Quantitative Metathesis

I turn my face toward Jerusalem...

2009-08-17T21:47:00.003-07:00

I come to the door of the house, carrying my jar of ointment, still wondering what possessed me to come. As I bribe the doorkeeper -- who knows me -- to let me in, I wonder what He will do when I touch His feet. If He should kick at me, it is only what I deserve, but if He does before I can anoint Him, what then? What then? No answer comes. And now I am already inside, burning under the hostile gaze of everyone in the room. Oh, God, it is a regular dinner party! They all know, they all accuse, they all wonder how I gained entrance. Even the maidservants stare.

But there He is, and he is not looking at me. He is attentive to a conversation which He has just begun with someone on the opposite side of the table -- almost as though He is deliberately distracting attention from me -- and others are joining in now, too. The oppressive, silent accusation is lifted, and I make my way to Him. As I remove His sandals, he doesn't flinch, and I begin to weep. He is letting me touch Him! He is letting me touch Him without fuss or ceremony; I didn't even have to ask! As my tears fall on His ankle accidentally, I realize how dirty these feet are. Whatever water I can, I use; my tears shall cleanse Him even as they cleanse my heart from so much worry, so much shame. All my memories of sin, I pour out of my eyes; all my wishes to begin again as a new woman, become tears to wash away the dust on these precious feet. But what shall I use to dry them? Even my clothes are tainted by my past life -- I cannot dirty these feet anew by using defiled veil or dress. But my hair is mine, God-given from before I fell away from him. Pulling back my veil, I loosen its combs and let its coils tumble down. Gently, I dry away my tears and try to calm the tremors in my stomach and hands. How can He be allowing this? He still has not even looked at me!

Finally I reach for my jar. Though this ointment cost me nearly all my ill-gotten fortune, it now pales in the face of what this wandering prophet has given me. I no longer desire any vestige of my sinfulness, any remnant of this life, and I break the neck of the jar on the stone floor, emptying its entire contents on the feet before me. The noise and smell which soon overpowers the room immediately bring attention back on me, and I hide my scarlet face by bending and kissing once more His now-pungent feet.

Then I hear his voice and feel a gently hand on my head. "Simon, I have something to say."

What ensued I can hardly admit even to myself. He described my actions beautifully, as if they were favors to Him instead of supplications, and then He turned to me, raised me up, and forgave me. Then, taking my veil and covering my head again, He said, "You shall no longer be a woman of the streets, but a woman of the Way. Come, follow me! You can stay with Simon Peter's family, and they will give you new clothes. With them, you will serve and follow me and my disciples."

A new life! A new path! I rejoiced even in my astounded state, and Simon Peter led me out through the streets to his mother. I am leaving everything behind! Everything, except those things stored in my heart...which, Simon points out, are all that He desires me to keep anyway.

Then I -- once again QM -- went back and spoke with this Jesus who had just asked me to come and follow Him. I began to understand that the Lord is asking me to come now, and leave behind my life in the world to join Him as he travels to Jerusalem and to Calvary. My service will be to Him and to others on the Way for the rest of my life, to be on the inside of the circle of disciples and to stay there, not going out to minister to those outside.

"But why, Lord? Why should I not care for those others?"
"Because other apostles will do so -- and you must care for them."
"But they don't have the mind I have, nor the talents..."
"...nor the heart! And it is for that very reason that I ask you to come with me. For you need and desire to be formed in my own Heart, before you can use all these gifts to the utmost for my glory. You must learn to be one with me and my Way, so that when you do finally write and speak, it is with my words and my Heart, not your own. This is not a case of what is right or wrong, or a case of what is good or bad, but rather a case of you. And because it is you whom I call, I call you to this life."
"So, just to be perfectly clear, Lord, are you asking me to serve you as a contemplative nun?"
"I am."
"Then, the Passionist Nuns?"
"Then, the Passionist Nuns." He smiled.
I fell to my knees. "Lord, have mercy on me, a poor sinner."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This has been the weblog of Quantitative Metathesis, who departs on the morning of August 19 to begin her aspirancy with the Passionist Nuns in Whitesville, KY. You may catch glimpses of her new adventures at their own blog, found here. Please pray for her, as she does for you!

May the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ be ever in our hearts!

Friendship

2009-08-07T13:27:00.002-07:00

The days are starting to fly by. It hardly seems possible that I will be so soon embarking upon my monastic adventure...so soon setting my feet upon the path I have dreamed of for these years past...so soon setting aside the world and entering a new one. Reality has begun to make itself felt -- this is actually happening! I am actually going to be a Passionist nun!

I find myself often overwhelmed these days. Overwhelmed by an outpouring of friendship, love, and support from parishioners, by friends and family vying for a slice of the time I have left in Bellingham, by my own efforts at preparing the parish and my musicians for the transition soon to come. Most of all, I am overwhelmed by a desire to love the people around me, a desire that cannot possibly be fulfilled with the time and ability that I have right now. But I still so want to love them all!

I want to tell each of them how much this year has meant to me. I want to give each of them some token of my gratitude for their love -- so undeserved! -- and for their patience with the new kid on the block who really never knew what she was doing. I want somehow to show each of them what they have given me: love when I was lonely, support when I was weak, a purpose when I was drifting, and a home when I was lost. I didn't know what God was doing when He brought me to Bellingham last summer, but He obviously did. Deo gratias.

And I am now incapable of doing even the least of these things for my loved ones! I wish I could write each of them a meaningful letter, full of beautiful words and heartfelt sentiment, but I have no time for that. I wish I could throw a lavish banquet for everyone, but I have no means for that. I wish I could even show some of these deep emotions when I speak to them, but apparently I don't even have the energy for that! All I seem able to do is to accept their love. To let them lavish me with praise and support and meals and prayers and friendship.

It is so weird, this receiving and receiving and receiving, with nary a chance to give in return. It is a dimension of friendship that is uncomfortable, for all that I am grateful for the life-sustaining gifts I receive. It is, perhaps, a gift in itself to learn how to love in this way. In all truthfulness, this sort of love is exactly how we all are to God -- completely unworthy recipients of His love and abundant blessings. We all have to learn how to gratefully receive, despite our utter inability to give Him anything of our own.

So thank you, my friends, for everything. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

There Are No Words

2009-07-25T21:09:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting down with my old friend Job tonight, pondering the eternal and infinite majesty of God. He is usually remembered for his contention with the Lord about suffering, and his boldness in questioning the Most High. But he also puts his finger on a profound and beautiful mystery in the midst of his sufferings. Job "gets" God's infinity.

"The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

To say that and really mean it? That takes a secure faith, love, and humility. That takes a recognition that God is bigger than me. That life is bigger. That love is bigger.

But even more than that, at the end of his "dialogue" Job captures a certain speechlessness about being in the presence of the Lord which rings particularly true in my heart these days.

"See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth,
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but will proceed no further."

"I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
'Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.'
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes."

But even these quotes fail to express what I want to, because they merely reflect the freshly-chastened Job's humility. What strikes me here is that Job meets God face-to-face, and he realizes that there are no words to utter nor to answer. There is hardly even a thought, except that motion of the heart toward abandoning oneself in adoration.

The terrible beauty of God...the awful majesty...the raw power of pure Love. He can be as gentle as Elijah's tiny breeze and as bellicose as Sodom's bane; as beautiful as Eden's Creator and as bloody as the scourged and crucified One. God's faces are not to be numbered. But each one of them arrests the one He approaches. Each one of them changes us. Each one of them leaves us grasping at words, and finally sinking into the quiet of contemplation.

"Who is this?" we ask. "Who is this?"

There are no words.

Only God.

*matilla twitch to the St. Olaf Cantorei for the beautiful recording, and to St. Olaf's John Ferguson for composing the piece.

Res Decem

2009-07-15T11:40:00.002-07:00

I just noticed that Argent tagged me quite a while ago. Oops. What was that you said about "before I go off to the hidden life," Arg?

Anyway, apparently I'm supposed to post ten honest things about myself. Hmm. Ten honest AND blog-appropriate things. Hmm....

1) I have lived nine different places in my life, and none of those moves have covered less than 2000 miles. In about a month, I shall be moving cross-continent again to my tenth (and, God willing, final) earthly home.

2) My favorite place in the whole wide world is the Monasterio San Benedetto at the top of the mountain above Subiaco, Italy. When there aren't any tourists around to assault the silence, that is.

3) My closet is color-coded:
purple red pink peach white yellow green teal blue indigo gray black.

4) I will miss wearing colors.

5) If I were only allowed one book, I would choose the Latin breviary (the new one). Do 4-volumes count as one, or four?

6) I use sealing wax whenever possible.

7) The Exsultet is my single favorite liturgical moment of the entire year.

8) I try to keep a list of every priest who has touched my life, and I pray for each of them. Said list is over 100 members long, and counting.

9) Probably the biggest temptation to leave my beautiful Passionist sisters would be if the Canons Regular of St. Augustine ever re-founded their sister abbey of Chorfrauen. Mostly because the canonesses would be even more ridiculously awesome than the canons, and that concept just blows my mind. I'm really glad they don't have any plans to do so.

10) I hate the internet. I have no idea why I spend so much time here, and I'm really looking forward to conventual restrictions in this regard.

I tag whomever wants to play the meme game!

Litany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim

2009-07-13T09:06:00.001-07:00

I recently received in the mail a brief note from my soon-to-be novice mistress. Knowing that I have discerned a particular call to pray for priests, she wanted to pass on a few materials that the mother superior had shared with the sisters on the occasion of the Year for Priests. Among them I found this beautiful litany, which I think I am going to start praying as a part of my daily devotions.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father in Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, Priest and Victim, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, Priest whom God sent to preach the Gospel to the poor, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, Priest who at the Last Supper instituted the form of the Eternal Sacrifice, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, Priest living forever to intercede for us, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest chosen from among men, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, made High Priest for men, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest of our Confession of Faith, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest of greater glory than Moses, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest of the true Tabernacle, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest of good things to come, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest, holy, innocent and undefiled, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest, faithful and merciful, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest, inflamed with zeal for God and souls, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest, perfect forever, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest who by Your own Blood entered into the heavens, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest who opened up a new way for us, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest who loved us and washed us from our sins in Your Blood, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, High Priest, who offered Yourself to God as an oblation and sacrificial victim, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, sacrificial victim of God and man, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, holy and immaculate sacrificial victim, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, pleasing sacrificial victim, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, peace-making sacrificial victim, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, sacrificial victim of propitiation and praise, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, sacrificial victim of reconciliation and peace, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, sacrificial victim in whom we have confidence and access to God, Have mercy on us.
JESUS, sacrificial victim living for ever and ever, Have mercy on us.
Be merciful, Spare us, JESUS.
Be merciful, Graciously hear us, JESUS.
From rashly entering the clergy. Deliver us, JESUS.
From the sin of sacrilege, Deliver us, JESUS.
From the spirit of incontinence, Deliver us, JESUS.
From sordid pursuits, Deliver us, JESUS.
From every lapse into simony, Deliver us, JESUS.
From the unworthy administration of the Church's treasures, Deliver us, JESUS.
From the love of the world and its vanities, Deliver us, JESUS.
From the unworthy celebration of Your Mysteries, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through Your eternal priesthood, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through the holy anointing whereby You were constituted a priest by God the Father, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through Your priestly spirit, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through the ministry by which You glorified Your Father on this earth, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through the bloody immolation of Yourself made once and for all on the Cross, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through that same sacrifice daily renewed on the altar, Deliver us, JESUS.
Through that divine power which You exercise invisibly in Your priests, Deliver us, JESUS.
That You would deign to maintain the whole priestly order in holy religion, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to provide Your people with pastors after Your own Heart, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to fill them with the spirit of Your priesthood, We beseech You, hear us.
That the lips of Your priests might preserve true knowledge, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to send faithful workers into Your harvest, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to multiply the faithful dispensers of Your Mysteries, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to grant them perseverance in the service of Your will, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to grant them gentleness in their ministry, resourcefulness in their actions, and constancy in prayer, We beseech You, hear us.
That through them You would deign to promote the veneration of the Blessed Sacrament everywhere, We beseech You, hear us.
That You would deign to receive into Your joy those who have served You well, We beseech You, hear us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us, O Lord.
JESUS, our Priest, Hear us.
JESUS, our Priest, Graciously hear us.

Let us pray. O God, sanctifier and guardian of Your Church, raise up in her, through Your Spirit, suitable and faithful dispensers of the holy Mysteries, so that by their ministry and example, the Christian people may be guided under Your protection in the path of salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, Who, when the disciples were worshiping and fasting, ordered that Saul and Barnabas to be set aside for the work to which You called them, be present now to Your Church in prayer, and You, who know the hearts of all, show those whom You have chosen for Your ministry. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Cor Simplex Crea in Me, Deus

2009-07-06T19:36:00.003-07:00

As the day draws nearer that I will get to enter the cloister walls to live, often I find myself asking myself, "why?" Why has God chosen to call me to this life? Why have I decided to follow? Why, despite all the sacrifices it entails and all the suffering my decision has sparked, do I find a well of peace within my heart? Why does my whole being rejoice with a feeling very close to relief at the prospect of soon entering formation to be a Passionist nun?

To the first question, I will never know the answer. God alone, may His name be praised, knows why He has called this fallen, weak, and fickle young blunderer into such an intimacy with Him. I would say that there is some mistake, that I must be wrong...except that every time I dare to entertain those thoughts, something very obvious happens to reconfirm His will and His call. He is not to be argued with!

The answer to the second "why" is always the same: I decide to follow Him because, well, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." The bigger question, really, is why on earth I took so many years to hear the question...and then so many more years to assent.

Whence comes the peace amidst the storm, and the relief in looking toward the future? I am convinced that it must be a matter of the heart. Right now my heart is very complex, divided into many rooms and fortified battlements and alleys leading in many and sundry directions. I have many loves, both ordered and disordered, that abide therein. It is rather like a medieval Italian fortress-city: beautiful, but also chaotic, crowded, convoluted, messy, and made of stone. But my heart, unlike the Italian city, was not made to be all of these things. It yearns not for chaos but for order, so that it can embrace and love more fully all the goods that come its way.

One of the most beautiful -- and most challenging -- facets of convent life, at least that I have noticed, is its ability to foster a simplicity of heart. Nearly every time I speak with a sister who has lived her vocation for many years, I am struck by how unified her love is, indeed, how wholly she is God's. She has become simple, not so much in her mind or actions -- for nuns have sharp wits and manifold pursuits, just like the rest of us! -- but certainly in her being and in her heart. You see, the very life and rhythm of the convent is ordered toward inward and outward simplicity. Every word and action there is deliberate and meaningful, and the silence fosters an awareness of self as does no other place that I've encountered. One realizes very quickly, in such an environment so singly pointed toward God, one's own dividedness.

I yearn to be undivided. I yearn to be perfectly ordered toward God who is Love, so that I can have the freedom to love everyone even more than I already do...but without feeling torn and pulled in opposite directions by my loves. And so I look toward the beginning of my formation with relief, knowing that I am about to enter the purifying fires of love...namely, poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Cor simplex crea in me, Deus.
An undivided heart create in me, o God.

Congratulations, Sister Rose Marie!

2009-07-03T08:58:00.004-07:00

I know I usually only post once a week, and I've written *three* posts already this week, but this news is too good to have to wait any longer! It seemed like Sponsa Christi would never get around to posting the news on the Passionists' blog, but she finally has, and it is my great pleasure to proclaim the news on QM:

We have a new novice!

Click on over to In the Shadow of His Wings and check out the wonderful post on Postulant Shannon's vestition in the holy habit and her new name: Sister Rose Marie of the Merciful Heart of Jesus. Deo Gratias!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled silence...

2009-07-02T16:01:00.002-07:00

...to bring you this awesome addition to the Vatican Webpage:

The Virtual Scavi Tour!

*curtsey to Argent for the find!

Year for Priests

2009-06-30T20:42:00.003-07:00

I was traveling on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, and therefore missed my opportunity to mark (on the blog) the opening of the Year for Priests that our holy father has proclaimed. Instead, I united myself in prayer with all of my priestly brothers that day in a particular way, and I rejoiced that I will have the privilege of entering religious life during this year. Dear Fathers, whoever you are that read this post, let this be a thank you and a thank God for your vocations. My life, poor as it is, is offered for you.

Pope Benedict quotes St. John Vianney near the beginning of last week's letter to priests: "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”, the Cure of Ars would often say. The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.

Can you sense the majesty of that statement? The dignity that all priests have, by the very nature of their ordination? The gravitas of the priesthood, not by any human contrivance, but by its very being? The love of the heart of Jesus.

When I think if the heart of Jesus, immediately I see in my mind's eye a Man hanging from a Cross, with a flood pouring from His pierced side. His precious, sacred heart overflowing with love, pouring out His life for love of us, that we might live and love in return.

And then I see that river of life flowing from His heart into a chalice, offered upon an altar as a living sacrifice of love, eternally poured out, eternally offered up, eternally drawing all His children into the communion of love that is the blessed Trinity Himself.

I see the joy that wells up from that chalice of life in each one of us who come to the altar. I see the love into which we are drawn, which bursts out of us into the world. I see the body of Christ knit together into one, constantly sustained and renewed by the river of life that flows from that pierced heart beating at its very core.

Fathers, you dwell in that pierced heart. You are not only His friends, but His mouth, and His hands, and His feet in this world. You pour out His same, lifegiving love in the sacraments, and by your very lives you give to the whole world a witness of the greatest gift we have ever known.

Fathers, I thank you for your fiat.
I thank you for your fidelity.
I thank you for the times when you are exhilarated with God's love.
I thank you for the times when you are pierced and dying with God's love.
I thank you for striving always to be what must sometimes seem impossible: an alter Christus.
I thank you.

What little I can give in return, I do: my prayers, my penance, my own love, my own attempts at fidelity to Christ. God bless and keep you in His grace! May He draw you ever more fully into the depths of His pierced heart.

Annus Sacerdotalis: The official website put together by the Holy See's Congregation for the Clergy. Check it out!

A Face-Off

2009-06-24T16:53:00.004-07:00

I had a small epiphany recently, in the middle of typing an email to a dear friend. He had expressed his continued concern and prayers for me and my family, and I found myself responding thusly:

"Sometimes, though, I want to turn around and face down the devil who is trying so hard to sway me from my vocation, and to say to him, Back off from my family, punk! You have had your say, you have torn my own heart, but you shall come no farther! You shall not make my loved ones your tools, and in the process, break their own hearts and lives! In doing so, you will never win -- you will only serve to set heaven even more firmly against you than it already is, if that were possible. Begone, fool, and plague us no more with your anemic and ill-begotten pretenses of love!"

And somewhere in the middle of typing that paragraph, the idea changed from being a hypothetical to a reality. For, indeed, what is stopping me from doing exactly that? It is what needs to be done!

It finally hit me: What we are going through is certainly a real and bitter suffering, but it is larger than that. It is a battleground. The enemy knows my intention is to follow God and His loving will, and he knows that I am being drawn into a consecrated life of prayer and penance for the sake of God's priests. He hates every bit of that. He wants to stop me. And he knows my weaknesses so well that for years he has been launching his bitterest attacks on my family. He knows that if I am to be swayed, it is through them whom I love so dearly. And until now, I have allowed him to maneuver me into a defensive seige, acting as though he has the keener weapons and the stronger ground, trying as best I can to sheild and defend my wounded loved ones from the creeping death of starvation and disease that he has planted even within our walls.

But no! Why should I crouch beneath his feeble blows? Why should I dread his lying words of pain and loss and bitter resentment? I have the weapons in this war! I have the strength and the stamina not only to repel but to rout his fiercest onslaughts! "Stand and fight, you two-faced coward! No longer do I hide with my back turned behind these walls. No longer will I watch helplessly as you ravage my family. No! If you want them, come and claim them -- but you will have to get through me first, and I weild the weapons of grace and virtue and sacrament and love.

"Yes! I weild love. What do you have, o fallen angel? What do you know of love? You whisper lying words about it to my family -- I hear you! -- and you poison their minds and hearts with your pretense. Do you think that you will win me with lies? Love is stronger than death, as you know very well, and did you think I would believe that it cannot hold up over mere distance? Love has defeated sin, and it does again and again and again, and do you really think that it will not prevail over misunderstandings and prejudices? Fool! I have no time for your empty words!

"Oh, and before you turn toward my family again, seeking their ruin since you cannot gain mine, look around. You see, we have come out of our walled fortress, my army and I. You are no longer on offense, oh no. Quail before our banner! Flee in the face of our strength! I dare you to try to level the hosts of heaven, I challenge you to land one blow upon the victorious Lamb! We all stand between you and these precious souls. Begone, and weep your bitter tears of defeat on some other field."

If Satan wants a fight, a fight he will get. QM is no longer going to cower and whimper in anguish! Oh, no! Christ didn't stand by and wring His hands as the people He loved suffered. He took the blows first, for them, and thus gave meaning and redemption to their pain...and then He rendered it lifegiving.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Once again, I say "amen."

2009-06-08T13:51:00.003-07:00

This is one of my favorite songs from the "Christian" genre, and it also very aptly describes the dynamic in the Q household these days.

"I was sure by now, God, you would have reached down and wiped our tears away, stepped in and saved the day. But once again, I say 'amen,' and it's still raining...."

Pray for us! Lord, have mercy!

At the Core of the Universe

2009-06-01T22:13:00.003-07:00

One of the most prevailing images in my prayer over the past decade has been that of being curled up at the foot of the Cross, embracing its wood in loving adoration. Below is a passage from the book Dear and Glorious Physician, Taylor Caldwell's beautiful novel of the life of St. Luke the Evangelist, in which passage I first found this image. I was 15, and ever since I read it, I have wanted to spend my life just so.

The setting is a temple in the house of the Magi, about two years after the birth of Christ.

Then in the center of the room was the strangest thing of all, not an altar, but something that struck a quick fear to the soul of the boy. On a wide central platform of three low white steps of marble stood the great symbol of the most infamous thing in the world, the symbol of the vilest criminality and death. It was a huge Cross, seemingly made of transparent alabaster, and it towered almost to the flat ceiling of smooth stone. Lucanus’ fear changed to awe and amazement. The Cross soared alone, and there was nothing in the temple but its simple and dreadful majesty, and no sound but absolute silence.

The light pulsed and waned, and the Cross waited. But Lucanus stood for a long time looking at it, his heart beating loudly in his ears. A few times, a very few times, he had seen a crucified man on one of the hills near Antioch, and he had been moved to tears and a nameless anger. And then he had seen the golden cross in Keptah’s hand on the night of the Star, over two years ago. He had almost forgotten.

Timidly, walking slowly so as not to disturb this sanctified silence, and not to quicken the ebbing and flowing radiance, he approached the Cross, and stood at the foot of the glistening shallow stairs looking up at it. Its mighty arms stretched far above him. It had a waiting and unearthly quality, cool and expectant. Its body was fixed and powerful, yet airy as light. It appeared less than stone now, to the boy, but something sentient and eternal, immovable in its vastness, carved in grandeur.

Lucanus stood and looked at it, and could not turn aside. There was nothing in him now but an unnamable anticipation. His throat throbbed. Without his volition his knees bent, and he knelt on the first step and clasped his hands, never looking away from the Cross. It loomed over him, and he felt some awful prescience in it, and yet it was as if the arms hovered over him protectingly. Now the light in the temple quickened, like the reflection of the moon on wide wings.

There were no thoughts in Lucanus, no awareness of flesh, only a deep wonderment and something like joy touched with grief. He knelt for a long time, his blue gaze lifted high to the Cross, his hands clasped.

He did not know at what moment the Cross began to brighten, and at what moment the Cross itself began to ripple with pale rosy shadows. It was as if his soul became aware of it long before his conscious mind, and so he was not alarmed. He was also dreamily aware of an unseen Presence, which was one with the Cross, one with the light, and one with himself. The Presence was like a shaft of deeper luminosity, and full of enormous masculine tenderness. Lucanus said aloud through pale lips, “The Unknown God.”

[…] He was filled with ecstasy, as if visions had opened before him, magnificent, yet dolorous with supernatural sorrow beyond the comprehension of men.

The flickerings on the Cross became deeper in hue and more intense, so that the white walls, floor, and ceiling paled like clouds, and were as tenuous. Slowly, moment by moment, the rosy and unquiet hue resembled the flowing shadows of blood, welling, falling, and drifting from the arms down the whole enormous body of the Cross. The pearly luminousness that flowed through the temple moved swifter, as if ethereal presences were gathering in greater concentration. The boy was conscious of no fear, only of growing wonderment and love so profound that his body could hardly contain it. The scarlet reflections from the Cross glimmered on his face, his white tunic, his clasped hands, and in his eyes, and on his bent knees.

Slowly, drawn as if by a spell, he stood up and mounted the shallow steps and stood on the level with the Cross. It was a tree of intermingling red and white, palpitating with a force unknown to him. He dared to put out his hand and touch it; it was cool to his touch, and yet it vibrated slightly. All at once he was overcome with a passion beyond rapture; he felt himself drawn into the very heart of the Cross. His legs weakened under him, and he slipped to the platform and wound his arms about the shaft and leaned his cheek against it, and without the slightest conscious knowledge his whole body trembled with adoration and the deepest peace he had ever known. He closed his eyes; he was at the core of the universe.

Detatchment

2009-05-25T16:12:00.002-07:00

Maybe it was something about the way the morning sun caught the porcelain. Maybe it was the article I had recently perused about the medieval Chinese ship that sank carrying its cargo of a thousand painted bowls. Maybe it was something I ate. Whatever the reason, I was arrested on my way from breakfast, and instead of brushing my teeth I found myself deep in thought in front of my mother's china cabinet.

There was something about the Royal Copenhagen collection, so neatly stacked and displayed, with its lacy blue filigree patterns cheerily heralding my ancestry. There was I-know-not-what about the heirloom tea-set, eggshell thin and encrusted more with gold than with enamel, brought from the Orient generations ago and passed down mother-to-daughter until it rested in this handsome cabinet. That same mysterious something beckoned from the wedding silver, from the Waterford crystal goblets, from the very table and chairs in our formal dining room. I stopped and considered.

Melancholy. Quietly poignant. Yes. That was it. That was the feeling.

So much of value is packed into that room, and not only of monatery value. Each precious piece tells a story, and as I reflected, I realized that their stories would have been...should have been...part of my own. They are not, now. I would have inherited much that rests within those glass-paneled shelves, and indeed, some of it may have been given me on my wedding day. I would have treasured these pieces as much as my mother does. It is a joy to set a rich and beautiful table, to treat guests or the family to a feast of the eyes as well as of the palate. It is a delight to use our heirloom porcelain, a celebration of who we are and whence we came. It is a privilege which I soon shall give up, for the sake of Lady Poverty.

This recognition came with a pang, but there was no bitterness. In fact, there seemed to be a question, an offer lingering in the air. "What do you choose, QM?" There is a good and beautiful life set before me, embodied in those plates. Happy faces around a happy table, a family full of love and life and laughter. A good life. A far cry from the silent simplicity of a convent refectory.

In many ways, this choice is what I see eating at my family as they grapple with my vocation. "How can you give up X for the rest of your life?" they say. "Why would anyone ever want to deprive herself of doing Y? We are sad because you will never have Z again."

