January 08, 2004
The three lusts
1 John 2:15-16:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
See here and here for a good general commentary by Saint Josemaria Escriva.
January 04, 2004
Epiphany writings
- Saint Jerome
- Pope Saint Leo the Great
- Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
- Pope John Paul II
December 27, 2003
Christmas with the Fathers
Here are the Christmas entries in my moribund Rosary Blog.
December 26, 2003
It would seem that...
Saint Louis de Montfort's book True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is not as scandalous as I had imagined in the weeks after my entrance into the Catholic Church back in 1991.
If we must become like children to enter the kingdom of God,
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. --Matthew 18:1-4
and if we are to imitate Christ,
1. "Let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth" (1 Jn 3:18). This exhortation taken from the Apostle John in the second reading of this Mass invites us to imitate Christ and to live in close union with him. Jesus himself also told us this in the Gospel just proclaimed: "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me" (Jn 15:4). --Pope John Paul II, 21 May 2000
then why not imitate the perfect Child:
1. To assume human nature and hence unite Himself to it, the eternal Word concealed His divinity, majesty, power, and infinite wisdom: behold the divine Infant who can neither speak nor move by Himself, who in all things depends entirely upon His Mother, His creature, to whom He looks for everything. --Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy, Desclee 1964, page 91 (meditation 31)
October 29, 2003
Dying will/living will
Here's a living will from the New York State Bar Association's website. In a nutshell, by filling it out you say, "Please kill me if I'm any trouble."
What I want is a living will that says, "Please don't kill me, even if saving my life entails getting someone get off his lazy ass to put a feeding tube in my stomach." I suppose doctors used to assume that patients wanted to live, but after seeing the Terry Schiavo fiasco I think a legally-binding document saying "Please don't kill me" might come in handy.
And I need to get comments installed again.
October 03, 2003
Pop quiz
In this morning's email, the folks at Envoy Magazine ask what's wrong around here:
Dear EnvoyMagazine.com Reader,We would like to let you know that there is a new survey on EnvoyMagazine.com and we'd like to invite you to participate in it. The topic: "What do you consider to be the biggest problem in the Church in the US today?" So, log on to EnvoyMagazine.com (http://www.envoymagazine.com) today and let us know what you think!
Sincerely,
The Envoy Team
www.envoymagazine.com
Following Chesterton, the rather obvious answer to the question "What is the biggest problem in the Church in the US today?" is "I am."
September 16, 2003
Profanity or vulgarity? Prayer and what else?
In my post on "Renee" and "Danny" yesterday, I used the F word. I've always though it was simply a vulgarity, but I noticed that another blogger called it a profanity. I consider vulgarities to be, well, vulgar - maybe a little uncomfortable and grating, but sometimes that's needed - whereas profanities, of course, should never be used as they profane the sacred.
The acts and intentions I described do profane something sacred, but is that word for them a profanity or a mere vulgarity?
And, of course, thanks to the bloggers who linked to the story and requested prayers for the kids. There are millions more of these kids out there, most in even worse situations. Pray, of course, and... what? Change the world one kid at a time is all we are up to at the moment since we have four of our own under the age of seven.
At times it's almost as if our apartment is a monastery among the barbarians, relatively speaking.
UPDATE Thanks, Nârwen! I've amended the original post to be less profane and more precise.
August 15, 2003
Prayer to whom?
For most of my Protestant years, we were members of various charismatic sects. In those sects, worship consisted of praying to God. There was some worship, often called "Praise and Worship" when it involved songs addressed to God; there was also the collection of prayer requests followed by a prayer to God mentioning those requests. In other words, for many Protestants, worship of God consists solely of prayer to God, which is why a Catholic's prayer to the saints is so often seen as idolatry or somesuch.
Because of their vitiated notion of worship, many Protestants consider prayer to a saint to be worship of a saint.
August 09, 2003
Showertime doggerel
I am Jesus,
This I know;
Suzanne Toolan
Tells me so.
(For you cradle Catlickers, that's sung to the tune "Jesus Loves Me".)
