50 Days After: July 2012

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Saints and Scripture Peter's Boat

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. ²⁴But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. ²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “ Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” ²⁸Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “ You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. ³³And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”
Matthew 14:22-33 NASB

This was the reading today in our Melkite parish. This is one of my favorite passages! Unfortunately, I missed most of the homily because Princess had to go potty. Here's a picture of the icon on the wall of our parish, notice the mast.

I always think of Peter's boat as a type of the Church. I first came across this as I meditated on the image of St Peter's Barque on a frosted glass window in a chapel at Mount Angel Seminary. Jesus and His followers journeyed together to the other side of the sea carrying Jesus and His salvific message. Also it is shown by Peter's sinking that the only safe and sure place is in the boat (Church). Also, note that it is Peter's boat as in Peter the man whom all Popes have succeeded. I always think of Chef from Apocalypse Now after he was attacked by a tiger while looking for mangoes: "Don't get out of the f@#$*!g boat!"
I think of Christ walking on the water as opposed to parting the sea. I'm not sure where there thought will eventually go.
I think of St Peter in desperate need of physical salvation crying out to Jesus to save him. I like the parallel with spiritual salvation and Jesus carrying him back to the boat which is a type of the Church.
I think about the last sentence. They worshiped Him. There are some miracles where the Apostles are clearly more impressed than at other times. Even still, after the Resurrection some of them still doubted.
The lack of faith isn't just with Peter for being afraid and thus sinking, the other Apostles were clearly worried the boat would sink and them with it.
I also think of the story when Jesus was sleeping through the storm and they woke him to save the boat from sinking. Did He go back to sleep? For that matter what would the Savior of the World dream about?
I've published poems on 50 Days After about St Peter's barque here and here. In both poems I emphasized Peter's barque as a type of the Church and Christ's guarantee that the Church would never fail is portrayed by the unsinkable nature of St Peter's Barque, after all the "gates of hell shall never prevail against" the Church aka Peter's Barque.

Click on the picture to see the other submissions for Saints and Scripture Sunday.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Sunday Snippets 29JUL2012

Its time again for Sunday Snippets. Its been an average week on 50 Days After.

On Tuesday, I reposted an a guest post originally published at Fear Not Little Flock about Sacred Art and Placement. Thursday was another installment in the Theotokos Thursday series. I took part again this week in 7 Quick Takes and remarked on the irony that is Augusta.

Check out the other Sunday Snippets here.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

punching them won't stop people from believing but it feels good

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Irony... thy name is Augusta

I just watched a news report that a group in Augusta wants to honor Augusta's native son Brigadier General Montgomery C Meigs with some sort of plaque or memorial on Broad Street along with all the various Confederate monuments, memorials and plaques. The trouble is BG Meigs was the Quartermaster for the Union Army and played a key role in defeating the Confederacy.
Of course this is also the same city that has the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway and Martin Luther King Boulevard concurrent for several blocks and placed a James Brown statue on Broad Street amidst all the sundry monuments to Confederate soldiers and officers.
Augusta also has a street and civic center named for James Brown. However, as it lies in the heart of the Deep South there are of course many streets and buildings named for various Confederate Officers. Its an interesting paradox.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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7 Quick Takes 27JUL2012

My What is Truth/Mirror Universe Pelosi post got a visit yesterday from a House of Representatives IP. I've been wondering ever since who? and why? I included a picture from the post for your viewing pleasure.
A Catholic owned HVAC company is suing the HHS (Newland vs Sebellius) to maintain their first amendment rights to freedom of religion. I hope they win. I was honestly very disappointed with the ruling from the Supreme Court. I find it interesting though that even though the Supreme Court has ruled that businesses are "persons" with first amendment rights to free speech, administration lawyers are claiming that business owner are not permitted to run their businesses according to their beliefs. The choice argued by the administration is comply or close. What's next? Telling Chick-fil-A they have to open up on Sundays? UPDATE: The Newlands now have the first injunction against the HHS mandate. Its only an injunction and it only applies to their company, but its a start!
On a lighter note, I'm excited to see that one of the Dr Who episodes next season will be a Western. Unfortunately it was filmed in Spain. It seems weird to film a Western in Spain, but it worked for the man with no name trilogy.
I can't wait for September! Summers in the Deep South are unbearable and I can only imagine what it was like before air conditioning. I miswired my new thermostat the other week right before the weather climbed into the triple digits. That was the most miserable three days (until I gave up and called a professional to fix it) that I've had in a good while.
This picture is reason # 29 that I like reading Restless Pilgrim. Reason # 28 is that the post is called "Impressing Girls at Bible Study". I usually enjoy the randomness of it all.
Does anyone else use an RSS reader to keep up with 100 or so blogs? Even though I have that many I need to thin out those blogs which have ceased to be or that I don't remember why I subscribed because I just don't read it and/or don't like the material.
Blessed be Jesus Christ true God and true Man!