Scripture with the Fathers

Jesus takes the Apostles to Caesarea Philippi and asks, "Who do men say that I am? and But who do you say that I am?" Peter's confession has many parts and we begin to to explore the depth of this exchange between Peter and Jesus. Peter's response is informative and gives us the the seed of the founding of the Church and Peter's office. We explore the hypostatic union of Chri...

Moses enters the dark cloud on Mt. Sinai and speaks to the Lord. What is God doing with the trumpet blasts, the cloud and fire, lightning and thunder? Consider who the Hebrews are at this stage of their relationship with God and where they had been for four hundred and thirty years. They were in a culture of pagan pantheism, the many gods of Egypt and slavery to just basic survival. God is calling...

Jesus walks away from the Pharisees and Sadducees and then gets into the "boat" with the Apostles and warns them about the "leaven" of the Pharisees. then Jesus takes them to a particular place to pose the question, "Who do men say the Son of Man is?" and then, "Who do you say that I am?" We begin our discussion of Jesus' question to his disciples, which...

We continue to explore the theophany on Mount Sinai and the nation of priests that Israel was supposed to be. This priesthood comes from it being God's first born son. However, Israel eventually fails in this and this establishment of the family of God is realized in Jesus Christ and the one Church He establishes. We hear from Dr. Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Lumen Gentium, Haydock and Gregory of Ny...

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to "test" Jesus. What does this say about who they are and where their loyalties lie? Who is their Daddy? Jesus responds by talking about the weather. So they ask for a sign from heaven and Jesus refers them to the sky, (still temporal, but moving in the right direction). Then Jesus tells them that this generation is adulterous and evil and that no sign w...

Israel is God's "first born son" and consecrated as a nation of priests. But what is the nature of that priesthood? How does this relate to God's pedagogy of salvation of man? We explore these topics along with how this eventually plays out with the entering into time of the Only Begotten Son of the Most High. We learn from a Jewish Pharisee to understand how the covenant was ordered as a continge...

Jesus heals "all who came to him..." Matthew records that Jesus fulfills the prophet Isaiah as written in 35:5-6. After the healings, Jesus feeds the four thousand in the wilderness, thus fulfilling feeding the Israelites in the wilderness in Exodus. Jesus is demonstrating that he is fulfilling the prophecy of Moses that another will come, greater than him. Jesus cures the blind, lame, d...

Chapter 18 begins with the reuniting of Moses, his wife, sons and his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Three key themes pop out of this chapter: the wisdom of Jethro, a non-Hebrew or Gentile, the humility of Moses, and the delegation of authority in a hierarchical structure for the society. We hear from Chrysostom, Augustine and Origen. We also see in the meal with the Lord, the invitat...

Continuing with our discussion of the Canaanite woman's faith. We turn to Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch, Edward Sri, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Augustine in order to unpack Jesus' encounter with this gentile woman whom he calls a "dog." What actually that means and the reference. We turn to Exodus and Acts to discover who are the children at the masters table. What is th...

Picking up from Chapter 16, the Manna is more than just the bread, but it is the meat from quail, a bird. We look back to Genesis 1:20-23 to understand John 6 as the sign of the Eucharist as foreshadowed in Exodus 16. Birds "swim" in the waters above the earth and the fish swim in the waters below the earth. We look at Chapter 17 and the Water from the Rock. We turn to St. Paul to gain i...

Jesus explains the parable to Peter who is dull in understanding. Jesus explains this so Peter can understand and we hear from Jerome and Augustine. Augustine displays a detailed understanding of the operation of the natural operations of the body. Jesus then leaves and goes to Sidon and Tyre, Gentile lands, Oh no! But is Jesus doing anything that should scandalize the Jews? We look back to the Ol...

The Israelites murmur once again against Moses and in their hunger and murmuring God provides the manna; but what is it? We look to the Psalms, Wisdom and the Fathers to gain insight into what this manna or manhu (Hb.) actually is. Lastly we look to the Gospel of John as Jesus tells us exactly what the manna was and is.

