Personal: The Wedding Approacheth

In only 10 short days (well, long days, since it's almost Summer), Kristin and I will finally be married. It's been 7.5 years in the making... in fact, tomorrow is our 7th year and 6th month anniversary since our first date. Do the math, we started dating on January 14th, 2000. It made Valentine's Day our first month anniversary, so I'll never forget the day.

We're getting married in the parish I grew up in, having the reception at the banquet hall all my married siblings used, and then bookin' it to Hawaii the next day.

Tonight we have a dance lesson, so she can learn the Waltz and I can brush up on it. Maybe we'll have another lesson on Friday. Saturday is her bachelorette party, which as far as she can tell, is going to include a scavenger hunt and a trip to NYC for some clubbing. Monday night is my bachelor party, which is pretty much set in stone: dinner at a restaurant I suggested, and then a couple rounds of beers at a bar I suggested.

Monday night I'll need to show my Best Man where he can live for the week. Then the Thursday of that week is my first Parish Pastoral Council meeting. I'm picking up the tuxes before that, and going up to my hometown afterwards.

Sigh. And somewhere in there I need to re-do the wedding programs and print them out.

Prayers wanted. Inquire within.

Convert: Marcus Grodi (1994)

Wow, read Marcus Grodi's conversion story at the Coming Home Network. A Presbyterian most of his life, he was confronted with some serious questions and deficiencies of the Protestant theology he'd grown up adhering to. I think the best part of his story is just about half-way through, when he tells about his decision to leave the Presbyterian church in search of the right one:

Marilyn and I knew we had to leave the denomination, but where would we go? This question led to another: Where am I going to find a job as a minister? I purchased a book that listed the details of all major Christian denominations and began evaluating several of the denominations that interested me.

I’d read the doctrinal summaries and think, “This one is nice, but I don’t like their view on baptism,” or “This one is okay, but their view of the end times is a bit too panic-ridden,” or “This one sounds exactly like what I’m looking for, but I’m uncomfortable with their style of worship.” After examining every possibility and not finding one that I liked, I shut the book in frustration. I knew I was leaving Presbyterianism but I had no idea which was the “right” denomination was to go into. There seemed to be something wrong with each of them. “Too bad I can’t customize my ‘perfect’ church,” I thought to myself wistfully.

Around this time a friend from Illinois called me on the phone. He, too, was a Presbyterian pastor and had heard through the grapevine that I was planning to leave the Presbyterian denomination.

“Marc, you can’t leave the church!” he scolded. “You must never leave the church. You’re committed to the church. It shouldn’t matter that some theologians and pastors are off the wall. We’ve got to stick with the church, and work for renewal from within! We must preserve unity at all costs!”

“If that’s true,” I replied testily, “why did we Protestants break away from the church in the first place?”

I don’t know where those words came from. I had never in my life given even a passing thought as to whether or not the Reformers were right to break away from the Catholic Church. It was the essential nature of Protestantism to attempt to bring renewal through division and fragmentation. The motto of the Presbyterian Church is “reformed, and always reforming.” (It should add: “and reforming, and reforming, and reforming, and reforming, etc.”)

Another great section is when he's attending a talk by Scott Hahn (the same Scott Hahn he'd known from Gordon-Cornwall Theological Seminary in the 80's, the staunch anti-Catholic Calvinist). He writes about his discomfort at entering the church where Scott was presenting:

I was nervous as I pulled into the parking lot of the huge gothic structure. I had never been inside a Catholic Church, and I didn’t know what to expect.

I entered the church quickly, skirting the holy water fonts, and scuttled down the aisle, unsure of the correct protocol for getting into the pew. I knew Catholics bowed, or curtsied, or did some sort of jig-like obeisance toward the altar before entering the pew, but I just slipped in and scrunched down, happy not to have been recognized as a Protestant.

Such honesty and humor. It's a great read, really.

Politics: Pope Leo XIII intercedes during Republican debate

First, watch this clip from the Republican debate in which Rudy Giuliani was asked "how does that make you feel?" (such a hard-hitting political question, I might add) regarding a Catholic Bishop equating Giuliani's laissez-faire attitude towards abortion with Pontius Pilate's allowing Jesus Christ to be crucified. (I love the still image from the video here: it looks like Rudy's declaring some truths to be self-evident or something.)

Yes, that was lightning strikes causing the microphone system to cut out occasionally. Giuliani cracked jokes about it, but since the question he was asked was one about how he felt (subjective) and not morality and right-and-wrong (objective), everyone had a laugh and moved on.

I'm reading an encyclical from Pope Leo XIII, Mirae caritatis ("Wondrous love", On the Holy Eucharist), from 1902. Paragraph 17 is rather timely, given the number of politicians (Republican, Democrat, or otherwise) who prefer to give their moral consciences the back seat in matters of public policy:

Most abundant, assuredly, are the salutary benefits which are stored up in this most venerable mystery, regarded as a Sacrifice; a Sacrifice which the Church is accordingly wont to offer daily "for the salvation of the whole world." And it is fitting, indeed in this age it is specially important, that by means of the united efforts of the devout, the outward honour and the inward reverence paid to this Sacrifice should be alike increased. Accordingly it is our wish that its manifold excellence may be both more widely known and more attentively considered. There are certain general principles the truth of which can be plainly perceived by the light of reason; for instance, that the dominion of God our Creator and Preserver over all men, whether in their private or in their public life, is supreme and absolute; that our whole being and all that we possess, whether individually or as members of society, comes from the divine bounty; that we on our part are bound to show to God, as our Lord, the highest reverence, and, as He is our greatest benefactor, the deepest gratitude.

But how many are there who at the present day acknowledge and discharge these duties with full and exact observance? In no age has the spirit of contumacy and an attitude of defiance towards God been more prevalent than in our own; an age in which that unholy cry of the enemies of Christ: "We will not have this man to rule over us" (Luke 19:14), makes itself more and more loudly heard, together with the utterance of that wicked purpose: "let us make away with Him" (Luke 20:14); nor is there any motive by which many are hurried on with more passionate fury, than the desire utterly to banish God not only from the civil government, but from every form of human society. And although men do not everywhere proceed to this extremity of criminal madness, it is a lamentable thing that so many are sunk in oblivion of the divine Majesty and of His favours, and in particular of the salvation wrought for us by Christ. Now a remedy must be found for this wickedness on the one hand, and this sloth on the other, in a general increase among the faithful of fervent devotion towards the Eucharistic Sacrifice, than which nothing can give greater honour, nothing be more pleasing, to God. For it is a divine Victim which is here immolated; and accordingly through this Victim we offer to the most blessed Trinity all that honour which the infinite dignity of the Godhead demands; infinite in value and infinitely acceptable is the gift which we present to the Father in His only-begotten son; so that for His benefits to us we not only signify our gratitude, but actually make an adequate return.

The Apostolic C: Drive

Sometime in the not-too-distant future (I'm getting married in less than three weeks, remember!) I will be moving the magisterial document content from this blog to a new blog created specifically for that content, which I've called The Apostolic C: Drive.

I'll wait for the applause to die down.

Vatican and USCCB and ITC (and other) documents will be available from The Apostolic C: Drive as blog posts as well as MS Word documents suitable for booklet-style printing. People can offer commentary on or ask questions about the documents. I might eventually open the door for entire posts about documents (rather than restricting user input to just the comment boxes).

Anyway, that's all for now. I've got a massive new set of documents on my reading list. I'll need something to do on the plane trip to Hawaii to keep myself from causing a scene with Kristin.

(As she pointed out, we're getting married on Saturday... and then getting cooped up on a plane for 8 or so hours on Sunday. You do the math.)

News: Dr. Beckwith speaks to NCR on his return to Rome

From National Catholic Register, May 29, 2007:

Looking back, and knowing what I know now, I believe that the Church’s weakness was presenting the renewal movements as something new and not part of the Church’s theological traditions.

