Matthew 28:10
"Do not be afraid" - Mt 28:10
posted by Fr Greg @ 12:31 AM
5 comments
St Andrew Q&A
Welcome! I'm Father Greg. This site is a forum for St. Andrew parishioners to ask ANY (appropriate) questions about the Catholic faith, related or unrelated to my posts. All comments have to meet my approval before they are posted. I'm sorry for the approval process and subsequent delays, and I thank you for your patience and understanding. This is a site for positive and inspiring comments that will benefit people. Thanks, and may you know the peace of Christ!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
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5 Comments:
modesty? said...
NEW SUBJECT, A QUESTION FOR FR. GREG OR OPINIONS FROM OTHER BLOGGERS WELCOME: Dress for women and teens during Mass and/or Adoration/Benediction........Shouldn't there be a dress code of some sort? I see many women/teens wearing skirts above the knees, really tight clothing, lower cut sweaters&shirts. I am not trying to sound critical! It seems to me that women need to know that men are very visually oriented, and it seems like immodest dress is inviting distraction(to say the least). I would be interested to hear what men have to say on this subject. Thanks.
My mother is having a crisis of faith over where Jesus appears to predict (in Matthew 24:34) of the end of the world in "this generation". She quotes C.S. Lewis, who called that verse "the most embarrassing in Scripture".
My defense is that the events in the Olivet Discourse were mostly fulfilled in 70ad. There seems to be an admixture of prophecies concerning the 70ad event and the Second Coming.
I guess my larger question is that Scripture is not always clear, especially in this case. How do I reconcile the fact that:
a) God protected Scripture even as it was being handed down and copied
and
b) There are some very obscure, unclear verses in Scripture that seem to have been mishandled. ?
Anon2, thanks for your questions, and sorry to hear that your mother is having a crisis in faith. The note in the New Jerusalem Bible from Mt 24:34 agrees with what you told her: "this statement refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and not to the end of the world".
I would also point her to what Christ says about his Second Coming in Mk 13:32. "But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; no one but the Father". Yes, Christ gives us the signs for which we look when he will come again, but not even he knows exactly when it will be. Anyone who says that the end of the world is near doesn't really know.
In regard to reconciling your two facts, I would first ask for examples of Scripture verses that "seem to have been mishandled". Next, I would point you to the Catechism, #105-119. These paragraphs reiterate much of what "Dei Verbum" ("Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation", Vatican II) says about the inspiration and interpretation of Sacred Scripture.
"The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit" (CCC 105;DV 11).
"Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written" (CCC 111; DV 12).
"God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout the ages, and be transmitted to all generations...it was done by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing. In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors" (DV 7).
What this all means is that the Spirit inspired the human authors to write Sacred Scripture, and then has guided the Church (through the Apostles and their successors - bishops) to interpret Scripture without error for 2000 years. If we doubt the accuracy of the Church's interpretation of divine revelation, then we doubt Her authority, which is the authority of the Holy Spirit.
"But the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it...with the help of the Holy Spirit" (DV 10).
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