“The Mayflower leaving English shores” – the voyage that led to the first Thanksgiving… 

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It’s that time of year again.  Time to re-enact the First Thanksgiving.

Last year I wrote The first Thanksgiving, Part I and Part II.  But there is a change.  This year the Bible readings are different.  This year they are:  Joel 2:21-27, Psalm 126, 1st Timothy 2:1-7, and Matthew 6:25-33.  (To see the full readings go to Thanksgiving Day.)

On the other hand, the Collect of the day has stayed the same:

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them.  Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need…

Note the prayer-parts:  First, thankfulness.  For both the “fruits of the earth” and the work of those who harvest them.  But with that comes a prayer that God make us “faithful stewards.” Which means providing for both our own necessities and for “all in need.”

But enough of the Soapbox.  Suffice it to say that next Thursday – or Wednesday, if your Dulce works Thanksgiving (say at Grady Hospital) – is a time to give thanks.  For every blessing from above.

Now, getting back to those Bible readings.

Joel 2:21-27 notes in part that the “threshing floors shall be full of grain” and “the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.”  Beyond that, God will repay “for the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”

A word of explanation:  The Book of Joel was based on a “literal locust invasion” that happened around 845 B.C. The prophet then lamented over the great locust plague and severe drought, after which he compared the locusts to an army.  An army of God, that is:

The literal swarms of locusts that invaded in successive waves to destroy the crops of Israel spoke of a soon-coming invasion of enemies as well as a future day of judgment.

See also Wikipedia.  But the book ended with Joel saying Israel would later be vindicated.

Psalm 126 begins in a similar vein.  With a note of vindication.)  To wit:  “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.”  Verse 6 reads, “Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy.”   So in a sense that passage foreshadowed the trials and tribulations of the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving, as noted below.

Then in 1st Timothy 2:1-7, the Apostle Paul urged that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone.” (Even those you don’t like.)  And Matthew 6:25-33 included the “lilies of the field” discourse.  (Illustrated at right and explained below.)

Jesus told his followers not to worry about food, because even the lowly birds are provided for by God.  In this verse Jesus presents the example of the lilies, who also do no labor.

On the other hand, the original Pilgrims had lots to worry about before they could celebrate the first Thanksgiving.  For starters – as noted in Part I – they had to survive a rough trip across the North Atlantic.  That rough trip included – but was not limited to – almost losing “lusty young” John Howland, who fell overboard.  (As shown below.)

But finally they set foot back on dry land, on November 11,1620.  Whereupon:

… they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from the perils and miseries thereof …

But – as noted in Part II – “even then their ordeal was far from over.”  102 people landed in November 1620.  Less than half survived the next year.  (To November 1621.)  Of the handful of adult women – 18 in all – only four survived that first winter in the hoped-for “New World.”

And – as at Jamestown – there was a whole lot of suffering. (Alleviated in part by the leadership of Myles Standish, who would have been accoutred like the soldier at left):

The major similarity between the first Jamestown settlers and the first Plymouth settlers was great human suffering…  November was too late to plant crops.  Many settlers died of scurvy and malnutrition during that horrible first winter.  Of the 102 original Mayflower passengers, only 44 survived.  Again like in Jamestown, the kindness of the local Native Americans saved them from a frosty death.

(See First Thanksgiving.)  Note that the Jamestown landing came in 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims.  Then too, those Jamestown settlers had their own Starving Time:  “What became known as the ‘Starving Time‘ in the Virginia Colony occurred during the winter of 1609–10.  Only 60 of 500 English colonists survived.”

The point is this:  As noted in Part II, the men and women who first settled America paid a high price, so that we could enjoy the privilege of stuffing ourselves into a state of stupor.

Which brings us back to the subject of these Pilgrim Fathers.  And pilgrimages in general…

“In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.”

And the Pilgrims of 1621 certainly met that test.  (Going from a state of wretchedness to beatitude.)

As also noted in Part II, during the worst part of that first harsh winter of 1620-1621, only six or seven surviving colonists were fit enough to feed and care for the rest.

And they had to let the graves in the new cemetery “overgrow with grass for fear the Indians would discover how weakened the settlement had actually become.”  (And then attack the weakened settlement.)  All of which led to the thought that “freedom isn’t free, and it isn’t cheap either.  Sometimes the price is paid in human lives.”

But again as noted in Part II, the effort can be worth it:

Do the best you can, and – after taking all due and sensible precautions – trust God to help you with the rest.  Some of those bad things [ – that you worried about – ] might not happen, and some bad things might be prevented with foresight and preparation.  Then too, if you’re “on a mission from God,” you might reasonably expect His help.

Or it could be summed up this way:  “If it was easy, anybody could do it!”

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The upper image is courtesy of Mayflower Collection – Mike Haywood’s Artwork – Mayflower HMS, with the caption, “A prosperous wind  The Mayflower leaving English shores.”  The ship in the background is the Speedwell, which had to turn back.  (As explained in “2014.”)  Then too, the home-page of the Haywood site notes that he “has a growing International reputation as a marine and portrait painter.  He has a Doctorate in Oceanography and loves painting rough or lively seas.  Each painting is painstakingly researched to ensure accuracy.”

The soap box image is courtesy of thepoliticalpotteries.com/2015/05/31/tony-walley-on-my-stoke-on-trent-soapbox.  The image was included in a blog-post from THE POLITICAL POTTERIES, “A Political News and Debating Website for Stoke-on-Trent.”  Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire, England.  In turn it is “the home of the pottery industry in England … commonly known as the Potteries,” and also now “a center for service industries and distribution centres.”  See Wikipedia.

According to the “Potteries” blog, the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent have a population of 249,000, represented by three Members of Parliament.  The blog in turn seems designed to foster an exchange of thoughts and ideas, presumably for the benefit and guidance of those MPs.

See also Soapbox – Wikipedia.

The “Miles Standish” image is courtesy of mayflowerhistory.com/standish-myles.  The caption:  “17th century image of a man in armor with musket.  Myles Standish would have worn similar armor, clothing and used similar weapons to those seen here.”  See also Myles Standish – Wikipedia.

Re: the ‘Starving Time‘ in Jamestown, during the harsh winter of 1609-1610:

Archaeologists have found evidence that they ate cats, dogs, horses, and rats.  Cannibalism has been confirmed to have occurred in at least one case;  the remains of a teenage girl of about fourteen years of age has been forensically analyzed and shown to have telltale marks consistent with butchering meat…    

Re: the image at right of the paragraph – “And the Pilgrims of 1621” – is courtesy of Pilgrimage – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “Jews at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during the Ottoman period, 1860.”

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The original post had a lower image courtesy of Mayflower Collection – Mike Haywood’s Artwork, about the passenger John Howland. With the caption,  “Yet he held his hold (Rescue of John Howland who fell overboard during the voyage).” Or see John Howland – Biographies – Society of Mayflower Descendants, which noted that he arrived as a servant to John Carver, the first Governor of Plymouth Colony.  He went on to sign the Mayflower Compact. He also went on to serve the colony as selectman, assistant and deputy governor, and surveyor of highways.  He died “over 80″ in 1672.  (No one knew when he was actually born).  But that long and productive life was almost cut short on the voyage over, in 1620:

“In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail…   And in one of them … a lusty young man called John Howland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was … thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard…   Yet he held his hold [and] got into the ship again[,] his life saved.   And though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after and became a profitable member both in church and commonwealth.”

I did an update on Howland this past Thanksgiving, On Thanksgiving 2022 – and “He-e-l-p!!”

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For more on the upcoming holidays, see also On the 12 Days of Christmas.

November 2  –  All Souls’ Day  –  is the third of “Three Days of Halloween…”

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Next Saturday night is Halloween.  (Literally, the evening or e’en before “Hallows Day.”)

That’s not a holiday most people connect with the process of evolving in life through daily Bible reading.  But in fact, Halloween is strongly connected with both your spiritual development and “walking that road to Jesus.”  (See John 6:37.)

