Quote of the Day

From Open Wide the Door to Christ:

"Only a starved spiritual beggar truly awaits the holy Mass; only a beggar desires to participate in the Banquet during which he knows he will be fed."

Quotes from the Pope's Jesus of Nazareth

Luke transmits to us the same saying, but at the end he adds: "And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is good'" (Lk 5:39). There do seem to be good grounds for interpreting this as a word of understanding for those who wished to remain with the "old wine." (page 181)

Now, to anyone who claims this is going back to before the Council, I challenge them to find this kind of interpretation back then (by a conservative that is). One of the things that bothers so many progressives in the Church is that both Pope John Paul II and the current pope defy the limitations of the labels placed upon them--they are seekers of the Truth, and not some ideology created in their own image and likeness rather than the image and likeness of the one true God. Another reason, why this is truly a "great book"...

Quotes from the Pope's Jesus of Nazareth

"Both Evangelists designate Jesus' preaching with the Greek term evangelion--but what does that actually mean?" (page 46).

"The term has recently been translated as "good news." That sounds attractive, but if falls far short of the order of magnitude of what is actually meant by the word evangelion. This term figures in the vocabulary of the Roman emperors, who understood themselves as lords, saviors, and redeemers of the world. The messages issued by the emperor were called in Latin evangelion, regardless of whether their content was particularly cheerful and pleasant. The idea was that what comes from the emperor is a saving message, that it is not just a piece of news, but a change of the world for the better.

When the Evangelist adopt this word, and it thereby becomes the generic name for their writings, what they to tell us is this: What the emperors, who pretend to be gods, illegitimately claim, really occurs here--a message endowed with plenary authority, a message that is not just talk, but reality, (pages 46-47)."

Now, there is something to think aboutthe next time you here the Gospel--the evanglion proclaimed at Mass...

Quote's From the Pope's Jesus of Nazareth

"The sign of God is overflowing generosity.We see it in the multiplication of the loaves; we see it again and again--most of all, though, at the center of salvation history, in the fact that he lavishly spends himself for the lowly creature, man." (page 252).

This quote reminds me of another quote from another book, recently published in English which actually would reflect the thought of Father Joseph Ratzinger in the 1960's. There is a quote that actually gives insight into a theory of the cosmos that is tied into scientific fact at a more basic level. Here is the quote:

"The miracle at Cana and the miracle of feeding the five thousand are signs of that superabundance of generosity which is essential to God's way of acting, that way of doing things which in the process of creation squanders millions of seeds so as to save one living one. That way of doing things that lavishly produces an entire universe in order to prepare a place on earth for that mysterious being, man." What It Means to Be a Christian: Three Sermons, (pages 79-80)

Quotes from the Pope's Jesus of Nazareth

"The burning bush is the cross," (page 349).

Now, there is something you can think about long and hard. It'll also help you to understand why this book is so good...