#bible — Public Fediverse posts

“African Boy”

https://megafeastamerica-dmgts.wordpress.com/2026/05/28/african-boy/

Tyndale—executed for translating the Bible—states God’s accounting criteria plainly. At judgment: did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty? Not: did you build abbeys or fund priests? The institutional religion of his day had inverted the priorities. One notes the inversion remains available in certain quarters.

#rededicate250 #prayer #bible #commandments #neighbor #faith

Tyndale—executed for translating the Bible—states God’s accounting criteria plainly. At judgment: did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty? Not: did you build abbeys or fund priests? The institutional religion of his day had inverted the priorities. One notes the inversion remains available in certain quarters.

#rededicate250 #prayer #bible #commandments #neighbor #faith

Tyndale—executed for translating the Bible—states God’s accounting criteria plainly. At judgment: did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty? Not: did you build abbeys or fund priests? The institutional religion of his day had inverted the priorities. One notes the inversion remains available in certain quarters.

#rededicate250 #prayer #bible #commandments #neighbor #faith

Tyndale—executed for translating the Bible—states God’s accounting criteria plainly. At judgment: did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty? Not: did you build abbeys or fund priests? The institutional religion of his day had inverted the priorities. One notes the inversion remains available in certain quarters.

#rededicate250 #prayer #bible #commandments #neighbor #faith

Tyndale—executed for translating the Bible—states God’s accounting criteria plainly. At judgment: did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty? Not: did you build abbeys or fund priests? The institutional religion of his day had inverted the priorities. One notes the inversion remains available in certain quarters.

#rededicate250 #prayer #bible #commandments #neighbor #faith

Does your life lack love and spiritual strength? Click or tap the link to read more.
#afaithfulsower #Christianity #Jesus #Provisions #Bible #dailydevotional

https://afaithfulsower.org/2026/05/28/do-i-put-my-words-into-action-2/

“Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.”
(Romans 12:15 (New Living Translation))

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012%3A15&version=NLT

#Jesus #JesusChrist #Christ #Christian #Christianity #God #bible #bibleverse #bibleverses #bibleverseoftheday #holybible #holy

“Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.”
(Romans 12:15 (New Living Translation))

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012%3A15&version=NLT

#Jesus #JesusChrist #Christ #Christian #Christianity #God #bible #bibleverse #bibleverses #bibleverseoftheday #holybible #holy

“Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.”
(Romans 12:15 (New Living Translation))

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012%3A15&version=NLT

#Jesus #JesusChrist #Christ #Christian #Christianity #God #bible #bibleverse #bibleverses #bibleverseoftheday #holybible #holy

Macht euch um nichts Sorgen! Wendet euch vielmehr in jeder Lage mit Bitten und Flehen und voll Dankbarkeit an Gott und bringt eure Anliegen vor ihn.
Philipper 4,6 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/phil-4-6

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Macht euch um nichts Sorgen! Wendet euch vielmehr in jeder Lage mit Bitten und Flehen und voll Dankbarkeit an Gott und bringt eure Anliegen vor ihn.
Philipper 4,6 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/phil-4-6

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Macht euch um nichts Sorgen! Wendet euch vielmehr in jeder Lage mit Bitten und Flehen und voll Dankbarkeit an Gott und bringt eure Anliegen vor ihn.
Philipper 4,6 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/phil-4-6

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Archangel Raphael

The name Raphael comes from the Hebrew Rafa’el, meaning “God has healed” or “Medicine of God.”

He’s not mentioned in the Tanakh/Old Testament or the New Testament; he’s definitely in the Book of Tobit. The Book of Tobit is a deuterocanonical work recognized by Catholic & Orthodox churches. He’s also mentioned in 1 Enoch, both books date from around the 3rd & 2nd centuries BC.

In later Jewish tradition(s), he became identified as 1 of the 3 heavenly visitors entertained by Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. While the Bible doesn’t name him, Midrashic tradition identifies Raphael as 1 sent to heal Abraham’s pain after his circumcision.

Later Christian tradition(s) identified him with healing & as the angel who stirred the waters at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2-4. But he isn’t specifically named in this passage.

In Islam, his name is Israfil. He’s understood to be the unnamed angel of Quran 6:73. In this passage, he’s standing with a trumpet to his lips eternally, ready to announce the Day of Judgment.

In Gnostic tradition(s), Raphael is represented on the Ophite Diagram. This diagram is/are a ritual & esoteric diagram used by the Ophite sect of Gnosticism.

In the Book of Tobit, Raphael takes the human form of a man named Azarias. He serves as a protector for young Tobias on a perilous journey to Media. Azarias instructs Tobias on how to use the heart, liver, & gall of a giant fish to create medicinal ointments. These are used to drive away a demon (Asmodeus) & to cure the blindness of Tobias’ dad, Tobit.

Because Raphael safely guided Tobias across vast distances, he became the patron saint of travelers, pilgrims, & even modern-day hitchhikers.

His name comes from the Hebrew meaning “to heal,” & can be translated as “God has healed.” In Tobit, he goes by the name Azariah while in disguise as a man. In the book, he acts like a doctor/physician & expels, uses an extraordinary fish to heal Tobit’s eyes, & binds the demon Asmodeus. While in 1 Enoch, he’s “set over all disease & every wound of the children of the people.” He also binds the armies of Azazel & throws them into the valley of fire.

According to the Babylonian Talmud, Raphael was 1 of 3 angels who appeared to Abraham in the Oak Grove (Oak wood/trees have been used for millennia in spiritual traditions) of Mamre, in the Hebron region.

Michael walked in the middle because he was the “greatest,” with Gabriel on his right & Raphael on his left. Each had a specific mission they were commanded to carry out: Gabriel’s was to destroy Sodom; Michael’s was to tell Sarah that she was going to have Isaac; & Raphael’s was to heal Abraham from his recent circumcision & to save Lot. Now, the healing of the circumcision is HUGE in this context. Because Abraham was the 1st Hebrew/Jew to get a circumcision. AND he was a grown old man when he got it. He wasn’t a baby who’d “forget” the pain & healed up in a couple of days.

In the Midrash Konen, it’s revealed that Raphael was originally named Libbiel (“God is my heart”). In the Midrash, God takes counsel with His angels before He creates Adam, the 1st man. The angels weren’t all of 1 opinion, with differing views & reasons.

The Angel of Love & Angel of Justice both were in favor of Man’s creation as he (humans) would be affectionate & loving, alongside practicing Justice. The Angel of Truth & the Angel of Peace opposed Man’s creation, as he (humans) would be full of lies & be quarrelsome.

To invalidate his protest, God cast the Angel of Truth down from Heaven to Earth. When the others cried out against the treatment of their companion, He said, “Truth will spring back out of the earth.” Before their objections, God had only told the Angels of the good that would be among the humans. But didn’t tell them of the evil, either.

Despite not knowing the whole truth, the angels were nevertheless prompted to cry out: “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” God replied: “The fowl of the air & the fish of the sea, what were they created for? Of what avail a larder full of appetizing dainties, & no guest to enjoy them?” The angels couldn’t but exclaim: “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the Earth! Do as is pleasing in Thy sight.” For not a few of the angels, their opposition bore fatal consequences.

