A Still Small Voice & The Lord Of Creation

(This Worth Revisiting Post was originally part of the Sunday Snippets post from the Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 21st, 2014. To enjoy the work of other faithful Catholic bloggers see Worth Revisiting Wednesday, hosted by Elizabeth Reardon at theologyisaverb.com and Allison Gingras at reconciledtoyou.com.)

     Today, Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent, we anticipate the Nativity of Our Lord in a few short days.  The (seemingly) unexpected appearance of the Lord of Creation in the form of a human infant in a stable reminds me of the following passage from the Old Testament, in which God comes to the prophet Elijah as he hides in a cave:

And he [the Lord] said, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice; And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  (1 Kings: 11-13)

This, in its way, is as clear a foretaste of the Messiah as the "messianic" passages we read in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel throughout advent.  Most of us have probably heard that, before the coming of Christ, people lived in fear of divine power.  Encountering God was something to be avoided: the point of praying and offering sacrifice, even sacrificing one’s own flesh and blood, was so that God (more often understood as “the gods”) would leave you alone.  We can detect echoes of this ancient attitude in the account of Abraham as he brought his beloved son Isaac up Mount Moriah, prepared to offer him up (Genesis 22).  The story of Abraham and Isaac, in which God reverses expectations and provides the lamb in place of Isaac, shows us the end of Christ’s earthly ministry; the story of Elijah in the cave shows us its surprising beginning. God doesn’t show himself in any of the terrifying guises one would expect (wind, earthquake, fire), but as a “still, small, voice” (in some translations a “whisper”).  In just the same way, the second person of the Trinity comes among us in the least threatening way imaginable: a helpless little baby, cradled in a feeding trough.  No wonder, when the Angel announces Jesus’ birth to the shepherds, he first tells them not to be afraid; and then he says:

For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people: for to you is born this day in the city of Davis a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:10-12).

Good News , indeed.  It is, in fact, a Great Joy, and not at all a bad thing when God is in our midst, for “God is Love”(1 John 4:8); and the Infinite Creator of the Universe makes himself finite, small and vulnerable . . . for us.

     

As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Our Savior at Christmas, at the End of Time, and to each one of us in our own lives, here’s a beautiful song, "Mary Did You Know?" performed by the lovely HayleyWestenra:

Veni, Creator Spiritus & Weekly Round-Up for Pentecost Sunday 2015

Juan Batista Maino, Pentecostes

     Today is Pentecost Sunday, on which we commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem; we also take this as a special opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our own lives, often by praying or singing the ancient hymn "Veni, Creator Spiritus" ("Come, Creator Spirit").  In the moving clip below we see the College of Cardinals calling upon the Holy Spirit in this way, not at Pentecost but at another time when the aid of the Third Person of the Trinity was required: the last Papal election.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

Weekly Round-Up, Pentecost Sunday 2015

The academic year is drawing to a close, and bloggery needs to take a back seat to more immediate responsibilities.  Nonetheless, I did manage to post a thing or two:

Wednesday - “FeedYour Mind And Soul: The Office of Readings (LOH 5)”  How you can enrich your prayer life and also expand your Biblical literacy through the Office of Readings (the fifth installment of my series on the Liturgy of the Hours for lay men and women). 

and “Hidden Law,Society, and Catholic Teaching”  The informal “laws” created by family, relationships, and religion often govern our lives much more effectively than laws imposed by the state. 

Thursday - “Quick!What’s The Summit And Source of the Christian Life?” We lose more than we might realize when we lose reverence for the Eucharist 

Friday - “AbortionMyth # 14” If ‘a woman and her doctor’ told you to jump off the roof, would you do it? 

Antonio Vivaldi "Laudamus Te" & Roundup from the 3rd Week of Easter, 2015

He is truly risen,  Alleluia!

A beautiful joyful song of praise composed by the incomparable Antonio Vivaldi. And, as an added bonus, links to the week's posts (no extra charge!)

Weekly Roundup, 3^rd Week of Easter 2015

Monday – “Cardinal George, Patron of Christian Hope” Chicago’s Cardinal George passed away last week – here’s a farewell to a fine Catholic leader, and another look at his most famous remark.

Wednesday – “St.Paul’s Autographs” St. Paul had a big, expansive personality, and used big, expansive handwriting. Which is rather fascinating . . . 

and “Abortion Myth # 11”  Yes, we’re all just clumps of cells in the end, aren’t we? 

