“…when our Lord says in the gospel story that He brings fire, so that allegiance to Him will divide families, we see the immense price that is paid by those who attach themselves to Him…”
Tag Archives: idolatry
Taste and see (Sunday IV of Lent)
I shall end today with my descriptions of the Mass, and next weekend, I shall begin with the Rosary. The Mass, as the second Vatican Council said, is the source and summit of our lives. It is our nearest encounter with the Holy One, the moment when heaven touches earth, and we stand among angels andContinue reading “Taste and see (Sunday IV of Lent)”
Reading through the book of the Apocalypse of S. John (aka. Revelation)
And finally, here is my last short essay on the books of the Bible, part of a marathon read through the entire Knox English version of Holy Scripture, a copy of which I acquired when I worked at the cathedral in Nottingham. Monsignor Knox was a twentieth-century Anglican clergyman who became a Catholic priest, following an intellectualContinue reading “Reading through the book of the Apocalypse of S. John (aka. Revelation)”
Reading through the book of Deuteronomy
The Greek term deutero-nomos is literally ‘the second law.’ We may be aware that God gave the prophet Moses a law on Mount Horeb/Sinai after the dramatic escape from Egypt; this is outlined at the end of the book of Exodus, and throughout the book of Numbers, and is a first Law for the observance of the people, toContinue reading “Reading through the book of Deuteronomy”
Reading through the book of Genesis
How do you summarise the first and greatest of the books of the Torah? Let’s put it into the following portions: (i) the Creation and the early prehistory, (ii) the story of Abraham, and (iii) the son of Israel and the heads of the tribes The most significant theme of the first three or fourContinue reading “Reading through the book of Genesis”
Reading through the Wisdom of Solomon (aka. the Book of Wisdom)
The Wisdom of Solomon is traditionally attributed to the king of that name, although Scripture scholars have attempted to throw doubt on that (as Scripture scholars are wont to do). But let’s use the traditional attribution to keep things simple. There are three great themes of the book: (i) the triumph of the Just (oftenContinue reading “Reading through the Wisdom of Solomon (aka. the Book of Wisdom)”
Reading through the letters of S. John
The first letter we have of S. John’s is not a very long letter at all, and has many features from the Gospel of Saint John, such as the theology of light and dark, good and evil and attachment to Christ. It is marvellously black and white, the constant theme being that if you loveContinue reading “Reading through the letters of S. John”
Reading through the Book of Esther
The book of Esther contains a charming and, to be honest, a little frightening story about a devastating pogrom against the Jewish exiles in Mesopotamia, and throughout the vast Persian empire, probably also including the valiant band of returnees to Juda and Jerusalem, who were in the process of restoring the City and the TempleContinue reading “Reading through the Book of Esther”
Reading through the Book of the Judges
An immediate problem faced by readers of the book of Judges is that, despite its traditional position after Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, the people in the book of Judges do not seem to have moral guidance. And some of the stories contained in this narrative are horrendous, the atrocities they contain are astonishing. It couldContinue reading “Reading through the Book of the Judges”
Reading through the Book of Joshua
This book is a history of the original settlement of the Holy Land by the Israelites, and is interesting in the similarities it has to the more recent settlement of the Holy Land by the Jews, followed by the establishment of the Zionist State of Israel. If today we hear loud cries of ‘Colonialism!’ andContinue reading “Reading through the Book of Joshua”
Reading through the Prophecy of Malachi (aka. Malachias)
Moving on to the end of the long list of prophetic books, I have arrived at Malachy’s short work, which was a later prophecy of the second Temple period, after the return from exile in Babylon. This is the pre-eminent Messianic prophecy. In the very first chapter, we hear of the malignancy of the HebrewContinue reading “Reading through the Prophecy of Malachi (aka. Malachias)”
Reading through the prophecy of Habacuc
Today’s post is about the prophecy of Habacuc, another of the twelve minor prophets and a book that can be easily compassed in an hour. Poor Habacuc, being a good man, was spiritually oppressed by the wickedness around him in Judaite society – tyranny and robbery, legalism and contention, he says, and contravention of theContinue reading “Reading through the prophecy of Habacuc”
Reading through the prophecy of Micah (aka. Michaeas)
These short books of the ‘minor’ prophets have a common theme: idolatry has wrested the promise of the Holy Land from the tribes of Israel, and God is utterly fed up with them. But the prophets tend to end on a hopeful note: the terror to come is now inevitable, but one day the peopleContinue reading “Reading through the prophecy of Micah (aka. Michaeas)”
Reading through the Prophecy of Jonah
