The document discusses the relationship between the Church and domestic church (family). It describes how Peter and John helped establish the hierarchical Church and how their lives spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and later to France. John especially helped spread Christianity from the Holy Land to Asia Minor and Europe. This led to the blossoming of Christian culture, especially in France where Gothic cathedrals expressed veneration for Mary. The document suggests Christianity's growth was due to stable families promoting high morality and fertility, analogous to grace flowing from the Temple to sanctify the world.
St Ignatius of Antioch penned Epistles to the various Christian communities in Asia Minor, including some cities that received Epistles from St Paul. St Ignatius was writing these letters in a hurry while travelling to the City of Rome and his eventual martyrdom, he was fed to the lions in the Coliseum of Rome. He writes in a style similar to the New Testament Epistles, his Epistles read like prayers. One main reason why these writings are not included in the New Testament canon is because they were written in the second generation after the original apostles.
We discuss:
• St Ignatius discussions of slavery, marriage, prayer, Virgin Mary or Theotokos,
• How St Ignatius emphasizes “the authority of the clergy, the hatred of heresy and schism, and the glory of martyrdom.”
• St Ignatius’ Epistle to the Ephesians.
• St Ignatius’ Epistle to the Magnesians.
• St Ignatius’ Epistle to the Romans.
• St Ignatius’ Epistle to the Philadelphians.
• St Ignatius’ Epistle to the Smyrnaeans.
• St Ignatius’ Epistle to his fellow bishop, Polycarp.
• Challenges Bart Ehrman faced when translating Ignatius.
YouTube video: https://youtu.be/CM31T6J4bXo
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Kindle: The Complete Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Collection of Early Church Fathers
https://amzn.to/3kMFdBa
The best eBook for Volume 1 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers can be purchased from:
www.christianbook.com
History of Early Christian Literature (Midway Reprint Series), by Edgar Johnson Goodspeed
https://amzn.to/36S0UHV
The Early Church, by Henry Chadwick:
https://amzn.to/36W9OUB
The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine, by Eusebius (263-339), Penguin Classic, introduction by Andrew Louth
https://amzn.to/3eRbZgK
The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, by Michael W. Holmes
https://amzn.to/3hXiBfq
Our blog:
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/history-of-the-jesuits/
From the episode: https://www.gospelconversations.com/talks/problem-of-religion
The Epistle to the Hebrews breaks new ground in the debate over religion and grace. In this talk we look at who wrote it, and what problem it is trying to solve - really important questions since it is such an alien book to us modern people in many ways. We delve into the book of Acts in detail and uncover the deep struggle between Jerusalem and Rome that defined the faith in its early days. And we find in the writer to the Hebrews, the man who arguably took over the baton of thought leadership in the early church from Paul and pushed the gospel to its natural boundaries far from the confining views of Jerusalem.
What does “being Christ’s witness” mean? Would you consider yourself Christ’s witness? How do opportunities for witness arise? What occasioned Peter and John to share Christ with a lame man? (3:1-5) How is our ministry like the Lord's? What do people in need typically request? What did the lame man need most? (3:6) What is every person’s greatest need? (3:12-20) What can physical healing teach us about spiritual salvation? How did the people react to the healing of the lame man? (3:9-11) What was the theme of Peter’s second sermon? (3:12-26) How is it different from the message he delivered on the day of Pentecost? What was the reaction to Peter’s second sermon? (4:1-4)
Exploring the Mindfulness Understanding Its Benefits.pptxMartaLoveguard
Slide 1: Title: Exploring the Mindfulness: Understanding Its Benefits
Slide 2: Introduction to Mindfulness
Mindfulness, defined as the conscious, non-judgmental observation of the present moment, has deep roots in Buddhist meditation practice but has gained significant popularity in the Western world in recent years. In today's society, filled with distractions and constant stimuli, mindfulness offers a valuable tool for regaining inner peace and reconnecting with our true selves. By cultivating mindfulness, we can develop a heightened awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings, leading to a greater sense of clarity and presence in our daily lives.
Slide 3: Benefits of Mindfulness for Mental Well-being
Practicing mindfulness can help reduce stress and anxiety levels, improving overall quality of life.
