The Language of Sacrifice

I've been reflecting on this subject over the past few days since the release of the motu proprio. When I was in RCIA, and indeed later, I knew plenty of folks, particularly at my university parish, for whom understanding the mass as a sacrifice and not just a meal was very difficult. The "meal" dimension of the mass was clearly emphasized. It made sense, then, that folks might be scandalized at the suggestion that mass should be celebrated ad orientem, and that the role of the ordained ministers should be distinguished from those who, while they also participate in the one priesthood of Christ, do not do so in the same manner. As many note, this was part of the attempt of some to minimize our differences with other Christians. But clearly that was not wise. Why should we ignore what makes Catholic worship distinct from that of other Christians if our dialog with other Christians is to have any type of meaning? We certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. Our worship is certainly biblical and clearly historical.

We know the mass is so much more than merely a re-enactment of the Last Supper. Indeed, the Last Supper is itself inextricably linked to the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Christ Himself reveals this to us, when he tells his disciples:

This is my body, which will be given for you... This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.

Indeed, the elements seem to take on a character that is sacrificial in nature, as in the language that is used here, Christ's body and blood are presented in a state of separation with clear reference to His Body, which will be given, and His Blood, which will be shed.

So why is the action of the priest so distinct? It is because, in that context, the priest acts in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, who is our High Priest, who offers Himself. In this context, Christ is both priest and victim. He is Christ, as the Catechism (1137) teaches, "crucified and risen," the one who "offers and is offered, who gives and is given." And this Christ commands us to do in commemoration of Him, which is another reference to how our observance of His command involves us in that One Sacrifice on the Cross, as St. Paul confirms in his letter to the Corinthians:

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

There is certainly evidence that the early Christians understood the sacrificial nature of Christ's command (as well as its connection to the sacrifice of the "first-fruits" of creation, the celebration of the Passover, and the consumption of the Paschal Lamb). Volumes have been written about this. One well-known account comes from 4th century father St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in Lecture 23 of his Catechetical Lectures (Mystagogical Lecture, 5):

7. Then having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual Hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth His Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before Him; that He may make the Bread the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ; for whatsoever the Holy Ghost has touched, is surely sanctified and changed.

8. Then, after the spiritual sacrifice, the bloodless service, is completed, over that sacrifice of propitiation we entreat God for the common peace of the Churches, for the welfare of the world; for kings; for soldiers and allies; for the sick; for the afflicted; and, in a word, for all who stand in need of succour we all pray and offer this sacrifice.

9. Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God would receive our petition. Then on behalf also of the Holy Fathers and Bishops who have fallen asleep before us, and in a word of all who in past years have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a very great benefit to the souls, for whom the supplication is put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is set forth.

... we, when we offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as well as for ourselves.

Who, according to Cyril, is offered? It is "Christ sacrificed for our sins." He also remembers those who have "fallen asleep", "believing that [this service] will be a very great benefit to the souls."

About 100 years prior to St. Cyril's lectures, 3rd century father St. Cyprian of Carthage also makes note of the sacrificial overtones in his 62nd epistle (Epistle to Cæcilius) (concerning the usage of real wine):

But if we may not break even the least of the Lord’s commandments, how much rather is it forbidden to infringe such important ones, so great, so pertaining to the very sacrament of our Lord’s passion and our own redemption, or to change it by human tradition into anything else than what was divinely appointed! For if Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, is Himself the chief priest of God the Father, and has first offered Himself a sacrifice to the Father, and has commanded this to be done in commemoration of Himself, certainly that priest truly discharges the office of Christ, who imitates that which Christ did; and he then offers a true and full sacrifice in the Church to God the Father, when he proceeds to offer it according to what he sees Christ Himself to have offered.

... And because we make mention of His passion in all sacrifices (for the Lord’s passion is the sacrifice which we offer), we ought to do nothing else than what He did. For Scripture says, “For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord’s death till He come.” As often, therefore, as we offer the cup in commemoration of the Lord and of His passion, let us do what it is known the Lord did. And let this conclusion be reached, dearest brother: if from among our predecessors any have either by ignorance or simplicity not observed and kept this which the Lord by His example and teaching has instructed us to do, he may, by the mercy of the Lord, have pardon granted to his simplicity. But we cannot be pardoned who are now admonished and instructed by the Lord to offer the cup of the Lord mingled with wine according to what the Lord offered, and to direct letters to our colleagues also about this, so that the evangelical law and the Lord’s tradition may be everywhere kept, and there be no departure from what Christ both taught and did.

And almost 100 years before that, 2nd century father St. Irenaeus notes the sacrificial nature of Our Lord's command in the Last Supper in Book Four of Against Heresies, particularly chapters 17 and 18:

Again, giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits of His own, created things—not as if He stood in need of them, but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor ungrateful—He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, “This is My body.” And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His blood, and taught the new oblation of the new covenant; which the Church receiving from the apostles, offers to God throughout all the world...

The oblation of the Church, therefore, which the Lord gave instructions to be offered throughout all the world, is accounted with God a pure sacrifice, and is acceptable to Him...

... our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.

Now we make offering to Him, not as though He stood in need of it, but rendering thanks for His gift, and thus sanctifying what has been created. For even as God does not need our possessions, so do we need to offer something to God; as Solomon says: “He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord.” For God, who stands in need of nothing, takes our good works to Himself for this purpose, that He may grant us a recompense of His own good things...

Irenaeus proceeds to connect our sacrifice with the heavenly liturgy recorded in Revelation. Be warned, however, that in what little I have quoted from Irenaeus, I am not doing much justice to the rich teaching he is giving or why he is even discussing the issue. Mike Aquilina, in Ch. 11 of his book The Mass of the Early Christians, elaborates on Irenaeus's commentary a bit more:

Central to Irenaeus's theology is the idea, drawn from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans, of "recapitulation." By taking on human flesh, Jesus Christ recovered what Adam had lost through original sin. Thus, Christ restored and rehabilitated the human race and renewed the whole world. Christians, then, represent a new creation.

In this context, Irenaeus discusses the meaning of the Eucharist. In the world before Christ, God had commanded man to offer a pure sacrifice of the "first-fruits" of the earth. Sinful man, proved unable to offer with a pure heart. So Christ established the Eucharist as "the new oblation of the new covenant." In the Eucharist, Christ himself is the offering (the "first-fruits" of the new creation), and Christ himself is the one who offers.

For Irenaeus, the sacrifice of the Church is the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of ancient Israel. Consistent with the Didache and with St. Justin [Martyr], he invokes the prophecy of Malachi; but he also goes on to recall the sacrifices reaching back to "the beginning," to Abel. In the Eucharist, however, Christ offers himself under the same appearances as the old sacrifices: bread and wine, the first-fruits of the earth...

