faith formation: What is Love? It Does Not Envy -- post 3

We are continuing our meditation on St. Paul's definition of Love. We have covered patience, and tackled kindness . Now let us think about envy.

    1 Corinthians 13:4-74

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Envy consists of sadness or grief at another's success, and by their good name and esteem increasing.  Envy is related to the Ten Commandments, specifically, "Neither shall you covet ... anything that belongs to your neighbour"—this commandment belongs to greed but may be associated with envy. In this case, it is the esteemed reputation owned by another.

[cf. Envy-- Summa--Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 36, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3036.htm#article4 ]

Dante in his Divine Comedy writes one of the envious souls on the terrace says:

"My blood was so afire with envy that,
when I had seen a man becoming happy,
the lividness in me was plain to see"
[Purgatorio, Canto XIV, lines 82–84]

The envious man hates the happiness and success of others; it springs from the pride of vainglory.  (Galatians 5:26): "Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another."

faith formation: How to Have a Personal Relationship With Jesus?

Here is an excellent presentation on having a personal relationship with Christ.This is so key to the spiritual life. Many call themselves Catholic but have no relationship with God. They are neither hot nor cold. This you tube channel has a lot of good videos.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzV2YYCue4QaJNhm7uoYnZg

Christian Courage: All or Nothing: Sr. Clare Crockett

 The short and life of an amazing nun. Just her joy and affection for God is enough.

faith formation: What is Love? Love is Kind -- post 2

These few words from Fr. Goring add to my thoughts.

We are continuing our meditation on St. Paul's definition of Love. We have covered patience, now we will tackle kindness.

    1 Corinthians 13:4-74
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Kindness are acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without expecting any praise or reward. Kindness is one of the main topics in the Bible, but seldom defined.

It is often used together with love in the Bible as "lovingkindness.":  Psalm 103:8
"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness."

In Book II of "Rhetoric", Aristotle defines kindness as "helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped."[Rhetoric, book 2, chapter 7]

We are kind when we are sympathetic to the other person's situation and take action. This is the meaning of the famous Good Samaritan parable.(Luke 10:30)

Kindness starts in our thoughts. Do we dwell on past hurts or seek revenge? Revenge is one of our strongest emotions. Keep an eye on that and you will grade your kindness. Revenge is not healthy for us it makes us spiritually sick

Christian Courage : The Shroud of Turin -- New Evidence

For those not familiar, the Shroud of Turin is a  linen cloth bearing the image of a man that is believed to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth. It has been investigated as a scientific mystery.

One still needs Faith, but pretty convincing.






Barrie Schwortz (who is Jewish) was the Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project,
the team that conducted the first in-depth scientific examination of the Shroud in 1978.  Today, he plays an  influential  role  in  Shroud  research  and  education  as  the  editor  and  founder  of  the  internationally recognized Shroud of Turin Website (www.shroud.com), the oldest, largest and most extensive Shroud
resource  on  the  Internet,  with  more  than  ten  million  visitors  from  over  160  countries.


More in depth presentation. There is a lot more evidence than is presented in the above video.

Deposit of the Faith: The "Brothers" of Jesus?

In my series on the "Founding of Christendom," I have had to address those called "the brothers of the Lord." They are never referred to as children of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but brothers of Jesus. This has been a confusion for many of our Protestant separated brethren

It wasn't the place to go into the details in the history series. But I would like to address it here. 

from: catholic productions
Did Jesus Have Brothers? A Fresh Look at the Evidence

By Dr. Brant Pitre March 01, 2016

Here is Transcript of the video above

Founding of Christendom: Great Martyrs: St. Simon of Jerusalem and St. Ignatius of Antioch -- post 16

Just before St. John died, Rome got a new emperor, by the name of Trajan. He was a Spaniard, a general who led the armies in Spain, and numerous campaigns around the Empire in Europe. A disciplined military leader, still relatively honorable by pagan Rome standards. He is considered one of the "good" emperors.

He showed very little interest in Christians in the beginning of his reign, that changed near his end. He was more occupied in winning glory in the beginning of his rule. He, being a good general brought  a huge victory  to his new rule, by conquering  the lands of Romania, called Dacia. Romania had wealthy gold mines, which helped the economy. This was the first expansion of the empire in a hundred years. He started doing great civic projects, building stadiums and developing infrastructure. It looked like the empire was going to correct its decline.

There were two great martyrdoms that happened under the reign of Trajan, not to say there weren't other martyrs, but two stand out: St. Simon of Jerusalem, and St. Ignatius of Antioch.

The Romans had ignored Christians for a few years since the death of Emperor Domitian. His successor Nerva and then Trajan didn't see any urgency in addressing Christians. But in the far east of the empire there were flare ups. One such case was with St. Simon of Jerusalem, during the reign of Trajan.

St. Simon of Jerusalem

St. Simon was one of the "brothers" of the Lord. He was the son of Clopas. Clopas, who was the brother of St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. St. Simon’s brother, St. James the Just, was bishop of Jerusalem before him. St. James, meeting martyrdom a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem, needed to be replaced in his bishop's office. His brother was chosen. Most likely Simon was already a helper of his brother, St. James,