The Beginning of Knowledge is Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 1:2-7 (RSV)

That men may know wisdom and instruction,
understand words of insight,
receive instruction in wise dealing,
righteousness, justice, and equity;
that prudence may be given to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth --
the wise man also may hear and increase in learning,
and the man of understanding acquire skill,
to understand a proverb and a figure,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Fear of the Lord essentially means being humble before God, the source of all wisdom and truth.

Feast of St. Dominic



From the Office of Readings:

Dominic possessed such great integrity and was so strongly motivated by divine love, that without a doubt he proved to be a bearer of honor and grace. He was a man of great equanimity, except when moved to compassion and mercy. And since a joyful heart animates the face, he displayed the peaceful composure of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the cheerfulness of his countenance.

Wherever he went he showed himself in word and deed to be a man of the Gospel. During the day no one was more community-minded or pleasant toward his brothers and associates. During the night hours no one was more persistent in every kind of vigil and supplication. He seldom spoke unless it was with God, that is, in prayer, or about God; and in this matter he instructed his brothers.

Frequently he made a special personal petition that God would deign to grant him a genuine charity, effective in caring for and obtaining the salvation of men. For he believed that only then would he be truly a member of Christ, when he had given himself totally for the salvation of men, just as the Lord Jesus, the Savior of all, had offered himself completely for our salvation. So, for this work, after a lengthy period of careful and provident planning, he founded the Order of Friars Preachers.

In his conversations and letters he often urged the brothers of the Order to study constantly the Old and New Testaments. He always carried with him the gospel according to Matthew and the epistles of Paul, and so well did he study them that he almost knew them from memory.

Two or three times he was chosen bishop, but he always refused, preferring to live with his brothers in poverty. Throughout his life, he preserved the honor of his virginity. He desired to be scourged and cut to pieces, and so die for the faith of Christ. Of him Pope Gregory IX declared: "I knew him as a steadfast follower of the apostolic way of life. There is no doubt that he is in heaven, sharing in the glory of the apostles themselves."

Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam beati Dominici Confessoris tui illuminare dignatus es meritis et doctrinis: concede; ut ejus intercessione temporalibus non destituatur auxiliis, et spiritualibus semper proficiat incrementis. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

Sancte Dominice, ora pro nobis!

William Byrd: The Queen's Servant, but God's First

I ran across this article by Matthew Alexander about one of the most well-known composers of the English Renaissance, William Byrd:

The Queen’s Servant, but God’s First

Many of you may already know that William Byrd was a Roman Catholic composer who lived during the Elizabethan persecutions in England. Byrd made a name for himself writing music for the established Church of England, but being a loyal and devoted Roman Catholic, he also wrote some of his most beautiful work for the Roman Catholic underground. The article beautifully illustrates some of the ways in which Byrd would embed expressions of his Catholicism in his intricately woven polyphony.

[William Byrd] was a fixture in the liturgical life of the recusant safe-houses, the great country homes of Catholic aristocrats, which served as 16th-century catacombs riddled with secret chambers to hide fugitive priests. For these communities he wrote Mass settings and motets (in Latin), managing to publish and even furtively to perform them. His finest masterpieces are perhaps his Masses for Three, Four, and Five Voices, which he wrote for the underground liturgies, the straitened circumstances of which pressed themselves intimately upon the compositions...

It is in these Masses that we hear some of Byrd’s most poignant expressions of his Catholicism. One especially powerful instance occurs in the Credo movement of the Mass for Four Voices. This is the Nicene Creed, the Mass’s profession of faith, the end of which offers the line, et unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam (“and in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”). Byrd’s setting of this phrase is movingly defiant. For the preceding section, and indeed, much of the movement, Byrd has written elegant counterpoint, but now he pulls the four voices together and brings them to a dramatic closing cadence. Then, for this new phrase, he briefly changes the texture to one that is essentially homophonic, a common Renaissance device to indicate emphasis. The sopranos lead with the words et unam followed almost immediately by the other three parts together on the same text. The phrase climaxes with the word Catholicam, which the sopranos lightly articulate and the other voices forcefully repeat as one. By setting one voice against three, Byrd masterfully harnesses the emphatic qualities of both polyphony and homophony: the text repetition of the former and the clarity and unity of the latter.

These masses are among my favorite compositions. In addition to his masses, I also love Byrd's composition of the Ave Verum Corpus. Our parish choir became quite used to singing it during the past year.

An Evening of Buxtehude, Organ and Harpsichord



We just got back from our parish's monthly first friday concert of sacred music. Tonight featured the music of Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude. In addition to our very nice pipe organ, we finally got to hear several pieces on our parish chapel's new harpsichord. Delightful!

St. Ambrose: to the Sacred Altar of Christ!



From St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Mysteries, Ch. VIII, circa 387 A.D.:

Fresh from the [baptismal] waters and resplendent in these garments, God's holy people hasten to the altar of Christ, saying:

I will go in to the altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth.

They have sloughed off the old skin of error, their youth renewed like an eagle's, and they make haste to approach that heavenly banquet. They come and, seeing the sacred altar prepared, cry out:

You have prepared a table in my sight.

David puts these words into their mouths:

The Lord is my shepherd and nothing will be lacking to me. He has set me down there in a place of pasture. He has brought me beside refreshing water.

Further on, we read:

For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I shall not be afraid of evils, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff have given me comfort. You have prepared in my sight a table against those who afflict me. You have made my head rich in oil, and your cup, which exhilarates, how excellent it is.

... It is wonderful that God rained manna on our fathers and they were fed with daily food from heaven. And so it is written:

Man ate the bread of angels.

Yet those who ate that bread all died in the desert. But the food that you receive, that living bread which came down from heaven, supplies the very substance of eternal life, and whoever will eat it will never die, for it is the body of Christ.

Consider now which is the more excellent: the bread of angels or the flesh of Christ, which is indeed the body that gives life. The first was manna from heaven, the second is above the heavens. One was of heaven, the other is of the Lord of the heavens; one subject to corruption if it was kept till the morrow, the other free from all corruption, for if anyone tastes of it with reverence he will be incapable of corruption. For our fathers, water flowed from the rock; for you, blood flows from Christ. Water satisfied their thirst for a time; blood cleanses you for ever. The Jew drinks and still thirsts, but when you drink you will be incapable of thirst. What happened in symbol is now fulfilled in reality.

If what you marvel at is a shadow, how great is the reality whose very shadow you marvel at. Listen to this, which shows that what happened in the time of our fathers was but a shadow.

They drank, it is written, from the rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. All this took place as a symbol for us.

You know now what is more excellent: light is preferable to its shadow, reality to its symbol, the body of the Giver to the manna he gave from heaven.

What a gift we have in Christ!

Traditional Latin Mass at my parish in Sugar Land



From our parish bulletin today:

In accord with the recent declaration of Pope Benedict XVI, the Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite will be offered at St. Theresa's on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Friday, September 14 at 7:30pm. If there is enough interest in the continued celebration of this form of the Mass, an effort will be made to offer it on a regular basis.

Active participation in the liturgy is realized through attentive listening, interior recollection, and external action. It is therefore essential that those who assist at the Traditional Latin Mass be familiar with its form, the responses, and the chant melodies.

A two-day workshop on the Traditional Mass will be held on Thursday, August 17 and Friday, August 18 from 7:00-8:30pm. A single session will be held on Saturday, August 19 from 9:30am - Noon. All presentations will be held in the Daily Mass Chapel.

Non, je ne regrette rien!

Roman Miscellany posts about going to see the film, La Vie en Rose, which is about famed French singer Édith Piaf:

The heroine, Piaf, is not the most attractive of characters - proud, obstinate and leading a life that caused the Archbishop of Paris to refuse her a Catholic funeral. However, her childlike piety also comes across very strongly. She refuses to go on stage at the Paris Olympia without wearing her crucifix and she is often shown praying before a performance.

Rather unexpectedly, St Therese of Lisieux has a constant and unseen presence in the film. As a child Piaf suffered from blindness (a result, it seems,of keratitis). The kindly prostitutes who cared for her arranged for Piaf to visit the saint's tomb to pray for a recovery. Shortly afterwards she could see again. The saint's influence continued in Piaf's life until the very end, making La Vie en Rose a powerful essay on the efficacy of prayer.

RM also links to a YouTube featuring one of Piaf's most celebrated songs:

Believe it or not, I studied this song in a French Phonetics and Phonology course I took back at the university, because of Piaf's use of very distinct and prominent nasal vowels.

Thanks to Tea at Trianon for the link.

Dear Abbé: Life and un-Death Issues

From new blog, Dear Abbé:

Dear St. Bernard,

I am a big fan since I saw your appearance on HWTN's "Cistercians Unplugged: Song of Songs re-mix." I had no idea that you and William of St. Thierry were both so dreamy. Who was the DJ laying down the beats during Aelred of Rielvaux's free-style solo? That was hot.

Anyways, I'm a faithful Catholic, lifelong member of the parish of St. George Romero in Pittsburgh, PA, and I have a desperately urgent question in need of your advice. I was just attacked and bitten by a zombie. Would it be sinful to shoot myself in the head, thereby preventing my transformation into a flesh-eating ghoul? I'm concerned not only about the salvation of my eternal soul, but also the well-being of my family. My husband is not terribly observant and I'm concerned I might eat him before he notices that I've turned.

Yours desperately,

Gravely Concerned

Read the response!

More from Archbishop DiNardo on Summorum Pontificum

From the Texas Catholic Herald:

On July 7 the Holy Father issued an Apostolic Letter accompanied by a personal letter concerning the use of what has become known as the Tridentine Mass or the Tridentine Missal. The Pope does not use that terminology; rather, he emphasizes the unity of the Roman Rite. In doing so he seeks to clarify the continuity in the Roman Rite, particularly with the publication of the Roman Missal by Pope Paul VI in 1970. He writes that both Missals are expressions of the one “law of Prayer” (lex orandi) in the Church. The Missal of Paul VI in 1970 is to be regarded as the ordinary form of the law of praying while that of the Missal of Pope Paul V in 1570, whose last edition was in 1962 under Blessed Pope John XXIII, is to be considered the extraordinary form of that same law of praying. It is a two fold use of one and the same rite.

In doing this the Holy Father has permitted a more generous use of the older Missal particularly for those who have been and remain attached with love and affection to that previous liturgical form. In his personal letter accompanying his “Motu Proprio” the Pope mentions that John Paul II had already granted use of the older form of the Rite in 1988 but had not given any detailed prescriptions or precise canonical norms on its use. Pope Benedict is supplying such norms by his new decree and also supplies norms to avoid divisions within parish communities. The Pope also hopes that the use of the older form will allow the new Missal, still the ordinary form of the Roman Rite, to be celebrated with great reverence in greater harmony with the liturgical directives contained in the new Missal.

The Holy Father also explains that his positive motivation for doing this was to come to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church. He wants to offer a way to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity within the Church so that divisions do not harden on these liturgical matters. “In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…..It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.”

The Pope’s decree contains 12 articles on the use of the 1962 Missal. They are given in this issue of The Texas Catholic Herald on page five. As the local Shepherd of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, I certainly want to see the law and spirit of the Pope’s decree upheld. We already have a weekly celebration of the older Rite at Annunciation Parish in downtown Houston. It must be admitted, as the Holy Father himself writes, that there are not many who have the formation in Latin to understand the older forms. That would also include many of our priests. Further, a large number of our priests have never celebrated the older rite. Finally, the multiple celebrations of the Eucharist on Sunday in our parishes already due to our growing population and the number of Masses on weekends that our pastors and priests are already celebrating creates a series of “logistical” issues for many, if not most, of our parishes. We will have to see how requests for the older rite from a “stable” group of the faithful will work out in practice. I am also not opposed to the possibility of the erection of a personal parish for celebrations of the older form of the Roman Rite.

Mass is already celebrated in 14 or more languages each weekend in our archdiocese. In addition, there are 5 different Eastern Rites in our archdiocesan territory: the Ruthenian Byzantine, Ukrainian Byzantine, Maronite, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara, plus a chapel of the Melkite Byzantine Rite as well as occasional celebrations of the Ethiopian Rite by one of our priests for some members of that Eastern Rite community. Finally there is a parish of what is called “Anglican Rite Usage,” for those Catholics who have come to us from the Anglican communion. We have incredible variety. This is why the unity of faith, the “handing on of what we have received,” as St. Paul states it, is so crucial and so much a part of what I see as my own responsibility in this magnificent local Church of Galveston-Houston. The unity of our Catholic Profession of Faith and our communion with the Holy Father is all the more crucial given such rich diversity in this part of God’s Kingdom in southeast Texas. May the ancient “law of believing” (lex credendi) and “law of praying” (lex orandi) be both so saturated by charity, witness and outreach, especially to the poor and the stranger, that we will be a most credible sign of the Catholic Church.

Thank you, Archbishop!

Niko Niko's

We met some friends I have never met before in my life for dinner tonight at Niko Niko's Greek and American Cafe on Montrose in Houston. Anybody familiar with this joint? The Retsina (wine flavored with pine resin) was flowing steadily as our topics of conversation ranged from Harry Potter to Alexander the Great, Catholic and Orthodox Christianity to Judaism and Islam, Greek and Latin, Copts and the St. Thomas Christians of India... oh and buried Spanish treasure in Mexico.

Sleeping Dragon

Taken last November at Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, TX:



Courtesy of my brother-in-law.

Classic Josemaría Escrivá

1974 in Chile

St. Augustine on ad orientem

From Ch. 5 of De Sermone Domini in Monte.

... cum ad orationem stamus, ad orientem convertimur, unde caelum surgit; non tamquam ibi habitet Deus, quasi ceteras mundi partes deseruerit qui ubique praesens est, non locorum spatiis, sed maiestatis potentia; sed ut admoneatur animus ad naturam excellentiorem se convertere, id est ad Deum...

In English, courtesy of CCEL.

... when we stand at prayer, we turn to the east, whence heaven rises: not as if God also were dwelling there, in the sense that He who is everywhere present, not as occupying space, but by the power of His majesty, had forsaken the other parts of the world; but in order that the mind may be admonished to turn to a more excellent nature, that is to God...

One Rite, Two Forms: The Liturgical Life of St. John Cantius

Interview with Fr. Dennis Kolinski, S.J.C., an associate pastor of St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois, courtesy of the Church Music Association of America:

"Bi-ritual” is what these parishes have been called. Here the 1962 Missal and the 1970 Missal live side by side, precisely as Pope Benedict XVI envisions in Summorum Pontificum, the Moto Proprio liberalizing the use of the 1962 Missal. But the term bi-ritual is now problematic. The Motu Proprio clarifies a long-standing issue: there are not two rites but one rite with two forms.

Can the two forms live coexist in peace, even in the same parish? The Pope writes: “the fear was expressed in discussions about the awaited Motu Proprio, that the possibility of a wider use of the 1962 Missal would lead to disarray or even divisions within parish communities. This fear also strikes me as quite unfounded.”

The first attempts at two-form parishes came about in response to John Paul II’s first round of liberalization of the Missal of 1962, and they have been working their way toward the cultivation of serious scholas and an active liturgical life in both the new and old forms of the Roman Rite.

No parish in America has taken this model as far as St. John Cantius in Chicago, Illinois. Their Sunday Mass schedule is itself the evidence:

6:30 a.m.—Matins (Office of Readings) & Lauds (Morning Prayer)
7:30 a.m.—Tridentine Low Mass (Latin)
9:00 a.m.—Missa Normativa (1970 Missal in English)
11:00 a.m.—Missa Normativa (1970 Missal in Latin)
12:30 p.m.—Tridentine High Mass (Latin)
2:00 p.m.—Rosary, Solemn Vespers (Evening Prayer), Exposition and Benediction
6:00 p.m.—Compline (Night Prayer)

This model is not only on display on Sunday. Every weekday includes Mass in the old and new forms, plus regular praying of the Divine Office.

Read the interview!

Vatican II and the Harmony of the Faith

My parish pastor's recent sermon on the motu proprio as well as the recent CDF statement on the nature of the Church is available online.

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!