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Hello From Baghdad Iraq,
ReplyDeleteMy friend Dan Burke sent me a link to this blog a couple of hours ago and asked me to comment (by the way you can now put a new marker on the world map). I'll share a "Catholics in Iraq" story that I learned several weeks ago around Thanksgiving time. I'm currently working with the military here in Baghdad and participate in a weekly Bible study (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible - Acts of the Apostles).
On the first night that we gathered together we spent some time getting to know each other. It turns out that there are two Iraqi gentlemen in the class who were born and raised right here in Baghdad. One of them (Ned) told us about a thriving Catholic community that existed here in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. He told us that the most prominent high school in the city was a Catholic school that he attended run by the Jesuits. And that they eventually followed that school up with a very prestigious college. It was fascinating to hear about. I'll encourage Ned to follow this post up with a post of his own where he can add all the details.
A good question was brought up during our Bible study regarding the Old Testament that I'm hoping Father John can shed some light on. It was mentioned that the New Testament is really what followers of Jesus should be focusing on. And that the Old Testament is irrelevant to us as Catholics. It is just too full of wrath, and death and horrible acts. While the New Testament is about love.
I'm pretty sure that both are relevant since we always read from both the New and Old Testament at every Mass. I'm also aware that the first reading, the Psalm and the Gospel reading are normally thematically connected. Could you give us a good theological understanding of why Catholics should study the Old as well as the New Testament? Thanks.
Mark Egbert
Baghdad