by St. Anselm, My soul, have you found what you are looking for? You were looking for God, and you have discovered that He is the Supreme Being, and that you could not possibly imagine anything more perfect. You have discovered that this Supreme Being is life itself, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal blessedness and blessed eternity. He is everywhere, and He is timeless. Continue Reading »
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Is the Gospel enough? Here is a link to an interesting discussion on the Gospel driving the message of the church. But aren’t many churches doing good preaching about how to improve your marriage, transform your life, and serve the poor? The question is whether this is the Good News. There is nothing wrong with law, but law isn’t gospel. The gospel isn’t “Follow Jesus’ example” or “Transform your life” or “How to raise good children.” The gospel is: Jesus Christ came to save sinners—even bad parents, even lousy followers of Jesus, which we all are on our best days. All of the emphasis falls on “What would Jesus do?” rather than “What has Jesus done?” Why is this such a temptation for the church? It’s our default setting. No one has to be taught to trust in themselves. No one has to be taught that what you experience inside yourself is more authoritative than what comes to you externally, even if it comes from God. Since the Fall, it has been part of our character to look within ourselves. And it is part of our inherent Pelagianism to think we can save ourselves by following the right instructions, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/november/30.47.html .
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Theophilus Cafe is a place where we can have a running dialogue based on a question or issue that I post. Think of the Cafe as a virtual coffee house where you can gather with your friends and discuss the posted topic or just reflect on it. Please post your thoughts or response on this topic in the comments. So the question today is: Can there be faith without hope?
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Coffee Talk Redux is a reflection on things God is teaching me. In some cases the ideas for these topics may arise from some conversation I may have had with someone, or a thought that crossed my mind, something I have written, or perhaps something I read somewhere, or maybe a combination of all of these. In any case think of this as a discussion on what God is teaching us to help us grow in our understanding of His will for us.
The Apostle John recounts in John 18:37 that when Jesus was brought before Pilate He says to him, “for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” In the next verse, a puzzled Pilate then asks Jesus a simple but yet a very profound question, “What is truth?” Pilate as a pagan is wondering how is man to know or to even recognize the truth? This is a question that an even more confused world continues to ask even to this day. However, Jesus tells us where the truth lies. Jesus says in John 14:6 that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” But man because of his free will has a choice to make. Is the truth he seeks found within the world or as Christ says does the truth transcend creation? Continue Reading »
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from Jeremiah 31:31-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
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Follow this link to read an interesting article about folks at church being bored by the Word, “It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out. Don’t spend a lot of time in the Bible, we tell our preachers, but be sure to get to personal illustrations, examples from daily life, and most importantly, an application that we can use. It’s easy to see how this culture has profoundly reshaped the dynamics of preaching and teaching. All the demands have been placed on the shoulders of the preacher, so anxious are we to meet needs and stay relevant. No longer are listeners asked to listen humbly to the proclamation of God’s Word, in all its mystery and glory. To be sure, we want the preacher to begin with the Word—we’re Christians after all—but only as a starting point, and only as long as he moves on to things that really interest us,” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/novemberweb-only/144-41.0.html?start=1 .
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from the Rule of St. Benedict.
The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience, which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all. Because of the holy service they have professed, or because of dread of hell and for the glory of everlasting life, they carry out the superior’s order as promptly as if the command came from God Himself. The Lord says of people like this: No sooner did they hear than they obeyed; again, He tells teachers: Whoever listens to you, listens to me. Such people as these immediately put aside their own concerns, abandon their own will, and lay down whatever they have in hand, leaving it unfinished. With the ready step of obedience, they follow the voice of authority in their actions. Almost at the same moment, then, as the master gives the instruction the disciple quickly puts it into practice in the fear of God; and both actions are swiftly completed as one. Continue Reading »
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Theophilus Cafe is a place where we can have a running dialogue based on a question or issue that I post. Think of the Cafe as a virtual coffee house where you can gather with your friends and discuss the posted topic or just reflect on it. Please post your thoughts or response on this topic in the comments. So the question today is: Does the world suffer more from those that are spiritually and morally defective than from those who are genetically defective?
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Sometime during October 31, 1517, the day before the Feast of All Saints, the 33-year-old Martin Luther posted theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. The door functioned as a bulletin board for various announcements related to academic and church affairs. The theses were written in Latin and printed on a folio sheet by the printer John Gruenenberg, one of the many entrepreneurs in the new print medium first used in Germany about 1450. Luther was calling for a “disputation on the power and efficacy of indulgences out of love and zeal for truth and the desire to bring it to light,” follow this link to read more about Luther’s role in igniting the flame of reform, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1990/issue28/2835.html?start=1 .
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from a sermon by St. Bernard, 1090 – 1153, a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian monastic order.
Why do we praise and glorify the saints and keep a festival of them? Of what use to them are earthly honors when the heavenly Father honors them? What is the point of our praise? The saints do not need our honors and devotion. Evidently, then, our commemoration of them aids us, not them. For my part, however, I confess that I am inflamed with desire when I remember them.
The first desire aroused or increased by the recollection of the saints is to enjoy their society and to merit becoming their fellow citizens and companions; to mingle with the patriarchs, apostles, prophets, martyrs, confessors, and virgins – in a word, the whole communion of saints. The Church of these earlier men and women is waiting for us, yet we are oblivious to it. The saints want our company, and we disdain them! Continue Reading »
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