And, indeed, I also grieve the loss of X, Y, and Z. But no one ever said that entering religious life was easy. No one ever said that it didn't entail sacrifice; quite the opposite! It is a turning away from worldly things, it is a denial of earthly pleasures. Anyone who tries to explain that away is lying. Sacrifice is the point, and the better and more beautiful the thing given up, the more perfect the sacrifice. To give up disordered things is not sacrifice; it is temperance. Only in the giving up of goods do we find true sacrifice. Consider the Cross. Consider Him who died on it.

There is great happiness, beauty, and goodness in the scene that lay before my mind's eye as I stood before the china cabinet. There is a holiness there, and a joy. There is something in my heart that does long for that richness, that delights in having beautiful things in a hospitable house. It is a wrench to tell my hands that they will never serve with the wedding silver, never pour with the eggshell china, never set a feast with the Copenhagen porcelain. It is a considerable effort to turn my heart toward the poorer life of a convent.

But I choose the silence.

I choose the simplicity.

I choose the One who has called me there.

My sister will receive, in her turn, all that once would have been mine. She will, I hope, learn to treasure it as much as I would have. For my part, I am content. Truly, how could I declare to the ages, "I chose plates over the call of the living God?"

The Passion Sign

2009-05-18T21:57:00.005-07:00

On one of the handouts I saved from my first encounter with the Passionist Nuns, there is a large picture of the Passion Sign. Above it, I jotted the phrase, "to so ponder the passion that it indelibly engraves itself upon your heart."

In its essence, that is the life of a Passionist, whether Father, Nun, Oblate, or Associate. To so ponder the Passion of Jesus Christ that it indelibly engraves itself upon the ponderer's heart. That is what the Passion Sign symbolizes, that white-on-black image of a heart with a cross above it and "Jesu Christi Passio" etched in white letters inside. Every vowed Passionist wears this badge over their own heart as an external sign of an interior reality. Every Passionist is continually drawn into ever greater communion with the Sacred Heart. This is their life.

A Passionist was once overheard praying aloud before a crucifix in an empty church. I first read his prayer over two years ago, and I trembled at its beauty. Now, reading it again -- having discovered it among my Passionist files -- I am surprised at how many of his words have become my own. Just a few nights ago, I knelt before a crucifix and spoke similar words to Him who bled for me. Thanks be to God for His great love and mercy!

A Passionist Prayer
Lord Jesus! for how many ages
have You hung upon Your cross
and still the world passes You by and regards You not
except to pierce anew Your Sacred Heart.
how often have I passed You by,
heedless of Your great sorrow,
Your many wounds, Your infinite love!
How often have I stood before You
not to comfort and console You,
but to add to Your sorrow,
to deepen Your wounds,
to scorn Your love!
You have stretched forth Your hands to comfort me, to raise me up,
and I have taken those hands that might have struck me into hell,
and have bent them back on the cross
and nailed them there rigid and helpless.
Yet I have but succeeded in engraving my name in Your palms forever!
You have loved me with an infinite love,
and I have taken advantage of that love
to sin the more against You;
yet my ingratitude has but pierced Your Sacred Heart
and forth upon me has flowed Your Precious Blood.
O Jesus! Let Your Blood be upon me
not for a curse but for a blessing.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world:
have mercy on me! Amen.

The Cross

2009-05-09T07:26:00.004-07:00

It is no flippancy that a Passionist Nun is called "bride of Christ Crucified." At one time, I rather glossed over this title, thinking that it implied a merely beautiful relationship between Sufferer (Christ) and Comforting Companion (bride). But to do so was to forget the intimacy of the vows which bind the nun's life to His. She spends her life at the foot of the Cross, not only "watching and praying" with Mary and John, but also profoundly united with the sufferings of Him who pours Himself out for the world's salvation.

Very soon after I gave my "yes" to the Lord, some two months ago, I found myself treading a Via Dolorosa. Though not entirely unexpected, it caught me off-guard by its immediacy and its grade. The details don't really matter here; what has become increasingly apparent to me is that this path is precisely the one which a Passionist is invited to tread. The Lord asks us to join Him on Calvary, to be united to His Sacrifice, to "make up in our own bodies what is lacking in His sufferings." We do not simply accompany Christ and tend to His pains as He suffers...we share in His pain. We place our own bleeding feet into His footsteps, we feel the weight of a cross on our own shoulders, we pour out our life for His sake and the world's. Such is the mystical relationship between Christ Crucified and His brides. When I said "yes," He began to teach me and to draw me into this life which now lies before me.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

There are so many depths of suffering, so many colors of pain, and I know that I have not even begun to discover them. I tremble to think that I might, someday.

But even more than that, I fall to my knees in awe at the power of the Cross, the majestic mystery of the Passion which both unites God to our sufferings and gives meaning even to our brokenness. I am left speechless at the prospect of sharing -- sharing! -- the Cross of Christ and His saving work of redemption. It is, of course, the vocation of every Christian to do so...but the bride is invited to do so even more intimately. "The two shall become one." That is not an abstract reality, I am finding. Not at all.

It shouldn't be surprising that the vocation of Passionist includes a passion. It shouldn't be surprising that the pain is real, and that it is a struggle to suffer well, to suffer in union with the Crucified One. If it were not difficult to carry the Cross, it would not be a suffering. It would not be a Passion. The fact that Jesus fell three times on the way to Calvary is important to me, as is the fact that He wavered in the Garden. They show that He struggled to endure His Passion, that He almost didn't make it to Calvary. Suffering is not easy. But that doesn't mean that we should shirk the crosses that we are given to bear.

I have spent too much time the past few weeks seeking pity and comfort from those around me, too much time pitying myself for the hardships which have come with my choice. I have spent too little time with the Lord, far too little time studying and imitating his footfalls on the Via Dolorosa. What, shall I follow Him by looking back over my shoulder and dragging my feet? Shall I head towards Calvary and all the time wish that I was back at Cana? No.

I must, even and especially when it hurts the most, truly join Him in His suffering. I must give Him my love, my companionship. I must give Him, even when I have no strength to do aught else, the comfort of hearing my labored breathing and heavy, stumbling steps at His side as I carry my cross up the same hill.

Stages in Passionist Formation

2009-05-04T20:25:00.001-07:00

"So QM has finally decided to take the plunge," you say, "but what does that mean? What will she be doing after August 22, and what will she look like? When will I get to tease her about looking like a penguin?"

Dear Reader, I am here to satisfy your every curiosity. It certainly is one thing to claim, "I am going to be a Passionist Nun," and quite another to realize that there are ten years of formation before final vows! Here are the stages:

1) Contact with Monastery
Obviously, this stage varies in length more than any of the others. At minimum, it consists in written and verbal (via telephone) communication with Sister Vocations Directress, and ideally it also includes a visit or visits to the monastery. Personal contact with the sisters is vital not only for the discerner, but also for her potential community. Like love, discernment is a two-way street.

2) Aspirancy
If a young woman feels strongly that she may, indeed, have a Passionist vocation, she may apply to spend seven weeks to three months as an aspirant at the monastery. During this stage of her discernment, she lives, works, prays, and plays with the nuns, and she wears a white blouse, a black skirt, and a small Passion Sign pin. She also begins receiving instruction from Sister Novice Mistress and Mother Superior in the form of classes and individual direction. Since she is not officially a member of the community yet, there are a few practices in which she does not participate, but this period is very much the beginning of her formal formation as a Passionist Nun.

3) Postulancy
After completing aspirancy, the young woman returns home for at least a month. If she still feels that God is asking her to be a Passionist, she may request entrance into the community as a postulant. This step marks her official entrance into the community, and she wears a white blouse, black jumper, modified black veil, a Passion Sign pin, and a large crucifix around her neck. The daily life of a postulant is (I think!) similar to that of an aspirant, with the addition of certain penitential practices. Postulancy lasts anywhere from 12 to 18 months.

4) Novitiate
When, God willing, both the postulant and the community discern that she is called to enter the novitiate, she is clothed in the Passionist habit (black tunic, leather belt, 20-decade rosary [update: 10-decade rosary (thanks, Sister!)], and white veil) and given a religious name and title. She enters an intense, two-year period of prayer and instruction which will prepare her to make her religious vows.

5) Junior Profession
Upon completion of the novitiate and with the approval of the council (all perpetually professed members), the novice may profess her first vows. As a Passionist, she professes five vows:
-- To promote devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ.
-- Poverty
-- Chastity
-- Obedience
-- Enclosure

During the rite of profession, her white veil is exchanged for black, the Passion Sign is pinned onto her habit over her heart, a ring is placed on her finger, a crucifix is given to her, she is crowned with thorns, and she takes a wooden cross onto her shoulders. All of these help to signify outwardly that she is now wedded to Christ Crucified. These temporary vows will be renewed for six years (normally).

6) Perpetual Profession
At long last, the sister can make permanent her five-fold vows to her Beloved Spouse. She is forever a bride of the Crucified!

mantilla twitch to the Passionists' website

May the Passion of Christ Be Ever in Our Hearts!

2009-04-29T10:50:00.005-07:00

*peers curiously around dusty corners of a long-neglected room*

Praised be Jesus Christ!

My fondest greetings, dear readers -- if indeed there are any of you left after these eight months -- and my most enthusiastic hellos. It has been a while! And much has happened.

I am still serving as the music director for the Church of the Assumption out here in Bellingham. My duties have proved to be much more extensive than ever I imagined, spanning the breadth of three adult choirs (one of which is Spanish-speaking), one youth praise-band, a corps of cantors, various pianist-organists and other instrumentalists, plus the picking-out of liturgical music for any and all liturgies which happen in the course of a large Catholic parish. Upon arriving here, I discovered that my predecessor left everything in complete disarray, and I have been industrially emptying, scouring, sorting, discarding, and filing ever since. My best estimates say that I am about 40% through our music archives (read: piles and stashes of random sheet music).

I have been learning SO MUCH about...everything under the sun! One of the perks of being a rookie is that I can only get better at what I do. Having never conducted before, I have developed some semblance of proficiency. Having rarely picked out congregational hymns before, after about seven months of practice I am getting faster at it. Having only ever attended one funeral in my life prior to this year, I now can put together and execute a meaningful Funeral Mass at the drop of a hat (or a casket lid, as the case may be...sorry...bad joke). Et cetera. The good people of Assumption, both those involved in ministry and the "pew people," have been more than gracious to me.

But all of this is prelude to my real news:

I am joining the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery in Whitesville, KY!

I've blogged about them and my discernment before. Tentative plans are made to begin aspirancy on August 22 of this year. This is the reason I have emerged out of blogging hibernation; a motion has been made and seconded that I post some reflections as I prepare to enter this new phase of discernment. So watch this space! No more than once a week, mind you -- after all, part of the preparation is detachment from the things of this world -- but I thought that it would be a good idea to make a record of this process.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Multa Variaque

2008-09-04T21:16:00.002-07:00

From this evergreen land on the edge of the Pacific, where all the salmon are fresh and all the sunsets are spectacular, I greet you, my fair and oft-neglected readers!

I have two announcements:

1) Yours truly is now a bona fide employee of the Archdiocese of Seattle, having been offered the position as Pastoral Assistant for Music in her local parish. Hurray! And ACK!

2) Yours truly, having found that she is healthier and happier when not using the internet, is retreating from Blogdom permanently. This 'blog, namely Quantitative Metathesis, will remain where it is for the time being, but its blogmistress will not be writing new posts.

I know, I know. I can hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth echoing 'round the corners of cyberspace. But there it is! The monthlong break since my move has given me ample time to evaluate the situation and pray about the future of my existence as QM, and I have no misgivings about pulling away from my cyber-existence. It was fun, but its time is over, and I need to live wholly in the real world. I will not even be checking other blogs much, if at all.

I can, however, still be found on Facebook, and those of you who would like to keep tabs on me can find me there. My email address is also still good.

Thanks for nearly four years of fun! Oremus pro invicem.

Ex animo,
Quantitative Metathesis

My Bellingham Home

2008-08-10T13:09:00.002-07:00

Greetings, readers all! It is nearly a week since I arrived in Bellingham, WA, and I am (for the most part) settled into my new home. Already I have been commissioned to sing and play for a funeral and two weddings, with more on the way! It seems that I will be able to "make do" financially until I get a Real Job, though things are still tight. My hope is that, someday, I will be able to afford volumes 2, 3, and 4 of the Latin Liturgy of the Hours -- I had been using the library editions from the Saint Paul Seminary.

Fortunately for the 'blog, Geometricus found me a glorious link to an online Latin Breviary, and I shall be using its Office of Readings texts as often as I can.

The window of my westward-facing bedroom overlooks a beautifully lush garden, the Bellingham Bay, and the San Juan Islands. The sunsets are incredible here. The weather is quite cool, even now in the middle of August, with highs often merely in the sixties, but I am thus far resisting wearing my fall/winter clothes. Long black skirst just seem so...so anti-August!

Ah, yes, and I shall be visiting the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles starting on August 16. Hurrah! (Look at the picture on the main page of the Benedictines. Do you all remember Veritatis Splendor? That's her, second from the right on the bottom row!)

So kiss me, and smile for me...

2008-08-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

Well, my bags sit by the door, packed and waiting for tomorrow morning's departure. My newly-scrubbed rooms stand as they were when I arrived here, the furniture neatly arranged against the walls and the setting sun glinting off of the polished tabletops. It is as if I never lived here.

All that is left for tomorrow (after Mass and holy hour, that is) is to return my Latin breviary to the library -- for, indeed, it is not really mine -- and to drop a parcel in the mail. Before I say my goodbyes, I will put the sheets and towels that my landlady lent me into the wash. And that will be the end of it.

How I shall miss Minnesota! It has become such a home to me, these past six years, and my family here is just as much and more a family to me as any bonds of blood might make it. Six years! The longest period this Army Brat has ever lived anywhere. Six years, now come to an end. I shall treasure their every moment.

The Lord has given me several beautiful treasures in these last days. I hold close to my heart the tender parting blessing of my spiritual father, and the bright tears in the eyes of my best friend and former roommate as she struggled to maintain a brave face for me. I don't recall anyone else ever weeping at my departure. My ears still ring with the Gregorian melodies wafting through the nave of St. Agnes during my final Mass in that magnificent church, and my memory's eye is still gladdened by the richly colored sunset which painted the Mississippi River as I walked along its banks a final time. Oh, Lord, it has been good to be here!

But to all things in this world there must be an ending, and so I move on. As Mr. Bilbo always sang,
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;

Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.

Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

UPDATE 8/5 8:53AM:
Safely landed and currently moving into my new room. The serpent of rough transitions is already rearing its head, but I shall attempt to squash its brains out before it gets a good hold of me.

The Move

2008-08-01T08:25:00.002-07:00

Friends, I know I've not been around this week, despite my resolution to have a daily Office of Readings post...the truth is, I'm in the throes of packing up, saying goodbyes, and moving across the country, and I simply have not had the chance to blog. Alas, alack!

Since, as you know, I graduated with an MA this spring, and since my circulatory system will not allow me to weather another Minnesota winter, I am leaving my beloved Twin Cities and traveling West, to live closer to my parents and sister and to earn my keep until the time when, God willing, I may enter a monastery.

Please keep me in your prayers, especially on Monday (August 4), when I shoulder my violin, my bookbag, and my suitcase, and hie myself to Bellingham, WA, where a new (and non-student!) life awaits me.

Dominica XVII per annum

2008-07-27T18:49:00.001-07:00

Urgent prayer request for my friend P. Thank you.

Ex Homilíis sancti Ioánnis Chrysóstomi epíscopi in Epístolam secúndam ad Corínthios
(Hom. 14, 1-2: PG 61, 497-499)

Rursum Paulus de caritáte sermónem movet, increpatiónis asperitátem réprimens. Postquam enim eos coárguit, atque hoc nómine obiurgávit, quod amáti non perínde redamárent, sed ab ipsíus amóre sese abrumpéntes, áliis pestíferis homínibus sese adiúngerent, rursus obiurgatiónis acerbitátem lenit dicens: Cápite nos, hoc est: “Amáte nos.” Benefícium poscit mínime grave, et quod maióri iis qui dant, quam qui accípiunt, utilitáti sit. Nec dixit “Amáte,” sed, quod miseratiónem redolébat: Cápite.

Quisnam nos, inquit, a vestris méntibus abégit? quis eiécit? quid causæ est, quámobrem in vobis coarctémur? Quóniam enim supra dixit: Angustiámini in viscéribus vestris, hoc loco id apértius declárat dicens: Cápite nos, atque hac rursus ratióne ipsos ad se pértrahit. Neque enim quidquam est, quod perínde ad amándum allíciat, ut cum is qui amátur intéllegit eum, qui amat, dilectiónem suam summópere expétere.

Prædíxi enim, inquit, quod in córdibus nostris estis ad commoriéndum et convivéndum. Máxima vis amóris hæc est, cum, étiam contémptus, una cum ipsis et mori et vívere vult. Neque enim utcúmque estis in córdibus nostris, sed ita ut dixi. Fíeri enim potest, ut et amet quis et perícula fúgiat; at nos non ita.

Replétus sum consolatióne. Qua consolatióne? A vobis vidélicet manánte: quia ad meliórem frugem revérsi, per ópera me consoláti estis. Amántis enim hoc est, tum de eo, quod non amétur, expostuláre, tum metúere ne modum in accusándo excédens, mærórem áfferat. Ideo dicit: Replétus sum consolatióne, superabúndo gáudio.

Quasi dicat: “Magno contra vos mæróre afféctus sum; verum abúnde mihi satis fecístis, ac solácium attulístis: neque enim mihi solum mæróris causam ademístis, sed étiam uberióre lætítia me perfudístis.”

Deínde ipsíus magnitúdinem declárans, non hinc solum hoc osténdit, quod díxerit: Superabúndo gáudio, sed ex eo étiam, quod subdit: In omni tribulatióne nostra. Tanta, inquit, erat ea volúptas, quæ mihi a vobis alláta est, ut ne tanta quidem afflictióne obscurári potúerit, sed magnitúdinis suæ exuberántia moléstias omnes, quæ nos inváserant, frégerit, nec eárum sensu nos áffici permíserit.

From the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom, bishop, on the Second Letter to the Corinthians

Again Paul presents a sermon about love, mitigating the harshness of his rebuke. For after he convicts them, and exhorts them earnestly in this name, which they, having been beloved, would not equally love in return, but broke themselves away from his love and joined themselves to other destructive men, again he moderates the bitterness of the exhortation saying: Take us in, that is: “Love us.” He asks a favor by no means serious, and which will be more profitable to those who give it, than to those who receive it. And he did not say “Love,” but, because it elicits pity: Take us in.

Who, he says, has taken us away from your minds? who has thrown us out? what reason is there, that we have been forced upon you? For because of this we have said above: You have been distressed in your hearts, in this place he declares it more openly saying: Take us in, and again with this reason he draws them toward himself. For there is not anything, which attracts someone to loving, as when the beloved understands that the lover seeks his delight more than anything.

For I have said before, he says, that you are in our hearts for dying together and for living together. This is the greatest force of love, when, even despised, he wishes both to die and to live as one with them. For you are not in anyway in our hearts, except thus as I have said. For it is able to happen, that one both loves and flees dangers; but with us it is not so.

I am full of consolation. What consolation? Surly from your remaining: because having turned back to a better fruit, you have been strengthened through my works. For this is of a lover, at one time to complain about the other, that he is not loved, at another time to fear that, overstepping in accusing the other, he has brought distress. Therefore he says: I am full of consolation, I overflow with joy.

As if he should say: “I have been afflicted with great distress against you; truly you have done enough now for me, and you have brought solace: for you have not only taken away the cause of my distress, but also have drenched me with more abundant happiness.”

Finally, proclaiming his greatness, not only showing this here, because he said: I overflow with joy, but even from that which he adds: in every one of our trials. Such, he says, was that pleasure, which was brought to me by you, that it was not able to be obscured even by such affliction, but was the abundance of your magnitude shattered all troubles which entered us, and did not allow us to be swayed by the experience of them.

Die 26 iulii: Ss. Ioachim et Annae, Parentum Beatae Mariae Virginis

2008-07-26T08:50:00.005-07:00

Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary! (Ergo, the grandparents of Our Lord.) I wonder if they, in proper grandparent style, attempted to spoil their divine grandson with gifts?

Those of you who know me may know why I am rather fond of St. Anne. :-)

Ex Sermonibus sancti Ioannis Damasceni presbyteri

Quoniam futurum erat ut Dei Genetrix Virgo ex Anna nasceretur, natura gratiae germen antevertere non ausa est; sed mansit fructus expers, dum gratia fructum ederet. Nasci siquidem primogenitam oportebat, ex qua nasciturus esset omnis creaturae primogenitus, in quo omnia constant.

O par beatum Ioachim et Anna! Vobis omnis creatura obstricta est. Per vos enim donum omnium donorum praestantissimum Creatori obtulit, nempe castam matrem, quae sola Creatore digna erat.

Laetare, Anna sterilis, quae non paris: erumpe et clama, quae non parturis. Exsulta, Ioachim, quoniam ex filia tua puer natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, et vocabitur nomen eius magni consilii, salutis universi mundi, Angelus, Deus fortis. Puer iste Deus est.

O beatum par Ioachim et Anna, immaculatissimum prorsus! Ex fructu ventris vestri cognoscimini, velut alicubi Dominus ait: Ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. Uti Deo gratum erat, atque ea dignum quae ex vobis orta est, vitae vestrae rationes instituistis. Casta enim et sancta conversatione vestra virginitatis monile protulistis, eam, quae ante partum virgo foret, atque in partu virgo nec non virgo post partum; illam, inquam, quae sola semper, tum mente tum animo, tum etiam corpore virginitatem cultura esset.

O castissimum par Ioachim et Anna! Vos castitatem, quam naturae lex praescribit, conservantes, ea quae naturam superant, divinitus estis consecuti: mundo quippe Dei matrem viri nesciam peperistis. Vos pie et sancte in humana natura vitam agentes, filiam angelis superiorem nuncque angelorum dominam edidistis. O speciosissima dulcissimaque puella! O filia Adami et Dei mater! Beati lumbi et venter, ex quibus prodiisti! Beatae ulnae, quae te gestaverunt; labia item, quibus castis osculis frui concessa es, parentum nempe dumtaxat tuorum, ut in omnibus semper virginitatem colores! Iubilate Deo, omnis terra, cantate, exsultate et psallite. Exaltate vocem vestram, exaltate, nolite timere.

From the Sermons of Saint John Damascene, priest

Because it would be that the Virgin Mother of God would be born of Anna, nature did not dare to turn back the seed of grace; but having nothing to do with the fruit, left it alone, while grace brought forth the fruit. For indeed it was necessary that the firstborn girl be born, from whom the firstborn of all creation would be born, in whom all things exist.

O blessed pair, Joachim and Anne! All creation is obliged to you. For through you creation received the most excellent gift of all the gifts of the Creator, namely that spotless mother who alone was worthy of the Creator.

Be glad, barren Anna, who does not bear children: burst forth and shout, you who will not give birth. Exult, Joachim, for from your daughter a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and his name shall be called great counselor, the salvation of the whole world, the Angel, mighty God. That boy is God.

O blessed pair, Joachim and Anne, indeed most immaculate! From the fruit of your womb you are known, as the Lord says somewhere: From their fruits you will know them. As it was pleasing to God, and worthy of her who was born from you, you have put in place the nature of your life. For by your blameless and holy intercourse you brought forth the jewel of virginity, the maiden who would be a virgin before childbirth, and a virgin during childbirth, and even a virgin after childbirth; that maiden, I say, who alone and always, both in mind and spirit and even in body would cultivate virginity.

O most blameless pair, Joachim and Anne! You, preserving that chastity which the law of nature prescribes, have by divine aid followed the things which are above nature: you have given birth for the world to one who knew not a man and yet was mother of God. You, leading your life in a pious and holy way according to human nature, have raised up a daughter higher than the angels and, now, the queen of the angels. O most beautiful and sweetest maiden! O daughter of Adam and mother of God! Blessed are the loins and womb from which you have been born! Blessed is the arm which bore you, and the lips on which you were allowed to delight in pure kisses – of course, in this matter, the lips of your parents, so that in all things you might always give color to virginity! Rejoice in God, every land, sing, exult and sing praise. Raise up your voice, raise it up, do not be afraid.

Die 25 iulii: S. Iacobi, Apostloi

2008-07-25T11:58:00.004-07:00

Happy feast of Saint James, apostle, martyr, and patron of Spain (among other things)! This year I am particularly excited about St. James because I hope to be traveling the pilgrim's route to Sant'Iago de Compostella (the famous and ancient Spanish camino) next summer.

Also, to my great delight, we had a young [and reverant and good-looking] Spanish priest celebrating the university Mass this morning, bringing the Jacobian patronage that much closer to home. :-)

Without further ado, we delve into our "lectio altera" for the day:

Ex Homiliis sancti Ioannis Chrysostomi episcopi in Matthaeum

Christum urgent filii Zebedaei hoc verbo: Dic ut sedeat unus a dextris tuis et unus a sinistris. Quid igitur ille? Ut ostendat illus nec spiritale quidpiam petere, neque si scirent quid hoc esset, umquam petere ausuros fuisse, ait: Nescitis quid petatis; quam magnum nempe sit, quam mirabile, quam superet ipsas supernas potestates. Deinde subiungit: Potestis bibere calicem quem ego bibiturus sum, et baptismo quo ego baptizor? “Vos quidem de honore deque coronis mecum loquimini,” inquit; “ego vero de certaminibus et de sudoribus loquor. Non est enim hoc praemiorum tempus, neque nunc gloria illa mea apparebit; sed praesens vita est caedium, belli ac periculorum.”

Et vide quo pacto ex modo interrogandi et hortetur et trahat. Neque enim dixit: “Potestis caedem ferre? potestis sanguinem vestrum fundere?” Sed quomodo? Potestis bibere calicem?Deinde alliciens eos, ait: Quem ego bibiturus sum, ut ex consortio suo promptiores fierent. Baptisma autem vocat illud, ostendens magnam inde purgationem toti orbi fore. Postea dicunt illi: Possumus. Ex animi fervore statim promittunt, nescientes quid dicerent, sed exspectantes se quod petebant impetraturos esse.

Quid igitur ille? Calicem quidem meum bibetis, et baptismate quo ego baptizor baptizabimini. Magna illis prophetavit bona; hoc est: “Martyrio dignabimini, et haec patiemini quae ego patiar, violenta morte vitam terminabitis, in hisque mihi consortes eritis. Sedere autem ad dexteram meam et ad sinistram non est meum dare, sed quibus paratum est a Patre meo.” Postquam illorum animos erexit, sublimioresque fecit, illosque maerore superiores reddidit, tunc illorum petitionem corrigit.

Tunc indignati sunt decem de duobus fratribus. Viden’ quantum imperfecti omnes essent, tum hi qui decem illos praecedere tentabant, tum decem illi qui duobus invidebant? Sed, ut dixi, post haec ostende illos mihi, et videbis omnibus hisce affectibus vacuos. Audi quomodo hic ipse Ioannes, qui nunc hac de causa accessit, primas semper Petro cedat, et concionanti et miracula edenti in Actibus Apostolorum. Iacobus vero non multo postea tempore vixit; ab initio enim magno ferebatur ardore, et missis humanis omnibus, ad tam ineffabile culmen ascendit, ut statim occideretur.

From the Homilies of Saint John Chrysostom, bishop, on Matthew

The sons of Zebedee urged Christ with this statement: Say that one of us may sit at your right and one at your left. Therefore what did he say? So that he might show that nothing spiritual can be requested, and that if they had known what this is, they never would have dared to request it, he says: You do not know what you ask; how great it certainly is, how wonderful, how it transcends those powers on high [I think he means “angels” here]. Then he continued: Are you able to drink the cup which I am going to drink, and the baptism by which I am baptized? “For you are speaking with me about honor and crowns,” he says, “but I speak about struggles and sweat. For this is not a time for privileges, nor will that glory of mine appear, but the present life is of slaughters, war, and dangers.”