Thursday – “The Liturgy of the Hours: Sanctify Your Day” The first installment in a series about the Divine Office for busy, busy, busy lay men and women. 

and “Why Would You Want Satan As A Mascot?” We choose the lion for its courage, the ram for its toughness; what qualities do we admire in the Prince of Lies?   

Friday – “Saint of the Day: St. Mellitus & The Sweetness of the Gospel” One of the most consequential Saints you’ve never heard of.

Saturday – “Those Who Love Him Will Keep His Commandments” How the reductionist approach to Christianity leads, in the end, to only one place and, friend, you don’t want to go there. 

Rubens, The Risen Christ

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (2nd Sunday of Lent 2015)

    Welcome once more to Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (a carnival may not send very Lent-like, but it is a Sunday in Lent). Anyway, Sunday Snippets is a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers who share their posts for the week, with each other and with you.  The main gathering is here, at This That and the Other Thing, home of our patroness RAnn.

St. Augustine of Hippo, Bishop & Doctor of the Church

     Before I get to the posts, a bit of left-over business from my Friday post, “Moses, Pharaoh, & Why We Preach The Gospel” (link below). in which I touched on a few of the limitations we run into in arguing for the Faith (and why we should nonetheless continue to do so). There is, of course, much more to say on this topic than I cover in my little blog post.  For instance,  I often hear Catholic apologists say that it is enough to convince people that the Catholic Faith is a “reasonable” faith; it is not necessarily their job to “close the sale.”  This may at first seem like aiming too low: aren’t we trying to save souls? Don’t we want people to embrace the fullness of the faith?  Of course, but to be successful we need to take into account what the Faith teaches us about the nature of humanity, about what it means to be both body and soul, made in the image and likeness of God.  Human reason is finite and fallible, so it needs to be guided by faith.  That’s why St. Augustine, in a commentary on John’s Gospel, says: “Therefore do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe that you may understand; since, 'except you believe, you shall not understand.'”

     This, unfortunately, is the sort of quote that those who do not share the faith can easily misunderstand, or even attempt to use against Christian belief.  It can appear that Augustine is rejecting reason, but that is not the case; rather, he is recognizing that our imperfect human reason is subject to our wayward desires, and that “to perceive . . . more accurately, we need the Lord Himself for expounder.”  The “belief” to which he refers does not simply mean accepting a set of propositions, but entrusting ourselves to God; after all, he says, “even the devils believed him, but they did not believe in Him.” After embracing God, the source of all Truth, our reason can proceed on a firm foundation.  True Faith, therefore, involves first the heart, and then the head. A mistaken belief that the faith is unreasonable can be an obstacle to embracing belief so we must, as St. Peter tells us, “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope within you” (1 Peter 3:15); but human reason on its own will bring nobody to conversion.

Sunday – “The Pope Is Catholic Yet Again”  Pope Francis seems to frown on breeding "like rabbits" and it's all some people can talk about, but when he says that remaining childless is a "selfish choice" . . . well, where did everyone go?

Monday – “Pergolesi: Miserere mei Deus” I've posted Allegri's "Miserere" several times, but other composers have done wonderful things with this most penitential of Psalms: here's one . . . 

Tuesday – “Josquin Des Prez: Miserere mei Deus” . . .and here's another beautiful musical setting for Psalm 51

Wednesday – “Abortion Myth # 3” Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts - case in point, the canard that "women suffer no psychological consequences from abortion"

Thursday – “Can The Good Be The Enemy Of The Perfect?” Some people argue that we should avoid contentious issues and just stick to the Gospel; this is my response

       And – “Does He ReallyExpect Us To Be Perfect?” Tell the truth, now: don't you feel just a little inadequate to the task when you read: "Be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is Perfect" (Matthew 5:48) ?

Friday – “Moses, Pharaoh, & Why We Preach The Gospel”  Moses was a poor speaker, but God chose him as his spokesman anyway - what's up with that?

    

      

    

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (1st Sunday of Lent 2015)

     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.  

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

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (8 Feb 2015)

Happy Sunday, Day of Our Lord's Resurrection!  And welcome to Sunday Snippets, A Catholic Carnival, in which a merry band of blogsters and blogstresses of the papist persuasion gather to swap their weekly posts.  The center of this blog-a-rama is here, at This That and the Other Thing, home of chief blogstress RAnn. 

     I'll get to my own posts in a moment, but first I'd like to wrap up some of the past week's business, with a little help from the Liturgy of the Hours. Saturday's Non-Scriptural Reading from the Office of Readings was from Gaudium et Spes, the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from the Second Vatican Council. This line caught my attention: "Man's worth is greater because of what he is than because of what he has." I mention this in the context of my ongoing discussion ("Hey folks, let's dialogue!") with atheists, which also informs several of the posts linked below. This reading makes a fitting conclusion to some of the ideas I explore in those posts.

