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2/28/11

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator of Beauty (Version 2)



            What does the Holy Spirit have to do with the idea that beauty, truth, and goodness are all the same thing (being), albeit in different modes?  I would posit that the Holy Spirit has almost everything to do with this idea. First we must discuss the Holy Spirit, then we must discuss beauty, truth, and goodness, if we are to connect these two things.  We will also look at the lives of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Francis and Dominic, and Blessed Mother Teresa, in order to further explicate the connection.
             We learn through scripture, tradition, and the Magisterium, that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life; that the Spirit continues Christ's work of salvation in the present time; that the Spirit makes efficacious the sacramental and spiritual life of the Church; that the Spirit illuminates, moves, and guides men and women of faith to become more like Christ, for the glory of the Father.
            Following the ideas from perennial philosophy, goodness is that towards which all things seek, truth is that which is and that which can be known, and beauty is the harmony, balance, and order of things as they are delightful to behold.  All of these modes of existence are fully actualized and unified in the Trinitarian personhood of God.
            Souls docile to the movements of the Holy Spirit become more like Christ for the glory of the Father.  These souls are sanctified and moved by the sevenfold gifts to bear the twelvefold fruits of the Spirit.  As these souls progress to be more like Christ, I argue, beauty, truth, and goodness are more evident within themselves, and that they are more able to see, appreciate, and create beauty, truth, and goodness in other people and in the world.  Since God is pure goodness, truth, and beauty, the more like God, like Christ, one becomes, the more imbued with these immanent and transcendental qualities one becomes.  The more like Christ the soul, the soul is drawn closer to its ultimate end (goodness), the soul more completely shares and participates in existence (truth), and the soul becomes more balanced, ordered, and harmonious (beauty) .  The Life-Giver Spirit causes souls to be conformed to the Word/Reason, who is the ineffable Expression of the Father. 
            But let us look a little closer at beauty, as it is the theme of this publication.  What is a beautiful soul?  There seems to be a close connection between beauty, happiness, and joy.  Happiness seems to be a state of completion, and joy, as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, seems to be an increased and consistent awareness of God.  If a soul were to be made more like God, the soul would more readily take delight in God, since, recognizing God within itself and in others, beauty would become more evident.  The more beauty is evident, the more complete the soul, and, thus, the happier the soul.  The more beauty is evident, the greater the awareness of God, and, hence, the more joyful the soul.  This is not physical beauty, but spiritual beauty.  If we look at some of the saints, Pope John XXIII, they are not necessarily physically beautiful, but, however, something about the quality of their spiritual life makes their soul beautiful, and, hence, more joy and happiness is evident within them. 
            But what of beauty and the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit, as the Sanctifier, is that person of the Trinity who, through the immediate communication of the love of the Father and the Son, draws souls closer to God through the forgiveness of sins (note the formula for absolution in the Latin Rite) and the plenitudinous giving of grace, which is participation in the very life of God.  This forgiveness and giving of grace upon a soul is a direct result of a soul responding to the vocational call to holiness that is the indelible mark of the divine filiation caused by a baptism and confirmation, and sustained by the Eucharist.  As the soul draws closer to God through the workings of the Holy Spirit, its life becomes more balanced, ordered, and directed to God.  The soul, drawing closer and closer to its divine origin and end, therefore, becomes more beautiful, that is to say, it becomes more delightful to God, and it itself delights all the more in God.  We see, therefore, not only what a beautiful soul is like, but we also see that it is only through the salvific action of the Holy Spirit that a soul may become beautiful, blessed, and joyful.
            Sharing in the life of the Spirit, sanctified souls not only become more like Christ in truth, beauty, and goodness, but they are able to share in God's self-revelatory act of  creation.  These souls see, appreciate, and create beauty, truth, and goodness by their cooperation with the Spirit.  We will look at the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Francis and Dominic, and Blessed Mother Teresa to verify and exemplify these claims.
            The Blessed Virgin Mary, during the Visitation, having accepted God's call to perfect motherhood, learns that "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." (Lk 1:35)  This child was Jesus, the Christ, the Word made flesh.  Mary, cooperating with the will of God, overshadowed, completely docile to the Holy Spirit, brings forth into the world the Word who is God, who is truth, beauty, and goodness.  Mary, as the exemplar of Christians, had, therefore, the most beautiful soul.  She was fully docile to the Spirit, protected from sin, and was drawn completely towards God. In the fourth century prayer to the Blessed Virgin, Tota Pulchra Es, we see indeed that Mary was completely beautiful, and this beauty reflected her sanctity.  I offer this translation:
You, Mary, are all beautiful,
and in you there is not the blemish of original sin.
Your clothes are as white as snow,
your face as radiant as the sun.
You, the glory of Jerusalem!
You, the joy of Israel!
You the honor of our race!
You, Mary, are all beautiful.


