4.29.26- Altars The Way Truth and Life The Fall of Man
- tmaley
- Apr 29
- 14 min read
Updated: May 1
Catholic Understanding & Biblical Defense Class 4/28/26
Every Tuesday, 7PM-8PM (EST), 🖥️Zoom ID: 829 7355 9896 🗝️Passcode: 358319
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House rules/Resources…
RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recaps afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give exposure to “Catholic Bible Study” – a good thing!
Questions. We encourage questions although we ask that you keep them on topic and brief. You can ask during the meeting, or in the chat box, or if you prefer you can email us through Meetup.com, or Ron directly: ron@hallagan.net.
Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between Christian denominations and religions in general, and we seek to be respectful at all times. Protestants especially are our friends and brothers/sisters-in-Christ; in fact, I owe much of my return to Christianity to them. Therefore, any critique of our brethren is in loving pursuit of apostolic truth.
No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal :). Our goal is to learn, understand, and apply the Bible and our Catholic faith to our everyday lives.
Word on Fire. Bishop Robert Barron has reached millions through his 10 min Sunday homilies, podcasts, educational series and certifications, bibles, and other lectures and apologetics. www.wordonfire.org
Hallow App. Daily prayers and reflections, especially for the high holyday seasons. www.alex@mail.hallow.com
Catholic Answers – www.catholic.com. Best site for Catholic Apologetics there is.
Dynamic Catholic. Interested in daily inspirations to grow closer to God and the Church, not to speak of the many educational resources? Sign up for Matthew Kelly’s powerful insights, quotes, and reflections at www.dynamiccatholic.com.
“The Chosen” TV series. All of us seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not always easy. It can help if we have seen and heard Him. The Chosen series captures Jesus better than any show I have ever seen. Highly recommended.
Cursillo. Interested in meeting with other men or women weekly over coffee to discuss God in your personal and professional life? Join Cursillo (cur-see-yo). Contact Jennifer Pence (Jennifer.pence@gmail.com) for more information.
Online- Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying the rosary, etc. with other Catholics during the week? Follow fellow member Jason Goldberg. Link: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-and-fellowship/
Bible Study Format
Our Bible Study is a combination of Exegesis and Apologetics.
Study and interpretation of Scripture A reasoned defense of the faith
Each meeting is (roughly) as follows:
min Apologetic Reflection
min Upcoming Gospel Reading
30 min Weekly topic/theme
1 hour
Week 1: Gospel Week – we study several Gospel stories, especially the tough ones.
Week 2: Bible Week – we are working our way through the Bible. We are studying the New Testament.
Week 3: Questions and Survey Topics chosen by Members:
1. Prison Ministry Stories 2. Plenary Indulgences 3. Explanation of the Mass and Eucharist 4. Dead Sea Scrolls 5. Catholicism vs modern cosmology? 6. The 7 Gifts/Fruits of the HS, 7 Deadly Sins 7. How to experience the Love of God 8. The Communion of Saints 9. Comparative Religions 10. Catholic vs Protestant beliefs
Week 4: Apologetics:
Gen 1-3 (Creation Story, Adam & Eve, the Fall of Man, The Meaning of Eve/the Trees/Summary
Faith vs Doubt – is having doubts bad?
Don’t forget to RSVP.
Taylor will send a link to everyone with today’s notes.
The class is recorded if you want to listen to it anytime.
I will ask for volunteer readers…
Opening Prayer:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
I thank you for my existence so that I could have a relationship with You.
Thank you for the opportunity to know you, serve you, learn from you, and grow closer to you.
You are everything to me, Lord, and all that I am and all that I have belongs to you.
Major holy days: The Lord is Risen!
The Ascension of the Lord – Thurs, May 14 and Sun, May 17
Pentecost – Sunday, May 24
**Mass or Confession anywhere/anytime: www.masstimes.org
Today’s Agenda
Weekly Reflection – Altars in the Old Testament prefiguring the Catholic altar
Gospel reading for 5th Sunday of Easter (May 3): The Way, The Truth, and The Life, John 14:1-12
Genesis 3 – The Fall of Man: God clothes Adam & Eve, Tree of Life, the Fiery Sword, Summary.
