To be perfectly honest, there has been so much turmoil in the West Bank, I don't know what to think about the fight over the land at this point. Devotion to religious places of worship which are located on a piece of land does not make it Judaism a nationality. It is a religion.
Catholics and Christians in the area speak of much cruelty and persecution just as much from our Jewish brothers as from the terrorists of islam. My support of Israel in the political conflict is completely based upon the utterances from muslim brotherhood saying their objectives are to annihilate the Jews, they are advancing and has promised to fly their flag over East Jerusalem.
Because of the theological misunderstandings, Catholics have to be especially careful when they express their support for Israel.
Because of the theological misunderstandings, Catholics have to be especially careful when they express their support for Israel.
Earlier this week a fellow Catholic who actively posts on Facebook put up a link to an article written by Cardinal Schonborn promoting the skullduggery that Catholics need to be zionists.
I usually scroll facebook quickly to look for news and noteworthy things to share on the blog and always thought this particular Catholic had some good Catechesis. I was surprised to see him praising the article. He is Eucharistic, Marian - even prays the Rosary with his family.
As I tried to explain theology and Scripture, he revealed the immaturity of theololgy and Scripture. . In silence, I could smell the urban legends of the misguided Jesuits:
God promised the Jews a piece of property and once they get it, and settle in it, they accomplish their redemption. Catholics need to be behind their efforts because it is a fulfillment of God's promises. There are to be no efforts for conversion because this is an 'extenuating circumstance'. It's all a big misunderstanding. They do not have a New Testament, so they must obtain land physically. It's all right there in Lumen Gentium. The dogmatic constitution of the Catholic Church. It's all right in this link.
Right, straight out of God's mouth. Unless of course, I don't believe in Vatican II. Am I SSPX?
The conversation did not completely fall upon deaf ears but it was a FF (facebook filibuster). Not sure how much progress I actually made.
I tried to explain that the Catholic Church is Israel, the fulfillment of Old Testament promises - the Promised Land - and Cardinal Schonborn is selling them a cheap trick, robbing the Jews of their inheritance. A bit like having somebody circling your neighborhood for generations asking for directions to the bank so they can cash their checks and we keep sending them to closed branches.
It is cruelty to delude people generation after generation. Practicing Catholics are exasperated by Cardinal Schornborn (and prelates like him) who just can't be a man.
The delusions they sell aren't limited to the Jews. They do it to all people in the community and even in their own pew.
On my way to Mass today, I passed a home where witchcraft is practiced. That's their shtick. Their front yard has some kind of round, circular ritual area. They are sometimes in news. They get their jollies from the people who gawk at them.
On the first day of Advent, a big black crow was perched on top of an evergreen in their driveway. It was the fattest vulture I ever saw. A big, black, well-fed and content vulture. It was creepy.
There is a sucker born every minute.
I thought about it few minutes later. As the catechumenates were standing beneath the gigantic Crucifix in the Sanctuary professing their intentions, there was a woman across from my pew listening to them. Her hands were over her heart and she was gazing at our Beautiful Christ, Hanging there in His Glory. Crucified.
What a contrast. What a world.
Happy are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb.
I thought we'd kick off Advent with some Fr. Rutler.
FROM THE PASTOR
by Fr. George W. Rutler
The four weeks of Advent are a test of how profoundly or superficially we understand the meaning of life. In these weeks, the Church reveals the deepest mysteries: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Christ saves us from the banality of skimming life on the surface: eating, working, shopping, sleeping, waking up and doing it all over again. He created us for great glory, and that is why people become frustrated when they ignore these great mysteries. “Angst” is a kind of neurosis, stemming from an unwillingness to listen to the voice of Christ. He may be drowned out temporarily by idle chatter and amusements, but as St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they find their rest in Thee.”
Rushing Christmas, and not thinking about what Christ wants us to be, are signs of a culture absorbed in itself, so that it becomes no greater than itself. That old maxim is poignant no matter how many times we repeat it: “A man wrapped up in himself becomes a very small package.” More important than wrapping gifts in this season, is the obligation to unwrap ourselves: to confess to Christ our failings and our desire to live life as He wants it, so that we might rejoice with Him forever and never be separated from Him.
Our culture is enduring a severe test of itself. If Christ does not rule our minds and hearts, mere humans will try to do it, and they will do it badly. When the Judges of Israel wanted a merely human king, Samuel warned them: “He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his officials. He will tithe your flocks, and you yourselves will become slaves” (1 Samuel 8:14, 17).
Our Lord promises that the truth will set us free. His word is truth. That is what He told Pontius Pilate, whose life was a dreary routine mired in cynicism. But even Pilate was amazed that Christ's own people had “handed Him over” to the government. By their own declaration, the crowd wanted “no king but Caesar.” Had they obeyed Christ’s truth, things would have been different for them. Each generation is tempted to hand Christ over to cynics. We do it when we barter our conscience for comfort and our freedom for frivolity.
