Thy Kingdom Come

From a notebook on Prayer by Origen, priest:

The kingdom of God, in the words of our Lord and Savior, does not come for all to see; nor shall they say: Behold, here it is, or behold, there it is; but the kingdom of God is within us, for the word of God is very near, in our mouth and in our heart. Thus it is clear that he who prays for the coming of God's kingdom prays rightly to have it within himself, that there it may grow and bear fruit and become perfect. For God reigns in each of His holy ones. Anyone who is holy obeys the spiritual laws of God, who dwells in him as in a well-ordered city. The Father is present in the perfect soul, and with him Christ reigns, according to the words: We shall come to him and make our home with him...

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Priesthood Continued

Second, the Church’s tradition and practice of excluding women from priestly ordination are not based on any eternal and necessary principle but on considerations that are historically and culturally conditioned. The practice originated and developed in an environment in which women, for a variety of economical and social reasons, had a subordinate position to men. Circumstances have changed greatly in the Twentieth Century. The Church should change with the times and not allow herself to become an irrelevant anachronism, clinging to a mode of thought and behavior that is more and more out of touch with contemporary culture.

Response: If Jesus chose only men to be apostles, it was not because He lacked the wisdom of courage to break cultural patterns. He showed in many ways (by prohibiting divorce, conversing with a Samaritan woman, dining with publicans and sinners, giving a more human interpretation to Sabbath laws, etc.) that He could rise above the restrictions of the prevailing culture. If the early Church followed the pattern set by Jesus, it was not because it was unthinkable, according to the culture of the time, to appoint women to hold religious office. As a matter of fact, women served as priestesses in pagan religions of Jesus’ time.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching