Priest-2-Be

A letter regarding globalism...

2010-01-19T08:35:00.003-05:00

Dear Deb,

I, too, have found the topic of globalism facinating - and for reasons similar to yours.

What strikes me as particularly odd though, is the utilitarian foundation that is being laid for contemporary globalism: "We should all play nice because it is in each of our best interests to do so." One need not be a sage of Mosaic rank to know that building a globalist future upon a "what's in it for me, baby" philosophy is as prudent as building the family home on the sand doons of a coastal town.

It seems to me that true globalism must be grounded in religion, and, if this is true, then we have only three options:

1. Atheistic Communism (or Statism)
2. Islam
3. Christianity

Note: I believe that Budhism is an insufficient foundation for a true globalism because it offers no coherent rationale for a unified vision of humanity. Hinduism fails as a framework for globalism because its habit-of-life regarding problem resolution is pragmatic (see its method of integrating polytheism and pantheism) and as essentially utilitarian as the current proposed bases for globalism. Judaism would be an insufficent ground for the globalists' ideals because of its tendency to nationalism.

It should not surprise that I reject the first option because it is fundamentally materialistic (in the philosophical sense), and therefore, would require that the human orientation toward worship be suppressed or subjugated to a contigent and finite entity, the global state.

I would contend that the supremacy of maleness within Islam and the radical singularity of its conception of the deity render it unsuitable as a foundation for globalism. The former is revealed both in its teachings regarding the value of woman vis-a-vis man in time, and in its teachings regarding their relations in the afterlife. The latter is revealed in Islam's constant confession regarding the deity, "Allah: The one and only God, creator and sustainer of the universe."

Since Allah knows nothing of the experience of personal relations within himself, Islam has no internal safeguards against the depersonalization of the faithful. This radical singularity is fundamental to Islam's understanding of the ground of all existence. If the deity is both utterly sufficient in itself and devoid of interior relations, then the human experience of interdependency and interrelationship is a weakness, and not a genuine and fundamental good as we intuit it to be.

I am convinced that if contemporary globalism were to adopt an Islamic cast, then globalism would become a powerful tool for the resubjugation of women. Eventually, as the practical implications its concept of the deity is worked out, this globalist world order would erode and eradicate the personalist cast that has developed within the Judeo-Christian West.

The following considerations lead me to adopt the view that Christianity is the only sufficient ground for a true and genuinely human globalism:

1. Christianity affirms that the human race is a single family, and, as such, grounds our inter-relations upon the obligations of kinship.

2. Christianity affirms that each human person is made to the image and likeness of God, and, as such, every man and every woman possesses an equal dignity and worth.

3. Christianity affirms that inter-relations is fundamental to the ground of all existence, that in the one and only Divine being, there eternally exists three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and, as such, serves as a guardian of those essentially human values: love, compassion, justice, and mercy, etc.

4. Christianity affirms that at the heart of the deity's mission toward the human race is an invitation to return to the Family Table, to come and dine with our one Father, and one Brother, in the Love made present by the one Spirit.

I am convinced that a genuine globalism requires Christianity. In fact, the desire for globalism is a vestige of the Christian culture that once served as the heart of Western Civilization. One might not unjustly note that the dialogical manner in which many seek to establish globalism is a without explanation were it not for the West's Judeo-Christian heritage.

Long live Jesus Christ, the First Globalist!

Image and resemblance...

2010-01-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

“The image of God present in man impels him towards resemblance; that is, towards an ever fuller identification between his will and the divine will.” ~ William of Saint Thierry

Devotion to Christ: The Fruit of the Marian Gaze

2009-12-31T18:19:00.002-05:00

"Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God." ~ The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostomos

The Intimacy of Christmas

2009-12-27T12:20:00.001-05:00

In Jesus, "we see God in our nature, coping with our world, meeting situations known to us. Outside Christianity there is nothing to compare with the intimacy of this knowledge." ~ Frank J. Sheed, Theology for Beginners

Wisdom, Mercy & Justice

2009-12-19T14:45:00.001-05:00

A wise judge may let mercy temper justice but may not let mercy undo it. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

The prisoner was you...

2009-12-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgiveness

Detecting forgiveness...

2009-12-18T21:38:00.001-05:00

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

It only takes one to forgive...

2009-12-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Forgiveness is not understanding...

2009-12-18T21:32:00.000-05:00

...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Forgiveness isn't tolerance...

2009-12-18T21:29:00.001-05:00

You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything... We don't have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive them for doing it. Forgiving heals us personally. To tolerate everything only hurts us all in the long run. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Forgive the wife-slammer

2009-12-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

Forgive a wife-slammer if you can. But you don't have to live with him. Forgive a husband who is abusing your children if you can. But only after you kick him out of the house. And if you can't get him out, get help. It's available. In the meantime, don't let him near the kids, and don't let anyone tell you that if you forgive him it means you have to stay with him. [There's an important difference between forgiving a person and tolerating their bad behavior.] ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Giving up on vegeance

2009-12-18T11:42:00.001-05:00

When you give up vengeance, make sure you are not giving up on justice. The line between the two is faint, unsteady, and fine...Vengeance is our own pleasure of seeing someone who hurt us getting it back and then some. Justice, on the other hand, is secure when someone pays a fair penalty for wronging another even if the injured person takes no pleasure in the transaction. Vengeance is personal satisfaction. Justice is moral accounting...Human forgiveness does not do away with human justice. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

The Problem with Revenge

2009-12-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

The problem with revenge is that it never gets what it wants; it never evens the score. Fairness never comes. The chain reaction set off by every act of vengeance always takes its unhindered course. It ties both the injured and the injurer to an escalator of pain...Why do family feuds go on and on?...the reason is simple: no two people, no two families, ever weigh pain on the same scale. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Ghandi was right

2009-12-18T11:23:00.001-05:00

Gandhi was right: if we all live by 'an eye for an eye' the whole world will be blind. The only way out is forgiveness. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Videotaped Vengeance

2009-12-18T11:13:00.001-05:00

Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind... And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again... Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory. Forgiving sets you free. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgiveness

Healed, but not deleted...

2009-12-18T11:07:00.001-05:00

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Failure's Real Name

2009-12-18T11:03:00.003-05:00

The rule is: we cannot really forgive ourselves unless we look at the failure in our past and call it by its right name. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Forgiving Evil

2009-12-18T10:56:00.001-05:00

When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

God's Remedy

2009-12-18T10:46:00.001-05:00

God invented forgiving as a remedy for a past that not even he could change and not even he could forget. His way of forgiving is the model for our forgiving. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, , The Art of Forgiving

God's Invention

2009-12-18T10:39:00.001-05:00

Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And he invites us all to forgive each other. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

The Original Forgiver

2009-12-18T10:18:00.005-05:00

God is the original, master forgiver. Each time we grope our reluctant way through the minor miracle of forgiving, we are imitating his style. I am not at all sure that any of us would have had imagination enough to see the possibilities in this way to heal the wrongs of this life had he not done it first. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Celebrating Lewis B. Smedes

2009-12-18T10:14:00.003-05:00

Every so often a single person impacts you in dramatic ways. Today, I will be celebrating one such person, Lewis B. Smedes. Enjoy the feast!

America's Promise: Freedom

2009-07-04T09:56:00.003-04:00

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

When Emma Lazarus penned these words, she pointed to the real hunger that America itself longed to fill in the hearts of those who would call her home: Freedom.

Wealth, glory and power are not her legacy. Even when America was the land of nobodies, before she attained a global footing, she was storied for her singular aspiration: Freedom.

Millions pressed her borders, not because America promised them a life free of failure, hardship or suffering. They came in answer to her solitary promise: Freedom.

They came because America said,

“We hold these truths to be self evident:
that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

If America forgets this, if her citizens trade this legacy for a pot of porridge, then the journey will have been in vain.

I have received few gifts in my life that are greater in their significance and value than the right to reside within the United States of America.

I offer this post in the hope that America will never forget
who she is, and what she has meant to the rest of the world.

Where God is...

2009-06-08T12:12:00.004-04:00

Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion
and God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our every affliction,
so that we may be able to encourage
those who are in any affliction
with the encouragement
with which we ourselves
are encouraged by God.
~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Ever wonder where God is
when you suffer?
He is wherever you are.
His name is Encouragement.

Wisdom's Pricetag

2009-06-07T16:43:00.004-04:00

Remember your Creator
while you are young.
~ Ecclesiastes 12:1

Too many have spent their lives
to acquire the wisdom
that the sage offers for free.

Whence cometh unhappiness?

2009-06-06T21:06:00.002-04:00

When I became a man,
I put away childish things.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:11

Our refusal
to embrace
adulthood
is the source
of much
unhappiness.

Facebook and the significance of words

2009-06-05T15:58:00.003-04:00

Let your words be
for the improvement of others...
and do good to your listeners.
~ Ephesians 4:29-30

Yes, words matter,
even in a Facebook generation!

What we do not know!

2009-06-04T18:40:00.002-04:00

Where were you
when I laid
the earth's foundations.
~ Job 38:4

We would do well
to appreciate
the limits
of human knowledge.

