Christian Heritage - August 1 - The Law and the Prophets Will Nourish You

"Be careful that you too do not become an Egyptian in the grip of famine. Take care not to be so involved in worldly affairs, so bound by the chains of avarice or softened by sensual indulgence, that the food of wisdom, which is always offered in the churches of God, becomes distasteful to you. For if you close your ears to what is read or discussed in church, without doubt you will suffer hunger for the word of God. But if you are of the line of Abraham, and preserve the nobility of the Israelite race, the law and the prophets will always nourish you, and the apostles will also offer you sumptuous feasts. The gospels, too, will invite you to sit at table in the company of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the Father to eat of the tree of life there, and to drink wine from the true vine, to drink the new wine with Christ in the kingdom of his Father. For it is impossible for the friends of the bridegroom to fast or suffer hunger for this food as long as the bridegroom is with them."

Origen of Alexandra (AD 185-253), Genesis 12, 4: SC 7bis, 382-384

Origen became head of the catechetical school in Alexandria and devoted his life to the study of Scripture. His writings are almost beyond counting, but his devotion to Christ and the heavenly glories above is evident throughout them.

Augustine Day by Day - July 31 - Living in Unity

"Brothers and sisters dwell together in unity not by their own strength or their own merits but by God's grace, like dew from heaven. This dew comes from Christ. All you who wish to dwell in unity, desire this dew and be moistened by it. Otherwise you cannot hold firm what you profess."

-- Commentary on Psalm 132, 10-11

Prayer. Lord, you are my helper and the helper of anyone who reaches out to you. Indeed, you are my Redeemer for the very purpose of enabling me to reach out to you.

-- Commentary on Psalm 18, 15

We have been killed in order to live. We have been saved in order to live saved.

July 31

Christian Heritage - July 31 - Let Us Bind Ourselves to Christ

"It is right that we follow the example of John the Baptist and listen to the outstanding works Christ has done, even when we are bound by the chains of our sins. So powerful is the word of God that we shall be set free by its efficacy and sing triumphantly with the prophet: Lord, you have broken my bonds; I will offer you the sacrifice of praise. Let us bind ourselves to Christ as his disciples and with ardent desire and constant prayer humbly beg him to be our teacher, so that, taught by him, we may believe in him as true Messiah and, as believers, may love him with pure hearts as we ought.

"Finally, let us in every place keep our hearts focused on our king as a powerful example. By word and deed he makes it clear that he is Messiah and true Christ; let us likewise show ourselves complete Christians in his image by our faith that works through love, for the Lord says: Behold, I am coming quickly, to render each according to his works. If these works are holy, they will not leave their doers until they have led them into heaven and everlasting glory, by the the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit through all ages. Amen."

Alonso de Orozco, O.S.A. (AD 1500-1591), Second Sunday of Advent, Sermon 3: Opera Omnia I, 77

De Orozco was an Augustinian friar and great preacher of the court of Spain under Charles V. He authored many spiritual treatises and was prominent in the golden age of Spanish literature. Consider indeed his younger peer, Miguel De Cervantes.

When Duty Calls

NYC Cop Charged for Not Arresting Homeless (AP - 28 July 2004)

The police department put an officer on trial Wednesday for refusing to arrest a homeless man who was sleeping in a parking garage.

Eduardo Delacruz, 39, could be kicked off the force if an administrative judge finds him guilty of failing to obey a lawful order. ...

An attorney for Delacruz, Norman Siegel, accused officials of punishing his client for following his conscience. Delacruz "saw the homeless as people and showed them dignity and respect," Siegel said.

Police lawyer David Green argued that Delacruz's personal beliefs are "completely irrelevant" and the case "begins and ends with the refusal of an order."

What catches your eye?

Malawi clerics caught canoodling (BBC- 29 July 2004 - Raphael Tenthani)

A Catholic priest and nun have been convicted in Malawi for making love in an airport car park.

The 43-year-old priest and 26-year-old nun were caught "in the act" in a tinted saloon car parked at Lilongwe International Airport.

Any headline with "canoodling" in it is almost guaranteed a smile. And any story about clerical sin is bound to win a cynical smile from many. "The nun tearfully told the magistrate she regretted her brief lapse in judgement, while the priest said that as a man of God he accepted Satan had tempted him."

But what gets lost in the giggling courtrooms of Malwai, and our minds, is this this profound sentence by the judge:

Magistrate Arthur Mtalimanja accepted their pleas in mitigation, but admonished them saying that as servants of God they were the last to be expected to misbehave in public.

"I therefore sentence you to six months imprisonment with hard labour, but I will suspend it... because you have shown remorse," he said. ...

If the couple repeat the offence in the next 18 months they will go to jail, the magistrate said.

Many people might find this magistrate's sentence abominably scandalous. Why should religious people get a pass? Let's be honest: it is scandalous. It is scandalous because it is the Gospel. Mtalimanja does not coddle these lawbreakers as "victims"; he respects their status as morally responsible human beings and, in fact, re-imposes their vocations back on them. He apparently has no interest in the cheap methods of pop-psych "rehabilitation." He recognizes the only medicine there is: truth, repentance, grace, and holiness.

This case makes it that much easier for me to accept the humbling truth of Romans 13 -- that God has established the government as His implement of justice and, in the best cases, of mercy. This case also reminds me that even the most devoted servants of God are not over the Gospel but beneath it. Like Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky's *Crime and Punishment*, this priest and this nun are bound by the power of guilt and bound even more strongly by the joy of mercy. Neither we nor they can escape conscience; and neither we nor they can escape God's mercy.

The helix unravels

Francis Crick, co-discoverer of structure of DNA, dies at 88

Crick and geneticist James Watson discovered the double-spiral structure of DNA in 1953. ...

The British-born Crick was 36 and working at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory when he and the American-born Watson, just 24, struck upon the idea of a molecular structure twisted like a ladder into a double helix. ...

Crick and Watson were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1962. In a statement Thursday, Watson hailed Crick "for his extraordinarily focused intelligence and for the many ways he showed me kindness and developed my self-confidence."

If you'll recall Ogre Watson's twilight obsession these days -- perfecting the future of humanity by annihilating inferior babies -- I'd say he could use a few more lessons in the former and could do well with less of the latter.