deacon brother in Christ shared this with me recently and I want to share it with you. He had gone to visit an elder parishioner who was diagnosed with a serious illness. The man's wife had also been seriously ill for a long time and he was lovingly taking care of her and now this. My deacon friend intended to minister to that man and started out by saying something like "I know that in times like these there is a tendency to ask 'why?'..." At that point the man interrupted him and said "I never ask 'why', it is the wrong question; the correct answer is 'what for'". That blew my deacon friend away as it blew me away when he recounted the story. Who ministered to whom?
'My grace is sufficient for you' our Lord told St. Paul, so when those perilous times come, as they must, let us face them with the question 'what for' as we await with expectant faith for his sufficient grace which is sure to be present. Remember "The just man (or woman) because of his faith shall live". Hab. 2:4
I believe that Jesus had a 'why' moment in the garden of Gethsemane in his absolute humanity, but he was able to transcend that moment by rising to a 'what for' moment when he declared "but not my will be done but yours" and made true what God declared in his response to Habakkuk: "The just man because of his faith shall live". Hope this helps.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
- God’s absolute trustworthiness;
- God’s control of the universe;
- Our inability to understand adequately the mysterious ways of God;
- Our failure to fathom the mysteries of the universe and the colossal struggles of nature and politics
The prophet feels an obligation to find an answer for his troubling questions. The first two chapters consist of a dialogue between the prophet and the Lord and for what may be the first time in Israelite literature, a man questions the ways of God, as Habakkuk calls God to account for his government of the world. To this question God replies that he has prepared a chastising rod, Babylon, which will be the avenging instrument in his hand. There is added the divine assurance that the just Israelite will not perish in the calamities about to be visited on the nation."The just man because of his faith shall live". 2:4
Your question echoes a universal sentiment in all of us: the tendency to ask 'why'. A deacon brother in Christ shared this with me recently and I want to share it with you. He had gone to visit an elder parishioner who was diagnosed with a serious illness. The man's wife had also been seriously ill for a long time and he was lovingly taking care of her and now this. My deacon friend intended to minister to that man and started out by saying something like "I know that in times like these there is a tendency to ask 'why?'..." At that point the man interrupted him and said "I never ask 'why', it is the wrong question; the correct answer is 'what for'". That blew my deacon friend away as it blew me away when he recounted the story. Who ministered to whom?
'My grace is sufficient for you' our Lord told St. Paul, so when those perilous times come, as they must, let us face them with the question 'what for' as we await with expectant faith for his sufficient grace which is sure to be present. Remember "The just man (or woman) because of his faith shall live". Hab. 2:4
I believe that Jesus had a 'why' moment in the garden of Gethsemane in his absolute humanity, but he was able to transcend that moment by rising to a 'what for' moment when he declared "but not my will be done but yours" and made true what God declared in his response to Habakkuk: "The just man because of his faith shall live". Hope this helps.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
11/4/2010 - WHY DO WE PRAY FOR THE DEAD, I CANT FIND ANYTHING ABOUT IT IN THE BIBLE.aRE WE PLAYING LETS MAKE A DEAL(JOKING) OR ARE WE APPEALING TO A MERCIFUL GOD THAT I ALREADY KNOWS EXISTS.
I almost missed the very important question in my email and apologize for the late answer.
The earliest Scriptural reference to prayers for the dead comes in the second book of Maccabees. The books of Maccabees were among the latest written books found in the Old Testament. They recount the struggle of the Jewish people for freedom against the Seleucid Empire, around 100-200 years before the birth of Christ. The second book of Maccabees tells how Judas Maccabee, the Jewish leader, led his troops into a battle in 163 B.C. When the battle ended he ordered that the bodies of dead Jewish soldiers be buried. However the bodies to be buried were discovered to be wearing amulets taken as booty from a pagan Temple, a violation of Deuteronomic law and so Judas and his soldiers prayed that God would forgive the sin these men had committed ( See 2 Maccabees 12:39-45). This is the first indication in the Bible of a belief that prayers offered by the living can help free the dead from any sin that would separate them from God in the life to come.
In the New Testament St. Paul offered a prayer for a man named Onesiphorus who had died: “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day”(II Timothy 1:18).
The catacombs under the city of Rome also bear evidence that members of the Roman Christian community gathered there to pray for their fellow followers of Christ who lay buried there. By the 4th century prayers for the dead were already an long established custom and found in Christian writings.
