St. Irenaeus Ministries

The mystery of Christ, the key to the Christian life, is unpacked in four brief chapters in St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. There are many parallels between Ephesians and Colossians, which suggests they may have been written close to the same time. Paul was writing for a particular reason - he had received word that they were threatened by certain heretical ideas. Though he had no founded th...

In Isaiah we read of the Servant songs, a collection of poems or songs speaking of the servant of God. There are ancient Rabbinic sources that see Isaiah 53 as referring explicitly to a suffering Messiah. The Babylonian Talmud, the midrash on Ruth, the Aramaic Targum, the writings of Moses Maimonides, and the mystical texts of the Zohar all contain exegesis to this effect.  We have two strains of...

The Second Coming of Christ is a key doctrine in our Creed. And yet, it often does not receive a great deal of attention. It necessarily completes and complements the First Coming. Without a lively anticipation of Our Lord's return, our faith is left a great deal diminished.  The Psalms speak to the Messianic Hope and the glory of God in the First and Second Comings. In the beginning of Hebrews, t...

Prophecy plays a key role in the Old Testament understanding of hope, particularly that great Messianic hope. Prophecy should be understood as speaking with Divine Authority to convey the message that God wills for a particular audience. We see from the Bible that becoming a prophet was nothing that anyone took upon themselves. It is all Grace, a gift given not for maturity's sake or for exception...

The young David, a singer of God's praises, would come to set up temple worship as a mature man. He was a great sinner, and a great repenter. The Psalms give us a detailed account of his inner dispositions. All of David's great accomplishments look forward to an even greater reality, which is seen in God's promises regarding a "son of David". The Gospel of Mathew, chapter 22, explicity refers back...

Biblical hope is not calculated, not contingent; it is absolute. We know that God  always intends good for those who hope in Him. Biblical hope is more of an expectation, with an element of eagerness. As we read in Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for". The covenent between God and Abraham is an example of Biblical hope. Most important to us God gave a promise to Abraham of un...

The Biblical concept of hope appears in the stories of all the great patriarchs. With Jacob, great promises are given despite his imperfections and slow spiritual growth. His son Joseph is a savior-figure, a type, who we can see as looking forward to Jesus Christ. In Genesis 49:10, we read of the "sceptre of Judah". In this prophetic verse we hear of nations being obedient to a leader who is to ri...

The full Biblical concept of hope is a central theme that runs throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. We must first  know  the Scriptures to have a true sense of lively Christian hope. This is a life-giving hope that all Christians must make their own. Trust and hope come together in the figure of Abraham; In Genesis, God gave promises to Abraham regarding his posterity that would n...

Sonship, obedience, and relationship are three vital themes that permeate the Scriptures. When we contrast Genesis with the Gospels, we see the striking parallels between the disobedience of Adam and the obedience of Christ. Adam was called a son of God, who by his inordinate disobedience brought sin to the human race. Christ's sonship is, in a sense, a very different type of sonship. "Although he...

The season of Advent is one of preparation; preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus who reconciled humanity with God. The whole of the Bible from Genesis to the Gospels outlines this preparation. The present series takes a cursory look at salvation history, allowing us to enter into the hope that God's people felt throughout the Scriptures. The Biblical concept of hope is more than a mere wis...

What was New Testamant Christianity really like? We must look to the Acts of the Apostles, as well as the records of the early Apostolic Fathers. Theirs is a critically important witness to the actual Apostolic Deposit. The foundations of the Apostolic Age were  mission and community . The role of the Holy Spirit was evident, as many were drawn to the Church in spite of persecution and no material...

Luke's Acts of the Apostles is an account of some of the pivotal moments in the Church's earliest history. Historical records give us good reason to believe all of the early apostles, with the exception of John, died a violent martyr's death. They kept the faith unaltered, despite being widely scattered and seperated for years. The churches they founded continued in the Faith, and in some cases co...

