Before Jesus could Ascend into Heaven, He had to Descend into Hell…

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First a note.  Last Thursday – May 5 – was the Feast of the Ascension:

The Feast … commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven.  It is one of the ecumenical feasts (i.e., universally celebrated) … ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter, and Pentecost.  Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter…

Note that the 40-day calculation is from Acts 1:3.  That passage – in the GWT – said, “After his death Jesus showed the apostles a lot of convincing evidence that he was alive.  For 40 days he appeared to them and talked with them about the kingdom of God.”

Then – 50 days after Easter – comes Pentecost.  (The name is from the Greek meaning “50th day.”)  So Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday, “counting inclusively (including both the first and last days).”  In other words, seven weeks and a day later.

Which means this year Pentecost is next Sunday, May 15.

Pentecost is also called the “Birthday of the Church,” for reasons discussed in last year’s On Pentecost – “Happy Birthday, Church!”

But first things first.  You can see the full Bible readings for last Thursday’s feast day – May 5 – at Ascension Day.  Those Bible readings include two accounts of the Ascension, including Luke 24:51 and Acts 1:9.  (With both books written by the same Luke the Evangelist.)

I covered the subject two years ago, and again in Ascension Day 2015, which noted this:

So first Jesus got crucified, for us.  Then He “descended into Hell,” for us.  Then He reappeared on earth and stuck around 40 days, just to make sure His message got through.  Then He ascended to Heaven, to “sit at the right hand of God.”

Which brings up the top-image caption, that before Jesus could “Ascend into Heaven, He had to Descend into Hell.”  Which could be another way of saying “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall.”

That was the name of a 1944 song performed by The Ink Spots, and “featuring Bill Kenny, and Ella Fitzgerald.”  But in turn the name of the song came from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow‘s poem “The Rainy Day.”  (He is shown at right.)

And that could be another way of saying that – just like Jesus had to “descend into Hell” – we too face something similar.  Before we can hope to reach our own “Promised Land,” we’ll have to spend a lot of time Wandering in the Wilderness.

More to the point, Paul the Apostle touched on the subject in Ephesians 4:1-16.  (Which just happened to be the New Testament DOR for today, May 11.)  That is In Ephesians 4:9, Paul said of Jesus:  “What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?”

Which sounds a bit like circular reasoning, but bear with me.  (And Paul.)  

For one thing, that seems to apply to all of us.  We all pretty much all have to descend before we can ascend.   Note also that the NIV has this passage set in parentheses, which are “used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark.”  (See also John 3:13, “No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven – the Son of Man.”)

Which could also be interpreted like this:  For Jesus, descending into Hell – from here on Earth – might not have been all that different from descending “down to Earth,” from Heaven.  

(Not to mention having to go through the whole process of being born – and worse – being a teenager who did “know everything.”  See Jesus as a teenager – REDUX, including the image below left.)

For a more erudite explanation of what Paul may have meant, see Ephesians 4:9 Commentaries.  The initial commentary noted that Ephesians 4:9 was part of a “parenthesis, designed to bring out the pervading idea” of the Divine Humanity of Christ as “‘filling all in all’ and ‘gathering all things’ into Himself.”

A later commentary on Ephesians 4:9 said that in “descending into Hell,” Jesus had actually gone down, way down:

To the lowest state of humiliation.  This seems to be the fair meaning of the words.  Heaven stands opposed to earth.  One is above; the other is beneath.  From the one Christ descended to the other; and he came not only to the earth, but he stooped to the most humble condition of humanity here…

And all of which seems to have been necessary for Jesus to become – in a sense – your own personal Ultimate Court-appointed Defense Attorney.  (See The GIST, Parts I and II.)

See also 2014’s On Ascension Day, which noted the problem some people might have with the whole idea of the “bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven.”  (And indeed with the whole idea of life after death.  That post cited the First law of thermodynamics as “proof positive.”)

All of which leads – metaphorically or otherwise – to the Good News.  In this case, of next Sunday’s celebration of Pentecost as the “birthday of the Church.”

In The readings for Pentecost (6/8/14), I noted that the day is sometimes called “‘Tongue Sunday.”  That’s both because of the ‘tongues of fire'” routinely shown in paintings of the event, “and because of the phenomenon of ‘speaking in tongues.'”  (See Glossolalia.) 

The post noted that some witnesses thought those “tongue-speakers” were just babbling drunkenly.  On the other hand, there were enough people who understood what the “babblers” were saying to be convinced of Peter’s response.  That is, beginning at Acts 2:15 Peter responded to the charges of the witnesses who mocked the disciples as drunken babblers.  “These people are not drunk, as you suppose.  It’s only nine in the morning!”

And as a result of Peter’s response, “Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day – about 3,000 in all.”  See Acts 2:41.  And that’s why Pentecost is called the Birthday of the Church.  See also On Pentecost – “Happy Birthday, Church!”

That post included the full-length version of El Greco‘s interpretation of the event.  (Part of which is seen at right.)  It also included a note that Pentecost marks the beginning of “Ordinary Time.”

