Suffering With Joy

Christ and the Rich Meaning of “Amen”

September 1, 2010

As I promised in a previous post, Advancing the Reign of Christ Here and Now, I am today explaining the meaning of “Amen” and why I placed it at the end of the aspiration, “Praised be Jesus Christ.  Now and forever.  Amen.”

Church-going people are used to speaking the word “Amen” at various points in the sacred liturgy and at the end of most all prayers and invocations.  It’s easy for this practice to become rote and the meaning to slip from conscious awareness as our minds wander from our conversation with God.  Who, after all, is capable of perfect attention during prayer and worship? Certainly not I.  At some level, though, we are aware that when we say “Amen” we are affirming something.  Just what, who, and how big is that “something”? When I studied the history and meaning of the word, my eyes were opened to a deeper and more profound participation in the sacred liturgy. My bible reading and personal prayer has been enriched. Perhaps yours will be, too.

We find “Amen” in the Bible for the first time in Num. 5: 12-31 in a very solemn situation conducted in the presence of the Lord, the priest, and a woman and her husband. She who is suspected of adultery by her husband submits to a ceremony in which she drinks water containing dust the priest gathers from the floor of the tabernacle.  The prescribed oath of imprecation is:

…”may the Lord make you an example of malediction and imprecation among your people by causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell!  May this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your body to make your belly swell and your thighs waste away!” And the woman shall say, Amen, amen!

“Amen” has become a universal word, imported into numerous languages.  The Hebrew root, aman, means to be morally true or certain, steadfast, permanent, sure, faithful.  It is used interchangeably with ‘aman, which means “to go to the right hand” (Is. 30:21).  And Who is the right hand of God the Father almighty (Ps. 48: 10)?

Whenever we see the word “Amen” in sacred scripture it is used in the sense of affirming truth or absolute certainty as in Is. 65: 16:

…he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth ( Amen).

God alone is the “Amen” as in Rev. 3: 14:

And to the angel of the church at Laodicea write: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God:

Christ, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the revelation of the Father, one with the Father, the Amen, and Truth itself by His own words. He tells us plainly in John 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  He also told us indirectly when He used the Hebrew “Amen” before telling us truths in the Gospel.

One instance of that which stands out in my mind is in John 8.  Jesus was teaching in the temple and had just told the Jews in frustration (vs. 25-27),

They therefore said to Him, “Who art thou?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all!  I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you; but He Who sent Me is true (Amen), and the things that I heard from Him, these I speak in the world.” And they did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.

In verses 28-30 we learn that many among the group believed in Him after continuing to listen to Him. However some officials listening did not (probably Scribes and Pharisees) and they began to argue with Him.  The culmination of the confrontation came in verse 58 when Jesus declared,

Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM,

at which point the furious leaders took up stones to kill Him and He hid Himself from them and escaped because His time had not yet come.  The “I AM” is a direct reference to Ex. 3: 14 where God told Moses “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent you.” It infuriated the officials because they did not believe in Him, nor did they want to. He had declared Himself one with the Father even plainer than in verses 28-30.

Jesus’s use of “Amen, amen I say to you…” marked a striking departure from the usual use of “Amen” in the bible. He must have really caught the attention of His listeners when He said it because most of them knew sacred scripture very well, as boys started in temple classes at age 6.  No one but God would have the right to speak in his own name.  No one but God could preface his statements with “Truth, Truth” which is Himself.

I remember as a child hearing the Gospel read from the pulpit at Mass.  The words “Amen, amen I say to you…” impressed me deeply and to this day I can quote many of the passages I heard.  Instead of leaving the Hebrew as it was, English speaking people attending Mass in English hear ICEL’s very lame, “I solemnly assure you…” translation which not only is goofy and laughable, but does not pass on the meaning of the word and is just one example of many post-Vatican II ways the Faith has been watered down. Now why did I write that? Because today’s children who hear this bad translation are removed yet another step from who Christ is. I hope the “Amens” will be restored in the new translations so they will hear Christ as Person and Truth and listen closer to Him without being distracted by foolishness.  I want for them treasure I was raised with. But I digress…

Praying Hands, c. 1508, Albrecht Dürer (b. 1471, Nürnberg, d. 1528, Nürnberg), Brush drawing on blue primed paper, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

By saying “Amen” at the end of prayers, invocations, aspirations, and the many prayers during Holy Mass, we are acknowledging the truth, affirming it, and connecting ourselves to Christ and the will of the Father Who can desire no evil for us but only good.  We are declaring the truth of what we believe before God Himself and in His presence, since God is everywhere.

The aspiration “Praised be Jesus Christ.  Now and forever,” didn’t have an “Amen” attached in the past.  We need that “Amen” today because of the faithless world we live in.  It is a small thing to say but a great strengthener of our faith when we do it thoughtfully. The same is true when we say “Amen” thoughtfully all the other times we pray, formally or informally, at the sacred liturgy or in private.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above for the original post.)

Tags: Christ

Advancing the Reign of Christ Here and Now

August 20, 2010

For some time now I’ve been moved to start something at this blog, regardless of the subject of the post.  It has to do with Christ the King.

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

Few people would deny that the world is against God or that many people who claim to be Christians twist the Word of God to suit their own agenda which often masquerades as “social justice” which always seems to create more injustice, not less. You would have to be a sleeping Rip van Winkle not to see that this is the most godless age ever in the history of the world since God called Abraham – or even maybe before.  Since the beginning of the age of enlightenment man has steadily become more homocentric as opposed to theocentric. The heresy of modernism has, since its spawning in the 19th century, greatly facilitated this trend. Sadly, many in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church have become infected to the point of over-emphasizing the horizontal aspect of worship at the expense of the vertical dimension and social work at the expense of spiritual growth.

Interwoven with the de-emphasis on the first three commandments we can see that doctrinal truth has been sacrificed at the expense of ideology of all kinds. Natural law is violated without regard to the consequences.  “If it feels good, do it!” is a prevailing mantra which originated in the 1960s and has become the rule of life for many today.

Inconvenient truths in many places simply are not taught, such as contraception being a grave offense against God.  Priests have been punished for speaking the truths of the Faith from their pulpits and in their parish bulletins while other priests who speak falsely are rewarded.  I have direct experience with a bishop who opposed the Pope and Catholic tradition on a number of issues and earned a very bad name for myself among his supporters.  It seems the word “obey” applied only to those of us he strove to corrupt and not to himself. But we cannot obey unjust commands from anyone, which is why some Catholic dioceses are shutting down Catholic adoption agencies, for example.  The state demands same-sex couples be allowed to adopt children into a life style opposing the very clear will of God as spoken in sacred scripture, and the Church cannot act opposite to her teachings.

The answer to the corruption of the world

On Facebook and other places you can find groups dedicated to the “Social Reign of Jesus Christ.”  That is an admirable and desired end for the world, but Christ must rule in every heart first. If our Savior does not reign in our hearts, our actions will not be congruent with His words.  It is up to each individual to examine his conscience daily on the subject of whether he is putting God first and not himself.  Only when sufficient numbers of Christians really put Christ first in their hearts, when they ruthlessly root out attachments to their own wills, when they are willing to stand up and live the Two Great Commandments – not just the one, will we have anything approximating the “Social Reign of Jesus Christ.” No doubt, as in the past, we will have many martyrs spilling their blood before this comes to pass, if it ever does in this life.

The difficulty of achieving the preeminence of Christ in this life is no reason for any of us to shirk doing battle with ourselves.  Many useful practices and devotions are available to help us, bringing graces upon our souls that strengthen us in fortitude, for the virtue of fortitude is most necessary to fight the human inclination to want to be liked, to blend in and do what everybody else is doing, and to talk and think like the majority – and the majority is not and has not been for Christ in centuries.

We are the servants of the Lord.  The servant is not above his Master (Matt. 10: 24).  Standing up for Christ is an invitation to get publicly clobbered by the many who want to enforce their self-originated version of truth.  But we need not fear the majority because Jesus tells us in Matthew 10: 26-31:

Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

And in Matthew 10: 32-33 we hear the glorious promise to those of us who stand strong against the world:

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

In the times of Ruth and Boaz, the people had a custom of greeting one another with the phrase, Dominus vobiscum (tecum), meaning “The Lord be with you.”  The response was, “The Lord bless you.”  Today at Mass we hear “The Lord be with you” many times, and we respond, “And with your spirit.”  I do not intend to go into the theology of this today, but simply wish to use this as an illustration of one practice people used in Old Testament times to keep the Lord in mind, a practice that is enshrined within our sacred liturgy today.

In religious communities in the 1960s and before, the common greeting when meeting someone in the halls or entering a room was the phrase, “Praised be Jesus Christ.”  The answer was, “Now and forever.”  I don’t know if this practice is still observed, but I am convinced that if Christians greeted each other this way every time we meet, it would be a big help towards the world being brought back into a right relationship with God.

To do my part in witnessing to the supremacy of Christ the King and to building the virtue of fortitude in my soul, I am going to try to remember to end each blog post with this phrase regardless of the subject.  I trust that this practice will keep my posts on track with pure intentions and charity, and that it will always be a reminder to me to suffer with joy.  I will explain the “Amen” addition in another post.  Will anyone stand with me?  I invite you all.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ.

R. Now and forever.  Amen.

Tags: Catholic Church, pro-life, virtue

God, the Master Gardener

July 8, 2010

The prayers from the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite are so rich that praying them is like attending an endless banquet.  You never run out of food for thought. This past Sunday’s collect from Mass has stayed with me all week.  Of course, it is the prayer at the end of each hour of the Divine Office, so I have prayed it often these past few days, but even if it were not put before me every day, I would still be haunted by it because of the images it evokes.

O God of all power and might, to Whom all that is best doth belong, graft in our hearts the love of Thy name, and grant us an increase of religion: that Thou mayest foster what is good, and with tender zeal guard what Thou hast fostered.

O God of all power and might…

Let us not ever forget that no one is greater or more powerful than God. Of ourselves we can do nothing but through the power He allows us – a really humbling thought for the creature to contemplate, especially when we get pretty full of ourselves, which can happen so easily if we spend too much time pursuing our own interests rather than His.

To Whom all that is best doth belong…

God was pleased because Abel gave Him the first fruits of his labor – the very best.  There are many places in the Bible where the first of everything is offered to God.  While picking asparagus beans for the first time I noticed that the first fruits of the plants were abundant and healthy and the harvest tapered off a bit after that.  God deserves our best of everything: worship, daily duties in union with Him, our joys and sufferings, all that we do in this life.  Interesting though, that if we are slipshod in our relationship with God He is not the one who suffers.  We do. So if the best belongs to Him, we might as well give it to Him in the first place because it all belongs to Him anyway.  Out of His belongings He gives Himself to us, especially His Son, Jesus, the best, Who redeemed us and is the cause of our hope in a life that someday will be completely free of our temporal limitations.

Graft in our hearts the love of Thy name…

I’ve never grafted anything, but I know how it works.  Fruit trees and roses are often grafted onto sturdy root stock that combines the best of the roots and the best of the fruits or flowers.  We don’t, of ourselves and left to ourselves, love His name, which is Jesus.  But when God grafts His grace into our hearts that grace comes to fruition in a love for Jesus Who told us to ask the Father for anything in His name.

One of the greatest aspects of love is the surrender of self to the loved one, giving the loved one power over the self.  In a sense, the all-powerful God gives us power over Himself through the name of Jesus when we freely accept His grafting, also becoming docile to His will.

…and grant us an increase of religion…

The virtue of religion, seldom spoken of these days, but a profound necessity for sanctity, means showing reverence for God and love of neighbor by attentive, loving worship and  by performing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. When we ask God for an increase of religion we are asking something very big: to open ourselves to a more perfect reverence for God and neighbor. This idea can take us down so many paths a book could be written on this subject alone so I will leave it to you to ponder it as I continue to do.

…that Thou mayest foster what is good, and with tender zeal guard what Thou hast fostered.

Gardeners foster what is good in the garden.  God, the Master Gardner, will give us all the necessary graces to become holy and pleasing to Him.  All we have to do is co-operate with His will. I love the “tender zeal” and “guard” part of this prayer.  A gardener must have tender zeal or the plants will die.  He must carefully prune and weed.  He must water and fertilize, but in the right amounts.  He can never wake up in the morning and decide that the garden doesn’t need looking after that day.

Tenderness implies love and caring.  It implies guarding and protecting when danger threatens.  In our daily life, Satan tries many ways to spoil the garden of our soul.  In this prayer we ask God to guard us from the bad seeds, worms, beetles (yup, I had to get them in here), mold and other destructive elements the devil uses to cause stunted growth and destruction of the virtue and grace God is fostering in us.

This prayer so perfectly shows a right relationship between God and us. If we pray this way often, we can safeguard ourselves from the deadly sin of pride and grow into the perfect fruit God intends for us to be, fit for the new earth and heaven to come.

Tags: spirituality

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 23

June 19, 2010

Jenny at Just a Minute hosts a Saturday meme called “Praying the Psalms”.  Visit her this week to find other Catholic comments on Psalm 23.

We often hear Psalm 23 quoted in movies dramatizing burial services because it mentions the “midst (or valley) of the shadow of death”. I use the Douay-Rheims Bible often and the translation sometimes differs from the more familiar RSV, giving additional opportunities to delve into the mysteries of God’s Word.  What struck me today about Psalm 23 is that it mentions three of the seven sacraments in our life with God.

1 The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. [In Hebrew, is my shepherd, viz. to feed, guide, and govern me.]

2 He hath set me in a place of pasture. [God puts us where He wants us to be and provides for all our needs.] He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: [Baptism, when we begin our life in God]

3 He hath converted my soul. [By God's power we are converted from the darkness of Original Sin to the Light of Christ.] He hath led me on the paths of justice, for His own name’s sake. [For the sake of His beloved Son who died for each of us, the Father gives us the road map to heaven.]

4 For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for Thou art with me. [Sin, death, chaos and confusion are all around us.  We walk daily in the midst of the shadow of death (sin) but God is always with us and willing to give us grace to vanquish evil.  We need only to cling to Him and not try to do battle by ourselves.]  Thy rod and Thy staff, they have comforted me. [We are comforted and secure when we follow the laws of God and the Two Great Commandments].

5 Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. [The Holy Eucharist, our strength in the valley of the shadow of death.] Thou hast anointed my head with oil; [Baptism - we have been claimed by God as His own with the anointing at Baptism] and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it! [The Holy Eucharist fills us with grace, peace, light, and strength so powerful our souls are drunk with the goodness of God.]