When God summoned the band under the Archangel Michael & asked their opinion on the creation of man, they answered scornfully: “What in man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visited him?” God stretched out his little finger, & all were consumed by fire except their Chief Michael. And the same fate befell under the leadership of the archangel Gabriel; he alone of all was saved from destruction.

The 3rd band consulted by the Archangel Libbiel. He learned from his predecessors’ horrible fate, so he warned his troops. “You’ve seen what misfortune overtook the angels who said, ‘What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Let us have care not to do likewise, lest we suffer the same dire punishment. Gor God will not refrain from doing in the end what He has planned. Therefore, we should yield to His wishes.”

Having been warned, the angels spoke: “Lord of the world (Not the universe? Huh.), it’s well that Thou hast thought of creating man. Do Thou create him according to Thy will. And as for us, we’ll be his attendants & his minsters, & reveal unto him all our secrets.”

Thereupon, God changed Archangel Libbiel’s name to Raphael, the Rescuer, because his Host of Angels had been rescued by his sage advice. He was appointed the Angelic Prince of Healing, who has in his safekeeping all the celestial remedies, the types of medical remedies used on Earth.

In the Midrash Tanhuma (a.k.a. Yelammedenu, this is the name given to a homiletic Midrash on the ENTIRE Torah), Satan became envious of the righteous. R. Matthew bar Heresh, after seeing him sitting occupied in Torah study, without looking at anyone’s wife or any other woman.

Believing it to be impossible for a righteous man to exist in the world without sin, Satan asks God how He sees Rabbi Matthew; He sees him as completely righteous. Satan then asks for permission to test Rabbi Matthew (Is this starting to sound like the Job story to anyone else?), which God grants again.

So Satan transforms himself into a beautiful woman upon finding the rabbi studying the Torah. After seeing that Satan would continue to truly & tempt him from all sides. He (the Rabbi) used hot pins to blind himself, so his evil inclination prevailed. Satan trembles in dismay & goes back to report to God.

When God gets the report, He calls Raphael, Prince of the Healing Arts, commanding Raphael to go heal the rabbi’s eyes. When Raphael goes to the rabbi to heal him, Raphael reveals his identity & mission. Rabbi Matthew tells Raphael that he doesn’t want to be healed.

Raphael returns to God & tells God what the rabbi said. When hearing this, God commands Raphael to tell the rabbi not to fear, because his evil inclination will not prevail. When the rabbi heard this from Raphael’s mouth, the rabbi accepted the healing & wasn’t afraid.

In Rabbeinu Bahya, a commentary on the Torah written by Rabbi Bahya ben Asher (1255-1340), the Camp of Ephraim (situated to the west of the Tabernacle (Numbers 2:18)), corresponded to the celestial camp headed by the archangel Raphael, supported by the angels Zavdiel & Achziel.

It’s also said that this is the camp that Moses alluded to when he prayed that Miriam be asked from her tzaraath by saying “please God heal her” (Numbers 12:13). He appealed to the attribute represented by Raphael.

In the Beginning of Wisdom, an introduction to Kabbalistic thought composed by Rabbi Aharon Meir Altshuler (1835-1905) in Warsaw between 1887 and 1893. Raphael is said to be the Sephirah of Tiphereth (Beauty). He’s said to act as an intermediate conduit between Chesed (Kindness) corresponding to Michael, & Din (Judgment) corresponding to Gabriel. Uriel (a.k.a. Nuriel) is also said to act as an intermediate conductor alongside Raphael.

It’s explained that when he inclines to Chesed, he’s called Uriel. But when he inclines Din, he’s called Nuriel. In the same context, the Sefer Ha Bahir calls Raphael, the “Prince of Peace” (“Sar Salom”). The text states that the reconciliation between Michael (the prince of God’s right) & Gabriel (the prince of God’s left) is the meaning of the verse, “He imposes peace in His heights” (Job 23:2). With Raphael being the Archangel of Air that establishes peace between fire & water.

In Kabbalistic astrology, Raphael is most commonly associated with the Sun (alongside Michael) & Mercury (the planet). The Zohar associates him with the image of man in the tetramorph (A symbolic arrangement of 4 differing elements, or the combination of 4 disparate elements in 1 unit) of the Four Holy Living Creatures (these are a class of heavenly beings in Judaism, described in the 1st & 10th chapters of the Book of Ezekiel), alongside the zodiac sign of Aquarius, & in ration to the image of man; the Sephriah of Malkhuth (Kingdom) & the Earth.

As well as Tiphereth & Malkhuth, the Zohar also has Raphael corresponding to the Sephirah of Hod (Majesty), the Euphrates river, the left leg of the body, & the Israelite tribe of Ephraim.

It’s also customary in Judaism to invoke Raphael as 1 of the Four Archangels after 1 recites the Shema (This is a Jewish prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the Jewish morning & evening prayer services.) before going to bed; with Michael by your right side, Gabriel by your left side, Uriel before you, & Raphael behind you.

The New Testament only names 2 archangels (Michael & Gabriel, respectfully). But because of Raphael’s association with healing, he became identified with the unnamed angel of John 5:1-4, who periodically stirred up the Pool of Bethesda.

Because of his actions in the Book of Tobit & the Gospel of John, Raphael is considered a protector & healer. Thus, the patron of travelers, the blind, happy meetings, nurses, physicians, medical workers, matchmakers, Christian marriage, & Catholic studies.

He’s perhaps most seen in depictions of Tobias & the Angel, from the Book of Tobit, showing him walking with Tobias & his dog through a landscape. The subject became very popular in Italy from about 1450 for a century, as devotion to Raphael increased, at least partly through confraternities dedicated to him. A confraternity is generally a Christian voluntary association of laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, & approved by the Church hierarchy.

In altarpieces & the like, Tobias, his fish, & his dog may be used as identifying attributes of Raphael.

Raphael is said to guard pilgrims on their journey, & when depicted as a single figure, is often depicted holding a staff. Also, he’s often pictured holding or standing on a fish, which alludes to his healing of Tobit with the fish’s gall. Early mosaics often show him & other archangels in the clothing of a Byzantine courtier.

The feast day of Raphael was included for the 1st time in the General Roman Calendar in 1921, on October 24. With the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, the feast was transferred to September 29 for celebration together with the archangels Saints Michael & Gabriel.

Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum permitted, within certain limits for public use, the General Roman Calendar of 1960, which has October 24 as Raphael’s feast day. He’s commemorated in some Spanish dioceses on the old date & with a procession on May 7 in Cordoba, Spain.

In the Diocese of Warsaw-Praga, he’s commemorated on October 3 (with Michael & Gabriel). The feast was transferred from September 29 (Devotion of St. Florian’s Cathedral).

The archangel Raphael is commemorated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on November 8 in the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael & the Other Bodiless Powers.

