Luther, Indulgences, and their legacy

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One of the tipping points for Martin Luther was the “sale of indulgence” by the papal-appointed Dominican Friar, Johann Tetzel, In his 95 Theses Luther strongly disputed the claim that Indulgences could provide freedom from God’s punishment for sin much less be purchased. The last seven days of posts have not addressed the theological issues presented in the German Reformation – not that they are not important – but more such information is easily obtained on the internet from any variety of sources. The previous posts were intended to focus on the milieu of factors already present in Germany, a variety of interests and passions outside Luther’s control or influence, and why Luther succeeded where other Reformers had not. But I thought I should at least give some perspective on indulgences. They were abused then as well as misunderstood then and still misunderstood today. Far too many Catholics need to know their faith better lest they become Pelagians or Semi-Pelagians as regards Indulgences. (Be curious …. go ahead click the links!) Continue reading →

St. Augustine of Canterbury

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Today there is an optional memorial for St. Augustin of Centerbury. I think it good that we know a little more about our ancestors in the Faith – especially the missionary one. It seems especially appropriate here in the Easter Season when so many of our Gospels are Jesus preparing the disciples for mission and the first readings are about the Church in its early missions. It seem to also speak to the Church in our time. Continue reading →

The Ascension Gospel

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The readings are taken from St. Luke’s Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. Both the first reading and the gospel are accounts of the Ascension, making this event the linchpin between the two works of St. Luke. Yesterday we considered the account in the Acts of the Apostles in detail. Today we turn our attention to the Gospel account. Continue reading →

The Ascension

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The readings are taken from St. Luke’s Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. Both the first reading and the gospel are accounts of the Ascension, making this event the lynchpin between the two works of St. Luke. Yesterday we considered a high-level view of the unity of the two volumes as a way of showing the centrality of the Ascension as a connection of the mission of Jesus and the mission of the Church. Continue reading →

The bane of IPAs

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For those that know me well, you know I am not given to consume beer (or alcohol in general). But there are times when I will imbibe and order a beer at a restaurant. I generally go with the well know lite beers. I might explore something more local at the recommendation of a friend, but I am not a fan of IPA beers. And now the scourge of IPA beer is affecting religious life here in the United States.

“This month, St. Joseph’s Abbey, located an hour west of Boston in the town of Spencer, announced it was closing America’s only Trappist-run brewery. Spencer Brewery has been unprofitable because its complex and dry Belgian-style beers have been unable to compete with the sweet, hoppy India pale ales, or I.P.A.s, that have raged through the U.S. beer market in the last decade like Mongol horsemen sacking their way through Asia.”

You can read more about this at American Magazine.

Two Volumes

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The readings are taken from St. Luke’s Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. Both the first reading and the gospel are accounts of the Ascension, making this event the linchpin between the two works of St. Luke. Yesterday we spoke to the missionary narrative that ties together St. Luke’s two books – really two volumes of the same book. Today we take a high-level view of the unity of the two volumes. Continue reading →

Journeys after the Ascension: Acts of the Apostles

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This coming Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension. The readings are taken from St. Luke’s Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. Both the first reading and the gospel are accounts of the Ascension, making this event the lynchpin between the two works of St. Luke. Earlier today there was an introductory post, and as promised, for those that would like to have a short summary of what happens after the Ascension as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, please continue to read (Acts of the Apostles – Introduction at USCCB.com). Continue reading →

The Journeys

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This coming Sunday is the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time, but in almost all of the dioceses of the United States, as allowed, the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred from its traditional Thursday celebration to the following Sunday, replacing 7th Easter. The readings are taken from St. Luke’s Gospel and his Acts of the Apostles. Both the first reading and the gospel are accounts of the Ascension, making this event the linchpin between the two works of St. Luke. I will attempt to cover both during the course of the week. Continue reading →

Your Go Bag

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This week a friend of mine recommended an online documentary entitled “Mr. Tornado.” It was a PBS video about the life and work of Dr. Ted Fujita. He was a fascinating person who did so much ground-breaking work on tornados. We expect to hear meteorologists describe a tornado as Category F1 or F2 – all the way up to F5.  That is the Fujita scale which arose from his study of the 1974 Super Outbreak of 148 tornadoes that swept across 13 states, killing 300 people, causing billions in damage, and all in a 24 hour period. Having grown up in Florida I have some experience and images of vast storm damage – hurricane Donna in 1960. Donna was bad but paled in damage to the 1935 Labor Day storm, Andrew, Michael, Irma, Charley – and those are just the Florida hurricanes. The images from the 1974 tornado outbreak was horrific and brought back memories. So much destruction. So many things were destroyed. So many people lost everything.  Continue reading →