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April 13-14, 2001
We talked about the gloom of Good Friday in the Church Liturgy. That was such a shame as seen from the very title. It was supposed to be a day of victory and jubilation because the death penalty of the first Adam had been removed. The whole week was to be a celebration of joy. Sunday was to start with the big parade. Thursday was to establish the new meaning of deliverance and the joyful supper. Friday was to be the Day of Atonement and removal of all thought of death. Then Sunday would see Jesus “raised from the dead” to begin the second period of happiness for all followers of Jesus. The whole week was to re-establish the happiness meant for mankind from the beginning.

The Stations of the Cross and all the moaning and groaning were a mis-reading following on (Council of) Trent and the so-called Protestant Revolt. I preached the “Tre Ore” every year and never once fell into gloom.

April 16, 2001
When I spoke of the Tre Ore and the seven statements of Christ on the cross, there was nothing gloomy about the ideas. They came from the four gospels and are very important in the picture of Christ that is developed in each gospel.

May 1-2, 2001
I was working on St. John yesterday. I really enjoy the ideas I have written. They are the products of my study, lecturing and discussions here at home. The greatest point of growth for me is that Jesus Christ was truly only man. He was a child who had been very well instructed by his mother, as was the custom in the Jewish family of the times. He was a true talented and gifted child and he spent lots of time with his talented and gifted cousin, John. His mission was the outgrowth of his background and his observation of the people around him and the pomposity of the leaders.

May 3-9, 2001
Pope John Paul II is certainly setting the “aggiornamento” back at least one century. He certainly defies the notion of the leader as presented by Christ. He is supposed to be a Kepha, a bedrock, down on the bottom as a solid foundation. In many ways, Pope John Paul II has many of the unlikable qualities of St. Paul. I really think Luke’s writings are so helpful and meaningful because he was counteracting Paul.

May 25, 2001
Yesterday I was reading through my commentary on Proverbs. The proverbs were several centuries in the making. Then, the priestly editors brought them together in a single collection. At times, there are two or three versions of the proverb scattered through the collection. Sirach or Ecclesiasticus is a more developed set collected and edited a couple centuries later.

May 26-27, 2001
The gospel writers pre-supposed the story of the Old Testament was well-known and they wrote of this relationship and fulfillment as they saw it or heard it.

June 6, 2001
The greatest growth for me was the gradual revamping of my whole idea of the Bible story. As I read through my writings, I feel I have overcome the centuries of drivel taught as official in all Catholic schools. More and more priests, especially the Scripture men, walked out.

June 11-12, 2001
I’ve thought more and more about the Good Shepherd. I have such a clear picture of Christ now from my work on the gospels and discussions with you. Once I rid myself of the dual nature of Jesus Christ and come to see him for his real self, I can really admire him and want to continue his work.

His work is to help all the people in your life according to their needs and your abilities to help.

June 13-15, 2001
The more I think of the plan of Christ, the more simple and sensible it is to me. His “Ekklesia,” gathering of people, was to be a part of the society in which it lived. There was not to be any special building but any place where they gathered for a meal. The work of the people was to be seen in the way they removed selfishness from their midst. The real error was changing the “gathering” to the “church building.”

June 16-19, and June 28-July 3, 2001
The Good Shepherd is the story of the lost sheep in Luke’s Gospel. The shepherd counts his sheep as they get to the fold at night. One is missing. He leaves the 99 at the fold (enclosure) and goes back to find the one that was lost. When he finds the lost sheep, he brings it back and joyfully invites his friends over to celebrate because the sheep that was lost is back again.

When I look at the Good Shepherd (picture in computer room and living room), he is almost saying, “How’s it going today?” And I start to recall all the ideas I have developed over the past few years.

August 11-13, 2001
I read my commentary on Mark and the letters of Peter. These always go together because Mark was the companion of Peter at the end and he wrote the Gospel as he heard it from Peter.

August 14-17, 2001
The more I think about Luke’s role in the development of Christian ideals, the more I like and appreciate him. He was a medical doctor of the times. I see him as a man of kindness, friendliness and personal interest in-patients.

