Mary's House

George Weigel writes an interesting column for the Denver Catholic Register, often about the intersection of faith & public policy; but as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God draws near, consider this article about the 50th anniversary of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., an amazing place I was fortunate to visit this year (see Here).

A Catholic friend once mentioned that his Protestant friend told him that "The building doesn't matter; the church is the people." While that's true enough in it's place, it need not diminish the importance of the physical place of worship. In fact, to exclusively hold the former view is an error.

A church building certainly has it's practical aspects, from providing a safe & comfortable space to gather to providing catechetical & evangelical opportunities through art & architecture. However, the primary purpose of the building is to provide a place for the sacred assembly, the ecclesia, to offer liturgy - the privileged meeting place of the faithful with their God. Here he manifests himself to us, not only in our minds or hearts, but physically present among us in the Eucharist.

If this were not so, then the Protestant would be right & the building wouldn't matter. But since it is so, since we are made present to the entire Paschal Mystery & Christ Jesus himself comes among us physically in substance if not in appearance, then the place where this happens is consecrated - set aside only for this (this is also why concerts or other purely social functions should not be held in the Nave & why the Eucharistic Chapel is not a cry room). To think otherwise is a tacit endorsement of dualism, a heretical notion that our only concern is the spirit & that matter is a hindrance to be diminished or sloughed off. As embodied creatures, nothing could be further from the truth. Things matter.

A sacred space, like a Catholic church or cemetery - or any sacramental for that matter - is a place ripped away from this fallen world & claimed by God for his Kingdom through the Church; it becomes part of the New Creation. I'm sure that every Mass held on Jeep hood in some distant battlefield had a rite to sanctify that spot before the liturgy was conducted.

But I've said enough. If you have a chance, make a visit to the Shrine. If you can't, you can still support it financially. You will be blessed with various gifts of CD's of beautiful choral music & calendars of sacred art throughout the year, & as a true communion of saints, the priests there will pray for your intentions. How important is this monumental, but living, embodiment of the Holy Faith in our nation's capitol at this time!

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Click here for the Shrine's website.

"The Liturgy is the 1st Priority. Everything else comes later."

Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 Christmas homily...
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Dear Brothers and Sisters!
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"A child is born for us, a son is given to us" (Is 9:5).
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What Isaiah prophesied as he gazed into the future from afar, consoling Israel amid its trials and its darkness, is now proclaimed to the shepherds as a present reality by the Angel, from whom a cloud of light streams forth: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11). The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly "God with us".
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No longer is he the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world. He is close to us.
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The words of the risen Christ to his followers are addressed also to us: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent.
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If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then, I too must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there. The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received. What is it that these first witnesses of God's incarnation have to tell us?
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The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean?
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The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His "self" is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people.
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Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world. Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another. Awake, the Gospel tells us. Step outside, so as to enter the great communal truth, the communion of the one God. To awake, then, means to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which he chooses to guide us; for the many indications of his presence.
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There are people who describe themselves as "religiously tone deaf." The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today's world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us "tone deaf" towards him. And yet in every soul, the desire for God, the capacity to encounter him, is present, whether in a hidden way or overtly. In order to arrive at this vigilance, this awakening to what is essential, we should pray for ourselves and for others, for those who appear "tone deaf" and yet in whom there is a keen desire for God to manifest himself.
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The great theologian Origen said this: if I had the grace to see as Paul saw, I could even now (during the Liturgy) contemplate a great host of angels (cf. in Lk 23 :9). And indeed, in the sacred liturgy, we are surrounded by the angels of God and the saints. The Lord himself is present in our midst. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts, so that we may become vigilant and clear-sighted, in this way bringing you close to others as well!
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Let us return to the Christmas Gospel. It tells us that after listening to the Angel's message, the shepherds said one to another: "'Let us go over to Bethlehem' they went at once" (Lk 2:15f.). "They made haste" is literally what the Greek text says. What had been announced to them was so important that they had to go immediately?
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In fact, what had been said to them was utterly out of the ordinary. It changed the world. The Saviour is born. The long-awaited Son of David has come into the world in his own city. What could be more important?
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No doubt they were partly driven by curiosity, but first and foremost it was their excitement at the wonderful news that had been conveyed to them, of all people, to the little ones, to the seemingly unimportant. They made haste they went at once.
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In our daily life, it is not like that. For most people, the things of God are not given priority, they do not impose themselves on us directly And so the great majority of us tend to postpone them.
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First we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities God is often more or less at the end. We can always deal with that later, we tend to think. The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God's work alone. The Rule of Saint Benedict contains this teaching: "Place nothing at all before the work of God (i.e., the divine office)".
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For monks, the Liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes later. In its essence, though, this saying applies to everyone. God is important, by far the most important thing in our lives. The shepherds teach us this priority. From them we should learn not to be crushed by all the pressing matters in our daily lives. From them we should learn the inner freedom to put other tasks in second place however important they may be so as to make our way towards God, to allow him into our lives and into our time. Time given to God and, in his name, to our neighbour is never time lost. It is the time when we are most tr uly alive, when we live our humanity to the full.
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Some commentators point out that the shepherds, the simple souls, were the first to come to Jesus in the manger and to encounter the Redeemer of the world. The wise men from the East, representing those with social standing and fame, arrived much later. The commentators go on to say: this is quite natural. The shepherds lived nearby. They only needed to "come over" (cf. Lk 2:15), as we do when we go to visit our neighbours.
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The wise men, however, lived far away. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey in order to arrive in Bethlehem. And they needed guidance and direction. Today too there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, his neighbours and they can easily go to see him.
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But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us.
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We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him.
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But a path exists for all of us. The Lord provides everyone with tailor-made signals. He calls each one of us, so that we too can say: "Come on, 'let us go over' to Bethlehem to the God who has come to meet us."
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Yes indeed, God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has travelled the longer part of the journey. Now he invites us: come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here.
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Transeamus usque Bethlehem, the Latin Bible says. Let us go there! Let us surpass ourselves! Let us journey towards God in all sorts of ways: along our interior path towards him, but also along very concrete paths the Liturgy of the Church, the service of our neighbour, in whom Christ awaits us.
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Let us once again listen directly to the Gospel. The shepherds tell one another the reason why they are setting off: "Let us see this thing that has happened." Literally the Greek text says: "Let us see this Word that has occurred there." Yes indeed, such is the radical newness of this night: the Word can be seen. For it has become flesh. The God of whom no image may be made because any image would only diminish, or rather distort him this God has himself become visible in the One who is his true image, as Saint Paul puts it (cf. 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15).
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In the figure of Jesus Christ, in the whole of his life and ministry, in his dying and rising, we can see the Word of God and hence the mystery of the living God himself. This is what God is like. The Angel had said to the shepherds: "This will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:12; cf. 2:16). God's sign, the sign given to the shepherds and to us, is not an astonishing miracle.
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God's sign is his humility. God's sign is that he makes himself small; he becomes a child; he lets us touch him and he asks for our love.
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How we would prefer a different sign, an imposing, irresistible sign of God's power and greatness! But his sign summons us to faith and love, and thus it gives us hope: this is what God is like. He has power, he is Goodness itself. He invites us to become like him.
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Yes indeed, we become like God if we allow ourselves to be shaped by this sign; if we ourselves learn humility and hence true greatness; if we renounce violence and use only the weapons of truth and love.
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Origen, taking up one of John the Baptist's sayings, saw the essence of paganism expressed in the symbol of stones: paganism is a lack of feeling, it means a heart of stone that is incapable of loving and perceiving God's love. Origen says of the pagans: "Lacking feeling and reason, they are transformed into stones and wood" (in Lk 22:9).
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Christ, though, wishes to give us a heart of flesh. When we see him, the God who became a child, our hearts are opened. In the Liturgy of the holy night, God comes to us as man, so that we might become truly human. Let us listen once again to Origen: "Indeed, what use would it be to you that Christ once came in the flesh if he did not enter your soul? Let us pray that he may come to us each day, that we may be able to say: I live, yet it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)" (in Lk 22:3).
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Yes indeed, that is what we should pray for on this Holy Night. Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, come to us! Enter within me, within my soul. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen.