Mindfulness increases awareness of our emotions and teaches us to manage them better, leading to improved mood.
Regular mindfulness practice can improve our ability to concentrate and focus our attention on the present moment.
Slide 4: Benefits of Mindfulness for Physical Health
Research has shown that practicing mindfulness can contribute to lowering blood pressure, which is beneficial for heart health.
Regular meditation and mindfulness practice can strengthen the immune system, aiding the body in fighting infections.
Mindfulness may help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity by reducing stress and improving overall lifestyle habits.
Slide 5: Impact of Mindfulness on Relationships
Mindfulness can help us better understand others and improve communication, leading to healthier relationships.
By focusing on the present moment and being fully attentive, mindfulness helps build stronger and more authentic connections with others.
Mindfulness teaches us how to be present for others in difficult times, leading to increased compassion and understanding.
Slide 6: Mindfulness Techniques and Practices
Focusing on the breath and mindful breathing can be a simple way to enter a state of mindfulness.
Body scan meditation involves focusing on different parts of the body, paying attention to any sensations and feelings.
Practicing mindful walking and eating involves consciously focusing on each step or bite, with full attention to sensory experiences.
Slide 7: Incorporating Mindfulness into Daily Life
You can practice mindfulness in everyday activities such as washing dishes or taking a walk in the park.
Adding mindfulness practice to daily routines can help increase awareness and presence.
Mindfulness helps us become more aware of our needs and better manage our time, leading to balance and harmony in life.
Slide 8: Summary: Embracing Mindfulness for Full Living
Mindfulness can bring numerous benefits for physical and mental health.
Regular mindfulness practice can help achieve a fuller and more satisfying life.
Mindfulness has the power to change our perspective and way of perceiving the world, leading to deeper se
The Chakra System in our body - A Portal to Interdimensional Consciousness.pptxBharat Technology
each chakra is studied in greater detail, several steps have been included to
strengthen your personal intention to open each chakra more fully. These are designed
to draw forth the highest benefit for your spiritual growth.
The Good News, newsletter for June 2024 is hereNoHo FUMC
Our monthly newsletter is available to read online. We hope you will join us each Sunday in person for our worship service. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and social media.
In Jude 17-23 Jude shifts from piling up examples of false teachers from the Old Testament to a series of practical exhortations that flow from apostolic instruction. He preserves for us what may well have been part of the apostolic catechism for the first generation of Christ-followers. In these instructions Jude exhorts the believer to deal with 3 different groups of people: scoffers who are "devoid of the Spirit", believers who have come under the influence of scoffers and believers who are so entrenched in false teaching that they need rescue and pose some real spiritual risk for the rescuer. In all of this Jude emphasizes Jesus' call to rescue straying sheep, leaving the 99 safely behind and pursuing the 1.
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.
Discover various methods for clearing negative entities from your space and spirit, including energy clearing techniques, spiritual rituals, and professional assistance. Gain practical knowledge on how to implement these techniques to restore peace and harmony. For more information visit here: https://www.reikihealingdistance.com/negative-entity-removal/
2 Peter 3: Because some scriptures are hard to understand and some will force them to say things God never intended, Peter warns us to take care.
https://youtu.be/nV4kGHFsEHw
Why is this So? ~ Do Seek to KNOW (English & Chinese).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma teaching of Kamma-Vipaka (Intentional Actions-Ripening Effects).
A Presentation for developing morality, concentration and wisdom and to spur us to practice the Dhamma diligently.
The texts are in English and Chinese.
3. Last week we considered the theology of the
Garden. We discovered a beautiful relationship
between the Church and the home.
4. The Mystical Reality of the Church
• “The Church has been seen as „a people made
one with the unity of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit‟” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, #4).
• “Christ … established … His holy Church … as an
entity with visible delineation … the society
structured with hierarchical organs and the
Mystical Body of Christ are not to be considered
as two realities … rather they form one complex
reality” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, #8).
• “The family is, so to speak, the domestic church”
(Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, #11).
5. Let us now consider the Church with “hierarchical
organs” and the domestic church. The apostles
Peter and John will help us enter more deeply into
the mystery.
6. The Gifts to Peter and John
• “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail
against it” (Matthew 16:18).