August 18-21, 2001
John’s writings are the last of the New Testament, about 125 A.D., and have the deepest ideas and ideals.

August 25-30, 2001
The Bible had been a crutch for many theologians for centuries. The Latin Vulgate took precedence over the original texts from Trent to 1942 and the encyclical letter written by Bea and signed, unknowingly, by Pius XII in 1942. The priests I worked with were anxious to get some of the real ideas in the Biblical picture. I met opposition from some of the monsignors but could easily ignore them.

August 31-Sept 4, 2001
You (Lois) asked me which of the prophets I liked best. It’s really hard to say. These men saw the way the people were going farther and farther from their ideas and ideals as the People of Yahweh. They felt they had to speak up even if it meant rejection, suffering and even death. Some of the prophets were from the upper class and had to suffer less physically but they were despised by their social peers.

Most of the prophets were ordinary men and spoke about the horrible crimes committed in the name of the fertility gods and goddesses. They stressed the moral and physical harm of the actions of the people. Others talked more about the harm to come to the next generation.

As the situation grew worse, some of the prophets talked about a new Moses who would rise up and lead the people back to Yahweh. These are the people who finally gave rise to John the Baptist and Jesus.

September 5-6, 2001
I read through my description of Moses, yesterday. I really enjoy the story showing the man’s great qualities as a leader and at the same time all his weaknesses. He is certainly the center of the whole OT picture. All the prophets, teachers and wise men who arose spent their time and labor explaining how Moses was writing for the people who followed.

September 7-16, 2001
It is absolutely essential to be fully aware of the difference in mentality, outlook, sense of morally good and bad between the Semitic people and the western world. For this, we should read and understand the Old Testament. In the peak of the history of the Jewish people, might made right. David was set up as the “idol-king” precisely because he was so good at underhanded military tactics.

The prophets saw the wrongfulness of this attitude. They preached against it and were rewarded with ridicule, punishment and death. Moses tried his hardest to offset this attitude. Jesus Christ modernized Moses in the Roman times.

I think this background picture is essential to understanding the problems, today, and find a real and true solution.

September 30, 2001
You asked about the Book of Revelation. This is the first of the 5 writings by John in the New Testament. It is the apocalyptic style. Ezechiel was the first to use it, 6th century BC. Ezechiel wanted to speak to the Jews in the Babylonian captivity but did not want the captors to understand. Then Daniel developed the style in 164 BC. He wanted to raise the hopes of the Jews and hide his ideas from the captors. In 85 AD, John wrote his work to teach the faithful Christians and hide his words from the Romans. I’ll talk more about this tomorrow.

October 1-6, 2001
I’ll try to get all the ideas about Apocalypse or Revelation put together today. I mentioned the three principal times (previous entry) when this literary style was used. It never deals with the future. Rather, the writers are concerned about a very real present problem that threatens the whole people.

Revelation has been wrongfully applied to other times and places as if it was intended to be a foretelling. This wrongful application gave rise to many threatening ideas in Christian teaching.

October 28-Nov 3, 2001
We talked about the notion of Purgatory last night. They have tried to get it declared a dogma several times. But there is no evidence. The one Scriptural citation is from the letter of James where he says it is a “holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.”

The Gospels stress that the whole issue at the time of death is the identity a person has established at the moment of death. This “identity” is determined solely by the way in which we have “worked with” the people in our lives. No point of teaching is more clearly stated in the Gospels.

December 13-19, 2001
I intend to read my whole commentary on St. John’s work before Christmas. He gives me the most complete picture of the life of Christ from the beginning to end. He was just a young teenager when he and his brother met Christ. They are called “boanerges” or “sons of thunder” because they were always “up and doing.” Peter used John to get his ideas to and from Christ. He was the one to whom Jesus entrusted his mother, Mary.

January 28, 2002
I have been thinking a lot about the history of Israel as recorded in the Bible and world history up to the present time. The friction started with Abraham and his nephew, Lot. They came from the Far East and settled in Palestine or the land of the Philistines. Abraham went north but Lot wanted the action so he settled near Sodom and Gomorra.

These people attacked Lot and family and carried them away. Abraham took his men and delivered Lot. On the way back, they were told not to waste time in the Dead Sea area. Lot’s wife dallied around and was covered by an explosion of salt.

Then Jacob’s sons sold their brother, Joseph, to an Egyptian. Joseph was quite a talker and got to Pharaoh's attention. Joseph “foretold” drought and famine. The Egyptians stored their food and the whole area came to them for help. Joseph tricks his family and then gets them well established in Egypt.

The Hyksos, foreigners, came into power and enslaved all non-Egyptians. Moses gets them out of Egypt but the people gripe and complain against him because the escape was difficult. The Israelites enter Palestine and expel the natives or intermarry. They divide the country into Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Juda considered itself the big turkey, despised Samaria, and kept Galilee because they brought their “tithes” to the capital.

I can’t get all this written in one day so I’ll continue in another entry.

(Editor's Note: Phil had surgery in March, 2002, for removal of bladder stone so there are few written entries.)

June 18, 2002
I listened to the program (public radio) on the Church and the Bishops.

Theirs was the authority but it was to be the leadership of the Shepherd (pastor) and the firmness of the Kepha (foundation stone). As a pastor, the authority was to be out in front leading and calling all to follow to the green pasture, fresh water, afternoon rest, and the safety of the fold at night. As the Kepha, it was to be the firm foundation on which all confidence was based.

The shepherd figure stresses how well the leaders must know the personalities and needs of the flock and minister to each. The Kepha stresses that firmness of the sharing or community is found in the leader. The picture is simple.

June 19, 2002
There is no place in the NT that speaks of belonging to a “church.” Jesus always talks of living in the society in which you are, and bringing alive his ideas and ideals. Paul was the only one who founded separate groups much as the Jews had done. Only toward the end of his letters did he begin to get the full notion that Christ talked about. I think that was due to St. Luke. Luke edited the letters of Paul in keeping with his picture as developed in the Gospel according to Luke.

June 25, 2002
The purpose of a group of Christians is to spread harmony, community and sharing among all the people around them. I have developed these ideas in all the writing I have done in the past few years. I taught these ideas over the years and they gradually became more and more clear to me.

July 28, 2002
This morning, I read the Creation Story, the Abraham Story and the Moses Story. Each time I read my commentary, I like it more. The original study of the Bible as we had it in elementary school, was called “Bible Stories.” This is named correctly. The whole Bible is a collection of stories written to describe the relationship between Yahweh and people. The writers and teachers were always describing the “why” of life and not the “what.”

The basic idea of God was that he was a surrounding presence and wanted people to establish peace and harmony with each other and with him. The rules were very short and exact and covered every aspect of life with each other and with God.

The greatness of Jesus Christ is that he came from a family who really believed what they had been taught. Then he and his cousin, John, discussed these ideas until they felt they had to do something about their convictions.

The whole picture is beautiful and easily grasped. It is to be manifest in the daily lives of people.

August 15, 2002
Yesterday, I spent the morning on the “Moses Story.” He was certainly the central figure of the whole Bible. He is presented as a hesitant leader at the start. He feared the big problems that lay ahead and tried to get out of the responsibility. However, he did a great job of leading in spite of the difficulties.

He developed the Ten Commandments which became the basic law for all generations after him. The prophets and leaders who followed him were explaining his ideas.

When Christ came along, he built completely on Moses. His basic point was “you heard it say of old (by Moses), now I’m telling you.” Jesus kept a real continuity with Moses.

Moses had a very quick temper. He was threatened with death on many occasions. Finally, he did not get to lead the people into the Promised Land. He saw it from the east side of the Jordan and then died. Joshua led the people across.

There is no doubt that his (Moses) is the central figure in the story of Judaism and Christianity. It is a story that I like to read.

Editor’s note: It is fitting that Phil’s final Biblical entry mentions Moses. Moses led the people of the OT; Jesus was the New Moses as recorded in the NT. Philip Roets taught and guided many of us to a greater appreciation of the Bible and the legacies of Moses and Jesus. He led us to responsible freedom. We are forever grateful.

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