Term of the Week
What is Original Sin?
The “Sin of Adam & Eve” was not your ordinary sin. Free-will was part of the spiritual gift God breathed into us that included a certain “grace” that connected us to God. Its official name is the state of Sanctifying Grace.
Note I said, “state of.” Grace is not a commodity (i.e., you can’t say “if I can get more grace, it will offset my sins”). Such transactional thinking is usually measured in “quantity,” whereas grace is about “quality.” There are different kinds of grace but Sanctifying Grace represents the highest relationship humans have with God and it is required for Heaven.
Original Sin then is the loss of this Sanctifying Grace, which Jesus Christ restored to us though the Cross and Baptism.
Reflection: The Catholic Altar
Is the Catholic Altar for sharing the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, or a Catholic Table for “breaking bread” with him?
Let’s go back to the beginning … ~1350 BC.
The “Tabernacle” – built by Moses per Yahweh’s instructions in Exodus 25-27, 35-40.
Bronze Altar of Bloody Sacrifices/Offerings – These sacrifices were performed multiple times daily for over a thousand years for the sins of Israel. It was never enough. Jesus’ sacrifice – because he is God and man – was enough and eliminated the need for bloody sacrifices ever again. His one sacrifice remains ever-present to us, and ever-available to us.
Table of the Bread of the Presence – also called Bread of Face (of God), and Showbread (always on display 24/7 as a symbol of God’s continual presence with Israel). This had a twofold purpose: 1) it represented the presence of God among man (ingredients supplied by God, made with human hands), 2) it was an unbloody sacrifice that God shared with man because we were part of God’s family (the priests had to eat the bread/replace it every 7 days). Amazingly, there was also wine at this table – fruit of the vine, work of human hands – representing a sacramental union with God.
Altar of Incense – represented the prayers of man’s repentance and thanksgiving to God. This “fragrant aroma” rising from earth to Heaven was very pleasing to God. (Psalm 140-141, Rev 8:3, Malachi 1:10-11)
At the Last Supper are the sacrifice of Jesus’ body & blood, his presence in the bread and wine, and his prayers of thanksgiving.
Jesus combines all of these sacrifices and altars into one, and the Bread of the Presence is no longer symbolic but real.
The Way, The Truth, and The Life, John 14:1-12
Context: We are finishing the 4th week of Easter. In our reading for this Sunday, they are still at the Last Supper and Jesus talks about his Father’s house and that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Let’s explore what he means.
Prior to this, Jesus had told his Apostles that he’s going to die and that Peter is going to betray him 3 times. As you can imagine, they would be in a very bad place. So Jesus is now going to give them some encouragement – he is going to prepare an eternal dwelling place for them!
One thing to keep in mind for this reading: when Jesus says he is going to prepare a place for his Apostles in his Father’s house, one interpretations is that he is making a nuptial (marriage) allusion. The reason for this is the Old Testament frequently portrays the relationship between God and His people as a sacred nuptial covenant, viewing God as the faithful husband and Israel as the bride. Jesus as the groom does the same thing with the Church (his bride) in the New Testament. Here is but a small sampling:
Isaiah 54:5: "For your Creator is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel...”
Hosea 2:19-20: God promises to betroth Israel to himself forever in faithfulness and righteousness.
John 3:29: John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the bridegroom.
Revelation 21:2, 9-10: John sees the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
What was the process for getting married in ancient Jewish times?
Today, a betrothal is simply an engagement to be married. In those days, betrothal was both a public vow and a binding contract, followed by a year-long waiting period before the marriage was consummated. During this time, the groom would go off to his father’s house to prepare for the family, which included building a house or a room onto the father’s house. After that time, they would consummate the marriage and have a 7-Day wedding feast. We can look for these parallels in our reading.
