Isaiah 7:14

When I first started taking my faith seriously again in May of 2005, I recall how amazed for the first time in my life with the words emphasized slowly, and several times in succession by my pastor in a homily:

"God.....became.....Man!"

Christmas would never be the same for me after that.  Gone was the secular notion of the holiday with it's emphasis on excessive gift giving and lack of emphasis on Christ.

Every weekend of my life I went to Mass unless I was sick, and I listened to the Old and New Testament readings, as well as the psalm.  Unfortunately, I never "heard" them.   Over these past four years, I have paid even closer attention.  One of the things that still amazes me is how something could be prophesied so many centuries earlier in the Old Testament and be fulfilled so precisely in the New.  People look for miraculous signs and wonders all the time, yet Sacred Scripture contains many.

With Advent now here, pay close attention to the readings at Mass, and in the breviary if you read it.  In particular, follow the psalms and readings in the Office of Readings (OOR). This part of the breviary takes on themes, such as Advent (with a shift in the 2nd reading, if there is a feast day).  If you don't have a breviary, or if you have the shorter version without the OOR, you can use Universalis which updates daily.  While the translation makes it ineligible for those who are required to recite the OOR, like priests, it is just fine for most of us. It has come a long way from where I recall it years ago, when it didn't even have Lauds and Vespers complete.

This post was prompted by an early morning viewing of a rerun of Fr. Pablo Straub's Advent reflections on EWTN.  As soon as I turned on the television, I was met with Isaiah 7:10-14.  As Father suggested, commit Isaiah 7:14 to memory.  Keep in mind Isaiah lived in the 8th century B.C.

Isaiah 7:10-14 (RSV-Catholic Edition)

Matthew 1:20-25

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." 13 And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14* Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman* shall conceive and bear a son*, and shall call his name Immanu-el. *

20 But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; 21* she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23* "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.

* Note on "a young woman" in the Isaiah passage....in some translations the word used is "virgin".  The Ignatius Bible which is RSV-CE uses a footnote at the bottom to indicate the alternative translation.

There are some arguments out there which challenge the messianic nature of Isaiah 7:14.  Fr. William G. Most, writing for EWTN, goes very deep into this issue in, "The Problem of Isaiah 7:14".

If that document is too deep for you, Fr. Echert offers a more simple explanation, for those wanting it.

Now is a good time to point out the nice resource page that EWTN has on Advent.  The USCCB site has also put together an Advent page.

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Vatican and Exorcism - on O'Reilly Factor

If you are just dropping in at this hour, turn on Fox News if you have access. I happen to go to Foxnews.com to see if there was any coverage of the March for Life in DC, when I stumbled across an advertisement for Bill O'Reilly's topic tonight: The Vatican and stepped up exorcisms.

EDIT 8:37pm.

What a joke of an interview! I use to watch O'Reilly before I got serious about my faith and even back then, I got tired of the "non-interview" interviews. I wish I had gotten the professor's name (poor guy), whose specialty is in demonology. I got the impression he thought he was going to talk about one thing, then was made to look like a fool. He was blindsided.

I think the so-called "interview" lasted all of 5 minutes and it was like his whole aim was to make a mockery of Catholic belief in demons. Since it was about Vatican and Exorcisms, I thought it would be informative about Catholic understanding of demonology, but it was more like an attack on Catholic belief by badgering a theologian.

That any Christian, especially a Catholic, would doubt the existence of demons (not necessarily O'Reilly, but in general), in light of the many accounts we have in scripture, is itself baffling. Unless, that is, you are of the mindset that scripture is just a set of "stories". There are probably still professors errantly teaching, in Catholic universities and seminaries, that Adam and Eve didn't really exist, but were figurative. That in itself, puts the whole notion of Original Sin into question because how can we have Original Sin on our souls if there were no Adam and Eve? If there is no Original Sin, then there is no concupiscence, or an inclination towards the bad. Of course, everyone is without sin these days, which explains the empty confessionals and long Communion lines. Is it any wonder? It must be all those other people.

Adam and Eve did exist; Original Sin is real, and it is visible in secular culture today where people cater to concupiscence lest it hurt their precious feelings if they don't.

In fact, Bill, since you were looking for proof of demons in society, get out from behind the desk and watch the news and you will have ample evidence. If you ask me, there are far more reasons today to believe in the presence of demons active in our culture, than not. They just don't puke up green gunk or spin their heads. They simply influence editors to produce sleazy covers for their magazines, and they influence store owners to stock the checkout shelves, and they influence people going through checkout to buy them and......use your own imagination from there.

How many of the unborn will pay the price of people just glancing at a magazine cover?

A list of some possessions in the New Testament⁽¹⁾:

MK 1, 23-27
MK 5, 1-20
MK 7, 25-30
MK 9, 14-29
Mt 12, 22
Mt 17, 15.18
Lk 6, 18; 7,21
Mk 1, 34-39
Mk 1, 23; 5,6

---

(1) Leon-Dufour. (1988). Dictionary of biblical theology. Ijamsville, Maryland: The Word Among us Press.