For someone like me, who was interested in both the spiritual and intellectual grounding of the Christian faith, I didn’t need the “folk Mass” with cute nuns and hip priests playing “Kumbaya” with guitars, tambourines and harmonicas. And it was all badly done.

After all, we listened to the Byrds, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and we knew the Church just couldn’t compete with them.

But that’s what the Church offered to the young people of my day: lousy pop music and a gutted Mass. If they were trying to make Catholicism unattractive to young and inquisitive Catholics, they were succeeding.

What I needed, and what many of us desired, were intelligent and winsome ambassadors for Christ who knew the intellectual basis for the Catholic faith, respected and understood the solemnity and theological truths behind the liturgy, and could explain the renewal movements in light of these.

CRC #5: June's Articles

I'd like to thank all those who wrote posts for the fifth installment of the Christian Reconciliation Carnival. In an effort to increase our readership and authorship, I ask each person reading or writing to invite at least one friend to write for or read future installments of the Carnival. (I could get ambitious and request two friends each. The population of the Earth is around 6 billion, so if one person tells two people, and those two people tell four people, and those four people tell eight people, then somewhere between the 31st and 32nd set of people, the whole world would know about this Carnival!)

If math is not your preference, then perhaps Pseudo-Polymath is more up your alley. Mark, an Eastern Orthodox (OCA), writes on this Carnival's topic in sharing with us his Ecumenical Reading Lists. The topic, if you remember, was on how your understanding of the divisions in Christianity has changed after you read books or articles by Christians of another denomination and found yourself agreeing with much of the author's content. Mark asks "how could one restrict one's reading to just that produced inside one's denomination?" and goes on to share his own experiences with literature that answered some questions (and asked more).

Mark also tells us What He'd Pay To See. He describes an intelligent, calm, and Socratic approach to debating. Hat-tip to Anne who asks, "Anybody interested in picking a topic and giving it a try?"

Tim, the God-Fearin' Fiddler, addresses the topic as well, in his post Jesus and the Victory of God. Tim, a Roman Catholic, talks about the book of the same name by the Anglican scholar N. T. Wright (also the Bishop of Durham). A friend of Tim's, an elder at a nearby Presbyterian Church of America, had recommended Wright for Tim's reading list. In writing about Wright's quest to find both a historical and Scriptural Jesus, Tim says "it is refreshing to see such a well studied and respected scholar put all of these secular fantasies firmly to rest".

Bonnie, from the group-effort blog Intellectuelle, shares a post she wrote on an early May event that attracted a great deal of attention in the Christian blogging circuit. In Francis Beckwith has returned..., she writes (from a Protestant perspective) on the reaction to Dr. Francis Beckwith's return to the Catholic Church after several decades away from it; his return ended his presidency of the Evangelical Theological Society, and sparked some hot debates. Bonnie asks, among other things, "why must someone be Protestant to be considered an Evangelical?"

At her blog, Proto-Catholic where she chronicles her ongoing journey to Catholicism, Gretchen writes on this month's topic about her experiences with Catholic literature from her Protestant perspective. In The Lost Presence, she muses on her own prodigality in relationship to the Lord's Supper. She also copied one of C. S. Lewis's poems from Spirits in Bondage entitled In Praise of Solid People. I've abducted it for the Carnival.

Darrel (Dr. Platypus) also writes on this month's topic in his post on Morton Kelsey's Ecumenical Appeal. Darrel, who describes himself as "mostly Baptist", explains how Kelsey's book Healing and Christianity "expanded my horizons by allowing me to find common ground with whole swaths of Christian tradition", "helped me to articulate my own beliefs about divine healing", and "challenged my assumptions about what a 'Christian worldview' might look like".

Anne, the Weekend Fisher, also addresses this month's topic, in which she introduces us to The Wider Church on My Bookshelf. Having read her blog, Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, for some time now (probably a year at least), I can attest to her love of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially his masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. In her post for the Carnival, she talks about how her first Lutheran pastor introduced her to the works of Thomas Merton and encouraged her to read C. S. Lewis. This pastor "had a vision of the Church that transcended divisions". She also relates to how her own transition within the Lutheran church -- from a more liberal church to a more conversative one -- affected her perception of the differences that exist between us: "I discovered that each side misunderstood the other badly, misrepresented the other badly, and resisted the idea that it was behaving unjustly and uncharitably toward the other."

Guess on which topic I, Jeff, your host for this month, wrote? Yes, the topic of the month. Here on The Cross Reference, you'll find a post about C. S. Lewis and Ecumenism. I lay bare (some of) the ignorance I had in my youthful Catholicism of the entirety of the Christian body: "I knew that Lewis was not a Catholic [...] that meant he was 'a Protestant', which in turn meant he was 'a Baptist or something'." My post is primarily about the effect mere christianity had on me; I praise it as "an ecumenical work [...] with which so many Christians can identify [and] a foundation on which to build more serious, more intelligent, and more charitable dialogue" for Christian reconciliation.

In addition to the proferred posts above, there are also some "drifters", posts that our readership (ok... Anne) has come across this past month that may pique our interest. In no particular order, here they are:

My Flesh Is True Food, in which an "Augsburg evangelical" presents his view of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist.

Encounters with Tradition, a new series by Ben Myers, at Faith and Theology.

In How to Begin to Live as a Saint, Mark Roberts discusses the God-centered holiness, faithfulness, and love to which all Christians are called.

Two articles related to Scot McKnight. At his blog, Jesus Creed, he reviews Pope Benedict XVI's book Jesus of Nazareth. Meanwhile, the Internet Monk interviews Scot on Evangelical Christians and Mary.

Proclaiming Softly has an article, Falwell and Fire, which comments on Jerry Falwell's passing and the strong reactions it drew.

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost discusses the strict teetotalism of the Southern Baptist Convention in his article What Would Jesus Drink?: Alcohol, Ethics, and Christian Liberty.

Lastly, with a hat-tip to Hyperekperissou's Patristics Roundup, we find an article from The Way of the Fathers titled Hindu Traditions of St. Thomas, which comments on lesser-known evidence of St. Thomas the Apostle's missionary journey to India.

If you leave a comment on the "guest articles", please let them know you found their blogs through the Christian Reconciliation Carnival, and offer them an invitation to become regular (or at least witting!) contributors.

Finally, if you are interested in hosting next month's Carnival (and I know you are), please contact Anne from Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength (or me, but I'll probably just forward it to Anne). That email address is: christianreconciliationcarnival@yahoo.com. That's also the article-submission email address.

Liturgy: Adoremus

Are you Catholic? Do you love the liturgy? Interested in the renewal of sacred liturgy? Please consider reading the articles and documents available at Adoremus. Even better, please sign up and register as a donating supporting member.

In the mean time, consider reading Redemptionis Sacramentum and the General Instruction of the Roman Missale (available here). But beware: along with the knowledge of good and evil (in this case, right and wrong) comes the responsibility to exercise that knowledge (for the good, of course) and not remain silent.

CRC #5: C. S. Lewis and Ecumenism

(This is an entry for the Christian Reconciliation Carnival, #5.)

Have you ever read literature by a Christian of a denomination other than yours... and found yourself agreeing with much of what he or she has written? I have, and it's one of the reasons I hold a hope that there can be a clearer understanding between Christians and even, eventually, a reconciliation. I hope it is God's will that this reconciliation happens this side of Heaven, but I will let His will be done.

In college, in the library of my fraternity house, one finds lots of old -- even ancient -- books. There are old RPI yearbooks, old textbooks, old encyclopedias, and old novels. I found one book titled The Apostle (9780881841671), by Sholem Asch, held my interest last time I visited the house. But the first book I found there that I actually took back to my room to start reading was a book by the famed author of the Narnia series (of which I'd only read the first). The book was mere christianity (9780805420463), the author was C. S. Lewis.

