DON'T SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST

If you have a creek that flows through your property that you absolutely appreciate and want to clean the water that runs through it, it would be wise to first clean the head waters that are not on your property.  If the water that comes in is clean, that means the water on your property will be cleaner.  If you care for that which is first, second things are cared for better.  

It’s a rough analogy, but that is kind of what Jesus was talking about when He said, very bluntly, “He who loves (mother, father, son, daughter . . . ) more than Me is not worthy of Me.”  (Matthew 10:37).  Very often someone will say that they find it difficult to love God more than a spouse or child as if by loving God first, their loved one is loved less.  This is not the case.  In fact, it is the opposite.

God is not a source of love.  God IS love itself.  He is the river and source of all love that flows into your life.  Although we say that there are different kinds of love, there is not.  There is only one love and it comes from God.  There are different appropriate expressions of it, but there is only one love.  If we love God first, second persons are not loved less but are loved more in keeping with their nature - they are loved better and more fully.

Placing all of one’s hopes of being loved, of being cared for, of being protected and appreciated on a human person is too much for any human to bear.  It is hanging a hat on a hook that cannot support the weight.  That weight is to be borne by God.  Placing it entirely on another human person leaves us extremely vulnerable to disappointment or devastation.  

Building first on the love of God takes an extreme pressure off of a relationship and leaves both far less vulnerable.  It helps give them the security of being loved while not taxing each other for a sense of self worth and dignity.  That all flows from upstream, purifying the waters of love and making it far easier to tend to.  

Our faith is not just about following a bunch of rules, it is about discovering how we thrive best.  As creatures we have certain conditions in which we flourish.  Loving God first is one of those ways in which human relationships grow to their potential.  Cutting God out of that process or making it secondary is placing true love on a back burner in favor of something less worthy and effective.  Unknowing, perhaps, they want less than God.

GOD, JUST SO YOU KNOW THAT I KNOW: THIS WORLD HAS PROBLEMS

Here is something that I love about Scripture.  You can study it, pray it, go to lectures on it over and over and over, and STILL somebody can point out something that you never saw before.  The passages are compact but the are powerhouses of meaning for the attentive and persistent.  

So I had one of those moments with a passage that I thought I knew cold this last Tuesday and one of my priestly friends pointed out something I had never noticed.  Here is the passage from Matthew 8:5-10.

When he entered Capernaum,^* a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” 

He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 

The centurion said in reply,^* “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel^* have I found such faith.

Here is the New to Me thing:  Notice (what is essentially) the prayer (ore request) of the centurion.  He presents the problem to Jesus:  “My servant is paralyzed, suffering greatly.”  He doesn’t say anything else.  Jesus is the One Who seems to gather Himself up to go do what seems to be expected of Him.  It is like someone coming to the rectory and saying, “My (insert relationship here) is sick.,” to which I would reply, “Hold on, let me get my oils and I’ll be with you.”

But the guy never says that he wants Jesus to go with Him.  He never says that he wants the guy to be healed.  In fact, he makes no blatant request of Jesus at all.  He simply presents Jesus with the problem and lets Him handle it the way He wants to.  It is of the centurion that Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

I have written before about the dangers of using the word “that” in the petitions at Mass.  As soon as you put the word “that” in, God must jump through a hoop.  For example, “We pray for our political leaders THAT they may lead us in security and peace.”  What if the best thing in the world to happen is that they get thrown out by the collar of their Armani suits and replaced with better leaders?  Did God then not listen to our prayers?  Can we say that God isn’t acting among us?  While we were busy watching the hoop we expected Him to jump through, He may have been working miracles.

May I suggest the centurion’s prayer for your petition prayer.  Present the need or worry to God and let Him work is magic - er - miracle (you know what I mean.)  Don’t create a hoop through which He must jump.  Be open to surprise.  Maybe what you think needs to change doesn’t or doesn’t in the fashion you think that it should.  Maybe it is you that needs changed.  Who knows?  

So present the problem to the Lord.  Let Him deal with it.  He’s the expert after all.  That’s why He’s God.  It’s His job.  Perhaps just further ask for the wisdom and understanding to realize the outcome of the prayer.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI - AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING

Jesus was about to speak to them.

