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distracted
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June 15, 2010
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
*** (God punishes evil / expiation for sins / Purgatory / Predestination / Pray for your persecutors) ***
**Reading 1
1 Kgs 21:17-29 **
After the death of Naboth ***the LORD said to Elijah ***the Tishbite:
“Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel,
who rules in Samaria.
He will be in the vineyard of Naboth,
of which he has come to take possession.
This is what you shall tell him,
‘The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession?
For this, the LORD says:
In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth,
the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’”
Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD’s sight,
I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you
and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line,
whether slave or freeman, in Israel.
I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat,
and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah,
because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.”
(Against Jezebel, too, the LORD declared,
“The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.”)
“When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city,
dogs will devour him…
Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil
in the sight of the LORD as did Ahab,
urged on by his wife Jezebel.
He became completely abominable by following idols,
just as the Amorites had done,
whom the LORD drove out before the children of Israel.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments
and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh.
He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued.
Then the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite,
“Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me?
***Since he has humbled himself before me,
I will not bring the evil in his time.
I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.” ***
**Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 11 and 16
**
Mt 5:43-48
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Again, as concerns the idea of predestination: God did not seem to know that Ahaz (for sure) would repent. He said (through the prophet) that thus and so would happen to him in consequence of his horrendous sins…
God realized His words would have an impact on Ahaz
but this passage shows no indication that God KNEW he would repent. Because of free will, God does not KNOW absolutely what choice any given person will make in any given situation. He just knows what the person will LIKELY choose based on choices made in the past & his/her level of commitmnet to Him, etc…
Love your enemies… This does not come easy to me. I hate when people do evil against anyone, particularly ME
… but again, Jesus has spoken & I have been trying in thel ast several yrs to obey these words… but… i keep getting this thought: Define “LOVE” (??). It is not always loving to just let people get away with things… the word “enabling” comes to mind…
I know that we are not to be involved w/ unbelivers (closely). Another passage says to not be unequally yoked with unbelivers… and is it EVER a “Yoke” to be involved w/ some of them… even in just a business kind of way… so… if, say, a man is abusing his wife… she should not just “turn t he other cheeck” over and over and take the abuse. She should love him but also love herself… In that kind of case, i feel the loving thing to do would be to leave her husband until he truly got help w/ his anger problem…(truly… as opposed to just faking it so he can get the family back)…
i think this is one of those Case by case situations…
From this psg it would seem that (with God) sin always has to be expiated… which makes sense to me… It is kinda strange that the next generation has to suffer for Ahaz’s sins… but in a way its perfectly logical… because we all… to some extent or another… suffer because of our parents and grandparents’ sins… (bad choices). This is where Protestants & Catholics differ greatly. A lot of protestnats think that Jesus did everything… humans who accept Him dont have to do anything at all (much) to get into Heaven… This shows that they are not taking into consideration God’s absolute holiness… He hates ALL sin… small ones, big ones… mortal, venial… & all of the consequneces therefrom need to be purged from a person’s souls b4 s/he can enter Heaven (Rev 21:27)
Protestants (i heards somewhere from a reliable source) spend more time in Purg than Catholics… largely because they believe this way… and Catholics have more Purgatory in this life … cuz Protestants they know… whom they have to interact w/ on a daily basis… believe this way
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
*** (God punishes evil / expiation for sins / Purgatory / Predestination / Pray for your persecutors) ***
**Reading 1
1 Kgs 21:17-29 **
After the death of Naboth ***the LORD said to Elijah ***the Tishbite:
“Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel,
who rules in Samaria.
He will be in the vineyard of Naboth,
of which he has come to take possession.
This is what you shall tell him,
‘The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession?
For this, the LORD says:
In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth,
the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’”
Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD’s sight,
I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you
and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line,
whether slave or freeman, in Israel.
I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat,
and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah,
because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.”
(Against Jezebel, too, the LORD declared,
“The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.”)
“When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city,
dogs will devour him…
Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil
in the sight of the LORD as did Ahab,
urged on by his wife Jezebel.
He became completely abominable by following idols,
just as the Amorites had done,
whom the LORD drove out before the children of Israel.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments
and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh.
He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued.
Then the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite,
“Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me?
***Since he has humbled himself before me,
I will not bring the evil in his time.
I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.” ***
**Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 11 and 16
**
Mt 5:43-48
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Again, as concerns the idea of predestination: God did not seem to know that Ahaz (for sure) would repent. He said (through the prophet) that thus and so would happen to him in consequence of his horrendous sins…
God realized His words would have an impact on Ahaz
but this passage shows no indication that God KNEW he would repent. Because of free will, God does not KNOW absolutely what choice any given person will make in any given situation. He just knows what the person will LIKELY choose based on choices made in the past & his/her level of commitmnet to Him, etc…Love your enemies… This does not come easy to me. I hate when people do evil against anyone, particularly ME
… but again, Jesus has spoken & I have been trying in thel ast several yrs to obey these words… but… i keep getting this thought: Define “LOVE” (??). It is not always loving to just let people get away with things… the word “enabling” comes to mind…I know that we are not to be involved w/ unbelivers (closely). Another passage says to not be unequally yoked with unbelivers… and is it EVER a “Yoke” to be involved w/ some of them… even in just a business kind of way… so… if, say, a man is abusing his wife… she should not just “turn t he other cheeck” over and over and take the abuse. She should love him but also love herself… In that kind of case, i feel the loving thing to do would be to leave her husband until he truly got help w/ his anger problem…(truly… as opposed to just faking it so he can get the family back)…
i think this is one of those Case by case situations…
From this psg it would seem that (with God) sin always has to be expiated… which makes sense to me… It is kinda strange that the next generation has to suffer for Ahaz’s sins… but in a way its perfectly logical… because we all… to some extent or another… suffer because of our parents and grandparents’ sins… (bad choices). This is where Protestants & Catholics differ greatly. A lot of protestnats think that Jesus did everything… humans who accept Him dont have to do anything at all (much) to get into Heaven… This shows that they are not taking into consideration God’s absolute holiness… He hates ALL sin… small ones, big ones… mortal, venial… & all of the consequneces therefrom need to be purged from a person’s souls b4 s/he can enter Heaven (Rev 21:27)
Protestants (i heards somewhere from a reliable source) spend more time in Purg than Catholics… largely because they believe this way… and Catholics have more Purgatory in this life … cuz Protestants they know… whom they have to interact w/ on a daily basis… believe this way