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Fr. Benedict Groeschel on Scripture - Elvis Presley and the Resurrection

If you don't have the ability to watch EWTN to see Fr. Benedict Groeschel on Sunday Night Live - specifically the episode from their EWTN Family Celebration that aired tonight, find some other means to watch it (and I give you options below).

I have never seen an episode of Sunday Night Live with Fr. Groeschel that I did not like, but this episode was on fire! He spoke about rationalism and how the Historical-Critical Method for interpreting Scripture messed up a good many people - especially priests in their formation. As I watched the show I couldn't help but think that this explains how many in the church have been so disoriented. One casualty was any reference to earlier councils. Fr. Groeschel ties this to why so many priests today just cannot preach effectively on the faith and goes into some interesting details.

Through the history of the Church holy Scripture was read on faith and it was the way the great saints read it, as well as the early Church. Then, in the last 60 years, some people complicated it to the point that only someone with advanced degrees in various languages, history, archeology, etc, would be considered smart enough to read it (if you listened to some scholars - pffffft!!!).

Nevermind what holy Mother Church had given us through the centuries. Fr. Groeschel pointed out something I've been saying all along: God never intended for people to have advanced degrees to "get it". In fact, I have come to the conclusion that when people complicate things to such high levels and it contradicts that which has been taught consistently by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the great popes, it's time to run the other way. From Hebrews 13:8-9

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever ...... Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings".

At one point, Fr. Groeschel had asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they had heard or been taught certain things, which stemmed from this historical-critical method of interpreting Scripture. I can't remember them all, but it is hard to forget some. For example, he wanted to know if anyone had heard that Jesus didn't know he was divine, or something to that effect. It was sad to see so many people raise their hands. To say Jesus was unaware of his divinity is absurd. If Jesus is God, then how can God not be aware of his own divinity? Duh!

Far fewer people had raised their hands when the priest asked members of the audience to raise their hand if they had heard that Jesus' resurrection was merely "spiritual", as in not physical or bodily resurrection. How did this great teaching priest respond so that we would remember what it means to have a "spiritual resurrection"? I give you a classic Fr. Benedict Groeschel quote and great comeback to keep in your pocket. He said,

"A good example of someone who has undergone a spiritual resurrrection is Elvis Presley!"

- Fr. Benedict Groeschel on Sunday Night Live from the EWTN Family Celebration (July 22, 2007)

You can probably listen to this episode online by going to EWTN's Sunday Night Live page.

However, this was such a strong, and solid instructional/catechetical episode, with Fr. Groeschel as passionate as I've seen him in a long time, I would encourage you to support the network while giving yourself something if you can afford it: Buy the CD ($7.00) of tonights episode, or the DVD ($15.00). The episode date is July 22, 2007.

Deo Gratias!

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Genesis 50:15-21 - A Scriptural Lesson in Accepting the Will of God for us

From the Institute of Archeology (scroll down):

This panel depicts vignettes from the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. In the first scene, Isaac blesses Jacob. Following the ladder dream, Jacob anoints the stone at Bethel. Rachel takes her father's household gods. The scenes shift to Joseph as his brothers sell him into slavery and his interpretation of Pharaoh's dream. The final sketch shows an Egyptian laborer winnowing wheat.

I have a habit of leaving EWTN on at times when I'm working around the house. Often times, this means I encounter their reverent Masses, similar to our own at Assumption Grotto. I enjoy listening to the readings and the homilies, in particular, especially because they often get some really good homilists, in addition to the fine priests already there.

Perhaps it had something to do with the post I made earlier today on Victoria. But, I could not help thinking of how we should always accept the good and the bad things in life as being things that Our Lord permits to happen - for our good, or for the good of others. It is in this way that we become His instruments. We can resist how He plays us, or go along for the ride. In doing that latter, we build virtue and please the Lord, as it is what he exemplified in the way he went to the cross - like a gentle Lamb. God "tunes" us through the building of virtue and ordinary life gives us many opportunities for practice. Here on Earth, the results of God's work through us may not be visible, but we can hope to learn in the next life.

Recall that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Here, we pick up a portion of the reading from July 14, 2007 - from the book of Genesis (50:15-21). My emphasis in bold.

Now that their father was dead,
Joseph’s brothers became fearful and thought,
“Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us
and now plans to pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!”
So they approached Joseph and said:
“Before your father died, he gave us these instructions:
‘You shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you
to forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers,
who treated you so cruelly.’
Please, therefore, forgive the crime that we,
the servants of your father’s God, committed.”
When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears.
Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him
and said, “Let us be your slaves!”
But Joseph replied to them:
“Have no fear. Can I take the place of God?
Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good,
to achieve his present end, the survival of many people.
Therefore have no fear.
I will provide for you and for your children.”
By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.

What was a bad thing - being sold off by his own brothers - God was able to turn into a good - Joseph providing for his brothers and their children. They were also given an opportunity to repent and make amends and Joseph was given an opportunity to practice forgiveness.

We should strive to accept all that happens to us - the good, the joyful, the happy, the painful, the fearful, the evil, as something that God either wills or permits for our good, or for the good of someone else.

Deo Gratias!

