The revised and updated version of what I think is a classic work, “Solzhentisyn: A Soul in Exile”, is a tremendous gift to us all. With all of the impressive clarity and tender insight you have come to expect from Joseph Pearce, this biography of the great Russian writer covers the lifespan of this incredible figure of the 20th century. Joseph goes to the “heart” of the man, his Christian faith. With that illumination, he sheds a whole new understanding of his contribution to literary thought, Catholic Social Doctrine, and the value and dignity of each human person. He allows Alexander Solzhenitsyn to speak for himself, and what he has to say is so important it shouldn’t be missed.
Episode 4 – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran, hosted by Bruce McGregor. Ep 4 – John Chapter 1. The Baptism of Jesus. The name changing of Simon to Cephas. The primacy of Peter. The encounter with Nathaniel and the fig tree. The branch imagery. The calling of us all.
Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your every day life.
Episode 4 – Beginning with John Chap 1 v32 Sharon leads us on a reflection of the Baptism of Jesus. The followers of Jesus and renaming of Simon to Cephas (which means “rock”). The significance of name changing. The scriptural basis for the primacy of Peter. The encounter with Nathaniel and the importance of the fig tree. The branch imagery. The calling of us all.
“Seeking Truth” is an in depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to: www.seekingtruth.net
“Christian Apologetics with Dr. R. R. Reno” explores numerous facets of faith and reason in the life of the Church and the world. Grounded on the work of giants, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Blessed John Newman, soon-to-be Blessed John Paul II, G. K. Chesterton, Blaise Pascal and Stephen Barr, Dr. Reno helps us to open our minds to make the journey to our hearts.
R. R. Reno is the editor at First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, and Professor of Theology, currently on leave from Creighton University. His theological work has been published in many academic journals. Essays and opinion pieces on religion, public life, contemporary culture, and current events have appeared in Commentary, and the Washington Post. In Fighting the Noonday Devil Reno suggests that putting ourselves at the disposal of what is real is what trains us for true piety. His other recent books include Genesis: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible and Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible.
THE POWER OF INTERCESSION: THE PROPHET ELIJAH’S PRAYER
VATICAN CITY, 15 JUN 2011 (VIS) – In his general audience, held this morning in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope resumed his series of catecheses dedicated to the subject of prayer, focusing today on the Prophet Elijah “whom God sent to bring the people to conversion”.
The Holy Father explained how “upon Mount Carmel Elijah revealed himself in all his power as intercessor when, before the whole of Israel, he prayed to the Lord to show Himself and convert people’s hearts. The episode is recounted in chapter 18 of the First Book of Kings”.
“The contest between Elijah and the followers of Baal (which was, in fact, a contest between the Lord of Israel, God of salvation and life, and a mute and ineffective idol which can do nothing for either good or evil) also marked the beginning of a confrontation between two completely different ways to address God and to pray”. The oblations of the prophets of Baal “revealed only the illusory reality of the idol … which closed people in the confines of a desperate search for self”.
On the other hand, Elijah “called on the people to come closer, involving them in his actions and his prayer. … The prophet built an alter using ‘twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob’, … to represent all Israel. … Elijah then addressed the Lord calling Him Lord of the fathers, thus implicitly recalling the divine promises and the history of choice and alliance which had indissolubly united the Lord to His people”.
The prophet’s request “was that the people might finally and fully come to know and understand Who their God is, and make the decisive decision to follow only Him. Only in this way could God be recognised as Absolute and Transcendent”. Only in this way would it be clear that “no other gods could be placed at His side, as this would deny His absoluteness and relativize Him”.
Benedict XVI highlighted how
“believers must respond to the absoluteness of God with absolute and total love, a love involving all their lives, their energies, their hearts. … In his intercession, Elijah asked of God what God Himself wished to do: to show Himself in all His mercy, faithful to His nature as Lord of life Who forgives, converts and transforms”.
“The Lord responded unequivocally, not only burning the offering but even consuming all the water that had been poured around the altar. Israel could no longer doubt: divine mercy had responded to its weakness, to its doubts, to its lack of faith. Now Baal, the vain idol, was beaten and the people, who seemed lost, had rediscovered the way of truth, they had rediscovered themselves“.
The Holy Father concluded by asking himself what this story has to tell us today.
