Ecumenism: True Catholic Ecumenism

How can you tell if an ecumenical Christian movement is Catholic? Read this excerpt from Communionis Notio, a Curial Letter "On Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion" sent by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in 1992 to Bishops around the world. Oh, and if the sentiment sounds familiar, that's because this document was quoted from in the recent CDF document Responsa ad quaestiones (and its commentary). You see, the Church has a way of teaching the same thing generation after generation...

Anyway, this excerpt, nos. 17-18 of the letter, is the entirety of section five, subtitled "Ecclesial Communion and Ecumenism". Pay close attention to what I've emphasized (with bold -- the italics are retained from the original):

17. "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honoured by the name of Christian, but who do not however profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter" (Lumen Gentium, 15). Among the non-Catholic Churches and Christian communities, there are indeed to be found many elements of the Church of Christ, which allow us, amid joy and hope, to acknowledge the existence of a certain communion, albeit imperfect (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 3a, 22; cf. Lumen Gentium 13d).

This communion exists especially with the Eastern orthodox Churches, which, though separated from the See of Peter, remain united to the Catholic Church by means of very close bonds, such as the apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, and therefore merit the title of particular Churches (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 14, 15c). Indeed, "through the celebration of the Eucharist of the Lord in each of these Churches, the Church of God is built up and grows in stature" (ibid., 15a), for in every valid celebration of the Eucharist the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church becomes truly present (cf. supra, 5, 14).

Since, however, communion with the universal Church, represented by Peter's Successor, is not an external complement to the particular Church, but one of its internal constituents, the situation of those venerable Christian communities also means that their existence as particular Churches is wounded. The wound is even deeper in those ecclesial communities which have not retained the apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist. This in turn also injures the Catholic Church, called by the Lord to become for all "one flock" with "one shepherd" (John 10:16), in that it hinders the complete fulfilment of its universality in history.

18. This situation seriously calls for ecumenical commitment on the part of everyone, with a view to achieving full communion in the unity of the Church; that unity "which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time" (Unitatis Redintegratio, 4c). In this ecumenical commitment, important priorities are prayer, penance, study, dialogue and collaboration, so that, through a new conversion to the Lord, all may be enabled to recognise the continuity of the Primacy of Peter in his successors, the Bishops of Rome, and to see the Petrine ministry fulfilled, in the manner intended by the Lord, as a worldwide apostolic service, which is present in all the Churches from within, and which, while preserving its substance as a divine institution, can find expression in various ways according to the different circumstances of time and place, as history has shown.

True Catholic ecumenical dialogue is not content with recognizing our differences and moving on. True Catholic ecumenical dialogue isn't just dialogue! It's action that seeks to re-unite our separated brothers and sisters in Christ with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ: the Roman Catholic Church.

Bible Study: August 5th, 2007, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Download this Bible Study [MS Word, 39 K, 3pp].

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 12:13-21

Opening Prayer

Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide, be close to us and hear the prayers of all who praise you. Forgive our sins and restore us to life. Keep us safe in your love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Questions to Consider

1. What is the measure of a person’s worth in our society?
2. When can you have too much of something?
3. How do things we consider valuable get in the way of things that are really valuable?

Context of the Gospel

The First Reading from Ecclesiastes sets the stage for the parable the Lord tells in the Gospel:

^2:21 Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune.

In the Second Reading, Paul writes to the Colossians about setting their minds on what is above, not what is on earth:

^3:1 If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. … ⁵ Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.

Gospel (Lectionary)

^12:13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” ¹⁵ Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, [Ex 20:17] for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” [1 Tim 6:6-10] ¹⁶ Then he told them a parable.

“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. ¹⁷ He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods ¹⁹ and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ [Sir 11:19] ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ [Jer 17:11; Job 27:8; Ps 39:6] ²¹ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” [Lk 12:33-34]

Gospel (RSV-2CE)

^12:13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them a parable, saying,

“The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; ¹⁷ and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Study Questions

1. Why might the man be asking Jesus to settle a dispute about an inheritance? Why does Jesus refuse to do so?
2. What commandment does Jesus make a reference to?
3. How does verse 15 contrast with what we see in society?
4. What does the rich man propose to do to solve the problem in verse 17? What does his answer imply?
5. To whom did the rich man’s grain and goods really belong?
6. What should the rich man have done?
7. What does it mean to be a “steward”?

Church Teaching and Commentary

• St. Cyril: Observe also in another respect the folly of his words, when he says, “I will gather all my fruits”, as if he thought that he had not obtained them from God, but that they were the fruits of his own labors.
• St. Basil: But if you confess that those things have come to you from God, is God then unjust in distributing to us unequally. Why do you abound while another begs, unless that you should gain the rewards of a good stewardship. Are not you then a robber, for counting as your own what you have received to distribute? It is the bread of the famished which you receive, the garment of the naked which you hoard in your chest, the shoe of the barefooted which rots in your possession, the money of the penniless which you have buried in the earth. Wherefore then do you injure so many to whom you might be a benefactor?
• Venerable Bede: He then who wishes to be rich toward God, will not lay up treasures for himself, but distribute his possessions to the poor.

Intercessions

We offer to God our prayers of thanksgiving and praise, and we set before Him our needs. Let us also remember the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for this month:

• That all those who are going through moments of inner difficulty and trial may find in Christ the light and support which leads them to discover authentic happiness.
• That the Church in China may bear witness to ever greater inner cohesion and may manifest her effective and visible communion with Peter's Successor.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, meek and humble of heart, You offer to those who follow You a yoke that is good to bear, a burden that is light. Accept, we beg You, our prayer and work of this day, and grant us the rest we need that we may be ever more willing to serve You, Who live and reign forever and ever.

Liturgy: Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur; or: Why language matters

For some reason, on my way back from Mass this morning, I was humming a song by French musician Francis Cabrel, L'encre de tes yeux. If you're interested in the complete lyrics, you can read them. I got to thinking about how hard it is to translate parts of this song into English and retain both the beauty of the French and the physical imagery it conveys. Here is the end of one of the verses of the song, along with an explanation (and attempted translation) into English.

J'aimerais quand même te dire
Tout ce que j'ai pu écrire
Je l'ai puisé à l'encre de tes yeux.

Roughly, this means "Nevertheless, I would like to tell you / All that I could write / I drew it from the ink of your eyes." Ugh; it just sounds so contrived in English. The general idea is that the woman's eyes are a source of inspiration to him, but the French words describe that inspiration with the metaphor of a quill pen drawing ink with which to write. The woman's eyes, then, are not "inky", but are rather an ink-well that has provided for all he could write: a bottomless well of inspiration.

But when you translate into English and opt for the "inspiration" concept over the literal French words, the person hearing it in English is missing the beautiful poetic metaphor: "Nevertheless, I would like to tell you / All that I could write / It was your eyes that inspired me." It's nice, but there is no longer the practically palpable relationship between the eyes and the words the man writes. What it comes down to is this: my English translation uses different words in its dynamic translation of the French.

Now, you might not think this is a "big deal", but what did Cabrel choose as the title of the song? L'encre de tes yeux, "The ink of your eyes". While I don't mind translating it for someone so they know what he's saying, I think this song in English would either sound stilted ("the ink of your eyes" does not have the same beauty in English as in French) or else would lose something inherent to the French words Cabrel chose to use.

Which leads me to Latin. (If you don't know what the post's title means, Google it.)

I've learned recently, through various sources (Adoremus, Fr. Z, and the efforts at producing a new English translation of the Latin text of the Mass of Paul VI), that the current ICEL translation of the Mass of Paul VI is pretty awful at times. The beauty is often obscured or lost, and particular Christological language is at times avoided. In addition, liturgical Latin is often very dense: a lot of meaning in a few words. This is not easily duplicated in English, which often leads to verbosity that still somehow misses the mark.

A simple example is the Gloria Patri prayer, common in the Liturgy of the Hours. The Latin version is Gloria Patri et Filii et Spiritui Sancti. Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. I've heard this translated into English in two different ways. The way I use (because it's found in the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours I use) is "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever." The other way I've heard it is "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." See, if we just said it in Latin, we'd all be saying the same thing, regardless of how people contend in saecula saeculorum should be translated (I happen to like "unto ages of ages" as I heard in a Divine Liturgy); as it is, people speaking it in English might get flustered as some of them use the first translation and some of them use the second.

