5th Sunday after Easter – 28st April 2013

Dear Readers,

My name is Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, Independent Old Catholic Church (IOCC) of Africa, operating in South Africa, and also creator of this blog.  My background was that of a liberal Catholic Priest, and a Traditional Catholic Priest in South Africa, and then an independent Priest in the Catholic tradition.  I was incardinated into the IOCC by Archbishop-Primate Emeritus Maurice McCormick founder of the IOCC of America.  

IOCC of America

Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier,  IOCC of America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
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IOCC of Africa

Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa

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Saint Titus IOCC South Africa

Saint Titus IOCC Newsletter

Father. Franz Devantier, IOCC South Africa

In nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen   (In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen. )

5^th  Sunday after Easter  –  28^st  April 2013 (Colour of Celebration – White)

Traditional Catholics:

The Church continues to exalt the risen Christ and exhorts us to unite with her in prayer.

Liberal Catholics:

Lord Christ, whose wondrous triumph thy faithful people year by year do celebrate, we pray thee that, as the years roll on, we also may triumph over sin and, following thy glorious example, may rise unto the fullness of our spiritual heritage, O thou who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

Roman Catholics: (Sixteenth Sunday of the Year)

God himself is my help.  The Lord upholds my life.  I will offer you a willing sacrifice; I will praise your name, O Lord, for its goodness.

Lord,

be merciful to your people.

Fill us with your gifts

and make us always eager to serve you

in faith, hope, and love.

Commemoration of the Saints, for the coming week

April 28^th, St Paul of the Cross (Confessor)

-> St Paul all his life had a burning love for Jesus.  He founded the Congregation of Passionists.  He and his brethren were preachers of “the mystery of the Cross and of devotion to the Passion”.  He died A.D. 1775.

April 29^th, St Peter (Martyr)

-> St Peter of Verona was a famous preacher of the Dominican Order.  From childhood he was conspicuous for his refutation of heretics and his singular innocence.  He longed to die for the faith, and his prayer was heard.  A.D. 1252

April 30^th, St Catherine of Siena, (Virgin, Doctor)

-> St Catherine of the Order of St Dominic, led a life of great penance.  She received the stigmata, but at her urgent prayer they did not show externally.  She died A.D. 1380

May 1^st, St Joseph the Worker (Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Confessor)

-> Work, imposed on man as a penalty, is transformed into a blessing through his communion with the life and work and death of Jesus Christ, a communion effected by the active part he takes in the Sacrifice and Communion of the Mass – with St Joseph as model and patron.  This Feast was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1956.

May 2^nd, St Athanasius (Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church)

-> Bishop of Alexandria, St Athanasius opposed Arius with admirable zeal.  He has left us several works in defence fo the divinity of Christ.  He suffered frequent persecution.  He Died A.D. 373.

May 3^rd, Commemoration of SS. Alexander and Companions

May 4^th, St Monica (Widow)

-> St Monica first converted her pagan husband, and then, by her tears and unceasing prayers, her son St Augustine, who is regarded as one of the greatest Doctors of the western Church.  She died A.D. 387.

Announcements:

We are still collecting names for submission as Marriage officers, under Saint Titus.  If you would like to become a marriage officer under Saint Titus, then please contact Fr. Franz  devantierf@gmail.com

News:

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Sacred References:

James, Chapter 1, verses 22-27

John, chapter 16, verses 23-30

Genesis, chapter 18, verses 1-10

Colossians, chapter 1, verses 24-28

Luke, chapter 10, verses 38-42

Acts, chapter 2, verses 22 onwards

Mark, chapter 16, verses 9 onwards

Homily:

We take the story up again when Jesus had risen on the third day, after being slain on the cross.  The first person he appeared to was Mary Magdalene, the same Mary whom Jesus the Christ had cast seven devils out of.  Sometimes I think that Jesus appeared to Mary first, because she was ready to meet the risen Lord Jesus Christ, more than any of the other Disciples at the time.  I am sure that Mary Magdalene had spiritual insights like you can’t believe, to share with the other disciples.  Even in a strongly Patriarchal world she had shone through, as being spiritually very special, despite the fact that she was a woman.

Mary Magdalene went and sought out the disciples as they wept and mourned for the loss of Jesus Christ.  Mary told them the story of how she had met the risen Jesus Christ, and what he had said, what she had said etc.  However at the end of it all, they did not believe her, and rejected the notion that Jesus had risen from the dead.

