Monday, July 6, 2020

ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS -- JESUS EXPLAINS THE SCRIPTURES EPISODE 4 PART 1 TYPOLOGY IN THE BOOK OF EXODUS



The Exodus is an event that foreshadows and parallels the ultimate act of redemption and revelation in Jesus Christ. The apostles, the early Church fathers, and the Church have always seen these spirit-inspired signs.

These are some of the most important events in Exodus that prefigure the redemption of Jesus Christ.

  • Deliverance from bondage in Egypt prefigures Christians deliverance from the slavery of sin
  • Crossing the Red Sea prefigures sacramental Baptism
  • Passover feast celebrates the Exodus and the passing over of the Angel of Death, protecting all first borns of the Israelites.  The Passover meal foreshadows the Sacrament of the Eucharist. During the Last Supper, at a Passover meal,  Jesus initiated the Sacrament of the Eucharist, changing ordinary bread and wine into his own body and blood. Christ, the true Passover Lamb, delivers all of us from death into life.
  • Manna in the desert, water from the rock, the bronze serpent, and many other details of the Exodus story, foreshadow the full revelation story that begins with the Incarnation of Jesus and is revealed in the New Testament.
  • The tabernacle, housing the Ark of the Covenant, represents the humanity of Jesus, as well as the heavenly sanctuary, the Church, and the body of Christ.  Today in every Catholic Church there is a tabernacle that holds the consecrated bread, the living body of Christ.

Exodus is probably the most important book of the Bible.  In terms of the Israelites, it is in the Exodus that they become a nation.  For all mankind, it is in the story of Exodus where God begins a long-lasting, physical and personal relationship with His Creation through Moses and where he lays out the Law in which man learns how to follow in God's way.  Exodus influences the entire Old Testament, and it is in Exodus where quite a bit of the foreshadowing of the New Testament and God's final plan of man's redemption is foretold.


Exodus is the greatest redemptive event in the Old Testament to which subsequent revelation points to again and again.  An example of this is in the phrase from Hosea 11:1

"Out of Egypt I called my son."

In Exodus 4:22, the first reference for this phrase is to Israel.  God says, "Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, 'Let my son go.'" In the New Testament, (Matthew 2:13-15) Jesus is brought to Egypt by Mary and Joseph, escaping the wrath of Herod and then, after Herod's death, they eventually return to Israel.  This event fulfills the prophecy of Hosea 11:1 This establishes the Israel Typology, whereas the ultimate Israel is Jesus himself.  



Another precursor to this story is in the Book Of Genesis. It is in the final stories of Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) and his twelve sons, the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Pay special attention to the Genesis stories of Jacob's sons, how they sold Joseph into slavery where he eventually ended up in Egypt.  Joseph rises out of slavery and becomes an aide to the Pharaoh.  His position allowed him to bring his family to Egypt to help them survive the famine in the Promise Land.  And it was this event that resulted in the 400 years of the descendants of the 12 tribes to be in Egypt and enslaved at the time Moses appears on the scene. Joseph's act to save his brothers, the ancestors of Israel, foreshadows St. Joseph who brought Jesus (the ultimate Israel) to Egypt to survive the threat of Herod.  

It is clear that typology was noted very early in the history of the Church.  St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 5:7, refers to Christ as the Passover Lamb where he clearly links Jesus to the Exodus as the saving force.  Christ is also linked as the new Moses, as well as the Ultimate Israel, as He leads His People (the Church) to the new Promise Land.  


The earliest Gospel, written by Mark, also constantly refers indirectly to the Exodus of the Old Testament, by using the language of the Prophet Isaiah.  Isaiah picks up the Exodus theme again and again, sometimes referring to it in the past and sometimes using it as a way of talking about the impending Babylonian exile where the people are being cast out of the land again and will be drawn back by God.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Mark is thinking profoundly, relating the Old Testament to the New Testament and clearly seeing that Isaiah's "living" prophecy not only refers to the past, but also to the time of Jesus.  Mark's writings, which will become the New Testament, are truly the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

Mark was a disciple of Paul who frequently taught using typology.  Paul was educated by Gamaliel, a leading authority of the Sanhedrin, and as a result, St. Paul had a deep understanding of the Old Testament. Many of Paul's letters refer to the sins of the Israelites during the Exodus and used them as examples for Christ's Church, teaching the early Christians, as well as present day Christians, what we must avoid in order to reach the New Promise Land.

TYPOLOGY OF EXODUS EXPLAINED BY ST. PAUL


Typology is one method of revelation in Divine Teaching.  Through this method, God orchestrates the people, places, and events of the past to foreshadow future situations.  God gives us deep truths if we can recognize the connections.  

