Christ Encounters of the Liturgical Kind
Introduction: Immersed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ
The dream has been dreamt, you are a dream of the master dreamer.
Genesis 37: 19 & 20 - LXX - English
ἰδοὺ ὁ ἐνυπνιαστὴς ἐκεῖνος ἔρχεται
νῦν οὖν δεῦτε ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν
καὶ ρίψωμεν αὐτὸν εἰς ἕνα τῶν λάκκων
καὶ ἐροῦμεν θηρίον πονηρὸν κατέφαγεν αὐτόν
καὶ ὀψόμεθα τί ἔσται τὰ ἐνύπνιααὐτοῦ.
Storybook Background ~ The
Union of Scripture and Liturgy ~ 560 words
For my storybook, I have chosen to renarrate four stories that depict Christ encounters. This means that individual characters are pictured as encountering a person who is called Jesus Christ - that is - the anointed one who saves. I framed the stories in a format that is canonical and liturgical, for the biblical canon is a collection of sacred scrolls that have been been gathered together and edited into their current form by a mystical body of saints known as the One, Holy, Catholic, & Apostolic Church. Liturgy is an outer expression of worship that includes all aspects of life ranging from the mundane to the spectacular. Several formal or public liturgies have been recognized throughout the history of the Christian Church. This is the natural place to encounter Christ, for scripture is written for liturgy and liturgy is saturated in scripture. After all, the bible itself is saturated with rituals, covenants, and liturgical sacrifice.
Throughout this storybook, I have worked with two primary convictions that are distinctly Catholic.
First, the bible was not intended to be an academic textbook. It is more accurate to describe it as a mystical marriage manual of body, soul, and spirit. A large percentage of biblical myths originate from a variety of cultures and civilizations throughout the ancient world. Thus, God neither discriminates nor chooses favorite children.
Second, the New Testament is not primarily interested in a historical man who lived long ago in a far away place. It is more accurate to describe it as a Trinitarian interpretative key for the Old Testament. Thus, it pictures Jesus as the new Adam and Mary as the new Eve - that is - the Christian in relationship to the maternal and bridal Church.
Biblically, Adam and Eve are initially pictured as falling into the historical and cosmological drama known as sin. Jesus and Mary are later pictured as reversing the cosmic fall into an upward ascent of holiness, purity, and love. This occurs as each of us learns to view life through the eyes and mind of Christ. We do this by returning from an outer state of fragmentation to an inner state of wholeness. Scripture enables us to do this by continually pointing out what a fragmented world looks like while simultaneously redirecting us to our own inner source of wholeness. This allows us to truly understand what it means to be in the world but not of it, for the promised land is within.
When we imitate and embody the lives of Jesus and Mary, we fulfill the outer requirements of the Old Testament. This enables us to discover our true identity as sons and daughters of God. A thirst and hunger then grows within us as we are cultivated in the good news of Jesus Christ. This inner longing is a gift of God that matures as we learn to surrender more fully to the love of God, for this interpersonal love is shared between the Father and the Son as the third person of the triune God. As such, this indwelling Trinity is found within every man, woman, and child. All Christian dogmas are centered in the absolute Truth that all have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved.
Truly, there is neither salvation nor wholeness outside of the Church but neither is she an institution built by hands.
Storybook Orientation ~ The
Drama of Our Lives ~ 390 words
As the storybook author, I have chosen to narrate these stories from my own perspective by immersing myself into the liturgical drama. This allows me to reintroduce an ancient practice that has not received much attention since the Middle Ages when the Church regularly read scripture from at least four different levels of interpretation. These four senses consisted of the literal, the allegorical, the tropological, and the anagogical. Each sense deserves a detailed explanation, but it is sufficient to say that all four have been greatly neglected by modern Christendom.
In the ancient world, hypocrites were stage actors who played the hypocrite or interpreted a particular script. One could make the argument that the bible is the greatest dramatical masterpiece of human history known to us. There are, however, bigger questions that we should be asking. If we are the stage actors, then who are the ones writing the scripts? If our individual lives can be likened to a dramatical script, then shouldn't we be mindful of our relationships with one another? What if western and eastern religions were two sides of the same proverbial coin?
In order to even begin to answer these questions, we need to first reevaluate both the bible and our lives in ways that are totally different than what we have been indoctrinated into since birth. My desire and aim is to help you discover your own internal script while also giving ideas on how to best encounter the script-maker for yourself.
With respect to the stories, they can be read in any order. The sequential numbering does, however, represent a natural progression in Christian spirituality. Each story highlights a pattern found throughout the bible and each of the main characters narrate their own Christ encounter during different times, circumstances, and locations.
In the first story, I used the Samaritan woman from the Gospel of John as a pattern of Christian growth.
In the second story, I used blind Bartimeaus from the Gospel of Mark as a pattern of Christian discipleship.
In the third story, I used the adulterous woman from the Gospel of John as a pattern of Christian worship.
In the fourth story, I used the canonical writings of John as a pattern of Christian community.
In an optional page, I included some additional resources and personal commentary.
To return to the cover page.
Documentation &
Additional Resources
Image information:
An Orthodox Icon of Noah's Ark, Web source: St Joseph School for Boys Bookstore
A non-exhaustive bibliography:
The Temple and the Church's Mission, by G. K. Beale; InterVarsity Press, 2004; GoogleBooks
The Drama of Doctrine, by Kevin J. Vanhoozer; Westminister John Knox Press, 2005; GoogleBooks
Eat This Book, by Eugene H. Peterson; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006; GoogleBooks
The Roots of Christian Mysticism, by Olivier Clement; New City Press, 1995; GoogleBooks
The Spirit of the Liturgy, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger; Ignatius Press, 2000; GoogleBooks
Sacred Drama, by Patricia Wilson-Kastner; Augsburg Fortress, 1999; GoogleBooks
Holy Ground, by Gordon W. Lathrop; Fortress Press, 2003; GoogleBooks
Letter and Spirit, by Scott Hahn; Doubleday, 2005; GoogleBooks
The Divine Matrix, by Gregg Braden; Hay House Inc, 2007; GoogleBooks
The Gospel & the Zodiac, by Bill Darlison; Duckworth Overlook, 2007; GoogleBooks
The Pagan Christ, by Tom Harpur; Walker Publishing Company Inc, 2004; GoogleBooks
Lord of the Cosmos, by Michael Patella; T & T Clark International, 2006; GoogleBooks
The Homeric Epics & the Gospel of Mark, by Dennis R. MacDonald, Yale University Press, 2000; GoogleBooks
Does the New Testament Imitate Homer, by Dennis R. MacDonald, Yale University Press, 2003; GoogleBooks
The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels, Random House Inc, 1979; GoogleBooks
An Eagle's Flight, by Abbot George Burke, Saint George Press, 1994; GoogleBooks