Biblical Gold!

Fr. James Swetnam, S.J. has posted on his website (for free) his commentary of The Epistle to the Hebrews. He is updating the book online as he goes. Currently, he is up to chapter 7. Click here for the commentary.

Can God Make A Rock So Big That He Can't Lift It?

"1. Concerning God's omnipotence, the following must be held according to the sacred teaching. God is almighty, but in such a manner that acts of culpability, for instance, lying, or intending evil, cannot be attributed to Him; nor can acts of penalty [for original sin], such as fearing and sorrowing; nor corporeal and material acts, such as sleeping and walking, except figuratively; nor contradictory acts, such as making something greater than Himself, or producing another God equal to Himself, or creating some being that would be infinite in act; and so forth. As Anselm writes, "whatever is contradictory, be it the smallest thing, is not found in God." Although God cannot do such things, yet He is truly, properly, and perfectly omnipotent.

2. This should be understood as follows. The first Principle is powerful by a power that is unqualified; therefore the universal "omni" prefacing "potent" covers all those things the power to do which is power unqualified: that is, all things that proceed from a power both complete and orderly. We call COMPLETE a power that cannot disappear, succumb, or be limited. But sin implies a disappearance of power, pain a collapse of power, and bodily operation a limitation of power. Divine power, supreme and utterly perfect, is not created, nor is it dependent upon anything, nor is it wanting in anything. Therefore, it cannot be the subject of culpable, penal, or corporeal acts: and this precisely because it is omnipotent through a power that is complete.

3. Now, there are three senses in which a power can be called ORDERLY: as it is in act; as it signifies potency on the part of a creature; and as it signifies potency on the part of the uncreated Might alone. That which is possible to power in the first sense is not only possible but actual. That which is possible in the second sense but not in the first is simply possible, although not actual. That which is possible in the third sense, but not in the first or second, is possible to God but impossible to creatures. That which is not possible in any of the foregoing senses, i. e., whatever, by reason of primordial and eternal principles and causes, is directly opposed to order, is simply impossible; as it would be for God to produce something infinite in act, to make something to be and not to be at the same time, to make a past event as never having happened, and so forth. The order and completeness of divine might exclude the possibility of doing such things.

This clearly shows the scope of divine might, the meaning of the simply possible and of the simply impossible, and the fact that some impossibility is compatible with true omnipotence."

-St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Chapter 7- On God's Omnipotence

(Or you could go with the short answer, which is: No.)

Well, He Is Right, Of Course.

Brit Hume was asked to comment about Tiger Woods on FOX News Sunday and said that if Tiger is looking for a way to find redemption and forgiveness, he should turn from Buddhism (which Tiger apparently is and which does not have a doctrine of redemption) to Christianity.



Hume is absolutely right. This is not a matter of proselytism or intolerance or whatever anti-Christians and liberals want to make it out to be. It is objective fact. Isaiah 1:18 says: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Christ died to bring forgiveness to the world. He came specifically for the sinner (whether it be for the average person who sins daily in some small way or someone like Tiger, who has committed a grave sin such as adultery). The forgiveness that Christ came to give is infinite. No sin is too great! As long as you come to God with a humble, contrite heart seeking forgiveness, He will grant it to you.

See how much Christ loves us, that He has given us the sacrament of Confession! He knows we are going to sin after baptism. Yet, instead of allowing us to go off into damnation through personal sin, He provides a way that we may get back in the state of grace, back to union with God.

Brit Hume is spot on with his assessment. Hopefully Tiger will take him up on it and turn to Christ, the only one who can grant to him the forgiveness and redemption he needs. Keep Tiger in your prayers.

Pius XII And The Jews

There has been a lot of talk recently about Pius XII and his actions during World War II and the Jewish People, now that Pope Benedict has declared him to be a Venerable and furthering his cause for canonization. Most of the secular media has slandered the good name of Pius XII based on ignorance and a complete lack of facts. They have bought into a lie that was told back in the 60's that Pius was "Hitler's Pope." Nothing could be further from the truth. Pius XII did more to save the Jewish People from Hitler than any other leader in the world during World War II.

However, there is one group, Pave the Way Foundation, led by Gary Krupp (who is himself Jewish) that has done a considerably amount of work on finding documents and evidence to show that Pius XII was indeed a righteous gentile and a man of heroic virtue who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. His website is full of eyewitness interviews, documents, transcripts, etc. that prove this. Please check out the facts for yourself on the website and if you know of anyone slandering Pope Pius XII direct them there as well!

For more info, check out these great books:
The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pius XII and His Secret War Against Nazi Germany by Rabbi David Dalin.
Did Pius XII Help the Jews? by Margherita Marchione

Also, these two posts:
Nun Defends Man Some Call "Hitler's Pope."
Unprecedented Slander

Christ, The New Priest

I have started to read Albert Vanhoye’s book Old Testament Priests and the New Priest: According to the New Testament and I was struck by this finding at the end of the first chapter:

“The narrative writings of the New Testament never show the Jewish high priests in the exercise of their cultic functions. What is given emphasis is their authority rather than their priesthood; they are ‘important personages’ i.e. ‘high’ more than they are ‘priests.’ It was not possible, however, to separate the two aspects entirely, for the high priests were recognized as being the religious leaders of the people of God. It followed from this that the Christians were in an extremely embarrassing situation. The Gospel narratives, which say little about Jewish priests and much about the high priests, result inevitably in giving the priesthood an unfavorable image. And yet it could not be denied that the priesthood constituted one of the fundamental institutions of the Old Testament. How could the Christian Church claim to be faithful to the totality of biblical revelation and to possess in Christ its definitive fulfillment, if it found itself in a negative relationship with regard to this fundamental institution of the people of God?”

Vanhoye closes his first chapter without answering his question. I haven’t read further, so I don’t know if he does later in the book, but I wanted to point out the importance of his assertion in this paragraph and what its implications are. He shows that the Jewish high priests are not shown exercising their cultic functions. Rather, they are portrayed more as political figures. I think the reason for this is, and hopefully Vanhoye will make this connection later in the book, the Evangelists are implicitly stating what the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes explicit; namely that the Old Testament Priesthood has been fulfilled in Christ. When Christ appears, the high priests are no longer portrayed as cultic leaders because THE High Priest has arrived. The cult of the Old Testament people of God, the Qahal, is fulfilled and carried on in the person of Christ. The Levitical priesthood was a concessionary priesthood instituted after the sin of the golden calf. Prior to the golden calf, the priesthood was passed on from father to firstborn son. Now that God’s Firstborn Son has arrived, the priesthood can return back to its original dimension of being about spiritual fatherhood. The spiritual fatherhood aspect of the priesthood is important for understanding the Church’s teaching on why only men can be priests.

For more on Christ’s priesthood, see the paper I wrote for my Biblical Foundations class in Grad school. I’m going to have to revisit this paper and include Vanhoye’s insight here.

Book Review: The [expanded] Bible-New Testament

Nowadays, there are many different versions of Bibles; Teen Bible, Woman’s Bible, Golfer’s Bible, Green Bible, Apologetics Bible, etc.

The [expanded] Bible: New Testament published by Thomas Nelson is not some tired specialty Bible. Rather, it is an indispensable tool for studying Sacred Scripture while you read. With The [expanded] Bible, there is no need to look in the margins for notes or scripture references; they are all contained within the text. The main feature of the Bible is that rather than being at the mercy of a particular translation, the reader has a choice to see the various options for translating a word or phrase and judging which is most suitable. It’s like having a KJV, NIV, RSV all in one. It is the perfect tool for a priest or pastor who wants to compare translations without having to lay out several different Bibles in order to do so.

The [expanded] Bible is also ideal for the everyday Christian who wants to get the most out of Scripture. As you read along it points out typology and Old Testament references that the average reader might not be familiar with. And while there is no substitute for reading Scripture in its original language, it is perfect for conveying the meanings of words for one who does not have knowledge of Greek.

My only criticism of The [expanded] Bible is that the way it is set up can make it laborious to read at first, but once you get familiar with the different translations side by side, it becomes more of a help than a hindrance. Also, it uses a modified version of the New Century Version translation as the base text. For my tastes, I would have preferred a more literal-formal equivalence translation as the base and then have the idiomatic-functional equivalence translation in the expansion.

Overall, I would definitely recommend it as a great way to increase biblical literacy and understanding.

For more on The [expanded] Bible, click here.

Obligatory Statement to conform to the FTC's ridiculous legal requirements:

As a Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger, I received this book free in exchange for reviewing the book.

Christ Is The Key

"Christ is the key to all things and only by joining the disciples on the road to Emmaus, only by walking with Christ, by reinterpreting all things in his light, with him, crucified and risen, do we enter into the riches and beauty of sacred Scripture."

-Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Lenten Meeting with the Clergy of Rome (Feb. 22, 2007)

Linus Knows The Truth

Have A Blessed Christmas!

“He was a baby and a child, so that you may be a perfect human. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be freed from the snares of death. He was in a manger, so that you may be in the altar. He was on earth that you may be in the stars. He had no other place in the inn, so that you may have many mansions in the heavens. ‘He, being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich.’ Therefore his poverty is our inheritance, and the Lord’s weakness is our virtue. He chose to lack for himself, that he may abound for all. The sobs of that appalling infancy cleanse me, those tears wash away my sins. Therefore, Lord Jesus, I owe more to your sufferings because I was redeemed than I do to works for which I was created.

You see that he is in swaddling clothes. You do not see that he is in heaven. You hear the cries of an infant, but you do not hear the lowing of an ox recognizing its Master, for the ox knows his Owner and the donkey his Master’s crib.”

-St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 2.41-42.

Faith Is Necessary For Biblical Exegesis

“The chief gain among the Christian exegetes has been the general acknowledgement not merely of the legitimacy but of the necessity of faith in anyone who approaches the Bible with the hope of receiving what it has to offer. They recognize now that coldly scientific—in the sense of rationalistic—objectivity is quite incapable of even perceiving, let alone exploiting, the religious values of Scripture. There must be first the commitment, the recognition by faith the divine origin and authority of the book; then the believer can properly and profitably apply all the most conscientious techniques of the subordinate sciences, without in the least infringing their due autonomy or being disloyal to the scientific ideal…The chief problem that still remains unsolved for them—and I would say it is insoluble as long as they do not recognize the living authority of the Church—is that of authority: What guarantees the Bible’s claim on our acceptance, and, in the last analysis, what guarantees a given interpretation of it? What criterion is to be used for distinguishing the less perfect from the more perfect? What about ‘demythologizing’? It is perfectly true that eternal truths must be disengaged and drawn clear of their presentation in terms of a particular language, culture, psychology, and so forth. But it is no good immediately reinvolving them, as Bultmann does, in the pseudo-scientific mythology of the twentieth century. The criterion for their ‘pure’ statement must be the living spirit of faith, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and that means, ultimately, the authority of the Church.”

-Fr. Roderick Mckenzie, S.J., "The Concept of Biblical Theology" in Studies in Salvation History.