What is Fullers' Soap? How is it related to COVID?

 I learned a new insight this morning from my scripture reading from Malachi 3:1-4.

"For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap;..." 

I know about the refiner's fire but what is fullers' soap? I found this blog which is quite helpful:

"After a bit of digging, I found that a fuller was the individual who would take the raw, filthy wool from sheep and purify it using a variety of techniques, including an extremely harsh soap that would ultimately help to make it clean. It was an undesirable job. It was dirty work. It took a great deal of effort to make it white.

Trials in our lives require us to use fuller's soap. Fuller's soap can be an apology. It can be healing from a physical affliction. It can be mending a broken relationship. It can mean paying whatever price needs to be paid to make something right. Sometimes, we carry fuller's soap with us daily, continually. Its abrasiveness is painful, horrible, tough, and gut-wrenching. It is also desirable, stimulating, empowering, and necessary. Don't be afraid to use fuller's soap, for in it you will find healing."

I did a little more digging myself and this is what I found:

In the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition translation which is more of a literal translation of the Vulgate, Fuller's soap is translated as Fuller's herb. Fuller's Teasel Herb (Dipsacus Fullonum L. – Fullonum Herba) is native to Eurasia and North Africa and is also known as wild teasel. It has prickly leaves and stem and pinkish or purplish flower. Fuller's Teasel was originally grown to be used in the wool industry. It makes me wonder if it was used as soap at the time of Malachi.

Now you can find Fuller's Teasel Herb as a tea product from Amazon!!

The New Testament reading today is from Hebrews 2:14-18:

"¹⁴ Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death." 

Going through this COVID-19 pandemic isn't easy. I see a lot of fear in people. I myself haven't been afraid. I know if I catch this virus I will suffer and maybe die from it. I have learned that if it comes it is still good for me. I will really learn what it means to suffer and what it means "to offer it up". COVID seems like the Fullers' Soap. It serves to clean off a lot of dirt in our lives so we will be white as wool (Revelation 1:14 and Isaiah 1:18) to prepare us for that blessed day! We can learn from Jesus. He has already gone through suffering and death for us!

"¹⁷ Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."

My Book

My 2021 New Year’s resolution is to write a book! I have decided to summarize my 300+ blogs written between 2013 and 2020 into a book which tells my journey of how scripture reading has helped my growth in Christian virtual. The primary purpose is to share my journey with my family and friends, to leave a little legacy. The idea is to use the framework of virtues and to illustrate with blogs that highlight what I learned from scripture and my reflections that pointed me to these virtues.

What are blogs and how did it all begin? I initially just thought of blogs as a replacement for personal diary (blogs = web-logs). English is my second language and my first training was in engineering and writing is not my natural skill and is definitely not my favorite activity. Since becoming a serious Christian it has been my regular discipline to read scripture daily and to reflect and to pray about the insight I received which I believe is from the Holy Spirit. I wanted a means of documenting these to go back to later in life. My career as a full time faculty in Medicine was always a constant struggle in terms of finding a balance between my work, family and spiritual life. In 2013, at the peak of my career, I decided to take a 20% income cut to devote one day a week to provide me with the time I needed for my spiritual life. "Scriptural Gleaning" was born. The idea of gleaning from scripture is not original (see What Is Gleaning in the Bible? Does it Still Apply Today? and also Leviticus 19:9). It describes very well my approach to scripture reading. When I open the bible I often feel like Ruth begging the servants of Boaz in Ruth 2:7,"Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers...". But it turns out if you google "scriptural gleaning" with the quotes, my blogspot posts will come up on top (in fact the top 3 search returns are all mine)! I decided to make my blogs public, mostly to be able to share with my own brother in Hong Kong and another high-school buddy of mine. Very few people (usually anonymous) follow my posts. Occasionally it brought delight to my soul knowing that my reflection had helped someone else, like this one from Debbie: "Thank you for sharing this information. One of my dearest, heartfelt verses in the Bible is Psalm 46:10. The Lord revealed it to me during one of the most difficult times in my life and it changed me forever!" (from the post "Who were the sons of Korah?".