In the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the dedication of the church of St. Raphael on the back of a whale is commemorated on August 26 (or 3 Pagumen, this is an intercalary month of the ancient Egyptian, Coptic, & Ethiopean calendars are a period of 5 days in common years & 6 days in leap years in addition to those calendars’ 12 standard months, sometimes reconned as their 13th month.).

The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Raphael’s feast on Kouji Nabot 3 & Koiak 13.

In the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate, St. Raphael the Archangel is commemorated on October 24.

The Archangel Raphael is said to have appeared in Cordoba, Spain, during the 16th century. In response to the city’s appeal, Pope Innocent X allowed the local celebration of a feast in the Archangel’s honor on May 7, the date of the principal apparition.

St. John of God (founder of the Hospital order that bears his name) is also said to have received visitations from Saint Raphael, who encouraged & instructed him.

In tribute to this, many of the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God’s facilities are called “Raphael Centers” to this day. The 18th-century Neapolitan nun, St. Maria Francesca of the 5 Wounds, is also said to have seen apparitions of St. Raphael.

In the Mormon tradition, Doctrine & Covenants 128:21 (this is part of a letter dated Sept. 7, 1842) refers to an appearance or manifestation of Raphael to Joseph Smith as 1 of several angels who had appeared to him either together or separately.

Raphael is a venerated archangel, according to Islamic tradition. In Islam, he’s called Israfil. Israfil will blow the trumpet from a holy rock in Jerusalem to announce the Day of Judgment (Yawn al-Qiyamah). The trumpet is constantly poised at his lips, ready to go at Allah’s orders.

Certain Islamic sources indicate that, created at the beginning of time, Israfil has 4 wings, & is so tall as to be able to reach from the earth to the pillars of Heaven. A beautiful angel who is a master of music, Israfil sings praises to God in 1,000 different languages, the breath of which is used to inject life into hosts of angels who add to the songs themselves.

Further, he’s probably the highest angel, since he also mediates between God & other archangels, reading on the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfooz) to transmit the commands of God. Although disputed, some reports assert he visited Muhammad prior to the archangel Gabriel.

According to Sufi traditions reported by Imam Rafa’il, the Ghawth or Qutb (‘perfect human being’) is someone who has a heart that resembles that of the archangel Israfil, signifying the loftiness of this angel. The next in are the saints who are known as the Umdah or Awtad, amongst whom the highest ones have their hearts resembling that of the archangel Mikhail (Michael), & the rest of the lower-ranking saints having the heart of Jibrail (Gabriel), & that of the previous prophets before the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The earth is believed to always have 1 of the Qutb.

In another account, Rafa’il is mentioned by name in the Islamic tradition narrated by Ath-Tha’labi from Ali. He’s said to have met Dhu al-Qarnayn, who’s mentioned in the last part of Sura 18 of the Quran, al-Kahf (“The Cave”). Dhu al-Qarnayn (The 2 Horned One) is believed by some to be Alexander the Great.

The angel told Dhu al-Qarnayn about the Water of Life (Ayn al-Hayat). Hearing that there was such a spring, Dhu al-Qarnayn wanted to drink the Water of Life. But the only 1 who had succeeded in drinking it was his cousin, Khidir. In Islamic tradition, Khidr is the mystical guide popularly quoted, especially in Sufi traditions, who has attained a long life & appears to have selected Islamic saints throughout the times.

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The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

#donuts
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#johnwesley
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#holyspirit
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The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

#donuts
#Methodist
#johnwesley
#clothing
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#prophesy

Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

#donuts
#Methodist
#johnwesley
#clothing
#winter
#bible
#holyspirit
#prophesy

Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

𝐘𝐀𝐇 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐕 100 BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖

https://youtube.com/live/quQ86niTqhA?si=sEkBjVBB7tzPK5do

𝐘𝐀𝐇 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐕 100 BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖

https://youtube.com/live/quQ86niTqhA?si=sEkBjVBB7tzPK5do

𝐘𝐀𝐇 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐕 100 BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖

https://youtube.com/live/quQ86niTqhA?si=sEkBjVBB7tzPK5do

Jezebel attempted to use intimidation and royal appearance to halt a shifting tide, but her influence collapsed when her own attendants chose to side with the leader who asked, "Who is on my side? Who?" (2 Kings 9:32 NKJV).

https://ko-fi.com/veggietalesgang
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https://linktr.ee/veggietalesgang
https://discord.gg/Knk4bCXKwG
https://youtube.com/shorts/P4gbeXUbOVg?feature=share

#Christian #Bible
#Scripture #Gospel

𝐘𝐀𝐇 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐕 100 BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT LIVE STREAM | 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖

https://youtube.com/live/93yHzVDVo08?si=bO0F_wcANwxGPyRk

𝐘𝐀𝐇 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐕 100 BIBLE OLD TESTAMENT LIVE STREAM | 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖

https://youtube.com/live/93yHzVDVo08?si=bO0F_wcANwxGPyRk

Denn ich schäme mich des Evangeliums von Christus nicht; denn es ist Gottes Kraft zur Errettung für jeden, der glaubt, zuerst für den Juden, dann auch für den Griechen.
Römer 1,16 (SLT)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/SLT/rom-1-16

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Denn ich schäme mich des Evangeliums von Christus nicht; denn es ist Gottes Kraft zur Errettung für jeden, der glaubt, zuerst für den Juden, dann auch für den Griechen.
Römer 1,16 (SLT)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/SLT/rom-1-16

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Denn ich schäme mich des Evangeliums von Christus nicht; denn es ist Gottes Kraft zur Errettung für jeden, der glaubt, zuerst für den Juden, dann auch für den Griechen.
Römer 1,16 (SLT)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/SLT/rom-1-16

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

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#bible
#holyspirit
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The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

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#flowers
#work

Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

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Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

In my morning prayers today, I had some thoughts about the Bible, the politics of the Psalms and Proverbs, and how it is that MAGA and I can read the same Bible but come away with very different views.

(Image ALT TEXT: A title page with a stylized font that reads "The Psalter;" this comes from the Alternative Services Book, 1976)

#Jesus #Bible #MAGA #politics #theology #Anglican #Episcopal #Christianity

https://catecheticconverter.com/are-we-reading-the-same-bible

In my morning prayers today, I had some thoughts about the Bible, the politics of the Psalms and Proverbs, and how it is that MAGA and I can read the same Bible but come away with very different views.

(Image ALT TEXT: A title page with a stylized font that reads "The Psalter;" this comes from the Alternative Services Book, 1976)

#Jesus #Bible #MAGA #politics #theology #Anglican #Episcopal #Christianity

https://catecheticconverter.com/are-we-reading-the-same-bible

In my morning prayers today, I had some thoughts about the Bible, the politics of the Psalms and Proverbs, and how it is that MAGA and I can read the same Bible but come away with very different views.

(Image ALT TEXT: A title page with a stylized font that reads "The Psalter;" this comes from the Alternative Services Book, 1976)

#Jesus #Bible #MAGA #politics #theology #Anglican #Episcopal #Christianity

https://catecheticconverter.com/are-we-reading-the-same-bible

In my morning prayers today, I had some thoughts about the Bible, the politics of the Psalms and Proverbs, and how it is that MAGA and I can read the same Bible but come away with very different views.