I'm pretty sure I knew that Lewis was not a Catholic before I started reading mere christianity. However, to my 19- or 20-year-old brain, that meant he was "a Protestant", which in turn meant he was "a Baptist or something". (I apologize for the tone of ignorance that will be displayed on occasion in this post, but it is simply indicative of what I knew about other denominations of Christianity at the time.) I was somewhat surprised, then, after reading mere christianity, that his view of core Christianity made so much sense to me.

That was five years ago. Two years ago, after leaving college (not graduating, mind you, just leaving) and moving to the Princeton, NJ area for a job, I had my first apartment, complete with boxes of stuff I didn't want to unpack (and still haven't unpacked!) and a mostly-empty bookcase. I went to Barnes & Noble and bought the "Signature Series", a set of six books by Lewis; I was determined to read as many of his books as I could to understand this Catholic-sounding Christian's point of view. I've since gotten the complete Narnia series as a gift from my fiancée, and purchased two anthologies (comprising seven other works), the space trilogy (I still haven't started the third book), and a few other odds and ends (The Abolition of Man, The Weight of Glory, and Till We Have Faces). I also received a book about Lewis and the Narnia series, as well as a book about Lewis's relationship with J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

But back to Lewis and his appealing take on Christianity.

It was not until I was reading his anonymous work, A Grief Observed, written after the death of his wife, Joy, that I found out what his particular church was. On page 65 (very near the end of the book), he writes (emphasis mine): "Tomorrow morning a priest will give me a little round, thin, cold, tasteless wafer. Is it a disadvantage -- is it not in some ways an advantage -- that it can't pretend the least resemblance to that with which it unites me?" I knew he was not talking about a Catholic priest, so I realized that he meant either an Orthodox priest or an Anglican priest, and since Orthodox Communion is not with wafers, that meant Lewis was an Anglican.

My future studying, which included the book C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church (0898709792), helped me understand Lewis's faith, what he thought of Rome, and what he thought of Christianity in general. Lewis was a liturgically-oriented orthodox Anglican. This put his writings in a fuller context. I finally understood where he was coming from. At that moment, it really did not matter to me that he wasn't Catholic; what mattered to me was that he had been able to explain the core tenets of the Christian faith to a Catholic, and that he had bolstered my belief in God and my faith in Jesus Christ. Perhaps this is why so many Catholics mark Lewis as a signpost on their "road to Rome", or as a buoy as they "cross the Tiber". I have no doubt he has helped Christians of other denominations feel "at home" in their churches either.

Lewis has succeeded in writing an ecumenical work -- several, really -- with which so many Christians can identify, and I believe it is a foundation on which to build more serious, more intelligent, and more charitable dialogue in reconciling the Christians of the world to one another, and ultimately, to God Himself.

Scripture Reflection: The Feast of Pentecost

(This post is an entry for the Catholic Carnival #121.)

Compare the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) with the first Christian Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11).

Why did God confuse the tongues of men at Babel? First, let us understand what the men were doing. We hear from the men themselves: "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4). I can spot two problems with their plan. First of all, it was God's will that mankind be "scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4): He had already told us to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28)... three times (cf. Genesis 9:1, 7). Why, then, was man afraid of being thus scattered? Second, these men sought to make a name for themselves rather than for God. The city and tower were not for the glory of God, but for the glory of Man, and unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1)

So God, seeing that mankind put His will beneath their own and sought to elevate their own names rather than the name of the One True God, confused their speech and scattered them abroad. This was a punishment of sorts for not keeping the covenant of filling the whole earth, and for preferring their own glorification over God's.

But on the day of Pentecost, after Jesus the Christ had been crucified, raised, and had ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles and those with them (including Mary, the mother of Jesus, cf. Acts 1:12-14) and "confused their speech". God granted the same gift (not punishment) to these holy men and women again, so that His will might be fulfilled.

Jesus told his friends to "make disciples of all nations" (cf. Matthew 28:19). But how could they do so without being able to preach to those nations, using words the nations could understand? Here is the beautiful Wisdom of God displayed: yet another foreshadowing of the New Covenant in the Old. Just as the sacrifice of Isaac prefigured the sacrifice of Jesus, just as the ark of Noah prefigured baptism, just as the manna in the desert prefigured the True Bread from Heaven, so to did the confusing of tongues in Babel prefigure the confusing -- and understanding -- of tongues in Jerusalem.

The disciples of Jesus spoke in various tongues -- not the languages they already knew, but the languages of the devout Jews visiting Jerusalem, the men who were "Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians" (Acts 2:9-11). This was for the furthering of the Kingdom and the glorification of God, that all the world might know the saving power of Jesus Christ and believe in him.

Instead of building a city of men, now we are building the city of God.

CRC #5: Topic Announcement

The topic for Christian Reconciliation Carnival #5 is as follows:

Have you read articles, essays, or books by a Christian of a denomination other than yours -- and found yourself agreeing with much of what he or she wrote? How has this changed your understanding of the divisions in Christianity?

I know, for example, many Catholics have read books by C. S. Lewis; some even recognize his literature as being integral in their conversion to the Catholic Church... despite Lewis being an Anglican.

Weekend Fisher has the instructions for post submission on her blog.

Scripture: Why do you read the Bible?

What are some reasons you read the Bible or attend Bible studies? Be as general or specific as you'd like.

Tradition: Pope Saint Gregory VII

Amber at This Catholic Journey has a blogger widget from PhatCatholic Apologetics; it's a quote-of-the-day. Today's quote is from Pope Saint Gregory VII († 1085): "Amavi iustiam et odivi iniquitatem; propterea, morior in exilio." ("I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile.") He said it on his deathbed, exiled in Salerno by Emperor Henry IV.

Pope Saint Gregory VII did not just die exiled because of the emperor. All Christians die in exile: Heaven is our true home (cf. 2 Cor 5:1; Phil 3:20; 1 Pet 1:4).

Personal: Graduation, Devotion, Wedding

So I "graduated" from RPI on Saturday, in Troy, NY. In the rain. I have a single credit left, which I'm making up this summer at Rutgers, taking a course on the New Testament. By the end of August, then, I will have completed my Computer Science courses and will be receiving my degree.

There are now only 33 days left until my wedding. I've decided to pray a 30-day Novena to Saint Joseph in honor of the years he spent with Jesus and Mary (starting on the 25th of May), in addition to daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. I hope to gain some peace (during what will be a hectic month, I'm sure), discernment, patience, wisdom, in preparation for being the best possible husband for Kristin.

The prayer of the Novena follows:

Ever blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and loving father, and helpful friend of all in sorrow! You are the good father and protector of orphans, the defender of the defenseless, the patron of those in need and sorrow. Look kindly on my request. My sins have drawn down on me the just displeasure of my God, and so I am surrounded with unhappiness. To you, loving guardian of the Family of Nazareth, do I go for help and protection.

Listen, then, I beg you, with fatherly concern, to my earnest prayers, and obtain for me the favors I ask.

I ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which moved Him to take our nature and to be born into this world of sorrow.

I ask it by the weariness and suffering you endured when you found no shelter at the inn of Bethlehem for the holy Virgin, nor a place where the Son of God could be born. Then, being everywhere refused, you had to allow the Queen of Heaven to give birth to the world's Redeemer in a cave.

I ask it by the loveliness and power that sacred, Name Jesus, which you conferred on the adorable Infant.

I ask it by that painful torture you felt at the prophecy of Simeon, which declared the Child Jesus and His Holy Mother future victims of our sins and of their great love for us.

I ask it through your sorrow and pain of soul when the angel declared to you that the life of the Child Jesus was sought by His enemies. From their evil plan you had to flee with Him and His Blessed Mother into Egypt. I ask it by all the suffering, weariness, and labors of that long and dangerous journey.

I ask it by all your care to protect the Sacred Child and His Immaculate Mother during your second journey, when you were ordered to return to your own country. I ask it by your peaceful life in Nazareth where you met so many joys and sorrows.

I ask it by your great distress, when the adorable Child was lost to you and His Mother for three days. I ask it by your joy at finding Him in the Temple, and by the comfort you found at Nazareth, while living in the company of the Child Jesus. I ask it by the wonderful submission He showed in His obedience to you.

I ask it by the perfect love and conformity you showed in accepting the Divine order to depart from this life, and from the company of Jesus and Mary. I ask it by the joy which filled your soul, when the Redeemer of the world, triumphant over death and Hell, entered into the possession of His kingdom and led you into it with special honors.

I ask it through Mary's glorious Assumption, and through that endless happiness you share with her in the presence of God.

O good father! I beg you, by all your sufferings, sorrows, and joys, to hear me and obtain for me what I ask.

[Here name your petitions]

Obtain for all those who have asked my prayers everything that is useful to them in the plan of God. Finally, my dear patron and father, be with me and all who are dear to me in our last moments, that we may eternally sing the praises of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Liturgy: Motu Proprio on JP II's birthday?

National Catholic Reporter is reporting (as is their wont) that a top Vatican official, Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, has confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI "intends to extend to the entire church the possibility of celebrating the Mass and the sacraments according to the liturgical books promulgated by Pope John XXIII in 1962."

Tomorrow is the birthday of Pope John Paul II († 2005); perhaps tomorrow the Motu Proprio will be announced?

For more information, see What Does The Prayer Really Say? by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf.

Update (2007-05-20): this is why I'm not a prognosticator.

Tradition: Vatican Timeline

I already knew about the Vatican boardgame, but Gretchen pointed out there's a Vatican Timeline as well. I might like to have that.

Scripture: The "cloud of witness" from Hebrews 11-12

The following discourse took place on ccel.org (the Christian Classics Ethereal Library) between micahdaniel and myself.

---

Submitted by micahdaniel on Mon, 2006-10-23 08:34.

The previous verse: Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Note two groups of people mentioned in this verse, "us" and "they without us." These two groups clearly do not include the dead or dead in Christ. Therefore, the immediate context for the "cloud of witnesses" is not the dead, but the living.

Submitted by japhy on Sun, 2007-02-25 12:39.

I disagree with you; I believe the context shows that the "cloud of witnesses" refers to those who have died in faith. Here is Hebrews 11:32 - 12:2 (RSV), with emphasis by me.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets -- who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated -- of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Here is what I understand the pronouns represent: And all these who died in faith, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us who live today, that apart from us who live today they who died in faith should not be made perfect.

It seems clear to me that, at the end of Hebrews 11, the author is referring specifically to those who have died without receiving what was promised, because God fulfilled all promises through Jesus Christ (something better), and that by his Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, they (those who had died in faith) were now made perfect. In other words, because of Christ (and Christianity), the faithful departed have been made perfect as we are being made perfect. Therefore, the great ... cloud of witnesses refers to those who have died in faith and are now made perfect in Christ (retroactively, so to speak). We are encouraged to also lay aside every weight and to believe with the faith our predecessors had.

Jesus is the perfecter of our faith, so in him the faithful who died have now been made perfect, and they are witnesses (both to their faith, and of our struggles).

I think micahdaniel was trying to cast "they without us" as the Jewish community, or as the other Christians who were the responsibility of the Hebrews being addressed by this epistle. If the former, then "they without us" wouldn't mean "they need us", it would mean "non-Christians"; if the latter, then the "cloud of witnesses" means "the people who are depending on you, watching you".

But that disregards not only the entirety of chapter 11, but the previous verse, which is part of the same sentence. The pronoun "they" used in verse 40 relate directly to verse 39, the ones well attested by their faith [but] did not receive what was promised.

Retreat: NJYAC Summary

This is the first post about the NJ Young Adult Conference held in Laurence Harbor on May 5, 2007. This is just a summary of the day, with descriptions of all the workshops being held.

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We started the day with a skit about "the light". Then we opened in prayer at 10:20 AM. We were led in prayer by five people (myself included). The morning prayer consisted of five prayer meditations, each followed by a song. Next, at 11:00 AM, Fr. John Cusick (priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago and founder of Theology on Tap, as well as the director of his Archdiocese's Young Adult Ministry) gave the Keynote Presentation on Matthew 5:1-16 (the Beatitudes and the "Salt and Light" discourse). This was followed by lunch.

At 1:30 PM, the first workship session started. There were seven workshops being offered in different areas of the church basement and parish hall; they were:

A Light in the Darkness: Bringing the Catholic Social Teaching to Life (Terri Willox) - An overview of the primary themes of Catholic Social Teaching as our response to the call of the Gospel. It will focus specifically on means of advocating justice at both the community and global levels.

Some May Try to Turn Out the Light: Defending the Faith (Marc Hudock) - This workshop will discuss the finer points of living amongst those caustic elements of our culture which can hidner us from truly living our faith. It will focus on truly living a robust Christian life, which inevitably puts us in the position where we may have to "defend the faith" on a daily basis.

Walk, Believe, Become the Light of Discernment (Sister Marilyn Minter, CSSF) - This workshop will focus on discernment: what it is, what it is not, how we do it, and how much we all do walk in it to be the light with Christ.

Rekindling the Light in the Church Today: Beking the Church Jesus Really Intended (Michael Fabien) - This workshop offers a look at the Church through fresh eyes. What are we about? Who are we? What did Jesus ask us to be? It will explore what it means to be, not a Church with a mission, but a mission with a Church.

Turning Your Lights On: Transformed by the Light of the Human Race (Nivi Srinivasa) - This workshop will focus on meditation and prayer as toosl to help us to encounter the Living Christ. Such an encounter dispels fear, so that we can follow the example of the Apostles and evangelize.

Spark It: Building Young Adult Ministry (Margaret Rickard) - This workshop will focus on getting support from parishes, finding leaders, and getting the word out to the young adult population.

Keeping the Lights On: Keeping the Light in Your Relationship (Raphael and Aly Giglio) - This workshop will focus on the similarities of the relationship of husband and wife as is depicted in Scripture as Christ loved the Church (Eph 5:25). It will also include some focus of doing ministry together as a couple.

After this first session ended, around 2:15 PM, we went back to the parish hall for a question & answer session with the Bishop of the Metuchen Diocese, the Most Reverend Paul Gregory Bootkoski. This lasted for about a half hour, after which we went to our second workshop, at 3:00 PM. We had free time from around 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM. Then we had Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament -- with the Sacrament of Reconciliation being offered as well -- until 6:00 PM.

Mass was held in the church at 6:15 PM, celebrated by Fr. Brian Woodrow (from St. Rose of Lima Church in Belmar, NJ), with Fr. Philip and Fr. Giancarlo concelebrating. After Mass, we had a Cinco de Mayo-themed dinner, ending the evening.

Tradition: Icons

Weekend Fisher has a post on her blog about icons. Check it out. The one she included in her article is of the Crucifixion, similar to the one to be printed upon my "business card".

Scripture Reflection: Called by God (on Confirmation names)

Here is the reflection I gave on Holy Saturday, during the morning retreat for the RCIA candidates and catechumens. The names of the Saints selected as Confirmation names were: St. Francis for Francisco, St. Cecelia for Jenna, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton for Lindsay, and St. Patrick for John.

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I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (Eph 3:14-15) writes Saint Paul. Ever since man could speak in words, he has named things, and the names given to things have had meaning. In Genesis, we read that, before man was even created, God, the Creator of all, named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night”, the firmament “Heaven”, the dry land “Earth”, and the waters “Seas” (cf. Gen 1:5-10). When God breathed into the first “Man” His breath of life – the first living soul, the first human in communion with God – God gave to Him the gift of language that man might name the creatures which God had created. The phrase “the Word of God” in Scriptures refers to revelation from God: [T]he word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." (Gen 15:1)

Names, which are made up of words, are important in every culture. A thing is given a name for a reason, and words themselves have origins. The name Adam and the Hebrew word for “man” are one in the same: adamah, which means both “reddish” and “earth” and describes the complexion and substance of man.

My name, Jeffrey, comes from Geoffrey, which comes from the Germanic name Godfrey, meaning “the peace of God”. Francisco, your name comes from the Latin Franciscus, which means “French-man”. Jenna, your name is a variant of Jennifer – a name in use only since the 20th century – which comes from Guinevere, the Old French rendering of the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar, meaning “fair and smooth”. Lindsay, your name is a Scottish surname, from Old English, describing a place called “Lincoln’s marsh”. And John, your name, the most Biblical of the group – with the exception of Sr. Mary, of course – comes from the Latin Iohannes, from the Greek Ioannes, which came from the Hebrew Yochanan, meaning “Yahweh is gracious”. Truly, John the Baptist, born to an aged Zechariah (“Yahweh remembers”) and his barren wife Elizabeth (“God’s promise”), was a sign of the graciousness of God to His people.

Several times in the Bible we read of people being given a new name by God: Abram and Sarai were renamed Abraham and Sarah in light of their covenant with God (cf. Gen 17), Jacob was renamed Israel after contending with a messenger of God (cf. Gen 32:28), the man we know of as Joshua son of Nun – a servant of Moses and the one who led the Israelites into the land promised to them – was born Hoshea and was named Joshua (or Yehoshua, meaning “Yahweh is salvation”) by Moses (cf. Num 13:16). King Solomon was also named Jedidiah (meaning “beloved of Yahweh”) in his infancy (cf. 2 Sam 12). The Apostle Simon was named Peter by Jesus (cf. Matt 16:18; John 1:40-42). The Pharisee Saul was named Paul after his conversion (cf. Acts 13:9).

Jesus – whose Hebrew name was the same as Joshua – was prophesied to have the name Emmanuel, “God with us”, as well as a host of other names: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isa 7:14, 9:6). Those phrases were names in Hebrew: Pele-joez, El-gibbor, Abi-ad, Sar-shalom.

Paul wrote in his second letter to the church in Corinth, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). It is in our baptism that we are made new – restored and refreshed – by God, who calls each of us by name. We choose a baptismal name, as well as a confirmation name, as a sign of this rebirth in Jesus Christ. We choose the name of a saint, one who set apart his or her life for God, as a sign of our earnest desire to live a holy life and be a child of God. St. Francis of Assisi, inspired by a vision in a Crucifix, renounced his lineage and all his possessions and founded a religious order, the Franciscans. St. Cecilia, an early martyr of the Church whose name is mentioned in the first Eucharistic Prayer, praised God with her voice and with instruments. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American Saint, endured hardships and loss during her conversion to Catholicism, founded the first religious community of apostolic women in the country, the Sisters of Charity, and helped form a private charity organization – the first in New York City – dedicated to the assistance of widows with children. St. Patrick was a missionary to Ireland in the fifth century, and was recognized as Ireland’s patron only a few centuries after his death.

The first Christian saints – the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostles – experienced the early form of baptism and confirmation. Baptism by water in the name the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit cleanses us from our sin; Confirmation seals us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, which manifested itself as tongues of flame at Pentecost. Water and fire, often seen by philosophers as contradictory and opposing, are understood in Christianity as united symbols of cleansing and purification. In being called by the Father, you will pass through the waters of baptism and the fire of the Holy Spirit, welcomed by so great a cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1): His Son, His Holy Spirit, His Saints, His Church.

Personal: The Cross Reference Card

I made myself some "business cards" at VistaPrint.com (where a friend of mine will soon be employed) to share my blog with people. They'll arrive in a couple weeks. I think they're pretty nifty.

Theology: The Sacrifice of Christ Made Present to Us

At Mass, the priest takes bread and wine in his hands -- hands he has put at the service of Christ -- and prays for the Holy Spirit to make them the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is an unbloody re-presentation (not representation) of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for us. It is one and the same; Jesus is not sacrificed over and over again, but the priest offers to God that same sacrifice, that same spotless lamb.

Erin Arlinghausen blogged on something Fr. John Corapi said about the Eucharist. It's not just made present to us in that it is presented to us, it is made present to us, rather than past, just as for the Apostles it was made present to them, although the sacrifice on the cross was still to come in the future.

Theology: The Uniqueness of Jesus's Baptism

Update: My brother, Fr. Charlie, pointed out to me an excerpt of Pope Benedict XVI's new book, Jesus of Nazareth (978-0385523417), on MSNBC.com; the topic of the excerpt is the meaning behind the baptism of Jesus.

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The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan has been a matter of debate in the past. Why would the sinless Son of God need to be baptized in the manner of the sinners in Israel? Matthew records the meeting between John the Baptist and Jesus (cf. Matthew 3:13-17); John asks Jesus, "you come to me?" to which Jesus replies, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." John would not have been hesitant to baptize Jesus if he thought there was any cause for sin in Jesus, so John must have known Jesus's sinless nature.

I have read various speculations about what it meant to "fulfill all righteousness". Some interpret this to mean that Jesus, in being baptized, consecrated all waters for baptism so that this great sacrament of grace, of initiation into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, could be performed anywhere, not just in the Jordan. This makes a lot of sense, and is quite likely to be one of the meanings behind this passage of Scripture.

But there is something even deeper. Jesus's baptism was unlike any other baptism. No other man or woman entering the Jordan had the Holy Spirit alight upon him or her like a dove. No other baptism caused a voice to proclaim from Heaven, "This is my beloved Son". After Jesus, there is no other Messiah. But before Jesus, there were Messiahs. Not false Messiahs, but true ones. "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew, "Christ" comes from the Greek: both mean "Anointed". Truly Jesus is the Anointed One of God, the Christ. It was not the fact that he was anointed that made him the Last Messiah, but a) who he is (God Incarnate), and b) the manner of his anointing.

A survey of anointing in the Old Testament revealed to me that it involved the marking of a person or thing with oil. (In the Catholic Church today, this happens at Baptism and Confirmation, during Holy Orders and Extreme Unction.) The use of oil, it seems, was integral to the anointing. In the area of Luz, Jacob anointed a stone with oil and renamed the place Bethel (in Genesis 28 and again in Genesis 35). The Mosiac Law describes the ordination process for the priests in the line of Aaron (Exodus 28:41-29:9) including the anointing of their heads with oil. Saul and David were anointed by Samuel (1 Samuel 9:15-16; 16:12-13). Zadok and Nathan anointed Solomon (1 Kings 1:33-40). Elisha commissioned a prophet to anoint Jehu as king of Israel (2 Kings 9:1-13). The list goes on.

Jesus was anointed in the Jordan by water alone; John the Baptist was a Levite, as was his father before him. The Spirit was already upon him, as he is God the Son, God Incarnate, Word Made Flesh; he was identified as the Lord's Christ by Simeon at his circumcision (cf. Luke 2:25-35), and he manifested his wisdom at the age of 12 in Jerusalem (cf. Luke 2:41-52). The baptism in the Jordan, then, was the public identification of Jesus as Christ, to make him known.

I could be wrong. This isn't a hinge of the faith, just an interpretation to explain why Jesus received water baptism.

News: President of the Evangelical Theological Society returns to Rome

Dr. Francis Beckwith, the (former) president of the Evangelical Theological Society, has returned home to Rome. Since the ETS seeks to keep Catholics out via its statement of faith (which a Catholic would agree with), Dr. Beckwith will probably not be maintaining his membership much longer.

The responses are varied. Some non-Catholics are furious, disappointed, and regretful. Other non-Catholics are sympathetic and encouraging. All the Catholics are overjoyed -- surprise, surprise. One wonders if some of the non-Catholics are now sure that Dr. Beckwith was never saved to begin with, if he's gone off and joined the "pagan church". There's a fair share of ignorance of the Catholic faith in the comments on Dr. Beckwith's blog article, regarding the history of the Biblical canon, the saving work of Christ on the cross, justification (yes, Catholics believe we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, cf. Eph 2:8), and other topics.

