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| Iker |
I took a break from exotic game hunting to go to this morning's Chrism Mass at our cathedral, St. Vincent's, in Bedford; Bedford is a kind of suburb of Fort Worth. The Episcopal Church (TEC), which is suing our diocese for daring to say no to gay marriage, is keen to get its pink mitts on the cathedral.
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| Pyrrhus |
It'll be a Pyrrhic victory if they do. Millions of dollars spent on lawsuits to get an empty church, to say nothing of the moral downside.
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| Judas Betrays |
Regardless of that, Bishop Iker preached an excellent sermon on the Last Supper, reminding us of our Lord's statement that one of those eating with Him would betray Him. "Is it I, Lord?" they asked. Apparently every one of them considered themselves capable of the crime. I'll leave you to draw the personal application, and the solution? Our Lord's Mandatum, to love one another as He loved us, acted out in the parabolic washing of feet. Powerful medicine against the snake pit of wickedness.
On that note, you may be glad to know I made my Confession. Not before time... all should, some must...
Blessed Holy Week,
LSP
And now I must pipe up on behalf of Bedford. I'm from there! :) But grew up Catholic, so didn't know about St. Vincent's. Will have to check it out next time I visit my folks. (by the way, I'm quite pleased you called it a suburb of Fort Worth, not Dallas-- well done.)
ReplyDeletesounds like a powerful sermon. truthful. and yet, loving others well-- even sacrificially-- seems an entirely insufficient remedy for or prevention against my regular betrayal of Christ...
I will think on it more.
May you have a blessed holy week!
You'd like the cathedral, I think, Jenny.
ReplyDeleteSacrificial love is an insufficient remedy against its opposite?
Must work harder on that...
God bless.
Yes, insufficient. All the sacrificial love I could possibly enact from now until I die could not remedy my betrayal of Christ, and if it could, what is the point of the cross?
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of ministers who are 'whited sepelchers'. I don't offer final judgment on the matter but can hold personal feelings based on a fair study of the Gospel.
ReplyDeleteThere is a vast difference between condoning and encouraging immoral conduct and forgiving it. Some in the Church can't make that distinction.
Good Cross point, Jenny, which is what I was getting at, in a far too oblique way...
ReplyDeleteAin't that the truth, LL.
ReplyDeleteThis may not be an apposite reply, but upon watching a re-enactment of the Passion, It occurred to me it is an error to focus on Judas'sin.
ReplyDeleteDespite the insidiation, Judas was not dichaeologiac, he returned the silver, asked forgiveness, and chose quietus.
By accepting God's plan, Jesus allowed Judas to betray through his own freewill, and perhaps it was because Jesus wanted us to focus, more so, on forgiveness.
Quite a "lot going on at the Last Supper" (bishop Iker), 3rd News...
ReplyDelete