And there was much rejoicing.

“Yay.”

So it is somewhat with Catholics.  When the Gospel is proclaimed, it is Jesus Himself who speaks to His people in His own words.  That is just crazy cool.  And so there is a little rite all of its own called the Gospel Acclamation to psych us up for it.  The definition of acclamation is  that of a loud and enthusiastic approval.  Singing he Alleluia should be like, “OMG! - literally! -   G is about to talk to us!  This is so awesome.  Everyone pay attention!  Shh!  Shh!  Shh!  Here it comes!  Huzzah!”  It should not be “All . . . le (YAWN) luuuuuuu - yah.  Whatever.”  

Perhaps it is that it is too easy to become accustomed to even really great things.

The “Alleluia” itself is to be sung by everybody while standing, led by the choir or cantor while the verse is sung by the choir or cantor.  It is always sung except during lent when another acclamation is sung.  

It may be difficult to sustain the excitement week after week, day after day for this.  It is like playing a game that you know you will always win.  “Yay!  I won again.”  But at least it should remind us to smile in our hearts.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: LET ME THINK ABOUT THAT A MOMENT

GIRM paragraph 61

Don't respond too quickly to that last Email.

Think about it first.  Mull it over.  What might have the sender meant?

That is (kind of) the purpose of the Responsorial Psalm.  It is called "responsorial" NOT because the cantor sings a line and then you respond with the antiphon (in fact, it is allowable for the psalm to be sung straight through without the call and response - though that is clearly not the preference) rather, its is designated thusly because it is responding to the first reading.  It is an opportunity to meditate on what was just proclaimed before just moving on to the next reading.  And since the first reading and the Gospel are always related, it helps tie the whole Liturgy of the Word together.  If you want to be a GREAT reader and not just an Okay one, figure out what the common theme is and find a way to emphasize it.

Unless one's goal is to "get in and out" as quickly as possible, the psalm should always be presented in a way that fosters meditation.  We as a Church always prefer it to be sung rather than recited.  In the United States we MAY, if it has so been approved by the bishops or our local Bishop, sing a psalm metrically set to music.  What is absolutely forbidden, however, is just to substitute a song for a psalm.  We are dealing with Scriptures here, not mere lyrics no matter how appropriate they may seem.  (Save songs for offertory.)

Think about Shakespeare for a moment.  His works have been performed hundreds of years.  The words and plots are aways the same but have been re-pesented in any number of imaginable ways.  I've seen casts of all women (excellently done I might add) perform his works.  I was once in a performance of Twelfth Night set at the turn of the century on the Texas/Mexican boarder.  (Try to find a body of water there for a boat to be shipwrecked.)  

For a much longer period of time - THOUSANDS of years these psalms have been sung to different tunes, different instruments, in different settings.  They are some of the best poetry ever written.  They have helped shape much of Western Culture.  They are in our blood!  Don't let them slip by too easily!

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: STOP FIDGETING WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU

GENERAL INSTRUCTION PARAGRAPH 60

I often wonder what non-Catholics think about the fuss we make about the Gospel when they attend a Catholic Mass say at a wedding or a funeral.  Many Protestants (not all) don't seem to make a big fuss about a reading just because it is from one of the Gospels.  Maybe theologically they do, but a reading such as something from Matthew is not treated in worship much differently than one from Romans.

We Catholics practically throw a festival when the Gospel is read in comparison to any other part of Scripture.  Everyone stands, we sing the triple "Alleluia" with a Gospel verse, the deacon receives a blessing that he might proclaim the Gospel worthily and well, there is often a procession with candles, there can be incense, a minor benediction (the Lord be with you) and a prayer that we might receive the Word of God well as we make three Signs of the Cross on our foreheads, lips, and heart, "May God be in my thoughts, on my lips, and in my heart."  You would think that when it was done we would clap.  "That was AWESOME!"  When it is done, however, the candles are put away, the incense is taken back into the sacristy, every sits, and the bulletin is brought out to read during the homily.  Goes to show how much more important it is than a mere priest talking.

This all points to the Gospel as being the crown jewel of the Liturgy of the Word.  We esteem these books above all others.  When the Gospels are proclaimed it is one of the ways that Christ is present to us at the Mass for He is speaking to us in His own words.  And what did Mom teach us to do when someone important was talking to us?  "Sit up and don't fidget. Pay attention.  Look at the person in the eye.  Be respectful."  That is what Mary taught us.  "Listen to Him.  Do whatever He tells you."  It is what Holy Mother Church is trying to teach us to do.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: DO YOU HAVE A READ ON THIS?

Paragraph 59 of the GIRM

Okay, I was wrong.

Live and learn.

So one of the very few sadnesses that I have becoming a priest is no longer having the opportunity to read Paul.  Too often he is read like this (which I know some people prefer)  

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. ;>)

How fun he can be to read however!

YOU, my brothers and sisters, were CALLED. TO. BE. FREE.            But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another.  Humbly.  In love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you BITE and DEVOUR each other, watch out! or you will be destroyed by each other.

As the celebrant, it is rare that we do not have a reader so I don't get to read him.  Almost as rarely do I get to read the Gospel because we have a VERY dedicated and great deacon who assists at almost every Mass.  UNFORTUNATELY he broke his ankle (stay off ladders dude!  There are plenty of people in the parish who will climb them for you!) so the job of reading the Gospel was opened for a spell. 

So I'm all excited that I get to read the Gospel for a spell.  THEN - preparing for today's post I read that perhaps I was not the preferred person to read the Gospel.  (sigh)

Here is the scoop on who is to read what:

Proclaiming the readings is not a presidential function (done by the celebrant) but a ministerial one.  First preference is that the readings are done by a lector or reader.  The Gospel is most properly proclaimed by a deacon.  If there is no deacon ANOTHER PRIEST (who is not the celebrant.)  Ah!  We had an embarrassment of riches for a short spell here at St. Sebastian, which came to and end yesterday of all days.  As a matter of fact, we had three priests on for Mass yesterday morning.  I was the celebrant and as such was not the one to read the Gospel.  It was properly the role of one of the other priests.  ONLY IF the deacon and other priests are not present should the celebrant read the Gospel.  And if there is no "suitable reader"  (it is not a right, one MUST be able to to do this well) then the celebrant may read the readings.

Now, I know to many it may appear that all these rubrics seem rather silly.  "Who cares who reads what?"  Right?  But there is always a reason behind every one of these rubrics.  Remember that we had 2,000 years to work up to this and many things are put into place to solve problems and misunderstandings.  When even simple things are misunderstood, they can lead to much larger misinterpretations that speed and cause huge problems.  So - proclaiming Paul - is this a presidential function?  Can nobody else do this?  Is the person who proclaims Paul acting in persona Christi?  Does one need to be ordained to do this?      (These were just a few things off the top of my head - I'm sure there are much better reasons if given a chance to think about it.)

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WHY IS RAMBO ESSENTIAL TO MASSES CELEBRATED WITH THE PEOPLE?

The story you are about to read is true.  Only the names and location has been obscured to protect the semi-innocent.

So I was a young seminarian attending a Mass at which a prominent person from another religion was in attendance.  The presider, wanting to show how open, welcoming, and progressive we are decided to change one of the readings at the Mass to a reading from this very non-Christian tradition (along with some interesting rite and prayer from the honored guest after Communion.)

Now, I know there will be people who say, "Great!  It is about time that Catholics stop naval gazing and open wide the doors to everybody.  We are not so fragile that letting someone in to do something like this will make us fall apart.  Get over it and broaden your horizons."

I am not one of them. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am not opposed to experiencing someone else's "scripture" or even witnessing their rites (within reason - well, my reason.)  Just not at the Mass.

The Mass is the very epicenter of our covenant.  The very epicenter of the marriage covenant is the "marital act."  You don't (or should't) just let anybody into the bed with you in order to broaden your horizons and show how open you are.  It is the same with Mass.  The Bridegroom is giving Himself in the most intimate way to His Bride.  That is why we don't have what was once called, "Eucharistic hospitality."  You either are in this marriage or you are not.  If you are, welcome.  But there are no strange bedfellows here.  (Did I just take the analogy too far?)