And see by what manner of his way of asking he both exhorts and draws them. For he did not say: “Are you able to endure slaughter? are you able to pour out your blood?” But how? Are you able to drink the cup? Then alluring them, he says: Which I am going to drink, so that they might be more encouraged by his fellowship. however he calls it baptism, showing that there would be a great cleansing of the whole world. Afterwards they said to him: We are able. Immediately they promised out of the zeal of their heart, not knowing what they said, but expecting that they were going to procure what they asked for.

Therefore what did he say? Certainly you will drink my cup, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. He foretold good things to them; that is: “You will be made worthy of Martyrdom, and you will suffer these things which I will suffer, you will end your life with a violent death, and in these things you will be my companions. But to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give, but is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” After he raised up their spirits and rendered them more exalted, and returned them as superiors to sadness, then he corrects their petition.

Then the ten were indignant about the two brothers. Do you see how much they all are imperfect, first these who try to go before those ten, then those ten who envy the two? But, as I have said, show them to me after these events, and you will see that they are empty of all these passions. Listen to how this very John, who just now because of this has approached [Jesus?], always cedes the primacy to Peter, both in preaching and in wonder-working in the Acts of the Apostles. But James is victorious not much time afterwards; for from the beginning he is borne by a great burning, and with all human things set aside, he climbed to such an ineffable peak that he immediately was killed.

[Did anyone else catch the INEFFABLE in today's reading? Hee!]

Hebdomada XVI per annum Feria Quinta

2008-07-24T20:11:00.003-07:00

Terrible! Just terrible! Look at the mess I've made of Ambrose's beautiful commentary! Ach! Eheu! (But I don't have time for a better translation, so we'll all just have to deal with it. My day job is eating my life right now.)

Ex Explanatiónibus psalmórum sancti Ambrósii epíscopi

Quare fáciem tuam avértis? Avértere a nobis Deum fáciem suam putámus, quando sumus in aliquíbus afflictiónibus constitúti, ut ténebræ nostro offundántur afféctui, quibus impedíti fulgórem veritátis óculis nostris hauríre nequeámus. Etenim si in nostrum Deus atténdat ingénium et nostram mentem visitáre dignétur, certi sumus quod nulla res nobis calíginem possit obdúcere. Etenim si vultus hóminis céteris membrórum pártibus plus refúlget et quemcúmque intuémur vel incógnitum agnóscimus vel cógnitum recognóscimus, quem aspéctus noster latére non pátitur, quanto magis Dei vultus quem spectat illúminat?

De quo, ut cétera eius sunt, ita et hoc præclárum sancti Apóstoli qui vere intérpres est Christi, ut aptióre eum sensu et sermóne nostris infúnderet méntibus. Unde ait: Quóniam Deus, qui dixit de ténebris lumen splendéscere, illúxit in córdibus nostris ad illuminatiónem sciéntiæ claritátis Dómini in fácie Christi Iesu. Ubi ígitur in nobis relúceat Christus, audívimus. Est enim fulgor ætérnus animórum, quem ídeo Pater misit in terras, ut in eius illumináti vultu ætérna et cæléstia spectáre possémus, qui ante terréna calígine tenebámur.

Quid de Christo loquar, cum étiam Petrus apóstolus díxerat ad illum claudum ex útero matris suæ: Réspice in nos? Qui respéxit in Petrum et fídei illuminátus est grátia; neque enim accepísset remédium sanitátis, nisi fidéliter credidísset.

Unde, cum tanta glória esset in Apóstolis, áudiens transíre Dóminum Iesum Zachæus ascéndit in árborem, quia exíguus et pusíllus in turba eum vidére non póterat. Vidit Christum et lumen invénit, vidit eum et, qui ante aliéna rapiébat, sua cóntulit.

Quare fáciem tuam avértis? hoc est: Etsi avértis, Dómine, fáciem tuam a nobis, tamen signátum est in nobis lumen vultus tui, Dómine. Tenémus illud in córdibus nostris et in íntimo splendet afféctu: neque enim quisquam potest subsístere, si tu avértas fáciem tuam.

From the Commentaries on the psalms of Saint Ambrose, bishop

Why have you turned away your face? We think that God has averted his face from us, whenever we have been placed in any sufferings, so that upon our senses is poured darkness, through which we, impeded, do not wish to draw the fire of truth with our eyes. And even if God should impart his nature to us and should deign to visit our mind, we are certain that nothing is able to draw the fog away from us. And even if the visage of a man should shine more than all the other parts of his members and we observe whomever and either come to know a stranger or recognize someone familiar, who is not allowed to be concealed from our sight, how much more does the visage of God illuminate the one upon whom he gazes?

About which, as all the restof his are, thus also this brilliant [saying?] of the holy Apostle who is truly the mediator of Christ, so that he might pour him more fittingly into our minds by sense and word. Whence he says: Because God, who told the light to shine forth from the shadows, has begun to shine in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the Lord’s brilliance in the face of Christ Jesus. Therefore, where Christ shines again in us, we have listened. For there is an eternal flame of souls, whom indeed the Father has sent into the lands, so that we, illumined in him, might be able to gaze upon the eternal and heavenly visage.

Why should we speak about Christ, since even the apostle Peter had said to the one lame from birth: Look at us? That man looked upon Peter and was illumined by the grace of faith; for heh never would have received the remedy of health, unless he had believed faithfully.

Therefore, since such glory was in the Apostles, Zachaeus climed into a tree when he heard that the Lord Jesus was passing by, because he, short and insignificant in the crowd, was not able to see him. He saw Christ and discovered light, he saw him and, he who before was plundering the possessions of strangers, sold his own belongings.

Why have you turned away your face? this is: Even if, O Lord, you turn away your face from us, nevertheless the light of your visage has been etched upon us. We hold onto that in our hearts and it gleams in our intimate affection: for no one is able to survive, if you turn away your face.

You know you're a church lady...

2008-07-24T19:05:00.002-07:00

...if you find yourself, when the skies darken and a summer thunderstorm begins pelting you with rain, chanting the Rorate caeli instead of running for cover. ;-)

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Ne irascaris Domine, ne ultra memineris iniquitatis: ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta, Sion deserta facta est: Ierusalem desolata est: domus sanctificationis tuac et gloriae tuae, ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Peccavimus, et facti sumus tamquam immundus nos, et cecidimus quasi folium universi; et iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos: abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis, et allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Vide, Domini, afflictionem populi tui, et mitte quem missurus es, emitte Agnum dominatorem terrae, de Petra deserti montem filiae Sion: ut auferat ipse iugum captivatis nostrae.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus: cito veniet salus tua: quare moerore consumeris, quia innovavit te dolor? Salvabo te, noli timere: ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus, Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Hebdomada XVI per annum Feria Quarta

2008-07-23T18:34:00.002-07:00

A discouraged QM found some little comfort in today's reading. Perhaps you will, too.

E Libro De imitatióne Christi

Convérte te ex toto corde ad Dóminum et relínque hunc míserum mundum, et invéniet ánima tua réquiem. Est enim regnum Dei pax et gáudium in Spíritu Sancto: véniet ad te Christus, osténdens tibi consolatiónem suam, si dignam illi ab intus paráveris mansiónem.

Omnis glória eius et decor ab intra est, et ibi cómplacet sibi. Frequens illi visitátio cum hómine intérno: dulcis sermocinátio, grata consolátio, multa pax, familiáritas stupénda nimis.

Eia, ánima fidélis, præpara huic Sponso cor tuum, quátenus ad te veníre, et in te habitáre dignétur. Sic enim dicit: Si quis díligit me, sermónem meum servábit, et ad eum veniémus et mansiónem apud eum faciémus.

Da ergo Christo locum. Cum Christum habúeris, dives es et súfficit tibi. Ipse erit provísor tuus et fidélis procurátor in ómnibus, ut non sit opus in homínibus speráre.

Pone totam fidúciam tuam in Deo, et sit ipse timor tuus et amor tuus. Ipse pro te respondébit, et fáciet bene sicut mélius fúerit.

Non habes hic manéntem civitátem, et ubicúmque fúeris, extráneus es et peregrínus, nec réquiem aliquándo habébis, nisi Christo íntime fúeris unítus.

Apud Altíssimum sit cogitátio tua, et deprecátio tua ad Christum sine intermissióne dirigátur. Si nescis speculári alta et cæléstia, requiésce in passióne Christi, et in sacris vulnéribus eius libénter hábita. Sústine cum Christo et pro Christo, si vis regnáre cum Christo.

Si semel perfécte introísses in interióra Iesu, et módicum de ardénti amóre eius sapuísses, tunc de próprio cómmodo vel incómmodo nihil curáres, sed magis de oppróbrio illáto gaudéres, quia amor Iesu facit hóminem seípsum contémnere.

From the Book “On the imitation of Christ”

Turn yourself toward the Lord with your whole heart and leave behind this pitiable world, and your soul shall find rest. For the kingdom of God is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit: Christ will come to you, offering to you his consolation, if you have rendered your mansion worthy of him from within.

Every glory and charm of his is from within, and there he shall be pleased [???]. Often is his visit with an internal man: a sweet conversation, a delightful consolation, great peace, friendship to be greatly wondered at.

Ah, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this Bridegroom, until he deigns to come to you and to dwell in you. For thus he says: If anyone loves me, he will obey my command, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

Therefore give a place to Christ. Since you posses Christ, you are rich and he is enough for you. He will be your providor and your faithful defender in all things, so that it will not be necessary to hope in men.

Put your whole faith in God, and let him be your fear and your love. he will respond to you, and he will do well the thing which will be better. [weird Latin]

You do not have here an enduring city, and wherever you may be, you are a stranger and a wanderer, and you will not have rest at any time, unless you are intimitely united with Christ.

May your throught be with the Most High, and may your prayer be directed to Christ without ceasing. If you do not know how to observe the high and heavenly things, rest in the passion of Christ, and freely dwell in his holy wounds. Stay with Christ and for Christ, if you wish to reign with Christ.

If even once you had perfectly entered into the interior life of Jesus, and you had tasted a tiny bit of his ardent love, then you would care for nothing of your particular comfort or discomfort, but you would rejoice rather about that scandal, that love of Jesus makes a person to hold himself in contempt.

Die 22 iulii: S. Mariae Magdalenae

2008-07-22T18:31:00.004-07:00

Happy feast of the Magdalene today! I am especially praying for a particular friend, for it is her feast day, and she is coming up on her year anniversary of entering religious life.

In other news, I just found out this morning that the translation of the Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicity which I have been working on for a few weeks will be PUBLISHED and COPYRIGHTED. *dies* I had been under the impression that this was merely for the use of next year's intro theology classes.

Also, for those who wonder about these things, Fr. Reggie Foster of Latin fame has finally had the operation on his leg (it's been needed since he fell two weeks ago) and should be heading home from the hospital soon. My sources say that he is in good spirits and has had many students, CDs, and German pickles to keep him company as he's been laid up.

Today our good friend Gregorio Magno (as we'd call him in Fr. Reggie's class) gives us a reflection on Mary Magdalene's recognition of her risen Lord.

Ex Homiliis sancti Gregorii Magni papae in Evangelia

Maria Magdalene, postquam venit ad monumentum, ibique corpus dominicum non invenit, sublatum credidit atque discipulis nuntiavit. Qui venientes viderunt atque ita esse ut mulier dixerat crediderunt. Et de eis protinus scriptum est: Abierunt ergo discipuli ad semetipsos. Ac deinde subiungitur: Maria autem stabat ad monumentum foris plorans.

Qua in re pensandum est huius mulieris mentem quanta vis amoris accenderat, quae a monumento Domini, etiam discipulis recedentibus, non recedebat. Exquirebat quem non invenerat, flebat inquirendo et, amoris sui igne succensa, eius quem ablatum credidit ardebat desiderio. Unde contigit ut eum sola tunc videret, quae remansit ut quaereret, quia nimirum virtus boni operis perseverantia est, et voce Veritatis dicitur: Qui autem perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit.

Quaesivit ergo prius, et minime invenit; perseveravit ut quaereret, unde et contigit ut inveniret, actumque est ut desideria dilata crescerent, et crescentia caperent quod invenissent. Sancta enim desideria dilatione crescunt. Si autem dilatione deficiunt, desideria non fuerunt. Hoc amore arsit, quisquis ad veritatem pertingere potuit. Hinc namque David ait: Sitivit anima mea ad Deum vivum; quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem Dei? Hinc iterum Ecclesia in Canticis canticorum dicit: Vulnerata caritate ego sum. Hinc rursus ait: Anima mea liquefacta est.

Mulier, quid ploras, Quem quaeris? Interrogatur doloris causa, ut augeatur desiderium, quatenus cum nominaret quem quaereret in amore eius ardentius aestuaret.

Dicit ei Iesus: Maria. Postquam eam communi vocabulo appellavit ex sexu, et agnitus non est, vocat ex nomine. Ac si ei aperte dicat: “Recognosce eum, a quo recognosceris. Non te generaliter ut certeros, sed specialiter scio.” Maria ergo, quia vocatur ex nomine, recognoscit auctorem, atque eum protinus “rabboni,” id est “magistrum” vocat, quia et ipse erat qui quaerebatur exterius, et ipse qui eam interius ut quaereret docebat.

From the homilies of Saint Gregory the great, pope, on the Gospels

Mary Magdalene, after she came to the tomb and did not find the body of the Lord there, believed that it had been taken away and told the disciples. Arriving, they say wand believed that it was just as the woman had said. And about them it was written farther on: Therefore the disciples departed to their homes [???]. And then it continues: However, Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping.

In which matter it must be pondered how much the force of love inflamed the mind of this woman, who did not retreat from the Lord’s tomb, even as the disciples were retreating. She sought diligently him whom she had not found, she wept with seeking and, the fire of her love having been kindled, burned with desire for him whom she believed to have been taken away. Whence it happened that she alone saw him then, who remained in order to seek him, because perseverence is without a doubt a virtue of a good work, and it is said by the voice of truth: He, however, who perseveres all the way to the end, this man will be saved.

Therefore she first sought, and by no means found; she persevered in seeking, whence she also succeeded in finding, and it happened that her prolonged longings grew, and as they were growing they seized what she had found. For holy longings grow with delaying. However, if they perish from delaying, they were not longings. He burns with this love, whoever is able to attain to truth. For hence David says: My soul thirsts for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? Again, hence the Church in the Song of Songs says: I have been wounded by love. Again hence she says: My soul is dissolved.

Woman, why do you weep, Whom do you seek? The cause of her grief is asked, so that he might increase her desire, to the extent that when she names the one whom she seeks she might burn more ardently in his love.

Jesus says to her: Mary. After he called her by the common term of her sex, and he was not recognized, he calls her by name. It is as if he says to her openly: “Recognize him, by whom you are recognized. I do not know you generally as the others do, but particularly.” Therefore Mary, because she is called by name, recognizes her creator, and immediately calls him “rabboni,” that is, “teacher,” because on the one hand it was he who was being sought exteriorly, and it was he who taught her interiorly so that she might seek him.

Hebdomada XVI per annum Feria Secunda

2008-07-21T20:20:00.001-07:00

Ten minute translation! Apologies for errors, etc.

De Epístola sancti Ignátii Antiochéni epíscopi et mártyris ad Magnésios

Cum ítaque in persónis supra dictis omnem multitúdinem in fide conspexíssem ac dilexíssem, hortor, ut in concórdia Dei ómnia perágere studeátis, epíscopo præsidénte loco Dei et presbýteris loco senátus apostólici, et diáconis mihi suavíssimis concréditum habéntibus ministérium Iesu Christi, qui ante sæcula apud Patrem erat et in fine appáruit. Omnes ígitur, accéptis iísdem divínis móribus, vos mútuo revereámini et nemo secúndum carnem spectet próximum, sed in Iesu Christo vos ínvicem semper diligátis. Nihil sit in vobis, quod possit vos dirímere, sed uniámini epíscopo et præsidéntibus, in typum et demonstratiónem immortalitátis.

Quemádmodum ígitur Dóminus sine Patre, ipsi unítus, nihil fecit, neque per se ipsum neque per apóstolos: ita neque vos sine epíscopo et presbýteris quidquam peragátis; neque aggrediámini, ut quidquam a vobis separátim factum decens appáreat, sed in unum conveniéntibus una sit orátio, una precátio, una mens, una spes in caritáte, in gáudio sancto, unus est Iesus Christus, quo nihil præstántius est. Omnes velut in unum templum Dei concúrrite, velut ad unum altáre, ad unum Iesum Christum, qui ab uno Patre pródiit et apud unum fuit ad eúmque revérsus est.

Ne seducámini aliénis doctrínis neque vetéribus fábulis, quæ sunt inútiles. Si enim adhuc iuxta legem iudáice vívimus, confitémur nos grátiam non accepísse. Diviníssimi namque prophétæ iuxta Iesum Christum vixérunt. Ob hoc et persecutiónem passi sunt, grátia ipsíus inspiráti, ut incréduli certi redderéntur, quod unus sit Deus, qui seípsum manifestáverit per Iesum Christum Fílium suum, qui est Verbum eius e siléntio progréssum, qui in ómnibus ei, qui ipsum míserat, complácuit.

Si ígitur, qui in vétere rerum órdine degérunt, ad novam spem pervenérunt, non ámplius sábbatum coléntes, sed iuxta domínicam vivéntes, in qua et vita nostra exórta est per ipsum et mortem ipsíus (quod quidam negant, per quod mystérium fidem accépimus, et propter hoc sustinémus, ut inveniámur discípuli Iesu Christi, solíus doctóris nostri); quómodo nos potérimus vívere sine ipso, quem étiam prophétæ, cum essent spíritu discípuli eius, ut doctórem exspectábant? Et propter hoc is, quem iuste præstolabántur, advéniens suscitávit ipsos ex mórtuis.

From the letter of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr, to the Magnesians

Therefore, since in the above-mentioned persons I have beheld and loved the whole multitude [of you] in faith, I ask that you be zealous to carry out all things in the harmony of God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God and the priests in the place of the council of apostoles, and the deacons very dear to me having the entrusted ministry of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before the ages and has appeared in the end. Therefore may all of you, after these same divine customs have been received, hold each other mutually in respect and let no one regard his neighbor according to the flesh, but may you always love one another. May nothing be among you which is able to separate you, but may you be one with the bishop and the presiding ones, in the image and example of the immortal ones.

Therefore just as the Lord did nothing without the Father united to himself, neither through his own self nor through the apostles: so neither will you carry out anything without the bishop and the priests; neither will you begin anything, so that anything done appears proper to you seperately, but for you coming together into one body let there be one discourse, one prayer, one mind, one hope in love, in holy joy, Jesus Christ is one, whom nothing surpasses. All of you run, just as to one temple of God, just as to one altar, to one Jesus Christ, who procedes from one Father and was with one [Father] and has returned to him.

Do not be seduced by strange doctrines nor by old tales, which are vain. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we confess that we have not received grace. For the most divine prophets have lived according to Jesus Christ. Because of this they also suffered persecution, inspired by his own grace, so that the unbelievers might be returned to belief, that God is one, who manifested his very self through Jesus Christ his Son, who is his Word proceding out of the silence, who in all things has greatly pleased him, who had sent him.

Therefore if they who have lived in the old order of things, have arrived at new hope, no longer observing the sabbath, but living according to the Lord’s day, on which also our life has arisen through him and his death (the thing which they certainly deny, we accept through that mystery of faith, and because of this we are sustained, so that we might be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher); how will we be able to live without that one, whom even the prophets, since they were his disciples in spirit, awaited as their teacher? And because of this he, whom they rightly awaited, coming to them raised them from the dead.

Dominica XVI per annum

2008-07-20T20:45:00.001-07:00

Today we begin a new tract! I really need to do these earlier in the day. *rubs eyes*

Incipit Epístola sancti Ignátii Antiochéni epíscopi et mártyris ad Magnésios

Ignátius, qui et Theóphorus, benedíctæ grátia Dei Patris in Christo Iesu salvatóre nostro, in quo salúto Ecclésiam, quæ Magnésiæ est ad Mæándrum, optóque in Deo Patre et in Iesu Christo plúrimam salútem.

Cum caritátem vestram religiósam pérbene ordinátam cognovíssem, exsúltans in fide Iesu Christi vos álloqui decrévi. Ornátus enim honorificentíssimo nómine in vínculis quæ circúmfero, laudo Ecclésias, quibus uniónem opto cum carne et spíritu Iesu Christi, qui sempitérna est vita nostra, et uniónem in fide et caritáte, cui nihil præferéndum, máxime vero uniónem cum Iesu et Patre, in quo omnem príncipis huius sæculi vim sustinéntes et evadéntes, Deo potiémur.

Cum ítaque dignus sim hábitus, ut vídeam vos per Damam epíscopum vestrum Deo dignum et per dignos presbýteros Bassum et Apollónium et per consérvum meum Zotiónem diáconum, quo útinam fruar, quia súbditus est epíscopo ut benignitáti Dei et presbytério ut legi Iesu Christi.

Sed et vos decet non familiárius uti ætáte epíscopi, sed respéctu poténtiæ Dei Patris omnem impertíri illi reveréntiam, quemádmodum cognóvi et sanctos presbýteros non abúti iuveníli eius condicióne conspícua, sed ut prudéntes in Deo cédere ei, non ei autem, sed Patri Iesu Christi, ómnium epíscopo. In honórem ígitur illíus, qui amat nos, decet obœdíre sine ulla hypócrisi; quia non epíscopum hunc visíbilem quis fallit, sed invisíbilem decípere conátur. Quidquid vero est eiúsmodi, non ad carnem refértur, sed ad Deum, qui abscóndita cognóscit.

Decet ítaque non modo vocári christiános, sed étiam esse; quemádmodum nonnúlli epíscopum quidem nóminant, sed ómnia sine eo fáciunt. Tales vero non bona consciéntia mihi præditi esse vidéntur, quia non fírmiter secúndum præcéptum congregántur.

Quia autem res finem habent et duo simul propósita sunt, mors et vita, et unusquísque in próprium locum itúrus est, quemádmodum enim sunt numísmata duo, álterum quidem Dei, álterum autem mundi, et unumquódque próprium charactérem habet impósitum, infidéles charactérem mundi huius, fidéles autem in caritáte charactérem Dei Patris per Iesum Christum, per quem nisi propénsa nobis est volúntas mori iuxta ipsíus passiónem, nec vita ipsíus in nobis est.

The letter of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr, to the Magnisians begins:

Ignatius, who is also [called] Theophorus, to the [one] blessed with the grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus our savior, in whom I greet the Church which is in Magnesia near Maeander, and I hope for abundant health in God the Father and in Jesus Christ.

Since I came to know of your devout love which is well ordered, I have decided to speak with you rejoicing in the faith of Jesus Christ. For having been decorated by the most honorable name in the chains which surround me, I praise the Churches, for whom I hope for union with the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ, who is our everlasting life, and for union in faith and love, to which nothing must be preferred, by especially for union with Jesus and the Father, in which we, holding back and leaving behind every power of the prince of this age, receive God.

Therefore, since I am worthy of the condition, that I may see you through Damas your bishop worthy of God, and through the worthy priests Bassus and Apollonius, and through my servant the deacon Zotonis, in whom I should rejoice, because he has been set under the bishop as the benevolence of God and under the priest as the law of Jesus Christ [I now write to you].

But also it is fiting that you do not treat the young age of the bishop too casually, but with respect for the power of God the Father to bestow upon that man every reverence, in the same way that I have understood that the holy priests also do not abuse the conspicuous situation of his youth, but as learned men in the Lord they give way to him, not only to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, the bishop [overseer] of all. Therefore to the honor of that man, who loves us, it is fitting to obey without any hypocrisy; because whoever deceives does not deceive this visible bishop, but he tries to beguile an invisible one. But whatever is in such a way, is not reported to the flesh, but to God, who knows hidden things.

Therefore it is fitting not only to be called Christians, but also to be [Christians]; in the same way that some call a certain man a bishop, but they do all things without him. But such things seem to me to be done not in a good conscience, because they gather together not securely according to precept.

Nevertheless, because things have an end and two things are proposed at the same time, death and life, and each is going to proceed in its proper place, for just as there are two coins, the one of God, but the other of the world, and each of them has its proper character stamped, the unfaithful people have the character of the world, but the people faithful in love have the character of God the Father through Jesus Christ, through whom unless the will has been given to us to die next to his very passion, neither is his life in us.

Hebdomada XV per annum Sabbato

2008-07-19T09:34:00.002-07:00

We are back in the translation business as of today -- I have successfully completed the bioethics seminar, and am excited to exchange intense discussions about transhumanism for translating the Church Fathers! Without further ado....

UPDATE 7/21 10:27pm: Father Z podcazts on our weeklong St. Ambrose sacramental tract, and he chooses as his music my second favorite motet of all the Renaissance -- Victoria's "O Magnum Mysterium." He also (and more correctly) translates "De mysteriis" as "On the mysteries" instead of "On the sacraments," mostly because he knows what I didn't; namely, that St. Ambrose also wrote a tract "De sacramentis." ;-)

Ex Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis

Advértimus maióris operatiónis esse grátiam quam natúram et adhuc tamen prophéticæ benedictiónis numerámus grátiam. Quod si tantum váluit humána benedíctio ut natúram convérteret, quid dícimus et ipsa consecratióne divína, ubi verba ipsa Dómini salvatóris operántur? Nam sacraméntum istud quod áccipis, Christi sermóne confícitur. Quod si tantum váluit sermo Elíæ ut ignem de cælo depóneret, non valébit Christi sermo ut spécies mutet elementórum? De totíus mundi opéribus legísti quia ipse dixit et facta sunt, ipse mandávit et creáta sunt. Sermo ergo Christi, qui pótuit ex níhilo fácere quod non erat, non potest ea quæ sunt in id mutáre quod non erant? Non enim minus est novas rebus dare quam mutáre natúras.

Sed quid arguméntis útimur? Suis utámur exémplis incarnationísque mystériis astruámus mystérii veritátem. Numquid natúræ usus præcéssit cum Iesus Dóminus ex María nascerétur? Si órdinem quærimus, viro mixta fémina generáre consuévit. Liquet ígitur quod præter natúræ órdinem virgo generávit. Et hoc quod confícimus corpus ex vírgine est. Quid hic quæris natúræ órdinem in Christi córpore, cum præter natúram sit ipse Dóminus Iesus partus ex vírgine? Vera útique caro Christi quæ crucifíxa est, quæ sepúlta est, vere ergo carnis illíus sacraméntum est.

Ipse clamat Dóminus Iesus: Hoc est corpus meum. Ante benedictiónem verbórum cæléstium ália spécies nominátur; post consecratiónem corpus significátur. Ipse dicit sánguinem suum. Ante consecratiónem áliud dícitur; post consecratiónem sanguis nuncupátur. Et tu dicis: «Amen», hoc est: «Verum est». Quod os lóquitur, mens intérna fateátur; quod sermo sonat, afféctus séntiat.