Which brings up the fact that the next major set of Feast Days is actually the Halloween Triduum.

“Triduum” is a fancy Latin word for “three days.”  Here it refers to the three days set aside each year for remembering “the dear departed.”  And this particular threesome starts with what used to be called – back in the way olden days – “All Hallows E’en.”

These days it’s been shortened to “Halloween.”

The Scarred, Scared, and Sacred article noted that this is all part of the annual process of the days getting shorter and shorter.  (Fewer and fewer hours of daylight.)  And back in those way olden days, the process seemed “inexorable,” like death and taxes.   We now know that this “movement” is always toward the Winter Solstice – “the darkest day of the year.”  But long ago the largely illiterate hoi polloi didn’t know that.  And so each year they wondered:  “Is this process going to keep going?  Are we going to finally reach a point where there’s no daylight left, and our days will be nothing but complete darkness?”

Which naturally brought up the subject of death.  (And with it the possibility of an afterlife, either “down” or “up.”  Then too the thought was that at this time of year there was a mere “thin veil” separating the dead from the living, as illustrated by the jack-o’-lantern at right…)

All of which led to the Triduum centered around All Saints’ Day.

That’s a major feast in the Christian calendar and it comes each year on November 1.  (Though in this case, the term saint is more generic, and largely refers to “anyone who has been saved and … set apart for holy use.”)

Note also that the Old English word for “saint” was halig – which eventually became “hallow.”  (Maybe it was easier to say.)  So the Old English “All Haligs’ Day” became “All Hallows Day.”  In turn the evening before that Feast Day became “All Hallows Evening.”  In time that got shortened to “All Hallows E’en.”  Later still it got shortened to “Hallowe’en,” and then just plain Halloween.

And as always, note that the term “feast” as used here doesn’t refer to a large meal – as in a family celebration – but rather to an religious celebration dedicated to a particular saint.  Or in this case, to all the “saints,” the “dear departed” or the “hallows” in general.

I wrote two posts on the subject last year, On “All Hallows E’en” – Part I and Part II.  (Mostly because it’s such a fascinating subject.)  The “Part I” post noted this:

According to many scholars, All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain…  On All Hallows’ Eve, Christians traditionally believed that the veil between the material world and the afterlife thinned.

It noted too that Samhain was an age-old Celtic festival “marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the ‘darker half’ of the year.”  (Such festivals go back to the time of ancient Egypt, as shown at left.)

So getting back to basics:  Halloween is just one day of the three-day religious observance known as Hallowmas.  And it’s also known as the Triduum of All Hallows, three feast days which include:  1) All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en),  2) All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’ Day), and  3) All Soul’s Day.

That’s the Halloween triduum, from October 31 to November 2.  That’s also when – according to ancient belief – the veil between the “material world and afterlife” was most permeable.

So what’s the deal with wearing masks and disguises? 

The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the other world.

But who wants to “mingle” with a bunch of ghosts who died over the past year?

If it was a close friend or relative who recently died, that would be one thing.  But suppose some of those “ghosts” were people who really didn’t like you, or maybe hated you, or otherwise had a score to settle with you?  (Which is a good reason not to go around making people mad…)

So – to protect themselves on the Eve of All Hallows – people would wear masks or put on costumes.  The goal was to disguise their identities.  The idea was also to keep these afterlife “hallows” from recognizing you, in this, the “material world.”

And here’s some more history, borrowed from last year’s Part II:

A long, long time ago, our ancestors celebrated New Year’s Day on November 1.  (That meant New Year’s Eve came on October 31.)  But then about the year 835 AD, the Church made November 1 a feast day for “all saints.”  Again, the idea was to honor those practicing Christians who had died before those who were then living, and especially the “recently departed.”

Back in those long-ago days, people thought evil spirits were most prevalent during the long winter nights.  (And especially those long winter nights that started at the end of October.)  They also believed that the “barriers between our world and the spirit world” were weakest on All Hallows E’en.  Accordingly, it was then that the “spirits were most likely to be seen on earth.”

Put another way, this was believed to be a time of year “when the spirits or fairies (the Aos Sí) could more easily come into our world and were particularly active.”  (The Aos Si were Irish, and “comparable to the fairies or elves.”  They were said to live “underground in fairy mounds, across the western sea, or in an invisible world that coexists with the world of humans.”)

So anyway, our ancestors developed another custom designed to frighten away those spirits.

Briefly, they built bonfires, then feasted and danced around them.

“The fires were thought to bring comfort to the souls in purgatory and people prayed for them as they held burning straw up high.”  The idea came from pagan times, when evil spirits had to be driven away with noise and fire.  (Note also that “bonfire” is short for bone-fire.  See Bonfire – Wikipedia, noting the term “is derived from the fact that bonfires were originally fires in which bones were burned.”)

In yet another old-time custom, travelers carried candles on All Hallows E’en, from 11:00 p.m. until midnight.  The theory here was that if the candles kept burning steadily that was a good omen.  It indicated the candle-holder would be safe during the upcoming “season of darkness.”  On the other hand, if your candle went out , “the omen was bad indeed.”  (The thought was that the candle had been blown out by witches.)

On another note, in England Halloween is also called “Snap Apple Night.”  That’s from a game with apples tied on a  string, related to apple bobbing.  That in turn refers to a “game often played on Halloween,” by filling a tub or a large basin with water and putting apples in.  The apples float on the surface, and players “try to catch one with their teeth.  Use of arms is not allowed, and often are tied behind the back to prevent cheating.”  And incidentally, there’s both a fertility goddess involved, and the ancient Celtic belief that the pentagram was a fertility symbol.  (Thus “bobbing for apples” was somehow involved with fertility…)

So there you have it.  The Halloween Triduum is primarily dedicated to “All Saints:”

…the Solemnity of All Saints is when the Church honors all saints, known and unknown.  This is similar to the American holidays of Veterans Day and Presidents Day, when a group of people are honored on a specific day.  While we have information about many saints, and we honor them on specific days, there are many unknown or unsung saints, who may have been forgotten, or never been honored specifically.  On All Saints Day, we celebrate these holy men and women, and ask for their prayers and intercessions.

See All Saints Day | History, Customs.   In turn, whether you’re working on fertile fields – perhaps as in plowing with a heifer – or remembering the dear departed, or trying to disguise yourself from elves and fairies, or just trying to keep a witch from blowing out your candle…

 

Have a Happy Halloween!

 

A graveyard in Sweden, “on the feast of All Hallows…”

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The upper image is courtesy of All Souls’ Day – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The caption: “All Souls’ Day by William Bouguereau.”  See also Allhallowtide, and All Saints’ Day – Wikipedia.

The image of the jack-o’lantern is courtesy of Halloween – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “A jack-o’-lantern, one of the symbols of Halloween representing the souls of the dead.”

Re:  The expansive definition of “saints.”  See also What is the Bible Definition of a Saint? – Patheos, and especially the text under the heading, You are Saints in the Present:  “If you have repented and trusted in Christ, you are a saint of God today, right now!”

The right-image next to the paragraph – “people would wear masks or put on costumes” – is courtesy of the Wikipedia article, Will-o’-the-wisp.  The full caption:  “A Japanese rendition of a Russian will-o’-the-wisp.”   Note also that a will-o’-the-wisp is also known as ignis fatuus or “foolish fire.”  It’s an “atmospheric ghost light seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes:”

It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached, drawing travelers from the safe paths.  The phenomenon is known by a variety of names, including jack-o’-lantern, friar’s lantern, hinkypunk, and hobby lantern in English folk belief, well attested in English folklore and in much of European folklore.

Re: “Plowing.”  See Judges 14:18, where Samson said, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”

The lower image is courtesy of Allhallowtide – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The full caption:

A cemetery outside a Lutheran church in Röke, Sweden on the feast of All Hallows.  Flowers and lighted candles are placed by relatives on the graves of their deceased loved ones.

Saint Luke painting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child… 

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Today – Monday, October 19 – is the next major Feast Day.