6 And Thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life.  And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.  [The sacrament of Penance (mercy) and the spirit of conversion makes it possible for us to dwell in the house of the Lord for eternity.]

How great God is to have done these things for us.  To be good sheep we only need to stay close to Jesus and feed on the pasture He gives us.  But should we wander into sin, He will call us back with his staff and show us mercy because He delights in us and desires that we delight in Him.

Tags: Divine Mercy

Benedict, the German Shepherd

May 17, 2010

April 3, 2010 Urbi et Orbi - Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images Europe

This weekend I finally got around to reading the April edition of Inside the Vatican magazine, one of the few Catholic publications I subscribe to.  It is the commemorative issue of the fifth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II and of Pope Benedict XVI’s ascension to the Throne of Peter.

Editor-in-Chief Robert Moynihan gave us a great issue with many remembrances of both Popes by those who were (are) close to them.  I loved Pope John Paul II because he showed everyone that the Holy Father is indeed a Father to everyone in the world, not just Catholics. His writings are not easy or quick reads, but his love for mankind in imitation of Christ was easily comprehended.  Most of all, by his living with great physical suffering that was obvious to all he was a silent and continuous witness to the dignity of the human person.

Pope Benedict XVI is special to me in a different way.  His writings are a lot easier for me to read, and his steadfastness in the Faith reminds me of the great Pope of my youth, Pius XII, whose writings are also easy to understand and who bravely and prudently led the Church through a dark and murderous time.  As a child I knew in my heart that Pius XII was a saint, and none of the slander against him has dimmed my affections toward him in any way or caused me any doubt.

My affection for Pope Benedict is the same as that for Pius XII.  The clarity of his communications, the relevance of his words and the strength and dignity he shows in the face of falsehood and adversity is an example of the witness all of us followers of Christ must show to the world.

This issue of Inside the Vatican contained some of the words Pope Benedict spoke at his inaugural Mass homily five years ago about his Petrine ministry. The term that comes to mind is “timeless”.

It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God. It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin.  Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.  We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.  Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.

There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.  There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome.  But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.

As Christians, we share in the ministry of revealing God to men in the service of God’s joy. We are indeed all willed, loved, and necessary in God’s plan of salvation.  And it is personal.  No one else can do the job that God has created each individual to do.  Like his predecessor, Pope Benedict is the Pope of Life, the Pope of Hope, and the Pope of Truth.  I never get tired of hearing what he has to say.

Tags: Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI

Online Eucharistic Adoration

May 17, 2010

Thanks to Karinann over at Blessings for The Day for informing her readers about online Eucharistic adoration.  Of course we can pray to Jesus anytime.  He is always with us.  But for us Catholics, adoration is very special.  Under the appearance of bread He is present personally – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.  The King of creation wills to be with us and wills us to be with Him so that He can continue to nourish us as He did in the Eucharistic celebration on Sunday.  It is by faith we know this to be true.

So many of us are unable to get out much because of our infirmities or other aspects of our life situation.  The site, Savior.org is a wonderful way to spend time with Jesus much more often. Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is presented live via webcam from the Chapel of Divine Love in Philadelphia (the City of Brotherly Love – how apropos), PA – a source of perpetual Eucharistic adoration by the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters since 1916.

This is an answer to prayer.  I have wanted to be able to spend time in adoration and been frustrated by a number of practical factors.  When I read about fellow bloggers who have stopped for a short visit with Jesus at a chapel, I felt happy for them and sad for me.  Now I can say the Divine Office in His presence, do spiritual reading, or just pray.

Click on the picture above or on the link and it will take you to the live feed. This site has much to offer, too.  Here are some paragraphs from their “About online adoration” section:

A Powerful Channel for the Aged, Lonely and Suffering

The favorite of Our Savior, the aging, lonely and suffering are those in greatest need of His Love. The on-line access available through Savior.org, provides new hope for these individuals stemming from the electronic access they can now have to the Living Presence of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The suffering will have new opportunities to unite their pain with the passion of Our Lord, yielding merits for their souls and the souls of others. The aged, free from the distractions of their earlier years, can now spend increasing hours in the presence of Our Lord strengthening their bond to Him during the twilight of their lives. And the lonely will benefit from the abundance of love and hope poured forth from this Most Faithful of Friends.

Technology is a wonderful thing if used to do God’s will. Join us at Savior.org in ‘taking back the Internet for Christ’.

Suggestions on How to Utilize Savior.org

On-line Adoration - Be with Our Lord, centered on Him wholly and completely. Sit in silence with Him – The Sacred Doctor of human hearts. Utilize some of the many on-line devotional aides to structure a Holy Hour with Him. Or pray your own favorite adoration prayers and meditations.

Liturgy of the Hours and Other Daily Prayers - Enrich your daily recitation of the liturgy of the hours and other daily prayer routines by conducting them in the presence of a live electronic image of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Invite Our Lord into your day – In your office or at home conducting your daily activities, offer your work as a prayer to Our Lord. We offer a low-bandwidth feed for those who wish to maintain the live feed over an extended period of time, as well as a static image for those who cannot maintain a persistent connection (dialup users).

Family Rosaries - Say your family rosary in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament on-line.

Saying Goodnight – Our children have quickly adopted a routine of wanting to ’say goodnight to Jesus’ on-line. Before they go to bed, they will ask us to bring up the Blessed Sacrament online, then they will say their evening prayers and say ‘goodnight’ to Jesus as the last act before they climb into bed.

For only $10 you can purchase flowers for the altar and everyone participating will pray for your intentions for that week. I encourage my readers to take advantage of this opportunity to spend more time with Jesus.  Prayer is an important part of wellness.

Tags: Christ, suffering

Cardinal Augustin Mayer, RIP

May 4, 2010

Today I read with regret that Cardinal Augustin Mayer, OSB, had passed away at age 98 a few days ago.  Cardinal Mayer is remembered among other things as the first Prefect of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei founded by Pope John Paul II in 1988 to address the need for the restoration of the Catholic traditional liturgies. Mayer was sympathetic and helpful to the Ecclesia Dei movement throughout the world even though many in the hierarchy tried to obstruct his efforts.  It was fitting that a Benedictine monk devoted to the sacred liturgy accepted this important post, fulfilling his episcopal motto: “Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor” — the Love of Christ has gathered us in unity.

Pope Benedict celebrated the funeral Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome May 3rd and gave one of his usual simple but profound homilies.  Here are some excerpts translated by Zenit:

Also for our beloved brother, Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer, the hour has come to leave this world. He was born, almost a century ago, in my own land, precisely in Altotting, where the famous Marian shrine arises to which many of the affections and memories of us, Bavarians, are linked. Thus is the destiny of human existence: It flowers from the earth — at a precise point of the world — and is called to Heaven, to the homeland from which it comes mysteriously. “Desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus” (Psalm 41/42:2). In this verb “desiderat” is the whole man, his being flesh, spirit, earth and heaven. It is the original mystery of the image of God in man. Young Paul — who later as a monk was called Augustin — Mayer studied this topic, in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, for his doctorate in theology. It is the mystery of eternal life, deposited in us as a seed since baptism, which must be received in the journey of our life, until the day that we give back the spirit to God the Father.

…Every funeral celebration of ours is placed under the sign of hope: In the last breath of Jesus on the cross (cf. Luke 23:46; John 19:30), God gave himself wholly to humanity, filling the void opened by sin and re-establishing the victory of life over death. Because of this, every man who dies in the Lord participates through faith in this act of infinite love, in some way gives up his spirit together with Christ, in the sure hope that the hand of the Father will resurrect him from the dead and introduce him into the Kingdom of life.

…Formed in the school of the Benedictine Fathers of the Abbey of St. Michael in Metten, in 1931 he made his monastic profession. During his whole life he sought to realize all that St. Benedict says in the Rule: “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.”

…Dear brothers, our life is in the hands of the Lord at every instant, above all at the moment of death. Because of this, with the confident invocation of Jesus on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend  my spirit,” we want to accompany our brother Paul Augustin, while he takes his step from this world to the Father.

We will miss him, those of us who have given so many years of our lives to the restoration of Catholic sacred tradition, and we look forward to meeting him again in heaven. To read the entire sermon, visit Zenit.

Tags: Catholic Church

Popule Meus – Reproaches of Good Friday

March 21, 2010

Crucifixion, c. 1450 Panel, Andrea del Castagno (b. 1423, Castagno, d. 1457, Firenze) National Gallery, London

Between now and Good Friday I’ll be posting about the Reproaches.  While Gregorian chant is the major musical form in the Latin liturgy, many compositions of the Popule Meus from the Reproaches have been written by great composers the world over.  Today I want to introduce readers to an exceptionally beautiful composition by Jose Angel Lamas.

Knowledge of composers from Latin  and South America is uncommon in North America, but thanks to YouTube, their music is now available.  Jose Angel Lamas is one such composer.  He only lived to be 39 and the composition here is his most important and well known.

Lamas was born in Caracas, Venezuela on August 2, 1775 and died there December 10, 1814.  He was buried in St. Paul’s Church but when it was torn down to build the Teatro Municipal de Caracas his bones were never found.  The composer lived during the colonial-provincial period and dedicated his life to religious music, being a member of the Cathedral orchestra.  This piece, Popule Meus, was composed in 1801 and premiered at the Caracas Cathedral.

I could not find a recording of this at Amazon so unfortunately, I can’t put this in my store.  The sadness of the Popule Meus exudes not only from the melodic line, but from the silences that punctuate the composition and the choral vs. solo voices. Enjoy.

Tags: art, music, Reproaches

A Pernicious Construct

March 2, 2010

Today Sandro Magister of chiesa features the content of a very challenging presentation by a Catholic bishop in the depths of the Bible Belt.  Here are a couple of excerpts from Archbishop Chaput’s March 1, 2010 address at the Baptist University of Houston on the vocation of Christians in American public life:

Fifty years ago this fall, in September 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for president, spoke to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. He had one purpose. He needed to convince 300 uneasy Protestant ministers, and the country at large, that a Catholic like himself could serve loyally as our nation’s chief executive. Kennedy convinced the country, if not the ministers, and went on to be elected. And his speech left a lasting mark on American politics. It was sincere, compelling, articulate – and wrong. Not wrong about the patriotism of Catholics, but wrong about American history and very wrong about the role of religious faith in our nation’s life. And he wasn’t merely “wrong.” His Houston remarks profoundly undermined the place not just of Catholics, but of all religious believers, in America’s public life and political conversation. Today, half a century later, we’re paying for the damage.

Archbishop Chaput is the foremost American bishop on the subject of Catholic life and politics and is an ardent pro-life advocate.  In his talk he continues to lay out the historical development of secularism in our country, starting with the great divorce between religion and politics that was already happening and that Kennedy voiced in 1960.

Early in his remarks, Kennedy said: “I believe in an America where the separation of Church and state is absolute.” [The pernicious construct] Given the distrust historically shown to Catholics in this country, his words were shrewdly chosen. The trouble is, the Constitution doesn’t say that. The Founders and Framers didn’t believe that. And the history of the United States contradicts that. Unlike revolutionary leaders in Europe, the American Founders looked quite favorably on religion. Many were believers themselves. In fact, one of the main reasons for writing the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause – the clause that bars any federally-endorsed Church – was that several of the Constitution’s Framers wanted to protect the publicly funded Protestant Churches they already had in their own states. John Adams actually preferred a “mild and equitable establishment of religion” and helped draft that into the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.

Crucifixion, 1503, Cranach, Lucas the Elder, pine panel, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Secularism is poisonous to life itself. It’s why this day the terminally ill, mentally challenged, disabled and elderly have reason to fear for their lives.  There is no place for valuing suffering outside of the Christian construct, and no place for respect for life or person. The times we live in are more dangerous to our souls, our country and the world than ever before.  Struck loose from Judeo-Christian moorings, life purpose becomes utilitarian and hopeless.  Chaput brings forth the challenge to Christians today:

…Christianity is not mainly – or even significantly –- about politics. It’s about living and sharing the love of God. And Christian political engagement, when it happens, is never mainly the task of the clergy. That work belongs to lay believers who live most intensely in the world. Christian faith is not a set of ethics or doctrines. It’s not a group of theories about social and economic justice. All these things have their place. All of them can be important. But a Christian life begins in a relationship with Jesus Christ; and it bears fruit in the justice, mercy and love we show to others because of that relationship. [Yes, Yes, and Yes!]

In closing Chaput said:

We live in a country that was once – despite its sins and flaws – deeply shaped by Christian faith. It can be so again. But we will do that together, or we won’t do it at all. We need to remember the words of St. Hilary from so long ago: “Unum sunt, qui invicem sunt”, they are one, who are wholly for each other. May God grant us the grace to love each other, support each other and live wholly for each other in Jesus Christ – so that we might work together in renewing the nation that has served human freedom so well.

If ever we are to stand up and be counted as genuine, visible followers of Christ doing the very difficult to counteract the spirit of the world, now is the time.  The helpless, sick and suffering, by uniting with the sufferings of Christ can be a silent, invisible, potent army of support to those seeking to restore all things in Christ.

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Tags: Catholic Church, suffering

Barb’s Custom Shop

I’m building an Amazon store of special recommendations for readers.  It’s taking awhile because I’m hand-picking the items, but the shop is now open!  You’ll be able to look at items and still get back to this site by clicking on “Suffering with Joy” at the bottom of the store page.

The first category that’s ready is “the Blessed Mother and those who love her and the Catholic faith”.  I’ll be adding another category dedicated to wellness, and a third for art movies (my hobby) which I’ll be reviewing from time-to-time. To get to the store you can either click on the store tab at the top of the page or click on “Barb’s Custom Shop” on the sidebar. Ishopping is great for those like me who can’t get out much and totally hate malls but like to browse without pressure.  Hope you enjoy it.

Readers are welcome to submit suggestions for me to add and I will if they fit the purpose of this site.  (Art movies are about beauty which I will be discussing at some point in relation to wellness and spirituality.)

Tags: Barb's Custom Shop, Blessed Virgin, wellness

Friday Lauds and God’s Snowy Blessing

January 29, 2010

Snow-covered honeysuckle in our back yard

Friday’s hour of Lauds, meaning “praise”, in the Divine Office celebrates deliverance from the Babylonian captivity in Psalm 147 (147 B) and Jerusalem’s God-given privilege.  In a short verse from Romans following the psalms we receive an instruction about how to live in this deliverance.

