The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. [Mark 2:1-12]
It is a very well known incident. Imagine, siting in a house listening to Jesus, and you hear the sound of digging of the baked earth roof above! Bits of dust drift down, followed by lumps of wattle and daub, and then light streams in. All the while, Jesus calmly continues to teach....
It might be argued that it is so crazy an event that it can not have happened literally in that way. But think about it - if it did not happen like this, then someone had to invent the story! Which is actually more likely!
Which is easier to say, 'dig a hole in a roof and let a paralysed man down on ropes to be healed' or 'somehow the paralysed man was both healed of his sins, and left the house carrying his stretcher by himself'. Which is more astonishing!
Be prepared to be astonished by the work of the Lord - and pray that he will work in your lives.
..or, how it all works together and what to do if you disagree
With this simple sounding, possibly even slightly daunting title, Eleni took us through an evening of discovering how the belief of the Roman Catholic Church has been discerned over the years. Her slides are at the end of this revision note.
The key notes were many - the ones that stood out for me were as follows. Others will have been struck by different things! I think that the most important to remember is that "Life is a journey, not a guided tour". In other words - you need to set out, take one step at a time, and know that you can not explore all of the highways, never mind the byways of truth! God will lead you to what you need to know in any particular time - trust in God!
teachings build on each other; therefore some are more foundational or more authoritative than others
there is an 'ecosystem' of theology - everything depends upon everything else!
this was exemplified by the diagram below:
“All revealed truths derive from the same divine source and are to be believed with the same faith, yet some of them are more important for giving direct expression to the heart of the Gospel. In this basic core, what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead. In this sense, the Second Vatican Council explained, “in Catholic doctrine there exists an order or a ‘hierarchy’ of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith.” This holds true as much for the dogmas of faith as for the whole corpus of the Church’s teaching, including her moral teaching. [Pope Francis: Evangelli Gaudium]
The leprosy left him, and he was made clean. [Mark 1:40-45]
You may have noticed in yesterday's gospel, and it certainly is clear in today's that Jesus does not want people to know who is is. This is known as the 'Messianic Secret'. Why did Jesus so often ask those he had healed, to not tell others? And did they comply? Because we are often told that huge crowds followed him about.
Jesus was likely trying to avoid a conflict with the authorities - although of course this came to be his end - because to do so would limit the contact he might achieve with the lost and lonely sheep of Israel.
The new liturgical translation, by the way, is closer to the greek. We used to hear that Jesus 'felt sorry for' the Leper's plight. Now we hear 'Moved with Pity'. The greek is more like the colloquial 'was gutted', and actually described the churning of the bowels caused by deep emotion - which still does not come across in the 'safe to read out loud in church' language of the missal!
He healed many who were sick with various diseases. [Mark 1: 29-39]
Jesus shows by his example, that prayer is so important to support our work. Sacrificing sleep for payer, even, is needed. This goes against many life style gurus who wisely and correctly tell us that a good night of quality sleep is essential to build a successful life.
Jesus is not seeking a successful life for himself, however, but for others - for people like you and I.
He taught them as one who had authority. [Mark 1:21-28]
We can all, I hope remember someone who spoke (or speaks) with a great command of audience. My particular inspiration might be Sir Ken Robinson (now, sadly, deceased) who spoke so memorably of how education should be done. Having not been listened to in the UK he tried in the USA, also with little actually effect. Yet his speaking has inspired many teachers to focus on the individuality of students. Every child is different, every child has their own learning needs. Meeting them - needs more money than we presently spend per child I our education system.
How much more so would we have remmembered Jesus' words if we had been luck enough to hear them at first hand! Fortunately others did, and wrote down what they heard, and acted on it. We can do likewise. We should!
Happy new year! This is the first day of the first week in ordinary time.
Over the next few weeks we are taken on a whistle-stop tour of the Deuteronomic history books - Joshua, Judges, Samuel and on through to the book of Kings. These are the history of the people of God while they were ruled by kings rather than (as later on) governed by prophets.
This week we are given the first chapter of the book of Samuel to read. Day by day the story unfolds of how Samuel came to be conceived in answer to a prayer, and was destined to become King. Listening to the readings at Mass is a good way to take in long stories like that of Samuel - whose life is told over two complete books in the library of the bible. But only if one is sure to get to Mass every day! We can not all do this - so a great alternative would be to read the entire books of Samuel just as one would read any Novel - but perhaps a little more slowly, allowing this part of the history of salvation to flow over your mind like a good wine flows over your palette. Only then can you savour the fullness of God's love for his people.
Guest Speakers Jo and Ed Smith led a conversation about the dignity of human life, from conception to natural death.
The following links provide the Catholic teaching on these points, and the Video, another look at this topic. Please contact Deacon John or Jane Andrews if you wish to continue this conversation on a one to one basis.
PLEASE NOTE: The readings for this session are longer than usual. If possible it would be better to split this reading over two weeks – Part A and Part B – so you can give proper time to each topic. Please find out from your leader or catechist whether they have been able to add in an extra week for this, and what the plan is for your group.
PART A:
#367 to #399 – the family, citizenship, and human dignity [16 pages]
PART B:
#426 to #461 – Catholic Social Teaching, truthfulness, and conscience [14 pages]
NB the numbers (#) refer to paragraph numbers in the YouCat and not to page numbers. The number in [square brackets] at the end tells you roughly how long this passage is in terms of the pages you need to read (excluding picture pages).
LONGER READINGS FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
If you have more time, and if you want to go deeper into the topic of this session, you can follow up by exploring the longer Catechism of the Catholic Church. See the standard online version here, and a digital “flip-book” edition here. Here are the readings that go with this week’s Sycamore session:
#2197 to #2257 – the family, just authority, and citizenship
#2258 to #2330 – human dignity, the right to life, and peace between peoples
NB the numbers (#) refer to paragraph numbers in the Catechism and not to page numbers. Click on the links themselves to read the paragraphs in the online version.
WISDOM FROM THE BIBLE
Psalm 139:13-16
“For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.”
1 Cor 3:16-17
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
Jeremiah 22:3
“Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
Micah 6:8
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Isaiah 1:16-17
“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
Proverbs 12:22
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”
Matthew 5:34-37
Jesus says: “But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”
John 16:13
Jesus says: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
Ephesians 4:15
“Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”
KEY IDEAS
18A – The dignity of the human person and the right to life
Christian teaching speaks about the dignity of the human person. Human beings have a special place in creation. We are “persons” not “things”, with body and soul, with freedom and intelligence, with creativity and a conscience.
Even if you don’t believe in God, you can believe that human life has a special value, an intrinsic worth. This is why we shouldn’t treat people as objects or as means to an end. Their dignity does not depend on what other people think about them; it doesn’t depend on their gifts or abilities. It depends on their humanity.
This dignity can never be taken away. That’s why we should honour someone’s life from beginning to end, from conception to their natural death. This is what it means to respect the sanctity of life.
In the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, God said to Moses, “You shall not kill”. It’s sometimes translated, “You shall not murder”. We have a right to self-defence, but it’s wrong to directly and intentionally kill an innocent human being. This is why Catholic teaching forbids murder, abortion, euthanasia and suicide.
There are so many other ways that we can defend human dignity. The right to life is not the only human or Christian value. But the foundation of every other human right and human duty is the right to life, which is why the dignity of the human person is the most important place to start.
18B – Christian teaching about family and society
The Catholic Church has developed a great body of social teaching to help us understand what makes a good and healthy society. One of the key themes is balance. It’s about individual human rights and the rights of the family and society. It’s about the rule of law and the right to conscientious objection. There is a place for private property and there is a place for recognising the common good of wider society. There is clear teaching about the rights of workers and about our duty to care for the sick, the stranger, the prisoner, and the poorest of the poor.
Catholic Social Teaching also involves caring for the environment. This is what Pope Francis calls an “integral ecology”, where justice, human rights and concern for the poor are intertwined with a concern for nature, the environment and the whole of creation. Everything connects.
There are religious implications too: As a Christian, I have a responsibility to build up the Kingdom of Christ and to infuse society with a Christian spirit. I also have a responsibility to respect the religious freedom of those who do not share my faith.
We learn these values as we grow up, especially in the family. And if we don’t, we struggle. This is why the institution of the family is so important. It is the fundamental unit of society, where we learn how to love and relate to one another. In the family we learn the basic social values of freedom, generosity, fraternity, justice, forgiveness, and this helps us to build a just and generous society.
Now life is complicated, and families are often complicated. But that doesn’t stop us recognising what a special gift it is when children can be brought up with the love of their parents, with a living faith, and with a spirit of generosity, love, forgiveness and joy in their homes.
The Christian family has so much to offer society because it can become a place of faith and hope and Christian love. That is not to judge other families, but just to acknowledge that the love of Jesus Christ really can make a difference to our lives and then to the lives of the people we meet.
18C – Speaking the truth and following conscience
Our moral conscience, in the Christian understanding, calls us to do good and to avoid evil, to do the right thing and to avoid what is wrong. It’s not just a feeling or an instinct. It’s like an understanding or an inner voice. It speaks to our freedom. It connects us with the goodness of God.
We have a duty to follow our conscience. If we don’t, something within us can never settle. We might pretend that everything is fine, but there is an inner conflict. We lose our spiritual peace and our integrity.
We also have a duty to form our conscience and to grow in virtue. Most of us inherit a lot of assumptions and prejudices, and pick up a lot of bad habits along the way. So we need to deepen our understanding about what is truly right and wrong. For a Christian, this involves prayer, and listening to the Holy Spirit. It involves studying the bible, and following the teaching of the Church. Conscience is not just an inner voice, it’s an openness to the truth, wherever that can be found. It’s an openness to Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
The truth is such an important value, and one that is often de-valued today.
Christian teaching is very clear, and it follows the Ten Commandments in the bible: “You must not bear false witness against your neighbour.” It’s wrong to lie. We are called to seek the truth and to speak truthfully. It doesn’t mean that in every situation we are required to share the whole truth – it depends on the circumstances, and not everyone has a right to know what we are thinking. But we must avoid outright lies.