(Image ALT TEXT: A title page with a stylized font that reads "The Psalter;" this comes from the Alternative Services Book, 1976)

#Jesus #Bible #MAGA #politics #theology #Anglican #Episcopal #Christianity

https://catecheticconverter.com/are-we-reading-the-same-bible

In my morning prayers today, I had some thoughts about the Bible, the politics of the Psalms and Proverbs, and how it is that MAGA and I can read the same Bible but come away with very different views.

(Image ALT TEXT: A title page with a stylized font that reads "The Psalter;" this comes from the Alternative Services Book, 1976)

#Jesus #Bible #MAGA #politics #theology #Anglican #Episcopal #Christianity

https://catecheticconverter.com/are-we-reading-the-same-bible

Strange Place for Sperm

In a presidential portrait....

http://john1126.com/756

#Obama #USA #Bible #spiritual

“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
(John 3:17 (New Living Translation))

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203%3A17&version=NLT

#Jesus #JesusChrist #Christ #Christian #Christianity #God #bible #bibleverse #bibleverses #bibleverseoftheday #holybible #holy

“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
(John 3:17 (New Living Translation))

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203%3A17&version=NLT

#Jesus #JesusChrist #Christ #Christian #Christianity #God #bible #bibleverse #bibleverses #bibleverseoftheday #holybible #holy

“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
(John 3:17 (New Living Translation))

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203%3A17&version=NLT

#Jesus #JesusChrist #Christ #Christian #Christianity #God #bible #bibleverse #bibleverses #bibleverseoftheday #holybible #holy

Stop Counting

https://choosejoyadventure.wordpress.com/2026/05/26/stop-counting/

Aber mitten in alldem triumphieren wir als Sieger mithilfe dessen, der uns so sehr geliebt hat.
Römer 8,37 (GNB)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/GNB/rom-8-37

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Aber mitten in alldem triumphieren wir als Sieger mithilfe dessen, der uns so sehr geliebt hat.
Römer 8,37 (GNB)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/GNB/rom-8-37

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

Magnificent Humanity

I am headed on retreat and off the grid for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow, but I couldn’t let a pope release a social encyclical without at least a quick skim before I left, and Pope Leo released Magnifica Humanitas this morning. So here I am.

I haven’t read any of the commentary already out there, and I’m sure there are already some excellent insights that I’m missing and other thoughts that others have already covered. But since I write mostly for those who are not really that into all this stuff, hopefully you’ll forgive me. So far I have only:

• Listened to Colleen Dulle’s 5-minute overview on the Inside the Vatican podcast, because I couldn’t resist.
• Listened to the remarks Pope Leo gave at the introductory press briefing, which I recommend (and are in English). They are not just a summation of the document but a really good 10-minute complement.
• Read the encyclical online. Had I had time, I would have made our printer churn out the 26 or so pages so I could mark it up and do a better job of analysis, but that can wait for another time.

I should also say since I mentioned in my earlier post that I was curious what the footnotes would look like, I read through those before I actually read a word of the document itself. Would not recommend to others, though it helped me.

Quick takeaways:

1. I wrote my masters thesis in the mid-1990s on a principle of Catholic social teaching, and Magnifica Humanitas fits in very well within the tradition of “anniversary encyclicals” that commemorate an anniversary of the first major social encyclical, Rerum Novarum. (I wrote more about this tradition in the earlier post.) As is true of others, it outlines the history and development of Catholic social teaching since 1891 (this is the 135th anniversary), then moves the ball forward a little. The footnotes draw almost exclusively on the sorts of sources that those traditional ones did – previous major Church documents and a few Church Fathers. (Surprisingly, there aren’t even that many Augustine callouts.) The way popes generally introduce change is by walking through the works of their predecessors to show how what they’re about to say is not really change at all, but an evolution of tradition. That’s the case here.
2. As such, this is a great place for those who are “Catholic curious” (or otherwise intrigued by what Popes Leo and Francis have had to say) to catch up on Catholic social teaching. Leo does a quick historical recap of each pope’s development of the body of social doctrine (paragraphs 28-45), and then an overview of the core principles of Catholic social teaching (46-85). 
3. Pope Leo establishes clearly that his predecessor Francis is part of Catholic tradition rather than a break from it. There are a bunch of references to all of Leo’s modern predecessors, but especially Pope Francis. A lot of the coverage of Leo’s first year wondered to what degree the more staid Leo might walk back some of Francis’ more controversial (to traditionalists) stances; if it wasn’t already clear by now, Pope Leo is following Pope Francis in his own way. One of the new things I saw in the footnotes, as a small example, was that the final document of the global synod on synodality, a process that some believe will be Francis’ biggest legacy, was referenced in ways not that different from more traditional Church sources.
4. Other new things: While I would resist the temptation to read this in the “Pope Leo vs. President Trump” frame, the recent tensions between the White House and the Vatican might be behind Leo’s section that defines “the lane” for the Church to weigh in on social, political and economic issues (17-27). It’s possible that predecessors have done this too, but I don’t remember this articulation, charting a course between “stick to religion” and “Catholic triumphalism”.
5. Earlier in the encyclical, Leo discusses the importance of admitting faults and seeking forgiveness, but it was striking to see, in a discussion on the element of human trafficking and degradation behind many of the “AI jobs” in underdeveloped countries (176-179) that the Church was wrong to be so slow to denounce all forms of human slavery (which Leo XIII, the Rerum Novarum guy, finally did toward the end of the 19th century). When the Church admits wrong and asks forgiveness, it might be a new day!
6. There will be some stories about a statement in paragraph 192 in which Leo seems to indicate that there are no longer any justifiable wars. It’s not a big part of the document, and it echoes things by predecessors, but it’s the sort of thing you saw popes say about the death penalty before Francis changed official teaching.
7. I’m limiting myself for now to two quotes (one from the beginning and one from near the end); hopefully later this summer we can do a reading group to dig out the many jewels in the document. But for those of you more likely to skim, for your consideration, from the AI section:
   1. #118-130 is the soul of the encyclical as I read it, an argument against posthumanism on what it means to be human that I find hopeful and much-needed. My favorite part on this first read.
   2. #132-138 is for the politicos, journalists and the communicators
   3. #139-147 is for families and educators
   4. #148-169 is for labor and economic policymakers
   5. #182-211 is the part on war and power vs. the civilization of love that will get most of the attention
   6. #212-228 is the part for all of us on the roles we can play in making peace
   7. The close (#229-245) is strong and worthwhile, too.
8. OK back to my footnote fetish. Unlike Pope Francis, there are very few references that are outside of the mainstream Church documents. Besides the synod final document I mentioned and some statements by the International Theological Commission (which I don’t remember from the past but could be de rigeur), there were two theologians referenced (one Italian, one French), only one bishops’ conference (the USCCB!), the UN (in a section on multilateralism) and:
   1. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
   2. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
   3. Plato, Letters
   4. JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King

There’s no reason to believe that this last one was a shoutout to uber-Tolkien nerd Stephen Colbert, but I hope that, wherever he is, he is smiling nonetheless.

