Tenebrae

This year, my parish here in Santa Barbara, St. Raphael's, is having a Tenebrae service on Good Friday. I'm excited because it'll be the first one I've ever been to! The form is slightly different depending on where you go, but I've heard so much about them. What are your experiences of the Tenebrae?

Also, I found this poem:

E Tenebris, by Oscar Wilde (1881)

Come down, O Christ, and help me! reach thy
     hand,
For I am drowning in a stormier sea
Than Simon on thy lake of Galilee:
The wine of life is spilt upon the sand,
My heart is as some famine-murdered land
Whence all good things have perished utterly,
And well I know my soul in Hell must lie
If I this night before God's throne should stand.
'He sleeps perchance, or rideth to the chase,
Like Baal, when his prophets howled that name
From morn to noon on Carmel's smitten height.'
Nay, peace, I shall behold, before the night,
The feet of brass, the robe more white than
     flame,
The wounded hands, the weary human face.

A deathbed conversion, also out of the darkness into the light.

Mary, Mother of Christians

I briefly read through some of Origen's commentaries on the scriptures several months ago, particularly On the Gospel of St. John, written in the early 3rd century and considered by many to be his chef d'oeuvre. Origen is a little shaky, especially to one as historically ignorant as myself, but I found some things that I didn't expect to find. In chapter 6 of the first book, Origen lays out what he considers to be essential in understanding this Gospel.

We may therefore make bold to say that the Gospels are the first fruits of all the Scriptures, but that of the Gospels that of John is the first fruits. No one can apprehend the meaning of it except he have lain on Jesus' breast and received from Jesus Mary to be his mother also. Such as one must he become who is to be another John, and to have shown to him, like John, by Jesus Himself, Jesus as He is. For if Mary, as those declare who with sound mind extol her, had no other son but Jesus, and yet Jesus says to His mother, "Woman, behold thy son," and not "Behold you have this son also," then He virtually said to her, "Lo, this is Jesus, whom thou didst bear." Is it not the case that every one who is perfect lives himself no longer, but Christ lives in him; and if Christ lives in him, then it is said of him to Mary, "Behold thy son, Christ."

- Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John: Book I, Chapter 6 (c. 232 AD)

So, according to Origen, to fully understand the Gospel of John, we must receive Mary from Jesus to be our Mother as John did. Origen here is dealing primarily with John, but in his argument concerning John, we might also extract Origen's fundamental premise that Mary is the Mother of all those in whom Christ lives, id est, Mary is the Mother of all who live in Christ.

Aqueous

This weekend, I saw a sign for Aqueous Church, which apparently meets every Saturday night at the elementary school auditorium in the college town of Isla Vista. My curiosity having been peaked, I visited their webpage to discover that they are basically a young adult, "pop-culture" frontend to the Goleta Foursquare Church. They use the name aqueous as a reference to the waters of baptism and to the living water spoken of by Jesus. As is mostly the case, aqueous is their attempt to reform themselves into something that seems to be fresh and new, something modern and relevant. It seems these types of pop-churches abound now more than ever in our culture in the attempt to reach young adults who are lost on old-school religion.
Initially, I thought the name aqueous was a little too new-agey. I love the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has tradition, a profound sense of history and depth built on years of reflection, guidance, and perseverance through every type of human tragedy and world change. The Church has traditionally reached cultures by adapting elements while remaining true to its own history and teaching, sustaining doctrinal unity throughout the world. These pop-churches that spring up only appeal to one type of culture, one type of epoch in history; Hence, I am very suspicious of them.
Where else can you find a guy with a mohawk and black fingernails releasing a dove? On a more interesting note, one of the expectations listed on their webpage is:

To create an atmosphere so saturated with joy that people can barely fight the urge to "shake it like a Polaroid picture."

But we, Catholics, are joyful too! Our joy echoes through the centuries, for mohawks and all.

Gratias Tibi Ago, Domine

Spem in alium numquam habui praeter in te, Deus Israel, qui irasceris et propitius eris et omnia peccata hominum in tribulatione dimittis. Domine Deus, Creator caeli et terrae, respice humilitatem nostram.

I have never put my hope in any other but in you, God of Israel, who will be angry and yet become again gracious and who forgives all the sins of suffering man. Lord God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, look upon our lowliness.

Lent is coming along. I haven't had much trouble keeping my Lenten promise of reciting one of the penitential psalms for meditation each night, although my meditation on each psalm hasn't been too thorough. I suppose that is what I must continue to work on. My sins are ever before my God, and yet He washes away all of my iniquities. He makes His place in my secret heart; a pure and contrite heart He will not scorn. From the depths of my dark nights, I cry out to Him, and He graciously hears me. He rescues me from my enemies and delivers me into His stronghold. My spirit belongs to Him. There is a beauty to when Christ called out in a great voice from the Cross, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." He gave up His spirit.