That is, in the liturgical calendar the season of “Ordinary Time” – as it’s known by Catholics – can take up over half the year.  In the Anglican liturgy this time is the Season of Pentecost.  That season begins on the Monday after Pentecost,  and goes on “through most of the summer and autumn.”  It may include up to 28 Sundays, “depending on the date of Easter.”

This year the Last Sunday after Pentecost doesn’t come until next November 20.  The Sunday after that is the First Sunday of Advent, the season that leads up to Christmas.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.  As noted in “Happy Birthday, Church:”

To sum up, the Pentecost described in Acts “was a momentous, watershed event.”  For the first time in history, God had empowered “all different sorts of people for ministry.  Whereas in the era of the Old Testament, the Spirit was poured out almost exclusively on prophets, priests, and kings,” on this Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit had been given to “‘all people.’”

Which is a pretty good reason for all the celebrating – and barbecue – this Sunday…

 

An artist’s depiction of Pentecost – the “birthday of the Church…”

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The upper image, in black and white, is a woodcut, courtesy of Harrowing of Hell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption:  “Christ’s Descent into Limbo, woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, c. 1510.”  See also the Jesus in Hell post, which included:  “Other references of possible interest include: Paradise – Wikipedia, Zohar – Wikipedia, and/or Heaven – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The complete Daily Office Readings for Wednesday, May 11, include: Psalms 101, 109:1-4 (5-19) 20-30, and 119:121-144, together with Isaiah 4:2-6; Ephesians 4:1-16, and Matthew 8:28-34.

Re: “parentheses.”  See also Bracket – Wikipedia, referring to the punctuation marks used “to set apart or interject other text.”  The article noted that chevrons “(< >) were the earliest type of bracket to appear in written English.  Desiderius Erasmus coined the term lunula to refer to the rounded parentheses (), recalling the shape of the crescent moon.”

The full title of the “wandering in the wilderness” link is What We Can Learn from Wandering in the Wilderness.  Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman noted three valuable lessons we can learn, including: 

The truth is, we spend much more time wandering in the wilderness than living in the Promised Land.  In fact, that may be why the Torah was given in middle of the wilderness – to remind us that while the Promised Land is wonderful, we learn our greatest lessons on the journey along the way.

Re: “erudite.”  That term has come to mean “having or showing great knowledge or learning.”  But see Erudition – Wikipedia, which noted that – as originally used – a scholar was said to be “erudite” when his instruction “effaced all rudeness … that is to say smoothed away all raw, untrained incivility. Common usage has blurred the distinction from ‘learned’ but the two terms are quite different.” 

The “tongues of fire” image is courtesy of El Greco. Pentecost – Olga’s Gallery.  See also El Greco … the Spirit is saying.  The post “Happy Birthday, Church” includes explanatory notes about the painting.

Re: Pentecost and barbecue.  That seems to be a tradition, especially in Anglican/Episcopal churches. See Pentecost Praise and Barbecue – anglican-cb.org, and also Pentecost BBQ & Potluck | Christ the Good Shepherd.  Or just Google “barbecue pentecost.”

The lower image is courtesy of Pentecost – Wikipedia, with the caption:  “A Western depiction of the Pentecost, painted by Jean II Restout, 1732.” 

Philip the Apostle – the saint we know is being celebrated on Monday, May 2… 

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The next major Feast Day is Monday, May 2.  That’s the feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles.  It’s normally celebrated on May 1, but this year May 1 falls on a Sunday, so it got transferred.

The days’ readings are: Isaiah 30:18-21, Psalm 119:33-40, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, and John 14:6-14.  That’s according to lectionarypage.net, which has a three-year cycle of Bible readings for Sunday services.

But see also St. Philip & St. James, from Satucket.  It has a two-year cycle of Daily Bible Readings. (You get through the Bible in two years.)  And that site shows some debate on “St. James:”

The New Testament mentions at least two persons named James, probably at least three, and perhaps as many as eight.  This is as good a place as any to sort them out.

The bottom line:  We seem to be none to sure which St. James is being celebrated on May 2.  But for a complete list of all eight possible candidates – for the post of the “James” being celebrated on May 1 (or 2, along with Philip) –  see St. Philip & St. James.

At the top of that list-of-eight is James the Greater.  (Seen at left.)

He’s also called James the son of Zebedee, and I wrote about him in St. James the Greater.  On the other hand, the americancatholic.org piece on Philip and James said the James here was the Son of Alphaeus:

We know nothing of this man except his name, and … that Jesus chose him to be one of the 12 pillars of the New Israel…  He is not the James of Acts, son of Clopas, “brother” of Jesus and later bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James.  James, son of Alphaeus, is also known as James the Lesser to avoid confusing him with James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater.

Be all that as it may…  The James the Greater post said he has a Feast Day all his own, on July 25. It also noted that – according to tradition – he was the first apostle to be martyred.  (Some time around 44 A.D.)  And that according to tradition, he’s the patron saint of pilgrims:

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.