Two paragraphs I liked: 

This one, from the open, summarizes the narrative frame Leo uses throughout the document of Babel vs. Nehemiah:

#10: “We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise. Instead, let us choose the “way of Nehemiah,” which highlights the importance of working together to make the City of God a safe place for returning exiles. Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity. Within this shared task, Christians discover their unique role of guiding actions toward God so that, in his light, pluralism does not dissipate into disorder, but instead, through the practice of synodality, it becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its final end. In the Book of Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2) as a gift for all humanity. And this vision of grace is an invitation for us Christians to work together in order to foster a peaceful, just and dignified life in community within today’s ‘cities.’”

This one, from the section on what our role is in peacemaking, was particularly powerful:

#216: “There are times when, in order to remain human, we must set aside our reservations and take a stand. In some conflicts, it is unjust to remain neutral, nor is it enough merely to claim that we are not complicit. [192] When we witness the bombing of civilians, attacks on hospitals, schools or vital infrastructure, and violence that affects children, we are confronted with scandals that wound humanity itself. For this reason, we cannot limit ourselves to the level of abstract analysis. Pope Francis encouraged us to “touch the wounded flesh” [193] of those who suffer, look at their faces, listen to their stories and acknowledge their wounds. Painful events require both history and memory, the former to recount the facts, the latter to bear witness to lived experiences.”

See you in a few weeks!

Magnificent Humanity

I am headed on retreat and off the grid for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow, but I couldn’t let a pope release a social encyclical without at least a quick skim before I left, and Pope Leo released Magnifica Humanitas this morning. So here I am.

I haven’t read any of the commentary already out there, and I’m sure there are already some excellent insights that I’m missing and other thoughts that others have already covered. But since I write mostly for those who are not really that into all this stuff, hopefully you’ll forgive me. So far I have only:

• Listened to Colleen Dulle’s 5-minute overview on the Inside the Vatican podcast, because I couldn’t resist.
• Listened to the remarks Pope Leo gave at the introductory press briefing, which I recommend (and are in English). They are not just a summation of the document but a really good 10-minute complement.
• Read the encyclical online. Had I had time, I would have made our printer churn out the 26 or so pages so I could mark it up and do a better job of analysis, but that can wait for another time.

I should also say since I mentioned in my earlier post that I was curious what the footnotes would look like, I read through those before I actually read a word of the document itself. Would not recommend to others, though it helped me.

Quick takeaways:

1. I wrote my masters thesis in the mid-1990s on a principle of Catholic social teaching, and Magnifica Humanitas fits in very well within the tradition of “anniversary encyclicals” that commemorate an anniversary of the first major social encyclical, Rerum Novarum. (I wrote more about this tradition in the earlier post.) As is true of others, it outlines the history and development of Catholic social teaching since 1891 (this is the 135th anniversary), then moves the ball forward a little. The footnotes draw almost exclusively on the sorts of sources that those traditional ones did – previous major Church documents and a few Church Fathers. (Surprisingly, there aren’t even that many Augustine callouts.) The way popes generally introduce change is by walking through the works of their predecessors to show how what they’re about to say is not really change at all, but an evolution of tradition. That’s the case here.
2. As such, this is a great place for those who are “Catholic curious” (or otherwise intrigued by what Popes Leo and Francis have had to say) to catch up on Catholic social teaching. Leo does a quick historical recap of each pope’s development of the body of social doctrine (paragraphs 28-45), and then an overview of the core principles of Catholic social teaching (46-85). 
3. Pope Leo establishes clearly that his predecessor Francis is part of Catholic tradition rather than a break from it. There are a bunch of references to all of Leo’s modern predecessors, but especially Pope Francis. A lot of the coverage of Leo’s first year wondered to what degree the more staid Leo might walk back some of Francis’ more controversial (to traditionalists) stances; if it wasn’t already clear by now, Pope Leo is following Pope Francis in his own way. One of the new things I saw in the footnotes, as a small example, was that the final document of the global synod on synodality, a process that some believe will be Francis’ biggest legacy, was referenced in ways not that different from more traditional Church sources.
4. Other new things: While I would resist the temptation to read this in the “Pope Leo vs. President Trump” frame, the recent tensions between the White House and the Vatican might be behind Leo’s section that defines “the lane” for the Church to weigh in on social, political and economic issues (17-27). It’s possible that predecessors have done this too, but I don’t remember this articulation, charting a course between “stick to religion” and “Catholic triumphalism”.
5. Earlier in the encyclical, Leo discusses the importance of admitting faults and seeking forgiveness, but it was striking to see, in a discussion on the element of human trafficking and degradation behind many of the “AI jobs” in underdeveloped countries (176-179) that the Church was wrong to be so slow to denounce all forms of human slavery (which Leo XIII, the Rerum Novarum guy, finally did toward the end of the 19th century). When the Church admits wrong and asks forgiveness, it might be a new day!
6. There will be some stories about a statement in paragraph 192 in which Leo seems to indicate that there are no longer any justifiable wars. It’s not a big part of the document, and it echoes things by predecessors, but it’s the sort of thing you saw popes say about the death penalty before Francis changed official teaching.
7. I’m limiting myself for now to two quotes (one from the beginning and one from near the end); hopefully later this summer we can do a reading group to dig out the many jewels in the document. But for those of you more likely to skim, for your consideration, from the AI section:
   1. #118-130 is the soul of the encyclical as I read it, an argument against posthumanism on what it means to be human that I find hopeful and much-needed. My favorite part on this first read.
   2. #132-138 is for the politicos, journalists and the communicators
   3. #139-147 is for families and educators
   4. #148-169 is for labor and economic policymakers
   5. #182-211 is the part on war and power vs. the civilization of love that will get most of the attention
   6. #212-228 is the part for all of us on the roles we can play in making peace
   7. The close (#229-245) is strong and worthwhile, too.
8. OK back to my footnote fetish. Unlike Pope Francis, there are very few references that are outside of the mainstream Church documents. Besides the synod final document I mentioned and some statements by the International Theological Commission (which I don’t remember from the past but could be de rigeur), there were two theologians referenced (one Italian, one French), only one bishops’ conference (the USCCB!), the UN (in a section on multilateralism) and:
   1. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
   2. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
   3. Plato, Letters
   4. JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King

There’s no reason to believe that this last one was a shoutout to uber-Tolkien nerd Stephen Colbert, but I hope that, wherever he is, he is smiling nonetheless.

Two paragraphs I liked: 

This one, from the open, summarizes the narrative frame Leo uses throughout the document of Babel vs. Nehemiah:

#10: “We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise. Instead, let us choose the “way of Nehemiah,” which highlights the importance of working together to make the City of God a safe place for returning exiles. Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity. Within this shared task, Christians discover their unique role of guiding actions toward God so that, in his light, pluralism does not dissipate into disorder, but instead, through the practice of synodality, it becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its final end. In the Book of Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2) as a gift for all humanity. And this vision of grace is an invitation for us Christians to work together in order to foster a peaceful, just and dignified life in community within today’s ‘cities.’”