            We may turn and look at the holy twins, Saint Francis and Saint Dominic, the great saints and patriarchs of mendicancy, as well as Blessed Mother Teresa, the lover of the poor, and see how the sanctified soul becomes holy and bears witness to beauty, truth, and goodness. Saint Francis, moved by the Holy Spirit, not only becomes holy himself, but is granted the ability to see God in the beauty of nature; he sees the beauty in nature that is only evident by a life in the Spirit, and he cannot help but to rejoice in this beauty. Saint Dominic, moved by the Holy Spirit, not only becomes holy himself, but is granted the ability to find God, in truth, through reason; he finds the truth of the cosmos that is only evident by a life in the Spirit, and he cannot help but to tirelessly preach this truth.  Mother Teresa, moved by the Holy Spirit, not only becomes holy herself, but is granted the ability to see the goodness in every human being, even though that goodness is painful to behold; she sees this goodness that is only evident by a life in the Spirit, and she cannot help but to lovingly embrace it. 
            Saints Francis and Dominic, and Blessed Mother Teresa all found beauty, truth, and goodness as a result of their life with the Holy Spirit.  They also, additionally, participated in God's creation of beauty, truth, and goodness.  When God is praised, preached, or shared with the poor, God's beauty, truth, and goodness are made manifest.  We humans cannot do these things ourselves, but only as an immediate result of our docility to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit, I argue, is not only the Spirit and illuminator of truth, and the immediate cause of goodness, but is, also, the Spirit of Beauty.  Let us pray, therefore, that we may be made docile to the movements of Spirit, and, following the example of all the saints and, especially the Blessed Virgin, may nor only be conformed to the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ, but may also share in God's creation of these qualities within the world.
            

New Missal Epicness

I thought that some of you might like to see this video. The website is pretty good too.

Old Roman Chant

Some people might be very surprised to know how different our current version of Gregorian Chant differs from Old Roman Chant.  When Charles the Great was attempting to consolidate his kingdom and make everything Roman-like, he sent some musicians to Rome to listen to how they sung at their masses. They brought back the sounds, and also texts.  Over time, though, they simplified the chants, and added Gallic and Frankish styles, and also developed the 8 modes. The original Roman Chant, however, was eventually replaced by the Carolingian chant.

When I first heard this Roman Chant, I thought it was Byzantine, or even some middle Eastern music. It's really interesting, because you can compare the recordings from below with the current Gregorian chant music, here.



2/27/11

Wisdom Teeth

Last Friday I had my wisdom teeth out. I have since healed very quickly, thankfully.  However, it has disturbed me to ask the question: can I still do philosophy without wisdom teeth? Can I digest abstract ideas and mind-numbingly vague concepts if I have not the proper means of breaking such things apart?

2/24/11

The Touch of God

Touch is something that is necessary for human beings.  Our tactile experience guides us everyday, and it is also an important means of communication.  We know, also, for example, that babies that are not touched lovingly by their mothers can die or suffer from underdevelopment.

We see that through touch some of the greatest human goods are communicated; the loving embrace of a man and wife; a hug to console, greet, or congratulate a friend; the loving touch of a mother to her infant; the caring touch of healing during sickness or death. This type of touch is specifically directed to and for the other person.

 We also see, however, that through touch some of the greatest evils are accomplished; rape, fornication, and other sexual sins; forms of violence instigated by hate; all forms of physical abuse.  This type of touch is specifically directed to and for ourselves: it is essentially an act of selfishness.