Translation almost always loses something. An English translation of the Latin will always be, in some way, different from the Latin; but it doesn't have to be inferior. The more faithfully the Latin is translated, the more faithfully the Mass will be spoken by the faithful. If Latin is used instead of translating (but certainly not without knowledge of what the Latin means -- you know, proper catechesis) then what is being said and what is meant are identical. Lex orandi, lex credendi. In other words, as we pray, so we believe. (Or, literally, "the law of prayer [is] the law of belief".)

Liturgy: Liturgy of the Hours, Night Prayer (now in Latin)

Update (2007-07-27): I've added more Latin and corrected some more typos. See below.

I have a booklet available for download and printing. It's Night Prayer (part of the Liturgy of the Hours); I compiled it from my Liturgy of the Hours (in English) and from Latin translations of most of the prayers I found online, as well as from an edition sent to me by AJV on the Catholic Answers Forum. It covers Night Prayer for all the days of the week (Saturday's Night Prayer is Sunday's Night Prayer After Evening Prayer I). It has the Psalmody, Reading, and Prayer for each night in one section, and the "Ordinary" of Night Prayer (the Introduction, the Examination of Conscience, the Responsory, the Canticle of Simeon, and the Marian Antiphon) in another section. It also has a brief introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as a guide to the formatting used in the booklet.

(Updated) Latin is provided for all of Night Prayer, including each day's closing prayer and the all the antiphons for the Psalmody. The psalms themselves are provided in Latin, as are the readings, alongside the English translation; Latin translations primarily follow the Biblia Nova Vulgata. The page margins have changed to allow more text on each printed page. I've also added bold formatting to the psalms to aid in chanting and antiphonal recitation. Each strophe has the first word of each section in bold so you can split the psalms up between people or groups.

The file is a 322 K, 20pp MS Word document. Please refer to the printing caveat on my book list posting. The file is set-up as B4 paper size, so when you print it in booklet form, your printer needs to know it's converting B4 paper to Letter paper.

News: Motu Proprio and "Subsistit In"

Two particularly interesting documents were released from the Vatican quite recently. One is the long-awaited motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI that relaxes restrictions on the celebration of the Mass of Blessed John XXIII (commonly called the "Tridentine Rite" or the "Traditional Latin Mass"). The other is a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which Pope Benedict was head of before he was Pope) which answers questions about the phrase "subsists in" (subsistit in in the Latin) in Lumen Gentium, and why the Catholic Church uses the term "ecclesial communities" instead of "Churches" for those communities originating from the Reformation.

I will be writing about both of these in the near future. After my New Testament midterm (Thursday) and I finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I hope to visit Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, NJ soon -- some Wednesday evening -- to experience (by active participation, no less) my first "Traditional Roman Rite" Mass; that is, the Extraordinary Rite of the Roman Missal, as clarified by Pope Benedict XVI in his motu proprio. I suggest, in the mean time, you check out Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog "What Does the Prayer Really Say?", where he is currently focusing a lot of time and effort on responses to the motu proprio from various Bishops and Archbishops (as well as reporters).

On the topic of the statement from the CDF, let me just remind you that the statement is clarification of what has already been said many times in the past. The document is primarily quotations from previous Magisterial documents; the commentary on the document, also provided by the CDF, follows suit.

I expect to have posts on these two subjects by early August. Also in August there should also appear a post about the outline Historia Salutis (On the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church) from March of this year, which is the guideline for the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God. This is of particular interest to me because I will be the facilitator for a Young Adult Bible Study at Saint David the King parish in West Windsor, NJ, starting in October; the theme I have selected is the Psalms (as an introduction to lectio divina and the Liturgy of the Hours).

Personal: Eight Random Things

Anne (the Weekend Fisher) has tagged me on the "Eight Random Things" meme. This is my first new post since returning from my honeymoon; I updated my "Books of Reasonable Price" post, but this is the first new post.