As I looked out the window watching the snow falling, I thought that although it is cold and gray outside, how perfect is this time to praise with the psalmist the power and glory of God.  So after I finished morning prayers I stumbled out into the gently falling snow and took a few pictures to share along with this  psalm.

Psalm 147

Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Sion.

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.

He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat He fills you.  He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs His word!

He spreads snow like wool; frost He strews like ashes.

He scatters His hail like crumbs; before His cold the waters freeze.

He sends His word and melts them; He lets His breeze blow and the waters run.  He has proclaimed His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.

He has not done thus for any other nation; His ordinances He has not made known to them.  Alleluia.

"He spreads snow like wool..."

Looking at the allegorical meaning of these scriptures, after the winter of sin comes the springtime of salvation.  Beneath the snow lies the promise of new life – Redemption.  The all-powerful Father sends His Word to melt the cold of our hearts, bringing us the warmth of spiritual peace, joy and prosperity. He fills us with the best of wheat – the Holy Eucharist and the graces It brings.

With His commandments and His blessings (the Beatitudes), He strengthens the bars of the gates of our hearts against Satan and the world. He shows us how to live as people redeemed, laying aside the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light, walking becomingly as in the day (Rom. 13:12-13).  We are a privileged people (“praise your God, O Sion…He has not done thus for any other nation”) with an obligation of lighting the way for those still in winter who do not yet know him or who have fallen away.

Tags: Catholic Church, conversion, psalms

Feast of St. Agnes, New Articles

January 21, 2010

Today is the feast of one of the most famous early Virgin-Martyrs, St. Agnes.  She is an icon of purity and courage and is often pictured with a lamb and a palm frond to symbolize her virginal youth in martyrdom.

Butler’s lives of the saints tells us that Agnes was only 12 years old when she was led to the altar of Minerva in Rome and ordered to offer sacrifice to the idol. She instead made the sign of the cross and refused.  The authorities bound her hand and foot, but the shackles slipped off her tiny wrists.  After being threatened by the judge with all kinds of torture and remaining invincible, Agnes was stripped and stood in the street, but she was undaunted. Even the crowd turned away in embarrassment and shame (would that be done today?) for the young girl, but a young man who dared to gaze upon her with lust was struck blind.  The governor’s son asked for her hand in marriage but she refused because she had consecrated herself to Christ alone.  After all of this she was beheaded.

On this feast each year the Pope blesses lambs less than a year old in the chapel of Urban VIII at the Vatican Apostolic Palace.  They are then sheared and the wool used to make palliums for bishops to be consecrated on June 29 in Rome. (HT CNA)

St. Agnes, St. Bartholomew and St. Cecelia with an unknown Dominican, 1485-1510, artist unknown, color on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

The painter of this panel was probably from Utrecht and arrived in Cologne between 1485 and 1510.  He is known as “The Master of the St. Bartholomew Altar.” St. Agnes with her symbols is on the left, St. Bartholomew with his knife and book of the Gospels in the center, and St. Cecelia with her organ and angel is on the right.  St. Cecelia is also a Virgin-Martyr whose feast is November 22.

The only Gothic church in Rome, a minor basilica called Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was built over the temple of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, where St. Agnes met the beginning of her martyrdom.  The original building was started in 1280 and finished in 1370.  It contains the tombs of St. Catherine of Sienna, Fra Angelico and two of the Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII.

ceiling, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Let us pray to St. Agnes, the wise virgin who kept her lamp burning for Christ, that purity and chastity according to our respective states in life be restored in today’s culture.

Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!

New Articles Posted at Helium

This week I have four (so far) new articles up at Helium.  If you are interested in them have a look and pass them on to others who might be interested with my thanks.  It takes hours to write informative and useful articles on the Catholic faith, and I hope these will be good tools for evangelization.

The Meaning of the Rosary in the Roman Catholic Church

Tips on Getting More from Reading the Bible

The Symbolism of Liturgical Colors in Catholic Worship

Does Praying a Novena Work?

Tags: Fra Angelico, helium, St. Agnes

Today’s Happenings

This week I posted two new articles at Helium.  The first one is the final part of a trilogy on mental prayer or meditation.  Click here to read it: Pitfalls in Catholic Mental Prayer.  The second is Who Was the Virgin of Guadalupe? I also updated my article on Our Lady at my web site here, and dropped in an image of Quetzalcoatl.  I think you’ll enjoy it if you like to read about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Today I’m researching vitamin B3 for an article I want to post on niacinimide, which produces remarkable postive effects on a variety of health issues.  When I get it ready I’ll put it up as part of my goal to share how I am improving my quality of life even though I have severe fibromyalgia.

St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop, Doctor of the Church

Today is the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers, bishop, +368 who fought the Arian heresy at several Church councils, was exiled by the emperor Constantius because of it, and converted many during his missionary travels in Gaul.  He is an early Church Father and Doctor of the Church.  Click on the picture and you will go to a writing of his on “The Spirit of Truth”.

