Jet Favre

Here's my take on the Favre fiasco:

1. The press is loving this - a ready-made soap opera for the slowest time of year in sports. The NFL Network has been wall-to-wall with this one for, literally, months.

2. The Packers are nuts. This is a team that was just a couple of good plays away from the Super Bowl last year. Are they seriously going to try and convince us that Aaron Rodgers (who may, in fact, turn out to be a decent QB) gives you a better shot to get there than Brett Favre, a first-ballot HOF guy who is coming off one of his best 5 seasons ever? And what if Rodgers gets hurt? His backup is currently a just-drafted college QB. Jet-tissoning (pun intended) Favre does not put the best product on the field. Rodgers has never had an NFL start, for crying out loud! 

3. I love Favre, but hate the Jets. And now #4's in the same division as my Buffalo - er, Toronto Bills. Not good news. Well, at least I'll get to see him play.

New Bond Title Revealed

This just in from commanderbond.net - the 22nd cinematic James Bond adventure will be called "Quantum of Solace". The title comes from a short story in Ian Fleming's "For Your Eyes Only".

I can't wait for this film, as anyone who knows me well can attest. Around the time of its release I'll be doing a talk on "The Theology of James Bond" at St. Justin Martyr - and anywhere else who needs a "hired gun".

Have talks, will travel.

The Baptist, Benedict, and Blair

Today marks the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Or, as my seminary professors liked to call him, John the Baptizer...so as not to confuse him with members of the Baptist denomination!

One of the marks of John the Baptist was his burning desire to speak the truth of God, no matter what the consequenses. John boldly told Herod and Salome that they were adulterers, even though he knew that it could, and did, cost him his life.

Another prophet of our day, Pope Benedict XVI, met yesterday with outgoing British PM Tony Blair. According to the Times, it was a meeting where Benedict reportedly had some very direct words about Blair's recent political support for, among other things, abortion, same-sex unions and embryonic stem-cell research.

This is an interesting turn of events, considering just days ago, the media was awash with reports that Blair, as soon as he leaves office, is set to formally join the Roman Catholic Church when he leaves office. His wife, Cherie, is a Catholic, and Blair regularly attends Mass with her. Blair has not swam the Tiber yet, ostensibly because Britain has never had a Catholic PM, and there is still a latent amount of Anti-Catholicism in the UK. There have even been suggestions that Blair, when and if he comes home to Rome, would be interested in ordination as a deacon.

It appears that Benedict has made things crystal-clear to Blair: Forget about ordination - if you are going to become a Catholic, let alone a cleric - you've got to hold all that the Catholic Church teaches on faith and morals. The cafeteria is closed. It's the full meal deal or no deal.

Benedict knew, as did John the Baptist, that no one, however temporally powerful they may be, is above the laws of the King of the Universe. Our Catholic leaders must boldly speak the truth to them, no matter what the cost. If anyone does convert, it must be, as Benedict said today while discussing the Baptist, in perhaps a not-so-oblique reference to Blair, a "true conversion".

(To see Benedict's excellent catechesis on the Baptist from today's Angelus at St. Peter's, go here, with the usual hat tip to Whispers in the Loggia.)

Can I Get A Witness?

One of the books I'm trying to pick my way through these days is Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitness-es.

Bauckham, New Testament Professor at St. Andrew's, argues against a popular view in New Testament Studies that the Gospels were not composed by eyewitnesses to the life of Christ, and are not necessarily about the actual life of Christ. This view posits that the Gospels were an admixture of real and invented events in Christ's life, edited and tailored to suit the particular needs of the "communities" to which they were written.

Bauckham maintains that the Gospels are actual, eyewitness accounts of the historical life of Christ, written by either the apostles themselves, or men who knew them. They are not the product of late invention.

Bauckham was recently interviewed by Christianity Today, an Evangelical website, about his book. Although I do not agree with his assessment of the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, here's part of the interview:

What is the importance of "testimony" for interpreting the New Testament?

I think it helps us to understand what sort of history we have in the Gospels. Most history rests mostly on testimony. In other words, it entails believing what witnesses say. We can assess whether we think witnesses are trustworthy, and we may be able to check parts of what they say by other evidence. But in the end we have to trust them. We can't independently verify everything they say. If we could, we wouldn't need witnesses.

