History
Chinese: by Dr. John C. H. Wu, Beyond East and West, 1951 (still in print)
At the family Rosary, I have often spoken to our children something to the following effect: “There is only one true Father, that is our Father in Heaven. There is only one true Mother, that is the Mother of God. Your Mommy and your Daddy are only the temporary representatives of the true Father and the true Mother. I appreciate the wonderful filial piety you have shown toward us, but always remember there is a higher filial piety, that towards God. Don’t depend on us, depend on Him. For we shall be taken from you sooner or later, but God will never leave you. Do not think that we have a big family, for however big the family may be, sooner or later we shall be scattered. In this world, there is no feast that does not come to an end. If, therefore, you want to see this family united forever, there is only one way to attain this end, and-that is for every one of us to be united with Christ. Whether we are together, whether we are separated, so long as we are united with Christ, we are united in Christ. There is only one separation that is real, the separation between Heaven and hell. If all of us belong to Heaven, then we are united in life and in death. If one of us belong to Heaven, and another to hell, then we are separated even in life. Physical togetherness means nothing; what is of value is spiritual togetherness.”
The entire book can be found here: Beyond East and West : John C.H. Wu : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Catholic priest and a prominent atheist have a respectful discussion.
100% ORTHODOX CATHOLIC FAITH FORMATION
We offer online adult Catholic education programs free of charge covering a broad spectrum of topics in the Catholic liberal arts, including theology, philosophy, history, scripture, literature, catechetics, and more.
For further information, please visit the Institute of Catholic Culture website: https://instituteofcatholicculture.org/
Week Eight Summary
Life as a Spiritual Journey
February 18 – February 23, 2024
(please click on a day of the week for more details)
Sunday
The hero’s journey is not to just keep going to new places, making the trip a vacation or travelogue. We have to return to where we started and know it in a new way and do life in a new way.
—Richard Rohr
Monday
By denying their pain and avoiding the necessary falling, many have kept themselves from their own spiritual journeys and depths—and therefore have been kept from their own spiritual heights.
—Richard Rohr
Tuesday
The sacred task at hand is to let yourself be reclaimed by something deeper than the immediacy of struggle and pain. This something need not be identified or fixated upon, but surrendered to.
—Pixie Lighthorse
Wednesday
The journey is absolutely sacred because we are not just flesh and blood. We are also spirit beings. And what other kind of journey could a spirit being take except for a spiritual journey?
—Barbara A. Holmes
Thursday
Jesus wanted his followers to know that the journey they would make involved knowing and enlivening the teachings he advocated. In other words, Jesus was cautioning them, “If you decide to give yourselves to what truly counts in this life, it will cost you.”
—Joyce Rupp
Friday
The hero “falls through” what is merely their life situation to discover their Real Life, which is always a much deeper river, hidden beneath the appearances. This deeper discovery is largely what religious people mean by “finding their soul.”
—Richard Rohr
From The Center for Action and Contemplation (www.cac.org)
Jesus and the Cross
by Richard Rohr
Meditations from cac.org
An Alternative Story
Monday, February 4, 2019
The theory of substitutionary atonement has inoculated us against the true effects of the Gospel, causing us to largely “thank” Jesus instead of honestly imitating him. At its worst, it has led us to see God as a cold, brutal figure who demands acts of violence before God can love creation. There is no doubt that the Bible—both Old and New Testaments—is filled with metaphors of sacrifice, ransom, atonement, paying the price, opening the gates, et cetera. These are common temple metaphors that would have made sense to Jewish audiences at the time they were written. But they all imply that God is not inherently on our side.
Anthropologically speaking, these words and assumptions reflect a magical or what I call “transactional” way of thinking. By that I mean that if we just believe the right thing, say the right prayer, or practice the right ritual, things will go right for us in the divine courtroom. In my experience, this way of thinking loses its power as people and cultures grow up and seek actual changes in their minds and hearts. Then, transformational thinking tends to supplant transactional thinking.
