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Welcome to “read the Bible – expand your mind:”

The Book of Common Prayer says that by taking part in Holy Communion, Christians become “very members incorporate in the mystical body” of Jesus. The words “corporate” and “mystical” are key. They show that a healthy church has two sides, with the often-overlooked “mystic” side asking the question, “How do I experience God?” This blog tries to answer that.

It has four main themes. The first is that God will accept anyone. (John 6:37.) The second is that God wants us to live lives of abundance.(John 10:10.) The third is that Jesus wants us to read the Bible with an open mind. (As Luke 24:45 says: “Then He [Jesus] opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”) The fourth theme – another one often overlooked – is that Jesus wants us to do even greater miracles than He did. (John 14:12.) 

And this thought ties them together:

The best way to live abundantly and do greater miracles than Jesus is: Read, study and apply the Bible with an open mind. For more see the notes or – to expand your mind – see the Intro.

In the meantime:

April 10, 2026 – This Sunday, April 12, is officially the Second Sunday of Easter.

Note the “of,” not “after.” That’s because Easter is “not just one day, but an entire season.” A season of 50 days called Eastertide that runs from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. It’s also called Low Sunday, because church attendance falls so drastically after the high attendance on Easter Sunday. (On that note see “CEOs;” Christians who only attend church on Christmas and Easter. “Christmas and Easter Only.”) But aside from being “low,” it’s also called the Sunday of Many Names! That includes Doubting Thomas Sunday – the Gospel that day always talks about “Doubting Thomas” – and the Octave of Easter. (Because it comes eight days after Easter.)

And as noted, it’s also called “Quasimodo Sunday.” But that’s not because of Quasimodo – the guy shown in the image above – better known as the “Hunchback of Notre Dame:”

Instead, the name comes from a Latin translation of the beginning of First Peter 2:2 , a traditional “introit” used in churches on this day. First Peter 2:2 begins – in English and depending on the translation – “As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile…” In Latin the verse starts out: “Quasi modo geniti infantes…” Literally, the quasi modo translates in English “as if in [this] manner.”

The NIV translation of 1st Peter 2:2 reads, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” In turn, in Latin “geniti” translates as “newborn” and the “infantes” meaning seems self-evident. Thus the “quasi modo” in question, roughly translated, reads “As if in the manner” (of newborn babes).

Now, about that Doubting Thomas name. The Gospel for the day is always John 20:19-31, “which recounts the story of Christ appearing to the Apostle Thomas in order to dispel the latter’s doubt about the Resurrection.” Which made him the original – the prototype – “Doubting Thomas.” A term Wikipedia defines as a “skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience.” Thomas “refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles, until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the cross.” 

Wikipedia went on to say that Thomas – a.k.a. Didymus, meaning “The Twin” – was best known from John 20. He questioned the Resurrection at first, because he wasn’t there. But then came his direct experience, seeing and touching Jesus’ wounds. That led him to proclaim his awe-struck, “My Lord and my God.” Of course, we can’t have such a direct experience with Jesus – not in this life anyway – but there’s something to be said for admitting our doubts, but then working to overcome them. (“Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.”) See also Wesleyan Quadrilateral: “Apart from scripture, experience is the most substantial proof of Christianity.” 

So, you could say there are two kinds of faith. The first kind is blindly believing, without asking questions, without having doubts and without asking anyone else how they interpret the Bible. (Like Bible scholars and priests who’ve devoted years of study.) The second type does ask questions, does dig deeper and as a result sometimes comes across a reason to doubt. But that’s how we get stronger, resistance training. The first type of Christian lifts the same 10-pound weight over and over, throughout his life. The result? This type of Christian never gets stronger; he never moves beyond the same level of fitness he started with.

The Blind Faith Christian doesn’t like resistance. He does the same boring spiritual exercise, over and over again, and stays at the same low level. The Healthy-Doubt Christian welcomes resistance and asks the probing questions that often lead to doubt. But in the process, he ultimately grows spiritually stronger by overcoming that resistance, by overcoming those doubts.

But back to Thomas. According to one tradition he was sent as a missionary to India, arriving there in the year 52 AD. He spread the Faith but was eventually martyred 20 years later:

St. Thomas was killed in 72 AD … at Mylapore near Chennai in India… This is the earliest known record of his martyrdom… Some Patristic literature state[s] that St. Thomas died a martyr, in east of Persia or in North India by the wounds of the four spears pierced into his body by the local soldiers.

Put another way, Thomas carried the Faith to the Malabar Coast – on the southwestern coast of India – “which still boasts a large native population calling themselves ‘Christians of St. Thomas.’” And where stands today the St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica, Chennai, which includes a number of relics, including the “Spearhead said to have killed Saint Thomas,” shown below.