How about for you all?

I'm the Renaissance




You should know something about this, it's the Renaissance!
As for style, "...artists studied the natural world, perfecting their
understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective."
(artcyclopedia.com.) They loved science-y things and labored for
perfection and harmonious beauty, a goal with which you
sympathize. You're probably pretty smart, too. Anal-retentive much?
Famous Renaissancers (lots!): Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, and You.

Which art movement are you?

this quiz was made by Caitlin

Renaissance Music in 15th Century Painting

I saw this on Notes To Myself..., and I just had to blog about it here as well. A very interesting article about an original musical score discovered in Filippino Lippi's 15th century painting Madonna and Child with Singing Angels.

Scholars had long thought that the angels were holding a scroll on which the notes were painted randomly, with no relation to any music. Yet, while scrutinizing the score, Timothy McGee, professor emeritus in music at the University of Toronto, Canada, discovered that the painted score indeed contains unknown music....

"Unfortunately what we have is only the first half of the piece. The remainder is rolled up in the scroll at the foot of the angels. I searched all known manuscripts from the period and could not find this piece anywhere - so this is the only copy," McGee said.

The composition has been given its first full modern performance at the Florentine art exhibition. There, visitors can admire the painting and listen to the music at the same time.

"It is undoubtedly the first time this music has been heard in 500 years. It is a moving experience and takes us back in time, when the same angelic music was played in front of the painting, in a sort of multimedia experience," art historian Jonathan Nelson, the author of a recent monography on Filippino, told Discovery News.

Be sure to listen to the music piece!

Between You and Me

I'm not an English scholar, but I do notice a few things every so often. When I was an elementary school, we, kids, often made the mistake of saying things like John and me are going outside only to be promptly corrected by the teacher who would say, John and I are going outside. But typically, that's all our teachers would say about the usage of me. The problem is that it seems teachers everywhere made such a point of correcting this that many English speakers no longer know when it is proper to say John and me or improper to say John and I.

For example, I hear many adults saying things like, I'm doing this for my family and I or Between you and I, I think we're scones! These usages are not correct because the pronoun "I" can only refer to the subject of a sentence (nominative case), not the object. The proper usage in these examples would be, I'm doing this for my family and me or Between you and me, I think we're scones!

I think it is best summed up here:

Between you and me is acceptable in standard English; between you and I isn't. This is because between is a preposition, and pronouns that come after prepositions are in the accusative case (here, me), not the nominative case (not I).

The same applies to a pair of pronouns that is the object of a verb: They've invited you and me to dinner is acceptable, They've invited you and I to dinner isn't.

The reason why expressions like between you and I have become so common is that people are aware that the accustive case is not correct for the subject of a verb ( You and I have been invited is acceptable; You and me have been invited is not), so they make the mistake of thinking it is not correct anywhere, and always use the nominative case.

If you are in any doubt, try leaving out the first pronoun of the pair. That will show you what case the second one should be: between I and they've invited I are clearly ungrammatical.

I wasn't aware of the difference myself for years.

Piggly Wiggly

Still goin' strong...

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Interesting conversation at Amy's blog about Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon, which is now being released on DVD more than 20 years after it was made. I also liked this one, I admit. Yes, it's a groovy flick, but there are some powerful scenes in it. My favorite scene is St. Francis' encounter with Pope Innocent III where he is told: You, in your poverty, have put us to shame.

Can we stand up for religious liberty?

Today, our California Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-1 decision that Catholic Charities must betray its religious foundation by offering birth control coverage to employees. The courts have said that they alone have the right to determine what is religious and what isn't. It doesn't matter that Catholic Charities says it is religious, even if it ministers to all regardless of their religious affiliation. It isn't even offered the choice of how it enacts its own health benefits, nor can it stand on its own conscience, according to the courts.

The California Catholic Conference, which represents the church's policy position in the state, said it was disappointed with the ruling and feared that it could open the door to mandated insurance coverage of abortion. "It shows no respect to our religious organizations," said spokeswoman Carol Hogan.

Justice Janice Rogers Brown, the lone dissenter, had this to say:

Here we are dealing with an intentional, purposeful intrusion into a religious organization's expression of its religious tenets and sense of mission. The government is not accidentally or incidentally interfering with religious practice; it is doing so willfully by making a judgment about what is or is not a religion.

Journey to Houston

Annunciation Church

Our Lady of Walsingham

Here is my album of photos from my trip to Houston. As you can tell, I like to get many different angles of things; Some pictures turned out better than others. I'm still working on taking pictures that are meaningful and clear.

