Suffering With Joy

Prayer from 8th Sunday after Pentecost

July 20, 2010

The Church prays her sacred liturgy as the words of all true believers.  We can never go wrong when we address God through her official prayers. They are chanted in the name of all in her Body, which is the mystical Body of Christ. The thought that all the baptized are members of this Body is truly awesome to contemplate, and we should do our best to help others to become part of it that they may find the great spiritual joy we have.

From the rising to the setting of the sun all over the earth, the Holy Sacrifice is re-presented to our heavenly Father and we benefit from all the graces that come from this perpetual offering.  There is not one moment in time that the Church is not praying and there is not one prayer in the sacred liturgy that fails to show a right relationship with our Father. By praying these words attentively and with all our heart, we are imitating Christ just as much as we imitate Him by doing good to others.

When we pray the sacred liturgy we need never fear that our prayers are not good enough, or that we are praying for the wrong thing, or that our prayers lack sufficient merit, because it is Christ Himself offering the prayers. This is why our sacred liturgy is infinitely pleasing to the Father. With this in mind I take great comfort in the Sunday collect (prayer) which is prayed often in the liturgy throughout the week.  This past Sunday’s prayer is much needed in our day.

Graciously grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the spirit to think and do always such things as are rightful: that we, who cannot exist without Thee, may be enabled to live according to Thy will.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

How can our heavenly Father not grant this to us? We are asking that our minds and bodies be infused with the Holy Spirit so that we do only that which is just in His eyes and think only of that which is in accord with His law. We can be confident that God will give us what we ask for because we are asking for exactly what He wants to give us.  This prayer opens our hearts to Him, He who is deserving of all our love, honor, and worship.

In today’s age with the supreme arrogance of man wafting over airwaves and satellite day and night, the Church admits (and we with Her) that we cannot exist, and in fact would not exist at all without the power of our Creator.  This humble acknowledgment is the simple truth, and when we pray in total humility, we honor our Father who is offended by those who act as if all power comes from themselves. Moreover, this just prayer benefits all humanity.  We ask these things from God not only for ourselves, but for all our fellow men everywhere. As God was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if Abraham could find only ten righteous men (Gen. 18), so the humble prayers of the few bring grace to the many.

We ask to be enabled to live according to the Father’s will.  We can do this only if we practice daily surrender to His providence and keep our eyes fixed on Christ, our Teacher and Savior.  The entire world becomes a better place when even one person becomes better at thinking and acting like Christ, doing the Father’s will. It’s the ripple effect of good that, if strong, can collide with and turn back the ripples of evil.  The effects of this prayer will be hidden from those who have eyes that do not see (Ez. 12: 2, Jer. 5: 21, Ps. 135: 16, Ps. 115: 5) but will be obvious to those who strive towards God, trusting in His care.

Tags: Catholic Church, liturgy, trust in God

The Pope as Liturgist

June 25, 2010

The May, 2010 issue of Inside the Vatican published Vincent Twomey’s opening address for the first International Liturgical Conference on the theme Pope Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy.  Held on Fota Island, Co. Cork, July 12th-13th, 2008, the conference marked a new beginning in the restoration of the Catholic sacred liturgy. Although this occurred two years ago, Twomey’s address titled “Pope as Leitourgos” is worth revisiting in light of the world’s current mad exaltation of every corrupt deviance in man which appears to be heading towards an explosive and disastrous crescendo.

Twomey first summarizes Pope Benedict’s commentary on Romans 15:16, which reveals St. Paul’s understanding of his own mission, quoting from the Pope’s sermon from the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in 2008:

[Paul knows he has been called 'to be a leitourgos of Christ Jesus for the Gentiles, serving the Gospel of God as a priest, so that the pagans become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.' Only in this passage does Paul use the [Greek] word heirourgein – serving as a priest – together with leitourgos – liturgist.  Paul speaks of the cosmic liturgy, in which the world of men itself must become worship of God, an offering in the Holy Spirit. When the whole world will have become the liturgy of God, when in its reality it will have become adoration, then it will have reached its goal; then it will be whole and saved. And this is the ultimate objective of St. Paul’s apostolic mission and of ours. It is to such a mystery that the Lord calls us.  let us pray in this hour that he may help us carry it out in the right way, to become true liturgists of Jesus Christ. Amen.

In this statement Pope Benedict identifies his mission as Pope with St. Paul’s mission.  Twomey then remarks that the above quote “sums up… the central concerns of the theology that Joseph Ratzinger had systematically developed over the course of his life as a theologian.”  He says that even when speaking or writing on other subjects, especially creation, “the liturgy found a central place in his writings.”

Twomey addresses a core point in the Pope’s theology:

The first account of creation in Genesis has nothing to do with how we were created (such as is proposed by the scientific theory of evolution).  its message, rather, is to convey to the reader why we were created.  According to Ratzinger, the cosmos has been brought into existence for one thing only: worship.

More precisely, God called the cosmos into being so that humanity could share in God’s Sabbath rest and hence experience that life is good, and that creation, especially humanity, is very good. In the Old Testament, creation and covenant form a unity.

In other words, God created humanity so that he might enter into a covenant relationship with us, so that he might heal our infirmities and restore us to the relationship that he intended from the beginning of the world: union with him in Christ, the source of that joy which God intends for humanity and which is the object of the Church’s mission.

As Ratzinger reminds us, St. Paul expressed it in another way: “the whole of creation has been groaning in travail together until now.”  Paul was acutely conscious that “the creation itself will be set free from bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8: 21-22).

After making a number of excellent points about the Pope’s writings on the liturgy, he closes with this:

But the Pope’s concern for a true reform of the liturgy is also expressed in the care and attention he gives to every celebration of Holy Mass according to the new rite over which he presides as Pope.

Today he teaches the Church not only by words but also by example.

As I was reading this address I couldn’t help being reminded of the core truth: that God created everything for the purpose of worship of Him.  Unless and until we are willing to fall on our knees before Him with a clear interior disposition of awe and reverence, we deceive ourselves about our own importance and power. Moreover, the sacred liturgy is the work of the Body of Christ, designed to bring us individually and corporately into a right relationship with God.  It belongs to no one individual but to the Mystical Body as a whole.

I also thought of the nonsense put out by various gurus of positive thinking.  Things like telling people they should stand in front of the mirror and say “Every day in every way I am getting better and better”, and writing books with the theme: “Think and Grow Rich” and other topics designed to give the impression that we are our own masters.  These promisers of earthly success and delights enrich themselves while never pointing to Christ Who is our only true hope.  We achieve our highest calling when we lose ourselves in God in trustful surrender and praise.  Nothing else matters that much in comparison.

Tags: Catholic Church, liturgy

St. Ephrem, Harp of the Holy Ghost

June 18, 2010

I was born in the way of Truth:  Though my childhood was unaware of the greatness of the benefit, I knew it when trial came.

Today is the feast of St. Ephrem, the Prophet of the Syrians, Harp of the Holy Ghost, Father of Hymnody, Mary’s Own Singer, and other grand titles including Doctor of the Church. He lived from around 306-373 and we are very fortunate to still have large remnants of his writings.

You might think that anything he wrote so long ago  be would be old-fashioned or irrelevant to today’s world, but like all the Doctors of the Church, St. Ephrem’s writings get down to the simplicity and truth of life as found in sacred Scripture. Here is part of a poem he wrote:

There lie those who improved their complexions,

And artfully disguised their faces;

There lie those who painted their eyelids,

And the worm corrodes their eyes…

There lie those who were enemies,

And their bones are mingled together.

The scroll St. Ephrem holds in the icon above says: “Take thou refuge in God, who passes not away nor is changed.” He wrote about the Holy Eucharist, Penance, the primacy of Peter, about the Blessed Virgin and the sufferings of Christ.

St. Ephrem is known as “The Deacon of Edessa” and is the only male Doctor of the Church who was not ordained a priest or bishop. He lived for some time as a hermit and wrote many poems illustrating the doctrines of Christianity. This beautiful work from the Nativity series gives words to Mary:

The babe that I carry carries me, saith Mary, and He has lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air; and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son’s… [O Lord Jesus,] In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame: Thy Mother put on in her virginity the Garment of Glory that suffices for all.  She gave the little vest of the body to Him that covers all.

Blessed is she in whose heart and mind Thou wast!  A King’s palace she was by Thee, O Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies by Thee, O High Priest!

St. Ephrem organized choirs of women and taught them verses to replace the heretical hymns of Bardesanes, a Syrian writer of the early 3rd century who had written 150 of them, while keeping the music.  Today many of the hymns of St. Ephrem are part of the Syrian liturgy.

Pope Benedict XV proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church on October 5, 1920.

Below is a YouTube recording of John Tavener’s Ikon of the Nativity taken from St. Ephrem’s Nativity hymns.  Tavener is a convert to the Orthodox Church and has written a great deal of music for its liturgy that I think is utterly heavenly. You can also find a recording of a Maronite choir singing St. Ephrem’s Hymn of Light. Unfortunately, embedding is impossible.  Just type in “Hymns of St. Ephrem” and it will come up.

Given the deplorable and sometimes heretical hymns foisted upon Catholics since the 1960s, perhaps it would be wise to call on the patronage of St. Ephrem in the restoration of the sacred liturgy.

Tags: Catholic Church, music

Good Friday Reproaches – Victoria

April 1, 2010

Tomás Luis de Victoria

The most spiritually impressive part of the Good Friday sacred liturgy for me as a child were the Reproaches, chanted during the adoration of the cross.  This is not to say the chanting of the Passion and the Great Intercessions were not equally impressive, but the music and words of the Reproaches took the prayers of the liturgy to a much higher level for me.

As I was always in the choir from first grade on, the Gregorian chant is well engraved in my brain.  However, some great composers have also written music for the Reproaches.  Tomás Luis de Victoria and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina are two well-known names representing the kind of music the fathers of Vatican Council II wanted to preserve.

The Reproaches, otherwise known as the Improperia or Popule Meus are twelve in number.  I had intended to post each one with some commentary, but the death of my Mother last week intervened so the project will have to wait until next year.

Today I have the best partial recording (the first three Reproaches) I could find of Victoria’s composition with choir and cantor.  Two choirs are traditionally used to sing alternately in Greek first and then in Latin the words most people today associate with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and which are repeated throughout the Reproaches:  O holy God!  O holy mighty One!  O holy immortal One, have mercy upon us! As was often done by composers of his time, Victoria alternated Gregorian chant with polyphony.

For those who are too ill to attend the traditional Good Friday liturgy, listening to Victoria’s Improperia and following along in a missal is a good option if you are able. In fact, carving out time to read the entire Good Friday liturgy and meditating on it would bring many graces to those who wish to join with Mary, the holy women, and John spiritually at the foot of the cross on this day.

A little about the composer: Victoria (c. 1548 – 27 August 1611) was one of the most important composers of the Renaissance along with Palestrina and Orlando de Lassus.  He is a glory of Spain, having written music for many feasts including Marian solemnities.  Victoria was ordained a priest in 1574 and served the Church in both Italy and Spain in various capacities.  He died in 1611 and was buried at the Monasterio de las Descalzas de Santa Clara at Madrid but his grave unfortunately remains unidentified.

Last week I posted Popule Meus by Jose Angel Lamas which is also very beautiful and appropriate for the sacred liturgy.

Tags: Catholic Church, liturgy, music

Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

March 15, 2010

Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Lo, we have seen Him and there is no beauty in Him nor comeliness;  He is despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity.  His countenance is, as it were, hidden, whereupon we esteemed Him not.  His appearance is inglorious among men, and His form among children of men.  And yet, He is the beautiful one above all the sons of men, and by His bruises we are healed.¹

V.  Turn not Thy face away from us.

R.  And withdraw not from Thy servants in Thine anger.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who dost renew us to Thine image / by the precious blood of Jesus Christ Thy Son: / lead our footsteps in Thy paths, / so that we may truly obtain the gift of Thy divine charity. / Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.³

Hymn: Make me feel as thou hast felt; make my soul to glow and melt with love of Christ my Lord.

¹ Third Responsory, Tenebrae of Holy Thursday, Is. 53: 3, 52: 14, Ps. 44: 3. ² Ps. 26: 9. ³ Secret, “For Charity”.

Tenebrae, meaning “darkness”, is the name given to the liturgy of the Divine Office – Matins and Lauds – on the last three days of Holy Week.  It is sung around 3 p.m. on the eve of the day to which it belongs.  During this service, the lights are gradually put out, a practice dating from the fifth century.  On Holy Saturday the church is in darkness from the beginning to the end of the service except for a single candle near the lectern to read by.  These three days commemorate the death of Jesus and the time of His entombment with the liturgy conducted in a spirit and demonstration of mourning. Tenebrae is a lengthy service observed in monasteries and in a few parish churches or oratorios where the public may take part.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

O Emmanuel

December 23, 2009

O Emmanuel, Rex et Legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et salvator earum; veni ad salvandum nos, Domine Deus noster.

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expectation and Savior of the nations, come and save us, O Lord our God.

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel.

Isaiah: 33: 22: For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will save us.

Emmanuel means “God with us”.  Jesus promised He would be with us until the end of time.  We find him in the Holy Eucharist.  We receive Him into our hearts at Holy Communion.  We ask him to come and rule over our hearts, to help us to live according to His laws.  We await His coming with great expectation.

And how will we know He has come?  We see him in the arms of Mary, the virgin of virgins, the most holy and perfect virgin.  She presents Emmanuel to us to bow down before and adore.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons

O Rex Gentium

December 22, 2009

O Rex gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum; veni, et salva hominem quem de limo formasti.

O King of nations, and their desired One, and the cornerstone that makest both one; come and save man whom Thou formed out of clay.

Isaiah 9:7: His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Haggai 2: 7-9: And I will move all nations: and the Desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

Eph. 2: 14-16: For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace; And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross…

Eph. 2: 19-20: Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…

Gen. 2: 7: And the Lord God formed man of the clay of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Jesus comes to unite all Israel and the Gentiles into one body by the Cross of salvation.  He is the cornerstone upon which the family of God is built.  In today’s antiphon, we ask Him to save us – to reshape us, reform us, take away our sins, to change us into what He wants us to be, we who were formed out of clay.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons, peace and joy

O Oriens

December 21, 2009

O oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae; veni et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Orient, splendor of eternal light, and Sun of justice, come and enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Isaiah 9:2: The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.

Oriens means dawn, the sun rising in the east.  Sometimes it is called “Dayspring”.  From the earliest days of the Church, Mass was celebrated ad orientem, that is, facing east from whence we know the Savior will come again. 

We seek the light that is Christ in our daily lives – our prayer, our work, and our sufferings and joys.  Jesus is waiting for us to ask Him to light the way.

We seek the Sun of justice.  He is coming again to give all men their due.  With His help we say “yes” to love and will merit eternal life.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons

O Clavis David

December 20, 2009

O Clavis David et aceptrum domus Israel, qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit; veni et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel Who openist and no man shutteth: Who shuttest, and no man openeth; come, and lead the captive from prison, sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Isaiah 22:22: And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Isaiah 9:6: For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

Ps 106:13-14: Then they cried to the Lord in their need and he rescued them from their distress. He led them forth from darkness and gloom and broke their chains to pieces.

Jesus is the key who opens the door to the prison where we have been chained because of our sins.  The darkness of our intellect gets us into trouble again and again.  But the Key of David can unlock our hearts if we let Him, and we can flee the darkness and shadow of death to choose eternal life.  If we let Him – it is the meaning of free will – the right to choose without any constraint that which is good.  Jesus never forsakes us when we cry for mercy, when we open our hearts to Him.  Say “yes” to Love.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons

O Radix Jesse

December 19, 2009

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum opulorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

O Root of Jesse, who standest as the ensign of the people; before whom kings shall not open their lips; to whom the nations shall pray: come and deliver us; tarry now no more.

Isaiah 11:1: And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.

Isaiah 11:10: In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious.

Romans 15:8-13: For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name.

And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and magnify him, all ye people. And again Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing; that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Apocalypse 5:1-5 : And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, to open the book, nor to look on it. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the book, nor to see it. And one of the ancients said to me: Weep not; behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

This antiphon, like the others, foreshadows the means by which salvation shall come: Jesus on the cross is the ensign of all the people of the world.  Rulers are struck dumb by the victory of the cross.  Jesus has put down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the lowly. He is the one who came to draw all to Himself.  All nations will beseech His mercy, forsaking earthly kings and turning to the King of Kings.

Come, Jesus, lion of the tribe of Judah, and do not tarry. Deliver us from our enemies.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons

O Adonai

December 18, 2009

O Adonai, et dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, eet ei in Sina legem dedisti, veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the flaming bush, and gavest him the law on Sinai; come and redeem us by thy outstretched arm.

Isaiash11:4-5: But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins.

Isaiah 33:22: For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: He will save us.

This day we call God “Adonai”, the Sacred Lord, Master of all, Majesty.  The Hebrews used this word in the place of the holy and unutterable name which they were forbidden to pronounce, even to today.  The Church recalls the giving of the law to Moses, the law that we are born with written on our hearts, and the power of God to deliver us from slavery to Satan.

God is not coming this time in power and glory with trumpets and thunder. The most high God is about to appear as a helpless baby in the still of the night.  His outstretched arm on the humiliation of the Cross is our redemption.  He comes in the power of humbleness to save us from our pride.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons

Celebrating the Golden Nights of Advent

December 16, 2009

Now is a busy time for many.  In the midst of the Christmas preparations, we mustn’t forget Who is coming, Whom we are getting ready for.  In all the rushing around this season, what are we doing to prepare to receive Him? I found three beautiful traditions, one liturgical, any one of which adopted or varied helps to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Thanks to the Catholics of Central Europe, we have the beautiful tradition of the “Golden Nights” of Advent, so called because the festivities took place after dark or before sunrise.  From the Alps comes the custom of carrying an image or statue of the Blessed Virgin from house to house on the nine evenings before Christmas Eve.  It is placed on a table between candles and flowers with families gathered around singing hymns of honor to Our Lady the Expectant Mother.

In Central and South America, the Novena of the Holy Child is celebrated in churches around the Christmas crib which is empty until Jesus arrives at midnight, Christmas. People sing hymns and carols and say prayers.(Francis X. Weisner, “Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs.”  New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1958, p. 56-57)

Vespers is the hour of the Divine Office the Church has chosen to celebrate the solemn supplication to the Divine Redeemer through the “O Antiphons”, yet another way of bringing the Golden Nights alive every Advent. Dom Gueranger tells us in his The Liturgical Year that Vespers was chosen because “it was in the evening of the world that the Messias came amongst us.”  I love the antiphons – they make me think hard on what Jesus means to all mankind and me personally, and how God kept his promise to Adam.

This is a time when some who are sick and suffering can do what others cannot because of pressing responsibilities: pray the Divine Office, one of the official liturgies of the Church.  It is also a time when a great kindness can be done for those who cannot help themselves, or who are especially lonely or sad during the Christmas season.  Finding a way to make the Golden Nights come alive for others is a way to bring Jesus into their hearts and perhaps help them look forward to His birthday with more joy.  It can lighten the load of a troubled heart. We are only limited by our creativity.

I will post the “O Antiphon” of the day each day at this site, along with related scripture and comments.

Tags: Advent, Blessed Virgin, liturgy

Gaudete

The Preaching of St. John the Baptist, c. 1690, Baciccio, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris

This past Sunday was the third Sunday in Advent called “Gaudete” because both the Introit and the Epistle are from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, 4:4:  Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say rejoice.… (1962 liturgical books)

I love this Sunday when the priest wears rose-colored vestments (not pink, please) as also on “Laetare” Sunday in Lent. The organ plays and flowers deck the altar. The penitential somberness of Advent is suspended for the day.

I also love what St. Paul says: “And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sometimes it is hard to do this, especially when one is sick and suffering, or has family problems, or is bereaved. But Holy Mother Church gives us the big pointing arrow in the Gospel of the day: John 1:19-28  where we have the Pharisees questioning John the Baptist about who he is.

John answers, vs. 26: “John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.” I have to examine my own conscience on this verse.  How many times have I been unable to recognize Jesus when he was in my midst?  Why could I not see Him for Who He is?  How Pharisaic am I?  That’s the trouble with us humans – we get so tied up in our own pains and issues we fail to see Jesus giving us the gift of Himself through the very suffering we want to reject. Yet he is right there, patiently waiting for our blind eyes to see. If we recognize Him, we will have “the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding.”

The Communion verse is from Isaiah: 35:4. “Say: Ye fainthearted, take courage and fear not: behold our God will come and will save us.” This week and forevermore I must concentrate on what this past Sunday’s liturgy said to me:

Life is learning to “rejoice in the Lord always,” to keep our “hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord”, to truly see Him in our midst, to bless Him for loving us, to take courage for He has saved us, and to thank Him for all He sends us.

Tags: liturgy, peace and joy, suffering

Our Lady of Guadalupe: Feast in Advent

Our Lady of Guadalupe under the title: Morning Star, Norma Salazar Orozco, oil on canvas

Tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I wrote an article about her appearance to St. Juan Diego which I invite you to read in the articles section of this site. Truly, if you are like me, it will increase your love of God and Our Lady.

For years Guadalupe has interested me, but until I read a couple of books (referred to in the article), I didn’t realize the many miraculous aspects of this event.  Who knew that St. Juan’s tilma should have disintegrated 450 years ago?  Not the average person like me!  And there is so much more to it than that.  Please send this post on to your friends because this joyous story is much needed in our day.

Aspects of the apparition related to Advent

First and foremost, Our Lady’s image on the tilma, and also how she appeared to St. Juan Diego, is as a woman with child.  She is expecting Jesus whom we also expect in recollection of His birth over 2000 years ago.

Second, she appeared in Advent, 1531.  Jesus could have sent His mother to the people at any time, but He chose Advent, a liturgical time of yearning and looking forward to the Savior.  Few people among the Aztecs had converted to Christianity before the apparitions.  Afterwards, grace was poured out upon the people.  They became believers in Jesus.  The yearning in their hearts for God that St. Augustine speaks of  in his Confessions was satisfied: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee…”.

Third, the message of Mary appearing as a mestizo was a sign of the peace God desired between the indigeneous people and the Spanish, a blending of the races under the Prince of Peace, Counsellor, God the Mighty as Isaiah 9:6 foretold : “For a Child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.”  Her image was a sign of great blessings, peace and joy to come, just as the Advent liturgies celebrate the sign of great blessings to come.

About the painting in this post

The painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe in this post is by Norma Salazar Orozco, a gifted Mexican artist from a family of gifted artists.  Visit her site and see how she has used Our Lady’s image from the tilma to illustrate Mary’s different titles.  Among their many subjects, the Orozco family is obviously devoted to honoring the Blessed Mother in art.  If you love art, you will love the work of this family and their story.

Tags: Advent, Our Lady of Guadalupe, peace and joy

Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary

December 8, 2009

Today the Church celebrates with joy the advent of our Savior, Jesus Christ, through the Immaculate Conception of His mother, Mary, in the womb of her mother, St. Anne.  We celebrate the sublime privilege by which Mary was preserved from Original Sin from the beginning of her conception by the power of God.

Immaculate Conception c.1626, Peter Pauwel Reubens, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

 A Painting for this Feast 

This beautiful painting of Our Lady under the title of “Immaculate Conception” portrays Mary as the woman of Revelations 12:1.  She is the one promised by God in Genesis 3:15.  It is one of my favorites because of the rendition of colors and technique and because of the rich symbolism Reubens included.  Great religious art is always meant to convey the truth of the revealed Word of God, and can be a great aid to prayer.  Reubens accomplished this for me as it fills my heart with joy to contemplate what God has done for us in the Blessed Virgin.

Mary in Today’s Liturgy

Mary was not only the daughter of God, she was Mother of the Son and bride of the Holy Spirit.  For this reason she could not be permitted to suffer the impurity of Original Sin, but was instead filled with grace (Lk. 1:28) from the very beginning of her conception (Cant. 4: 7). Without Original Sin, she lacked the concupiscence we all inherit from Adam and Eve and thus remained sinless throughout her life. 

At Vespers of the Divine Office today the Church chants the Magnificat antiphon:

All generations shall call me blessed, because He that is mighty hath done great things for me, alleluia.

The prayer at Mass and at the end of each hour of the Divine Office is:

O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst prepare a worthy dwelling-place for Thy divine Son; grant, we beseech thee, that, as by the foreseen merits of the death of this, Thy Son, Thou didst preserve her from every stain of sin, we also may, through her intercession, be cleansed from our sins and united with Thee.  Through the same Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

History of the Celebration

The early Fathers of the Church taught this dogma which they inherited from the Apostles.  Dom Prosper Guerenger, the great Benedictine monastic and liturgical reformer of the 19th century, tells us in his first volume on the Liturgical Year that  

1. by the 500s, the feast was celebrated in the Eastern Church,
2. by the 700s in Spain,
3. by the 800s in Naples,
4. by the time of Charlemagne in France,
5. by 1066 in England,
6. by 1049 in Germany,
7. by 1142 in Belgium.

History shows that it was Pope Sixtus IV who published the decree for the celebration of  Our Lady’s Conception in Rome in 1476.  Pope St. Pius V included the feast in the universal edition of the Roman breviary in 1568. 

A Celebration of God’s Omnipotence and Mercy

This great and joyful feast is a celebration of God’s love and glory, His omnipotence and mercy towards man.  He knows how weak we are, and has taken pity on us.  Not only did the Father send us His Son to free us from our slavery to sin through the Immaculate Virgin, He gave us in her a loving Mother (Jn 19: 26-27) whose example of purity and fidelity to God’s will shows us the way to turn our feet. 

We who were not conceived without sin have a Brother who is God and a Mother who was without any stain of sin and is perfectly united to Him.  She is, moreover, a human being who experienced the same kinds of pain and suffering we suffer as human beings, save sin.  She knows our plight.  Whatever God the Father asks of us, no matter how difficult it seems, we can find joy and peace following the example of Mary, the human being who most closely imitated His Son, Jesus.  It pleases Him that we honor this most beautiful of His creations.  We are truly blessed.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Divine Office, Liturgical calendar, peace and joy