It’s the Feast of St. Luke, who wrote the third-of-four Gospels.  (Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, “the fifth book of the New Testament.”)

Note also  that the term “feast” as used here doesn’t refer to a large meal – as in a family celebration – but rather to an religious celebration dedicated to a particular saint.

I did a post last year, On St. Luke – physician, historian, artist.  (Which included the painting at left, of St. Luke, by El Greco.)

For the Bible readings of the day, see St. Luke, Evangelist.  They are Ecclesiasticus 38:1-4,6-10,12-14 – not to be confused with Ecclesiastes – along with Psalm 147, 2 Timothy 4:5-13, and Luke 4:14-21.

From the early days of the Church, Luke was described as a physician:

Eusebius (AD 260-340), considered to be the Father of Early Church History, described Luke the Physician in these terms:  “Luke, who was by race an Antiochian and a physician by profession, was long a companion of Paul … and in two books left us examples of the medicine for the souls which he had gained from them.”

See Luke the Physician: with “Medicine for the Souls.”  Thus the day’s Bible reading from Ecclesiasticus (also called The Wisdom of Sirach) begins appropriately like this:  “Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them.”  In turn, Psalm 147:3 speaks of God as the Ultimate Healer, with a side note that quite often He does His work using human hands.  (By extension, His physicians:  “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. “)

As to the reading from the Second Letter to Timothy, Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote it.  He wrote that “the time of my departure has come” and that he had been deserted by those including Demas, Crescens and Titus.  But note 2 Timothy 4:11, “Only Luke is with me.”

Luke was with St. Paul in his voyage to Rome (Acts 27:1; Acts 28:11, 16), and when he wrote the Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon [see Colossians 4:14], having doubtless composed the Acts of the Apostles during St. Paul’s two years’ imprisonment (Acts 28:30).

(See the Pulpit Commentary.)  Which brings up what Garry Wills had to say about St. Luke.

In his book What the Gospels Meant, Wills noted that Luke wrote the longest Gospel, and that Acts of the Apostles is almost as long.  He added that these two volumes “thus make up a quarter of the New Testament.”  (And that they are longer than all 13 of Paul’s letters.)

He said Luke is considered the most humane of the Gospel writers.  He quoted Dante – shown at right – as saying that Luke was a “describer of Christ’s kindness.”  He added a quote from Ernest Renan , who referred to Luke’s Gospel “the most beautiful book that ever was.”

And Wills added that Luke showed a “special sensitivity to women.”  A notable example is Luke’s treatment of The Woman with the Menstrual Disorder.  (From Chapter 8, “A Jesus for Outcasts.”)  Here’s what Wills said about the episode, from Luke 8, verses 43-48:

Jesus’ embrace of the despised is made very clear in the case of [this] woman with a perpetual discharge…  Each month when a Jewish woman underwent her period, she had to go to the Temple or the ritual baths to be purified.  So the woman with a perpetual discharge was permanently unpurifiable.  She was not only barred from the Temple but all her dealings with others would make them unclean. (E.A.)

Note that this sense of a woman being permanently unpurifiable was in keeping with Leviticus 15, verses 25-27:  “When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days … she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge…  Anyone who touches [her] will be unclean.”  And this woman had suffered for 12 long years.  And so finally now, “defying the ban on contact with others, she pushes through the crowd around Jesus and touches the tassels on His robe.”

Here she was – “permanently unclean” – and yet she had the audacity to approach Jesus. 

Which is a reminder that sometimes it pays to be a bit pushy with God.  (See also Arguing with God.)  The other point is that Jesus – being Jesus – sensed what happened.  In response the woman, “in a panic,” confessed her effrontery, and said she’d been instantly healed.  But Jesus – being Jesus – said only, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace.”  (See Luke 8:48.)

Then there’s the Parable of the Prodigal Son (illustrated at left).  And as noted below, this lesson in God’s boundless love appears only in Luke:

The richness of the parable comes from the fact that it can be read, as it were, backwards and forwards…  It is an endlessly reversible tale of the Father’s bounty…  Luke [] is at his very best in this parable that opens up endless mirrors of meaning…   I think it would be fair to describe the tale of the Prodigal Son as containing the inmost kernel of Luke’s thinking and theology, according to which we are all outcasts, and Jesus is coming to rescue us all.

(Which brings up the tangential concepts of mashal, if not nimshal.  For more, see the notes.)

But in closing, it should be added that to many scholars, “Luke is a historian of the first rank [and] should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”  Beyond that:

Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus’ feet with her tears.  Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God’s mercy…   Reading Luke’s gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God’s kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God’s mercy for everyone.

For more see last year’s St. Luke – physician, historian, artist, with the Collect of the Day:   “Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son:  Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal…“

  Saint Luke, by El Greco (circa 1607)…

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The upper image is courtesy of File: Maarten van Heemskerck – St Luke Painting the Virgin, and/or “Wikimedia.”  See also Maarten van Heemskerck – Wikipedia, which noted that the artist (1498-1574) was a “Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem,” and did the painting above in or about 1532.

Re: The actual “feast of St. Luke.”  Normally it’s October 18, but according to The Lectionary Page, this year the date was transferred to the 19th, because the 18th fell on a Sunday.  (For those interested in the reason for such transfers – or other such minutiae – see What happens when a saint’s feast falls on a Sunday?)   On the other hand, some churches celebrated the feast day anyway, even though it fell on a Sunday.  One example was St. John’s Episcopal Church Savannah GA.  That’s where I went yesterday, during a weekend family visit to Savannah.

Of note:  St. John’s offers traditional worship from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  (Complete with all the “thees” and “thous” found in Elizabethan English.  And including those “eths:”  “And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures:  And ascended into heaven,  And sitteth on the right hand of the Father.)  That’s as opposed to the 1979 revision of the Book of Common Prayer used in most American Episcopal churches.  Again, those interested in such minutiae can find more information at The 1928 U. S. Book of Common Prayer, and/or Book of Common Prayer – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Re: Paul writing “Second Timothy” while in prison.  See 2 Timothy:  About Paul’s second letter to Timothy.  On the other hand, the Wikipedia article indicated that 2d Timothy was “not written by Paul but by an anonymous follower, after Paul’s death.”

Re: Garry Wills.  Other posts or pages mentioning Wills include The True Test of Faith, On St. Mark’s “Cinderella story,” and On Peter, Paul – and other “relics.”

A side note:  The quotes in What the Gospels Meant are from the 2009 Penguin Books edition, beginning at page 109-11, and – from Chapter 8 – pages 127, 132-33, and 136-40.

The lower image is courtesy of St. Luke of El Greco – Wikipedia, one of several interpretations by the artist.  See for example last year’s On St. Luke, which included a painting shown courtesy of wikimedia.org/wiki/File: El_Greco_-_St_Luke_-_WGA10577.jpg, which included this note:

El Greco portrayed the apostles with a powerfully expressive body language.  This St. Luke is from a cycle for the Toledo Cathedral…  El Greco included St. Luke in several of his [paintings of the Apostles] although Luke was not actually one of the twelve apostles.  Here the artist provided the Western version of a subject he depicted in quite different terms during his period as an icon painter.

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See also On three suitors, on interpreting such parables, “strictly” or otherwise.  That post noted that quite often, in transposing a parable from oral to written form, it  needed an interpretation added.  The Hebrew word for such interpretation is nimshal, or the plural nimshalim:

The essence of the parabolic method of teaching is that life and the words that tell of life can mean more than one thing.  Each hearer is different and therefore to each hearer a particular secret of the kingdom [of God] can be revealed.  We are supposed to create nimshalim for ourselves.

“The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, by Bernini…”

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The next Feast Day of interest is Thursday, October 15.  That’s the Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila.

St. Teresa was recently dubbed “the Pope Francis of her time,” but there’s more on that later.  There’s also more about her talking to God and saying, “If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!”   (Note too that “feast” here doesn’t refer to a large meal – as in a celebration – but rather to an religious celebration dedicated to a particular saint.)