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The upper image is courtesy of Quasimodo Laughton … Image Results. Included in a page on “The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939.” See also Quasimodo – Wikipedia, on the “titular protagonist of the French novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo… The role of Quasimodo has been played by many actors in film adaptations, including Lon Chaney (1923), Charles Laughton (1939), Anthony Quinn (1956), and Anthony Hopkins (1982).

The Book of Common Prayer reference: The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.

Feast days are designated days on the liturgical (church) calendar “set aside to commemorate events, saints, or doctrines that are important in the life of the Church. These can range from Solemnities, which are the highest-ranking feast days like Easter and Christmas, to optional memorials that celebrate lesser-known saints.” Feast Days … the Church’s Calendar. See also Wikipedia’s Calendar of saints. “The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word ‘feast’ in this context does not mean ‘a large meal, typically a celebratory one,’ but instead ‘an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint.’”

The link CEOs includes 3 Proven Follow-Up Strategies To Keep CEO (Christmas & Easter Only) Christians. (Including intentional follow-up and “Stay Connected.”)

For this post I reviewed 2021’s Happy “Sunday of Many Names,” “Happy Quasimodo Sunday” – 2022 and Doubting Thomas Sunday, 2025 – and a Resurgence? (Note: The 2021 post – and a link therein – relates the tradition that Thomas was sent to India, there to become a literal slave like St. Patrick.)

The full link to Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, then Adapt Again > 2nd Marine Division:

Improvise, adapt, and overcome. Those three words are paramount to fighting and winning battles, but what happens when you finally overcome? You keep improvising, and you keep adapting. The enemy won’t rest and neither should you.

(Advice that seems especially relevant in times of polarization and weaponizing Christianity.)

The lower image is courtesy of St. Thomas Basilica, Chennai – Wikipedia, which included this note:

In 1521, the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay-Bassein sent missionaries to Madras (now Chennai) in search of the tomb of Thomas the Apostle, who by local tradition had come to South Asia to preach the Gospel and spread the teachings of Jesus Christ. The site they found was neglected and the Portuguese decided to rebuild the shrine over the tomb.

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As noted in the opening blurb, this blog has four main themes. The first is that God will accept anyone. (See John 6:37, with the added, “Anyone who comes to Him.”) This is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. From the Old Testament, Psalm 9:10, “You never forsake those who seek you, O Lord.” (In the Book of Common Prayer version.) The second is that God wants us to live abundantly.  (John 10:10.) The third is that we should do greater miracles than Jesus. (John 14:12). A fourth theme: The only way to do all that is read the Bible with an open mind:

…closed-mindedness, or an unwillingness to consider new ideas, can result from the brain’s natural dislike for ambiguity. According to this view, the brain has a “search and destroy” relationship with ambiguity and evidence contradictory to people’s current beliefs tends to make them uncomfortable… Research confirms that belief-discrepant-closed-minded persons have less tolerance for cognitive inconsistency…

So in plain words, I take issue with what I call “Christian first graders.” Those who choose to stay in a kind of elementary-school first grade. See John the Baptist, ’24 – and “Christian First Graders,” for more. But the key point: “The Bible was designed to expand your mind,” not make it narrow. Also, there’s the idea that “Jesus was anything but negative. His goal was for you to grow and develop into all that you can be.” (For more on that see ABOUT THE BLOG, above.)

I’ve written on boot-camp Christians, the Literalists who never go “beyond the fundamentals.” But the Bible offers so much more than a narrow reading gives… (Unless you want to stay a buck private all your life…) Now, about “Boot-camp Christians” see Conservative Christian – “Career buck private?” The gist of that post: Starting the Bible is like Army Basic Training. You begin by“learning the fundamentals.” But after boot camp, you move on to Advanced Individual Training.” 

And as noted in “Buck private,” one of this blog’s themes is that if you want to be all that you can be, you need to go on and explore the “mystical side of Bible reading.*” In other words, exploring the mystical side of the Bible helps you “be all that you can be.” See Slogans of the U.S. Army – Wikipedia, re: the recruiting slogan from 1980 to 2001. The related image at left is courtesy of: “toywonders.com/productcart/pc/catalog/aw30.jpg.”

Re: “mystical.” Originally the “liturgical, spiritual, and contemplative dimensions of early and medieval Christianity.” Mysticism – Wikipedia, and the post On originalism.  (“What the Bible was originally about!”) See also Christian mysticism – Wikipedia, “In early Christianity the term ‘mystikos’ referred to three dimensions, which soon became intertwined, namely the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative… The third dimension is the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God.” As to that “experiential” aspect, see also Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Wikipedia, on the theological reflection method using four sources of spiritual development: scripture, tradition, reason, and “Christian experience.”

For an explanation of the Daily Office – where “Dorscribe” came from – see What’s a DOR?

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