Something about Mary : Part III

"Do whatever he tells you"

These are the last recorded words of Mary in the scriptures, which are a perfect bookend to her first words "I am the Lord's servant! Let it happen as you have said." A humble servant, who's "soul magnifies the Lord", perpetually pointing us to Christ.

The scene is the Wedding at Cana, the first public miracle of the Messiah, turning water to wine (as he would one day turn wine into Himself). Read the interaction between mother and son.Miracle at Cana

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him,
“They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, what does that have to do with US? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

The three main points here are:

1) Mary's words to do whatever Jesus says.

2) That Jesus first points out that this has nothing to do with them. All of Christ's miracles were done for others, never for himself, nor did Mary ask this for herself either. Surely Mary had other times that she could have selfishly asked for her son's intersession (Joseph's death for one), but in humility never did (the handmaid of the Lord).

3) That the first miracle of Christ comes at the request of His mother. As Jesus never sinned, he kept (and continues to keep) the 5th Commandment, and honors His mother. This tells us that we too can bring our needs to our Blessed Mother, with the confidence that she will pray to her son on our behalf (but that we don't pray to her). Jesus will always honor His mother, and listens to her prayers for us.

Although my focus at this time was Mary, there is so much more one can/should take from John 2. That Jesus wishes us to enjoy life, that marriage is special, that if water can become wine how can we deny wine becomes Jesus? that Jesus is the New Wine, that this is the first time His disciples "believed" in Him. Listen to Father Larry Richards homily for the week (January 14, 2007) about this reading.

If I was a theologian, instead of a dashingly handsome Sales Rep, I think I could write about a weeks worth of blogs on this chapter. So I challenge you to not read, but study this chapter yourselves.

God can turn our stagnant hearts to intoxicating wine, but if we keep it bottled up, never sharing, than surely it will turn to the kind of vile vinegar they gave Christ on the cross.

"I am just a cup of water
That You can turn to wine
I am just a crippled beggar
That's left his bed behind"

Strange Occurrence :Sunrise

Cutest Dog

Something about Mary : Part II

"make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them".

Continuing on with Mary being made special, I now ask y'all to go to the book of Exodus, starting at chapter 25 and reading through all of the next few chapters.....yes, I said ALL. These chapters screamed out to me once I became Catholic, and first heard someone refer to our blessed Lady as the Ark of the New Covenant.

Struggling through these lengthy technical passages early in my Christian walk when I did the "Bible in a year" study, and of the old Testament details of God's specific design for the first Ark of the Covenant (that big scary box from the 1st Indiana Jones flick), almost ended my reading of Exodus (if not the whole Old Testament).

Why did I need to know all these details?
Why was God sooooo specific?
Why the use of all these precious materials?
What the heck is a cubit?

These unanswered questions stuck with me, hanging out in the back of this condemned warehouse I call a brain, somewhere between "What will we look like in heaven" and "What's up with these ear hairs".Then someone said Ark of the New Covenant to me, and it all made complete sense, and I saw the reason for the extensive blueprint of the Ark and the Tabernacle. God was giving us a glimpse in to how special he would make Mary. The first Ark housed the Ten Commandments, but the new Ark would house and give birth to the Word made flesh.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us"

I had heard Catholic apologetics ask the rhetorical question "if you were God, how would you make your own mother", and Exodus gives us a bit of that answer. She would be made special, of precious materials, and with pain staking details.

So, to all my wonderful non-Catholic friends who have skipped over parts of Exodus, because they appeared to have little meaning, I suggest you give it another try , pondering if maybe the ol' musical Monk might be onto somethin'.

Funny thing is, Catholic and reformers having been saying the same things for hundreds of years.

"I believe... he [Jesus Christ] was born of the blessed Virgin, who, as well after as she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin."

John Wesley, Anglican priest and founder of the Methodists

Evening Wisdom

"The one who dies with the most remotes wins"

Just redoing some audio stuff, and twas shocked by my abundant remote collection, especially as that as a kid, I was considered my dad's TV remote (O:

Something about Mary : Part I

Christmas is a big day for our Blessed Lady, not only because it is the celebration of the birth of her only child, but also because it is one of the rare days where Protestants shake off the well cared for shackles of their Catholi-phobia (fear of appearing Catholic) and actually admit Jesus even had a mom (yes , yes, I know Christmas is over, but until I pay off the credit card bills, I can keep referencing it). We see her in church front Nativity scenes, on cards from Aunt May and Uncle Lu (don't mention the twins), and even in reruns of the WWMM's favorite TV special "The Little Drummer Boy". Come December 26th, she's again packed back up, stuffed in the attic, and shall not be mentioned again until at least Thanksgiving.

Catholi-phobia is really the only explanation I can think of for Mary's post Christmas disappearance, as Marian doctrine had little to do with the Reformation, with the likes of Calvin, Wesley, and Luther all speaking of our Lady as Mother of God, Mother of Us all, and Ever Virgin.

"Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees . . . If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother" Martin Luther

Unlike his modern devotees, Luther didn't skip over Jesus' last few precious words (John 19:26-28) where he gives Mary to us as mother. Jesus knew everything that was to happen, so it if this was just a statement to John on provision of his mother,he could have easily prepared them both long before this emotionally wrought event.

I will take that even further, in that the Protestant view paints our God as a vile uncaring monster, for if Mary was just another slob like us, living in the spiritual death of original sin, how cruel to make her watch her innocent babe beaten to hamburger meat and than nailed naked to a cross. If she was not to play a bigger (and continual) part, than any loving God would surely have taken her up to heaven once Jesus reached manhood, instead of giving her a ringside seat to the live production of "the Passion of the Christ".