I’ve written about Teresa before.  See On the Bible and mysticism, and On the Christian repertoire.  (See also Teresa of Avila, Nun, which includes the Bible readings for the Day.)

The point being that Teresa was a mystic before that became a bad word:

The terms “mystic” or “mysticism” seem to throw Southern Baptists and other conservative Christians into apoplexy.  (Try it sometime!!!)

That was a bit of sarcasm from The Bible and mysticism, but enough of my ramblings.  (For now anyway.)  Here’s what Wikipedia said about how Teresa got started as a mystic:

Teresa entered a Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, Spain [in November 1535, but] found herself increasingly in disharmony with [its] spiritual malaise…  The daily invasion of visitors, many of high social and political rank, vitiated the atmosphere with frivolous concerns and vain conversations.  These violations of the solitude absolutely essential to progress in genuine contemplative prayer grieved Teresa…

Frivolous concerns?  Vain conversations?  That sounds just like today!

More to the point, AmericanCatholic.org noted that Teresa “lived in an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval.  It was the 16th century, a time of turmoil and reform.”  That is, she was born in 1515, a mere two years before Martin Luther – seen at right as a “friar, with tonsure” – nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.  (Thus starting the Protestant Reformation.)

But getting back to the idea of “mystic” freaking out some Christians.  An example:   “The term ‘Christian mystic’ is an oxymoron.  Mysticism is not the experience of a Christian.” That’s from What is Christian mysticism? – GotQuestions.org.  Or this:

Mysticism is when you get into a mystical state and it’s something you cannot understand, you’re out there in “la-la” land, it’s an “oooh” experience and you’re really not thinking.

See Is There A Biblical Mysticism? | thebereancall.org.  (About one “click” down).

On the other hand, see Mysticism – Wikipedia.  That said the term originally “referred to the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative dimensions in early and medieval Christianity.”   And the article Teresa of Ávila – Wikipedia noted in pertinent part that “Teresa’s writings, produced for didactic purposes, stand among the most remarkable in the mystical literature of the Catholic Church.”  (So you’re going to argue with the Catholic Church?)

All of which I noted in On the Bible and mysticism.  In the post On the Christian repertoire, I included the image at the bottom, “The Appearance of the Holy Spirit before Saint Teresa.”  And a note to that post pointed out that an internet search will generally lead the searcher to the definition of mystic as “a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute. . .”

In other words, a mystic is a person who seeks to become “one” with both God and his or her neighbor.  Not unlike Francis of Assisi.  (Who no doubt some contemporaries thought himself was a bit of a weirdo…)  See also The basics.

And speaking of “absorption into oneness:”  That seems to be what Jesus spoke of as He prayed in John 17:20-23.  He was in the Upper Room the evening before the Crucifixion, and asked God to help His followers:

“I ask . . . on behalf of those who will believe in me . . . that they may all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one. . .”

On that note, focus especially on John 17:21, John 17:22, and John 17:23.  John 17:21 reads – in pertinent part – “ that all of them [that’s us] may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”   John 17:22 reads – ditto – “that they may be one as we are one.”  John 17:23, reads – one last ditto – “I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

Then too, that seems to be just what one “Common Prayer” means when it said that all Christians – by and through sharing Holy Communion – are in the process of becoming “very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son.”

But we were talking about Teresa of Avila.

Among the Bible readings for her day, the first – Romans 8:22-27 – includes one of my favorite verses.  Romans 8:26 is especially useful when you’re not sure how to pray or what to pray for:  “the Spirit helps us in our weakness;  for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”  (And that “sighs too deep for words” is one of my favorite translations…)

But back to Teresa.  She was born in 1515 and died in 1882, at the then-ripe-old-age of 67.  She was a devout “theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer.”

In 1622 she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV – seen at right – and in 1970 was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.  And in March, 2015 – as noted – St. Teresa of Avila [was] dubbed the Pope Francis of her time.

Witty, warm and personable, she nonetheless pushed the Carmelite order to reform.  St. Teresa taught the faithful not to be caught up with creature comforts, to be true to their vocation and to dedicate hours each day to contemplative Carmelite prayer.

Somewhat surprisingly, she was “of Jewish descent,” and among other things could be rather droll.  (If not apparently disrespectful to God.)  According to one story, she was traveling to visit another convent when her cart overturned and she was thrown into a mud puddle. Embarrassed at having to show up in a dirty habit, Teresa reportedly prayed, “God, if this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!”

But seriously, today she is perhaps best known as a mystic.  However, even when she was alive – a long time ago – some people considered that bad.  As Wikipedia noted, “Around 1556, various friends suggested that her newfound knowledge was diabolical, not divine. ”

So some people have always been offended by the terms ‘mystic” and “mysticism.”

On that note, it can’t be denied that there are a lot of weirdos out there calling themselves “mystics.”  But by the same token, there are a lot of people learning karate for all the wrong reasons.  (How many “hypocritical” karate students want to learn how to beat the tar out of people they don’t like?)  For example, see Deshimaru’s The Zen Way to Martial Arts:

Many people these days come to the martial arts as if to a sport or, worse, as if seeking an effective instrument of aggression and domination.   And, unhappily, there are studios that cater to this clientele.   Violent and exploitative martial arts movies contribute to the corruption…

But does that make “traditional” karate training any less valid?  In the same way, does the existence of some “hypocritical” Christians make the entire faith invalid?  Then too, how many Christians seem to view their faith as an “instrument of aggression and domination?”

That wasn’t Teresa’s way.  As the Collect of her Feast Day recalls:

God, by your Holy Spirit you moved Teresa of Avila to manifest to your Church the way of perfection: Grant us, we pray, to be nourished by her excellent teaching…

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“The Appearance of the Holy Spirit before Saint Teresa of Ávila…”

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The upper image is courtesy of Teresa of Ávila – Wikipedia.  The full caption:  “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini, Basilica of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.”

The Pope Francis image is courtesy of Pope Francis – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “Francis among the people at St. Peter’s Square.”

See an image of Francis of Assisi at Mysticism – Wikipedia, with the caption: “Life of Francis of Assisi by José Benlliure y Gil.”

For more on Teresa of Avila, see Selections Of An Interview – St Teresa Of Jesus.  (One of her other names.)   Note that she is not to be confused with Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), best known for her “Little Way” method of what might be called “life meditation.”  See Wikipedia and also St. Therese and Her Little Way – Society of the Little Flower:

St. Therese believed that the people of her time lived in too great fear of Gods judgment… [She] translated “the little way” in terms of a commitment to the tasks and to the people we meet in our everyday lives…  Her life sounds so routine and ordinary, but it was steeped in a loving commitment that knew no breakdown.  It is called a little way precisely by being simple, direct, yet calling for amazing fortitude and commitment.

The “Common Prayer” quote is from page 339 of the Book of Common Prayer.  See the full prayer on The Online Book of Common Prayer, at the end of The Holy Eucharist:  Rite One. 

Re: “Deshimaru’s The Zen Way to Martial Arts.”  The full title of the Amazon book is The Zen Way to Martial Arts: A Japanese Master Reveals the Secrets of the Samurai.  The quote itself is from the 1991 Arkana Books edition, translated by Nancy Amphoux.

Also on page 3, Deshimaru told of a student who asked, “How many years do I have to practice Zazen?”  (The meditation technique used by Zen masters.)  His answer, “Until the day you die.” (For what that’s worth.)  Taisen Deshimaru (1914-1982) “was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist,” who founded the Association Zen Internationale.  During World War II:

Deshimaru was exempted from the Imperial Japanese Army because of his near-sightedness.  He went to the island of Banka, Indonesia, to direct a copper-mine.  He found himself on the island of Bangka, where he taught the practice of zazen to the Chinese, Indonesian, and European inhabitants.   He defended inhabitants against the violence of his own people, and was therefore thrown in jail, but released by “the highest military authorities in Japan.”  (E.A.)

