What better way to begin the new year than by celebrating today’s feast: the Holy Name of Jesus?

From Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Every Day of the Liturgical Year we read:

Today’s Mass, continuing St. Paul’s thought, offers us a majestic picture of the glory which is due the holy Name of Jesus: “That at the Name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father” (Introit).

The entire Church — triumphant, militant, and suffering — is prostrate in adoration; the whole of creation seems to be silent, having stopped in its course for a moment to hear this most holy Name which gives glory to God and salvation to mankind.

Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee (Song of Songs 1:3).

“Oil gives light, it nourishes, it anoints,” writes St. Bernard.  “It is light when it is preached; it is food in meditation; it is balm and healing when it is invoked for aid.”

Thou, O Lord, art… our redeemer, from everlasting is thy name (Is. 63:16).

Jesus is, ever was, and always will be the perfect sin offering who saved us from everlasting torment.  His name invoked drives evil away and brings peace of heart.  “Just say ‘no’” should be, “Just say ‘Jesus’” with perfect trust.

Thy name, O Lord, is forever: thy memorial, O Lord, unto all generations (Ps. 135:13).

The Holy Mass is His memorial offered to the Father until the end of time when we shall celebrate the eternal todah.

On this day in particular we make up for the endless blasphemy against His Name and His Person by bowing down in spirit and in person, “for there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Collect for today’s feast:

O God, Who didst constitute Thine only-begotten Son the savior of mankind, and didst bid Him be called Jesus: mercifully grant, that we who venerate His holy Name on earth, may fully enjoy also the vision of Him in heaven.  Through the same Our Lord Jesus Christ who lives a reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

In the holy Name of Jesus I ask the Father to bless all my readers and protect them from all harm in this coming year.  May He be praised, loved, and honored by all men everywhere.

Reading the Bible

I was, unfortunately, well into my late 50s before I learned to read the Bible according to a method or structure quite evident in the writings of the early Fathers of the Church but which I had never had explained to me.  Thanks to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which explains in #115-119 the senses of Scripture, I had now a key to crack open the Bible in a more complete way.

The Holy Bible is the Word of God, the same Word who is God, Jesus Christ.  He himself said in John 8:12, “…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  When we read the Bible, we are in a personal, intimate encounter with Christ who wishes to give us the light of life.

Getting Started

Before starting to read the Bible, it is important to remember we are in the presence of God, and to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us on the truths contained in it. Remove all distractions such as television, music, etc. because God does not yell at us over worldly noise, He speaks in a quiet voice ever inviting us to “Come follow me.” (Luke 18: 22)  By opening the Bible we are inviting God to be our guest and we must give Him our full attention.

The senses of Scripture

Whether we read the Old Testament or the New, we can gain considerable insight by doing it according to ancient tradition which distinguishes between two senses of Sacred Scripture, the literal meaning and the spiritual meaning. [1]

According to St. Thomas Acquinas, “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.” [2] The literal sense is the meaning of the words. When we read in Genesis that God created everything in six days and on the seventh He rested, the literal meaning takes the words at face value.

We can’t stop at the literal meaning, though.  We must continue with the spiritual sense, which according to ancient tradition is divided into three ways of looking at a passage:

1.  the allegorical sense,

2.  the moral sense, and

3.  the anagogical sense (Greek “anagoge” which means “leading”. Leading to our final end, that is).

This spiritual sense of the Bible is the answer to our longing to know and follow Jesus better every day of our lives so that we may join Him in heaven some day.

The allegorical sense

When thinking about the allegorical sense of a Bible passage, we can develop a much more profound understanding of it by asking the simple question, “Where is Jesus in this?”  For example, when God tells the Israelites in Exodus 12 the rules for the Passover and what He will do for them, it prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God on the cross.

The moral sense

St. Paul shows us the moral sense of Scripture when he tells us in 1 Corinthians: 10:11, after giving us a perfect example of the allegorical sense of Biblical interpretation, that these things “are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Considering the moral sense of a Scriptural reading leads us to act justly towards God and others.  Understanding that “justice” in the Christian sense means to give others their due according to their dignity as human beings and God His due as our creator and Supreme Being, we can examine our consciences to discover how to be a better person.  The Two Great Commandments are our litmus test.  The question here is, “What does Jesus want me to do now in light of this passage to behave more justly towards God and others?”.

The anagogical sense

Resurrection, 1520, Marco Basaiti (active 1496-1530 in Venice), Oil on canvas, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo

When we add the anagogical sense of interpretation to a Bible passage, we consider it within its eternal significance, how it points us toward our final heavenly destiny.  The raising of Lazarus is allegorical to the Resurrection of Christ. The Resurrection of Christ and his ascension into heaven is anagogical to our being raised up by Christ on the last day and taken up with him to our permanent home if we have been His faithful followers.  The question to ask ourselves when interpreting a Bible passage anagogically is, “How does this lead me to my final end of union with God and the saints for all eternity?”

A few more thoughts

Nearly everything in the Bible is linked.  We must take passages within context and not as isolated phrases independent of what is written before and after. This approach applies both to Bible study and to simple, prayerful reading which often leads us into mental prayer or meditation where we have a conversation with God over how He wishes us to apply His Word in our lives.

If we stop at the literal meaning of the Bible we’re missing a lot of points God is making to us.  If I were a dog, I’d be a bloodhound because I have a mania for following something to its end.  I can’t stand to have unanswered questions about the meaning of sacred scripture.  That’s why I bought the Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas. In these volumes, one for each of the Gospels, he has collected the writings of the various Fathers of the Church on each Gospel passage.  Another very valuable resource is McKenzie’s Dictionary of the Bible which I bought in the 1960s and is a fabulous work. I also use Biblos for research, especially when I want to trace the meaning and usage of Hebrew and Greek words and find the context in which they’re used. Occasionally I use the Jerome Biblical Commentary, too, and a Bible concordance.

Most people won’t want to go to the lengths I do for various reasons.  A book of meditations on the liturgical year may be a better option, such as Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D., and Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.’s The Liturgical Year.

And you can’t go wrong by reading the writings of the saints on biblical passages.  Saints Augustine and John Chrysostom, both Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and St. Bernard, a Doctor of the Church come to mind.

Smaller Manhattans

I want to plug a blog that is a great example of linking Biblical passages to Church teaching – one from which I’ve learned a great deal.  Christian at Smaller Manhattans teaches catechism to sixth graders and often blogs the lessons.  They are always entertaining and thought provoking.  For example, he’s opened my eyes more than once to specific links between Scripture and Tradition, such as the one between Moses on the mountain, the Pope, and the Church structure we have of bishops and priests in A Royal Priesthood. Plus, you get a lot of Catholic/Christian culture from him.

How Christian approaches catechesis is also another way to understand what God is showing us in the Bible without necessarily using specific words such as “contraception”, “abortion”, “purgatory”, etc.  We can learn a lot about the spiritual meaning of passages with his approach.

When all is said and done, our final goal is eternal friendship with Christ. Reading the Holy Bible according to its spiritual senses is an important way to know, love, and serve Him better to achieve that goal.

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church #115-118

[2] Summa Theologica, I, 1,10, ad 1

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Today seems like a perfect day to write about the sacred liturgy from last Sunday.  Jesus healed a palsied man, evangelized the people because he did it in public, and in so doing, painted us an image of who we are as repentant sinners.

About ten years ago we bought Dom Prosper Guéranger’s (1805-1875) The Liturgical Year collection.  Although it was expensive, I’ve never regretted the investment in what is a good resource for understanding the sacred liturgy for each day, especially Sundays.

I try to keep in mind thoughts from the scriptural themes of every Sunday throughout the week so that I may more faithfully walk in the footsteps of Christ.  Of course, I fail, but the words of the sacred liturgy always revive me. This past Sunday was the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the Gospel reading is Matt. 9:1-8.

And entering into a boat, he passed over the water and came into his own city.

And behold, they brought to him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed.  And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee.

And behold some of the scribes said within themselves: He blasphemeth.

And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee: or to say, Arise, and walk?

But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then said he to the man sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.

And he arose, and went into his house.

And the multitude seeing it, feared, and glorified God that gave such power to men.

According to ancient tradition, the Church urges us to distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual (CCC #115), with the spiritual sense subdivided into the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses. I’ll post on this another time, but you can always grab your Catechism and read more about this now.

Guéranger cracks open the Gospel for us, linking this passage to the sacred priesthood and the meaning of the healing of the palsied man to us sinners.  You can find all three spiritual meanings of the passage in his exegesis.  Also, the more I consider it throughout the week, the more meaning I find.  But to bring you the expert’s writing from volume 11 of The Liturgical Year:

The Gospel (Matt. 23:1-12) which speaks of the scribes and Pharisees who were seated on the chair of Moses has now been appointed for the Tuesday of the second week of Lent.  But the one which is at present given for this Sunday equally directs our thoughts to the consideration of the superhuman powers of the priesthood, which are the common boon of regenerated humanity.

The faithful…are now invited to meditate upon the prerogative which these same men have of forgiving sins and healing souls.  Even if their conduct be in opposition to their teaching [are we not all hypocrites ourselves?], it in nowise interferes with the authority of the sacred chair, from which, for the Church and in her name, they dispense the bread of doctrine to her children.  Moreover, whatever unworthiness may happen to be in the soul of a priest, it does not in the least lessen the power of the keys which have been put into his hands to open heaven and to shut hell.

For it is the Son of Man, Jesus, who, by the priest, be he a saint, or be he a sinner, rids of their sins His brethren and His creatures, whose miseries He has taken upon Himself, and whose crimes He has atoned for by His Blood.

The Healing of the Paralytic, c. 1560-1590, Netherlandish 16th century, oil on panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Chester Dale collection, 1943.7.7

The miracle of the cure of the paralytic [who represents everyman], which gave an occasion to Jesus of declaring His power of forgiving sins inasmuch as he was Son of Man has always been especially dear to the Church….The catacomb frescoes, which have been preserved to the present day [and continue to be discovered], equally attest the predilection for this subject, wherewith she inspired the Christian artists of the first centuries.  From the very beginning of Christianity, heretics had risen up denying that the Church had the power, which her divine Head gave her, of remitting sin.

Such false teaching would irretrievably condemn to spiritual death an immense number of Christians, who, unhappily, had fallen after their Baptism, but who, according to Catholic dogma, might be restored to grace by the sacrament of Penance.

With what energy, then, would our mother the Church defend the remedy which gives life to her children!  She uttered her anathemas upon, and drove from her communion, those Pharisees of the new law, who, like their Jewish predecessors, refused to acknowledge the infinite mercy and universality of the great mystery of the Redemption.

…The outward cure of the paralytic was both the image and the proof of the cure of his soul, which previously had been in a state of moral paralysis; but he himself represented another sufferer, viz., the human race, which for ages had been a victim to the palsy of sin….At once, to the astonishment of the philosophers and skeptics, and to the confusion of hell, the world rose up from its long and deep humiliation; and to prove how thoroughly his strength had been restored to him, he was seen carrying on his shoulders, by the labor of penance and the mastery over his passions, the bed of his old exhaustion and feebleness, on which pride, lust, and covetousness had so long held him.

From that time forward, complying with the word of Jesus, which was also said to him by the Church, he has been going on towards his house, which is heaven, where eternal joy awaits him!

Let us also give thanks to Jesus, whose marvelous dower, which is the Blood He shed for His bride, suffices to satisfy, through all ages, the claims of eternal justice. It was at Easter time that we saw our Lord instituting the great Sacrament, which thus in one instant restores the sinner to life and strength.  But how double wonderful does its power seem, when we see it working in these times of effeminacy and of well-nigh universal ruin!

Iniquity abounds; crimes are multiplied; and yet, the life-restoring pool, kept full by the sacred stream which flows from the open side of our crucified Lord, is ever absorbing and removing, as often as we permit it, and without leaving one single vestige of them, those mountains of sins, those hideous treasures of iniquity which had been amassed, during long years, by the united agency of the devil, the world, and man himself.

Servant of God Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.’s cause for beatification was opened by the diocese of LeMans in December of 2005.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Not a great deal is made of this feast in the Catholic calendar.  True, it is celebrated in the Divine Office and in the propers of the Mass, but it is not a Holy Day of Obligation.  Yet the birthday of Our Lady heralded the immanent coming of the Light that shone in the darkness so I don’t want to let this special day pass without honoring the Mother of God at my blog.

Rorate Caeli published a beautiful meditation on the Nativity of Mary that I recommend to all my readers for a deep appreciation of Our Lady’s role in salvation history.  It is far better than anything I could write:

Our Lady in the Month of Her Nativity

The Birth of Mary, 1486-90, Domenico Ghirlandaio ((b. 1449, Firenze, d. 1494, Firenze), Fresco, Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Spikenard; Wikipedia image

July 22 was the feast of St. Mary Magdalene in the 1962 liturgical calendar and I’m a bit late in writing about something I’ve been contemplating since her feast.  However, there’s no bad time to consider a particular Bible passage in depth. In John 12:3 we hear of the famous scene:

Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

These blessed feet of Christ which had walked throughout Israel carrying the Word of God to all who would hear, were soon to walk the road to Calvary.  Beyond the custom of washing a guest’s feet upon admitting him to the house, Mary’s use of expensive spikenard showed how precious Jesus was to her.

What is Spikenard?

Spikenard is a royal perfume from a plant that grows in the Himalayas, India, and Nepal.  Its rhizomes are crushed to produce an amber liquid which is mixed with animal or bird fat to produce an unguent that smells similar to coconut.  No doubt its high cost was due to its rarity and to the fact that it came across the Silk Road, a collection of trade routes covering the Far East to the Mediterranean, named for the lucrative silk trade that originated in the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD).  These routes were in use in ancient times, and Petra, the “Red Rose City” of Jordan flourished at one time due to the Silk Road.

Spikenard was rare enough to be reserved for the use of Egyptian royalty who were buried with it for use in the afterlife.  Archeologists found perfume jars of spikenard in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings, including Tutankhamen’s.

The Symbolism of Spikenard and Mary’s Actions

Spikenard Jar from Tutankhamen's Tomb

Mary’s use of a royal perfume symbolized the kingship of Christ. She had to kneel at His feet to anoint them as a subject kneels to a monarch.  But more than that, we can look at repentance as the precious spikenard we offer God. It is costly to us in terms of our pride and rebellious wills, but worth the price to fill our souls with the scent of mercy and forgiveness.

I am reminded by this event in the Bible of the great King David’s Penitential Psalm 50: 16-17

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit.  A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn.

Whenever we repent and confess our sins, we are like Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and wiping them with her hair.  The odor of spikenard transfers to our souls as it did to Mary’s hair and we carry the royal scent of children of God.  Repentance is an act of love towards God as was Mary’s anointing of His feet. We please Jesus as Mary did.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

One God

We are now in the time after Pentecost, as each Sunday is now marked in the 1962 liturgical calendar.  When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Mary in the upper room that day, all sorts of great things began to happen as the Church blossomed under His wings.  This time after Pentecost is the time of the Holy Spirit, and the sacrament most closely connected to the Holy Spirit is Confirmation. Between now and the season of Advent when the liturgical year begins anew, we can profit by thinking about the action of the Holy Spirit in our souls and the importance of Confirmation.

I am happy to report that Bishop Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, gave a speech July 6 at Mundelein Seminary in which he advocated reception of the sacrament of Confirmation by children before receiving First Holy Communion. The Eastern rites of the Catholic Church have always followed infant Baptism with Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist, conferring all at one time.  Today converts in the Latin rite receive all three sacraments at the Easter Vigil, so the practice is not totally foreign to us.

When I was born, the practice was to be baptized within two weeks of birth, receive First Holy Communion in first grade, and Confirmation in the second grade.  The children of my era knew full well what the sacrament meant, and we knew we were not too young to be “soldiers of Jesus Christ.”  The post-Vatican II practice of delaying the sacrament of Confirmation until the teen years is an anomaly in Church history and I believe has been detrimental to souls.

At Mundelein Bishop Aquila said:

One can speak of the many effects of confirmation and the impact it makes upon one’s life, but it is always important to remember that the divine person of the Holy Spirit is received in Confirmation. We need the gifts of the Holy Spirit, every day, every hour, every minute and every second to live a life that gives glory to the Father as Jesus glorified the Father.

Confirmation is not marked by a choice to believe or not believe in the Catholic faith. Rather as disciples we are chosen by God to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, to be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit generously bestowed by God, and we are called to cooperate with that grace.

In today’s world I believe it is especially important to restore the conferring of this sacrament to an earlier age, and even adopt the Eastern rite practice of Confirmation before Holy Communion as Bishop Aquila suggests.

We are surrounded in daily life by unbaptized, unconfirmed people.  It is our burden to bear the consequences of their spiritual darkness and to pray that they will find truth in Christ.  It is also our obligation by the way we live to co-operate with the graces the Holy Spirit gives us. In that way we counteract the darkness that envelopes us.

Giving children at a much earlier age the opportunity to conform to the gifts of the Spirit through the sacrament of Confirmation seems only just and right considering even only one aspect of today’s hedonistic culture: the sexualization of children.  Otherwise, we are sending them into battle with inferior strength.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

This Thursday in all the Catholic world, except for the United States of America, we celebrate Corpus Christi, a holy day of obligation. The Pope will be conducting the sacred liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica with solemn procession as will Catholic parishes all around the world, small and large.  In the United States the feast has been moved to this coming Sunday except for groups observing the 1962 liturgical calendar.

The doctrine of the Real Presence is a great example of how our understanding of a mystery deepens over the years and finds expression in both the sacred liturgy and devotions.

The first record of this feast being celebrated publicly comes from Liège where Bishop Robert de Thorete called a synod of bishops in 1246 and decreed that Corpus Christi be celebrated the following year in his diocese.  As has so often happened in Catholic history, it was cloistered nuns who, from their many hours of adoration, asked for this liturgical recognition of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

If we believe that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist, and if we have even an inkling of how great a gift this is, how can we not desire to praise and honor Him on a specially designated feast during the year? So it was that on September 8, 1264 (the feast of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin who was the first tabernacle of Christ), Pope Urban IV extended the feast to the universal Church.

The importance of Corpus Christi celebrations and the public processions that accompany it is underscored by the current state of Catholicism. Surveys of Catholics in recent years show that today, sadly, around 2/3 of them do not believe the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  Yet Jesus spoke unequivocally in the Gospels about this sacrament.  In John 6:51-55 for instance He says:

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.

What underscores the importance of this passage is that Jesus prefaced the core of it with the Hebrew word, “Amen” which means “truth”, and as such, He was speaking under His own authority.  Only God can speak truth under His own authority because He is Truth itself. No other rabbi throughout all the centuries of Judaism ever spoke “Amen, Amen I say to you” and none has ever since.

It’s very interesting to me that this part of the conversation at the Temple is close to the end of a discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees who stubbornly refused to accept what he was saying and still did not, even after the “Amen, amen I say to you” part.  Even after this plain talk many of His disciples left Him.  We can see that disbelief in His words is nothing new but ever sad.

Those who had ears to hear in the Temple that day – that is, faith, even if they didn’t understand such a statement, knew Christ was not speaking a parable or allegory here.  He was speaking literally.  How His followers literally were to eat His flesh and drink His blood remained to be revealed at the Last Supper when Jesus left the accidents of bread and wine in place but altered the substance to be His body, blood, soul and divinity. We discover this in Matt. 26: 26-28:

And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body. And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.

Again, Jesus was speaking literally.  He did not say, “This is like my body.” nor “This is like my blood.”  This most precious gift of Himself was to be for all His followers until the end of time through the sacrament of the sacred priesthood which He instituted that night when he ordered the Apostles to do the same.

Mysteries like the Holy Eucharist are accessible to us partially by reason, but largely by faith, which is a gift of the Father.  If we don’t take Jesus at His word, we are in essence calling Him a liar.  How can God, who is Truth, lie?  It cannot be.  So if we don’t understand this mystery, we must ask our Father to enlighten us by the Holy Spirit.

Whether your parish celebrates Corpus Christi on Thursday, the day of the week that connects to the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, or this coming Sunday, you will be celebrating a sacred liturgy with hymns and prayers that are almost 800 years old, much of them written by the great Dominican, St. Thomas Aquinas who has explained the meaning of the Holy Eucharist so well in his writings.

For those who struggle with doubt, over the centuries God has performed many miracles of the Blessed Sacrament.  One of them occurred in recent years in Argentina which I posted about last year in Recent Eucharistic Miracles. And whichever day your parish celebrates Corpus Christi, please pray for the unbelievers that they will believe.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Here we are again for our Catholic blog carnival hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing. Join us at RAnn’s for interesting and enjoyable posts by other Catholic bloggers.

First, Happy Birthday Catholic Church and all Christians everywhere!  And now, my posts for the week:

Pope Benedict and the Croatian Cardinal Stepinac contains some Catholic trivia as well as an inspiring statement by Blessed Aloysius Stepinac very germane to us today.

For Extaordinary Form devotees, A Permanent Home for St. Peter Parish in Tulsa? brings good news to midwesterners. Every Latin Mass community has an interesting story and since I’ve been associated with the Tulsa group since 1999 I thought a bit of their story would inspire others.

If you love beautiful music and beautiful voices, read Choi Sung Bong – Korea’s Susan Boyle. If you can get through the video without tearing up, you’re better than I am.

Worthwhile Reading for Pentecost contains comments and links for good Pentecost – related reading.

I wrote about how I hate politics in Sabbath Moments and what we can look forward to in heaven.

Pentecost Sunday’s sacred liturgy in both the Novus Ordo and the Extraordinary Form contains one of the few sequences left in the Roman rite.  It is also one of my favorites next to the Dies Irae. Here in Gregorian Chant is the beautiful Veni Sancte Spiritus by the great Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis.

Here’s the English translation of this hymn that dates from some time in the 900s:

Come, Thou Holy ghost, come, and from Thy celestial home shed a ray of light divine.

Come, Thou Father of the poor, come, Thou source of all our store, come, within our bosoms shine.

Thou of Comforters the best, Thou the soul’s delightful guest, Sweet refreshment here below.

In our labor rest most sweet, pleasant coolness in the heat, solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine, shine within these hearts of Thine, and our inmost being fill.

Where Thou art not, man hath nought, nothing good in deed or thought, nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew, on our dryness pour Thy dew, wash the stains of guilt away.

Bend the stubborn heart and will, melt the frozen, warm the chill, guide the steps that go astray.

On Thy faithful who adore, and confess Thee evermore, in Thy sevenfold gifts descend.

Give them virtue’s sure reward, give them Thy salvation, Lord, give them joys that never end.  Amen.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Just how deep the commitment is to the traditional Catholic sacred liturgy can be measured by the sacrifices the Latin Mass Communities endure, often for many years.  In 1995 Bishop Slattery of Tulsa, one of my favorite US bishops, invited the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter to serve Catholics in Tulsa who desired the Traditional Latin Mass.  He has done a great deal more, but that’s another story.

Since its inception, St. Peter parish has been depositing funds into the diocesan account to acquire their own church and currently has amassed $500,000.  This is pretty good for a group that started out in a tiny chapel with only 12 people in 1995. Over the years the parish has grown and now requires two priests to meet its needs.

Our Lady of Sorrows Convent, Broken Arrow, future home of St. Peter Parish

Enter St. John’s Health System in Tulsa, which owns the convent of Our Lady of Sorrows in Broken Arrow.  This spring the board agreed to GIVE the facility to St. Peter parish.  The only thing lacking is another $500,000 for the parish to take over the 120,000 square foot facility and maintain it.

Bishop Slattery would prefer the parish have $10,000,000, but he is willing to allow them to accept the deed at $1,000,000.

This will be one of the largest buildings and grounds operated by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in the USA.  Plans are for a Catholic school in addition to everything else that goes with a parish.

I knew when I got involved in the Ecclesia Dei movement in 1999 that we were pioneering and making history.  The battle has been uphill all the way and not over by a long shot, but when I see first hand the great advances of Tulsa, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Cherokee Village, Arkansas – all Fraternity parishes – I can only rejoice for the Catholics who will have such wonderful support in living their Catholic identity.

My husband and I used to drive 3 hours one way every month to attend the Traditional Latin Mass in Tulsa.  We also attended some Holy Week services and Christmas Midnight Mass there because it was the closest location available for the Traditional Latin Mass.  The success of St. Peter’s is therefore, particularly sweet to us.

St. Peter Parish website is: http://fssp-tulsa.org/. If you would like to donate, visit their site.

Tulsa is a pleasant city on the Oklahoma plains – not a bad place to live and work if you don’t mind being in tornado alley.  But what the heck, something’s going to get us someday.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Yesterday I wrote about the Rogation Days and how, even if we can’t participate in the sacred liturgy these three days before the Ascension, we can pray the Litany of the Saints on our own as a way of uniting with the universal Church in this time of pleading for God’s mercy on the earth.

Christ in Glory, 1597-98, oil on canvas, Annibale Carracci (b.1560, Bologna, d. 1609, Roma), Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

The Church has only a few official litanies and the Litany of the Saints could be ranked as #1 because it is the only one that has a place in the sacred liturgy. If you’ve ever been to an Easter Vigil service, you prayed the Litany of the Saints.  It is also prayed as part of the rite of ordination for priests, and is a central part of the Rogation Days procession and liturgy.

When you see the Rogation procession, it is an outward sign of the communion of saints which is made all the more present to us through this great litany. With the eyes of faith we know that all the angels and saints of heaven are marching with us, a holy throng petitioning the Holy Trinity.

Whether chanted in Latin or in English, the Litany is beautiful in its simplicity and feeling.  It is the longest of all the official litanies, too.  This often results in the completion of the litany in the church itself because most parishes observing the Rogation Days don’t have that many people in procession.

Some of the petitions are poignant.  You will find some permanently enshrined as verse and response in the Divine Office.  Some are lifted and used as a single petition in a fitting circumstance.  Among them you will find petitions that fit all our various needs of the moment as well as those that address lifetime needs.

In one part of the litany we end each petition with libera nos, Domine - deliver us, O Lord.  I can still hear it in my head from when I was a child – an impressive sound from us on earth joined with the unsounded voices of the angels and saints.  Some petitions ending in libera nos, Domine:

From all sin,

From Thy wrath,

From sudden and unprovided death,

From the snares of the devil,

From anger, hatred, and all ill will,

From the spirit of uncleanness,

From lightning and tempest,

From the scourge of earthquake,

From plague, famine, and war,

From everlasting death.

In a subsequent part of the litany, the end of each petition is chanted: te rogamus audi nos – we beseech Thee, hear us.  Some of those petitions are:

That Thou wouldst humble the enemies of holy Church was prayed by the priests of the Dachau concentration camp after every Mass they were fortunate enough to celebrate in that awful camp.

That Thou wouldst give and preserve from harm the fruits of the earth – would that all the starving people of this world would cry this to the heavens.

That Thou wouldst lift up our minds to heavenly desires…

Then there are the final petitions, among which are:

In Thy clemency, O Lord, show Thine unspeakable mercy to us: that Thou mayest both loose us from all our sins, and deliver us from the punishments which we deserve for them.

O God, Who by sin art offended, and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication to Thee, and turn away the scourges of Thine anger, which we deserve for our sins.

O God, from Whom are all holy desires, right counsels, and just works, give unto Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts, given over to Thy commands, and our times, the fear of our foes removed, may by Thy protection be peaceful.

Go before, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our actions by Thine inspirations, and further them by Thine assistance; that every word and work of ours may begin always from Thee, and by Thee be likewise ended.

With the condition our world is in, I can’t think of a more powerful petition to God, nor a more powerful reminder of our own weak state, than this litany.

St. Teresa of Avila always referred to God as “His Majesty.”  The Rogation Days and the Litany of the Saints remind us powerfully in words and bodily action that He indeed is His Majesty before whom all must bow, upon whom we are all dependent, and without whom we can do nothing good.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Just why the North American Bishops decided that forty days after Easter was unimportant and moved the great feast of the Ascension to Sunday, June 5, I don’t know. Most of the rest of the Catholic world celebrates it June 2.

I am convinced that the change is one more strike of the axe severing our sacred liturgy from its Biblical roots.  Forty days is forty days and it means something.  In the Bible something important always happened at the end of a time period of forty, whether days or years.  So for most of the Catholic world forty days after Easter really is, and always has been, Ascension Thursday.

This great feast commemorates Christ taking possession of the Kingdom of Heaven with the promise of His return to judge the living and the dead.  The introit strikes me as somewhat humorous in a way.  Perhaps it is because I can put myself in the shoes of the apostles and disciples so easily.  Acts 1:11 has angels telling the gawking apostles, “Ye men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven?  He shall so come as you have seen Him going up into heaven.”

I can just see them staring into the heavens with their mouths agape as Jesus vanishes into the clouds.  This was truly wondrous, but sad, too, because they would never see Him again during their lifetime as He was with them on earth.  I can imagine them thinking, “What are we going to do without Him?”  At the same time, the joyful proof was right before their eyes that the kingdom of heaven belongs to all who believe in Jesus, our Head.  If the Head is the King of heaven, the Body, we, will follow and partake of the inheritance.  More proof of the faithfulness of our God.

The Ascension was both very joyful and full of hope, and at the same time, a little bitter for those who had walked along side Jesus on earth.

I love sacred art from the 12th to 16th centuries.  Please enjoy this lovely fresco by Giotto di Bodone and think of it when we celebrate the Mass of the Ascension Sunday, June 5.

The Ascension, 1304-06, Giotto di Bodone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze), Fresco, Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

Washing of the Feet, 1308-11, Buoninsegna (b. ca. 1255, Siena, d. 1319, Siena), Tempera on wood, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena

A significant part of the Holy Thursday liturgy is the washing of the feet.  We’ve all read the Bible verses describing this, but St. Thomas Aquinas has given us insights into the deep symbolism of Christ’s acts that are not obvious at first. In all my 65 years I’ve not heard a sermon that goes where St. Thomas takes us.

Something as mundane as washing dirty feet, Who does the washing, and the meaning behind it take us on a journey into the wonder of redemption.

Here is St. Thomas’s explanation from Meditations for Lent which I reviewed here.

After that, he putteth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded (John 13:5).

There are three things which this can be taken to symbolize.

1.  The pouring of the water into the basin is a symbol of the pouring out of His blood upon the earth. Since the blood of Jesus has a power of cleansing it may in a sense be called water.  The reason why water, as well as blood, came out of His side, was to show that this blood could wash away sin.

Again we might take the water as a figure of Christ’s Passion.  He putteth water into a basin, that is, by faith and devotion He stamped into the minds of faithful followers the memory of His passion. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and the gall (Lam. 3:19).

2.  By the words and began to wash it is human imperfection that is symbolized.  For the Apostles, after their living with Christ, were certainly more perfect, and yet they needed to be washed; there were still stains upon them.  We are here made to understand that no matter what is the degree of any man’s perfection he still needs to be made more perfect still; He is still contracting uncleanness of some kind to some extent.  So in the Book of Proverbs we read, Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin (Prov. 20:9).

Nevertheless the Apostles and the just have this kind of uncleanness only in their feet.

There are however others who are infected, not only in their feet, but wholly and entirely.  Those who make their bed upon the soiling attractions of the world are made wholly unclean thereby. Those who wholly, that is to say, with their senses and with their wills, cleave to their desire of earthly things, these are wholly unclean.

But they who do not thus lie down, they who stand, that is, they who, in the mind and in desire are tending towards heavenly things, contract this uncleanness in their feet. Whoever stands must, necessarily, touch the earth at least with his feet.  And we, too, in this life, where we must, to maintain life, make use of earthly things, cannot but contract a certain uncleanness, at least as far as those desires and inclinations are concerned which begin in our senses.

Therefore Our Lord commanded His disciples to shake of the dust from their feet.  The text says, He began to wash, because this washing away on earth of the affection for earthly things is only a beginning.  It is only in the life to come that it will be really complete.

Thus by putting water into the basin, the pouring out of His blood is signified, and by His beginning to wash the feet of His disciples the washing away of our sins.

3.  There is symbolized finally Our Lord’s taking upon Him the punishment due to our sins.  Not only did He wash away our sins but He also took upon Himself the punishment that they had earned. For our pains and our penances would not suffice were they not founded in the merit and the power of the Passion of Christ.  And this is shown in His wiping the feet of the disciples with the linen towel, that is the towel which is His body.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Resurrection, 1520, Marco Basaiti (active 1496-1530 in Venice), Oil on canvas, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo

Every liturgical season in the Church contains gems illustrating the story of salvation.  In Lent, we focus on the Passion and its many aspects.  One of the oldest and most beautiful hymns praising the Cross is Vexilla Regis Prodeunt.  As the fall of man came about through a tree, so his salvation comes about through the wood of the Cross.

The Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite celebrates Passion Sunday two weeks before Easter.  At first Vespers we begin using Vexilla Regis as the hymn and continue to do so every day until Holy Thursday.  It is also sung at Vespers on all feasts of the Holy Cross.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

[Vexilla Regis]  … was written by Venantius Fortunatus [530-609], and was first sung in the procession (19 Nov., 569) when a relic of the True Cross, sent by the Emperor Justin II from the East at the request of St. Radegunda, was carried in great pomp from Tours to her monastery of Saint-Croix at Poitiers. Its original processional use is commemorated in the Roman Missal on Good Friday, when the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession from the Repository to the High Altar.

…the vexillum is the cross which (instead of the eagle) surmounted, under Constantine, the old Roman cavalry standard. This standard became in Christian hands a square piece of cloth hanging from a bar placed across a gilt pole, and having embroidered on it Christian symbols instead of the old Roman devices.

Much sacred art depicting the Resurrection of Christ shows the vexillum (cross) on a banner in just the manner described.

Venantius Fortunatus was the holy bishop of Poitiers, France and an accomplished poet.  Another well-known hymn he wrote is Quem ter­ra, pon­tus, ae­the­ra (The God Whom Earth, and Sea, and Sky).  Eleven volumes of his great Latin poetry remain, along with a few found in Paris in recent years.

After thirteen centuries the stirring stanzas of this hymn still evoke penitence, joy, and praise, reminding us, the Church Militant, that we are marching in the army of our Redeemer. In most parishes, oratories, and chapels adhering to the Extraordinary Form, Vexilla Regis is sung in chant form.  However, a great priest composer, Guillaume Dufay (1397?-1474), following the practice of his time, wrote Vexilla Regis with chant interposed with polyphony.  In some places we still use his work today.

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt

The royal banners forward go,

The Cross shines forth in mystic glow,

Where Life himself our death endured

And by His death our life procured.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,

Life’s torrent rushing from His side,

To wash us in that precious flood,

Where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told

In true prophetic song of old

To all the nations: “God,” saith he,

Hath reigned and triumphed from the Tree.”

O Tree of beauty, Tree of light,

O Tree with royal purple dight,

Elect on whose triumphal breast

Those holy limbs should find their rest;

On whose dear arms, so widely flung

The weight of this world’s ransom hung;

The price of humankind to pay,

And spoil the spoiler of his prey.

O Cross, our one reliance, hail!

This holy Passiontide avail

To give new virtue to the saint

And pardon to the penitent.

To Thee, eternal Three in One,

Let homage meet by all be done;

As by the Cross Thou dost restore,

So rule and guide us evermore.  Amen.

Translation from the 1962 Daily Missal published by Angelus Press.

This is Dufay’s composition recorded live during Mass on 9/14/08 and sung by Les Choristes, the vocal quartet in residence at the French National Church in San Francisco, CA (Steven Olbash, director).  It does not have all the verses.

For an excellently sung Gregorian chant try Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis, Giovanni Vianini, Milano, Italia.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary

Every now and then, a scripture passage grabs ahold of me and won’t let go.  All during Lent the Magnificat antiphon for weekdays, absent a particular feast, haunts my mind.  I find myself contemplating it at odd times and places.  It seems a perfect fit to introduce Mary’s beautiful prayer at Vespers – she was the most clean of heart of all God’s creatures.

A clean heart create in me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

Found in Psalm 51:10, these words summarize what we are doing in Lent – repenting, letting God clean up our hearts, and resolving to remain on the upright path of the Lord.

Random thoughts on the first part:

• A clean heart is a pure heart.
• The pure of heart shall see God (Matt. 5: 8).
• The pure heart is undivided.  It is focused on God and godly pursuits.
• The pure heart is detached from the things of this world, using them only in service of the greater work of getting to heaven.
• The pure heart rejoices in doing the will of God.
• The pure heart is full of charity which bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Cor. 13: 7).
• The pure heart reflects the face of Christ to all.
• When we ask God to create a clean heart in us, we admit we cannot do it of our own volition.  Only He can give us the grace to be so.
• To ask for a clean heart implies that we know we have sinned.  God gave us the grace to see our sinfulness and to ask Him for forgiveness.  Compunction accompanies purity of heart.
• God creating a clean heart in us is a sign of His divine mercy, compassion, and love.

Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross, c. 1565, Titian (Tiziano) (b. 1490, Pieve di Cadore, d. 1576, Venezia), Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Random thoughts on the second part:

• A steadfast spirit is an upright spirit that holds to God’s will.  It cannot be swayed by power or wealth or promise of any earthly reward.
• To ask God to renew a steadfast spirit in us implies that we have given in to temptation, waffling where we should have planted our feet firmly and refused to budge from “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14: 6).
• God renews a steadfast spirit within us by grace.  Again, we must ask for it.  In asking, we admit our helplessness to do it on our own.
• A steadfast spirit is upheld by the power of God and cannot be torn down regardless of the persecution it faces.
• The steadfast spirit walks the Way of the Cross with Jesus, imitating Him in faithfulness to the Father.
• The steadfast spirit is yoked to Christ, Who makes the burden light (Matt. 11: 30).
• The steadfast spirit bears the burden of souls with Christ, praying for deliverance and salvation of sinners.
• The steadfast spirit shines with the light of Christ (John 8: 12; Matt. 5: 14).
• The steadfast spirit combined with a pure heart bestows moral authority on our actions.

I walk the Way of the Cross in Mary’s company whose clean heart and steadfast spirit loved without reserve.  May I be granted a similar faithfulness and attachment to the will of God.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Last year, one-by-one, I published my favorite Stations of the Cross from St. John’s, Collegeville, MN, © 1957.  The contents of each were taken from Sacred Scripture and the liturgical prayers of the Extraordinary Form which are derived from Sacred Scripture. They are great for meditation or for making the Stations if you can’t get to your parish Stations. Here are the links to each in one place for your convenience if you want to pray them.

Victim for Our Sins

Stations of the Cross

I.      First Station: Jesus Is Condemned to Death

II.       Second Station: Jesus Takes Up His Cross

III.   Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time

IV.    Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother

V.      Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene is Forced to Carry the Cross

VI.    Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

VII.   Seventh Station: Jesus Falls a Second Time

VIII. Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Daughters of Jerusalem

IX.    Ninth Station: Jesus Falls a Third Time

X.      Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

XI.     Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

XII.   Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

XIII.  Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross

XIV.   Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)