It's the same with witnesses in court. Testimony asks to be trusted, and it's not irrational to do so. We do so all the time. Now in the case of the Gospels, I think we have exactly the kind of testimony that historians in the ancient world valued: the eyewitness testimony of involved participants who could speak of the meaning of events they had experienced from the inside. This kind of testimony is naturally not that of the disinterested passerby who happened to notice something. That wouldn't tell us much worth knowing about Jesus. That the witnesses were insiders, that they were deeply affected by the events, is part of the value of their witness for us.

In the book, I discuss testimonies of the Holocaust as a modern example of an event we would have no real conception of without the testimony of survivors. In a very different way, the Gospels are about exceptionally significant events, history-making events. In the testimony of those who lived through them, history and interpretation are inextricable. But this, in fact, brings us much closer to the reality of the events than any attempt to strip away the interpretation and recover some supposedly mere facts about Jesus.

You can read the rest here.

The Mouth That Rory-d

Rory Sabbatini let his clubs do the talking this time, by winning the PGA's Colonial tournament in Fort Worth, Texas on Sunday, for his fourth career win on tour. For his efforts he got approximately $1 million US, a large trophy, and a hideous tartan jacket.

Sabbatini had caused a stir a couple of weeks ago by making this known: "I want Tiger." Rory also added that with Tiger's new swing, "He's more beatable than ever. We like the new Tiger".

The Man (who didn't play Colonial) had responded thusly: "I've won 9 of the last 12 tournaments I've played...and three so far this year. What's he got? Three career wins? I like the new Tiger, too."

This is great stuff. You just don't hear this kind of trash-talking in golf, like you do in other sports. Golfers are usually oh-so-polite to one another in the media, even though privately you know they feel otherwise.

It's refreshing to hear somebody like Sabbatini speak his mind and stir the pot a bit. We need more rivalry in golf; it creates fan interest. Problem for Rory is, Tiger has a memory like an elephant. He never forgets a slight. Anybody remember the 9 and 8 whupping Tiger laid on Stephen Ames at last year's match play tournament, after Ames made disparaging comments about Tiger's driving?

After that shellacking, Tiger simply said of Ames, "He understands now."

No doubt the Teacher wants to open young Mr. Sabbatini's mind as well.

And Here's the First One!

Dr. Robert Koons, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, has followed Francis Beckwith into the Catholic Church.

Dr. Koons was also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, and had been considering this move for quite some time himself. Incidentally, he didn't talk to Beckwith about his own conversion plans, even though they were part of the same society.

A former Lutheran, Dr. Koons, as a gift to the world, has made public a substantial essay called A Lutheran's Case for Roman Catholicism. It's must reading...check it out!

Welcome home, Dr. Koons!

Keep 'em comin', Lord!

Beckwith Comes Back With...

...hopefully, a trail of other converts and "re-verts" in his wake. I'm speaking of Dr. Francis Beckwith, a very highly regarded Christian scholar who has returned to his Catholic roots. Considering his high-profile standing as the president of the Evangelical Theological Society (he has since resigned), this couldn't have been an easy decision for him.

I pray for him and his family, because I went throgh a similar struggle myself when I returned to the Catholic Church, after years in Protestant ministry. I hope you'll pray for him too, as he will undoubtedly face many trials of criticism and misunderstandings, along with the support he's bound to receive as well.

For more on the reasons why Dr. Beckwith returned to the Catholic Church, read his blog, Right Reason, which features a hot-off-the-press Q & A with Beckwith by Christianity Today, as well as a post by Beckwith himself about his move:

The past four months have moved quickly for me and my wife. As you probably know, my work in philosophy, ethics, and theology has always been Catholic friendly, but I would have never predicted that I would return to the Church, for there seemed to me too many theological and ecclesiastical issues that appeared insurmountable. However, in January, at the suggestion of a dear friend, I began reading the Early Church Fathers as well as some of the more sophisticated works on justification by Catholic authors. I became convinced that the Early Church is more Catholic than Protestant and that the Catholic view of justification, correctly understood, is biblically and historically defensible. Even though I also believe that the Reformed view is biblically and historically defensible, I think the Catholic view has more explanatory power to account for both all the biblical texts on justification as well as the church’s historical understanding of salvation prior to the Reformation all the way back to the ancient church of the first few centuries. Moreover, much of what I have taken for granted as a Protestant—e.g., the catholic creeds, the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, the Christian understanding of man, and the canon of Scripture—is the result of a Church that made judgments about these matters and on which non-Catholics, including Evangelicals, have declared and grounded their Christian orthodoxy in a world hostile to it. Given these considerations, I thought it wise for me to err on the side of the Church with historical and theological continuity with the first generations of Christians that followed Christ’s Apostles.