What this shows is that, while are bodies in themselves are good, the good use of our bodies is inherently directed towards the good of others.

We remember, as Christians, that Jesus was a human: he touched people, and people touched him.  His touch is different though, than our touch. While we are human, Jesus is human and God at the same time. When we touch we can only accomplish temporal goods.  When Jesus touches, however, he accomplishes not only temporal goods, but eternal goods.  We look at the miraculous series of healings in Matthew 9:18-34, the woman with the hemorrhage, the dead girl, the blind men, and the demoniacs.  Jesus accomplishes temporal goods through their healing, but he also accomplished, and accomplishes today, eternal goods: forgiveness, purification, redemption, and salvation.  These eternal goods are all things that not human can gain by him or herself, but only through God.

But, however, it is the case that sometimes people do not want to be touched; rape victims, abuse victims, children raised in isolation, or without love, etc.  These are all essentially based in fear.  The fear of touching and being touched is interesting because it reveals itself as an unwillingness to be open to the intimate experience of another.

In the purely human realm, this fear can be overcome by therapy, or by the help and kindness of others.  But in the spiritual realm, the realm where God touches us, both physically through the sacraments, and invisibly through prayer and the Holy Spirit, this fear is overcome by faith.

Faith conquers fear because it is an opening of ourselves to God, who is love, and, thus, to one another.  Fear is a closing of the self, and, so , faith is its opposite.  There are people who are hard of heart, though, content to be mediocre in their faith, and this is a sign of fear, a closing of themselves to God, and a sign of ignorance.

Why should we be afraid to open ourselves to God? Why be content with a spark when you could have a conflagration?  People are afraid to open themselves to God because it involves change: when we open ourselves to God, we put on the new man (Col 3:10, Eph 4:24), our former selves of sin are put away, and we must struggle to acquire new habits, to virtues in order to grow daily closer to the source and summit of life.  In my opinion, men are afraid to open themselves to God, perhaps, because they consider love effeminate, and the selflessness of religion scares their vanity.  Be not afraid! Our masculinity, or our femininity, is not negated by turning to God, but fulfilled by it, since God is the end towards which all things aim, and the perfection of the imperfect.

Why should we ignorant of God and our faith?  God touches us! We can be saved, we can live forever in perfect happiness if we put in the effort to know, love, and serve him in this life.  We cannot save ourselves, so why should we live in willful ignorance of the means by which we may have life, and have it to the fullest! (Jn 10:10)

When the disciples were afraid during the storm , and when Peter was falling into the water and cried out in fear, Jesus responds, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" (Mk 4:40)  If you have faith, you will have no fear, because by faith you open yourselves to God, to love, to eternal life and happiness. Do not be afraid of praying daily, of seeking to do good at all times. Do not be ignorant of your faith or of scriptures! As St. Jerome writes, "ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ."  Let us pray to God that we may seek, with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, the touch of Christ. Let us cry out as the apostles did in wonderment at the teachings of Christ, "Increase our faith!" (Lk 17:5)

2/19/11

Happpiness and the Holy Spirit

"Man's highest activity engages his highest power with its highest object.  Man's intelligence is his highest power, and its highest object the good that is God, an object of contemplation not practical intelligence.  So happiness is above all the activity of contemplating the things of God"

"Now the proper object of mind is truth, and God alone is essentially true (things are true in the same way in which they exist); so it is contemplation of God [the source of all being and light], that makes us completely happy."

"Happiness is the cleaving to God and the mind's all-fulfilling object."  St. Thomas Aquinas,

The first time one reads this, one often thinks, "well, isn't that elitist! Only smart people can be happy!"  Quite the contrary!  Aquinas says that happiness is the end of human life, i.e., the ultimate goal.  Happiness is cleaving to God and contemplating him with our mind.  This is the end, however, not something that is achieved on earth.  If this were not so, then college professors would be the happiest people on earth. But this is not the case.  Happiness as an end, requires a mean. How do we achieve this happiness in heaven?