The trip was truly magnificent. The developer's conference went well, and my presentation went smoothly. In our business, we use email a lot to communicate with coworkers in sites across the nation and on the other side of the world. We rely on email. Often, it is the only means of communication. It's amazing to see the relationships you can establish with coworkers merely through email, and then when you finally meet them in person and put a face to a name, the relationships take on a new form, like meeting someone again for the first time.

Shortly after I arrived in Houston, the evening before the conference began, I met up with Bill Cork; he took the time to help me get aquainted with Houston and the surrounding area. Later, after the conference had ended, I met up with him again, and we made our way to Galveston where he offered to give me the grand tour of the Bishop's Palace and keep me company for Mardi Gras festivities! On the way to Galveston, Bill took me by the Queen of Angels Chapel and Bookstore of the Society of St. Pius X - the seedy underbelly of Catholic Houston. After hearing so much about the infamous SSPX, it was interesting to finally see an SSPX chapel, but I can't say that I'll ever be back! On Saturday, I made it down by myself to the Johnson Space Center and took some pictures, and I made my way back into the city and made a visit to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. An excellent day!

High Altar at Annunciation

Our Lady of Walsingham

I was also able to attend a Tridentine mass at the beautiful Annunciation Church in downtown Houston. And, of course, I was also given the opportunity to experience the beautiful liturgy of the Anglican Use at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church! I need to go again and explore the intricate detail of the liturgy a bit more. The emotions that ran through me during the liturgy were interesting - strangely familiar yet new. It was still the beauty and depth of any mass, but this particular liturgy brought me to a new place in my worship. The English chant, the language, the incense and song, the preaching, and the prayer appealed very much to my long lost Anglo spirit, reminding me of my cherished England that I have never yet had the opportunity to see with my own eyes. It almost felt like seeing an old family friend - for the first time in centuries.

Thanks to Bill Cork for taking the time to show me around, and thanks to all of you for your prayers of support!

The Lenten Season

During Lent this year, I plan to take a page from the lives of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher and pray the seven penitential psalms. Of course, More would recite them all each day, but this Lent, prior to Night Prayer, I will recite one of them for each day and use it for meditation, in either Latin or English.

I'm back!

I'm back from Houston, TX. The conference was pretty good, my presentation went smoothly, and I got to do and see many things, including most of the items on my list below and some things that aren't on that list (like the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and even an SSPX chapel/bookstore?). Bill showed me all around and even taught me the proper way to eat boiled crawfish (crawdads as we say in Alabama). I'll blog in more detail about everything within the next few days, but suffice it to say, it was a very good trip -- and the Anglican Use liturgy at Our Lady of Walsingham was extraordinary; it exceeded my expectations.

It also looks like I took 128 pictures with my digital camera, so I'm going to sort through them and post some in the next few days :)

Ready for a trip...

Next week, I am embarking on yet another business trip, as I mentioned a couple of months ago. I am flying to Houston, TX to speak at the Texas Instruments Developer's Conference.

I'm really looking forward to the conference; A lot of cutting-edge tech. I'm also looking forward to speaking and meeting the various TI internal and third-party developers. Plus, while I am in Houston, I'm going to stick around a few days and check the place out. Among the things I'd like to see are:

- Visit my buddy, Bill
- Johnson Space Center
- Mardi Gras in Galveston
- High Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church
- Anglican Use liturgy at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church
- Our Lady of Cedars Maronite Catholic Church

I'm a nut for liturgical history and a lover of ecclesiastical latin, but I have never been to a (Tridentine) high mass, only the low mass down in Ventura. And as it pertains to modern liturgical history, I have also been eagerly anticipating attending the approved Anglican Use liturgy for a couple years now. I have also never been to the Johnson Space Center (I wanted to be an astronaut in my former life), nor have I ever been to any Mardi Gras festivities. Bill informs me that the Galveston celebration is much more tame than New Orleans, which is another place that I'd love to visit someday.

Please pray that my trip goes well. I'll be back with plenty of pictures!

The Blessed Virgin and the Order of Preachers

The Vision of the Dominican Habit, Fra. Angelico

Article: Devotion to Mary Among the Dominicans in the Thirteenth Century, by Denis Wiseman, O.P.

I really enjoyed this article by Denis Wiseman, professor at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., about early devotion to the Blessed Virgin among the friars of the Order of Preachers, including the pious traditions and beliefs about Mary's gracious protection of the Order as well as the early development of the Order's distinctive Marian character. Also, a discussion on the legends about the origin of the Dominican Habit and its connection to the Blessed Virgin:

Jordan's "Libellus" recounts Mary's role in bringing Reginald, a master of theology and dean of the cathedral chapter at Orleans, to the Order. During a serious illness in 1218, Our Lady healed him and, then, according to Jordan's account: "showed him the whole habit of the Order." The "Legenda Petri Ferrandi," composed by the Spanish Dominican, Peter Ferrandus, between 1235 and 1239, records the event, with the words of Mary: "Then she showed him the habit of the Order of Preachers. 'Behold,' she said, 'this is the habit of your Order.'"