     The quote from Gaudium et Spes zeroes in on something that stands out in my conversations with atheists, the fact that their worldview doesn't permit them to discuss what we are: their materialist philosophy only admits the importance of what we have. We have bodies, for instance, which have needs, and so on, but all we are is matter, no different, in essence, than the matter that makes up a dog, a rock, or anything else. In the materialist world view, "human worth" is a mere sentiment (if such a thing can be said to exist), nothing more.

     In the Catholic Christian world view, on the other hand, humanity is something special, both because we are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27), but also because Christ sanctified humanity through the incarnation. As St. John Paul the Great said in his 1995 address to the United Nations:

As a Christian, my hope and trust are centered on Jesus Christ . . .Jesus Christ is for us God made man, and made part of the history of humanity. Precisely for this reason, Christian hope for the world and its future extends to every human person. Because of the radiant humanity of Christ, nothing genuinely human fails to touch the hearts of Christians.

     That is why the future of humanity belongs, not to the champions of "matter", but to Christ and His Church.

And now, here are the past week's posts from Principium et Finis:

Monday – “The Presentation of Our Lord, Atheism, and the Problem of Suffering”  Just as I was gathering my thoughts for my Feast of the Presentation post, I ran across a story about an angry atheist blaming God for all the trouble in the world.  The rest, as they say, was history. 

Tuesday – “Domenico Scarlatti  - Te Deum” We heard from the father last week, now the son.  They really don’t make music like this anymore, at least not this side of Heaven. 

Wednesday – “Abortion Myth # 18” A crazed abortion enthusiast picked up last week’s “Abortion Myth” on twitter, and his, ahem, “brilliant” rejoinder gave me the idea for Myth #18.  Thanks, Dude! 

Thursday – “Mortar Gunnery, Molly Pitcher, and Altar Serving” Is everyone tired of arguing about altar girls yet?  This throwback from last May is one of those mix and match things, but it really does all fit together (and allows me to prove that I did, at one time, have hair). 

Friday – “What Would Darwin Do?” Another look at our unbelieving friends, this one pondering the curious fact that, if Darwinian evolution is right, atheists are slotted for extinction.  Be careful what you wish for . . . 

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival & Hands Around the Capitol 2015

     Ah yes, another Sunday, another Sunday Snippets (A Catholic Carnival, don’t you know).  This is the first Sunday in a while that hasn’t been a solemnity of some sort, but that doesn’t mean that it’s just another Sunday: every Sunday is a commemoration of the Resurrection, a Little Easter . . . but I was talking about Sunday Snippets, wasn’t I?  It’s a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers who gather here, at This That and the Other Thing (home of the esteemed RAnn) to share the fruits of their bloggery from the previous seven days.

Red roses representing years since Roe vs. Wade

     Before I get to my snippets from Principium et Finis, however, I’d like to share a little about where I was Saturday.  This coming Thursday will be the 42^nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s notorious Roe vs. Wade decision, which wiped out the abortion laws of all fifty states and created de facto abortion on demand in the United States; there have been an estimated 57 million legal abortions since that time.  Here in Maine we observe this sad anniversary with an event called  Hands Around the Capitol on the Saturday prior,  in which we hold a rally at the St. Michael’s (formerly St. Mary’s) gym, followed by a march to the State Capitol. Here, as participants hold hands in a ring around the entire building, one person rings a replica of the Liberty Bell on the Statehouse grounds once for every year since the Roe decision, while another places one rose beneath the bell at each tolling; this year 42 red roses lay in the snow at the end.

     A highlight of the rally this year was the return of pro-life governor Paul LePage.  When he spoke last year, he was a conservative, pro-family, anti-abortion governor seeking an unlikely re-election in a state dominated by the political left.  Seemingly oblivious to his tenuous political situation, he gave an impassioned speech denouncing abortion and praising the traditional family (see my account here).  He came back this year after winning more votes than any governor in Maine history, but he didn’t sound any different: abortion, LePage said, was robbing us of our future in a state where “more people are dying than are being born”, and the key to solving social problems like poverty is “getting the family unit back together”, to which the first step is “a man and a woman to take care of the children.”  Obvious, maybe blindingly obvious, but how many politicians have the political courage to come out and say it?