The Adorer's Treachery

2009-06-03T16:39:00.003-04:00

But now you must be holy
in everything you do,
just as God who chose you
is holy.
~ 1 Peter 1:15

Those who adore God
treat sin with treachery.

It's time to count again...

2009-05-18T16:49:00.005-04:00

"The hour is coming
when everyone who kills you
will think he is
offering worship to God."
~ John 16:2

Have you counted the cost lately?

2009-05-13T12:39:00.000-04:00

Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing."
~ John 15:5

When we embrace this reality
the world will be reborn.

Manners, Morals & Law

2009-05-11T09:05:00.001-04:00

The person who despises manners
will not delay long in throwing off
moral and legal restraints.

The exposure of desire

2009-05-04T10:34:00.003-04:00

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
~ Psalm 42:1

We may not much like it,
but our true selves
are laid bare
by the things
we desire.

The blindness of ingratitude

2009-05-02T00:03:00.005-04:00

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good He has done for me?
~ Psalm 116:12

Those blinded by ingratitude
never utter these words.

Why are we bored?

2009-05-01T11:07:00.012-04:00

The fool confuses familiarity with knowledge,
and wonders at life's banality.
The wise knows the difference
and is caught up in wonder!

Two Sons, One Mother

2009-04-29T21:44:00.000-04:00

Intellectual laziness and moral inattentiveness are twin sons of a single mother. Her name is "Indifference". Her motto, "Whatever".

Simultaneously bold and meek!

2009-04-28T15:14:00.006-04:00

"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you always oppose the Holy Spirit;...
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them";
and when he said this, he fell asleep.
~ Acts 7:51 & 60

Is it not curious that we often hear sermons extolling the virtue of Stephen's boldness or that of his humility, but rarely of his bold meekness? The real mystery of this instance of capital punishment is that the one who incited the violence is one and the same as the one who implored the Divine forbearance.

O that we would imitate Saint Stephen and be both bold and meek in the same moment.

Is politics doomed to godlessness?

2009-04-27T12:30:00.005-04:00

Today's Psalm puts the lie to the inevitability of the wedding of politics and godlessness:

Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
~ Psalm 119:23

Politicians are subject to the temptations common to all men and women. Our elected officials may choose to confront these assaults on virtue with the same arsenal as we do. They are free also to neglect these tools.

That many politicians are ensnared by power is no more a testimony to the inevitability of godlessness than our moral failures are to the inevitability of sin. The lives of Blessed Theresa of Calcutta and Saint Thomas More make clear that holiness is possible for the powerless and the powerful alike.

There remains no excuse for the moral cowardice of those who name the name of Christ when they are in the quest for the vote, yet abandon the command of Christ when they take counsel regarding the health of the nation.

Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
~ Psalm 119:24

Church precepts and healthy marriages...

2009-04-25T12:47:00.014-04:00

Have you ever noticed the uncanny similarity between the five precepts of the Church and the rudiments of a healthy marriage?

Precept 1: You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
Rudiment 1: Healthy marriages are built upon a foundation of consistent, well-spent time, punctuated by days of celebration.

Precept 2: You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
Rudiment 2: Healthy marriages are restored and sustained by frequent confession ("I'm sorry, please forgive me."). Wise couples do it daily, weekly and annually.

Precept 3: You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
Rudiment 3: Healthy marriages recognize that there's only one thing better than fessing-up, and that's making-up. Marital intimacy is the Eucharist of healthy marriages.

Precept 4: You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
Rudiment 4: Healthy marriages are marked by frequent sacrifices that show a husband's love for his wife and a wife's love for her husband.

Precept 5: You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
Rudiment 5: Healthy marriages are built upon the tireless efforts of husband's and wive's to secure a better life for one another.

One more thing: The precepts outline the very necessary minimum for growth in our love for God. In the same way, the health of a marriage is intimately connected to the frequency and care with which the rudiments are put into practice.

Immensity and madness

2009-04-24T07:08:00.002-04:00

It is not the immensity of the universe, but of human pride that drives men to unbelief. It is palpable madness for any creature to decry against the gods.

Scandal, folly or power?

2009-04-23T17:07:00.002-04:00

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son (John 3). The ancients got it right! The notion that the Creator would die so that the creature might live is either a scandal, folly or saving power. So...what do you say it is?

The death of peer pressure

2009-04-23T14:42:00.004-04:00

We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). This conviction undergirds and animates Christian integrity. It is the death of peer pressure.

Troublesome grace

2009-04-23T08:40:00.000-04:00

Grace is costly to the Savior and the saved alike. Free is not a synonym for easy. Many are the troubles of the just (Psalm 34).

The fearlessness of the godly

2009-04-22T06:09:00.000-04:00

Why ought the godly not cower? "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34).

Wonder and yawning

2009-04-21T18:05:00.000-04:00

Nicodemus speaks with Jesus and is caught up in wonder, "How can this happen?" (John 3). We witness baptismal and Eucharistic miracles and yawn. You tell me, "Who is closer to the truth?"

The Gospel's persistent embrace

2009-04-21T06:15:00.000-04:00

"There was no needy person among them" (Acts 4:34). Something tells me that there is more of me to be embraced by the Gospel than I let on.

Fists, laughter and courage

2009-04-20T14:07:00.000-04:00

Heaven laughs when the powerful raise their fists in protest against it (Psalm 2). God's amusement is the font of Christian courage.

Threats of boldness...

2009-04-20T08:24:00.000-04:00

O that we might be like the Apostles and pray for evangelistic boldness in the face of the threats of powerful men (Acts 4:23ff).

Getting to what and why.

2009-04-18T12:02:00.001-04:00

Get the "what" of human existence wrong, and you will never understand it's "why". Ontology reveals teleology.

Love and obedience...

2009-04-18T06:05:00.003-04:00

Those who think it strange that love is revealed in obedience understand neither obedience nor love. Jesus said, If you love me, you will...

Love and time...

2009-04-17T19:31:00.001-04:00

It has been said that to love is to will the good of another. But, is it possible that to love is to will the good of another over time.

Longing for humility

2009-04-16T10:31:00.001-04:00

May I always know the humility of the Apostles: "Why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?"

Coming and staying home

2009-04-11T23:38:00.003-04:00

Nine years ago, Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church welcomed my family home. It was good to come home. Its good to remain.

The heart of a mystery.

2009-04-11T17:06:00.000-04:00

The Resurrection is the Christian mystery's heart. Our understanding of God, ourselves and the world is meaningless apart from the empty tomb!

Two Sides

2009-04-09T19:56:00.000-04:00

The One who loves us is the One who will judge us. The One who can crush is the One who has come to save.

Maundy Mystery

2009-04-09T10:12:00.000-04:00

The mystery of Holy Thursday hinges upon the reality of the power and the legitimacy of the authority of the One who dons the servant's robe.

True/False?

2009-04-07T17:37:00.000-04:00

Allah is the same God Jews and Christians worship.

Novena for Vaughn's Vocation

2008-12-24T13:28:00.005-05:00

O God, Who wills not the death of a sinner but rather that he be converted and live, grant we beseech you, through the intercession of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, Saint Joseph her spouse, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and all the saints, an increase of laborers for Your Church, fellow laborers with Christ to spend and consume themselves for souls, and that you might confirm during this Christmas Octave your desire to have our brother, Vaughn Andrew Treco, be among these vineyard workers through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God Forever and ever. Amen

Good morning Friends,

In a few days - in the midst of the Christmas Octave - many of you will be receiving our latest Treco Family Update. As you can imagine, there will be much news to share with you at that time (updates regarding the my priestly formation, Norma, and each of the kids). As we prepare to send that update, we want to invite you to add your voices to ours in a special "Christmas Vocation Gift" novena!

During the next nine days, we will be praying a very special novena for Vaughn's vocation. Specifically, we are praying that our Lord will provide Vaughn with a clear word regarding his priestly vocation.

Over the past few years, many of you have been a source of tremendous spiritual support. Your gifts of prayers, words of encouragement, and your financial support are the instruments of God's power to us. We are here, humanly speaking, because of your faithful friendship. We are sending this email in the hope that you will take the time to ask the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to confirm - during this Christmas Octave (December 25th, 2008 - January 1st, 2009) - his desire to have Vaughn complete his journey to the altar.

If you are new to novenas: A novena is a nine-day cycle of prayers, offered to God for the purpose of securing a specific spiritual or temporal need. Once each day, for nine days in succession, a special prayer (or collection of prayers) is offered for a specific intention (or prayer request).

So, please storm the gates of heaven with us! And, may the Father of the heavenly lights, grant Vaughn - and our family - this incredible and special Christmas gift!

May the blessings of Advent and the Savior's arrival remain with you always!

With Christ's affection,
Vaughn & Norma Treco

MUSINGS - Do we really want to be holy?

2008-10-18T16:33:00.006-04:00

Ask any group of young people what it means to be holy and a good many will be at a loss for an answer. Ask them if they want to be holy and you’ll probably get what amounts to a “not really”!

This should alarm every Catholic parent! But, I must confess that I have only rarely witnessed a Christian parent get alarmed by their children’s lack of understanding of holiness or the absence of any real desire to be holy.

Summing up the call of the Gospel, Jesus once said, “Be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Later, the writer to the Hebrews put it similarly, “Strive for... that holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14).