"In the readings," paragraph 57 of the GIRM states, "the table of God's Word is spread before the faithful, and the treasures of the Bible are opened . . ."  These contain the words of love and longing of our Father for His children and of the Bridegroom longing for His Bride (aka salvation history.)  They are the prelude to this most intimate moment between our God and us.  Therefore, not only may we not substitute another faith's reading, we may not even substitute another Christian reading as has been done, for example, by music groups substituting a song for the psalms or having a reading of Dr. Martin Luther King replace the first reading on Martin Luther King Day.  

Even where the readings are read during the Mass is not something with which to trifle.  These readings belong to the Church and we have a right (and a duty) to them.  Therefore, in Masses with the people, says paragraph 58, "the readings are always read from the ambo."  (Funny, my computer kept changing ambo to Rambo.)

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: DON'T YOU FEEL BETTER FOR HAVING GONE THROUGH THIS?

I’ll say this for Vatican documents: they may be intellectually stimulating but they don’t make for fun reading.  Like Ignatius discovered in his reading, we might feel more enlivened for having read them, but at the time of the actual reading it seems a chore.  But they did try to put a grand ending on this document.  One can almost see the “The End” being projected over the final scene.  As it encourages us to keep reading the Bible it states, may “the Word of God speed on in triumph (2 Th 3:1) and the treasure of Revelation entrusted to the Church may more and more fill the hearts of men.”  (Cue swelling music)

 

But it does leave us with this great thought.  Like the Eucharist, the continual exposure to the Scriptures only aids toward fulfilling us more and making us love it more and more.  Eating more and more steak does not make us crave more steak.  We eventually tire of that computer game or hearing a song or listening to the election results analysis.  But there is such a depth to Scripture and the Eucharist that an entire life focused on studying it will only scratch the surface as it yields life unto life.

 

Well, that’s it for this document.  I don’t know what we will do next week.  Guess we’ll see.  Until then, as far as Dei Verbum is concerned this is . . .

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: HISTORY MATTERS

I was reading a book yesterday in which a mother was lamenting the fact that her child had to learn everything from scratch.  Man has been around for a debatable number of millennia but each one must start at scratch again; here’s how to walk, this is the color blue, 2 plus 2 equals 4, it is wrong to hit your sister.

 

To some extent this is true, but each generation hopefully builds on the shoulders of giants.  There are still lessons we must learn on our own, “I don’t care what you say.  He loves me and so I’ll give him my Social Security number.”  But we then can build on the greater experience of humanity.  “Now you understand why you do not hand your Social Security number over to anybody.  Here is how you can get yourself out of this jam and how to prevent it in the future.”

 

Faith is like this too.  The lived experience of 2,000 years of Christianity informs us how Scripture is to be understood.  Every generation does not have to come up with this understanding on its own.  The early Church fathers, the saints, the people of God all guided by the Holy Spirit have provided us with the glasses through which we understand Scripture.  This helps prevent tragedies like this:

 

To assist with this, bishops are charged in paragraph 25 of Dei Verbum to make sure that Scriptures in quality translations are made available, that they use of Scriptures is explained, and that Bible are produced with copious notes to assist the reader in understanding the Scriptures. 

 

Interestingly, they are also charged to create such Bibles even for non-Christians (prudently distributed) with proper notes and fitted to their purposes.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: CAN'T RUN ON EMPTY

Dei Verbum first part of paragraph 25

 

Very often people who have cooled to the faith return when they have children.  This is a good thing and a bad thing.  It’s good in that they return because they see value in the faith and want to pass it on.  It is a bad thing in that they missed years of growing in the faith and won’t have those years of developed relationship and understanding of God to pass on.  You can’t give what you don’t have.

 

In a similar manner, the Council Fathers exhort especially priests, deacons, and catechists to immerse themselves in Sacred Scripture; to draw ever more deeply from the well to nourish the faithful.  You can’t give what you don’t have – and ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ – and what do we have to offer if we don’t know Christ?

 

But clerics and catechists are not the only game in the sites of the Council’s gun.  If someone is under the impression that dust is considered a good, Catholic, protective covering for a Bible, the Fathers wish to relieve them of that misconception.  They “forcefully and specifically exhort all the Christian people . . . to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ.’ . . . Therefore let them go gladly to the sacred text itself.”  They don’t use much more clearer language than that.

