The Scriptural Deacon

To fully understand the effect the Fall had upon Man and creation itself, we have to deepen our knowledge into how God original intended his image to function in the world. For us to do this we must return to the very famous words from Genesis Chapter One. There God says,  “Let us make man in our  image , after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own  image , in the  image  of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (1:26-28) Since this passage is so full, we will only unpack what we really need for our current purpose here....

The Gospel Reading of the Eastern Church for the Feast of Pentecost (John 7:37-52; 8 :12) includes these very famous words from Jesus, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) What darkness is Jesus talking about? What life does he promise to give? The whole Feast of Pentecost hinges on these two questions and for that matter, so does the Christian faith and gospel.  Darkness more than anything else in confusion and chaos, the absence of God and his powerful love filled grace. The Bible opens with the great problem of darkness, but God through creation, fills his new world with light and overcomes the darkness. But what does man, the one charged to help God fill the world with light do? He disobeys God and returns to darkness, to the land of exile away from God’s presence. This is the result sin and idolatry, they move us further from God and one another, thus breaking our fundamental bonds of rela...

Today we hear those very famous words, “God is Love” (1 John 4:7), but in a world where people are so quick to use the word “love”, it seems to just rolls of must peoples tongues now without a second thought. What then does it really mean to say that “God is love”? For us to truly open our minds and hearts to this divine love let’s look at a passage in the Bible that is all about love. It comes from a beautiful book called, “the Song of Solomon”. It’s a love poem between a bride and groom. At one point the bride sings, “My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my dove, my fair one, and come away; for behold, the  winter is past , the  rain  is  over  and  gone . The  flowers  appear on the earth, the time of  pruning  has come. The  fig  tree puts forth its  figs , and the  vines  are in  blossom ; they give  forth  fragrance.  Arise , my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove,...

This past Friday began as many of my Fridays do, at 4:30am up in my office/study. I prepared for the Bible Study that I lead with the Middle School students and for my homily at the school Mass which follows. Now the night before I received inspiration from a book that I read to two of our younger kids, Monica (4), Andrew (2). It's called "The Little Engine That Could". Yes God does give inspiration in strange places and I am open to anything. No matter what I am reading, thinking about, or experiencing, I aways like to see what I can gain and share from it. Life is full of "God Given" teaching moments, we just have to pay attention to them when they come. In the story a train full of circus worker and animals are trying to get over the mountain to take their treats to the kids who live on the other side. But sadly their train engine breaks down and they can not make it. They do not give up, three other engines come along but they all have excuses why...