This one, from the section on what our role is in peacemaking, was particularly powerful:

#216: “There are times when, in order to remain human, we must set aside our reservations and take a stand. In some conflicts, it is unjust to remain neutral, nor is it enough merely to claim that we are not complicit. [192] When we witness the bombing of civilians, attacks on hospitals, schools or vital infrastructure, and violence that affects children, we are confronted with scandals that wound humanity itself. For this reason, we cannot limit ourselves to the level of abstract analysis. Pope Francis encouraged us to “touch the wounded flesh” [193] of those who suffer, look at their faces, listen to their stories and acknowledge their wounds. Painful events require both history and memory, the former to recount the facts, the latter to bear witness to lived experiences.”

See you in a few weeks!

Magnificent Humanity

I am headed on retreat and off the grid for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow, but I couldn’t let a pope release a social encyclical without at least a quick skim before I left, and Pope Leo released Magnifica Humanitas this morning. So here I am.

I haven’t read any of the commentary already out there, and I’m sure there are already some excellent insights that I’m missing and other thoughts that others have already covered. But since I write mostly for those who are not really that into all this stuff, hopefully you’ll forgive me. So far I have only:

• Listened to Colleen Dulle’s 5-minute overview on the Inside the Vatican podcast, because I couldn’t resist.
• Listened to the remarks Pope Leo gave at the introductory press briefing, which I recommend (and are in English). They are not just a summation of the document but a really good 10-minute complement.
• Read the encyclical online. Had I had time, I would have made our printer churn out the 26 or so pages so I could mark it up and do a better job of analysis, but that can wait for another time.

I should also say since I mentioned in my earlier post that I was curious what the footnotes would look like, I read through those before I actually read a word of the document itself. Would not recommend to others, though it helped me.

Quick takeaways:

1. I wrote my masters thesis in the mid-1990s on a principle of Catholic social teaching, and Magnifica Humanitas fits in very well within the tradition of “anniversary encyclicals” that commemorate an anniversary of the first major social encyclical, Rerum Novarum. (I wrote more about this tradition in the earlier post.) As is true of others, it outlines the history and development of Catholic social teaching since 1891 (this is the 135th anniversary), then moves the ball forward a little. The footnotes draw almost exclusively on the sorts of sources that those traditional ones did – previous major Church documents and a few Church Fathers. (Surprisingly, there aren’t even that many Augustine callouts.) The way popes generally introduce change is by walking through the works of their predecessors to show how what they’re about to say is not really change at all, but an evolution of tradition. That’s the case here.
2. As such, this is a great place for those who are “Catholic curious” (or otherwise intrigued by what Popes Leo and Francis have had to say) to catch up on Catholic social teaching. Leo does a quick historical recap of each pope’s development of the body of social doctrine (paragraphs 28-45), and then an overview of the core principles of Catholic social teaching (46-85). 
3. Pope Leo establishes clearly that his predecessor Francis is part of Catholic tradition rather than a break from it. There are a bunch of references to all of Leo’s modern predecessors, but especially Pope Francis. A lot of the coverage of Leo’s first year wondered to what degree the more staid Leo might walk back some of Francis’ more controversial (to traditionalists) stances; if it wasn’t already clear by now, Pope Leo is following Pope Francis in his own way. One of the new things I saw in the footnotes, as a small example, was that the final document of the global synod on synodality, a process that some believe will be Francis’ biggest legacy, was referenced in ways not that different from more traditional Church sources.
4. Other new things: While I would resist the temptation to read this in the “Pope Leo vs. President Trump” frame, the recent tensions between the White House and the Vatican might be behind Leo’s section that defines “the lane” for the Church to weigh in on social, political and economic issues (17-27). It’s possible that predecessors have done this too, but I don’t remember this articulation, charting a course between “stick to religion” and “Catholic triumphalism”.
5. Earlier in the encyclical, Leo discusses the importance of admitting faults and seeking forgiveness, but it was striking to see, in a discussion on the element of human trafficking and degradation behind many of the “AI jobs” in underdeveloped countries (176-179) that the Church was wrong to be so slow to denounce all forms of human slavery (which Leo XIII, the Rerum Novarum guy, finally did toward the end of the 19th century). When the Church admits wrong and asks forgiveness, it might be a new day!
6. There will be some stories about a statement in paragraph 192 in which Leo seems to indicate that there are no longer any justifiable wars. It’s not a big part of the document, and it echoes things by predecessors, but it’s the sort of thing you saw popes say about the death penalty before Francis changed official teaching.
7. I’m limiting myself for now to two quotes (one from the beginning and one from near the end); hopefully later this summer we can do a reading group to dig out the many jewels in the document. But for those of you more likely to skim, for your consideration, from the AI section:
   1. #118-130 is the soul of the encyclical as I read it, an argument against posthumanism on what it means to be human that I find hopeful and much-needed. My favorite part on this first read.
   2. #132-138 is for the politicos, journalists and the communicators
   3. #139-147 is for families and educators
   4. #148-169 is for labor and economic policymakers
   5. #182-211 is the part on war and power vs. the civilization of love that will get most of the attention
   6. #212-228 is the part for all of us on the roles we can play in making peace
   7. The close (#229-245) is strong and worthwhile, too.
8. OK back to my footnote fetish. Unlike Pope Francis, there are very few references that are outside of the mainstream Church documents. Besides the synod final document I mentioned and some statements by the International Theological Commission (which I don’t remember from the past but could be de rigeur), there were two theologians referenced (one Italian, one French), only one bishops’ conference (the USCCB!), the UN (in a section on multilateralism) and:
   1. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
   2. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
   3. Plato, Letters
   4. JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King

There’s no reason to believe that this last one was a shoutout to uber-Tolkien nerd Stephen Colbert, but I hope that, wherever he is, he is smiling nonetheless.

Two paragraphs I liked: 

This one, from the open, summarizes the narrative frame Leo uses throughout the document of Babel vs. Nehemiah:

#10: “We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise. Instead, let us choose the “way of Nehemiah,” which highlights the importance of working together to make the City of God a safe place for returning exiles. Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity. Within this shared task, Christians discover their unique role of guiding actions toward God so that, in his light, pluralism does not dissipate into disorder, but instead, through the practice of synodality, it becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its final end. In the Book of Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2) as a gift for all humanity. And this vision of grace is an invitation for us Christians to work together in order to foster a peaceful, just and dignified life in community within today’s ‘cities.’”

This one, from the section on what our role is in peacemaking, was particularly powerful:

#216: “There are times when, in order to remain human, we must set aside our reservations and take a stand. In some conflicts, it is unjust to remain neutral, nor is it enough merely to claim that we are not complicit. [192] When we witness the bombing of civilians, attacks on hospitals, schools or vital infrastructure, and violence that affects children, we are confronted with scandals that wound humanity itself. For this reason, we cannot limit ourselves to the level of abstract analysis. Pope Francis encouraged us to “touch the wounded flesh” [193] of those who suffer, look at their faces, listen to their stories and acknowledge their wounds. Painful events require both history and memory, the former to recount the facts, the latter to bear witness to lived experiences.”