Governor LePage greeting rally participants

     Something new this year is that we have, in the words of Maine Right to Life Executive Director Theresa McCann Tumidajski, “the first United States Representative from Maine to call himself ‘proudly pro-life.’”  That would be Bruce Poliquin, newly elected congressman from the 2^nd District.  Poliquin also gave a heartfelt defense of human life, even though he serves in a state where left-wing and pro-abortion groups have tremendous clout, and despite the fact that the Democratic leader in the U.S. House, California’s Nancy Pelosi, was hard at work trying to bring about his defeat in the next election even before he was sworn in (see here).

     Now, some will say that politicians will talk, but that it really doesn’t make any difference in the end.  When it comes to the right to life, pro-life laws and government officials do, in fact, make a difference, as I will show later this week in "Abortion Myth #17".  Also, the fact that these two men have been elected at all (in addition to a growing number of like-minded state senators and representatives) shows that there is hope for life.

   More photos from Hands Around the Capitol are posted below; meanwhile, here are snippets from the past week at Principium et Finis:

Monday – In the opera Don Giovanni, Mozart’s Don Juan enjoys some music from a couple of the composer’s contemporaries before he is dragged off to take up a well-deserved residence in Hell; one of those other composers, Giuseppe Sarti, had just arrived in Russia where he composed some beautiful music that looked to a much better place: “Giuseppe Sarti – ‘Now The Powers of Heaven’ & Russian Icon Painters” [here]

Tuesday – Planned Parenthood tells us that they mostly provide vital “health care” to women, such as mammograms, and abortion is just an afterthought - and if you believe that one . . . “Abortion Myth #16” [here] 

Wednesday –  Interesting news on the marriage front “Marriages Are Made in Heaven” [here] 

Thursday – This Ratzinger fellow sounds familiar . . . has he done anything since?  “Fr. Ratzinger’s Prophecy, 45 Years Later” [here] 

Friday – A picture’s worth a thousand words – and worth a human life: “The Truth Will Out” [here] 

Saturday - Hands Around the Capitol:

Brothers Jamie & Jared McCabe present a "Chalk Talk" at the rally

Governor LePage and young pro-life constituents in St. Michael's gym.

Pro-life Mainers gather at state capitol building

"Hands Around the Capitol"

Knights of Columbus with Blaine House (governor's mansion) in the background

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (Baptism of Our Lord 2015)

The Baptism of Christ by Tintoretto

     Happy Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord!  Welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival: this is a weekly convocation of a varied mix of  Catholic bloggers who share their posts from the past week.  The main gathering (the “mother ship”, as it were) is here, at This That and the Other Thing, under the auspices of our fearless leader RAnn.

     Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and so on the last day of the Christmas Season we celebrate the first event in the Public ministry of Jesus.  All four Gospels tell of John’s baptism of Jesus, but all present a slightly different view.  Mark’s description (which we hear in today’s Mass) is the sparest description; in Luke, the Baptist describes Jesus as the judge at the end of time, separating the wheat from the chaff; John’s Gospel recounts John the Baptist hailing Jesus as the Lamb of God.  They all tell of John’s recognition of himself as a merely the forerunner to Jesus, to whom he is inferior, but only Matthew records his reluctance to baptize the Lord:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Matthew 3:13-15)

John knows that Jesus, being sinless, requires no Baptism, but Jesus seeks it out in order to show his commitment to being one of us.  In this account we see Jesus acting out what St. Paul tells the Phillipians:

. . . though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Phillipians 2:6-7)

In all the Gospels, we see the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus and the voice of the Father proclaim him to be the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased.  And so Christ’s Public Ministry begins with an image of all three Persons of the Trinity working together, and an image of Grace in action.  This scene sums up the meaning of the Nativity we have just celebrated, and tells us something about the agenda for the ministry that is begun.  And in Matthew’s Gospel, we are reminded that it is all Grace, a word for which the Latin root gratia means not just favor, but favor freely bestowed (hence related English words “gratuity” and “gratis”); Grace is completely, absolutely, free. God needs nothing, nothing is necessary for Him: He does it all for us, He gives us a share in His own life, as a completely unnecessary gift.  Because He loves us.