Re:  Some Christians using the faith as an “instrument of aggression and domination.”  See also Dark side (Star Wars) – Wikipedia:  “The dark side of the Force is a fictional moral, philosophical, metaphorical and psychic concept in the Star Wars universe created by George Lucas.  The Force is a mystical energy which permeates the Star Wars galaxy;  its dark side represents an aspect of it that is not practiced by the Jedi who view it as evil.”

The lower image is courtesy of Mysticism – Wikipedia. The full caption:  “The Appearance of the Holy Spirit before Saint Teresa of Ávila, Peter Paul Rubens.”

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William Tyndale – “strangled and burned at the stake” – for making a Bible you could read…

 

And speaking of themes in this blog…

One prevalent theme is that the more you know about the Bible – and how it was written – the more spiritual progress you can make.

That brings up the fact that last October 6 was the Feast Day for “William Tyndale, Priest.”  More to the point, he also published the first Bible that you as a “vulgar person” could actually read for yourself.  And for that he was strangled and burned at the stake.

The thing is, you can’t really learn more about the Bible – and how it was written – unless you as an individual have one you can actually read.  But for the first 1,500 years of the Christian faith, you didn’t have that option.  (Unless you were a priest, and could read Latin.)

In plain words, back in the “good old days, “the clergy” held a monopoly on the Bible.

To find out what the Bible said, you – who were likely illiterate – had to rely on the local parish priest.  (And/or his superiors, in a far-away country.)   That is, your priest told you what the Bible said, and you had  no choice but to take his word for it.

In other words, you had no choice but to rely on “stale rehashes” from your parish priest, and many of those were illiterate themselves.  To repeat, you had to rely on what other people said the Bible said, rather than being able to read it yourself.  In legal circles they call that hearsay.

One example:  A witness testifies at trial that “Sally told me Tom was in town,” as opposed to being able to testify, “I saw Tom in town.”  The question is:  Which form of evidence is considered more reliable?  To most people – and based on centuries of legal precedent – a witness saying “I heard someone say Tom was in town” is dubious proof at best.

That all changed in 1525, when Tyndale first published the Bible in English.

(What was known then as a “vulgar tongue.”  That is, “the national or vernacular language of a people … used typically to contrast such a language with Latin.”)  

But Tyndale paid dearly for publishing the first Bible not written in Latin.  As shown in the top illustration, the powers that be had him first strangled, then burned at the stake.  And all of that just so you – today- could read the Bible in “good old English…”

Which brings up again the most recent Feast Day, October 6.  (The term “feast” here does not refer to a “large meal” – as in celebration – but rather to an “annual religious celebration dedicated to a particular saint.”)  And the link “Tyndale” shows the Bible-readings and Collect for the day:

Almighty God, you planted in the heart of your servant William Tyndale a consuming passion to bring the Scriptures to people in their native tongue, and endowed him with the gift of powerful and graceful expression and with strength to persevere against all obstacles: Reveal to us your saving Word, as we read and study the Scriptures…

See also William Tyndale, which included a note on Miles Coverdale.  (Basically Coverdale finished the work that Tyndale started, but was unable to finish – due to his being executed.)

Six copies were set up for public reading in Old St Paul’s Church, and throughout the daylight hours the church was crowded with those who had come to hear it.  One man would stand at the lectern and read until his voice gave out, and then he would stand down and another would take his place.  All English translations of the Bible from that time to the present century are essentially revisions of the Tyndale-Coverdale work.

And that of course includes the King James Bible.  (The one God uses…)

Another reason he was executed?  Tyndale taught that salvation was a free gift from God, available to all.  But that cut into the revenue of the Church at the time.  Unlike Tyndale – and Martin Luther – the religous “powers that be” at the time taught that you could earn your way into heaven, through “good works and penance.”  Which of course brought in a lot of money.  (As through the Church selling indulgences.)

That is, the medieval Church sold indulgences as “a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins.”  But we digress.  (Or perhaps not…)

See, the strange, ironic and/or incongruous thing about all this is that Tyndale’s death was largely the work of Sir Thomas More.  “Saint Thomas” is venerated as a saint (“and martyr“) by the Roman Catholic Church.  (See e.g. the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA.)  As Wikipedia noted:

More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale.  He also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation.

But then he himself ran afoul of the powers that be, in the person of King Henry VIII.  That episode in his life was popularized by the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons. “The title reflects [the] portrayal of More as the ultimate man of conscience and as remaining true to his principles and religion under all circumstances and at all times.”

More opposed the King’s separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge him as Supreme Head of the Church of England and refusing to acknowledge Henry’s annulment from Catherine of Aragon.  After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded.

But at least he wasn’t “strangled and burned at the stake.”  See Decapitation – Wikipedia:

Decapitation … was sometimes considered the honorable way to die for an aristocrat…  [I]n England it was considered the privilege of noblemen to be beheaded.  This would be distinguished from a dishonorable death on the gallows or through burning at the stake.  In medieval England, the punishment for high treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered but in the case of nobles and knights it was often commuted to beheading…

Which leads to the phrase, “Thank God for commutation!”

But seriously – that was a bit of sarcasm – that takes us to some recent Daily Office Readings.  For example: the readings for Monday, October 5 included 1st Corinthians 10:14-11:1:

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, for ‘the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.’   If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.  But if someone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice’, then do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience – I mean the other’s conscience.

That loosely translates to “Eat what the heck they put in front of you, and stop whining!”

Then there’s Psalm 127, one of the readings for Tuesday, October 6.  Which leads to the fact that some people tend – in my view – to take isolated passages of the Bible way out of context.  One example is people who “handle” snakes, based on .)   (See On snake-handling, Fundamentalism and suicide – Part I.)  Another example is people who take Psalm 127, verses 3-5, “way out of context:”

[T]he “Quiverfull Movement” can be found at sites including Quiverfull – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;  What Is Quiverfull? – Patheos, part of “No longer quivering,” an ostensible “gathering place for women escaping and healing from spiritual abuse;”  5 Insane Lessons from My Christian Fundamentalist Childhood …;  and/or QuiverFull .com :: Psalm 127:3-5.

Which means we wouldn’t have the “Quiverfull” movement if it hadn’t been for Bill Tyndale.

Meanwhile, there’s the matter of karma and/or “turnabout is fair play…”

 

“Sir Thomas More … after his sentence of death.”

The upper image is courtesy of William Tyndale – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The caption: “William Tyndale, before being strangled and burned at the stake, cries out, ‘Lord, open the King of England’s eyes,’ woodcut from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (1563).”

The portrait-image of Tyndale is courtesy of the link, William Tyndale.  

Re: Clergy.  See also Benefit of clergy, a principle of English law which originally meant that “clergymen could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ecclesiastical court under canon law.”  In other words a priest charged with murder or rape – for example – could demand to be tried by a “court” of his fellow priests.

Various reforms limited the scope of this legal arrangement to prevent its abuse.  Eventually the benefit of clergy evolved into a legal fiction in which first-time offenders could receive lesser sentences for some crimes (the so-called “clergyable” ones).  The legal mechanism was abolished in 1823 with the passage of the Judgement of Death Act which gave judges the discretion to pass lesser sentences on the first-time offenders.

The “witness – trial” image is courtesy of Famous Trials – UMKC School of Law – Prof. Douglas Linder.  The specific trial image is from the Selected Images link at O. J. Simpson Trial (1995).  The caption:  “Simpson tries on ‘the gloves that did not fit.'”

The image of “King James” is courtesy of the James I link included in King James Version – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “Portrait after John de Critz, c. 1606.”

Re: “Quiverfull.”  See also On Pentecost – “Happy Birthday, Church!”:

On the other hand, it could be argued this is another example of some people taking isolated Bible passages out of context, like those who handle snakes based on Mark 16:17-18, or those who have a “quiverfull” of children based on a passage from Psalm 127. 

The lower image is courtesy of Thomas More – Wikipedia.  The full caption:  “William Frederick Yeames, The meeting of Sir Thomas More with his daughter after his sentence of death, 1872.”  See also Karma – Wikipedia, and the idiom: “turnabout is fair play – Wiktionary.”  (An idiom is a phrase or a fixed expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning.)  Also:

An idiom’s figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.  There are thousands of idioms, and they occur frequently in all languages. It is estimated that there are at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language.

