They say it might rain today

Yesterday, I snapped this rare ray of morning sunlight between showers.

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In other news, you may remember my rant on Medjugorje. I suggested that one of the tests of a true apparition is the obedient submission of those involved to the Church authorities. Now we have some news about the laization of Fr. Vlasic, the friar who most closely worked with & advised the visionaries.

The full story is here & here.

Mars Attacks!

As the office "astronomy guy" (or my favorite - the "astrology guy"), I have for several years now been accosted by all sorts of ignorant, but well-meaning people who query me either electronically or verbally something like, "Is it true that Mars is going to be as big as the full moon on August 27?"

I usually respond: No, it will be almost twice the size of the moon!

Of course, I'm not exactly lying, since the moon has a mean diameter of 3,474km, whilst the Red Planet has a mean diameter of 6,792km. It just won't appear to be significantly larger or brighter than normal.

After explaining that they have been misinformed, I note that if Mars ever appears to be as big as the full moon, none of us will ever have to worry about anything again (in the earthly sense).

This exchange just goes to show how good all this technology has been to actually making mankind any smarter - in the sense of being able to comprehend & discern things more rightly. But apart from that, here is the real state of the planets as viewed from earth (courtesy of Sky & Telescope):

Venus & Mars (magnitudes -4.0 & +1.1, respectively, both in or near Taurus) are in the east during dawn. Venus is a dazzler; Mars, well to Venus's upper right near Alderbara, is 110 times fainter. They're moving farther apart: from 13-deg to 16-deg separation this week.

Jupiter (magnitude -2.8, in Capricornus) shines low in the east-southeast during twighlight.

Saturn (magnitude +1.1, in Leo) is getting low in the west after sunset... Saturn's rings are narrowing, appearing only 2-deg from edge on. And they're getting very dim. The rings turn edge-on to the Sun and go black on August 10. They turn edge-on to Earth on September 4, but by then Saturn will be lost in the sunset.

BTW: "Magnitude" is the measure of how bright (or faint) an object is as viewed with the naked eye under dark skies. The star Vega (just about overhead at midnight at the moment) is the 0.0 star, that is, the standard for the scale. People with good eyesight under dark skies can sometimes see down to about 5.0. On the flip side, the full moon is about -12.9. Happy gazing!

Creeds & Manichees

I’ve met many a man that proclaimed, “I don’t believe in organized religion.” One might respond, “Oh, and in which disorganized religion do you believe, then?” I endured many a lament that began, “Wouldn’t religion be so much better if it didn’t have so many rules?” I will let G.K. Chesterton respond to that one with an excerpt from St. Thomas Aquinas:

…St. Louis, who had himself a special quality of coming to the point, had said to his courtiers, “Vanity should be avoided; but every man should dress well, in the manner of his rank, that his wife may the more easily love him.”

And then suddenly the goblets leapt and rattled on the board and the great table shook, for the friar had brought down his huge fist like a club of stone, with a crash that startled everyone like an explosion; and had cried out in a strong voice, but like a man in the grip of a dream, “And that will settle the Manichees!”…

Popular errors are nearly always right. They nearly always refer to some ultimately reality, about which those who correct them are themselves incorrect. It is a very queer thing that
“Platonic Love” has come to mean for the unlettered something rather purer and cleaner than it means for the learned. Yet even those who realize the great Greek evil may well realize that perversity often comes out of the wrong sort of purity. Now it was the inmost lie of the Manichees that they identified purity with sterility. It is singularly contrasted with the language of St. Thomas, which always connects purity with fruitfulness; whether it be natural or supernatural. And, queerly enough, as I have said, there does remain a sort of reality in the vulgar colloquialism that the affair between Sam and Susan is “quite Platonic.” It is true that, quite apart from the local perversion, there was in Plato a sort of idea that people would be better off without their bodies; that their heads might fly off and meet in the sky in merely intellectual marriage, like cherubs in a picture…

It is historically important to see that Platonic love did somewhat distort both human and divine love, in the theory of the early theologians. Many medieval men, who would indignantly deny the Albigensian doctrine of sterility, were yet in an emotional mood to abandon the body in despair; and some of them to abandon everything in despair.

In truth, this vividly illuminates the provincial stupidity of those who object to what they call “creeds and dogmas.” It was precisely the creed and dogma that saved the sanity of the world. These people generally propose an alternative religion of intuition and feeling. If, in the really Dark Ages, there had been a religion of feeling, it would have been a religion of black and suicidal feeling. It was the rigid creed that resisted the rush of suicidal feeling. The critics of ascetism are probably right in supposing that many a Western hermit did feel rather like an Eastern fakir. But he could not really think like an Eastern fakir; because he was an orthodox Catholic. And what kept his thought in touch with healthier and more humanistic thought was simply and solely the Dogma. He could not deny that a good God had created the normal and natural world; he could not say that the devil had made the world; because he was not a Manichee. A thousand enthusiasts for celibacy, in the day of the great rush to the desert or the cloister, might have called marriage a sin, if they had only considered their individual ideals, in the modern manner, and their own immediate feelings about marriage. Fortunately, they had to accept the Authority of the Church, which had definitely said that marriage was not a sin. A modern emotional religion might at any moment have turned Catholicism into Manicheeism. But when Religion would have maddened men, Theology kept them sane.

The only call that can be answered is the one that is heard

In a recent Bible study of St. Paul's writings on the seven sacraments, a few questions came up that I would love your input in answering:

What in our modern world hinders the ability of young men to hear & respond to the call to the ministerial priesthood?

What can we do in our domestic & parish families to encourage all people to find their proper vocation wherever & whatever it may be?
. . .

In other news: Horray! The new Mass translations were approved! I discovered through the Traditional Mass that the Church's prayers in Latin are a kind of prosaic hymn, with a rhyme & a rhythm in a language that expresses volumes in just a few words. Many of these prayers, esp. the "opening" prayer & the post-communion, have been carried over into the new form of Mass, but the English language translations have, up to this point, been simplified so much that many of these prayers no longer ask God for the same thing. Now, while not perfect, these new translations will be much more "what the Church intends."

The objection from many well-meaning bishops was that "Joe & Mary Catholic" would not understand the prayers & don't have the attention span & mental wherewithall to hang with a sentence that's too long. Well, we are called to lift our minds & hearts to God, & like sacred art or music, the language used in the liturgy should never be the same as outside profane talk. It is language set aside for the worship of God. I guess we can put that ineffable gibbet behind us now.

Book Review: The Intentional Life by Card. Basil Hume, O.S.B.

The Intentional Life: The Making of a Monastic Vocation, Cardinal Basil Hume, O.S.B., Paraclete Press, Massachusetts, 2007.

In this rare volume, the beloved Cardinal Hume imparts his Benedictine wisdom to his monks on their journey through the various stages of their vows. The addresses were given between 1965 & 1976, a time of tremendous change & turmoil in the world, in the Church, &, I imagine, especially within religious communities. These writings are as poignant today as the moment they were written, as the good Cardinal’s topic – following Christ – cannot be relegated to any historical period.

So, take the following passage & whilst reading it substitute the word “parishioner” for “monk,” “parish” for “Community” or “monastery,” “baptismal vows” for “monastic vows,” & so on. Read it as if it were directed to the situation of Christian community in which you find yourself. And the let this holy man speak to you.

A continual search

Things are by no means straightforward in the monastic life today. There are, as you know, differences of opinion on many subjects: the kind of work we should do; the type of school we should run; how the school should be organized; the values it should inculcate; our life of prayer; ways of celebrating the Eucharist; the manner of reciting the Office in choir. There are differences of opinion concerning the very principle of the spiritual life. These differences of opinion are realities and will, to some degree, provide the background against which you will be making your Profession. Moreover, these differences have to be dealt with constructively, with charity, good sense, and humor. There must be mutual tolerance, patience, and, above, all a continual search for God’s will, which is more important than the realization of one’s own monastic dreams. We need to remind ourselves that the forces destructive of community life and community happiness operate more quickly and effectively than those which construct and build up the house of God…

You may consider that our vows are personal, in that they are a personal commitment of ourselves to God, but the Community has a corporate life and the vows a communal aspect. Let me illustrate this from the vow of what is called “conversion of manners”: conversio morum. Each one of us is called by that vow to work at his personal sanctification – a change of heart, a change in our way of behaving, a purifying of intentions. But the Community collectively must work for the same end.

Think clearly, as men of God should, about the Community you are joining. Try to see the value of what we are and what we do. Take it that there is a great deal in the monastic life, as led here, which is pleasing to God – many monks who are prayerful, hard-working, with high ideals, laboring obscurely, thoughtfully, and without complaining. Be of that number. You will find happiness and receive the blessing of God if you are unflagging in search of him and in doing his will. It is not a soft life: indeed such a life would be unworthy of us as human beings, apart from our vocation to follow Christ. The peace it brings is hard-won and, believe me, brings suffering. And yet it is a peace unruffled by the tempests assailing us on this side and that. It is the peace of knowing that whatever are our personal deficiencies, whatever our limitations, there is a God, nevertheless, who wants us and loves us – each one of us. (p.57-59)

I penned an entry previously about the Cardinal's view of a different aspect of Christian life: obedience.

H.E. Rating: 5 Shakes

St. Bonaventure

An article from the bulletin:

St. Bonaventure (+1274)
If St. Thomas Aquinas is the spiritual son of St. Dominic, then St. Bonaventure would be the spiritual son of St. Francis. Both sons received their formation at the University of Paris & embarked on their respective careers of preaching the Gospel at a time when the new mendicant orders of roving preachers were viewed with great suspicion & even outright hostility by the religious establishment.

As Minister General, St. Bonaventure firmly put an end to a schism within the Franciscan Order & re-focused the Order’s charism with a new Rule. He wrote the authoritative biography of St. Francis, it seems, to preserve the memory of his founder from corruption & hijacking for various causes. He aided Pope Gregory X in conducting the 14th Ecumenical Council in Lyons & achieved some peace with the Greek Church with whom he was tasked with a mission of reconciliation.

He died under mysterious circumstances in Lyons, having spent his life seeking truth without compromise, perfection in spiritual life, & peace among all. In other words, he spent his life seeking Christ.

I am increasingly drawn to this saint, mostly through an increasing awareness of the historical uniqueness of the Franciscan movement, but also of the many errors that quickly became attached to it after Francis' passing & the chaos within the Church that ensued. Bonaventure must have been an amazing man to have successfully navigated those waters while remaining but a simple friar following the Lord Jesus. I look forward to continuing & growing in this friendship.

Blessed Kateri

An article from the bulletin:

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (+1680)
Called the Lily of the Mohawks, & the first person born in North America to be beatified, Kateri was born to a Mohawk chief & a Christian Algonquin Indian mother. Her refusal to marry, along with her full embracing of the Catholic Faith by way of French missionary priests, ensured rejection by her people & condemned her to a life of poverty, but also set her on the path to holiness. Embracing a life of prayer, self-denial, penance, & service to others, she devoted herself to her one true love, Jesus.

If you don't have the attentiveness to read this...

Don't worry - turns out you're perfectly normal, at least by today's standards.

Archbishop of Denver Charles Chaput, O.F.M., Cap. is as erudite a man as I have read in our day. He reminds me much of Abp. Fulton Sheen, but without the Dracula-like whooshing of the cape. But maybe he even does that, too. Primarily, I'd say their similarity lies in their ability to craft a piece of text to tell God's truth, tell it logically, tell it authoritatively, & tell it with gusto.

Click here for just such a piece by the Archbishop on the role & status of the news media in American society from the Archdiocese of Denver's newspaper, the Denver Catholic Herald.

Here's an excerpt: "Visual & electronic media... thrive on brevity, speed, change, urgency, variety & feelings. But thinking requires the opposite. Thinking takes time."

Following Maria

Have you been on a pilgrimage to a Marian Shrine at the site of an apparition?

Here I am mostly speaking about Church-approved events like Lourdes, Fatima, or Guadelupe, but if you've been to Medjugorje or other such, that'd be OK, too. If so, I'd love to hear your something of your experience centered around this:

What did you learn or experience about Mary as the Mother of God & her role in the salvation of man? How has your personal relation to Mary changed since? To God? Any other notables?

Photo taken in the crypt of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta, Georgia.

Book Review: Saint Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton

[Updated] Amongst the multitude of books required for my phlosophy class at Franciscan U., I am also trying to keep up some sort of "recreational" reading, whether history, biography, or spirituality. Usually, anything from G.K. Chesterton is all that & more.
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This volume is really the flip side of his biography of St. Francis of Assisi, both masterpieces of what Christianity in its true catholic-as-in-universal fullness is about, a fullness that became quite apparent in the 13th century when 2 supernovas exploded at the same time, bringing light that shines in the darkness even today.

Chesterton's approach to biography begins with the (unstated) notion that if someone is worth writing a biography about they must have changed history; rather, not just changed it, but started a revolution. His biographies are not "& then he did this & then he did that," but rather an exploration of what the nature of the revolution was & how this person was instrumental in accomplishing it; what milleu was it that brought him forth & whose course was changed by him; what were the movements & reactions from that time until now. He roughs out the major time, place, & circumstances of the life by contrasting him with others figures within the same milleu, those who prompted or provoked the emerging greatness of the figure & those who assisted or accosted him. Taking this overarching view of the larger movements of human history followed by a comparison of those who factored into the turning piont of that history, along with pondering the uniqueness of the individual too, provides a very effective format for arriving at what makes great men great.

The biography of St. Thomas begins by comparing & contrasting him with St. Francis, his rough contemporary, & finds that they are very much complimentary in their differences - like salt & pepper shakers, or couplets in a rhyme. Both found their unique way to follow Christ Jesus & in the process unfolded a new bloom from within the flower of Christianity that made Catholicism more Catholic as in "universal" & the Incarnation more in the flesh. They were, as we might say, the right thing at the right time, but also for all time. St. Dominic, St. Bonaventure, St. Albert the Great, & many others find their place in the story. Here's an excerpt [para. breaks mine]:

"The Thomist movement in metaphysics, like the Franciscan movement in morals & manners, was an enlargement & a liberation, it was emphatically a growth of Christian theology from within; it was emphatically NOT a shrinking of Christian theology under heathen or even human influences.

"The Franciscan was free to be a friar, instead of being bound to be a monk. But he was more of a Christian, more of a Catholic, & even more of an ascetic. So the Thomist was free to be an Aristotelian, instead of being bound to be an Augustinian. But he was even more of theologian; more of an orthodox theologian; more of a dogmatist, in having recovered through Aristotle the most defiant of all dogmas, the wedding of God with Man & therefore with Matter.
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"Nobody can understand the greatness of the 13th century, who does not realise that it was the great growth of new things produced by a living thing. In that sense it was really bolder & freer that what we call the Renaissance, which was a resurrection of old things discovered by a dead thing... Whatever may be said of the Gothic & the Gospel according to St. Thomas, they were not a Relapse. It was a new thrust like the titanic thrust of Gothic engineering; & its strength was in a God who makes all things new."
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H.E. Rating: 5 aspergillum shakes

Tryin' to be good... really!

This just may be the funniest picture-with-caption I have ever come across. I laughed till it hurt & it hurt till I cried. The more I tried to stop, the funnier it got.
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Seriously, who completed this masterpiece of cacoscopy, then stepped back & declared, "That's it!"? Further, who wrote the check declaring, "That's it!"? Seriously.

I had just about resigned myself to acceptance of the Risifix in our church sanctuary, when a friend pointed out that it looked to them like Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ was wearing a skirt. Looks more like a kilt to me. So now I have the temptation to sneak in some Saturday night & drape a tartan over his shoulder, put bagpipes in his hand, & a little plaid cap with a pom-pon on top! That'd show 'em! Uh, forgive me, Father, for I may have sinned...

For more hilarious (but really, really sad) outakes from the Best of Modern Catholic Liturgical Art & Architecture, please see the Crescat.

Into the Greatest Silence

In light of my cyber-discussion with Fr. Christian on the Eucharist (see here), I wanted to mention something that seems missing in the Ordinary Form of the Roman liturgy, something that even Papa Ratzinger has commented on before. And this is recollected, prayerful silence. The Mass is so busy & noisy, that it clashes heavily with the requirement of Eucharistic worship, so much so that it seems to have been jetisoned entirely. We've even been instructed not to pray immediately after receiving the Lord, but to join in song & focus on others. After all, WE are the Body of Christ, right?

Not so fast there, Skippy. We only become the Body by/only after receiving the Body. If we place our focus at the point of Communion on each other, rather than the Lord, are we not guilty of failing to discern the Body of Christ, as St. Paul reminds us? We are not the Body because we feel we are or we want to be, but because the Lord makes us so through this sacramental event. Otherwise, we are just as much "in communion" with each other as the local 4H club or Masons lodge. I'd go so far as to say that if worship of Jesus within us is discouraged at the time of Communion, then something has come off the rails.

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Why does the Eucharist not seem to exhibit the power in people's lives every Sunday that all the spiritual writers of the Church claim it to have? How can people (including me) receive Christ Jesus again & again & again but never really change? Could it be because we block ourselves off from his infinite power & grace right at the point of reception? Rather than ponder Cracker Barrel vs. Gondolier while the Ite is being said, maybe staying a few moments on your knees in a silent church pouring out your soul to the God present in you in silent prayer is a better plan. My opinion only?

In a special EWTN program on the Eucharist, Sr. Joan Noreen just reminded us that John Paul II encouraged silent devotion & contemplation for the 10 to 15 minutes immediately after receiving the Lord in the Eucharist, because this is the holiest possible time we have with God & to let nothing distract us. During that time, Sister recommended some points for our Eucharistic contemplation (yes, I am a sucker for points):

• Rest with Christ Jesus in silent adoration.
• Adore Christ Jesus in our souls, offering everything we have & everything we are.
• Thank him.
• Ask for forgiveness of our sin & ask for the grace to overcome sin.
• Petition him for our spiritual needs & those of the world

She also said that we should learn & internalize beautiful & faithful hymns & prayers, especially those of St. Thomas Aquinas (Amen, Sister!). She reminded us of the final words of John Paul II's last encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia:

Let us make our own the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an eminent theologian and an impassioned poet of Christ in the Eucharist, and turn in hope to the contemplation of that goal to which our hearts aspire in their thirst for joy and peace:

Bone pastor, panis vere,Iesu, nostri miserere...

Come then, good Shepherd, bread divine,Still show to us thy mercy sign;Oh, feed us, still keep us thine;So we may see thy glories shinein fields of immortality.

O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,Our present food, our future rest,Come, make us each thy chosen guest,Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blestWith saints whose dwelling is with thee.

I suppose my whole point is that we may need to reconsider not only how we prepare for & receive Communion, but just as important, how we treat the Divine Guest in the chapel of our souls after we receive him in. Ignoring him through distractions, but expecting him to work a miracle in us probably isn't the best approach or the mind of the Church on this matter.

May God continue to bless faithful & holy religious sisters.