The celibate's reward.
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I attended the noon Mass at the Cathedral today; opening the Bible I found in the pew, my eye fell upon this passage:
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For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off. - Isaiah 56: 4-5
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On virginity.
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"Virginity is in no sense a denial of the spousal meaning of the body, as though the body were evil, but is rather an affirmation of that spousal meaning in the way it will exist in Heaven. In terms of this earth, however, it must be looked upon as exceptional, a recommendation of Christ: "Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (Mt. 19:11-12). Consecrated virginity involves a renunciation of marriage, but not of the value of marriage nor of the spousal meaning of the body. "If someone chooses marriage, he must choose it exactly as it was instituted by the Creator 'from the beginning,'" Pope John Paul teaches. "If on the other hand someone decides to follow continence for the kingdom of heaven, he must seek in it the values proper to such a vocation." Again, this teaching reflects common Church doctrine: "Whoever denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity" (Catechism, #1620; quoting John Chrysostom, De virg., 10,1)." - Source
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Ask and you will receive.
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[The Cathedral of St. Paul has purchased Ignatius Press RSV Bibles, 4 to a pew, for parishioners and visitors to use while stopping in to pray. That is incredibly generous. The Cathedral took on new life at the installation of Fr. Johnson as Rector - he has brought a very vibrant spirituality to the parish.]
I hope that mroe parishes follow suit. I have never seen a Bible in a pew in a RC church.
ReplyDeleteI do too - I know of another parish that has equal copies of the Bible and the hymnal.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine life without the Bible. When I returned to the Church a long time ago, I used the Bible as my pillow at night. A Catholic cannot have the Blessed Sacrament at home, but we can have the Word of God with us always.
Indeed.
ReplyDeleteNow, my favored translation is the NRSV, but I'm not picky.
Fr. Johnson's 10:00 homily was all about scripture, reminding us that all we have to do is pick up a Bible and right there, we have the word of God.
ReplyDeleteJust FYI: the Vatican has declared the NRSV (not the RSV-CE) to be unacceptable and not permitted for catechetical or liturgical purposes. The US Bishops have agreed to this ban, of course. This is because of its hardcore commitment to widespread inclusive language even in the Pslams and other OT messianic prophecies. Condsidering the in general the US Bishops have supported sensible inclusive language, the type espoused in the NRSV must be pretty extensive.
ReplyDeleteSee http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1995/feb1995p14_791.html
David, yes I knew this. However, I don't use it for liturgical purposes. I became accustomed to it (and learned to love it) because it is the required text for Religious Studies at most public (and some private) universities, and so I used it a lot then. I use one of the Oxford editions, with extensive footnotes and cross-referencing. It really helps to put the text into context. Plus, it always makes the reader aware of textual differences (ex: some codices have more or fewer verses in a given chapter, etc, or some of the words in the codices differ from each other). No other version and edition is as faithful to this as my Oxford NRSV.
ReplyDelete