“Firstly”, he said, “is the priority of the first commandment of God’s Law: having no god but God. When God disappears man falls into slavery, into idolatry, as has happened in our time under totalitarian regimes and with the various forms of nihilism which make man dependent on idols and idolatry, which enslave”. Secondly, he continued, “the main objective of prayer is conversion: the fire of God which transforms our hearts and makes us capable of seeing God and living for Him and for others”. Thirdly, “the Church Fathers tell us that this story is … a foretaste of the future, which is Christ. It is a step on the journey towards Christ”.
AG/ VIS 20110615 (590)
Published by VIS – Holy See Press Office – Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The Resilient Church with Mike Aquilina, offers a fascinating look at the trials and triumphs of the Catholic Church over the past two thousand years. Fast-paced sketches of critical periods in church history give readers perspective on the challenges faced by the church today. Mike Aquilina does not shrink from the realities of the past, including badly behaved leaders and those who betrayed the Lord. Yet he also leaves us all with well-founded hope for the future: God remains faithful in every circumstance and fulfills his promise to remain with his church always. Hosted by Kris McGregor
Episode 3 – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran, hosted by Bruce McGregor. Ep 3 – “The Word become flesh and made His dwelling among us…” continuing The Prologue to the Holy Gospel According to St. John.
Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your every day life.
Episode 3 – Continuing the Prologue to the Gospel According to St. John. Sharon and Bruce begin with John chap 1 v 14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” They discuss the greatness and humility of John the Baptist. What it was like to be a Jew in the first century. Where was Jesus really baptized (think you know?) “The Lamb of God”…what does this mean?
“Seeking Truth” is an in depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to: www.seekingtruth.net
Objection 1: It seems this doctrine is not a matter of argument. For Ambrose says (De Fide 1): “Put arguments aside where faith is sought.” But in this doctrine, faith especially is sought: “But these things are written that you may believe” (Jn. 20:31). Therefore sacred doctrine is not a matter of argument.
Objection 2: Further, if it is a matter of argument, the argument is either from authority or from reason. If it is from authority, it seems unbefitting its dignity, for the proof from authority is the weakest form of proof. But if it is from reason, this is unbefitting its end, because, according to Gregory (Hom. 26), “faith has no merit in those things of which human reason brings its own experience.” Therefore sacred doctrine is not a matter of argument.
On the contrary, The Scripture says that a bishop should “embrace that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9).
I answer that, As other sciences do not argue in proof of their principles, but argue from their principles to demonstrate other truths in these sciences: so this doctrine does not argue in proof of its principles, which are the articles of faith, but from them it goes on to prove something else; as the Apostle from the resurrection of Christ argues in proof of the general resurrection (1 Cor. 15). However, it is to be borne in mind, in regard to the philosophical sciences, that the inferior sciences neither prove their principles nor dispute with those who deny them, but leave this to a higher science; whereas the highest of them, viz. metaphysics, can dispute with one who denies its principles, if only the opponent will make some concession; but if he concede nothing, it can have no dispute with him, though it can answer his objections. Hence Sacred Scripture, since it has no science above itself, can dispute with one who denies its principles only if the opponent admits some at least of the truths obtained through divine revelation; thus we can argue with heretics from texts in Holy Writ, and against those who deny one article of faith, we can argue from another. If our opponent believes nothing of divine revelation, there is no longer any means of proving the articles of faith by reasoning, but only of answering his objections—if he has any—against faith. Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered.
Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your every day life.
Episode 2 – The Prologue to the Gospel According to St. John. Sharon and Bruce also discuss many aspects of a central tenet of our faith…The Trinity and the divinity of Jesus. They also talk about John the Baptist, Moses and the Ark of the Covenant, as well as the influence of the Early Church Fathers.
“Seeking Truth” is an in depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to: www.seekingtruth.net
in Exile”, is a tremendous gift to us all. With all of the impressive clarity and tender insight you have come to expect from Joseph Pearce, this biography of the great Russian writer covers the lifespan of this incredible figure of the 20th century. Joseph goes to the “heart” of the man, his Christian faith. With that illumination, he sheds a whole new understanding of his contribution to literary thought, Catholic Social Doctrine, and the value and dignity of each human person. He allows Alexander Solzhenitsyn to speak for himself, and what he has to say is so important it shouldn’t be missed.
