Ruminations From a Cluttered Mind

Posted by suburbanbanshee

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As we all know from Catholic apologetics, Protestant Bible translations tend to translate the Greek word “paradosis” , and the verb version of it, as “tradition” if it’s bad or human-made or rabbinic, and as “teaching” or “doctrine” if it’s something good from Jesus.

To be fair, sometimes it really is hard to squeeze all the Greek meaning out into English.

Yesterday’s second reading from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and we see two uses of these words.

“I received (parelabon) from the Lord what (ho) I also handed on (paredoka) to y’all (hymin):

“That the Lord Jesus, on the night He was handed over (paredidoto, same verb as paredoka!), received (elaben – same root verb as parelabon!) bread,

“And having given thanks (eucharistesas), broke [it] (eklasen), and said, ‘Receive (labete), eat (phagete).’

” ‘This is My Body (touto mou estin to soma), that which for y’all is broken (to hyper hymoun kloumenon)’

” ‘Do this (touto poiete) in remembrance of Me (eis ten emen anamnesin).’ “

“Do” is technical language, in this case.

It’s a Greek translation of the Hebrew word used for sacrificing something in the Temple. As in a lot of languages, “to do” and “to make” are the same word in Greek and in Hebrew. And Hebrew ‘asa, and Greek poieou, are the “do/make” verbs used in the Bible for what we translate as “to sacrifice.”

So in the LXX version of Exodus 10:25, Moses tells Pharaoh that he needs to give the Israelites sacrifices (thysias) and burnt offerings (holokautoma), “so that we may sacrifice (poiesomen) to the Lord our God.”

The phrase translated as “keep Passover” is also “do Passover,” in both Hebrew (‘asa) and in Greek (poiesei, poiesai) in Exodus 12:47-48. So it’s not just the sacrifice, but its presentation, and all the associated feasting and prayer.

And that’s basically what we “do” at Mass — entering into the resurrected Christ’s eternal presentation of Himself as sacrificed on the Cross, and feasting with prayer upon Our Paschal Lamb.

There are other Hebrew words for “to sacrifice,” like zabah that literally means “to slaughter an animal,” and zabah is translated in the LXX by the Greek verb “thyo,” which means to sacrifice, to kill, or to slaughter an animal. So the Gospels could have said something else; but they don’t.

Anamnesis/anamnesin, remembrance, is also technical language from the LXX. It’s used in Leviticus 24:7 and other passages to translate Hebrew ‘azkara, “memorial sacrifice.” It means the portion of a food offering which is burned, like the bread sprinkled with frankincense. In Numbers 10:10 and other passages, it also translates Hebrew zikaron, a related word meaning “memorial.” It’s also used in the title/prologue of a couple of David’s Psalms, which are listed as being “eis anamnesin.”

The idea is that these sacrifices would remind God of the covenant and of His worshippers – ie, they reiterate and renew the situation. The Jewish spirituality today is that you acknowledge at Passover that you yourself were brought out of Egypt, rather than it being a historical event; and that’s also the kind of renewal that was being expressed in such sacrifices.

In Christ, we get a higher version of this, because it’s not just bread or an animal that is being presented. His presentation of Himself, as priest and sacrificial victim, takes place in Heaven’s Holy of Holies, to the Father, face to face.

“Emos” is the adjective form of “ego,” I. “Emen,” in this passage, is in the singular feminine accusative, to agree with anamnesin. So it’s more like “in/for mine remembrance,” but that’s not good English.

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Posted by suburbanbanshee

https://suburbanbanshee.wordpress.com/2025/06/15/250th-anniversary-of-the-us-army/

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Last night, I watched the marvelous pageant, parade, concert, and fireworks display that was broadcast from Washington DC, for the 250th anniversary of the US Army/Continental Army. This is the beginning of the various celebrations of America’s “semiquincentennial” or “sestercentennial,” which will mostly be celebrated in 2026.

It probably won’t be as big a thing as the Bicentennial, and of course it’s a lot harder to say “the Semiquincentennial Commission” than “the Bicentennial Commission.” Therefore the official logo just shows the word “America” and the number “250” in red, white, and blue.

(But I have now been advised that Ohio is “all in for the Semiquin.” Every state has its own commission and website, and if you are interested, I am sure that there are ways that you can help out!)

The 250th anniversary parade took place on what is informally called “the Army’s birthday.” Each of the military services has a day set aside for their anniversary every year, and some celebrate two (the Marines have their own birthday, and the Navy’s birthday too). I don’t know what the Space Force does for their birthday. Probably just a cake.

The big parade, which was paid for by donations and sponsored by various companies (including Lockheed, Palantir, Oracle, the UFC, and Phorm Energy (a green tea energy drink made by Anheuser Busch) mostly consisted of a historical pageant marching past a traditional reviewing stand full of dignitaries (and decorated by a couple of tanks in front, serving as stylish armored bollards).