...Taken literally, Jordan [of Saxony] and [Peter] Ferrandus may mean only that Mary indicated the order which Reginald should enter by showing its habit. However, these texts have come to be understood as meaning that Mary gave Reginald a new habit or an additional element to the habit. ...The tradition that Mary either gave the entire habit or the scapular has been persistent in the Order. Stephen Salanhac, who died in 1291, describes Mary as the felix huius ordinis vestiaria, "the happy clothier of our Order."

And, of course, the connection between Mary and preaching:

... perhaps the most powerful image for Dominicans is the association of Mary with the preaching mission. In the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., the Priory of the Immaculate Conception, a figure of the pregnant Virgin stands above the lectern illustrating that she is the model for those who bring forth the Word.

The Still, Small Voice...

1 Kings 19:11-13:

Then He said [to Elijah], "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

the Voice of God...

not in the commotion of the wind; not in the quaking of the earth; not in the roaring of the fire.

... but in a whisper.

Medieval Latin Tales

If you want to have some fun, I stumbled upon these two edited medieval latin tales.

The Proud Emperor

[This] story is the fifty-ninth tale of the Gesta Romanorum, a 13th-century collection of tales. Drawn from various sources, these tales inspired many later writers including Shakespeare and Mark Twain. This particular tale of a fictitious emperor reappears as a Hindu fairy tale, as a French morality play, and as "Robert of Sicily" in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn.

The Clever Thief

This story is taken from a medieval collection by Johannes de Alta Silva, who may have been a monk in England around the year 1200. The origin of the story is thought to be India. It has been widely translated.

The Presentation of the Lord

A blessed feast to you!

Legis sacratae sanctis caeremoniis
subiectus omnis calamo Mosaico
dignatur esse, qui regit perfulgidos
in arce Patris ordines angelicos,
caelumque, terram fundavit ac maria.

By the holy rites of the sacred law
to the Mosaic rule, full subject
does he deign to be,
though he rules supreme
over the shining ranks
of the angels in his Father's realm,
though he is maker most high
of heavens, of land, of seas.

That's the translation of Martin O'Keefe, S.J., which is a lot more poetic than anything I could come up with :).

The Doomsday Algorithm

Stumped by how some really intelligent kids can tell you on which day of the week you were born, or what day of the week was June 6, 1944? There's nothing magical to it - it's just a simple algorithm that you memorize and calculate in your head! :) Okay, it is a little complex, but from what I understand, once you have done it a number of times, it gets easier. Also, you pick up good tricks along the way that help you out.

I tried to memorize the algorithm a couple years ago, unsuccessfully. Actually, my buddy Mike introduced me to it. Maybe I failed because I lacked the motivation and discipline necessary to practice it just to be able to entertain my friends at parties; heck, there are plenty of other ways to do that! It's more of a fun math exercise to help get your mind gears moving. From a computational point of view, I think the algorithm is fun. You could code up a simple program to do it, but once it's done, there's no more fun!

So, for everything you ever wanted to know about learning the Doomsday Algorithm, check out this website. Carefully read through the steps in order as there is a lot of information packed into each piece. And amaze your friends!!

Atom Feed

Blogger has added an Atom XML-based feed option, so I have decided to try it! I've placed the link to the feed in the blog related frame in the right-hand column of the blog. So, if you use a news aggregator that supports the Atom Syndication Format, go ahead and try it out!

I'm not sure how many aggregators support Atom just yet, as opposed to RSS, which seems pretty popular. From what I understand now, I guess Atom is supposed to be cleaner, more flexible, and easier to process than RSS, although I don't completely understand all of the reasons why just yet. This blog from last month explains a bit of the history of RSS and Atom. Though Atom is somewhat of a product of evolution from RSS, it is expected that the two will coexist for sometime.

NCR's Reaction

As expected, the folks at the National Catholic Reporter are complaining about the Vox Clara committee's involvement in the upcoming new translation of the English Missal. Essentially, they disagree with how the committee has sought to do away with work that had taken dozens of years. But some of their comments indicate to me an overwhelming cluelessness. For example, the editorial states:

Last week, we reported that a new English translation of the Mass was nearing completion. Among the changes are phrases that restore the literal translation of the Latin so that, for instance, the now familiar response, "And also with you," will be rendered in the pre-Vatican II formulation, "And also with your spirit."

Anyone who has studied the mass after the Second Vatican Council knows that "and with your spirit" was never done away with. The official Latin of the liturgy never changed the Latin response et cum spiritu tuo, and most modern translations of the mass, aside from English, are translated to the English equivalent of "and with your spirit." For example, the Spanish translation has "y con tu espiritu" and the French has "et avec ton esprit."

