Archive for the ‘By occasion’ Category
Peter's Denial (Luke 22:31-39)
Out of twelve deserted; eleven remained loyal. The cross came; they fled; one remained – Peter, one with One. The one himself fled, and would that he had! He denied Christ. We may say, then, that the entire human race was lost. Because it had perished, the complaint of the Lord crucified is: "The wine press I have trodden alone, and of my people there was no one with me." (Isa 63:3) Then the psalm was fulfilled, "Help, O Lord! For no one now is dutiful." (Ps. 12:1-2) "There is none who does good, no not even one." (Ps. 14:1-3; Rom 3:12) He who has promise, "Even if I should have to die with You, or to be imprisoned, I will not deny You" (Matt 26:35; Mark 14:31) denied Him.
Originally posted 2006-04-20 17:52:12.
Why does Christ tell the apostles about His passion in advance?
Whenever the Lord speaks of future disaster, He always teaches its close relation with the joy of redemption, so that when disasters suddenly come they do not terrify the apostles, but may be borne by hearts that have meditated on them beforehand. If it saddens them because He is going to be killed, it should make them rejoice that it says, ?On the third day He shall rise again.? For their distress- in fact their great distress-does not come from lack of faith. They knew that Peter had been rebuked for not considering what belonged to God but what belonged to men. But their love of their Master did not let them hear anything threatening or humiliating.
Originally posted 2006-04-17 20:02:53.
Isaac’s obedience (Genesis 22:1-19)
Isaac himself carries the wood for His own holocaust: this is a figure of Christ. For He bore the burden of the Cross; yet to carry the wood for the holocaust is really the duty of the priest. He is then both victim and priest.
Originally posted 2006-04-19 22:21:17.
Why would we blame the Jews for their disbelief, when God has blinded their eyes?
They could not believe, because Isaiah so prophesised, as God told him what their situation would be. But, if you ask: what was the reason of their disbelief, I will instantly answer: They did not want to. As God foresaw their corrupted will, He so foretold His prophet, as the future is not hidden from Him….God blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, as He foresook them, and denied them His care.
Originally posted 2006-04-19 15:21:40.
Christ is Risen! O the marvel! the forbearance! the immeasurable meekness! The Untouched is felt; the Master is held by a servant, And He reveals His wounds to one of His inner circle. Seeing these wounds, the whole Creation was shaken at the time. Thomas, when he was considered worthy of such gifts, Lifted up a prayer to the One Who deemed him worthy, Saying, “Bear my rashness with patience, Have pity on my unworthiness and lighten the burden Of my lack of faith, so that I may sing and cry, `Thou art our Lord and God.’
Originally posted 2006-04-29 17:31:59.
He rides on a donkey and a young colt; not a chariot. You have a unique sign of the King who came. Jesus was the only king Who sat upon an unyoked foal, entering into Jerusalem with acclamations as a king. And when this king comes, what does He do??He sits upon a foal to give us a sign, where the King that enters shall stand. And He gives this sign not far from the city, that it may not be unknown to us. He gave a sign plain before our eyes, so that even if we are in the city, we may behold the place of the King. And the prophet again makes answer saying: ?And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east?? (Zech. 14:4) Does any one standing within the city fail to behold the place?
Originally posted 2006-04-17 20:01:29.
The Cross (John 12:27-36)
A marvelous and mighty paradox has just occured; for the death, which they thought to inflict on Him as dishonor and disgrace has become the glorious monument of victory against death itself. Therefore, it is also, that He neither endured the death of John, who was beheaded, nor was He sawn asunder, like Isaiah: even in death He preserved His body whole and undivided, so that there should be no excuse hereafter for those who would divide the Church.
Originally posted 2006-04-18 20:35:38.
Why was our Lord wearing white?
It is significant that Jesus is clothed in a white garment by Herod. It denotes His sinless passion; because the Lamb of God without stain and with glory accepted the sins of the world. (John 1:29) Herod and Pilate, who became friends instead of enemies through Jesus Christ, symbolize the peoples of Israel and the Gentiles, since the future harmony of both follows from the Lord's passion (Eph 2:13) First, the people of the nations capture the Word of God and bring it to the people of the Jew, through the devotion of their faith. They clothe with glory the body of Christ, who they had previously despised.