The practice of praying for the dead is rooted in our Christian belief in the everlasting life promised in Jesus’ teachings and foreshadowed by his resurrection. It is as living beings that God invites us into a relationship that transcends death; "That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." (Luke 20: 37-38)
Praying for the dead also ties in with our belief in the communion of saints: saints in heaven, the saints-in-waiting in purgatory and other believers here on earth. Just as members of this community who are living often assist each other in faith by prayers and other forms of spiritual support we believe that we can assist those who have died by our prayers, and they can assist us by theirs. Death remains the ultimate mystery for us, but Christian hope in the presence of death, is in the belief that our love, linked with Christ’s can remove any barriers thst might keep those we love who have died from enjoying the fullness of the presence of a loving and life-giving God.
Please also be mindful that for Catholics, the Sacred Deposit of Faith is Scripture plus apostolic tradition, as manifested in the living teaching authority of the Catholic Church, to which were entrusted the oral teachings of Jesus and the apostles, along with the authority to interpret Scripture correctly and therefore we cannot adhere to 'Sola Scriptura': the Protestants claim the Bible is the only rule of faith. BTW, the Books of the Maccabees included in the Catholic
Canon are sometimes printed in Protestant Bibles as “Deutero-canonical” or “Apocrypha” or omitted altogether. Hope this helps.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
The earliest Scriptural reference to prayers for the dead comes in the second book of Maccabees. The books of Maccabees were among the latest written books found in the Old Testament. They recount the struggle of the Jewish people for freedom against the Seleucid Empire, around 100-200 years before the birth of Christ. The second book of Maccabees tells how Judas Maccabee, the Jewish leader, led his troops into a battle in 163 B.C. When the battle ended he ordered that the bodies of dead Jewish soldiers be buried. However the bodies to be buried were discovered to be wearing amulets taken as booty from a pagan Temple, a violation of Deuteronomic law and so Judas and his soldiers prayed that God would forgive the sin these men had committed ( See 2 Maccabees 12:39-45). This is the first indication in the Bible of a belief that prayers offered by the living can help free the dead from any sin that would separate them from God in the life to come.
In the New Testament St. Paul offered a prayer for a man named Onesiphorus who had died: “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day”(II Timothy 1:18).
The catacombs under the city of Rome also bear evidence that members of the Roman Christian community gathered there to pray for their fellow followers of Christ who lay buried there. By the 4th century prayers for the dead were already an long established custom and found in Christian writings.
The practice of praying for the dead is rooted in our Christian belief in the everlasting life promised in Jesus’ teachings and foreshadowed by his resurrection. It is as living beings that God invites us into a relationship that transcends death; "That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." (Luke 20: 37-38)
Praying for the dead also ties in with our belief in the communion of saints: saints in heaven, the saints-in-waiting in purgatory and other believers here on earth. Just as members of this community who are living often assist each other in faith by prayers and other forms of spiritual support we believe that we can assist those who have died by our prayers, and they can assist us by theirs. Death remains the ultimate mystery for us, but Christian hope in the presence of death, is in the belief that our love, linked with Christ’s can remove any barriers thst might keep those we love who have died from enjoying the fullness of the presence of a loving and life-giving God.
Please also be mindful that for Catholics, the Sacred Deposit of Faith is Scripture plus apostolic tradition, as manifested in the living teaching authority of the Catholic Church, to which were entrusted the oral teachings of Jesus and the apostles, along with the authority to interpret Scripture correctly and therefore we cannot adhere to 'Sola Scriptura': the Protestants claim the Bible is the only rule of faith. BTW, the Books of the Maccabees included in the Catholic
Canon are sometimes printed in Protestant Bibles as “Deutero-canonical” or “Apocrypha” or omitted altogether. Hope this helps.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
10/7/10 - Why were some books included in the New Testament and others omitted?