This series provides a survey of early Church history beginning with the Acts of the Apostles and ending around the year 600 with the rise of Islam. The early, undivided Church was a remarkable period in Church history full of lessons for Christians today. We see in this period an organic development of doctrine and practice. The Church withstood both internal and external pressures, and provided...

The Mission of the Church - The Joy of the Gospel/Conclusion Francis congratulates those already working for the good of the Church, while warning about the specific temptations that face those within the institutional church. An inordinate emphasis on the individual has been a detriment to the mission of the Church, leading to inflated egos and "spiritual worldliness". Francis' exhortation gives...

The Mission of the Church - Continuing the Council's Exhortation Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation  Evangelii Gaudium  makes alive and practical the lessons of the Second Vatican Council. " With Christ, joy is constantly born anew ". The Mission of the Church depends on believing Christians living out the joy of the Gospel in a real and tangible way. This joy is not merely "giddiness"; but rathe...

The Mission of the Church - Impediments to Mission Mission is vital to the gospel. Each of the gospels ends with a  directive to a mandate to mission. The mission is not based on our  abilities but rather on the power of the Holy Spirit that we shine  forth. We must respect other religions in that we must respect man in  his search for answers and the Holy Spirit who is driving that man.  Fatigue,...

Vatican II directed the Church outward, through Ad Gentes and echoed 25  years later in the encyclical Redemptoris Missio, which describes an  intentional trajectory of where the Church believes that Christ wants us  to go in mission. Evangelization is the duty of all Christians, and it  brings us closer to Christ. There has been, however, a decline in  missionary activity in the church. This miss...

The encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi instructs us that the teaching of  the Church is unchanged and irreplaceable. The task of evangelizing  all people is the essential mission of the Church, but the Church has  a need to be evangelized herself. This is the spiritual liberation,  not a human liberation, as secular humanists and modern atheists might  advocate. The techniques of evangelization must b...

The Second Vatican Council was the largest council of the Church,  beginning under John XXIII in October 1962 and running for four  sessions until 1965, ending on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception  under Paul VI. It reaffirmed and proclaimed the timeless teaching of  the Church, though it did not define much new doctrine, the pastoral  thrust was very important. We must follow the instruction...

This is an exciting time to be Catholic." This episode picks up the rousing theme where the last left it off. Vatican II stressed the Church's need to engage with the modern world. The popes that followed have, with unrelenting urgency, urged every Christian to take up the task of mission. This episode sounds the call anew – in the words of Pope St. John Paul II: "the moment has come to commit all...

The goal of this series is to equip Catholics to live out the mission of the Church, which is to proclaim Christ to the whole world. We will explore what this means for the faithful laity using the documents of Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The documents of the Second Vatican Council will be examined through the hermeneutic of continuity, which was championed by Pope Benedic...

The Hebrews consecrate the Tabernacle and all of the preparations are  completed one year later, even washing the hands and feet of the priests  in the middle of a desert. God has created a people fit for God, and we  must strive not to fall back into slavery to sin because of it.

Exodus repeats much of the information regarding the tabernacle in the  final chapters, signaling the restoration of Israel to God's favor.  The  Hebrews finish the tabernacle according to God's design.

After the great sin of the golden calf, Moses asks God to see His  glory to know His ways. God shows Moses His reflected glory, but  shields him from His face. God writes the tablets again, with no  changes, to present to the people as a covenant. God instructs the  Hebrews to worship Him alone, for He is a jealous god. This jealousy  is a desire for an exclusive relationship, as we can see in Jam...

When Moses delays in coming down from Mt. Sinai, the people demand an  idol of gods to go before them. Aaron makes a bull out of the people's  gold, in the form of some of the Canaanite gods, and declares it to be  the god that brought the Hebrews out of Egypt. God proposes to kill  the Hebrews and make a great nation out of Moses, but Moses intercedes  for the people. God, through Moses, directs...