Note: Now our Lord is wearing the white garments, but in the next hour, they shall be crimson, reddened by our sins and stained by our iniquities.
Originally posted 2006-04-20 18:42:51.
The punishment of the wicked (Matt 25:30)
In this parable, the nobleman going into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return, is none other than Christ going into another country to receive the kingdoms of this world and the things in it; those who receive the ten talents are those who have been entrusted with the dispensation of the Word which has been committed unto them; His citizens who did not wish Him to reign over them when He was a citizen in the world in respect of His incarnation, are perhaps Israel who disbelieved Him, and perhaps also the Gentiles who disbelieved Him.
Originally posted 2006-04-17 22:55:37.
Who is Zachariah son of Berachiah?
St. Jerome thinks that in his time there were three options as to who this Zechariah was:
- The prophet Zachariah was one of the minor prophets, even though his father's name is in the accordance with the Lord's words. But the Book did not mention anything about the shedding of his blood between the temple and the altar, particulary because the temple at his time was merely in ruins.
- Some others think he is Zachariah, John the Baptist's father, who has been killed because of his prophecy about the Savior's coming. But St. Jerome does not accept this suggestion.
- He is Zachariah killed by Joach, King of Judea, as mentioned in 2 Chr. 24:21. But his father's name is mentioned in the Holy Book as Jehoioda. St. Jerome believes that this man had two names: Berachia, meaning "blessing" or "blessed from the Lord," and Jehoiada meaning "holiness."
Originally posted 2006-04-18 19:56:36.
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Originally posted 2006-04-13 17:39:41.
Why didn't He defend Himself? Why was He silent?
The Lord became the defender of truth, and came in silence before Pilate, on behalf of truth which had been oppressed (John 18:37-38). Others gain victory through making defenses, but our Lord gained victory through His silence, because the recompense of His death through divine silence was the victory of true teaching. He spoke inorder to teach, but kept silent in the tribunal. He was not silent over that which was exalting us, but He did not stuggle against those who were provoking Him. The worlds of His accusers, like a crown on His head, were a source of redemption. He kept silent so that His silence would make them shout even louder, and so that His crown would be made more beautiful through all his clamor.
Originally posted 2006-04-20 18:38:40.
"My soul is very sorrowful"
The Lord, to test the fidelity of the human nature He had taken on, truly felt sorrowful. However, lest the suffering in His soul be overwhelming, He began to feel sorrowful over the events taking place just before His suffering. For it is one thing to feel sorrowful and another thing to begin to feel sorrowful. But He felt sorrowful, not because He feared the suffering that lay ahead and because He had scolded Peter for his timidity but because of the most unfortunate Judas, the falling away of all the apostles, the rejection by the Jewish people, and the overturning of woeful Jerusalem. Jonah, too, became sad when the plant of ivy had withered, unwilling to have this booth disappear.
Originally posted 2006-04-20 18:08:57.
"One of you will betray me"
Did Judas also fall from the apostolic order in which he too, being once in a condition similar to the other disciples, was exalted?
This is how I understand the statement, "Behold Adam has become of us," (Gen. 3:22), since it is said there, neither "as we," nor "as I," but because of the one who had fallen from blessedness,"as one of us." [And the phrase],"as on" seems to me to agree also with the statement, "But you indeed die as men, and fall like one of the princes." (Ps. 81:7)
For of the many who are princes, one has fallen, with whom sinners fall in close imitation of his fall. For just as that one who partook of deity has fallen, so too have those to whom the Word says, "I have said, you are gods and all sons of the Most High," (Ps. 81:6) fallen from blessedness and, although they were not originally men, they die as men, and fall as one of the princes.
[audio:Yahooza.mp3]
Originally posted 2006-04-19 23:06:01.
"Sit here while I pray"
His disciples were clinging to Him inseparably. So He said to His disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." (Matt 26:36) For it was usually with Him to pray apart from them. He did this to teach us how to pray, how to use silence and solitude to pray for great matters. And taking with Him the three, He said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with Me." (Matt 26:38) Why does He not take all of them with Him? that they might not be more sorrowful. He took only thode who had been spectators of His glory.
Originally posted 2006-04-20 18:01:02.