Hear, O heavens, & give ear, O earth (Reprise)

Icons are wonderful. They are used for prayer & for teaching; hence they employ a certain standard “grammar” as to how stories are told & how things are portrayed, which makes entry into their mysteries more accessible. Most Catholics will recoil at this, but wild experimentation is forbidden, except for master iconographers who are able to progress this form of sacred art within the stream of Tradition. We must enter into their world, not twist & distort them to fit ours.

This particular icon is pretty easy to enter into. It is a “store-bought” Russian triptych of the Annunciation & the Nativity. There is a lot to ponder here.

With the doors closed, we see the angel Gabriel – the power of God – approaching Mary. Wings whooshing & feet striding, the angel carries the staff of God’s authority, his hand outstretched to impart an urgent message. The angel interrupts a surprised but receptive Mary while knitting, perhaps recalling Job 10:11+…

Thou didst clothe me with skin & flesh, & knit me together with bones & sinews. Thou hast granted me life & steadfast love; & thy care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart; I know that this was thy purpose.

Kings David & Solomon look on from above. The promise God made to them to establish their house forever will be fulfilled in Mary’s child, born of the house of David. The closed doors are a reminder of how the Old Israel waited for the fulfillment of the Divine promises & the endless possibilities of the Divine Love.

As the triptych unfolds, so does the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation for us. There is much more to ponder here than is possible in this brief space.

Hear, O heavens, & give ear, O earth: the ox & ass of Isaiah 1 have finally found their master – the Lord of a new Creation. God has finally raised up a son among men that will not disown or rebel against him. The Blessed Mother rests on a curious red cushion, her head tilted in deference to her son. The child, wrapped in bands of cloth, lies in a sarcophagus-like – or is it an altar-like? – manger within the darkness of the cave – surely a prefigurement of the sacrificial death for which he was born to endure. Abp. Sheen says that Jesus was the only man who lived his life backwards: he died first to enter into a life of glory. So even here at his birth, the iconographer calls our attention to the death of Jesus. The lesson? As glorious as the Nativity is, it is not his birth through which we have our salvation.

The angels singing Gloria!, the astrologers bearing their gifts, & the shepherds herding their sheep all make their appearance. Did you notice that no one’s hands are visible? They are all hidden in the folds of their garments. Humility? Respect? Awe in the presence of the Divine?

Above, the spiritual realm breaks into the earthly one; a beam of grace descends on the child & provides the guiding light for all.

Rejoice, the Lord is near.

"God the Father of mercies has reconciled the world to himself..."

Advent is a time of preparation for the arrival of the king. Just as you would clean up your house in advance of the arrival of special guests for dinner, we should work even harder to prepare our souls to welcome the King of kings & Lord of lords. There are a lot of communal penance services around this time of year, & while these are fine things, remember that we fail to live up to our baptismal dignity as sons of God all year round, so we must train ourselves to seek the remedy all year round, if necessary.

