Preface of Praise: Easter! Alleluia!

Easter is a feast of great joy!  Alleluia, He is risen, as He said!  I've written before about the beautiful, laudatory theology nested in the prefaces for Mass; the Easter season is a very fitting time to write about them again.

There are 5 prefaces for the Easter season.  Here is the first:

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, 
at all times to acclaim you, O Lord, 
but [on this night / on this day / in this time] above all to laud you yet more gloriously, 
when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.
For He is the true Lamb Who has taken away the sins of the world; 
by dying He has destroyed our death, 
and by rising, restored our life. 
Therefore, overcome with paschal joy, 
every land, every people exults in your praise, 
and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts, 
sing together the unending hymn of your glory, as they acclaim... 

Note in the third line that the preface can be used for the Easter Vigil ("on this night"), Easter Sunday ("on this day"), or during the rest of the Easter season ("in this time").

I really love how the preface reflects the heightened celebration.  While every Mass celebrates the resurrection of the Lord, the Easter liturgies do this par excellence.  The Easter Vigil has the Exultet and 9 readings, guiding the faithful in the story of salvation history.  The Easter Sunday Mass has the sequence "Victimae Paschali Laudes" inserted between the second reading and the long-awaited alleluia.  In short, there's extra.  If one foreign to Catholic liturgy were to go to a Sunday Mass in ordinary time, and then go to Mass on Easter Sunday, he/she would see lots of extra.  Extra servers; infrequently-used incense; brighter hymns (hopefully); the giant paschal candle in the sanctuary; and all the rest.  By all those touches, the Church is telling us just how important this celebration is.  Pull out all the stops!  There is something incredible here that we're celebrating!

The preface picks up that tone--we praise God like we usually do, yes, but at Easter "yet more gloriously"!  Yes, the fruit of the Spirit is joy, and Christians ideally display that, but at Easter we are "overcome with paschal joy"!

Lastly, we need to highlight the title that is given to Jesus: Lamb.  This carries with it multiple scriptural allusions: John the Baptist naming Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the many references in the book of Revelation.  Most of all, however, a lamb is one of the most important parts of the Passover (Exodus 12).  Hebrew families in Egypt were to buy a lamb, kill it, eat it, and then spread the blood on the doorposts of their house.

The Eucharist that we share in fulfills the Passover meal!  Like the ancient Hebrews, we, too, eat the Lamb Who was slain.  And, only by the shedding of the lamb's blood were the Hebrews spared.  By the shedding of Jesus the Lamb's blood, humanity was redeemed and spared the eternal punishments we would otherwise deserve.

SANCTUS, SANCTUS, SANCTUS!!!

7 Quick Takes - Good Friday Edition

I know I'm a little late for this, but still going for it...

For more quick takes, visit Jennifer Fulwiler's www.conversiondiary.com blog extravaganza. [UPDATE: She didn't do 7 Quick Takes and I didn't realize until afterward.  But anything she writes is worth reading, definitely check out her blog!]

1) Sacred music for Good Friday: Stabat Mater

Check out this for a beautiful, polyphonic treatment of the hymn...

2) Sacred art for Good Friday: Michelangelo's "Pieta"
I've seen this in person and it truly is an incredible work.  As one deficient in the sculpting skills department, it blows my mind that Michelangelo turned an enormous rock into one of the greatest masterpieces in western civilization.  I was amazed at how lifeless Jesus looked.  I remember half expecting Mary to breathe or turn her head.  The technical skill to carve such a scene is one thing; the ability to capture the mood of Good Friday is extraordinary.







3) Sacred art for Good Friday: Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross"
I've been exposed to this image before, mainly on holy cards.  Whenever someone talked to me about the image, they'd always point out one thing: there are no nails on the cross.  "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.  I have the power to lay it down, and the power to take it up again; this charge I have received from my Father." (John 10:18, RSV-CE)

4) Beautiful church for Good Friday: Sainte Chapelle, Paris, France

A travel book described this church like "walking into a gem," such was the magnificence of the architecture and the stained glass windows.  It truly was breathtaking!  King (later Saint) Louis built the edifice in the 13th century to house relics from Jesus' Passion; among them, the crown of thorns.  Thankfully the chapel survived the French Revolution... although not all of the windows did.  Hidden but present behind the brutality of the crucifixion is the radiant glory of the resurrection; this chapel really captured that for me. 

5) Church for Good Friday: Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome, Italy

This church houses one incredible relic of the Passion of Jesus: the titulus crucis, the sign that hung on the cross above Jesus' head.  "Jesus the Nazarean, King of the Jews" was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin--as noted in St. John's Gospel (19:19-20).  Since that phrase was a little long to put on devotional crucifixes, an acronym was used instead: INRI, the first letter of the Latin portion of the titulus crucis... "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum."  As you probably learned from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," the letter J is not found in Latin.  Check out this news clip:

6) Devotion for Good Friday: St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy

(shout out to my sister Kristy and her household at Steubenville)  Three o'clock is the hour of mercy, as it's the hour that Jesus uttered His last breath.  His death bought redemption to us all, and His sacrifice opened the gates of heaven to us.  PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!  It's extraordinary that God would be so merciful to us, in light of all the sins of humanity from the original one to now.  St. Faustina was privileged to be visited by Christ in visions and in prayer; the fruit of that is a special devotion to Jesus' divine mercy.  Check out the webpage of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception for a deeper description.  

7) Sacrament for Good Friday: Confession

Be healed by the divine physician; let go and seek forgiveness of the spiritual death (i.e. sin) in the soul.  Here are Fr. Z's tips for a good confession and a quick story of the great graces that ensue from confession.

7 Quick Takes the Second, 3/15/13

7 Quick Takes

For the other quick takes, go to Jennifer Fulwiler's www.conversiondiary.com. 

1) HABEMUS PAPAM!!!!!!!!!!!  I wanted to write about my interest in the conclave, but the time for that post has passed.  I even had a title ready: “I Got a Fevah!”  Next time... 

I had no clue that Cardinal Jorge Brogoglio was a serious candidate; actually, that was the first I heard of him.  So far, he looks like a simple, humble, holy man.  I’m excited for his pontificate, and I can’t wait to “get to know him” through his writings, etc.  His gesture of asking the prayers of the crowd at St. Peter’s Square—beautiful.  And from everything I’ve read?  Utterly genuine.  

2) Thank you to Catholic bloggers!  I realized the other day how much I enjoyed frequenting them.  Thank you to Rocco Palmo @ Whispers in the Loggia, Fr. Z @ What Does the Prayer Really Say, Robert Moynihan @ the Moynihan Letters, John Thavis @ Decoding the Vatican, John Allen Jr. @ the National Schismatic Reporter (shout out to Fr. Z), and anything that George Weigel writes.  Thanks also to FOCUS for doing the white smoke text alert—although my older sister beat them to the punch.  Good quality Catholicism from good quality writers.  Keep up the good work!

3) It’s an interesting time in western Oregon; we not only have a new pope but also a new archbishop.  What will the church look like in 5 years, when both have had time working in their respective positions?  

4) Hearing of the happenings in Rome reminds me of two trips there.  The first was in 2004, I think, when I went for two weeks and stayed at the Pontifical North American College (the NAC).  I was a seminarian at the time, treated wonderfully by my hosts, some of my then-diocesan brothers at the NAC.  The things I saw!  Being a history major deepened my appreciation, and I was lucky enough to have taken a history of art class the semester immediately prior to the trip.  

Walking into St. Peter’s Basilica was breathtaking (literally).  The Pietá truly is a masterpiece; I kept looking at it, thinking I’d catch Our Lady turning her head or caressing her Son’s hair.  The four major basilicas were awesome—and to think, these were the burial places of St. Peter!  St. Paul!  On my second trip to Rome, I was part of a World Youth Day group going to Cologne in 2005.  The tour began in Rome, and one of the big highlights was having Mass in one of the catacombs.  

The greatest gift from that whole trip was experiencing the universality of the Catholic Church—presently, with pilgrims from every corner of the world in Cologne; past and future, seeing the tombs of saints and martyrs, knowing they were in heaven praying for us.  And the capstone: seeing the pope and St. Peter’s, the touchstone of unity in the Church.  

5) I’ve been watching the History Channel’s Bible show.  I’ve enjoyed it!  Honestly, I didn’t think I would.  I felt obligated to watch it at first—how can you say ‘No’ to the Bible???  Once my wife and I started watching it, however, we didn’t want it to end.  I appreciate seeing the biblical figures as real people.  I’m always wary of a secular channel doing a project like this; effectively, they’re telling the story of the Bible with their own reflections.  Skip this, show this, make a connection there with this figure that wasn’t explicit in the text (but doesn’t contradict the text), etc.  I’m excited and nervous for the New Testament.  And I wonder... are they going Catholic or Protestant?  That is, those books that are the “apocryphal books” to Protestants and conversely part of the Old Testament canon to Catholics.  The Maccabees’ revolt would be a neat thing to see!  

6) Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Let's not forget amidst the beer drinking and music that St. Patrick was a devoted and zealous pastor.  He loved his people and loved the Lord even more. 

7) Go Dodgers! (author deflects responsibility for lazy quick take to braindeadedness)

To get to the Third Heaven, make a right at the second...

My main vehicle for Scripture study recently has been confronting problems and questions.  Case in point yesterday and today: I have never fully understood 2 Cor 12:2-4.

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.  And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows--and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter." (RSV-CE)

If you start from the passage's face value from the eyes of a 21st century schlub like me, it's just... odd.  Shouldn't St. Paul know that there's only one heaven, not three?  Why is his phrasing less than direct?  And this revelation is private?  We can't know what it was?  

Complicating this verse in my mind was a Mormon coworker from years ago.  Together with 1 Cor 15:40-42, Mormons assert that there are three levels of heaven:

"There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory." (RSV-CE)

Rather than get into an apologetic discussion--for that, I'd refer you to Isaiah Bennett's books on Mormonism--this little endeavor illustrated a few important points to me.  

1) Context

If taken out of its proper place in the epistle, 2 Cor 12:2-4 can be confusing.  Reading the context of it, however, sheds much of the confusion.  Paul's indirect language 'I knew this guy...' is cleared up in 12:7, where he notes that "to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh."  This guy that had revelations was HIM.  And, going back to chapter 10 in that letter, Paul is defending his ministry to the Corinthians.  Citing his visions is part of that defense.  

Similarly, 1 Cor 15:40-42 is a small part of a chapter that Paul devotes to the resurrection.  He covers the resurrection of Jesus, that we share in that resurrection, and that our bodies will gain a new form on the last day.  Paul used an allegory to compare the difference between earthly things and eternal things. No Christian believes that Paul was referring to three separate levels of heaven in that passage.  

2) Background

The commentaries I read regarding 2 Cor 12 were very helpful in providing background.  The Jewish mind at the time saw three levels of heaven, but not all meant the same thing.  The first heaven was the realm of the birds and clouds; the second was the sun, moon, and stars; the third was the dwelling of God.  Not being a 1st Century Jew, I never might've known this without the commentaries' help.  Also helpful was Isaiah Bennett, who gave examples of "heaven" being used in Scripture in all three levels/meanings.  

In my mind, St. Paul was using a phrase similar to "cloud nine" or "seventh heaven" today.  The phrases are used in an abstract sense--extreme happiness--rather than a literal, numeric value.  St. Paul used "third heaven" to refer to a specific place, not to say that there were three levels of the afterlife.  In the sentence immediately following, he says "this man was caught up into Paradise."  

All in all, commentaries can be a great tool for sifting through difficulties.  Seeking the wisdom of those wiser than us is very prudent.  The only catch is finding a good commentary... 

3) Marinating

Yeah, I don't know what else to call it.  Reflection, lectio, praying with the Scriptures... I can't say I spent a fortnight deep in contemplation.  I started reading on this last night and read more again this morning.  All I can really claim is that the more I read, the more I thought about it, the Holy Spirit provided new insights.  

St. Paul saying that "this man" heard things which cannot be told.  My instinctual response was one of indignance.  (classic American)  What, I can't know?  You're too holy to tell me, a sinner?  But I really want to know, I want to hear what it was like!  

Upon further marinating, two thoughts arrived.  First, St. Paul didn't exactly keep the message of his revelation to himself.  To suggest that he would deliberately withhold something essential from his preaching is ridiculous and not consistent with Paul's character.  Sure, the experience of the revelation was just for him, but it leads to the second thought.  I imagined 2 Cor 12 read in the following manner: 'I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was.  Things inexpressible; fulfillment beyond all telling.  How can I convey to you what I felt?  I can't... it was that amazing.'  

4) Accentuate the positive

I was also blessed with a reminder: don't let apologetic pursuits remain in the negative realm.  I'm not slamming apologetics, quite the contrary!  Every Catholic should know their faith and be able to defend it (1 Peter 3:15).  Apologetics aren't about me being right and them being wrong.  The Truth is the focus; it's something we affirm (positive), devote ourselves to (positive), believe in (positive), and draw our life from (positive).  

7 Quick Takes, 3/1/13

---1---

This is my first 7 Quick Takes!  I've long admired Jennifer Fulwiler's writing at www.conversiondiary.com and it's very cool that she's cousins with one of the monks at Mt. Angel Abbey (one of my almae matres) I've read these in the past and thought, it would be nice to do the 7 Quick Takes someday... when I actually write on this thing more than once every three months.  And here it is!  Does this mean I'm a real blogger now?  For more quick takes from all around the world, check out Jennifer's blog.

Maybe it's because I'm a visual person, but
I really like the picture.  You can understand
without even reading that the purpose of
Mass is to ascend to heaven.

--2---

Me being a bibliophile, there was a wonderful event today... Salem's YMCA has an annual used book sale.  Don't tell my wife, but I walked out with about 10-12 books.  Two great finds: a Douay Version of the Bible (I'm assuming it's what we know as the Douay-Rheims)... by the musty smell I’m assuming it’s a lot older than me; second was a pocket-sized Sunday Missal from the 1950s.  It talked of this new thing called a “Dialogue” Mass, where the congregation joined the acolyte in his responses... and even the priest in certain places!  (the Gloria, e.g.)  Gee, that’s a swell idea!  See the scan at the right, from Fr. Stedman's "My Sunday Missal." 

---3---

I’ll really miss Pope Benedict.  I wish there were some retrospectives from the leftist media types who called him all sorts of unsavory things upon his election.  I’m not really caught up in who gets elected next.  The Italian, Canadian, Ghanan, Philipino... ???  Nobody saw John Paul II coming, and I didn’t think Joseph Ratzinger had even the slightest chance of getting elected.  So what do the predictors know? 

---4---

The more I read about the prophecies of St. Malachy, the more I’m comforted and the less stock I put in them.  Although my heart skipped a beat the other day... I was reading the blog/letters of Robert Moynihan and he called the Pope Emeritus “Petrus Romanus.”  A little unnerving... but I still don’t give much credence to the prophecies.  

---5---

Work has been incredibly stressful as I’m transitioning into a new job.  It’s funny, it’s like there are two competing parts of me.  One part wants to succumb to the strain on my mental faculties and stare into a wall for a few hours.  The other part of me knows that when I’m pushed like this, I have the capacity to excel.  God bless my wife for putting up with my irritability after work last night...

---6---

The Portland Timbers (of Major League Soccer) start their season on Sunday.  I can’t wait!  Timbers games are a blast to attend (nevermind what my wife says) and the crowd is really into it the whole game.  I was trying to think why I like soccer as a sport when some in this country look down on it.  My answer?  It’s so fluid, it’s like a game-long fast break in basketball, or the deep ball in American football.  Wait, did I just tarnish my credibility by calling football, American football?  I promise I’m not wearing a scarf or a beret.  

---7---

Did I mention I’ll miss the pope?  He was a great spiritual father to the Church.  God bless him in his retirement!  And God help his successor.