They also complain about the individuals chosen to oversee the translation effort. They call them liturgical revisionists who are attacking the liturgical reform of the Council. To me, it merely looks like these folks are trying to ensure true reform, the type of reform actually envisioned by the Council. Sure, there can be some debate, but who are the real revisionists here? Those who are faithful to Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, or those whose interpretation of the same document goes far beyond what the document actually suggests?

They end with,

If the prayer of the community is left to the formulation of those who hold power, without consideration for the extensive and long work of a much wider community, what's to stop another liturgical coup in the future, should the people and ideas in power change?

It's a lousy way to do the church's business -- and it doesn't withstand the scrutiny of serious, adult, educated Catholics in the early 21st century.

I have seen serious, adult, educated Catholics in the early 21st century heavily support the new translation. The liturgy isn't merely just the prayer of the community, it is also the prayer of the Church, and in our day and age, some type of regulation is necessary. And in my honest opinion, the proposed changes in the translation are the least of what could, or maybe even should, be done - but I will defer to the legitimate authority.

The Church needs lay Christian saints

Yes, it needs saints, more than reformers, because saints are the most authentic and productive reformers. Every great period of renewal in the Church is linked to important testimonials of holiness. Without such testimonials, the updating undertaken by the Councils would be illusive.

But the conviction that we must share and spread this call to holiness is addressed to all Christians. This call is not the privilege of a spiritual elite. Nor is it for a few who feel heroic courage. Still less is it a tranquil refuge, suited to a certain type of piety or to certain eccentric temperaments. It is a grace offered to all the baptized, in varying forms and degrees.

It is not reserved for particular states of life, although some favor it, or for the practice of certain professions. St. Francis de Sales showed effectively that holiness, with piety or devotion, could be an attribute of men and women in any family situation or career. Thus lay people must be encouraged to live every aspect of their life in the world -- whatever the specific circumstances in which God has placed them -- in a holy manner, in faith, hope, and love. In this sense, there is a kind of holiness specific to lay people.

-Pope John Paul II, June 7th, 1986

We are all called to be saints. Believe it! Live it! Be it!

Whatever...


You are Cooter. You are good with your hands and
don't say much. When you do it's usually an
attempt at humor. If you had a clean shirt,
you'd probably use it for a rag.

What Dukes of Hazzard Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

And with your spirit...

Interesting news regarding the new upcoming English translation of the Roman Rite mass. I've been following what the Vox Clara committee has been doing for a while, and I have had hints as to what the new translation of the Mass in English would look like, knowing that it would be more faithful to the Latin as other translations are (e.g. French, Spanish, Italian).

John Allen, probably the best reporter from the National Catholic Reporter, offers us a glimpse into one of the preliminary drafts and also touches on various points of debate:

While Rome has repeatedly insisted on more traditional texts in recent years, the new translation, produced by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy -- ICEL -- is the first application of these principles to the Order of the Mass, the key prayers in the preeminent Roman Catholic act of worship. For this reason, it has been much anticipated by liturgical experts and church officials.

If the process of seeking approval from English-speaking bishops' conferences and the Vatican does not hit any snags, the new translation could be in use in American parishes by early 2005.

He discusses some of the objections to the new translation, some of which I consider to be valid concerns. But generally, I think that this is the right direction. Some examples of what may be different based on the preliminary draft include:

- Gone is the familiar "And also with you" response to the priest's greeting, "The Lord be with you." According to the draft translation, the congregation would respond, "And with your spirit," a more literal rendering of the Latin.

- In the Creed, the congregation would begin each section by saying "I believe" rather than "We believe," a shift to the plural seen by some critics as part of an excessive post-Vatican II emphasis on the communal dimension of worship.

- In the penitential rite (often known by its Latin opening word, Confiteor), the congregation would recite "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" while striking their breasts, a custom that hearkens back to the mea culpa from the Latin Mass prior to Vatican II.

- In the "Glory to God," an extra phrase is added: "We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory." This restores Latin phrases originally dropped from English translations in order to avoid what was seen as redundancy.

- In the eucharistic prayer, when the priest says, "Let our hearts be lifted high," the people would respond, "We hold them before the Lord," rather than the familiar "We lift them up to the Lord."

I have really longed to be able to respond "and with your spirit" rather than "and also with you" because it reminds us that our connection during the liturgy is not just personal but also spiritual. This is what we say in the English translation of the eastern Divine Liturgy, and it's actually the sense that is conveyed by the Latin phrase "et cum spiritu tuo."

In a related (and heavily biased) article, Austen Ivereigh also discusses the new draft, pointing to some other translation changes that we may see:

[The celebrant] says: "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God." [the congregation] replies: "It is right and just." ... At the consecration he says: "Who on the day before he was to suffer / took bread into his holy and venerable hands."

I know this new translation will be met with resistance by some, but on the whole, I see it as being part of genuine liturgical reform that will produce much fruit. Contrary to what Ivereigh thinks, I think that it is important that liturgical language be different than standard street language. It should invite us to something more. Words, like symbols, often communicate more than just what they mean superficially.

I'm curious as to what it will be like when this new translation hits parishes in the United States. How do we collectively change what we've been saying for all of these years, words that have become merely reflexive? It's not an easy task, but that is the point of reform. It must be a catalyst for growth. With education, it must prompt us to think. It must challenge us to think. So let us continue to pray that liturgical renewal will provide moments for catechesis and transformation. Let us pray that the Roman Rite liturgy will continue to be fitting, reverent, edifying, and inviting.

Remember life...

Versa est in luctum cithara mea, et organum in vocem flentium

Today, the anniversary of the Roe V. Wade decision, let us pause to remember life. We pray for the souls of those killed through abortion, and we give God thanks for the incredible gift of life.

Tonight there's going to be an interfaith pro-life vigil on the campus of the local university, UC Santa Barbara, that Christina organized. That didn't stop some other groups from expressing their own opinions:

Members of UCSB Voices for Planned Parenthood (VOX), a club affiliated with the national abortion rights organization Planned Parenthood, met at Java Jones coffee shop in Isla Vista at 7:30 p.m. Twenty club members and other participants lit candles and walked along Pardall Road on their way to the Women's Center, where they held a moment of silence to remember women who lost their lives to illegal abortions.

Lisa Castagnola, a fourth-year women's studies major and VOX co-founder, said the annual Roe v. Wade commemoration is traditionally the group's largest event.

Just over 20 students, and that's the club's largest event? Of course, they also came with their false statistics:

One sign read that illegal abortions caused 50 percent of maternal deaths between 1900 and 1950. Another said that after 1980 that percentage was nearly zero as a result of the safer access to legal abortions that Roe v. Wade afforded women.

We know, of course, that the number of reported deaths due to illegal abortions prior to 1950 was a complete fabrication, which Bernard Nathanson admitted to. We also know that the number of maternal deaths due to legal abortion is not nearly zero. And, of course, the number of babies' deaths due to legal abortion is in the millions.

Another busy week

Well, Friday brought an end to another very busy week - topped off with a large and very solid product release!

In other news:

Looks like a Van Helsing flick coming out in this May with Hugh Jackman as the elusive vampire hunter himself, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. Go ahead and take a look at the trailer.

Pray for Fr. Benedict Groeschel

The information that has been moving around St. Blog's from a variety of sources is that Fr. Benedict Groeschel, co-founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, was seriously injured yesterday when he was struct by a car in Orlando. He is in critical but stable condition and has undergone surgery. He had just come from the Marian and Eucharistic Congress out here in Paso Robles, California. I heard him speak once when he came out to Santa Maria in 1997. Fr. Benedict is an amazing and holy man, and his teaching and witness have been a great help to me over the last several years. Let's join the rest of St. Blog's in praying for his recovery.

UPDATE: Fr. Benedict is doing much better, but still in need of prayer. Check back with the website for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal for updates.

Voice of the Faithful in Crisis

Danny DeBruin, former co-chair of the Communications Committee for Voice of the Faithful in Long Island, puts into words my exact sentiments over Voice of the Faithful in his article in Crisis magazine entitled, An Inside Look at Voice of the Faithful:

The leadership of VOTF denies that it's an ideological group and goes to great lengths to avoid the label "liberal." One revealing example of this effort was the LI-VOTF's board of directors' April 28, 2002, letter to Bishop William Murphy, the head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. In the letter, describing the differences and ideologies that comprise LI-VOTF, the board wrote, "Long Island Voice of the Faithful is, not unlike most groups or organizations, made up of people working toward a common purpose. Some are optimistic, some are pessimistic, some are reactionary, and some are conservative…." Conspicuously missing from this list is the term "liberal" or any acknowledgment that some in LI-VOTF are left-leaning. (No one, after all, has ever accused VOTF of being "conservative" or "reactionary.")

Given all of VOTF's fervent denials, what basis do the critics have for claiming the group is made up of dissenters?

The criticisms can be boiled down to three points: (1) The leadership of VOTF is composed almost entirely of dissenters; (2) VOTF gravitates toward dissenters as advisers and speakers at its events; and (3) Its goals are ambiguous enough to hide just about any kind of agenda.

Despite the objections of VOTF leaders, during my time in the organization, I found truth in each of the three charges. The July meeting with Lakeland bore this out.

... It is VOTF's third goal-"to shape structural change within the Church"-that most concerns critics. While it could be understood to refer to small but positive changes in the way bishops run their dioceses (instituting more transparency in their finances, for example), it could also be used to advocate everything from women priests to democratically elected bishops. In short, the problem is one of ambiguity. What exactly does VOTF want?

I think that DeBruin is absolutely right. The question is one of ambiguity. When our local chapter of Voice of the Faithful says it takes no position whatsoever on the hot-button issues in the Church and then co-sponsors Fr. Michael Crosby, OFM Cap. to come and speak about the evil, oppressive regime that is the institutional Catholic Church in today's world, what does one think? Crosby's talk did not pertain to the protection of young people.

I don't doubt the hearts of many of the members of our local chapter - I know many of them, and they are responsible people who want to ensure the protection of young people. But I do doubt that, collectively, every member is united in what they want the group to accomplish and how they want it to do it. Something that I observed recently struck me as a little odd. In order to examine VOTF's third goal of Structural Change, VOTF organized a Structural Change Working Group in order to define what it meant by the goal. What I found odd was why this was done after the goal was established. This suggested to me that VOTF had not seriously considered the specifics of what it meant by Structural Change, and this may have been indicative of a larger confusion in the group over what it wants and how it seeks to express this to the universal church. In addition, many of the members do not agree with what the working group has concluded, which suggests that it may be a long while before these issues are ever resolved.

DeBruin ends with a final point, well worth noting:

In a fitting end note, the Michigan chapter of Call to Action reported in its Summer 2003 newsletter that it's now sharing meetings with the VOTF chapter in that region. That, sadly, says it all.

I think this speaks of where the group is heading if they don't get their act together.

St. Vibiana

I was thinking recently about one of the things that I do admire about the new cathedral in Los Angeles. If you make a visit to the cathedral, venture downstairs to the mausoleum. There you will find the new crypt chapel and marble sarcophagus of St. Vibiana, the 3rd/4th century Roman martyr who is also the patroness of our archdiocese.

According to the cathedral website:

In the nearby shrine a marble sarcophagus contains relics of the third century martyr, St. Vibiana. In 1853 her remains were found in a catacomb near the Appian Way.
A marble tablet sealed her sepulcher and can be seen at the Shrine. The inscription reads, "To the soul of the innocent and pure Vibiana." At the end of the inscription is a wreath of laurel, an emblem commonly used by early Christians as a code symbolizing martyrdom.

(The photos were taken by my girlfriend, Christina)

There is a kneeler next to the marble inscription tablet and in front of the sarcophagus where pilgrims and visitors may pause to pray and ask for Vibiana's intercession. Everything about this particular space is arranged in a most sublime fashion. It is my opinion that the new crypt chapel and sarcophagus dignify the memory of Vibiana in a way that inspires a sense, both spiritual and historical, of wonder and awe. Many who do not to visit the cathedral will certainly miss this treat.

The website goes on...

Pope Pius IX gave the relics to the Bishop of Monterey Thaddeus Amat. St. Vibiana rested in several places until she was brought to the then new St. Vibiana's Cathedral in 1876.

Though we know little about St. Vibiana, she is the focus of prayer and devotion for many believers who call on her intercession. She is at last at peace here for centuries to come.

Prior to her entombment in the new cathedral site, St. Vibiana's remains were displayed in a glass sarcophagus high above the main altar of the previous cathedral that took her name, the Cathedral of St. Vibiana. You can make out the sarcophagus in this old photo, though it isn't entirely clear just how much of Vibiana's remains were visible:


Which is better? The glass sarcophagus? Or the marble stone sarcophagus? Both can be dignifying, although the glass sarcophagus is especially helpful for displaying incorruptible saints, like St. Bernadette. But Vibiana is not incorruptible, and the stone sarcophagus may be closer to how she was actually entombed in the catacombs, unless her remains were left open to the air. We do not typically get to see the relics that enshrine our altars today, though we still venerate them there, yet we have glass reliquaries for just about every type of relic, like St. Anthony's Tongue, as Matt points out over at Whapdom Central.

Merry Christmas!

O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
iacentem in praesepio.
Natum vidimus et chorus angelorum
collaudantes Dominum. Alleluia

O great mystery and wonderful sacrament,
that beasts should see the newborn Lord
lying in a manger.
The newborn we have seen and a chorus of angels
praising the Lord. Alleluia

Quem vidistis pastores?
Dicite, annunciate nobis quis apparuit?
Natum vidimus et chorus angelorum
collaudantes Dominum. Alleluia

Whom have you seen, shepherds?
Speak, tell us who has appeared?
The newborn we have seen and a chorus of angels
praising the Lord. Alleluia

Let us enter into the mystery and allow our whole selves to be transformed by its wonder and message.

Reflecting on Christmas

O admirabile commercium:
creator generis humani,
animatum corpus sumens
de virgine nasci dignatus est;
et, precedens homo sine semine,
largitus est nobis suam Deitatem.

O wonderful gift:
the creator of the human race,
taking our flesh upon him,
deigns to be born of a virgin;
and, coming forth without seed of man,
bestows his Divinity upon us.

Growing up, I loved Christmas primarily because of the gifts that I received. But what is the spiritual significance of Christmas? What is the real gift? Well, I knew Christmas to be Christ's birthday - but is that all it is? A birthday? Absolutely not. Some mock the Catholic disposition toward the baby Jesus. They ask,

On your birthday, do you get out all of your baby pictures? Of course not. You're an adult now! So why do you Catholics still have Jesus in the crib on His birthday?

Yes, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. But celebrating the birth of Christ is no mere birthday. Rather, it is the celebration of an event, and that event is God taking on human flesh and becoming a human child, being born of a Virgin. This is the Son of God in full humility. Christmas is therefore a recalling to mind of the awesome beauty and mystery of the Incarnation. This is what the baby Jesus represents - the fruit of the most extraordinary event in human history. The true gift. O admirabile commercium!

For me life is Christ

If you have met Christ, live Christ, live with Christ! Proclaim it in the first person, as genuine testimony: "For me life is Christ." That is true liberation: to proclaim Jesus free of ties, present in men and women, transformed, made new creatures. Why instead at times does our testimony seem to be in vain? Because we present Jesus without the full seductive power of his person, without revealing the treasures of the sublime ideal inherent in following him; and because we are not always successful in demonstrating conviction, translated into living terms, regarding the extaordinary value of the gift of ourselves to the ecclesial cause we serve.

Brothers and sisters: it is important that men see in us dispensers of the mysteries of God, credible witnesses of his presence in the world. We frequently remember that God, when he calls us, asks for not only one part of our person but all our person and all our vital energies, so that we may announce to men the joy and peace of a new life in Christ, and guide them to a meeting with him. So let it be our first concern to seek the Lord, and, once we have met him, to observe where and how he lives, by being with him all day. Being with him, in a special way, in the Eucharist, where Christ gives himself to us; and in prayer, through which we give ourselves to him. The Eucharist must be performed and extended into our daily actions as a "sacrifice of praise." In prayer, in the trusting contact with God our Father, we can discern better where our strengths and weaknesses are, because the Spirit comes to our aid. The same Spirit speaks to us and slowly immerses us in the divine mysteries, in God's design of love for humanity, which he realizes through our willingness to serve him.

Pope John Paul II, January 26, 1979

In peace, this Christmas, let us each rise to the challenge of these words.

Earthquake

The earthquake rattled us quite a bit here in Santa Barbara, but there does not appear to be any substantial damage here or injuries as are reported in Paso Robles. This was a pretty long earthquake. It had to have lasted about 30 seconds, definitely the longest quake I remember.

Drop down dew, ye heavens

I had a pretty busy week last week! Work deadlines have been approaching quickly, and on top of it all, I came down with a nasty cold last Tuesday. Thankfully, it's just about run its course. One of the big projects that I've been working on is my presentation for the Texas Instruments Developer's Conference in Houston this coming February. I am a speaker this year along with a coworker. I'm really excited - I've decided to turn it into a mini-vacation and take a weekend to visit a few of the sites in Houston, particularly Our Lady of Walsingham as well as the NASA Johnson Space Center. But now is the precipice of celebration, for behold, the Lord comes quickly:

Sound the trumpet in Sion,
for the day of the Lord is nigh:
behold, He cometh for our salvation.
The crooked shall be made straight:
and the rough places plain:
come, O Lord, and be not tardy. Alleluia.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above
and let the clouds pour down righteousness:
let the earth open and bring forth the saviour.
Show us Thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us Thy salvation:
come, O Lord, and be not tardy. Alleluia.

I'll be taking the one-hour drive north to the quaint and holy village of Santa Maria to spend Christmas with my parents and see some old friends.

Catch Big Fish

It's no Lord of the Rings, but another Tim Burton film is coming out soon. It's called Big Fish. This one intrigues me because portions of it are filmed in my birth city, Montgomery, Alabama, as well as the small rural Alabama town of Tallassee, just outside of Montgomery, where my mother and most of her family are from. I learned about it last March when I was visiting Tallassee, but at the time, I didn't figure the film would be anything spectacular. Alabama is beautiful, and Tallassee is the quintessential backwoods, Alabama town. And when I learned that it was going to be directed by Tim Burton, I thought to myself, Edward Scissorhands in Tallassee? Hmm... That's a bit like Battlestar Gallactica docking in Mayberry, USA - in front of Floyd's Barber Shop, no less.

View the trailer.