As Christ says in Matthew 6:33, "seek first the kingdom of God."  Our temporal lives as Christians are meant to be directed entirely to, first, love of God, and, second, love of neighbor.  It is through love that we come to enjoy that beatitude, that blessed contemplation of God. Aquinas writes that love, "leads onwards to the desire of heavenly things."  Now in order to have Christian love, which is, essentially, a desire for union, one must receive the Holy Spirit who, as Thomas points out, "For it belongs to the Holy Ghost, Who proceeds as Love, to be the gift of sanctification"  We receive grace through the Holy Spirit by prayer and the sacraments, the the Spirit and grace then cause us directly to be able to do good works, to pray, to love, and to bear worthy fruit (cf. matthew 3:8).  All of these make us worthy to be united with God in heaven, where, since all deprivations and barriers are removed, our minds will fully be united in an eternal gaze with pure Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.  We must be therefore docile, and ready to listen to the Holy Spirit's voice, in order to utilize grace, to love, and to then be blessed enough to join God in heaven.  


So through living daily as a Christian, responding to the Holy Spirit's call to love by praying, doing good works, and receiving the sacraments, we become worthy to cleave to God in eternity.

2/15/11

The Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church

After reading John Paul II's Dominum et Vivificantem, and working through Luis Martinez's "True Devotion to the Holy Spirit", I loudly acknowledge my previous and continued ignorance regarding the importance of the Holy Spirit. Here is a brief synopsis of all that I have learned, and, believe me, it has been making a tremendous impact on my spiritual life...

The Holy Spirit is the act of Love of the Father and the Son.  The Holy Spirit's primary duty on earth was first to bring Christ (He was conceived by the Holy Spirit) and is now to continue Christ's salvific work (bringer of life).  What the Holy Spirit does to us, is make us more like Christ, as a sculptor gradually chips away a beautiful piece of art. We have to, however, be docile, and accepting of the Holy Spirit, and recognize Him as the first cause of all good acts that we do, be it prayer, helping someone, etc. The Holy Spirit is the immediate cause of every good act we do. Thus, we have an extremely intimate relationship, granted that we recognize that, indeed, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. The more we become like Christ through the Holy Spirit, the more we become holy, and the more we may fulfill our Christian duty of evangelizing, i.e., bringing Christ to others. he Holy Spirit is the bringer of Christ, the divine Word, who, after becoming docile to the Holy Spirit's work within us, is spoken to others by our actions, prayers, and words.

Thus we speak the ineffable Word of God by our very existence.

WHOA!!!!

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray:
O God, who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

2/13/11

Prayer

Here is a little prayer article I wrote last summer for the Daily Sun newspaper of Sunnyside, WA. It is very sparse, and I hope, in the future, to write a fuller expansion. These are just basic concepts I've been toying with for a while.


