Lux Aurumque

This is one of my favorite Christmas choral pieces, here performed by the choir of King's College Cambridge.  It is by my favorite 20th-21st century choral composers, Eric Whitacre.  These are the lyrics and their translation:


Latin Lyrics:

Lux,
calida gravisque pura velut aurum
et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum. 

English Lyrics:

Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and the angels sing softly
to the new-born baby.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Sugar Plum Fairy by P.Tchaikovsky - Glass Harp

"The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts"

A reading from The Book of the Prophet Isaiah:

The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
   a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
   and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
   as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
   the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
   you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
   every cloak rolled in blood,
   will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
   upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
   Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
   and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
   which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
   both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

Merry Christmas!

Modesty

Today I came across an interesting blog post concerning women and modesty.  This has been an important issue in recent times, when the line between masculinity and femininity has become increasingly... translucent.

I think the writer of this article makes a great point: "... clothes make a statement about who we are and what we believe."  With society growing hostile to gender differentiation, we need to be aware of what we believe about modesty and how to execute the appropriate prudence required.

So, does that mean I think that women should be wearing skirts down to the floor and look as frumpy as possible so as to dissuade men from looking at them in a fashion that would suggest that impure thoughts are lerking in their minds?  Um... no.  The femininity of a women is not predicated by her clothing.  It is her acceptance of herself as woman, regardless of external or even internal pressures to the contrary.

Guys don't get off the hook here, either.  Men have just as much of an obligation to seek out prudent modesty as women.  Overt sexualization of one's appearance, with any gender, is a thing to be avoided, because of our obligations to our brothers and sisters in Christ, yes, but more importantly, out of respect for who we are and Who made us.

Overt sexualization of a person, be it with pornography or even simple envy, is the objectification of that person, lowering them from the dignity they deserve as being made in the image and likeness of God.  This is destructive to the person who sexualizes because it not only objectifies another, but inevitably objectifies one's self -- I'm not as beautiful or handsome as this other person; I will not be a perfect person until I have this or that physical aspect or condition.  Ultimately, I need to BE someone I am not in order to be perfect.

Our society is built on an innate desire for perfection.  How we go about searching for that perfection is what differentiates sinners from saints.

Catholic Diocese buys Crystal Cathedral

In November, the Catholic Diocese of Orange purchased the iconic, and bankrupt, Crystal Cathedral for $57 million.

I have to admit that hearing this news brought a mixed bag of feelings for me. I am first saddened for the congregation of the Crystal Cathedral, who had placed their trust in the administration of their place of worship, and we're rudely awakened by misuse of funds and a general corruption from their spiritual leaders.

Secondly, I am disappointed in the choice of buying the church by the Catholic diocese. I am not a big fan of the architecture, and there will need to be some extensive renovations and maintanence of the building in order to utilize it for liturgical functions and maintain upkeep. It's a huge green house, people! The a/c bills alone are bound to be astronomical!!

But ultimately, I have to say, I'm sorta happy. Finally, after loss upon loss of our own sacred spaces to other religions, museums, bombings, and urban renewal projects, the Catholic Church has turned the tables. I think Bishop Tod Brown said it best in a news report when asked about whether he knew of anything like this happening before:

"No, I don't know, but I do know that during the Reformation, a lot of huge Catholic Cathedrals became Protestant Cathedrals."

Say what you will about the building; I think this entire affair goes great distances in showing the longevity and integrity of the Catholic Faith.

Priest threatened with arrest over free speech

Credibility of Christianity: Incarnation, Kenosis, and Trust

Foundational Theology’s basis stems from the theological minds of Christianity who have relied on the testimony of those who have gone before them, in the Christian Faith as well as in the Jewish creed and in Greek philosophy.  It realizes the deep-seated desire of humanity for completion, for perfection, and for love.  Through this realization it offers a way, “the Way” of its founder and its God.  Jesus, the “man-God,”[1] reveals the truth of this human desire by giving Himself, both as an historical figure and as a community of believers.  Humanity’s quest for ultimate perfection can be satisfied by this community, which is built upon the principles of God becoming Man, His kenosis of Self, and His trust in Man’s ability to choose correctly. 

It must be seen, initially, that man desires perfection.  Throughout history, one can see a human push toward self-actualization and completion.  From Jewish religiosity, to Aristotle’s metaphysics, and even in the grotesque human sacrifices of the Aztecs, there is evidence of ancient historical truth-seeking.  It is this seeking which compels humanity to provide for itself a means of answering the question of human existence. In his work, At the Origin of the Christian Claim, Luigi Giussani, founder of the lay Catholic movement Communion and Liberation, states that this yearning is the “religious sense”[2] of humanity which is “an urgent need for total fulfillment, for maximum completeness.”[3]  This need leads to an honest search for answers to the mystery and the dynamism of the human spirit.  But this search can only go so far with the help of reason, whose “summit is the perception of the existence of the mystery” that is God.[4]  Like the aid given to Dante by Virgil in his Divine Comedy, reason is unable in itself to glimpse the perfect:

But Virgil had deprived us of his light,

Virgil the sweetest father, Virgil, he

In whom I trusted that I might be healed,

Nor all the world our mother Eve once lost

Could keep my cheeks that had been cleansed with dew

from darkening again with bitter tears.[5]

As Giussani states: “what man can attain by his own efforts regarding the divine, the meaning of his destiny, will never lose its image as an insecure, sometimes anxiety-ridden swamp that surrounds him.”[6]

It is only through faith that Man is capable of sincere freedom for excellence, which is ultimately seen in the acceptance of the Christian claim of credibility.  Reason is only capable of realizing the necessity of “Another;”[7] it is impotent in bringing about any further enlightenment or sustenance.[8]

In order to see Christianity as credible, one must ascertain in what context Christianity has been approached by others.  Giussani goes on to state that religion “depends on people’s temperament, their environment, and their particular historical moment.”[9]  With this in mind, one can see that various time periods and cultures will inevitably approach the question of Christian credibility in different ways.  What does not change, however, is the desire for fulfillment. 

As paralleled in His own ministry and self-revelation, Christ is seen to gradually “remove the scales” from the eyes of His followers in order that they might come to an awareness of the credibility of His claim as the Son of God.  He forces those around Him to ask “Who is he?” -- showing the necessity for an interpretation based on reliability.[10]  Christ slowly advances his claim to be divine; first through signs and wonders, and eventually through explicit statements of identity, but always with an inherent trust in humanity’s ability to realize and then freely accept the truthfulness of His claim.[11]  It is on this freedom that our natures rely in order to realize the “intimate and original position of our conscience before the totality of beings and of Being.”[12] 

Christ’s trust in us precipitates a demand of trust in Him, to follow His way of life, and ultimately to give one’s self utterly to Him.  This trust is witnessed in Christ’s own kenosis and condescension as God become Man.[13] His self-emptying, as answer to humanity’s demand for the perfect, is itself a demand for the kenosis of the individual who chooses to accept the Christian claim.  It is in this that Man comes to realize that “the very life of our nature is love, the affirmation of Another as the self’s meaning.”[14]

This personal kenosis requires a personal conversion.  In his book Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System, Avery Cardinal Dulles describes conversion as “a radical shift in a person’s apprehensions and values, accompanied by a similar radical change in oneself, in one’s relations with other persons, and in one’s relations to God.”[15]  This idea of conversion is a dramatic alteration of an individual’s perspective on reality; it changes one’s ability to comprehend aspects of faith and reason in order to allow for the rational choice of accepting a religious claim of credibility.  Conversion can be seen, then, as a “radical transformation, involving the transvaluation of all values.”[16] 

The rational choice of acceptance cannot be made by naturally evident criteria, however.  This can only be done through revelatory and faith-based testimony.[17]  Testimony plays a key role in the transmission of any religious tradition, but particularly Christianity, being deeply rooted in the historical fact of the Incarnation.  The witness of individuals closely linked to this historical reality serves as a basis for accepting the testimony presented.  It is only in a type of delayed judgment that one is able to be “genuinely open to the testimony of another.”[18]  These individuals must show themselves to have been personally transformed by the message they present, bearing public witness to the transformative nature of their faith.[19]

Coming full circle, conversion requires its own kenosis of self.   One’s old individualistic identity must be poured out in order that a new identity, that of a person of communion, may take its place.  This must be done completely, sincerely, and freely.  As Dulles so eloquently phrases it:  “We do not so much grasp the faith as allow ourselves to be grasped by it, so that we are at its disposal rather than its being at ours.”[20]

In the end, the Christian faith must be accepted or rejected on its own terms and within the context to which it belongs.  The coherence of Christianity comes from its ability to relate to the individual of any time, place, or culture, and depends on the willingness of the individual to follow in the footsteps of Christ in trust.  Demonstrable proof will not afford an explanation for the credibility of the Christian claim, nor will blind obedience.  Informed trust in the testimony of Christ and his followers is necessary to accomplish the conversion required to answer the questions raised by the human experience.

---

[1] Luigi Giussani, At the Origin of the Christian Claim (Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press, 1998), 100.

[2] Ibid., 3.

[3] Ibid., 4.

[4] Ibid., 6.

[5] Anthony Esolen, trans., Dante: Purgatory (New York: Random House Inc., 2003), 327.

[6] Giussani, 8.

[7] Ibid., 89.

[8] Ibid., 21.

[9] Ibid., 12.

[10] Giussani, 56.

[11] Ibid., 52.

[12] Ibid., 79.

[13] Ibid., 106.

[14] Ibid., 102.

[15] Avery Dulles, S.J., Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System (New York: Crossford, 1995), 53.

[16] Ibid., 57.

[17] Ibid., 54.

[18] Ibid., 63.

[19] Ibid., 64.

[20] Ibid., 67.

Miracles Still Do Happen!!!

Boy’s survival from flesh-eating bacteria deemed a miracle by his familly - and the pope

Pope Michael... Uh, ok...

So... Apparently there was an election of a pope in 1990 of a guy from Oklahoma... I'm sorry about that, world. But, on the bright side, Jeopardy has Pope Michael's imprimatur.

OKC Thunder: I Love My State!

This is Looking at the Glass as Half-Full...

 Illinois: Catholic Charities ends adoption-services appeal, will 'focus on being more Catholic'

Obedience

This morning I came across an interesting article -- “None So Blind: Obedience is an Antidote to Stupidity.”  It brought to mind a couple of great insights concerning the problems facing the Church from two extreme ecclesial communities, but which, ironically, share a mindset.  

Modernism, as noted by Pope St. Pius X, is one of the greatest struggles of our time.  Regardless of what many within the Church may think, it is a viable problem that, left unchecked, will undermine what the Church has accomplished, especially within the last century.  Many within the Church have sought answers to alleviating this problem in the fringes of the Church – Liberalism and Conservatism.  These two political terms (which have no place in the Church, by the way), react to Modernism in what can be called correlational criticism of theology.  

Correlational theology, used by Liberal theologians, calls tradition into doubt due to “contemporary” theological principles.  They try to fit the Church’s teachings into modernity by critiquing tradition in order to fit it into the modern world.   This translates into a general calling into question anything that may contradict, at face value, modern scientific fact, and their motto tends to be “doubt everything.”

Correlational theology, as used by conservative theologians, approaches questions of tradition in terms of absolutes that can be proved as demonstrably as a mathematical equation.  They try to establish this demonstrable proof within strict confines of expressions of tradition, and critique the credibility of proper authorities concerning these expressions.  Subsequently, if these authorities are found for any reason to be lacking, they are considered at best flawed, and at worst illegitimate.  This is seen, then, as an obligation by conservative theologians to deviate from obedience into the realm of “traditional interpretation.”

And what is the basis for this disobedience on the part of liberals and conservatives?  Individualism.  This is a big part of our culture in the West, particularly in the U.S.  It is something that has given us initiative and drive; it is a value that has propelled our economic and political systems for over two centuries;  it is what  has caused division to the point of dehumanization.  As God so eloquently put it, “It is not good for man to be alone.”  When he is, he begins to objectify those in whom he should be seeing the face of God.  

I could continue, but I think it best for you to read this article for yourself.  Good things to remember for all the Catholic faithful.  We are all called to faithfulness, after all.

Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody

This is cool:

Once upon a time there were four people: Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody. Whenever there was an important job to do Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. When Nobody did it, Everybody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Somebody would do it, but Nobody realized that Nobody would do it. So consequently Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place.

Words of Wisdom from Shakespeare

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,— and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

-- Sonnet 129, Shakespeare

Everyday God

Thank to the musings of a tall, Catholic seminarian, I found this interesting youtube clip.  This is from a parish in Singapore. The pictures are beautiful, funny, poignant, and thought-provoking. Enjoy. 

Founded on Christ

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the Dedication of the Mother Church of Christendom, the cathedral basilica of St. John Lateran.  As the cathedral of Rome, it has played and continues to play an important role in the life of the Catholic Church, liturgically and politically, even more so than St. Peter's.  

St. John Lateran is Christendom's earliest basilica. Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, it became the Popes' own cathedral and official residence for the first millennium of Christian history.  It was to Pope Melchiade (311-314) that Constantine gave the palace on Monte Celio, formerly property of the patrician Laterani family (hence the basilica's appellation "Lateran").

In the course of its history, St. John Lateran has gone through many rebuilds.  It was sacked by barbarians twice in the 5th century,  rebuilt by Pope Leo the Great (440-461), and centuries later by Pope Hadrian I (772-795). In the late 800's, it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, and so Pope Sergius III  decided to renovate it (904-911). Later the church was heavily damaged by fires in 1308 and 1360.

It was not until after the turn of the popes from the "Babylonian Captivity" in Avignon that the basilica was given much thought again.  By 1377, the church was in such disrepair that the popes transferred their
Living quarters to present-day Vatican City, and hence gives evidence as to why St. Peter's is always thought to be the most important church in Rome.  

Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) completely raized the original buildings of the basilica and replaced them with a new-renaissance structure. Later, Pope Innocent X (1644-1655) reinovated the interior of the church building in 1650. Finally, Pope Clement XII (1730-1740) installed a baroque fascade in  1735.

Many important historic events have taken place in St. John Lateran, including 5 Ecumenical Councils and many diocesan synods. In 1929 the Lateran Pacts, which established the territory and status of the State of Vatican City, were signed here between the Holy See and the Government of Italy.

The church building itself gives evidence to the rich history and tradition of the Catholic Church.  But more importantly, it serves as a reminder, as do the thousands of other cathedral churches throughout the world, that our Church has but one Foundation, Who is Christ, and He has given to his people shepherds, fathers and friends in the apostles and their successors.  

I will leave you with the last verse of one of my favorite hymns, ( and the one used at Lauds this morning), "The Church's One Foundation." it is a hymn of hope and trust in God and His Church.

Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore opprest,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distrest;
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song. Amen.

Pray for St. Gregory's Abbey and University

Earthquake Damages Historic Building At University In Shawnee: St. Gregory's University in Shawnee sustained heavy damage when the 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck. The damage was done at Benedictine Hall, the centerpiece of the campus.