Other sources for this post include: William Tyndale | Christian History, William Tyndale Bible History, and William Tyndale – Christian History Facts – Christianity.

*   *   *   *

“The Calling of St. Matthew,” by Hendrick ter Brugghen…                      (“Who?  Me?”)

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The next major Feast Day is Monday September 21.  (Here the term “feast” does not refer to a “large meal” – typically a celebration – but rather to an annual religious celebration … dedicated to a particular saint.)  So September 21 is the Feast for “St Matthew, Evangelist.”

See also On St. Matthew, from last year.  On that note the Bible readings are the same as those for last year:  Proverbs 3:1-6, Psalm 119:33-40, 2d Timothy 3:14-17, and Matthew 9:9-13.

There’s more on St. Matthew further below, but first it’s time to do some reflecting.  For one thing, many churches have their “Rally Day” this time of year.  Such Rally Days mark the beginning of a new year of Sunday School, not to mention a new liturgical year.   They also mark the end of summer vacation – with its generally low attendance – and a time for welcoming new parish members.

Aside from that, September 20 is National Back to Church Sunday.  (“Strategically designed to help churches reach out and invite everyone to try church again.”)

So this reflection deals with some basics:  What do you get for going to church?  What does it mean to “become a Christian,” or “begin your journey toward Jesus.”  (See John 6:37.)  More basically, some potential converts may ask, “Who is this ‘God,’ and what can ‘He’ do for me?“

Yet a third variation:  “How can I get God – who created the universe – to do good things for me?”

Here’s my take:  Getting good stuff from God should be at least as hard as shooting the head off a match from 90 yards away.  “It’s hard as hell…  But now and then I’ll do it just right, and light one.”

Bear with me…

Over the millenia, two basic answers have been formulated on “does God exist?”  The first might be called the “Greek” view, which says there is no God and that we pitiful humans are at the whim of a merciless uncaring fate.  The other might be called the Hebraic view.

That view says that not only does God exist, but – that if you play your cards right – you can get Him to do good things for you, personally and as an individual. (Put another way, there is one God and that if you approach Him in the proper manner, He can make your life ever so much better.)

I explored this question in On the wisdom of Virgil – and an “Angel.”  That in turn was inspired by a series of lectures, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans:  Foundations of Western Civilization, via audiobook by Professor Timothy Shutt.  See also Job the not patient – REDUX.

Job REDUX noted Professor Shutt’s saying that when it comes to understanding the whole idea of God, we humans are “simply not up to the task.”  (We are no more up to the task of fully understanding God than “cats are prepared to study calculus.  It’s just not in our nature.”)

And Wisdom of Virgil noted Shutt’s observation that when it comes to such questions – like “does God exist?” – we humans tend to answer in terms of black or white.  (Or “all or nothing.”)   That is, most people say either that there is a “God who controls all things, or that there must be no God at all.”  In other words, there’s no middle ground.  (In our view.)

But Virgil – good old Virgil, at left reading his Aeneid – came up with just such a “middle view” that seems to make more sense than the black or white view:

There is … an overarching order at work in the world, a final coherence in the way that things work.  But it remains out of human reach, and despite our efforts, we can merely come to know it only in part…

The emphasized “only in part” would seem to be just plain common sense.  If there is indeed a Force that Created the Universe, then we pitiful human beings – living a mere 70 or 80 years, if lucky – would (logically speaking) be hard pressed to ever fully understand it.  (Or “Him.”)

But just because we can’t fully understand “Him” doesn’t mean “He” doesn’t exist.  Thus there is – most likely – an “overarching order,” and that overarching order could well be the very God who provides the “final coherence in the way that things work.”

The problem is that we “earthy” humans tend to think in terms of “all or nothing.”  We tend to think that if this “God” doesn’t cater to our every whim – or if “He” does something we don’t like, or just can’t understand – then “He” must not exist at all.  (“I guess I showed Him!“)

But the good news is:  We can still get to know God, even if “only in part.”

Which brings up the Hell’s Angel.

As noted in Virgil and an “Angel,” his name was Magoo (from the ‘Frisco chapter), and:

…on days when he isn’t working, he goes out to the dump and tries to shoot the heads off match sticks.  “It’s hard as hell,” he said.  “But now and then I’ll do it just right, and light one…” But the really strange thing is how many people think that dealing with God – the Force that Created the Universe – is somehow easier than trying to shoot the head off a match stick…

So again, here’s my take on the two key questions.  (Does God exist?  And if He does, how can I get good stuff from Him?)  The answer?  Getting good stuff from God should be at least as hard as shooting the head off a match from 90 yards away.   The good news:  It isn’t always that hard.

One thing you can do is accept the promise of Jesus in John 6:37.  Another thing you can do is read the Bible on a daily basis, to find out how other people have successfully approached this “God” person.   A third thing you can do is realize the process is both interactive and ongoing.  (The more you do it the better you get at it.)

And finally, the fourth – and perhaps the most difficult – thing you can do is simply realize the fundamental principle that just because something bad happens to you – or just because “God doesn’t cater to you every whim” – doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist.

*   *   *   *

Meanwhile, back to St. Matthew.  (See Matthew 9:9.)  I covered his Feast Day last year in On St. Matthew.  (Including the painting at right.)

This year I added some different paintings, including ter Brugghen‘s take on the calling of St. Matthew, at the top of the page.  See The Calling of St Matthew – Web Gallery of Art, which noted that Ter Brugghen spent ten years in Italy and likely studied under the noted Italian artist Caravaggio.  Caravaggio in turn “exerted a great influence on him” and sometimes ter Brugghen “repeated the subjects of Caravaggio, like in the Calling of St. Matthew.”

As to the ter Brugghen painting at the top of the page:

Christ and his follower appear to the left as dark figures in the foreground.  The main accent is on the brightly illuminated group on the right [including the] mercenary soldier pointing to the money on the table…  The light enters in a broad beam … from the left.  However, the quality of the light is original;  it is lighter, richer, and more atmospheric than Caravaggio’s, which seldom has the brightness or softness of real daylight.

Note also the “six gesticulating hands in the center.”  Thus in ter Brugghen‘s  interpretation, Jesus stands at the far left, in shadow and in profile.  St. Matthew – the one being “called” – sits near the center of the painting, pointing to himself with an expression of “Who?  Me?“

Note also that ter Brugghen did other paintings on St. Matthew’s “calling,” including the one at the bottom of the page.  (Immediately before the “notes” section.)

And finally, consider some of the things Isaac Asimov wrote about St. Matthew.

Asimov noted that Matthew’s name came from the Hebrew meaning “gift of God,” and that it was a common name in New Testament times.  This was due in large part to “the great pride of the Jews in the achievements of priest Mattathias” (seen at left on the head of a Jewish coin at the time).  Mattathias in turn was the “father of Judas Maccabeus and the heroic initiator of the revolt against the Seleucids.”  (167-160 B.C.)

But there were also good reasons why this author – and any other Gospel writer – might try and remain anonymous.  For one thing, such “holy books” were thought to carry a lot more weight – seem more “holy” – if the real authorship was “assigned to some ancient worthy:”

Indeed, there might be considered the very real force of the feeling that a truly holy book was inspired by God and that the worldly author acted only as a mouthpiece and deserved no credit.  (Emphasis added.)

Then there was the “mundane” consideration of personal mayhem.

The time when the Gospels were written “was a hard one for Christians.  Jewish hostility was pronounced and so was Roman hostility.”  Christians at the time had  vivid memories of Nero Persecuting the Christians, circa 64 A.D.  Then there was the great Jewish Revolt.  That revolt ran from 66 to 70 A.D. and turned out to be “one of the greatest catastrophes in Jewish life.”  It ultimately resulted in the Destruction of Jerusalem.  It also turned the Jewish people “from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a scattered and persecuted minority” throughout the world.  (See also Jewish diaspora – Wikipedia.)