On that note, the post cited a book by James Roose-Evans, Passages of the Soul: Ritual Today.

The book noted that a sense of ritual “should pervade a healthy society.”  (Apparently ours is none too healthy that way.)  The book added that a big problem these days is that we’ve “abandoned many rituals that used to help us deal with big change and major trauma.”

In turn the book called a pilgrimage a “ritual” – a ceremonial act – “on the move.”

The book also noted that a good pilgrimage can be “one of the most chastening, but also one of the most liberating” of human experiences.  Which led to the following observation, a la Dirty Harry:  “So, punk, do you feel like getting chastened and liberated?”

(For more on a chastening-liberating pilgrimage I took – back in November 2014 – see Returning from a pilgrimage – and the coming holidays.)

But getting back to St. Philip…  (We know a lot more about him.)  The post Total love – and “the Living Vine” talked about the Sunday Bible readings for May 3, 2015.  The first reading – Acts of the Apostles (8:26-40) – told about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch:

Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he met the Ethiopian eunuch…  The eunuch was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah, and had come to Isaiah 53:7-8.  Philip asked the Ethiopian, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  He said[,] “How can I understand unless I have a teacher to teach me?”  …Philip told him the Gospel of Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized.  They went down into some water and Philip baptized him.

The post also noted that as a eunuch the Ethiopian was beyond the pale – if not untouchable – from a legalistic standpoint.  That was because of Deuteronomy 23:1.   The King James Version – the Bible that God uses – puts the matter rather delicately:  “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.“

Yet Philip, guided by God’s Spirit, does not hesitate to share the good news of God’s love and salvation with this less than whole Ethiopian and to baptize him into the faith, to welcome him into the life of the Christian church.  This new faith is for all, God’s love is for every human being no matter what disability or disease or affliction has come our way.

(See “Wesley Uniting Church.”)  In other words, the point of Acts 8:26-40 – and Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch – is that God’s Love is Universal.  (See also Jonah and the bra-burners.)

So here’s to “Philip and James – Saints and Apostles,” and their Feast Day.

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The upper image is courtesy of Philip the Apostle – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “St. Philip, by Peter Paul Rubens, from his Twelve Apostles series (c. 1611), at the Museo del Prado, Madrid.”  That article added:  “In the Roman Catholic Church, the feast day of Philip, along with that of James the Just, was traditionally observed on 1 May, the anniversary of the dedication of the church dedicated to them in Rome (now called the Church of the Twelve Apostles).”  A note:  “James the Just” is third on the Satucket list, just below James the Greater and James the Lesser.

The image of St. Philip and St. James together is courtesy of catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear. That site indicated that the Feast Day – May 1 or 2 – honors “James the Less:”

St. James the Less, a brother of the Apostle Jude, was of Cana of Galilee.  He is the author of one of the Catholic Epistles in the New Testament.  He was favored by an appearance of the Risen Christ (I Cor. 15:7).  After the dispersion of the Apostles he was made Bishop of Jerusalem.  He was visited by St. Paul (Gal. 1:19).  He spoke after Peter at the meeting of the Apostles (Acts 15:13).

Another note:  The “Daily” Bible readings for St. Philip & St. James include:  Psalm 119:137-160 (morning); Psalm 139 (evening); Job 23:1-12; John 1:43-51 and/or John 12:20-26.

Re: Isaiah 53:7-8:  “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;  he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…  For he was cut off from the land of the living;  for the transgression of my people he was punished.”  The passage is said to refer to the sufferings of Christ.  See John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible.

Re:  “Beyond the pale.”  See also The Pale – Wikipedia.

Re:  “Untouchable.”  See also Dalit – Wikipedia.

Re:  Jonah and the bra-burners, which said the Book “ain’t about no stinkin’ whale:”

Clearly, the Book of Jonah … is the product of that school of Jewish thought which was universalist and which opposed the nationalist view…  It is the universality of God and the attribute of divine mercy that are the lessons of Jonah.  Those who think of the book as nothing more than the story of a man and a whale miss the whole point. (E.A.)

There used to be a lower image, and it was courtesy of the Wikipedia article, The Baptism of the Eunuch.  

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“The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen” – which comes at the end of Holy Week…

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Today is the start of Holy Week.  (Also known as the last week of Lent.)  And just as an aside, last year – 2015 – Easter Sunday came later, on April 4.  (As noted in On Holy Week – and hot buns.)

The “hot buns” part of that equation noted that “’hot cross buns are traditionally toasted and eaten on Good Friday,’ in the Anglican countries of the British Commonwealth:”

A hot cross bun is a “spiced sweet bun made with currants or raisins and marked with a cross on the top.”  The eating of this hot cross bun was designed to mark the end of Lent, with all its disciplines and “giving ups.”  I.e., during Lent, only “plain buns made without dairy products” could be eaten.  That prohibition ended at noon on Good Friday.

The post also noted a number of superstitions from English folklore, about such “hot buns.”  For example: Sharing a hot cross bun with friend “is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year.”  Also, if taken on a sea voyage, “hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck.”