 

We are all encouraged to engage the Scriptures at Mass, in Bible studies, and in other forms of prayer and formation.  But in a special way we are encouraged to use Scripture in prayer.  When we pray we speak, when we read the Scriptures, we listen.

 

Read the Bible.  If you think you do not have time, be creative.  Buy a read version for your car ride and play it on the car stereo system.  Keep a Bible open in your bathroom and read one paragraph a day while you brush your teeth.  Have a service send you a verse a day on your computer.  Do something. 

 

This year the Church will be exploring the Gospel of Mark in particular.  Maybe for Lent take a day and read through his Gospel.  Get to know his style, his emphasis, and his personality. 

 

In any event, engage this ancient writing that formed our culture and changed the face of the earth.  (I'm not recommending the book shown to the right - I don;t even know it - just liked the cover.)

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WHO IS JESUS ANYWAY AND HOW CAN WE FIND OUT?

Dei Verbum paragraph 23

 

 

Do you have Ratzinger’s (aka Pope Benedict, aka Pope Emeritus Benedict) books on the shelf entitled “Jesus of Nazareth” with the intention that “someday I will get around to reading this.”  Well, today take the first volume off of the shelf and read just the forward.  You will see echoes of today’s paragraph ringing loudly and clearly. 

 

Sacred Scripture is a living thing which we are to strive to ever more understand it that it might bring us life.  Like heat from a fire that brings us warmth, Scriptures are designed to bring us insight, freedom of mind, and hope.  But there are just so many ways to screw that up.  In that forward, Benedict rips on some of the ways that exegesis is done today that make Jesus incredibly distant, or nonexistent, or into a remarkable carbon copy of the person who is doing the exegesis. 

 

John Cardinal Newman once said, “To be steeped in history is to cease being Protestant.”  When trying to figure out what Scriptures is saying we must take into account G. K. Chesterton’s Democracy of the Dead.  What have Christians been saying since the beginning of the Church? (and not just what someone tells you it said.)  The Church Fathers of both the east and west give remarkable insight into the early Church and Scripture. 

 

Recently, the local megachurch which is also anti-Catholic (in that they teach false things about the Church and then proceed to tear those falsities down and ask those who correct their misinterpretations of the Church to kindly never come back) asked to come and take pictures of our church building for a talk they were giving.  I am sure it will involve popish comments about how we make things up and that their services are much closer to what first Christians did.  But read the early Church fathers (first, second, third centuries) and you will find us doing the exact same thing that the early Church was doing.  In case you were wondering, I let them come.  Maybe someone will see the pictures, hear something that doesn’t quite jive, and be lead to explore this interesting building and be led to the faith.  Who knows?  Say a prayer.

 

But this is also why exegesis is done “with the mind of the Church.”  It is not because the Church wants to control over everybody but because there is truth and falsity.  One can fall way off of the track and end up leading others into a ditch going nowhere. 

 

Christ is the bridegroom and we are His espoused taught by His Holy Spirit.  The Bridegroom leads His spouse into truth and freedom.  The Magisterium (at its best) makes sure that the fields of exploration are fruitful ones.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THE PHONE COMPANY USED TO CHAIN PHONE BOOKS TO THE PHONE BOOTH TOO

There was story about the Catholic Church that it used to chain its Bibles in the back of the church so that lay people could not take them away with them and have access to the Bible in their own home.  This is absolutely true.  Although the allegation was that they were doing so in order to keep Sacred Scriptures out of the hands of the faithful and therefore have greater control over the faithful, it was actually because all books were written by hand and were exceedingly expensive, rare, and time consuming to produce.  If you remember bank pens that were chained to the table where you wrote your deposit slip, the bank wasn't trying to keep pens out of the hands of non-bank personnel, they were trying to keep pens available to everybody.

 

In today's paragraph of Dei Verbum (22) the Council Fathers state that the Scriptures ought to be open to all the Christian faithful.  Not as easy a task as you might imagine.  A friend of mine has a parish not too far from here.  Once an exclusively English speaking neighborhood (after being heavily Italian) it then turned Spanish speaking then to be overwhelmed with (I believe) Korean speaking persons.  Now, if you have a few monks writing things out by hand and you are trying to make Scriptures available and it takes a couple of years to produce a book, how do you even get one done before a whole new group speaking a new language takes over the neighborhood assuming you have someone who can translate the Bible into their language in the first place? 