John 14:1-12
Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself,so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way."
You may hear some readings translate dwelling places as “rooms” or even “mansions,” but the most accurate translation is “dwelling place” – a place to remain, a home.
Did you notice the nuptial symbolism? Jesus makes his public vow when he proclaims a “New Covenant” (marriage) at the Last Supper. Now he telling them he is going to his Father’s House to prepare a dwelling place for them!
When will Jesus come back for them?
The Second Coming. Judgment Day.
Then will there be a wedding feast?
Indeed. Revelation records this after Judgment Day: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. – Rev 19:7
Then the next verse says:
Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” – Rev 19:9
Where else do we hear this?
At Mass, just before Communion. When we practice the heavenly wedding feast here on earth, Jesus comes and gives us nourishment to complete the journey.
Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"
Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus lays out a choice in a way no other religious founder does. Buddha could claim that he had found a way that he wanted to share with his followers, but Jesus says, “I am the way.” Muhammad could say that, through him, the final divine truth had been communicated to the world, but Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Confucius could maintain that he had discovered a new and uplifting form of life, but Jesus said, “I am the life.” And thus, we are either with Jesus or we are against him. No other founder forces that choice as clearly as Jesus does.
Notice the “I am.” What does this mean and how many times does Jesus say this in the Bible?
“I AM” is Yahweh’s name he gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14. It is the name of God.
Jesus says this about himself 7 times in the NT.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Listen to Jesus’ words: “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Paul refers to Jesus as the “image of the invisible God.” What they are both saying is that his/Jesus’ words are the Father’s words and his deeds are the Father’s deeds, because they are one.
Philip still doesn’t get this. He says, “Master, show us the Father.” What he missed was the humility of the Jesus, the Logos: “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.” Neither the words nor the deeds of Jesus are “his own.” They are received from the Father.
What does Jesus mean by: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” ?
Jesus paid for our access back to Heaven by paying for our sins and so now the sanctifying grace we seek flows through him to us. This is not an obstacle but it is a path: He is “the way.” Jesus gives this grace freely if we seek forgiveness and follow him. Note: Seeking forgiveness is not a cost to us, for we are the ones who are in debt because of sin. Forgiveness, then, is freedom from that debt.
Jesus makes this point because he knows full well humans will always try to find a shortcut to happiness and seek their own ways, but they will fail.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these,because I am going to the Father."
Can someone tell me how anyone can do greater works than Jesus? He turned water into wine, healed the blind and lame, served 5000 people bread from 5 loaves, raised the dead, stopped storms, and walked on water!
In fact, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and gave us the sacraments, the Church embarked on a tsunami of healing, love, and forgiveness never seen before, converting millions, all because of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ miracles were temporal; the sacraments are eternal. That is the reason Jesus says, “because I am going to the Father” – meaning because he will send us the Holy Spirit so that we can begin saving the world.
Thomas Aquinas once said (drawing from Augustine) that saving sinners from evil is greater than all of creation, for the present creation will pass away.
Genesis 3: The Fall of Man
Recap of last month …
After God pronounced Adam and Eve’s self-inflicted judgments, they must leave Eden. Last month, we discussed…
Eve receives her name, meaning “mother of all the living.”
Her name prior to this was “woman.” Adam also wasn’t a proper name at first, meaning just “of the ground/earth”).
Jesus called Mary the same word “woman” twice – at the wedding of Cana which kicked off his public ministry and at the cross just before he died at the end of his earthly life. Notice that Jesus’ use of woman for Mary forms the bookends on his earthly ministry.
Jesus calling Mary ‘woman’ these two times is recognition that she is the new Eve first (thus the new mother of mankind), because man is undergoing a new creation. Second, Jesus confirms her motherhood of the Church when he gives her to John: “John, behold your mother.”
What other rational might there be for calling Mary the New Eve and Mother of the Church?
The New Eve – where Eve said no to God, Mary said yes, which ushered in the Incarnation, which changed the course of humankind.