You can read the rest of that post here.

Welcome home, Dr. Beckwith!

Bible Study Tonight: The Book of Daniel

All are welcome to our Bible Study, Daniel: Faith Under Fire, led by yours truly, tonight (and every Thursday), at St. Justin Martyr Parish, at 7:30 PM in the hall.

Tonight, we're studying Daniel chapter 2. Come on out and learn how we can draw from Daniel's example as we seek to live for God in an often godless world.

Schoeman's a Shoo-In...

...to be on any list of the most exciting Catholic authors today. Roy Schoeman, author of Salvation is From the Jews, and the just-released Honey From the Rock (which catalogues the conversion stories of twelve people from Judaism to Catholicism), both of which are published by Ignatius Press, will be speaking here in Toronto at a Marian conference on Saturday. For location info and tickets, $12 in advance, $15 at the door (youth:$5; clergy: free), call (800)663-MARY.

I know I'll be there. I can't recommend this man's work highly enough. Salvation is From the Jews is the best book I've ever read on the link between Judaism and Christianity. The title is a quote from Jesus himself in John 4, and has to do with the role of Judaism from Abraham to the Second Coming. Schoeman was trained by some of the most influential rabbis in American Judaism, and was a former professor at Harvard Business School before entering the Catholic Church.

There have actually been several prominent Hebrew-Catholics, as they are known, who have come to know Christ as the Messiah and entered the Catholic Church in recent years - people like Bob Fishman and Rosalind Moss, to name two of the more well-known converts.

And, for reasons that are made clear in the book, if a Jewish person comes to realize who Jesus is, it is far more likely that person will become a Catholic than a Protestant Christian.

In an interview with Ignatius Insight, Schoeman explains some of his prior misconceptions about Catholicism and what led to the writing of his first book:

IgnatiusInsight.com: As a convert from Judaism, what do you think are the major misconceptions that many Jews have about the Catholic Church? As a Catholic, what are the misconceptions that many Catholics have about Judaism and the Jewish people?

Roy H. Schoeman: Prior to my conversion, the central misconception I held about the Catholic Church was, of course, that it was in fundamental theological error, a misguided, naïve illegitimate offshoot of the true Judaism. I saw Catholics as misguided followers of a false Messiah engaging in a host of childish and superstitious practices.

To read the rest, click here.

Pssst! Do You Know "The Secret"?

I would like to cordially invite all in the Toronto area to my next FX: The Faith Explained Seminar, "The Secret: A Catholic Response", this Wednesday, May 2, at 7:30 PM at St. Justin, Martyr Parish (this talk will immediately follow the 7 PM Mass).

The Secret , a book written by Rhonda Byrne, has rocketed to the top of the bestseller lists, and features a companion DVD. Oprah Winfrey has promoted it on her TV Show, and many Catholics have been swept up in the hoopla as well.

What is "The Secret?" It's something Bryrne "discovered" called the "Law of Attraction", and she alleges that anyone can tap into its power to bring untold wealth, great relationships, and just about anything one might desire into their life.

Should we as Catholics be concerned? Is there anything in "The Secret" that is inimical to our faith? Find out this Wednesday! Until then, we would do well to meditate on this not-so-secret "Law of Attraction":

Jesus said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32).

It's Earth Day and I'm Back!

Hello, Faithful Readership!

I know that some of you were probably wondering if I'd fallen off the face of the earth, seeing as how I haven't blogged in so long.

Last week was one of the craziest weeks I've ever had...I was giving retreats for high school students, and had virtually no time to myself. But now I'm back with a vengeance! There will be blogging galore from here on out, and I promise I'll make up for lost time.

Speaking of falling off the face of the earth, today is Earth Day! So, why not celebrate like I do - by treating other folks like dirt!

Just kidding, of course. I have no problem with those who want to care for God's creation, as we all should.

But I often find it strange that those who are most concerned about saving the physical creation are often those least concerned about saving the crowning achievement of God's creation, the human person.

This attitude is typified by politicians like NDP leader Jack Layton, who was out riding his bike in Toronto today promoting Earth Day. He is passionate about being "green", yet at the same time, he is a staunch advocate for the destruction of human persons through abortion.

Father Frank Pavone, the founder of Priests for Life, was at the bedside of Terri Schiavo, as she was being starved to death not long ago in Florida. Terri was being euthanized by the order of a judge. Her only "crime" was that she could not feed herself, so she was fed through a tube.