August 06, 2003
On the bright side
Mr. Robinson and his co-workers aren't really bishops.
July 30, 2003
Does this steam you?
Timothy McVeigh might be praying for you. If that upsets you, get over it.
July 21, 2003
On the priesthood of women (and men)
This is always worth returning to:
34. The supreme and eternal Priest, Christ Jesus, since he wills to continue his witness and service also through the laity, vivifies them in this Spirit and increasingly urges them on to every good and perfect work.For besides intimately linking them to His life and His mission, He also gives them a sharing in His priestly function of offering spiritual worship for the glory of God and the salvation of men. For this reason the laity, dedicated to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and wonderfully prepared so that ever more abundant fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their works, prayers and apostolic endeavors, their ordinary married and family life, their daily occupations, their physical and mental relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life, if patiently borne-all these become "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). Together with the offering of the Lord's body, they are most fittingly offered in the celebration of the Eucharist. Thus, as those everywhere who adore in holy activity, the laity consecrate the world itself to God.
Lumen Gentium, 34
June 18, 2003
June 15, 2003
Embrace the Cross
According to some folks, the last thing God wants is for you to suffer. On the other hand, there's Christ, who denied himself, picked up his cross, and did not let it go. Sorta like this:
May we be like Christ in all things.
June 05, 2003
Hymn of thanksgiving and praise
This phrase comes to mind every time I light up a cigarette:
Tobacco and fire, bless the Lord;
Praise and exalt him above all forever!
April 30, 2003
Affliction revisited
From the Psalter of the Liturgy of the Hours, the canticle from Lauds of Tuesday in Week I:
Tobit 13:1-8
God afflicts but only to heal
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great live for us has brought us to a new birth (1 Peter 1:3).
Blessed be God who lives forever,
because his kingdom lasts for all ages.
For he scourges and then has mercy;
he casts down to the depths of the nether world,
and he brings up from the great abyss.
No one can escape his hand.
Praise him, you Israelites, before the Gentiles,
for though he has scattered you among them,
he has shown you his greatness even there.
Exalt him before every living being,
because he is the Lord our God,
our Father and God forever.
He scourged you for your iniquities,
but will again have mercy on you all.
He will gather you from all the Gentiles
among whom you have been scattered.
When you turn back to him with all your heart,
to do what is right before him,
then he will turn back to you,
and no longer hide his face from you.
So now consider what he has done for you,
and praise him with full voice.
Bless the Lord of righteousness,
and exalt the King of the ages.
In the land of my exile I praise him,
and show his power and majesty to a sinful nation.
"Turn back, you sinners! do the right before him:
perhaps he may look with favor upon you
and show you mercy.
"As for me, I exalt my God,
and my spirit rejoices in the King of heaven.
Let all men speak of his majesty,
and sing his praises in Jerusalem."
April 29, 2003
Affliction and you
This isn't quite the thing in the charismatic Protestant sects in which I grew up:
And be sure of this: that if He has any love for you, if He sees aught of good in your soul, He will afflict you, if you will not afflict yourselves. He will not let you escape. He has ten thousand ways of purging those whom He has chosen, from the dross and alloy with which the fine gold is defaced. He can bring diseases on you, or can visit you with misfortunes, or take away your friends, or oppress your minds with darkness, or refuse you strength to bear up against pain when it comes upon you. He can inflict on you a lingering and painful death. He can make "the bitterness of death pass" not. We, indeed, cannot decide in the case of others, when trouble is a punishment, and when not; yet this we know, that all sin brings affliction. We have no means of judging others, but we may judge ourselves. Let us judge ourselves, that we be not judged. Let us afflict ourselves, that God may not afflict us. Let us come before Him with our best offerings, that He may forgive us.
--John Henry Cardinal Newman, Life the Season of Repentance, sermon 2, volume 6 Plain and Parochial Sermons.
April 24, 2003
In the box
If you haven't confessed your sins lately, today is a good day to do it.
