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Lee Sondeno

leesondeno.com

Contemplata aliis tradere.

Reading

Book Art

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking

    Parish life

    Finished reading: Two X Two by John Sondag 📚

    A fun and hilarious novel by John Sondag, a Director of Religious Education here in the Twin Cities. The transition of priests/pastors/leaders from ministry can always be a difficult and challenging process, but when we find common ground in realizing the Church is bigger than all of us, we can rest assured that Truth will not only prevail, but will be the great motivation for our main purpose in ministry - the salvation of souls. In a world of fuzzy and fleeting moral therapeutic deism, our parishioners are better for our being grounded in Catholic Identity.

    Nerdy

    This excellent article from Dr. Nigel Cundy (the Quantum Thomist) - Does God cause the grass to grow?, reminds me a bit of how necessary childlike wonder is, and how we should all read more Chesterton. Here’s a quote from Orthodoxy:

    It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.

    Nerdy

    Excited about this new episode, Why Productivity Isn’t Everything, Your Worth More than Your Work - Nerding Out ep48 - That Nerdy Catholic, as That Needy Catholic continues walking through Pope Leo’s Magnificat Humanitas.

    Parish life

    My wife sent me this article a few days ago and it is compelling. Evangelicals churches ditched this a decade ago and are finally starting to come back to reality, which is why you’re seeing their young people jump into volunteer service: they’re raising up leaders. We’re 10 years behind:

    We cannot build a consumerist model of parish and then be surprised when consumers behave like consumers…Yet, the real risk is continuing to do what is not working. Doubling down on bulletins, pulpit announcements, and better marketing treats this issue as a messaging problem. It is not a messaging problem.

    Interviews

    Pentecostal Roundtable

    Was blessed to be a part of a “Pentecostal roundtable” discussion with the Coming Home Network’s Journey Home show that aired last night on EWTN.

    What you don’t see are all the amazing conversations Marcus and I had leading up to the discussion as we shared memories, experiences, and how we as Pentecostals full of the Spirit and both raised in the Assemblies of God found this treasure that we both see as the Catholic Church - the Church that Christ founded. We joked that, had this been a meeting 15 years ago, the two of us would have started our own church in a storefront somewhere- we had all we needed: the preacher and the worship leader!

    Once you’re living in the sacramental life, once you have a sacramental worldview, it’s hard to see our experiences in Pentecostalism in the same way ever again. We admitted often that day how blessed we feel now that we’re home in the Church, and how much we were missing out on until we found the fullness of the Faith in the Church. Thanks be to God!

    Research

    Revelation Resources

    I’ll be giving a talk this week with the deacon at my parish to wrap up our study on the book of Revelation, and I get to tackle Ch. 20, which I also happen to be quite passionate about as I’ve studied and researched the various interpretations of “the millennium” for years. I thought it’d be helpful to list out some of my favorite reads that I revisit often related to the End Times, the Book of Revelation, and Eschatology:

    • The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation, Daniel G. Hummel.
    • Revelation: Four Views, A Parallel Commentary, Revised & Updated Edition, Steve Gregg.
    • Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation, Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
    • The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation, David Chilton.
    • The Great Tribulation, David Chilton.
    • Josephus: The Complete Works, Translated by William Whiston.
    • The Annals & The Histories of Tacitus, Edited by Moses Hadas.
    • The First, Second and Third letters of St. John and the Revelation to John (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible), Scott Hahn & Curtis Mitch.
    • The Navarre Bible: Revelation, Text and Commentaries, University of Navarra
    • Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind, David B. Currie.
    • Will Catholics Be Left Behind: A Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers, Carl E. Olson.
    • Grace and Vocation Without Remorse: Comments on the Treatis De Iudaeis, Communio: International Catholic Review 45, Pope Benedict XVI.
      • This document, included in the posthumously published book What is Christianity?: The Last Writings by Pope Benedict XVI is an excellent reflection piece.
    • Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, Pope Benedict XVI.
    • Revelation Expounded: Eternal Mysteries Simplified, Finis Jennings Dake.
      • This book is on my list despite its reputation and Finis Dake, because it was the first study on Revelation I received when I was around 14 years old, a gift from my wonderful Sunday School teacher at our Assemblies of God church after expressing fear of the coming rapture and tribulation. I’ve probably looked through it searching for answers dozens of times over the years, and it turned into quite strong reference material when I began researching Catholicism and orthodox teachings on Revelation (and all of scripture), ultimately leading me to question, “by what authority is scripture interpreted?” I like to keep it around to re-educate myself on certain Evangelical (popular?) biblical interpretive methods.

    There are talks, podcasts, articles, and so many other resources I’ve consumed over the years (not to mention the writings of the Church Fathers and other past theologians), but I’ll mention those in other notes and threads another time. For now, we’ll go with the above list of published books and articles (some online for free) as a quick window into some of my favorite research materials on the subject.