The Mount of Beatitudes: Seeing Beauty that Illustrates Truth

Dr. Wayne Stiles says that the Mount of Beatitudes offers more than a beautiful view; it offers a place to consider truth.

In the Jerusalem Post:

The hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee frame the lake like a portrait.

In spring, the hillsides burst with wildflowers, fresh grass, and  spectacular color. The tranquil slopes tower above fruit crops and  fertile fields that stretch across the lush Plain of Gennesaret.  Regardless of how often I visit the Kinneret, and no matter where I  stand to view the picture, the subject seems to be smiling. The view  never gets old.

Numerous places around the lake offer  splendid panoramas. The best view, by far, is atop Mount Arbel. Windy  and requiring a walk, the vast landscape stuns every first-timer.  Another grand vista is the view from Kfar Haruv on the eastern side—I  can see the whole lake from tip to tip. Impressive, for sure.

But the picturesque view from the Mount of Beatitudes offers visitors more than simply something to see.

Along the northwestern shoreline, the ruins from a small, fourth-century  chapel cover a rock-cut cistern. Called the Church of the Sermon on the  Mount, its deteriorated crumblings lay to the north of a small  monastery.

At the top of the slope, once called Mount  Eremos, a modern church towers over the crumbling one it has replaced  below. Driving up the incline requires a few hairpin turns that snake  back and forth beside the valley. Once on top, the road curves east and  rewards the traveler with a marvelous view of the church that gazes out  over thirteen miles of water.

Franciscan sisters built  the beautiful chapel in 1938 with the support of Mussolini. Designed by  Antonio Barluzzi, the church supports a cross with a stained dome that  towers over its structure made of gray cinderblocks. The building’s  eight sides commemorate the eight “beatitudes” that began Jesus’ celebrated sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:3-10). The Mount of Beatitudes marks the traditional location of the sermon.

Thick Saint Augustine grass spreads out below numerous palm trees and surrounds colorful flowerbeds. Tidy gardens descend to a small,  covered, semicircular sitting area that overlooks the lake. It’s a great place to sit, read, pray—or just enjoy the view. The  hillside below the church would have provided plenty of space for a  large crowd. And the view? Stunning. In fact, Jesus drew upon the  splendor of the verdant slopes to illustrate a point in his sermon: “Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they  spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed  himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he  not much more clothe you?” (Matthew 6:28–31).

No doubt,  the view from the Mount of Beatitudes provides a beautiful portrait of  the Sea of Galilee. But it offers even more. The lovely surroundings  afford each visitor a tranquil place to meditate on the truths that were taught there. Away from the noise of traffic and the distractions of  everyday life, there is still the beauty that illustrates truth.

More than simply a picturesque view of the lake, the place offers a  perspective on living. That’s seeing a lot further than thirteen miles.

Read on here.

Truly, one of the most beautiful places on earth!

 

Continuing Anglican Church Leaders to Meet this Week

I understand that my Bishop will be there too:

Conservative Anglican Church leaders from all major jurisdictions throughout the world will gather in the Boston area for the World Consultation of Continuing Churches in preparation for a two day meeting on Church issues.

Archbishops and bishops, along with clergy and lay leaders will come together November 3rd and 4th in Brockton, Massachusetts at St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Attendees include Church leaders from the Traditional Anglican Communion including the Churches of North and South America, India and South Africa. North American Church bodies include the Anglican Church in America, Anglican Province of America, Anglican Catholic Church, Anglican Diocese of the Holy Cross, as well as leaders from other jurisdictions. The meeting will focus on the first 35 years of the conservative Anglican Church, current issues including relations with the Roman Catholic Church and the future for the growing conservative churches.

Conservative Anglicans parted ways with the Anglican Communion in the late 1970′s and continued in the historic faith and practice of the historic church. Anglicanism is the third branch of catholic Christianity and has the third largest Christian following after the Roman Catholic and Easter Orthodox Churches.  Of the 90 million worldwide Anglicans, approximately 20% belong to conservative jurisdictions, which has seen significant growth in the last several years.

The events are sponsored by the Anglican Church in America and the International Anglican Fellowship, an Anglican missionary organization, in concert with the annual Festival of Faith hosted by St. Paul’s Anglican Parish in Brockton. The worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion has members in 44 countries and like other conservative Anglicans, seeks to uphold the Catholic Faith, Apostolic Order, Orthodox Worship and Evangelical Witness of the Anglican tradition within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. The Communion upholds the traditional Anglican faith and worship, holds Holy Scripture and the ancient Creeds of the Undivided Church as authentic and authoritative, and maintains the traditional Liturgies of the Church.

The highlight of the seminar will be a Mass according to the traditional rites of the Anglican Church on Friday November 4th at 11:00 AM with all of the Church leaders participating. Seminar topics include perspectives on the History of the Continuing Church, Theological Integrity, Ecumenism, the Future and the United Witness of the Continuing Church.

VOL will be on hand to report this event for its readers.

The Programme for the meeting can be downloaded here (pdf.).

UPDATE:  Here is the keynote address given by Bishop Michael Gill (TAC Southern Africa) at the the Conference of Continuing Anglicans in Boston.

 

How do Saints in Heaven ‘Hear’ Us?

Canterbury Tales:

Many Protestants object to invoking the saints in prayer for the good reason that they feel that this practice obscures the mediation of Christ. However, the Catholic Church teaches that the prayers of Saints in Heaven are still mediated to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Christ is the one mediator between God and man, whether those men are in heaven or on earth.

The Catholic asks a saint in heaven to prayer for him just as he might ask a friend for prayer. There is however a big difference between asking my wife to pray for me and asking St. Paul to pray for me.

For example, my wife is standing in the room and can hear me say, “Sweetie, please pray that I prepare my lecture in time for tomorrow’s class.” If I were to ask the same “prayer request” from St. Paul, it is obvious that he is not standing in the room with corporal ears ready to receive my vocal request.

How then does this prayer get transmitted to St. Paul? And what if there are 2,000 people all asking for St. Paul’s prayers at the same time?

Some Protestants assume that Catholics believe that the Saints are omniscient and/or omnipotent. The Catholic Church does NOT teach that the Saints in heaven are omniscient and/or omnipotent. So if they are not omniscient how do they “hear” these prayer requests coming from earth?

The answer is the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine taught that just as the Church is the body of Christ, so the Holy Spirit is the “soul of the Church.”

What the soul is in our body, that is the Holy Ghost in Christ’s body, the Church” (Sermon 267, 4: PL 38, 1231 D).

The soul’s presence in the human body is what allows messages to move through the body. The brain can cause the toes to wiggle or the eye to wink. But this can never happen in a dead body. The soul is what allows messages to travel through the body. If you take away the soul, the brain cannot ask the toes to wiggle and stomach cannot ask the hands and mouth to feed it.

So it is in the communion of saints. The Holy Spirit allows the central nervous system of the Body of Christ to send messages back and forth from one another. The Holy Spirit is He who gives the Saints their status as “holy ones.”

Let me anticipate two objections:

1) If what you say is true and the Holy Spirit transmits “prayer requests” from us to other Christians in heaven, why can’t I send a prayer request by telepathy to a Christian living in China?

2) If what you say is true and the Holy Spirit transmits “prayer requests” from us to Christians in heaven, then why can’t they send us personal messages in return?

The first objection is answered on account of “time and space.” If we are separated by time and space from another person, we cannot communicate. (This is not entirely true in an age of cell phones and email.) The glorified Saint is not in time or space. This is a mystery. So he or she can somehow hear a million prayers “at one time” through the Holy Spirit who is infinite.

The second objection is answered by recognizing that the Saints sometimes do “send messages” to the faithful on earth. For example St. Gregory of Nyssa explains that St. Gregory the Illuminator received a vision in which:

“he heard the one who had appeared in womanly form exhorting John the Evangelist to explain to the young man the mystery of the true faith. John, in his turn, declared that he was completely willing to please the Mother of the Lord even in this matter and that this was the one thing closest to his heart. And so the discussion coming to a close, and after they had made it quite clear and precise for him, the two disappeared from his sight.” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Life of St. Gregory the Wonderworker)

Here we have a pre-Constantinian example of the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Apostle appearing to someone earth with a message. The history of the Church is full of such examples.

One last objection. But isn’t praying to dead people the sin of necromancy?

Technically, necromancy is consulting the dead in order to discern the future. The word necromancy derives from the νεκρός (nekrós), “dead”, and μαντεία (manteía), “divination”. First, the Saints in heaven are not “dead.” They are alive in Christ – more alive than we are! “He is notGod of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong” (Mark 12:27). Secondly, Catholics do not ask the Saints for prayer so that they can forecast the future. Maybe somebody’s aunt in Mexico conjures up things through burning herbs and invoking saints – but that is not what the Catholic Church teaches or promotes. It’s an abuse, not the norm.

Ultimately, glorified Saints in heaven take up their priestly identity as the people of God. This priestly identity involves intercession and so they continue to love us and the only thing they can do is pray for us. “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).

All Saints, pray for us!

Pray for us indeed.

 

Biblioblog Rankings – October 2011

Are out.

Thre are some good blogs to check out. Others, you shouldn’t really bother with.