• “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than
these? … Feed my lambs” (John 21:15-19).
• “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple
whom he loved standing near, he said to his
mother, „Woman, behold your son!‟ Then he said to
the disciple, „Behold, your mother!‟ And from that
hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John
19:26-27).
• “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded
him; he took his wife” (Matthew 1:24).
7. The Last Supper
• “The disciples looked at one another, uncertain
of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom
Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of
Jesus; so Simon Peter beckoned to him and
said, „Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.‟ So
lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said
to him, „Lord, who is it‟ ” (John 13:22-25).
• John is part of the company of apostles united
and obedient to its head: Peter.
• The domestic Church is part the universal
Church and is obedient to the Pope.
• The domestic Church has a special intimacy with
Christ.
8. The Foot of the Cross
• “Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till
you have denied me three times” (John 13:38).
• “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple
whom he loved standing near, he said to his
mother, „Woman, behold your son!‟ Then he said
to the disciple, „Behold, your mother!‟ And from
that hour the disciple took her to his own home”
(John 19:26-27).
• “The family is placed at the heart of the great
struggle between good and evil, between life and
death and between love and all that is opposed to
love” (Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, #23).
9. Easter Morning: The Race to the Tomb
• “Peter then came out with the other disciple,
and they went toward the tomb. They both ran,
but the other disciple outran Peter and reached
the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw
the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and
went into the tomb” (John 20:1-10).
• “The future of the world and of the Church pass
by way of the family” (Pope John Paul II,
Familiaris Consortio, #75).
• The Church is the guardian of the mystery of
salvation.
10. Breakfast on the Seashore
• “Jesus said to Simon Peter, „Simon son of John, do you love me more
than these?‟ He said to him, „Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.‟ He
said to him, „Feed my lambs … Truly, truly, I say to you … when you are
old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry
you where you do not wish to go.‟ … When Peter saw [John], he said to
Jesus, „Lord, what about this man?‟ Jesus said to him, „If it is my will that
he remain until I come, what is that to you?‟” (John 21:15-23).
• “All other altars crumbled. All our other Temples were destroyed. But the
home hallowed by the Pesach Sacrifice and … mutual affection of
husband and wife … this home and the spirit of this Jewish home, have
remained with us forever. They are what made this people … immortal”
(Samson Raphael Hirsch).
• “The family … constitutes the basis of society” (Gadium et Spes, #52).
Source: Hirsch, S.R., “The Hirsch Haggadah, Feldheim Publishers, 1988, p. 141.
11. We must now follow the paths of Peter and John
to see the impact of the Church and domestic
church on larger society.
12. The Life of St. Peter
• Originally resides in Jerusalem.
• Makes numerous missionary journeys – particularly
to the East.
• Establishes the Church in Antioch, which has
primacy among the Orthodox Churches.
• Establishes Church in Rome, which is the seat of the
Western Church.
• Writes the 1st and 2nd Letters of Peter while in Rome.
• Martyred on the Vatican Hill outside Rome in the
year 67AD.
13. Rome and the Hierarchical Church
• Rome becomes the seat of the hierarchical
Church – residence of Pope.
• Churches are primarily named after the
apostles and great saints of Christian history.
• St. John Lateran
• St. Peter‟s Basilica
• St. Paul outside the Walls
• St. Mary Major
• St. Lawrence outside the Walls
• The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem
• St. Sebastian at the Catacombs/Our Lady of
Divine Love
14. Rome and the Domestic Church
• The Holy Family is amazingly hidden in Rome.
• St. Mary Major.
• No major Church for St. Joseph.
• Holy Family is surprisingly hidden in the 152
statutes in St. Peter‟s square: No statue of Our
Lady. St. Joseph inconspicuous on left side.
• Pope John Paul II added a mosaic of “Mary,
Mother of the Church” in 1981.
• Inside: Pieta and St. Joseph‟s altar.
15. Now let us consider the path of St. John. He will
lead us from Jerusalem to Asia to Europe,
especially France.
16. The Life of St. John
• Becomes Bishop of Church at Ephesus.
• House of St. John and Our Lady at Ephesus
discovered by Abbe Julien Gouyet in 1881.
