Sometimes

you're just in the right spot at the right time. Deo gratias!
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Catching up

Sorry, folks - I've been sort of blog-lazy lately. Too much to do & not enough time to do it, even if some of that "much" involves napping in the hammock on sunny Sunday afternoons. So, here's a shotgun blast of blog-stuffs:

*** Gorgeous sunrise photo to start things off.

*** Saturday morning found me at Our Lady of Fatima in Alcoa for the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. Father celebrated an "ordinary" Mass is a very "extraordinary" style, with beautiful, blood-red Roman vestments (i.e., a "fiddleback"), antiphons instead of songs, Sanctus in Greek, Agnus Dei in Latin, & the Eucharistic prayer celebrated "ad orientem," that is, towards the East, from which comes the Lord, the Bridegroom, whom we joyfully go to meet.

Father's homily picked up on the themes of "Earth Day" & utter reliance on God for everything. It seems to me that when things are going great the temptation is to congratulate ourselves for our good work, & when times get hard to deny that God is really present & working in the world. Either is a denial of God. I remember him saying something to the effect of, "Let other have their Earth Day; I for one will give thanks to the God of all creation."

Afterwards, we had a procession around the Church whilst chanting the litany of the saints, & finishing in the chapel with Benediction & Eucharistic Adoration. Lovely! More processions, please!

*** Having put aside a lot of personal reading to finish up my classwork, I finally finished my Lenten reading: The Seven Last Words of Jesus by Romanus Cessario, O.P. from Magnificat Publishers. This was a collection of talks given between the hours of Noon & 3:00pm on Good Friday 2008 in St. Patrick's cathedral in New York (that seems like a really great idea - maybe more pastors will pick up on this idea).

Detailed images from a 12th-century icon cross from the Abbey of Santa Maria Assunta di Rosano, Italy forms the backdrop of the book, but you are left to your own devices to ponder the happenings in those details, or to tie the images to the text.

Each word is it's own lesson; each a whole sermon on the Gospel by the Lord Jesus on the cross. If there is a theme tying the words together, it is how desperately God desires to love us & be loved by us in return. The softbound book itself is beautifully made, as I would expect from Magnificat, & Fr. Romano's writing gives a fresh & insightful look into scriptures that may have grown a bit stale with repetition. This was a great book that I plan to return to again & again, & not just during Lent.

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H.E. Rating: 4 aspergillum shakes

*** I absolutely cannot wait for the Crowning of Mary this coming weekend at St. Thomas! But, it's also the last day of Religious Ed for this school year & that's kind of sad. I think I'm already experiencing empty-nest syndrome. Still, it will be nice to have a little more freetime to recharge my own batteries this summer.

The kids will have mangaged to not only make their own rosaries of lovely Czech glass beads, but also will have read the Scriptures & recited 18 of the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary - every decade recited entirely in Latin! Pater Noster, Ave Maria, & Gloria Patri. Several kids learned them by heart.

There's so much more I wanted to share with them, but I can honestly say that I did my best to hand on the Faith to them. May God bring to perfection the good work begun in class.

"'Fetus' comes from the Latin word meaning...

...'young one' or 'young child'".

Absolutely amazing. I mean, I am truly & honestly in awe of this young lady.

"We must remember that with our rights & our choices come responsibilities. And we can't take someone else's rights away to avoid our responsibilities."

I'm beggin' you - please pass this along. This must be seen.

When the Women finally lose their minds...

...we're all doomed. Two thoughts:

1) I've come to understand that consecrated men & women - monastics, monks & nuns, whatever you call them - are the spirtual engine of the Church. No one since Jesus walked the earth was invited by God directly to faith, excepting St. Paul, I suppose. Our Catholic Faith has come to us & to all through intermediaries; that is, those who came to know God through Christ Jesus first. The ones who "know" the best are those who have forsaken this world for the love of God & neighbor, whose whole lives are spent seeking God's face in prayer, liturgy, & service: knowing, loving, & serving God, both in the heart of the Church & out in the world, though not all do it in the same way.

2) The following statement is perhaps colored by my own limited upbringing & experience, but I say it resolutely: women are by far the stronger sex. Their ability to love freely & openly, as well as commitment to service of others & patient suffering is unbelievable. Women are pragmatic in ways that men only think they are. Men who exhibit these qualities are generally made a big deal of as visionaries, leaders, & heros. Women who exhibit these are simply called wives, mothers, daughters, friends. It is the perpetual & tireless efforts of women that holds society together, albeit mostly quietly & out of the spotlight. So, what a horror it is for all mankind when women are led astray.

Putting these two thoughts together, it was with special sadness that I follow this story: the Vatican's inquiry into the state of women's religious orders in the U.S., prompted by an apparently pervasive "new teaching" with attendant mindset & attitude that is beyond heirarchy, beyond obedience, beyond men, beyond Church, & beyond Jesus. This story at the ever-dissident NCR magazine prompted some of the most venomous & spiteful comments I've ever read from the mouth or keyboard of Christians (but are they?), mostly directed at the heirarchy & bishops, but especially, the Holy Father.

Amy Welborn also has a good commentary about this story on her new blog, along with excerpts from the keynote address at the 2007 Leadership Conference of Women Religious. It's really sad stuff.

It seems that many women religious have fallen off the boat, embracing radical feminism & ever-trendy Eastern mysticism instead of "centering" one's self on Christ Jesus, crucified & risen. There is no sprituality being peddled out there that can even begin to approach the profundity of this reality. There is no "beyond Jesus", everything finds its perfect fulfillment in him. It's ironic that the Church teaches that although people can come to know the existance of a good God from creation, it is only through the preaching & teaching of the Church that the revelation of Christ Jesus occurs, while these women view the Church as a restricting spiritual fence, a stumbling block to discovering the real truth of God, found & fulfilled only in creation. Talk about putting the celestial cart before the horse! Does St. Paul not warn that in the last days minds would be darkened & people would set aside sound teaching & worship the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25)? But then again, St. Paul was a misogynist, right?

It seems that in some minds, the virtue of religion has become a hinderance to the "true gospel" of social justice work & oneness with the All. Unfortunately, some of these social justice "causes" are just expressions of personal ideologies. I've often observed that radical feminism, the homosexual agenda, the permissive sexual subculture including pornography, & the abortion industry are all diabolically tied together.

However, I am so thankful for the wonderful & faithful religious that continue to work & pray for the salvation of souls (incl. mine!), especially the Dominican Sisters of Nashville who teach & preach the Gospel so beautifully by word & example in our Diocese. May God increase their tribe. We need the gifts of their "feminine genius" & that of all other faithful Catholic women now more than ever!

Sts. Lucy, Felicity, Perpetua, Brigid, Clare, Scholastica, Therese, Katharine Drexel, & all you holy women - & of course, our Blessed Mother - pray for the repentance of sinners & the conversion of unbelievers, false believers, the lukewarm, & the fallen away.

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Postscript: while all that may seem like a downer, this article from EWTN News has gotten me fired back up! I teach my kids from Day 1 that by virtue of their baptism in Christ Jesus they are all soldiers in the royal army of God engaged in a spiritual battle with the devil & his army of demons. Also, that the battle is ultimately won, but we must nonetheless remain faithful & fight to the end.

Our Lady of Victory

If you haven't already, please go to http://notredamescandal.com/ & join the 300,000+ faithful Catholics who insist that Catholic Institutions hold & defend Catholic principles, which are, ultimately, the practical implementations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Photo: Notre Dame de Fourvier, Lyon, France

The Music of Sacrifice

I found this little jewel at Fr. Longenecker's blog about sacrifice, using as an example something near & dear to me: bad liturgical music.

Music in liturgy is prayer. Thus, it should always be beautiful music executed well. It should worthy of offering to God. It should be clear. It should avoid performance & should never be entertainment. No one should ever clap for a piece of music offered to God. It should have an element of the timeless & the mysterious. It should never be banal or common or secular. It should be in accord to the Church's mind & voice on the matter. It should reflect the Catholic faith according to Lex Orandi Lex Credendi. It should reflect the glory of the heavenly kingdom, of which it should give us a foretaste & for which it should enkindle a desire. It should not only show us a bit of heaven, but should help us to get there, too.

This prinicple applies equally to sacred art, church architecture, church furnishings, vestments, liturgical language, sacred vessels, etc.

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One comment in the comments: "Beauty is the ignored evangelist." Let's free the evangelist & let him sing. Amen.

Easter Monday

Today, I’ve been asked by several coworkers something to the effect of, “Did you have a nice Easter?” Now, I naturally say Yes, but I also found myself clarifying that the Church regards Easter Day to last a whole week, inclusive of next Sunday. And further, that the season of Easter is 50 days. By their somewhat surprised & skeptical reactions of “Oh, really?”, it seems most of my small-town Tennessee friends & their Baptist churches keep the Walmart liturgical calendar. It’s a sad that this amazing aspect of the Church’s liturgical life has been long discarded by so many. I was about to say Protestants, but I know that many Catholics also get back to business as usual once the festivities end.

Further, I could not really answer their question, “Did you do anything special?” I mean, the whole week leading up to Easter is special! Each liturgy is brain-bafflingly special in its own way, for its own purpose. How to explain Maundy Thursday’s celebration of the institution of the new ministerial priesthood in Christ, Friday’s veneration of the cross, the multitude of Easter Vigil rituals, or any of it without unpacking the whole Catholic Faith centered on Christ Jesus’ abiding presence in the Church in the Eucharist? Not really possible in an exchange only a few seconds long. But perhaps that time will come. Perhaps I will be prepared & able to share with someone ignorant of the Faith exactly what makes these days so special.