This article in today's New York Times is among the saddest I could possibly imagine in this season of the year that we prepare to commemorate the Birth of the Son of God. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/us/02atheist.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=atheists&st=cse
On the other hand the Manhattan Declaration is a noble enterprise and I hope you will consider signing.
http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
Lastly, JPMorgan Chase is running a challenge for the next month on Facebook and will donate $5 million to local charities. All Facebook account holders get 20 votes in the First Round of voting. The top 100 charities go to the next round.
Futures in Education Endowment Fund is already listed. Help us get to the next round. Ask your family and friends to vote for the Futures in Education Endowment by clicking on:
http://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving
At the "Chase Giving" tab, go to the blue search box and type "Futures in Education" and hit go. Allow Chase to access your profile for pictures, etc.
On Futures’ page, click the "vote" button. That’s it!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Anti-catholicism
The Archbishop of New York has joined the world of blogs.
Archbishop Dolan’s Blog
Archbishop Timothy Dolan on anti-Catholicism October 30, 2009
Filed under: Catholicism, Doings on Other Blogs, Hypocrisy Watch, Religious Expression — praybrethren @ 3:21 am
FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!
Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.
It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”
If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:
• On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”
Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.
• On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.
• Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.
• Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription — along with every other German teenage boy — into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm — the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives — is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?
The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.
Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.
****UPDATE****
By the by, the New York Times declined to publish Dolan’s piece. Wonder why…
Archbishop Dolan’s Blog
Archbishop Timothy Dolan on anti-Catholicism October 30, 2009
Filed under: Catholicism, Doings on Other Blogs, Hypocrisy Watch, Religious Expression — praybrethren @ 3:21 am
FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!
Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.
It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”
If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:
• On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”
Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.
• On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.
• Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.
• Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription — along with every other German teenage boy — into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm — the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives — is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?
The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.
Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.
****UPDATE****
By the by, the New York Times declined to publish Dolan’s piece. Wonder why…
Friday, October 30, 2009
Marriage and Cohabitation
H/T to Deacon Greg for this wonderful piece. It's something I always suggest to couples in that circumstance.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Composition of Place
This is a wonderful example of "composition of place" taken from The Anchoress.
Monday, August 17, 2009
I turn my face toward Jerusalem...
I come to the door of the house, carrying my jar of ointment, still wondering what possessed me to come. As I bribe the doorkeeper -- who knows me -- to let me in, I wonder what He will do when I touch His feet. If He should kick at me, it is only what I deserve, but if He does before I can anoint Him, what then? What then? No answer comes. And now I am already inside, burning under the hostile gaze of everyone in the room. Oh, God, it is a regular dinner party! They all know, they all accuse, they all wonder how I gained entrance. Even the maidservants stare.
But there He is, and he is not looking at me. He is attentive to a conversation which He has just begun with someone on the opposite side of the table -- almost as though He is deliberately distracting attention from me -- and others are joining in now, too. The oppressive, silent accusation is lifted, and I make my way to Him. As I remove His sandals, he doesn't flinch, and I begin to weep. He is letting me touch Him! He is letting me touch Him without fuss or ceremony; I didn't even have to ask! As my tears fall on His ankle accidentally, I realize how dirty these feet are. Whatever water I can, I use; my tears shall cleanse Him even as they cleanse my heart from so much worry, so much shame. All my memories of sin, I pour out of my eyes; all my wishes to begin again as a new woman, become tears to wash away the dust on these precious feet. But what shall I use to dry them? Even my clothes are tainted by my past life -- I cannot dirty these feet anew by using defiled veil or dress. But my hair is mine, God-given from before I fell away from him. Pulling back my veil, I loosen its combs and let its coils tumble down. Gently, I dry away my tears and try to calm the tremors in my stomach and hands. How can He be allowing this? He still has not even looked at me!
Finally I reach for my jar. Though this ointment cost me nearly all my ill-gotten fortune, it now pales in the face of what this wandering prophet has given me. I no longer desire any vestige of my sinfulness, any remnant of this life, and I break the neck of the jar on the stone floor, emptying its entire contents on the feet before me. The noise and smell which soon overpowers the room immediately bring attention back on me, and I hide my scarlet face by bending and kissing once more His now-pungent feet.
Then I hear his voice and feel a gently hand on my head. "Simon, I have something to say."
What ensued I can hardly admit even to myself. He described my actions beautifully, as if they were favors to Him instead of supplications, and then He turned to me, raised me up, and forgave me. Then, taking my veil and covering my head again, He said, "You shall no longer be a woman of the streets, but a woman of the Way. Come, follow me! You can stay with Simon Peter's family, and they will give you new clothes. With them, you will serve and follow me and my disciples."
A new life! A new path! I rejoiced even in my astounded state, and Simon Peter led me out through the streets to his mother. I am leaving everything behind! Everything, except those things stored in my heart...which, Simon points out, are all that He desires me to keep anyway.
Then I -- once again QM -- went back and spoke with this Jesus who had just asked me to come and follow Him. I began to understand that the Lord is asking me to come now, and leave behind my life in the world to join Him as he travels to Jerusalem and to Calvary. My service will be to Him and to others on the Way for the rest of my life, to be on the inside of the circle of disciples and to stay there, not going out to minister to those outside.
"But why, Lord? Why should I not care for those others?"
"Because other apostles will do so -- and you must care for them."
"But they don't have the mind I have, nor the talents..."
"...nor the heart! And it is for that very reason that I ask you to come with me. For you need and desire to be formed in my own Heart, before you can use all these gifts to the utmost for my glory. You must learn to be one with me and my Way, so that when you do finally write and speak, it is with my words and my Heart, not your own. This is not a case of what is right or wrong, or a case of what is good or bad, but rather a case of you. And because it is you whom I call, I call you to this life."
"So, just to be perfectly clear, Lord, are you asking me to serve you as a contemplative nun?"
"I am."
"Then, the Passionist Nuns?"
"Then, the Passionist Nuns." He smiled.
I fell to my knees. "Lord, have mercy on me, a poor sinner."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This has been the weblog of Quantitative Metathesis, who departs on the morning of August 19 to begin her aspirancy with the Passionist Nuns in Whitesville, KY. You may catch glimpses of her new adventures at their own blog, found here. Please pray for her, as she does for you!
May the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ be ever in our hearts!
Monday, August 17, 2009
I turn my face toward Jerusalem...
I come to the door of the house, carrying my jar of ointment, still wondering what possessed me to come. As I bribe the doorkeeper -- who knows me -- to let me in, I wonder what He will do when I touch His feet. If He should kick at me, it is only what I deserve, but if He does before I can anoint Him, what then? What then? No answer comes. And now I am already inside, burning under the hostile gaze of everyone in the room. Oh, God, it is a regular dinner party! They all know, they all accuse, they all wonder how I gained entrance. Even the maidservants stare.
But there He is, and he is not looking at me. He is attentive to a conversation which He has just begun with someone on the opposite side of the table -- almost as though He is deliberately distracting attention from me -- and others are joining in now, too. The oppressive, silent accusation is lifted, and I make my way to Him. As I remove His sandals, he doesn't flinch, and I begin to weep. He is letting me touch Him! He is letting me touch Him without fuss or ceremony; I didn't even have to ask! As my tears fall on His ankle accidentally, I realize how dirty these feet are. Whatever water I can, I use; my tears shall cleanse Him even as they cleanse my heart from so much worry, so much shame. All my memories of sin, I pour out of my eyes; all my wishes to begin again as a new woman, become tears to wash away the dust on these precious feet. But what shall I use to dry them? Even my clothes are tainted by my past life -- I cannot dirty these feet anew by using defiled veil or dress. But my hair is mine, God-given from before I fell away from him. Pulling back my veil, I loosen its combs and let its coils tumble down. Gently, I dry away my tears and try to calm the tremors in my stomach and hands. How can He be allowing this? He still has not even looked at me!
Finally I reach for my jar. Though this ointment cost me nearly all my ill-gotten fortune, it now pales in the face of what this wandering prophet has given me. I no longer desire any vestige of my sinfulness, any remnant of this life, and I break the neck of the jar on the stone floor, emptying its entire contents on the feet before me. The noise and smell which soon overpowers the room immediately bring attention back on me, and I hide my scarlet face by bending and kissing once more His now-pungent feet.
Then I hear his voice and feel a gently hand on my head. "Simon, I have something to say."
What ensued I can hardly admit even to myself. He described my actions beautifully, as if they were favors to Him instead of supplications, and then He turned to me, raised me up, and forgave me. Then, taking my veil and covering my head again, He said, "You shall no longer be a woman of the streets, but a woman of the Way. Come, follow me! You can stay with Simon Peter's family, and they will give you new clothes. With them, you will serve and follow me and my disciples."
A new life! A new path! I rejoiced even in my astounded state, and Simon Peter led me out through the streets to his mother. I am leaving everything behind! Everything, except those things stored in my heart...which, Simon points out, are all that He desires me to keep anyway.
Then I -- once again QM -- went back and spoke with this Jesus who had just asked me to come and follow Him. I began to understand that the Lord is asking me to come now, and leave behind my life in the world to join Him as he travels to Jerusalem and to Calvary. My service will be to Him and to others on the Way for the rest of my life, to be on the inside of the circle of disciples and to stay there, not going out to minister to those outside.
"But why, Lord? Why should I not care for those others?"
"Because other apostles will do so -- and you must care for them."
"But they don't have the mind I have, nor the talents..."
"...nor the heart! And it is for that very reason that I ask you to come with me. For you need and desire to be formed in my own Heart, before you can use all these gifts to the utmost for my glory. You must learn to be one with me and my Way, so that when you do finally write and speak, it is with my words and my Heart, not your own. This is not a case of what is right or wrong, or a case of what is good or bad, but rather a case of you. And because it is you whom I call, I call you to this life."
"So, just to be perfectly clear, Lord, are you asking me to serve you as a contemplative nun?"
"I am."
"Then, the Passionist Nuns?"
"Then, the Passionist Nuns." He smiled.
I fell to my knees. "Lord, have mercy on me, a poor sinner."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This has been the weblog of Quantitative Metathesis, who departs on the morning of August 19 to begin her aspirancy with the Passionist Nuns in Whitesville, KY. You may catch glimpses of her new adventures at their own blog, found here. Please pray for her, as she does for you!
May the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ be ever in our hearts!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Eucharistic Miracles
In his homily for August 16 Deacon Greg Kandra wrote about a Eucharistic miracle I had long forgotten about:
It happened almost exactly 280 years ago, on the Feast of the Assumption. August 15, 1730. At that time, there were special services and festivals held around the town in connection with the feast. And so while most of the town was out celebrating, and the church was deserted, a thief went into the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was kept, picked the lock to the tabernacle, and carried away the gold ciborium with the consecrated hosts.
Nobody discovered the theft until the next morning, when the priest went to the tabernacle for communion. He alerted his superiors and the entire town began searching for the hosts and the ciborium. The Archbishop even ordered public prayers of reparation.
Two days later, in another church in town, a priest noticed something white sticking out of the offering box. He took a closer look and discovered it was a pile of hosts. Since the offering box was only checked every few months, it was filthy. Some of the hosts were suspended on cobwebs. Authorities soon confirmed that they were the same hosts that had been stolen from the Church of St. Francis – nearly 400 of them.
The hosts were cleaned off, placed in a ciborium and returned to the Church of St. Francis.
And at this point, the friar telling the story paused to explain the miracle that followed.
Across nearly 300 years, those hosts have remained intact.
They have not deteriorated. They haven’t crumbled or decayed. In fact, they still smell as if they were freshly baked.
And then the old friar walked over to a side altar, pulled a small chord, and a curtain behind him parted, revealing those hosts, in a glass ciborium. Each one was perfect and white and appeared, for all the world, brand new.
As we knelt before the ciborium, the friar told us that theologians and scientists had all examined the hosts over the centuries – most recently in 1922. They could find no explanation for what had happened. One doctor even wrote that the preservation of the hosts was “a fact unique in the annals of science.”
What makes this especially significant, the friar explained, is that this miracle has never stopped. It continues. It is ongoing – even as I speak. Since the hosts are in a perfect state of conservation – still maintaining completely the appearance, taste and smell of bread – the Church has declared that they are still truly and completely the Body of Christ.
This prompted me to do a little research and I found a site dedicated to the Real Presence which I had also forgotten about having discovered some time ago. I hope you spend some time there.
It happened almost exactly 280 years ago, on the Feast of the Assumption. August 15, 1730. At that time, there were special services and festivals held around the town in connection with the feast. And so while most of the town was out celebrating, and the church was deserted, a thief went into the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was kept, picked the lock to the tabernacle, and carried away the gold ciborium with the consecrated hosts.
Nobody discovered the theft until the next morning, when the priest went to the tabernacle for communion. He alerted his superiors and the entire town began searching for the hosts and the ciborium. The Archbishop even ordered public prayers of reparation.
Two days later, in another church in town, a priest noticed something white sticking out of the offering box. He took a closer look and discovered it was a pile of hosts. Since the offering box was only checked every few months, it was filthy. Some of the hosts were suspended on cobwebs. Authorities soon confirmed that they were the same hosts that had been stolen from the Church of St. Francis – nearly 400 of them.
The hosts were cleaned off, placed in a ciborium and returned to the Church of St. Francis.
And at this point, the friar telling the story paused to explain the miracle that followed.
Across nearly 300 years, those hosts have remained intact.
They have not deteriorated. They haven’t crumbled or decayed. In fact, they still smell as if they were freshly baked.
And then the old friar walked over to a side altar, pulled a small chord, and a curtain behind him parted, revealing those hosts, in a glass ciborium. Each one was perfect and white and appeared, for all the world, brand new.
As we knelt before the ciborium, the friar told us that theologians and scientists had all examined the hosts over the centuries – most recently in 1922. They could find no explanation for what had happened. One doctor even wrote that the preservation of the hosts was “a fact unique in the annals of science.”
What makes this especially significant, the friar explained, is that this miracle has never stopped. It continues. It is ongoing – even as I speak. Since the hosts are in a perfect state of conservation – still maintaining completely the appearance, taste and smell of bread – the Church has declared that they are still truly and completely the Body of Christ.
