Suffering With Joy

Prayer from 8th Sunday after Pentecost

July 20, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: Catholic Church, liturgy, trust in God

The Pope as Liturgist

June 25, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: Catholic Church, liturgy

Good Friday Reproaches – Victoria

April 1, 2010

Tomás Luis de Victoria

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: Catholic Church, liturgy, music

Stations of the Cross

March 8, 2010

Crucifixion c. 1648, Giulio Carpioni, oil on canvas, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

One of my favorite Stations of the Cross, the old 1957 copyright by the Order of St. Benedict in Collegeville, MN, has a much more elegant English translation than their current version. I mourn the fact that today’s young Catholics have been deprived of something so very beautiful and meaningful to me as a child and so I am going to type them into the blog between now and the end of Lent.  If you like them, take them from this blog at your pleasure.   All the liturgy references are from the Traditional Latin Mass.

Entrance Song – Stabat Mater

At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword had passed.

Prepatory Prayer

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

In a spirit of humility and with a contrite heart, we offer unto Thee, eternal Father, this tribute of our worship, that it may redound to Thy honor and glory, and may avail us and all faithful Christians, both living and dead, unto the forgiveness of sins and the attainment of life everlasting.¹

V.  It behooves us to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

R.  In whom is our salvation, life and resurrection.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who in the passion of Thy Son/ didst show us the path to eternal glory by the way of the cross: / graciously grant that as by our prayers we now follow Him to the place of Calvary,/ so we may also share His triumph with Him for all eternity. / Who liveth and reigneth with Thee forever and ever. Amen.³

Oh how sad and sore distressed was that mother highly blessed, of the sole-begotten one.

Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son.

¹ Compiled from offertory prayers of the Traditional Latin Mass. ² Introit of Holy Thursday. ³ Rite of the erection of the Stations of the Cross.

Tags: liturgy

Celebrating the Golden Nights of Advent

December 16, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: Advent, Blessed Virgin, liturgy

Gaudete

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: liturgy, peace and joy, suffering

Using Halloween to show the Christian Faith

We hear the word “inculturation“ used a lot regarding our liturgical life, but what is the meaning of the word?  Let’s look at the timely example of Halloween.  Halloween as we know it today, was just such a pagan feast, originating with the Celts, added on to by the Romans, and finally, by the ninth century, becoming a celebration attached to All Saints Day. Here is ALLs information on a free stencil for pumpking carving, and here from Catholic Cuisine, are many examples of what they call “Saint-O-Lanterns”.   

Throughout the centuries the Church has always taken what was pagan and “Christianized” it.  All Hallow’s Eve or Halloween as we know it today, was just such a pagan feast, originating with the Celts, added on to by the Romans, and finally, by the ninth century, becoming a celebration attached to All Saints Day. 

For Catholic families, Halloween is an opportunity to witness to Christ in a public way without saying a word. Today children dress up as favorite saints, holding parties and celebrations where they perform skits and other entertainment for guests.  Also growing more common is the public display of carved pumpkins with pro-life and saint themes on porches, in front yards and in windows.  These displays can often become conversation starters for people to share their faith, or a prompt for someone to deepen his relationship with God. 

Christianity is the religion of life, of love, and of joy.  

And to sanctify our efforts to live a Christ-incultured life, remember the Morning Offering from the Apostleship of Prayer which you can view at their web site or on You Tube.

HT to Colleen Hammond.

Tags: Catholic Church, Halloween, liturgy, pro-life