Wrestling with Scripture

Most people often accuse Catholics of idolatry by quoting Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." This verse is in the context of the first commandment 'I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me. Since the Israelites never seen God, they resorted to making images of created things and worshiped it as god which was prohibited then and still holds true for us today. However, does it mean that God prohibited the making of all statues? God himself ordered the making of statues Just 5 chapters after the prohibition on making idols, God orders the making of enormous gold cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark of the covenant in Exodus 25. The Ark of the covenant was revered by the whole of Israel and was considered most sacred. Hence it is clear that, God did not have an issue with all statues, but only

We have all heard about the 'agony in the garden' but have you been there? As I meditated on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, I received strength in my weakest moment and that is something I would like to share with you. Since I was struggling in my own life, I could imagine how heavy Jesus' heart was that night. How could he find the strength to take upon himself, sin, he who never knew sin? It would be like having to suffer, for someone else's mistakes, or being blamed for something you never did. So often we feel our suffering is undeserved just like Jesus, yet he took it upon himself so that the undeserving didn't have to suffer. It reminded me of the time when I was very ill in hospital and I heard my mom praying that she suffer and die, instead of me. That must have been how Jesus felt, when he seen how much we would have to suffer as a result of sin. The worst part about suffering is the temptations and discouragements. This hour was probably the w