Studying the Gospel Anew

Today, our class session was on Christology.

The day began with speaker, Fr. Tom Rausch, S.J. who is a well-known theological scholar and author.

I loved the visuals. Father began his lecture with a display of the Life of Christ through photographs, prints and paintings from varied artists and cultures.  This to me was the fun part of the day.

He then shared his insight into the discovery of Jesus through history and culture and his perspective of Scripture and Tradition.  It is always such a pleasure to hear him speak as he is an encyclopedia of information and always answers the questions posed by students.

In the second half of the session, we met Dr. Shaules. I was very interested as he spoke of the importance of music in liturgy.  He specifically zeroed in on Gregorian Chant.  I imagined in my mind's eye, the disciples gathered and singing before a meeting.  I thought oh, the Gathering part of the Mass must have come from this data.

For me, I had a hard time focusing on the information as the lecturer started to speak Greek, literally.  Or, at least that is what I was led to believe.  I have no clue really.  My mind wandered.  I kept thinking, "It's all Greek to me".

All was not lost, and I am very grateful as Dr. Shaules opened up a new way of looking into the hymns of the Gospel reading structure.  Teaching us how to look at the Gospel through the eyes of St. Paul in Philippians and how St. Paul knew how to motivate the people so that they would be willing to spread the good news.

What stuck with me was:  Rhythm, Parallelism, Rare Language and Structure (Poetry).  There are two parts to the hymn of the writings of St. Paul.  In Philippians he takes one from Abasement, (Depression) and moves one in the direction of Exaltation, (Hope and New Life). The hymn calls the reader to contemplation and experience, to ponder and a call to action.

On another note, several students asked the same question, but in a different way.
Here is the answer that I found in my copy of the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible, page 2414, a side note:

          "Remember Jesus!  He emptied himself, not even grasping at his
          divinity. In this supreme act of surrender he came to know who he was."

Interesting and fascinating stuff wouldn't you say?