If Catholics behaved as Catholics, our culture would be not be satisfied with getting little things from elected officials in exchange for our moral dignity. If we only want things, we shall only be things. Christ looks at us, as He looked at the crowds when He walked on this earth. And amid the passing fashions of mindless men, He says: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).
'NUFF SAID.
by Fr. George W. Rutler
The four weeks of Advent are a test of how profoundly or superficially we understand the meaning of life. In these weeks, the Church reveals the deepest mysteries: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Christ saves us from the banality of skimming life on the surface: eating, working, shopping, sleeping, waking up and doing it all over again. He created us for great glory, and that is why people become frustrated when they ignore these great mysteries. “Angst” is a kind of neurosis, stemming from an unwillingness to listen to the voice of Christ. He may be drowned out temporarily by idle chatter and amusements, but as St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they find their rest in Thee.”
Rushing Christmas, and not thinking about what Christ wants us to be, are signs of a culture absorbed in itself, so that it becomes no greater than itself. That old maxim is poignant no matter how many times we repeat it: “A man wrapped up in himself becomes a very small package.” More important than wrapping gifts in this season, is the obligation to unwrap ourselves: to confess to Christ our failings and our desire to live life as He wants it, so that we might rejoice with Him forever and never be separated from Him.
Our culture is enduring a severe test of itself. If Christ does not rule our minds and hearts, mere humans will try to do it, and they will do it badly. When the Judges of Israel wanted a merely human king, Samuel warned them: “He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his officials. He will tithe your flocks, and you yourselves will become slaves” (1 Samuel 8:14, 17).
Our Lord promises that the truth will set us free. His word is truth. That is what He told Pontius Pilate, whose life was a dreary routine mired in cynicism. But even Pilate was amazed that Christ's own people had “handed Him over” to the government. By their own declaration, the crowd wanted “no king but Caesar.” Had they obeyed Christ’s truth, things would have been different for them. Each generation is tempted to hand Christ over to cynics. We do it when we barter our conscience for comfort and our freedom for frivolity.
If Catholics behaved as Catholics, our culture would be not be satisfied with getting little things from elected officials in exchange for our moral dignity. If we only want things, we shall only be things. Christ looks at us, as He looked at the crowds when He walked on this earth. And amid the passing fashions of mindless men, He says: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).
'NUFF SAID.
5 comments:
I've wondered if the present day Israel is the same as the biblical Israel and are we really obligated to support no matter what the state that was formed in 1948.
"I've wondered if the present day Israel is the same as the biblical Israel and are we really obligated to support no matter what the state that was formed in 1948."
No it is not. We, the Church are the biblical Israel (wish I had some good authorities to quote). I have supported the state of Israel because the Jews were persecuted and it's the only democracy in the Middle East and I worry about the Christian holy sites and relics in the area, i.e. what would become of them if Muslims had the land.
Dymphna, the Jews we have today are genetically the same as the ones that existed in Biblical times. however the modern day Israel is not the same as the Old Covenant Israel. Old Covenant Israel ceased to exist when the Mosaic Covenant was annulled by the death of Christ in 33 AD. The Jews rejected Christ as the messiah come in the flesh and became Anti-Christs. (I Jno. 2:22-23, II Jno. 7, Jno. 8:44) The Jewish religion, as it now exists, is the confused 'traditions of the elders' that Christ roundly lambasted (Matt. 15:1-20) now codified in the Talmud. That religion is totally against the Mosaic law (Matt.15;3, 6-9) and it is absolutely Anti-Christian.
Your question are we really obligated to support Israel no matter what can be answered thusly. As Christians, we are obligated to pray for their salvation, and not be seek to harm them. As American citizens, we must not support everything they do, because not everything Israel or any other foreign country for that matter, will be in the best interests of America.
I have a friend who is an Israeli by nationality and a Jew by religion.
The West should support Israel just for its medical research alone. Not many people are aware than Israelis have won more Nobel prizes in medicine than almost any other country. Do you need a stint? The best research and development of stints as been in Israel. The little camera that can go through the digestive tract? Israeli, born and bred.
Israeli flowers and vegetables fill the market stalls of Europe.
The young nation of Israel won the West Bank in war. When we give California and the southwest back to Mexico, we can tell Israel to give back the West Bank.
P.S.
In the late 1980s, I was a production editor for a international publisher of medical reference books. As such, I put into production the first issue of a journal dedicated to the genetics of viruses--a brand new field at that time. The journal is still in production. The editorial staff was made up of researchers from all over the world. The Editor-in-Chief was, and is still, an Israeli who continues his research in Israel.
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