     Well, then, what about the past week at Principium et Finis?  Here’s what we have been up to:

Monday – We close out the Twelve Days of Christmas with one of the great Christmas songs, song by a truly great singer: “12^th Day of Christmas – Adeste Fideles (Luciano Pavarotti)" [here] 

Tuesday – on the Feast of Epiphany we see the Magi and little reminder (in Psalm 117) that the New Testament, as St. Augustine tells us, is concealed in the Old: “Praise the LORD, all nations!”   [here]

Wednesday – Are we pro-lifers really just religious fanatics imposing our views on everyone else? “Abortion Myth #15” [here]

Thursday – A few thoughts on the problem of spiritual apathy, sparked by an unexpected book:  “Evangelizing the Lukewarm?” [here]

Saturday – In which I make a plea for thinking good and hard before throwing out the experience of the last fifteen or so centuries:  [here]

. . . and A SONG for today's Feast:

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (Epiphany & The 11th Day Of Christmas)

Merry Christmas!  And welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival.  What is Sunday Snippets? Well, imagine a New Year’s party with everyone taking turns swapping reminiscences of the past year,  only since we do it every Sunday (and we’re bloggers) we’re sharing our blog posts for the past week.  AND, since we’re Catholic  bloggers, we’ve got a big Christmas tree with carols playing in the background (because we know that the Christmas Season doesn’t begin until nightfall on December 24^th and doesn't end until the third Sunday after the Feast of the Nativity).  The main gathering is here, at This That and the Other Thing, home of our hostess RAnn.

     Speaking of Christmas, today is the 11^th of the 12 Days of Christmas.  It is also, in much of the world, the day of the liturgical celebration of the great Feast of Epiphany, the traditional date of which is January 6^th.  In the Western Church today this feast commemorates the visit of the Magi, whom scripture neither crowns nor numbers, but describes simply as “wise men from the East”. The word Epiphany means “a manifestation” or “a revealing”, in this context the name of the Feast refers to the fact the gifts and adoration of the Magi make manifest that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.  This ancient feast (older than Christmas) has at times also been connected  to the Nativity, the Baptism of Jesus and other manifestations of his Divinity.

     It is interesting how many epiphanies of “God With Us” that we are given : the examples above barely scratch the surface. And still it’s so hard for us to see (a theme of my post for the 10^th day as well).  Even Mary and Joseph, after visits from Angels and what they knew full well was a Virgin Birth “marveled at what was said about him (Luke 2:33)”  when they hear the old man Simeon prophesy over Jesus when he is presented in the Temple. A full dozen years later, they still seem to have a hard time taking it all in:

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously." And he said to them, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them.  (Luke 2:46-50)

It’s just so hard for us to see beyond our narrow horizons, even for the human parents of The Lord – and who could hope to have faith equal to theirs?  But here, as always, the Blessed Mother is the model disciple: “his mother”, the Evangelist tells us, “kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).  She doesn’t let her initial human reactions have the last word, and one might even say that she demonstrates the classic definition of theology: faith seeking understanding.

And now on to the snippets, as we continued our observance of the Twelve Days of Christmas:

Monday – A cheery little Christmas send-off  to the work week during the Octave of Christmas: “The 5^th Day of Christmas – Angels We Have Heard On High” [here] 

Tuesday – There’s a good theological reason for all those Christmas lights, there really is: “The 6^th Day of Christmas – God is Light” [here]   

Wednesday – The title says it all; added bonus, an awesome picture of the angel on top of my Christmas tree : “ 7^th Day of Christmas – What is the Christmas Season, why does it matter?” [here]  

Thursday – Another “why does it matter” post, in this case the Motherhood of Mary: “The 8^th Day of Christmas – The Solemnity Of Mary, Mother Of God” [here]   

Friday – Yes, this is another of those “best of” year-end posts, but I don’t have five favorites from 2014; I don’t have ten; I have links to thirteen, that’s right, THIRTEEN favorite posts.  Top that!  Oh, also a rousing version of a well-known Christmas song, with music by Felix Mendelssohn:  “The 9^th day of Christmas – Hark the Herald Angels & Favorites from 2014” [here] 

Saturday – Why is it so hard for us to catch on?  “The 10^th Day of Christmas – A God Of Surprises” [here]  

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival & The 4th Day of Christmas 2014

     Merry 4^th Day of Christmas! And welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival; this is a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers who share their posts for the week in a spirit of right good fellowship.  The main site is here, at This That and the Other Thing where our hostess RAnn calls us together around her wassail bowl to sing Christmas Carols into the night.  Well, in a virtual way, anyway.

The Flight Into Egypt by Bartolome Esteban Murillo

     Today we celebrate the Fourth Day of Christmas, which is usually the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  This day commemorates King Herod’s slaughter of every male child two years old and younger in Bethlehem  in an attempt to snuff out the Messiah that he learned had been born there.  This year, however, since the date of Holy Innocents falls on the Sunday after Christmas, it is being suppressed to make way for the Feast of the Holy Family. 