Easier it is today but not easy.  Who speaks Korean?  How do you have Mass and preach?  How do you find money to buy new song books and etc.?  If only we had a universal language.  But even if you do (and we do as reaffirmed by the Vatican II documents) that doesn't mean everybody understands it either.

 

Be that as it may, the Church promotes the translation of the Scriptures into all languages and even encourages, when it is possible and is deemed helpful, to translate them in cooperation with "separated brethren" so that one translation may be read by all Christians.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: SO NOW THAT WE HAVE THEM, WHAT DO WE DO WITH THEM?

This was written earlier but things got so crazy at the parish there was no time simply to post it!  Here is Friday's installment of the next chapter of Dei Verbum.

 

So a priest friend who shall remain anonymous in order to protect his reputation, brought a movie over to watch about two years ago. “Dudes,” sayeth he, “this is in my book as part of the 100 must see movies so it must be good.”

Don’t believe everything you read.

And thusly did we watch, “The Way We Were.”

What an awful film. We just kept saying, “We don’t like these selfish characters. They shouldn’t be together and in any case, we are beyond caring.” Reading the “100 Movies Book” a little more closely it was disclosed that the authors also thought it shouldn’t be on the list but because it was so popular they felt obligated. (Talk about peer pressure at its extreme.)

This summer, in contrast, we went to the Ohio Shakespeare Festival at Stan Hywet Hall. We watched a much older story and were captivated by it. The clothes, dialogue, hairstyles, and popular culture topics were similarly out of date in this one too, but it still enthralled. This is because one speaks to our humanity more universally and the other . . . it just doesn’t.

So it is with Scripture. The Church uses Sacred Scripture because it continues as a “pure and lasting font of spiritual life.” It is the voice of the Holy Spirit sounding again and again and along with Sacred Tradition, presented with the Holy Eucharist to bring life and meaning and freedom to God’s holy people. Our preaching and, in fact, everything about this Christian faith is nourished by our Scriptures. They continue to speak to us because there is something basic about our humanity which is revealed in them. They remain relevant in the same way but only more fundamentally so as does a good Shakespearean play.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: ALL TOGETHER NOW

Dei Verbum paragraph 20

 

So the last short paragraph in this section I really should have included last week but . . . but I didn’t.  It simply rounds out the whole section.  The whole thing was a lot of writing to say that all of Scripture is important.  Supreme are the Gospels, the other New Testament writings are important in that they shore up and amplify the Gospels, and the Old Testament is indispensible as it enlightens us about God’s plan which reaches fulfillment in Christ.

 

You might think, “Well, duh.”  That may be because you are more Catholic than you think.  This is not the case for everybody in the world.  Have you ever gone to a Protestant service and it is obvious that the Gospel carries no different weight than another New Testament reading?  I certainly have.  And there are those who discount the Old Testament as . . . well . . . old.  And what does one do with house guests and fish when they become old?  They throw them out (or ignore them until someone else does.)  This is, of course, heresy.  (Throwing out the Old Testament, not throwing out fish which is a good thing.)

 

It is a very large Church.  More than half of all Christians on the face of the earth are Catholic.  (Hard to believe living the U.S. no?)  We live in varying places with varying pressures.  It is one thing to be a Catholic in Akron, Oh.  It is another think to be a Catholic in China or Bagdad.  Think of the difference between going to a truly Catholic college and one that likes to throw around the Catholic name but is normally Catholic at best.  The forces of what is floating around in the culture can influence what you believe about – Scripture for example.

 

Realizing this, the fathers of the council put this (and other) teachings together so there would be no ambiguity.  (The only problem being now one has to read them.  And they throw in a bunch of flowery and thick clarifying writing, necessary I understand, which makes it time consuming to peruse - my version of all of the documents having over 1,000 pages of tiny writing.)  Of course, I do not create such padding of my writing to make it appear that I have something to say.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THE RAIN IN SPAINLY IS SPOKEN VERY PLAINLY

Yesterday we had a new student picnic for families that are coming to St. Sebastian Parish School.  I was asked to say a few words and as part of that something similar to this was said, “This is Catholic school and at the center of that is Jesus Christ.  As such it is essential that you bring your kids to Mass on Sunday.”  After I asked a teacher if it seemed too harsh and the teacher responded, “No.  It was plain.  I like plain, clear speaking.”