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins. --Isaiah 40:1-2
...and became man
Mr. Riddle pointed us to a post at Minute Particulae about our uniqueness among creation. Mark bases his argument for human uniqueness on the usual magisterial sources, with which none of us will quibble, but I think there's another consideration that was not mentioned in his post that can make the case even stronger.
"He was born of the Virgin Mary and became man... He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father."
The second person of the Trinity is both God and man, and his mother is one of us. One can, with C. S. Lewis, imagine other creatures in the universe endowed with intelligence and will; yet, God became man and is still man.
April 23, 2003
His face is visible in our acts of charity
On Holy Thursday we followed the Way of the Cross broadcast by EWTN from the Colosseum in Rome. I followed the text on the Vatican's Holy Week website because, as John da Fiesole says, children do not add a Cistercian-like quality to the Triduum home.
Anyways, the Pope's meditation on Christ's encounter with Veronica struck me, and what's blogging for if not for noting things that strike you? Anon!
Tradition has bequeathed us Veronica. Perhaps she is a counterpart to the story of the Cyrenian. As a woman, she could not physically carry the Cross or even be called upon to do so, yet in fact she did carry the Cross with Jesus: she carried it in the only way possible to her at the moment and in obedience to the dictates of her heart: she wiped his Face.
Tradition has it that an imprint of Christ's features remained on the cloth she used. This detail seems fairly easy to explain: since the cloth was covered with blood and sweat, it would preserve traces and outlines.
Yet this detail can have a different meaning if it is considered in the light of Christ's words about the last days. Many will then ask: "Lord, when did we ever do these things for you?". And Jesus will reply: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (cf. Mt 25:37-40). In fact the Saviour leaves his imprint on every single act of charity, as he did on Veronica's cloth.
By the way, what is typology?
It's a darned effective way to read Scripture. See my post on the four senses of Scripture.
Cardinal Ratzinger on proof-texting the Marian dogmas
Proof-texting, typology and the unity of the Old and New Testaments, from his 1977 book Daughter Zion:
In essence the beatitudes only offer variations of the Magnificat's spiritual center: He ejects the mighty from their throne, he elevates the humble. The center of the Magnificat contains simultaneously the center of the biblical theology of the people of God. This insight illuminates the distinctive structures of the Marian dogmas. For if such is the case, the cannot be deduced from individual texts of the New Testament; instead they express the broad perspective embracing the unity of both Testaments. They can become visible only to a mode of perception that accepts this unity, i.e., within a perspective which comprehends and makes its own the "typological" interpretation, the corresponding echoes of God's single history in the diversity of various external histories.
These methodological insights shed light on the reasons for the suspicion against Mariology that has arisen in modern times, either inducing a rebellion against Mariology or driving it into a dangerous romanticism. Wherever the unity of the Old and New Testaments disintegrates, the place of a healthy Mariology is lost. Likewise this unity of the Testaments guarantees the integrity of the doctrines of creation and of grace. In modern times, however, the loss of typological exegesis (seeing the cohesion of the one history in the many histories) has actually led to the separation of the testaments, and by isolating the doctrine of grace it has at the same time increasingly threatened the doctrine of creation. In this respect one can note in passing how mariology serves as an indicator of the correct positioning of the christological accents.
April 14, 2003
Get your soul in the box!
Criminy! What are you waiting for? It's nearly Easter and you need to get to Confession.
March 05, 2003
O what fun!
Many thanks to Donna Marie Lewis for pointing this out to me:
The time at length was come; Reding could not bear more; and, as it happened, his visitor's offence gave him the means, as well as a cause, for punishing him, "Oh," he said suddenly, "then I suppose, Dr. Kitchens, you can't tolerate the cross?"
"Oh no; tolerate it!" answered Dr. Kitchens; "it is Antichrist."
"You can't bear the sight of it, I suspect, Dr. Kitchens?"
"I can't endure it, sir; what true Protestant can?"
"Then look here," said Charles, taking a small crucifix out of his writing-desk; and he held it before Dr. Kitchens's face.