Mary is already the new Eve (new mother of mankind). If Jesus is the Church, then Mary is also the mother of the Church. The fact that Mary was the first to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior also makes her the first Christian.
Now let’s conclude Genesis 3.
21 The LORD God made for the man and his wife garments of skin, with which he clothed them.
God shows compassion even in failure. The reason for this? He loves them and wants them to return to Him.
22-23 And the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like us, knowing good and evil. Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever? Therefore, the LORD God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.
This is second time we see God referring to himself in the plural, which points to the Trinity. What was the first time?
Gen 1:26 – “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image.’”
What is the meaning of the Tree of Life?
The Tree of Life represents immortality. If Adam & Eve ate from the Tree of Life after they fell, they would have remained fallen forever, like the fallen angels. What we lost was our “mortal” lives, not our spiritual lives. The point of the passage is that God sent us into this world to give us another chance to reconnect with Him and regain our immortality in Heaven. Given the alternative, this means being banished from Eden was the best gift we could ever have hoped for.
24 After sending them out, He stationed cherubim and the fiery, revolving sword east of the Garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life.
What was the meaning of Cherubim with the revolving sword of fire blocking the way back to Eden?
Obviously, nobody was going to get back into Eden. The Cherubim are pretty high up – higher than the Archangels.
Well, except for one.
Jesus Christ, the 2nd Person of the Trinity. The point of this is to show that man could not regain his heavenly destiny by himself. “By himself” was the cause of the Fall. Only God could remedy this, but justice required that Man pay the cost for his transgressions. Who else but Jesus Christ meets both criteria.
What’s about the flaming sword?
Re-entering paradise required one to pass through the unquenchable flaming sword. No human could do this.
Jesus Christ passed through this flame for us, which was his passion and death.
That made the Cross our Tree of Life, our portal, our doorway back to God, immortality, and Heaven.
Summary of The Fall of Man
When they ate from the tree and ran, God came after them. Caught in the act was man’s first experience of shame: the man deflected, immediately blaming his wife, Eve. Shame does that to us. Shame is the highest form of feeling guilt but not because we are wrong, but rather because we got caught. We feel embarrassed when we feel shame, because we got caught in a lie, betrayal, etc. This came with the Fall as a “red flag” to tell us to stop, we’re going the wrong way!
But there’s a deeper lesson – division. God is love and the Holy Spirit is the unity of love between the Father and the Son. Note that all bad things in the lives of humans have to do with division, knocking down, complaining, blaming, separation, and destruction. On the opposite side is the path of Christianity – the “way” of Christ – which originates in the love of God. It is unity vs. division and separation; it is building up vs. knocking down; it is trying to make things better vs. complaining and blaming; it is creating vs. destroying. The Fall of Man introduced all the negatives. Christ is teaching us all the positives on our path back to the Father, and offering us forgiveness for every mistake along the way, as long as we don’t give up.
It may be worth remembering that we all strive for the same lofty, perfect happiness, which secularists say is just our imagination. But how could we strive for something that never existed? That’s nonsensical. As CS Lewis put it, if a creature without eyes at the bottom of the ocean never experienced light, then it wouldn’t even know to pursue light. So how is it that all humans strive for perfect happiness, perfect justice, and spiritual wholeness? We know why. It is because God breathed his Spirit into us (Gen 2:7); but, also, we had a taste of this life briefly before the Fall, making these passionate desires a kind of spiritual muscle memory.
Before the Fall, our first parents experienced what is called “original unity.” Original unity means they had no shame, no brokenness, no betrayal, no manipulation, nothing between them. They could stand before each other naked, meaning totally transparent and unguarded, only love between them. Original Unity. We all instinctively know what this is, and we all seek it. At the very least it is because it is part of our spiritual natures. But I also like to think it is muscle memory, too!
Closing Prayer
Lord God
In your goodness have mercy on me.
Do not look upon my sins, but take away all my guilt.
Create in me a clean heart, a prudent mind, and an upright spirit.
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