On another occasion the risen Jesus Christ appeared to another two disciples as they walked along the road.  They had long discussions with him, and as Mary Magdalene they believed he was the risen Jesus Christ, and so they rushed off to tell the residue of the disciples that they could find.  They explained the whole experience in detail to them.  Again at the end of it all, those that they told, did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples.  Remember that we had lost Judas as a disciple during the recent events, with the crucifixion etc.  This was the core of the disciples that Jesus Christ had built up, during his work on this earth.  They were not an easy bunch of people to convince.  We think of one of them in particular Thomas.  Doubting Thomas as he was known as, could not seem to believe even although the risen Lord stood before his eyes, with the holes in his hands and his feet and his side.  Thomas asked if he could just put his hands or his fingers in the holes in the risen body of Jesus Christ, and then he would believe.  Many of us are in some ways like doubting Thomas, which is not always a bad thing, we get there in the end.  At the end of it all the eleven believed with all their hearts that they were in the presence of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

If we think for a moment how Thomas had wanted to put his fingers into the hands of Jesus Christ, and some well meaning Christians will point out that the nails were not hit into the palms but in fact more into the wrist or just above the wrists.  Perhaps the exact location could have been as much as 10 cm or about three inches, from where most of us conceived it to be.  This is a small point, but it does illustrate a big point.  Personally I don’t believe that it is of major importance whether the holes in the body of the Christ were through the palms of the hands or a little bit higher through the wrists.  With the light not being all that good, and blood and dirt smeared all over the place, I don’t think that it would have been easy in any case to see the difference.  The nails had definitely in any case being nailed through that general area.  Now if we start to think about why this slight difference, and even slightly inaccurate point was perpetuated through the centuries, then think of this problem.

The new testament was written in Aramaic, which is an ancient form of Hebrew.  From here is was translated into Greek, and then eventually into our native tongues.  Most of the original Greek manuscripts are still available so that technicalities in the translation can be examined and understood in better ways.  However the source documents are largely no longer available.  They were written in an ancient and forgotten language Aramaic.  So any interpretation between Aramaic, and the Greek spoken at the time of the translations has been lost in antiquity.  For all we know the word for palm may have had an equivalent in Aramaic that included the palm and the wrist, maybe even a slang term in Aramaic at the time.

So we have lost the fine detail on this particular aspect through translating from one ancient and forgotten language to another ancient remembered language.  So you will just have to live with it, it does not really matter, and there is no way of really knowing anyway.  What we do know is that Doubting Thomas reached for the holes in the hands/wrists of Jesus Christ, and he believed.

  

Now once the eleven believed; Jesus Christ gave them the great commission.  This commission was not just for the Jews, but for the gentiles also.  You see at the time from their perspective there were two types of people on Earth, there were the Jews, the oppressed people in Jerusalem, and the Gentiles, the Romans that had occupied the beloved Jerusalem.  Of course everybody else in the world would also have been a Gentile.  If a man was to accept the gospel in those days, then his entire household would typically have accepted it with him, including the servants.  Also the beasts of burden, and the other animals and creatures that were part of the household, would have experienced a different approach towards them, after the conversion.  So in the broader sense, all of God’s creatures would have been directly or indirectly benefitting.    

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”.

Some time later we take up the story again, but this time it is from a much more mature group of disciples, a group of disciples who believed in the risen Jesus Christ, a group that had devoted them- selves to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world, as far as they possible could at the time.  So now it is more of an academic discussion, a discussion that will reveal to those that are listening, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Did not Jesus of Nazareth do many miracles, wonders and signs amongst you here in Jerusalem? Signs and wonders that had been orchestrated by God the Father, and executed by God the Son.

Wicked hands have taken the Son of God and crucified him, and slain him.

Now come’s the Gospel for those who had gathered to listen to what the disciples were talking about:

God in the form of Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.  Death did not corrupt his soul not his flesh.  The disciples can all bear witness to that, because they had all seen him in the flesh, after he was slain.

Jesus Christ ascended into heaven in his earthly body, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

Jesus was raised from the dead, so that all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, can also be raised from the dead.  At this point in time the disciples could have presented a sort of “Billy Graham” type of alter call.  Many souls were won for Jesus Christ in those times back then, many churches were established.  The work was in fact so successful, that two thousand years later there are literally by some accounts billions of Christians in the world, and the church of Jesus Christ is still going strong.

Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name:  Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation.  But deliver us from evil.

[Protestants can optionally add:  For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.]

Amen.

Benediction:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son, Christ our Lord; and the Blessing of God almighty, the Father, + the Son and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always.  Amen.

Love,

Rev. Fr. Franz Devantier of Saint Titus, IOCC, South Africa,

devantierf@gmail.com

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