Below is a rather long note I wrote to a friend who is interested in learning more about Christianity, but is put off by the differing beliefs & practices of the various groups who call themselves Christian. Their particular question had to do with confession of sins to a priest:

I wanted to explain a bit more to you about Confession. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Church, that it, a special channel of God's grace for those who receive it. Confession of sins was a Jewish tradition, "In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judea... At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, & the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him & were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins (Mt 3:14)."

But the origin of the sacrament of Confession is Jesus himself, who gave it as a gift to the Church to continue for all time his very own ability to forgive sins. No one can forgive sins but God (and, of course, Christians believe that Jesus is God the Son), but God can forgive sinners who repent through his priests. It is not all sins that require this sacrament, but only the most serious sins like adultery, theft, murder, & the like. Sins such as being unkind to some or thinking impure thoughts can be remedied by prayer & acts of charity.

This gift of Jesus to his Church is also found in the Bible. After Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, he gave this power to his 12 astonished apostles when he said, "'As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them & said to them, 'Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, & whose sins you retain are retained (Jn 20:21-23)." [Ed.: It logically follows that they would have no idea what to forgive or retain unless they actually witnesses the crime or, more likely, the sinner told them their sin.]

Although I'm sure many people have misused the gift of Confession by thinking they can do anything & then just go to confession (which is, by the way, a very great sin called presumption), I can tell you from my own experience that I have been able to overcome many difficult personal failings through this channel of grace, along with lots of prayer participation in the liturgy, fasting, & other acts of charity. It is also very humbling to have to tell another person the most horrible thoughts of the mind, desires of the soul, & acts of the body. God knows that we need to get this poison out of our system & gives us the means to do so, if we choose.

In ancient times, people would confess their sins to the bishop, who would usually impose a very sever penance, sometimes lasting years before the person was reconciled back to the community. It was very much a public happening back then. It is only since about the 10th century that confession to a priest in private began. After the confession, the priest gives the penitent a penance to perform to help right the wrong that was done & as a symbol making reparations to both his fellow man & to God. The penitent must also promise to do everything possible not to commit that sin again. Also, I have heard from priests that hearing the confessions of others makes them keenly aware of their own sins & increases their desire to become more holy.

I think you already know that a priest can never tell anyone anything that is revealed to them in the confessional, even if they have to go to jail or are threatened with execution. The history of the Church is filled with examples of priest saints who were martyred for refusing to tell something that was revealed to them in the confessional. If a priest did reveal something, he would likely be removed from the priesthood (though he technically remains a priest forever) & he would himself have committed a very great sin.

Finally, I would mention that many other Protestants feel that because they are "saved" that there is nothing they can do to lose their salvation. They believe that once they profess Jesus as their Lord, then they are guaranteed heaven no matter what they do afterward. The Church has always taught that we have the ability to turn our back on God & separate ourselves from him. Being "saved" isn't something that happens at one moment in time, but a continuous struggle throughout one's life to remain faithful to God all the way to the moment of death.

Protestants may say that someone who really believes won't do anything sinful, but I think we all know that that is simply not true. Even though our souls are remade new when we are baptized, the tendency to sin remains our entire lives. Protestants often say that someone who continues to sin after professing Jesus as their Lord is really a "false believer." It seems that if they believed once but later could be a false believer, then no one really knows whether they are saved or not. Protestants really have no solution to this problem, & many will continue to do whatever they want, thinking everything is right between them & God without realizing that they have actually turned their backs on him.

If nothing else, the sacrament of Confession & the Catholic practice of confessing sins to a priest at least keeps a healthy sense of sin alive in our conscience. Most importantly, it is also a beautiful gift that God has given us to raise us back up after we fall.

Let it snow!

It doesn't snow too much here in Tennessee, so when it does - & sticks - we make a big deal of it. This was wet, sticky snow - perfect for making a snowman. It also stuck to the branches beautifully, making some striking winter scenery.

The critters were loving it, too. The birds were really flocking to the feeders, I guess since their usual fare is under the snow now. The cardinals don't seem to migrate during the winter - I saw them all winter last year & are certainly still around now. There's something very Christmasy about a bright red cardinal set against a snowy backdrop.

The dogs enjoyed playing in the snow. Little Max loves the cold weather, but the Labs, Ellie & Zoe, aren't quite sure. They were just glad we all got to be outside together for a while. I let Max out to help me roll up the balls for the snowman, but he thought the game was to smash them apart as fast as I could roll them together, so I chucked his little fuzzy butt back into the backyard.

Alas, all things must pass. The snow is already gone from the ground, & Mr. Snowman isn't looking so good.

Oh well. It was fund while it lasted!

Happy New Year

And - voila! - here we are at the 1st day of the new liturgical year. Curiously, as we begin our preparations for the celebration of the coming of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity into creation & history as a man, our readings & prayers are about the Final Judgement.

This Gospel readings for this entire past week have been from Luke 21, beginning with the widow's mite & ending with a call to be vigilant during the tribulations that have come upon those at the end times. The urgency has been compounded by the terrifying visions of Daniel. The post-communion prayer sums up the proper attitude of Christians in such times:

Father, may our communion teach us to love heaven. May its promise & hope guide our way on earth. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I usually make it a point not to blog on Sundays, but today is special. We sang Mass with joy & vigor today. And - as every Catholic liturgy in the entire world should without fail during Advent - we ended with the ever-ancient, ever-new hymn Alma Redemptoris Mater.

You can find last year's post about this & the music here.

Who can be saved?

A friend from an atheistic background, but has recently rubbed shoulders with some of our more Calvinist-leaning brethren, has picked up some bad theology - that only Christians (according to this group's narrow definition of that term) can be "saved" & that everyone else, by default, will fry.

I sense an intense desire for God in this person, but they are absolutely scandalized in the proper sense of the word by the splintering of Christendom into thousands of different groups, each with their own beliefs & practices (& we should be, too). It is very difficult for such a person to see why the Catholic Faith holds any greater authority than any other.

Below is a written response that I made to their concern. It is written to someone who has virtually no proper catechesis & a very limited knowledge of Scripture. It has also been the subject of heated, passionate debate within Church throughout history, & continues to burn white-hot today. This is simply the best I can reckon of the God that wills not the death of any sinner, but also warns that few will find the narrow gate. I welcome your feedback.

The very heart of the Christian faith is God's unlimited love for every person. His law of love is written on the heart of every human being in every place & time. Some might call this one's conscience, but it is certainly something much deeper: a yearning that every person has for true love, true happiness, true joy, true beauty, true peace. Through this instinctive desire, he calls everyone on earth to know him & love him in return in an encounter (even a marriage!) that will never end.

The mission of the Church for the past 2,000 years has been to bring others to share in this encounter with God through Jesus, an encounter that happens within the Church, the people of God, a legacy inherited from our Jewish brothers who were the first people to whom God gave the gift of knowing him. God may be pleased with other peoples' & other faiths' desire to find him through what means they know & will surely not exclude from his presence those who truly seek him & to do his will. However, the way par excellance to know, love, & serve God is through the Church.

The only people who ultimately can not & will not be permitted to stand in God's light are those who willfully & obstinately refuse to acknowledge him, to repent of their sins, to ask for forgiveness, & to do good toward others; in essense, to refuse to love. God sentences no one to hell; people send themselves there. We see & experience it around us all the time. It lurks even in our own souls if we have the courage to look.

Therefore, ultimately, we cannot & must not ever presume who has obtained or who will obtain this unity with God & others in his presence we call "heaven" (including ourselves), & likewise we must not ever presume who has or will suffer the eternal separation from God & one another we call "hell." You have probably heard the famous, but often misquoted & misunderstood saying of Jesus, "Stop judging, that you may not be judged (Matthew 7:1)." This is what he is referring to: while we must be concerned with the souls of others, we must not ever presume to judge the state of another's soul; after all, we cannot even judge the state of our own soul, such masters of self-deception are we. There is nothing we can do ultimately to earn or deserve heaven; eternal life with God is his freely-given gift, & he gives it to whomever he pleases. But we can cooperate with him, repent of our sin, & try to live according to his law of love. This is called being a disciple of Jesus Christ & becoming a saint. Those who say they are "saved" deceive themselves & others. One is only saved when he breathes his last in God's good graces.

In the early 400's, one of the greatest intellects that has ever lived, St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo in North Africa, wrote, "Christ has many that are not in the Church, & the Church has many who are not in Christ." It seems like a paradox, but with love comes freedom. It's the only way a God who is love would have it.

Ex Orientem

Yes, I've been away for a while - a business trip to China! I'm just now getting enough breathing room to write something.

Let me start by saying that - although I tried not to have any - every preconceived notion of what China would be like was completely blown away. I saw no evidence of the heavy-handed oppression of the communist government trying to control the lives of its citizens & stifle the Word of God. In fact, from what I could tell, the government doesn't seem to have anything under control. The first advertisement I noticed exiting the airport was a huge, across-the-whole-interstate billboard for Mercedes automobiles. I saw more premium cars in China that I have in the U.S.: Bentleys, Ferraris, Jaguars, Range Rovers, BMW's, etc. Interesting that Buick is considered a premium brand over there. A little American exoctica, no?

I would say that China is far more of an over-the-top & out-of-control capitalist economy than the U.S., at least since the early 20th century. The perfect metaphor is the ubiquitous traffic officer found at every intersection - dressed in a lovely green uniform with white gloves, whistle in mouth, attempting to control traffic & direct pedestrians whilst maintaining his composure. In truth, he's completely ignored by the stream of cars, scooters, & bicycles barreling down on him from every direction.

Regarding the Faith in China, it seems to be alive & well. I wanted to go to the old & lovely Jesuit missionary church, St. Ignatius cathedral, but was instead Shanghai'd by an American cooworker to another church - St. Peter's. The new building was a 3-level affair with socializing space & classrooms on the first 2 floors & the church proper on the third. The furnishings, artwork, statues, & stained-glass windows were new, contemporary, well-executed, though a little kitchy. So much for the thoughts of being smuggled under cover of darkness to an obscure basement to participate in a secret Mass said quickly in hushed tones by candlelight while scouts keep an eye out for the authorities. The music was loud & contemporary, but with unmatched vigor & enthusiasm. I got the impressoin that a certain resident American ran the show, & had very nearly suceeded in turning the parish's liturgy into a carbon-copy of that found in the ubiquitous, banal American suburban parish. I nearly fell out of my pew when they actually sang Kumbaya during the "blessing of the kiddies." So much for "inculturation". The congregation for this English-language Mass was an even mix of Chinese & foreigners, about 500+ by my estimate, though it was clear that some of the Chinese were escorting the visitors, & not regular parishioners.

The Chinese priest's English was good, but with a thick accent. He was very, very careful & deliberate in his priestly motions - evidencing the struggle he's endured for being a priest of Jesus Christ in China - in great contrast to the smaltzy Haagen-Haas tunes erupting from the praise band. The Gospel was of the Lord Jesus observing how many gave to the temple treasury from their surplus with great fanfare, while the poor window quietly gave her 2 coins - all that she had. Matched with this was a reading from Elijah about another poor widow who also offered everything she had, but through God's blessing, it became enough to last her & her son through an entire year of famine (as noted in a previous post, no one remembers the reading from Paul anymore). The priest recalled how in the 80's when Catholics were finally permitted to worship openly, his local community wanted to build a church, & even though they were very poor they gave everything they had until the church was built. He emphasized that they sacrificed the basic needs of life, but did so with joy at seeing the church go up to the glory of God. He contrasted that to now, when people are so much more prosperous, yet give comparably so little. He mused whether another persecution might be needed to strengthen people's faith. He preached the Gospel for about a half hour, & I'm better for it. May God bless our faithful priests!

The people of China were welcoming & gracious hosts. I was treated like a visiting dignitary the entire time I was there. I was fed continuously. I ate squid, eel, octopus, crayfish, shrimp, mussels, crab, fish of every type - including one that was brought to me live in a pail so I could approve it before they cooked it - & who knows what else. I did turn down the jelly fish, live snakes, & monkey brains, though. At one very nice restaurant, I was told that a certain platter contained pig's ears & that "We don't waste anything." I was thinking, "We feed these to our dogs," though I'm sure we eat things that would seem pretty strange to them. Plus, I didn't see a single fat Chinese person during my entire visit. I impressed everyone with my chopstick skills.

About half of my trip was spent in & around Shanghai, but the other half was in Hangzhou, which is a lovely area out in the country side. There I stayed in a hotels that I'm ashamed of how nice they were. Since I woke up at 2:30 in the morning everyday, I worked with the office back home via e-mail, then went running along the edge of West Lake at about 5:00. The area is famous for it's lotus blossoms, quaint bridges, & green tea. I was amazed at how many people were out & about before dawn, doing tai chi, saying prayers, or just hanging out with friends by the lake before work started. I even saw a column of civilians young & old marching in formation, being led by an officer in green uniform with whistle. The first morning, as I was making my way down to the waterfront, I heard people yelling. And they kept yelling. Being more curious that I was alarmed, I went to check it out. Turns out that some old folks are charged with yelling at the geese every morning to keep them off the sidewalks so they stay clean. Most of these photos are from these morning jogs.

I was very impressed with China, which is good, I guess, since I will likely have to go back in January. It desperately needs to get its situation with pollution under control, as you can see from ever-present haze in the top photo, but this is definitely a nation on the rise. However, as I discussed with one of my Chinese hosts, the country is in great danger of disconnecting from the past & forgetting who it is in its mad rush to embrace all things technological & modern. Perhaps a lesson for us all.

Characters of the Reformation - Hilaire Belloc

Characters of the Reformation, Hilaire Belloc, TAN Books, 1992 (orig. 1936).

Belloc was an English Catholic author who wrote prodigiously in the first half of the 20th century. His book on the Reformation covers many historical figures – both Protestant & Catholic, some well-known & others we may never have heard of – that had significant & often surprising influence on the outcome of the Christian revolt of the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries: the dividing of European Christendom into two camps, the Protestant North & the Catholic South, which remain to this day.

Belloc analyzes the motivations, actions, & results of whole slew of amazingly complex characters. Included among this cast are Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell, St. Thomas More, Pope Clement VII, Cramner, Gardiner, Mary & Elizabeth Tudor, William Cecil, Mary Stuart, James II, Cardinal Richelieu, Adolphus Gustav of Sweden, & even guest appearances from Paschal & Descartes. Belloc’s premise is that the Reformation would never have “succeeded” if it hadn’t been able to establish a sovereign toehold in England. This success in England came about by a wholesale seizure of Church lands & property by minor lords, whose newly-acquired wealth allowed them massive influence on the English monarchy. At this point, the argument of religious doctrine ceased & all action on part of the Protestant parties was simply to maintain their ill-gotten riches & political influence, which they certainly were not willing to give back (I know, I thought the same thing, too: Surely not!).

One may be surprised to find that Luther himself is not one of the biographed figures in this book, but that is only because he is the cover boy for the companion book, How the Reformation Happened, which I haven’t read yet, but is on the list. Belloc is a sharp-edged writer, unapologetically Catholic, but presents the complex & intertwined story lines in a very engaging & readable manner.

Belloc works from the viewpoint that Protestants are not “other churches,” but rebels & defectors from the One Church. It is interesting to read this book in light of Pope Benedict's overtures of reconciliation toward various Christian groups with the Catholic Church, especially the Anglicans & the Orthodox. We can only guess at what Hilaire would think of this.

H.E. Rating: 4 shakes

Doing what it says on the tin...

A former English diplomat comments on the new Anglo-Catholic Ordinariates, but ties it to the richness of Catholic Tradition, & throws in a great one-liner:
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"Now, the sort of traditional Anglicans the Pope is trying to attract are the sort who wouldn’t mind the Latin Mass in the slightest. I like it myself. When travelling abroad – most recently in Budapest and Copenhagen – I have attended Mass on a Sunday. While prepared for a completely unintelligible service [ed.: in the local vernacular], I was on both occasions gratified to sit in on a service which I understood (a lifetime of choral singing has left me well acquainted with the Latin Mass). This was the Catholic Church doing what it says on the tin."

He goes on to talk about the musical legacy of the Church (which American Catholicism has largely chucked), but you can read the whole thing here at the UK paper, The Telegraph.

Pontifical High Mass at St. Peter's Basilica

...for the first time in 40 years (albeit in the Sacrament Chapel)! Deo gratias! The celebrant was Abp. Raymond Burke. I so look forward to the day when Pope Benedict XVI himself celebrates a glorious High Mass on the main altar at St. Peter's. [I understand that the rubrics for that would require bringing back the papal tiara. Now that'd be cool!]
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Check out the entrance procession at this Mass! Bet they aren't dancin' their way in to Gather Us In or All Are Welcome. I would so much love to hear a recording of the music.