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Call to Holiness 2007: Marcus Grodi at OLMC

Tomorrow I will post some photos from the St. Rene Goupil site that fellow Grotto photographer Jeff Williams has sent me. For now, I leave you with some shots of Marcus Grodi at the OLMC site.


As many of you already know, Marcus - a former Protestant minister - is host of The Journey Home on EWTN, and he is responsible for The Coming Home Network where he helps ministers with their transition into the Catholic Faith. In the first talk following Mass, Marcus talked on the Biblical Defense of Catholicism.

A Scene from Call to Holiness
I couldn't resist photographing two dads cradling their baby girls in the back of OLMC during the talk given by Marcus. I bring to you photos of our youngest CTH attendees: Maria (in the foreground), and Margaret - posted with permission of their parents.

Go ahead, say it: Awwwwwwwwwwww.....

The slight blur is the result of rocking daddies, dim environment, and no use of flash.

OTHER CTH 2007 POSTS:

• Photo Post 1: Bishop Flores at OLMC

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Pope Benedict on the Transfiguration

In his Angelus address, Pope Benedict spoke on the Transfiguration. From Zenit:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

On this Second Sunday of Lent, the Evangelist Luke underlines that Jesus went up the mountain "to pray" (9:28) together with the apostles Peter, James and John and, "as he was praying" (9:29) the luminous mystery of his transfiguration took place.

For the three apostles, to go up on the mountain meant to be involved in Jesus' prayer, who often withdrew to pray, especially at dawn or after sundown, and sometimes during the whole night. However, on that occasion alone, on the mountain, he wished to manifest to his friends the interior light that invaded him when he prayed: His face -- we read in the Gospel -- his countenance was altered and his raiment became dazzling, reflecting the splendor of the divine person of the Incarnate Word (cf. Luke 9:29).

There is another detail in St. Luke's narrative which is worth underlining: It indicates the object of Jesus' conversation with Moses and Elijah, who appeared next to him when transfigured. The Evangelist narrates that they "spoke of his departure (in Greek, 'exodos'), which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem" (9:31).

Therefore, Jesus listens to the Law and the prophets that speak to him of his death and resurrection. In his intimate dialogue with his Father, he does not leave history, he does not flee from the mission for which he came into the world, though he knows that to attain glory he will have to go through the cross. What is more, Christ enters this mission more profoundly, adhering with all his being to the will of the Father, and he shows us that true prayer consists precisely in uniting our will to the Father's.

Therefore, for a Christian to pray is not to evade reality and the responsibilities it entails, but to assume them to the end, trusting in the faithful and inexhaustible love of the Lord. For this reason, the proof of the Transfiguration is, paradoxically, the agony in Gethsemane (cf. Luke 22:39-46). Given the imminence of the passion, Jesus experiences mortal anguish and entrusts himself to the divine will; at that moment his prayer is a pledge of salvation for us all. Christ, in fact, would implore the heavenly Father to "save him from death" and, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, "he was heard for his godly fear" (5:7). The Resurrection is proof that he was heard.

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Prayer is not something accessory, it is not "optional," but rather a question of life or death. Only one who prays, that is, who entrusts himself to God with filial love, can enter into eternal life, which is God himself. During this season of Lent, let us pray to Mary, mother of the Incarnate Word and teacher of the spiritual life, to teach us to pray as her Son did so that our life is transformed by the light of his presence.

Michael Barber continues to discuss the "finding of Jesus' bones"

Michael Barber is only just beginning and today he posts 7 Reasons why Cameron's Theory is Sinking.

I'll start you out here, and then you can follow through to Michael's blog, where he has additional links:

Yesterday and today I taught classes where I was asked to address this "Jesus Tomb" story. In fact, a lot of news outlets are already reporting on the massive problems made with the claims being made. Well, here I want to list seven reasons why this story sinking.

1. Cameron found no bones of Jesus. Everyone looks over that--in fact, when I first posted on this I was even under the impression that Cameron was talking about finding "bones" of Jesus. Even if this was the tomb of the founder of Christianity, there is still no body in it. Of course, it isn't Jesus' tomb anyway as we will explain, I just thought I ought to point that out.

2. There is no way to know whether or not the "Yeshua" in question here is the "Yeshua" who founded Christianity. As I explained in the last post, Yeshua was the sixth most common name of Jewish males in Jesus' day. Joseph was the second. Miriamne (=Mary) was the most popular name for Jewish girls--in fact, 21% of all Jewish females were named Miriamne. So even if this Yeshua was married to a woman named Miriamne.........continue reading at Singing in the Reign

More posts on this subject by Michael Barber:

Titanic Claim: Jesus' Body Found?

This is only the beginning. Mr. Cameron invited scholars to look at the find, and there is no doubt that this whole issue will find itself buried at sea along with the Titanic.

Michael Barber takes on James Cameron

You've probably heard by now, that the director of Titanic, James Cameron is claiming to have found a box of bones belonging to Jesus.

Radio Show Host and Professor of Theology, Scripture and Catholic Thought at John Paul the Great Univeristy in San Diego, CA - Michael Barber - takes a few shots at Cameron's claims.

No pun intended, but Cameron's ship is going to sink. But, how many souls will be taken in by the media hype?