Why do we Pray? : Aquinas and Meditation
By: Colin Pickett, Seminarian, St. Joseph’s Parish, Sunnyside
            Why do we pray? Christ taught his disciples to pray always (Lk 18:1).  As Christians today we ought to continue Christ’s teaching. Many people pray daily, but why we pray is often overlooked. Why do we pray?  Why does Christ want us to pray? It’s easy to say, “Because the Scriptures and Tradition tells us to do so,” but that does not fully answer the question. To investigate this we will use the work of St. Thomas Aquinas.
            Why Should we Know? To pray well, two things must be known: why and how.  Why should we know why we pray?  Knowing why we pray affects how well we pray; the knowledge of “why” directs our “how.”  The clearer the reason, the better the action.
            Classic Objections. St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274 A.D.) analyzes prayer in his monumental work called the Summa Theologica.  Aquinas, at first, cites three objections, with which he disagrees, against prayer (ST II:II: q83. A2):
(1) When we pray, we try to make our needs known to whom we pray, but Matthew 6:22 says, “Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.”  Is prayer then not a denial of God’s knowledge? Therefore, it is unbecoming to pray.
 (2) When we pray, we try to change the mind of, or influence the decisions of the person to whom we are praying, so that he may do what we ask of him.  But, “God’s mind is unchangeable and inflexible,” since He is a perfect being, and what is perfect cannot change. If God were not perfect, then He would not be God.  Therefore it is unbecoming to pray to God. 
(3) “Further, it is more generous to give to one that asks not, than to one who asks because, according to Seneca (De Benefic. Ii, 1), ‘nothing is bought more dearly that what is bought with prayers.’  But God is supremely generous.” Therefore it is unbecoming to pray to God. 
            Answer to Objections. Aquinas answers; “we pray not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that we may impetrate [obtain by prayer] that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers, in other words ‘that by asking, men may deserve to receive what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give,’ as Gregory says (Dial. I, 8).”  (ST II:II: q83. A2) Prayer aligns our thoughts and actions to the will of God. 
            Seeking the Will of God. To be a Christian is to seek to do (Ja 1:22) the will of God. We also must know the God’s will within our hearts through prayer. The goal of prayer is Christian Perfection (Mt 5:48)  (Ps 101) that  “consists in the transformation of our will, so that we no longer wish for anything but what God wishes, and because He wishes it…” (Rene de Maugmigny, S.J. The Practice of Mental Prayer, 21)
            The Best Way. Mental prayer (meditation) is the best means to acclimate ourselves to God’s will.  Aquinas writes that, “devotion is an act of the will to the effect that man surrenders himself readily to the service of God. Now every act of the will proceeds from some consideration, since the object of the will is an understood good.  Wherefore Augustine says (De Trin. ix, 12: xv, 23) that ‘the will arises from the intelligence.’ Consequently meditation must be the cause of devotion, in so far as through meditation man conceives the thought of surrendering himself in God’s service.” (ST, II-II:q82 a2)
            Prayer and Transformation. Prayer is an action by which we seek to transform our will so that it coincides with the will of God, for the purpose of achieving Christian Perfection and salvation.  It is no wonder that Christ taught us to pray, “Thy will be done.” (Mt 6:9)           
           

Lay Vocations

The Second Vatican Council makes it clear in Apostolicam Actuositatem that all Christians are called to holiness.  The lay people, especially, have the specific task of evangelizing through their everyday lives in the world; both at work and at home. One of the great ways for lay people to more fully live their call to holiness is through becoming a lay member of a religious order. By becoming a part of a community, by realizing their own gifts through charisms, and by being rooted (being a "radical" Christian) in a tradition, lay people are more fully capable of following Christ. Each tradition has different foci which allow people with different gifts to fully utilize them. Here are some links if you are interested...

Dominican Lay Order, Western Province Lay Dominicans-Focus on evangelization and study.

Lay Franciscans-Focus on working with the poor and the ecology.

Lay Carmelites-Focus on contemplative prayer in action.

Benedictine Oblates-Focus on liturgy of the hours, study.

2/11/11

Fra Angelico

I'd like to share my love of the painting of the 15th century Dominican Friar, Fra Angelico.


The Annunciation



The Mocking of Christ with the BVM and St. Dominic




The Coronation



A detail of St. Dominic



St. Dominic and the Crucifixion


St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Dominic, the BVM and the child Jesus

Dominican Salve Regina

While some of us might know the common "Salve Regina" chant, here, I would like to let everyone in on the Dominican Salve Regina chant, also known as the "Solemn Tone" version. Here is a link to the text and music, and here is a video of Dominicans chanting their Salve. It is a tradition in the Dominicans that, after Sunday night prayer, the brothers chant the Salve in a procession, and then end with a chant to Saint Dominic, "O Lumen Ecclesiae." This chant, if you notice the beginning, is very similar to the beginning of the Sanctus from the Missa De Angelis.


2/10/11

Latin Missal

Hello all! If anyone is interested, here is a link that has the Missale Romanum Editio Typica Tertia. It is very interesting, if you are a Latinist, to compare the actual Latin with the current missal, as we progress to the rather timely unveiling of the new translation this advent.

2/9/11

This is big....

Stemming from two Italian vaticanista blogs (here and here) the website (a personal favorite) New Liturgical Movement reports that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, will soon be releasing a new motu proprio concerning the liturgy and Church hierarchy. Here is a portion of a translation given from NLM

: "in the coming weeks a document of Benedict XVI will be released which reorganizes the competences of the Congregation for Divine Worship, entrusting it with the task of promoting a liturgy more faithful to the original intentions of Vatican II, with less room for arbitrary changes, and for the recovery of a dimension greater sacredness. "


This is very exciting news! The most immediately visible effect of the Second Vatican Council was the introduction of the Novus Ordo mass.  In my opinion, based upon my reading of Sacrosanctum Concilium I must say that the vision of V2 has not been fully implemented. The council, encourages...