If being holy is at the heart of the Gospel, and the key that opens the gates of heaven, then why are we — and our children — so passionless about it? Part of the reason is that the ideas about holiness that infect our minds and hearts are just plain wrong.

Tell the truth now, “Would you want to be holy if it meant that you would be unhappy, bored and devoid of the delights of marital intimacy?” The answer is, “NO!” And...Our children do not want to be holy because they agree with us!

We are convinced that holiness is boring, and that holiness will make us unhappy. And, we are certain that great sex and holiness just don’t mix. It’s no wonder that neither we nor our children are big fans of holiness.

In fact, it might not be too far from the truth to suggest that the only reason many of us ever think about being holy is because we don’t want to go to hell! But while the fear of hell might get us to straighten up our lives, to watch our moral p’s and q’s, it very rarely leads to the truly happy holiness that God wants for us!

Holiness is being perfect like God the Father. It is imitating God the Son. Thinking, speaking, desiring, loving and doing the things that Jesus thinks, speaks, desires, loves and does! Holiness is living life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Joy!

Let me put it another way. We are made in the image and likeness of God. Holiness, then, is the thing that enables each of us to become our truest, bestest, happiest selves! Holiness is the invitation to give up all that we are to God, so that He can give us our fullest selves in return! “Whoever loses his life my sake, will find it!” (Matthew 16:25)

Priesthood, religious life, marriage and virginity are each witnesses to the happy holiness that God wants for each of us. They are witnesses because they each in kind challenge us to freely and joyfully offer our entire selves to God! And, this is true holiness, a life-lived completely for the Other!

Jesus us commands us to “be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect” because he knows that it is in the pursuit and the attainment of holiness that we will find our God and ourselves!

Lord, give us eyes that see and ears that hear!

TRANSFORMATION IN CHRIST: Something Beautiful For God

2008-03-08T20:09:00.003-05:00

It's easy enough to reduce transformation in Christ to "following the rules". But, transformation in Christ is so much more! In this talk, Vaughn Treco - convert priest and Catholic seminarian - explores an often understated goal of the passion and death of our Lord: Jesus Christ laid down His life in order to make each of us "something beautiful for God" (See Ephesians 5:25b-27)

This short talk was given on Saturday, March 8th, 2008, as a part of the final session of the "Life In The Spirit Seminar" hosted by the Mother of Joy Charismatic Prayer Group at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Woodbridge, Virginia.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A couple of years ago my son, Michael, asked me to start recording the talks that I was giving in various settings in our parish and in our diocese. With a good bit of his assistance, and with him cheering me on I began doing just that. So, over the past year or so I have used a 5th Generation Apple iPod, a XtremeMac MicroMemo and MicroMemo lapel microphone to record my attempts to share the wonder of the Gospel.

By a singular grace I have been given the privilege to share the love of Jesus Christ in settings large and small. And it is my hope that by offering these talks on the Internet many more men and women will be captured by the beauty of the Lord.

I wish that I could offer these talks free of charge, but I cannot.

If you would like an audio CD of this talk, please make a donation of $10.00 using the PayPal donation link on his web page (it's in the left column). Be sure to include full name and your current shipping address. Assuming that I receive your donation before 3:00 pm, I will send your CD on the business day following the one on which I receive your donation.

LETTER - Mysterious tangibility...

2007-11-11T12:24:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon Lady of the Spirit,

Thanks for your note. I see we continue our 2-week read-write-response cycle.

I was happy to hear that you were able read my brief bio. My parents both left a very Catholic form of Anglicanism, so they share something of your dad's experience. Many people in the Plymouth Brethren tradition in which I was raised had left the Catholic and Anglican churches, so my own formation in the Faith was shaped by their pilgrimages away from those traditions. Sadly, I have few memories of their acknowledging anything positive occurring for them within Catholicism or Anglicanism.

Just after I was confirmed by the Episcopal bishop of Chicago, the Right Reverend James Winchester Montgomery, my dad said to me, "Why would God save us from that, just to have you return to it?" When I was leaving The Bahamas to be ordained a priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church, he said, "So you are saying that your mother and I have been wrong all our lives and you are right?" His sentiments were widely shared among the people who nurtured my love for Christ.

My own journey to Catholicism has been characterized by a series of ever deepening "WOW" moments concerning things about which I was quite familiar. Forgiveness. Grace. Faith. Mercy. Charity. Jesus. Mary. Communion. Fellowship. My first instruction in all these aspects of the Christian experience of the true, the good and the beautiful came at the hands and from the hearts of devote evangelical brothers and sisters. My journey to Catholicism enriched each of them, often adding a mysterious tangibility to them.

Shortly after I was embraced by Christ through the Catholic Church my dad asked me, "How can someone raised the way that I had been become a Catholic?" Almost without thought I found myself saying, "I became Catholic because of what you taught me!" The evangelical faith in which I was formed as a child and young man beckoned me into the depths of the Christian mystery, "that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself".

I pray that I will always follow the counsel of an Orthodox priest that I had occasion to meet on my journey to the Catholic Church. "Christians are called by God ever always to press themselves into the mystery that He is!" My mum and dad lit the spark of my desire to know and to be known by Christ. I pray that I will follow faithfully the Great Apostle's exhortation to Timothy, "fan the flame of the gift that you that is within you" (2 Timothy 1:6)!

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ lavish you and your husband with His love - and may all those blessed by your love enjoy the fruit God's generosity to you!

Always in Jesus Christ,
Vaughn

P.S. Norma sends her love to you and yours!

THE CHRISTIAN'S TRUE HOME: An Evangelical Pilgrimage to Rome

2007-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Family Background

I was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas. My parents, Herbert and Majorie Treco were both born and raised on Long Island in The Bahamas. They were baptized, confirmed and married within the Anglican Church. Although they attended church every Sunday throughout their childhood and young adult years, today they describe themselves as nominal Christians. In the mid-1950’s mom and dad both became born again Christians. Since that time they have lived consistently as devout Evangelical Protestants.

For many years, my father served as the leading Elder within Grace Community Church, the Plymouth Brethren congregation to which we belonged. My mother has assisted and led many evangelistic, catechetical and social ministries within the congregation. Together, they sought to nurture a love for Christ in the hearts of each of their eight children.

My parents have ten children: Gregory Daniel Treco (1952; Wife – Ola Mae Treco nee Matheny), Ramona Marjorie Treco Peet (1953; Husband – Cyril Ira Peet), Jacquelyn Grace Treco (1954 – Deceased), Joy Margarita Treco Coleby (1955; Husband – Gregory Coleby), Herbert Ricardo Glenmore Treco (1957; Wife – Jennifer Treco nee Knowles), David Jonathan Treco (1958 – Deceased), Melodie Erenie Treco Hanna (1960; Husband – Leroy Hanna), Timothy Appolos Treco (1961; Wife – Linda Treco nee Burrows), Vaughn Andrew Treco (1962; Wife – Norma Lorraine Treco nee Turner) and Daneen Petita Southworth Treco (1964; Husband – Robert Southworth).

Early Christian Experience

I grew up in a devout Evangelical Christian home. Our family life was characterized by a consistent desire to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Each morning my parents would awaken us for a time of Bible reading and family prayer. Frequently, my mother would gather the younger children about her and tell us stories of the saints of the Old and New Testament. Spiritual, moral and theological themes were center stage at many of our family meals. Each family gatherings was begun with prayer and more often than not, they closed with prayer.

Throughout my childhood I was constantly aware of my parents’ greatest desire for each of their children: that each of us would come to trust in Christ as our personal Saviour and Lord. I cannot recall a time when was not aware of the centrality of Christ to all of life or when I was unaware of his presence at home or at church. At about age five I gave my life to Christ. Several years later, my uncle, Rex Major, an evangelist and bible teacher among the Plymouth Brethren, baptized me.

High School Experience

During my high school years I remained actively involved in the youth ministries of our congregation. I helped to form “The Young and Free”, a youth singing group that performed at worship services and evangelistic outreaches on several of the islands of The Bahamas. Although I was not a model Christian youth, I helped to establish a group of Christian youth that traveled and hung out together at parties, dances and other high school events. “The Holy Rollers” – as we were nicknamed by our high school buddies – actively sought to keep each other accountable for living consistently with the Gospel. It was this group that sustained and nourished my continued growth in Christ. Several of our friends were won to Christ because of the witness of “The Holy Rollers”!

In addition to these specifically spiritual activities, my brother, Timothy, and I also helped to form and lead pop rock bands that represented our high schools in inter-high school musical competitions. Because of the prominence that these bands brought to us, Timothy and I were afforded many opportunities to give verbal and other witness to the claims of Christ and the wonder of the Gospel.

Later Christian Experience

Early in my university career I experienced a deeper conversion to Christ. This experience led me to study the Bible and examine more critically the specific claims of the Christian tradition within which I had been raised. As my studies progressed, I began to discover what I believed to be important inconsistencies between certain biblical texts, other historical facts and the claims made by the Plymouth Brethren.

