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.
Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier, IOCC of America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Bishop George Otieno Odhiambo, IOCC of Africa
+++
Father. Franz Devantier, IOCC South Africa
In
nomine Patris, et Filii, + et
Spititus Sancti. Amen (In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. )
Third Sunday in Lent – 3rd March 2013 (Colour of Celebration - Violet)
Traditional
Catholics:
We see Jesus today in open conflict with Satan and his
works. So also during Lent, which is a
time when the struggle against the old man is more intense, should we “Live as
children of the light”, performing actions good, just and true.
Liberal
Catholics:
Intent for this Sunday: Understanding.
Roman Catholics:
(Eight Sunday of the year)
The
Lord has been my strength; he has led me into freedom. He saved me because he loves me.
Commemoration of the Saints
Mar 4th: St. Casimir, (Confessor): St. Casimir, son of Casimir III, King of
Poland, led an angelic life and excelled in love for the poor and great
devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He
practiced the most heroic virtues amid the dangers of his father’s court. He died in A.D. 1483.
March 6th: SS. Perpetua
and Felicity (Martyrs).
March 7th: St.
Thomas Aquinas, (Confessor, Doctor of the Church).
March 8th: St.
John of God, (Confessor).
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
Sacred References:
Peter, chapter 3, starting from 8th
verse.
John, chapter 8, starting at the 3rd
verse.
Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1-9.
Luke, chapter 11, verse 14-28.
Ecclesiasticus chapter 27, verses 4-7.
Corinthians chapter 15, verses 54-58.
Luke chapter 6, verses 39-45.
Homily:
“Lectio
Divina” means the prayerful reading of the scriptures. This is how we should be reading the
scriptures, so that we can play with the ideas presented in them, and make the
lessons presented in them, part of ourselves.
We
see the Pharisees approaching Jesus, accompanied by a woman who had been caught
in the act of adultery. The question
they presented to Jesus the Christ was a trick question, because out of this,
they would have tried to condemn him as a teacher and a leader. They presented the Law of Moses to Jesus
concerning the regulations of how a woman who had been caught in the act of
adultery should be stoned to death.
Jesus
was faced with this difficult question, if he agreed that the best way to
approach this problem was to follow the law, he would have implied that he had
no compassion for this sister in this terrible situation. If he stood up and protected this woman, he
would have gone against the law of Moses, and so discredited himself as a
teacher of the scriptures.
Imagine
that you were in such a moral dilemma.
You were faced with two choices in your life situation. If you chose “A”, you would appear to be a
person without compassion for their fellow beings. If you chose “B”, you would discredit
yourself in front of your friends and colleagues, and everybody else who would
ever come into contact with you. Which
would you choose?
If
we look at this question in another way; In this earthly plain where we are
living out our allotted time on this earth, we are faced with this
question. Take either this option or
that option, there are no other options.
Each option will lead to you being discredited as a person in your
personnel life and in your professional life.
There really seems to be no way out of this dilemma. There is limited time left to answer this
question, because as in the case of Jesus, the Pharisees could at any time
assume that by not answering he had tacitly chosen either one of the two
options. This tacit compliance would
have born the full result of having actively chosen one or the other
option. So the possibility of continuing
indefinitely in indecision was not available.
Yet
there is another approach to this problem which seemingly has no positive
solution. We are not dealing with purely
physical things here, we have access to the Divine. In other words we have access to things on a
higher level or plane that have the power to put the whole question into
another context. Having access to this
higher plane enables us to see the question for what it really is, and enable
us to answer the question in such a way, that we don’t need to go down either
of the two paths.
In
this case Jesus was able to address the people who had approached him with this
question, which meant that the question that was asked was no longer of
importance, but the question of why they had asked him this question was
exposed. As the questioner was faced
with the reality of having their motives exposed, they withdraw from the
situation, and rendered the question a non-issue. In fact by withdrawing, they had strengthened
the validity of the work of Jesus the Christ, and put themselves in a position
of further disrespect.
Jesus
simply said to the Pharisees. “He that
is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”. One by one the Pharisees realized that they
were not without sin. So the whole
process of trying to bring about the punishment of somebody who could not deny
that they had sinned, became meaningless.
By throwing a stone at this woman, would have exposed the Pharisees for
what they were, people such as ourselves;
People who although they had tried to live a life devoid of sin, and not
managed to reach that goal. All of their
sins would have eventually been exposed had they continued with the exercise. Eventually the woman was vindicated of the
crime, because there was nobody left to accuse her. Jesus had answered this impossible question,
in such a way that had the opposite effect to what was expected.
So
the lesson that we can learn here, is that things that seem to have no possible
positive outcome can be turned around.
If we apply a higher perspective to it, we may recognise the answer that
we had been looking for. The lesson is
to reach up to your higher self, to reach up to the Divine, to reach up to God,
because that is where the solution lies.
Jesus had reached up to Divine, the woman had been brought to higher
wisdom unwillingly, and the Pharisees had come to the Divine for the wrong
reasons. All of the players in this
story received an answer from the divine.
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,
Financial
support for Saint Titus IOCC (win-win
alternative)
Join the
carefully selected and tested cash-flow generating program below to support
Saint Titus, and at the same time potentially create a residual or annuity type
income for yourself.
|
Traffic Wave - Free Report:
You can maintain unlimited lists, with unlimited members. No extra
costs. Email marketing or newsletters on steroids. Nice residual
income program built in.
|
