Some thoughts on bilocation

September 23^rd, Feast of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Last year on the feast of St. Pio, I wrote a little article about the mysterious gift of bilocation. In that article, which you can read here, I pointed out just how great a mystery this phenomenon truly is. Today I would like to revisit this discussion, including some of the major lines of response which people took in the comment box.

What's in a name? Matthew or Levi

September 21^st, Feast of St. Matthew

The birthday of St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist, who suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia while engaged in preaching. The Gospel written by him in Hebrew was found by his own revelation during the time of Emperor Zeno, together with the relics of the blessed apostle Barnabas. (From the Roman Martyrology)

Caravaggio’s masterpiece depicts the calling of St. Matthew, who was once a tax-collector but became both an apostle and evangelist. The calling of Matthew is most clearly described in Matthew 9:9ff. However, it is interesting to note that both Luke and Mark seem to describe the same scene, only they give a different name for the publican, calling him Levi.

Thus, we are led to consider why it was that Luke and Mark called Matthew “Levi”, and why Matthew called himself by his own proper name. Moreover, we must consider the meaning of these two names, and what mystery is hidden behind the conversion of the son of Alpheus (not of the Alpheus, called Cleopas, father of James and Jude; but the son of a different Alpheus).

Fr. Ryan Erlenbush - Sermon on the gift of time, September 18th

The homily of Father Ryan Erlenbush for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, on the parable of the workers in the vineyard.
Time is a great gift from God, it is the opportunity both to convert from sin and to merit greater glory.
The parable of the vineyard laborers is really all about the ages of the history of salvation.
Father Ryan's Sunday Sermons: The gift of time, Sermon of September 18th

The mystical interpretations of the "hours" of the Sunday Gospel

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 20:1-16a

The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.

As the Fathers of the Church consider the parable of the landowner who hired laborers throughout the hours of the day and, at the end of the day, paid them all the equal daily wage (i.e. one denarius); they recognize that the reward of heaven is equal on one level, insofar as all receive the one denarius (signifying the eternity of heaven), and diverse on another level (insofar as each receives a diverse glory throughout eternity).

What is more, the Church Fathers see that the various workers called at the diverse hours of the day (the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours) represent the progressive covenants which God established throughout the ages.

The real meaning of "noon", How the ancient Jews (and medieval Christian monks) continue to influence modern society

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 20:1-16a

Going out about nine o’clock […] And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock […] Going out about five o’clock […]

The parable of the landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard throughout the day, even hiring some at the last hour of the working day, and yet paid them all equally (giving each the usual daily wage). The Lectionary, following the New American Bible, renders the hours of the day in a way that is understandable to modern Westerners: Nine o’clock, noon, three o’clock, and five o’clock.

The original Greek text, however, speaks of the times of the day according to the old Jewish manner of counting time. As we consider this ancient method of measuring the day, we will see what the true meaning of “noon” is, and how both the ancient Jews and the medieval monks continue to influence even the most secular people of the modern day.

St. Thomas isn't "dry" - Just look at his meditation of the sorrow of Christ and his Mother

September 15^th, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

It has become popular of late to claim that St. Thomas Aquinas (and all the other scholastics with him, excepting [perhaps] St. Bonaventure) was a dry and boring author. “Sure”, some will say, “he was a great thinker and did much to help explain the faith with clarity; but there is no feeling and nothing which grasps the reader’s heart.”

Indeed, quite sadly, this derogatory style of speech is common even to our Holy Father Pope Benedict who scarcely misses an opportunity to point out that St. Augustine is more human than St. Thomas (at least in terms of his theological writings). Now, I am not sure who soured our Holy Father to the writing-style of St. Thomas, but that man did Pope Benedict a great disservice – as we shall see, St. Thomas isn’t dry at all! [Certainly, the Common Doctor is no more “dry” than St. Augustine can be, as anyone who has attempted to read The City of God has discovered.]

Why the True Cross is the greatest relic

Crucem tuam adoramus, Domine!

September 14^th, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

We worship your cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify your holy resurrection, for the wood of the cross has brought joy to the world. (Antiphon from Morning Prayer)

The True Cross of our Savior Jesus Christ is the greatest and most precious of all relics. It is only to the True Cross, from among all other relics, that the Christian faithful are instructed to genuflect. Every other image and relic (whether of our Lord or of any of the saints) is venerated by a bow, but the relic of the True Cross is adored and worshiped with a genuflection!

The theologians debate as to whether we truly worship and adore the Cross with the adoration of latria – the Thomists, following the best of both reason and faith, maintain that we do in fact worship the Cross with latria; but others (tending toward a literalist reading of certain texts from the early Church) hold that we do not worship the Cross but only give it veneration.

The Church herself speaks quite boldly when she declares in the Sacred Liturgy that the Cross of Christ is our only hope (O Crux, ave, Spes unica!) and directs us to worship the Cross (Ecce lignum Crucis … Venite, adoremus). Finally, in the Benedictus antiphon for today’s feast in the Novus Ordo breviary, the Church proclaims: “We worship your cross, O Lord” (Crucem tuam adoramus, Domine).

Why, then, is the True Cross venerated and even worshiped as the greatest of all relics?