After returning to Trinity College (now Trinity International University) and switching to a Biblical Studies and Psychology double major, I was introduced to Prof. William Moulder, a professor whose influence was to change the course of my spiritual life. Through Dr. Moulder’s encouragement, I began attending a high church Anglican parish in Northbrook, Illinois, Saint Giles’ Episcopal Church. Gradually, and within the context of a warm community, my wife and I were introduced to many things Catholic. The people of Saint Giles’ helped us to understand and to embrace two particularly difficult Catholic doctrines: baptismal regeneration and transubstantiation. Through their witness to Christ I was drawn to embrace the Ancient Faith as it had been received by the Anglican Communion and was confirmed shortly thereafter.

Despite my attraction to the Ancient Faith, however, I became increasingly uneasy about the growing moral confusion that seemed to pervade the Anglican Communion – and especially the Episcopal Church USA – at that time. As a result, I was unable to seek ordination within that communion.

Over the next few years I made a valiant effort to live as an Evangelical Christian. As an act of gratitude, I served as a Pastor-in-Training for Grace Community Church (hereafter GCC). After that time of service, GCC ordained me to the ministry and commissioned me as a church-planting pastor.

In November 1991, along with my co-founding pastor Clint Kemp, I helped give birth to New Providence Community Church (hereafter NPCC). Our vision was to establish a creedal Christian community with a radically contemporary approach to evangelism and Christian formation. Despite our noble intentions – and our efforts to capture this vision on paper – by the time of NPCC’s second anniversary it was becoming increasingly clear that Pastor Kemp and I were at odds concern that governing principle of the vision. In consequence, in the early days of January 1995, I resigned from the staff of NPCC.

From NPCC to the CEC

After resigning from NPCC, I made a commitment to enter an Apostolic Christian community. Despite this new commitment, my continued confidence that the Catholic Church was unfaithful to Christ kept me from even the slightest consideration of embracing its version of the Ancient Faith. As a result, in the company of a few families – Covenant Community Church – that had embraced this apostolic vision, I went in search of a community that was an orthodox expression of the Ancient Faith.

In the summer of the same year, I thought that we had found such a community, the Charismatic Episcopal Church of North America (hereafter CEC). After several months of correspondence and two personal visits to Kansas. Archbishop Randolph W. Sly invited the Covenant Community Church and I to enter the CEC together. Despite our apparent unity of mind and our previous commitment to enter an apostolic community together, however, each of the families with the Covenant Community Church found themselves divided concerning the decision to enter the CEC. As a result, we dissolved our community in order to allow each family to decide its future course.

Upon hearing of the congregation’s decision, Archbishop Sly invited me to relocate to Kansas and join his staff. In the summer of 1996, my wife, Norma, and our three children, Michael, Jacquelyn and Cathryn, sold our home and moved to Olathe, Kansas. In November 1996, I was ordained as a Deacon for the CEC, then in May of the following year I was ordained to the priesthood. Although I thought that I had finally found my place spiritually and theologically, my service to Archbishop Sly that was to be the final experience that would lead me home to the Catholic Church.

In January 1997, I began an examination of the apostolic credentials of the CEC. At first, this was an informal examination motivated by strictly personal concerns. Some time later, however, Archbishop Sly asked me if I would conduct a thorough examination of the CEC’s apostolic lineage and submit a report to him and to the CEC’s House of Bishops. I conducted the study as commissioned and discovered no less than three points at which the CEC’s apostolic lineage was either in dispute or unverifiable.

This study concluded with a recommendation that the CEC’s bishops seek re-ordination to the episcopate at the hands of the men known to be in possession of valid Catholic orders. On November 7, 1997, it culminated in the re-consecration of five of the CEC’s bishops by Dom Luis Fernando Castillo-Mendez, Primate of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil (hereafter ICAB), and two other bishops of that communion. Although I was unaware of it at the time, my study of the CEC’s apostolic credentials was to pave the way for my eventual departure from the CEC.

Since I was among the better-trained clergy within the Eastern and Central Province of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, I was invited to serve as the principle lecturer and dean of the Kansas Satellite campus of the CEC’s theological training school, Saint Michael’s Seminary. I served in this capacity from September 1996 through May 1998, when I relocated along with Archbishop Sly and four other families to establish a cathedral parish in Northern Virginia. In this capacity, I was charged with the responsibility to educate and form CEC candidates for the deaconate and priesthood in the doctrine and spirituality of the Ancient Faith.

My tenure as dean and principle lecturer for Saint Michael’s Seminary compelled me to give concrete and specific answers to a number of critical questions regarding the fundamental dogmas of the Ancient Church. As I gave answer to these questions, my sense of uneasiness with regard to the Spirit of Eastern Christianity which many prelates of the CEC seemed to have a predisposition to accept. Simultaneously, I became increasingly convinced of the validity of the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. By the time we were preparing to relocate, I was beginning to ask the question, “If I believe so much of what the Roman Catholic Church believes, then what is keeping me from entering her?”

In August 1999, as the first year of our relocation came to a close, I asked Archbishop Sly if I might be given a few weeks to decide the question of my continued service within the CEC or my conversion to Roman Catholicism. Almost immediately after Archbishop Sly had granted my request, I felt a tremendous freedom of mind. Shortly thereafter I took the decision to answer Christ’s call to enter the Church. I resigned from the CEC in September 1999, and entered the RCIA class at Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Great Falls, Virginia.

As my CEC exit interview was coming to a close, Archbishop Sly said to me, “You’ll be a nobody in the Roman Catholic Church. In the CEC you were somebody, a priest and Canon Theologian!” When he said those words I remembered the words of the psalmist that my mother had often quoted to me as a child, “Better [to] be a doorkeeper in the house of my God...” (Psalm 84:10)

At Easter Vigil of the Great Jubilee Year, my family and I were received into the Catholic Church. For my wife and I it had been a long and costly journey. Today, we continue to revel in the incredible kindness that God has shown us in drawing us beyond well-formed theological prejudices into the fullness of the life of the Son of His Love.

What awesome gifts has he given! With the riches of the sacraments our Lord has made it possible for me to serve him in significant pastoral – if not priestly – positions. When I entered the Church, I had relinquished all hope of ever using my pastoral gifts. But, our Lord had other plans. For the past three years, I have had the honor of serving the Catholic Diocese of Arlington as the Program Director for Marriage Preparation and Enrichment, and Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church, Woodbridge, Virginia, as its Youth Minister.

Since young adulthood, I have understood myself to have been called to serve as a Minister of Christ in his Church. This call has compelled, animated and invigorated my search for an ever-deepening understanding of what it means to serve our Lord in this way. While I was serving in the CEC I came to understand that the gifts and calling of God are ecclesially discerned, they are worked within the fellowship of the People of God. As I entered the Church, I did so with the confidence that –whatever my self-understanding – through the Church and its bishops our Lord would make his will known to me.

Today, I wait with renewed hope as I prepare for priesthood within the Catholic Church.

LETTER - Identifying "the Twelve"

2007-10-11T20:09:00.000-04:00

Good morning Friend,

I am so sorry for getting back to you so very late regarding your questions about the apostles. Hopefully, I am not too late to be of genuine assistance.

To keep the discussion clear, I will offer a preliminary comment then attempt to tackle each of your questions (or clusters of questions) in turn. It is important that you recognize that I am not aware of any dogmatic statements that specifically address your questions. I have, therefore, offered these answers within the context of a persistent desire to adhere to Christ and the Church with ever increasing fidelity.

Preliminary Comment: The first thing to note is that the during the decades in which the NT was being written, the word "apostle" has not yet acquired the character of a technical term. The same is true for many other words as well. Several other examples of terms that acquired a more-or-less technical character as the first century progressed are bishop, church, elder and deacon.

QUESTION: Ok, the 12 were apostles, and then there were 11, and then Matthias was added. And then if Paul, Barnabas, Andronicus and Junias and James were all "apostles"... When did the term "apostle" go out of style, and why? (Clement only speaks of "bishops.")

RESPONSE: The term "Apostle" never went out of style. As noted in my preliminary comment above, within the NT era, the term "apostle" had still not been reserved to the twelve disciples that Christ called to walk more closely with him during his earthly ministry and in whom he would establish the foundation of the Church (Matt 10; Mark 3; Luke 6). Within the NT both "the Twelve" and others who have been commissioned (that is, sent out or "apostled") by local churches (e.g. Antioch) are referred to as "apostles". As the second century dawned, and probably for the sake of clarity, the term was increasingly reserved as a reference to "the Twelve".

QUESTION: If it was so important in Acts 1 to maintain the number 12, when and why did the Church begin appointing more than 12 to the top echelon?

RESPONSE: First, it is important to recognize that your comment about the importance of "the number 12" is unrelated to your question concerning the Church's expansion of the number of men to "the top echelon". As with the emergence of the need for deacons, the need for collaborators in the work of the apostolic ministry occurred as the Christian Church expanded geographically and numerically. Initially, it appears that the apostles appointed leaders in the young churches. However, as disciples of the Way multiplied the apostles established delegates to perform this work of establishment and confirmation (See 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus).

QUESTION: When Rev 21:14 refers to the "12 apostles of the Lamb," who's the twelfth?

RESPONSE: Three possibilities exist regarding the identity of the twelfth: (1) Judas; (2) Matthias; and (3) Paul. The NT is ambiguous on the matter, and I do not believe that anything of substance hinges on resolving this exegetical question. However, given the realism that characterizes the way the Scriptures portray the history of the People of God (see especially the narratives that include the Twelve Tribes of Israel), I am inclined to the first option.