The book of Jonas tells the famous tale of the successful mission of a Hebrew prophet from Juda to the Assyrians of the city of Nineve. The name ‘Yona’ is literally ‘dove,’ and we can see that, while the prophet sought peace, the Holy One had a significant mission for him: the conversion of aContinue reading “Reading through the Prophecy of Jonah”
Reading through the Prophecy of Amos
Here’s one of the first of the Hebrew prophets whose prophecies have been preserved. Aside from a few condemnations of the unfaithfulness of the people of the southern kingdom of Juda, this book is directed squarely at the northern kingdom of Israel and the syncretist king Jeroboam II of Israel. The united kingdom of DavidContinue reading “Reading through the Prophecy of Amos”
Reading through the Prophecy of Hosea (aka. Osee)
The prophecy of Hosea is about the love of a husband for his adulterous wife. Hosea had a rather long ministry, overlapping with Amos during the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel and reaching past the reigns of King Achaz and King Ezechias of Juda, reaching almost to the end of the northern kingdom of Israel.Continue reading “Reading through the Prophecy of Hosea (aka. Osee)”
Reading through the first letter of S. Paul to the Corinthians
This is one of the most popular of the preserved letters of S. Paul, so let’s try and draw a quick summary. Like most big Greco-Roman towns of the first century, Corinth had a large Jewish community, living among almost any number of other religions and philosophy, for this small city was about as metropolitan asContinue reading “Reading through the first letter of S. Paul to the Corinthians”
Reading through the prophecy of Baruch
Running through the liturgy of the Easter vigil, some of us must have noticed the extract from Baruch about idolatry, that great sin of mankind. Baruch was an associate of the prophet Jeremias in the last years of the kingdom of Juda, and he was a scribe. When Jeremias was asked to compose a bookContinue reading “Reading through the prophecy of Baruch”
Reading through the book of Tobias
The most interesting story in the Bible is a bit of a suspenseful thriller, if I may call it that. The scene is set of a father (let’s call him Tobias Senior) who has spent his wealth on giving alms to the poor and his energy on the burial of dead bodies, particular of Jews.Continue reading “Reading through the book of Tobias”
Reading through the Book of Psalms
The book of Psalms is the ancient hymn-book of both the Jewish communities and the Church as well. This should be the easiest book to summarise, since it’s the only one that I have read repeatedly daily and weekly for more than almost ten years. And this is because the book of Psalms forms theContinue reading “Reading through the Book of Psalms”
Reading through the prophecy of Ezechiel
I used to say to people who said that they hear the Bible mostly at Mass in church (or these days, by watching Mass on TV or via the internet) that the books take on a different character when they are read on their own, and cover-to-cover. The liturgy of the Church is necessarily selectiveContinue reading “Reading through the prophecy of Ezechiel”
Reading through the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah
Continuing on from the prophecies of Jeremias, I have arrived at the end of the far shorter book containing his long moan over the destruction of his nation and its great capital city. There’s not too much to add to this post apart from what I put into the post on Jeremias linked above. For theContinue reading “Reading through the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah”
Reading through the fourth book of the Kings (aka. II Kings)
The last book of the Kings is the sad story of the decline and fall of the proud Hebrew kingdoms, so glorious in the days of the kings David and Solomon. Descended the both kingdoms into gross idolatry, the author of this book now condemns that behaviour as the reason for the descent of firstContinue reading “Reading through the fourth book of the Kings (aka. II Kings)”
Reading through the third book of the Kings (also called I Kings)
The third book of Kings (which in many modern Bibles is called the first book of Kings, since the first and second books of Kings are often called the first and second books of Samuel) is a rather sad book, because the unity of the tribes that King David had to struggle long and hardContinue reading “Reading through the third book of the Kings (also called I Kings)”
Reading through the prophecy of Jeremiah
The longest prophecies of the Old Testament belong to Isaias, Jeremias and Ezechiel, and each comes from a different era after the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, and surrounding the time of the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Isaias is the prophet of the time of King Ezechias of Juda (715-687Continue reading “Reading through the prophecy of Jeremiah”
Reading through the book of Daniel
Daniel is a rather interesting set of short stories that circle around one noble and pious Judaite boy who was removed from Jerusalem into exile (in about the beginning of the sixth century BC) with friends of his: Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. The four were immediately given Chaldean names, respectively: Baltassar, Sidrach, Misach and Abednago.Continue reading “Reading through the book of Daniel”
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 