Unde et Ecclésia videns tantam grátiam, hortátur fílios suos, hortátur próximos ut ad sacraménta concúrrant dicens: Edite, próximi mei, et bíbite et inebriámini, fratres mei. Quid edámus, quid bibámus, álibi tibi per Prophétam Spíritus Sanctus expréssit dicens: Gustáte et vidéte quóniam suávis est Dóminus, beátus vir qui confídit in eo. In illo sacraménto Christus est, quia corpus est Christi. Non ergo corporális esca, sed spiritális est. Unde et Apóstolus de typo eius ait quia patres nostri escam spiritálem manducavérunt et potum spiritálem bibérunt. Corpus enim Dei corpus est spiritále, corpus Christi corpus est divíni spíritus, quia spíritus Christus, ut légimus: Spíritus ante fáciem nostram Christus Dóminus. Et in Petri epístola habémus: Et Christus pro vobis mórtuus est. Dénique cor nostrum esca ista confírmat, et potus iste lætíficat cor hóminis, ut Prophéta memorávit.

From the Tract of Saint Amrose, bishop, “On the sacraments”

We perceive that grace is of a greater work that nature and nevertheless we still account grace as of a prophetic blessing. But if a human blessing was so strong that it changed nature, what do we say even of that divine consecration, where those words themselves of our Lord savior operate? For that very sacrament which you receive, is confected by the saying of Christ. But if the saying of Elijah was so strong that it called down fire from heaven, will not Christ's saying be strong enough that it may change the species of the elements? You have read about the works of the whole world that he spoke and they were made, he commanded and they were created. So the saying of Christ, who was able to make from nothing that which was not, is not able to change the things which are into something which they were not? It is certainly not a lesser thing to give beginnings to things than to change their nature.

But why do we use explanations? Let us use his own examples and we shall prove the truth of mystery with the mysteries of the incarnation. For did not the use of nature preceed the time when the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we ask about order, a woman having had intercourse with a man is accustomed to conceive. Therefore it is clear that a virgin conceived apart from order of nature. And this which we confect is the body from the virgin. Why do you here ask about the order of nature in the body of Christ, when the Lord Jesus himself was born of a virgin apart from nature? By all means it is the true body of Christ which has been crucified, which has been buried, truly therefore the sacrament is of that very flesh.

The Lord Jesus himself cries: This is my body. Before the blessing of the heavenly words it is called a different species; after the consecration it is expressed as his body. He himself calls it his blood. Before the consecration it is called another thing; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say: “Amen,” that is: “it is true.” What the mouth says, let the mind internally confess; what the saying sounds out, let the senses perceive.

Whence also the Church, seeing such grace, encourages her sons, encourages her kin that they should run to the sacraments saying: Eat, my kin, and drink and become drunk, my brothers. What we should eat, what we should drink, the Holy Spirit has expressed to you elsewhere though the Prophet, saying: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet, blessed is the man who trusts in him. In that sacrament is Christ, for it is the body of Christ. Therefore it is not food pertaining to the body, but pertaining to the spirit. Whence also the Apostle says according to his style that our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink. For the body of God is a spiritual body, the body of Christ is a body of a divine spirit, for the spirit is Christ, as we read: the Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord. And in the letter of Peter we have: Christ has also died for you. Finally that food strengthens our heart, and that drink gladdens the heart of man, as the Prophet recalls.

A whole new litany of saints...

2008-07-18T15:48:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist posting this...and I think my friend P is on to something when she suggests hosting a saintly singalong....

Hebdomada XV per annum Feria Sexta

2008-07-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ex Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis

His ablúta plebs dives insígnibus, ad Christi conténdit altária dicens: Et introíbo ad altáre Dei, ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam. Depósitis enim inveteráti erróris exúviis, renováta in áquilæ iuventútem, cæléste illud festínat adíre convívium. Venit ígitur et videns sacrosánctum altáre compósitum, exclámans ait: Parásti in conspéctu meo mensam. Hanc loquéntem indúcit David dicens: Dóminus pascit me et nihil mihi déerit, in loco páscuæ ibi me collocávit. Super aquam refectiónis educávit me. Et infra: Nam etsi ámbulem in médio umbræ mortis, non timébo mala, quóniam tu mecum es. Virga tua et báculus tuus ipsa me consoláta sunt. Parásti in conspéctu meo mensam advérsus eos qui tríbulant me. Impinguásti in óleo caput meum et póculum tuum inébrians quam præclárum est.

Mirábile est quod manna Deus plúerit pátribus et cotidiáno cæli pascebántur aliménto. Unde dictum est: Panem angelórum manducávit homo. Sed tamen panem illum qui manducavérunt, omnes in desérto mórtui sunt; ista autem esca quam áccipis, iste panis vivus qui descéndit de cælo, vitæ ætérnæ substántiam subminístrat, et quicúmque hunc manducáverit non moriétur in ætérnum, est enim corpus Christi.

Consídera nunc utrum præstántior sit panis angelórum an caro Christi, quæ útique corpus est vitæ. Manna illud de cælo, hoc supra cælum; illud cæli, hoc Dómini cælórum; illud corruptióni obnóxium si in diem álterum servarétur, hoc ab omni aliénum corruptióne, quod quicúmque religióse gustáverit, corruptiónem sentíre non póterit. Illis aqua de petra fluxit, tibi sanguis e Christo; illos ad horam satiávit aqua, te sanguis díluit in ætérnum. Iudæus bibit et sitit, tu cum bíberis sitíre non póteris, et illud in umbra, hoc in veritáte.

Si illud quod miráris umbra est, quantum istud est cuius et umbram miráris. Audi quia umbra est quæ apud patres facta est: Bibébant, inquit, de consequénti petra, petra autem erat Christus. Sed non in plúribus eórum complácitum est Deo, nam prostráti sunt in desérto. Hæc autem in figúra nobis facta sunt. Cognovísti præstantióra: pótior est enim lux quam umbra, véritas quam figúra, corpus Auctóris quam manna de cælo.

Hebdomada XV per annum Feria Quinta

2008-07-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ex Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis

Post hæc útique ascendísti ad sacerdótem. Consídera quid secútum sit. Nonne illud quod ait David: Sicut unguéntum in cápite, quod descéndit in barbam, barbam Aaron? Hoc est unguéntum de quo et Sálomon ait: Unguéntum exinanítum est nomen tuum, proptérea adulescéntulæ dilexérunt te et attraxérunt te. Quantæ hódie renovátæ ánimæ dilexérunt te, Dómine Iesu, dicéntes: Attrahe nos post te, in odórem vestimentórum tuórum currémus, ut odórem resurrectiónis haurírent.

Quare hoc fiat intéllege, quia óculi sapiéntis in cápite ipsíus. Ideo in barbam défluit, id est in grátiam iuventútis, ídeo in barbam Aaron ut fias eléctum genus, sacerdotále, pretiósum. Omnes enim in regnum Dei et in sacerdótium úngimur grátia spiritáli.

Accepísti post hæc vestiménta cándida, ut esset indício quod exúeris involúcrum peccatórum, indúeris innocéntiæ casta velámina de quibus dixit Prophéta: Aspérges me hyssópo et mundábor, lavábis me et super nivem dealbábor. Qui enim baptizátur, et secúndum legem et secúndum Evangélium vidétur esse mundátus: secúndum legem, quia hyssópi fascículo Móyses agni aspergébat sánguinem; secúndum Evangélium, quia Christi erant cándida vestiménta sicut nix cum resurrectiónis suæ glóriam in Evangélio demonstráret. Super nivem dealbátur cui culpa dimíttitur. Unde et per Isaíam Dóminus ait: Si fúerint peccáta vestra sicut phœnícium, ut nivem dealbábo.

Hæc vestiménta habens Ecclésia, per lavácrum regeneratiónis assúmpta, dicit in Cánticis: Nigra sum et decóra, fíliæ Ierúsalem. Nigra per fragilitátem condiciónis humánæ, decóra per grátiam, nigra quia ex peccatóribus, decóra fídei sacraménto. Hæc vestiménta cernéntes fíliæ Ierúsalem stupefáctæ dicunt: Quæ est hæc quæ ascéndit dealbáta? Hæc erat nigra, unde nunc súbito dealbáta?

Christus autem videns Ecclésiam suam in vestiméntis cándidis — pro qua ipse, ut habes in Zacharíæ libro prophétæ, sórdida vestiménta suscéperat — vel ánimam regeneratiónis lavácro mundam atque ablútam, dicit: Ecce formósa es, próxima mea, ecce es formósa, óculi tui sicut colúmbæ, in cuius spécie Spíritus Sanctus descéndit de cælo.

Unde répete quia accepísti signáculum spiritále, Spíritum sapiéntiæ et intelléctus, spíritum consílii atque virtútis, spíritum cognitiónis atque pietátis, spíritum sancti timóris, et serva quod accepísti. Signávit te Deus Pater, confirmávit te Christus Dóminus et dedit pignus Spíritum in córdibus tuis, sicut apostólica lectióne didicísti.

Die 16 iulii: Beatae Mariae Vierginis de Monte Carmelo

2008-07-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

Glorious feast day marked with a glorious sermon by the glorious Saint Leo the Great! Unfortunately, I haven't typed it all out yet. Check back for the glory to come!

Ex Sermonibus sancti Leonis Magni papae

Virgo regia davidicae stirpis eligitur, quae...

Ordinarily (no pun intended) we would be reading Ambrose:

Hebdomada XV per annum Feria Quarta

Ex Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis

Ideo tibi ante prædíctum est ut non hoc solum créderes quod vidébas, ne forte et tu díceres: Hoc est illud magnum mystérium quod óculus non vidit nec auris audívit nec in cor hóminis ascéndit? Aquas vídeo quas vidébam cotídie, istæ me habent mundáre in quas sæpe descéndi et numquam mundátus sum? Hinc cognósce quod aqua non mundat sine Spíritu.

Ideóque legísti quod tres testes in baptísmate unum sunt: aqua, sanguis et Spíritus, quia si unum horum détrahas, non stat baptísmatis sacraméntum. Quid est enim aqua sine cruce Christi, nisi eleméntum commúne sine ullo sacraménti proféctu? Nec íterum sine aqua regeneratiónis mystérium est: nisi enim quis renátus fúerit ex aqua et Spíritu, non potest introíre in regnum Dei. Credit autem étiam catechúmenus in crucem Dómini Iesu qua et ipse signátur, sed nisi baptizátus fúerit in nómine Patris et Fílii et Spíritus Sancti, remissiónem non potest accípere peccatórum nec spiritális grátiæ munus hauríre.

Ergo ille Syrus sépties mersit in lege, tu autem baptizátus es in nómine Trinitátis. Conféssus es Patrem — recordáre quid féceris — conféssus es Fílium, conféssus es Spíritum. Tene órdinem rerum. In hac fide, mundo mórtuus es, Deo resurrexísti, et quasi in illo mundi consepúltus eleménto, peccáto mórtuus ad vitam es resuscitátus ætérnam. Crede ergo quia non sunt vácuæ aquæ.

Dénique paralýticus ille (Probáticæ piscínæ) exspectábat hóminem. Quem illum nisi Dóminum Iesum natum ex vírgine, cuius advéntu iam non umbra sanáret síngulos, sed véritas univérsos? Iste est ergo qui exspectabátur ut descénderet, de quo dixit Deus Pater ad Ioánnem Baptístam: Super quem víderis Spíritum descendéntem de cælo et manéntem super eum, hic est qui baptízat in Spíritu Sancto. De quo testificátus est Ioánnes, dicens: Quia vidi Spíritum descendéntem de cælo quasi colúmbam et manéntem super eum. Et hic quare Spíritus sicut colúmba descéndit, nisi ut tu vidéres, nisi ut tu cognósceres étiam illam colúmbam, quam Noe iustus emísit ex arca, istíus colúmbæ spéciem fuísse, ut typum agnósceres sacraménti?

Est adhuc quod dubitáre débeas? cum evidénter tibi clamet in Evangélio Pater, qui ait: Hic est Fílius meus in quo complácui; clamet Fílius, super quem sicut colúmba se demonstrávit Spíritus Sanctus; clamet et Spíritus Sanctus, qui sicut colúmba descéndit; clamet David: Vox Dómini super aquas, Deus maiestátis intónuit, Dóminus super aquas multas, cum tibi Scriptúra testétur quod ad Hieróboal preces ignis descéndit de cælo et rursus, precánte Elía, ignis est missus qui sacrifícium consecravit.

Non mérita personárum consíderes, sed offícia sacerdótum. Et si mérita spectes, sicut Elíam consíderes, Petri quoque mérita spectáto vel Pauli, qui accéptum a Dómino Iesu hoc nobis mystérium tradidérunt. Ignis illis visíbilis mittebátur ut créderent, nobis invisíbilis operátur qui crédimus, illis in figúram, nobis ad commonitiónem. Credo ergo adésse Dóminum Iesum invocátum précibus sacerdótum qui ait: Ubicúmque fúerit duo vel tres, ibi et ego sum. Quanto magis ubi Ecclésia est, ubi mystéria sunt, ibi dignátur suam impertíre præséntiam.

Descendísti ígitur. Recordáre quid respónderis, quod credas in Patrem, credas in Fílium, credas in Spíritum Sanctum. Non habes illic: Credo in maiórem et minórem et últimum, sed eádem vocis tuæ cautióne constríngeris, ut simíliter credas in Fílium sicut in Patrem credis, simíliter in Spíritum credas sicut credis in Fílium, hoc solo excépto quod in crucem solíus Dómini Iesu fatéris tibi esse credéndum.

Die 15 iulii: S. Bonaventurae, Episcopi et Ecclesiae Doctoris

2008-07-15T16:31:00.005-07:00

If you're interested in St. Ambrose, just scroll down. But today *was* the feast of the glorious bishop and doctor of the Church, St. Bonaventure.

Ex Opusculo sancti Bonaventurae episcopi De itinerario mentis in Deum

Christus est via et ostium, Christus est scala et vehiculum tanquam propitiatorium super arcam Dei collocatum et sacramentum a saeculis absconditum. Ad quod propitiatorium qui aspicit plena conversione vultus, aspiciendo eum in cruce suspensum per fidem, spem et caritatem, devotionem, admirationem, exsultationem, appretiationem, laudem et iubilationem; pascha, hoc est transitum, cum eo facit, ut per virgam crucis transeat mare Rubrum, ab Aegypto intrans desertum, ubi gustet manna absconditum, et cum Christo requiescat in tumulo quasi exterius mortuus, sentiens, tamen, quantum possibile est secundum statum viae, quod in cruce dictum est latroni cohaerenti Christo: Hodie mecum eris in paradiso.

In hoc autem transitu, si sit perfectus, oportet quod relinquantur omnes intellectuales operationes, et apex affectus totus transferatur et transformetur in Deum. Hoc autem est mysticum et secretissimum, quod nemo novit, nisi qui accipit, nec accipit nisi qui desiderat, nec desiderat nisi quem ignis Spiritus sancti medullitus inflammat, quem Christus misit in terram. Et ideo dicit Apostolus, hanc mysticam sapientiam esse per Spiritum sanctum revelatam.

Si autem quaeras, quomodo haec fiant, interroga gratiam, non doctrinam; desiderium, non intellectum; gemitum orationis, non studium lectionis; sponsum, non magistrum; Deum, non hominem, caliginem, non claritatem; non lucem, sed ignem totaliter inflammantem et in Deum excessivis unctionibus et ardentissimis affectionibus transferentem. Qui quidem ignis Deus est, et huius caminus est in Ierusalem, et Christus hunc accendit in fervore, suae ardentissimae passionis, quam solus ille vere percipit, qui dicit: Suspendium elegit anima mea, et mortem ossa mea. Quam mortem qui diligit videre potest Deum, quia indubitanter verum est: Non videbit me homo et vivet. Moriamur igitur et ingrediamur in caliginem, imponamus silentium sollicitudinibus, concupiscentiis et phantasmatibus; transeamus cum Christo crucifixo ex hoc mundo ad Patrem, ut, ostendo nobis Patre, dicamus cum Philippo: Sufficit nobis; audiamus cum Paulo: Sufficit tibi gratia mea; Exultemus cum David dicentes: Defecit caro mea et cor meum, Deus cordis mei et pars mea Deus in aeternum. Benedictus Dominus in aeternum, et dicet omnis populus: Fiat, fiat.

UPDATE 7/16 7:45pm: English translation. Father Z made me do it with his awesome podcazt.
From the little work of Saint Bonaventure, bishop, called “The mind’s journey to God”

Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the stair and the vehicle, as it were the reconciliation placed above the throne of God and the sacrament concealed from the ages. He who looks toward this reconciliation full with the turning-around of his face, by looking upon the one suspended on the cross through faith, hope and love, devotion, admiration, exsultation, gratitude, praise and jubilation; makes with him a pasch, that is, a passage, so that through the staff of the Cross he might cross the Red Sea, crossing from Egypt over the desert, where he might taste the hidden manna, and he might rest in the tomb with Christ as if dead to the outside, nevertheless sensing, as much as is possible according to his journey’s state, that which was stated on the cross to the thief clinging to Christ: Today you will be with me in paradise.

But in this passage, if it be perfect, it is necessary that all intellectual faculties be left behind, and the whole summit of affection be handed over and transformed into God. But this is a mystical and very secret thing, which no one knows, except who has received it, nor does he receive it except he who longs for it, nor does he long for it except he whom the fire of the Holy Spirit has inflamed to his very marrow, whom Christ has sent to earth. And therefore the Apostle says, this mystical knowledge has been revealed through the Holy Spirit.

But if you ask, how these things might be, ask grace, not doctrine; longing, not intellect; the sigh of prayer, not the zeal of reading; the Bridegroom, not the teacher; God, not man; fogginess, not clarity; not light, but a fire being wholly burned up and bearing itself to God with excessive ointments and most ardent affections. For this fire is God, and the furnace of this fire is in Jerusalem, and Christ has lit it in the fervor of his own most ardent passion, which that one alone truly grasped who says: My soul has chosen a hanging, and my bones death. He who loves this death is able to see God, because it is undoubtedly true: Man will not see me and live. Therefore let us die and let us ascend into fogginess, let us put silence on our cares, desires and phantoms; let us pass with Christ crucified out of this world to the Father, so that, when the Father is shown to us, we may say with Philip: It is enough for us; let us hear with Paul: My grace is enough for you; let us rejoice with David saying: My care is lacking and my heart, God of my heart and God is my inheritance for eternity. Blessed be the Lord for eternity, and let every people say: Amen, amen.

Oh, man, simply GLORIOUS stuff! There is good reason that he is called the "Seraphic Doctor." How can you read that and not have your heart set on FIRE?!

At any rate, here is the continuation of St. Ambrose's glorious sacramental tract, which we would have had had St. Bonaventure not charged in with his glorious feast:

Hebdomada XV per annum Feria Tertia

Ex Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis

Te Apóstolus docet quóniam patres nostri omnes sub nube fuérunt et omnes mare transiérunt et omnes in Móysen baptizáti sunt in nube et in mari. Dénique et ipse Móyses dicit in cántico: Misísti spíritum tuum et coopéruit eos mare. Advértis quod in illo Hebræórum tránsitu iam tunc sacri baptísmatis figúra præcésserit, in quo Ægýptius intériit et Hebræus evásit. Quid enim áliud in hoc cotídie sacraménto docémur, nisi quia culpa demérgitur et error abolétur, píetas autem et innocéntia tota pertránsit?

Audis quia sub nube fuérunt patres nostri, et bona nube quæ carnálium refrigerávit incéndia passiónum, bona nube: obúmbrat quos revísit Spíritus Sanctus. Dénique supervénit in Maríam Vírginem, et virtus Altíssimi obumbrávit ei, quando redemptiónem genti generávit humánæ. Et illud miráculum per Móysen in figúra factum est. Si ergo in figúra fuit Spíritus, non adest in veritáte cum Scriptúra tibi dicat quia lex per Móysen data est, grátia autem et véritas per Iesum Christum facta est?

Mara fons amárus erat, misit in eum Móyses lignum et dulcis est factus. Aqua enim sine prædicatióne domínicæ crucis ad nullos usus futúræ salútis est; cum vero salutáris fúerit crucis mystério consecráta, tunc ad usum spiritális lavácri et salutáris póculi temperátur. Sicut ergo in illum fontem Móyses lignum misit, hoc est prophéta, et in hunc fontem sacérdos prædicatiónem domínicæ crucis mittit et aqua fit ad grátiam dulcis.

Non ergo solis córporis tui credas óculis: magis vidétur quod non vidétur, quia istud temporále illud ætérnum. Magis aspícitur quod óculis non comprehénditur, ánimo autem ac mente cérnitur.

Dénique dóceat te decúrsa Regnórum léctio. Náaman Syrus erat et lepram habébat nec ab ullo mundári póterat. Tunc ait puélla ex captívis quóniam esset prophéta in Israel qui posset eum a lepræ contagióne mundáre. Sumpto, inquit, auro et argénto perréxit ad regem Israel. Qui, cógnita advéntus eius causa, scidit vestiménta sua, dicens quod tentarétur magis cum de se ea quæ non essent potestátis régiæ posceréntur. Eliséus autem regi intimávit ut ad se dirígeret Syrum, quo cognósceret quod esset Deus in Israel. Et cum venísset, mandávit ei ut sépties mérgeret in Iordáne flúvio. Tunc ille secum tractáre cœpit quod melióres aquas flúmina habérent pátriæ suæ in quibus sæpe mersísset et numquam a lepra esset ablútus, eóque revocátus non obœdiébat mandátis prophétæ. Sed admónitu et persuasiónibus servulórum acquiévit et mersit, mundatúsque íllico intelléxit non aquárum esse quod unusquísque mundátur, sed grátiæ.

Et ille dubitávit ántequam sanarétur; tu iam sanátus es et ídeo dubitáre non debes.

Hebdomada XV per annum Feria Secunda

2008-07-14T17:25:00.004-07:00

I thought I was going to have time to translate this week, but it doesn't look likely. I am in the middle of an intensive bioethics seminar, and I also have that other translation project going for the theology department. Ergo, all I can offer is the unadulterated (and glorious) Latin texts for this week. Ambrose on the sacraments every day! Woohoo!

Ex Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis

Quid vidísti in baptistério? Aquas útique sed non solas: levítas illic ministrántes, summum sacerdótem interrogántem et consecrántem. Primum ómnium dócuit te Apóstolus non ea contemplánda nobis quæ vidéntur sed quæ non vidéntur, quóniam quæ vidéntur temporália sunt, quæ autem non vidéntur ætérna. Nam et álibi habes quia invisibília Dei a creatúra mundi per ea quæ facta sunt comprehendúntur, sempitérna quoque virtus eius et divínitas opéribus æstimátur. Unde et ipse Dóminus ait: Si mihi non créditis, vel opéribus crédite. Crede ergo divinitátis illic adésse præséntiam. Operatiónem credis, non credis præséntiam? Unde sequerétur operátio nisi præcéderet ante præséntia?

Consídera autem quam vetus mystérium sit et in ipsíus mundi præfigurátum orígine. In princípio ipso, quando fecit Deus cælum et terram, spíritus, inquit, superferebátur super aquas. Non operabátur qui superferebátur? Cognósce quia operabátur in illa mundi fábrica, quando tibi dicit Prophéta: Verbo Dómini cæli firmáti sunt et spíritu oris eius omnis virtus eórum. Utrúmque prophético subníxum est testimónio, et quia superferebátur et quia operabátur. Quia superferebátur Móyses dicit, quia operabátur David testificátur.

Accipe áliud testimónium. Corrúpta erat caro omnis ab iniquitátibus suis. Non permanébit, inquit, spíritus meus in homínibus quóniam carnes sunt. Quo osténdit Deus quia carnáli immundítia et gravióris labe peccáti grátia spiritális avértitur. Unde volens Deus reparáre quod déderat, dilúvium fecit et iustum Noe in arcam iussit ascéndere. Quando decidénte dilúvio corvum dimísit prius, póstea dimísit colúmbam, quæ cum ramo óleæ légitur revertísse. Vides aquam, vides lignum, colúmbam áspicis, et dúbitas de mystério?

Aqua est qua caro mérgitur, ut omne abluátur carnále peccátum. Sepelítur illic omne flagítium. Lignum est in quo suffíxus est Dóminus Iesus cum paterétur pro nobis. Colúmba est in cuius spécie descéndit Spíritus Sanctus, sicut didicísti in novo testaménto, qui tibi pacem ánimæ, tranquillitátem mentis inspírat.

UPDATE 7/19 12:53pm: English translation:

From the Tract of Saint Ambrose, bishop, “On the sacraments”

What did you see in the baptistry? Certainly water, but not only [water]: there were levite ministering, the high priest interrogating and consecrating. The Apostle has taught you first of all that those things which are seen ought not to be contemplated by you, but those things which are not seen, for those which are seen are temporary, but those which are not seen are eternal. For you also have elsewhere that the invisible things of God are understood by the creatures of the world though those things which are made, also his everlasting power and divinity are reckoned by works. Whence even the Lord himself says: If you do not believe me, believe my works instead. Therefore believe that the presence of his divinity was there. You believe the works, do you not believe in his presence? Whence does the work come from unless the presence precedes before it?

But consider how old the mystery is, even prefigured in the origin of the world itself. In that beginning, when God made heaven and earth, it says the spirit was borne upon the waters. Did he not work who was being borne upon them? Know that he worked in that making of the world, when the Prophet says to you: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm and by the breath of this mouth all their splendors. Both are supported by the prophetic testimony, both that he was borne upon [the waters] and that he worked. Moses says that he was borne upon them, David testifies that he worked.

Receive a new testimony. All flesh was corrupted by its iniquities. It says, my spirit will not endure among men because they are flesh. For this reason God stretched out, because by the uncleanliness of flesh and by the falling of grave sin, the grace of the spirit was turned away. Whence God, wishing to repair what he had given, made the flood and ordered Noah the upright to board the ark. When as the flood was receding he sent out first a crow, afterwards he sent out a dove, which (it is read) returned with an olive branch. You see the water, you see the wood, you catch sight of the dove, and do you doubt about the mystery?

The water is the thing in which the flesh is submerged, so that every carnal sin may be washed away. There every disgraceful thing is entombed. The wood is the thing on which the Lord Jesus was nailed when he suffered for us. The dove is the thing in whose form the Holy Spirit descended, just as you have learned in the new testament, who inspires for you the soul’s peace, the mind’s calm.

Dominica XV per annum

2008-07-13T20:13:00.001-07:00

Happy Sunday! I have returned from my travels, in which I surprised one of my Favorite Priests in the Whole Wide World with a visit (the look on his face was priceless), but I must give you one more non-translation before I fall into bed tonight. Back up and running tomorrow, hopefully!

Who better to help us celebrate the Lord's Day than the honey-tongued doctor, Saint Ambrose of Milan? Today he begins a beautiful meditation on the sacraments.

Incipit Tractatus sancti Ambrosii episcopi De mysteriis

De moralibus cotidianum sermonem habuimus, cum vel patriarcharum gesta vel Proverbiorum legerentur praecepta, ut his informati atque instituti assuesceretis maiorum ingredi vias eorumque iter carpere ac divinis oboedire oraculis, quo renovati per baptismum eius vitae usum teneretis, quae ablutos deceret.

Nunc de mysteriis dicere tempus admonet atque ipsam rationem sacramentorum edere, quam ante baptismum si putassemus insinuandam nondum initiatis prodidisse potius quam edidisse aestimaremur. Deinde quod inopinantibus melius se ipsa lux mysteriorum infunderit, quam si ea sermo aliquis praecucurrisset.

Aperite igitur aures et bonum odorem vitae aeternae inhalatum vobis munere sacramentorum carpite. Quod vobis significavimus, cum apertionis celebrantes mysterium diceremus: Effetha, quod est adaperire, ut venturus unusquisque ad gratiam quid interrogaretur cognosceret, quid responderet meminisse deberet. Hoc mysterium celebravit Christus in Evangelio, sicut legimus, cum mutum curaret et surdum.

Post haec reserata sunt tibi sancta sanctorum, ingressus es regenerationis sacrarium. Repete quid interrogatus sis, recognosce quid responderis. Renuntiasti diabolo et operibus eius, mundo et luxuriae eius ac voluptatibus. Tenetur vox tua non in tumulo mortuorum, sed in libro viventium.

Vidisti illic levitam, vidisti sacerdotem, vidisti summum sacerdotem. Noli considerare corporum figuras, sed ministeriorum gratiam. Praesentibus angelis locutus es, sicut scriptum est: Quia labia sacerdotis custodiunt scientiam et legem exquirunt ex ore ipsius, quoniam angelus est Domini omnipotentis. Non est fallere, non est negare; angelus est qui regnum Christi, qui vitam aeternam annunitat. Non specie tibi aestimandus, sed munere. Quid tradiderit considera, usum eius expende et statum eius agnosce.

Ingressus igitur, ut adversarium tuum cerneres, cui renuntiandum in os putaris, ad orientem converteris: qui enim renuntiat diabolo, ad Christum convertitur, illum directo cernit obtutu.

UPDATE 7/19 12:25pm: English translation:

The Tract of Saint Ambrose, bishop, “On the sacraments” begins:

We have had daily discussion about customs, when we have read either the deeds of the patriarchs or the precepts of the Proverbs, so that, informed and set up by these things you might be accustomed to progress on the ways of the elders and to seize their journey and to obey the divine oracles, by which [discussion] you, having been renewed by baptism, may grasp the use of its life, which befits those who have been cleansed.

Now the time admonishes us to speak about the sacraments and to teach the sacraments’ very nature, which, if we had considered thrusting it upon the not-yet-initiated before their baptism, we would have been reckoned to have betrayed rather than to have taught. Finally, because the very light of the sacraments will better pour istelf into those who are supposing, than if any discourse preceded it.

Open your ears, therefore, and with the gift of the sacraments seize the having-been-inhaled good odor of eternal life. That which we have indicated to you, when celebrating the sacrament of opening we said: Effetha, that is, be opened, so that each one about to come to grace might understand what he was asked, might be obligated to remember what he answered. Christ celebrated this sacrament in the Gospel, as we read, when he cured the mute and deaf man.

After these things the holy of holies was unlocked for you, you entered into the shrine of regeneration. Revisit what you were asked, recognize what you responded. You have renounced the devil and his works, the world and its luxury and its pleasures. Your voice was held firm not in the sepulcher of the dead, but in the freedom of the living.

There you saw the levite, you saw the priest, you saw the high priest. Do not regard them as the shapes of bodies, but as grace of ministers. As angels were attending you spoke, just as it is written: For the lips of a priest keep wisdom and search out the law from his mouth, for he is an angel of the almighty Lord. He is not able to be mistaken, he is not able to deny; he is an angel who proclaims the kingdom of Christ, who proclaims eternal life. He must not be valued by you according to his kind, but according to his gift. Consider what has happened, weigh his practice and know his place.

Therefore having entered so that you might see your adversary, from whom you were cleansed for renouncing him to his face, you were turned to the east: for he who renounces the devil, is turned toward Christ, he sees that one directly and safely.

Hebdomada XIV per annum Sabbato

2008-07-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ex Enarrationibus sancti Augustini episcopi in psalmos

Quia Salomon aedificaverat templum Domino, in typo quidem et in figura futurae Ecclesiae et corporis Domini; unde dicit in Evangelio: Solvite templum hoc, et in triduo excitabo illud; quia ergo ipse aedificaverat illud templum, aedificavit sibi templum verus Salomon Dominus noster Iesus Christus, verus pacificus. Nomen enim Salomonis interpretatur “Pacificus,” est autem ille verus pacificus, de quo dicit Apostolus: Ipse est enim pax nostra, qui fecit utraque unum. Ipse est verus pacificus, qui duos parietes e diverso venientes in se copulavit, quibus factus est lapis angularis, venienti populo ex circumcisione credentium, et venienti populo ex praeputio gentium et ipsorum credentium; fecit unam Ecclesiam de duobus populis, factus est illis lapis angularis et ideo vere pacificus.

Quia ergo ille verus Salomon, Salomon autem ille filius David de muliere Bethsabee, rex Israel, figuram gestabat huius pacifici, quando templum aedificavit, ideo, ne illum putes Salomonem qui aedificavit domum Deo, alium Salomonem tibi ostendens, Scriptura sic coepit in psalmo: Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt aedificantes eam. Dominus ergo aedificat domum, Dominus Iesus Christus aedificat domum suam. Laborant multi in aedificando; sed si non ille aedificet, in vanum laboraverunt aedificantes eam.

Qui sunt qui laborant aedificantes? Omnes qui in Ecclesia praedicant verbum Dei, ministri sacramentorum Dei. Omnes currimus, omnes laboramus, omnes aedificamus modo; et ante nos cucurrerunt, laboraverunt, aedificaverunt; sed nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt aedificantes eam. Ideo quosdam videntes ruere Apostoli et proprie Paulus ait: Dies observatis et annos et menses et tempora; timeo vos, ne forte sine causa laboraverim in vos. Quia noverat se intus a Domino aedificari, plangebat istos, quia sine causa laboraverat in eis. Nos ergo loquimur foris, ille aedificat intus. Quomodo audiatis, nos advertimus; quid cogitetis, ille solus novit, qui cogitationes vestras videt. Ipse aedificat, ipse monet, ipse terret, ipse intellectum aperit, ipse ad fidem applicat sensum vestrum; et tamen laboramus et nos tamquam operarii.

Die 11 iulii: S. Benedicti, Abbatis, Memoria

2008-07-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Today we depart from ordinary time to honor St. Benedict, founder of Western monasticism and all-around fantastic guy. One of my faves. In fact, the monastery built around the grottoes where he was a hermit in Subiaco, Italy, is my absolute favorite place on earth. So I am very happy to bring you part of his Rule, a guide for living the monastic life which is still used daily by thousands of monastics around the world.

E Regula sancti Benedicti abbatis

In primis, ut quidquid agendum inchoas bonum, ab eo perfici instantissima oratione deposcas, ut, qui nos iam in filiorum dignatus est numero computare, non debet aliquando de malis actibus nostris contristari; ita enim ei omni tempore de bonis suis in nobis parendum est, ut non solum iratus pater suos non aliquando filios exheredet, sed nec ut metuendus dominus, irritatus a malis nostris, ut nequissimos serbos perpetuam tradat ad poenam, qui eum sequi noluerint ad gloriam.

Exsurgamus ergo tandem aliquando, excitante nos Scriptura ac dicente: Hora est iam nos de somno surgere. Et apertis oculis nostris ad deificum lumen, attonitis auribus audiamus divina cotidie clamans quid nos admonet vox dicens: Hodie si vocem eius audieritis, nolite obdurare corda vestra; et iterum: Qui havet aures audiendi, audiat quid Spiritus dicat Ecclesiis.

Et quid dicit? Venite, filii, audite me; timorem Domini docebo vos. Currite, dum lumen vitae habetis, ne tenebrae mortis vos comprehendant.

Et quaerens Dominus in multitudine populi, cui haec clamat, orperarium suum, iterum dicit: Quis est homo qui vult vitam et cupit videre dies bonos? Quod si tu audiens respondeas: “Ego,” dicit tibi Deus: “Si vis haberre veram et perpetuam vitam, prohibe linguam tuam a malo, et labia tua ne loquantur dolum; diverte a malo et fac bonum; inquire pacem et sequere eam. Et cum haec feceritis, ocule mei super vos et aures meae ad preces vestras; et antequam me invocetis, dicam vobis: Ecce adsum.”

Quid dulcius nobis ab hac voce Domini invitantis nos, fratres carissimi? Ecce pietate sua demonstrat nobis Dominus viam viate.

Succinctis ergo fide vel observantia bonorum actuum lumbis nostris, per ducatum Evangelii pergamus itinera eius, ut mereamur eum qui nos vocavit in regnum suum videre. In cuius regni tabernaculo si volumus habitare, nisi illuc bonis actibus curritur, minime pervenitur.

Sicut est zelus amaritudinis malus, qui separat a Deo et ducit ad infernum, ita est zelus bonus, qui separat a vitiis et ducit ad Deum et ad vitam aeternam. Hunc ergo zelum ferventissimo amore exerceant monachi, id est, ut honore se invicem praeveniant; infirmantes suas sive corporum sive morum impendant; nullus quod sibi utile iudicat sequatur, sed quod magis alio; caritatem fraternitatis caste impendant; amore Deum timeant; abbatem suum sincera et humili caritate diligant; Christo omnino nihil praeponant, qui nos pariter ad vitam aeternam perducat.

Hebdomada XIV per annum Feria Quinta

2008-07-10T08:38:00.002-07:00

Sorry, folks. I'm out of town for the next few days, and have not had time to do extra translating! Funny thing -- immediately after I decided to do this Office of Readings project, I was given a (paid) Latin translation project for my university's theology department. I've been up to my ears in the Martyrdoms of Perpetua and Felicity! Not that that's a bad thing....

Anyway, here's the Latin text, at least. Ambrose today! Beautiful stuff. I've lined up the other texts for the weekend, too, but they were already typed before Geometricus sent me a glorious link with all the readings *already* keyed in (with the ever-astonishing accent marks). So! No accents and potential typos this weekend, but next week, we shall be blogging in style!

Ex expositone sancti Ambrosii episcopi in psalmum centesimum decimum octavum

Ego et Pater veniemus et mansionem apud eum faciemus. Pateat advenienti ianua tua, aperi animam tuam, expande gremium mentis tuae, ut videat divitias simplicitatis, thesauros pacis, suavitatem gratiae. Dilata cor tuum, occurre soli lucis aeternae, quae illuminat omnem hominem. Et illud uidem verum lumen omnibus lucet; sed si quis fenestras suas clauserit, aeterno lumine se ipse fraudabit. Escluditur ergo et Christus, si tu mentis tuae ianuam claudas. Etsi possit intrare, non vult tamen importunus irruere, non vult invitos cogere.

Ortus ex Virgine processit ex alvo, universa totius orbis irradians, ut luceret omnibus. Capiunt, qui desiderant fulgoris perpetui claritatem, quam nox nulla interpolat. Soli enim huic quem cotidie cernimus, nox tenebrosa succedit; sol autem iustitiae numquam occidit, quia sapientiae non succedit malitia.

Beatus ergo ille, cuius pulsat ianuam Christus. Ianua nostra est fides, quae totam domum, si fuerit robusta, communit. Per istam ianuam Christus ingreditur. Unde et Ecclesia dicit in Canticis: Vox fratris mei pulsat ad ianuam. Audi pulsantem, audi introire cupientem: Aperi mihi, soror mea sponsa, columba mea, perfecta mea, quia caput meum repletum est rore et crines mei guttis noctis.

Considera quando maxime pulsat ianuam tuam Deus Verbum, um repletum est caput eius rore positos visitare dignatur, ne quis forte succumbat victus aerumnis. Repletur ergo caput eius rore, vel guttis, quando corpus eius laborat. Tunc ergo vigilandum, ne cum Sponsus venerit, recedat exclusus. Si enim dormias et cor tuum non vigilet, discedit antequam pulset; si cor tuum vigilet, pulsat et aperiri sibi ianuam poscit.

Habemus ergo animae nostrae ianuam, habemus et portas de quius dictum est: Tollite portas principes vestras, et elevamini portae aeternales, et introibit Rex gloriae. Si has fidei tuae portas velis attollere, intrabit ad te Rex gloriae, triumphum portans propriae passionis. Habet etiam iustitia portas. Nam etiam de his legimus scriptum, dicente Domino Iesu per Prophetam suum: Aperite mihi portas iustitiae.

Est ergo anima quae habet ianuam, est quae habet portas. Ad hanc ianuam venit Christus et pulsat, pulsat ad portas. Aperi ergo illi: vult introire, vult Sponsam invenire vigilantem.

Hebdomada XIV per annum Feria Quarta

2008-07-09T12:13:00.002-07:00

Thanks to Geometricus, today we even have accents in our Latin text! (Oooh...aaaah....)

Ex antíquo opúsculo “Doctrína duódecim Apostolórum” nuncupáto

Ita grátias ágite: Primum de cálice: “Grátias ágimus tibi, Pater noster, pro sancta vite David púeri tui, quam notam fecísti nobis per Iesum púerum tuum; tibi glória in sæcula.”

De fracto vero pane: “Grátias ágimus tibi, Pater noster, pro vita et sciéntia, quam notam fecísti nobis per Iesum púerum tuum; tibi glória in sæcula. Sícuti hic panis dispérsus erat supra montes et colléctus unus factus est, ita colligátur Ecclésia tua a fínibus terræ in regnum tuum; quóniam tua est glória et virtus per Iesum Christum in sæcula.”

Ne quis vero cómedat aut bibat de eucharístia vestra, nisi qui baptizáti sunt in nómine Dómini; étenim de hoc Dóminus: Nolíte, inquit, sanctum dare cánibus.

Satiáti autem ita grátias ágite: “Grátias ágimus tibi, Pater sancte, pro sancto nómine tuo, cui sedem constituísti in córdibus nostris, atque pro sciéntia et fide et immortalitáte, quam manifestásti nobis per Iesum púerum tuum; tibi glória in sæcula.
Tu, Dómine omnípotens, creásti ómnia propter nomen tuum, cibum potúmque dedísti homínibus gustándum, ut tibi grátias ágerent, nobis autem largítus es spiritálem cibum et potum et vitam ætérnam per púerum tuum. Ante ómnia grátias ágimus tibi, quod potens es; tibi glória in sæcula.
Meménto, Dómine, Ecclésiæ tuæ, ut eam deféndas ab omni malo eámque perfícias in caritáte tua, et cóngrega eam a quáttuor ventis sanctificátam in regnum tuum, quod ei præparásti; quóniam tua est virtus et glória in sæcula.
Véniat grátia et péreat mundus hic! Hosánna Deo David! Si quis sanctus est, accédat; sin minus, eum pæníteat; maranátha, amen.”

Die ígitur domínica congregáti, frángite panem et grátias ágite, postquam conféssi éritis peccáta vestra, ut mundum sit sacrifícium vestrum. Omnis vero, qui habet controvérsiam cum sócio suo, ne convéniat vobíscum, ántequam reconciliáti erunt, ne profanétur sacrifícium vestrum. Hoc enim dictum est a Dómino: Omni loco et omni témpore offerátur mihi sacrifícium mundum, quóniam rex magnus sum, inquit Dóminus, et nomen meum admirábile in géntibus.

From an ancient little book called “The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles” [aka, the Didache]

Thus give thanks: First regarding the chalice: “Our Father, we give you thanks, for the holy life of David your servant, which you have made known to us through Jesus your son; to you be glory forever.”

Regarding the breaking of the true bread: “Our Father, we give you thanks, for life and wisdom, which you have made known to us through Jesus your son; to you be glory forever. Just as this bread was scattered over the hills and, having been gathered, was made into one, thus may your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom; because yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.”

But may no one eat or drink from your Eucharist, unless that one has been baptized in the name of the Lord; for indeed the Lord spoke of this: Do not, he says, give what is holy to dogs.

But having been sated, give thanks thusly: “We give thee thanks, holy Father, for your holy name, to which you have set up a throne in our hearts, and for wisdom and faith and immortality, which you have revealed to us though Jesus your son; to you be glory forever.
You, almighty Lord, have greated all things for the sake of your name, you have given food and drink to be consumed by men, so that they might give you thanks, but upon us you have lavished spiritual food and drink and eternal life through your son. Before all things we give you thanks, because you are mighty; to you be glory forever.
Remember, Lord, your Church, so that you might defend her from all evil and you might perfect her in your love, and gather her, having been sanctified, from the four winds into your kingdom, which you have prepared for her, because yours is the power and glory forever.
May [your] grace come and may this world pass away! Hosanna to the God of David! If anyone is holy, let him come near; or if he is less, let him be ashamed; maranatha, amen.”

Therefore, having gathered together on the Lord’s Day, break bread and give thanks, after you have confessed your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure. But let not any one, who has a dispute with his fellow, gather together with you, before they have been reconciled, lest your sacrifice be profaned. For this was spoken by the Lord: Let a pure sacrifice be offered to me in every place and in every time, because I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is renowned among the nations.

Hebdomada XIV per annum Feria Tertia

2008-07-08T12:39:00.002-07:00

Today's reading is exquisite, and quite appropriate for these days, when there is so much talk of ecclesiastical border-shifting, what with the SSPX, the Anglican Communion, and the age-old split between East and West. St. Augustine, he's a pretty smart guy, doncha know....

Ex Enarrationius sancti Augustini episcopi in psalmos

Fratres, ad hanc maxime exhortamur vos caritatem, non solum in vos ipsos, sed in eos etiam qui foris sunt, sive adhuc pagani, nondum credentes in Christum, sive divisi a nobis, nobiscum caput confitentes et a corpore separati. Doleamus illos, fratres, tamquam fratres nostros. Velint nolint, fratres nostri sunt. Tunc esse desinent fratres nostri, si desierint dicere Pater noster.

Dixit de quibusdam Propheta: His qui dicunt vobis: Non estis fratres nostri, dicite: Fratres nostri estis. Circumspicite de quibus hoc dicere potuerit: numquid de paganis? Non, neque enim dicimus eos fratres nostros secundum Scripturas et ecclesiasticum loquendi morem. Numquid de Iudaeis, qui in Christum non crediderunt?

Legite Apostolum et videte quia “fratres” quando dicit Apostolus sine aliquo additamento, non vult intellegi nisi christianos: Tu autem quid iudicas fratrem tuum, aut tu quid spernis fratrem tuum? Et alio loco, Vos, inquit, iniquitatem facitis et fraudatis, et hoc fratribus.

Isti ergo qui dicunt: “Non estis fratres nostri,” paganos nos dicunt. Ideo enim et rebaptizare nos volunt, dicentes nos non habere quod dant. Unde consequens est error ipsorum, ut negent nos fratres suos esse. Sed quare nobis dixit Propheta: Vos dicite illis: Fratres nostri estis, nisi quia nos in eis agnoscimus quod non repetimus? Illi ergo non agnoscendo baptismum nostrum, negant nos esse fratres; nos autem non repetendo ipsorum, sed agnoscendo nostrum, dicimus eis: Fratres nostri estis.

Dicant illi: “Quid nos quaeritis, quid nos vultis?” Respondeamus: Fratres nostri estis. Dicant: “Ite a nobis, non vobiscum habemus rationem.” Nos prorsus vobiscum rationem habemus: unum Christum confitemur, in uno corpore, sub uno capite esse debemus.

Adiuramus ergo vos, fratres, per ipsa viscera caritatis, cuius lacte nutrimur, cuius pane solidamur, per Christum Dominum nostrum, per mansuetudinem eius, adiuramus vos (tempus est enim ut impendamus in eos magnam caritatem, abundantem misericordiam in deprecando Deum pro illis, ut aliquando det illis sensum sobrium, ut resipiscant et videant se, quia non habent omnino quod dicant contra veritatem: non eis remansit nisi sola infirmitas animositatis, quae tanto est languidior, quanto se maiores vires habere existimat) pro infirmis, pro carnaliter sapientibus, pro animalibus et carnalibus, tamen pro fratribus nostris, eadem sacramenta celebrantibus, etsi non nobiscum, eadem tamen; unum Amen respondentibus, etsi non nobiscum, unum tamen; medullas caritatis vestrae fundatis Deo pro eis.

From the Commentaries of Saint Augustine, bishop, on the psalms.

Brothers, we greatly encourage you to this love, not only toward you yourselves, but even toward those who are outside, whether they are still pagans, not yet believing in Christ, or they are separated from us, professing the head with us and separated from the body. Let us mourn those ones, brothers, as if they were our brothers. Should they wish or not wish, they are our brothers. If they will have ceased to say the Our Father, then will they cease to be our brothers.

The Prophet has said about certain people: To those who say to you: You are not our brothers, say: You are our brothers. Look around to see about whom it is possible to say this: About the pagans? No, nor even do we say that they are our brothers according to the Scriptures and the ecclesiastical way of speaking. About the Jews, who have not believed in Christ?

Read the Apostle and see that “brothers,” when the Apostle says it without any qualification, does not wish to be understood apart from Christians: You, however, why do you judge your brother, or why do you spurn your brother? And in another place he says, You have made iniquity and you have defrauded, and this to your brothers.

Therefore those ones who say: “You are not our brothers,” say that we are pagans. Therefore they even wish to rebaptize us again, saying that we do not possess what they give. Whence follows their error, that they deny that we are their brothers. But why has the Prophet said to us: You say to them: You are our brothers, except because we recognize in them what we do not seek again? Therefore those ones, by not recognizing our baptism, deny that we are brothers; we however, not seeking again their [baptism], but recognizing our own [in them], say to them: You are our brothers.

They may say: “What do you seek of us, what do you want of us?” We should respond: You are our brothers. They may say: “Go away from us, we do not have any dialogue with you.” We have a straightforward dialogue with you: we cofess one Christ, we ought to be in one body, under one head.

Therefore we admonish you, brothers, through those very guts of love, by whose milk we are nourished, by whose bread we are fortified, through Christ our lord, through his clemency, we admonish you (it is, in fact, time that we lay out a great love to them, an abundant mercy in praying to God for them, so that someday he may give them a sober perception, that they may look back [???] and see themselves, for they do not at all possess that which they say against the truth: it has not remained for them except that infirmity of animosity alone, which by as much as it estimates that it has the greater strengths, by that much is it weaker) for the sick ones, for the ones wise in the ways of the flesh, for the animal ones and the fleshly ones, nevertheless for our brothers, celebrating the same sacraments, even if not with us, still the same; proclaiming back one Amen, even if not with us, still one; may we pour forth the marrow of our love to God for them.

Cool blog alert!

2008-07-07T18:26:00.002-07:00

I am reminded that I have an important update to make in the sidebar links! Our blogging friend Geometricus has a new blog, Hymnos Debitos Canamus, which you should all check out! He is translating and commenting on selected Latin hymns which we find in the Breviary -- awesome idea, and especially refreshing for those of us who are *ahem* a bit sick of the shallow (or faulty) theology in many modern hymns.

Huzzah for a great project, Geometricus! I was tempted to comment on the readings I am translating...and maybe with the peer pressure from you and Father Z (the master of all liturgical translations and commentaries), I will. ;-)

As we say at St. Olaf, fram fram, Kristmenn, Krossmenn! May the best translations win!

Hebdomada XIV Feria II

2008-07-07T10:28:00.006-07:00

A new project! To keep myself out of trouble, and to make sure I prevent my Latin skills from rusting excessively, I shall be translating the non-scriptural readings from the Office of Readings nearly every day. I post them online to keep myself accountable.

These are not polished. They are simply extemporaneous translations from my Breviary. Feel free to contest, comment on, or otherwise pick at my translations! It's more fun that way. :-)

Oh, yeah, and if anyone knows where I can find *all* the readings in Latin online, that'd be most helpful. You know, avoiding typos and such.

Ex Epistola sancti Clementis papae Primi ad Corinthios.

Scriptum est: Sanctis vos adiungite, quia qui illis adhaerent, sanctificabuntur. Et rursus in alio loco: Cum viro innocente innocens eris et cum electo electus eris, et cum perverso perverteris. Quare innocentibus et iustis iungamus nos; ii enim sunt electi Dei. Cur inter vos sunt contentiones, irae, dissensiones, schismata et bellum? Nonne unum Deum habemus et unum Christum et unum Spiritum gratiae super nos effusum, et una vocatio est in Christo? Cur divellimus et discerpimus membra Christi et contra proprium corpus seditionem movemus, eoque vesaniae devenimus, ut alios aliorum membra esse obliviscamur?

Recordamini verborum Iesu Domini nostri. Dixit enim: Vae homini illi! Bonum erat ei, si natus non fuisset, quam ut unum ex electis meis scandalizaret; melius erat ut ei mola circumponeretur et demergeretur in mare, quam ut unum de electis meis perverteret. Schisma vestrum multos pervertit, multos in animi diectionem, multos in vacillationem, omnes nos in tristiam coniecit, nos omnes maerore affecit; et adhuc seditio vestra persistit.

Epistolam beati Pauli apostoli in manus sumite. Quid prium vobis in principio Evangelii scripsit? Certe divinitus inspiratus de seipso, de Cepha et Apollo ad vos litteras dedit, quia etiam tum inter vos factiones et partium studia fuerunt. SEd factio ista factiones et partium studia fuerunt. SEd factio ista minus vobis intulit peccatum; inclinabimini enim in Apostolos praeclaro testimonio celebres et in virum ab illis probatum.

Auferamus igitur hoc celeriter; pedibus Domini advolvamur et flentes suppliciter imploremus eum, ut propitius factus nobis reconcilietur et in pristinam nostram decoram et castam fraterni amoris conversationem nos restituat. Haec enim porta iustitiae est ad vitam aperta, sicut scriptum est: Aperite mihi portas iustitiae; ingressus in eas confitebor Domino: haec porta Domini, iusti intrabunt in eam. Cum igitur multae portae apertae sint ea, quae est iustitiae, eadem et in Christo est; beati omnes qui in eam intrarunt et iter suum in sanctitate et iustitia direxerunt, omnia imperturbate peragentes. Sit aliquis fidelis, sit potens in enarrenda cognitione, sit sapiens in sermonum diiudicatione, sit castus in operius; tanto humilior esse debet, quanto maior esse videtur, et quaerere deet quod omnibus utile est, non suum ipsius.

From the letter of Saint Clement, the first Pope, to the Corinthians.

It has been written: Join yourselves to the saints, for the people who cling to them will be saved. And again in another place: [edited 7/7 20:28; thanks Geometricus!] With the innocent one you will be innocent and with the chosen one you will be chosen, and with the crooked you will be crooked. Wherefore let us join ourselves to the innocent ones and to the just ones; for they are the chosen of God. Why are there among us struggles, angers, disagreements, divisions, and war? Do we not have one God and one Christ and one Spirit of grace poured out over us, and one vocation in Christ? Why do we rend and mangle the limbs of Christ and mobilize a mutiny against our own body, and arrive at madness to such an extent that we forget that we are members of each other [lit., that some are members of others]?

Remember the words of our Lord Jesus. For he said: Woe to that man! It was good for him, if he had not been born, than that he scandalized one of my chosen ones; it was better that a weight had been put around him and he had been submerged in the sea, than that he turned aside one of my chosen ones. Your division turns aside many; it throws many into spiritual depression, many into confusion, and all of us into sadness, it affects us with mourning; and still your mutiny endures.

Take into your hands the letter of the blessed apostle Paul. What did he first write to you in the beginning of the Gospel? He, certainly divinely inspired, gave letters to you from himself, from Cephas, and from Apollo, for even then there were factions and fondnesses for divisions among you. But that faction carried less sin for you; for by very clear testimony you will be made to incline [???] toward the distinguished Apostles and toward the man approved by them.

