Factions

The story of this First Sunday after Easter took place on the same day of the Resurrection (John 20: 19-23). It is the continuation of the account of the Resurrection. It happened on that first day of the week, our modern time Sunday. Jesus, the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples. It was him not a ghost. He is truly alive. We need reflect on two aspects of the story that I found important for every follower of Jesus: (1) All doors were shut for fear of the Jews; (2) Jesus was the reason why the disciples were gathered.

All doors were shut for fear of the Jews

The Sentiments during the week of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus:

            All the Jews were in town for the Passover; the Pharisees, Scribes, Jewish leaders were strictly attached to the observance of the Law; the political power represented by Pontius Pilate took all necessary precaution to prevent any trouble; and the disciples were afraid of Jesus because of the brutality of the Jews against Jesus. All this leads to the idea of “faction”.

James Madison argues in Federalist #10 that the formation of factions is the natural behavior of men. Whether the group is a majority or minority faction, the goals they pursue may be counter to the good of other factions, or society as a whole. 

According to Madison, there are two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.

Jesus and his followers were seen as a faction against the Jewish and Roman establishments: they must be eliminated. Hence, the fear that came upon the disciples.

Jesus is the reason of their gathering

They made the difficult choice to stand for Jesus. They had the choice to compromise but they didn’t. They had the choice to go back to their own families, but they didn’t. They had the choice to run for their lives, but they didn’t. They stayed in the game with Jesus. It is true that they shut their doors for fear of the Jews, but we have to keep in mind that they gathered together for Jesus.

How about you? Where do you put Jesus in your life? Does He occupy the first place? When it comes to choose between your relations, your friends, your families, your relatives and Jesus, what do you choose?

To overcome the world, we cannot support or please the world, friends, families or relatives for no reason at all. For God to do what he promised in Isaiah 43: 1-12, you must make a choice, a clear choice, which is to be on the right side, his side.

As Christians, we are not going to join the world. There is nothing that can justify our choice of the world, families and friends over Jesus, the Bible, the Church, the Kingdom. Nothing!

Be in the same faction with Jesus!

Peace and blessings!

Fr. Thierry 

Another fraud looms: 1500 year old "Bible" makes claims.

Another manuscript has appeared denying the Holy scripture and making conveninet claims about Mohammedanism:

"Much has been made of the recent discovery in Turkey of a Bible purported to be written in the Aramaic language, 1,500 years ago. The Muslim media, as well as Western media outlets, quickly pounced on this, claiming this Bible contains verses attributed to Jesus Christ, in which Christ predicts the coming of Muhammad. No media outlet has published a facsimile of these verses.

Read the rest here:

http://www.aina.org/news/2012022916569.htm

A great list of Brithonic Saints

Brief sketches of various Saints of Britain

"St. Acca

Bishop of Hexham

Died: 20th October AD 740 

During his youth, Acca joined the household of Bishop Bosa of York, where he fell in with the Romanist party and became a faithful friend of St. Wilfred, Abbot of Ripon. They were constant companions for thirteen, often turbulent, years and Acca accompanied the great man on many of his Continental visits. 

Upon, Wilfred's deathbed (AD 709), he nominated Acca to succeed him as Abbot of Hexham and, in the event, he was able to take up the Bishopric as well. He completed the building work started by his friend and decorated the principal church at Hexham with altars, sacred vessels and holy relics.  

Acca was an accomplished singer and a noted scholar of the age. Bede praised the high quality and wide-ranging diversity of his theological library; and dedicated several of his biblical works to the Bishop. The two seem to have known each other well, for when Acca found St. Ambrose's commentary on St. Luke too long, he encouraged the father of English History to write a reduced version. He later supplied Bede with information for the Ecclesiastical History. 

In AD 731, political intrigues led to King Ceolwulf of Northumbria being seized by unknown opponents and forced to enter a monastery. His supporters subsequently restored him to the throne, but vengeance was swift and Bishop Acca expulsion from his see soon afterward almost certainly indicates his involvement in the coup. Some records imply that he fled west where he was appointed Bishop of Whithorn.  

Acca died on 20th October AD 740. He was buried beside the east wall of Hexham Cathedral, between two huge stone crosses decorated with Mediterranean-style vines and tendrils. These survive largely intact and can be seen today inside the Abbey Church.

http://www.britannia.com/bios/saints/

Are Old School Catechetics Making a Comeback?

Some have never left them!

A good read:

Since the 60s, whether in the Catholic or Protestant or evangelical worlds, old school catechetics have fallen out of favor. There's reasons for that, of course.

First, the Q & A catechisms with which many of us are familiar (Westminster Shorter, Baltimore,Luther's Small Catechism, etc.) were forged in the fires of the crisis of the fracturing of Western Christianity. Various confessional bodies needed to get their truth into their people's heads fast and hard, from the sixteenth century through the mid-twentieth. With the rise of the ecumenical movement in the wake of WWII, the confessional distinctives Q & A catechisms supported were downplayed.

Second, doctrine was marginalized and non- or supra-linguistic experience brought to the center, and not only in the mainline worlds. In fundamentalist-cum-evangelical circles, memorization of the Bible (in ways most of us can't even fathom today) was slowly and subtly replaced by an emphasis on good feelings."

Read the rest here