Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
I’ve updated the Imieniny widget as follows:
Special thanks for the guidance from Kaf Oseo at guff szub. See WP plugin: My Widget – example WordPress widget.
The current version is alpha 0.3. The download is available from my Downloads page.
Saints Romanus and Lupicinius, Abbots, (460, 480)
St. Hilarus of Rome, Bishop, (468)
St. Oswald of Worcester, Bishop, (992)
As I mentioned in Blog updates, I had added a PHP script to my blog to list the current saints’ name day. I took that script and created a Word Press widget out of it.
As recommended by Automattic, I took their Google widget script, which is very well documented, and worked from there, adding Adam Brucki’s Imieniny PHP script to it.
I had already taken the script and updated it for UTF-8 compliance and tweaked the output.
I’ve now added a section to the script to adjust for server time differences. My server in on UTC so I had to adjust the time by -5 hours.
I am releasing the widget as an alpha 0.1 version. It works for me ‘as expected’ but there are no guarantees… It is being released as-is. If it breaks your stuff, delete the plug-in and move on.
Here are some of the things I’d like to do with it:
For the most current download version please see my downloads page.
To install:
Saints Julian, Cronin, and Besas, Martyrs, (250)
St. Thalelaeus, Hermit, (450)
St. Leander of Seville, Bishop, (596)
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones. And he led me about through them on every side: now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest. And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones; and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.
“Spirit”… That is, soul, life, and breath.
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together, each one to its joint. And I saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them. And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off. Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people: And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God:
In case you haven’t heard, James Cameron (director of “Titanic,” “Aliens,” and “The Terminator.”) has become a biblical scholar, archaeologist, and refuter of the Christian faith. He produced The Discovery Channel’s up-coming Lenten PR blast, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” The program argues that ten small caskets that were used to store bones, discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980, may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family.
The Discovery Channel’s paid researchers say the study of ancient DNA (yes, they actually have a cheek swab from Jesus, and I think they got a blood sample from the cross and/or the Shroud or Turin), the old-world language of Aramaic, archeology, and other evidence lends credible (public relations stunt) support to the fact that these remains belong to Jesus and his family, but also that Jesus and Mary Magdalene (also known as Mariamena) were married and had a child named Judah (all believed to be the remains found in the tomb).
A nay-sayer, an actual biblical scholar who was interviewed in the documentary, says the film’s hypothesis holds little weight, but Cameron says his evidence is based on sound statistics. Oh yes, add statistician to the list above, and maybe potential Nobel Prize winner.
Christian Newswire in Ten Reasons Why The Jesus Tomb Claim is Bogus states:
“Unfortunately, this is a story full of holes, conjectures and problems,” said Dr. Ben Witherington, author of What Have They Done With Jesus? and New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. “It will make good TV and involves a bad critical reading of history. Basically, this is old news with a new interpretation. We have known about this tomb since it was discovered in 1980. There are all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much.”
Witherington and other leading biblical scholars and archaeologists say there are at least 10 reasons why the “Jesus Tomb” claim is completely bogus:
- There is no DNA evidence that this is the historical Jesus of Nazareth
- The statistical analysis is untrustworthy
- The name “Jesus” was a popular name in the first century, appearing in 98 other tombs and on 21 other ossuaries
- There is no historical evidence that Jesus was ever married or had a child
- The earliest followers of Jesus never called him “Jesus, son of Joseph”
- It is highly unlikely that Joseph, who died earlier in Galilee, was buried in Jerusalem, since the historical record connects him only to Nazareth or Bethlehem
- The Talipot tomb and ossuaries are such that they would have belonged to a rich family, which does not match the historical record for Jesus
- Fourth-century church historian Eusebius makes quite clear that the body of James, the brother of Jesus, was buried alone near the temple mount and that his tomb was visited in the early centuries, making very unlikely that the Talipot tomb was Jesus’ “family tomb”
- The two Mary ossuaries do not mention anyone from Migdal, but simply has the name Mary, one of the most common of all ancient Jewish female names
- By all ancient accounts, the tomb of Jesus was empty, making it highly unlikely that it was moved to another tomb, decayed for one year’s time, and then the bones put in an ossuary
“In light of all the incredible number of problems with the recent claim that Jesus’ grave has been found, the time-honored, multi-faceted evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is more convincing than ever,” said Dr. Gary Habermas, an expert on the resurrection of Jesus and author of The Case for the Resurrection. “Even the early opponents of the Christian message acknowledged that Jesus’ tomb was empty. And the evidence for Jesus’ bodily resurrection appearances has never been refuted.”
As with the hoax over the bones of St. James, skepticism is in order on the part of the larger public.
People of faith are not fooled of course. We’ve come to expect such things and have vast experience of them over the past 2,000+ years. Faith trumps Hollywood directors who have been relegated to the backwaters of the Discovery Channel.
For those interested, Mr. Cameron will soon be raising funds by selling relics of Yeshua Ben Yosef at your local Discovery Channel Store. I may stop by the one in Crossgates Mall to pre-order my ‘Bones of Jesus’ play set.
For those interested (like the media should be…) here are a few folks who actually know what they are talking about (also from Christian Newswire):
Dr. Paul Maier, Bible scholar and author of more than 15 books including The Da Vinci Code —“ Fact or Fiction?, More Than a Skeleton and Josephus —“ The Essential Works. Professor of Ancient History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Telephone: (269) 387-4816
Joe Zias, Thirty years professional experience in the field of Medical/Physical anthropology; Over 80 articles in peer reviewed medical and scientific journals; Science and Archeology Group at Hebrew University. Former senior curator of Archeology and Anthropology at the Israel Antiquities Authority for which he was responsible for the curation of the antiquities stored in the Israel Antiquities Authority, ranging from the Pre-historic periods up to the 18th Century AD. These objects, numbering over 75,000, included the Dead Sea Scrolls, pre-historic human skeletal remains as well as artifacts from the regions premier archaeological sites such as Jericho, Megiddo, and Gezer.
Telephone: 972-2-588-2811 Hebrew University (from United States first dial 011)
Dr. Amos Kloner, Officially oversaw the work at the tomb in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents. Professor, Department of Land of Israel Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Jerusalem, Israel
Telephone: 972-3-531-7283 (from United States first dial 011)
…and in conclusion:
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun’
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun’
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun’
Oh hear the word of the Lord
St. Nestor, Bishop and Martyr, (251)
St. Alexander of Alexandria, Bishop, (328)
St. Porphyry of Gaza, Bishop, (420)
Saints Victorinus and Companions, Martyrs, (284)
St. Caesarius of Nazianzus, Confessor, (369)
St. Tarasius of Constantinople, Bishop, (806)
—It is written, One does not live on bread alone.—
It’s always something about food isn’t it? God seems to like to use food as symbol and metaphor. He’s even gone so far as to use food as the means of conveying Himself to us.
In reading over the scriptures for this Sunday I couldn’t help but focus on food.
As many of you know, I am the cook in my family. I love cooking for my family and for relatives and friends.
The whole concept of cooking is multi-faceted. It’s the joining together of tastes, textures, and atmosphere into something that delights the senses, awakens memories, and ingrains new memories.
Cooking has become one of the trendiest activities out there. We have a television network dedicated to food with Iron Chefs, mega-chefs, CIA chefs, and down-home chefs. We have celebrities like the ubiquitous Emeril, BAM!, Nigella, and local celeb, Rachel Ray. I still remember the days of the Galloping Gourmet.
Moses stressed the importance of food —“ as a gift to God —“ long before there were Iron Chefs:
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
—The priest shall receive the basket from you
and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.
Not any food of course, but the firstfruits of a person’s labor were for God. The people were to say:
Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits
of the products of the soil
which you, O LORD, have given me.
They were to give from the top, the best stuff to be burned-up as an offering to God. The best is for God, because God provides all.
In his second epistle St. Clements says:
What return, then, shall we make to Him, or what fruit that shall be worthy of that which He has given to us? For, indeed, how great are the benefits which we owe to Him! He has graciously given us light; as a Father, He has called us sons; He has saved us when we were ready to perish. What praise, then, shall we give to Him, or what return shall we make for the things which we have received?
Cooking is very much like our Lenten journey.
The process of cooking starts with thought and preparation. Cooking challenges a person on many levels, combining timing, temperature, mixing, and artistry.
I looked at a particular incident that happened in the course of cooking this week, and this happens to me a lot. I want to talk about, and I want you to think about spillage —“ that’s right, spilling things.
Have you ever tried to transfer things from one container to another? Perhaps you’re combining flour or sugar into one canister. For my part I can never seem to pour the ingredients safely from one canister into another. Some always goes over the edge and spills out.
This week I would like you to consider how God spills His gifts out before us. Malachi 3:10 is very famous and is very pertinent:
—Bring your whole tithes to the storehouse.
And trust me in this. I will pour out such a blessing upon you
Your storehouses will not be able to contain it.—
What we bring to God during Lent is ourselves, and if we are sincere and humble enough we bring the firstfruits of our lives before God during Lent. We bring God our all and everything, and we lay it before Him as a sacrifice. We literally empty ourselves out, and like an empty canister, God will fill us, fill us to overflowing.
God’s love and grace will fill us to the point of overflow.
That overflow will be evident in our actions towards and with each other. That person next to you and me, our spouse, our friends, our children, our buddy at bingo or at the club will be affected by God’s outpouring. Our enemies, those right here in the Capital District who hate our Church, will be won over.
In Malachi God challenges us to trust Him. He literally says:
And trust me in this.
Test Me, Check Me out, put Me to the test. If we bring our all, our tithe, our firstfruits into the storehouse of God, if we place our lives in God’s hands, He will pour out such a blessing upon us that our storehouses will not be able to contain it.
We will be changed, and because of the change in us, the world will be changed, one person at a time.
This is what we are to believe, ponder, and live. That by our acceptance of God in faith, by our Lenten humility and penance, by our heartfelt commitment to emptying ourselves out, we will be changed, and as Paul says:
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
After High Holy Mass tomorrow morning Fr. Andrzej, a few parishioners, and I will be off to St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Cathedral in Scranton, PA (our Diocesan See) for the installation of our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Anthony Mikovsky as the seventh Diocesan Bishop of the Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church.
The Most Rev. Robert M. Nemkovich, Prime Bishop of the PNCC will conduct the installation and Bishop Mikovsky will celebrate a Holy Mass of Thanksgiving immediately following. There will be a buffet in honor of the occasion at the St. Stanislaus Youth Center immediately following the service.
Spent a little time playing with the blog set-up this evening.
What are you doing, right now?
That question is asked and answered by my first addition, Twitter. This is a really cool social networking tool. It basically lets me tell you what I’m doing at any particular moment. You’ll see the Twitter News box in the first right hand column. I can post updates to my Twitter News when I can’t blog. I can do the posts from my cell phone, from an IM program (limited selection I think), or from the Twitter site. I’m using the Twitter sidebar widget for Word Press from Velvet Unraveled.
Imieniny
I’ve added a PHP script to list the current name day. Name days, in Polish ‘Imieniny’ are the days on which a particular saints are commemorated. In Poland the “name-day” is important and is typically celebrated like birthdays are celebrated in other countries. In Poland only your closest relatives celebrate your birthday. The Imieniny PHP script is from Adam Brucki. I updated it for UTF-8 compliance and tweaked the output. If I get ambitious, I’ll create a widget out of it.