See you in a few weeks!

Magnificent Humanity

I am headed on retreat and off the grid for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow, but I couldn’t let a pope release a social encyclical without at least a quick skim before I left, and Pope Leo released Magnifica Humanitas this morning. So here I am.

I haven’t read any of the commentary already out there, and I’m sure there are already some excellent insights that I’m missing and other thoughts that others have already covered. But since I write mostly for those who are not really that into all this stuff, hopefully you’ll forgive me. So far I have only:

• Listened to Colleen Dulle’s 5-minute overview on the Inside the Vatican podcast, because I couldn’t resist.
• Listened to the remarks Pope Leo gave at the introductory press briefing, which I recommend (and are in English). They are not just a summation of the document but a really good 10-minute complement.
• Read the encyclical online. Had I had time, I would have made our printer churn out the 26 or so pages so I could mark it up and do a better job of analysis, but that can wait for another time.

I should also say since I mentioned in my earlier post that I was curious what the footnotes would look like, I read through those before I actually read a word of the document itself. Would not recommend to others, though it helped me.

Quick takeaways:

1. I wrote my masters thesis in the mid-1990s on a principle of Catholic social teaching, and Magnifica Humanitas fits in very well within the tradition of “anniversary encyclicals” that commemorate an anniversary of the first major social encyclical, Rerum Novarum. (I wrote more about this tradition in the earlier post.) As is true of others, it outlines the history and development of Catholic social teaching since 1891 (this is the 135th anniversary), then moves the ball forward a little. The footnotes draw almost exclusively on the sorts of sources that those traditional ones did – previous major Church documents and a few Church Fathers. (Surprisingly, there aren’t even that many Augustine callouts.) The way popes generally introduce change is by walking through the works of their predecessors to show how what they’re about to say is not really change at all, but an evolution of tradition. That’s the case here.
2. As such, this is a great place for those who are “Catholic curious” (or otherwise intrigued by what Popes Leo and Francis have had to say) to catch up on Catholic social teaching. Leo does a quick historical recap of each pope’s development of the body of social doctrine (paragraphs 28-45), and then an overview of the core principles of Catholic social teaching (46-85). 
3. Pope Leo establishes clearly that his predecessor Francis is part of Catholic tradition rather than a break from it. There are a bunch of references to all of Leo’s modern predecessors, but especially Pope Francis. A lot of the coverage of Leo’s first year wondered to what degree the more staid Leo might walk back some of Francis’ more controversial (to traditionalists) stances; if it wasn’t already clear by now, Pope Leo is following Pope Francis in his own way. One of the new things I saw in the footnotes, as a small example, was that the final document of the global synod on synodality, a process that some believe will be Francis’ biggest legacy, was referenced in ways not that different from more traditional Church sources.
4. Other new things: While I would resist the temptation to read this in the “Pope Leo vs. President Trump” frame, the recent tensions between the White House and the Vatican might be behind Leo’s section that defines “the lane” for the Church to weigh in on social, political and economic issues (17-27). It’s possible that predecessors have done this too, but I don’t remember this articulation, charting a course between “stick to religion” and “Catholic triumphalism”.
5. Earlier in the encyclical, Leo discusses the importance of admitting faults and seeking forgiveness, but it was striking to see, in a discussion on the element of human trafficking and degradation behind many of the “AI jobs” in underdeveloped countries (176-179) that the Church was wrong to be so slow to denounce all forms of human slavery (which Leo XIII, the Rerum Novarum guy, finally did toward the end of the 19th century). When the Church admits wrong and asks forgiveness, it might be a new day!
6. There will be some stories about a statement in paragraph 192 in which Leo seems to indicate that there are no longer any justifiable wars. It’s not a big part of the document, and it echoes things by predecessors, but it’s the sort of thing you saw popes say about the death penalty before Francis changed official teaching.
7. I’m limiting myself for now to two quotes (one from the beginning and one from near the end); hopefully later this summer we can do a reading group to dig out the many jewels in the document. But for those of you more likely to skim, for your consideration, from the AI section:
   1. #118-130 is the soul of the encyclical as I read it, an argument against posthumanism on what it means to be human that I find hopeful and much-needed. My favorite part on this first read.
   2. #132-138 is for the politicos, journalists and the communicators
   3. #139-147 is for families and educators
   4. #148-169 is for labor and economic policymakers
   5. #182-211 is the part on war and power vs. the civilization of love that will get most of the attention
   6. #212-228 is the part for all of us on the roles we can play in making peace
   7. The close (#229-245) is strong and worthwhile, too.
8. OK back to my footnote fetish. Unlike Pope Francis, there are very few references that are outside of the mainstream Church documents. Besides the synod final document I mentioned and some statements by the International Theological Commission (which I don’t remember from the past but could be de rigeur), there were two theologians referenced (one Italian, one French), only one bishops’ conference (the USCCB!), the UN (in a section on multilateralism) and:
   1. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
   2. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
   3. Plato, Letters
   4. JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King

There’s no reason to believe that this last one was a shoutout to uber-Tolkien nerd Stephen Colbert, but I hope that, wherever he is, he is smiling nonetheless.

Two paragraphs I liked: 

This one, from the open, summarizes the narrative frame Leo uses throughout the document of Babel vs. Nehemiah:

#10: “We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise. Instead, let us choose the “way of Nehemiah,” which highlights the importance of working together to make the City of God a safe place for returning exiles. Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity. Within this shared task, Christians discover their unique role of guiding actions toward God so that, in his light, pluralism does not dissipate into disorder, but instead, through the practice of synodality, it becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its final end. In the Book of Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2) as a gift for all humanity. And this vision of grace is an invitation for us Christians to work together in order to foster a peaceful, just and dignified life in community within today’s ‘cities.’”

This one, from the section on what our role is in peacemaking, was particularly powerful:

#216: “There are times when, in order to remain human, we must set aside our reservations and take a stand. In some conflicts, it is unjust to remain neutral, nor is it enough merely to claim that we are not complicit. [192] When we witness the bombing of civilians, attacks on hospitals, schools or vital infrastructure, and violence that affects children, we are confronted with scandals that wound humanity itself. For this reason, we cannot limit ourselves to the level of abstract analysis. Pope Francis encouraged us to “touch the wounded flesh” [193] of those who suffer, look at their faces, listen to their stories and acknowledge their wounds. Painful events require both history and memory, the former to recount the facts, the latter to bear witness to lived experiences.”

See you in a few weeks!

Magnificent Humanity

I am headed on retreat and off the grid for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow, but I couldn’t let a pope release a social encyclical without at least a quick skim before I left, and Pope Leo released Magnifica Humanitas this morning. So here I am.

I haven’t read any of the commentary already out there, and I’m sure there are already some excellent insights that I’m missing and other thoughts that others have already covered. But since I write mostly for those who are not really that into all this stuff, hopefully you’ll forgive me. So far I have only:

• Listened to Colleen Dulle’s 5-minute overview on the Inside the Vatican podcast, because I couldn’t resist.
• Listened to the remarks Pope Leo gave at the introductory press briefing, which I recommend (and are in English). They are not just a summation of the document but a really good 10-minute complement.
• Read the encyclical online. Had I had time, I would have made our printer churn out the 26 or so pages so I could mark it up and do a better job of analysis, but that can wait for another time.