Terri's food and water supply was cut off, so she died of starvation and dehydration: a long, painful process that she consciously experienced. No one would destroy even a dog in this manner; in fact, if one did, our enlightened society would likely insist such a one serve a prison sentence.

Father Pavone placed his hand on Terri's forehead to pray for her, and as he did so, his hand brushed a vase of flowers that someone had sent her. The vase was full of that which had been denied Terri - water. The flowers were allowed to drink deeply and live, but Terri was not.

How tragic. My friends, of course we should care for the environment. But if we're more concerned with saving the whales than saving people - or worse, if we want to save the whales while assenting to the destruction of people - then we have failed miserably at our task. As Jesus once said about other matters, we should have done the former without neglecting the latter.

The Petrine Privilege (Part II)

Recently, I posted on the case for John 21 being part of the original work. Given as it was the Gospel reading for Friday Masses, it seemed a good time to revisit this text, because it is one that has many implications for the papacy.

Other texts like Matthew 16 are often cited in this regard, but John 21 has one of the strongest proofs for the ongoing role of the office of Peter in the universal Church. Even non-Catholic scholars recognize this.

Fishing, of course, wasn't just the former trade of the apostles; it represents their evangelistic mission of being "fishers of men". The unbroken net conveys unity. Elsewhere, when Jesus provides a miraculous draught of fish, the nets begin to break from the strain; here, the nets are intact.

The fact that it was Peter dragging the net ashore is a metaphor for his leadership in bringing the Church safely home to Christ, even to the shores of heaven itself. Interestingly, although the catch was so big that the disciples struggled to bring the nets aboard and that it almost sank their boat, Peter now easily drags the net ashore all by himself. The verb used to describe Peter's dragging of the net is the same one used by Jesus in John 12:32 when he says that as he is lifted up from the earth he will draw all people to himself.

By far the most puzzling aspect of the passage is the reference to the 153 fish. First of all, this is an authentic eyewitness detail. On a secondary level, many commentators have proffered various theories to explain what this number means. Most of these interpretations suggest the idea of the universality or completeness of the catch.

So, we have Peter, alone, dragging the unbroken net of a universal catch to the shores of heaven. This is clearly a reference to his position as leader of the Church on earth.

When you add to all of this the threefold charge of Jesus to Peter, "Feed my Sheep", that immediately follows, the picture is complete. Peter is singularly (in the Greek) given this responsibility to shepherd the universal Church. Keep in mind also that this is recounted in the Gospel in which Jesus describes himself as the "Good Shepherd" (John 10). Before his Ascension, Jesus reaffirms Peter's unique leadership position, passing the earthly reins of the Church to him.

The Petrine Privilege

The lectionary readings for Mass the last couple of days have featured the account of the healing of the crippled beggar at the the Jerusalem temple by Peter and John in Acts 3.

Peter says to the man, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!" You know the rest...if you don't, read Acts 3!

Well, Peter is at it again...healing, that is. Not Rocky himself, of course, but his successor, John Paul II, who is more alive than ever with God (and Peter) in heaven.

A few nights ago, on the evening of April 2, Pope Benedict celebrated a memorial Mass, marking the day JPII went home to the Father's house. Sitting in the front row was a 46-year-old nun named Sr. Marie-Simon-Pierre, who believes she was healed of Parkinson's disease, the same ailment that frustrated The Great Communicator himself, through the merits and prayers of John Paul.

Of course, as the cause for his canonization moves along, this healing will be stringently examined as evidence that John Paul is actually interceding from heaven on our behalf, before the Sapphire Throne.

But with a successor of Simon Peter obtaining a healing for Sister Simon-Pierre, who can possibly doubt it?

Trained actor as he was, John Paul always did have a flair for the dramatic.

Zach's Master

O.K., I'll admit it - I was wrong (actually, this happens more often than not)! Tiger Woods didn't win the Masters (He did finish 2nd, though). Zach Johnson won...and it was well-earned.

I was even more glad he won after what Zach (pictured, surveying his future endorsement deals) said on Sunday. After finishing the final round, he noted that it was Easter Sunday, and that he could feel the Lord's presence with him every step of the way. Later on, at his press conference, he stated that his desire had been "to glorify God".

It was a touching scene to see him embrace his wife and infant son after the tournament. Not only was Zach choked up, but so were some of the other players! It's obvious the guy is very well-liked and respected by his peers. Way to go, Zach!

