Advent Series - December 2

JMJ

December 2

Adam and Eve lived many years and had A LOT of children, but 3 are mentioned especially. The first were Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. They both made sacrifices to God. God accepted the sacrifice of Abel because he offered it with a pure heart. Cain was jealous and killed Abel. From then on, Cain was cursed by God.

Many years later, when Adam was 130, he had another son named Seth. Seth is important because his descendant was Noe. Since Noe and his family were the only people spared in the Great Flood, we are all children of Adam, Seth and Noe.
Seth had 2 other special descendants before Noe. Their names were; Henoch and his son Mathusala. Henoch was the great great great grandson of Seth.

In Genesis 5:21-24 we read that Henoch lived on earth 365 years. Then God did something special. God took him away and he was seen no more! Henoch did not die. The Apocalyse says that he will come in the last days with Elias (who also was taken up by God) to oppose the Antichrist and then they will die.

Henoch’s son, Mathusala is famous for being the man with the longest life mentioned in the Bible. He lived 969 years (Gen 5:27)

Now we come to Noe.

In the back of the Douay-Rheims Bible, you will find an historical and chonological index of the Old Testament. There it states that 1056 years after creation, Noah was born.

The Bible says that Adam lived 930 years so he died just 126 years before Noe was born. Adam’s son, Seth would live 4 more years after the birth of Noah, his descendant.

At that time, there was so much wickedness in the world, God decided to send a world-wide flood.

God told Noah to build an ark for his family and all the animals God would send.

It took Noah years to build the ark. Most likely, the other people laughed at Noah. It probably seemed impossible to them that a flood would happen, but Noah kept right on building.

We can pray to Noah for help when we feel as if we are all alone in obeying God’s laws.
God will reward us for all eternity if we are faithful to Him here on earth.

Noah worked hard and after many years the Ark was ready. By then, even old Mathusala had died. Of all those who lived on the earth, only 8 people were saved; Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came; 1656 years after the creation of Adam.

After the flood, Noah made a sacrifice to God. Throughout the Old Testament, there is an emphasis on sacrifice; a need for man to give back to God; to dedicate to God the best that men had.

Sacrifices were offered to God for 4 reasons;

-To adore God

-To thank God for His many graces

-To try to make up for having offended the good God. (reparation)

-Finally, to ask God for the things they needed (petition)

In fact, these are the same reasons why we offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today

God gave Noah a sign in the sky of His promise to never send a worldwide flood again. This sign was the rainbow. Every time we see a beautiful rainbow in the sky, it is a reminder to us that God keeps His promises.

Noe is a type, or prefigurement (symbol) of Christ;

God cleansed the world by the flood, just as Our Lord cleanses us through the waters of baptism.

Noe was the father of the new human race just as Our Lord is the “new Adam”, and through His grace we become “sons of God” with God’s own life in our souls.

Noe built the Ark to save his family just as Our Lord founded the Catholic Church to help us get to heaven. The Ark that saved people from the flood is a prefigurement of the Church, which Christ founded to save souls.

God told Noah and his sons to increase and multiply. Each one of us are descendants of Noah and his sons; Sem, Ham and Japheth. The children of Sem are called Semites. They include the Chosen People of God, whom we will talk about tomorrow.

Auctorem Fidei

Can the SSPX be right about the Novus Ordo? Revision: Feb 11, 2013 On another web forum, I was engaged in a rather heated discussion about the documents of Vatican II.

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Catholic Culture - The Edgar Schein Model Analysis of the Pre and Post Conciliar Culture

+ JMJ So ... I was thinking ... I've used Edgar Schein's (RIP) organizational cultural model (link ) in my research ... why not apply it in a comparison between the Catholic Organizational Culture - PRE and POST Second Vatican Culture? Of course, this will be from my own perspective, I'm certain that others will think differently. 😁 Also, apologies for a rather long article. Graphic: https://mutomorro.com/edgar-scheins-culture-model/ Below is a quick mapping of the cultural factors that I could think of. Since the Church is vast and composed of millions of Souls, it is necessarily a limited cultural map. Yet, I think it will still be useful to assess what has changed since the Second Vatican Council. Additional Reading: 5 enduring management ideas from MIT Sloan’s Edgar Schein | MIT Sloan Artifacts Artifacts are tangible and observable aspects of the culture being examined. All organizations have them. Walmart has their Walmart chant, Charismatics have their spe

Is it sinful to attend the Novus Ordo (New Mass) - Is it Sinful to Not Attend the Novus Ordo on Sunday?

+ JMJ A non-SSPX Catholic is upset over the SSPX statements on not attending the Novus Ordo Missae. Ladies and gentlemen, what the SSPX, or at least its website editor, is advocating is a mortal sin against the Third Commandment. Unless the priest deviates from the language of the Sacramentary, the consecration, and thus the rest of Mass is to be considered valid. No one may elect not to attend Mass simply because abuses are occurring therein. Might I suggest that such absenteeism is its own abuse? The Third Commandment binds under mortal sin. Father So-And-So from the SSPX has no authority whatsoever to excuse attendance at Mass, be that Mass ever so unpalatable. Source:Restore DC Catholicism Well, this is interesting. First why does the SSPX issue this statement? Because it is sinful to put your faith in danger by attending a protestant service. It is likewise dangerous to put your faith in danger by attending a protestantized mass (ie the Novus Ordo Missae

What the heck is a congregation of "Pontifical Right"

+ JMJ In a discussion with a friend the question occurred to me that I didn't actually know was is involved in being a religious order of 'pontifical right'. I had a vague notion that this meant they reported to Rome as opposed to the local diocese. I'm also aware that, according to the accounts I have heard, the Archbishop received 'praise' and the written direction to incardinate priests directly into the SSPX. This is interesting because it implies that the SSPX priests were no longer required to incardinate in the local diocese but in the SSPX. This is something that belongs to an order of 'pontifical right'. Anyway here's some definitions: Di diritto pontificio is the Italian term for “of pontifical right” . It is given to the ecclesiastical institutions (the religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See or approved by it with the formal decree, known by its Latin name, Decretu

Tradicat

Search This Blog