I should also say since I mentioned in my earlier post that I was curious what the footnotes would look like, I read through those before I actually read a word of the document itself. Would not recommend to others, though it helped me.

Quick takeaways:

1. I wrote my masters thesis in the mid-1990s on a principle of Catholic social teaching, and Magnifica Humanitas fits in very well within the tradition of “anniversary encyclicals” that commemorate an anniversary of the first major social encyclical, Rerum Novarum. (I wrote more about this tradition in the earlier post.) As is true of others, it outlines the history and development of Catholic social teaching since 1891 (this is the 135th anniversary), then moves the ball forward a little. The footnotes draw almost exclusively on the sorts of sources that those traditional ones did – previous major Church documents and a few Church Fathers. (Surprisingly, there aren’t even that many Augustine callouts.) The way popes generally introduce change is by walking through the works of their predecessors to show how what they’re about to say is not really change at all, but an evolution of tradition. That’s the case here.
2. As such, this is a great place for those who are “Catholic curious” (or otherwise intrigued by what Popes Leo and Francis have had to say) to catch up on Catholic social teaching. Leo does a quick historical recap of each pope’s development of the body of social doctrine (paragraphs 28-45), and then an overview of the core principles of Catholic social teaching (46-85). 
3. Pope Leo establishes clearly that his predecessor Francis is part of Catholic tradition rather than a break from it. There are a bunch of references to all of Leo’s modern predecessors, but especially Pope Francis. A lot of the coverage of Leo’s first year wondered to what degree the more staid Leo might walk back some of Francis’ more controversial (to traditionalists) stances; if it wasn’t already clear by now, Pope Leo is following Pope Francis in his own way. One of the new things I saw in the footnotes, as a small example, was that the final document of the global synod on synodality, a process that some believe will be Francis’ biggest legacy, was referenced in ways not that different from more traditional Church sources.
4. Other new things: While I would resist the temptation to read this in the “Pope Leo vs. President Trump” frame, the recent tensions between the White House and the Vatican might be behind Leo’s section that defines “the lane” for the Church to weigh in on social, political and economic issues (17-27). It’s possible that predecessors have done this too, but I don’t remember this articulation, charting a course between “stick to religion” and “Catholic triumphalism”.
5. Earlier in the encyclical, Leo discusses the importance of admitting faults and seeking forgiveness, but it was striking to see, in a discussion on the element of human trafficking and degradation behind many of the “AI jobs” in underdeveloped countries (176-179) that the Church was wrong to be so slow to denounce all forms of human slavery (which Leo XIII, the Rerum Novarum guy, finally did toward the end of the 19th century). When the Church admits wrong and asks forgiveness, it might be a new day!
6. There will be some stories about a statement in paragraph 192 in which Leo seems to indicate that there are no longer any justifiable wars. It’s not a big part of the document, and it echoes things by predecessors, but it’s the sort of thing you saw popes say about the death penalty before Francis changed official teaching.
7. I’m limiting myself for now to two quotes (one from the beginning and one from near the end); hopefully later this summer we can do a reading group to dig out the many jewels in the document. But for those of you more likely to skim, for your consideration, from the AI section:
   1. #118-130 is the soul of the encyclical as I read it, an argument against posthumanism on what it means to be human that I find hopeful and much-needed. My favorite part on this first read.
   2. #132-138 is for the politicos, journalists and the communicators
   3. #139-147 is for families and educators
   4. #148-169 is for labor and economic policymakers
   5. #182-211 is the part on war and power vs. the civilization of love that will get most of the attention
   6. #212-228 is the part for all of us on the roles we can play in making peace
   7. The close (#229-245) is strong and worthwhile, too.
8. OK back to my footnote fetish. Unlike Pope Francis, there are very few references that are outside of the mainstream Church documents. Besides the synod final document I mentioned and some statements by the International Theological Commission (which I don’t remember from the past but could be de rigeur), there were two theologians referenced (one Italian, one French), only one bishops’ conference (the USCCB!), the UN (in a section on multilateralism) and:
   1. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
   2. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
   3. Plato, Letters
   4. JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King

There’s no reason to believe that this last one was a shoutout to uber-Tolkien nerd Stephen Colbert, but I hope that, wherever he is, he is smiling nonetheless.

Two paragraphs I liked: 

This one, from the open, summarizes the narrative frame Leo uses throughout the document of Babel vs. Nehemiah:

#10: “We must, then, avoid the “Babel syndrome,” namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise. Instead, let us choose the “way of Nehemiah,” which highlights the importance of working together to make the City of God a safe place for returning exiles. Rebuilding today means recognizing that, precisely from the plurality of voices and visions which, even though they sometimes remind us of the confusion caused by the diversity of spoken languages, a bright possibility emerges. Indeed, this is the possibility of building together, of transforming diversity into a resource and of making listening and dialogue the common ground upon which to cultivate justice and fraternity. Within this shared task, Christians discover their unique role of guiding actions toward God so that, in his light, pluralism does not dissipate into disorder, but instead, through the practice of synodality, it becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its final end. In the Book of Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2) as a gift for all humanity. And this vision of grace is an invitation for us Christians to work together in order to foster a peaceful, just and dignified life in community within today’s ‘cities.’”

This one, from the section on what our role is in peacemaking, was particularly powerful:

#216: “There are times when, in order to remain human, we must set aside our reservations and take a stand. In some conflicts, it is unjust to remain neutral, nor is it enough merely to claim that we are not complicit. [192] When we witness the bombing of civilians, attacks on hospitals, schools or vital infrastructure, and violence that affects children, we are confronted with scandals that wound humanity itself. For this reason, we cannot limit ourselves to the level of abstract analysis. Pope Francis encouraged us to “touch the wounded flesh” [193] of those who suffer, look at their faces, listen to their stories and acknowledge their wounds. Painful events require both history and memory, the former to recount the facts, the latter to bear witness to lived experiences.”

See you in a few weeks!

The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

#womenshealth
#donations
#bible
#holyspirit
#renewal
#church
#biblestudy

Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

#womenshealth
#donations
#bible
#holyspirit
#renewal
#church
#biblestudy

Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

The following hashtags are trending across South African Mastodon instances:

#womenshealth
#donations
#bible
#holyspirit
#renewal
#church
#biblestudy

Based on recent posts made by non-automated accounts. Posts with more boosts, favourites, and replies are weighted higher.

The Blogs: What is considered to be far from Jerusalem? | Sharona Margolin Halickman

In Parshat Behaalotcha (Bamidbar 9:9-13), we read about those who are granted the opportunity to observe Pesach Sheni:…
#Israel #News #Bible #Food #HikesInIsrael #jerusalem #PARSHAPOSTS:BEHAALOTCHA #Passover #TempleMount #TouringIsrael #travel #WeeklyTorahPortion
https://www.europesays.com/3016812/