The Original Church
Spirituality/Belief
The Original Church, with Dr. James L. Papandrea, is an ecumenical Christian community exploring our common roots in the early Church for the purposes of spiritual growth and practicing the Christian faith. No politics, debates, or proselytizing, just "faith seeking understanding" from the perspective of the early (and medieval) Church and the Church fathers. Jim Papandrea is an author and Professor of Church History and Historical Theology.
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Happy feast of St. Monica!

St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, appears in his Confessions as grace personified. She is patient, yet persistent; loving, yet relentlessly pursuing him.
She is the patron of parents who pray for the conversion of their children, or I would say anyone who prays for someone to turn their lives around, and she is also the patron of anyone who prays patiently without seeing an answer to their prayers for a long time.

In my own prayer time in the mornings, I've been reading the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux. She makes a very interesting observation - one of those that we kind of instinctively know, but often miss because we don't think about it. She says that in the Old Testament, the commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (and Jesus does repeat that early in his ministry). But Jesus - as he often does - takes it to the next level. Not just to love your neighbor as you love yourself - but to love your neighbor as God loves your neighbor - even to the point of praying for blessings on your enemies, those who cause you to suffer. So, to summarize:

Moses: Love your neighbor like you love yourself
Jesus: Love your neighbor like I love your neighbor

That's another whole level of loving one's neighbor.

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Message to the Original Church Community

Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:

00:11:14
Sneak Peek into my NEW OFFICE!

I'm back, up and running, and ready to go - I should have a new JOURNEY episode within the next week or so - and because you are my loyal peeps, here is an exclusive, just-for-you, behind the scenes SNEAK PEEK into my new office:

00:02:17
In case you missed it, here's my Gospel Reflection

This was for March 24th, recorded for the Ascension App

00:02:57
Here's another song... Come Let Us Climb the Lord's Mountain

I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

I hope you like the song!

Here's another song... Come Let Us Climb the Lord's Mountain
Thought for the day

The problem with us men is that often we don't have the wisdom to be a father until we're a grandfather.

This may sounds like some ironic statement that makes you nod your head in agreement but shrug your shoulders in resignation, thinking, well there's nothing we can do about that. But the practical application of that is that it demonstrates how important it is for kids to grow up around their grandparents. But as in our culture the family becomes ever more fractured and spread out, that is harder and harder to do.

Lately I've been thinking that part of the problem is the whole concept of college. It used to be that everyone thought a person had to go to college to make a good living. Not only is that not the case (truck drivers make more money than I do) but now college has gone from useless to actually ruining our kids. But when I went to college, what you were supposed to do is figure out what career you wanted (as if anyone knows that at age 18) and then go away to the college ...

As promised, here is my email...

And don't forget, if you would like to read my latest novel:

The Sword and the Clover - just let me know by email.

I'm happy to send you the PDF version, even if you haven't been a monetary supporter of the community - all I ask is that you don't share it with anyone else.

My email address:

[email protected]

Keep in touch!

JIm

Here's the LINK to Sign up for My Newsletter

If you haven't already signed up - this comes to your inbox no more than once a month, and will keep you updated when new books come out, or when we're leading pilgrimages, etc:

https://jimpapandrea.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a7c3793af6d238b47f3463784&id=2abdd7219d

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