The upshot was that the Jews who had revolted against Rome “were resentful, indeed, of Christian failure to join the rebellion.”  Thus as Asimov noted, because of intense hostility from both Jews and Romans, “It might well be that a gospel writer preferred to remain anonymous out of considerations of personal safety.”  The bottom line is that Matthew “witnessed” at a time when it was dangerous for him to do so.  Thus as the Collect for Matthew’s Day says:

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew … and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him…

*   *   *   *

Another interpretation of Jesus “calling” Matthew…

*   *   *   *

The upper image is courtesy of  Brugghen, Hendrick ter – The Calling of St. Matthew.  As noted, the artist did different paintings on the same subject.  See for example ter Brugghen, Calling of Saint Matthew | MuMa Le Havre, and The Calling of St. Matthew – Hendrick Terbrugghen – WikiArt.org, which provided the lower image immediately above the “notes” section.

Re:  “Rally Day.”  See Rally Day | Article about Rally Day by The Free Dictionary, which noted:  

In liturgical Protestant churches, Rally Day marks the beginning of the church calendar year. It typically occurs at the end of September or the beginning of October.  Although not all Protestant churches observe this day, the customs associated with it include giving Bibles to children, promoting children from one Sunday school grade to the next, welcoming new members into the church, and [presenting] church goals for the coming year.

Re:  National Back to Church Sunday.  See also – from 2012 – Over 10,000 Churches Commit to ‘National Back to Church Sunday,’ from the Christian Post, a “nondenominational, Evangelical Christian newspaper based in Washington, D.C.”  The Post noted that since 2009, “National Back to Church Sunday has inspired churchgoers to invite more than 2.6 million family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers to their churches.”  

Re: “Virgil.”  The illustration, from Wikipedia, includes the caption:  “Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia by Jean-Baptiste Wicar, Art Institute of Chicago.”

Re: “interactive.”  See On Mary Magdalene, “Apostle to the Apostles:”

[That] just goes to show the importance of the interactive – if not the mystical – part of your walk toward Jesus.  (Pursuant to John 6:37.)  In the end there’s simply no way to prove the existence of either God or Jesus, with enough courtroom evidence o convince the most jaded of skeptics.  In the end it all comes down to faith, and experience.

Re: Isaac Asimov.  The quotes about St. Matthew are from Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One),  Avenel Books (1981), at pages 771-72. 

Asimov (1920-1992) was “an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books.  Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.”  His list of books included those on “astronomy, mathematics, theBible, William Shakespeare’s writing, and chemistry.”  He was a long-time member of Mensa, “albeit reluctantly;  he described some members of that organization as ‘brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs.’”  See also Isaac Asimov – Wikipedia.

The coin image of “Mattathias” is courtesy of Mattathias – Wikipedia, with the caption:  “Mattathias from Guillaume Rouillé‘s Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum.”

Re: the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 A.D.  See also Jewish–Roman wars – Wikipedia. 

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And speaking of reviews, here’s a portion of the “Welcome” portion of “Matthew 2014:”

[T]his Bible-blog is different…  It says that not only should we read the Bible with an open mind, but also that it was designed to liberate us, not shackle and shape us into some “pre-formed” spiritual straitjacket…  That runs contrary to a common perception these days, that way too many Christians are way too focused on a “one size fits all” Faith, on pain of which those who don’t think just like they do – or belong to their particular “club” – are going to hell.   For more on that topic and others like it see [The] Blog, which talks about how we can live fuller, richer lives of great spiritual abundance, and do greater miracles than even Jesus did, if only we open our minds…

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Transfiguration, by Raphael (1516-20)

“The Transfiguration stands as an allegory of the transformative nature” of the faith of the Bible…

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August 6 is the Feast Day for The Transfiguration, arguably the “greatest miracle in the world.” (Unlike the other miracles of Jesus, this one happened to Him.   All the others involved Jesus doing things for other people.)  The story of the Transfiguration is told in Luke 9:28-36:

About eight days after Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.  And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.  Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.  They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem…

See also Transfiguration of Christ, which noted this particular miracle is unique among those listed in the “Canonical gospels, in that the miracle happens to Jesus himself.” And St. Thomas Aquinas considered the Transfiguration “the greatest miracle.”  (E.A.)

The problem was that “Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep.”  But they did manage to stay awake enough to see Moses and Elijah.  In fact, Peter thought that Moses and Elijah were planning on staying awhile.  That’s why he suggested that he make three “booths” – or primitive huts – for Moses, Elijah and Jesus to stay in. (Luke 9:33.)

See also Sukkot – Wikipedia, which described the type of “booth” that Peter was referring to.  (Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Booths.)  The thing is:  When we think of a “booth,” what comes to mind is a “stall, compartment, or light structure for the sale of goods or for display purposes, as at a market, exhibition, or fair.”  (Like the “kissing booth” at left.)  But Peter was thinking of a whole different structure.

During Sukkot, faithful Jews remember The Exodus by living in the kind of huts their ancestors stayed in while Wandering for 40 years in the Wilderness.  That kind of booth is a frail, lean-to-type structure, with two-and-a-half walls and covered with some kind of local plant material.  (Which hopefully won’t “blow away in the wind.”)  The feast is “intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which … the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt.”  (See Judaism 101: Sukkot.)

But back to the Gospel.  We pick up after Peter spoke of the booths, “not knowing what he said:”

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.  Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”  When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.  And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Which brings up the painting above.  (Courtesy of Transfiguration (Raphael) – Wikipedia.)

Wikipedia said the painting “exemplifies Raphael’s development as an artist and the culmination of his career.”  And it’s unique for showing both the Transfiguration – in the upper half of the painting – along with another episode from the Gospels in the lower half.

The lower part of the painting illustrates Matthew 17 (verses 14-21), where Jesus had to step in and heal a boy possessed by demons, after the disciples couldn’t do it themselves.  (This comes right after Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17, verses 1-13.)

The upper part of the painting shows Moses and Elijah “floating.”  On the ground, the three disciple-witnesses,  “from left to right, James, Peter and John, traditionally read as symbols of faith, hope and love; hence the symbolic colors of blue-yellow, green and red for their robes.”

In Christian teachings, the Transfiguration is a pivotal moment, and the setting on the mountain is presented as the point where human nature meets God: the meeting place for the temporal and the eternal, with Jesus himself as the connecting point, acting as the bridge between heaven and earth.

For another view, check out Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord.  That site presents a Greek Orthodox analysis, including that – in the story – Moses and Elijah “represent the Law and the Prophets.” (“Moses received the Law from God, and Elijah was a great prophet.”) So it was indeed a dramatic moment in time. Or as Aquinas said, “the greatest miracle.”

Or see What was the meaning and importance of the transfiguration.  The site noted that the three disciples “never forgot what happened that day,” which was probably exactly what Jesus intended.  John, one witness wrote in his gospel, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only.” (John 1:14)  Peter also noted, wrote of it, “We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16-18.)

The disciples, who had only known Him in His human body, now had a greater realization of the deity of Christ…  That gave them the reassurance they needed after hearing the shocking news of His coming death…  But God’s voice from heaven – “Listen to Him!” – clearly showed that the Law and the Prophets [noted above] must give way to Jesus.

And one last note:  See Readings for October 26 for more on this feast and how it fulfilled a centuries-old dream for Moses, who God kept from the Promised Land. (See Why was God so upset with Moses and Why Moses [couldn’t] enter the Promised Land.)  As Readings noted:

Moses finally entered the Promised Land – [at] the Transfiguration – albeit a Millennium after he expected.  In modern terms, Moses died some seven miles due east of the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, inside Jordan, while in the Transfiguration he “met up” with Jesus on Mount Tabor, inside Israel and 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.

Which is proof positive that while God may have His own time-table, He always keeps His promises.  (And that patience is definitely a virtue…)

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A note on the painting by Raphael:  According to Wikipedia, “The iconography of the picture has been interpreted as a reference to the delivery of the city of Narbonne from the repeated assaults of the Saracens.  Pope Calixtus III proclaimed August 6 a feast day on the occasion of the victory of the Christians in 1456.”