"full, conscious, and active" participation in the liturgy (#14), 


and that, "the use of the Latin language, except when a particular law prescribes otherwise, is to be preserved...but since the use of the vernacular....may frequently be of great advantage to the people, a wider use may be made of it, especially in readings, directives and in some prayers and chants." (#36), 


and that "care must be taken to ensure that the faithful may also be able to say or sing together in Latin those parts of the ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them" (#54), 


and that, "the church recognizes Gregorian chant as especially native to the Roman liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services." (#116), 


and that, "the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem in the latin church..." (#120), 


and that, "no other person whatsoever, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on their own authority." (#22.3)


 and that, "Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the church genuinely and certainly requires them, and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing. As far as possible, notable differences between the rites used in neighboring regions should be avoided." (#23)


I love the Novus Ordo mass, but how often have you experienced a mass where....
1)  Latin was used by the people?
2) Gregorian chant was used by the people?
3) The priest ad-libbed?
4) "Liturgical planners" made up something new to "spark interest" in the people?
5) A pipe organ was used?


The tremendous spiritual fruit of the Second Vatican Council, for all states of life, has yet, as I see it, to be grasped. The reason for the delay is, in my opinion, the nonchalant, trite, and uninspiring practice of the mass, that has become, already, so ingrained in the United States. The mass is a truly cosmic event, where humans, angels, and God meet, and the ineffable Word is spoken by the lives of Christ's faithful. The tremendous spiritual potency of the mass is so great that we cannot afford to be satisfied with a mediocre and mundane celebration. We as Christians, must demand that the mass, where we receive the source and summit of Christian living, be celebrated worthily by the priest and the people.  


I am not, however, encouraging a reincarnation of the rubricism that was alive before the Council, which, along with strong moralism and certain veins of traditionalism, see goodness and sanctity only stemming from external acts;  I am encouraging a spiritual vigor that, inspired and begotten by the love of God and neighbor, seeks to celebrate worthily the sacraments, under loving obedience to the Church, and for the love of Christ in the mass, who deigned to become man. 


PopeBenedictIncense.jpg

2/8/11

How are we to live?

I would like to share a text from #43 of Gaudium et Spes:


"Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who think that religion consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral obligations, and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced from the religious life. This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age"


Besides the universal call to holiness, the full activity of the lay people, and the reinvigoration of the liturgy (all still in the works...) I think that the call to authenticity was another great act of the Second Vatican Council. Who we are in the chapel should be the same as who we are in the world. As numerous spiritual writers have noted, how we pray governs how we live, and how we live governs how we pray.  There shouldn't be a disconnect between our faith and how we see and act in the world. Of course the liturgy is in itself a cosmic event, the source and summit of faith, in the liturgy we should truly present ourselves as we are, not hiding between masks of insecurity or doubt.  When we truly present ourselves in the liturgy, when we offer the sacrifice with the priest who confects the sacrament, we are spiritually nourished in such a way that, upon leaving the liturgy, we should be filled with the desire and grace to bring Christ into the world, which, after all, is the duty of all lay people (cf Christifideles Laici, JP2)


Of course, also, in the liturgy we move and betake ourselves differently (we are before the Real Presence after all!) but who we are, our inmost identity, must not be masked.  Who I am during the Mass should be who I am during my ordinary life as a citizen. To further explain this authenticity before God, and authenticity before man, I would highly encourage you to listen to this wonderful lecture by Fr. Ronald Tacelli, SJ, of Boston College.


http://www.anselmphilosophy.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=72

Animal Activism!

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Hey Everyone! Do your part to save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!

