Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
The Church is 'based' on Jesus the Christ and from this community of believers is produced the NT. The Liturgy is founded upon the Temple or Synagogue;
The standing during the gospels is, in Jewish liturgy, the standing for the Torah. The prayers of the offertory are the prayers of the Jewish Benediction before a meal.
The Sanctus is a direct quote from the Jewish prayer the Quedushah, while the ending of the maranatha when we say “Come Lord Jesus” is there in the invocation for the coming of the Messiah in the Jewish Shemoneh Esreh said daily.
The structure of the Mass recalls the structure of the Temple service and sacrifice. The beating of the breast at the Kyries repeats the Jewish beating of the breast as a sign of mourning or of repentance.
The octave after Christmas or Easter, is the week kept by Jews after every major feast. The beni-toi with its holy water, sign of baptism and once placed at the entrance of Catholic homes, takes the place of the Shema Israel encased in the wall before the entry into Jewish homes. And the readings of the Easter Vigil are the Passover readings Our Lord would have known.
More than that. Prior to Vat II Catholics were discouraged from reading the Bible. Now, with the explosion of Catholic scholarship going public the majority of parishes hold bible studies.
For some of Catholic doctrine there is a recognizable basis in Scripture. For others only a slender basis is to be found, and still others Scripture is virtually silent.
I just pretty much kept it simple.
Edit: I always want to ask because I see this on sites a lot these days. When giving an christian answer, why do you go into the Greek translation, the Jewish view, the This and the That to explain something pretty simple?
I know because it's religion it's supposed to be "mystical" I guess, but that's not how I see the Church. It's pretty straightforward. On websites, I'll look up, say, something on Paganism, and it 90 percent of the time says, Pagan (Greek word Peganus meaning country dweller [or so have you]) is.... Instead of just saying Pagan is this and that is it.
I think, unless having a theological dialogue, simple answers would help first and delve into the big stuff. A lot of Catholics who have not read their bible probably don't know the language behind a book they never read.
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