Re:  The Greek Orthodox analysis.  Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord added that in addition to representing “the Law and the Prophets,” both Moses and Elijah experienced visions of God.  (“Moses on Mount Sinai and Elijah on Mount Carmel.”)  And the two men “represent the living and the dead (Elijah, the living, because he was taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire, and Moses, the dead, because he did experience death).”  But see the final note above…

The lower image is courtesy of Christian mysticism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption:  “Transfiguration of Jesus depicting him with Elijah, Moses and 3 apostles by Carracci, 1594.”  The site noted:  “[P]ractices such as the Eucharist, baptism and the Lord’s Prayer all become activities that take on importance for both their ritual and symbolic values.”  Further, “Jesus’ conception, in which the Holy Spirit overshadows Mary, and his Transfiguration, in which he is briefly revealed in his heavenly glory, also become important images for meditation.”

For related posts see On Exodus (Part II) and Transfiguration and On the Bible and mysticism.

“Christ in the House of Martha and Mary,” by Velázquez (1618)

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The next major feast day – after  Mary Magdalene, “Apostle to the Apostles” – is for Mary and Martha of Bethany, celebrated on July 29.   (Not counting July 25.  For that feast day see “On St. James the Greater,” from 2014.  The Bible readings are at St James, Apostle.)

The July 29 Gospel for Mary and Martha of Bethany is Luke 10:38-42:

Now as Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.  She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.  But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?  Tell her then to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

As Wikipedia noted, this episode is usually interpreted as meaning “spiritual values [are] more important than material business, such as preparation of food.”  The article said this mirrored what Jesus said in Luke 4:4 (as part of His Temptation by Satan):  “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.'” (Citing Deuteronomy 8:3.)  Not to mention John 6:63, “The Spirit alone gives eternal life.  Human effort accomplishes nothing.”  (Referring to eternal life.)

Also, these two sisters had a brother, Lazarus.  See Martha – Wikipedia.  He’s the man that Jesus raised from the dead.  (As shown at right – by van Gogh – but not to be confused with the “beggar Lazarus.”  See Luke 16:19–31 and parable of the rich man and Lazarus.)

So anyway, here’s what Women in the Bible said of these two-sisters-and-a-brother.  First of all: “None of the three appeared to be married.”  That alone was highly unusual in Jewish society of the time, “where people were usually married before the age of 20.”  Thus the consensus is that all three siblings were “quite young, perhaps still in their teens.”

Another interpretation is that the three were “on the edge of society,” or otherwise worthy of being shunned, or seen as “unclean.”  Yet despite that possibility, “they seem to have been young, comparatively well-off, independent, and intelligent.”  Finally, the article said this:

[In this episode] Jesus was ignoring the traditional role of women, and encouraging Mary to think and learn.  He upheld her right to listen, think about ideas, and to develop her mind. She should not be limited to the tasks that society laid down for her, but be allowed access to ideas, as Jewish men were.

See also The Martha Syndrome and the Mary Solution – Religious tolerance  (as illustrated at left) which added:  “Our unbelief can block God’s miracles in our lives.”  (And that’s a point worth remembering.)  The article cited John 11:40, in the account of John’s Gospel, of the raising of Lazarus:

Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”  Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him,  “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”  Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?“

See also Matthew 17:20 and Mark 9:23, not to mention Exodus 16:7, “you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against Him.”  (The emphasized portion adds an interesting “plot twist” to the concept of communicating with God…)

But getting back to the topic at hand, see Mary and Martha of Bethany 29 July:

Christian writers have seen Mary as representing Contemplation (prayer and devotion), and Martha as representing Action (good works, helping others)…  Contemplation has fewer results, but one of those results is Faith, without which it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)  Yet, there is a sense in which Action comes first – “If a man love not his brother, whom he hath seen, how shall he love God, whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20)

Which brings up the question:  Which of these examples should we we follow?  Should we follow Mary’s path, and let our earthly concerns tend to themselves?  Or should we follow Martha’s way, a live a life of service to others?  Maybe the best answer is both…

See for example, Mary and Martha … who were they?  The site argued that far from being bickering sisters, these two were a team, each complementing the other:

Mary and Martha need not tame dragons [as shown at right] to engage the modern reader … they have much to offer beyond their imagined rivalry.  In Vermeer’s painting [shown below], Jesus points toward Mary, not as a rebuke to Martha but as a gentle reminder that leadership demands both the ability to listen and the ability to act.  Finally, Mary and Martha are not at odds but form two parts of a whole. (E.A.)

Which is another way of saying that the debate over which is the better path – faith or works – has been going for most if not all the 2,000 years since the Church was born.  See for example, Faith and Works – Reconciling the Two Doctrines:

[B]elievers are … declared righteous before God solely by faith…  Works, on the other hand, are the evidence of genuine salvation.  They are the “proof in the pudding,” so to speak. Good works demonstrate the truth of one’s faith.

So on this 29th day of July, 2015, Mary and Martha remind us that we need not “be at odds with each other” over religion.  Instead we need to work on becoming two – or more – “parts of the whole.”  (And – like many other efforts while we’re on this earthly pilgrimage – it may be easier to do it on your own, but it is definitely not as much fun…)

 

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, (1655)

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The upper image is courtesy of Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary.  The caption:  “‘Christ in the House of Martha and Mary,’ Diego Velázquez, 1618.”   There’s more input on the painting below.

The “bright yellow” image is courtesy of The Raising of Lazarus after Rembrandt – Vincent van Gogh.

The “tolerance puzzle” image is courtesy of  thesouthern.com/religious-tolerance.

Re: “if you believe.”  See also the Gospel for July 25, 2015:  Mark 6:1-13, on Jesus confronting a lack of faith in His home town:  “He could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And he was amazed at their unbelief.”  (See Mark 6:6.)

Re:  Mary representing contemplation.  The quote included this:

They [Christian writers] see the same symbolism also in Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Laban (Genesis 29 and 35).  Leah was dim of sight, but had many children.  Rachel had few children, but one of them saved the whole family from destruction.  Leah represents Action, which is near-sighted and cannot penetrate very far into the mysteries of God, but produces many worth-while results.

Re: Faith and works.  See also The Controversy Over Faith And Works Continues.

The “St. George and dragon” image is courtesy of Collections of the National Gallery of Art, and/or Saint George and the Dragon (Raphael).

The lower image is courtesy of  Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (Vermeer) – Wikipedia.

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Here’s that “more input,” from the Velasquez painting link as noted above:

The plight of Martha clearly relates to that of the maid in the foreground.  She has just prepared a large amount of food and, from the redness of her creased puffy cheeks, we can see that she is also upset.  To comfort her (or perhaps even to rebuke her), the elderly woman indicates the scene in the background reminding her that she can not expect to gain fulfillment from work alone.  The maid, who cannot bring herself to look directly at the biblical scene and instead looks out of the painting towards us, meditates on the implications of the story…

This is the most likely interpretation[, but some] have argued over the identities of the characters, suggesting that the maid in the foreground is actually Martha herself and the lady standing in the background is just an incidental character….  On the one hand, we may be looking at a mirror or through a hatch at the biblical scene.  If so, it would imply that the whole painting, foreground and background, is set in Christ’s time and would perhaps lend weight to the argument that the maid in the foreground is Martha.  On the other hand, the biblical scene may just be a painting which is hung in the maid’s kitchen.

Finally, the article noted that when he did this painting, “Velázquez was experimenting with the potential of the bodegones, a form of genre painting set in taverns (the meaning of bodegon) or kitchens … to relate scenes of contemporary Spain to themes and stories from the Bible.”   And that whatever the interpretation, “we can appreciate this as an early example of Velázquez’s interest in layered composition, a form also known as ‘paintings within the painting.'”  See also A Painting Within a Painting: Hidden Messages in Dutch Art.