Yerba Mate Addiction

After 5 years, and perhaps 50 kilograms, I have come to the conclusion that, indeed, I am not a yerba mate addict. I  am, rather, a person who has a voluntary chemical dependency.  A voluntary chemical dependency, or VCD, as I will now call it, is different from an addiction. Here are the symptoms.
1) Dependency on a chemical for normal daily activities
2) Pain/Delusions/Lethargy/Melancholy/Blurred vision without the chemical.
3) An intense desire to continuously consume the chemical in question.
4) The ability to stop consuming the chemical at anytime.

I would say that a VCD and an addiction are identical until you get to #4. I can stop drinking yerba mate (or at least consuming coffee as a tasty substitute) at anytime I wish. However, I don't want to stop drinking mate, because of the list on #2. This concludes my rationalization as to why I am not an addict.

2/6/11

Hope and Desire

Thomas Aquinas wrote, "hope presupposes desire. Before a thing can be hoped for, it must first be desired." (Shorter Summa, 346)  When we speak of hope, often we express the desire that something good will occur in the future: "I hope I get an 'A' on my test", "I hope my car gets fixed", "I hope I get a job" etc.   President Obama is famous for his "hope" poster and concurrent campaign, wherein we hope for a better future of America. However, Christian hope, as I see it, dwells not only in the future, but in the present as well. If we have the hope for heaven, we believe that, one day, potentially, we may be there, completely united with God. But the other half of hope, the present half, expresses our belief that right now, in every moment of conscious existence, I can make a difference, I can choose to either manifest the object of my desire, or completely deny it. Hope therefore, consists in a desire for the future, and that desire being manifested in the present.

But how is hope for the future possible? Often we hear politicians speak of "progress", which often just means that rich people, or a select group of people, receives more material possessions or political rights. Progress, I argue, is what people rely on when they ultimately do not have hope. Why? Because, as Pope Benedict writes in Spe Salvi #3, "To come to know God--the true God--means to receive hope."  Hope, the true manifestation of desire for the present moment and for the future, exists solely once we have come to know and believe in God.  If we do not believe in God, we must rely solely on "progress"; on material results or more efficient political systems. Once we believe in God, once we being our spiritual journey through mental prayer, the sacraments, and penance, the lens through which we see the world changes.  We do not simply see politics, material possessions, and pleasure (things that are not bad in themselves) as the ends towards which we seek, but as mere means directed towards our own salvation, and the salvation of all men and women.

As our primary desire should be for heaven, so should our hope, how we see the present and the future, direct us towards heaven.  I offer these questions as a means for reflection...
1) Is my primary desire God?
2) What prevents me from desiring God?
3) How can I change, so that I may desire primarily God?

Mulieris Dignitatem

Recently I've been reading through John Paul II's Apostolic Letter, "Mulieris Dignitatem" i.e., "The dignity and vocation of women." I will readily admit that, for many years, my understanding of the role and dignity was, how shall I say, lacking. As I've read more church documents, and seen the powerful role and potential of women in and outside of the Church, I have come to a fuller, more catholic understanding. One line from John Paul II has really stuck with me:

"Whenever man is responsible for offending a woman's personal dignity and vocation, he acts contrary to his own personal dignity and his own vocation."#10 MD


I completely agree with this theoretically and practically. Theoretically, we are all made in the image in likeness of God, men and women alike, and we all shall in the common vocation of "generation." (cf. MD #8)  We are all called to evangelize (cf. Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi), to be holy, (cf. Lumen Gentium), and to love both God and neighbor.  Practically, the enmity between men and women is a result of sin, (MD #9) and, as we look around the world, the less respect there is in a nation for women, family, children, etc. the more sinful, depraved, and sorrowful the people. The road to holiness, loving neighbor and God, draws us closer to one another in truth, and to God in truth. As Saint Paul writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28)  Now this does not mean that there are not distinctions between people, nor that individuality is nullified, but that, through the mystery of the resurrection and the Eucharist, we are all drawn together into a spiritual brother and sisterhood in which, through the remission of sin, we may indeed all follow the path to holiness. 

2/4/11

Thomistic Psychology

After thinking about it for a while, I've come up with a little bon mot toexplain the relationship between the appetites and reason in Thomistic Psychology.

Reason without desire
     seeks nothing;
Desire without reason
     finds nothing.

We always desire the good, i.e. God, but it takes the intellectual powers to direct our desires so that our actions lead us to God. And we have the tremendous ability to know truth with our intellect, but we must enliven our search for truth with our desire. The Christian is a person who truly is in touch with their emotions and desires, and who is simultaneously a person who knows how to use their emotions through reason. If we lead a solely emotional life, we will end up completely unsatisfied, since what we end up gaining is not truth, beauty, or goodness. If we lead a solely intellectual life, we will end up completely unsatisfied since, since we lack the drive to seek truth, beauty, or goodness. Our intellect, then, must harness the emotions, not suppress them, so that the whole human being may be directed towards God.

Thomas has a beautiful quote which I often think about, concerning the intellect, and love, which, for him is an "act of the appetitive faculty." (II-II, 27, 4.)

"Man approaches nearer to God through love than through his reason, because, in love, man does not act himself, but is in a manner of speaking drawn nearer by God himself."
(II-II, 26, 3 and 4)

As a last word, I posit one of Aquinas' most famous prayers, as a true example of the whole person being direct to God:

Grant me, O Lord my God,
a mind to know you,
a heart to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
conduct pleasing to you,
faithful perseverance in waiting for you,
and a hope of finally embracing you.
Amen.


Vocation Reflection

 Saint Catherine of Siena, in letter 348, says, "If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire!" The saints certainly exemplify this saying. If we look at St. Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Dominic, Saint Francis, Saint Benedict, Saint Bernard, or Blessed John Paul II, we can see that, through cooperation with God's grace, they became who they, and all of us, should be: holy. Holiness is the universal vocation: "all in the church, whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it, are called to holiness, according to the apostle's saying: 'For this is the will of God, your sanctification' (1 Th 4:3; see Eph 1:4)." (Lumen Gentium, 39)  It is important to note that "vocation" comes from the Latin, vocare, to call. God tells the prophet Isaiah, "I have called you by name, and you are mine." (Is. 43:1), and, thus, God calls each of us individually, not to merely recognize his possession and creation of ourselves, but to recognize, also, that, by being called, we are asked to respond. God calls us every moment of every day; it is up to us to respond to that call. Merely by keeping this in mind, already we may increase in holiness and the desire to be, as Christ commanded, "The salt of the earth... [and] the light of the world." (Mt. 5:13,14)  You do not have to be a priest or a nun to be holy. The example of the saints affirms this fact once again. You can be a teacher, a police officer, a student, or even an accountant, and fulfill your vocation to holiness. Every day is a new day, and God always calls us. How will you respond?

The Sub Tuum Praesidium

The Sub Tuum Praesidium

This is a fantastic exposition of the "Sub Tuum" by Shawn Tribe.

Creepy mate blog

Thought you all might like to see a (thankfully) short lived blog about yerba mate.
http://yerba-user.blogspot.com/2007/03/recap-of-yerba-mate-effects-on-mind-and.html

2/3/11

Simple Propers

While many Catholics pine with quivering anticipation for the implementation of the new missal translation, slated for Advent this fall, some musicians are holding their breath..... will we finally break past the 40-some years of, to put it mildly, insufficient Catholic music? There is a great project going on right now, the Simple English Propers Project, here, which looks to be a very promising fulfillment of the liturgical, musical, and pastoral ideals set forth by Sacrosanctum Concilium. The project sets, simply, a very good English translation to a simplified version of the actual Gregorian chant propers, such as found here. The result is a wonderful synthesis of the rich musical tradition the Church, and the vernacular and pastoral expansions of the Second Vatican Council. Recently at Bishop White Seminary, at Gonzaga University, in Spokane, WA, the seminarians used the simple English propers for their candlelight procession and mass for the Presentation of the Lord. The seminarians currently use By Flowing Waters , but the quality of translations used is questionable, and, with the new missal, the English ordinary should render By Flowing Waters obsolete.

Introduction

Hey all! At this blog, hopefully, I'll be posting about a frightening variety of things: Catholicism, Liturgy, Music, Liturgical Music, Thomism, Philosophy, Theology, Spirituality, Barefoot Running, Yerba Mate, Latin, Trivia, Logophilia, and other such shenanigans.