So is God cruel? I say an emphatic "NO"

Do I call Mary mother? humbly and happily I say "Yes"

Should you? . . . .

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.
Amen

. . .to be continued,

Psalm 34:4-8

I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.
taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Church of the Warm fuzzies

"Common experience declares how momentary and how useless
are those violent fits and gusts of endeavors which proceed
from fear and uncertainty, both in things spiritual and things
temporal, or civil. Whilst men are under the power of actual
impressions from such fears, they will convert to God, yea,
they will turn in a moment, and perfect their holiness in an
instant; but so soon as that impression wears off (as it will
do on every occasion, and upon none at all) such persons are
as dead and cold towards God as the lead or iron, which but
now ran in a fiery stream, is now when the heat is departed
from it" ... John Owen (1616-1683)

I think it is almost comical that the above quote was written by an early reformer, as it in so many ways describes one of the problems I so often saw in my old "warm and fuzzy" Evangelical church. Sadly too many Christians have bought into the false doctrine that church should "feel good", and worse, that they have to walk around in a kind of Ned Flanders perpetual "oakly dokly-ness".

We have become a church drunk on (what we "feel" is) the Spirit, with only a passing nod to the Truth, which inevitably leads to a heck of a spiritual hangover. We worship God in Spirit and Truth, and the true Spirit is Truth, not just a happy, smiley "emotion". I truly see a correlation between this,and the high number of Christian suicides (especially in Evangelical churches), of unprepared people easily discouraged when the good feeling wears off .

Truth is a rock, not a marshmallow.

I can't tell you how sad I get when people refer to singing worship as a "Sacrifice of Praise" , as I doubt doing something you like is much of a sacrificial act. It wasn't until I became Catholic, and Sunday Mass became a requirement (a Mortal sin to miss Mass in fact), that I understood the true meaning. Mass (or Sunday service), is our time to give to God, whether we want to go or not. God owns all of our time, yet only requires this one day a week. How selfish to only attend church if we feel good, or have someone to go with, or like the pastor that day, or dig who's leading the worship team.

When I think of the early Christians who risked death to receive the Eucharist, but we can't even get our flabby American butts outta bed for an hour on Sunday, I literally feel sick to my stomach (and yes, I have been guilty of this selfish act too). I have honestly felt like slapping someone who jokingly says "yeah, I kinda overslept", or "just felt like staying in", or some other such silliness that would get ya fired if you tried it on Monday.

I am not saying we shouldn't enjoy Church, but our enjoyment is never to be our goal or motivation. I love Mass, I love Adoration, I love Bible Study, I love to pray . . . .but because I love to honor the One who asks all this of me.

In Truth we should be seeking to give God enjoyment, by visiting, and praising, Him in His house.

Seeya in church,
WWMM

The more things Change . . .

3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Luke 6

"But I tell you who hear me:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.
If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic."
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Scary, huh?

Couldn't decide who was more frightening; the Wicked Witch or the Flying Monkey?, either/or, both are proponents of Hell on Earth.

Tricked or Treat!

Idolatrous Rex

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A recent fossil discovery in the Midwest has proved to explain the empty walls and altars, while leaving room for plasma screens, in the Mega-churchs of North America. The newly named Idolatrous Rex appears to be a small, single sighted creature, often found with an abundantly underlined Bible, but without any religious symbols found anywhere in it's meeting or dwelling place (save for a strange "fish" emblem , below a Baltimore Ravens or LAX sticker, often found on it's SUV).

While it is rumoured that this creature was a follower of "The Way", there seems to be no physical evidence of this among the stadium seating (with cup holders) within it's meeting place, nor among the hundreds of family photographs which litter it's nesting habitat. In the writings they seem to love this God/man "Jesus" above all things, but in fact must be terribly afraid of His appearance, as there seems no images of Him anywhere, nor His "wondrous Cross" their Holy writings say saved them from sin and death.

Like the Masons, they could have possibly been a secretive society, not wishing others to see symbols of this "peace that passes understanding" or "unending joy", for fear they might steal it, although their Sacred writings seem to suggest they are to "spread the Good news". The huge televisions in the corporate areas, we assume were used to scare the collective into submission, by letting the "leaders" appear bigger than life (their writing calls it "exalting"), and who we are guessing are the Pharisees their book mentions.

While much further study needs to be done, we have concluded that it was most likely their single-sightedness (and use of birth control) that lead to their ultimate demise.

originally posted in March

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frame

Found a better destination

Destination Ursa Major - Superdrag

John Davis, the singer for power-popsters Superdrag (soon at the 9:30 Club here in D.C.), came to know the Truth a few years back, and when I came across this vid, and read the lyrics, could tell that even then he was a searching.

I'm so sensitive to light
I may never get it right
all the bloody stupid miracles and lies
guess it's up to you to have it exorcised
what did I do? nothin is true
whatever is over now
sober is over now
I may never get away
I'm rejecting yesterday
only hoping my trajectory is high
now there will be no more pissing you goodbye
what did I do?...

destination
ursa major

destination
ursa major

Sure sounds Catholic to me

"No nation, and few individuals, are really brought into
[God's] camp by the historical study of the biography of
Jesus, simply as biography. Indeed, materials for a full
biography have been withheld from men. The earliest converts
were converted by a single historical fact (the Resurrection)
and a single theological doctrine (the Redemption) operating
on a sense of sin which they already had... The "Gospels" came
later and were written not to make Christians but to edify
Christians already made."

C.S. Lewis

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season;
correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful
instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up
with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what
their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears
away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
2 Timothy 4:2-4