Pray for him and his family. The angels and saints around the throne of God are doing the same; you'll be in good company.

Retreat: New Jersey Young Adult Conference

This Saturday, I will be attending the New Jersey Young Adult Conference, an all-day retreat for young adult Catholics. As usual, I'll have a notebook with me so I can take notes in the two workshop sessions I attend. I should probably also really get an audio recording device of some sort. And probably borrow Kristin's digital camera.

Personal: College, the most recent eight years of my life

I entered RPI in 1999 as an Information Technology major. I had a co-op (like an internship, but I get paid) on Wall Street from January to July of 2001. That taste of what it was like to really work probably spoiled my interest in college. Eventually, things went sour (partly my fault, but also because my student ID number must be a particularly unlucky one). They changed the I.T. curriculum, and the "discipline" (the equivalent of a minor in the I.T. department) I chose as a freshman no longer existed. It was "software usability". Why that got canned, I'll never know.

In the late Spring of 2005 (after failing to meet graduation requirements for a second time) I changed my major to Computer Science, and suddenly, everything was within my grasp. I was a mere 13 credits short. I took a summer course, dropping the credit gap to 9. Then I moved down to the Princeton area and started working. In the Summer of 2006, I took a night course at Rutgers. 4 more credits completed, 5 to go!

I intended on taking a night course in the Fall. Unfortunately, Summer students don't have the same status as normally-enrolled students, so it turns out I would have had to apply for admission for a Fall course before I'd even registered for the Summer course. And when I did apply for admission in the Spring of 2007, I was told to fill out the wrong forms: I was accepted as a transfer student! That meant I still had 90 credits!

I got the problem worked out: I'm a visiting student, completing another night course... the final is in two weeks. However, that didn't stop RPI from trying to rain on my parade. On March 8th, they sent me a letter saying I'm ineligible for graduation candidacy because I'm missing 13 courses. What? 13 courses you say? A whole 52 credits? After two emails to the registrar's office (the first of which they never replied to) I was told I was only 5 credits short. Subtract from that the 4 I'm completing right now, and we're in business.

My petition to walk at commencement in May has been accepted, so my parents and my Kristin will be there to watch and take pictures. Kristin, who already has two degrees to her name and is starting her Doctorate this Fall. I won't say she hasn't been a goad nag inspiration to me.

I will be walking across the dais at RPI in less than a month, with a single solitary credit -- get this, a free elective -- to complete. So I'll be taking my first actual religion course, a study of the New Testament at Rutgers. Something to whet my appetite and fulfill my degree requirements. And then I can put all that behind me and get started with my married life to Kristin.

We're getting married June 23rd, a mere month after my "graduation" (since I'll still be a credit short). We've found an apartment big enough for all her stuff us, right near where the train station (for her benefit) and my office (for mine). That's going to be a whole other ordeal, though, since my current lease expires the day we get back from our honeymoon, and our new apartment isn't available until the middle of our honeymoon. But that's getting worked out. Thank God for that.

Scripture: Devotion to Mary (John 2:5)

In my email signature (as well as on the forum at catholic.com) I have a quote from the Gospel according to St. John, edited for context: [Mary said], "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5)

I suppose I could have edited it further: [Mary said], "Do whatever [Jesus] tells you." Or: [Mary said], "Do whatever [my son] tells you." However you look at it, though, I hope one thing is clear: Mary, the mother of Jesus, says to us what she said to the servants at the wedding in Cana: "Whatever Jesus, my son, tells you, do it." Quodcumque dixerit vobis, facite. And that lies behind the entirety of Marian devotion and intercession.

On Gretchen's blog, I wrote a comment to a post of hers which has inspired this post. Her post was about St. John's account of Mary and Jesus at the wedding in Cana. I wrote a brief comment saying I use John 2:5 in my signature; she asked how I chose it. I responded:

I used to have... trouble... with Marian devotion. I didn't understand it. It seemed at times that it sought to circumvent Jesus Christ and his saving work. It wasn't that I didn't respect Mary or understand her role in God's plan, I just didn't understand why she got so much attention in devotions.

It wasn't until I was reading the Gospel of John that I read that verse and paused. And all of the sudden, it was all made clear. I understood how Mariology connected with Christology, and how Marian devotion was really devotion to Jesus through Mary. How could I "visit Jesus's house" and not say hello to his mother?!

Understanding Marian devotion also made a lot of Mariology clearer to me. For example, by Hebrew tradition, the mother of the king was the queen; thus, Mary is the Queen of Heaven. In addition, subejcts of the king would ask the queen to intercede for them; thus, we can ask (or "pray to", although non-Catholics will shudder at the use of that term in that context) Mary to intercede for us.

The importance of Mary to all Christians is made clear when you understand what Scripture has to say about her -- not just the Gospels, but the types of Mary found in the Old Testament as well.

She asked for me to expound upon the subject, so here I will. Some of these conclusions I have arrived at personally, while others are ones I have found elsewhere. Each title or attribute of Mary is supplemented by a brief explanation of how devotion to that aspect leads to Jesus.

This is a rather lengthy post, so please bear with me.

Mary as the Mother of God
This is, perhaps, the simplest role of Mary to understand. If Jesus is eternally God -- eternally begotten of the Father: God from God, light from light, true God from true God -- that means Mary held not just an infant in her womb, but God Incarnate in her womb. That means Mary was not just the mother of Jesus the man, but Jesus the God.

Devotion to Mary as the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of God, the Bearer of God (Theotokos), shows great respect to the woman chosen by God to give birth to the Savior of the World. It points to Jesus because it recognizes and celebrates the beautiful bond between mother and son. The vocation of women to motherhood, with all its sacrifices and joys, is forever under Mary's care.

Mary, Ever-Virgin
Because Jesus was man and God, Catholics hold the conception and birth of Jesus as truly miraculous events. Luke 1:26-38 and Matthew 1:18-25 attest to the virginal conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic belief of Mary's virginity does not end at the birth of Jesus: we believe such a miraculous birth was effected without compromising Mary's virginity. Nor does the belief end after the birth of Jesus: we believe that Mary, the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38), was ever-faithful to God both in spirit and in body, and that she never committed any act of sexual intercourse. A logical assumption to make about Mary is that, knowing what she knew about Jesus and about her relationship with God, she would not have "returned to a normal life" as it were.

References to the family members of Jesus are never declared in the Gospel as being through Mary; that is, they are never named as the sons and daughters of Mary, but as the brothers and sisters of Jesus (cf. Matthew 12:46-50; 13:54-56; Mark 3:31-35; 6:3; Luke 8:19-21; John 2:12; 7:3-5). Moreover, Jesus uses the word "brothers" elsewhere in Scripture to refer to people who are not physical brothers (cf. Matthew 23:8; 25:40; 28:10; Luke 22:32; John 20:17; 21:23). And again, are all the teachings of Jesus which refer to us taking care of our brothers to be understood as only our brothers related to us by birth?

Finally, when Mary is present at the crucifixion with the disciple whom Jesus loved, Jesus entrusts Mary to his care (cf. John 19:25-27). Why would this be if Mary had other sons? I'll come back to this Scripture later.

Devotion to Mary as Virgin recognizes her being set apart by God for God, and calls us to set our lives apart for Jesus, no matter what our vocation (but especially as virgins for the sake of the Church).

Mary, the Gate
Another part of Scripture seen to point to the constant virginity of Mary is found in Ezekiel 44:1-2: Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. And he said to me, "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut." The gate, the type of Mary's womb, shall remain shut ... and no one shall enter by it, because God entered by it.

Devotion to Mary as the Gate recalls Jesus's majesty, his being God, and inspires us to regard what God has created with reverence.

Mary, the Immaculate New Ark
The Ark of the Covenant was associated with three relics of the Israelites: the tablets inscribed with the commandments, the jar of manna, and the rod of Aaron. The construction of the Ark was meticulous: it was made of Acacia (or Shittim) wood, plated inside and out with gold, with a molding of gold around its top, and fitted with rings so that two poles so it could be carried (cf. Exodus 25:10-15). Only the Levites could carry it, and no one was allowed to touch it (cf. Deut 10:8; 1 Chr 13:9-11; 1 Chr 15:2).

The three relics associated with the Ark are types of Jesus Christ: being God, he is the one who gave forth the Law (viz. the commandments); he is the true bread from heaven (John 6:32) (viz. the manna); he is the one high priest of the covenant (cf. Hebrews passim) (viz. the rod of Aaron the Levite, cf. Numbers 17).

If Jesus is the anti-type (the fulfillment of the type) of the contents of the Ark, that makes Mary the anti-type of the Ark itself. This is not just fanciful deduction; St. Luke attests to this theology by the very words the Spirit chose for him to use when writing the gospel. In Luke 1:35, Luke uses the Greek word episkiazo (επισκιασει), rendered in the RSV as overshadow, to describe the presence of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Most High, over Mary upon the conception of Jesus. He uses the same word in his description of the Transfiguration (cf. Luke 9:28-36), when the cloud from which the voice of God comes overshadows the Apostles (cf. Luke 9:34). This word is found in the Greek Old Testament (with which Luke would have been familiar) to describe the presence of God in the cloud overshadowing the Ark in Exodus 40:34-35. Mary is human, but clad inside and out with purity rather than gold:

"O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides." Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, 71:216 (before AD 373).

Being thus clad, destined by God for such a purpose, she is without the stain of sin, preserved perfectly pure. This was done by God the Son, the Eternal Word, for Mary herself declares "my spirit rejoices in God my savior" (Luke 1:47). She was saved by Jesus at the moment of her conception, kept by God for such a holy purpose. Arise, O LORD, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might (Psalm 132:8) is thus interpreted in light of this association of Mary with the Ark of God, in support of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

Devotion to Mary the Immaculate reminds us of Jesus's saving work for all humanity, and should make us praise and worship him ever more for the redemption he has bought for us.

Devotion to Mary the Ark of the New Covenant recalls the former Ark, upon which the blood of the yearly sacrifice was sprinkled for the remission of the sins of the people of Israel. Jesus's blood (derived, as was his flesh, from Mary) now takes the place of that of lambs and goats. Thus Mary the Ark points us to Jesus the Eternal Sacrifice, the propitiation for our sin.

Mary, the Queen of Heaven
As Jesus is the King of Heaven, so Mary, his mother, becomes Heaven's Queen, in accord with Hebrew tradition. As such, we can turn to her to intercede on our behalf before the Lord, the King of Heaven (cf. 1 Kings 2:19-20, Abishag's ill motives notwithstanding). The queen of heaven referenced in Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25 is not Mary, nor do Catholics commit the pagan practices Jeremiah speaks of.

Devotion to Mary the Queen brings us into deeper communion with all the saints around the throne of God, praying and interceding for us, and claims us as subjects to the King, Jesus Christ; as subjects of Christ, let us be loyal to his commandments, showing ourselves to be his disciples by our love for God and one another.

Mary, the Help-meet of Christ, the New Eve
God could have ordained for His Son to become Incarnate by the Holy Spirit itself; if He fashioned man from the dust of the earth, why not the body for Jesus? Instead, following the model of Adam (a type of Christ, cf. 1 Cor 15:45-49), He deemed that "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." (Genesis 2:18) Thus, as Adam had Eve, so does Jesus have Mary, not as wife but as helper. As Jesus is the anti-type of Adam, so Mary is the anti-type of Eve.

Devotion to Mary as the Help-meet of Christ inspires us to be helpers of one another in the service of Jesus Christ, in whatever vocation God calls us to.

Devotion to Mary as the new Eve recalls our spiritual origin, unity, and destiny, the Paradise of Heaven with God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this way, we recognize ourselves as "offspring" of Jesus, as his descendants by means of our adoption into God's Church.

Mary, the Mother of Christians
As Eve is the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20), Mary is the mother of all Christians. This is further supported by John 19:25-27, where Jesus entrusts his beloved disciple to Mary.

Devotion to Mary our Blessed Mother draws us closer to one another in Christian brotherhood and therefore to a more complete fulfillment of Jesus's command that we love one another as he loves us.

More on Mary
For more on Mary in Scripture, see ScriptureCatholic's page on her. They cover some of the same things I did, but probably in more depth, as well as things I didn't cover. I also did a post on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception last December, which involved a bit of dialogue on some Marian beliefs of the Catholic Church.

In Conclusion...
Devotion to Mary and her intercession for us, whatever her answer, is always based on what she said in Cana: "Do whatever he tells you!" Ad Deum per Iesum. Ad Iesum per Mariam.

Retreat: Aquinas Institute Retreat Recap

What follows is a recap of a retreat I went on towards the end of Lent. Exact quotes (as best I was able to write them) from the talk are denoted not just by quotes, but with blue text as well. This retreat took place over Palm Sunday weekend, March 30th through April 1st, 2007. The Aquinas Institute is the Princeton University's Catholic Chaplaincy. The retreat was held at a beach house in Ocean City, NJ.

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Friday Night
We started with an ice-breaker called "Trainwreck". The number of chairs is one less than the number of participants; the person without a chair introduces himself and describes a particular attribute of his (e.g. "I am the youngest child in my family", "I have a pet", "I hate ice cream"), and the other participants who can claim this attribute for themselves have to get up and find a new chair. Someone will be left without a chair (hopefully not the person who was just up) and continues with an introduction and attribute, and the game goes on (and on).

Afterwards, Fr. Tom Mullelly (the Chaplain) gave an introduction to the weekend. First, he mentioned how even Jesus "took breaks" from his ministry to go up a mountain or into a garden to pray and reconnect with the Father. This weekend was such a break, for us. He spoke about a comment Mother Teresa had made: "Don't call my country a poor country. India is not a poor country. America is a poor country, a spiritually poor country." Fr. Tom made the distinction between the beatitude of being poor in spirit (Matt 5:3) and this "spiritual poverty" Mother Teresa lamented over. America is a country with spirit, ignorant of God.

Mother Teresa took a day off every week from her ministry to the impoverished and marginalized; she received criticism for this "selfish act" of hers. Nevertheless, everyone in her order took a day off every week for prayer, for reconnection with God, for silence and contemplation. We all need a day like that; we shouldn't feel ashamed for needing to drop everything else so that we can take time for fellowship, worship, communion, and adoration of Jesus Christ.

Later that evening (after the second group of students had arrived) we prayed the Stations of the Cross out on the beach in the moonlight (truly an amazing sight). We were invited to give our own meditations on each stations -- I gave meditations on stations 4 (Jesus meets his mother) and 14 (Jesus is buried).

The day ended with Night Prayer; we sang the Salve Regina afterwards.

Saturday Morning
Morning Prayer started at 8:30, but I was up and about, relaxing on a bench on the boardwalk, at 8:00, smelling the sea breeze and basking in the sun. It was getting chilly, though, unlike the day before. After Prayer, we had breakfast, followed by another ice-breaker of sorts at 9:30, a team-building exercise.

We split into two teams of five people, and the two leaders of the retreat (Jessica Montoya and Martin Valdez) each "coached" a team. (There were twelve of us altogether.) On each team, there was one person who couldn't move her arms or legs, two people who were blindfolded, and two people who were mute (of which I was one). It was up to the team to complete a series of six tasks:

1. putting together a puzzle (only the blind people could touch the pieces)
2. building a sand castle on the beach (only the blind people could build it)
3. learning and reciting a few verses from Scripture (Luke 19:38-40) (one blind person and the incapacitated person)
4. completing an obstacle course
5. getting the signatures of everyone on the team
6. stating the birth dates and hometowns of the mutes

I carried Amy Osterman (an RCIA catechumen and now an initiated Catholic), my team's "paraplegic", for the majority of the event. That made up for me not doing any running or exercising in the morning. After this, at around 11:00, Jessica gave a talk centered around the excerpt from Luke, the theme for the weekend: praising God when others are telling us to be silent.