Active duty army units were dressed in historical replica uniforms, equipped with historical replica weapons, and demonstrated historical vehicles used by the US Army. (Including tanks and armored vehicles.) Each historical era was briefly explained in terms of the Army’s part in it, and video was shown to illustrate it further. Historical helicopters did a flyby, and the Army’s Golden Knights paratrooper team did a jump with colored smoke, landing in the Ellipse and delivering a flag to President Trump.

(There were supposed to be Army Air Force and Air Force planes doing a flyby, too, but the day was so cloudy that the Thunderbirds didn’t do their thing, unless they did a flyby earlier in the day when it was still clear.)

Towards the end of the parade, a segment on the “modern Army” had the standard kind of parade of Army guys and vehicles. The unusual bit was the appearance of active duty tanks and heavy armored vehicles, which usually do not appear in your standard town or county Fourth of July parade. The parade organizers paid ahead for the roads to be resurfaced after the tank tracks did their thing on the roads, so there was no problem.

(And honestly, the tanks didn’t do anything bad to the roads, to the naked eye. A lot of US roads that carry heavy traffic are also built to carry armored vehicle traffic, as the entire interstate highway system was designed to do by Eisenhower.)

The final segment of the parade was “the army of the future”, featuring experimental vehicles, various kinds of drones, robot dogs and other remote control gadgets, and new rifles and infantry equipment, carried by an Army unit tasked to do testing, along with a few civilians helping out.

Then there was a marching unit of West Point cadets, representatives of the Cadet Corps and Army ROTC from VMI, the Citadel, and Texas A & M (representing all college ROTC units), and a bunch of privates straight out of Basic Training.

The privates did the traditional thing that ends Basic Training — swearing the oath — but the oath was administered by Trump as President and Commander-in-Chief, instead of by a general or another officer (or the Secretary of Defense). As everyone knows from Civics class, the oath explicitly sets out that the Army defends the Consititution and obeys the orders of the President as Commander-in-Chief, as the military branches are all part of the Executive Branch of the federal government, under the Secretary of Defense.

Then there was a brief country concert of a couple of hit songs, for which the privates had a front row seat. This covered the various set changes required, in order to prepare for the big fireworks display and musical accompaniment.

The fireworks display was a doozy. Obviously we’re used to seeing the big Washington Fourth every July, but the Army one was set up to be just as spectacular in a slightly shorter timeframe. The show included a short segment of the 1812 Overture, so that people could get the visceral experience of using howitzers as musical instruments. There was also a lot of touching video interviews interspersing the set of fireworks songs.

Obviously the band music all day was spectacular, and the Army’s rock band played a set in front of the reviewing stand to accompany the “modern Army” segment. The fireworks songs included the work of the Army Chorus, the Washington Military District’s herald trumpets, and all sorts of Army musicians. Songs included “Yankee Doodle,” “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” “Over There,” a stunning rendition of “God Bless America”, the last verse of “America the Beautiful,” and many others.

Camerawork for the parade was done by cranes, robots, and a bunch of teams of two guys where a portable video camera guy was steered from behind by the other guy pulling him around by a backpack strap, while the other guy steadied them both with a big stick. This allowed all kinds of fancy close shots of the armored vehicles, without anybody getting run over. It was kinda fascinating to see the camera guys at work, and I wish I knew more about their setup.

Criticisms I saw in comments/chat:

“They didn’t march in step.” Well, duh. American troops learn to march, but most units prioritize “covering ground” over show marching. The units which are supposed to do shows are the units that were exactly in step. The units which were full of veteran battlefield infantry or special forces or tech guys — obviously weren’t prioritizing exact steps, and tended to be men and women of greatly varying heights.

“Ooh, it was so scary and militaristic, like goose-stepping baddies.” Dude. You just said they didn’t march in step. Also, the US doesn’t goosestep, as we go by Von Steuben instead.

“They looked soft, because the tank guys waved at people and encouraged them to cheer.” If you are in a tank, you don’t have to convince anyone of your military oomph. Also it’s a parade. Of course you wave at the kids.

“Spies were watching.” And? All those vehicles were bought and paid for, by US taxpayers, who should be able to get a look at them whenever they like, and usually do look at them on military bases. Anything secret was obviously not on parade. So let the world get an eyeful of known facts.

I liked it. It was fun. Melania looked great, as always, and I loved her pinstriped white skirt-suit. Trump was Trump, the whole time. Vance revealed that it was his anniversary and spotlighted Usha. The Vance kids continued to be chatty with the rest of the government, as one of them showed a book to one of the ladies. Merrily drunk people sang “Happy Birthday” out in the crowd, as soon as there was a momentary pause in the festivities, and the sound guys made sure to pick it up. It was a big deal, in a typical crazy American way.

I just wish I could have been there, drizzle and all.

(Fun fact: Vance and his kids are descended from both the Hatfields and the McCoys. Of course, this is also true of a good chunk of WV, Ohio, and KY; but it’s a fun fact.)

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