This blog uses the daily bible readings of the Catholic to discover wisdom for daily living 

Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25

10:11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,”

10:13 and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.”

10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

10:15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,”

10:17 he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

10:18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

10:19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,

10:20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),

10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

10:22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

10:23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

10:24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,

10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I’ve always thought that the author of Hebrews is a very bold theologian whose novelty is masked by his use of sacrificial motifs. What he says about Jesus is always helpful. I know the harsh question as to what I could offer the Source of life, to make up for all the wrong I’ve done, and the good I’ve failed to do. Answer: no offering of mine would be enough. But Jesus’ whole life is characterised here as a complete and generous offering of himself,  to which I may in faith attach myself-this faith must be a real desire to share in his Way-so that his offering then includes me now. Through his flesh i.e. his human life-and-death I can journey into God’s presence, and find his law written on my heart. What does it mean that the law is put into my heart? It means that I discover God’s law is also my law; it is my delight as well as my duty. That seems an inflated claim to make about my robustly imperfect life. Yes, but it’s not completely untrue either.

Mark 13:1-8

13:1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”

13:2 Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

13:3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,

13:4 “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”

13:5 Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray.

13:6 Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.

13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.

13:8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.

"You cannot serve God and Money"

 Many indeed come saying “I’m the One” and we have to learn a more forceful habit of rejecting them. It’s not so hard with obvious killers like the Lord’s Army in Africa, harder with those who inhabit our own territory. The claims of Mr. Griffin in the UK, and Ms Bachman in the USA, to represent Christ, must be clearly labelled as heresy, and Christian churches that back them should be quarantined, as once happened to the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, in case the disease spreads.  The mainstream churches must be able to say, “This is not Christianity and these are not Christian politicians.” The problem is not their idoelogies, repulsive as I find them, but the identification of them with Christ, whose name must be kept holy, along with the Father’s.