Note: Israel and the Catholic Church after her would seem to have little difficulty in this regard. The fact that Israel's tribal heads were not universally good men did not detract from Israel's (and the Sacred Scriptures') recognition of their foundational place in the People of God. In the same way, there exists no inherent conflict between the Catholic Church's self-understanding and the notion that one of the "12 apostles of the Lamb" was tragically flawed and - in the end - appears to have been cut off from God's people. However, I believe that this situation creates an almost unbearable tension for those Protestant communities that adhere to the "believers' church" doctrine. It is noteworthy that this tension does not exist for Protestant communities that do not accept the "believers' church" teaching (e.g. Anglicanism and Presbyterianism).

QUESTION: If the apostles had "perfect foreknowledge" (Clement to Corinthians, 44:2), is that a characteristic also possessed by RC Pope/bishops today?

RESPONSE: Clement's reference the "perfect foreknowledge" of the Apostles ought not to be read in an overly literalistic manner. Two things compel this exegetical restraint: (1) If Clement's statement is accepted at face value it would mean that Clement intended to attribute divinity to the Apostles because God alone possesses "perfect foreknowledge. Given his sound theological framework, it would be implausible in the extreme to make this proposal; (2) Furthermore, Clement's comments are limited - by their context - to the Apostles' insight into this specific ecclesiastical need. Given the above, it seems more prudent to suggest that Clement is not articulating a doctrine concerning apostolic capacities/faculties. Rather, he is offering high praise for the remarkable coherence between the apostolic wisdom and the Church's need.

Since I do not believe that Clement intended to assert that the Apostles possessed the faculty of "perfect foreknowledge," I do not believe that he intended to assert that such a faculty would be bequeathed to the heirs of the papal throne or the apostolic honors.

QUESTION: Vaughn said apostolic succession comes from following Christ in every way. Christ appointed apostles, the apostles appointed successors, successors appointed successors, and so on. But Christ also performed miracles on a regular basis, and the original apostles also performed miracles on a regular basis. Why don't we see their successors regularly performing miracles today?

RESPONSE: In its more general form, this question can be legitimately asked of all Christian communities: Why did the miraculous aspect of the Church's witness diminish significantly with the passing of the Apostolic Age? The standard answer suffices here: The miraculous aspects of the Apostolic Age diminished because the primary goal for the presence of this element had been effected: The establishment of the authenticity of the divine authority of Jesus Christ and the Twelve after him.

The simplest answer to the specifically Catholic form in which this question has been cast is the Church's teaching that the bishops are successors of the apostles with regard to the authority to govern, form and instruct the faithful and to ordain and establish others to assist and to succeed them in this office and its associated ministries, but that they are not - by virtue of their office - recipients of all of the powers that Christ gave to the Twelve.

Finally, I can't say that the above answers are complete in themselves. Even so, I do hope that they serve well as pointers to the truth that you seek.

May God always bless you with a heart that longs for him.... and may nothing less than Christ himself ever satisfy!

Always in Christ,
Vaughn

LETTER - Eating flesh & getting to heaven...

2007-09-11T20:34:00.000-04:00

Good morning Patience,

I am so sorry for getting back to you after such a long delay. Nonetheless, I hope that these brief responses provide sufficient substance for your continued reflection.

QUESTION, Part 1: When he gave the bread, he said "This is my body, do this in remembrance of me." But in John 6, he repeatedly says, that unless you drink his blood and eat his flesh you can no part of him. So if when he was in the upper room the bread was to be his flesh... why didn't he use the word flesh specifically?

RESPONSE 1: It appears to me that our Lord's decision to use the word body/soma rather than flesh/sarx while instituting the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood was taken in an effort to avoid confusion. In the NT era the term sarx/flesh was often used as a means of referring to one of the forces of evil that the Christian wages war against in his effort to overcome sin. [See the Apostle Paul's use of the term in Romans 8 (especially verses 1-9).] By using the term soma/body our Lord avoided several potential but very real misunderstandings that could follow from the use of the word sarx/flesh.

RESPONSE 2: A second reason why our Lord probably may have opted for the term soma/body in favor of flesh/sarx is related to the content of the Church's dogma regarding the nature of the Eucharistic Feast. Since in the Sacrament of the Eucharist Christians receive "the body, blood, soul and divinity" of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it is more fitting that our Lord should use that term of reference to humanity's bodily existence which embraces the fullness of the person (soma), rather than a term that typically refers to humanity's bodily existence as a distinct aspect of that existence (flesh).

QUESTION, Part 2: Also, does this mean, that if you are not a catholic you cannot go to heaven since you don't get to eat his body and drink his blood? Why or why not?

RESPONSE: Yes. Our Lord's words appear quite clear on the matter. Anyone who understands Jesus' words concerning the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood and refuses to accept this means of grace imperils his soul and wills not to enter into heaven.

[Note: This answer does not speak to the question of men and women who for no fault of their own are invincibly ignorant of the significance of our Lord's words. In all such cases, the Catholic can be confident that "the judge of all the earth will do right" (See Genesis 18:25).]

Many blessings,
Vaughn

IN TRIBUTE - Grandma. I try.

2007-09-01T20:30:00.000-04:00

Grandma. I try.

Your life has been a constant request. That I and all would live for Christ. You asked us not to be simply christian, but to be actually Christian. You asked us to do as Christ would do, in our every action, our every word, our every thought.

And so, I try.

That is what I give you on this celebratory day. I give you my try. Every man falls, but few get up again. I will fall, but I will rise again. I will try and I will fail. I will try and I will succeed. Grandma, I will persevere.

I thank you for your life of virtue. I thank you for your son. I thank you for the family you and Papa have raised. I thank you for leading us to Christ.

Grandma, I love you.

---------------------

My son, Mike, sent this note to my mum, Marjorie Ramona Treco, at his Uncle Greg's request. It was read on Saturday, September 1st, 2007, during her 75th birthday celebrations!

MUSINGS - The Joyful Penitent

2006-12-17T17:37:00.000-05:00

I could remember it as if it were yesterday!

I hadn't laid eyes on him for the better part of a decade. And...he looked as if he had spent every day of those ten years climbing out of some terrible emotional pit. He was completely soaked from the torrential rain that was falling when he ran the 15 feet from his pick-up truck to the the glass doors of the warehouse that was home to the church's office. Our volunteer admin didn't recognize him, but she waved him through to me when she detected the note of familiarity on my face.

As if the rain wasn't enough, the stories started to pour!

He told me of a life of decadence that made me even more thankful for the narrow escape I had made from the strange drug-sex-and-alcohol underbelly of my hometown! We had been school friends, but not much more. We hadn't been particularly close, but I had thought about him every now and then while I had been preparing to be a Christian pastor. He was what Americans call a skilled, blue-collar worker. The last I had heard, he was doing fairly well. As my office chair absorbed the liquid from his wet clothes and the tears that flowed from his face, I realised that I must have missed the real story of my friend's success.

But - as I listened to him tell his tales of woe and cry - a terrible realization began to dawn upon me: He wasn't repenting. For all his sobs, my friend wasn't sorry for what he had done! He had squandered his money, mistreated his body, been unfaithful to his wife and neglected his children. Yet after sharing more details than I wished to hear, the only question that he had for me was, "Can you help me fix this?"

I couldn't.

Honestly, I didn't know how to help someone "fix" their life - espcially if they aren't actually sorry about the things they had done to break it in the first place!

So...with a prayer under my breath I spoke the hardest words that I had ever uttered as a pastor.

"There's nothing that I can do for you. I know that your life is messed up. But, I can't help you if you're not sorry for the way that you have sinned against yourself, your wife, your kids and God. So, I need you to leave my office and stop wasting my time. Please call me! I will be ready to help you at any time and on any day that you are willing to face your sin and repent!"

He didn't linger long... even so, he was still in my line of site when the prayers began. I wasn't confident that I would ever see him again.

I did.

About two weeks later, the same friend - but a very different person - returned to me. Same stories. Plenty of tears. Real sorrow. A different question: "Is there anyway that God would forgive me?"

He had come to himself... terrible as that self was... and now was asking the really important question: "What does the Father do with those who have repeatedly sinned against themselves, their loved ones and against God himself?"

On that day my friend had arrived at the place that Jesus wishes that we each will revisit on this Third Sunday of Advent. And...because of this he was able to hear again the most incredible news that anyone can ever hope to hear:

"On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
he will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.."
~ Zephaniah 3:16-18

This is the Gospel!

This is how our heavenly Father treats those who repent from the heart! It is for this reason that the Son can say, "Come to me all you who are weary. I will give you rest!" This is the reason that the penitent rejoices!

On this Advent Three, I pray that the Lord will open your eyes and mine. May we see ourselves as we truly are, so that we might see the wonder that the Gospel truly is!

..........

Today's Readings: Sunday, December 17th, 2006.

MUSINGS - The Heart of Advent

2006-12-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

"God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 1:8

Theologians rightly spend days and months and years, and yes, even their entire lives pondering what the Scared Scriptures mean when they attribute human-like emotions to God... So ~ when we come face to face with the enormity of the distance that "he who dwells in light inaccessible" has traversed in order to communicate with us ~ you and I should offer prayers of gratitude to God for this labor of love made on our behalf.

But as we say our prayers, let us remember that when God - through the holy men of old - bent His knee so that he might whisper in our ear, "I long for you...with affection," He was saying more than what we mean when we say these same words to the people we love... not less.

Through Advent, the Father calls us to hunger for the coming of the Son of His Love. He calls us to long for Christ. As we respond to Him this season, let us not forget that He longs even more for us!

Today's Readings: Sunday, December 10th, 2006.

MUSINGS - The invitation called Advent

2006-12-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

"The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah."
~ Jeremiah 33:14

Each year the Church calls us to re-orient our lives about a single proposition, "God can be trusted!" ...and our response to this call leaves no aspect of our lives unchanged.

Oh that we would say "Yes" to this invitation this year!

Today's Readings: Sunday, December 3rd, 2006.

MUSINGS - Even His careless ones...

2006-06-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

I can remember the first time that I ever heard a sermon on today's Gospel reading. I was studying at Trinity Evangelical Divintiy School at the time. One morning a fellow seminarian - Lyall Bethel - asked if I would come and listen to a sermon he would be giving in his homiletics class later that day. Since I had vivid memories of my own first forays into the strange world of in-class sermonizing the previous year, I said, "Yes." Honestly, I thought that I would be doing him a favor.

Not wanting to miss Lyall's first sermon, I arrived at the homiletics lab about 10-15 minutes earlier than necessary. Before he walked up to the pulpit, however, I had to endure the homilies of a couple other seminarians. Unfortunately, their first efforts reminded me of my own the previous year. Oh well.

Not long into Lyall's retelling of the calming of the storm, I had all but forgotten the two "sermons" I had just suffered through. Almost from the start, he had grabbed my attention. He helped me experience the moment. First, Jesus' weariness from a day filled with ministry. Then, the disciples' eagerness to get away. Later on, as the storm came upon them and raged, their anxiety and fear. It was almost as if I were out there on the water with Jesus and the disciples.

Through the excellent story-telling, Lyall had left me disarmed. I had come to the lab expecting to offer a word of encouragement and critique. But as the sermon neared its end, Lyall asked his make-shift congregation if we had understood why Jesus had rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. He asked if we had caught the specific way that the disciples' lack of faith had been revealed on that stormy night. Frankly, I hadn't! And...I had no idea what Lyall was going to say next.

Then Lyall re-read the text, "On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: 'Let us cross to the other side'" (Mark 4:35). So when the storm came and the waves crashed against their little boat, they had nothing to fear. Before getting into the boat, Jesus had told the disciples that they would get to the other side. And..."Every word of Jesus can be trusted completely."

It's been twenty years since that sermon and I still ponder Lyall's simple observation. So today, when so many around me assume that every statement is accompanied by spin, Lyall reminds me that its not that way with Jesus! So, I need not be afraid. If I stay in the boat with Jesus, I will cross to the other side. Jesus says so. I can trust every word he speaks...even His careless ones."

Today's Readings: Sunday, June 25th, 2006.

MUSINGS - An ancient price for convenience

2006-06-19T04:33:00.000-04:00

Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it is close by, next to my house. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or, if you prefer, I will give you its value in money."
Naboth answered him, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage." (1 Kings 21:2-3)

When confronted by the enormity of the carnage that abortion on demand makes present each day in America, it is important to not to forget that from the days of the ancients men and women have been ready to commit murder in order to secure some convenience. In this sense, nothing much has changed. What is distinctive today is that we no longer have to get around the law to secure the convenience. In fact, securing convenience has become the objective of the law itself.

Today's Readings: Monday, June 19th, 2006.

MFP - Secret of a Good Sermon

2006-06-18T10:48:00.000-04:00

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.~George Burns

MUSINGS - After Pentecost...

2006-06-03T09:08:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow will come and go and many of us will have no personal encounter with tongues of fire. Significantly less will be accused of drunkedness as we leave Mass. And, fewer still will get to witness mass conversions. After the dust has settled, you might be tempted to think that it had been a pretty ordinary Sunday.... If you fall prey to this, then you will have missed an essential message of Pentecost: After the Holy Spirit has come, there can be no more ordinary Sundays!

Today's Readings: Saturday, June 3rd, 2006.

MUSINGS - Foreigners to love and honor...

2006-05-31T10:52:00.000-04:00

"Let love be sincere;
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor."
(Romans 12:9-10)

It is a tribute to the weakness of our character that we have traded that courageous and costly love which rejects all that is disordered in the one we hold dear, even as it recognizes and embraces the good in them. Is it any wonder why our friends, our parents, our siblings, our children and our spouses are insecure in our affection?

How can they be certain that they matter to us when we refuse to see them in all their glory and shame? They cannot. And so, both to love and to the honor it bestows, we remain foreigners!

Today's Readings: Wednesday, May 31st, 2006.

MUSINGS - Not just to the head...

2006-05-29T04:25:00.000-04:00

"Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world."
(John 16:32-33)

To think that people are drawn to Christ first because their minds have been satisfied is an easy enough mistake to make. And, those of us who live in our heads make it often. Every now and then, however, Jesus says something that blasts through our cognitive walls and addresses the heart, "You will never be alone."

It was this promise that drew my wife, Norma, to Christ. Born in central Illinois, Norma was raised in an Evangelical Christian home. For the most part, things in the Turner house were pretty average. Her folks weren't wealthy, but they weren't poor either. They attended the Bible church regularly, and the older kids even sang together in some of the worship services.

In the early seventies, however, something happened that would propel Norma and her family into the new mainstream of American society: Her dad left home. Without warning. Without a word.

Not long after that, an itinerant preacher came to town, and Norma attended one of his meetings. Since I was raised in a similar tradition and have been to many similar gatherings back in the Bahamas, I'm guessing that the evangelist made a pretty good case for the reasonableness of Christianity. More than likely, he even presented the evidence in support of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

Even so, when Norma recalls the night that she gave her life to Christ, she remembers none of that. What she does remember is that the evangelist said, "Jesus is a friend that will never leave you." It was just the part of the Gospel that her little heart needed to hear. Her life has never been the same.

Today, I still live in my head. But living with Norma has given me a more important reason for doing so. When I was a lot younger, I lived in my head simply because I enjoyed the intellectual life. Now, I do it so that I can do for others what that travelling evangelist did for the little girl who was to become my wife: Find the connection between peoples' need and the hope that Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension has secured.

In an age so driven by the fear of being alone, perhaps its time that we cry out from the mountain tops, "You need never be alone. Jesus has come!"

Today's Readings: Monday, May 29th, 2006.

MUSINGS - Contemporary worship

2006-05-22T00:16:00.000-04:00

"...the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God". (John 16:2)

The beloved disciple was prescient when he used the metaphor of homage to describe the response the Gospel of Jesus Christ would awaken. Today, this is particularly true of the reactions provoked within men and women when they hear that their lives are full of purpose. Anyone who wishes to proclaim the truth about the dignity of the human person that underlies and is secured by the Gospel of Jesus Christ had better be prepared to become the occasion for some contemporary worship.

Today's Readings: Monday, May 22nd, 2006.

MUSINGS - It's all about grace...

2006-05-17T13:42:00.000-04:00

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

There is perhaps no Catholic doctrine that human pride - especially in its more religious forms - resists more than the doctrine of grace: Without Christ we can do nothing.

Today's Readings: Wednesday, May 17th, 2006.

Seminarian and friend

2006-05-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

Later today, a very good friend and fellow Catholic seminarian is undergoing back surgery to correct the effects of an injury that he sustained some time in the past. Please, when you pray today... keep him in your prayers!

MUSINGS - Two longings...

2006-05-12T07:15:00.000-04:00

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be."
(John 14:3-6)

How is it that so many Christians reduce the faith to a thing without passion? Jesus and the Apostles knew nothing of this! Today's reading exposes Jesus' and the Apostles' hearts. He anticipates missing them fiercely, and he suspects that they are going to miss him, too!

BTW - Those who know Christ do not long for heaven because they wish to escape this world. No! They long for heaven because that is where Jesus is!

Today's Readings: Friday, May 12th, 2006.

MUSINGS - You and your enemy

2006-05-05T00:43:00.000-04:00

"Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains."
(Acts 9:1-2)

The next time that you encounter your enemy, remember that your knowledge is not boundless, and your charity is paltry. Perhaps then, you might alter your course and precipitate a miracle.

Today's Readings: Friday, May 5th, 2006.

MUSINGS - Authority and receptivity

2006-05-04T08:11:00.000-04:00

The Spirit said to Philip, "Go and join up with that chariot."
Philip ran up and heard the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
"Do you understand what you are reading?"
He replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?"
So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
(Acts 8:29-31)

At least two things are necessary for Catholicism to flourish: Authority and receptivity! Faithful bishops, priests and deacons who are responsive to God's Spirit, and lay men and women who are receptive to instruction.

Both are now under seige!

Today's Readings: Thursday, May 4th, 2006.