     The Change certainly makes for a more upbeat post.  Normally, I would make the connection between the murder of the Holy Innocents two thousand years ago and the wholesale massacre of unborn children through abortion today.  I might also mention that even those youngsters who have dodged the abortionist are robbed of their Holy Innocence by our pornified pop culture, causing all manner of suffering throughout their lives, and contributing in a significant way to all sorts of social pathologies.

     Happily, thanks to the Feast of the Holy Family, I don’t need to write that post.  It is interesting, however, that the two different feasts are really different sides of the same coin.  The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus is a model of God’s plan for the family; the slaughter of the Holy Innocents underscores how far we need to go, right now, to adhere to that model.  It is likewise interesting that one of the few places in Scripture where we see the Holy Family in action is the same passage from Matthew’s Gospel that describes the Holy Innocents:

And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they [the Magi] departed to their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. (Matthew 2:12 -16)

Joseph, like fathers and fatherhood itself  today, is often overlooked and forgotten.  In the passage above, however, he is clearly the leader of the family.  Like his Old Testament namesake, and the Wise Men from the East, he is warned in a dream, and takes action; he has the vision to guide and protect his family.  The family in our day and age is badly in need of guidance and protection.  On this Feast of the Holy Family, we would do well to pray for the intercession of its head and guardian (see here for my discussion of the Litany of St. Joseph).

     And now, on to the Snippets.  We started this past week in the Anticipation of Advent, and ended amidst the Joy of Christmas:

Monday – One of the loveliest Advent songs, lovingly sung: “Frederica von Stade – ‘Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming’” [here]

Tuesday – A woman and her doctor couldn’t be wrong, could they? “Abortion Myth # 14” [here]

Thursday – Posted on Christmas Day – if this isn't already your favorite Christmas song, it might be after you see this video: “Merry Christmas – Beautiful Celtic Version of ‘O Holy Night’” [here]

Friday – We need to pay attention to Mater Ecclesia and her Liturgical Calendar: here I announce my intention to honor each of the Twelve Days of Christmas, each at its proper time: “Christmas Is Just Beginning!” [here]

   and – The 2^nd Day of Christmas gives us our first martyr – here’s why it’s still a time for rejoicing: “The 2^nd Day of Christmas & Feast of St. Stephen: Joy, Sorrow & Triumph” [here]

Saturday – The 3^rd Day of Christmas is the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, the only one of the Twelve Apostles who did not die a martyr; he was also the only Apostle who stood at the Foot of the Cross, the Disciple whom Jesus loved: “The 3^rd Day of Christmas & St. John the Evangelist: The Disciple Jesus Loved” [here]

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (4th Sunday of Advent 2014)

    Welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival, Ladies and Gentleman.  Sunday Snippets is a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers who come together (in a virtual sort of way) to share their posts for the past week.  The main party is here, at This That and the Other Thing, home of our gracious hostess RAnn, who is also providing the eggnog - but don’t worry, as good Catholics we won’t even think about touching it until Christmas Day.

     Today on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, as we anticipate celebrating the Nativity of Our Lord in a few short days, I am reminded of the following passage from the Old Testament, in which God comes to the prophet Elijah as he hides in a cave:

And he [the Lord] said, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice; And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  (1 Kings: 11-13)

This, in its way, is as clear a foretaste of the Messiah as the passages we read in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel throughout advent.  Most of us have probably heard that, before the coming of Christ, people lived in fear of divine power.  Encountering God was something to be avoided: the point of praying and offering sacrifice, even sacrificing one’s own flesh and blood, was so that God (more often understood as “the gods”) would leave you alone.  We can detect echoes of this ancient attitude in the account of Abraham as he brought his beloved son Isaac up Mount Moriah, prepared to offer him up (Genesis 22).  The story of Abraham and Isaac, in which God reverses expectations and provides the lamb in place of Isaac, shows us the end of Christ’s earthly ministry; the story of Elijah in the cave shows us its surprising beginning. God doesn’t show himself in any of the terrifying guises one would expect (wind, earthquake, fire), but as a “still, small, voice” (in some translations a “whisper”).  In just the same way, the second person of the Trinity comes among us in the least threatening way imaginable: a helpless little baby, cradled in a feeding trough.  No wonder, when the Angel announces Jesus’ birth to the shepherds, he first tells them not to be afraid; and then he says:

For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people: for to you is born this day in the city of Davis a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:10-12).

Good News , indeed.  It is, in fact, a Great Joy, and not at all a bad thing when God is in our midst, for “God is Love”(1 John 4:8); and the Infinite Creator of the Universe makes himself finite, small and vulnerable . . . for us.

