"In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” -Luke 1:39-45
9 comments:
An ikon inside an ikon. I like it. Double the symbolism. I'm one of the few Catholics I know (actually the only one) who worships ikons. Lots of people find it weird. (I was an Orthodox, and Catholics accept II Nicaea as well, so I figured, it goes.)
I don't think you're supposed to worship icons.
I'm sure he's using the word 'worship' in the older sense of 'venerate' or 'honor' rather than what is properly called 'adoration' which is given only to God.
Hi,
The Catechism, in 2132, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7F.HTM
talks about the images in the Church.
In my family, we liked to light candles when praying in the temples.
Biblical Catholic is correct: as Orthodox (and as theologically-specific Catholics), we "worship" (Gk dulia "servitude" - etymology does not define meaning) ikons, the Mother of God, and the saints, whereas we adore (Gk latreia, "adoration" or "to perform sacred services") God.
We worship the saints and ikons (Westerners don't much worship ikons, though), and adore God, although the meanings have become confused, "adoration" nearly dropped out of usage, and has become vulgarized by calling domestic animals and/or lovers "adorable". Before there were adorable cats, though, there were Worshipful Companies of Tailors, and Worshipful Companies of Wool-Merchants, and Worshipful Shipbuilders, and Blacksmiths, and judges called "Your Worship" (synonymous to the modern word, "Reverend", meaning "honored/revered/well-liked one").
This can be further split to dulia (saints and ikons), hyperdulia (Theotokos), and latreia (God), but I personally go for the dichotomy instead of the trichotomy, feeling the latter is a bit too conducive to justifying some of the laity's overindulgence in the cult of Mary. Protestants do have a valid objection much of the time when they speak of ordinary Catholics, and observe that "in the pew", sentiment tends towards Pelagian works-salvation and Mary as being invoked more than the Trinity.
The first one can be thrown back at them, though, as the average Protestant believes that all one has to be saved is "choose Jesus", which is as much of a human work as anything else - choose to be baptized or choose Jesus - how is one less of a work? The real and correct (e.g. Thomistic, nor even the [searching for suitably imprecatory term that doesn't fall afoul of the rule that Thomists and Molinists can't call each other heretics] Molinistic) understanding is not often found amongst the simple lay.
I disembark from my soapbox, and end my rant with a bow and flourish, wearing academic (e.g. wizards') robes.
This is a beautiful passage. Thanks for posting it.
Is this from the ESV translation? My RSV-CE2 is almost identical except that it has "city of Judah" instead of "town in Judah", and "child" instead of "baby". The RSV-CE has "babe", which is nice. I wonder why the RSV-CE2 changed it to "child"?
This is a beautiful passage. Thanks for posting it.
Is this from the ESV translation? My RSV-CE2 is almost identical except that it has "city of Judah" instead of "town in Judah", and "child" instead of "baby". The RSV-CE has "babe", which is nice. I wonder why the RSV-CE2 changed it to "child"?
Yes, I believe I took it from the ESV.
Here's to hoping for an ESV-CE!
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