Tags: fibromyalgia, Our Lady of Guadalupe, wellness

New Items

#1 Based on what some bloggers whom I respect are doing, I added the Google Friend Connect to my sidebar.  I may add another gadget associated with it in the future, too.  For now, though, this about stretches my capacity to deal with new things and see how they work.  Sign in on the gadget if you wish.

#2 Helium is a kind of writers’ “co-op” which I joined just before Christmas so I can write articles that interest me, especially ones that would be longer than what I want to have at my blog or subject matter that doesn’t quite fit here.  I’m keeping blog articles short enough to allow for people’s busy schedules, except for an occasional “rant” when I just can’t restrain myself on some pro-life issue.  Here are links to the titles I’ve written to at Helium.  You may see other people’s articles under the same title, too.  If so, just scroll down the list to find mine.

1.  The Five Precepts of the Church

2.  What is Catholic Mental Prayer?

3.  How to Engage in Catholic Mental Prayer

This world boasts an unconscionable amount of media dreck yet the media is exactly where we need to be to bring Christ to others.  Pope John Paul II encouraged us to use contemporary technological methods to reach the masses and so I’m doing my little part.  If you like my articles there, please pass the site information on to others or link to them in your blog posts.  I don’t get paid to write articles, but according to Helium’s rules I can earn money by meeting certain criteria which is way too complicated to get into here.  No, I won’t get rich writing for Helium.

#3 For over ten years now I’ve been writing a monthly newsletter about the Traditional Mass movement and Catholic tradition, but only those from July, 2006 on are available on the web.  If I can remember to do so, I will include the link each month to the Una Voce Arkansas Ozarks Regional Newsletter.  When you get to the web site, scroll down the page for the latest newsletter.  If you like it, you can subscribe from the UVAO site and I’ll put you on the regular mailing list. Right now, all articles are in Microsoft Word format. At some point, I hope to be skilled enough to put them into PDF format and still meet my layout standards.

St. Isidore of Seville, Murillo

#4 The Observation Service for Internet, who drew it’s mission from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, researched the Internet and related technologies to select a patron saint that best reflects the concerns and ideals of computer designers, programmers and users. The saint chosen by the Observation Service for Internet was Saint Isidore. “The saint who wrote the well-known ‘Etymologies’ (a type of dictionary), gave his work a structure akin to that of the database. He began a system of thought known today as ‘flashes;’ it is very modern, notwithstanding the fact it was discovered in the sixth century. Saint Isidore accomplished his work with great coherence: it is complete and its features are complementary in themselves. — From St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Picayune, Mississippi.

St. Isidore, pray for me!

Tags: Catholic Church, helium, St. Isidore, UVAORN

St. Stephen, the First Martyr

Stoning of St. Stephen, c. 1660, Pietro da Cortona, oil on canvas, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Happy feast day to all who are named “Stephen” or some variation thereof in any language.  Today the Church celebrates his day of glory, being accepted into the kingdom of heaven after having been stoned to death by a mob.

Acts 6:8 says that “Stephen, full of grace and power was working great wonders and signs among the people.”  We know St. Stephen was a deacon who was charged with caring for the widows, poor, and orphans.  The wonder working was on behalf of these, the “least” of our brethren, and they must have been so happy to hear of Jesus and His love for all mankind from the lips of this follower of Christ. Likewise, they must have been anguished by the loss of one so kind in a harsh and condemning world.

One of the antiphons of the Divine Office today reads: “They stoned Stephen; but he cried out with a loud voice to the Lord, saying: Lay not this sin against them.”  The lesson I learned today from the life of St. Stephen is that, like Christ, he forgave those who were killing him.

Forgiveness is very difficult, especially when the perceived wrong comes from family or friends. Right now at Christmastime when family and friends gather to celebrate the birth of Christ is when people can get on each other’s nerves.  A little celebrating is great fun, but too much and the devil is bound to stir up hate and discontent because he cannot stand to see the children of God getting along and happy over the greatest intervention by God in the history of the world.  In fact, anytime we are striving to be joyful and imitate Christ, the devil is very near.

For those who are struggling with physical, mental, or emotional issues, vulnerability to sins against charity are especially possible with all the commotion of the holidays and having to meet other’s expectations when we may not feel like it.  It is also possible for us to feel put upon or unappreciated, something we need to be on guard against and to ask God for the grace to be gracious to all in the name of Jesus.

St. Stephen makes me think that the harder it is to forgive someone, the more exaggerated a sense of importance about ourselves we have. St. Stephen was a just man.  He knew he was a creature of God, and that he was returning to the Christ he had faithfully followed.  This is all I or anyone else needs to be aware of when we are wronged.  It helps put things into perspective: in the light of eternity with God, is this aggravation, insult, slight or whatever all that important?  From this day forward, I want to be more like St. Stephen, much more ready to forgive and think instead of an eternity with God.

Tags: Christ, Christmas, St. Stephen