Jessica talked about the importance of remembering our utter dependence on God, especially during the times when we're comfortable with our surroundings, our health, our finances, etc. It is very important to remain connected to God in prayer. When we forget who we are -- that is, children of God -- we forget who God is. But when we remember who God is, it becomes possible for us to recognize God in the people we encounter and the things we do. We broke into two groups after she was finished for small group discussion.

At noon, Fr. Tom offered Mass, and in his homily he talked about finding Jesus, receiving Jesus, and proclaiming Jesus. Mass concluded with the ciborium remaining on the altar to begin a 24-hour adoration.

Saturday Evening
Afterwards, there was free time until dinner. At around 8:00, we prayed the Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

At 9:00 there was a lengthy "Ask Fr. Tom" session. Questions were brought up on the following topics:

• Can the Catholic Church say so-and-so is in Heaven or Hell?
• No; we are not judges of one another. The Judgment of souls is up to the Lord.
• Mariology, the Rosary
• One of the students on the retreat is a Christian of another confession, and was curious why the Rosary contains many more "Hail Mary"s than "Our Father"s, among other things. This had a lengthy response, touching upon topics such as the Communion of Saints (cf. Heb 11:1-12:2) and the Catholic dogma and theology on Mary.
• What is the difference between a canonized Saint and some other deceased holy person?
• The general answer was that those Saints who have been canonized are those whom the Catholic Church has received some assurance of their Sainthood (through a long process overseen by the Holy See). It was brought up that there are Saints we don't know of, and that all Saints are remembered and honored during the Mass of All Saints.
• What is annulment?
• It's not divorce, it's the recognition that a valid marital bond was never formed in the first place. Children born during the invalid marriage, however, are not illicit.
• What constitutes a valid and sacramental marriage?
• Any two non-Catholic Christians who marry (whether in a church or in a court) are considered, by the Catholic Church, to have a vaild and sacramental marriage; a Catholic, however, must be married in a church. There was other discussion on the matter, but I'm sure Canon Law is more precise than I could hope to be here.
• Why is there evil?
• The age-old question...

After the discussion ended, we went upstairs at 11:00 for a guided meditation in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. After that, we were done for the evening.

I did my adoration hours at 11:00 and then 6:00 the next morning. I spent most of the time meditating on Scripture (Exodus 3; 1 Samuel 3; 1 Kings 19; Matthew 17) and chanting Pange lingua and Verbum supernam prodiens (which contains O Salutaris Hostia).

Sunday Morning
I dunno. I had to leave early, after my second hour of adoration, to head back to Plainsboro for RCIA.

Liturgy: Latin shmatin?

If all roads lead to Rome, it seems pretty clear that these roads have signs written in Latin. Pope Benedict XVI, in his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, spoke very highly of the Latin language, and called for its return to (at leasts parts of) the Roman Rite... as did his predecessors, and (gasp!) Vatican II documents. If you want citations, please wait another month or two, as I'm working my way through three more documents on the liturgy and the Eucharist. Once I'm done, I'll start posting excerpts, summaries, and my opinions (worthless as they may be).

But all that aside, Latin! Awesome. Pater noster, qui es in caelis! Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus! Agnus dei! And more! I would love to start singing -- or even chanting -- the common prayers of the Mass in Latin. My parish is quite a melting pot of nationalities; every Pentecost, the Prayers of the Faithful are said in many different languages, symbolic of the gift of tongues received by the Apostles and those with them, as well as a recognition of the diversity of God's children. If we can do that, why can't we unite under a common tongue? Not English, but the official language of the Church.

I might be learning Latin under the tutelage of a Vincentian priest nearby. Otherwise, I'll try learning it on my own. (Can anyone suggest a good Latin 101 do-it-yourself textbook or web site?)

I think the best reason for returning to Latin for many of the prayers and dialogues of the Mass (and in other places) is because the Latin captures the meaning of what the authors of the Rite meant to say. Consider the greeting and response, Dominus vobiscum / Et cum spiritu tuo. In the U.S., this is translated as "The Lord be with you" / "And also with you" rather than ... "And with your spirit". Consider the end of the Glory Be (the Gloria Patri), which in Latin is ... et in saecula saeculorum. I've heard this translated as "world without end", "and to ages of ages", and when I said it in English, it gets lumped together with the previous statement, et semper, to become simply "for ever". Now, it's one thing to say it one way in a private devotion, but when you have a group of people praying it out loud together, it's really best (and it better represents Christian unity) to say the same thing.

That's all for this morning. Pax vobiscum! Benedicite!

Fr. Francis Mary Stone at "Men of Faith" Retreat: Recap

What follows is a recap of a talk given by Fr. Francis Mary Stone at the Men of Faith retreat I attended at the Most Blessed Sacrament Friary in Newark, NJ, on March 24th. Exact quotes (as best I was able to write them) from the talk are denoted not just by quotes, but with blue text as well.

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Background on Fr. Stone
Fr. Francis Mary Stone, MFVA (Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word (Verbum Aeternum)), is the host of "Life on the Rock", a weekly program on EWTN. The MFVA order was founded by Mother Angelica.

Blessed Miguel Pro
Fr. Stone started by talking about Bl. Miguel Pro, the man of inspiration behind the day of prayer. "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long live Christ the King) were the last words Pro spoke before being executed by firing squad in Mexico. He was truly a martyr for Christ, a Jesuit priest who met the spiritual needs of Mexicans during a period of intense religious persecution. He was arrested and convicted (without a trial) for a crime he did not commit. Before being executed, he thanked and forgave the firing squad. Fr. Stone said that such a man is a great model for us today, and that we should all have a saint (of our gender) to look up to in such a way.

Walking by Faith
Paul wrote in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (5:7) that we walk by faith, not by sight. Humans, even Christians, often transpose the two, preferring sight to faith when possible. But the light of faith is insurpassable: we see farther and more clearly by faith than with our own sight, our own understanding. Furthermore, the light of faith that shines for us does not shine only from God to you, but must shine through and off of you, affecting those you meet.

Accountability partners
"Friars travel two-by-two to save ourselves from pay-per-view", said Fr. Stone, explaining the need for all men -- even Franciscans -- to have someone they can lean on, depend on, and be held accountable to... and for safety. Jesus sent his Apostles out in pairs, certainly with these things in mind (cf. Mark 6:7). Fr. Stone talked about a few Catholic professional baseball players: Mike Sweeney, Jeff Suppan, and Mike Piazza. He mentioned the bench-clearing brawl Sweeney started when he went after pitcher Jeff Weaver of the Detroit Tigers... and the phone call Sweeney made to Weaver several years later to ask forgiveness which led to hours of conversation about Christ. He talked about Suppan's visit to the Vatican -- a vacation that became a pilgrimage -- where he attended a conference with Pope Benedict XVI about Church and sports. He talked about Piazza's intense devotion to his Catholic faith, attending Mass whether playing at home or away.

Standing Firm in Faith
Finally, Fr. Stone talked about the importance of being resolute and firm in your faith, especially when fulfilling your role as a father and husband. He talked about the latest encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), by Pope Benedict XVI, and how it talks about the different kinds of "love", and how the love of (and from) God, agape, is the goal we should strive for in our relationships. It is a radical love, a risk-taking love, one that gives of itself freely for the betterment of its recipient.

He also said that there is no room for equivocation: you have to know where you stand and act accordingly. He brought up the example of Mother Angelica who, when faced with having to give airtime on EWTN to bishops with un-orthodox (or better put, un-Catholic) viewpoints on doctrines of the faith, said "I'll blow the damn thing [the network] up before you get your hands on it!" That kind of political incorrectness -- supporting the truth, instead of watering it down -- is necessary in this day and age. Orthodoxy -- right thinking in the faith -- is essential. Fr. Stone recalled the words of Paul: Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2).