A journal of byzantine digressionS
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V2b – Rupture
JMJOne of the huge comforts of my Christian life has been praying for the dead. I’ve been aware since I joined the Orthodox Church in 2002, continuing on into the Catholic Church, that I’m a major mess. When it comes to sins, I’ve got a good list. I require the mercy of God, and I…
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What Do You Fear?
✙ JMJ The Readings for Saturday in the 14th Week, Tempus per Annum (C1): Genesis 49:29-32; 50:15-26A Matthew 10:24-33 Si patremfamilias Beelzebub vocaverunt, quanto magis domesticos ejus? Nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere.If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household? Do not be…
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V2a – Continuity
JMJ So, I confess I give Vatican II a bad rap sometimes – mostly because it’s what I’m supposed to do: a traddy convert from a conservative religious tradition. But I do enjoy most of the fruits of the Council, as long as they are applied with what Pope Benedict calls the “Hermeneutic of Continuity”,…
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Mira! El Otro!
✙ JMJ The Readings for Friday in the 14th Week, Tempus per Annum (C1): Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30 Matthew 10:16-23 Tradet autem frater fratrem in mortem, et pater filium: et insurgent filii in parentes, et morte eos afficient: et eritis odio omnibus propter nomen meum: qui autem perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit. Brother will hand over…
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Impossible.
✙JMJ The Readings for the Memorial of Saint Benedict, AbbotThursday in the 13th week Tempus Per Annum (C1) Genesis 44:18-21, 23B-29; 45:1-5 Matthew 10:7-15 Pro salute enim vestra misit me Deus ante vos in Aegyptum.It was for your salvation that God sent me before you into Egypt. Yesterday’s writing may have seemed a bit out…
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The Amazing Technicolor Nightmare Coat
✙JMJ The Readings for Wednesday in the 13th week Tempus per Annum (C1) Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7A, 17-24A Matthew 10:1-7 Merito haec patimur, quia peccavimus in fratrem nostrum, videntes angustiam animae illius, dum deprecaretur nos, et non audivimus : idcirco venit super nos ista tribulatio. We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against…
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Love different
✙JMJ The Readings for Tuesday in the 14th week Tempus per Annum (C1) Genesis 32:23-33 Matthew 9:32-38 Nequaquam, inquit, Jacob appellabitur nomen tuum, sed Israel : quoniam si contra Deum fortis fuisti, quanto magis contra homines praevalebis?Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much…
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Waiting at the Bottom of the Ladder
✙JMJ The Readings for Monday in the 14th week, Tempus per Annum (C1) Genesis 28:10-22a Matthew 9:18-26 Know that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you… Jacob sees all that’s going on and suddenly “…there was the LORD standing…
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Towering O’er the Wrecks of Time
✙JMJ The Readings for the 14th Sunday, Tempus per Annum (C1) Isaiah 66:10-14C Galatians 6:14-18 Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Disciples become Apostles. You never stop being a disciple of…
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In the Howling Wastes
✙JMJ The Readings for Saturday in the 13th week Per Tempus Annum (C1) Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29 Matthew 9:14-17 Isaac asked, “Which of my sons are you?” Jacob answered his father: “I am Esau, your first-born.” God used Jacob: he was the second born son rather than the preference of Patriarchs who want the oldest boy. Think about…
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This is Not Pacifism
✙JMJ We heard this AM at Mass the familiar Gospel passage urging us to turn the other cheek and to pray for our enemies. I can’t find full lectionary citations because the page from the USCCB is blank. But it is assuredly not about pacifism. In fact, the whole Christian theory of a “Just War”…
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E.M.H.C.
✙JMJ Yup. That’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up giving out communion in a tie-dyed vestment with no discernable liturgical color. That was me at St Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, circa AD1999. The image is a still from a movie is called Dancing With God. I used to be able to find…
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Would the judge of all do that?
✙JMJ The Readings for Monday in the 13th week Tempus per Annum (C1) Genesis 18:16-33 Matthew 8:18-22 Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him? This bizarre scene where Abraham…
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Monking Where You Are.
✙JMJ The Readings for the 13th Sunday Tempus per Annum (C1) I Kings 19:16B, 19-21 Galatians 5:1, 13-18 Luke 9:51-62 You are my inheritance, O Lord.Right now Catholic, American internet seems to be filled with one of three different types of politics. These might be described as Monarchist, Socialist, or Capitalist. There are subtypes as well:…
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Only Connect.
✙JMJ The Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Ezekiel 34:11-16 Romans 5:5b-11 Luke 15:3-7 What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?Would anyone go? The ROI is really wrong.…
Orthoparadoxy 