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Also note the manner of receiving Holy Communion. Fed by God. This is the perfect expression of actuosa participatio, IMHO.

Things are changing, folks. Corrections are being implemented.

Now, go back to Bp. Nickless' letter & compare what you see at the New Liturgical Movement site to the bishop's instruction on what true worship of God entails, esp. Article IV, sec. 1. The demon of the spirit of the council is being exorcised.

In a similar note, Sr. Mary Michael, O.P. who led our diocesan catechist certification class last weekend said in regards to liturgical reform, "I'd start with the music... because the music sticks with you." Well said, Sister; well said.

Ecclesia Semper Reformanda

Please read this pastoral letter from the Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City, Iowa.

I believe this is an extremely important document that could give form to a very important discussion that the Church needs to have with itself & could serve as a banner for genuine renewal of Catholic Christian life. It is also guaranteed to draw hideous screeches from the heterodox dopplegangers hiding under the Catholic canopy. It is exactly the right thing at the right time.

Having been told, oh, about fifty-nine gazillion times that, "Oh, that's pre-Vatican II; we don't do that any more" or my favorite actual quote, "You're stuck in the past; I'm interested in the future," I cherish this statement:

"The so-called "spirit" of the council has no authoritative interpretation. It is a ghost or demon that must be exorcised if we are to proceed with the Lord's work."

The Bible III: Inspiration of the New Testament

Another installment in the series on the Bible taken from the KOC newsletter...

Previously, we looked at the inspired character of the Old Testament. Now we turn our attention to the New Testament, specifically, how can we know that these writings are inspired by God & belong in the collection of Christian Scriptures called the Bible?

In the early days of the Church there was not much discussion over what texts were inspired – it was obvious to those who had immediate access to the Apostles & their immediate successors; but eventually the canon of the New Testament had to be settled, because: 1) those more removed from the Apostles wanted to ensure that the accounts of Jesus & the writings of the Apostles were accurately preserved for teaching, preaching, & evangelization; 2) the faithful were being led astray by various semi-Christian heresies that not only brought their alternative “gospels,” but also used the Christian scriptures to support their beliefs.

To further complicate the situation, around the Roman world, different local churches accepted different lists of books; some included The Shepherd by Hermas, The Epistle of Barnabas, or The Revelation of Peter, while some rejected the Revelation of John or other Epistles of Paul, Peter, & John. What about the “extra” endings of Mark’s Gospel that may have been added later? The Letter to the Hebrews seemed very “Paulish,” but because some were not sure if he actually wrote it, should it be included?

While there was vigorous debate over all of this, the Spirit of God worked through the Church to definitively state what He had inspired & what He had not; that is, what really belonged to Sacred Tradition. The councils of Hippo in 393 A.D. & Carthage in 397 A.D. took up the task of defining the canon of the New Testament & produced the list of 27 inspired Christian writings which comes to us to this day. It is interesting that, although Protestants only accept the authority of the Bible, it is only by way of the Catholic Church’s authoritative voice of Sacred Tradition that there is something called the Bible at all. Next, we will look at the role of the Church in defining & teaching the Scriptures.

A provocative statement of St. Francis

All of us lesser brothers, useless servants, humbly ask & beg those who wish to serve the Lord God within the Holy Catholic & Apostolic Church & all the following orders: priests, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcists, lectors, penitents & youths, the poor & the needy, kings & princes, workers & farmers, servants & masters, all virgins, continent, & married women, all laypeople, men & women, all children, adolescents, young & old, the healthy & the sick, all the small & the great, all peoples, races, tribes & tongues, all nations & all people everywhere on earth, who are & who will be, to persevere in the true faith & in penance for otherwise no one will be saved.

- Earlier Rule to the Friars

Our Lady of Victory

[Update!] Quit reading this drivel & go read This Article by Abp. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap. who actually has something meaningful to say!

True enough, today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, yet St. Pope Pius V instituted this feast to celebrate the Blessed Mother's intercession in the decisive naval battle between Christian & Muslem forces at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Having sacked "New Rome", Constantinople, the Turks were eager to complete the job by acquiring old Rome, as well. The Pope accredited the victory to the Rosary vigil kept during the days leading up to & during the battle.
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If you look closely, you can see a Rosary in the hand of the Pontif in the mosaic at the top. These photos were taken at the Basilica Notre Dame de Fourvier at Lyon, France.
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You should also now be able to enlarge the above photo.

The Beatitudes of St. Francis

Where there is charity & wisdom,
...there is neither fear nor ignorance;

Where there is patience & humility,
...there is neither anger nor disturbance;

Where there is poverty with joy,
...there is neither greed nor avarice;

Where there is rest & meditation,
...there is neither anxiety nor restlessness;

Where there is fear of the Lord to guard an entrance,
...there the enemy cannot have a place to enter;

Where there is a heart full of mercy & discernment,
...there is neither excess nor hardness of heart.

- Admonition 27

St. Francis

Though the feast day of our favorite saint fell on a Sunday this year, I've no doubt that it is well with him that his day be eclipsed by the Sunday Mass. I am reading a little book of excepts from the writings of St. Francis, which I will share with you over the next few days.

All my brothers, let us pay attention to what the Lord syas: Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you for our Lord Jesus Christ, whose footprints we must follow, called his betrayer a friend and willingly offered himself to his executioners. Our friends, therefore, are all those who unjustly inflict upon us distress and anguish, shame and injury, sorrow and punishment, matyrdom and death. We must love them greatly for we shall possesseternal life becuase of what they bring us.