But enough about those “hot buns.”  (We are still in Lent, after all…)  

More to the point, Holy Week includes – but is not limited to, spiritually speaking – the following Feast Days:  Palm Sunday,  Holy Wednesday (also known as Spy Wednesday), Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday), Good Friday (Holy Friday), and Holy Saturday.”  But here’s a key note:

Holy Week doesn’t “end” with Easter Sunday.  By definition, Easter Sunday “is the beginning of another liturgical [season, 50 days long]…”  That in turn could be a metaphor or object lesson for a whole new beginning, as in a “whole new way of life.”  Which is another way of saying [that] Easter Sunday is the defining moment of the liturgical year…

See On Easter Season – AND BEYOND.  That post noted that Easter Sunday – the end of Holy Week – is also known as Resurrection Sunday.  For obvious reasons.  It also included “a word about Rembrandt‘s interpretation of Easter morning, shown above:”

Mary Magdalen had just found Jesus’ grave empty, and asks a bystander what has happened. In her confusion she thinks the man is a gardener.  Only when he replies with “Mary!” does she realize who she’s talking to.  To illustrate Mary’s confusion, Jesus is often depicted as a gardener in this scene.

Then there’s the matter of Easter Sunday as celebrated today, “with the ‘Easter Bunny, colorfully decorated Easter eggs, and Easter egg hunts.’”  (For a more liturgical view see What is Easter Sunday?)   Which leads to the question:  “So how did the Easter Bunny get mixed up in all this?”

The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs.  Originating among German Lutherans, the “Easter Hare” originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient…   In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy, and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus or the Christkind, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holidays.

That’s from the Easter Bunny link, connected with the “bunny” postcard image at the bottom of the main text.  There’s also a note that the Easter Bunny custom was first written of – in America – at about the year 1682.  (See also social control, connected to similar practices before Christmas.)

Last year’s post – On Easter Season – AND BEYOND – also included a link to Ēostre – Wikipedia.

That noted the “Germanic divinity” who originally served as “namesake of the festival of Easter.”  And it noted that the “Ēostre” celebration was mentioned by the Venerable Bede – at left – in his “8th-century work The Reckoning of Time.”

But in closing, here’s a more incongruous note.

I was sitting in church this morning, listening to the priest read from Luke 22:14-23:56.  (Part of the full Palm Sunday readings, which can be seen at Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.)  And for some reason, on this particular morning I was struck by Luke 22:37.  That passage came right after Jesus said that Peter would deny Him three times before the cock crowed.  Jesus went on to say – in our translation – “I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, `And he was counted among the lawless‘; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.“

Biblehub.com has a number of different translations for the word “lawless:”  Words like “transgressors,” or “rebels,” or “evil doers,” “criminals,” or even “outlaws.”  And the notes thereto point to the “fifty third chapter of Isaiah, where this passage stands.”  That 53d chapter is in turn “a manifest prophecy of the Messiah.”  Specifically, see Isaiah 53:12:

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.  For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Another note pointed out that Jesus was “crucified between two thieves; and more than this.”

The more than this involved what might be known in the lawyer trade as a legal fiction.  (That is, ” a fact assumed or created by courts which is then used in order to apply a legal rule.”)  The legal rule in question demanded a blood sacrifice, under the Old Law, to cover the sins of the people.  But to solve that problem for all time, Jesus substituted HIs own “blood” for ours:

[B]eing in the legal place, and stead of his people, and having their sins laid upon him, and imputed to him, he was made and accounted, by imputation, not only a sinner, but sin itself; and as such, was considered in the eye of the law, and by the justice of God…   (E.A.)

Which is something to remember next Sunday, while enjoying those Chocolate Bunnies.

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“An Easter postcard depicting the Easter Bunny...”

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The upper image is courtesy of The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen – Art and the Bible.

The lower image is courtesy of Easter – Wikipedia.

 

“Simeon and Anna Recognize the Lord in Jesus” – at the Presentation of Our Lord…

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Tuesday, February 2, was the Feast for the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple:

Counting forward from December 25 as Day One, we find that Day Forty is February 2.  A Jewish woman is in semi-seclusion for 40 days after giving birth to a son, and accordingly it is on February 2 that we celebrate the coming of Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus to the Temple at Jerusalem…

See The Presentation, from the Satucket web site.  (The one with all the DORs.)  See also On The Presentation of Our Lord, a post I did last year at this time.  And as noted last year, this Feast celebrates the episode in Jesus’ life described in Luke 2:22-40.

Luke said that “Mary and Joseph took the Infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem … to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth.”  They did so “in obedience to the Torah (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15.”

Luke explicitly says that Joseph and Mary take the option provided for poor people (those who could not afford a lamb) (Leviticus 12:8), sacrificing “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”  Leviticus 12:1–4 indicates that this event should take place forty days after birth for a male child, hence the Presentation is celebrated forty days after Christmas.

That’s where “Simeon and Anna” come in.  Briefly, they recognize the Lord in Jesus.

