Delilah Song

Jake and the Smokin' Ukele

Merry Christmas! Here's a page from tomorrow's test in advance!

26. The name of God was seen as so holy that the People of Israel used this instead
a. LORD
b. The tetragrammaton
c. YHWH
d. all of the above

27. There was a frog god in Egypt known as
a. Hapi
b. Heqt
c. Hathor
d. Pete

28. There was a god of the air in Egypt whom the gnats plagued known as
a. Ra
b. Sekhmet
c. Apis
d. Shu

29. The pharaohs thought themselves to be descended from the sun god called
a. Sekhmet
b. Ra
c. Apis
d. Shu

30. Pharaoh is best like a type of
a. baptism
b. the devil
c. the desert

31. The desert is best described as
a. a symbol of sin
b. a spiritual gym/period of purification
c. the savior

32. Moses is best described as a type of
a. Aaron
b. King David
c. Jesus
d. Abraham

33. There were basically ____ plagues against Egypt, counting the last one.
a. 8
b. 10
c. 3
d. 7

Moses is The Man

Moses is the Man. Why? Because of his mad skills with a staff? His expertise with sheep and goats? His knowledge of desert terrain? No. Because of his mad love for his Lord and his People. It was in his humility in believing God could make a way when there seemed to be none that Moses excels. Lord please grant us this faith. When we trust marvelous things happen. We can move mountains (or at least move hundreds of thousands of people TO the mountain).

Leaders lead because they have been led themselves. Trust this to be true! Ask God where He is leading you now!

Our next Chronicle will be following Moses. May he teach us all this humble surrender to great things!

PS - What does Moses mean again in Hebrew? And using the moral sense, what does it say to YOU?

Art Museum!

This Friday, October 14, our class will be going to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I mentioned that we will be seeing this painting there, among many others. Who is the Dutch artist who painted it? Five bonus points if you can find out!

This is a beautiful painting of the crucifixion of Jesus. Down below, overwhelmed with sorrow, Jesus' mother Mary collapses into the arms of St. John the Apostle. Beneath the cross is a skull and bones. Do you remember the ancient tradition about these bones? What was said to have taken place here?

Words from Our Shepherd

"But the more the world withdraws from God, the
clearer it becomes that man, in his hubris of power, in his emptiness of
heart and in his longing for satisfaction and happiness, increasingly loses his life.

"A thirst for the infinite is indelibly present in human beings. Man was created to have a relationship with God; we need him."

- Pope Benedict XVI

How Did We Get Here?

Greetings Biblical Studs,


This week we have been unpacking thoughts on the creation of the universe as we know it. We will be looking at three schools of thought: Creationism, Evolutionism, and Intelligent Design. The film clip above is an extended preview of the film we will be watching starring Ben Stein. I hope you enjoy it! 


Put your thinking caps on boys, and your spiritual glasses. Many intelligent people want to corner one of these world views and isolate and close off the others, but the Catholic vision is not fundamentalist (Creationism without Science) or Evolutionism (Science without a Creator) but something far grander and more beautifully harmonious than we can imagine! Stay tuned!

PS - Pope Benedict published a series of homilies on creation… He argued there that we shouldn't speak of "creation or evolution," but of "creation and evolution" (emphasis added). He also referred to what he called "the inner unity of creation and evolution and faith and reason."

With his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict has opposed the misguided notion that evolution somehow proves there is no God who created us in love. In his very first homily as pontiff, he insisted: "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."

We've Made the Leap!

Alright, one week down of your freshmen year already. We've entered into the Great Mystery this week. We've taken the leap! We've asked some of the deeper questions of Life, of Meaning, and Purpose. We talked in class about the question of God's existence.

What were the three ways we can come to "know" Him? Hint: we called them three "books" we could take and read... though only one has literal pages.... First to get the answer in the comment section below gets some bonus points ;)

And for a second batch of bonus points what were the three proofs or arguments one could make for the existence of a God Who made the universe?

Welcome to Da Blog

Greetings Biblical Studs,

This blog was created specifically for YOU, the freshmen Biblical Studies students of Mr. Donaghy. If you are not one of my students, get the heck out of here. Just kidding - all are welcome. It's just that there will eventually be inside jokes from our class time together that you will simply not be able to comprehend, and I want to spare you that pain and confusion.

Back to the Boyz. My dear students, the purpose of this blog is to:

1. Fill your mind and heart with a solid love of the WORD OF GOD.

2. Help form you with reflections and resources to be the awesome, biblically ripped Christian Catholic Men I know you're called to be. (SPOILER ALERT: If you're not Catholic, you will still be totally ripped, biblically speaking.)

3. Finally, this is a place to post homework assignments and projects you forgot to write down because you were wondering if there'd be curly fries for lunch.

You young men are destined - oh yes destined - to be the Biblical Studs of the future. Even now, though you may think theology is for nerds, and the Bible is "boring"... yes even now there is something magically delicious happening. I'm not talking about Lucky Charms either, I'm talking about the power of the Book to change you. The power of the Author of the Book Who fills every page and every part of the universe, and yea even your own high school heart as it seeks meaning and purpose in this often confusing but beautiful world.

The blog will be growing in links, thoughts, and resources as we progress through this Freshmen year together. Welcome aboard!