It's not easy to think about the people who hate us & wish us harm as occassions of grace & salvation. Certainly a reversal of expectation. The question hidden in this passage is: How big - or little - is our love?

Chant Workshop at the National Shrine

I've been away for a while, & though I'm back in town, I still don't have any time to blog. Still, I wanted to point you to recordings made at a Saturday Votive Mass for the B.V. Mary in the crypt church of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., the culmination of a weekend workshop on Gregorian Chant sposored by Musica Sacra

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The recordings can be found HERE.

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The Ordinaries are sung by the students of the workshop - about 150 people. The Propers are sung by a schola made up of the instructors & lecturers. The motets are sung by the choir from a local parish.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful sacred music & a few of the many photos of the mosaics found in the chapels & ceilings all around the Shrine.

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Poll: The Supernatural

In light of recent discussions with friends & colleagues on this matter, please satisfy my curiosity by taking the poll on the right side bar.

For you pious souls out there, I don't mean going to Mass (the ultimate supernatural experience, to be sure!). I mean ghost-sightings & the like, but I didn't want to limit the question just to that.
If you want, you can elaborate in the comment box. Grazie a mille.

The Technological Man

We live in an unprecedented & utterly astounding period of human history: the Age of Technology. Yet, the amazing opportunities for man to discover, learn, & understand the mind-blowing workings of natural world reveals something about himself & his own limitations, as each new shuttle launch results in a collective yawn from public & each new image from the Hubble space telescope elicits a response of, “Is that all you got?”

For some, the passion of research in the natural sciences burns strong. Whether etymologically correct or not, I’ve always liked the German word for researcher, forscher, which sounds like forging one’s way into the unknown. The Latin word for research is investigatio, but could also be inquiro or inquisitio, which have at their root the versatile interrogative qui, meaning “what, how, why, …” We get our English word question from the Latin words quaero &/or quaero, meaning “to seek or search, to find out," even "to beg.” In Latin, these roots also yield quaestio as being a scientific inquiry into some matter. But, being ever-so-practical, the Romans took these quaes- words & appropriated them for many practical uses, i.e., quaestor, “a financial official,” & quaestus, “business profits.” Meaning, I suppose, that they (& us) believed that research exists to yield things useful & profitable.

What should we think today of value of questioning for its own sake & of learning new things just to learn them? It seems to barely tolerated & frequently dismissed as a wasteful & almost childish pursuit when the practical & profitable end isn’t clearly in sight. When the politics of paying for scientific research is involved, I’m sure most people would prefer to have the money in their pocket than to have it spent on little wheeled robots analyzing soil samples on Mars, or crashing a probe into a comet just to see what happens, or to launch new space telescopes to learn more about the nature of (suspected) dark matter. Yet, there have always arisen those individuals who, despite any apparent practical considerations, are committed to seeking out the truths of our universe, rejoicing simply in the knowledge that they have taken a step closer to the truth.

So, despite a compelling need of mankind to question & inquire, there also seems to be a compelling need to dismiss these flights of fancy & just get down to business. How are these to be reconciled? Could it be that while both individuals & whole societies can have a mindset of pure pragmatism, it is only really possible for individuals to posses the inquiring mind, thus setting up this conflict or paradox? Perhaps it’s a false conflict, because it took the great space exploration project of the 60’s & 70’s to make satellite communications so ubiquitous as to make a cell phone in every pocket as common as lint. We often gladly take the ever-more wondrous fruit, even while resisting the minds & the mindset that plants the seeds in the first place.

Perhaps we should also question for what good we use all this amazing technology? Is it uplifting man toward some higher realm of prosperity, longevity, dignity, & truth? It seems that it has largely anesthetized modern man, giving his loads of mindless & even destructive distractions that have kept him from being able to see what is true, good, & beautiful, & to marshal himself toward it. Rather than raising up all mankind, it also seems to only profit those who have the means to pay for them, often at the expense of others who have the least of hope of benefiting from it.

I’m sure Chesterton would be amused at today’s Technological Man, who sees himself as the pinnacle of knowledge & power, but when asked how his electronic device de jour unit works, says, “Well, I just turn it on & it works (assuming that the batteries aren’t dead & that you have reception)” It’s magic! I don’t think G.K. would see a whole lot of difference between this approach & that of the natives who toss the virgin into the volcano to ensure that the crops will sprout up this year. In this regard, the scientist or researcher has really become a kind of popular witch doctor & medicine man who communes with & channels the unseen forces that drive our modern lives. We might conclude that man, fundamentally remaining the same, cannot really cope with the technological & electronic landscape which he has created for himself & in which he now inextricably inhabits. We seem to become slaves, rather, to those things which we created to serve us. So, where technology has often been heralded as man’s savior, it seems rather to present him with more problems & ethical & moral dilemmas faster than he can consider & address them. In this scheme, only that which is new is good, leaving man increasingly disassociated with the good that came before, leaving him in a rootless Now, which is really just a fleeting expression of the perpetually tentative What Is To Come. Unfortunately, man cannot live in the future, but one can live fully in the Now when it is grounded in & flows from What Has Been.

The questions remain, then: What is the relationship of man to his world in the context of scientific inquiry? Is it possible for man to deal with scientific advances in such a manner that they build him up & work toward his good instead of destroying him?

All of this comes about as a lead-in for an upcoming book review - The Heavens Proclaim; Astronomy & the Vatican.

Photos from http://www.nasa.gov/.