1. I am overcoming a childhood addiction. To LEGO sets. I adore Castle LEGO sets. When I moved into my new apartment two years ago, I bought many new Castle LEGO sets to pass the time and feed my addiction. Then I bought a lot of LEGO bulk sets on eBay. Now I am trying to figure out what to do with them all. I'm slowly overcoming this addiction. It's stopped sapping me of funds, but they still take up space in my new bigger apartment.
2. I watched a lot of Voltron, MacGyver, and American Gladiators as a kid. Now I watch a lot of Monty Python, House MD, and The Colbert Report.
3. I used to think yellow American cheese was intrinsically different from white American cheese. I was convinced white cheese "tasted funny".
4. I've lost approximately 30 pounds since January, and I attribute a majority of that weight-loss to actually fasting for real during Lent this year. I held to the older traditional Eucharistic fast, meaning I consumed nothing but water from midnight until I had received the Eucharist that day (if I was planning on attending Mass, which I did almost every day of Lent); the trick was that Monday Mass was in the evening, so Mondays were harder fasting days for me than Fridays. I called my diet plan the "two square meals and one round one" plan, with no offense to the Eucharist intended whatsoever. (Really, I'm quite grateful that God stepped in where I was not able to... I don't find a lot of time for exercise.)
   
5. My wife, Kristin, and I have known each other for seven and a half years; we've been engaged for three and a half years; we've been married for two and a half weeks.
6. I am a Perl programmer by trade. I love Perl, always have, always will. I use PHP some of the time at work -- I don't like it, but I don't hate it (as much as I should).
7. I have read all six Harry Potter books (as has the Weekend Fisher), although my wife has read them far faster than me (and multiple times). She will be consuming the seventh book in a day, I know it. We're taking our first "date" since getting married to see the latest movie tonight.
8. My sense of clothing style has improved drastically since I met my wife. Apparently, a couple months after we started dating, I asked her if we had to "keep dressing up for each other". Ouch. She has helped my fashion sense considerably. I can dress myself now!

I have to tag eight other people (so say the rules) but I'm not sure my readership supports such a large number. I'll tag four and we'll see if another four want to step up to the plate.

I will tag Tiber Jumper, Prodigal Daughter, Gretchen, and Amber.

Religion & Entertainment: My Review of Champions of Faith

I had first heard the story of Jeff Weaver and Mike Sweeney's baseball brawl from Fr. Francis Mary Stone, a Franciscan Missionary of the Eternal Word, and the host of "Life on the Rock" on EWTN. Fr. Stone brought the incident up during a talk he gave at a day of prayer for men at the Most Blessed Sacrament Friary in Newark, NJ, home of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Fr. Stone used the story in the context of accountability for our actions; Sweeney called Weaver a few years after the brawl and they made peace with each other.

I heard it this time from the mouth of Mike Sweeney himself on the DVD Champions of Faith, produced by Catholic Exchange. This 65 minute DVD focuses on a handful of Major League baseball players and coaches; more specifically, it focuses on their Catholic faith in Jesus Christ which has helped them in their hardest times and given them the strength to excel in their passion, baseball. Sweeney's story is only one of the heart-warming (and sometimes tear-inducing) testimonies to Christ in Champions of Faith. Another truly touching account recalls God’s power to work across time and space to give a terminally-ill young woman words that would strengthen the faith of her family after her death.

In addition to the in-depth personal accounts of players and coaches, the DVD also covers aspects of the faith, such as the Eucharist – the Real Presence of Jesus Christ – attending Mass, and the importance of prayer. On the topic of the Real Presence, Mike Sweeney says, "a lot of people say, 'well, how can you believe that?' and I'm gonna say, 'well, why can't you believe that?'" Numerous players mentioned the temptation to skip Mass with their busy schedules, but that making that sacrifice to wake up an hour earlier or drive a little further is always worth it. They all recognize the worth of prayer and its role in their lives.

The DVD is inspiring for youth and adults. It encourages the younger generation because they can see their baseball heroes professing the same faith they themselves are growing in. It encourages adults because they can see busy professional baseball players finding the time and the courage to live out their faith in their public lives. All in all, I give the DVD 4 out of 4 stars, based on its content, its effectiveness, and its truth to the gospel of Jesus Christ upheld and proclaimed over the centuries by the Catholic Church.

See also the Italian Catholic's review of Champions of Faith.

Personal: The Wedding is even Closereth

Only three days left! I'm not anxious or nervous, just ready. :)

I don't expect to be online at all during the honeymoon (duh) so this is going to be the penultimate post of mine before the wedding. The last post until I get back will be a review of Champions of Faith, the DVD about Catholic professional baseball players.

Thanks for your prayers and comments. God, in His providence, supplied New Jersey with plenty of rain last night and today so that we won't need rain on Saturday. He also deemed it appropriate to give me a head cold Monday night, which will certainly have run its course by Friday, leaving me healthy and fresh for the wedding and the honeymoon.

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.

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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.