Jackson Fretheim

Presentation exploring The Wings of Fasting from a sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. ...

Article contribution at the Testament Star ...

The great John the Baptist proclaimed the coming of Jesus, the savior, one who is mightier than even John himself (Mark 1:7). John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was essential in fulfilling the role of the one crying out in the wilderness, making straight the path of the Lord our God (Isaiah 40:3). This call to repentance as a precursor to the arrival of the Messiah is an important one....

The Old Testament is made clear only through the New Testament. Jesus Christ, the culmination of God’s Revelation where He revealed Himself to the world, sheds light upon the entirety of the Holy Scriptures, illumining out hearts and minds. The Gospel can be seen as an fulfillment of the original creation account of Genesis 1:1-2:3. Through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we are able to return to a state of innocence which existed before the fall and become new creations in God (Gal 6:15; 2 Cor 5:17)....

The words of the centurion upon Jesus Christ’s solemn departure from life, “Truly this man was the Son of God,” echo the Christian confession which only finds its fullest expression in the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice.1 Jesus lived his entire life in preparation for this moment. Not only did Christ’s earthly life lead up to this point, but rather the entirety of human history was to prepare for this moment, through prophets and providence and divine intervention....

Until just a few years ago I would never write or make markings in any book that I was reading. I could not bring myself to highlight, underline, or put my thoughts in the margins. It just seemed “wrong” to write in a book, even a book that I owned. Today, however, I write or make markings in almost every book I read, including my copies of the Holy Bible. Writing, highlighting, and making notes in books that I have read has been highly beneficial, though getting past the initial mental block was hard (making the first mark in a new book still gives me some trouble sometimes)....

This post contains my notes on Michael Lofton’s Video “Can Pope Francis Ban the Latin Mass? More Than 5 Quotes.” This post is a summary of his content, all credit goes to him. I provide the sources I used which may slightly differ from the video due to translation variance. The Answer Short Answer: Yes The Magisterium affirms that the Pope can discontinue the Missal of 1962 (M62) and replace it with the Missal of 1969 (M69) NOTE: Possible because M69 is not a different rite than M62 This is a different question than should the Pope discontinue the Latin Mass Magisterium on Papal Authority and the Liturgy Council of Trent Session 21, Chapter 21: It furthermore declares, that this power has ever been in the Church, that, in the dispensation of the sacraments, their substance remaining untouched, it might ordain, or change, what things soever it might judge most expedient for the profit of those who receive, or for the veneration of the said sacraments, according to the variety of circumstances, times, and places....

Catholics are called by Christ to preach the Gospel to the whole creation, inculturation is an important aspect of the mission to baptize every culture in every nation. Figure 1: “It is better to help people flourish in their culture than to encourage them to come to a Europe in full decadence” (Cdl. Robert Sarah) Background Pope St. Paul VI created the International Theological Commission (ITC) in 1969 to explore theological issues....

This project is an attempt to draw together most of the usages of words for propitiation in the Latin Vulgate. I hope that having access to these usages can help foster a deeper understanding of propitiation in Catholic theology, especially pertaining to the mass. The words searched for are propitius (adj), propitio (verb, inf: propitiare), and propitiatio (noun). The 1598 Clementine Vulgate1 is used for the Latin text, English translation provided by the Douay-Rheims Bible Challoner Revision2....

Discussing the importance of keeping the Divine Author of Scripture at the forefront of your mind ...

The other day, while browsing a forum, I came across someone who was troubled by objections to the traditional authorship of certain books in the scriptural canon. This issue is an interesting one because it calls to mind the importance of framing. False framing of evidence, even real evidence, can lead you to the wrong conclusions. Thus, in the pursuit of truth it is as important to correctly frame evidence as it is to have the evidence in the first place....