Let us, therefore, quickly remove this thing; Let us turn our feet toward the Lord and weeping let us implore him in supplication, that having been made well-disposed, he might reconcile us and restore us into our former, proper, and guiltless conversation of fraternal love. For this door of justice is open to the way, as it has been written: Open to me the doors of justice; having entered them I shall confess to the Lord: this is the door of the Lord, the just enter it. Therefore, since many doors may be opened in it, that is justice, the same [door? justice?] is even in Christ; blessed are all who enter it and steer their journey in holiness and justice, carrying out all things calmly. May someone be faithful, may he be powerful in expounding his thought, may he be wise in his judgment of conversations, may he be guiltless in his works; by as much as he seems greater, he ought to be that much humbler, and he ought to seek that which is useful for all people, not his own thing for himself.

On the road again...

2008-06-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I take to the air yet again, this time returning to my beloved Minnesota for one last (!!) extended stay in the land'o'lakes. I shall return to Washington state in early August and will most likely hold a job here for some time after that. Not permanently, though. I think I might die of a broken heart if I cannot enter a convent soon.*

For sure on the agenda will be:

a sacerdotal ordination next weekend (in LaCrosse)
daily work rehabilitating ye olde Greek translation skillz, and also translating Fun Latin Texts (this is how I plan to keep myself out of trouble)
various meetings with people important to me and my discernment
convent visits? Possibly here?
friend cherishing! Moving from Minnesota drives home how dear these beautiful people are to me, and how much they must be hung out with!

Oh, Minnesota, I can't wait to see you!

*Okay, I probably wouldn't physically die. But it sure seems as if my heart shrivels and dies a little every day that I don't follow at least a semi-monastic rhythm...and such a life is nearly impossible to live whilst I dwell with my parents.

Thoughts of a Young Church Lady...

2008-06-15T13:58:00.003-07:00

...as she moves her possessions into a new closet:

*holding up a black velvet skirt*

"I really shouldn't wear this so often. It's getting worn out at the knees!"

The Pilgrimage Continues

2008-06-07T10:15:00.002-07:00

May God richly reward you for your prayers! I have returned from a very refreshing cloister walk with the Passionists and am home at my parents' house in WA. Blogging will continue to be light.

Retreat!

2008-05-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

As this post is published, I head out the door to catch my ride to the airport! (Thanks to the wonderful Saint Paul seminarian who is spending his hard-earned gas money on my cause.) I shall be making a retreat with the Passionist Nuns in Whitesville, KY, for the next two weeks, living the life of a contemplative inside their cloister. Deo gratias! The visit is much looked-forward-to and I am more relieved than anything that the day is finally here.

I humbly beg your continued prayers as I discern with the Passionists!

Obviously, blogging will be nonexistent while I'm with them, and it will continue to be light in the weeks following, as I will be visiting my family immediately afterwards.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 9

2008-05-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

PATRON OF A HAPPY DEATH
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to die in the arms of Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Help me to spend each day in preparation for death. May I, too, accept death in the spirit of resignation to God's Holy Will, and die, as you did, in the arms of Jesus, strengthened by Holy Viaticum, and in the arms of Mary, with her rosary in my hand and her name on my lips!

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 8

2008-05-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

FRIEND IN SUFFERING
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to suffer for Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to bear my suffering patiently for love of Jesus and Mary. Grant that I may unite the sufferings, works and disappointments of life with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass, and share like you in Mary's spirit of sacrifice.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Delight...

2008-05-22T20:24:00.003-07:00

...is coming home from a pleasant evening with friends, only to find TWO letters from Rome waiting for me on the stairs!

Seminarian J and Father C, I love you. May God richly bless you in your vocations!

[Investigating the postmarks, I have discovered that Father's letter was actually mailed in Saint Paul...hmm...methinks he sent it along with one of the returning seminarians!]

URGENT: Prayers for J.

2008-05-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Friends, my landlady and I beg your prayers for her grandson Joey (Joseph). Please say a prayer right now for his health and safety.

He is 17 years old and a very sweet kid. His mother, M., has raised him and his sister on her own for most of their lives, and he has had some emotional problems over the years. Yesterday he had a manic episode in which he thought he was God and began to get violent when M. tried to talk him down. When she suggested they go to the doctor, he declared that no one was taking him anywhere, left the house, and rode off on his bike. We have not seen or heard from him since.

Needless to say, we are very worried. M. is nearly as unstable as he is right now and is convinced that he has gone and thrown himself off a bridge or something similar. Please, please pray for the whole family, and beseech the Lord to send His angels to protect Joey and bring him home safe and sound.

UPDATE:
Still missing; it has been two nights, nearly 48 hours now.
Here is a call from the police for help looking for Joey. Printed in the Pioneer Press on 5/22/08.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 7

2008-05-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

PATRON OF WORKERS
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to work side by side with Jesus in the carpenter shop of Nazareth. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to respect the dignity of labor and ever to be content with the position in life, however lowly, in which it may please Divine Providence to place me. Teach me to work for God and with God in the spirit of humility and prayer, as you did, so that I may offer my toil in union with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass as a reparation for my sins, and gain rich merit for heaven.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 6

2008-05-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

PATRON OF FAMILIES
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of living in the Holy Family and being its head. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain God's blessing upon my own family. Make our home the kingdom of Jesus and Mary -- a kingdom of peace, of joy, and love.
I also pray for all Christian families. Your help is needed in our day when God's enemy has directed his attack against the family in order to desecrate and destroy it. In the face of these evils, as patron of families, be pleased to help; and as of old, you arose to save the Child and His Mother, so today arise to protect the sanctity of the home. Make our homes sanctuaries of prayer, of love, of patient sacrifice, and of work. May they be modeled after your own at Nazareth. Remain with us with Jesus and Mary, so that by your help we may obey the commandments of God and of the Church; receive the holy sacraments of God and of the Church; live a life of prayer; and foster religious instruction in our homes. Grant that we may be reunited in God's Kingdom and eternally live in the company of the Holy Family in heaven.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

A Foretaste of Heaven

2008-05-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

Several of my friends dream of someday making the camino to Santiago de Compostela. One of them plans to do it next summer with her sister, and insists that I am invited to come with if I haven't betaken myself to a monastery yet. ;-) I must admit that ever since these friends introduced me to the idea, and especially ever since I learned to sing some of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (some of which were written and sung by the medieval pilgrims along the route), I have also dreamed of going on pilgrimage. There is something very satisfyingly Christian about the whole endeavor.

I'll leave to your imagination all the details of how a pilgrimage is "satisfyingly Christian." For my part, I would like to share with you a story told to me by one who had recently trod the path to Compostela, for to my mind it perfectly encapsulates what a pilgrimage is in its very essence.

"Arriving at the cathedral in Santiago," she said, "was incredible. We had been walking for weeks, covering over a hundred miles, but it wasn't the accomplishment which exhilarated us. Nor was it even our pilgrimage destination, as central as it was to the experience. What struck me were my fellow pilgrims. All along the route, we had met people on their way to Santiago. Some we had simply passed on the road; others we shared meals with; still others walked with us for days. Most we lost track of as we marched, but there in the cathedral they were again! We hadn't seen some of our fellows for weeks, and it was wonderful to see their faces shining there. It struck me that this is what heaven is like. We all had our stories of how we came to be treading this path, and we all had differing tales from the trek itself, but we all made it home. Some of us had gone through major conversions along the way, and some had run into terrible hardships, but there we were together, joined by our common goal into a great communion of pilgrims. The atmosphere in the cathedral was so full of celebration, so full of cries between friends: You made it too! Thanks be to God! What happened along the way? It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had."

There you have it, folks. A physical pilgrimage is a beautiful symbol of the whole Christian life, in which we all are wayfarers, hailing from so many different backgrounds to follow our Savior Jesus Christ in treading the pathway to heaven. I, for one, am very much looking forward to meeting everyone at our common destination.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 5

2008-05-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

PATRON OF THE CHURCH
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the Patron of the Church. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to live always as a worthy member of this Church, so that through it I may save my soul. Bless the priests, the religious, and the laity of the Catholic Church, that they may ever grow in God's love and faithfulness in His service. Protect the Church from the evils of our day and from the persecution of her enemies. Through your powerful intercession may the church successfully accomplish its mission in this world -- the glory of God and the salvation of souls!

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 4

2008-05-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

FAITHFUL SERVANT
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being God's faithful servant. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to be a faithful servant of God as you were. Help me to share, as you did, the perfect obedience of Jesus, who came not to do His Will, but the Will of His Father; to trust in the Providence of God, knowing that if I do His Will, He will provide for all my needs of soul and body; to be calm in my trials and to leave it to our Lord to free me from them when it pleases Him to do so. And help me to imitate your generosity, for there can be no greater reward here on earth than the joy and honor of being a faithful servant of God.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 3

2008-05-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

MAN CHOSEN BY THE BLESSED TRINITY
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for having made you the man specially chosen by Him. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to imitate your virtues so that I too may be pleasing to the Heart of God. Help me to give myself entirely to His service and to the accomplishment of His Holy Will, that one day I may reach heaven and be eternally united to God as you are.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 2

2008-05-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

VIRGINAL HUSBAND OF MARY
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the virginal husband of Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus with all my heart, as you did, and love Mary with some of the tenderness and loyalty with which you loved her.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph: Day 1

2008-05-16T06:46:00.001-07:00

FOSTER-FATHER OF JESUS
the whole meditation
Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of having been chosen by God to be the foster-father of His Divine Son. As a token of your own gratitude to God for this your greatest privilege, obtain for me the grace of a very devoted love for Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior. Help me to serve Him with some of the self-sacrificing love and devotion which you had while on this earth with Him. Grant that through your intercession with Jesus, your foster-Son, I may reach the degree of holiness God has destined for me, and save my soul.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.
Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Clarity in my discernment with the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE
Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena to Saint Joseph

2008-05-15T05:10:00.002-07:00

On May 24 I shall be going on a discernment retreat with the Passionist Nuns of Saint Joseph Monastery in Kentucky. I would love it if you would join me in praying a novena to Saint Joseph in preparation for the visit! I'll be posting the prayers on this blog every day, starting tomorrow (May 16).

In other news:

I participated in the solemn Vespers in honor of Bishop Robert Pates, our auxiliary who is now headed to Des Moines, Iowa, to be their new bishop. It was a beautiful liturgy in our beautiful Cathedral of St. Paul, and I was glad to be able to attend.

My thesis presentation went really well! There was a great turnout, and lots of excellent questions (which means, I hope, that people understood what I said and were interested in it). ;-)

I just picked up my final, bound copies of the thesis from Kinko's yesterday, and soon you'll be able to come check it out of the St. Thomas Libraries. Weird! [It's absurd that Kinko's charges $30 per copy for library binding. I am now $96.30 poorer than I was before, and I don't even get to keep a copy for myself. Grr.]

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is in theaters starting tomorrow, and I get to go! With three of the five lovely friends of yesterday's post! Huzzah!

Endings and Beginnings

2008-05-14T12:48:00.002-07:00

It's graduation week here at the University of Saint Thomas. It's a time of much moving and changing, especially for those who are receiving their degrees and entering a new stage in life. Yours truly will be donning a cap, gown, and hood on Saturday herself, ending this chapter in the book and turning the page to begin writing the next. It's a time of celebration, and triumph, and excitement, and anticipation. It's a time of boxes, and books, and plane tickets, and plans.

But it is also a time when one finds herself walking up to a group of dear friends who have intimately shared her life over the past years and having the following conversation:

QM: So, I realized yesterday that I only have a week and a half left to hang out with you before I might not see you ever again.
Friend1: Less! We're leaving for New York on Saturday.
QM: *shocked look*
Friend1: And tomorrow is our time with the MCs, and then we have dinner with N., and Friday is our day of reflection.
Friend2: Oh...my heart is dying inside me!
QM: *still shocked* Um, well, I was going to invite you to come see "Prince Caspian" in the theater with me, but I guess this means you can't.
Friend3: *devastated look*
Friend1: Are you coming to Vespers tonight for Bishop Pates? You could come with us!
Friend2: So we can see each other tonight, at least!
QM: Oh...yes! That sounds wonderful.
Friend2: But you'd better say goodbye to V. now -- she's leaving right now!
QM: V...? How...? Why...? Goodbye!!!

Nothing like being hit over the head with goodbyes you're not prepared for. And departures sooner than you expected. At least you can't dread the unexpected goodbyes...they just smart afterwards.

I wish I didn't have to leave Minnesota. At the very least, I wanted to have a sure place to go when I left, not just an indefinite period of wandering and searching for a home. I am leaving behind a spiritual family and a network of loving friends, and would that I had found another one to join before I uprooted! But stay I cannot, and my new home has not surfaced yet, and so I pack my bags to wander.

Jesus, teach me to cleave to you, to find my home and my rest only in you. "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head," and nor shall I, save on your breast.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T11:03:00.004-07:00

Alas, I cannot be with my dear Mother today, as she is (as usual) 2000+ miles away. But to all the mothers in my life today, I wish a most wonderful and joyous Mother's Day! Thanks for bringing us into the world.

My mother, Jquantitative Metathesis (well, in real life, if you put a "J" at the front of my name, it becomes her name...how come it doesn't work with my pseudonym?). Without you, I wouldn't be. I also wouldn't have nearly the appreciation for plain yogurt that I do today.

My spiritual mother and confirmation patroness, Maria Mater Ecclesiae, at whose altar in the Basilica San Pietro we celebrated my fourth anniversary. If you hadn't taken me by the scruff of my neck, I'd never have made it across the Tiber. Nor would I have stayed on these foreign shores.

Ah, and then you, O wonderful Mater Ecclesia, whose Pentecost birthday we also celebrate today! Beloved Church, who has nurtured me since my baptism and continues to help me grow into a daughter of God, through your motherhood I share in the very life of God.

Gripe

2008-05-09T12:28:00.008-07:00

*QM assumes a semi-sarcastic tone*

I feel oppressed and discriminated against as a unique and talented Catholic woman who has discerned a call to the consecrated life. I feel this way because I am not allowed to fully pursue all of my interests and talents in exactly the way which I would like in any of the currently-existing orders. The Church should respect my unique vocation by providing me with a perfectly-suited community.

Don't worry, I've got all the details worked out:

We will be contemplative-active sisters who have a deep devotion to the Passion of Christ and to the great mercy flowing from His wounds. Our life is spent close to His pierced heart, ever deepening our knowledge of our sin-which-pierced-Him and of the grace which floods out of the wound onto us and the whole world.
Our primary apostolate will be prayer, but we also care for priests and other religious and provide a place of retreat for them.
We may earn advanced degrees in whatever subjects we are strongest in, with the goal of teaching at universities and seminaries and publishing our scholarship.
We also make vestments, altar-linens, candles, hosts, and chocolate.
We live a monastic life, including full habit, full liturgy of the hours (including middle-of-the-night office of readings), Gregorian chant, the chapter of faults, and the Great Silence.
Our liturgies are primarily in Latin and the Ordinary Form of the Mass, though we regularly schedule the Extraordinary Form.
Our chapel is modeled on the Cistercian Gothic, and we have a beautiful, cloistered courtyard at the heart of our monastery.
We are given a religious title as well as a religious name.
We have a brother order, and we love our brothers dearly.
Many kind benefactors donate millions of dollars to us in order to provide for all the sisters' education and for the beautiful monastery. In our daily life, however, we live a radical poverty.
We fight crime. (see combox for details)
The sisters and brothers each have a world-class choir and orchestra whose repertoire ranges from plainchant to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
We have perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, open to the public as are all our liturgies.
And our abbess is a mitred abbess.

I know what you're thinking. That I've combined at least three forms of religious life which cannot be successfully lived out by the same community. But you forget. This is MY community, and all the sisters are Super Sisters. God gives us the grace to do in one day what takes other communities a month to do. So there.

[This post has been brought to you by QM's discernment frustration, and not much of it is meant to be taken very seriously. She wrote it to make fun of herself.]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-07T20:32:00.003-07:00

Best. Thesis. Completion. Present. Ever.

Ciceronian Controversies
Latin text, edited by JoAnn DellaNeva
facing English translations by Brian Duvick

Inside flap description:

The most important literary dispute of the Renaissance pitted those writers of Neo-Latin who favored imitation of Cicero alone, as the single best exemplar of Latin prose, against those who preferred to follow an eclectic array of literary models. This Ciceronian controversy is the subject of the texts collected for the first time in this volume: exchanges of letters between Angelo Poliziano and Paolo Cortesi; between Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola and Pietro Bembo; and between Giovambattista Giraldi Cinzio and his mentor Celio Calcagnini. A postscript by Lilio Gregorio Giraldi and writings by Antonio Possevino comment further on this correspondence.

Because they address some of the most fundamental aspects of literary production, these quarrels shed light on similar debates about vernacular literature, which also turned on imitation and the role of the author. The Ciceronian controversy can also be seen as part of larger cultural movements, such as the choice of vernacular language over Latin, the development of Jesuit pedagogy, and the religious conflicts that characterized much of the Renaissance.

These texts are glorious. I love my parents.

(By the way, the thesis presentation went very well. There were twice as many questions from the audience as anticipated! And people seemed genuinely interested, which is always a plus. More profs saying I ought to go on for the PhD, that I should publish, etc., etc. I thrive on this scholarship, this attention. I love being smart. It's really fun. But....)

I have a theory.

2008-05-06T20:55:00.002-07:00

Well, actually, I have several theories, about lots of different things. This is just one of them.

In academia, there are three sorts of people...catagories which are inspired from the old saying, "you can't see the forest for the trees." Hence we have:
Forest people.
Tree people.
Leaf people.

See, some scholars are really good at seeing the big picture, putting together various arguments (or even disciplines) in order to make sense out of a massive concept. They have good grasps of several different areas of study, often even to the point of earning degrees in two or three areas, and they can systematize ideas well. These are the forest people, whose greatest contributions to academia have been to make coherent sense of all the various trees which, while very interesting in themselves, lose significance without their relation to the whole. The weakness of forest people is that they tend sometimes to neglect details.

Some scholars are better at specializing in a particular area. I rank among these sorts, the tree people. I do very well studying and analyzing one text or idea in depth, but I begin to flail as soon as I try to place it in its historical or conceptual context. I can learn about the forest as a whole, but I struggle to come up with my own thoughts about the forest...except as my tree can shed light upon it. The more trees I study individually, the more information I have about the forest, but I'm still not very good at thinking about the forest as an entity in itself.

That said, there are people who have trouble even with trees. The leaf people are those who, for example, study the use of indirect speech in selected books of Livy's History. (Yes, there is a scholar who dedicated his life to exactly that. I read his work for one of my classics courses.) They are also the ones who stake all their theological claims on a particular vocabulary use in St. Paul's NT letters. The work of leaf people is helpful in nuancing our understanding of the various trees, which in turn can lead us to a better conception of the whole forest, but it seems that more and more scholars these days get stuck on the leaves and can never move beyond the minutia of their fields. Leaf people are often brilliant minds, but they don't know how to channel their powers of analysis into a broader conceptual level.

I suppose there is a fourth, extremely exclusive category of academics. These are the truly great minds throughout the centuries, who have the precise and detailed knowledge of tree and leaf people but who are able, then, to integrate it into a magnificent vision of the whole. I think our current Holy Father is one of them, but he is certainly not alone, either in history or among our contemporaries.

Anyway, that's my theory. I wish I could be a forest person, who always strike me as geniuses for their abilities to synthesize huge concepts, and I tend to be annoyed by leaf people, who sometimes seem in their obsessiveness to miss the final goal of study. But if we didn't have all three sorts, academia would probably not be as interesting a place as it is now. This way, we compensate for each other's weaknesses.

(And now, this tree person really needs to go to bed. Sheesh.)

Well done, good and faithful pen!

2008-05-04T10:08:00.006-07:00

At approximately 9:54 AM Central Time, one of the humble servants in the Lord's vineyard passed on. A companion through many trials and triumphs, this tireless worker was always there for me with consistent, faithful, and uncomplaining assistance in the task at hand. Having outlived all his siblings and, indeed, even the most optimistic of lifetime expectancies, B. leaves me not so much sad at his passing as deeply grateful for the time I had with him.

What? Oh, yes, I am speaking of my Blue Bic Crystal Pen, here pictured with the last strokes of service it gave me. What a legacy.

Mind you, Bic wasn't your typical cheap pen whose ink flows inconsistently and dries up within months. No, Bic's been with me since 2004 and has traveled to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Greece, Austria, Canada, and the USA. Within the US it's been to at least three different states, probably more. During these travels its steady ink-flow helped me to write hundreds of pages of journal entries and was an unfailing aid as I began seriously discerning the religious life. As the picture above demonstrates, it also put in time with my reading, both spiritual and scholastic. This pen got around, in the best sense of the phrase. And it's finally laid to rest.

"We are all pencils in the hand of God." ~Blessed Mother Theresa

Faithful to the very end. Bic, journaling won't be quite the same without you.

[NB: Gentle Reader, I'm not really mourning a 25 cent pen. Don't worry. I just figured that a pen with four years of service behind it ought to get some sort of ceremonious tossing.]

Hurray!

2008-05-02T12:46:00.002-07:00

I was awarded a PASS WITH HONORS on my Master's Essay!!!!!

There is much rejoicing around here. Oh, man, is there rejoicing. And relief. Maybe even celebratory dark chocolate.

Now I get to shell out $60 for binding the two officially-turned-in copies, and then I'll be immortalized in the university libraries.

Again, the public presentation of my work, "Porphyry's Philosophy from Oracles: Pagan Dialogue with the Christian Tradition," will be next Wednesday at 5:30pm. It will be in the leather room of the O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library of the University of St. Thomas. Light refreshments will be provided, and two of my classmates will also be presenting in the same block of time.

Thanks for prayers and support, all you lovely people!

A Consensus of Obedience

2008-05-01T13:03:00.002-07:00

One of the overriding themes in the ecclesiology of communion is the importance of a profound unity among the members of the body of Christ. Numerous scholars have drawn attention to New Testament evidence that Church decisions were made only when all members of the community were in agreement about the issue at hand, and it seems that the same was true in the earliest councils of the Church. To our modern minds, however, this consensus seems not only impractical but impossible to achieve. The realities of disagreement and dissent are all too familiar to us, both within the structures of the Church and in the larger world around us. It seems that a Church which based its modus operandi on true consensus would founder almost immediately. Yet both the patres of our tradition and modern scholars of ecclesiology insist the opposite. Consensus is not only possible in the Church, they submit, but also essential to its survival. Furthermore, the early Church’s consensus among its members is often presented over and against the notion of ecclesiastical obedience. As Nichols states, “The principle of unity in the early Church was collegial and conciliar. […] This contrasts with the principle that unity is obtained by obedience to one common head, a theory which came to prominence during the papal monarchy of the Middle Ages.” Nevertheless, a Church modeled on obedience may approach nearer to one modeled on collegial consensus than Nichols implies, especially if true obedience is akin to the Dominican obedience which Herbert McCabe outlines in his article on the subject. It is my contention that his understanding of religious obedience can be of much use to those who seek a practical means of reaching the ideal of consensus in the Church.

According to McCabe, obedience is primarily to do with the intellect, not the will. It is a “learning process […] that brings people together to share a common mind.” True obedience occurs in the context of discussion, in which all views are voiced with the goal of fostering a common understanding of truth. McCabe stresses the importance of learning in obedience, which in its authentic form must not be one will triumphing over another, but must rather be a coming together of minds, so that all ultimately have a consensus of will regarding the matter at hand. The role of the superior is to foster such a learning process and, thus, to bring about the common mind of the community. Only then is he able to speak for the community as a whole and express that common mind. “Obedience belongs to a community and from thence belongs to an individual.” The superior’s first duty, therefore, is not to be strong-willed or hard-handed, but to be intelligent. He must be able to discern the consensus of his community and translate it into commands which are coherent with it. “Obedience only becomes perfect when the one who commands and the one who obeys come to share one mind.”

McCabe’s reflections on religious obedience are especially helpful for arriving at an understanding of the proper relationship between the Church hierarchy and the laity. There has been a tendency in modern times, especially among the general populace, to reduce this relationship to a one-way subservience, in which Church leaders issue teachings and commands to the lay faithful, whose role is primarily to listen and obey. However, such a model for the Church’s internal dynamics is both anemic and contrary to much of the Church’s own tradition. There ought to be a dynamic relationship between what the hierarchy teaches and commands and what the whole body of the faithful believes, just as there is a dynamic relationship in McCabe’s article between the superior’s commands and the larger community’s experience and understanding. If obedience belongs first to the community and then to the individual, the obedience of the Church to directives from the hierarchy must be based on the assurance that those directives reflect the beliefs and practice of the whole body of Christians. Evidence of just such a dynamic can be found even in the earliest documents of the Church.

We know from studying the New Testament that the clergy has had a particular teaching role from its very beginnings. Not only do we have letters of instruction written to various local churches by apostles such as Paul, Peter, James, and John, but Paul’s “pastoral letters” treat the clergy’s teaching role in the Church as their primary duty. In his first letter to Timothy, he begins by reminding the younger man of his duty to instruct the people in Ephesus so that they might have “love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.” Nearly the whole content of the letter serves to outline the content of this instruction more specifically, and in 4:6-16 Paul reemphasizes that the gift imparted to Timothy by his ordination must be practiced through prayer, exhortation, and teaching. In the second letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus, again importance is placed on the teaching duty of a minister of Christ.

At first glance, such emphasis even in the early Church on the duty of clergy to instruct and guide the faithful in their charge seems to support the one-sided, top-down model of obedience. The instruction described by Paul, however, is not a mere implementation of hierarchical ideas and policies, but a reflection of the grace of God, in which all the faithful share. After outlining some of the ethical instruction Titus ought to give his flock, Paul explains: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly […].” The task of the clergy, therefore, is to synthesize and impart the Christian faith which the whole Church shares, in order that all might live according to that faith. Phrased in this manner, Paul’s understanding of the ministerial teaching role is very similar to the role of the superior in McCabe’s discourse on obedience. Both must first discern and understand the consensus about the truth, and then give that consensus voice and clarity in their instructions and commands.

The New Testament also provides evidence as to how consensus in the early Christian communities was arrived at. The book of Acts indicates that the assembly was an important means by which they made decisions and pronouncements on both local and universal levels. The Christian assembly in Acts is, however, a far cry from any democratic structure. Gerhard Lohfink gives extensive attention in his book Does God Need the Church? to the various ecclesial assemblies which are described in the Bible, and he shows that the assembly was the setting and context not only of the Christian community’s prayer and sacramental life, but also of discussion about “everything that is crucial for the community.” It was the basis and the very heart of Christian life on both the local and universal levels:

[…] the Church lives through and in its concrete gatherings. They are the fulfillment of its existence. […] Joseph Ratzinger put it this way: “The real locus of the Church is not some kind of bureaucracy or the activity of a group that considers itself ‘basic,’ but a ‘coming together’” – that is, the assembly in which the whole community comes together or is at least represented, and in which the union with the whole Church is preserved.

The place where the universal Christian faith becomes manifest, therefore, is in the concrete and continual assembly of all the faithful, to which members are added and in which they live truly in common, “in a new bond of togetherness.” The faith of this Christian assembly must be the bedrock upon which both clerical teaching and ecclesiastical obedience is founded.

The continual assembly, the foundation of the Christian life, also provides a forum for resolving crises, discussing new endeavors, sending forth missionaries, and reaching decisions on other significant issues which arose in the early churches. Lohfink investigates numerous examples of this particular function of the community assembly from the first half of Acts, all of which are called “at various turning points in the history of the ekklesia.” The culminating example is the so-called Council of Jerusalem in chapter 15 of Acts. In many ways this is an atypical assembly, since it is convened in “the mother of all communities” in order to resolve a conflict which threatened to split the whole Church, not merely a local community. However, in Luke’s narrative of the council we can find a clear illustration of how the dynamic relationship between clergy and laity plays out in an assembly’s decision-making – a perfect example of the sort of obedience which McCabe describes.

The issue to be resolved in the council – whether Gentile converts ought to observe the law of Moses – first arose out of the practice and experience of the faithful in Antioch and Judea. When the Antiochene assembly had been unable to come to consensus, they appointed a group to posit the question in Jerusalem to the apostles, who could (it is implied) make a decision for the whole Church. Upon arrival, the emissaries are received not only by the leaders of the Jerusalem church, but by the assembly of the whole community, to whom they relay their report about the fruitfulness of the Lord’s work among the Gentiles. Only after all have heard the testimony and have had the opportunity to participate in the discussion do the apostles and elders meet to consider the issue. Peter speaks first of the role he was given by God to preach to the Gentiles, providing another (and weighty) piece of evidence for the will of God in the matter. James supplements Peter’s speech by citing Scripture – an essential test of the matter’s place in salvation history – and interpreting the experiences of the Gentile converts in its light. Only then does James propose a decision which all agree upon, and “then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch” with a letter detailing the decision. The issue is resolved only with the complete consensus of the whole church.

While the apostles and elders, executing their role as superiors of the Christian community, clearly do make the decision on behalf of the whole Church, they also are clearly participating in the learning process of obedience. The matter at hand has been brought forward and debated by the lay faithful, from whom the apostles learn about the practice and experience of the Christian faith among the different groups of believers. The community as a whole then entrusts the discernment and decision to them, and when their decision has been made, the whole Church gives their unanimous consent and obedience. The ultimate consensus is thus utterly dependent on a mutual learning process – the clergy discerning the common belief of the whole community, and the community being brought into greater unity through submission to the decisions of the clergy. Both actions have as their end a more perfect understanding and a more perfect practice of the Christian faith.

Luke’s depiction of the role of the apostles in the council of Jerusalem is indicative of a steady increase among the New Testament authors in an awareness of ecclesiastical office as necessary for maintaining unity and preserving the apostolic teaching within the Church. The Church gave her obedient submission to the teachings of her clergy in order to grow more united in herself and in union with Christ, and her understanding of the ecclesiastical offices in relation to the whole body of Christ continued to develop through the Patristic period. Nichols cites many examples of bishops in the early Church who exercised their office precisely as a center for unity and orthodoxy within the Church. The centrality of the episcopate stemmed from the fact that, by virtue of their ordination, bishops were “understood to participate in the Spirit which also had guided the apostles.” However, the importance of the episcopate as a center of unity never precluded the importance of the lay faithful in fostering that unity.

Nichols discusses the particular function which the laity’s sensus fidelium served in the early Church, both in shaping the doctrine and practice subsequently taught by the hierarchy, and in receiving those teachings as normative of the common faith. Prominent among his examples are those in which certain liturgical practices were understood to indicate a particular belief of the Church which was then officially taught by the Fathers, and these included codification of Scripture, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and prayer to the saints. The gradual and organic development of practice, belief, and doctrine among the believers informed the decisions and pronouncements of Church fathers such as Augustine (who countered the Pelagians by citing lex orandi lex credendi) and of councils such as Ephesus (which in 431 proclaimed Mary theotokos).

Nichols cites evidence from the ecumenical councils to show that the laity were also an essential part of the process of reception which validated the hierarchy’s teachings as orthodox. He states that “The council’s claim to be ecumenical or universal had to be secured by a horizontal consensus – that is, the consent of the bishops (and the people) of the whole Church, and a vertical consensus, that is, its teachings had to concur with the teachings of scripture and tradition.” He makes an important association here by identifying the people’s consent with that of the bishops; in fact, the early Church did consider the bishop closely united with his local community of believers. Ignatius of Antioch emphatically linked membership in the Church to communion with the local bishop, to the exclusion of any division into races and classes. It was expected that the shepherd and his flock shared so much the same mind that the bishop’s reception of a council’s teachings would also entail the reception of each of the members of his local church. Here again we see, beautifully demonstrated, an example of true religious obedience. The early Church fathers understood that a bishop, sharing an intimate connection with the faith and experience of his flock, is able both to speak on behalf of their common mind and to instruct them in the faith of the whole Church as defined by the council. The members of the local churches could be trusted to obey their bishops precisely because of the intimate relationship of teaching and learning which existed between them. The consensus of the bishops was synonymous with the consensus of the whole Church during the Patristic period because obedience was a dynamic process, not a forced imposition.

McCabe’s model of religious obedience has much to teach the Catholic Church of today. As the examples from the New Testament and early Church Fathers demonstrate, consensus among believers has never come about by some sort of democratic voting process. It was, rather, based on an obedience which was manifest in an intimate learning process between Church leadership and the laity. The hierarchy was developed as a teaching office in order to maintain consensus in a rapidly growing Church, as a sign of unity between the local communities and the universal Church, and as a direct link to the apostolic teachings. Much of the direct relationship between the hierarchy and the laity has been lost in modern Church structures, and our understanding and practice of obedience to the magisterial teachings have been consequently weakened. Perhaps if the close relationship between bishop and the members of his local church could be restored, true consensus among believers would cease to be merely an ideal and become a possibility.

Questions, No Answers

2008-04-30T19:31:00.003-07:00

Ultimately, we want to do and be what God wants us to do or be. This is because we know that His will for our life (since He is all-good, all-loving, all-knowing, etc.) entails the best possible everything for not just us, but the whole world.

I'm down with that. That's the easy part.

Hard Part #1: discerning His will
My question right now is, what does a discerner pay attention to? I mean, besides "everything." Is there some sort of importance ranking she might employ? It seems to me that

desires
dreams
likes and dislikes
talents
family situations

are all significant, but perhaps ought to be subordinate to

convictions
prayer/spirituality
long-term obligations
health.

[Of course, the question of morality (vice and virtue) goes without saying. God doesn't will sin.]

I'd like to be able to subordinate all of the above things to the will of God. If He says "jump," I think we're supposed to ask "how high?"

But I'm torn. If He should ask me to give up, say, singing Renaissance liturgical music for the rest of my life, I'd like to be able to jump on board that plan. And I am able to entertain that situation serenely...for a while...until I hear a piece of polyphony again. But as soon as I hear it or sing it, I'm back at the drawing board in terms of that "holy indifference" state that St. Ignatius talks about. I start making bargains with God and telling him that I can only survive such deprivation if I get to sing Gregorian chant on a regular basis instead.

Is that sort of preference something a discerner should be heeding, or should she be weeding it out? Does it say something about what God wants, or is it just selfish? I guess liturgical music is a bad example, because it is a preference which borders on a theological conviction...but still, there are many, many holy and healthy religious communities who don't have plainsong or polyphony in their liturgies. Neither of the two I'm very seriously looking at do. It's a stumbling block which I'll gladly vault over if the Lord asks me to...but I don't know how to know.

The same goes with use of gifts and talents. Sure, I'd love to be able to give up playing violin and translating Latin, if the Lord asks me to do so. But can I? Ought I consider the use of these talents to their utmost an obligation on my part? Or are they "disposable?"

And what if one consideration contradicts another one? Let me combine my two examples: Most communities with gorgeous liturgical music are cloistered contemplatives. Most communities who actively contribute their time and talent to the "betterment of humanity," etc., etc., are decidedly lacking in the Medieval and Renaissance music category. On a very practical level, it seems as if I need to choose between the two. To say nothing of prayer and spirituality and rhythm of life!

What's a girl to listen to?

Hard Part #2: carrying out His will
On second thought, I'd better not touch this one tonight. Too many explosives attached.

The Passionist Nuns are blogging!

2008-04-29T06:22:00.004-07:00

Required:
Go check out the Passionist Nuns' new blog.
Say a prayer for these marvelous women.
Beseech God to call many more to this beautiful vocation.

The Passionists...a life spent at the foot of the Cross with Mary, the Sorrowful Mother. An oblation of love poured out at the fountainhead of mercy, united with the precious blood flowing from His most sacred wounds. A quiet ministry, catching and channeling the flood of graces from that wellspring into the whole world, and inviting others to come spend time with the beloved, crucified Bridegroom of our souls.

Incidentally, I will be spending two weeks of discernment inside their cloister, beginning May 24. May God's will be done!

A blessed feast!

2008-04-28T20:07:00.002-07:00

Happy feastday, St. Louis-Marie!

I'd like to publicly thank you for not giving up on me. Now's as good a time as any, I suppose. I know we met five years ago, plus maybe a month or two, and I know our good friend the Seminarian told you to take care of me. Remember how I couldn't stand your writing or your love of Our Lady? Remember how for years I either ignored you (on a good day) or spurned you (on a bad one)? Thanks for being a faithful friend, even when I would have none of you.

Thanks for being affable when I finally decided to talk to you.

Thanks for teaching me about the Lord and His Mother.

Thanks for showing me a beautiful way of consecrating myself to His love.

You've taught me much about humility, and much about service.

You've taught me even more about grace, and about rendering back to the Lord all that He has given us.

May I learn to say ever more faithfully with you, "totus tuus." (Or, in my case, "tota tua.")

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, ora pro nobis!

New priests!

2008-04-27T08:44:00.003-07:00

Congratulations to the newest priests of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis!

Fr. John Bauer
Fr. John Meyer
Fr. Jon Bennet Tran
Fr. Shane Campbell
Fr. Fernando Ortega

I was at the Cathedral yesterday for the joyous occasion of their ordination and was able to receive first blessings from each of them. Actually, I had to beg Fr. Meyer's fan club to let me receive one before they whisked him off to his reception...I guess I got to his line a little late. (Note to self: get the blessings first, then mingle excitedly with all the other Church Ladies who are beside themselves with happiness at having five new priests to pray for.)

In all sincerity, I LOVE ORDINATIONS! The graces are so tangible. It fills my heart to bursting to see all my beloved seminarians (literally hundreds of them, between Saint John Vianney College Seminary and Saint Paul Seminary) and priests process in for the Mass. Words simply fail me when I try to express how much I love these men, my fathers and brothers. To witness and be a part of this great moment is both humbling and exhilarating.

This morning I was honored to sing with the choir for Fr. Bauer's First Mass of Thanksgiving at the Church of St. Agnes. It was a sung OF Latin Mass, the second of the day (immediately following the normal 10:00 OF Latin Mass with choir and orchestra), and the music included:

hymn, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"
Palestrina, Missa Iam Christus Astra Ascenderat
da Viadana, "Exsultate Justi"
Palestrina, "Sicut Cervus"
Tallis, "If Ye Love Me"
Byrd, "Ave Verum Corpus"
hymn, "Lift High the Cross"

It was glorious, even if I do say so myself. ;-) I love that we have enough altar boys at St. Agnes to provide for two, back-to-back solemn Masses, each with approximately ten servers. Fr. Bauer's Mass had an additional six seminarians up there, carrying banners and whatnot for the procession. I also love that the 12:00 congregation, which normally has a vernacular Mass, takes a Latin Mass completely in stride...so much so that it doesn't need to be announced beforehand.

Oh, my dear fathers. Congratulations. Know that you are a treasure and a joy to us, your flock, who see in you Christ Himself, walking among us. Know that you -- even in your own weaknesses and trials -- are signs of hope to us fallen creatures. And know, my beloved priests, that you are in my prayers today and for the rest of your lives.

(One of their seminarian brothers posts his reflections here.)

So much for the suggestion box.

2008-04-26T06:33:00.002-07:00

It's snowing again this morning. God must not have wanted the Orthodox to feel neglected during their Triduum, since we got a blizzard for ours (a month ago). So He's giving them snow, too, despite the fact that it is April 26. After all, He is God, and He did create the weather patterns to begin with.

(But I think I'm going to refrain from sending in any more suggestions, in case this is because the last one annoyed Him.)

There is a baby phoenix named Seraphic.

2008-04-25T18:59:00.002-07:00

As Zadok aptly puts it, Seraphic Singles has had to shut down her marvelous site due to "ungentlemanly bad behavior."
*tsk*
She is now emerging from the ashes, however, and (thankfully) is Still Seraphic, and the sidebar has been updated appropriately.

It's high time I also added Mark's blog, Rise and Pray;
LandOLakesJesuit's blog, Minnesota Catholic;
and Seminarian Matthew's blog, A Catholic Life.
These three upstanding fellows are friends from the Holy Vocations Blog in which I participate.

Incidentally, and mostly because I want to see if he's reading this carefully, Zadok's internet presence reminds me of Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty (from The Scarlet and the Black) when he puts on all those various disguises in order to go about Rome unhindered. Intellegat lector. ;-)

If God had a "Comments and Suggestions" Box...

2008-04-25T06:18:00.005-07:00

To Whom it may concern:

Dear Sir,

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude for your attention and care in responding to my previous message regarding the snow we received two weeks ago. Please know that its removal and lack of reappearance have by no means gone unnoticed. I sincerely appreciate your efforts in introducing spring weather so promptly after that late blizzard.

I do, however, have another request, and I pray that you will be so kind as to entertain it. For the past two days, as I am sure you are aware, we have had much rain. While I love rain and by no means wish for its utter disappearance from spring, I question the timing of these downpours. They seem to occur exactly when I need to walk outside for a half hour, and then clear up when I get inside. I wonder, therefore, whether you can switch around the precipitation schedule a bit so that I do not arrive at the Library soaked every day.

Thank you so much for your time. Again, I am very appreciative that these are rain showers and not snow showers, and I mean no slight on the overall springtime as it is currently unfolding. The budding trees, singing birds, and brighter days all tell forth the glory of your creation, and I am more than happy to hear the rumbling thunder proclaiming your praises. I only ask that you have mercy on a student whose umbrella only keeps her dry from waist up!

I remain,
Your humble servant,
QM

DONE!!!

2008-04-22T14:08:00.003-07:00

Ye olde Masteres Thesis has been submitted to the readers.
The formal review is scheduled for next Friday, May 2, at 10:30am.
The public presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, May 7, at 5:30pm.
And this triumphant scholar didn't even have to lose sleep over writing it! (I believe that is, in fact, a first in the higher academic career of QM.)

The first and last paragraphs, just for kicks:

In the conclusion of his book The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Robert Wilken makes the claim that, during the first centuries of the common era, pagan intellectuals

performed an enormous service to the developing Christian tradition. They helped Christian thinkers to see the difficulties of the positions they adopted, to grasp the implications of Christian belief earlier than would have been possible if they had talked only among themselves – in short, to understand the very tradition they were defending. That Christianity became the object of criticism by the best philosophical minds of the day at the same time when Christians were forging an intellectual tradition of their own was a powerful factor in setting Christian thought on a sound course. Christian theology took shape in dialogue and discussion with alternative points of view.

There are many examples in history – and not merely early Church history – of this process in which non-Christian critics engage Christians in a dialogue which compels them to develop and refine their theology. One of the most intriguing instances occurred in the late third and early fourth centuries, as the Christological debate championed by Arius and Athanasius was beginning to emerge. The celebrated Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote a work entitled On Philosophy from Oracles in the late third century which garnered responses from numerous Christian writers, including Eusebius of Caesarea and St. Augustine of Hippo, two of the giants of early Christian literature. Although it is ostensibly a philosophical treatise recommending the traditional worship of the pagan gods, Porphyry’s work was considered extremely dangerous by Christian intellectuals because of his proposals about the figure of Jesus Christ and about the human soul’s salvation. In the content of On Philosophy from Oracles and by comparison of Eusebius and Augustine’s responses to it, one can perceive a process similar to that which Wilken describes, in which the Christian apologists take Porphyry’s criticisms into their theological consideration. This paper seeks to investigate the nuance of Porphyry’s critique of Christianity and to discover what it can reveal about any pagan influence on the fourth century developments of the theology of the figure of Christ.

[...forty some pages of analysis...also several Very Fun Charts...]

Eusebius wrote on the eve of the Arian controversy, well within fifty years (and probably much less) of Phil. orac.’s writing, and in those circumstances, his silence on the most contentious points of Porphyry’s work is telling. Whereas Augustine, writing firmly in the post-Nicene tradition of the Church, has fewer qualms about directly addressing Porphyry’s assertions about Christ, Eusebius firmly divorces his own Christology from any relation to Porphyry’s theosophy. Augustine is able to build on the now-secure foundation of Nicene Christology in order to respond to Porphyry, blow for blow, on the issues of the Trinity, the incarnation, and the salvation of souls, but Eusebius has no such secure foundation. He writes as Porphyry’s questions are still the Church’s questions and are still shaping the landscape of theological inquiry. In Eusebius’ silence, perhaps, can be seen the humble caution of a Christian scholar who takes seriously both the pagans’ philosophical concerns about Christian doctrines and the Church’s concerns of preserving divine revelation and developing sound theology.

In thanksgiving...

2008-04-20T16:16:00.002-07:00

...for a completed draft and a day of well-earned rest.

Deo gratias.

Tomorrow begin the revisions. And the much-neglected other schoolwork.

Papal Address to Youth

2008-04-19T19:49:00.006-07:00

My dear Holy Father, this is twice in two days that you have moved me to tears. Thank you for your beautiful words.

Dear readers, you must go read this or watch it (when they post the video).
UPDATE: Fr. Z has a better transcription and a recording of the address.

Even if you're not a youth, or a Catholic, or a fan of the pope, or whatever. It is one of the most breathtaking and exquisite addresses I have heard in a long time. It's a little lengthy, but...wow. Just, wow.

"... And what of today? Who bears witness to the Good News of Jesus on the streets of New York, in the troubled neighborhoods of large cities, in the places where the young gather, seeking someone in whom they can trust? God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns -- just as it did for our saints -- through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday life: within your families, at school or college, during your recreation activities, and in your parish communities. All these places are marked by the culture in which you are growing up. As young Americans you are offered many opportunities for personal development, and you are brought up with a sense of generosity, service and fairness. Yet you do not need me to tell you that there are also difficulties: activities and mindsets which stifle hope, pathways which seem to lead to happiness and fulfillment but in fact end only in confusion and fear.

My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers; its influence grew -- infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion -- before it was fully recognized for the monster it was. It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good. Many of your grandparents and great-grandparents will have recounted the horror of the destruction that ensued. Indeed, some of them came to America precisely to escape such terror.

*snip*

The power to destroy does, however, remain. To pretend otherwise would be to fool ourselves. Yet, it never triumphs; it is defeated. This is the essence of the hope that defines us as Christians; and the Church recalls this most dramatically during the Easter Triduum and celebrates it with great joy in the season of Easter! The One who shows us the way beyond death is the One who shows us how to overcome destruction and fear: thus it is Jesus who is the true teacher of life (cf. Spe Salvi, 6). His death and resurrection mean that we can say to the Father "you have restored us to life!" (Prayer after Communion, Good Friday). And so, just a few weeks ago, during the beautiful Easter Vigil liturgy, it was not from despair or fear that we cried out to God for our world, but with hope-filled confidence: dispel the darkness of our heart! dispel the darkness of our minds! (cf. Prayer at the Lighting of the Easter Candle).

*snip*

How then can we as believers help others to walk the path of freedom which brings fulfillment and lasting happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. How did their witness truly free others from the darkness of heart and mind? The answer is found in the kernel of their faith; the kernel of our faith. The Incarnation, the birth of Jesus, tells us that God does indeed find a place among us. Though the inn is full, he enters through the stable, and there are people who see his light. They recognize Herod's dark closed world for what it is, and instead follow the bright guiding star of the night sky. And what shines forth? Here you might recall the prayer uttered on the most holy night of Easter: "Father we share in the light of your glory through your Son the light of the world; inflame us with your hope!" (Blessing of the Fire). And so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles we pass the light of Christ among us. It is "the light which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride" (Exsultet). This is Christ's light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope -- Christ's light beckons you to be guiding stars for others, walking Christ's way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace.

*snip*

Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church's liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ's disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free...."

Ahh...those snippets don't do the address justice. It truly was a glorious piece of oratory, instruction, and exhortation.

Signs I've been doing too much thesis work lately:

2008-04-08T14:53:00.004-07:00

[Background: My primary source is only extant in fragments, which must be culled and compiled from various other ancient manuscripts. Also, there is a lot of Platonic talk about the Son being the Logos (Word) or Sophia (Wisdom) of the Father.]

Exhibit A:

QM - "Here's my newest installment on my thesis draft, Dr. H."

Dr. H (returning the draft)- "See my comments embedded in text. I'm keeping your individual drafts, identified by the date on which they were sent to me, meaning that what I have is a set of fragments."

QM - "Perhaps what we should do at the end is put them all together in slightly mixed-up order, print them out (including your embedded comments), and present them as an alternate manuscript tradition of the original text."

Exhibit B:

Feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted after seven hours of research, QM looks at the Crucifix and thinks about how Christ remained on the Cross despite being at His human breaking point. He didn't take a break from His work of love and redemption.

Then QM thinks, "But Jesus, you didn't have to worry about losing your sanity. You are Wisdom. You can't go insane, no matter what happens to you. Therefore, you didn't need breaks. I do."

[This post inspired by The Ironic Catholic.]

For serious?!

2008-04-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

SNOW?!?!?!!!!!????

It is April, decidedly past snowtime. And yet we have seven new inches here in The Frozen North Which Fights Spring Like Its Life Depended On It.

*sigh*

Sed tu, Domine, usquequo?

Come support QM!

2008-04-03T19:00:00.004-07:00

Dear Friends,

I will be presenting my Catholic Studies Master's Essay to the public on May 7 at 5:30pm, and I would love to have you join me for the occasion. It will be in the leather room of the O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library of the University of St. Thomas. Light refreshments will be provided. One or two of my classmates will also be presenting in the same block of time; I believe we will each have a half hour.

In my paper I take a close look at the work On Philosophy from Oracles by Porphyry, a third century pagan writer, and at the responses to this work written by Eusebius and St. Augustine. Porphyry launches a subtle attack on Christianity by building a pagan apologetic and criticizing the Christian movement for digressing from the time-tested pagan means of salvation. (I bet you didn't know that the pagans even had "time-tested means of salvation!" Don't worry...many pagans didn't know about them, either.) I'll also deal with how this work influenced the Christian doctrines which Eusebius and Augustine help to develop.

More or less exclusive to the presentation will be things like, "Why do I need to know this?" and "How did you ever pick this topic?" There will also be Q&A time.

I'm tempted to include a crash course on manuscript scholarship, since I had so much fun piecing together the fragments of On Philosophy from Oracles. I'm afraid, though, that I'll lose my audience if I foray too deep into Classical Geekdom. Opinions?

I hope to see you on May 7! :-)

Love,
QM

Orate pro me!

2008-03-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

I am visiting the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, MI this weekend; please pray for me as I continue to discern my vocation.

"My God, I am Thine for time and eternity
Teach me to cast myself entirely
Into the arms of Thy loving Providence
With the most lively, unlimited confidence
In Thy compassionate, tender pity.
Grant me, O most Merciful Redeemer,
That whatever Thou dost ordain or permit
May be acceptable to me.
Take from my heart all painful anxiety,
Suffer nothing to sadden me but sin,
Nothing to delight me but the hope of
coming to the possession of Thee,
My God and my all,
In Thine everlasting Kingdom.
Amen."

~Venerable Catherine McAuley, foundress of the RSMs

UPDATE:
I've returned, and even survived today's snowstorm which made the three hour drive into five hours (some harrowing close-calls with giant trucks were had). I love my guardian angel.
The weekend with the sisters was not what I expected. The Lord is at work in a big way. I'll say no more today.

Body of Christ for the World’s Salvation

2008-03-27T11:46:00.003-07:00

[The first paper of the new semester! Though I must admit, it was written several weeks ago and saved for the Easter season. Not sure that making my readers celebrate Easter with an academic paper is very charitable...but here it is anyway!]

In their book Resident Aliens, Hauerwas and Willemon make the argument that the Christian Church is to be a new polis, a “colony made up of those who are special, different, alien, and distinctive only in the sense that they are those who have heard Jesus say ‘Follow me,’ and have come forth to be part of a new people, a colony formed by hearing his invitation and saying yes” (92). This colony must necessarily exist in the world and interact with it – there is no other place for it to exist – but its relation to secular culture is primarily as a counterculture, a people set apart specifically to be a sign to the nations (cf. 43, 47). The Church, they argue, cannot find a reason for its existence in the secular world, not even in the divine love and service which it imparts to those outside its fold. The Church’s reason for being must be found within itself, and it is only by being the Church that Christianity can have any value to the world.

Hauerwas and Willemon hold much of their argument in common with the New Testament and Patristic writers. The Fathers also taught that the Church must be a sign of God’s Kingdom to an unrepentant world, that the Church must be in the world but not of it, that Christians are pilgrims in a foreign land. Both the Fathers and the authors of Resident Aliens asserted that the Church’s threefold task is to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ, and thus to raise up new members of Jesus Christ. They also agree that the only way the Church can accomplish these tasks is by being Church, a living and loving communion of believers. There is, however, a crucial difference between the ecclesiology advanced by Hauerwas and Willemon and that of the New Testament and early Church Fathers. The former thinkers tend to contain the Church’s responsibility within its own communion, certainly welcoming those who come from the world into that communion, but not extending its life of grace to the outside world. The latter, on the other hand, teach that the Church’s primary responsibility is precisely to bring the saving and life-giving grace of God to the whole world. The Church of the New Testament and of the early Fathers is as much an active force in the world as it is an intimate communion of its members, and these two facets of its character cannot be separated without losing some integral part of its identity.

Church as God’s People

The early Christians had a profound sense that they were called by God to be his chosen people, a continuation and re-creation of Israel. Gerhard Lohfink makes a clear case for this as a New Testament teaching in his book Does God Need the Church? After unpacking the “ecclesiology” of Israel as presented in the Old Testament, he turns to the New and points out the parallels between the original gathering of Israel as God’s chosen people and Jesus’ gathering of his disciples which would form the nascent Church. He makes it clear that the writers of the New Testament were convinced that they were part of the newly restored Israel, the people of God being gathered again into one nation from the ends of the earth to which it had been scattered.

Perhaps one of the most effective ways the New Testament writers show the status of the Christians as the new Israel in their texts is in the order in which they tell the story of Jesus. The Old Testament – both the Torah and the larger Hebrew Bible – ends “with a fundamental status of Israel: the people stand on the threshold of the land of promise, but they are not yet in the land itself. Everything remains open. The threshold has not yet been crossed” (Lohfink 125). The New Testament writers take up this status of Israel and proclaim the news that the threshold has been crossed in the person of Jesus Christ, that Israel is being gathered in the desert and brought into the promised land as the restored people of God. They do this very systematically even at the very beginning of each Gospel.

All four Gospels begin by relating how John the Baptist brought the people of Israel back out into the desert to be baptized and, thus, to prepare them for reentry into the promised land. John prepares the way for Christ by readying his people to be gathered again from the very location where Israel stood with Joshua, ready to cross over into Canaan. Jesus Christ, in turn, comes out into the desert to be baptized by John not merely as an individual, but as the whole of Israel. In Jesus, all of Israel is gathered together from the very moment of his baptism, and this was not lost on the Gospel writers. “The earliest Christian tradition very quickly attached to the event of Jesus’ baptism a scene that condensed all its experiences with Jesus and gathered them into a single image so as to interpret Jesus’ person and mission” (126). It is no coincidence that it is after his baptism that Jesus begins his work of gathering his disciples and proclaiming the kingdom. The restoration of Israel is begun and typified by his immersion in the waters of the Jordan River.

The identity of the Church as the people of God has all-encompassing implications for its role in the world. Lohfink places great emphasis on its work of gathering the nations which has continued from the life of Jesus even into our day, and which will continue until the second coming. The story of Israel throughout the Old Testament was one of the people scattering and God gathering them together again into a unity (cf. 53). Furthermore, Israel did not begin as a single people, but as many, made a new family by the saving work of God. “The people of God,” Lohfink asserts, “cannot exist without constantly gathering from all the corners of the universe” (59). The prophets and apostles were sent out into the world in order to gather the people of God, and their mission had no meaning if it did not have the gathering and unity of Israel at its heart. The Church exists in order to draw all people to Christ.

Church as Body of Christ

The early Christians understood the Church’s drawing all to Christ in a very real and practical sense, not merely in the spiritual-world sense to which it can sometimes be relegated. To them – and to us today – the Church is not only the people of God, but quite literally the body of Christ Jesus. Members of the Church are so intimately united to Christ and to one another that they form the members of one, unified body whose head is Christ, as Saint Paul proclaims so vividly in his letters. J.-M.-R. Tillard explores the early Christians’ understanding of the communion of the body of Christ in his book Flesh of the Church, Flesh of Christ, and he uses many passages from the Church Fathers to support his claim that the early Church understood itself to be the flesh of Christ in the world. He especially emphasizes the Fathers’ Eucharistic bent on their teachings about the Church.

Tillard writes that “the principal effect of the Eucharist […] is insertion into the body of Christ, a body whose head is the risen Lord, a body made up of this head and its members, which are the baptized, a body vivified by the Spirit given by Christ who receives it from the Father” (38-39). He makes this statement, which perhaps best summarizes his entire work, immediately after quoting a passage from Hilary of Potiers that teaches that Christians are not merely “in Christ” through the sacrament of the Eucharist in the sense of a “unity of will,” because in that case Christ could never have taught at the Last Supper that “The world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20). Rather, the Eucharist allows each person who eats and drinks his flesh and blood to abide in Him, and He in them. In turn, this mutual abiding brings about that intimate indwelling which He proclaims (Tillard 38).

Nor is Hilary alone in this Eucharistic ecclesiology. Tillard quotes Augustine of Hippo at length to present his teaching that communicants literally become what they receive in the Eucharist – the living body of Christ Jesus. Augustine spells out some of the implications of this theology on the Christian life very clearly in several of his sermons:

So if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle telling the faithful, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:27). So if it’s you that are the body of Christ and its members, it’s the mystery meaning you that has been placed on the Lord’s table; what you receive is the mystery that means you. It is to what you are that you reply Amen and by so replying you express your assent. What you hear, you see, is the body of Christ, and you answer, Amen. So be a member of the body of Christ, in order to make that Amen true. (42)

You are on the table and you are in the chalice, you along with us are this. We are in this together. We are drinking this together because we are living it together…. (43)

The body of Christ in the Eucharist, then, is inseparable from the body of Christ that is the Church. Augustine and others of the Church Fathers lay out this theology as one which must be manifest in the daily lives of the members of that body. They are to be and act as Christ in the world, and this obligation is both effect and prerequisite for their eating of the bread which is his body. The Church lives out the love, the sacrifice, the witness, and the service of Christ in the lives of all its members, precisely because Christ and the Church are one body and one spirit. As Lohfink adeptly puts it, “The Risen One himself could no longer be seen by anyone, but everyone can see his communities. They are his body in the world. They are the visible body of the Cricified and Risen One. They are as real and physical as the disciples experienced the Risen one to be” (Lohfink 207).

Church as Sacrament

From the communion of the Body of Christ, which Tillard presents as the essential quality of the Church, flows its identity as a sacrament of salvation (Lohfink 207). Not only do the Eucharist and other sacraments bring grace and life to the members of the Church, but the Church itself as the Body of Christ becomes a sign and conduit of grace to the whole world. Henri de Lubac elucidates this clearly in his chapter on “Salvation through the Church” in his book Catholicism. He begins the chapter by stating that the Church’s mystical reality cannot be understood apart from its visible existence in time, that “she is both at the beginning and at the end, and all that lies between is full of her foreshadowings and her expansion” (de Lubac 217). From this perspective, he claims, the seeming “conflict between belief in a world-wide call to salvation and belief in the Church as necessary for this same salvation is seen to be resolved” (ibid.). In the rest of the chapter, de Lubac uses mostly Patristic sources to explain exactly how the Church is this sacrament of salvation.

His natural starting point, because he has made the claim that the Church is at the very beginning of time, is at the creation of man. He, with the Fathers, explains that the human race is one and has a common destiny, by the very fact of its origin in a single man, Adam. By that common nature and destiny, therefore, all people are members of the same body, and the life of all members of the human race comes from the life of that body. Therefore, de Lubac notes, the body must be saved if the members are to be saved. “But salvation for this body, for humanity, consists in its receiving the form of Christ, and that is possible only through the Catholic Church” (223). As Augustine proclaims, “In her alone mankind is refashioned and recreated” (ibid.). The Church is to be the means of salvation not only to its members, but to all mankind, by being the body of Christ in the world.

“The Church has ever acknowledged her responsibility for all the human race,” de Lubac claims, adding that if the Church were to turn away from that responsibility it would be to deny its very being (228). It is called to be a missionary Church, in which “to bring all men to take part in [Christ’s] saving redemption” is the principal work of her pastors (229). Even more profoundly, it is the task of each member of the body of Christ to “cooperate in the collective salvation of the world by taking part […] in the construction of that great building of which we must be at once the workmen and the stones; [and to cooperate] in the individual salvation of those who remain apparently ‘unbelievers’” (241). All grace, as St. Basil writes, is given for the sake of others. The members of Christ’s body are given the grace of salvation precisely so that they can, in turn, be channels of that same grace for every member of the body of humankind. “The rest of the world is bound up with us, and it cannot be saved without us” (243).

Conclusion

Hauerwas and Willemon do come close to de Lubac’s sacramental ecclesiology in their discourse on the Sermon on the Mount. Here, they explain that the Christian ethic, within the Church community or without it, has its source in the living communion of believers and the Christian task of proclaiming the work which God is doing in Christ. Among the examples they provide is that of forgiveness and reconciliation. One learns how to receive and give forgiveness at the Lord’s Table, and then can bring that forgiveness into the secular world. The forgiveness then becomes a sign of and part of God’s work in the world (Hauerwas and Willemon 91). “We seek reconciliation with the neighbor, not because we will feel so much better afterward, but because reconciliation is what God is doing in the world in the Christ” (86). However, Houerwas and Willemon lack the understanding of the Church’s mission of salvation in the world which the Fathers have at the heart of their ecclesiology. For them, “the confessing church […] seeks to influence the world by being the church, that is, by being something the world is not and can never be, lacking the gift of faith and vision which is ours in Christ” (46). They leave no room for the world’s conversion and transformation, no room for the movement of grace outside the Church’s walls. It is telling that they make the claim on page eighty three that “we serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.” The New Testament and early Church Fathers would only begin by showing the world the Christian family; much more than showing, however, they would strive as the body of Christ to bring the world into that family, and to extend the life of that family into the world.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T20:42:00.005-07:00

CHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
ALLELUIA!!!

Dearest Friends,

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! Today we celebrate not chocolate and bunnies, but the most glorious of all days, the triumphant Resurrection of the Lord! ALLELUIA! He has conquered death for our sake, has won for us the grace of salvation, that we might stand with Him in glory for eternity. The Lamb who was slain has risen from the dead, and with Him we also rise from the tomb of our sin, out of darkness to light, out of despair to hope, out of death to life. REJOICE, therefore, and sing with me of the mercy of God! Blessed be the Lamb who was slain! Blessed be God for his love everlasting! Alleluia, alleluia! Let us truly celebrate on this feast of feasts and all during this blessed season.

"Exult, angelic throngs of heaven; exult, divine mysteries; and let salvation's trumpet sound for the victory of such a King! Let the earth also rejoice, illumined with such brilliance; enlightened with the splendor of the eternal King, let it know that the whole world's darkness has been dispersed!"*

Happy, happy, happy Easter! Alleluia!

QM

*The quote is from the [much longer] Exsultet of Easter Vigil, which is even better in Latin. You should go check it out. ;-) This page has a great Latin-literal English-ICEL translation of the Exsultet text...dunno who did it, but it is enlightening.

Breaking the Lenten Fast in honor of the OED "Word of the Day"

2008-03-12T07:40:00.002-07:00

The Oxford English Dictionary honors Quantitative Metathesis with its "Word of the Day" award! (Because, of course, we were the reason they picked yesterday's word.)

Hat tip to Father Z, who forwarded the email to me.

metathesis, n.

Plural metatheses. [from post-classical Latin metathesis (3rd cent. in sense 1a) or its etymon ancient Greek METATHESIS transposition (in Hellenistic Greek in sense 1a) from META prefix + THESIS n., after METATITHENAI to transpose, change. Cf. Middle French, French métathèse (1587 in sense 1a, 1747 in sense 2b).]

1. a. The transposition of sounds or letters in a word, or (occas.) of whole words or syllables; the result of such a transposition. Formerly also: substitution of one sound or letter for another (obs. rare). Now chiefly Linguistics.

[...]

b. spec. in Classical Prosody. quantitative metathesis (also metathesis of quantity) transposition of the lengths of two consecutive vowels, as long-short to short-long (see also quot. 1973).

[...]

And now, back to our regularly scheduled penance.

That's all, folks!

2008-02-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Have a blessed Lententide. I'll see you all to celebrate the Resurrection!

(Apologies that the last posts were so terrible...I'm so embarrassed that I actually turned in that paper.)

The Church in the Eyes of Pagan Rome: Part IV

2008-02-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Porphyry, Conclusions

Nearly a century after Galen criticized the Christian philosophy, Christianity had grown into a significant and permanent force in the Roman empire, and was recognized as such by its pagan surroundings. In the latter half of the third century, the pagan philosopher Porphyry (232-305) wrote a number of critiques of the Church which have survived in fragmentary form only through the generations of Christian scholars who quoted and attempted to refute his arguments. He was a formidably learned adversary of Christianity and drew on his knowledge of history, philosophy, religion, chronography, and literary criticism in order to engage and refute Christian teachings.[1] He also had extensive knowledge of both Jewish and Christian Scriptures and made Biblical criticism more central to his arguments than any other critic before him had, partially thanks to his familiarity with Origen’s work in scriptural interpretation.[2] The aim of his writings, like those of Celsus, was to debunk Christian claims of historical credibility, and in it he reiterates some of the same arguments of his predecessors. Like Galen, he challenges the Christian irrationality of placing God above natural laws. Like Celsus, he questions the idea of historical revelation as manifest in God’s entrance into the world at one particular time and not another, and he criticizes Christianity’s apostasy from Judaism.[3] However, because he is more familiar with the nuances of Christianity than the previous critics were (or because Christianity has itself become more nuanced in its teachings), he is also able to discern and attack the credibility of the very sources of Christian authority: Holy Scripture and the tradition of the apostles.

Porphyry launches his attack on Christian authority on both the literary and personal fronts. He is aware of the importance of Scripture to the emerging Christian tradition and practice, and of the need to discredit it as a part of the effort to discredit the religion as a whole. He is especially concerned with challenging the prophetic qualities of Old Testament books such as Daniel, used by the Christians in their arguments that Jesus is the Messiah. Daniel was a particularly important text for these arguments because it not only was said to have prophesied about the Messiah, but to have predicted the date of the Messiah’s birth as well – the date on which the historical Jesus was born. In Porphyry’s work Against the Christians, however, he uses his own study of chronology to argue that Daniel was written four hundred years after the Christians claim that it was composed, and he further maintains that the book was a historiographical narrative of current events in the second century BCE and not a work of prophesy on any level. The implications of his argument, if accepted as true, were able to undermine any of the contemporary Christian historical interpretations of Daniel.[4] Porphyry does not limit his literary criticism to Old Testament, either. He subjects the four gospels to careful scrutiny and points out the inconsistencies between their accounts of Jesus’ life, as we know from the citations given by Augustine of Hippo in his On the Harmony of the Gospels. Porphyry concludes from these inconsistencies that Jesus Christ, as the divine God whom the Christians worship, was largely invented by the apostles after the crucifixion.[5] Furthermore, the mistakes of and rivalries between the apostles and early leaders of Christianity catch Porphyry’s attention and prompt him to question their reliability. How can the Church attribute such awesome authority to these figures, he asks, when they do not seem to be at all consistent or reliable?[6] He thus severely weakens the credibility of the Christian writings and original leaders, the very things which he identified the pillars and foundation of Christianity.

Much more dangerous than his frontal attack on Christian authority, however, is Porphyry’s approach to the growing problem of Christianity which he adopts in his Philosophy from Oracles. Part of this work was dedicated to habilitating Christianity into the larger framework of pagan religion and culture, an attempt which Porphyry may have made because of Christianity’s insistence on spreading instead of fading into historical oblivion. In it, the critic distances himself from claims that Jesus was a magician or a pretender to divinity, and instead presents a very positive appraisal of the figure of Jesus. He does so in order to integrate the central figure of the Christian movement into his own portrait of traditional Roman religion, presenting him as “pious and most just and wise and an inhabitant of the vaults of the heavens.”[7] Porphyry thus attempts to place Jesus on par with semi-divine figures such as Hercules and Pythagoras, who were both patrons of their own religious and philosophical movements. He advances the idea that Jesus, like other pious and rational men, worshiped “the one God whom all men worship” and taught his apostles also to venerate him. It was only after his death that his disciples fell into error and proposed the worship of Jesus himself, to replace that of the one God.[8] What is particularly cunning about this approach to criticizing Christianity is that Porphyry seems to grant the Christians some of their central tenants – such as veneration of Jesus as a holy teacher of the true worship of the one God, or the importance of leading a virtuous life as a part of the reverence due to God – but it does so at the expense of the Christians’ claim to possess the exclusive divine revelation of all truth. Christian intellectuals of the third, fourth, and even fifth centuries recognized the danger in this subtle attempt to integrate their Church into mainstream paganism, and they spent much ink and effort in their refutations of Porphyry’s Philosophy from Oracles. Incidentally, and perhaps not coincidentally, the Arian controversy over the divine nature of Jesus Christ broke out immediately after Porphyry was writing his critiques.[9]

Conclusions

In these few literary observations by pagans about the nascent Christian Church can be found several themes which even the least informed of them seem to be aware of. Each notes the centrality of the figure of Jesus Christ, the man crucified in Palestine and subsequently worshiped by his disciples as their primary god. Each of the philosopher critics also points out that the Christians believe in and worship one, free, eternal, and omnipotent God who created the world from nothing by an act of his will, and they immediately call attention to the contradiction between believing in one God and worshiping a human being as equal to him. Finally, the critics also all seem perplexed by the Christians’ notion of the historicity of their religion, and by their rejection of their Jewish heritage, the one claim they could have made to antiquity. These characteristics and the worries and objections they raised, then, can most likely be said to have been known at least by the well-educated pagans of Rome, if not by the general population.

As the centuries progressed in the early years of the Christian Church, its pagan critics gradually became better informed about the movement and adopted more nuanced arguments against it. They moved from simply dismissing it as superstitio to accepting it as a philosophy in the second century, when Galen took issue with its teachings on creatio ex nihilo and a God who is above all laws of nature. Later on, Celsus engaged its claims on the philosophical level for the first time, challenging its relation to Judaism and the historicity of Christ. Finally, the formidable Porphyry confronted Christianity on its own terms, matching its Biblical scholarship with his own and conceding large parts of the Christian teachings as legitimate in an attempt to accommodate the creed into traditional paganism. It is a testament to Christianity’s steady growth in both numbers and credibility that its critics had to engage it on a rational level which was constantly raised during the first three centuries, until even the brightest of them could not debunk it as a genuine religion but tried, rather, to incorporate it in its entirety into the pagan world. Though it had by no means gained the majority of the Roman population by the end of the third century, Christianity was gradually winning the day long before Constantine’s conversion in 312.

[1] Wilken, p. 127.

[2] Ibid., p. 130.

[3] Ibid., p. 161ff, outlines Porphyry’s main points of continuity with previous pagan critics of Christianity.

[4] Ibid., pp. 138-139.

[5] Ibid., p. 145.

[6] Ibid., p. 146.

[7] Ibid., p. 160.

[8] Ibid., p. 153, summarizes Porphyry’s argument for integrating Christianity into paganism.

[9] Ibid., p. 160.

The Church in the Eyes of Pagan Rome: Part III

2008-02-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Galen, Celsus

In contrast to the rather vague, blanket charges of superstitio which most pagans until Lucian’s time levied against Christianity, two writers in the last half of the second century took the new movement to task on a much more nuanced level. The first author, Galen, lived from roughly 129 to 200, was one of the finest physicians of the pagan world, and treats the Christians in several of his scientific works as a philosophical school instead of the superstitio of a sect or cult.[1] In doing so, he shows the nascent Church the first sign of pagan respect, however begrudgingly it is given. The philosophies of his day were well-established parts of the empire’s public life and were schools of thought which strove after a life of virtue, neither of which were claims that superstitio could make.[2] While Galen disagrees on multiple levels with the particular philosophy the Christians teach, he does considers them worthy of being criticized as philosophers, and this is a great promotion for the Church in the eyes of the pagans.

The primary objection Galen has to Christianity’s rationality lies in their teaching on creation. Though he seems not to be at all familiar with the New Testament writings, he is certainly familiar with the books of the Old Testament and possibly has heard Christian teachings about God’s omnipotence. Several of his statements recall such Gospel texts as “God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones,” and “what is possible with men is possible with God.”[3] In his book on the human pulse (De pulsuum differentiis), he makes a derogatory comment about the “followers of Moses and Christ” who talk of and believe “undemonstrated laws” merely because they were commanded by God.[4] Galen abhors the idea that God can be somehow outside the laws of nature, able to will things which could not be in the natural order, and he is the first critic of Christianity to note the implications of the emerging doctrine of creatio ex nihilo.[5] In nature, nothing can come out of what does not exist. If God can violate this law, as the Christians claim he can, he becomes “capricious, arbitrary, even whimsical, subject to no laws other than his own will, and beyond the bounds of nature, a rule unto himself.”[6] This God was contrary to reason and, therefore, according to Galen, contrary to good philosophy.

The main reason that Galen chooses to treat Christianity as a philosophical school is its consistent success in leading people to a life of virtue. In his observations of individual Christians, he noticed their apparent contempt of death and its sequel, restraint in cohabitation, asceticism, and pursuit of justice, and he was perplexed that such obvious virtue could arise out of a philosophy which was basically unsound.[7] In the Greek intellectual tradition with which he was familiar, the genuine moral life began with knowledge of truth. Galen is unable to deny that many Christians “have reached such a point in their control regarding their daily conduct and in their intense desire for rectitude that they have in fact become not inferior to those who are true philosophers” and, having made that concession, he is resigned to deal with the movement as a school of faulty philosophy rather than an easily-written-off superstitio.

Roughly twenty years after Galen was referring to Christianity in his scientific treatises, a philosopher named Celsus wrote On True Doctrine specifically against the Christians. In its surviving fragments, preserved in Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica, Celsus displays intimate, firsthand knowledge of Christianity. He is familiar with its Scriptures, its teachings on the life of Jesus, its Jewish origins, the importance of the hope of resurrection, and selected apologetic writings.[8] He draws on all of this knowledge in order to assail the growing Church on every possible front: from its Jewish heritage, from its internal coherence, and from its conflict with the pagan status quo.

While not the most central of his arguments against the Christian movement, a potentially devastating one is his assertion that Christians are merely Jewish apostates. This argument draws on pietas and the innate Roman respect for ancient traditions, and it would have had particular weight in Celsus’ day because Jews were a large minority spread throughout the empire, and their odd-but-ancient customs would have been well-known.[9] When he proves from the Christians’ own teachings that the upstart movement, at the same time as it claims to be the heir of Judaism, rejects its community, customs, and laws, and that the Jews themselves do not recognize Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah, Celsus throws considerable suspicion onto the legitimacy of Christianity. Because of the connection which the Greco-Roman tradition makes between ancient teaching and true teaching, the Jewish tradition cannot be dismissed out of hand for its foreign ways. Christianity, on the other hand, lost its continuity with antiquity when it divorced itself from the outward manifestations of Judaism.[10] A movement of any sort which has turned its back on its ancestral customs, rites, and laws was immediately suspect in the eyes of the Romans, and Celsus thus renews and strengthens with concrete evidence the older accusations of superstitio which we found in Pliny and the early second-century historians.

Although he does nuance such popular prejudices against Christianity, Celsus recognizes the Christians’ need to argue their case publicly and philosophically, and therefore his most serious arguments assume, as Galen’s did, that they are to be judged by the same standards as other philosophers.[11] He concentrates most of his critique on debunking the new religion’s claim to historical credibility by appealing to logic and by advancing alternative explanations for the critical parts of Jesus’ life. He is the first pagan critic that we know of who concentrates on the figure of Jesus Christ. Most before him criticized the Christians themselves for their strange teachings and practices, but he recognizes that the Christians’ assertions about their way of life are centered on the credibility of their claims about Jesus and can only be refuted by an attack on those assertions. He therefore turns to the gospels and singles out a few of their central claims about the figure of Christ.[12] In addressing the Incarnation, he points out the apparent contradiction between the Christian teaching that God is immutable, spiritual, and eternal, and their insistence that God took on human flesh at a specific point in history. Celsus goes on to inquire, perhaps sarcastically, what God’s purpose in doing so would be, and why he did so during the reign of Augustus and not some other time.[13] Similarly, with regard to Jesus’ divine sonship, Celsus accuses Christians of undermining their own insistence on monotheism. The pagan author himself subscribes to the monotheism of the philosophers, and he argues that by regarding Christ as an equal of the one, true God, Christians create two supreme objects of worship and thus undermine the fundamental principle of monotheism.[14]

Celsus, perhaps, would have been willing to grant legitimacy to Christian worship of Jesus had he been convinced by their proofs of his divinity. However, he is highly skeptical that the facts of Jesus’ life as presented in the Scriptures were reported accurately. He questions the historical verifiability of Jesus’ virgin birth, baptism, and resurrection, based on the lack of reliable witnesses to these events and on the fact that there are parallel stories in other ancient religious traditions.[15] The parts of Jesus’ life which do seem plausible to him – an itinerant Jewish teacher, claims of wonder-working, and crucifixion by the Roman government – are at best not enough to support the claim of Christ’s divinity, and at worst blatant contradictions of it. Furthermore, wonder-workers were fairly common figures in the religious climate of the first few centuries –

Egypt

, for example, was famous for its magicians – and miracles were taken for granted in the Roman world.[16] Celsus finds the miracles reported in the gospels to be similar to those performed by magicians in his own day, and he suggests that Christ, far from being the Son of God, was an Egyptian-trained magician and that his followers have continued to practice magic “by pronouncing the names of certain daemons and incantations.”[17] He backs up this claim with an intriguing alternate account of Jesus’ life, possibly taken from Jewish sources. According to it, Jesus was conceived out of wedlock to a poor Jewish woman and a Roman soldier, and after he was born in secret, the woman fled with him to

Egypt

. After growing up there, he hired himself out as a laborer, learned magic from the Egyptian sorcerers, and eventually returned to Judea conceitful of his powers and claiming for himself the title “Son of God.”[18] In short, Celsus maintains that the case for Jesus’ divinity cannot be made convincingly enough to warrant his exaltation to equality with the one, true God.

That the Christians do worship Jesus as God is an affront to the entire structure of the pagan world, as Celsus makes clear. It is not enough that they refuse to participate in the traditional life of the empire, which is so grounded on the rites and reverence for the various pagan gods, and that they do not acknowledge that worshiping several gods who all belong to the one God does not detract from his honor.[19] According to Celsus, the Christians actually undermine the worship of the one God by eliminating all other gods and then exalting a man to God’s status. That man becomes a rival to the one God, the legitimate head of the divine hierarchy, instead of his servant. In preferring the worship of a dead man to the traditional worship of God manifest in proper reverence for all in the hierarchy, Celsus claims, the Christians threaten to disrupt the very cohesion and stability of society. [20] Furthermore, they are establishing themselves as a new and separate people in their laws and behavior, but without the legitimacy which comes from land or antiquity. The Christians seem to Celsus to be introducing an entirely new (and very alarming) concept of religion which is not bound to a particular city or ethnicity, which privatizes religion and renders the religious association entirely separate from the doings of the larger society. In making their own association’s god equal to the God of all, the Christians were throwing into question the fundamental order of the entire culture.[21]

These fears of Christian sedition are, perhaps, the same fears which prompted – and continue to prompt when Celsus is writing – the Roman government’s trials and condemnations of Christians. Pliny had already called them a “political association” of the sort which had been outlawed for fear of sedition even in the first century. Many others besides Suetonius, Tacitus, and the emperors had levied the charge of superstitio against the Church, as well as the ambiguous charges of “crimes” and “hatred of humanity.” Celsus, while never using the language of these past accusations, fleshes out the reasons and fears behind them. He simply presents in a well-reasoned manner the natural instincts of Roman pagans when they encounter Christianity, and especially as they “were becoming anxious at the progress of a belief which seemed to destroy the loyalty of the masses to tradition and therewith their loyalty to the State itself.”[22]

[1] Wilken, p. 73.

[2] Ibid., p. 74

[3] Ibid., pp. 87-88.

[4] Richard Walzer, Galen on Jews and Christians (London: Oxford UP, 1949), quoted by Ramsay MacMullen and Eugene Lane in Paganism and Christianity, 100-425 C.E., (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1992), p. 168.

[5] Wilken, p. 89.

[6] Ibid., p. 93.

[7] Ibid., p. 83; Walzer, p. 168.

[8] Wilken, pp. 94ff, provides an excellent analysis of Celsus’ thought as presented in Origen’s Contra Celsum.

[9] Ibid., p. 114.

[10] Ibid., p. 116.

[11] Ibid., pp. 96, 101.

[12] Ibid., p. 109.

[13] Ibid., p. 103.

[14] Ibid., p. 105.

[15] Ibid., p. 111.

[16] Ramsay MacMullen, in Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100-400 (New Haven: Yale UP, 2004), p. 23-25, reflects on the role of miracles in the early Christian message.

[17] Wilken, p. 98.

[18] Ibid., pp. 109-110.

[19] MacMullen, p. 12, briefly explains the pagan philosophic notion of a divine hierarchy crowned by the one God but not excluding lesser gods which all belong to him as a part of created nature.

[20] Ibid., p. 18; Wilken, pp. 120-121.

[21] Ibid., pp. 124-125.

[22] Hugh Last, in “The Study of the ‘Persecutions,’” from The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 27, Part 1 (1937), p. 92, concludes his discussion of the Roman persecutions of Christianity in the second century with this brief indication of the changing relationship between pagans and Christians at the beginning of the third century.

Notice of Lenten Absence

2008-02-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

I must warn you, fair Blog-Reader, that I shall be taking a leave of absence from blogdom during the season of Lent which is upon us. Instead of online, reading wonderfully interesting blog posts and occasionally writing my own, I will probably be found in one of the libraries in Saint Paul, attempting to glorify God through research.

I do have the rest of my paper set to be published on this blog over the next few days, but after that, QM will be silent for forty-odd days. Meanwhile, we will be united in prayer!