Good question. Different communities of early Christians maintained their own oral traditions of Jesus' wisdom (writing was a specialized art performed by a scribe). When written accounts of Jesus' teachings began to circulate (i.e., the theoretical "sayings" gospel 'Q' and the Semeia or Signs source), the independent groups would supplement them with their own traditions about the savior, each believing their own versions to be "the Gospel." Eventually, as these expanded writings spread through other communities, some versions were viewed as having more authority than others. It was not until the pronouncement of Bishop Irenæus (185 C.E.) that Christians began to accept only the four familiar gospels as authoritative, and to refer to them by their modern titles. The rest of the canon was much slower to develop. For the next two centuries, the four gospels would be coupled with a myriad of different letters, epistles, stories and apocalypses, according to what a particular congregation judged as relevant to their understanding of Jesus Christ and his message. Following the Epistle of Athanasius in 367 C.E., the Church finally reached agreement upon which writings were truly authentic and representative of apostolic tradition, thus forming what we know today as the canonical New Testament. Per Fr. Felix Just S.J., PhD, there was a Four-fold Criteria used to determinine canonicity of The New Testament Scriptures as listed below:
Peace,
Deacon Michel
- Apostolic Origin - attributed to and/or based on the preaching/teaching of the first-generation apostles (or their closest companions).
- Universal Acceptance - acknowledged by all major Christian communities in the Mediterranean world (by the end of the fourth century).
- Liturgical Use - read publicly along with the OT when early Christians gathered for the Lord's Supper (their weekly worship services).
- Consistent Message - containing theological ideas compatible with other accepted Christian writings (incl. the divinity and humanity Jesus).
Peace,
Deacon Michel
6/2/10 - Why confess to a priest and not just directly to God?
Another great question and I'll begin my response by first briefly explaining our Sacraments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us “the sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.” (CCC #1131)
Confession, also known as reconciliation, is one of seven sacraments in the church. There are two main reasons for confession: forgiveness and healing. In the Gospel of John, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on the twelve, and says: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:21) And in James 5:16, the author writes: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”
It is God who forgives sins and He is represented by the priest who is acting in Persona Christi when granting absolution. Sin is also both personal and communal affecting me and my relationship with God and hurting the Body of Christ. So, in addition, the priest, as confessor and leader, also represents the Church, the Community of Faith. In the Sacrament of confession I am not only asking God to forgive me, but I am also asking the same from my brothers and sisters in Christ (note the words of the 'I Confess' at the Mass).
Finally, as sensual, tactile human beings, one need that we have is to get things off the chest, so to speak. We often know what is bothering us, but until we speak about it to someone else, the heavy burden lingers . In the actual confession of our sinfulness to a priest and hearing the words of absolution, there is the human feeling of being made free thus enabling the healing to begin. Forgiveness and healing was a large part in Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
The Sacrament of Confession is one of the least understood, and consequently least utilized sacraments in the Catholic Church. In reconciling us to God, it is a great source of grace, and I encourage you to take advantage of it often, even if you are not aware of having committed mortal sin.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
Confession, also known as reconciliation, is one of seven sacraments in the church. There are two main reasons for confession: forgiveness and healing. In the Gospel of John, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on the twelve, and says: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:21) And in James 5:16, the author writes: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”
It is God who forgives sins and He is represented by the priest who is acting in Persona Christi when granting absolution. Sin is also both personal and communal affecting me and my relationship with God and hurting the Body of Christ. So, in addition, the priest, as confessor and leader, also represents the Church, the Community of Faith. In the Sacrament of confession I am not only asking God to forgive me, but I am also asking the same from my brothers and sisters in Christ (note the words of the 'I Confess' at the Mass).
Finally, as sensual, tactile human beings, one need that we have is to get things off the chest, so to speak. We often know what is bothering us, but until we speak about it to someone else, the heavy burden lingers . In the actual confession of our sinfulness to a priest and hearing the words of absolution, there is the human feeling of being made free thus enabling the healing to begin. Forgiveness and healing was a large part in Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
The Sacrament of Confession is one of the least understood, and consequently least utilized sacraments in the Catholic Church. In reconciling us to God, it is a great source of grace, and I encourage you to take advantage of it often, even if you are not aware of having committed mortal sin.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
3/23/10 - Here's a great question I received from a reader:
Recently I was exposed to reading and praying the Psalms, however, I find the language very hostile at times. This is very confusing to me as I really believe that "my" God is a loving God and the language expressed in the psalms portray a different picture ... Can you give me an explanation as to what the Psalms are, and are they truly meant to be prayed? Much appreciated. Terry
The Psalter (Book of Psalms) is a collection of 150 songs, prayers, poems and hymns gathered over period of nearly 1000 years in Hebrew Testament history. There are different types of psalms: stories, songs of praise, and prayers of repentance. But they are all deeply emotional and profoundly spiritual and encompass the whole range of human emotions from sorrow, lament and depression to joy, praise and celebration. At their heart the Psalms express the delight of the Lord in his people and their delight in him. They show the deep love which exists between the two. The Psalms are both personal and communal. Their varied themes and concerns require us to change our attitudes of prayer to correspond with the particular psalm. St. Augustine taught that "if the psalm prays, pray. If it laments, lament. If it rejoices, rejoice. If it hopes, hope. If it fears, fear. For everything which is written here is a reflection of us." The Psalms mirror human emotions and simultaneously reveal God's heart for us. Some of the Psalms are prophetic and find their fulfillment in the life of Christ. For example, Ps 22 speaks of his Passion.
The Psalms are not meant to be simply read, but to be prayed. The ancient Israelites prayed the Psalms in the tabernacle and then in the Temple until its destruction in 70 AD. Since then the Jewish people have continued to pray the Psalms. The earliest Christians also prayed the Psalms (see Eph 5:19; Col 3:16) and the Psalms were incorporated into the liturgy of the Mass. The Psalms are still prayed by the Church daily in the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: the Psalms are the key to the spirituality of the Old Testament and they are an essential and permanent part of Christian prayer (CCC 2597).
There is another interesting part of your question where you state that the language of the psalms portray a different picture to your image of God as a loving God. I must warn you to be careful of falling into the same error (heresy) as Marcion in the 2nd century AD who believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament. The God of the Psalms is the same God that Jesus called 'Father', the God who is present and loves us in every situation, good and bad, we find ourselves in. Many of the lament psalms speak of a hostile time in Jewish history and thus they turn to God as a protector who defends them in battle and defeats their enemies. The Key in these psalms is their complete trust and surrender to God. When you pray the psalms don't focus so much on the words but on the attitude the psalms convey: trust in your loving God. I hope this helps.
Peace,
Deacon Michel
Recently I was exposed to reading and praying the Psalms, however, I find the language very hostile at times. This is very confusing to me as I really believe that "my" God is a loving God and the language expressed in the psalms portray a different picture ... Can you give me an explanation as to what the Psalms are, and are they truly meant to be prayed? Much appreciated. Terry
The Psalter (Book of Psalms) is a collection of 150 songs, prayers, poems and hymns gathered over period of nearly 1000 years in Hebrew Testament history. There are different types of psalms: stories, songs of praise, and prayers of repentance. But they are all deeply emotional and profoundly spiritual and encompass the whole range of human emotions from sorrow, lament and depression to joy, praise and celebration. At their heart the Psalms express the delight of the Lord in his people and their delight in him. They show the deep love which exists between the two. The Psalms are both personal and communal. Their varied themes and concerns require us to change our attitudes of prayer to correspond with the particular psalm. St. Augustine taught that "if the psalm prays, pray. If it laments, lament. If it rejoices, rejoice. If it hopes, hope. If it fears, fear. For everything which is written here is a reflection of us." The Psalms mirror human emotions and simultaneously reveal God's heart for us. Some of the Psalms are prophetic and find their fulfillment in the life of Christ. For example, Ps 22 speaks of his Passion.
The Psalms are not meant to be simply read, but to be prayed. The ancient Israelites prayed the Psalms in the tabernacle and then in the Temple until its destruction in 70 AD. Since then the Jewish people have continued to pray the Psalms. The earliest Christians also prayed the Psalms (see Eph 5:19; Col 3:16) and the Psalms were incorporated into the liturgy of the Mass. The Psalms are still prayed by the Church daily in the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: the Psalms are the key to the spirituality of the Old Testament and they are an essential and permanent part of Christian prayer (CCC 2597).
There is another interesting part of your question where you state that the language of the psalms portray a different picture to your image of God as a loving God. I must warn you to be careful of falling into the same error (heresy) as Marcion in the 2nd century AD who believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament. The God of the Psalms is the same God that Jesus called 'Father', the God who is present and loves us in every situation, good and bad, we find ourselves in. Many of the lament psalms speak of a hostile time in Jewish history and thus they turn to God as a protector who defends them in battle and defeats their enemies. The Key in these psalms is their complete trust and surrender to God. When you pray the psalms don't focus so much on the words but on the attitude the psalms convey: trust in your loving God. I hope this helps.
Peace,
Deacon Michel