St. Paul’s writings also teach us through typology (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 128-129).  He highlights the Exodus from Egypt by teaching us that this foreshadowing is intended to instruct and exhort God’s people. The Church has used this method since the very beginning of its preaching.  Paul exhorts all Christians to not repeat the sins of the Israelites because, as a result of their sins, many did not inherit the Promised Land and he did not want that outcome for the early Christians.  Paul only mentions the Old Testament references in brief.  But, by introducing this typology, Paul wants us to contemplate these events even more deeply. 

Paul teaches the meaning behind the supernatural food and drink God gave the Israelites during their years of wandering in the desert.   Every day the Israelites woke up to find manna (which looked like a white wafer) on the ground and their water was miraculously provided from the rock that Moses struck each day.  This is the prefiguring of the Body and Blood of the Eucharist. The progression of this story starts with the first miracle Jesus performs which was to turn Water into Wine -- his last miracle, at the Last Supper, was to turn Wine into his Blood. The miracles of feeding the crowds from a few loaves of Bread progresses to the Bread at the Last Supper which is changed into his Body.  The supernatural food and drink of Exodus prefigures the supernatural food we have today in the Holy Eucharist.




Paul recalls other events of the Exodus as a foreshadowing of our Christian experience.  As the Israelites passed from slavery to freedom through the Red Sea, we pass from the slavery of sin into freedom in Christ through the waters of Baptism.  We begin our earthly pilgrimage as members of God's covenant family and the goal for us is the promise land of heaven.  Throughout this journey, Christ (the new Moses) is our guide and God is always with us. Our earthly pilgrimage will be like the Exodus of Egypt, our supernatural food is the Eucharist, which gives us the supernatural power that enables us to have faith, be obedient and to love God.  Even though our journey will be arduous, we must learn from the mistakes of the Israelites to never give up on God.  Even though we have struggles and sufferings to endure, we must place our full hope and trust in our heavenly Father.  We must learn from the sins of our ancestors to remain faithful even amid our hardships.  Our goal is heaven, but entry into this promise land is not guaranteed. As Paul writes, "Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction... therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 19: 1-12)






The Typology in the Book of Exodus

 will continue in

 Episode 4 Part 2 of Jesus Explains the Scriptures.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Is Jesus Christ Truly Present in the Eucharist at Roman Catholic Masses?



What is one of the biggest problems in the Catholic Church?  Is it not wanting to go to Confession? (Why do I have to go to a priest to confess my sins?) NO it isn't.  Maybe not being able to eat meat on Fridays during Lent?  Nope, that is not it either.  Nor is it having to go to Mass EVERY Sunday, though there are many  Chreasters out there, (a portmanteau of Christmas and Easter). The BIGGEST problem is that ~70% of Catholics do not believe that the Holy Eucharist is truly the Living Body and Blood of Jesus Christ!  I hope you find that as shocking as I did...but with that great of  a number  who do not believe one of the most important tenets of our Faith, YOU may be one of them.  

From the very beginnings of the Catholic Church, which is traced back to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the number one and most important tenet of the Faith was just that.... Jesus is truly in the Eucharist.  The Bread and Wine is not merely a symbol of Jesus' body and blood... it is His Body and Blood.  And Jesus proclaimed that himself, many times throughout his ministry, before he would die for us on the cross. 

In the Bread of Life discourse of John's Gospel, (John 6:48-64) Jesus tells his disciples:
  "I AM  the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."  "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink."  
Many of his disciples, when they heard this, grumbled and were shocked by what he said as no Jew would ever eat meat and blood together never mind eat the body and blood of a man.  

Did Jesus stop them and say, "No I was just kidding!" or did Jesus say "I meant that as symbolic? "  No, Jesus never soften his teaching  on this.  And to further explain what he was saying when Jesus said "eat" my flesh he used the word that meant "gnaw" on it to further stress the act of eating.  The Jews at that time were very familiar with symbolic language and knew Jesus was not talking symbolically when he said this.  They understood exactly what he was saying, but could not accept it, they lacked faith in Jesus and they left him.  Jesus did not compromise,  He turned to his Apostles his closest followers and asked them if they would leave him too?

(Interesting side note to this part of John's Gospel: John 6:66 is the verse: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."  The number 666 is symbolically the number of the devil, the antichrist, or evil in general.)  However, in the time when John wrote his gospel, he did not put in chapter numbers or verse numbers, they were only added much later.  I find this an interesting connection, possibly more than a mere coincidence. Perhaps something to take note of.)

To further show the importance of the Eucharist there are many foreshadowings of the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist throughout the Old Testament and even the New Testament. I will show you just a few. 

In Exodus, the Hebrews were protected from the final plague when they followed the instructions Moses gave them for the Passover Meal.  At the first Passover Meal, a lamb was sacrificed. Its blood was painted on the lintels of the houses so that the angel of death would pass over those houses; saving them from death.  And then the lamb was totally consumed.  It was in following these instructions that they were saved.  The Passover Meal is one of the most important traditions of the Jewish faith, practiced for thousands of years even up to this day.  It was a lamb that saved the Israelites.  Jesus often called himself the lamb of God.  He is the TRUE Lamb  and his blood was shed for the salvation of the World. It was the Passover Meal that Jesus was celebrating when He gave us the gift of the Eucharist fulfilling the Old Testament foreshadowing of the life saving meal.

At the Wedding Feast at Cana, Jesus performs his first miracle.  He  had the servants fill the water containers that were used to wash the feet of the guest, not the empty wine containers.  These were huge water containers, much larger than the containers that held the wine. And Jesus had the servants fill them to the brim.  After blessing the water (a sacramental act) the water turned into wine. And not ordinary wine but the best wine according to the wine steward. This first miracle foreshadows his last miracle that Jesus performs at the Passover feast with his disciples.  There he takes ordinary bread and wine and blesses it and turns it into his body and blood--eternal food and drink.

In the story where Jesus fed the vast number of people with the loaves of Bread and Fish that story is a foreshadowing of the Mass.  Jesus sits down with the crowd seated at his feet. (the posture of a teacher and his students)  That foreshadows the Liturgy of the Word  at our Mass where we hear the readings of the Old Testament and the New Testament and the significance each has in the story of our salvation. 


In this Bible story, Jesus wants to care for the crowd that followed Him  into the deserted place by feeding them. He performs a miracle of turning a few loaves of Bread and a few fish into enough food so that thousands of people may be satisfied of their hunger.  Just as in the story of Exodus, where God showered the Israelites with Manna from Heaven for them to eat.  Both of these incidents foreshadow the Breaking of the Bread at the Last Supper, where Jesus institutes the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Just before Jesus is put to death, He desires to leave his disciples an everlasting gift.  Jesus performs his final miracle.  He turns ordinary bread and wine into his Body and Blood and then commands his Apostles to "Do THIS in Memory of Me." He did not say let this be a symbol of my Body and Blood... but rather said, "This IS my body which will be given up for you. This IS my blood which will be shed for you."  Jesus did not speak of symbols but of truth.  I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.


Why do so many Catholics not believe this as Truth?  Is it because it still looks and tastes like bread and wine?  Is it because they don't understand? Do they lack the knowledge?  Did you know that throughout all the history of the Catholic church the Eucharist was always proclaimed as the REAL presence of Jesus Christ.?   How many of the early Christian martyrs  died for this belief?  Every one of them! That in itself is a remarkable testament of their faith.  The First century writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Justin the Martyr proclaimed it was truly the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.  Third century Origen of Alexandria so strongly believed it to be the body of Christ that he was so careful handling it that not even a crumb should be dropped to the ground.  

The most important aspect of the Eucharist and its reality is to consider who gave it to us.  Jesus is the Son of God or as John called him in his gospel: In the beginning was the Word and the Word  was with God and the Word was GOD!  Jesus, before he took on human form through his incarnation, was the Word of God.  The significance of that is God spoke the Word, Let there be light and there was light.... what God says has great significance. His Word results in change, in creation.  Jesus spoke the words: "This IS my BODY, This IS my BLOOD,"  he did not say, this is a symbol of my body and blood he says this IS.  If you believe in God and his Word made Flesh then there is no logical reason to not believe that when he said those words and also said "Do THIS in memory of ME" that he was telling the truth!

St Thomas Aquinas said this about the Eucharist

"Material food first changes into the one who eats it, and then, as a consequence, restores to him lost strength and increases his vitality. Spiritual food, on the other hand, changes the person who eats it into itself. Thus the effect proper to this Sacrament is the conversion of a man into Christ, so that he may no longer live, but Christ lives in him; consequently, it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual strength he had lost by his sins and defects, and of increasing the strength of his virtues.” (St. Thomas, Commentary on Book IV of the Sentences, d.12, q.2, a.11)




Another important aspect of the Eucharist and its reality is to consider when did Jesus give us this gift.  It was the last act he performed before his death.  Jesus knew he was to sacrifice his life for us and when it was to happen.  So he left us, whom he loved in this world, the most significant gift he could give all of us...  Himself, his very presence, for all time, while we, his creation, lived on this Earth.  So after the Passover meal, at the creation of His new church, He gave us his body and blood for all eternity.  He gave the Apostles, the leaders of His church, the power to change common bread and wine into his body and blood, soul and divinity, and gave them the order to DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.  Would you or could you ever deny this wondrous life-given gift which once consumed we have Jesus living within us and HE becomes the inner strength within us? Would you be one of those follower who find this too hard to believe?