     And from the sublime to the, well, rather less than sublime.  One year ago today Principium et Finis published its first blog post, the first of a five-part series discussing St. Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on conscience (later reposted in more digestible form here).  It’s been a lot of fun, and I’ve learned a few things along the way.  Such as, eventually, to get to the point - and so here are my posts for this week:

Monday – Perhaps the oldest of Christmas songs, and certainly one of the most lovely: “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” [here]

Tuesday – As St. Therese of Lisieux learned after Midnight Mass in 1886, we all get just the conversion experience we need, if we’re willing to take it:  “The Christmas Conversion of St. Therese”  [here]

Wednesday – Don’t buy the lie, ladies and gentlemen; there is no greater affront to the rights and dignity of women today than abortion: “Abortion Myth #13” [here]

Thursday – No matter how hungry you are, God has bigger things in store for you than a bowl of soup: “Being Christian in the Age of Esau” [here] 

Friday – OK, I see a Theme For The Week here: look below the surface, there’s more at stake than mere appearances suggest.  Today it’s architecture . . . sort of: “When A Church Is Not A Church” [here]

Finally, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Our Savior at Christmas, at the End of Time, and to each one of us in our own lives, here’s a beautiful song, "Mary Did You Know?" performed by the lovely HayleyWestenra:

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (Gaudete Sunday 2014)

     Gaudete!  Today, on this the Third Sunday of Advent, we look forward with Joyful Hope to the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas, and at the End of Time.  Welcome also to Sunday Snippets (a Catholic Carnival); if you’re a fan of Catholic bloggery (and if you’re not, yet, you should give it a try), this is the place to go on the Lord’s Day.  Not simply my little corner of the party, but the main gathering at This That and the Other Thing [here], where a varied collection of Papist bloggers gather around RAnn’s Advent Wreath to share their posts from the past week.

The reredos at the Franco Center in Lewiston, ME

     Before I get to my own snippets, I’d like to share a couple other things from my week.  First of all, a pleasant surprise Friday night. My family and I attended a concert by a local youth orchestra in which the daughter of family friends was participating.  The youth orchestra was to be accompanied by a madrigal group from a local public high school.  We anticipated that the orchestra and singers would be good (and we were not disappointed), but given their secular affiliation (especially for the high school group), we didn’t expect that we would hear much about Christmas at this “Holiday Concert”.  The event was taking place in the auditorium of another public school, where a poster advertising the student production of a musical called “Urine Town” (no, I’m not making this up) tended to confirm our suspicions.  I am pleased to report, however, that not only did the student musicians beautifully perform songs about Christmas, but songs celebrating Christ.  Among other things, “I Wonder As I Wander”, which featured a lovely young soprano singing:

            I wonder as I wander out under the sky

            How Jesus the Savior did come for to die

            For poor orn’ry people like you and like I

            I wonder as I wander out under the sky

The players and singers concluded their concert with a glorious rendition of Handel’s “Halleluiah Chorus”, with the clearly energized young people in the orchestra putting forth their best performance of the night, and the chorus joyfully singing out “And He [i.e., Christ] shall reign for ever and ever!”  No, it was not a religious observance, but it wasn’t supposed to be: it was, simply, a performance.  I found it refreshing that, at least in a small town in Maine, a group from a secular school can still sing Christmas songs at a Christmas concert without causing a Constitutional Crisis.

     It also brought to mind another experience from a few days earlier.  We attended a talk Wednesday night at a place in Lewiston called the Franco Center, formerly the Franco American Heritage Center, and before that, for most of its existence, St. Mary’s Church.  There’s always something sad about a former Catholic church building converted to secular use.  I couldn’t help but notice that this one retained an unusual number of churchy details, no doubt because of the important place Catholicism played in the lives of the French Canadian community for so many years: there was a large crucifix in a glass display case in the lobby, very few of the architectural details had been removed or hidden, and the display cases inside the nave contained, among other historical artifacts, vestments and prayer books.  The biggest surprise, however, was yet to come: in order to accommodate theater-style seating, a new floor had been built that sloped up from front to back, until it reached the pointed tops of the Gothic arches beneath which worshipers had entered in years past.  When we climbed atop this structure to our seats we were greeted with an unexpected sight: although the high altar itself had (of course) been removed, its towering wooden reredos remained (or better yet, this having been a French-speaking parish, it’s retable).  The niche for the tabernacle was still visible, the red Alpha and Omega still stood out prominently, and above all, a big beautiful Madonna holding the Baby Jesus.