MUSINGS - The art of apostolic self-promotion

2006-05-03T07:42:00.000-04:00

...and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:8)

Is it not amazing that one of our Lord's most gifted servants consistently sets aside the things that establish his value when commending himself to the faithful? What is even more amazing is that we fail to recognize that he intends for us to imitate him...today!

But a culture imprisoned by the cult of self-importance will not long tolerate those who practice the art of apostolic self-promotion. So...we will have to choose our path!

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth!" ~ Jesus

Today's Readings: Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006.

MUSINGS - Opus Dei

2006-05-01T23:02:00.000-04:00

So they said to him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
(John 6:28-29)

To believe in Jesus is no more difficult for Moderns than it was for the Ancients. They were as prone to disbelief then as we are now. The difference is that when Jesus said something that the Ancients refused to accept, they stopped following him. We, Moderns, however, pursue a more nuanced path. We stick around and whisper through the crowds, "He really didn't mean that."

Today's Readings: Monday, May 1st, 2006.

MUSINGS - Eucharist and revelation

2006-04-30T15:10:00.000-04:00

"The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread." (Luke 24:35)

It is only with great difficulty that one can set aside the revelatory significance of the Eucharist for the Early Christians. "Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread."

Today's Readings: Sunday, April 30th, 2006.

Transform Your Life - Learn Gregorian Chant

2006-04-29T16:51:00.000-04:00

The Second Vatican Council opened the windows and doors wide to an enriched experience of the Church's liturgical life. But the lofty vision of the Council for the flourishing of the Church's liturgical and musical patrimony accompanied by an embrace of the vernacular languages of the People of God has not yet to be realized.

If you have been wondering what you might to realise the vision, then consider participating in The Sixteenth Annual Summer Music Colloquium this summer.

SUMMER MUSIC COLLOQUIUM 2006
Liturgical Music and the Restoration of the Sacred

The Sixteenth Annual Summer Music Colloquium
Tuesday, 20 June 2006 - Sunday, 25 June 2006
The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by the Center for Ward Method Studies
of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music
in collaboration with the Church Music Association of America

Registration - Online | Brochure - Download

MUSINGS - Indissolubly bound

2006-04-27T17:30:00.000-04:00

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life..." (John 3:36)

It is because the first Christians were convinced that faith and obedience were indissolubly bound together that they joined their voices with the Publican and cried out, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner" - and received just that!

Today's Readings: Thursday, April 27th, 2006.

OPINION - The next best thing

2006-04-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

Every five hundred years or so something absolutely incredible happens: The Catholic Church publishes a universal catechism. The last time that happened we were at the close of a previous millennium. This year, Pope Benedict XVI has given us the next best thing, the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you'd like a trustworthy contemporary guide to the heart and soul of the Catholic Faith, then the Compendium is just what you have been waiting for!

MUSINGS - The font of our well-being

2006-04-26T12:16:00.000-04:00

"God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life." (John 3:16).

No person who has been embraced by this truth can ever truly doubt the value of their life, nor be overcome by despair. God - knowing all that we have done - has willingly offered up his life in exchange for ours. This is the font of personal well-being. It is for this reason alone that we need never lose hope.

Today's Readings: Wednesday, April 26th, 2006.

OPINION - Two Great Books

2006-04-25T06:12:00.000-04:00

The genius of Pope John Paul II was his ability to show the connection between what the Catholic Church teaches and life in the real world - to the whole world! If you'd like to deepen your understanding of the Faith better so that you can make the same connection for your friends and family, then pick up a copy of Catholicism for Dummies. Then come this September pick up a copy of John Paul II for Dummies.

I wouldn't be surprised if - after reading either or both of these books - you dropped a line to thank Fr. John Trigilio for helping renew or restore your sense of wonder!

P.S. To my mind, the Appendix that outlines the history of the Catholic Church is worth the price of admission all by itself.

MUSINGS - A faithful brother...

2006-04-25T00:52:00.000-04:00

"I write you this briefly through Silvanus,
whom I consider a faithful brother..." (1 Peter 5:12).

We were born a little less than a year apart, and we have spent my entire life as friends. Throughout our childhood I was always a tad taller and fiestier. I would pick our fights, and he would end them...with grace.

Adolesence bequeathed maturity of face to me long before it did the same for him. And while this spelled trouble for me, he always kept within arms length... close enough to grab me before I went of the deep end.

Throughout our teen years, I think I took the more sane path to dating. I didn't allow myself to become too serious. Not surprisingly, he took what appeared to be the responsible route. He loved deeply, and his heart became profoundly intertwined with a girl in high school.

We both lost our first loves, but I escaped without too much difficulty. He took the mature path, and experienced great disappointment. I lucked out ~ did the "immature" thing ~ and wound up the better for it. A first!

In college he tried his hand at songwriting. And wrote a few good ones. Even here, his excursion became a good gift to me. One of his pieces became the occasion of my own return to Christ. When my devotion began leading me to extremes, he was the one who brought me back to my senses. His words of wisdom ~ many uttered without the slightest sense of the profound impact that they were to have upon me ~ have served as the rudder of my life on several occasions.

There have been times when we have disagreed about important matters. And, yes, I believe that had he listened more frequently to his crazy brother, he might have been the better for it ~ or at least avoided some unnecessary pain. Nevertheless, throughout my forty-three years (and counting), I have never known someone as loyal and true.

Six years ago, I converted to Catholicism. To his mind this is probably another instance of my extremism. Not surprisingly, he has remained in the Christian tradition of our youth. But while others have been content to sit on the sideline with their doubts about the Christian-character of my new found faith, he has stayed in the game!

We don't talk about God and religion as much as I would like any more, but I have never known a moment when I doubted that I could call upon him!

Throughout our relationship he has gotten better at saying "No" to some of my requests and many of my ideas. But every "No" of his has been crowded in by the "Yes" that he continually shouts about me...and how much I mean to him.

When I counsel my son and daughters about the way they respond to one another in the ordinary details of life... When I correct them for their spontaneous acts of verbal unkindness... I have a firm image in my mind about the kind of relationship that I wish for them to have with each other. That image is itself a gift...

When I read the Apostle Peter's comment about Silvanus in today's readings, I couldn't help but think of my brother, Timothy.

I can't imagine what my life would be like without this one, whom I consider a faithful brother (1 Peter 5:12)

Today's Readings: Tuesday, April 25th, 2006.

MUSINGS - Jesus' gentility...

2006-04-24T01:23:00.000-04:00

"What a coward! Just look at him, the big shot religious and governmental official sneaking around at night. It's not like Jesus was hard to find during the day. For goodness sake, take a hike to the Sea of Tiberius and you'll find him easily enough. But there he goes again, catching up with the Master at night!"

Given the Apostles' reactions to some others who tried to get close to Jesus - or to whom Jesus tried to get close - it's probably not too far off the mark to suggest that at least one of them might have spoken this way about Nicodemus' covert approach to following the Lord. Certainly, we are sometimes tempted ~ and sometimes fall prey ~ to these ignoble thoughts. Perhaps, we even speak them.

But, Jesus never does!

He seems to have a knack for detecting the real reasons why people behave the way they do. No, its not because he's a bleeding heart liberal. Remember his completely un-PC behavior in the temple? Jesus simply understands people. Behind our quirky ~ and sometimes irksome ~ behavior, he sees the real us (Isaiah 42:3)! And, its a good thing that he does!

Because sometimes... it takes a long time ...a very, very long time for us to pluck up the courage to stand with him.

So, if you're sneaking around like Nicodemus today, don't worry to much about it. At least not yet. But, just remember, that one day ~ at just the right time ~ he's gonna invite you out of the shadows.

Today's Readings: Monday, April 24th, 2006.

MUSINGS - The Divine Mercy

2006-04-23T14:52:00.000-04:00

"In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments" (1 John 5:2-3).

It is impossible for an honest person to be confronted by these words and fail to recognize his need for God's mercy!

It is for this reason that the Catechism of the Catholic Church opens with this affirmation:

"God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life" (CCC 1)

Today's Readings: Sunday, April 23rd, 2006.

MUSINGS - Remarkable transformations...

2006-04-22T17:31:00.000-04:00

When I was a boy, my family practically lived in church. I'm not complaining, I'm simply stating a fact. If the church doors were open, the Trecos were there. In fact, most of the time, we did the honors.... or at least my dad did!

Honestly, there were a few times that I wished I could sleep in. No matter, unless I was at death's door, that wasn't an option. So every Sunday morning I would be awakened and we would head off to church. Resistence was futile!

Mom and dad got us up earlier than most kids for two reasons: First, they had the church keys. And, second, they ran the Grace Gospel Chapel Sunday Morning Jitney Service, too! If you wanted a ride and didn't have a car, then my parents would have gladly added a few extra minutes to their Sunday travel schedule and would be there to pick you up!

I can't tell you how many graces came to me through this Sunday morning liturgy!

I met people of every possible shape and size and color and race. I shared my parents' cars with both the perpetually poor and soon-to-be-wealthy poor as well. I learned how to speak with people who barely spoke English ~ even though it was supposed to have been their native tongue ~ and with people who rellished the language of the Empire. I also picked up a few tips about personal hygeine along the way.

And while I wouldn't trade my experience with the Grace Gospel Chapel Sunday Morning Jitney Service for anything, our family's frenetic Sunday schedule afforded me a far more important gift: The opportunity to hear story after story about the power of the Gospel! My childhood memories are filled with personal testimonies about the remarkable transformations that occured in the lives of men and women ~ and, yes, even boys and girls ~ who heard, believed and embraced the Good News "that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The Christian people who taught me the faith believed two things with all their hearts: That (1) men were sinful (Romans 3:23)) and ~ except for the grace of God ~ without hope (Ephesians 2:12), and that (2) the Gospel was the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). And...because they believed these things, they half-expected that people who gave their lives to Christ would experience a radical change in their experience of sin's oppressive power. And, truth be told, many did!

If you are a cradle Catholic, you might be wondering if I am simply recalling stories, half-remembered from my childhood. Or, perhaps you're saying to yourself, "That sounds just like the kind of fanciful (and false) claims that those Charismatics like to make." Now, I am not prepared to vouch for every conversion story that I heard in my youth, but this I can say, "Mine eyes have seen the glory" of lives transformed ~ almost in an instant.

Todays reading from the Acts of the Apostles reminded me of the tens and hundreds of conversion stories that I heard when I was growing up. As I read of Peter and John's strange courage before the Sanhedrin, I could not stop thinking about their cowardice during Jesus' interrogation and scourging. I was caught up again in awe over the "wonder working power of the blood."

As I reflected on the experiences of these two Apostles ~ the Rock and the Disciple whom Jesus Loved ~ and upon the stories that filled my youthful years with hope, I was made to wonder if somehow, some of us have embraced a truncated version of the Catholic Faith, a form of Catholicism that no longer has a place for these kinds of personal miracles... miracles of remarkable transformations.

BEFORE: "Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus at a distance" (Cf. Matthew 26:58; John 18:15).

AFTER: "Peter and John, however, said to them in reply,...It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19, 20).

Lord, rescue me from anything that would cause me to disbelieve your power to save with immediacy, even as the Gospel works its power to transform me through a long obedience in the same direction. Amen.

Today's Readings: Saturday, April 22nd, 2006.

MUSINGS - The power of the mirror

2006-04-20T06:25:00.000-04:00

Is it not astounding that we spend billions of dollars every year in order to gain what we can get for free? We'd prefer to squander all that we possess chasing ephemeral joys, rather than confront the reality in the silvered glass.

Despite our reluctance, it is to the mirror we must first go if we are ever to enjoy the refreshment we long to find.

"Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment..." (Acts 3:19-20)

Today's Readings: Thursday, April 20th, 2006.

COMMENT - The "Local Church"

2006-04-20T04:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, one of the members of the Plymouth Brethren Discussion Forum, stated that tradition's fundamental conviction regarding the biblical witness to the Church with such simplicity and clarity that I was compelled to respond. Although my response was in the form of a series of questions, I believe that it can serve as a goad to a fuller appreciation of the New Testament witness to the Church.

THEOLOGICAL AFFIRMATION:
There is no scriptural mandate for any organization other than the local church.

FIRST RESPONSE - A QUESTION ABOUT METHOD

1A. Can you outline what is required to establish that a given practice/claim has a "scriptural mandate"?

1B. Is the practice of the New Testament church as recounted in the New Testament sufficient to establish a scriptural mandate? Does one need explicit Apostolic instruction to establish a scriptural mandate? Or, is a combination of both required to establish a scriptural mandate?

SECOND RESPONSE - TWO QUESTIONS CONCERNING CONTENT

2A. Since the New Testament's statements regarding the the church in a specific locale seem to have a multi-congregational organization in view, I was wondering if - contrary to the typical Plymouth Brethren pattern - you were assuming this multi-congregational definition of "local church" in your affirmation?

2B. If you aren't assuming this multi-congregational organization, then I was wondering if you might outline your scriptural mandate for setting this New Testament pattern aside?

3A. Since the New Testament envisions certain men having authority to appoint leaders for the multi-congregational organizations that exist in various geographical locales - Timothy and Titus come readily to mind in this regard - I was wondering how the Plymouth Brethren currently implements this aspect of the scriptural mandate regarding the "local church"?

3B. If the Plymouth Brethren does not currently implement the multi-congregational pattern found in the New Testament, then I was wondering if you could present the scriptural mandate upon which Plymouth Brethren theologians, bible teachers or leaders have based their decision to set this New Testament pattern aside?

3C. If the portion of the Plymouth Brethren movement with which you fellowship has in fact implemented the multi-congregational pattern found in the New Testament, including the establishment of men with trans-congregational authority, I was wondering how it went about establishing/recognizing such trans-congregational leaders?

THIRD RESPONSE - A QUESTION CONCERNING PRINCIPLES

The two previous questions presuppose that the theological principle assumed by your affirmation is true. The following seeks to have you establish the scriptural mandate for the theological principle that your affirmation assumes.

4. What is the scriptural mandate for the theological principle that only scriptural mandates have binding force on the People of God, the Church, the Bride of Christ?

-------------
P.S. Wondering what a good Catholic boy was doing hanging out on an Evangelical Protestant forum? Well...I was invited to share my conversion story on the PBDF by it's host, Shawn Cuthill. Shawn is a full-time commended worker serving Bridlegrove Bible Chapel, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

BTW - The handsome, if stern, looking gentleman in the photo is John Nelson Darby, one of the founding and principle theologians of the Plymouth Brethren.

COMMENT - Reinventing Church

2006-04-18T22:57:00.000-04:00

There seems to be a pervasive instinct within Evangelical Christianity. You might call it an instinct for reinventing church.

Perennially confronted by the imperfections of humanity - and the impact this has upon its attempts to build Christian communities that live up to the call of the Gospel - Evangelical theologians, pastors and laypeople regularly scour the New Testament in search of a more biblically faithful understanding of Church. Today, the search continues with the House Church and Emergent "movements".

Two features appear common to these efforts: First, they are born of a passionate desire to obey Christ and establish Christian communities that honor him, strengthens believers and bears faithful witness to the Gospel. Second, they speak of the church first and foremost as a notional reality.

What strikes me as odd about these efforts at reinventing church is that each of them neglects to take into account the actual, living community that Christ himself called into existence during his earthly ministry. They ignore the fact that when our Lord and the Apostles spoke of the Church - they had a specific community in view.... a community that even the gates of hell could not confound (Matthew 16:13-19).

It seems to me that implicit in this effort is the settled conviction that the Church that Christ actually founded has ceased to exist. If this is in fact what happened - if the original church failed - then I am left to wonder why any of us ought to waste our time trying to reinvent church at all. If the God-Man himself couldn't get it right, then why should mere mortals even try?

MUSINGS - God's strangeness...and ours

2006-04-16T19:57:00.000-04:00

At no other time does God seem more alien to us than at the Triduum. Almost at every turn we find Him behaving oddly.

1. On Maundy Thursday, the One who formed us out of the dust of the earth stoops to wash the dust off of his followers' feet.

2. On Good Friday, the Innocent One suffers, so that the guilty can go free.

3. Finally, on Holy Saturday (Easter's Vigil), the once-dead Immortal rises so that the born-dead might become immortals through death.

Oddly enough, millions have discovered unexpected peace when they have embraced Jesus invitation to join in by imitating his strange behavior.

Today's Readings: Sunday, April 16th, 2006.

For Mac lovers only...

2006-04-13T17:26:00.000-04:00

If you love the Macintosh and have been looking for an incredible tool for doing biblical studies. Then, get on the Logos Bible Software for the Mac email list. Logos produces the best biblical research software (...that's my private take), and this year they plan to introduce a version for the Macintosh! If you do, you'll be one of the first to know when a new day in Mac-based scripture studies has arrived!

MUSINGS - The betrayer's fee

2006-04-12T04:59:00.000-04:00

"What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?"
(Matthew 26:14)

Judas settled on 30 pieces of silver.
Others have handed him over for less!
Do you have a betrayer's fee, too?

Today's Readings: Wednesday, April 12th, 2006.

MUSINGS - The font of Catholic stability

2006-04-11T00:18:00.000-04:00

Throughout the ages, as Catholics have been buffeted by the weaknesses and wickedness of popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and deacons, they have gained much consolation from the realism of our Lord's words:

"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me....
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times."
(John 13:21,38)

Yes, every now and then we have been tempted by the promised purity of a believer's church (remember the Donatists?)... In the end, however, we have embraced the Church as Christ has formed her... warts and all! - and found our solice in Christ.

Jesus' realism is the font of Catholic stability.

Today's Readings: Tuesday, April 11th, 2006.

Y4 - Two popular questions...

2006-04-10T14:56:00.000-04:00

Since my conversion to Catholicism two questions have been asked of me more than any others! The first and most popular has been, "Why did you become a Roman Catholic?" After hearing my response, many have followed it up with, "Does the Charismatic Episcopal Church have a valid priesthood and Eucharist?"

If you have ever wondered why someone from a wonderful, devout Evangelical Christian home would even think about becoming Roman Catholic, then you'll want to read, One Persistent Desire.

If you have a burning desire to know what one Catholic person thinks about the apostolic credentials of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, then Conditional Ordination might be just the thing that you're looking for!