Christianity’s vision of God was a radical departure from most ancient religions. Instead of having God “eat” humans, animals, or crops, which were sacrificed on altars, Christianity made the bold claim that God’s very body was given for us to eat! This turned everything around and undid the seeming logic of quid pro quo thinking. As long as we employ any retributive notion of God’s offended justice (required punishment for wrongdoing), we trade our distinctive Christian message for the cold, hard justice that has prevailed in many cultures throughout history. We offer no redemptive alternative, but actually sanctify the very “powers and principalities” that Paul says unduly control the world (Ephesians 3:9-10; 6:12). We stay inside the small “myth of redemptive violence”—which might just be the dominant story line of history. I think the punishment model is buried deep in most peoples’ brain stem.
It’s time for Christianity to rediscover the real biblical theme of restorative justice, which focuses on rehabilitation, healing, and reconciliation, not punishment. (Read Ezekiel 16, especially the revelatory verses 53-63, for a mind-blowing example of this.) We should call Jesus’ story the “myth of redemptive suffering”—not as in “paying a price” but as in offering the self for the other. “At-one-ment” instead of atonement!
Restorative justice, of course, comes to its full demonstration in the constant healing ministry of Jesus. Jesus represents the real and deeper level of teaching of the Hebrew Prophets. Jesus never punished anybody! Yes, he challenged people, but always for the sake of insight, healing, and restoration of people and situations to their divine origin and source. Once a person recognizes that Jesus’ mission (obvious in all four Gospels) was to heal people, not punish them, the dominant theories of retributive justice begin to lose their appeal and authority.
Changing Perspectives
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
When we look at history, it’s clear that Christianity is an evolving faith. It only makes sense that early Christians would look for a logical and meaningful explanation for the “why” of the tragic death of their religion’s founder. For the early centuries, appeasing an angry, fanatical Father was not their answer. For the first thousand years, most Christians believed that the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross—the “price” or the ransom—was being paid not to God, but to the devil! This made the devil pretty powerful and God pretty weak, but it gave the people someone to blame for Jesus’ death. And at least it was not God.
Then, in the eleventh century, Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–1109) wrote a paper called Cur Deus Homo? (Why Did God Become Human?) which might just be the most unfortunately successful piece of theology ever written. Thinking he could solve the problem of sin inside of the medieval code of feudal honor and shame, Anselm said, in effect, “Yes, a price did need to be paid to restore God’s honor, and it needed to be paid to God the Father—by one who was equally divine.” I imagine Anselm didn’t consider the disastrous implications of his theory, especially for people who were already afraid or resentful of God.
In authoritarian and patriarchal cultures, most people were fully programmed to think this way—working to appease an authority figure who was angry, punitive, and even violent in “his” reactions. Many still operate this way, especially if they had an angry, demanding, or abusive parent. People respond to this kind of God, as sick as it is, because it fits their own story line.
Unfortunately, for a simple but devastating reason, this understanding also nullifies any in-depth spiritual journey: Why would you love or trust or desire to be with such a God?
Over the next few centuries, Anselm’s honor- and shame-based way of thinking came to be accepted among Christians, though it met resistance from some, particularly my own Franciscan school under Bonaventure (1221–1274) and Duns Scotus (1266–1308). Protestants accepted the mainline Catholic position, embracing it with even more fervor. Evangelicals later enshrined it as one of the “four pillars” of foundational Christian belief, which the earlier period would have thought strange. Most of us were never told of the varied history of this theory, even among Protestants. If you came from a “law and order” culture or a buying and selling culture—which most of us have—it made perfect sense. The revolutionary character of Jesus and the final and full Gospel message has still to dawn upon most of the world. It is just too upending for most peoples’ minds until they have personally undergone the radical experience of unearned love. And, even then, it takes a lifetime to sink in.
A Bigger God
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Our predestination to glory is prior by nature to any notion of sin. —John Duns Scotus [1]
The Franciscan School, led by such teachers as Duns Scotus, refused to see the Incarnation and its finale on the cross as a mere reaction to human failure. God was much more than a problem solver. Instead, Franciscans claimed that the cross was a freely chosen revelation of Love on God’s part. In so doing, they reversed the engines of almost all world religion up to that point, which assumed humans had to spill blood to get to a distant and demanding God. On the cross, Franciscans believed, God was “spilling blood” to reach out to us! [2] This is a sea change in consciousness. Instead of being a theological transaction, the crucifixion was a dramatic demonstration of God’s outpouring love, meant to utterly shock the heart and mind and turn it back toward trust and love of the Creator.
In the Franciscan view, God did not need to be paid in order to love and forgive God’s own creation. Love cannot be bought by some “necessary sacrifice”; if it could, it would not and could not work its transformative effects. Duns Scotus and his followers were committed to protecting the absolute freedom to love in God. If forgiveness needs to be bought or paid for, then it is not authentic forgiveness at all. Love and forgiveness must be freely given or they do not accomplish their deeply transformative healing. Self-serving love does not change the heart. It must be free and undeserved love or transformation does not happen. (Think about that and you will know it is true!)
I’m not sure many Christians recognize the dangers of penal substitutionary atonement theory. Perhaps the underlying assumptions were never made clear, even though thinking people throughout the ages were often repelled by such a crass notion of God. This theory has become a nail in the coffin of belief for many sincere, thoughtful individuals today. Some Christians just repress their misgiving because they think it implies a complete loss of faith. But I would wager that for every person who voices doubt, many more quietly walk away from a religion that has come to seem irrational, mythological, and deeply unsatisfying to the heart and soul. And these are usually not “bad” people!
Christianity can do so much better, and doing so will not diminish Jesus in the least. In fact, it will allow Jesus to take on a universal and humanly appealing dimension. The cross cannot be an arbitrary and bloody sacrifice triggered by a sin that was once committed by one man and one woman under a tree between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Frankly, that idea reduces any notion of a universal or truly “catholic” revelation to one planet, at the edge of one solar system, in a universe comprised of billions of galaxies with trillions of solar systems. A religion based on required sacrifices is just not glorious or hopeful enough or even befitting the marvelous creation. To those who cling to Anselm’s understanding, I would say, as J. B. Phillips wrote many years ago, “Your God is too small.” [3]
Coincidence of Opposites
Thursday, February 7, 2019
The Divine Mind transforms all human suffering by identifying completely with the human predicament and standing in full solidarity with it from beginning to end. This is the real meaning of the crucifixion. The cross is not just a singular event. It’s a statement from God that reality has a cruciform pattern. Jesus was killed in a collision of cross-purposes, conflicting interests, and half-truths, caught between the demands of an empire and the religious establishment of his day. The cross was the price Jesus paid for living in a “mixed” world, which is both human and divine, simultaneously broken and utterly whole. He hung between a good thief and a bad thief, between heaven and earth, inside of both humanity and divinity, a male body with a feminine soul, utterly whole and yet utterly disfigured—holding together all the primary opposites (see Colossians 1:15-20).
In so doing, Jesus demonstrated that Reality is not meaningless and absurd just because it isn’t perfectly logical, fair, or consistent. Reality, we know, is always filled with contradictions, what St. Bonaventure and others (such as Alan of Lille [c. 1128–1202/03] and Nicholas of Cusa [1401–1464]) called the “coincidence of opposites.” This is what we all resist and oppose much of our life.
Jesus the Christ, in his crucifixion and resurrection, “recapitulated all things in himself, everything in heaven and everything on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).
This one verse is the summary of Franciscan Christology. Jesus agreed to carry the mystery of universal suffering. He allowed it to change him (“Resurrection”) and us, too, so that we would be freed from the endless cycle of projecting our pain elsewhere or remaining trapped inside of it.
This is the fully resurrected life, the only way to be happy, free, loving, and therefore “saved.” In effect, Jesus was saying, “If I can trust it, you can too.” We are indeed saved by the cross—more than we realize. The people who hold the contradictions and resolve them in themselves are the saviors of the world. They are the only real agents of transformation, reconciliation, and newness.
Christians are meant to be the visible compassion of God on earth more than “those who are going to heaven.” They are the leaven who agree to share the fate of God for the life of the world now, and thus keep the whole batch of dough from falling back on itself. A Christian is invited, not required, to accept and live the cruciform shape of all reality. It is not a duty or even a requirement as much as a free vocation. Some people feel called and agree to not hide from the dark side of things or the rejected group, but in fact draw close to the pain of the world and allow it to radically change their perspective. They agree to embrace the imperfection and even the injustices of our world, allowing these situations to change them from the inside out, which is the only way things are changed anyway.
The Scapegoat Mechanism
Friday, February 8, 2019
The scapegoating ritual described in Leviticus 16 offers a helpful perspective on Jesus’ death. On the “Day of Atonement” the high priest, Aaron, was instructed to symbolically lay all the sins of the people on one unfortunate goat, and the people would then beat the animal until it fled into the desert. It was a vivid symbolic act that helped to unite and free the children of Israel. Instead of owning their faults, this ritual allowed people to export them elsewhere—in this case onto an innocent animal.
The image of the scapegoat powerfully mirrors the universal, but largely unconscious, human need to transfer our guilt onto something or someone else by singling that other out for unmerited negative treatment. French philosopher and historian René Girard (1923–2015) demonstrated that the scapegoat mechanism is foundational for the formation of most social groups and cultures. We need another group to be against to form our group! For example, many in the United States scapegoat refugees who are seeking asylum, falsely accusing them of being criminals. This pattern is seen in many facets of our society and our private, inner lives—so much so that we might call it “the sin of the world” (note that “sin” is singular in John 1:29).
We humans largely hate or blame almost anything else rather than recognize our own weaknesses and negativity. “She made me do it.” “He is guilty.” “He deserves it.” “They are the problem.” “They are evil.” We seldom consciously know that we are scapegoating or projecting. It’s automatic, ingrained, and unconscious. As Jesus said, people literally “do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
We hate our own imperfections in other people, and sadly we often find the best cover for that projection in religion. God and religion, I am afraid, have been used to justify most of our violence and to hide from the shadow parts of ourselves that we would rather not admit. Yet Jesus revealed the pattern two thousand years ago. “When anyone kills you, they will think they are doing a holy duty for God,” he said (John 16:2).
The Scriptures call such ignorant hatred and killing “sin,” and Jesus came precisely to “take away” (John 1:29) our capacity to commit it—by exposing the lie for all to see. Jesus stood as the fully innocent one who was condemned by the highest authorities of both “church and state” (Jerusalem and Rome), an act that should create healthy suspicion about how wrong even the highest powers can be. Maybe power still does not want us to see this. Much of Christianity shames individuals for private sins while lauding public figures in spite of their pride, greed, gluttony, lying, killing, or narcissism.
As John puts it, “He will show the world how wrong it was about sin, about who was really in the right, and about true judgement” (John 16:8). This is what Jesus exposes and defeats on the cross. He did not come to change God’s mind about us. It did not need changing. Jesus came to change our minds about God—and about ourselves—and about where goodness and evil really lie.
The Trust In Mercy’s World Peace Rosary Initiative encourages everyone of all ages to pray a Hail Mary for peace for each of the nearly 200 countries/regions of the world by name.
If one prays all 20 decades of the rosary, the whole world will be covered with prayer!
This initiative is a multimedia experience with both visual and audio prayer aids.
The visual aids consists of a 4-panel, full color, 8.5″ x 14″ foldout pamphlet that lists every country/region of the world.
A free mobile-friendly pamphlet is also available.
The 20-decade audio rosary features a Hail Mary for peace for each country/region.
Different families with ages ranging from 3 to 95 pray for each set of decades. Original background music enhances the rosary prayer experience.
To purchase the pamphlets and for more information, please see: https://trustinmercy.world/prayer
History
In the early years of the Cold War, having discovered Our Lady of Fatima’s message, Msgr. Harold V. Colgan partnered with John M. Haffert to create the “Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima”.
Members of this “Blue Army” were the spiritual force standing against the atheistic policies of the Soviet Union and their Red Army. They pledged to offer their daily sufferings and difficulties for the conversion of sinners, to pray the Rosary daily, to wear the Brown Scapular as a sign of consecration to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and to practice the Five First Saturdays devotion.
The pledge, which Sister Lucia herself helped formulate, quickly gained popularity throughout the United States and soon became a worldwide movement, with between thirty and forty million people having signed the Blue Army Pledge.
In the early 1950s Msgr. Colgan, together with John Haffert, established the Ave Maria Institute on John Haffert’s farm in Washington, New Jersey. The farm served as the administrative center for sending and receiving new Pledge cards, handling correspondence, publishing Soul Magazine, and coordinating travel for the Pilgrim Virgin Statue. Around this same time they also purchased land in Fatima and built Domus Pacis hotel and conference center, which continues to house pilgrims and serve as headquarters for the International World Apostolate of Fatima.
John later donated his farm to the Blue Army, building a large shrine with a towering roof and 24′ bronze statue of Mary on the property. Today, this site is known today as the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima officially became the World Apostolate of Fatima and on October 7, 2010 was named a Public International Association of the Faithful. Today we serve as the Church’s official voice on the authentic message of Fatima.
For further information, please visit the World Apostolate of Fatima, USA website: https://www.bluearmy.com/
The Trust In Mercy’s World Peace Rosary Initiative encourages everyone of all ages to pray a Hail Mary for peace for each of the nearly 200 countries/regions of the world by name.
If one prays all 20 decades of the rosary, the whole world will be covered with prayer!
This initiative is a multimedia experience with both visual and audio prayer aids.
The visual aids consists of a 4-panel, full color, 8.5″ x 14″ foldout pamphlet that lists every country/region of the world.
A free mobile-friendly pamphlet is also available.
The 20-decade audio rosary features a Hail Mary for peace for each country/region.
Different families with ages ranging from 3 to 95 pray for each set of decades. Original background music enhances the rosary prayer experience.
To purchase the pamphlets and for more information, please see: https://trustinmercy.world/prayer
![](https://sacredworldwideart.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Logo-World-Peace-Rosary-low-res-thumbnail-transparent_bordered.png)
100% ORTHODOX CATHOLIC FAITH FORMATION
We offer online adult Catholic education programs free of charge covering a broad spectrum of topics in the Catholic liberal arts, including theology, philosophy, history, scripture, literature, catechetics, and more.
For further information, please visit the Institute of Catholic Culture website: https://instituteofcatholicculture.org/
Catholic priest and a prominent atheist have a respectful discussion.
Chinese: by Dr. John C. H. Wu, Beyond East and West, 1951 (still in print)
At the family Rosary, I have often spoken to our children something to the following effect: “There is only one true Father, that is our Father in Heaven. There is only one true Mother, that is the Mother of God. Your Mommy and your Daddy are only the temporary representatives of the true Father and the true Mother. I appreciate the wonderful filial piety you have shown toward us, but always remember there is a higher filial piety, that towards God. Don’t depend on us, depend on Him. For we shall be taken from you sooner or later, but God will never leave you. Do not think that we have a big family, for however big the family may be, sooner or later we shall be scattered. In this world, there is no feast that does not come to an end. If, therefore, you want to see this family united forever, there is only one way to attain this end, and-that is for every one of us to be united with Christ. Whether we are together, whether we are separated, so long as we are united with Christ, we are united in Christ. There is only one separation that is real, the separation between Heaven and hell. If all of us belong to Heaven, then we are united in life and in death. If one of us belong to Heaven, and another to hell, then we are separated even in life. Physical togetherness means nothing; what is of value is spiritual togetherness.”
The entire book can be found here: Beyond East and West : John C.H. Wu : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
From Wikipedia:
The Chosen is an American Christian historical drama television series. Created, directed, and co-written by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, it is the first multi-season series about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Primarily set in Judaea and Galilee in the 1st century, the series centers on Jesus and the different people who met and followed or otherwise interacted with him.
From thechosen.tv:
Available on streaming services such as Netflix, free with The Chosen App or on DVD.
For more about the artist who created the sculpture shown in this video, please visit donymacmanus.com
Worshiping the Messiah through music has been a crucial part of life for followers of Jesus (Yeshua) since the first century. Paul exhorts believers in Messiah to be filled with the Spirit and speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual music (Ephesians 5:18–19). . .Music in Israel thus draws on influences from various places, including the Middle East, Central and eastern Europe, North and South America, and North Africa. ..The number of believers has soared to greater than 25,000, with more than 200 congregations spread throughout the Holy Land. The Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel sponsors regular concerts every two years featuring new musical artists and their songs. Some Israeli Messianic groups and artists like MIQEDEM, SOLU, Joshua Aaron, Sarah Liberman, and Emanuel Roro are known internationally for producing and performing innovative and inspirational worship songs. Those who have led the way mentor and assist these emerging musicians.
Faith Primer
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One Family
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