• St. John is exiled to the Island of Patmos where
he writes the Book of Revelation, which
climaxes with the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
• St. John writes the 4th Gospel, which includes
the Wedding Feast at Cana as the 1st miracle
and Mary at the foot of the Cross.
• The empty tomb of St. John is at Ephesus.
• Our Lady is proclaimed the “theotokos” by the
Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
17. The Transition to France
• St. John consecrates St. Polycarp as the bishop
of Smyrna.
• St. Polycarp sends St. Pothinus to become the
bishop of Lyon, France. Pothinus is martyred in
177 AD.
• St. Pothinus is succeeded by St.
Irenaeus, another disciple of Polycarp.
• St. Denis sent by Pope Fabian to become 1st
Bishop of Paris, martyred ~ 250 AD.
• Clovis, the 1st king of a united France, is
baptized in 496 AD by St. Remigius.
• France becomes the “eldest daughter of the
Church.”
18. The Church in France
• The Churches in France are dedicated to Our Lady and
take on a decidedly feminine character.
• Gothic architecture is born at St. Denis in Paris: 80
Cathedrals and 500 large churches are built between
1050 – 1350.
• Reaches culmination in Notre Dame de Chartres, built
to house the Sancta Camisa.
• “To us, it is a child‟s fancy; a toy-house to please the
Queen of Heaven, to please her so much that she
would be happy in it, to charm her till she smiled … If
you are to get the full enjoyment of Chartres, you must
… believe in Mary as Bernard … and feel her presence
as the architects did, in every stone they placed, and
every touch they chiseled” (Henry Adams).
Source: Adams, H., “Mont Saint Michel and
Chartres,” Penguin Classics, 1986, pp. 88-96.
19. The Blossoming of Christian Europe
• The culture of France has always been
regarded as the highest culture.
• It was decidedly Catholic.
• The Papacy moves to Avignon from 1309-1376.
• Three ecumenical councils are hosted in
France: First Lyon (1245), Second Lyon (1274),
and Vienne (1311-1312).
• The French played a crucial role in the
launching of the First and Second Crusades.
• King St. Louis IX walked barefoot in the snow to
receive the Holy Relics from Constantinople
and house them in Sainte Chapelle.
20. Israel believed that the entire world was sanctified
by the grace flowing from the Temple in
Jerusalem.
21. Grace Flowing through the Temple
• “Then he brought me back to the door of the
temple; and behold, water was issuing from below
the threshold of the temple toward the east … And
wherever the river goes every living creature which
swarms will live … for this water goes there, that
the waters of the sea may become fresh … And on
the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow
all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not
wither nor their fruit fail … their fruit will be for food,
and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:1-12).
• During the Feast of Tabernacles, Israel sacrificed
70 bulls for the sanctification of the 70 nations: “To
what do those seventy bullocks … correspond? To
the seventy nations.”Source: Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sukkah, 55b.
22. The Reality of Ecclesia Domestica
• Unstable marriages.
• Refusal to enter marriage.
• Below replacement fertility rate.
• Contraception.
• Abortion.
• Infanticide.
• Decreasing population.
Ancient Rome
• Consistent moral requirements.
• Stable marriages.
• High fertility rate.
• No contraception.
• No abortion.
• No infanticide.
• Increasing population.
Christianity
Source: Stark, Rodney, “The Rise of
Christianity,” HarperCollins, 1997.
23. Source: Stark, Rodney, “The Rise of
Christianity,” HarperCollins, 1997.
3rd 4th
0
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.0
PopulationofRome(Millions)
5th
Century
Grace Flowing from the Church
0.7
0.15
0.1
RomanEmpire
(PercentageChristian)
Source: Stark, Rodney, “The Rise of Christianity,” Table 1.1,
HarperCollins, 1997.
100 200
10
20
30
50
40
Year
300 350
0
0.36
10.5
56.5
1.0
24. “The future of the world and the Church pass by
way of the family” (Pope John Paul II, Familiaris
Consortio, #75). Not everyone rejoices in this
mystery!
25. Small Group Discussion
Starter Questions
1. How can your family develop such intimacy with
Christ that you can receive his secrets?
2. How can your family become more obedient to
the successor of Peter, the Pope?
Next Week
A Great Sign in Heaven