No Biggie

A variety of things/people/events have come up for me recently; causing me to reflect on the counter-cultural nature of the Catholic Church.  All the controversial issues in society today... I thought about the trials of the Church in the past.  Today, the thought of burning a little incense for the emperor seems minor and odd.  How was that a cause for martyrdom?  Something so small!

In that thought there's a little insight into the methods of the Evil One.  What's a little sin?  And why would you listen to the Church tell you it's a big sin?  It's not a big deal.  It's a minor thing.  Standing up is much more difficult, tiresome, and look at what it can cost you!

I think we frequently overestimate our resolve against the devil's wiles for this very reason.  Temptations can be blatant, of course, but more often than not, they are subtle.  A compromise here, an accommodation there, and we can be well on the road away from God and not even know it!

All Roads Lead to the Eucharist (part 2 of 4)

This post continues the series I started on four windows from St. Mary's Church, Mt. Angel.  There were four windows specifically chosen to be around the tabernacle... and they were chosen for good reason.  Read part 1 of 4 here.

The second window I'd like to examine is the Annunciation.  The angel Gabriel greets Mary, "Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28)  In the window, Gabriel's promise of the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit is represented as a dove.

This is a perfect window to overshadow the tabernacle.  The key, I think, comes from a line of the Angelus: "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."  The Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus among us--it is the fulfillment of His promise to be with us until the end of the age (Matt 28:20).  God is not a distant figure.  Just as in the Annunciation the Word became flesh, in the Eucharist a similar transformation takes place.  God dramatically enters our world in the Eucharist... ordinary food becomes heavenly food; what sustains us day to day fundamentally becomes the spiritual nourishment that carries us through life.

In a sense, we see a reflection of the magnificent moment of the Annunciation at every Mass.  God comes again to save His people; Jesus enters and transforms human existence.  

The Sunday Preface

Here is (most) of the Preface from Sunday, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  Reflection follows:

 

In the waters of the Jordan,

You revealed with signs and wonders a new Baptism,

so that through the voice that came down from heaven,

we might come to believe in Your Word dwelling among us,

and by the Spirit's descending in the likeness of a dove,

we might know that Christ Your Servant

has been anointed with the oil of gladnes

and sent to bring the good news to the poor.

 

Just like the Epiphany preface, I'm amazed at how much is packed into this.  The major themes:

 

1) Baptism

2) Revelation

3) the Trinity

4) the Incarnation (since this feast liturgically closes the Christmas season)

5) the promise of the Messiah in the Old Testament

6) Christian mission

 

That's a lot to chew on... a few notes. 

 

When God chose to reveal Himself to mankind, He did so in a specific way.  He used words (not to mention the Word) and deeds.  I think it's analagous to the sacraments having matter and form.  God didn't speak to men and follow up with an "or else."  God didn't just promise His fidelity to the Israelites in Egypt (words)--He raised up Moses and led the Chosen People to freedom (deeds).  When Jesus taught and preached (words), He also performed miracles (deeds).  In this preface, we first hear of deeds ("signs and wonders") and then words ("the voice that came down from heaven").  It is the pattern of revelation. 

 

All three Persons of the Trinity make an appearance in this preface, which is very appropriate.  The entire Trinity was present at the Baptism of the Lord.  The Trinity also is a key to Baptism; on it hinges the validity of a baptism.  In Matt 28:19-20, Jesus commands the disciples to preach the Gospel to the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Interestingly, Mormon baptism is considered invalid by the Catholic Chruch because of their deficient trinitarian theology.  To close the preface, we are pointed to the image of Jesus being sent... it is mentioned as His mission, but it's one that we all share in.  It's an essential part of Christian baptism. 

 

The closing three lines point to Jesus as the Messiah.  In this, I see the yearnings of the Hebrews.  Living through the Temple getting destroyed... the devastating Babylonian exile... hearing the promises of Isaiah, Jeremiah... praying the Psalms and having irresistable thoughts of the glories of King David's court... remembering the Exodus at Passover, longing for a new Moses...

 

Israel hoped and prayed for centuries; now Christians pray that the whole world "might know that Christ Your Servant has been anointed with the oil of gladness and sent to bring the good news to the poor."  (citing Luke 4:18-19, which references Isaiah 61:1-2)

Trying to See Through the Cloud

Fervor, ironically, can be fickle.  Driving home from work yesterday, I listened to Catholic Answers on the radio.  Curtis Martin was the guest; he is the founder of FOCUS ministries, which runs faithful Catholic campus ministry programs at 74 universities.  It sounded like their ministry was just like a Newman Center, with the exception that they’re an organization independent of a diocese.  