Jesus explains what defiles a man and it is not what enters, but what comes out of man's mouth as that reveals what resides in his heart. We hear from St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome. We also look to Genesis and Acts of the Apostles in unpacking this saying to the Pharisees and Scribes who are offended by Jesus' speech. Jesus cautions the multitude about following those that are blind (do not u...

The Song of Miriam is still echoing in the heads of the Hebrews, just after God rescues them from the Egyptian Army, so that Egypt never again threatens them again, and three days later, they murmur against Moses and God; again, now for the second time. They reach an oasis, but the waters are bitter and not drinkable. Moses cries to God and is shown a tree which Moses throws into the water to make...

Jesus heals the sick not just at Gennesaret, but the town's people brought others as well. We see from Jerome and Chrysostom that Jesus fame has spread to the surrounding area and apparently heard about the woman who was healed by simply touching the hem (fringe) of his garment. But as Jesus' fame is being spread to the surrounding area, His fame has apparently reached Jerusalem, for, &quo...

The Israelites have crossed the Sea of Reeds and the Egyptian army is destroyed and seeing the enemies of Israel destroyed, compose a song of praise to God. We look at the original Hebrew language of key words to gain insight into the song itself. If we read this through the lens of the Church Fathers, we won't be surprised.

Why Does Jesus wait until the fourth watch of the night, (between 3AM to 6AM)? Peter walks on the water, but then sinks, why? The disciples, for the first time, worship Jesus. Jewish men know the first commandment. After Jesus gets into the boat, the wind ceases, immediately; "and the disciples worship him." How is it possible that these Jewish men worship Jesus? Don't they know the...

After the Hebrews complain about the situation in which they are lead by Moses to the edge of the sea in front of them, the Egyptians behind them and the Philistines are on the road along the Mediterranean Sea, so the Hebrews travel south to a place to where they are hemmed in by the wilderness, the Egyptians and the sea. They are boxed in by nature and the enemies of the sons of Israel. Moses str...

The Apostles are in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, while Jesus remains to pray. He comes to them in the fourth watch of the night. Jesus walks on the sea. Is there something about walking on the sea? Were there instances of prophets who walked on the sea? We explore the Old Testament and the original Greek language to gain insight on the significance of this event.

The Hebrews left Egypt in great jubilation on their way to where Moses will lead them, a "land flowing with milk and honey." As they traveled Moses, following the Lord's direction to "turn back" stops at a land wherein they are hemmed in by the wilderness and the Sea of Reeds as directly translated from the original Hebrew, and seemed to be trapped by the geography of the l...

We start off with St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome and dive into Old Testament and New Testament Scriptural references. God/Jesus works a miracle of feeding the "sheep" by having the disciples distribute the food. This miracle points to and is brought to its fulfillment in the Eucharist as we see in the Gospel of John. We look to 2Kings 4:1-7; Psalm 78:19 and John 21:15-19.

The Israelites are lead away from Egypt and as they leave, are instructed sacrifice the first to open the womb to the Lord of all the clean animals, and to redeem the unclean and the humans. St. Cyril gives us a Christological view of this redemption. As they leave Egypt, God instructs the Israelites to not take the Philistine road, the shortest route to Canaan, but rather toward the wilderness an...

We begin by reading Matthew 14:13-36. Jesus withdraws from Judea upon learning of the execution/martyrdom of John the Baptist. Is Jesus a coward, or prudent? By what means did Jesus depart? What does that have to do with anything? We hear from St. Jerome and St. John Chrysostom that give us insight. We look at the feeding of the five thousand or commonly known as the multiplication of the loaves....

What does it mean to be consecrated to God? Why the first born male is consecrated and not any first born? Where did the Israelites approach the Red Sea? What is this pillar of cloud and the fire that leads the way for the Israelites? We look to Dr. Hahn, St. Cyril, St. Augustine and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to gain insight to this prefigurement of the freedom from sin and death effect...

Why would John the Baptist be risk his life over the illicit marriage of Herod to Herodias? What does the Church, based on the teaching of Jesus Christ himself say about marriage? Is marriage by the very nature of the sacrament indissoluble, or is that just an "ideal?" We look to the Council of Trent, Vatican II, and St. John Paul II to see the enduring nature of the Church's actual...