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| Alphonse Mucha, Self Portrait via WikiPaintings |
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| Vincent van Gogh, The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, 1888, reportedly destroyed during World War II |
Paul wrote that "God put forward [Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement" 9Rom 3:25), but the atonement or expiation is not directed to God; it s not meant to satisfy or placate God. Instead, it is directed to sin, that in its being satisfied it will be eliminated. "it can be said that it is God himself, not man, who expiates sin. … The image is more like that or removing a corrosive stain or neutralizing a lethal virus than that of anger that is placated by punishment" (James Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle).Raniero Cantalamessa, The Power of the Cross
I love this image! I've never had the problem of worrying about an "angry God" but this is the perfect clarification for those who do.
I would like to insist on this idea. Refusing to let God enter into all aspects of human life amounts to condemning man to solitude. He is no longer anything but an isolated individual, without origin or destiny. He finds himself condemned to wander through the world like a nomadic barbarian, without knowing that he is the son and heir of a Father who created him through love and calls him to share his eternal happiness. It is a profound error to think that God came to limit and frustrate our freedom. On the contrary, God comes to free us from solitude and to give meaning to our freedom. Modern man has made himself the prisoner of reason that is so autonomous that it has become solitary and autistic.Again, here is a view of human freedom that would surprise many who mistakenly believe that God wants to keep us under his thumb. Not so. He gives meaning to our lives and opens them to true freedom.
Cardinal Robert Sarah, The Day is Now Far Spent
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| Veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto at a meeting of the Texas Veterans' Association in Galveston circa 1880. Center row, third from left: Valentine Ignatius Burch of Tyler County, Texas. Center row, second from left: Valentine Burch. Front row, second from right: George Petty of Washington County. Courtesy the Star of the Republic Museum via the Portal to Texas History. Via Traces of Texas. |
I try to remember all of these good Texas holidays. They really bring home how unique the state –and future Republic?—truly is. This one is a real holiday, not like Cinco de Mayo. I mean, if you have a holiday to celebrate beating the French, then every day would be a holiday!Ha! No kidding!
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| Self-Portrait with Family in the Artist’s Studio, Paul Claude-Michel Carpentier Dallas Museum of Art |
What do you do to reassure someone that the drink you're offering contains no poison? You drink it yourself first, in their presence. This is what God did for humanity. God drank from the bitter cup of suffering in the Passion. If, before our eyes, God himself chose to drink it, human suffering cannot be a cup of poison; it must be more than just negativity, loss, and absurdity. At the bottom of the cup, there must be a pearl. We know the name of that pearl: resurrection!This is an interesting answer to the question of human suffering.Raniero Cantalamessa, The Power of the Cross
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| Self-Portrait with a Beret, Claude Monet, 1886 via Wikipaintings |
This brings euthanasia into a sharp focus for me, reveals its "wrongness" afresh.Perhaps the most frightening aspect of death is the solitude with which we must face it. We face it alone. Martin Luther said, "No man can die in another's place; each must personally fight his own battle against death. No matter how hard we cry out to those around us, each one of us must face it alone." But this is no longer entirely true. "If we have died with him, we will also live with him" (2 Tim 2:11). It is possible to die with someone!
This demonstrates the gravity of the problem euthanasia presents from the Christian point of view. Euthanasia deprives human death of its link to Christ's death. It strips it of its paschal nature, changing it back to what it was befor eChrist. Death is deprived of its majectic awesomeness and becomes a human determination, a decision of finite freesom. It is literally "profaned"—that is, deprived of its sacredness.
Raniero Cantalamessa, The Power of the Cross
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| Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), Self Portrait With a Sunflower, Private collection |
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| Ancient synagogue in Magdala, Israel. |
There are certain basic differences between the synagogue and the church as we know it today.All excerpts in this post are from: The Gospel of Mark (The Daily Bible Series*, rev. ed.) by William Barclay
(a) The synagogue was primarily a teaching institution. The synagogue service consisted of only three things -- prayer, the reading of God's word, and the exposition of it. There was no music, no singing and no sacrifice. It may be said that the Temple was the place of worship and sacrifice; the synagogue was the place of teaching and instruction. The synagogue was by far the more influential, for there was only one Temple. But the law laid it down that wherever there were ten Jewish families there must be a synagogue, and, therefore, wherever there was a colony of Jews, there was a synagogue. If a man had a new message to preach, the synagogue was the obvious place in which to preach it.
(b) The synagogue provided an opportunity to deliver such a message. The synagogue had certain officials.
One thing the synagogue had not and that was a permanent preacher or teacher. When the people met at the synagogue service it was open to the Ruler to call on any competent person to give the address and the exposition. There was no professional ministry whatsoever. That is why Jesus was able to open his campaign in the synagogues. The opposition had not yet stiffened into hostility. He was known to be a man with a message; and for that very reason the synagogue of every community provided him with a pulpit from which to instruct and to appeal to men.
- There was the Ruler of the synagogue. He was responsible for the administration of the affairs of the synagogue and for the arrangements for its services.
- There were the distributors of alms. Daily a collection was taken in cash and in kind from those who could afford to give. It was then distributed to the poor; the very poorest were given food for fourteen meals per week.
- There was the Chazzan... He was responsible for the taking out and storing away of the sacred rolls on which scripture was written; for the cleaning of the synagogue; for the blowing of the blasts on the silver trumpet which told people that the Sabbath had come; for the elementary education of the children of the community.
