Welcome once again to "Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival" (although the carnival atmosphere is somewhat muted, this being the Season of
Lent). Sunday Snippets is a weekly
gathering of Catholic bloggers who share their posts for the week (that’s the
snippets part) every Sunday (and that’s the . . . um . . . never mind). The full gathering is here, at This That and the Other Thing, home
of Sunday Snippets mastermind RAnn.
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| Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross |
Before I get to
the past week at Principium et Finis, I’d like to touch briefly on the topic of Lent. One of the distinctive features of the Catholic Vision is that we see the
patterns of the next world reflected in this one. The Season of Lent provides a good example. We understand that we are prone to sin, that
we must undergo a period of preparation before we can experience the joy of
Easter. And so through various
penitential practices, including (but not limited to) the sacrament of
Confession and the “giving up” of various things, we seek both to acknowledge
and repent of our sins, and also to turn away from attachment to worldly things
so that we can turn instead to God.
The logic of
these Lenten practices also applies in the next life, in Purgatory. The word Purgatorium means a place
of cleansing. The Catholic belief is that Purgatory is both a completion of
temporal punishment (penance), and as the Catechism of the Catholic Church
tells us, "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter
the joy of heaven," for those
"who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly
purified" (CCC 1030). That purification is sometimes described in terms of removal of our remaining attachment to sin (sound familiar?) .
While it's best to do whatever we can to avoid or lessen our time in Purgatory, it's a good bet that very many of us will experience it. That’s something
to keep in mind as we go through Lent here in this world: if it’s appropriate
to purify ourselves in preparation for the Feast of Easter, how much more so
for the Eternal Supper of Lamb in the New Jerusalem?
And now, on to the links for the past week:
Sunday – "Do You Consider Yourself A Leper?" As it happens, we all have reason to say, “If you
will it, you can make me clean”
Monday – “Benigno Zerafa – Dixit Dominus, Mov. II” It’s a shame to let anything beautiful go to
waste, especially something created to glorify God. So, here’s a little musical treasure brought
down from the attic . . .
Tuesday –“ J.Puccini the Elder: Dixit Dominus” When I was researching Zerafa’s “Dominus
Dixit” I came across another version, under a familiar name . . . but not quite as
familiar as it looked. Anyway, here’s
another treasure
Wednesday – “Ash Wednesday: A Symbol Of Repentance, A Sign Of Hope” I was sitting in the DMV Tuesday morning,
waiting for my son to finish his driver’s test, and musing about how curious it
is that people who don’t normally attend Sunday Mass show up on Ash Wednesday
and, well . . . the result was this post
Thursday –
“Richard Dawkins Is Full Of Surprises ” Who knew that the celebrated atheist
apologist entertained fond memories of the Anglican Church? But then, the whole
atheist enterprise is not as reason-driven as they’d like us to think . . .
Friday – “What Adam ate Brought Death, What Christ Usto Eat Brings Eternal Life”
Thoughts on Lent, Sin, and Salvation inspired by an Ash Wednesday homily
Thoughts on Lent, Sin, and Salvation inspired by an Ash Wednesday homily
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