That is, Simeon had previously been “visited by the Holy Spirit” – as imagined in the image below right – “and told that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  So – according to Luke 2:27 – Simeon “came in the Spirit into the temple,” on what happened to be the exact day that Jesus’ parents brought Him in.  (For “ritual purification.”)

(See also 2d Peter 1:21 for an example of prophets being moved in the spirit: “no prophecy ever originated through a human decision.  Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”)

So anyway, on seeing the baby Jesus, Simeon “uttered the prayer that would become known as the Nunc Dimittis,” Luke 2:29-32 (NIV):

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:  a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

Simeon then prophesied to Mary, as told in Luke 2:34-35.  And finally there was the “elderly prophetess Anna,” who was also in the Temple at the time.

She too offered prayers and praise to God – for Jesus – and spoke to everyone there of His importance to the redemption of His People.  (In Luke 2:36-38.)

In last year’s post on the Presentation, I wrote a lot about Mardi Gras.

Put simply, Mardi Gras is one final blowout (celebration) on the last day before by Lent.  (A “solemn religious observance” involving some 40 days of “prayer, penance,repentance of sins, almsgiving, atonement and self-denial.”)  And both of those Feast Days are right around the corner.

Shrove Tuesday in 2016 comes a week after the Presentation, on February 9.  The next day, February 10, is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent.  And Lent serves as a reminder of the last time that Jesus would be “Presented to the People.”

The painting below shows us that last time Jesus would be presented.  This time it was by Pontius Pilate, “presenting the mocked and scourged Jesus to the people.”

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The upper image is courtesy of the “Simeon” link in the Wikipedia article on the Presentation.  That caption:  “Simeon the Godreceiver by Alexei Egorov. 1830–40s.”  The caption I used for the upper image is actually the one from Simeon and Anna Recognize the Lord in Jesus.  That’s another interpretation of the event, by Rembrandt (van Rijn).  (Who is far better known that Egorov.)  You can see Rembrandt’s interpretation at “Wikigallery,” or at “Rembrandtonline.”

And I’m assuming “Anna” is one of the women in Egorov’s background.

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The Nunc Dimittis is also known as the Canticle Of Simeon, “which prophesied the redemption of the world by Jesus.”  See Prayers – Catholic Online for another good image of the event. 

The lower image is courtesy of Pontius Pilate – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “Ecce Homo (‘Behold the Man’), Antonio Ciseri‘s depiction of Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem.”

See also Rembrandt van Rijn: Christ Presented to the People – for a drypoint image – and Jesus Christ Presented to the People by Rembrandt, which provided the “mocked and scourged Jesus” text.

St. Thomas Aquinas, being “girded by angels with a mystical belt of purity…” 

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January 28 is the feast day of perhaps the greatest intellect of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the Angelic Doctor due to his purity of mind and body.  He gave up a life of nobility and wealth to be a poor Dominican friar, at the time a new religious order, much to the consternation of his family.

See January 28 … Thomas Aquinas.  See also Thomas Aquinas – Wikipedia, which noted that this St. Thomas is considered the Catholic Church’s greatest theologian and philosopher, and was “honored as a Doctor of the Church.”

But first note the word “doctor” used here comes from the Latin docere.  That means “to instruct, teach, or point out.”

Thus Doctor of the Church – like St. Isidore of Seville, at left – “is a title given by a variety of Christian Churches, to those they recognize as “having been of particular importance, particularly regarding their contribution to theology or doctrine.”

(And incidentally, I’d argue that any good “doctor of the church” would recognize that he – or she – can learn as much from the person being taught, as he – or she – knows already.  See also Seneca the Younger …)

So anyway, for more on what made this St. Thomas so special, see St. Thomas Aquinas.  (From the Satucket website.)  For starters, he was born in 1225 and died – a mere 49 years old – in 1274.

That means he lived right at the end of the Dark Ages.  (A time of “cultural and economic deterioration” in Western Europe, “following the decline of the Roman Empire.”)

During the Dark Ages, one of the institutions that kept things together was “Holy Mother Church.”  (In Latin, “Sancta Mater Ecclesia.”)  But one problem was that – largely due to widespread illiteracy – the Bible became the only book that was widely studied.  (And then only as interpreted by local parish priests, and many of them couldn’t read.)

Thomas Aquinas changed things up.  He “modernized” things.

Ironically, he did that by reading golden oldies, books written by people like Aristotle.  (Shown at “right right,” but who was at the time of Aquinas ” largely forgotten in Western Europe.”)

There was no such thing as printing – not until Gutenberg, in and around 1450 – and there were precious few books other than the Bible to “read.”  (Or more likely, have read to you.)

But then by Aquinas’s time – after a “dark” millennium or more – such books started reappearing.  (They’d been preserved “partly from Eastern European sources and partly from Moslem Arab sources in Africa and Spain.”)  And like all good golden oldies, such re-discovered books got “liked:”

These works offered a new and exciting way of looking at the world.  Many enthusiastic students of Aristotle adopted him quite frankly as as an alternative to Christianity.  The response of many Christians was to denounce Aristotle as an enemy of the Christian Faith.