Curtis talked about evangelization in a simple way.  I found it very comforting—which again is odd, since that’s not the feeling I get when I think of evangelization.  He said over and over that Catholicism works—it just needs to be presented well.  Even further, it needs to be presented as a powerful, fulfilling relationship with the God who loves us without question.  It really is Good News!

It lit a fire in my heart and I arrived home excited.  I picked up Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth (vol. 1) and eagerly started reading.  A big question floated in my head—how do I evangelize?  What do I do?  I wanted to hit the ground running! 

And then, life.  Dinner, exercise, watching a little TV/spending time with my lovely wife, and then bedtime.  The fervor?  The question went from an exciting prospect to a simple curiosity.  

Maybe the first step is to let go of what I think evangelization is supposed to look like.  Three images stick in my head.  The first?  St. John the Baptist.  Preach in public in a loud voice.  Terrifying.

The second is that I would have to walk up to random people to ask them about Jesus.  It happened to me once in college, while I was walking out to the parking lot.  The guy’s approach was perfect for the situation, but the very thought of doing that to a stranger makes me very nervous. 

Finally, part of me thinks that evangelization is necessarily successful.  Just convey the Truth in the right way, and poof!  They’ll come running into the Church!  Well, that’s not really true.  I remember one of the things Fr. Jerome (of happy memory) told me once.  Some of the greatest saints are some of the greatest failures, by human standards.  My patron, St. Francis Xavier, was a failure in China and Japan despite having some success in India.  

To sum up: I don't know what evangelization "is" for my state in life.  My three images are more caricatures of evangelization more than anything else.  Yeah yeah, there's the St. Francis quote.  But too many people--myself included--use that quote as an excuse for inaction.  I don't know what it will look like or what God will ask of me.  Right now, I pray for openness and willingness to hear His voice. 

Preface of Praise

Sadly, it's all too easy to be at Mass and have the attention span of a 5 year old.  I miss out on various prayers, readings, etc. if I'm not careful--despite my best efforts. One of those areas is the Preface.  I think the best explanation of the function of the Preface came from one of my teachers, Fr. Paschal: it's a hymn of what we have to be thankful for.  After listing those things, how can we do anything but join in the song of the angels?

The theology in the feast-specific texts is wonderful.  The new translation has restored the poetic, prosaic feel of these beautiful prayers.  They're packed with meaning!  For example, here is the rest of the Preface for the feast of the Epiphany:

For today you have revealed the mystery
of our salvation in Christ
as a light for the nations,
and, when He appeared in our mortal nature,
you made us new by the glory of his immortal nature. 

Once we bring God into any equation, mystery necessarily follows.  God revealed Himself to us, and also His plan of salvation.  How else would we have known of God had He not revealed Himself?  And, of course, when we talk about revelation, we have the wonderful gift of the Scriptures and of Tradition.

We're reminded that Christ came to offer salvation to us--something mysterious in itself, since it's rooted in God's unbounded love for mankind.  Why did God create us, why did He go to such lengths to point us toward salvation, when mankind did nothing on its own to deserve it?  Love, love, love!

The use of the phrase "light to the nations" is rooted in the Scriptures (cf. John 8:12) but also in Vatican II.  The primary document of the council, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, begins with the words "Christ is the light of the world."  Later in that first paragraph:

"Since the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race, it desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission." (LG #1... read the whole document here)

In a sense, that sentence takes John 8:12, Jesus saying "I am the light of the world," and transforms it into a mission statement.  The Church aims to be a bright, shining star to the world, drawing the nations to the love of God.  And on the feast of the Epiphany, this idea of the Church being a light to the nations has a much more proximate image: that of the star that led the magi to Bethlehem.

Back to the preface.  The two closing lines recall the mystery of the incarnation ("when He appeared in our mortal nature"), as this feast directly references Christmas.  The final line points us toward baptism ("made us new"), which is the portal by which we would come to be a part of the Church, the light to the nations.  Talk of Jesus' mortal and immortal nature also brings up the hypostatic union--that Jesus is fully God and fully human.  Nice heavy dose of Christology to top it off.

A recap of the major themes covered in this preface:

1. Revelation
2. Salvation
3. Ecclesiology (the Church as a light to the world)
4. the Incarnation
5. Baptism
6. Christology

Take in a nice deep breath of that... good stuff.  It's all there to those that have eyes to see and ears to hear.  And let's join the angels in praising God!

The Defining of the Immaculate Conception

Sometimes people have funny ideas about the Catholic Church--wait, take out the "sometimes."  From the Middle Ages on, the Catholic Church has this persona of a stingy headmaster, sternly rebuking its children and using its power capriciously. 

I'm not denying abuses of power... but I'm not getting into that particular subject on this post.  If critics are going to blast us when we're in the wrong, in all fairness, they should give us kudos for what we do right.  (bwahahahahahahaha!!!  Kidding.  Can you imagine that?  Neither can I.  Really, it would be nice)  I'd like to highlight a great positive: the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus promulgated by Pope Pius IX in 1854.  The Constitution defined the dogma of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception.  You can read it yourself at New Advent, home of the Catholic Encyclopedia. 

To start the Constitution, the pope covers three main ideas: Mary has a place in the economy of salvation, the idea that Mary was immaculately conceived wasn't something new in the history of the Church or the sensus fidelium, and it's something worthy to be celebrated in the liturgical & devotional life of the Church.  The Holy Father then proceeds to examine Catholic Tradition, councils, and the extensive treatment of Our Lady by the Fathers of the Church.  They read the Old Testament typologically and saw Mary everywhere.

Next, Pius IX noted that the Holy See had been petitioned before on the matter of defining the Immaculate Conception.  Most recently, Pope Gregory XVI (Pius IX's immediate predecessor) had been petitioned about the matter.  Pius IX's first step?  He established a commission to study the matter.    Then, he wrote all the bishops in the world asking for their opinion.

Hmm.  That's odd, it doesn't sound too autocratic to me.  The Constitution proceeds to define the doctrine:

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

After that, the pope warns any Catholic who dissented from the teaching.

Here again... The Church would issue anathemas, right?  And punish all dissenters?  And banish them to hell?  Right?  That's what the Church does!  Sorry to disappoint those who hold a Catholic stereotype.  Pius IX presented dissent for what it really is: an action by a believer where he/she creates his/her own consequences.  In the action of dissent, that person would separate him/herself from the Church and do harm to their own faith.  Yes, the Church is presenting a doctrine for belief--but she provides pages and pages why the belief is in line with the deposit of faith.  If the Catholic Church was the severe, rigid autocrat as it is believed to be, why didn't Pius IX just write a letter, commanding belief or else?

From the ending paragraph of Ineffabilis Deus:
"Let them [the children of the Church] fly with utter confidence to this most sweet Mother of mercy and grace in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts and fears.  Under her guidance, under her patronage, under her kindness and protection, nothing is to be feared, nothing is hopeless.  Because, while bearing toward us a truly motherly affection and having in her care the work of our salvation, she is solicitous about the whole human race."

O Holy and Immaculate Virgin, pray for us!

(light bulb) Ding!

It’s amazing what happens to your day when you throw in a little fasting.  I’m not talking about fasting from food, in this case.  In an effort to take advantage of Advent (spiritually, that is), I started fasting in three little ways yesterday morning.  

I don’t say that to be vain; I have plenty of that already.  It’s more an observation, or perhaps an insight into what a stiff-necked person I am.  Okay genius, countless saints and doctors of the Church cited fasting as indispensible to the spiritual life.  If that weren’t enough, Jesus Himself said after casting out a demon, “this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29) 

Ah, so slow to catch on.  On Monday, I noticed a big change in my day.  There was more peace and less stress.  I could focus at work better than normal.  Internally, I complained less.  Granted, I was a little more disposed to fasting because of the somber events of the weekend.  I understand that the rubber will really meet the road when I try to do this stuff on a bad day, or worse, on a day when I’m apathetic to it.  

Another light bulb went on.

By fasting I was fighting the good fight (cf. 1 Tim 6:12).  And, it was made clear to me, I’m in a fight.  For me, I particularly fight with laziness.  It starts with getting up for work as late as possible.  Then it continues when I race to work (occasionally cursing at a slow driver and frequently cursing lights not in my favor) to arrive barely on time.  It affects my eating habits—if I see it, I want to eat it because I’m too lazy to say no.  It affects my prayer life—I become more prone to think “hmm, what’s on TV?” rather than say the simplest prayer.    

In the battle for virtues & vices, in which my soul hangs in the balance, I wasn’t on the offensive... or the defensive!  Yesterday I realized wasn’t picking up my armor until later in the day, if at all.  The evil one?  He begins his onslaught when I open my eyes.  

I’d be willing to bet Fr. Jerome has something to do with this.  Pray for us!

“For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shot your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Eph 6:10-17 (RSV-CE)