The 31-year-old Johnson was called "a fantastic young player with a bright future", after his first major championship win. Here's a scary thought: Tiger Woods already holds 12 majors, including four Masters wins, and he's the exact same age as Johnson. Wow.

That young man just might have a future in golf, too.

You're in Good Hands with Jesus

Father Joseph Singh, pastor of St. Justin's, once again did not disappoint in his Easter homily.

He told the story of a young girl who was embarrassed by her mother's grotesquely disfigured hands. Whenever her friends came over to play, she asked her mother to wear gloves to cover them.

The little girl grew up, and her mother became ill and died. At the wake, her body was displayed in an open casket, arms folded across her chest, gnarled hands clutching her rosary. As the daughter approached the casket with a pair of silk gloves to cover her mother's hands, her father stopped her.

"It's time you knew the truth about your mother's hands", he said. "She never told you this while she was alive, because she didn't want you to feel guilty. When you were a baby, there was a fire in your nursery. As she rescued you, your mother put down the flames in your crib with her bare hands. That's why they look the way they do."

Those hands - that moments before had appeared so hideous to the daughter - now seemed so beautiful.

The first thing Jesus showed his disciples after his Resurrection were his hands. The hands that still bore the piercings of the cross. The hands that had been disfigured while he was rescuing God's children from the fires of hell.

How beautiful those scarred hands had become. How beautiful they are.

Paid in Full

Yet another sterling sermon from the pulpit of St. Justin's this Good Friday. Some highlights from Fr. A. N. Onomous' homily:

In the passion story according to John which we have just heard, the last words that Jesus said on the cross before he bowed his head and gave up the spirit is "It is finished" (John 19:30). Three words in English, but in the original Greek it is just one word, tetelestai. This word is from the Greek teleo, which means to bring to completion, to carry out into full operation, to bring something to its appointed goal.

Scholars obtained greater insight into the meaning of this expression a few years ago after some archaeologists dug up in the Holy Land a tax collector's office that was almost intact, with all the tax records and everything. There were two stacks of tax records and one of them had the word, tetelestai, on the top. In other words, "paid in full." These people don't owe anything anymore.

So, when Jesus said "It is finished," what then is finished?” It is the debt we owe God by our sins—from the sins of the last human being right back to the first sin of Adam and Eve which ruptured Man’s friendship with God, losing the inherent gift of sanctifying grace, bringing death and disharmony into creation, and closing the gates of Heaven. Jesus in his humanity can pay the debt of sin on behalf of mankind, and in his divinity, Jesus can repay the debt for sin on the level of the infinite; for all sin is an offence against an infinite God.

The Jews of Jesus' time saw sin as a debt that we owe God, a debt that must somehow be repaid. Jesus used that kind of language and often spoke of sin as debt, and forgiveness as a cancellation of debt. He told the parable of the unforgiving servant whom his master forgave the debt that he had no way of repaying but who went out and insisted on getting back the small debt that his fellow servant owed him. This was a way of teaching us that when we are forgiven by God we must in turn forgive our neighbour.

He taught us to pray "Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us" (Mt. 6: 12; cf. Mt. 6: 9-13) – the parallel is found in the Gospel of Luke 11: 2-4 -- which simply means "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Jesus clearly used the language of commerce to speak of the spiritual relationship between God and us and between us and our neighbour. So on the cross he says, "It is paid in full."

In John 3 Jesus spoke of the necessity of being "born again", "of water and the spirit" through baptism. As the Nicene Creed states, "We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". This is how we intially access the infinite funds of Grace that pays our sin debt. But what of sins committed after baptism? As Father Onomous explains, John's Gospel goes on to recount the Resurrected Jesus' institution of the sacrament of Reconcilation, or Confession:

21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on [the apostles] and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (John 19:21-23).

Avoid sin, of course - but if we fail, God’s Himself waits in the Sacrament of Penance, where, when we confess our sins with real sorrow and desire to amend and change our ways, Christ through the priest cleanses our souls anew, and continues his redeeming work begun on the Cross, and continuing for us until we enter into eternity.

It is only those who have recieved such forgiveness that can truly call this Friday "Good".

Masters Week in The Master's Week

It's absolutely diabolical that my favorite golf tournament, The Masters, is taking place in Holy Week, the true Master's Week.

The links action gets underway today among the famous azaleas at Augusta National. And, having proved quite the prophet regarding my Final Four picks, I'm sure you're all waiting with bated breath for my announcement of who'll take the year's first major.

Drum roll, everyone!

The winner will be....Tiger Woods.

I know, I know: he's everybody's pick. I'm not exactly going out on a limb here, but how can you not take him, even given the choice of him or the field? By the way, if El Tigre can pull it off, taking his fifth Masters, he'll be 3/4 of the way home to a second Tiger Slam, holding all four major championships at once. I predict that he'll win in a Sunday showdown with "Lefty", Phil Mickelson, with whom Tiger has split four of the last five Green Jackets.

The other one went to Canada's own lefty (and my favourite golfer), Mike Weir, in 2003 (pictured here with Tiger, just before Woods would slip the Green Jacket over Weir's shoulders). Unfortunately, Mike's struggled for consistency of late, as he adjusts to a new swing coach. But he always seems to perform well at majors - Augusta especially. He's my dark horse pick.

And don't forget about Canada's other star (and currently our best golfer): Stephen Ames. Ames blew away the field at last year's Players' Championship, the PGA Tour's unofficial "fifth" major, was great in this year's Match Play tournament, and says he's now hitting the ball better than he ever has, under the watchful eye of his own new coach, Sean Foley.

Now I just have to figure out a way to watch the final round during the Easter family dinner at my in-laws'. That might be tougher than winning the Masters itself!

We're Oil Ready for Easter!

If you'll pardon the pun...

I just returned from the Chrism Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral in Downtown Toronto. What an experience!

This is the Mass where all of the oils for sacramental usage are blessed: the Oil of the Catechumens, the Holy Chrism oil, and the Oil of the Sick (for the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick - see James 5:14-15).

It's also the Mass where all priests of the archdiocese renew their wedding vows (to the Bride of Christ, that is), reaffirming their priestly vows and their obedience to our new archbishop, Thomas Collins (pictured).

Speaking of our new shepherd, he offered up another sterling homily, without notes and very passionate. In speaking about the oils in sacramental use, and our sacramental, incarnational Catholic faith, he noted that "We're not angels...in more ways than one!"

The sacraments are physical signs that give grace. And we need that grace badly, because indeed we are not often angelic in our behavior. Which is why God provided us with priests to not only anoint us for physical healing, but far more importantly, to make us spiritually well in the sacrament of Confession.

When it comes to physical and spiritual healing, no one, of course, was better at it than our Lord. Do you remember my recent post about typology being fulfilled in the liturgy? Tonight's Mass had a fantastic example of fulfilled prophecy:

The first reading was from Isaiah 61, the very words Jesus quotes in tonight's Gospel account from Luke 4, when Jesus reads this text in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Not only does Jesus quote from Isaiah 61, but he specifically says that this Scripture was fulfilled in the very hearing of his listeners! They were watching salvation history unfold before their very eyes.

And before ours too, at each and every Mass: the Lord himself not only speaks to us in the Liturgy of the Word, but becomes physically present - body, blood, soul, and divinity - in each Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Word of God goes from written text to living word in the Mass - Jesus, the living Word of God, alive in his Eucharistic body.

But maybe the most fascinating part of Jesus' quoting Isaiah is the part he leaves out - in Isaiah 61, the servant is to "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeange of our God."

I believe Jesus omitted that intentionally, because the day of vengeange of our God will arrive at the Last Judgment. So, from the time of Jesus until that Day, it is the Age of Grace. The acceptable year of the Lord's favor. That time is now.

So get it while the gettin's good - there's no better time than Holy Week to go visit one of those newly rededicated priests, make a good confession, and hear the words "I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".

And those words will be fulfilled in your hearing.

The Week That Changed the World

Holy Week begins today with Palm (Passion) Sunday, which always makes me think of a great poem by G.K . Chesterton, The Donkey:

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

John 21: Was it Added Later?

In Johannine Gospel scholarship, it is almost axiomatic among scholars that chapter 21 is a later addition by redactors, and wasn't part of the original work.

Michael Barber, over at his excellent blog, Singing in the Reign, has posted probably the best take I've ever seen on chapter 21 being part of the original work.

As Barber explains, whether or not the last chapter is part of the original work is crucial to the question of authorship of the Fourth Gospel - because it's almost as accepted in the scholarly community that John the Apostle didn't write it.

As Barber puts it:

...the question of authorship of the Fourth Gospel really depends on how one views the final chapter. Is John 21--the chapter where, arguably, we learn the most about the "beloved disciple"--a later addition to the book or was it originally part of the Gospel?

Check out the whole article here.