Dr. Kitchens at once started on his feet, and retreated. "What's that?" he said, and his face flushed up and then turned pale; "what's that? it's the thing itself!" and he made a snatch at it. "Take it away, Mr. Reding; it's an idol; I cannot endure it; take away the thing!"
"I declare," said Reding to himself, "it really has power over him;" and he still confronted Dr. Kitchens with it, while he kept it out of Dr. Kitchens's reach.
"Take it away, Mr. Reding, I beseech you," cried Kitchens, still retreating, while Charles still pressed on him; "take it away, it's too much. Oh, oh! Spare me, spare me, Mr. Reding!-nehushtan-an idol!-oh, you young antichrist, you devil!-'tis He, 'tis He-torment!-spare me, Mr. Reding." And the miserable man began to dance about, still eyeing the sacred sign, and motioning it from him.
Charles now had victory in his hands: there was, indeed, some difficulty in steering Kitchens to the door from the place where he had been sitting, but, that once effected, he opened it with violence, and throwing himself on the staircase, he began to jump down two or three steps at a time, with such forgetfulness of everything but his own terror, that he came plump upon two persons who, in rivalry of each other, were in the act of rushing up: and, while he drove one against the rail, he fairly rolled the other to the bottom.
From Cardinal Newman's Loss and Gain, Part 3, Chapter 8.
February 27, 2003
I'll pray it
Apropos of the Pope's "speedbump" over at Minute Particulae, may God grant these men, too, mercy, pardon and peace:
- the hijackers of American Airlines flight 11 (north tower)
- the hijackers of American Airlines flight 77 (Pentagon)
- the hijackers of United Airlines flight 93 (crashed in Pennsylvania)
- the hijackers of United Airlines flight 175 (south tower)
Pope John Paul II is the living summit of our civilization.
February 21, 2003
Like mother, like son
Sure, there's kenosis in the Trinity, but in his human life where do you think Christ learned the holy art of total self-giving?
February 17, 2003
Handy crapture links
Know someone who is afraid of being left behind? Here are some handy links:
- http://www.catholic.com/library/Rapture.asp
- http://www.cpats.org/CPATSAnswerDirectory/Answers_to_Questions/2000NovVeiwsOfTheRapture.cfm
- http://www.e3mil.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=6&art_id=1705
- http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/endtimes.htm
- http://www.scripturecatholic.com/second_coming.html
- http://www.dioceseoflafayette.org/articles/021101/021101a.html
- http://www.nativityukr.org/various_files/Rapture_article.html
- http://www.nationalreview.com/dreher/dreher111802.asp
- http://www.petersnet.net/browse/4171.htm
- http://alapadre.net/eschaton.html
- http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/2001-10/olson.html
- http://www.newadvent.org/summa/317500.htm
February 05, 2003
Consult the Sources
The folks at Wheaton College might do well to consult this website when formulating a brand-spanking-new creed.
The Virtues of the Cross
There is no virtue that did not have its example on the Cross:
Love
So if you seek an example of charity, then, greater love than his no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And this Christ did upon the Cross. If, therefore, He gave His life or us, we ought to endure any and all evils for Him: What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that He hath rendered to me?"
Patience
If you seek an example of patience, you will find it in its highest degree upon the Cross. Great patience is exemplified in two ways: either when one suffers intensely in all patience, or when one suffers that which he could avoid if he so wished. Christ suffered greatly upon the Cross: O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to My sorrow. And with all patience, because, when He suffered, He threatened not. And again: He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter and shall be dumb before His shearer, and shall not open His mouth. He could have avoided this suffering, but He did not: Thinkest thou that I cannot ask My Father, and He will give Me presently more than twelve legions of Angels? The patience of Christ upon the cross, therefore, was of the highest degree: Let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us; looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who, having joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.
Humility
If you seek an example of humility, look upon Him who is crucified; although He was God, He chose to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to be put to death: Thy cause has been judged as that of the wicked. Truly that of the wicked, because: Let us condemn Him to a most shameful death. The Lord chose to die for His servant; the Life of the Angels suffered death for man: He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.
Obedience
If you seek an example of obedience, imitate Him who was obedient to the Father unto death: For by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just.
Contempt of the World
If you seek an example of contempt for earthly things, imitate Him who is the King of kings, the Lord of rulers, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom; but on the Cross He was stripped naked, ridiculed, spat upon, bruised, crowned with thorns, given to drink of vinegar and gall, and finally put to death. How falsely, therefore, is one attached to riches and raiment, for: They parted My garments amongst them; and upon My vesture they cast lots. How falsely to honors, since I was covered with lashes and insults; how falsely to positions of power, because taking a crown of thorns, they placed it upon My brow; how falsely to delicacies of the table, for in My thirst they gave Me to drink of vinegar. Thus, St. Augustine, in commenting on these words, Who, having joy set before Him, endured the Cross despising the shame, says: The man Christ despised all earthly things in order to teach us to despise them.
--From the sermon-conferences of Saint Thomas Aquinas on the Apostles' Creed.
January 31, 2003
January 15, 2003
Water, Wheat, Grapes
T. S. O'Rama provided one of those "wow" moments for me this morning (emphasis added by me):
There are some things even the Pope has no power to change - such as the use of wine in Communion. What is special about wine? Or what is special about water, when used in Baptism? Besides that Jesus used both, there's a sense in which water, for example, is not merely a symbol of cleansing but was created firstly for Baptism and only secondarily for thirst-quenching and cleansing. In other words, instead of thinking that God appropriated water as a symbol since it had cleansing and thirst-quenching properties, consider that He imagined [it] primarily for the sacrament and that secondary uses were applied so that its real use in Baptism might be better understood.
January 08, 2003
The Four Senses of Scripture
In Cradle of Redeeming Love: The Theology of the Christmas Mystery, John Saward presents an easily-remembered summary of the four senses of Scripture based on an article in Aquinas's Quaestiones de quolibet, in which the senses are defined as they relate to the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity:
- literal sense: the literal meaning of the words, as understood according to the genre of the text;
- allegorical sense: the Christological meaning of the text; what to hold by faith in the incarnate Word, Christ the Head of the Church Militant;
- moral or tropological sense: the meaning the text has in relation to the conduct of the members of Christ (that's us); how we are to act in charity;
- anagogical or eschatological sense: the meaning the text has in relation to Christ the Head of the Church Triumphant; what to look forward to in hope.
Further, the latter three senses, the spiritual senses of the text, can be understood as they apply to the members of Christ the Head; that is, human beings and the good angels. To quote an example given by Dr. Saward:
The literal sense of the Bible's many references to Jerusalem is the earthly city in Palestine. The allegorical sense is Christ's Church or Blessed Mother. The moral sense is the Jerusalem of the soul, whether beseiged by Satan in temptation or delivered by God in grace. The anagogical sense is the heavenly city, `Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest'.
Dr. Saward quotes Saint Thomas on applying the senses of Scripture to the Gospels:
"What is said literally about Christ the Head can be set forth allegorically in reference to his Mystical Body, morally, in reference to our acts that have to be reformed according to [Christ]; and anagogically, inasmuch as the way of glory is shown to us in Christ."
January 07, 2003
Felix Culpa and the Besetting Sin
In what way would you say that the phrase "felix culpa" could be applied to a besetting sin? God can turn all things to good, even our weaknesses. Perhaps one positive function of a besetting sin is to give us something stout against which to fight, if we only will.
I take a "besetting sin" to be one in which we no longer have full free will - an addiction, or a habit whose claws are so sunk into our entrails that the very thought of removing it is painful, a habit against which the fight will take years or perhaps a lifetime. Mysteriously, I'm free of the inclinations to sin by excessive drinking or excessive gambling, so I'll consider one of those :-). Perhaps the life of Venerable Matt Talbot, alcoholic, could shed some light on the question.
December 20, 2002
Cradle of Redeeming Love
This is one of my wife's Christmas presents.
This excerpt from the review seems to me to characterize all of Dr. Saward's books:
The accomplishment of this book is in its intellectual vigour, its wide-ranging scholarship, and its thorough doctrinal coverage of many aspects of the Christmas mystery. It is also written with an air of wonder. A wonder not only as expressed by Dickens and Chesterton but as actually experienced at Christmas celebrations, multiplied for John Saward by sharing in the experience of his own children. Most deeply, it is a believer's wonder at the lavish, cosmic and amazing generosity of God towards us. By the nativity of Christ, God and humans and angels and animals begin to recover a lost harmony.
October 28, 2002
The Shorter Rosary
I live exactly one quickly-prayed 5-decade rosary away from my office, so I've been trying to develop the virtue of praying five decades daily during my drive. Following John DaFiesole's advice, last night I decided to concentrate on the quis of the joyful mysteries. Thanks to John, this was the shortest Rosary I've ever prayed - I spent the entire drive thinking about the persons involved in the first joyful mystery, the annunciation.
I hadn't realized before that all the different kinds of persons that exist are present at the Annunciation:
- God the "Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth", Creator of the setting and actors in the mystery;
- Mary, a created person composed of a spiritual soul and a body, possessing a human nature, mysteriously filled with God's grace, in quiet repose in a small village in the Levant;
- Gabriel, a created person composed solely of spirit, on a mission from God to ask Mary whether she will be (mystery of mysteries) God's mother;
- God the Holy Spirit, Love who proceeds from Being and Truth, an eternal and infinite spiritual person sharing the divine nature, who descends upon Mary in a fruitful union of spousal love;
- the second person of the Trinity, the begotten, uncreated infinite and eternal Son of God, sharer of the divine nature, who after obtaining Mary's consent, empties himself by adding to himself our human nature, and becomes the God-Man, son of Mary.
I've probably fallen into half a dozen heresies there...
October 04, 2002
Good Resource for Biblical Studies
St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, a.k.a. Scott Hahn.
August 31, 2002
Anglicans and the Holy Metaphor
John Betts, "Just Your Average Catholic Guy," blogs about an Anglican bishop who thinks that his ecclesial community need to tone down the cannibalistic language of some of their prayers. Well, I say "Hear, hear!" I'm with the good bishop 100%. The link to the Salt Lake Tribune is dead, so I'll repeat what John reported:
Anglican Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries has suggested that the "cannibalistic language of the Eucharist" is part of the reason Christianity is declining in Britain. In a controversial new book, God Outside the Box, Harries described the revulsion that the uninitiated can feel at one of the best-loved prayers in the Church of England's prayer book. The Prayer of Humble Access reads, in part: "Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood". The bishop suggested the church "qualify the imagery in order to help people realize that this is a metaphor. We should use images like 'the food of angels' and 'the bread of life' instead".
In the Anglican communion the Eucharist is a metaphor. And to paraphrase Flannery O'Connor, if it's just a metaphor, to Hell with it.
Earthen Vessels: Patristic Prayer
You might be interested in a new book from Ignatius Press - Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition by Father Gabriel Bunge, a Benedictine hermit living in Switzerland.
Father Bunge is steeped in the writings of the Greek Fathers of the Church, and in his book he presents the ancient patristic way of prayer, which integrated contemplation and action through various physical gestures during prayer: facing east, hands outstreched, prostrations, various gestures appropriate to the liturgical season, i.e. more kneeling and prostrations during penitential seasons, etc. Along the way he demolishes the idea that Eastern meditation techniques are compatible with Christian prayer. Lots of citations of Evagrius Ponticus.
August 26, 2002
At Mass with the Editrix
If you don't trust the liturgy, why be Catholic? I've heard only one priest, over in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, consistently edit the texts of the Mass to refer to "God" instead of using masculine pronouns for him. Yesterday, for the first time, I've heard someone in the pews doing it. Her voice rose above all others, so she must have been nearly shouting her personal "exclusive" version of the ancient Creed.
August 23, 2002
Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
The Vatican has issued a wonderful text, the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
See Bill Cork's blog for an analysis of the doctrinal parts, and don't miss the document's listings of popular devotions!
Big thanks to Bill Cork for the heads-up.