And let me ask you to consider the following.  If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for you, and you believe that he rose from the dead, and you believe he ascended into heaven...why is it you can't believe that the Holy Eucharist is truly his body and blood, a final gift of food from God to strengthen you through your life's journey on earth?  If you believe in God and all that Jesus Christ taught and all he did to save you from sin, why can't you believe he can change ordinary bread and wine into his own body and blood?  Maybe because some of us lack understanding?  Maybe because some of us need to strengthen our Faith?  

Might I suggest that you read the Bible and pay special attention to the stories about food: the forbidden fruit, the manna in the desert, the significance of the "Bread of Presence"-- (Showbread in the Jewish Tabernacle which was lifted up at the Jewish festivals and proclaimed as "God's love for you!"), the Last Supper, the followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and the many other stories throughout the entire Bible that deal with food and bread and wine.  They all have significance to open up your hearts to believe that Jesus is with us always, until the end of time in the Body and Blood that we receive every Sunday in the Holy Eucharist.  



The ultimate means by which we understand Jesus Christ is not the Scriptures, but the Eucharist, for the Eucharist is Christ himself, personally and actively present.  The embodiment of the Paschal Mystery, the Eucharist, is Jesus' love for the world unto death, his journey into god forsakenness in order to save the most desperate of sinners, his heart broken open in compassion.
--Bishop Robert Barron



Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,
 which the Son of Man will give you.
John 6:27



"and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
John 20:27

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Lenten Reflection: WHAT JESUS DID TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS...HOW ARE WE LIVING OUR LIVES TO DESERVE THE LOVE HE POURED OUT TO US

I saw this on Facebook and just had to share this with you
At the age of 33,
Jesus was condemned to death .
At the time
Crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst
Criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was
Even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike
Other criminals condemned to death by
Crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the
Cross by His hands and feet.
Each nail
Was 6 to 8 inches long.
The nails
Were driven into His wrist. Not
Into His palms as is commonly
Portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that
Extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew
That when the nails were being hammered into the
Wrist that tendon would tear and
Break, forcing Jesus to use His back
Muscles to support himself so that He could
Breathe.
Both of His feet
Were nailed together. Thus He was forced to
Support Himself on the single nail that
Impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could
Not support himself with His legs because of the pain
So He was forced to alternate between arching His
Back then using his legs just to continue to
Breathe. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the
Suffering, the courage.
Jesus endured this
Reality for over 3 hours.
Yes,
Over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of
Suffering? A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water
From his wounds.
From common images
We see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound
To His side... But do we realize His wounds
Were actually made in his body. A hammer
Driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped
And an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a
Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But
Before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and
Beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the
Flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His
Face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The
Crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. Most men
Would not have survived this torture.
He had no more blood
To bleed out, only water poured from His
Wounds.
The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters
(just less than a gallon) of blood.
Jesus poured all 3.5
Liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His
Members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond
That, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His
Chest..
All these without
Mentioning the humiliation He suffered after carrying His own
Cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his
Face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight,
Only for its higher part, where His hands were
Nailed).
Jesus had
To endure this experience, to open the
Gates of Heaven,
So that you can have free
Access to God.
So that your sins
Could be "washed" away. All of them, with no exception!
Don't ignore this situation.
JESUS
CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!
He died for you! It
Is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos by e-mail, but
When it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward
To others because you are worried of what they may think
About you.
God
Has plans for you, show all your friends what He experienced
To save you. Now think about this! May God bless your
Life!
60
Seconds with God...
For the next 60
Seconds, set aside what you're doing and take
This opportunity! Let's see if Satan can stop
This.
All you have to do
Is:
1. Simply
Pray for the person who sent this message to
You:
2.Then, send this
Message to people.. The more the better.
3. People will
Pray for you and you will make that many people pray to God
For other people.
4. Take a
Moment to appreciate the power of God in your life, for
Doing what pleases Him.
If you are not
Ashamed to do this, please, follow Jesus' instructions.
He said (Matthew 10:32 & 33): "Everyone therefore
Who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge
before My Father in heaven; but whosoever denies Me
before others, I will deny before my Father in heaven."