Bible Study Tonight - the Patriarchs

When I have previously studied the Holy Bible, I've usually made it through Genesis and once I got to the begats, I'd run out of steam. This bible study, however takes us through the timeline, not necessarily from beginning to end, but following the lineage from the Early World to the Messianic fullfillment and the beginnings of church. One does not read the Bible from cover to cover, but for the purpose of following God's promise for all mankind.

We are given a color coordinated timeline chart and color coordinated bracelet that takes us through 12 periods in biblical history to today. First is the Early World, Creation to 2000 BC, turquoise (the color of the earth viewed from space), Genesis Chapters 1-11. In the Early World, God created the heavens and the earth and tested Adam and Eve in the garden. The five major events in this time period are:
1) the fall of Man
2) the murder of Abel by his brother, Cain
3) the flood
4) God's covenant with Noah, and
5) the Tower of Babel

The key people in this period are: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, and we are introduced to Abram.

The secular concurrent events occurred as the Egyptian dynasties.

Tonight, we learned about the Patriarchs, 2000 - 1700 BC, Burgundy, for God's blood covenant with Abram (Abraham), Genesis Chapters 12-50 and in secular history, Stonehenge was built.

We learned of the three promises God made to Abram: land, a royal dynasty, and generations would be blessed through him. I had a huge Aha! Moment: if we were given promises like these by God and we truly believed that our lives would have such impact on future generations, we would be praying from morning to night that we would do the right thing.

Just a minute, God made us a promise of everlasting life through His son Jesus Christ! We should be praying morning to night to our God for His help in attaining this everlasting life.

Why should we go to church?

In the first document mentioned in my last blog,
(http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2litur.htm) the Second Vatican Council explains why we should go to church:

While the liturgy daily builds up those who are within into a holy temple of the Lord, into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit (3), to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ (4), at the same time it marvelously strengthens their power to preach Christ, and thus shows forth the Church to those who are outside as a sign lifted up among the nations (5) under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together (6), until there is one sheepfold and one shepherd (7).

Makes sense to me: the liturgy builds us up and strengthens our power to preach Christ, showing the Church to others, so that they may also be gathered together.

This must be why every time I go to mass and receive the Holy Eucharist, I feel better, more alive, energized.

Vatican II - want to know more?

Hello all.

I had the privilege of listening to Archbishop Pettipas last night after parent/teacher interviews. He was delivering a message with regards to how we can enrich our faith and get to know the Catholic Church better.

The highlights of his talk centered on the Second Vatican Council. Did you know that this council was the only one in history that was not called in response to a crisis? Pope John XXIII called this council in order to reflect upon the church and what the church should be to the people. It certainly was a surprise to his cardinals and to the rest of the world.

Our Archbishop encourages us to enrich our faith by beginning to read the documents written by the Second Vatican Council. He highlighted some of the points brought out by the following four documents. There are more, but this is a beginning, says Archbishop Pettipas.

We are often challenged on the changes brought about by Vatican II, either by fellow Catholics or others, either in support or negating what went on. I am challenging you to get to know the Vatican II yourself by reading these documents. I plan to. :-)

The links to those documents are:

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2litur.htm

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2church.htm

Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2revel.htm

Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World

http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2modwor.htm


Let's have some fun with this! :-)