It has been seven years and 302 posts later. It's time to evaluate whether this discipline has made any difference in my spiritual growth, and hence This Book. To facilitate the organization of posts into these chapters of Virtues, I decided to use "tags" in WordPress (see The Right Way to Tag Your Blog Posts). I had wanted to move out of Bloggers.com (owned by Google) to my own personal WordPress server (in my basement!). So I will read through all my posts again within this year and tag them with "Virtue" tags (one post may point to a number of virtues). I will then pick the posts that are most pertinent and with some evidence that it has help increase my virtue.

So what are virtues?

What are the 4 Cardinal Virtues?

Quotes from Learned Religions: “The cardinal virtues are the four principal moral virtues. The English word cardinal comes from the Latin word cardo, which means “hinge.” All other virtues hinge on these four: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.​ Plato first discussed the cardinal virtues in the Republic, and they entered into Christian teaching by way of Plato’s disciple Aristotle. Unlike the theological virtues, which are the gifts of God through grace, the four cardinal virtues can be practiced by anyone; thus, they represent the foundation of natural morality.“

Richert, Scott P. “What Are the 4 Cardinal Virtues?” Learn Religions, Aug. 28, 2020, learnreligions.com/the-cardinal-virtues-542142.

Prudence: The First Cardinal Virtue

“St. Thomas Aquinas ranked prudence as the first cardinal virtue because it is concerned with the intellect. Aristotle defined prudence as recta ratio agibilium, “right reason applied to practice.” It is the virtue that allows us to judge correctly what is right and what is wrong in any given situation. When we mistake the evil for the good, we are not exercising prudence—in fact, we are showing our lack of it. Because it is so easy to fall into error, prudence requires us to seek the counsel of others, particularly those we know to be sound judges of morality. Disregarding the advice or warnings of others whose judgment does not coincide with ours is a sign of imprudence.“

Justice: The Second Cardinal Virtue

“Justice, according to Saint Thomas, is the second cardinal virtue, because it is concerned with the will. As Fr. John A. Hardon notes in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, it is “the constant and permanent determination to give everyone his or her rightful due.” We say that “justice is blind,” because it should not matter what we think of a particular person. If we owe him a debt, we must repay exactly what we owe. Justice is connected to the idea of rights. While we often use justice in a negative sense (“He got what he deserved”), justice in its proper sense is positive. Injustice occurs when we as individuals or by law deprive someone of that which he is owed. Legal rights can never outweigh natural ones.“

Fortitude: The Third Cardinal Virtue

“The third cardinal virtue, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is fortitude. While this virtue is commonly called courage, it is different from what much of what we think of as courage today. Fortitude allows us to overcome fear and to remain steady in our will in the face of obstacles, but it is always reasoned and reasonable; the person exercising fortitude does not seek danger for danger’s sake. Prudence and justice are the virtues through which we decide what needs to be done; fortitude gives us the strength to do it. Fortitude is the only one of the cardinal virtues that is also a gift of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to rise above our natural fears in defense of the Christian faith.”

Temperance: The Fourth Cardinal Virtue

“Temperance, Saint Thomas declared, is the fourth and final cardinal virtue. While fortitude is concerned with the restraint of fear so that we can act, temperance is the restraint of our desires or passions. Food, drink, and sex are all necessary for our survival, individually and as a species; yet a disordered desire for any of these goods can have disastrous consequences, physical and moral. Temperance is the virtue that attempts to keep us from excess, and, as such, requires the balancing of legitimate goods against our inordinate desire for them. Our legitimate use of such goods may be different at different times; temperance is the “golden mean” that helps us determine how far we can act on our desires.“

Faith, Hope, and Charity: the Three Theological Virtues

Catholicism also traditionally enumerates a second set of virtues: the theological virtues. “These are considered to be gifts of grace from God—they are given to us freely, not through any action on our part, and we are free, but not required, to accept and use them. These are the virtues by which man relates to God Himself—they are faith, hope, and charity (or love). While these terms have a common secular meaning that everyone is familiar with, in Catholic theology they take on special meanings… “

Richert, Scott P. “Faith, Hope, and Charity: the Three Theological Virtues.” Learn Religions, Aug. 27, 2020, learnreligions.com/what-are-the-theological-virtues-542106.

“The first mention of these three virtues occurs in the biblical book of 1 Corinthians 13:13, written by the Apostle Paul, where he identifies the three virtues and pinpoints charity as the most important of the three. The definitions of the three virtues were further clarified by the Catholic philosopher Thomas Aquinas many hundreds of years later, in the medieval period, where Aquinas defined faith, hope, and charity as theological virtues that defined mankind’s ideal relationship to God. The meanings set forth by Thomas Aquinas in the 1200s are the definitions of faith, hope, and charity that are still integral to modern Catholic theology. “

Faith

“Faith is a common term in ordinary language, but for Catholics, faith as a theological virtue takes on a special definition. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, theological faith is the virtue “by which the intellect is perfected by a supernatural light.” By this definition, faith is not at all contrary to reason or intellect but is the natural result of an intellect that is influenced by the supernatural truth given to us by God.”

Hope

“In Catholic custom, hope has as its object eternal union with God in the afterlife. The Concise Catholic Encyclopedia defines hope as “the theological virtue which is a supernatural gift bestowed by God through which one trusts God will grant eternal life and the means of obtaining it providing one cooperates.” In the virtue of hope, desire and expectation are united, even while there is recognition of the great difficulty of overcoming obstacles in order to achieve everlasting union with God.”

Charity (Love)

“Charity, or love, is considered the greatest of the theological virtues for Catholics. The Modern Catholic Dictionary defines it as the “infused supernatural virtue by which a person loves God above all things for his [that is, God’s] own sake, and loves others for God’s sake.” As is true of all the theological virtues, genuine charity is an act of free will, but because charity is a gift from God, we cannot initially acquire this virtue by our own actions. God must first give it to us as a gift before we can exercise it.“

Other Sets of Values, Rules, and Concepts

In addition, Christian Catholic practices and customs enumerate also other sets of values, rules, and concepts. Among these are the Ten Commandments, the Eight Beatitudes, the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Seven Sacraments, the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the Seven Deadly Sins.

The Rest That God Promised

Today's scripture reading is from Hebrews 4:1-5, 11. Starting from verse 1,

"Therefore while the promise (epangelia) of entering (eiserchomai) his rest (katapausis) is still open (kataleipō), · let us fear (phobeomai) lest any one of you may seem to be excluded from (hystereō) it."

It's interesting that just last evening at the CMDA (Christian Medical and Dental Association) meeting, the discussion was around the subject of managing our spiritual and emotional health through the training, and subsequently, the practice of medicine. The speaker drew from the ideas of "seasons of change" from the book of Ecclesiastes 3 "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...", and from a book he was reading - "Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End".

He pointed out that one would go through a bit of a roller coaster ride of balancing the physical and mental demands of the training and the demand of the practice. When he felt that his spiritual life was taking a bit of a dive trying to balance the needs of his family and his demanding schedule, there was a sense that it was just the "season" he was going through, and that maybe time would be better in the future.

It generated a range of lively discussions. Some would agree that we needed to take care of ourselves first. Others emphasized the need to put God first, at all time. One pointed out in particular that God designed "Sabbath" for a reason and we needed to pay attention to it. 

I learned a few things from the Hebrews scripture passage today:

• God gave us a promise (epangelia  = annunciation, see also 2Timothy 1:1) of entering his rest (katapausis = Requiem in Latin, i.e. a funeral Mass!)
• We should fear (phobeomai = to fear reverentially) that we may be excluded from it
• Those who hear but do not believe in it are the ones excluded "For indeed the good news came to us (evangelism) just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened" verse 2.
• “They shall not enter my rest.” - yes, God said it twice here, once with a righteous anger! Yes, we should fear!
• Not living out our faith is acting in disobedience. "Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs" verse 11.

We go through different phases in our life but one thing is consistently clear from reading scriptures. We have received a great promise. Through Christ's birth, death, and resurrection we are promised eternal life with God. That is the rest that God promised.  "But the one who endures to the end will be saved" Matthew 24:13. This verse also popped into my head: "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow" Galatians 6:7. That's why Christian discipline is so important to take us there.

Redemptive Suffering and Colossians 1:24

Last evening I was listening to an old friend telling her missionary stories from the past 6 years and how she felt totally spent and needed an extended time to heal. All I could think of (to encourage her) was a scripture passage in Colossians 1:24:

" I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church."

I didn't say it to her. I was worrying that I myself didn't understand the concept of "Redemptive Suffering", or the concept of "Offering it up" our suffering; and in fact, the understanding of Col 1:24 itself. So I decided to look it up.

First I tried to google "Col 1:24 commentary". The results were mostly from the protestant sources - none of them really explains the concept of Redemptive Suffering at all. I realized that the concept of Redemptive Suffering was really something I learned since becoming a Catholic. So I tried "col 1:24 to offer it up your suffering" and found this very helpful and recent article by Father Thomas Berg in the Catholic Digest: "What does it really mean to ‘offer it up’?":

(1) The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC #618) gives us the theological framework of the practice of “offering it up”: "Christ makes us — members of his Mystical Body — participants in that redemptive self-offering of Christ our head". This is the mystery of the redemptive suffering that Paul describes in Col 1:24.

(2) In his encyclical (Salvifici Doloris, 19) Pope St. John Paul II described the relationship between Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and our mysterious participation in it with these words:

"In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ."

(3) Our Blessed Mother in most of her apparitions, particularly at Fatima "... has repeatedly reminded us of this mysterious participation in redemptive suffering. The three visionaries of Fatima received her message as a call, in part, to live the rest of their lives finding frequent opportunities to offer acts of reparation for sinners."

(4) The Daily Offering prayer (which I pray every day) "captures what should be ideally our habitual attitude of offering the “prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.” To live with that attitude is something beautiful in God’s eyes."..."A readiness to offer up sacrifices is the best antidote to a mentality of complaining, irritability, negativity, and cynicism."

Unless you Change and Become like Children

 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)

The scripture reading this morning (Matthew 18:1-5, 10) brought to mind the exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3:3 “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”. Nicodemus, who is a very learned man, then asked our Lord Jesus,  “How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

The same is true in understanding what Jesus meant by changing and becoming like children. Gotquestions.com has this to say about it:

"Of course, children are easily fooled and led astray. In their artlessness they tend to miss the truth and be drawn to myths and fantasies. But that is not what is meant by having a childlike faith. Jesus promoted a humble, honest faith in God, and He used the innocence of a child as an example. Emulating the faith of children, we should simply take God at His Word. As children trust their earthly fathers, we should trust that our “Father in heaven [will] give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11)."

"The Bible never exhorts us to have “childlike” faith, at least not in so many words. In Matthew 18:2 Jesus says that we must “become as little children” in order to enter the kingdom of God. The context of Jesus’ statement is the disciples’ question, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (verse 1)."

"So, as the disciples focus on what constitutes “greatness” in heaven, Jesus provides a new perspective: the way “up” is “down.” Meekness is required (cf. Matthew 5:5). Jesus exhorts the disciples (and us) to seek to possess a childlike modesty in addition to their faith. Those who willingly take the lowest position are the greatest in heaven’s eyes. A young child is destitute of ambition, pride, and haughtiness and is therefore a good example for us. Children are characteristically humble and teachable. They aren’t prone to pride or hypocrisy. Humility is a virtue rewarded by God; as James says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10)."