Furthermore, the Eucharist is the pledge of the resurrection of the body. Finally, for Irenaeus, the Mass is the earthly participation in the liturgy of heaven, which is unveiled in the Book of Revelation. The altar of the Church and the altar of heaven are one.

The traditional mass, what we now refer to as the "extraordinary" form of the Roman Rite, or the Missal of 1962, is indeed very old. Through the centuries, it has absorbed much in the way of accretion, particularly during the Carolingian period, and also various reforms (notably Pope St. Pius V, and later Clement VIII, Urban VIII, St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XII and Blessed John XXIII, as noted in the motu proprio). In its simplest form, it can be said to trace to Pope St. Gregory the Great (late 6th century), who, as I understand, was really the first to standardize the liturgy of the Roman Rite, including the Roman Canon and the lectionary.

Fr. Noble: Anglicans in a Fix, Episcopalians in Flux

Fr. Bruce Noble, pastor of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church (Anglican Use) here in Houston, opines on the state of the Anglican Communion and the reality of the Catholic Church in his article, Anglicans in a Fix, Episcopalians in Flux:

A prime example of a turn of phrase is a classic statement made recently in Houston, by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The remark left some of her fellow-bishop hearers somewhat bemused by it, and yet confused by the sheer relativism of her official stance.

Speaking to (and presumably for) the Episcopal bench of bishops, she was heard to enunciate the following principle: “We need to take a firm stand, somewhere between fixity and fluidity.”

The day after that (namely 18 March 2007) a certain Episcopal bishop appeared at my Walsingham parish, and unbidden, observed the Solemn High Mass from the back pew. He indicated that he simply had to get away from Camp Allen, saying, “I came here for sanity.”

His overriding concern was that, behind these Anglican antics lies a studied ambiguity, which is no basis for doctrinal foundation. Whatever ecclesiology was once present, has long since gone. The object of current Episcopalian endeavor seems to be grounded in the principle, ‘Simply buy time, till they (whoever they are) get used to the idea.’

On two counts, the Pastoral Provision of John Paul II of 1980 makes genuine allowance for facilitating transfer of whole communities of priest and people; while at the same time, creating an aura of encouragement by which individual conversions may duly take place. The Successor of Peter does not cast an opportunistic Net to catch people out, but an embracing Net to bring people in.

He later writes:

The best example to hand of proper exercise of duly constituted authority is the current Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI. After long consultation and reflective contemplation, comes the word from the Holy Father himself making available the traditional Tridentine Mass to meet the devotional requirements of the faithful.

The Anglican Use parishes of the Roman Catholic Church, of which Walsingham- Houston is one, stand ready to implement the Papal directives, at the earliest opportunity that their respective bishops allow.

Last May, Fr. John Berg, who is the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), visited Our Lady of Walsingham parish to offer the traditional mass and discuss the mission of the FSSP. I remember Fr. Berg from his days as pastor of St. Stephen the First Martyr parish (FSSP) in Sacramento, CA. These are interesting times, folks.

Fr. Christopher G. Phillips on ad orientem



Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, pastor of the Anglican Use parish of Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio, is fed up, as indeed I am, with the frequent negative and off-putting references to the ancient practice of celebrating the mass ad orientem:

It is called ad orientem or eastward-facing. Is that so hard to remember? The celebrant’s position is not in relation to the people; it is in relation to God. It is an ancient symbol when all of us – including the celebrant – face east as we celebrate the Holy Mass “in joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord.”

... All of our Masses in this parish – whether at the High Altar or in the Sacred Heart Chapel – are celebrated ad orientem. If you hear someone, in their ignorance, commenting on “the priest standing with his back to the people,” please correct them. Explain to them that we are really a forward-looking people. We’re looking forward to the final day, when Jesus will return in glory. And explain that we do it together. Explain that Father isn’t there to entertain. He’s there in the place of the shepherd, heading with his flock to that final destination: heaven.

It's nothing to be afraid of! Mass is also celebrated ad orientem at the Anglican Use parish of Our Lady of Walsingham here in Houston, and these are not Tridentine Latin mass parishes! The practice is also pervasive throughout the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic world.

Look to the East! The Mass and ad orientem

Over the last few years, I have become convinced that one of the major liturgical treasures lost during the last 40 years has been the common celebration of the liturgy facing East, otherwise known as ad orientem. What this typically means is that both the priest and the congregation face the same direction during worship, particularly during the Eucharistic Prayer (toward the actual "East", or a symbolic "liturgical East").

Contrary to what many Catholics have been taught, the Second Vatican Council never advocated for a change to this practice, yet today, as we know, it has become somewhat normative for the priest to face the people throughout mass in order to stress the communal nature of the liturgy. This is certainly valid, and the mass is still the mass, but it is my personal opinion that reclaiming the ancient practice of celebrating mass ad orientem in the modern liturgy would go a long way in restoring a greater sense of sacred mystery and eschatological anticipation. Now, I'm no liturgist. In the least bit, I know that a shift like this cannot happen without proper education and preparation. And, as those old enough to remember know full well, changing things willy nilly can often be very bewildering and even alienating. But can it be done?

Anglican theologian Peter Toon explains the practice a bit more:

“Ad orientem” is from [Latin] “oriens” meaning “the rising sun” -- thus “the East” or “the dawn” – and with the preposition “ad” ( “to” or “towards”).

In the Early Church the bodily posture of priest and people at the “Eucharistia” was a symbol of Christian hope. Jesus Christ was identified with the dawn and rising sun. And as such His dawn (rising from the dead and then coming in glory) marks the consummation of all things and the restoration of Paradise (Eden lies in “the east”). Not only the celebrant but the whole assembly, united in the one body of Christ, looked to the risen Lord who shall come in glory to restore all things. The eucharistic feast is in anticipation of the messianic banquet at the consummation.

So “ad orientem” is not the priest being bad mannered with his back to the people, but it is the whole people of God looking with awe and joy at the resurrected Lord Jesus and in expectation and hope looking for his coming in glory.

Celebration “ad orientem” does not mean that the celebrant and assisting ministers face East all the time. When they address the people in the ministry of the Word they face the people, for here they are the messengers of God to his people. But when the whole assembly prays they all, laity and priests, face the risen and coming Lord Jesus.

When a congregation is well taught in the content and meaning of the sacred Scriptures and the rich symbolism of the ancient way of celebration is explained to them, then the faithful can see that celebration “ad orientem” can be beautiful and well pleasing to God the Father through His Son and with His Holy Spirit.

Nowadays, you'll find the practice of celebrating mass ad orientem described in silly ways -- the priest "turning his back on the people", and so forth. A few years ago, I heard a priest at a conference refer to his many years celebrating the mass "facing the wall". Our own Holy Father has written extensively on the benefits of ad orientem, particularly in his work, The Spirit of the Liturgy. In his foreword to U.M. Lang's Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer, the Holy Father, then as Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote:

The Innsbruck liturgist Josef Andreas Jungmann, one of the architects of the [Second Vatican] Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was from the, very beginning resolutely opposed to the polemical catchphrase that previously the priest celebrated 'with his back to the people'; he emphasised that what was at issue was not the priest turning away from the people, but, on the contrary, his facing the same direction as the people. The Liturgy of the Word has the character of proclamation and dialogue, to which address and response can rightly belong. But in the Liturgy of the Eucharist the priest leads the people in prayer and is turned, together with the people, towards the Lord. For this reason, Jungmann argued, the common direction of priest and people is intrinsically fitting and proper to the liturgical action. Louis Bouyer (like Jungmann, one of the [Second Vatican] Council's leading liturgists) and Klaus Gainber have each in his own way taken up the same question. Despite their great reputations, they were unable to make their voices heard at first, so strong was the tendency to stress the communality of the liturgical celebration and to regard therefore the face-to-face position of priest and people as absolutely necessary.

More recently the atmosphere has become more relaxed so that it is possible to raise the kind of questions asked by Jungmann, Bouyer, and Gamber without at once being suspected of anti-conciliar sentiments. Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come.

I hope to see a gradual return to celebrating mass ad orientem in the Latin Rite. There are a handful of churches throughout the world that do honor this tradition in the context of the modern liturgy. Will it grow? Perhaps the pope's motu proprio will help us appreciate our ancient heritage. Am I alone?

Archbishop DiNardo on Summorum Pontificum

I suspect he'll say more soon, but for now, we have this story from the Catholic News Service:

Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston spoke about the apostolic letter while attending the National Pastoral Musicians' convention in Indianapolis as the group's episcopal moderator.

"For musicians, it could produce an initial stretching of the heart and mind," he said. "Currently, we are aware of a wide variety of styles. Opening up more of what is the treasury of the Latin style will be good for musicians."

CDF clarifies the Council's use of subsistit in

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church:

Did the Second Vatican Council change the Catholic doctrine on the Church?

Response: The Second Vatican Council neither changed nor intended to change this doctrine, rather it developed, deepened and more fully explained it.

This was exactly what John XXIII said at the beginning of the Council. Paul VI affirmed it and commented in the act of promulgating the Constitution Lumen gentium: "There is no better comment to make than to say that this promulgation really changes nothing of the traditional doctrine. What Christ willed, we also will. What was, still is. What the Church has taught down through the centuries, we also teach. In simple terms that which was assumed, is now explicit; that which was uncertain, is now clarified; that which was meditated upon, discussed and sometimes argued over, is now put together in one clear formulation". The Bishops repeatedly expressed and fulfilled this intention.

What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?

Response: Christ "established here on earth" only one Church and instituted it as a "visible and spiritual community", that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. "This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic […]. This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him".

In number 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium ‘subsistence’ means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth.

It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them. Nevertheless, the word "subsists" can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe... in the "one" Church); and this "one" Church subsists in the Catholic Church.

Why was the expression "subsists in" adopted instead of the simple word "is"?

Response: The use of this expression, which indicates the full identity of the Church of Christ with the Catholic Church, does not change the doctrine on the Church. Rather, it comes from and brings out more clearly the fact that there are "numerous elements of sanctification and of truth" which are found outside her structure, but which "as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel towards Catholic Unity".

"It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church".

Regarding the possible reasons why the CDF decided to release this now, Robert Moynihan (Inside the Vatican) speculates:

Why is the Congregation publishing this text at this time, so soon after the motu proprio? The answer is not clear. Perhaps the text, which has been in preparation for some time, was simply completed now, and so was published. But there is one scheduled encounter later this year, in Ravenna, Italy, in October, between Catholic and Orthodox theologians, where the identity of the Church and the role of the Pope in that identity will be at the center of the discussion. It is in a certain sense opportune, then, that this document appear now, before October.

Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum Released

Dear friends... don't rely on CNN and other news sources to tell you about the pope's latest motu proprio regarding the 1962 Missal (aka "Tridentine Latin Mass"). Read the document from the source.

Here's the document.

While I am not personally heavily attached to the older (aka extraordinary) mass, I think this may go a long way to heal some division in the Church as well as bolster greater appreciation for the healthy celebration of the modern (aka ordinary) liturgy. But some folks have been anticipating the coming of this motu proprio almost as much as (and in same cases, more than) the Second Coming itself. I'm not in that boat. There's a problem there. I appreciate the gentle souls over at the New Liturgical Movement blog who love the older mass and desire others to appreciate it without tearing the Church down from the inside, in contrast to other Catholic bloggers (including some recent converts to Catholicism) who are given to throwing tantrums when things aren't just they way they desire or expect in their parish, diocese, or wider church. (Don't get me wrong - I am no fan of liturgical abuse, particularly when it is egregious. I just believe that sometimes we let silly things obscure our sight of what is intrinsic to the mass itself, and what God has done and is doing, and why indeed we are there). Ultimately it is an awesome mystery of grace. It is what nourished and captivated me when I entered the Church in 1997, and it does the same today.

Yet while the motu proprio has the potential to heal divisions, I'm not sure that this motu proprio will result in a lot of differences over night. It may be that most Catholics may not notice anything different. But I trust the Holy Father's sense of proper liturgy. If a wider celebration of the older mass helps bolster a desire for a more healthy, reverent celebration of the liturgy in general, then bring it on. My personal hope is that it will inspire greater appreciation for a number of elements of the modern mass that have fallen by the wayside, including: good vernacular translations, greater appreciation for the role of Latin in the liturgy, better appreciation for our Church's vast and rich treasury of sacred music, and, of course, celebration of the mass ad orientem. The Second Vatican Council never called for any of these things to be done away with in the first place. But, as I said, I am primarily just happy to have the opportunity to participate in the mass regularly and engage the sacramental life of the Church. That is something, sadly, that many Catholics in the world do not have regular access to.

You can stay, but I'm leavin'!

The Simpsons at the Apple Cider Mill:


If it's clear and yella, you've got juice there fella!
If it's tangy and brown, you're in cider town!

Father G and the Homeboys

That is the name of a new documentary movie about the work of Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ. According to the Los Angeles Archdiocesan newsbrief:

The new documentary movie, "Father G and the Homeboys," chronicles the work of Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J., and his many years working to keep people out of gangs, get them out of gangs, and give them skills to earn a living through his Homeboy Industries.

I had the opportunity to hear Fr. Boyle speak at UC Santa Barbara several years back. I was quite captivated hearing about his ministry with gangs and Homeboy Industries.

60 new deacons

Sixty new permanent deacons were recently ordained in the Santa Barbara pastoral region for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This is the culmination of a new diaconate prep program begun in the Santa Barbara region about five years ago.

The ordination of 60 men to the Permanent Diaconate at Santa Barbara City College's La Playa Stadium represented the largest single group of deacons ordained at one time in the history of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and possibly in the country. Held a week following the ordination of seven deacons in Los Angeles, the celebration also represented the successful efforts led by pastors of the Santa Barbara Region (Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties) to draw forth more men to ordained ministry in their local parish communities.

"This is one of the most glorious days of my 40 years of priesthood," declared Santa Barbara Region Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry, who oversaw the formation process that began in 2002, and who delivered the homily at the ordination Mass. "Your presence is testimony to the good work of God that is present in all of you."

Referring to the day's second reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Peter's speech to the disciples), Bishop Curry reminded the deacons and the assembly of the Synod's first pastoral initiative, which "speaks to our call to evangelize, to testify to the power and goodness of the risen Lord. As deacons, believe that God has called you to continue the renewal of the Church by testifying to the faith and power of God manifested in you."

The Santa Barbara pastoral region is quite spread out and is a considerable distance from Los Angeles proper, so this type of program is beneficial. I was a little concerned, however, when I heard about a year ago that there were at least 60 candidates to serve roles in 28 of the 38 parishes in the region. That's a lot of deacons. Nonetheless, as Our Lord says, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few." And it is true, particularly in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I know three of the new deacons will be serving at our home parish in Santa Maria, making a total of six deacons there. Seven new deacons will be serving at the Jesuit parish of Our Lady of Sorrows in Santa Barbara. May God bless their ministry, that it might yield abundant fruit.

BBC Doctor Who, #3



For you Doctor Who fans, the third season of the relaunched BBC Doctor Who series begins a week from today on the SciFi channel. We continue to follow the misadventures of the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, played by David Tennant. This time, however, he has a new companion. I've been following the series on-and-off over the last year or two. I think I like this doctor better than the last one. According to Wikipedia, readers of Doctor Who magazine voted the Tenth Doctor to be "Best Doctor", even better than the more well-known and well-loved Fourth Doctor, which was played by Tom Baker. Jelly Baby?

My Blog Rating

Let's see what my blog's film rating is:



Hmm, no surprises... now, let's check out my wife's blog:



Hmm, is there something I don't know??

St. Josemaría and the Early Fathers

Mike Aquilina, of the Way of the Fathers blog, reflects in a recent post on St. Josemaría Escrivá and the patristic influence behind the spirituality of Opus Dei:

Today, June 26, is the memorial of St. Josemaria Escriva, the 20th-century priest who founded Opus Dei, a path to holiness through ordinary work, family life, friendship, and such — the stuff of everyday life. His is a decidedly modern spirit, but he conceived it as a retrieval of the way of the “early Christians” (his preferred term). Opus Dei was, he said, “as old as the Gospel and, like the Gospel, ever new.” He often cited the authority of the Church Fathers. A quick scan of his books online at EscrivaWorks yields many passages from Clement of Alexandria, Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian, Ambrose, Justin Martyr, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, Cyril of Alexandria, Leo the Great, Jerome, lots and lots from John Chrysostom and Gregory the Great, and dozens from Augustine.

These early Christians were not mere ornaments on his pet project. His vocation was itself a return to the sources — the pre-Nicene sources of the life and labor of ordinary, faithful Christians. The journalist John L. Allen, in his book-length study of Opus Dei, described just how radical St. Josemaria’s vision was: “The idea of priests and laity, men and women, all part of one organic whole, sharing the same vocation and carrying out the same apostolic tasks, has not been part of the Catholic tradition, at least since the early centuries.”

Mike also links to a study by theologian Domingo Ramos-Lissón concerning St. Josemaría and his patristic influences. The article, entitled “The Example of the Early Christians in Blessed Josemaria’s Teachings,” is available online for free via the Opus Dei magazine Romana.

Time is a treasure that melts away



I wish all my readers a blessed feast of St. Josemaría Escrivá.

I'd like to remind you once more that we don't have much time left, tempus breve est, because life on earth is short, and also that, since we have the means, all that's needed is our good will to make use of the opportunities that God grants us. From the moment that Our Lord came into this world, 'the acceptable time, the day of salvation' commenced for us and for all men. May Our Father God never have to cast upon us the reproach he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, 'the kite, circling in the air, knows its time; turtledove can guess, and swallow, and stork, when they should return; only for my people the divine appointment passes unobserved'.

There are no bad or inopportune days. All days are good, for serving God. Days become bad only when men spoil them with their lack of faith, their laziness and their indolence, which turns them away from working with God and for God. 'At all times I will bless the Lord.' Time is a treasure that melts away. It escapes from us, slipping through our fingers like water through the mountain rocks. Tomorrow will soon be another yesterday. Our lives are so very short. Yesterday has gone and today is passing by. But what a great deal can be done for the love of God in this short space of time!

-St. Josemaría Escrivá, from his sermon, Time is a Treasure.

Pray for us, and for all the faithful departed!

St. John the Baptist and Our Anniversary

We feel especially blessed that our wedding day fell on the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in 2006. Perhaps the most notable fact about the celebration of the Birth of St. John the Baptist [June 24th] is that it is set in a sort of opposition to the Birth of Jesus Christ [December 25th], which is at the other end of the liturgical year. Michael E. Lawrence of the New Liturgical Movement notes some of the special character of this special celebration:

there are two Christmases on the liturgical calendar, and the "Summer Christmas" was this past Sunday, the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.

There are many theological connections between the births of St. John and of Our Lord... The birth of St. John marks the beginning of the shortening of days [summer solstice], and Christ's birth signals the beginning of the lengthening of days [winter solstice]. This relates quite profoundly to what John said about Christ the Light, "He must increase and I must decrease."

May our lives serve as a herald and witness of the Gospel, after the witness of John the Baptist, who leaped in his mother Elizabeth's womb in response to the Blessed Virgin's greeting -- this John who exclaimed, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

We were also blessed to have many of our family and friends in attendance at our wedding, and to have a nuptial mass nestled in a 15th century polyphonic mass setting, Guillaume Dufay's Missa Sine Nomine, complete with chanted Gregorian propers for the day, courtesy of renowned Dufay scholar, Prof. Alejandro Planchart -- a new experience for some of our guests, but an experience thoroughly appreciated by us.

Of course, music and other external elements aside, the experience of standing before God and His Church to state our intentions and profess our vows, together with the experience of receiving Holy Communion for the first time as man and wife, provided many profound moments of grace for us (but aren't all moments of grace profound?). And that is what it is about: grace, unto salvation, so that we might be God's handiwork, as St. Paul says to the Ephesians, "created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them."

Prince of Peace, Moral Theology, and Scott Hahn

While visiting family and friends near to the city of Oceanside, CA, we made a couple of visits to the Prince of Peace Benedictine Abbey for daily mass and adventure. I had been there a few times in the past, but never for mass. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi there on June 7th with Abbot Charles Wright, OSB, presiding -- complete with mitre and crozier!

While at the abbey, I popped in to the used book shelf where I was able to snag a copy of the 34th edition of the Compendium Theologiae Moralis by Aloysius Sabetti, SJ (with added codex by Timothy Barrett, SJ), published in 1939, for only $10.

I also picked up a copy of one of Scott Hahn's latest books, Letter and Spirit, which I had desired to read, as it treats a subject very dear to my heart -- the formulation of the canon of scripture and its integral role within the Jewish and Christian liturgy. We tend to focus quite a bit on the who and the what involved in the formulation of the canon, but, in my experience, we tend to skim over the why, and thus we miss the point of the issue.

The scriptures were canonized precisely for the purpose of proclamation within the context of the liturgy. Liturgy is naturally the primary context through which Christians have always encountered the scriptures. And, of course, the liturgy would not be what it is without the scriptures. Because it is already so much a part of our worship, we sometimes take this for granted, but let us not lose sight of this treasure and its importance! The Second Vatican Council reaffirmed the importance of Scripture to the celebration of the liturgy in Sacrosanctum Concilium (24), which asserted, Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy... Thus to achieve the restoration, progress, and adaptation of the sacred liturgy, it is essential to promote that warm and living love for scripture to which the venerable tradition of both eastern and western rites gives testimony.

Trips, birthdays, anniversaries...

We just returned from a lengthy visit to Southern California. I'll blog more about the trip, but we enjoyed spending time with our family and friends, most of whom we hadn't seen since our move to Texas almost a year ago...

In other news, I turned 29 about a week ago, and my wife and I will celebrate our first anniversary tomorrow, which is, incidentally, the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.

All y'all and other myths

Have you ever had somebody tell you that y'all is a singular reference, and all y'all is actually plural? If so, politely inform them that they are mistaken. It is a common misconception. I've heard this myth pretty often myself, primarily by people who don't actually use y'all in their common speaking. While I am technically a Southerner, being from Alabama originally, I don't count myself as one who uses y'all. Nonetheless, I have family in the South going back many, many generations who would be shocked at the inference that y'all meant anything other than you all (plural).

I've been called to task on this before, and so I had better cover my bases. There does appear to be a small minority of people, perhaps primarily in some locations in Texas (though not in areas any of my clan has ever lived), who insist on using y'all with reference to one person with no implicit reference to absent persons. English being a language as it is, there's really no way to prevent deviations from the norm, but this usage is not standard and is actually quite confusing.

Frequently I think that this is actually a misinterpretation on the part of others who do not comprehend an implied reference to other individuals not actually present. I know I've been by myself and have been addressed as y'all several times, but the inference is always, you and your kin, family, clan, folks, etc....

I think Wikipedia actually characterizes the controversy best:

While y'all is generally used in the Southern United States as the plural form of "you" a scant but vocal minority argue that the term can be used in the singular. Adding confusion to this issue is that observers attempting to judge usage may witness a single person addressed as y'all if the speaker implies in the reference other persons not present: "Did y'all [you and others] have dinner yet?"

It has been argued by one linguist that the singular y'all is in reality a polite form of address, corresponding to 'vous' in French, 'usted' in Spanish, and 'Sie' in German.

And a few have noted what this linguist states in the following quote:

That y'all or you-all cannot have primarily singular reference ... is a cardinal article of faith in the South. ... Nevertheless, it has been questioned very often , and with a considerable showing of evidence. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, to be sure, you-all indicates a plural, implicit if not explicit, and thus means, when addressed to a single person, 'you and your folks' or the like, but the hundredth time it is impossible to discover any such extension of meaning.

– H.L. Mencken, , 1948, p.337

Well, there it is. If you insist on using y'all as a singular form of address, you are merely part of a "scant but vocal minority".

As for all y'all, I've personally only heard this used when a large group is being addressed. Perhaps it might correspond to a specific linguistic characteristic such as the Greek Dual.

Justin Martyr and the Liturgy

I almost forgot; since yesterday we remembered St. Justin Martyr, I wanted to reflect on some of his well-known discussion of the Christian liturgy as he knew it in the 2nd century.

From the First Apology, Ch. 65-66:

But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.

And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do in remembrance of Me, Luke 22:19 this is My body;" and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone.

Notice he refers to the presider giving thanks, and he then refers specifically to the elements of bread and wine over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, calling them "Eucharist", from the Greek Εὐχαριστία, from "thanksgiving". The prayer offered over the elements, involving a supreme act of thanksgiving, is therefore eucharistic in nature. The elements are blessed by the prayer of His word and are received not as common food but as the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh. To support this, Justin then refers to the account of the Last Supper and Christ's institution of the Eucharistic meal with the command "This do in remembrance [anamnesis] of me". This is from anamnesis, which refers to more than just remembering an event but rather commemorating it, a reliving of the past as a present reality. With this in mind, we move on to the next chapter in which Justin goes into more detail concerning the whole of the liturgy itself as he experienced it:

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.

These stories are obviously an important part of our history, although their meaning has been the subject of no little amount of debate between Christian groups. The reflections are very rich and contain great depth and insight. We Catholics are often accused of reading our own understanding into the text, which can be said of any group who reads it. I see it, rather, as simply the recognition of something that is so obviously familiar to us, having a more developed understanding of Eucharist, and what for us entails the Divine Liturgy, or the Mass, during which bread and wine are offered and blessed by the prayer of the Word of God in thanksgiving and are received by us not as common food but precisely as Jesus Christ in the flesh. I can appreciate the simplicity with which Justin describes the act and the experience of Christian liturgy.

St. Justin Martyr

Today is the memorial feast of St. Justin, philosopher, martyred with other companions during the reign of Marcus Aurelius circa 165AD. From today's Office of Readings:

From the Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Justin and his companion saints.

The saints were seized and brought before the prefect of Rome, whose name was Rusticus. As they stood before the judgment seat, Rusticus the prefect said to Justin: "Above all, have faith in the gods and obey the emperors." Justin said: "We cannot be accused or condemned for obeying the commands of our Savior, Jesus Christ."

Rusticus said: "What system of teaching do you profess?" Justin said: "I have tried to learn about every system, but I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians, though these are not approved by those who are held fast by error."

The prefect Rusticus said: "Are those doctrines approved by you, wretch that you are?" Justin said: "Yes, for I follow them with their correct teaching."

The prefect Rustic said: "What sort of teaching is that?" Justin said: "Worship the God of the Christians. We hold him to be from the beginning the one creator and maker of the whole creation, of things seen and things unseen. We worship also the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was foretold by the prophets as the future herald of salvation for the human race and the teacher of distinguished disciples. For myself, since I am a human being, I consider that what I say is insignificant in comparison with his infinite godhead. I acknowledge the existence of a prophetic power, for the one I have just spoken of as the Son of God was the subject of prophecy. I know that the prophets were inspired from above when they spoke of his coming among men."

Rusticus said: "You are a Christian, then?" Justin said: "Yes, I am a Christian."

The prefect said to Justin: "You are called a learned man and think you know what is true teaching. Listen: if you were scourged and beheaded, are you convinced that you would go up to heaven?" Justin said: "I hope that I shall enter God's house if I suffer in that way. For I know that God's favor is stored up until the end of the whole world for all who have lived good lives."

The prefect Rusticus said: "Do you have an idea that you will go up to heaven to receive some suitable rewards?" Justin said: "It is not an idea that I have; it is something I know well and hold to be most certain."

The prefect Rusticus said: "Now let us come to the point at issue, which is necessary and urgent. Gather round then and with one accord offer sacrifice to the gods." Justin said: "No one who is right-thinking stoops from true worship to false worship."

The prefect Rusticus said: "If you do not do as you are commanded you will be tortured without mercy." Justin said: "We hope to suffer torment for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so be saved. For this will bring us salvation and confidence as we stand before the more terrible and universal judgment-seat of our Lord and Savior."

In the same way the other martyrs also said: "Do what you will. We are Christians; we do not offer sacrifice to idols."

The prefect Rusticus pronounced sentence, saying: "Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the emperor be scourged and led away to suffer capital punishment according to the ruling of the laws." Glorifying God, the holy martyrs went out to the accustomed place. They were beheaded, and so fulfilled their witness of martyrdom in confessing their faith in their Savior."

St. Justin, pray for us!

I look at Him, He looks at me

I recall a time when, long ago, as a Protestant, I had a powerful encounter with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, reserved in the tabernacle. Back then, a heavy anchor weighed heavily on my soul. I clung to it, foolishly, yet I sought for some way to let it go. I walked into the church building where the tabernacle was located, merely desiring to sit and take my rest. More than not understanding the Real Presence (who does?), I didn't even believe in it at the time. Yet, something happened to me in that moment.

For a long time, I didn't know how to comprehend the experience. As I later reflected on it, I realized how contemplative the moment was, almost in spite of myself. I was blind - puffed up, full of myself. I had a desire to repent, not knowing how to take the first step. Christ stripped me down of that anchor and restored my sight. The moment was simple; no words were uttered. I had been a fool, but Christ had always been there, loving me throughout my entire life. In ways even surpassing the love of a mother for her child, He had loved me. The experience strengthened my resolve to run towards Christ, following Him to the Catholic Church.

Nowadays, I aim to spend some time each week before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. I've gotten into the routine of visiting our parish's perpetual adoration chapel every Sunday before mass. Sorry fool that I am, much of the time is spent contending with the various distractions of the outside world. But then I remind myself, back to my encounter with Him so long ago and through to today, I don't leave my life on the doorstep when I enter the chapel. I take it with me, and there, in that place, I give it to Him. No words are necessary. I look at Him, and He looks at me. I like the way the Catechism describes some of these simple moments of contemplation (paragraphs 2711, 2715):

Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "gather up:" the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed.

Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. "I look at him and he looks at me": This is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy cure' used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the "interior knowledge of our Lord," the more to love him and follow him.

Laudetur Iesus Christus!

Pentecost

From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop (Lib. 3, 17. 1-3):

When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God. He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.

Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first fruits of all the nations.

This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning. If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an Advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.

This Spirit, as Our Lord says in John 16:13, But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. Thank you, Lord, for the Catholic Church!

Chimay Trappist Ale



Last weekend, we opened a bottle of Chimay Grande Réserve Trappist Ale, brewed by the famous Trappist monks of Chimay in Belgium, near to the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmont. What can one say but, oh, thank heaven! It was quite good.

Domus Dei et Porta Caeli

From my parish, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Sugar Land, TX.

I snapped this photo of our newly renovated sanctuary after mass this morning (click to enlarge), the fruit of many months of hard work. Architect: Duncan Stroik:



Here is a close up of the new altar. Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux are entombed visibly inside of it:


From Built of Living Stones Ch 2:56,60:

At the Eucharist, the liturgical assembly celebrates the ritual sacrificial meal that recalls and makes present Christ's life, death, and resurrection, proclaiming "the death of the Lord until he comes." The altar is "the center of thanksgiving that the Eucharist accomplishes" and the point around which the other rites are in some manner arrayed... In the Church's history and tradition, the altar was often placed over the tombs of the saints or the relics of saints were deposited beneath the altar. The presence of relics of saints in the altar provides a witness to the Church's belief that the Eucharist celebrated on the altar is the source of the grace that won sanctity for the saints.

My friend, Bill Cork

Bill Cork wonders whether honest friendships can endure religious conversions. He asks this in the context of his recent reversion to Seventh-day Adventism. Before I say anything, I want to say that my wife and I count Bill and his family among our good, close friends -- even prior to our move to Houston. I've known Bill for going on 11 years and respect him as one of the most intelligent, faithful, and loyal people I've ever met. He has been a teacher, guide, and friend to me during these many years, and is always willing to lend a helping hand, or offer some otherwise useful piece of knowledge about a great many things. He's worked tirelessly for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, with great results, in spite of great and understandable frustration. I still hold him in great esteem, and I trust that our friendship will continue. Though it still requires effort, it is, of course, well worth it.

It would be an understatement to say that we were shocked at his re-embrace of Seventh-day Adventism, yet I still rejoice that I can still consider him to be a brother in Christ, in spite of our communal differences. Broken communion is still a scandal no matter how one looks at it, but it doesn't have to be insurmountable. It's the reality we have to work with in our present world, unfortunately. I know this in my own family and Protestant background.

I had avoided bringing this up on my own blog because I know the way in which controversy like this attracts all sorts of conjecture. I had desired to simply let Bill make his decision and express his reasons why, and let it be at that. Lately, however, I have seen much in his writing that merits highly critical examination, particularly in those cases where it seems he knowingly or unknowingly distorts or misrepresents the teachings of the Catholic Faith -- in particular because I know he knows better than to do this. That is my own personal observation. The difficulty for everyone concerns how to balance our pastoral sensitivity, for lack of a better term, with what is obviously for him not easy, while at the same time maintaining our commitment to what we believe is true. I do have to say that I haven't been too impressed with the way he has sought to intimidate or brush aside those who sincerely offer opposing points of view, but it's his blog, and he has full authority there -- he only wants to lay out his reasons without debate in his own space. I also know that for every good comment he gets, he gets 1000 nutty ones. Yet out of my own concern for some of the confusion his writings have been causing for some folks, I have offered whatever resources I can. In light of what Bill has been teaching with regard to his criticisms of the Catholic faith and his articulations of some of what Adventists believe, certainly he can appreciate a well rounded critique.

My congratulations to Bill in his new position as associate pastor of a Seventh-day Adventist church here in Houston. I can easily understand that Bill and his family are very happy that they are no longer divided. I would like to ask that he and his family continue to hold my family in prayer, and if he still appreciates a good beer now and again, I hope he knows there is more available!

On Divine Filiation

Low Sunday brings to my memory a pious tradition of my own country. On this day, in which the liturgy invites us to hunger for spiritual food — rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite, to desire the spiritual milk, that is free from guile — it was customary to take Holy Communion to the sick (they did not have to be seriously ill) so that they could fulfill their Easter duties.

In some large cities, each parish would organise its own eucharistic procession. From my days as a university student in Saragossa, I remember frequently seeing thousands of people crossing the Coso in three separate contingents made up entirely of men, thousands of men!, carrying huge burning candles. Strong and robust men they were, accompanying Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, with a faith that was greater than those candles that weighed so much.

Last night when I found myself awake several times I repeated, as an aspiration, the words, quasi modo geniti infantes, as new-born babes. It occurred to me that the Church's invitation today is very well suited to all of us who feel the reality of our divine filiation. It is certainly right that we be very strong, very solid, men of mettle who can influence our environment; and yet, before God, how good it is to see ourselves as little children!

Quasi modo geniti infantes, rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite: like children just born into the world, cry out for the clean and pure milk of the spirit. How marvelous this verse from St Peter is and how appropriate that the liturgy should then add: exsultate Deo adiutori nostro: iubilate Deo Iacob: leap with joy in honour of God; acclaim the God of Jacob, who is also Our Lord and Father. But today I would like us, you and I, to meditate not so much on the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, which draws from our hearts the greatest possible praise for Jesus, but on the certainty of our divine filiation and on some of the consequences deriving from it for all who want to live their Christian faith nobly and earnestly.

-St. Josemaría Escrivá, from his homily, Getting to know God.

Dies Domini & Adventism

DIES DOMINI, A Theological Resource for Catholic-Adventist Dialogue.

The site is an interesting starting point for those of us who know next to nothing about Seventh-day Adventism and are confronted with some of its more bizarre and peculiar doctrines. It also reveals some interesting information concerning the various debates on biblical interpretation -- from either point of view. Of particular interest is the collection of essays regarding the "Intermediate Condition" of the soul (scroll down). The reference is to thnetopsychism and psychopannychism, the assertion that the soul is not immortal and dies with the body only to be resurrected with the body, and the insistence that the soul lies unconscious between bodily death and the bodily resurrection -- the "intermediate condition", sometimes referred to as "soul sleep". Some of these articles are from the folks at the sda2rc blog.

Yes, there has certainly been debate about some of these issues, but does Scripture really provide a clear and consistent witness to them? Don't be fooled. Let us not be, as St. Paul warns, "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles."

Laudetur Iesus Christus

What do you see?

Recently I was reflecting upon the following statement made by the Holy Father when he opened the Synod on the Eucharist during the Fall of 2005:

The Eucharist might also be considered as a 'lens' with which to constantly examine the face and path of the Church, which Christ founded so that all may know the love of God and find in him the fullness of life... The Eucharist, in fact, is the motor of the whole of the Church's evangelizing action, as the heart is in the human body. Christian communities -- without the Eucharistic celebration, where they are nourished at the dual table of the Word and body of Christ -- would lose their authentic nature: Only in the measure that they are "Eucharistic" can they transmit Christ, and not just ideas or values regardless of how noble or important they are.

When I entered the Church in 1997, I really believed that I had stumbled upon something quite out of the ordinary. I plunged into mysterious depths, deep into the very soul of Christ, the God-man who offers Himself for us, who is made present for us in the holy Eucharist in a true and abiding presence. Yet I was frustrated that my Protestant friends couldn't see what I saw, and I was unable to explain it to them. My Protestant worship, while sincere, seemed blurred by comparison. What I had now encountered was something more clear, something that truly brought everything in my life, and indeed in all of life, into focus -- a real lens. Oddly, as I reflect on it now, I think of that line from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, in which Louis is asked what he saw after becoming a vampire:

What did you see? No words can describe it. Might as well ask Heaven what it sees. No human can know. The statue seemed to move, but didn't. The world had changed, yet stayed the same.

Yet how easy it is for us to take this for granted! Two years ago, a Dominican priest visited my parish in Santa Barbara and offered Sunday mass. He preached a homily about the importance of not just seeing something, but actually looking at it. And not just looking at it, but looking with it, as a frame for seeing everything around it. He would ask the question, What do you see? Again: What do you see? Again: What do you see?

Well, the point seemed a bit hokey to me at the time, so I brushed it off as he continued on with the mass. Only a few minutes would pass before I truly realized what he was asking us to do. As he held aloft the Precious Body of Our Lord and the Chalice filled with His Blood, before exclaiming, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, he interjected the true and absolute question, What do you see?

Yes, yes, perhaps he should not have improvised at that point during the liturgy, but it seemed so poignant. We are given this extraordinary gift, which is Christ Himself, a gift of inestimable value, which is near impossible to articulate with words. And as Benedict also says, the Eucharist is the heart of the Church and the heart of any Eucharistic community. As such, as it is living, it is also life-giving. It is, as Benedict says, the motor of the whole of the Church's evangelizing action. It is the Eucharist that stands out. It is the Eucharist that makes things clear. Master, to whom shall we go?

Fullness Of Truth Houston Conference: June 23/24

Theme: Reasons to Believe!

Weekend Conference with Archbishop DiNardo, Dr. Scott Hahn, Eucharistic Adoration + Benediction, Mass, Confessions, Musical concerts, more. Check it out!

Tickets @ 800-731-4500, details at www.fullnessoftruth.org

Tout est bien

Car il est impossible que les choses ne soient pas où elles sont. Car tout est bien... -Pangloss, le professeur

Finally got around to playing with this new blogger template..

Benedict and Liberation Theology

John Allen discusses the "Love/Hate Relationship between Benedict and Liberation Theology" in his coverage of the first day of the Holy Father's visit to South America:

At the heart of Ratzinger’s critique of liberation were two key theological motifs, which recur time and again in his writing on other subjects.

(1) Truth: Because the liberationists argued that theological understanding should follow political commitment, Ratzinger believed they were saying that praxis is the standard for judging the rightness of doctrine. In other words, one decides which Christian teachings are “true” on the basis of how well they support political efforts for social justice. As early as 1968 in his Introduction to Christianity, Ratzinger was resisting the “tyranny of the factum,” the tendency to reduce truth to what one does instead of what reality is. This mistake leads some to present Christianity as a tool for changing the world, and to “transpose belief itself to this place.” Thus all doctrine is suspect unless it is useful for social change.

Ratzinger was not simply projecting this understanding onto the liberationists; some did hold this position. Juan Luis Segundo's famous line from Theology for Artisans of a New Humanity was: “The only truth is the truth that is efficacious for liberation.” Similarly, the Brazilian Hugo Assmann wrote in 1976: “The Bible! It doesn’t exist. The only Bible is the sociological Bible of what I see happening here and now.”

(2) Eschatology: Ratzinger's fundamental complaint about liberation theology is that it embodies a mistaken notion of eschatology. The liberationists, Ratzinger believes, are looking for the Kingdom of God on this earth and in this order of history. This sort of utopianism is not merely wrong, Ratzinger says, it's dangerous. Whenever a social or political movement makes absolutist claims about what it can deliver, fascism is not far down the road. It is the lesson of Nazi Germany, Ratzinger argues, and it is the lesson of Soviet Russia.

Thus the goal of Christian must be to strip politics out of eschatology. As he put in his 1987 book Church, Ecumenism and Politics: “Where there is no dualism, there is totalitarianism.”

In Ratzinger's judgment, the consequences of liberation theology's warped eschatology show up in at least four ways.

1. Defections from Catholicism: By promising the poor a reign of justice that never comes, Ratzinger believes, liberation theology actually estranged them from Catholicism and led many of them to seek a transcendental faith somewhere else.
2. Terror. If you allow yourself to believe that a perfect society can be the work of human hands, Ratzinger believes, those hands will end up stained with blood.
3. Dissent: Ratzinger has long believed that, inspired by liberation theology, Catholics will perceive a form of “class struggle” between those who hold ecclesial power and those excluded from it, and will thus demand “liberation” from oppressive church structures.
4. Collapse into the culture: Ultimately, what is at stake for Ratzinger is his Augustinian understanding of the distinction between church and culture. To the extent that liberation theology vests its hopes in secular political progress rather than the liberation only Christ can bring, Ratzinger felt, it lost sight of the cross.

None of this means, however, that Ratzinger has an unremittingly bleak view of liberation theology.

In a more positive 1986 document, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Ratzinger declared, “Those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a love of preference on the part of the church, which since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members has not ceased to work for their relief, defense and liberation.”

The Evolution of Homer

Cardinal Mahony and the Pastoral Provision

Last Sunday, Cardinal Mahony ordained William Lowe to the priesthood, the first married and former Episcopalian priest to be ordained in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by way of the Pastoral Provision established under Pope John Paul II. From Cardinal Mahony's statement:

We all welcome Father Lowe and his wife Linda to this unique offering of their gifts to build up the Body of Christ, His Church. They both bring with them their own experience of the Christian tradition, and their love for the Catholic Church and its ministries.

The priestly ordination of married men who were formerly Lutheran or Episcopalian clergy is neither as unusual nor as recent a development as it is popularly perceived. The practice of ordaining such persons in Germany goes back at least to the pontificate of Pope Pius XII [1939-1958]. This practice is not so much an example of relaxing the discipline of priestly celibacy as it is an instance of an extraordinary act of compassion on the part of the Church in regard to someone whose whole life had been spent in both preparation for, and the exercise of, pastoral ministry.

Thus, the individual’s reception into full communion with the Catholic Church does not carry with it the requisite that he renounce or reject this vocation; but, instead, the self-offering of the person who is received into the Church leads to the completion, the “consecration,” so to speak, of their earlier ministry.

The person thus brings with him and offers to the Church the particular gifts and talent for pastoral ministry he had partly developed in another part of the Christian family. Again, this is not a precedent that implies any diminishing of the value of celibacy in priestly ministry, but an instance in which the Church acts in an exceptional way to strengthen and ennoble the gifts brought its newest members.

We all welcome Father William Lowe as he begins to share in the Roman Catholic Priesthood, and we offer Father Lowe and Linda our prayers and support as they begin this new leg of their faith journeys.

Archdiocesan statement here. I haven't been able to find out where Fr. Lowe will serve or in what capacity, but it's interesting nonetheless. We are fortunate to have here in Texas a number of priests ordained under the same Pastoral Provision, former clergyman from other Christian denominations. And as I've mentioned before, here in Houston we have a personal parish of the pastoral provision, a parish of the Anglican Use: Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church.

Musica Sacra Sugar Land

St. Theresa Catholic Church will be offering a series of First Friday concerts to celebrate the arrival of the new harpsichord and organ. The concerts are offered free of charge, begin at 7:30 pm, and will last about an hour. According to the notice, "The concerts will be directed by Dr. Gregory Hamilton, music director, and will feature many noteworthy guest artists and also musicians of the St. Theresa community."

This is what they have planned:

June 1st, 7:30pm: Canten al Señor un Cántico Nuevo!
An engaging program of Latin American music by Susan Karako, our assistant organist at St. Theresa.

July 6th, 7:30pm: American Inspiration
Music for organ by American composers of our time, reflecting Patriotic tunes, hymns, and composers. Music by Diemer, Bolcom, Hamilton, Halley, and others. With Courtney Kilgard, flute.

August 3rd, 7:30pm: The Great Buxtehude
Music from this brilliant and tuneful Danish/German master, performed by Gregory Hamilton, with harpsichord and organ, in honor of the 300th anniversary of his death. With guests from the music ministry of St. Theresa.

September 7th, 7:30pm: The Beauty of the French Baroque
Harpsichord and organ music from Catholic France, 1650-1750, one of the richest periods in music history.

October 5th, 7:30pm: Dr. Joanna Elliot
We welcome international recitalist Dr. Joanna Elliot for a performance of virtuosity and musical elegance.

November 2nd, 7:30pm: Remembrance Vespers
The Choirs of St. Theresa and St. Laurence will combine for this annual sacred event.

All events at:
St. Theresa Catholic Church
115 Seventh St.
Sugar Land, TX 77478

http://www.sttheresasugarland.org

May, the month of Mary

Our parish bulletin offered a timely reflection based on this quotation from the Second Vatican Council's document Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, section 60-63:

60. There is but one Mediator as we know from the words of the apostle, "for there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all". The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power. For all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.

61. Predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence which determined the incarnation of the Word to be the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin was in this earth the virgin Mother of the Redeemer, and above all others and in a singular way the generous associate and humble handmaid of the Lord. She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace.

62. This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until The eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.

For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.

The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer.

63. By reason of the gift and role of divine maternity, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with His singular graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united with the Church. As St. Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ. For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother. By her belief and obedience, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as the new Eve she brought forth on earth the very Son of the Father, showing an undefiled faith, not in the word of the ancient serpent, but in that of God's messenger. The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, namely the faithful, in whose birth and education she cooperates with a maternal love.

Sancta Maria, mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus...