Obedience · ought not be confused for compliance. Obidere means “to listen”.
The Christian tradition has no space for blind obedience. For this reason, it is often paired with respect. At ordination for example, the ordinand promises “respect and obedience” to their local ordinary; obedience is paired to respect lest the former be interpreted as submission. And likewise in marriage, some forms of the rite included one party (historically the bride) promising to obey the other (the groom); this should not be taken as a promise to submit blindly but to listen.
Occasions of Sin (near) · as opposed to sin itself is something proximate and naturally inclined to offend God. This could include things that might bring temptation or things that confront a life of grace. “Lead us not into temptation”, we pray; one ought to avoid near occasions of sin.
Oils (sacred) · are consecrated by a bishop for use in the sacraments. There are three oils: the oil of catechumens, used for all preparing for baptism – a sign of strength and protection; the oil of the sick, used for healing of body, mind, or soul – a tangible sign of God’s healing power; and the oil of chrism, used for consecration – mixed with a sweet-smelling balsam to set apart people and things (e.g. altars) for sacred purpose.
Old Testament (the) · spans 46 ‘books’: The Pentateuch (the ‘five books’ of the Law) – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; historical books – Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah; narratives – Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 & 2 Maccabees; and the wisdom literature – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach (/‘Ecclesiasticus’); and prophetic books – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
This set of books has been set since before the Church existed. This is the corpus that Jesus would have known as the scriptures. It was widely accepted through the early Church even through the schism of 1054. Luther and some like him contest the place of seven books (Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, Wisdom, and 1 & 2 Maccabees; and some parts of both Esther and Daniel), listing them as ‘deuterocanonical’ (extra to the canon). This is the basis of the difference between Protestant and Catholic/Orthodox bibles. One historic view of the texts (dismissing the Greek additions to the earliest manuscripts known at the time) is the basis for this listing. These days, scholars and spiritual writers alike tend to accept all books alike, even if the Catholic Church is most typically universal and broad in its regular use of the full array of text (not preaching repeatedly to only a select few texts).
Most Old Testament books were written 500-1000 years before Jesus. Some (such as Psalms and some of the other wisdom literature) have some more ancient attribution. The vast array of genres is impressive and challenging. Most were written in ancient Hebrew but translate into most languages.
The term itself should be used carefully. At no point should the term ‘old’ be understood to suggest it is obsolete or that the promises made by God have been made obsolete. Rather, they have been fulfilled and perfected (completed) with Christ. It is to avoid this confusion that scholars often prefer to use the term ‘Hebrew Scriptures’.
Ontological change · is a change of somethings deepest or fundamental essence. The term has been applied to sacraments, most famously Holy Orders. In this sense, the Church teaches that sacraments have the effect
of changing the very essence of something. A better understanding is to say that people undergo theo-ontological change; that they become different in God’s eyes. God loves them into their new identity (e.g. He loves the baptised as a Christian, the married persons not as two but as one, and the presbyter as priest). A priest does not cease to be human when ordained (else he would not be able to act in persona Christi capitis (in the person of Christ, the head) who-became-human); so, it cannot be literal ontological change.
However one views the language and truth of ontological change, one thing must remain clear: Sacraments change us, and no sacrament has a more consecratory or (theo-)ontologically transformative effect than baptism.
Ontology · is the philosophical concept of what something is – the science of essence; it is about and being. This is not about what something seems like or can be perceived as but what something is. Descartes certainly confused and arguable muddled up the study of ontology by claiming it was in a way personally subjective and thus mixed it with epistemology (the study of what we know of things and how we know them).
Ordinary · is the person of authority for a Church jurisdiction; this could be a diocese, archdiocese, religious order, or such. It is as an umbrella term for (arch/)bishops and superiors. The buck must stop with someone, and it does with the ordinary. Our local ordinary is the Most Reverend Father Ken Howell (Bishop of Toowoomba).
Ordinary Time [Liturgical Season] · often confuses people as some kind of ‘ordinary’ thing as in the antonym of ‘extraordinary’. Instead, it comes from the word ‘ordinal’ that is for counting; it is all about counting the weeks between Christmastide and Lent and then after Solemnity of Trinity until the Solemnity of Christ the king. The authoritative edition of the Missal – the Latin text – calls it tempus per annum (“time through the year”). It can be a fruitful time to set goals and count progress in an ordinal way.
The season is marked by the colour green. There are 34 possible weeks in in the season. The Sundays operate on a in three-year cycle (A/B/C), during which a representative portion of the whole corpus of the scriptures is read; the weekdays operate on a two-year cycle (I/II). On weekdays of the season, the prayers reflect those used on the Sunday, and a theme can usually be seen echoing through the readings.
Original Sin · implies original grace. Accordingly, one can think of ‘the’ original sin as the sin of Adam; or, one can consider original sin the (seemingly innate) mark or consequence of sin born by all humanity. While humanity was made for relationship with God, original sin says that we are all born separated from relationship as a kind of inbuilt fault (marking us with concupiscence). As with all sin, its mere existence points toward grace (that is, relationship). Through Baptism, we are reborn and restored to grace as originally created. While the mark of the sin is still there, the relationship is restored and eternal life open to us.
Orthodox · literally means righteous or correct-in-praise. The word can be broken down in its Greek origin as orthos (ὀρθο; straight/correct) and doxa (δόξα; glory/praise). The same prefix is seen in the English word orthodontist – literally ‘straight-teeth’.
To be orthodox has two meanings: within the Catholic tradition, one is orthodox (small -o-) if one is not in heresy; more broadly, one is Orthodox (capital -O-) if one belongs to one of the Easter (oriental) Churches of apostolic origin that are not currently in communion with Rome (e.g. Greek or Coptic Orthodox).
Orthodoxy · can mean the pursuit of right praise or can be an umbrella term for the Orthodox Churches or even some of the styles of theology and spirituality for which they are known. The pursuit of orthodoxy is commendable in the journey of Christian faith.