 

Paragraph 19 is the Church speaking clearly and plainly concerning what she believes about the four Gospels.  She “unhesitatingly affirms” that what they faithfully relay to us what Jesus said and taught concerning our salvation until the day of His ascension.  After His ascension, what is written is true but is a further reflection on what they witnessed, learned, and contemplated in the Holy Spirit.  The purpose of their writing is that we might know truth.

 

This is not mentioned specifically but it points toward the development of the Bible also.  Firstly all these things had to be witnessed.  There are obviously things in Scripture that took place after Jesus ascended.  Hence Jesus did not hand the Church a completed Bible.  The disciples then went about teaching and preaching.  Only then did they write anything down and they were not all together when they wrote.  In fact, it would be centuries before an official Bible took form as the writings are brought together, used, studied, debated, with the Catholic Church, relying on sacred Tradition, declaring a definitive version of the Bible, which remained in place until Martin Luther.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: NUMBER ONE AMONG NUMBER ONES

Among super important things, there are some things that are super-duper important.

 

There are four painting hanging in the rectory.  They are not great paintings.  They are probably mass produced by the square inch type paintings.  They are also not in tip top shape.  In fact, they were slated to be burned.  As parishes were closed in the diocese these paintings ended up in a warehouse and they were deemed so damaged as to be worthless.  Ever the good Slovenian I said, “I’ll take them and hang them in my dining room where it is so dark nobody will notice they are not in great shape.”

Score!  And so there they hang; one painting each of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are in the dining room and John, after whom I was named, hangs in my office across the hall.  The synoptic are hanging out together eating and John is doing his own thing in exile.  Seems fitting somehow. 

 

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Vatican II documents want to hold up the inspiration and importance of all the Scriptures, Old as well as New.  (Kind of ironic to call something 2000 years old new isn’t it?)  But as important as all of Scripture is, the four Gospels have place of pride, are the crowning jewel, are the heart of it all, for in them those who lived with Christ, who were charged by him to preach, did then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, write those things down.  (Jesus did not hand the disciples a book before His ascension into heaven.)  By this they are our primary source of knowledge of the life and teaching of our Savior.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: TO POST OR NOT TO POST? POST? WHAT IS POST?

We are in a new chapter of Dei Verbum called “The New Testament”.  What follows are some of my thoughts and then a look at paragraph 17.

 

Some events last forever.  Mount Sinai has been remembered and celebrated for millennia but who, other than historians and those who live in Texas, really remembers and celebrates the Alamo?  It is the same thing with writing.  The stories of Shakespeare are still in our cultural memory but how many plays, books, and poems that were once celebrated and predicted to be icons of our culture were never to be heard of again?

 

Shakespearean lines permeate our sub consciousness.  Some lines invoke certain plays everyone knows.  “To be or not be?  That is the question.”  So many of his phrases are so much a part of our everyday language we do not even know we owe Shakespeare for them:

 

Wild goose chase

Too much of a good thing

Mum’s the word

 

(Just to name a few)

 

It is much the same with Scripture.  Certain lines evoke scenes from the life of Christ.  “Truth?  What is truth?”  And our language is so permeated with Biblical references that even those who don’t know Christ use them.  For example:

 

A broken heart

A drop in the bucket

A sign of the times

A thorn in the side

 

The New Testament is a seminal work.  (I bet God is glad I approve.)   It changed everything.  It took culture in an entirely new direction.  Shakespeare named our culture well, Scripture formed it.  For those “with ears to hear” it is the revelation of things once hidden.  It is unveiling of who God is though his life, death, and resurrection, His ascension and sending of His Holy Spirit to complete His work of drawing all people together into unity and pointing them toward their heavenly Father. 

 

This was entirely novel.  Things were revealed that were never known before.  We have the opportunity to know truths that were not able to be known by those before this time nor by those whose hearts are not open to it.  “The writings of the New Testament stand as a perpetual and divine witness to these realities.”