The Bible II: Inspiring & Inspired

As we continue considering the Bible as the collection of writings accepted by the Church as inspired by God, we now focus on “inspiration.” We may speak of a movie or a song as being inspiring, but when we say “inspired” in the context of Scripture, we mean a text through which God communicates to man. The Catechism tells us the Holy Spirit assisted the human authors to write faithfully & without error the truths that God wished to impart to us for our salvation (105-107).

When we think about the inspiration of the Old Testament, the epic events might come to mind, like the parting of the Red Sea or Elijah & the prophets of Baal. But how about the seemingly endless lists of strange names in the book of Numbers? So, perhaps “inspiring” may not be the best way to determine what is inspired.

Ancient texts like Genesis are surely inspired, right? Yet, the definitive version was only completed after the Israelites returned home from the exile in Babylon in 438 B.C. What about books written in Greek in the Hellenistic era? Could the Spirit of God not also speak through Greek-speaking Jews scattered throughout the Mediterranean world after the Exile?

The Church had to listen to the Spirit to discern which writings were inspired - basically the same list as the Greek version of the Old Testament. It was only 1,500 years later when Protestants began to question the inspiration of some of the books of the Old Testament that the Church at the Council of Trent formally defined the list of inspired books. So, we can see that inspiration is not self-evident, but requires some authority to separate what is truly inspired from God versus what is simply useful & edifying.

Thoughts on Universal Salvation

...on the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. Photo: Whitefriar's Church, Dublin, Ireland

Occasionally I get e-mail questions from folks asking my opinion about how to respond to someone’s objection on some Catholic teaching or other matter of faith. I usually intend to answer with a few sentences, but often end up writing a small book. Recently I received a question about what I thought about “universal salvation.” Here is my response…

Regarding the other question - yes, I think Catholics have every opportunity to be saved! ;) Seriously, though, one needs to define "universal". In most discussions using these terms, it means, "Does God save people other than Christians?" or, in regards to either Christians or non-Christians, "Does God save people regardless of their state of their soul?"

I know some folks think that everyone goes to heaven (very convenient, doesn't require all that nasty "conversion" stuff), some folks think only Christians go to heaven (which would lead one to conclude that God is cruel by damning people simply for being born at the wrong time or in the wrong place), some think that only folks of their particular brand of Christianity go to heaven (but how do they know they've got it right? How small do they think their heaven will be!?!).

Some believe in hell, but that ultimately, everyone one in it will be forgiven & redeemed (really, even Satan & the fallen angels?). It becomes kind of giant Purgatory, waiting for the Final Judgment, except the judgment is always Yes. [Ed. - I regret this comment. Such a view of the emptying of Hell is mockery & parody of the beautiful doctrine of the necessity of purgation before entering into the beatific vision & of human freedom to choose either good or evil. Salvation assumes that people love (or desire to love) God & want to be with him forever. However, those in hell have chosen to be separated; & since God has created us as free persons, he cannot coerce those who have rejected him. We must conclude that the conditions of hell are such that a person in eternal torment & loneliness no longer have the conditions or the ability to repent, but rather grow increasingly furious at God & self-justified in their actions. God forbid that any of us will choose this fate! It seems that those in hell are still sustained in existence as persons, because of God's love even for the damned. As I've mentioned before, what amazing & terrifying power we have over God!]

The Church has wrestled with the question "Who can be saved?" since the beginning, & continues to ponder it & find ways express it. Its thought has evolved from a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire, to being the Roman Empire, to being European Christendom, to being one world religion among many competing faiths. The Church still holds for extra ecclesiam nulla salus ("Outside the Church there is no salvation"), but exactly what the Church is, who is in it, & what it means to be outside or inside are the sticky points. It has become very fashionable in the last half of the 20th century, even among theologians in the Church, to come up with schemes that do provide ways for everyone to get to heaven, but many of these musings have been formally condemned by the Holy See.

The Church, based on the revelation the "God wills not the death of any sinner," re-presents this core teaching as: everyone is given sufficient light & grace for salvation. St. Augustine put it as: Christ has many who are not in the Church, & the Church has many who are not in Christ. This isn't a free pass to heaven for everyone, but more of a statement about the justice of God on the basis of to whom & by what means revelation of himself has reached. If one hasn't been told about salvation through Christ, then it does not seem reasonable or just that God would punish them for that.

However, the Church also teaches that people who have been authentically presented with the Truth of the Gospel are obligated to respond to it (Mark 16:15-16), & that the Church is the sole custodian of that Truth. But it's really easy to get lost in all this (what if you were told about salvation through Christ, but in an incomplete, inappropriate, or coercive way?), so the place to start is the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium & the Catechism (esp. Art. 9: "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church", & esp. para. 836-848). I'd look in the glossary under "Salvation" & check the various references.

An interesting question, to be sure. Maybe we can discuss it more when we have time. Gotta get ready for Mass now...

What I left unsaid is that, ultimately, Christian or not, the fate of any particular person’s soul is a matter between them & God. The Church provides every possible means of grace to die well & be received into the joy of the Master’s house, but we do not always choose what is good for us. Catholic funeral Masses are intended to be the Church’s prayer of intercession to God to have mercy on the soul of the deceased; not to celebrate the life of the deceased.

Ultimately, every one of us will need to rely on the mercy of God. So, while we cannot be assured of our entry into beatitude (the sin of presumption), we are a people of hope. At my own funeral, I hope the black-vested priest will lead the faithful in reverent & fearful prayer for my soul, as witnesses testifying before the Tribunal on my behalf, pleading that when the terrifying light of the Almighty’s Justice is brought to bear on my life & soul, his Mercy exceeds his Justice, and that even a sinner like me can enter into joy.