This prompted me to do a little research and I found a site dedicated to the Real Presence which I had also forgotten about having discovered some time ago. I hope you spend some time there.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Facing East
Bishop Edward J. Slattery writes:
Because the Mass is so necessary and fundamental to our Catholic experience, the liturgy is a constant topic of our conversation. That is why when we get together, we so often reflect upon the prayers and readings, discuss the homily, and – likely as not – argue about the music. The critical element in these conversations
is an understanding that we Catholics worship the way we do because of what the Mass is: Christ’s sacrifice, offered under the sacramental signs of bread and wine. If our conversation about the Mass is going to “make any sense,” then we have to grasp this essential truth: At Mass, Christ joins us to Himself as He offers Himself in sacrifice to the Father for the world’s redemption. We can offer ourselves like this in Him because
we have become members of His Body by Baptism. We also want to remember that all of the faithful offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice as members of Christ’s body. It’s incorrect to think that only the priest offers Mass. All the faithful share in the offering, even though the priest has a unique role. He stands “in the person of Christ,” the historic Head of the Mystical Body, so that, at Mass, it is the whole body of Christ – Head and members together that make the offering.
From ancient times, the position of the priest and the people reflected this understanding of the Mass, since the people prayed, standing or kneeling, in the place that visibly corresponded to Our Lord’s Body, while the priest at the altar stood at the head as the Head. We formed the whole Christ – Head
and members – both sacramentally by Baptism and visibly by our position and posture. Just as importantly,
everyone – celebrant and congregation – faced the same direction, since they were united with Christ in offering to the Father Christ’s unique, unrepeatable and acceptable sacrifice.When we study the most ancient
liturgical practices of the Church, we find that the priest and the people faced in the same direction, usually toward the east[Ad orientem], in the expectation that when Christ returns, He will return “from the east.” At Mass, the Church keeps vigil, waiting for that return. This single position is called ad orientem, which simply
means “toward the east.”
Having the priest and people celebrate Mass ad orientem was the liturgical norm for nearly 18 centuries. There must have been solid reasons for the Church to have held on to this posture for so long. And there were! First of all, the Catholic liturgy has always maintained a marvelous adherence to the Apostolic Tradition. We see the Mass, indeed the whole liturgical expression of the Church’s life, as something which
we have received from the Apostles and which we, in turn, are expected to hand on intact. (1 Corinthians 11:23)
Secondly, the Church held on to this single eastward position because of the sublime way it reveals the nature of the Mass. Even someone unfamiliar with the Mass who reflected upon the celebrant and the faithful being oriented in the same direction would recognize that the priest stands at the head of the people, sharing in one and the same action, which was – he would note with a moment’s longer reflection – an act of worship.
In the last 40 years, however, this shared orientation was lost; now the priest and the people have become
accustomed to facing in opposite directions. The priest faces the people while the people face the priest, even though the Eucharistic Prayer is directed to the Father and not to the people. This innovation was introduced after the Vatican Council, partly to help the people understand the liturgical action of the Mass
by allowing them to see what was going on, and partly as an accommodation to contemporary culture
where people who exercise authority are expected to face directly the people they serve, like a teacher
sitting behind her desk. Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects. First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition. Secondly, it can give the appearance
that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of
liturgical stage.
Even before his election as the successor to St. Peter, Pope Benedict has been urging us to draw upon the ancient liturgical practice of the Church to recover a more authentic Catholic worship. For that reason, I
have restored the venerable ad orientem position when I celebrate Mass at the Cathedral.
This change ought not to be misconstrued as the Bishop “turning his back on the faithful,” as if I am being inconsiderate or hostile. Such an interpretation misses the point that, by facing in the same direction, the posture of the celebrant and the congregation make explicit the fact that we journey together to God. Priest and people are on this pilgrimage together. It would also be a mistaken notion to look at the recovery of this
ancient tradition as a mere “turning back of the clock.” Pope Benedict has spoken repeatedly of the importance of celebrating Mass ad orientem, but his intention is not to encourage celebrants to become “liturgical antiquarians.” Rather, His Holiness wants us to discover what underlies this ancient tradition and made it viable for so many centuries, namely, the Church’s understanding that the worship of the Mass is primarily and essentially the worship which Christ offers to His Father.
The Pastor says in response:
I have been a priest for more than 30 years. I have never considered myself to be the focal point of the Mass. The Altar of Sacrifice is in plain view of both the priest and the people. There they can see the gifts of bread and wine placed on the altar and understand that as they gaze a miracle takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit and the sacramental action of the Church as the priest, standing in persona Christi pronounces the words of consecration and the bread and wine become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The notion is that of gathering around the altar to see, adore and worship Our Eucharistic Lord. Nothing is more humbling for a priest than to stand in the person of Christ in the midst of the assembled faithful and gaze with them upon the Sacred Host and Precious Blood. I do not understand how priests (bishops) take it upon themselves to make such changes.
Because the Mass is so necessary and fundamental to our Catholic experience, the liturgy is a constant topic of our conversation. That is why when we get together, we so often reflect upon the prayers and readings, discuss the homily, and – likely as not – argue about the music. The critical element in these conversations
is an understanding that we Catholics worship the way we do because of what the Mass is: Christ’s sacrifice, offered under the sacramental signs of bread and wine. If our conversation about the Mass is going to “make any sense,” then we have to grasp this essential truth: At Mass, Christ joins us to Himself as He offers Himself in sacrifice to the Father for the world’s redemption. We can offer ourselves like this in Him because
we have become members of His Body by Baptism. We also want to remember that all of the faithful offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice as members of Christ’s body. It’s incorrect to think that only the priest offers Mass. All the faithful share in the offering, even though the priest has a unique role. He stands “in the person of Christ,” the historic Head of the Mystical Body, so that, at Mass, it is the whole body of Christ – Head and members together that make the offering.
From ancient times, the position of the priest and the people reflected this understanding of the Mass, since the people prayed, standing or kneeling, in the place that visibly corresponded to Our Lord’s Body, while the priest at the altar stood at the head as the Head. We formed the whole Christ – Head
and members – both sacramentally by Baptism and visibly by our position and posture. Just as importantly,
everyone – celebrant and congregation – faced the same direction, since they were united with Christ in offering to the Father Christ’s unique, unrepeatable and acceptable sacrifice.When we study the most ancient
liturgical practices of the Church, we find that the priest and the people faced in the same direction, usually toward the east[Ad orientem], in the expectation that when Christ returns, He will return “from the east.” At Mass, the Church keeps vigil, waiting for that return. This single position is called ad orientem, which simply
means “toward the east.”
Having the priest and people celebrate Mass ad orientem was the liturgical norm for nearly 18 centuries. There must have been solid reasons for the Church to have held on to this posture for so long. And there were! First of all, the Catholic liturgy has always maintained a marvelous adherence to the Apostolic Tradition. We see the Mass, indeed the whole liturgical expression of the Church’s life, as something which
we have received from the Apostles and which we, in turn, are expected to hand on intact. (1 Corinthians 11:23)
Secondly, the Church held on to this single eastward position because of the sublime way it reveals the nature of the Mass. Even someone unfamiliar with the Mass who reflected upon the celebrant and the faithful being oriented in the same direction would recognize that the priest stands at the head of the people, sharing in one and the same action, which was – he would note with a moment’s longer reflection – an act of worship.
In the last 40 years, however, this shared orientation was lost; now the priest and the people have become
accustomed to facing in opposite directions. The priest faces the people while the people face the priest, even though the Eucharistic Prayer is directed to the Father and not to the people. This innovation was introduced after the Vatican Council, partly to help the people understand the liturgical action of the Mass
by allowing them to see what was going on, and partly as an accommodation to contemporary culture
where people who exercise authority are expected to face directly the people they serve, like a teacher
sitting behind her desk. Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects. First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition. Secondly, it can give the appearance
that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of
liturgical stage.
Even before his election as the successor to St. Peter, Pope Benedict has been urging us to draw upon the ancient liturgical practice of the Church to recover a more authentic Catholic worship. For that reason, I
have restored the venerable ad orientem position when I celebrate Mass at the Cathedral.
This change ought not to be misconstrued as the Bishop “turning his back on the faithful,” as if I am being inconsiderate or hostile. Such an interpretation misses the point that, by facing in the same direction, the posture of the celebrant and the congregation make explicit the fact that we journey together to God. Priest and people are on this pilgrimage together. It would also be a mistaken notion to look at the recovery of this
ancient tradition as a mere “turning back of the clock.” Pope Benedict has spoken repeatedly of the importance of celebrating Mass ad orientem, but his intention is not to encourage celebrants to become “liturgical antiquarians.” Rather, His Holiness wants us to discover what underlies this ancient tradition and made it viable for so many centuries, namely, the Church’s understanding that the worship of the Mass is primarily and essentially the worship which Christ offers to His Father.
The Pastor says in response:
I have been a priest for more than 30 years. I have never considered myself to be the focal point of the Mass. The Altar of Sacrifice is in plain view of both the priest and the people. There they can see the gifts of bread and wine placed on the altar and understand that as they gaze a miracle takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit and the sacramental action of the Church as the priest, standing in persona Christi pronounces the words of consecration and the bread and wine become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The notion is that of gathering around the altar to see, adore and worship Our Eucharistic Lord. Nothing is more humbling for a priest than to stand in the person of Christ in the midst of the assembled faithful and gaze with them upon the Sacred Host and Precious Blood. I do not understand how priests (bishops) take it upon themselves to make such changes.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Habits are a Visible Sign
Today's NY Times has an interesting article on the results of surveys on recent vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It confirms what has been said anecdotally for several years about habited communities.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Homilycast Corpus Christi
This link will take you to a pod cast of my Corpus Christi homily. It took me this long to figure out how to do this so maybe over the vacation I will discover an easier way.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Brooklyn Priests
There is an extraordinary website http://www.brooklynpriests.org/ which was put together by a group of young priests. It's well woth the click that will take you there.
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Year for Priests
A Priest’s Prayer
Loving Father, I praise you, I love you, I adore you.
Send your Holy Spirit to enlighten my mind to the truth of your Son, Jesus, Priest and Victim.
Through the same Spirit guide my heart to his Sacred Heart, to renew in me a priestly passion that I, too, might lay down my life upon the altar. May your Spirit wash away my impurities and free me from all my transgressions in the Cup of Salvation, Let only your will be done in me.
May the Blessed Mother of your dearly beloved Son,wrap her mantle around me and protect me from all evil. May she guide me to do whatever He tells me. May she teach me to have the heart of St. Joseph, her spouse, to protect and care for my bride. And may her pierced heart inspire me to embrace as my own your children who suffer at the foot of the cross. I humbly cry to her: please be my consoling mother,
and help me to be a better son.
Lord, make me a holy priest, inflamed with the fire of your love, seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. I humbly bless and thank you, my Father, through the Spirit, in Christ Jesus, your Son and my brother. Amen.
O Mary, Queen of priests, pray for us.
Saint John Vianney, pray for us.
There is also a prayer for the people to pray for their priests during this upcoming year as well.
Please Pray for Priests
Dear Lord, we pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around your priests and through her itercession strengthen them for their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May your priests be holy, filled with the fire of your love seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen.
Saint John Vianney, pray for us.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Weigel on "The Vatican"
I have to thank Beth for this as well. George Weigel is completely correct and his insights quite valuable.
The Touch of Love
This is an amazing story. This is the original story. Thanks to Beth Edejer who sent this to me.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Judge Noonan and Truth
How sad it is that Judge Noonan can say that all of us know that genocide is wrong and not be able to equally assert that the taking of the life of the pre-born is wrong as well. To use the quote "Great is truth; it will prevail" gives the lie to his understanding of truth.
"I turn to issues before you as Americans prepared to participate in our urgent moral matters. Some things we have in common. Some things all of us know are wrong. Genocide is wrong. Torture is wrong. Slavery is wrong.
In these matters, our moral vision is clear. Our moral vision has had a voice to vindicate those unable to speak. Our moral vision is shared by the civilized world.
It was not so always. The clarity of our moral vision has come out of clashes. It has come by experience, by suffering, by strenuous debate. It has come from the insight and courage of gifted leaders. It has come from the light radiating from the Gospel."
"I turn to issues before you as Americans prepared to participate in our urgent moral matters. Some things we have in common. Some things all of us know are wrong. Genocide is wrong. Torture is wrong. Slavery is wrong.
In these matters, our moral vision is clear. Our moral vision has had a voice to vindicate those unable to speak. Our moral vision is shared by the civilized world.
It was not so always. The clarity of our moral vision has come out of clashes. It has come by experience, by suffering, by strenuous debate. It has come from the insight and courage of gifted leaders. It has come from the light radiating from the Gospel."
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The President and The Truth
President Obama at Notre Dame gave a wonderful, if flawed, address to the graduates. He does not see that "truth" is objective and merely sees a process of reconciling divergent opinions. That's what politics is.
The sanctity of human life from the first moment of conception to natural death is not an opinion that I hold; it is not a "parochial principal." It is truth.
The sanctity of human life from the first moment of conception to natural death is not an opinion that I hold; it is not a "parochial principal." It is truth.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Archbishop Weakland
This story is just so sad I do not have the words to express my feelings. I pray for him.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Notre Dame
The President of Notre Dame has weighed in exactly as I thought he would. Deacon Greg and AMERICA, thank you.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Mary Ann Glendon says no to Notre Dame
Story here. I forgot to click 'post' last week. I printed her letter to the President of Notre Dame in yesterday's Sunday Bulletin.
The Risen Lord
The Resurrection Window at Maryknoll. Note the three women and the sunrise in the lower panel.
Swine or you have to DO something
A week ago today with everything swirling in the press about Swine Flu we decided to temporarily suspend offering the Precisous Blood to the faithful at Mass. This was something I was reluctant to do but I felt we had to DO something. At the same time we, again temporarily, did not use the optional gesture of inviting the congregation to exchange the Sign of Peace. Compliments and complaints. You cannot please everybody!
Weekends
Yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and Father Kevin Abels the Associate Vocation Director of the Diocese was here to speak at all the Masses. Father Kevin had been here for the first five years of his priesthood and left only a year ago so he was ever so warmly welcomed back by the people. It was also the first Sunday in May and many of the children who had received Holy Communion for the first time the previous day returned for the procession at the 10:30 am Mass. They were joined by our soon-to-be graduates two of whom had the honor of placing the garland on the Statue of the Blessed Mother we had set up in the sanctuary. The Rosary Society was also at the Mass which was followed by their annual Communion Breakfast.
As I mentioned, Saturday was the first of three Masses at which about 40 children at each Mass would receive Jesus for the very first time. This year the children were presented by their parents or other family members. More than one couple or parent became overwhelmed by what Bishop Thomas Daily referred to as "the Great Emotion." In the past, the children came up in procession one by one and my whole attention was on them and their experience of receiving Jesus. I remember it becoming almost trance like for me, with all the other 'stuff' going on in the church around me completely beyond my comprehension. The parents presenting their children was a distraction for me but I think it was nicer for them and for the children.
I always invite the rest of the congregation to try to remember their own First Communions and focus on the emotions that they may have experienced that day. It is such a day of blessing for the entire parish! This Saturday we have a morning and afternoon Mass and by the time the third Mass is finished 120 or so children will have received Jesus. What a parish!
As I mentioned, Saturday was the first of three Masses at which about 40 children at each Mass would receive Jesus for the very first time. This year the children were presented by their parents or other family members. More than one couple or parent became overwhelmed by what Bishop Thomas Daily referred to as "the Great Emotion." In the past, the children came up in procession one by one and my whole attention was on them and their experience of receiving Jesus. I remember it becoming almost trance like for me, with all the other 'stuff' going on in the church around me completely beyond my comprehension. The parents presenting their children was a distraction for me but I think it was nicer for them and for the children.
I always invite the rest of the congregation to try to remember their own First Communions and focus on the emotions that they may have experienced that day. It is such a day of blessing for the entire parish! This Saturday we have a morning and afternoon Mass and by the time the third Mass is finished 120 or so children will have received Jesus. What a parish!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A Sword pierces her heart
Joseph visits too
Of course Joseph would have traveled with Mary! Think of those three months that Mary stayed with Elizabeth and all that would have been happening to her in those first months of her pregnancy. What blessings she must have experienced as she encountered the "Word made flesh" growing within her own body.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Newsday and the Pastor's Column
In place of my coulmn in the bulletin this coming weekend, I'm sharing this editorial from Newsday that ran last Sunday. Better said than I could.
The focus is on Mary
The young couple is in the center under a chupah. Off center to the right is Jesus and beneath him is the servant filling the last of the water jars. Our Blessed Lady is the clear focus for this window and the words, in Latin"Quodcumque dixerit vobis, facite", are her words to the servants: "Do whatever he tells you"". (Jn. 2:5) I'm told that those words are inscribed on Cardinal Sean O'Malley's ring.
I've always held them in a special place in my own life as well. Our Mother is telling us to do whatever Her Son, our Brother tells us. "Whatever" is a tall order! And Mary's words mean that He will speak to us and ask us to listen. Then there's that tiny word "do" so small and yet so powerful. Mary's words for us to live by and love by.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The First Sign
In the panel underneath are two stylizied doves. The one on the left is the dove sent out by Moses: the wavy lines underneath are much deeper than the wavy lines underneath the dove representing the Holy Spirit, descending on Jesus as he was baptized by John in the river Jordan.
"Keep state out of church"
An editorial in yesterday's NEWSDAY decried the sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy but was even more vocal in condemning legislation proposed by New York State Assemblyperson Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) which it describes as "an ill-advised bill that would tamper with the deadlines for bringing childhood sexual abuse lawsuits." It goes on to say that "suspending these time limits would be an extraordinary attempt to upend our legal traditions."
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The Death of Joseph
Another scene about which Scripture itself is silent, this window portrays the death of St. Joseph. Once again he is shown as a fairly young man at his death with Jesus as an older teenager comforting His young looking Mother at the death of her husband. Jesus experienced the pain of loss as his 'foster father' died; he was truly a 'man like us in all things but sin'.
Cooking at Home
At home in Nazareth, Mary is cooking fish and bread assisted by the Child Jesus. Joseph is portrayed in a very spiritual pose, at prayer for his family, it what could be seen as the praying of Grace before their meal.
Dreams and Angels
This window from Maryknoll's Oratory of St. Joseph shows the sleeping Joseph being "touched by an angel" (Mt. 2:13-15) and told in a dream to flee to Egypt with Mary and the newborn Jesus.
Knock, Knock
Betrothal
In a chapel called the Oratory of St. Joseph and the Lane Chapel (in honor of Bishop Raymond A. Lane, the third Superior General), the windows depict scene from the life of St. Joseph. The window at left portrays the betrothal of Joseph and Mary. St. Matthew (Mt. 1:18) and St. Luke (Lk. 1:27) both mention the fact that Mary was betrothed to Joseph when the Angel Gabriel brought Mary the invitation to cooperate in the plan of Almighty God and become the Mother of His Son. I have a special love for art which tries to capture this theme because it is one of the murals at the Immaculate Conception Center (the former Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception) which is my Alma Mater and where I served as Director from 1997 to 2003. This is an instance of an artist presenting a scene which is not directly contained in Sacred Scripture but which is aluded to in the Gospels.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Relics
This is a photo of an authenticated relic of the True Cross which is on display at Maryknoll.
Archbishop Dolan and the Intrinsic evil of abortion
My parishioner Patrick Hurley made me aware of something that happened while I was away. As reported in the New York Post earlier this week, Archbishop Timothy, recently installed as the 10th Archbishop of New York (and its 13th bishop), spoke in no uncertain terms about his difficulty with the invitation offered to President Obama by the University of Notre Dame. He spoke about other issues, like the death penalty and war which “are open to some discussion" since neither is an "intrinsic" evil. President Obama's support for abortion is supporting something which is an "intrinsic evil.” An "intrinsic evil" is something which is an evil in its very essence and can never be a good, irrespective of the circumstances under which it is undertaken.
Mary's Knoll
Friday, April 24, 2009
China
The stained glass windows at the Seminary Building at Maryknoll are without a doubt among the best I've seen in a long time. Consider this one from the shrine to the founders, a Boston priest (later Bishop) Fr. James Anthony Walsh and Fr. Thomas Frederick Price of North Carolina. The story goes that they met at the 21st Eucharistic Congress in Montreal, Canada in 1910. Maryknoll (the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America) was established in 1911 and its mission blessed by Pope Pius X. The goal was the evangelization of China and the first missioners left for there in 1918. Note the decidedly Chinese features on the faces of the Virgin and Child.
What a retreat!
Just returned from Maryknoll and the retreat for the Holy Ghost Father of Ireland! I believe the Holy Spirit was working overtime with me since they had a great retreat. More later.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Retreat
I'm at Maryknoll doing a retreat for the Irish Holy Ghost Fathers, Lent is over so my daily blogging as a penance is over. I didn't have the time to pre-write and pre-post the blog, so nothing new until Saturday at the earliest I think. Please pray for me and for the priests on retreat.
Stations of the Resurrection
Yesterday was another jam-packed day here at St. Sebastian. We had the Catholic War Veterans at the 9 am Mass, followed by breakfast at their Post on 61st street. Then, for the first time in seven years, or perhaps forever, we had a baby baptized at the 10:30 am Mass. Two of the young ladies from our Catholic School of Excellence recieved Our Divine Lord in Holy Communion at the same Mass. I had the Noon Mass in Spanish, which to me is always a joy! Then at the 1.15 Mass we particularly celebrated the Feast of Divine Mercy. Although today was Divine Mercy Sunday, and that's what we celebrated at all the Masses, the 1.15 was the Mass at which we would have blessed the images people brought to church, but guess what, no one brought any images! Baptisms in English twice a month here - and twice a month in Spanish - today Fr. Gerard baptized six at 2 pm. The Great Hour of Mercy saw probably 150 people or so in church where we sang the Chaplet, accompanied by the organ and the beautiful voice of our Director of Music, Mary Frances Grace. At 5 pm Fr. Joy led close to 150 parishioners, some the same and some different, in the "Stations of the Resurrection" or Via Lucis. Powerful!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Divine Mercy
Thanks to Old St. Patrick's Cathedral Bulletin for the following:
The Feast of the Divine Mercy or Divine Mercy Sunday falls on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday immediately following Easter). It is dedicated to the devotion to the Divine Mercy promoted by St. Faustina, and is based upon an entry in St. Faustina's diary stating that anyone who participates in the Mass and receives the sacraments of confession and Eucharist on this day is assured by Jesus of full remission of sins.
According to the notebooks of Saint Faustina, Jesus made the following statements about this day: "On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity." (Diary of Saint Faustina, 699)
The devotion was celebrated unofficially in many places for some years. On April 30, 2000 (Divine Mercy Sunday of that year), Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina and designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the General Roman Calendar, with effect from the following year. He also decreed a plenary indulgence associated with this devotion. Pope John Paul II said he felt a closeness to St. Faustina when he was writing Dives in Misericordia. He died during the vigil of the Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.
Sister Faustina was canonized a saint on April 30, 2000 Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in the village of Glogowiec west of Lodz, Poland, on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was given the name Sister Maria Faustina, to which she added "of the Most Blessed Sacrament," as was permitted by her Congregation's custom. In the 1930s, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world.
The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; she has been recognized by the Church as a "Saint"; and her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to The Divine Mercy. She would not have been surprised, for she had been told that the message of God's mercy would spread through her writings for the great benefit of souls.
Through Saint Faustina, any person can leatn special ways to live out the response to Jesus’ mercy–one of which is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, as both a novena and a prayer for the three o'clock hour–the hour of His death.
The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy will be recited at St Sebastian this Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 PM. The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer. For a complete understanding of Chaplet you can consult http://www.thedivinemercy.org/
The Feast of the Divine Mercy or Divine Mercy Sunday falls on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday immediately following Easter). It is dedicated to the devotion to the Divine Mercy promoted by St. Faustina, and is based upon an entry in St. Faustina's diary stating that anyone who participates in the Mass and receives the sacraments of confession and Eucharist on this day is assured by Jesus of full remission of sins.
According to the notebooks of Saint Faustina, Jesus made the following statements about this day: "On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity." (Diary of Saint Faustina, 699)
The devotion was celebrated unofficially in many places for some years. On April 30, 2000 (Divine Mercy Sunday of that year), Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina and designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the General Roman Calendar, with effect from the following year. He also decreed a plenary indulgence associated with this devotion. Pope John Paul II said he felt a closeness to St. Faustina when he was writing Dives in Misericordia. He died during the vigil of the Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.
Sister Faustina was canonized a saint on April 30, 2000 Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in the village of Glogowiec west of Lodz, Poland, on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was given the name Sister Maria Faustina, to which she added "of the Most Blessed Sacrament," as was permitted by her Congregation's custom. In the 1930s, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world.
The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; she has been recognized by the Church as a "Saint"; and her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to The Divine Mercy. She would not have been surprised, for she had been told that the message of God's mercy would spread through her writings for the great benefit of souls.
Through Saint Faustina, any person can leatn special ways to live out the response to Jesus’ mercy–one of which is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, as both a novena and a prayer for the three o'clock hour–the hour of His death.
The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy will be recited at St Sebastian this Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 PM. The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer. For a complete understanding of Chaplet you can consult http://www.thedivinemercy.org/
Saturday, April 18, 2009
New Life
Did I mention that 46 people, including the 12, received the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion at the Vigil? The entire liturgy took 2 hours and 15 minutes and was truly a wonderful and prayerful experience.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Christ is the End of the Law
Next week I am offering a retreat for the Irish Holy Ghost Fathers up at Maryknoll. It's my first time being asked to preach a week-long retreat, and the first time preaching a retreat to brother priests. I did a weekend retreat about 28 years ago for a group of people from St. Patrick Parish in Bay Ridge, but that really been it. Need I say it is a lot of work!
I really lost the first part of this week preparing (also a lot of work) for my three hours of live, on air television coverage of Archbishop Dolan's installation. It was a learning experience in many ways, but it kept me from finishing the talks until just now. I'm sharing the theme of the retreat and the titles of the six conferences as well as the scriptural citations that form the basis of the talks. Someday, if I learn how, I'll be able to post an audio of the talks.
In addition to the formal conferences, I have at least two homilies and will make myself available to the priests for confession, private conferences, and whatever.
Please remember the priests on retreat in your prayers next week and pray for me as well.
Christ is the End of the Law (Rom. 10:4)
First Conference
This Grace in Which We Stand (Rom. 5:2)
Second Conference
A Still More Excellent Way (1 Cor. 12:31)
Conference
The Love of Christ Impels Us (2 Cor. 5:14)
Fourth Conference
The Veiled Gospel (2Cor. 4:3)
Fifth Conference
All Creation is Groaning in Labor (Rom. 8:22)
Sixth Conference
Every Tongue Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! (Phil. 2:11)
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Vocations
I think any young person watching yesterday's installation of the new Archbishop of New York found it to be a wonderful expression of happiness in a vocation. Archbishop Dolan was just a perfect mix of personality in processing and reverence at prayer.
His story about always wanting to be a priest struck a very familiar chord with me; ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a priest. I have also been a happy priest for 31 years. God has truly blessed me with so many opportunities to grow in His love. He has blessed me with so many people in my life who mirror the face of God to me. He has allowed me to exercise my priesthood in countless ways I would never have imagined when I was a child and used to "play" Mass.
His story about always wanting to be a priest struck a very familiar chord with me; ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a priest. I have also been a happy priest for 31 years. God has truly blessed me with so many opportunities to grow in His love. He has blessed me with so many people in my life who mirror the face of God to me. He has allowed me to exercise my priesthood in countless ways I would never have imagined when I was a child and used to "play" Mass.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Channel 11 Coverage of Archbishop Dolan
One question Jim asked me off air and then on as well was "What do you think the reaction of a man is when he receives that phone call from the Nuncio, a great sense of accomplishment and recognition, the way a man feels when he is elected CEO?" I said, no from having spoken with more than one bishop, the man feels completely humbled. And I'm sure that was true of Archbishop Dolan today as well.
The homily thanks to Rocco. Among the best I've ever heard.
God bless the new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, and thank God for the gift that Cardinal Egan was for these past 9 years.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Massive Candle
One of our parishioners has a great blog that shares his thoughts about the Easter Vigil.
Pictures of the Easter Vigil
If you want to see our Easter Vigil you may. If you click the link, and go down to the last entry on the right hand side you will be able to see pictures of our Easter Vigil at St. Sebastian where 12 people were baptized and 34 others joined them for Confirmation and Holy Communion.
Television
I thought that this would be a quiet week for me. All I really have to do is put the final touches on a retreat I've been asked to give for the Irish Holy Ghost Fathers next week up at Maryknoll. Then the phone rang.Mary Murphy, from Channel 11 News called me and asked if I would be available tomorrow to be part of Channel 11's live coverage of the installation of Archbishop Timothy Dolan as the 13th Archbishop of New York. I suggested that she try to get a New York priest or at least clear it with the Archdiocese that a Brooklyn priest doing it wouldn't cause a stir. She checked and evidently it's OK.
Now I have to study so that I won't look foolish. Say a prayer that I don't say anything foolish either.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Looking Back
Where did Lent go? Holy Week is a blur and the Easter Vigil, a memory!
The Easter Vigil this year was an especially transforming experience for me and I think for many people who were there. When the lights are out in St. Sebastian church, there is absolute and complete darkness, because there are no windows since the building started out as a movie theatre. The fire was truly blazing at the outset. The Paschal Candle was lighted and immediately began to dispell the darkness. As the flame from that candle began to be shared with the faithful, I almost thought that we had put some lights on very low; it was of course the light from nearly 2,000 candles.
We baptized 12 and Confirmed another 34. So we had 46 people receive Holy Communion for the first time. The power of the Holy Spirit was palpable all during the Vigil. I think everyone who was there was able to feel it.
We probably had 10,000 people on Easter; if it were like that all the time it would be wonderful, but it would kill us.
Christ is Risen, He is Risen, indeed!
The Easter Vigil this year was an especially transforming experience for me and I think for many people who were there. When the lights are out in St. Sebastian church, there is absolute and complete darkness, because there are no windows since the building started out as a movie theatre. The fire was truly blazing at the outset. The Paschal Candle was lighted and immediately began to dispell the darkness. As the flame from that candle began to be shared with the faithful, I almost thought that we had put some lights on very low; it was of course the light from nearly 2,000 candles.
We baptized 12 and Confirmed another 34. So we had 46 people receive Holy Communion for the first time. The power of the Holy Spirit was palpable all during the Vigil. I think everyone who was there was able to feel it.
We probably had 10,000 people on Easter; if it were like that all the time it would be wonderful, but it would kill us.
Christ is Risen, He is Risen, indeed!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Way of Light
The Directory on Popular Piety has this to say about The Via Lucis.
"A pious exercise called the Via Lucis has developed and spread to many regions in recent years. Following the model of the Via Crucis, the faithful process while meditating on the various appearances of Jesus - from his Resurrection to his Ascension - in which he showed his glory to the disciples who awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14, 26; 16, 13-15; Lk 24, 49), strengthened their faith, brought to completion his teaching on the Kingdom and more closely defined the sacramental and hierarchical structure of the Church."
"Through the Via Lucis, the faithful recall the central event of the faith - the resurrection of Christ - and their discipleship in virtue of Baptism, the paschal sacrament by which they have passed from the darkness of sin to the bright radiance of the light of grace (cf. Col 1, 13; Ef 5, 8)."
"For centuries the Via Crucis involved the faithful in the first moment of the Easter event, namely the Passion, and helped to fix its most important aspects in their consciousness. Analogously, the Via Lucis, when celebrated in fidelity to the Gospel text, can effectively convey a living understanding to the faithful of the second moment of the Pascal event, namely the Lord's Resurrection."
"The Via Lucis is potentially an excellent pedagogy of the faith, since "per crucem ad lucem". Using the metaphor of a journey, the Via Lucis moves from the experience of suffering, which in God's plan is part of life, to the hope of arriving at man's true end: liberation, joy and peace which are essentially paschal values."
"The Via Lucis is a potential stimulus for the restoration of a "culture of life" which is open to the hope and certitude offered by faith, in a society often characterized by a "culture of death", despair and nihilism."
DIRECTORY ON POPULAR PIETY AND THE LITURGY
"A pious exercise called the Via Lucis has developed and spread to many regions in recent years. Following the model of the Via Crucis, the faithful process while meditating on the various appearances of Jesus - from his Resurrection to his Ascension - in which he showed his glory to the disciples who awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14, 26; 16, 13-15; Lk 24, 49), strengthened their faith, brought to completion his teaching on the Kingdom and more closely defined the sacramental and hierarchical structure of the Church."
"Through the Via Lucis, the faithful recall the central event of the faith - the resurrection of Christ - and their discipleship in virtue of Baptism, the paschal sacrament by which they have passed from the darkness of sin to the bright radiance of the light of grace (cf. Col 1, 13; Ef 5, 8)."
"For centuries the Via Crucis involved the faithful in the first moment of the Easter event, namely the Passion, and helped to fix its most important aspects in their consciousness. Analogously, the Via Lucis, when celebrated in fidelity to the Gospel text, can effectively convey a living understanding to the faithful of the second moment of the Pascal event, namely the Lord's Resurrection."
"The Via Lucis is potentially an excellent pedagogy of the faith, since "per crucem ad lucem". Using the metaphor of a journey, the Via Lucis moves from the experience of suffering, which in God's plan is part of life, to the hope of arriving at man's true end: liberation, joy and peace which are essentially paschal values."
"The Via Lucis is a potential stimulus for the restoration of a "culture of life" which is open to the hope and certitude offered by faith, in a society often characterized by a "culture of death", despair and nihilism."
DIRECTORY ON POPULAR PIETY AND THE LITURGY
Resurrection Stations
The Stations of the Resurrection
First Station
Jesus rises from the dead (Matthew 28:5-6).
Second Station
Women find the empty tomb (Matthew 28:1-6).
Third Station
The risen Lord appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:16).
Fourth Station
Mary Magdalene proclaims the Resurrection to the apostles (John 20:18).
Fifth Station
The risen Lord appears on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27). Sixth Station
The risen Lord is recognized in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:28-32).
Seventh Station
The risen Lord appears to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-39).
Eighth Station
The risen Lord gives the disciples the power to forgive (John 20:22-23).
Ninth Station
The risen Lord strengthens the faith of Thomas (John 20:24-29).
Tenth Station
The risen Lord says to Peter, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17).
Eleventh Station
The risen Lord sends the disciples into the whole world (Matthew 28:16-20).
Twelfth Station
The risen Lord ascends into heaven (Acts 1:9-11).
Thirteenth Station
Waiting with Mary in the Upper Room (Acts 1:12-14).Fourteenth Station
The risen Lord sends the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4).
The Stations of the Resurrection
The Archdiocese of Detroit has a great example of the Stations of the Resurrection or Via Lucis that you may wish to use for prayer and meditation during the Easter Season.
Risen
V. We adore You, O Christ, and we praise you
R. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
The Glorified Body of Jesus rises triumphant from the tomb!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
A reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday
This is the second reading from the Office of Readings prayed by the Church this morning and prayed by the people of St. Sebastian at Tenebrae.The Lord's descent into hell
"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.
Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.
The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.
‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.
‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.
‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.
'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.
`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.
‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.
"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."
Prayer
Almighty, ever-living God, whose Only-begotten Son descended to the realm of the dead, and rose from there to glory, grant that your faithful people, who were buried with him in baptism, may, by his resurrection, obtain eternal life. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord.
Prepared by Pontifical University Saint Thomas Aquinas
Friday, April 10, 2009
Divine Mercy
The Divine Mercy Novena begins on Good Friday. The Directory on Popular Piety has this to say about the devotion:
"In connection with the octave of Easter, recent years have witnessed the development and diffusion of a special devotion to the Divine Mercy based on the writings of Sr. Faustina Kowalska who was canonized 30 April 2000. It concentrates on the mercy poured forth in Christ's death and resurrection, fount of the Holy Spirit who forgives sins and restores joy at having been redeemed. Since the liturgy of the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday - as it is now called- is the natural locus in which to express man's acceptance of the Redeemer's mercy, the faithful should be taught to understand this devotion in the light of the liturgical celebrations of these Easter days. Indeed, "the paschal Christ is the definitive incarnation of mercy, his living sign which is both historico-salvific and eschatological. At the same time, the Easter liturgy places the words of the psalm on our lips: "I shall sing forever of the Lord's mercy" (Ps 89[88] 2)" DIRECTORY ON POPULAR PIETY AND THE LITURGY
"Jesus I trust in you!" is an absolutely wonderful prayer that can be prayed many, many times a day.
"In connection with the octave of Easter, recent years have witnessed the development and diffusion of a special devotion to the Divine Mercy based on the writings of Sr. Faustina Kowalska who was canonized 30 April 2000. It concentrates on the mercy poured forth in Christ's death and resurrection, fount of the Holy Spirit who forgives sins and restores joy at having been redeemed. Since the liturgy of the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday - as it is now called- is the natural locus in which to express man's acceptance of the Redeemer's mercy, the faithful should be taught to understand this devotion in the light of the liturgical celebrations of these Easter days. Indeed, "the paschal Christ is the definitive incarnation of mercy, his living sign which is both historico-salvific and eschatological. At the same time, the Easter liturgy places the words of the psalm on our lips: "I shall sing forever of the Lord's mercy" (Ps 89[88] 2)" DIRECTORY ON POPULAR PIETY AND THE LITURGY
"Jesus I trust in you!" is an absolutely wonderful prayer that can be prayed many, many times a day.
The Seven Last Words of Jesus
Every year at 1:30 on Good Friday the priests and deacons of St. Sebastian Parish lead a series of meditations on the Seven Last Words. You can do it on your own as well.
When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right the other on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." (Luke 23:33-34)
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus saying: "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" The other one, however, rebuking him, said in reply: "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received ccorresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, " Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:39-43)
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magadala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)
At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15: 33-34) (Matthew 27:46)
After this, Jesus, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst." (John 19:28)
There was a vessel there filled with ccommon wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. (John 19:29-30)
It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus, cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit"; and when he had said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46)
The Seven Last Words of Jesus
THE FIRST WORD
When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right the other on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." (Luke 23:33-34)
THE SECOND WORD
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus saying: "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" The other one, however, rebuking him, said in reply: "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received ccorresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, " Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:39-43)
THE THIRD WORD
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magadala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)
THE FOURTH WORD
At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15: 33-34) (Matthew 27:46)
THE FIFTH WORD
After this, Jesus, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst." (John 19:28)
THE SIXTH WORD
There was a vessel there filled with ccommon wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. (John 19:29-30)
THE SEVENTH WORD
It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus, cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit"; and when he had said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46)
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Tenebrae II
The supression of Tenebrae in the Roman Catholic Divine Office was one of the first liturgical changes to have been made in the years before the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. That took place when, in the early 1950's Pope Pius XII reformed the Divine Office and the liturgy of Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum. These reforms became mandatory in 1955.Up till then the Easter Vigil was celebrated on Holy Saturday morning – if you can believe it!
At the same time Pope Pius XII moved the Holy Thursday Mass to the evening and Good Friday services to the afternoon or evening. This effectively ended the celebration of Matins and Lauds together as an anticipated Office on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That was the end of Tenebrae.
After the Council and the liturgical reforms a joint celebration of the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer in the style of Tenebrae is suggested for the mornings of Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
By the way, St. Sebastian is celebrating the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer in the style of Tenebrae this year for the first time on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We used to have just Morning Prayer for the Triduum. We also now have the Tenebrae Hearse or fifteen candle triangular candlestand, since snuffing candles is a part of the Tenebrae ritual. The candles for the altar and the hearse are unbleached which will heighten the difference of these two very special days.
On Holy Thursday it’s just Morning Prayer that we will sing together.
Apology
Bishop Zubik's "Service of Apology" as reported in the local papers. And the full text as it appears on the Pittsburgh Diocesan website.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
For Next Year
As the Triduum approaches, it's probably too late for you to consult this 1988 document from the Congregation for Divine Worship called A Circular Letter Concerning the Preparation and Celebration of the Easter Feasts but it might be useful for next year.
Maundy
Lent ends tomorrow morning. The Holy Three Days or Sacred Triduum begins tomorrow evening with the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. At that Mass we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood and Jesus's great commandment of love in service to each other. The gospels according to Mark, Matthew, and Luke tell the story of Jesus taking bread, blessing it, and giving it to his disciples saying: "Take it; this is my body." (Mk. 14:22) Later, he takes a cup filled with wine, gives thanks to His Father, and gives it to His disciples with the words: "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many." (Mk. 14:24) These are words like those we hear every time we go to Mass. We call them the "Words of Institution" meaning the words used to institute or establish the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The command "Do this in memory of me" (Lk.22:19) is both the establishment of the priesthood and His desire that all His disciples should be fed with His True Body and True Blood.
St. John's Gospel, the last of the four to be written down and the most theologically complex and beautiful has no account of the breaking of bread and passing of the cup at the Last Supper. The Fourth Gospel tells the story of that last meal of Jesus with His disciples and the focus is on "The Washing of the Feet". The commandment of service in love is so beautifully illustrated by what Jesus did for His disciples when He washed their feet. (Jn. 13:1-15) It is called the Mandatum or Commandment and from that we have the other name for the day, Maundy Thursday. These are the words:
So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. (Jn. 13:12-15) and a little while later He says more explicitly: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (JN.13:34-35)
A tall order, no?
Judas was still there for that, remember. How must the fact that Jesus had washed his feet just moments before the betrayal added to his dispair.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
It was night.
This is a nice commentary on today's Gospel.
Three great scenes:
St. John resting his head on Jesus' chest.
The sentence "It was night."
Peter's denial foretold.
Three great scenes:
St. John resting his head on Jesus' chest.
The sentence "It was night."
Peter's denial foretold.
The Blessing of the Sun
An interesting website. As Passover begins tomorrow evening for our Jewish brothers and sisters, they will celebrate a 28 year event tomorrow morning.
You may wish to recite these two prayers of blessing tomorrow morning when you wake up.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who re-enacts the work of creation.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.
Update: The prayers are to be offered when you actually see the sun tomorrow.
You may wish to recite these two prayers of blessing tomorrow morning when you wake up.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who re-enacts the work of creation.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.
Update: The prayers are to be offered when you actually see the sun tomorrow.
Shriven
Yesterday was 'Reconciliation Monday' in the Diocese of Brooklyn. The Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Rockville Centre also had a similar opportunity for the faithful to receive the Sacrament of Penance. At St. Sebastian we started at 3 PM and finished at 9 PM and there was a steady stream of penitents, totaling probably 500 or so. One priest was available at all times but there were four of us for about two hours and two for about two hours. It was a great mix - young and old, English and Spanish speaking(some other languages as well), some regular in their use of the Sacrament and others returning after many, many years.
Hearing confessions is a humbling experience for a priest, realizing that you are the channel of God's mercy and healing forgiveness and love.
Hearing confessions is a humbling experience for a priest, realizing that you are the channel of God's mercy and healing forgiveness and love.
Burial
The Fourteenth Station - The Body of Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
V. We adore You, O Christ, and we praise you
R. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
"...And now we come to the last farewell. There is sadness in parting, but we take comfort in the hope that one day we shall see our brother again and enjoy his friendship. Although this congregation will disperse in sorrow, the mercy of God will gather us together again in the joy of his kingdom. Therefore let us console one another in the faith of Jesus Christ." These words come from the Final Commendation in the Order of Christian Funerals. John and the Blessed Mother look on as Joseph of Arimathea places the body of Jesus in a new tomb in the garden. Sin had entered the world in a garden; new life will come to the world from a garden.
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