Advent Series December 5

JMJ

December 5

Yesterday, we talked about Abraham and his son, Isaac.
When Isaac grew up, he married a woman named Rebecca and they had twin boys; Jacob and Esau.
Esau was born first, with Jacob hanging onto his brother’s heel!
Now being the first born was very important. The first born had the right to Isaac’s special blessing.
The one who received it would receive the 3 promises that God made to Abraham; the promise of land, kingship and world wide blessing for his descendants.

Jacob must have known this for he wanted to have the privilege of being the first born. One day when Esau was very hungry, he agreed to sell his right to be first born to Jacob for a bowl of food.
Perhaps their father did not know of this agreement. At any rate, the day came when Isaac, being old and blind decided to give the special blessing of the first born to Esau before he died.

Isaac’s wife, Rebecca loved her son Jacob best and wanted him to receive the blessing instead of Esau, so while Esau was out hunting, Rebecca dressed Jacob up in Esau’s clothes. Old blind Isaac was tricked into giving Jacob the blessing of the first born instead.

Perhaps Jacob felt he should have the blessing anyway, since Esau had sold him the birthright, but even so Jacob was punished for lying to his father. When Esau returned home from hunting, he became so angry with Jacob, that Jacob had to leave home. For many years Jacob would live with the fear of his brother’s anger. During his life, as we shall see, Jacob would also suffer from the lies and deceit of others.

So Jacob left home and went to live with his parent’s relatives. On the way he fell asleep and had a dream. He dreamed of a ladder reaching up to heaven with angels going up and down

God said to Jacob;

“I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land wherein thou sleepest I will give to thee and to thy seed…and in thee and thy seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed” (see Gen28: 12-15)

So God showed he accepted Jacob as the one to whom the blessing would be passed down. Jacob’s descendants would be blessed with the 3 promises God made to Abraham. (Can you remember what they are and who would fulfill them?)

Jacob lived with his relatives for many years. He fell in love with a girl named Rachel. Rachel was very beautiful, but her older sister, Lea was homely. Jacob agreed to work for 7 years for the privilege of marrying Rachel. However, after 7 years he was tricked into marrying Lea instead! At that time, it was allowed to have more than 1 wife, so Jacob had to work another 7 years to marry Rachel.

Finally, after many years Jacob returned to his own country but he worried that Esau still wanted to kill him. Jacob sent presents ahead to his brother. That night, in a dream Jacob wrestled with an angel. Finally Jacob won and the angel gave him God’s blessing. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel; which means Overcomer.

Now the Chosen People have another name;
They were called Semites because they were descendants of Noe’s son Sem.
They were called Hebrews because they were descendants of Heber.
Now they are called Israelites because they were descendants of Jacob, whom God renamed Israel.

In the end, Jacob and Esau became friends. Before we go on with the history of Jacob, we shall talk about one of Esau’s descendant’s Jobab, king of Edom, whom we call Job.

Job was a rich man and faithful to God and God was pleased with Job.
But the devil said to God; “Job is only faithful because he is prosperous. If he lost everything, he would turn away from you.”
God allowed the devil to try Job, so as to be an example of faithfulness to others. First Job lost all he owned, then he lost his family then he got sick. Job's friends thought he must have done something terrible to merit so much suffering so Job lost all his friends as well.
Through it all, though, God sustained Job by His grace, and Job was faithful to God, saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

God blessed Job for his faithfulness, and gave him twice as much as he had before. This is such a beautiful part of history. It helps us to remember that God is a good and loving Father. He rewards our faithfulness on earth (but not always in this world). All that we could ever suffer here below will seem as nothing, but our happiness will last for all eternity.

The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II: Dr. John Lamont

+ JMJ This is the second article from Dr. Lamont from his lecture given in May 2014. P^3 Source Part A: Society of St. Hugh of Cluny Source Part B: Society of St. Hugh of Cluny 8 May2014 The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II By John Lamont To understand how the Jesuit conception of obedience departed from earlier conceptions, it is helpful to compare it with the teaching of St. Thomas on obedience. The fundamental difference between the two is that St. Thomas considers the proper object of obedience to be the precept of the superior (2a2ae q. 104 a. 2 co., ad 3). Obedience that seeks to forestall the expressed will of the superior does not bear on what the superior wants or thinks in general, but only on what the superior intends to command. St. Ignatius’s lowest degree of obedience, which he does not consider to be virtuous, is thus what St. Thomas considers to be the only form of obedience. St. Thomas holds that St. Ignatius’s alleged higher forms of o...

Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin - July 6, 1988

There has been some discussion (read lots) about the term 'Conciliar Church'. I have posted this letter written by the Superior General and District Superiors of the SSPX after the 1988 Consecrations. Of particular interest is that the 'Conciliar Church' being referred to as a system. My paraphrase would be that the SSPX regards the 'conciliar Church' as an error within the Church. Source Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

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

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 6b: Principles and Rules for Surviving this Crisis of the Catholic Church (Principle 1)

+ JMJ Principle 1: Realize that something is amiss in the Catholic Church The world in which I had my Traditional Awakening, is one in which practically anything pre-Conciliar such as liturgy, doctrinc, and even dogmas are either suppressed, ignored or re-framed to be acceptable to the ‘world’. What is more, the people adhering to these pre-conciliar teachings and liturgy are persecuted by other members of the Catholic Church. The things that non-Trads say about Trads can be quite extreme. For example, accusations against Traditionalists include that they are: A revival of the Jansenists (link) , Schismatics, Heretics, Uncharitable, Lefebrists Radicals Integrists When one group of Catholics is persecuted by the others for simply wanting to live as Catholics before them did for generations … well something is wrong. Further, we need to realize that when what was previously condemned is now promoted and what was previously promoted as the trut...

Forget the Reformation - It is time for Abrogation - Louie Verrecchio

Mr. Verrecchio has pointed out one solution to this crisis that is a dream of many Traditional Catholics of my acquaintance: The complete obliteration of the Novus Ordo Missae. If this were to occur, undoubtedly a revolt would occur within the Church, but the battle lines would be much clearer. I assume that a lot of material heretics would make the transition to being formal heretics. P^3 Prayer Penance Patience Courtesy of Louie Verrecchio A recent article by Fr. Thomas Kocik on the New Liturgical Movement website, Reforming the Irreformable? , is getting some well-deserved attention in traditional circles. (Do yourself a favor and read it in its entirety if you haven’t already.)

Tradicat

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