Interior of the Franco Center, formerly St. Mary's Church

     It was a wonderful sight, but it prompted thoughts both negative and positive.  On the negative side, I was struck with the realization that this secular hall still looked more like a Catholic Church than many recent church buildings still being used for that purpose.  On the plus side, however, and the more lasting impression: I was reminded that, however difficult things may look along the way, the Gates of Hell will not prevail.  As with the Christmas concert, the Christian roots of our culture have a way of showing up in all sorts of places. It’s good to be reminded from time to time.

     As for the week’s snippets from Principium et Finis, I found myself giving more attention, sadly, to some of the more negative trends in the culture, particularly as the week wore on:

    

Monday – Another beautiful Psalm setting from another great, but neglected, composer: “De Profundis (C.W. Gluck)” [here]

Wednesday – “A person is a person”, Dr. Seuss assures us, “no matter how small”.  Well, not everyone agrees:  “Abortion Myth #12” [here]

Thursday – A revamping of a piece from this past Spring, this one examines some of the consequences of family break-down for the health of the Republic:  “Marriage, Family & Liberty” [here]

Friday – Dispatches from the Brave New World of sex education: “A Couple Paving Stones On The Road To Hell” [here]  

Finally, this being Gaudete Sunday, let’s end on a positive note:

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (2nd Sunday of Advent 2014)

     A Blessed Second Sunday of Advent to all, and welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival, a weekly convocation of bloggers in union with the Church and the Successor of Peter (a.k.a. the Pope) who share their work from the past week at the main gathering (i.e., the Big Top) hereat This That and the Other Thing, home of our hostess RAnn. 

   Speaking of Popes, we have had a very unusual situation the last few years, unprecedented in modern times - we have two men living who have borne the title and filled the office of Pope: Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict.  No Pope had resigned for centuries before Benedict XVI, mostly to avoid destabilizing the Church.  A retired Pope could undermine the authority of the reigning Pope, or become the focal point, even if he didn’t wish it, of a schismatic movement.  While he papacy doesn’t wield the sort of secular influence it did in the Middle Ages, and Popes are no longer in the habit of imprisoning rivals, the danger still remains of a former Pope complicating the work of his successor, and confusing the faithful.

     I was acutely aware of this tricky situation this past week: I had two items featuring the recently retired Pontiff that were ready to post, but I was a little apprehensive about seeming to be disloyal to Pope Francis, or to be offering up an underhanded criticism by paying too much attention to his predecessor.  I chose in the end to publish both items, but I assure you that they ae not intended to cast any sort of negative light on our current Vicar.  The fact is, from his time as Pope, before that as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), and even before that as a leading theologian, Joseph Ratzinger has left a substantial and important body of work, which we’ll be talking about for some time to come.

     Pope Emeritus Benedict himself understands quite well the delicate situation he brought about when he stepped down from the Papacy. He has stayed out of the way, making very few public appearances and even fewer statements.  That’s why apologist Jimmy Akin [article here] is so intrigued by the Pope Emeritus (sort of) publicly countering Cardinal Kasper’s most recent attempt to change the Church’s ancient practice of withholding Communion from divorced and remarried Catholics.  Cardinal Kasper has floated this same proposal several times over the last few decades, but every time he runs up against the same obstacle: Joseph Ratzinger.  This time, Akin surmises, Kasper thought he could take advantage of his long-time adversary’s public reticence, this time boldly citing an essay from 1972 in which a much younger Father Ratzinger seemed to be endorsing Kasper’s current view.  Ratzinger rejected that view decades ago, however, and now a republication of his earlier works has afforded an opportunity to subtly, but clearly, counter Kasper’s fancy footwork.  Read Jimmy Akin’s article to get the full story.

      But perhaps you were wondering when I’d get to the snippets?  Of course.  Here is what was happening at Principium et Finis over the First Week of Advent:

Monday – A follow-up to last week’s post; this composer, in my view, truly deserves to be heard more often: “ Antonio Salieri – Requiem in C Minor: ‘Agnus Dei’” [here]

Tuesday – Sure we love fetuses, but other than that we Pro-Lifers are a hard-hearted lot, are we not?  “Abortion Myth #11” [here]

Thursday – The first Ratzinger post of the week, featuring a document issued by the CDF when he was its head honcho: “On Being A Christian In Public Life” [here]

Friday – Jolly Old St. Nick was not a one-dimensional Saint:  “St. Nicholas: Lover, or Fighter?” [here]

Saturday – Here Joseph Ratzinger appears as Pope Benedict XVI, along with Russell Moore of Southern Baptist Conference: “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Ecumenism?”[here]

Finally, Here's one of our favorite Advent Hymns, based on today's Gospel: