Bad News

The folks at the Santa Maria Times in my home town of Santa Maria, California don't always get things right when it comes to abortion and Roe v. Wade. Today I saw this photo caption from the paper:

La Purisima Catholic Church, in Lompoc, has marked the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case with the church’s annual protest display of white crosses. This year’s 375 crosses, tied with pink and blue ribbons on the church lawn, represent the estimated 135,000 abortions since the court decision in 1973 that made abortion legal nationwide. A bulletin board at the front of the church shows more information.

Only 135,000 abortions since 1973? Really? Funny how everything else seems to point to more like 50,000,000 abortions since 1973. I wonder if they meant to indicate that 135,000 abortions have been done in Lompoc.

Later in the day, a commentator named Dottie posted this:

Thanks for acknowledging the too many unwanted children saved from agony of not being loved and wanted. Better to have children who are truly wanted and truly loved. The foster care system is already loaded with these unwanted children whom they can barely accommodate.

Get that? Unwanted children are better off dead (err, I mean saved). Where does one start?

Third Order of St. Dominic

Last Sunday, I was admitted into candidacy (aka "novitiate") for the Third Order of St. Dominic (Dominican Laity) while on retreat in southern Louisiana (near Ponchatoula, north of New Orleans). So this makes me an official member of the Order of Preachers, though I have not yet made profession. It was an extraordinary experience, and I met a lot of folks from the New Orleans region as well as from the lay provincial council for the Dominican Laity of the Southern Province.

The Lay Dominicans I have met are quite a diverse group: male and female, young and (yes) old, doctors, restaurant owners, nurses, teachers, moms and dads. It's natural to expect different perspectives on various things, and in engaging them myself, it was quite nice to see the Dominican approach to study and revealed truth play itself out. Participating in Holy Mass together, praying the Liturgy of the Hours in community, as well as the Dominican rosary -- very valuable.

49,551,703 Total Abortions since 1973

Today is the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which, along with Doe v. Bolton, legalized abortion on demand across the United States. My wife reflects on the meaning of the day:

Every week, a collection of young people move through my classroom. Every year is different. Every class is different. Every period is different.

I play a sort of game with myself every year. It's more of a challenge, really. I challenge myself to learn one unique (and positive) thing about each student. It does not matter what, exactly. Some of these positive traits are easy to see. Some are bizarre. Doing this helps me to appreciate my students a little better, and reminds me to treat them with care and respect to the best of my ability. I also find that in those moments when they drive me nuts it helps me to be a little more fair.

What is interesting is what happens when someone is absent. The empty desk changes the room somehow. There is a piece missing. There is a gap where a vibrant (or at least quietly scintillating) personality usually sits. Even when one of my quieter pupils is missing, the difference is noticeable. The classroom feels incomplete somehow.

There are nearly 50 million empty desks out there right now in our schools, in our workplaces. How many gaps are there in our world that someone should have filled? How many of those singles on e-harmony are looking for a soul-mate who never given a chance at life? How many of our friends, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews have been lost to abortion?

"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

The Word of God

... in the Mission and Life of the Church.

A new website resource produced by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, named after (and in response to) the recent Synod in Rome on the Word of God.

There are some recordings of Cardinal DiNardo's talks regarding the church fathers as well as St. Augustine of Hippo in the "Church Fathers" section, but I have no idea right now if there will be more.

Pope Sends Telegram to 44TH US President

Courtesy of Vatican Radio:

On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America I offer cordial good wishes, together with the assurance of my prayers that almighty God will grant you unfailing wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high responsibilities. Under your leadership may the American people continue to find in their religious and political heritage the spiritual values and ethical principles needed to cooperate in the building of a truly just and free society, marked by respect for the dignity, equality and rights of each of its members, especially the poor, the outcast and those who have no voice. At a time when so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world yearn for liberation from the scourge of poverty, hunger and violence I pray that you will be confirmed in your resolve to promote understanding , cooperation and peace among the nations, so that all may share in the banquet of life which God wills to set for the whole human family (cf. Isaiah 25:6-7). Upon you and your family, and upon all the American people, I willingly invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Now that's a preacher...

From Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor (Ch. 1):

He was going to be a preacher like his grandfather... His grandfather had traveled three counties in a Ford automobile. Every fourth Saturday he had driven into Eastrod as if he were just in time to save them all from Hell, and he was shouting before he had the car door open. People gathered around his Ford because he seemed to dare them to. He would climb up on the nose of it and preach from there and sometimes he would climb onto the top of it and shout down at them. They were like stones! he would shout. But Jesus had died to redeem them! Jesus was so soul-hungry that He had died, one death for all, but He would have died every soul's death for one! Did they understand that?

Sorry... I just found that to be a hilarious visualization. I'm reading some of Flannery O'Connor's better known works in order to lead a discussion evening for the Catholic reading group I am involved with.

A Morning in Walsingham

We worshiped this morning at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church (Anglican Use) in Houston after I picked up Christina from the Shakespeare colloquium she was attending this weekend. Boy, I miss that place (but I sure do love our parish in Sugar Land!). We also met their new pastor, Fr. James Ramsey.

When Ratzinger Puts on Galileo's Robes

By Sandro Magister, reporting on the science of Creation and the language of mathematics, as articulated by Pope Benedict XVI, who writes:

The great Galileo said that God wrote the book of nature in the form of the language of mathematics. He was convinced that God has given us two books: the book of Sacred Scripture and the book of nature. And the language of nature – this was his conviction – is mathematics, so it is a language of God, a language of the Creator.

I am exceedingly grateful for Pope Benedict XVI.

On the Order and Rationality of Creation

St. Athanasius, Contra Gentes, §40

Who then is this, save the Father of Christ, most holy and above all created existence, Who like an excellent pilot, by His own Wisdom and His own Word, our Lord and Saviour Christ, steers and preserves and orders all things, and does as seems to Him best? But that is best which has been done, and which we see taking place, since that is what He wills; and this a man can hardly refuse to believe. For if the movement of creation were irrational, and the universe were borne along without plan, a man might fairly disbelieve what we say. But if it subsist in reason and wisdom and skill, and is perfectly ordered throughout, it follows that He that is over it and has ordered it is none other than the [reason or] Word of God. But by Word I mean, not that which is involved and inherent in all things created, which some are wont to call the seminal principle, which is without soul and has no power of reason or thought, but only works by external art, according to the skill of him that applies it, - nor such a word as belongs to rational beings and which consists of syllables, and hasjavascript:void(0) the air as its vehicle of expression, - but I mean the living and powerful Word of the good God, the God of the Universe, the very Word which is God.

Scientists often take for granted the fact that our world and our universe, while vast, are intelligible. Creation is ordered, and guided, and rational. It bears testimony to the One who created it, and by whatever means He did it.

I'm an idiot...

Totally something I would try :)

Disputatio: Never, Rarely, Always

Fr. Philip lays out the basics of the Dominican disputation. A very good, orderly post on the subject. In my own lay group, we've given our hand to this. Thanks, Fr. Philip.

Never deny, rarely affirm, always distinguish.

Fr. Barron on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto"

Fr. Barron's comments resonate with my own initial takeaway from watching this film.

Conversion, the Easy Bake Oven instructions

I ran across this interesting summary of the Stages of Conversion, courtesy of Byzantine, Texas, who got it from another person. It's a silly portrayal. Some parts I resonate with, others not so much:

Phase 1: The Cage Phase
So you've found your new tradition, and you've finally discovered all the answers to life's problems encompassed within it. You've also read a few books that explain how every other Christian tradition (especially the one you just left) has absolutely ruined the piss out of the Christian faith as a whole. As God's apostle to the unconverted, it now falls upon you to save the world (especially your friends and family in the old tradition) by enlightening them as to just how perfect everything is about your new tradition and how stupid and wrong everything about their current tradition is. It is very important for you to have a blog during this time so that you can enlighten as many people as possible.

Phase 2: Addiction
After having ruined all your relationships from your past life, you are now disillusioned with the willful ignorance and impiety of all those outside your new church. Let the heretics stew in their heresy. It is now time to busy yourself with drinking as much religious Kool-Aide as you possibly can, preferably until your skin becomes the same color as Purplesaurus Rex and your body's pH levels are completely thrown off. You need to read every theological or devotional book you can, buy lots of the assorted trinkets associated with your tradition, and make lots of pilgrimages to either theology conferences or monasteries, depending on how your church rolls.

Phase 3: Apostle of Renewal
You've recently noticed that most of the other people in your church are not nearly as obsessed with it as you are. They aren't reading those books, and they aren't buying all that crap you've strewn your house with. They're more concerned with paying the bills than why those awful sectarians are wrong. They even have friends outside the church! Many of them are not aware just how right and perfect their church is, or how great their lives would be if they would just fling themselves with total abandon into the kind of obsession you yourself have. This is clearly a problem that must be fixed, for it threatens to destroy the purity of the faith. As God's chosen agent of change, you busy yourself with trying to whip up everyone in the congregation into the same frothing devotion you yourself exhibit.

Phase 4: Beaten by Reality
You've finally faced the harsh truth: The people in your new tradition are, at their core, a whole lot like all those people from your old tradition that you despised so much, with all the same foibles and failings. You give up on saving the world, on restoring your tradition to its purity, and have lost your confidence that God himself has appointed you to fix everything. You've discovered that your new church in fact has a lot of ugliness in its history, has a lot of jerks in its power structure, can't solve all of life's problems, and isn't always all that consistent or believable in what it teaches or what it does.

I am grateful to have known a lot of converts over the last 12 years who never harbored anger or resentment toward their former religious affiliations or the people in them. In my mind, it is the mark of a balanced and mature faith... a pilgrim's eye toward God. There is always a little frustration, but it is formative rather than destructive.

While I was still utterly convinced of the truths of the Gospel and the fullness of revealed truth in the Catholic faith, I was always profoundly grateful for my experience as a (non-baptized) Baptist -- particularly after I had rediscovered my faith early in high school. My youth pastor was a passionate woman of God who took the time to work with me privately, to help me get my footing in the Scriptures, to pray and intercede for me. Even after I had begun attending inquiry sessions in RCIA at my local Catholic parish, she insisted on continuing to meet with me, and I continued to do so, quite willingly, for about a full year and a half before I entered the Catechumenate and began preparing for baptism and initiation in the Catholic Church (which, of course, she didn't like, but that's another story...)

Yet, in my time before my full initiation, and for some time after, looking back, I would have to identify myself as a cocky convert. I think a lot of that had to do with my being a brand new, know-it-all college student, primarily. I simply had a lot of growing up to do. I am also profoundly grateful for all of the balanced teachers in the faith who showed me how the Catholic faith could be lived out faithfully without falling into the traps laid by the culture warriors and those issues that divided everybody so severely and often destroyed faith. Coming to grips with how human our Church was -- that was the most purgative experience for me, and it doesn't end. I suspect I am a better Catholic today because of those experiences, yet one with a long way to go toward holiness in Christ.

Voter Registration and Ballot irregularities at UCSB

Apparently some interesting voter irregularities have turned up at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is where I spent my undergrad and grad school years. Or so reports Ryan McNicholas in the UCSB Daily Nexus. I hesitate to link to the Nexus because it has become, quite frankly, increasingly pornographic over the last few years. The article states:

UCSB was one of the best campuses in the country in regard to registering students to vote. Also, we had the highest turnout on any college campus in the country. How do I know this? Because our school had a 100.2 percent turnout...

Of the nine UCSB precincts and a total of 5,442 registered voters, we had 5,456 votes that day! We had 14 people who voted who were not allowed to. In one precinct, 30-3018, we had only 342 registered voters, yet a 445-vote turnout. That’s a 130 percent performance... Even worse than all of this, the Board of Elections of Santa Barbara County certified the election. Yes, even though on paper, page 12 of the 1891 page document with the elections results shows the 130 percent turnout, the election was still certified.

It makes me wary of the voter drives on campus that aimed to get as many students as possible to vote. A friend of mine even filled out his name and signed a voter registration card, but did not know his address. The solicitor at his dorm room let him know that it was not an issue. They would fill out the rest of the information for him - even though his signature at the bottom certified that all information at the time of the signature on this page was correct, accurate and completely filled out.

Apparently Steve Pappas, candidate for Santa Barbara County’s Third District Supervisor, is contesting his election loss with the California Superior Court over illegal voter ballots. However, the Daily Nexus, who ironically endorsed Pappas, won't have it.

I can vouch for some of these overly aggressive voter registration drives on campus. I have no dispute with getting out the vote. But, let's get out of this mode of thinking that asserts that every living person absolutely has to vote. In this less-than-ideal world, quite frankly, there exist people who probably shouldn't vote. Those who are apathetic. Those who don't care enough to inform themselves on issues and candidates. Nobody should cast a vote out of coercion or pressure from individuals, groups, or voter drives. I'd certainly like to see many more educated voters, rather than just warm bodies, turn up at the polls. Just my opinion.

Society of St. John Chrysostom to meet in California

St. Margaret's in Oceanside, CA, is in the news again. Josephus Flavius of the Byzantine, Texas blog points us to an article informing us that St. Margaret's is hosting a regional chapter meeting of the Society of St. John Chrysostom, which will include a presentation focusing on what remaining obstacles to reunification of Catholic and Orthodox churches. The presentation will be led by the Rev. Ramon Merlos, from Our Lady of Kazan Patriarchal Orthodox Church in San Diego, and the Rev. John Monastero, a Catholic priest from Anaheim. That's so cool ;)

The Society of St. John Chrysostom is a group dedicated to Catholic-Orthodox ecumenism and ongoing interaction. It is made up of Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Any Catholic or Orthodox Christian who is a member in good standing with a church in communion with either Rome or an Orthodox community is eligible for membership.

The Nativity



Merry Christmas!

I hope that all of you have been enjoying the holidays with your family and friends. Remember the importance of Christmas. God, the Creator of the Universe, born as a babe in a manger. Amazing.

As for me, I've been fighting off another cold this year that I came down with sometime after Christmas day. And in spite of all the pain and suffering in the world (pounding table), I'm still brimming with Christmas joy! Pax vobiscum.

Ad Orientem in Oceanside, CA

Fr. Cávana Wallace, pastor of St. Margaret's in Oceanside, CA (just north of San Diego), has apparently begun offering mass ad orientem (Ordinary Form) during Advent. Occasionally when my wife and I would visit family in Vista, CA, we would attend mass at St. Margaret's, so we are familiar with the parish and with the pastor. Fr. Cávana had also begun offering a weekly TLM about a year ago. I am happy to hear the news. Here is what Fr. Cávana said during his homily for the First Sunday of Advent:

This watching and waiting, anticipating the Lord’s return, has historically been articulated throughout the Christian centuries in the language of sacred architecture. Since the fourth century which initiated Christian building projects all across the Roman Empire, churches were built so that, when Christians assembled in prayer, both priest and people prayed together facing the common direction of east. The priest and people did not look towards each other (except during a sermon or homily), but when they prayed, they did so with the priest, like a shepherd, leading his flock in the direction of the rising sun, turning around to assure his flock that they were on the right path and the Lord was with them.

The connection between the light of the rising sun and the glory of the returning Lord are themes which run through the whole season of Advent as well as instinctively during our early morning prayers throughout the whole year.

And even though our local geography does not allow us literarily to face east together in prayer, we use the Cross as our compass, restoring this ancient practice of the priest, like a shepherd, leading his people in the direction of the glory of heaven – which is, of course our common goal, our prayers directed to God.
Of course, this must be translated into our lives every day in order that we might be compatible with Christ so that we can see him, when he returns, face to face. When will that day come? We do not know. Will it come? Yes – for Christ has said he will return. “We watch in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ”.

When we entered through the doors of this church, the narthex pointed us through the darkness, in the direction of where we first encountered Christ, in baptism. Before this Altar we will turn to face the Lord together, and through Holy Communion we will literally “put on Christ”. At the end of Mass, with the dismissal, we will journey onward from here and pass under the “gallery”, depicting above us on the way out, the Lord’s Second Coming and the Final Judgment. And this we should not be afraid of. Our Advent journey does not take us into the night, but towards the morning. As St. Paul has reminded us in the Epistle, “The night is far gone; the day is drawing near. Let us cast aside deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light”. Ven Senor Jesus!

Good stuff.

Dominican Freedom

There is one particular characteristic of Dominic's Order of Preachers that, at the time, scandalized members of other religious orders. Dominic's order, of course, was not confined to a monastery, leaving the friars free to travel and move about from one place to another for the purpose of preaching. By contrast, members of the monastic communities followed very strict rules that legislated even the smallest details. Some are still called to that way of life, while others are not. It nonetheless caused a little bit of trouble for Dominic.

Stephen Salagnac (d. 13th century) writes:

[Dominic] used to travel round and send out his first brethren, even though he had only a few and they were indifferently educated and mostly young. Some religious of the Cistercian Order were amazed at this, and particularly at the confident way he sent such young friars out to preach. They set themselves to watch these young men, to see if they could find fault with anything they did or said. [Dominic] put up with this for some time, but one day, filled with a holy boldness, he asked them, "Why do you spy on my disciples, you disciples of the Pharisees? I know, I know for certain, that my young men will go out and come back, will be sent out and will return; but your young men will be kept locked up and will still go out."

In fact, later Masters of the Order tell us of Cistercians who ended up becoming Dominicans. Bl. Jordan of Saxony (d. 1237) mentions Albertinus Dertonensis, a former Cistercian who joined the Order in 1228. Bl. Humbert of Romans (d. 1277) tells of another Cistercian turned Dominican:

Someone once said, who transferred from the Cistercians to the Order of Preachers, that he had endured more discomfort during his few days on the road than he had ever had to put up with in his previous Order. So the exercise of preaching is to be preferred to fasting and other ways of mortifying the flesh, because it too involves heavy mortification but also benefits other people greatly.

In many ways, this also presents a model for lay members of the Order. I may have a career and family that root me to a particular location, but I am able to go places even the friars are unable to go. The words I speak and the way in which I live my life affects where I work, where I shop, and the places I visit.

Score one for conscience

Lest we forget, in spite of war, torture, etc, the Bush Administration has actually accomplished quite a bit on the anti-abortion front. I think it is important to call attention to this.

From the New York Times: Medical ‘Conscience Rule’ Is Issued

The Bush administration, as expected, announced new protections on Thursday for health care providers who oppose abortion and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.

“Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,” Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement on his department’s Web site.

The rule prohibits recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and health care aides who refuse to take part in procedures because of their convictions, and it bars hospitals, clinics, doctors’ office and pharmacies from forcing their employees to assist in programs and activities financed by the department.

“This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience,” Mr. Leavitt said.

The Bush administration had signaled its intention to issue the measures, which are part of a flurry of regulations it is announcing before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. The new president will be able to undo the regulations, and is virtually certain to, given his previous comments on the issue. But undoing them will be a time-consuming process...

Ban on partial-birth abortion, elimination of funds spent on abortions abroad, protection of conscience for doctors, limiting of federal funding on human embryonic stem-cell research: these are things for which I am exceedingly grateful. If one were to speak of hope without sounding too cliché, I hope that Obama will work to protect all human life.

Preaching to Young Adults Today

Clearing Away the Barriers: Preaching to Young Adults Today

The Carl J. Peter Lecture, given by Fr. J. Augustine Di Noia, O.P, at the Pontifical North American College 7 December 2008.

Fr. Di Noia identifies three primary barriers that must be overcome in preaching to young adults:

1.) Why we need the Savior who is not just any savior

The first barrier concerns Jesus Christ himself. The most fundamental and prevalent misunderstanding of the Catholic faith that we face, whether in young adults or in their elders, is the notion that it is arrogant to claim that Jesus Christ is the unique mediator of salvation. To ascribe a uniquely salvific role to Jesus Christ seems to constitute a denial of the salvific role of other religious founders and thus could be an affront to their communities.

2.) Why we need Christ to become authentically human

A second barrier concerns what it means to be human. Here the fundamental misunderstanding that blocks the path of many young people is shaped by what has been called the culture of authenticity. This is the idea that somehow being a Christian involves giving up or suppressing what is uniquely human in each one of us and accepting an external criterion or measure which is alien to one’s true self.

3.) Why the moral law is good for us

The third barrier I want to consider concerns the moral life. It is the idea that the moral law is a more or less arbitrary constraint in which certain things are permitted and certain things are forbidden, irrespective of the bearing of these injunctions on human goodness and flourishing.

Some good observations.

Stravinskas on Ad Orientem

The NLM blog recently posted a homily sent to them by Fr. Peter Stravinskas from a recent retreat he gave in Ohio. The homily concerned the subject of worship ad orientem.

The Season of Advent has a two-fold emphasis which many, many people do not seem to either remember or ever have known. And it’s on two comings of Christ: the first on His coming into time as the Judge of the world; His second, which most people associate with Advent exclusively, is His coming in history as the Babe of Bethlehem. But actually, until December 17, it is His final or second coming that the Church would have us focus all our attention on. And, the themes that the Church brings to our attention during this time period are those to do with light - the Light that is coming into the world. You see that in all of today’s readings as a matter of fact.

The early Christians believed that Jesus would come again during the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, and that He would come to them out of the east. And so, whenever possible churches were constructed so that they faced east.

When you came into the Chapel this morning, if you were somewhat awake, you may have noticed that there is a slightly different arrangement of the sanctuary. The different arrangement is to suggest a different focus.

In theological or liturgical language, we call this liturgical orientation, the liturgy celebrated facing east; which cannot always be a geographical east. But it does mean that priest and people face Christ, the coming Dawn, together, who’s coming to them out of the east.

And there are some very practical implications to all of this: there is much less attention on the priest and much more attention on Christ. John the Baptist, the particular voice and figure par excellence for the Advent Season, said, “He [Christ] must increase, I must decrease.” And so, there is less of a personality cult centered on the priest, there is less distraction for the priest who ought to be looking at God not the congregation and less distraction for people - who are not diverted by some of the idiosyncrasies of priests.

And let me then offer a few clarifications.

First, there is nothing in the Second Vatican Council that ever once called for the turning around of altars, just as nothing in Vatican II called for getting rid of Latin in the Liturgy, nor did they ever envision things like communion in the hand, or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion or female servers. All of that is something that happened many, many years after the Council, and that the Council Fathers themselves would have been quite shocked to discover ever happened.

Secondly, the current or reformed Roman Missal, even in English as a matter of fact, presumes that the priest is not facing the congregation, and, therefore, the rubrics (the directives for the celebration of the Liturgy) consistently say things to the priest like, “The priest now turns faces the people and says, ‘The Lord be with you.’”

Thirdly, for the parts of the Mass that are directed to the people, the priest continues to face the people, and so, the Liturgy of the Word. It makes no sense for me to read the Gospel facing the wall or to preach in that direction. (Although, sometimes you get the impression you might get as much of a reaction.)

Fourth, for years, Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, wrote repeatedly about the importance of returning the former practice of facing east. Why? To restore a healthy sense of the sacred, the transcendent. So that this is not perceived as a social hour or “Entertainment Tonight”, but the Church’s worship of the triune God.

Fifthly, many priests (especially younger ones interestingly enough) are taking the former Cardinal’s, now present Pope’s, admonition to heart. Last week, I was in Greenville, South Carolina, and all the Masses in that parish have been celebrated ad orientem, as we say, facing east for a full year now. Just Wednesday, I visited Holy Family Church in Columbus, where since the beginning of Advent, three of the four Sunday Masses are now celebrated facing east.

As I indicated the other day, Advent is a time of new beginnings. And so, this is a good time for us to make this act of restoration here at the Monastery and, appropriately, also during the nuns’ annual retreat. Now, this may take a bit of readjustment for some of you, but I think you’ll find great spiritual benefit in reasonably short order.

You may not realize it, but all religions have used geography as a theological reference point. You know, I’m sure, that Muslims turn to face Mecca, no matter where they are. When they go to pray, they turn to face Mecca. Orthodox Jews, to this very day, turn to face Jerusalem. Each day in the celebration of Lauds (or Morning Prayer) the Church prays the Benedictus, the Canticle of Zechariah, which he recited as he reacted to the birth of his newborn son, John the Baptist. In that canticle Zechariah prophesies, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the Dawn from on high shall break upon us. We know that the dawn breaks in the east; that Dawn, that rising Sun shall appear on this altar in but a few minutes. And so, let us, you and I, priest and people, face east together, prepared to meet the One who is coming into the world as the Light of the world.

As I have mentioned on this blog several times, I hope to see the mass celebrated ad orientem more often in the future. I very much long for the Church to return to this liturgical orientation. I think that this will go a long way to help bring about the liturgical reform actually called for by the Second Vatican Council.

It seems it is beginning to catch on. Of course, it has to be paired with good liturgical catechesis, as Fr. Stravinskas is doing here and as Pope Benedict XVI has suggested before.

"Being Catholic Now"

Fr. Robert Barron reviews Kerry Kennedy's new book, "Being Catholic Now".



I haven't yet read the book, but I agree Fr. Barron's points in general.

Meditation Notes on the O Antiphons

From Fr. Roger Landry

The “O Antiphons” refer to the seven antiphons that are recited (or chanted) preceding the Magnificat during Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours. They cover the special period of Advent preparation known as the Octave before Christmas, Dec. 17-23, with Dec. 24 being Christmas Eve and Vespers for that evening being for the Christmas Vigil.

On the evening of December 17 the final phase of preparation for Christmas begins with the first of the great "O Antiphons" of Advent. These prayers are seven jewels of liturgical song, one for each day until Christmas Eve. They seem to sum up all our Advent longing for the Savior.

The "O Antiphons" are intoned with special solemnity in monasteries at Vespers, before and after the Magnificat, Mary's prayer of praise and thanksgiving from the Gospel of Luke (2:42-55), which is sung every evening as the climax of this Hour of the Divine Office.

Read the whole thing.

Snow in Houston

Got some snow this afternoon and evening. It started with flurries and eventually got a little more substantial. First time we've seen snow since we've been in Texas.

R.I.P. Erica Murray

I recently found out that someone I once knew from my high school died last week after a lengthy battle with Leukemia. Erica's sister Jaci has posted a goodbye note at Erica's blog. Please join me in praying for the peaceful repose of Erica's soul and for consolation for her family and friends.

Mary, Mother of the re-created world

From a sermon by St. Anselm, bishop of Canterbury (d. 1109 AD), from the Office of Readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night – everything that is subject to the power or use of man – rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace. All creatures were dead, as it were, useless for men or for the praise of God, who made them. The world, contrary to its true destiny, was corrupted and tainted by the acts of men who served idols. Now all creation has been restored to life and rejoices that it is controlled and given splendor by men who believe in God.

The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness. Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy. These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.

Through the fullness of the grace that was given you, dead things rejoice in their freedom, and those in heaven are glad to be made new. Through the Son who was the glorious fruit of your virgin womb, just souls who died before his life-giving death rejoice as they are freed from captivity, and the angels are glad at the restoration of their shattered domain.

Lady, full and overflowing with grace, all creation receives new life from your abundance. Virgin, blessed above all creatures, through your blessing all creation is blessed, not only creation from its Creator, but the Creator himself has been blessed by creation.

To Mary God gave his only-begotten Son, whom he loved as himself. Through Mary God made himself a Son, not different but the same, by nature Son of God and Son of Mary. The whole universe was created by God, and God was born of Mary. God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God. The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary.

God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the mother of the re-created world. God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the mother through whom all things were given new life. For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Savior of the world. Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.

Truly the Lord is with you, to whom the Lord granted that all nature should owe as much to you as to himself.

Father, the image of the Virgin is found in the Church. Mary had a faith that your Spirit prepared and a love that never knew sin, for you kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Trace in our actions the lines of her love, in our hearts her readiness of faith. Prepare once again a world for your Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Obama is not the messiah, people

Why does this still need to be said? From the Obama Messiah blog:

EAST POINT, Ga.—The day after Barack Obama was elected president, Larry Younginer knelt in front of the congregants at his suburban Atlanta church and offered a prayer of thanks.

"Lord, we have again come to you in prayer, and you have heard our cries from heaven, and you have sent us again from the state called Illinois, a man called Barack to heal our land," said Younginer, a 62-year-old retired information systems worker at Coca Cola in Atlanta. "We pray that you will build a hedge around him that will protect him from those who would do him harm."

Younginer, like many others, is convinced that Obama was destined to be president. The mere fact that he won the presidency against the odds has caused some Christians, particularly African-Americans, to see the hand of God in his victory after so many years of struggle.

[...]
[Lawrence Carter, dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel] said many people look for a sign from God when times are turbulent. And, he said, there are many elements to Obama's win in which Christians can find spiritual significance.

"It is powerful and significant on a spiritual level that there is the emergence of Barack Obama 40 years after the passing of Dr. King," said Carter. "No one saw him coming, and Christians believe God comes at us from strange angles and places we don't expect, like Jesus being born in a manger."

Historic win? Sure. Bush Administration over? Sure. But Obama is just a politician, people! I've been watching this type of thing for over a year now (see IOTM blog), and it has me scared, really scared, about the future of this country. A country so completely blown over by the promises of a smooth politician with a silver tongue. Sure, I want things to get better. But even if Obama had a hand in it, he's only one part of the government and cannot possibly live up to all of his promises. One friend told me not too long ago that he has an unshakable faith in Obama. Unshakable faith! I warned this friend, who ordinarily condemns religion and religious folks as ignorant and sheep-like, about the folly of putting your faith in a mere man and politician, only to be rebuffed. "Obama!" he cried, maniacally.

Fr. Robert Barron on the "YouTube Heresies"

Courtesy of the Creative Minority Report blog.



I suspect that many of you, my readers, have encountered these particular heresies and misunderstandings in your engagement with the secular world -- particularly at universities. I know I have.

Pope Benedict on Faith and Works

In this year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict recently used the opportunity of his General Audience to explaining the connection between faith and works.

Dear brothers and sisters,

In last Wednesday’s catechesis, I spoke of the question of how man is justified before God. Following St. Paul, we have seen that man is not capable of making himself “just” with his own actions, but rather that he can truly become “just” before God only because God confers on him his “justice,” uniting him to Christ, his Son. And man obtains this union with Christ through faith.

In this sense, St. Paul tells us: It is not our works, but our faith that makes us “just.” This faith, nevertheless, is not a thought, opinion or idea. This faith is communion with Christ, which the Lord entrusts to us and that because of this, becomes life in conformity with him. Or in other words, faith, if it is true and real, becomes love, charity — is expressed in charity. Faith without charity, without this fruit, would not be true faith. It would be a dead faith.

We have therefore discovered two levels in the last catechesis: that of the insufficiency of our works for achieving salvation, and that of “justification” through faith that produces the fruit of the Spirit. The confusion between these two levels down through the centuries has caused not a few misunderstandings in Christianity.

In this context it is important that St. Paul, in the Letter to the Galatians, puts emphasis on one hand, and in a radical way, on the gratuitousness of justification not by our efforts, and, at the same time, he emphasizes as well the relationship between faith and charity, between faith and works. “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). Consequently, there are on one hand the “works of the flesh,” which are fornication, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, etc. (Galatians 5:19-21), all of which are contrary to the faith. On the other hand is the action of the Holy Spirit, which nourishes Christian life stirring up “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22): These are the fruits of the Spirit that arise from faith.

At the beginning of this list of virtues is cited ágape, love, and at the end, self-control. In reality, the Spirit, who is the Love of the Father and the Son, infuses his first gift, ágape, into our hearts (cf. Romans 5:5); and ágape, love, to be fully expressed, demands self-control. Regarding the love of the Father and the Son, which comes to us and profoundly transforms our existence, I dedicated my first encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est.” Believers know that in mutual love the love of God and of Christ is incarnated by means of the Spirit.

Let us return to the Letter of the Galatians. Here, St. Paul says that believers complete the command of love by bearing each other’s burdens (cf. Galatians 6:2). Justified by the gift of faith in Christ, we are called to live in the love of Christ toward others, because it is by this criterion that we will be judged at the end of our existence. In reality, Paul does nothing more than repeat what Jesus himself had said, and which we recalled in the Gospel of last Sunday, in the parable of the Final Judgment.

In the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul becomes expansive with his famous praise of love. It is the so-called hymn to charity: “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. … Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests …” (1 Corinthians 13:1,4-5).

Christian love is so demanding because it springs from the total love of Christ for us: this love that demands from us, welcomes us, embraces us, sustains us, even torments us, because it obliges us to live no longer for ourselves, closed in on our egotism, but for “him who has died and risen for us” (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:15). The love of Christ makes us be in him this new creature (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17), who enters to form part of his mystical body that is the Church.

From this perspective, the centrality of justification without works, primary object of Paul’s preaching, is not in contradiction with the faith that operates in love. On the contrary, it demands that our very faith is expressed in a life according to the Spirit. Often, an unfounded contraposition has been seen between the theology of Paul and James, who says in his letter: “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (2:26).

In reality, while Paul concerns himself above all with demonstrating that faith in Christ is necessary and sufficient, James highlights the consequent relationship between faith and works (cf. James 2:2-4). Therefore, for Paul and for James, faith operative in love witnesses to the gratuitous gift of justification in Christ. Salvation, received in Christ, needs to be protected and witnessed “with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning … as you hold on to the word of life,” even St. Paul would say to the Christians of Philippi (cf. Philippians 2:12-14,16).

Often we tend to fall into the same misunderstandings that have characterized the community of Corinth: Those Christians thought that, having been gratuitously justified in Christ by faith, “everything was licit.” And they thought, and often it seems that the Christians of today think, that it is licit to create divisions in the Church, the body of Christ, to celebrate the Eucharist without concerning oneself with the brothers who are most needy, to aspire to the best charisms without realizing that they are members of each other, etc.

The consequences of a faith that is not incarnated in love are disastrous, because it is reduced to a most dangerous abuse and subjectivism for us and for our brothers. On the contrary, following St. Paul, we should renew our awareness of the fact that, precisely because we have been justified in Christ, we don’t belong to ourselves, but have been made into the temple of the Spirit and are called, therefore, to glorify God in our bodies and with the whole of our existence (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19). It would be to scorn the inestimable value of justification if, having been bought at the high price of the blood of Christ, we didn’t glorify him with our body. In reality, this is precisely our “reasonable” and at the same time “spiritual” worship, for which Paul exhorts us to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1).

To what would be reduced a liturgy directed only to the Lord but that doesn’t become, at the same time, service of the brethren, a faith that is not expressed in charity? And the Apostle often puts his communities before the Final Judgment, on which occasion “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10; and cf. Romans 2:16).

If the ethics that St. Paul proposes to believers does not lapse into forms of moralism, and if it shows itself to be current for us, it is because, each time, it always recommences from the personal and communitarian relationship with Christ, to verify itself in life according to the Spirit. This is essential: Christian ethics is not born from a system of commandments, but rather is the consequence of our friendship with Christ. This friendship influences life: If it is true, it incarnates and fulfills itself in love for neighbor. Hence, any ethical decline is not limited to the individual sphere, but at the same time, devalues personal and communitarian faith: From this it is derived and on this, it has a determinant effect.

Let us, therefore, be overtaken by the reconciliation that God has given us in Christ, by God’s “crazy” love for us: No one and nothing could ever separate us from his love (cf. Romans 8:39). With this certainty we live. And this certainty gives us the strength to live concretely the faith that works in love.

Fr. Aquinas' comments at the CSVF blog are apropos:

By showing how the Church’s teaching regarding faith, justification, and salvation emerges from her deep reading of St. Paul, Pope Benedict is demonstrating that traditional Protestantism does not hold a monopoly on Pauline interpretation. In fact, it never has. The Church was reading St. Paul long before Luther, and unlike the Reformer she has always done so within the context provided by the other apostles, including Peter (and his successors!). If during the Reformation Luther and Calvin separated Paul from Peter, Pope Benedict sees the need to finally reunite them as the two “Princes of the Apostles.”

What a good meme...

From the Shrine. Zadok likes it too:

Just click each link and put the results together:
1. Band Name: Random Wikipeda Link
2. Album Title: Random quote generator (take the last four words from the first quote on the page)
3. Album Art: Flickr Interesting Photo (pick one)

Here goes...

Band Name: IL-13
Album Title: To feed your sickness
Album Art: Here...

Let's try it again...

Band Name: Inside Boston
Album Title: you stopped telling them
Album Art: Here...

Dominican Altar Cards



When Fr. Augustine Thompson O.P. discussed the Dominican Rite Missa Cantata he celebrated at the beautiful chapel of St. Albert the Great Priory in Oakland on the occasion of his receiving the distinction of Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.), I was quite captured by the beautiful Dominican Altar Cards placed on the altar. Fr. Thompson writes that "the cards were calligraphed and the miniatures painted by two cloistered nuns of the Dominican Monastery in Menlo Park California for the dedication Mass of the chapel in 1948."

To my delight, Fr. Thompson has a nice post today at the Dominican Liturgy blog (mirrored at the New Liturgical Movement blog) reflecting on the cards:



For the main card, Fr. Thompson writes:

Two Fra Angelico angels grace the sides; in the bottom center is the old Coat of Arms of the Province of the Holy Name, the Western Province. In the top roundels, from left to right, we see St. Albert the Great, patron of the House and of natural philosophy; an angel; St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of theology; St. John and Our Lord at the Last Supper; St. Raymond of Penafort, the patron of Canon law, contemplating the Cross; another angel; and, finally, and St. John of Gorkam, who was martyred by the Calvinists in the Low Countries for bringing the Eucharist to Catholics in prison for their faith. The selection is very suitable for the House of Studies as it includes the patrons of theology, philosophy, and canon law, the major disciplines studied there. The other images are chosen because of their links to the Eucharist.

Modern Physics and Ancient Faith

Dr. Stephen Barr, professor of physics at the University of Delaware, delivers the 2008 St. Albert’s Day Lecture at the Dominican Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, New York City. His talk is entitled “Modern Physics and Ancient Faith.” (delivered November 13)

Check it out!

Catholic Teaching, Homosexuality, and American Life

Eric Brown has written a fine essay about this difficult issue over at the American Catholic blog, from the perspective of one who struggles with same-sex attraction yet desires, as we all should, to live a life of virtue and grace:

Many facets of American secular culture is contrary to basic Christian ethics, which as a consequence, requires a response on the part of the faithful. One of these issues is “tolerance” and homosexuality. The Christian committment to protecting marital dignity and the family is absolute. The profound temptation in politics, given the “us” versus “them” mentality, is to lose a sense charity that is due to our neighbor, even those with whom we disagree. It happens all the time...

The fundamental question I’m concerned about is this: how can Catholics be faithful to the constant and clear teaching of the Church on the issue of human sexuality and still be inclusive and sensitive to the plight of homosexuals, both in the Church and American life? Let’s move past the basics. No, homosexuals cannot marry. No, homosexuals should not adopt children. No, same-sex sexual activity is not equal or comparable to marital love. Despite these moral truths, most Americans have a profoundly different view of human sexuality than the Catholic Church. There must be dialogue with those who disagree with us and we have to educate our Catholic brothers and sisters, as well as everyone else with the authentic Catholic view.

Read the whole thing. I appreciate Eric's thoughtful and challenging insights. Most of us have absolutely no idea what it is like to walk in his shoes.

Thank you, Cardinal George

From the Plenary Session Address of Cardinal George

In working for the common good of our society, racial justice is one pillar of our social doctrine. Economic justice, especially for the poor both here and abroad, is another. But the Church comes also and always and everywhere with the memory, the conviction, that the Eternal Word of God became man, took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, nine months before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This truth is celebrated in our liturgy because it is branded into our spirit. The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice. If the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that African Americans were other people’s property and somehow less than persons were still settled constitutional law, Mr. Obama would not be president of the United States. Today, as was the case a hundred and fifty years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good.

I pray that our new President-Elect takes some note.

A Little Timeless Satire, Apropos of the Times

Lemuel Gulliver in Lilliput, and the Diversions of the Court of Lilliput described. A.D. 1727

The Emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the Country Shows, wherein they exceeded all Nations I have known, both for Dexterity and Magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as that of the Rope-Dancers, performed upon a slender white Thread, extended about two Foot and twelve Inches from the Ground. Upon which I shall desire liberty, with the Reader's Patience, to enlarge a little.

This Diversion is only practiced by those Persons who are Candidates for great Employments, and high Favour, at Court. They are trained in this Art from their Youth, and are not always of noble Birth, or liberal Education. When a great Office is vacant either by Death or disgrace (which often happens) five or six of those Candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majesty and the Court with a Dance on the Rope, and whoever jumps the highest without falling, succeeds in the Office. Very often the Chief Ministers themselves are commanded to show their Skill, and to convince the Emperor that they have not lost their Faculty. Flimnap, the Treasurer, is allowed to cut a Caper on the strait Rope, at least an Inch higher than any other Lord in the whole Empire. I have seen him do the Summerset several times together upon a Trencher fixed on the Rope, which is no thicker than a common packthread in England. My friend Reldresal, principal Secretary for private Affairs, is, in my Opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the Treasurer; the rest of the great Officers are much upon a par.

These Diversions are often attended with fatal Accidents, whereof great Numbers are on Record. I my self have seen two or three Candidates break a Limb. But the Danger is much greater when the Ministers themselves are commanded to shew their Dexterity; for by contending to excel themselves and their Fellows, they strain so far, that there is hardly one of them who has not received a Fall, and some of them two or three. I was assured that a Year or two before my Arrival, Flimnap would have infallibly broken his Neck, if one of the King's Cushions, that accidentally lay on the Ground, had not weakened the Force of his Fall.

There is likewise another Diversion, which is only shewn before the Emperor and Empress, and first Minister, upon particular Occasions. The Emperor lays on the Table three fine silken Threads of six Inches long. One is Blue, the other Red, and the third Green. These Threads are proposed as Prizes for those Persons whom the Emperor has a mind to distinguish by a peculiar Mark of his Favor. The Ceremony is performed in his Majesty's great Chamber of State, where the Candidates are to undergo a Trial of Dexterity very different from the former, and such as I have not observed the least Resemblance of in any other Country of the old or the new World. The Emperor holds a Stick in his Hands, both ends parallel to the Horizon, while the Candidates, advancing one by one, sometimes leap over the Stick, sometimes creep under it backwards and forwards several times, according as the Stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one end of the Stick, and his first Minister the other; sometimes the Minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his Part with most Agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the Blue-colored Silk; the Red is given to the next, and the Green to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the middle; and you see few great Persons about this Court who are not adorned with one of these Girdles.