The uniqueness of Jesus | National Catholic Reporter

The uniqueness of Jesus National Catholic Reporter

Father is smart to publicly ignore the USCCB and Rome as long as possible. No good can come from poking them with a stick.

I like what he says about Jesus as a man of faith. Indeed, Man of Faith is one of his titles. My take on it is that the way Jesus found out about his identity as Son of God was through the Scriptures rather than some mental hotline to the Divine. While he was filled with the Spirit, as the man of faith, he had to do the head work for himself.

As to his mental anguish on the cross, I suspect it to be entirely authentic and not at all hopeful. If one reads all four Gospels, one can come to the truth. Just prior to this moment, in John, he gives the care of his mother over to his beloved disciple (rather than telling this disciple to carry on his mission). In other words, he cuts himself off from the source of his divinity - his virgin birth (whose recollections also must have informed him of his divine nature). He also cuts off his mission.

Doing these things likely fills him with the anguish he needs to authentically call out to God in despair. The fact that this despair is the essence of salvation can be demostrated by his drinking of the fruit of the vine at this next moment after the statement "I thirst." If drinking the vinegar falls into the promise that he wait to do so until he is in his Father's kingdom, then it must already be fulfilled, even before his death. The alternative is that the whole of Christianity is a sham, for he indeed drink the fruit of the vine before he died, although he refused it when first crucified.

The Pro-life Implications of the Story of Joseph

Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde preached about the example of St. Joseph and the Gabriel Project at the annual respect for life Mass on the fourth Sunday of Advent. The homily can be found at http://www.catholicherald.com/bishop/detail.html?sub_id=14583

The Gospel for that Mass have even greater pro-life implications than even the Bishop taught. Joseph had three options under the Law when he found that Mary was with child. They were divorce her quietly, take her into his home and accuse her of adultery and have her drink an herbal solution which causes miscarriage, which if successful would lead to her stoning under the law. In essence, he could have both forced her to have an abortion and then have her killed since the abortion would prove she was pregnant by someone other than him.

Not resorting to this option was the ultimate pro-life act, as it affirms both the right to life of her child and the right to life of the mother, who would have presumed to have committed adultery and thus be liable for execution in what would be described in modern day custom as an honor killing (which still occurs in the region, though not in Israel).

The guarding of the right to life of both the child and the mother should guide our teachings on abortion, as the Gabriel Project does, as well as the progressive desire to fight abortion with expanded benefits and living wage protections for the poor (like increased minimum wages and health care reform).

Revelation of the Magi

Brent Landau has translated The Revelation of the Magi from Syriac from a manuscript found in the Vatican Library. In it, the Magi are said to have come in response to visions, rather than simply the promptings of astrology. They are said to come from the land of Shir, which the author speculates to be China. This manuscript is in the tradition of other non-canonical works on the early life of Jesus which seem to be based largely on speculation rather than reportage, although they may still reflect underlying truths. The link to purchase the book is at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Revelation-of-the-Magi/Brent-Landau/e/9780062020239/?pv=y&inframe=y. This work was recently reviewed in the Arlington Catholic Herald at http://www.catholicherald.com/detail.html?sub_id=14437

Whether the manuscript is true or not is lost to the ages, although the story it lays out seems more like pious wondering than a statement of what actually happened - although the Shir concept is interesting.

I would suspect that instead of China, the site of Shir is India, which like China had a developed system of astrology and also may have had a thriving exile community of Israelites. Recent analysis of the Romany lead to the belief that these people, who were in India at the time, were members of the lost tribes of Israel - the inhabitants of the northern kingdom who were taken in exile by the Assyrians. Might the Magi have been Romany astrologers? If so, it would upset the current understanding that they were Gentiles, but it would be consistent with prophesies of the return to Zion on dromedaries bearing gifts to the Christ child that are used on the Feast of the Epiphany.

What is even more interesting is relating this possiblity with the legend that Thomas the Apostle evangelized India and reached the Romany community there, who when they returned from India went to Europe rather than what was then Muslim Palestine. It adds a whole new meaning to the words of the song O Come, O Come Emmanuel if captive Israel refers to the lost tribes who were soon evangelized and are not lost at all but right in front of us all, especially in Europe. As I have written previously, this definitely has interesting implications for relations with Israel and the apocolyptic hopes of Evangelicals as part of that.

Merry Christmas from the Christian Left!

My Christmas show was last night on Blog Talk Radio (the link is on the pane to the right).

I wish you Peace this Christmas Season.

No direct abortion at Phoenix hospital, theologian says | National Catholic Reporter

No direct abortion at Phoenix hospital, theologian says National Catholic Reporter By Jerry Filteau

Since no process was afforded to Sr. Margaret, whether or not she is excommunicate is between her, God and her confessor. If the bishop wants real penalties, he must afford her the full process of canon law for direct excommunication and risk being told by experts that he is wrong. If he does that, then he may have to take the issue of calumny to his confessor.