Put another way, there were two initial reactions.  Some people rejected the Bible and adopted the philosophy of Aristotle “whole cloth.”  Others reacted vehemently and felt that reading such books bordered on heresy.  (See On Moses getting stoned, on a similar phenomenon, illustrated at left.)

Gradually a third approach emerged:  Those “who tried to hold both Christian and Aristotelian views side by side with no attempt to reconcile the two.”  And finally came Aquinas, who developed what has been called his “fourth approach:”

Aquinas had a fourth approach.  While remaining a Christian, he immersed himself in the ideas of Aristotle, and then undertook to explain Christian ideas and beliefs in language that would make sense to disciples of Aristotle.  At the time, this seemed like a very dangerous and radical idea, and Aquinas spent much of his life living on the edge of ecclesiastical approval.  His success can be measured by the prevalence today of the notion that of course all Christian scholars in the Middle Ages were followers of Aristotle.

Another source said Aquinas “lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason.”  Which is another way of asking:  “Can you be ‘smart’ and still believe in the Bible?“

(See also On broadminded, spelled “s-i-n”,” about the old – 1952 – Louvin Brothers song.)

Which is another way of saying that – even to this day – some believe you can’t do both.  That you can’t have “true faith” and at the same time use your powers of reason.  In other words, such people reject any modus vivendi.  They say you have to choose between faith and reason.

And pardon me for saying so, but such people are idiots.**  (Or at least greatly misled.)

Which is another way of saying such views are antithetical to this blog.  But I’m not alone.  St. Thomas Aquinas – for one – is “on the same page” as me.  (And the image at right is titled, “Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas.”)

That is, beginning with Thomas Aquinas, people started reading books in addition to the Bible.  And from that developed – in due course – things like the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.  (Referring to the use of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason as a “methodology for theological reflection.”)

All of which brings us – as if “preordained before the beginning of time” – to one of the Daily Office Readings for Monday, January 25, 2016.  (To wit: the Feast Day for the Conversion of St. Paul.)  That reading is Ecclesiasticus – not to be confused with Ecclesiastes – 39:1-10;

He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients…   [H]e preserves the sayings of the famous and penetrates the subtleties of parables;  he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs and is at home with the obscurities of parables.

Which is another of saying that when it comes to God – or for that matter the Bible:

There’s no such thing as a know-it-all…

 

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“Four Great Doctors,” including Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome… 

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The upper image is courtesy of Thomas Aquinas – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “Diego Velázquez, Aquinas is girded by angels with a mystical belt of purity after his proof of chastity.”  

Re: “Doctors” – as teachers – learning from their students:

One of the best ways to understand something is to try to explain it to others.  If you want to test your own understanding of this new way of thinking, try springing it on some of your friends.  Undoubtedly, you will discover something all teachers know – that the person giving instruction often learns more than the person receiving it…

See How to Develop Your Thinking Ability, by Kenneth S. Keyes, Jr., originally published in 1950.  The quote is found on page 34 of the McGraw-Hill paperback edition, published in 1963.

See also Know-it-all – Wikipedia, referring to a person “who obnoxiously purports an expansive comprehension of a topic and/or situation when in reality, his/her comprehension is inaccurate or limited.”  Based in part on Mr. Keyes’ point of view – with which I agree – I’d argue that – when it comes to “God” – there’s no such thing as a “know it all.”  (Notwithstanding the massive evidence to the contrary in too many religious circles.)

And finally, see Learning by teaching – Wikipedia:  “Seneca the Younger told … Lucilius that we are learning if we teach[:] docendo discimus (lat.: ‘by teaching we are learning’).”

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Here’s the full quote from the St. Thomas Aquinas link at Satucket, on his “fourth approach,” etc:

In the thirteenth century, when Thomas Aquinas lived, the works of Aristotle, largely forgotten in Western Europe, began to be available again, partly from Eastern European sources and partly from Moslem Arab sources in Africa and Spain.  These works offered a new and exciting way of looking at the world.  Many enthusiastic students of Aristotle adopted him quite frankly as as an alternative to Christianity.  The response of many Christians was to denounce Aristotle as an enemy of the Christian Faith.  A third approach was that of those who tried to hold both Christian and Aristotelian views side by side with no attempt to reconcile the two.  Aquinas had a fourth approach.  While remaining a Christian…

I added the emphasized “dangerous and radical idea,” in the quoted section in the main text.  The all in “all Christian scholars in the Middle Ages” was emphasized in the original.

The image of Aristotle is courtesy of the Wikipedia article on Aristotle.  A partial caption reads: “Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael.”

Re: Thomas living “at a critical juncture of western culture.”  See Saint Thomas Aquinas (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).  That article also used the term modus vivendi in a way that seemed incongruous at best, at least to me.

**  Re: “such people are idiots.”  That statement is an example of hyperbole, “the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech.”  Obviously – as a good Christian – I could never really believe such a thing.  I merely believe that such Biblical literalists are greatly misquided.  On the other hand, it seems that most people won’t listen to anything but overblown hyperbole these days…

Re: Antithetical.  See also Anathema, referring to “something dedicated to evil and thus accursed.” 

The side panel of Aquinas is courtesy of Thomas Aquinas – Wikipedia. The full caption:  “Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas, ‘Doctor Angelicus,’ with saints and angels, Andrea di Bonaiuto, 1366.  Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, fresco.”

Re: “Preordained before the beginning of time.”  See also Ephesians 1:4, “For he [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight…” 

On that note, the link phrased as “preordained before the beginning of time” – near the end of the main text – will take you to the article, Incentives, Predestination and Free Will, by “Glaeser, Edward L.,” and “Glendon, Spencer.”  That excerpt distinguished some points of theology between Catholicism on the one hand and some brands of Protestantism:

One of the largest theological gaps between the denominations is that Calvinism accepts the dogma of predestination while Catholicism argues for a dogma of free will…  Under predestination, a spiritual elite is preordained before the beginning of time and will receive eternal life.  Under free will, it is only through a lifetime of good actions that individuals are accepted into Heaven. (E.A.)

Re: The difference between Ecclesiasticus and Ecclesiastes.  The former – also known as Wisdom of Sirach – is “accepted as part of the Christian biblical canons by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and most of Oriental Orthodox.  The Anglican Church [does] not accept Sirach as protocanonical, and say[s] it should be read only ‘for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth not apply them to establish any doctrine.'”  Ecclesiastes on the other hand is far more widely known.  It’s “one of 24 books of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible” – classified as Ketuvim (or ‘Writings’) – and is “among the canonical Wisdom Books in the Old Testament of most denominations of Christianity.”

See also On Ecclesiasticus – NOT “Ecclesiastes,” which noted in part that the latter was popularized by the 1965 hit song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”  See also The Byrds … YouTube.   

The lower image is courtesy of the Doctor of the Church, at Thomas Aquinas – Wikipedia.  The full caption:  “The Four Great Doctors of the Western Church were often depicted in art, here by Pier Francesco Sacchi, c. 1516.  From the left: Saint Augustine,Pope Gregory I, Saint Jerome, and Saint Ambrose, with their attributes.”

“Saints Peter and Paul,” by El Greco…

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January 20, 2016 – Here’s a parable.  Or at least a quasi-parable.

Two marathon runners were enrolled in a race.  By all accounts they were perfectly equal, in speed and endurance. But there was one minor difference:  One runner wanted to do it all on his own.  He didn’t want help from anyone.  But the other runner could imagine.  So as the race wore on and each runner got more and more tired, the second runner “imagined.”

He imagined wearing a harness, attached to a long rope.  And he further imagined that long, strong rope pulled him along, pulled him forward.  And as he imagined that long, strong rope, he could feel himself pulled along, a process that seemed to give him extra strength.

So here’s the question. Which runner has a better chance of winning the marathon?

“Just sayin’…”

But getting back to the topic at hand, see Peter, Paul – and other “relics:”

On January 18 we celebrate the Confession of Peter:  “Thou art the Christ, Son of the Living God.”  A week later on January 25 we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul.  Then comes June 29, when we celebrate both men…

That post – from last June 25 – noted that the June 29 Feast Day remembers both Peter and Paul, together.  We remember that both men were martyred at about the same time.  (In Rome, around 65 A.D.)  We also remember on June 29 that their body parts – relics – were removed (“translated”) at about the same time, to keep them from being desecrated.

(That’s where the “relics” came in, in the post title.  In turn, the image at right – from that June 25 post – shows “St. Corbinian’s relics being moved…”)

But on the other side of the liturgical year – here, in the dead of winter – we remember both men separately, on January 18 and 25.  Or more precisely, we remember how these two “Pillars of the Church” took two completely different paths to the same destination.

On 18 January we remember how the Apostle Peter was led by God’s grace to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ (Matthew 16:13-20), and we join with Peter, and with all Christians everywhere, in hailing Jesus as our Lord, God, and Savior.

(See Confession of St. Peter, from the Satucket website.)  Put another way, the January 18 Feast Day commemorates Peter being the first apostle “to confess Jesus as Messiah.”

On the other hand, the January 25 Feast Day commemorates how “Saul (or Paul) of Tarsus, formerly an enemy and persecutor of the early Christian Church, was led by God’s grace to become one of its chief spokesmen.”  (See Conversion of St. Paul, emphasis added.)

In other words, Peter came to his position of authority from “inside the church.”  Paul on the other hand was pretty much dragged kicking and screaming into his position of authority.

Turning to the Confession of Peter, that refers to “an episode in the New Testament:”

[The] Apostle Peter proclaims Jesus to be Christ – the Messiah.  The proclamation is described in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27–30 and Luke 9:18–20.  The proclamation of Jesus as Christ is fundamental to Christology … and Jesus’ acceptance of the title is a definitive statement for it in the New Testament narrative.

On the other hand, the Conversion of St. Paul commemorates “an event in the life of Paul the Apostle that led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to become a follower of Jesus.”

Wikipedia noted that before that event, Paul – known as Saul – was a zealous “Pharisee who ‘intensely persecuted‘” what might then have been called the Jesus Movement.  (An allusion to an arguably-similar movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s):

…beginning on the West Coast of the United States … and spreading primarily throughout North America and Europe, before subsiding by the early 1980s.  [The Jesus movement] was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture…  Members of the movement were called Jesus people, or Jesus freaks.

Getting back to Paul:  He wrote about his former life – as a devout and zealous enemy of the budding Christian church – in Galatians 1:13-14.  There he wrote about his being “extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”  Accordingly, he intensely “persecuted the church of God” – that is, the newly-formed Christian Church –  “and tried to destroy it.”  

But then he had his Damascus Road Experience (illustrated above right).  In that episode he was literally struck blind, for three days.  So like I said before, Paul was “pretty much dragged kicking and screaming into his position of authority.”

Paul also wrote about his former life – as a persecutor of the church – and in particular his part in the stoning of Stephen, in Acts 7:57-8:3.  (“Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”)

In plain words, Paul’s Damascus experience “changed him from a Christ-hating persecutor of Christians to the foremost spokesman for the faith.”  But before that could happen, the people most afraid of him – in Jerusalem especially – had to be convinced that his change of heart was genuine.  In turn, that change of heart by those early Christians started with Barnabas:

To sum up, if it hadn’t been for Barnabas and his willingness to give Paul a second chance – a second chance for the formerly zealous persecutor of the early Church – he might never have become Christianity’s most important early convert, if not the “Founder of Christianity.”

See St. Barnabus’ Day, 2015, and also On St. Barnabas – from 2014.  Both posts noted:

[E]ven after Paul’s Damascus Road experience, most Christians in Jerusalem “wanted nothing to do with him.  They had known him as a persecutor and an enemy of the Church.  But Barnabas was willing to give him a second chance.”

I concluded the second Barnabas post by saying:

“So we might just call Barnabas ‘the Apostle of Second Chances.’”

Which seems – after all – to be pretty much what “the Jesus movement” is all about.

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The original post had an upper image courtesy of Saints Peter and Paul by GRECO – Web Gallery and showed:

The two saints … the most influential leaders of the early Church … engaged in an animated discussion.  The older, white-haired Peter … inclines his head thoughtfully to one side as he looks towards the text being expounded.  In his left hand he holds his attribute, the key to the kingdom of Heaven.  His right hand is cupped as if weighing up an idea.  Paul presses his left hand down firmly on the open volume on the table, his right hand raised in a gesture of explanation as he looks directly at the viewer.

The article said El Greco painted the two together several times “with remarkable consistency.”  Peter always has white hair and a beard, while “Paul is always shown slightly balding, with dark hair and beard, wearing a red mantle…”  See also Feast of Peter and Paul – Wikipedia, with caption:  “Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Oil on canvas by El Greco. circa 16th-century. Hermitage Museum,Russia.”

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A “marathon” image was courtesy of Marathon – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “A competitor collapses just prior to the finish line of the 2006 Melbourne Marathon.”

The point of the parable:  That if the second runner couldn’t “imagine” the existence of that Helping Rope, he had no hope of “finding” that Source of Help…

The death-dates of Peter and Paul.  The best answer seems to come from Answers.com:

Tradition has it that Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, Italy.  The actual date is unknown but is probably around the late 50s to late 60s AD.  The Annuario Pontificio gives the year of Peter’s death as … A.D. 67.  Early church tradition says Peter probably died at the time of the Great Fire of Rome of the year 64.  His co-worker Paul was also executed a little later, but as Paul was a Roman citizen … he was granted a swift death by beheading by sword … as opposed to crucifixion which was reserved for foreigners.

Re:  “Pillars of the church.”  A Google-search will lead to widely disparate answers as to who or what such “pillars” are.  (Some sites refer to people, but most refer to Biblical principles.)  But see especially The Three Pillars of the First Century Christian Church, citing Galatians 2:9.  In the New Living Translation, Paul wrote of a meeting in Jerusalem:  

James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers.  They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews.

This was some 14 to 17 years or more after his Damascus Road Experience.

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A “Conversion of St. Paul” image was courtesy of vocations-syracuse.org/who-prayed-for-pauls-conversion. The title of the painting, “The Conversion of St. Paul, 1767 by Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie.” See also Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie | Conversion of St. Paul.  (For a print.)

A quote about Paul changing from “Christ-hating persecutor of Christians” can be found at the post, Doubting Thomas’ “passage to India.”  That post discussed Doubting Thomases in general, and specifically “the ‘mother of all‘ such skeptics,” the Apostle Thomas himself.   The post also discussed the differences between “skeptical” and “cynical.” 

A lower image was courtesy of www.canvasreplicas.com/Rembrandt.htm.  See also Two Scholars Disputing by REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn.

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An original caption: “Two Scholars Disputing” – Peter and Paul – but working together…