In my meditation I also considered that the process of changing and thus becoming like children cannot happen without the knowledge of who God is and trusting that it is by His grace that we can get there.

This morning I also read Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 which illustrated this teaching: after considerable suffering, when Job was faced with who God is, His Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence, he came to this conclusion:

“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
    I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer—
    twice, but I will say no more.”

God knows me and He has provided me with means to receive the grace I need through sacraments and prayers (this month is the Month of the Holy Rosary), and with the help of the Holy Spirit and Angels (today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels!) and Saints.

"For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well." (Psalm 139:13-14)

Praise God!

The Lord is my Refuge

 What does it mean "The Lord is my Refuge"?

In my meditation today I was reflecting on the verse "In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge." taken from Psalm 90:1. It is sometimes translated to "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.". Is refuge a place I can escape to when we are under attack? Or is it a feeling of being secured and protected? Or is it a friendship with the Almighty God?

The rest of Psalm 90 can be summarized like this:

• God is an everlasting God (v.2)
• He is unchanging, not limited by time (v.4)
• Men's life on earth is brief (vs.3, 5-6, 10)
• God's wrath and our iniquities and sins under His judgement (vs.7-9,11)
• Our plea for God's mercy (vs. 12-15)
• May God's will be done in us (vs. 16-17)

"Let your work be manifest to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and prosper for us the work of our hands—
    O prosper the work of our hands!"

Maybe the last two verses speak clearly to me what a Refuge is?

In my daily prayers I recite Psalm 61:1-4. This is my prayer: "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I;
for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy."

Psalm 121: "I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

and who is this Lord? In Exodus 14:14 which I pray at 14:14 hour (my watch is set an alarm to remind me): "The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still." He is this Lord to whom I place my confidence!

At 3pm every day I am reminded (again my watch has an alarm set!) on what Jesus said on the cross "It is finished!" and I thank Jesus that no matter what happened during the day, His purpose is accomplished in me and carrying the cross is part of it. For "In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge."

Lectio Divina - The Parable of the Sower

Today marks the first day of my new discipline of mental prayer following the VLX (video Lectio Divina) method - a form of Lectio Divina popularized recently by Sensus Fidelium and Pilgrim Priest on the now very popular Youtube medium for learning. I will commit 15 minutes a day to meditate on 1 verse in my daily gospel reading. So today's verse is Luke 8:15. If you follow the link from Biblegateway.com I opened up 4 translations: NRSVCE, Mounce (Greek), Vulgate (Latin), and either NIV or MSG. I will simply read the verse multiple times in the original Greek and these multiple translations to try to understand what Jesus is actually saying to me. Then I set my timer (key to success), then be silent and listen... 15 minutes later:

What spoke to me most was on this one part:

"hold firmly onto the word (logos) and 

 bear fruit (karpophoreō) through patient endurance (hypomonē)"

What I'll do: 

• I will commit this verse (as the word of God) into memory
• I will hold on to Christ - the Word of God - to love Him and gaze on His beauty, to pray to him without ceasing
  
• I will be patient (not my time but His time)
  
• I will endure (which will include sufferings no doubt)
• I will anticipate and long for the fruit - praise Him and be thankful
  

What is so beautiful about the Biblegaeway.com is the feature that when I clicked on the word "karpophoreō" I get this extra information from the Strong Concordance: καρποφορέω (karpophoreō); Strong: G2592; GK: G2844 - to bear fruit, yield, Mk. 4:28; met, to bring forth the fruit of action or conduct, Mt. 13:23; Rom. 7:5; mid. to expand by fruitfulness, to develop itself by success, Col. 1:6, 10

This speaks to my intellect but can be distracting...

I look forward to doing this every day or as often as I can. I am thankful for the many ways these tools can help me grow in my faith.

This morning the men's group I am part of had a zoom session on

Aquinous 101 - Powers of the Soul. 

Imitation of Christ - Book 1 Fourth Chapter - Prudence in Action.

Great discussion and I learned a lot from my brothers in Christ!