The Rock writes about The STONE

While most could very well interpret today's readings to speak of Jesus' preparing a place for us, there appears to be a deeper meaning to what these scriptures say.  In one form or another, today's readings reference the Temple.

In his first letter, St. Peter tells the nascent Church that her members are "like living stones" that are being used to build up a spiritual house.  I found it interesting that the man whom Jesus called "rock" and upon whom He would build his Church would write about Christ the "living stone," the "cornerstone, chosen and precious," although "rejected by the builders."

For me, the above stained glass window captures the essence of what Jesus mandated when he established Peter's authority and of the Prince of the Apostle's first epistle.  Even though Jesus knew that St. Peter would deny Him, Christ was also well aware of the former fisherman's deep love. That love was rock solid.  It was that love that drove Peter to surreptitiously  follow Jesus from Gethsemane to the High Priest's house; but, it was fear that led him to deny his Master.

It is now that same love that compels and propels Peter to build up and encourage the young Church, fashioning these living stones into the new Temple.

At the Last Supper discourse, Jesus references the Temple.  Recall that in St. John's Gospel, as Jesus is clearing out the money changers who have profaned the Temple, He calls the sacred space His "Father's house."  He uses that same phrase in today's Gospel reading, taken from St. John's account:

2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 

The Temple, God's dwelling on earth, was a huge complex with a plethora of rooms.  It was the place where Ancient Israel, and, eventually, the whole of humanity, could have an encounter with the Lord. The Court of the Gentiles was the largest space because it was designed to allow non-Jews the opportunity to render God worship.  The next smaller space was reserved for Ancient Israel and the final, most important space, was the Holy of Holies, reserved for the priest who offered sacrifices to God.

St. John, in Revelation, returns to that images of the Temple and the heavenly Jerusalem, as he writes of seeing the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven like a bride.  When he describes the new Temple, John writes of the 12 foundations named after the 12 apostles.  The whole Temple was encrusted in precious jewels, seemingly harkening what St. Peter referenced in his epistle when he referred to the living stones used to build up the spiritual house.

In today's account from the Acts of the Apostles, we also see a veiled reference to the Temple.  Towards the very end, St. Luke tells us that "a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith."  These were the same priests who were offering the daily and weekly sacrifices in the Holy of Holies."  Now, they would be partaking of the real sacrifice, the Eucharistic Sacrifice.  They would be worshipping the Lord in "spirit and truth," just as Christ predicted to the Samaritan woman during their conversation at the well.

All of this boils down to worship.  The earthly liturgy gives us a foretaste of the heavenly reality that we will one day experience.  At the Last Supper, Jesus laid down the framework as to how he would be worshipped.  In today's Epistle, St. Peter, the Rock, reminds us that Christ is the cornerstone of the Church.  He is also the Master Architect, building His Church on the rock that is St. Peter and we are a part of the myriad of living stones that make up this spiritual house, with the Holy Spirit serving as the mortar that holds us all together.

Tiring of the Bridegroom?

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Lord used the imagery of the Bride and the Bridegroom to describe his relationship with humanity.  In Hosea, the Lord reminds Israel of the infidelity she had shown ever since the time that that God had freed her from slavery in Egypt.  She stayed from her Maker, engaging in worshipping false gods.  In Ezekiel, the Lord continues to chastise Israel for her repeated indiscretions, likening her to an unfaithful wife.

In St. John's Gospel, Jesus calls himself the Bridegroom.  St. John the Baptist uses the same word to describe the Lord.  Jesus uses this nuptial reference several times, most notably when he preaches the parable of the 10 wise virgins and the 10 foolish virgins who fall asleep waiting the arrival of the Bridegroom.  The 10 wise ones plan ahead, saving their oil, while the 10 foolish ones waste it.  When the Bridegroom finally comes, only the 10 wise ones are able to fully partake of the nuptial feast because they conserved what they had while the 10 foolish ones did not.

St. Paul also uses this nuptial imagery. Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church, as St. Paul observed, is the Bride.

In this day and age, we are presented with another nuptial imagery of Christ and the Bride; only in this case, the brides are the members of the Leadership Council of Women Religious, and the infractions, lamentably, are similar to those that Ancient Israel practiced in the times of Hosea and Ezekiel, and, to a huge extent, the actions of the 10 foolish virgins in Christ's parable.  It is almost as though these brides of Christ, who have been united to the Lord for several decades, have drifted away from their Divine Spouse and have wasted away the oil of gladness that He had given them when they were consecrated to Him. 

The LCRW continues its sparring match with the Holy See concerning the Doctrinal Assessment conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

His Eminence, Gerhard Cardinal Muller, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, delivered a powerful address to the LCWR, admonishing the organization for its selection of a dissident theologian whose book on the Holy Trinity was censured by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

It saddens me to learn that you have decided to give the Outstanding Leadership Award during this year’s Assembly to a theologian criticized by the Bishops of the United States because of the gravity of the doctrinal errors in that theologian’s writings. This is a decision that will be seen as a rather open provocation against the Holy See and the Doctrinal Assessment. Not only that, but it further alienates the LCWR from the Bishops as well. 

I realize I am speaking rather bluntly about this, but I do so out of an awareness that there is no other interpretive lens, within and outside the Church, through which the decision to confer this honor will be viewed. It is my understanding that Archbishop Sartain was informed of the selection of the honoree only after the decision had been made. Had he been involved in the conversation as the Mandate envisions, I am confident that he would have added an important element to the discernment which then may have gone in a different direction. The decision taken by the LCWR during the ongoing implementation of the Doctrinal Assessment is indeed regrettable and demonstrates clearly the necessity of the Mandate’s provision that speakers and presenters at major programs will be subject to approval by the Delegate. I must therefore inform you that this provision is to be considered fully in force. I do understand that the selection of honorees results from a process, but this case suggests that the process is itself in need of reexamination. I also understand that plans for this year’s Assembly are already at a very advanced stage and I do not see the need to interrupt them. However, following the August Assembly, it will be the expectation of the Holy See that Archbishop Sartain have an active role in the discussion about invited speakers and honorees.

This is not the first time that the LCRW has had questionable speakers at its conference.  As Fr. John Zuhlsdorf noted in his blog, the organization invited a speaker who advocates "conscious evolution", something that is akin to the ancient heresy of gnosticism.   In the same aforementioned address, Cardinal Muller remained direct in his comments:

For the last several years, the Congregation has been following with increasing concern a focalizing of attention within the LCWR around the concept of Conscious Evolution. Since Barbara Marx Hubbard addressed the Assembly on this topic two years ago, every issue of your newsletter has discussed Conscious Evolution in some way. Issues of Occasional Papers have been devoted to it. We have even seen some religious Institutes modify their directional statements to incorporate concepts and undeveloped terms from Conscious Evolution. 

Again, I apologize if this seems blunt, but what I must say is too important to dress up in flowery language. The fundamental theses of Conscious Evolution are opposed to Christian Revelation and, when taken unreflectively, lead almost necessarily to fundamental errors regarding the omnipotence of God, the Incarnation of Christ, the reality of Original Sin, the necessity of salvation and the definitive nature of the salvific action of Christ in the Paschal Mystery. 

My concern is whether such an intense focus on new ideas such as Conscious Evolution has robbed religious of the ability truly to sentire cum Ecclesia. To phrase it as a question, do the many religious listening to addresses on this topic or reading expositions of it even hear the divergences from the Christian faith present? 

This concern is even deeper than the Doctrinal Assessment’s criticism of the LCWR for not providing a counter-point during presentations and Assemblies when speakers diverge from Church teaching. The Assessment is concerned with positive errors of doctrine seen in the light of the LCWR’s responsibility to support a vision of religious life in harmony with that of the Church and to promote a solid doctrinal basis for religious life. I am worried that the uncritical acceptance of things such as Conscious Evolution seemingly without any awareness that it offers a vision of God, the cosmos, and the human person divergent from or opposed to Revelation evidences that a de facto movement beyond the Church and sound Christian faith has already occurred.

I do not think I overstate the point when I say that the futuristic ideas advanced by the proponents of Conscious Evolution are not actually new. The Gnostic tradition is filled with similar affirmations and we have seen again and again in the history of the Church the tragic results of partaking of this bitter fruit. Conscious Evolution does not offer anything which will nourish religious life as a privileged and prophetic witness rooted in Christ revealing divine love to a wounded world. It does not present the treasure beyond price for which new generations of young women will leave all to follow Christ. The Gospel does! Selfless service to the poor and marginalized in the name of Jesus Christ does! 

He also took them to task because of some comments that had been made about moving beyond Jesus and beyond the Church.  I am no theologian by any means; however, I cannot wrap my head around a conscious statement that a professed religious, male or female, could make about going past Christ and His Church.  This gives the Protestant notion of being "left behind" a whole new and weird meaning.  Did these nuns not read Jesus' farewell discourage in St. John's Gospel account?

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

Apart from Christ, we are nothing.  We cannot do anything, as He told His disciples.  When we were baptized, we were incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ.  Jesus founded the Church as the means for our salvation.  He entrusted the Church to St. Peter and his successors, entrusting Himself in the Holy Eucharist.  Moving beyond Christ and His Church is simply ludicrous.  While Cardinal Muller rightly reminds the LCRW that they run the risk of falling into gnosticism, I would add that they also expose themselves to the guiles of the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve into the sin of pride.  They seem to think that they know better than Christ and the Church.  The sad reality is that they do not.

The members of the LCRW seem to have taken the route that Ancient Israel took, drifting away from the Lord and seeking comfort in false theologies that are not only meaningless; they also place their souls in peril.  It is as though the women have let the oil of gladness run dry and have found a cheap substitute.

When a person or a group embarks on fuzzy theology, this leads into fuzzy liturgical practices.  If a person or group believes that the Faith of the Church can be compromised, then disrespect for Her liturgical rites cannot be far behind.  Even paraliturgical ceremonies can turn into a parody.

It's almost as thought the LCRW has really lost it on so many levels. Some many want to be liberated of the "constraints" placed on them by the Church; however, that is not how true freedom works.  True freedom, as Pope St. John Paul II reminds us, is not about doing as we wish, but, in doing as we ought.  Cardinal Muller and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are not trying to suppress these women; rather, they are reminding them of their true vocation.  

Women religious, for the most part, consider themselves Brides of Christ and they rightly are.  It seems to me that the LCWR has forgotten this.  It is as though they have tired of their Bridegroom and want something more.  Yet, when the Bridegroom is no less than Christ, Himself, who has given them everything, including His very self, what more could they want?  

This is the question that the LCRW should, in all honesty, be asking themselves.  

Guarding Liturgical Integrity

We often forget that the priest stands in Persona Christi when he celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  He makes the words of Christ his own when prays the words of Consecration:  "This is my Body; this is my Blood."

A local prelate recently gave a talk on the Priest as Victim, reminding his brethren in the priesthood of the importance of their vocation; but, he took this step further and offered them a catechesis on proper liturgy.

In his address, he also reminded them of the importance of their role in the liturgy, telling them that they are servants of the Eucharist.  Inasmuch as they stand in Persona Christi, they should maintain the integrity of the sacrifice that they are offering.  This reminds me of an address that the former Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith gave back in 2008 at the Gateway Liturgical Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.  

(T)he correct approach to ars celebrandi of priests and even of the faithful would be to insure that they allow Christ to take over at the altar, becoming the voice, the hands and the being of Christ, or the alter Christus. 

Sacramentum Caritatis affirms this very clearly when it states, “Priests should be conscious of the fact that in their ministry they must never put themselves or their personal opinions in the first place, but Jesus Christ. Any attempt to make themselves the center of the liturgical action contradicts their very identity as priests. The priest is above all a servant of others, and he must continuously work at being a sign pointing to Christ, a docile instrument in the Lord’s hands. This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality” (Sacr. Carit. 23). 

In everything the priest does at the altar he should always let the Lord take control of his being. The words of John the Baptist are important in this matter: “He must increase and I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

Lamentably, there are occasions when this does not occur.  Last Saturday evening, I went to my maternal ancestral parish.  The guest celebrant, who introduced himself as a professor of liturgy, took several liberties within the Mass that left me disconcerted.  When he could not find the Collect in the Roman Missal, he proceeded to make up his own.  He then added words here and there to the fixed texts of the Mass, something that is also forbidden in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and Redemptionis Sacramentum.  He also asked the faithful to hold hands during the recitation of the Pater Noster.

All of this made me wonder just what he is teaching the seminarians.  After Mass, I tried to charitably  bring the concerns up to him privately.  He dismissed me right away and said that I should be reading the words of Christ.  I told him that even Christ had high regard for the rubrics of Temple worship because these pointed directly to Him and were dictated by, no less than His own Father.  I also asked him if he had read any of the documents.  He rebuffed me and walked away.

Re-reading now-Cardinal Ranjinth's address in light of this episode and the address that the local prelate had given his brother priests made me think.  Why is is that some in the clergy do not see liturgical integrity as a matter of grave importance.  Again, let us turn to Cardinal Ranjith:

Obedience to Norms
As Pope John Paul II stated in Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “Liturgy is never anyone’s private property, be it of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated”; and so “no one is permitted to undervalue the mystery entrusted to our hands; it is too great for anyone to feel free to treat it lightly and with disregard for its sacredness and its universality” (EE 52). 

Indeed, liturgy is a treasure given to the Church, which is to be jealously guarded. This is so also because it is the actio Christi realized in and through the Church, which is His own Body, in its three-fold extension — the Church Victorious, the Church Purifying and the Church Militant. 

Thus every liturgical act has a meta-cosmic extension. Besides, it is in and with the Church that Christ realizes His priestly office, making the liturgy profoundly ecclesial, in the sense of the whole Church. It is the whole Church which celebrates liturgy each time a priest does so with his own local community. 

Liturgy Is “Given”
Liturgy thus should be considered a treasure “given” to the Church, not created by it. The fact of the steady growth of liturgical traditions along its bi-millennial history, and the surprisingly harmonious and natural way in which it has happened, is proof of the work of the Holy Spirit and the surpassing nobility of its contents. It is like a tree, which continues to grow, at times shedding its leaves, at other times being pruned to become stronger and straighter, but always remaining the same tree. Sacred Liturgy has undergone a similar process of growth but never a new beginning, right from the earliest times even until now — and so it will be even in the future because it is Christ Himself who through His Mystical Body, the Church, has continued to exercise His priestly office. 

Christ, the Main Celebrant at the Altar
And so, the correct approach to ars celebrandi of priests and even of the faithful would be to insure that they allow Christ to take over at the altar, becoming the voice, the hands and the being of Christ, or the alter Christus.

These are the same points that the local prelate made.  The sad thing is that when the faithful begin to press their clergy to celebrate the Mass according to the norms, they get labeled as "liturgical police" or "Pharisees" when that is not the case at all.  

There was a reason why Pope St. John Paul II ordered the promulgation of Redemptionis Sacramentum, assigning both the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Francis Cardinal Arinze with the task of writing this important document.  The recently canonized John Paul lamented over the fact that shadows exist and continue to persist in the manner in which the Mass is celebrated.

As Redemeptionis Sacramentum notes:

[11.]  The Mystery of the Eucharist "is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured".27 On the contrary, anyone who acts thus by giving free rein to his own inclinations, even if he is a Priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved,28 and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today. Nor do such actions serve authentic pastoral care or proper liturgical renewal; instead, they deprive Christ's faithful of their patrimony and their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal,29 but are detrimental to the right of Christ's faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church's life in accordance with her tradition and discipline. In the end, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony into the very celebration of the Eucharist, which is oriented in its own lofty way and by its very nature to signifying and wondrously bringing about the communion of divine life and the unity of the People of God.30 The result is uncertainty in matters of doctrine, perplexity and scandal on the part of the People of God, and, almost as a necessary consequence, vigorous opposition, all of which greatly confuse and sadden many of Christ's faithful in this age of ours when Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of "secularization" as well.31 

[12.] On the contrary, it is the right of all of Christ's faithful that the Liturgy, and in particular the celebration of Holy Mass, should truly be as the Church wishes, according to her stipulations as prescribed in the liturgical books and in the other laws and norms. Likewise, the Catholic people have the right that the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass should be celebrated for them in an integral manner, according to the entire doctrine of the Church's Magisterium. Finally, it is the Catholic community's right that the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist should be carried out for it in such a manner that it truly stands out as a sacrament of unity, to the exclusion of all blemishes and actions that might engender divisions and factions in the Church.32

What part of this teaching is lost on the visiting priest I encountered last weekend?  What part of this message is lost on clergy and laity alike who continue to treat the Sacred Liturgy as their own personal property?

While the obvious answer is that we need to pray for our priests, we also need to stand up for liturgical integrity and read the documents for ourselves.  Even Redemptionis Sacramentum encourages the faithful to charitably defend the liturgy.  Celebrants, whether they be priests or bishops, also need to read the documents.  It is only by working to ether that we can all ensure that the integrity of the Church's most sacred and most important treasure is guarded and maintained.

Finding the Real Presence of Christ

Today, the Church presents us with the account of Jesus' encounter with two of his disciples as they were leaving Jerusalem, heading towards Emmaus.

Cleopas, who, according to ancient Tradition, was the brother of St. Joseph and thus, Jesus' uncle, and his fellow disciple, were, for all intents and purposes, leaving the Cross and everything associated with it.  They were heading in the wrong direction, both literally and figuratively.

Suddenly, Jesus pops up out of nowhere and listens in on their conversation as the two disciples are recapping the weekend's events.  Oddly enough, they do not recognize him.  Not even His own uncle, Cleopas, recognizes Jesus.  Jesus asks them what they are discussing and Cleopas seems shocked that his fellow traveler seems to not know what all happened.  Jesus certainly knew it because he went through it.  Cleopas explains to his new companion just what had occurred.  He even goes on to say that some of the disciples, including the women, had gone to the tomb, but did not see Jesus.  Evidently, neither can Cleopas as Jesus is walking along right with him.

Jesus chastises them for their inability to understand the Scriptures.  He then proceeds to give them the best biblical exegesis of all time.  This experience leads Cleopas and his companion to beg their fellow sojourner to abide with them for the night, as it was getting late.  Jesus obliges and then, something remarkable happens.  He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and distributes it to them.  Then, he vanished.  It was at that point, that Cleopas realizes that he had just spent major time with his now resurrected Nephew.  His other companion is also ecstatic.  Then, both of them make a hasty return to Jerusalem, going back to the Cross.

The story of Cleopas and his companion and their encounter with Jesus should resonate with us.  What they experienced was, in essence, what we, as Catholics, experience every Sunday, every day:  an encounter with the resurrected Christ within the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  At every Mass, we read from Sacred Scripture, the celebrant explains the readings in his homily and then, we go on to the Eucharistic Sacrifice, where Jesus ones again becomes fully present in the altar.  We return back to the moment of the Paschal Triduum, for his Passion, Death and Resurrection.  Then, after the Fraction Rite, we receive Christ's Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion.  We encounter Christ just as Cleopas and the other disciple. In fact, from Holy Thursday on, Jesus left us the means by which we were to encounter Him.  He told St. Mary Magdelene not to hold on to him anymore, as now, He would be fully present in the Eucharist.

The first mistake that Cleopas and his companion made was in fleeing Jerusalem and going to a place where they thought they would be safe, namely, a Roman garrison named Emmaus.  When we flee the Cross and everything that comes with us, when we flee suffering and choose not to hold on to Christ, we become, as Pope Benedict XVI rightly predicted, caught up in so many "winds of doctrine that the little boat of our faith begins to be tossed to and fro" in some sort of "dictatorship of relativism."  When we are not moored to the Rock of St. Peter and follow another course, we lose our way.  Cleopas and the other disciple were losing the way.  In Cleopas' case, this was rather remarkable, considering the fact that his Nephew was Christ.  He did not recognize just Who he was leaving and, subsequently, Who was coming after him.

On Twitter, Dr. Taylor Marshall wrote that he met up with two former Catholics who had left the Church and gone on to Joel Osteen's ecclesisal community.  He asked them why they left and they told him that the music and preaching were more attractive.  Marshall then asked them about the Eucharist, the Real Presence.  They told him that they had "communion service" with crackers and individual cups.  They said that they felt that they would be ingesting germs by receiving from the chalice.  Here, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explains why the Eucharist is so important.  In Sacramentum Caritatis, he writes that:

"In the Sacrament of the Altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God's image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27) and becomes our companion along the way.  In this Sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom.  Since only the truth can make us free (cf. Jn 8:32), Christ becomes for us the food of truth."

Their responses saddened me.  While Osteen seems to have a positive message, his only focus is on the false Gospel of Prosperity.  My fellow Catholics repost his messages on Facebook and he rarely proclaims Christ Crucified nor does he speak of heavenly realities.  His only concerns seems to be the here and now.  Insofar as music is concerned, what is offered at Lakeway is more along the lines of a sacro-pop concert with very little substance.  The two women in question have left behind the "food of truth" for something that, in the long run, is far from satisfying and offers no real nourishment.

Sadly, I have experienced this even within my own family.  I found out on Facebook that a couple of them left the Church and had their children (baptized Catholic) confirmed as Methodists.  This was very painful.  I still love my relatives, but, it saddens me that they would choose to leave the Church that Christ founded.  Two others have done the same thing.

It seems to me that for them, and for the two women that Marshall encountered, they want to flee the Cross.  Their idea pretty much matches what Osteen preaches:  no suffering and much prosperity.  But, this is not the message of the Gospel.  As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI notes:

"Christ did not promise an easy life.  Those who desire comforts have dialed the wrong number.  Rather, He shows us the way to great things, the good, towards an authentic human life. 

When He speaks of the cross that we ourselves have to carry, it has nothing to do with a taste of torture or of pedantic moralism.  It is the impulse of love, which has its own momentum and does not seek itself but opens the person to the service of truth, justice and the good.  Christ shows God to us, and thus the true greatness of man."  

Christ came to open up the way of salvation for us.  He came so that we could have eternal life.  He gives us His very Self as food for the journey.  How anyone could walk away from that is beyond me.  Cleopas and his companion did; but, Jesus, Good Shepherd that He is, goes after them and re-orients them to Jerusalem, to the Cross.

I can only pray that the Good Shepherd will seek out those two women and my relatives and bring them back to the true Faith, back to the Cross.  May they find comfort from the example of Cleopas and return from Emmaus.

And so it begins...

Today, with the celebration of Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, the Church enters into her most sacred time of the year, Holy Week.

The Palm Sunday liturgy begins with the joyful, triumphant praises of Hosanna to the Son of David, the opening antiphon and progresses to the epitome of entrance processionals, All Glory, Laud and Honor.  We recall Jesus' triumphal entry into His own city, Jerusalem, and how the crowds chanted praises while waving palm and olive branches.

But, as the liturgy continues, we experience a shift from the joyful to the sorrowful.  We listen to a section of Isaiah's prophecy of the Suffering Servant (which we will hear throughout the week).  Then, we chant Psalm 22, My God, My God, why have you abandoned me, the psalm that Jesus quotes as he is hanging on the cross.  The psalm predicts what Jesus will undergo, the piercing of his hands and his feet and the casting of lots for his vesture. Then, we listen to St. Paul's Canticle, taking from his epistle to the Philippians, exhorting us to bend the knee at the name of Jesus and reminding us of Christ's obedience even to the point of suffering through death on a cross.

In the Gospel account, we live through the sacred moments of Jesus' Passion and Death. Twice a year, the Gospel proclamation is shared between the priest, the deacon and the people (with the priest taking on the part of Christ).  In Rome, it is traditionally chanted by three deacons, with the choir taken on the part of the crowd.

A dear priest friend of mine told me that he prefers to divide the Passion into parts (as listed in the above paragraph), where he reads the part of Christ and the faithful take on the role of the crowd.  He explained that, ultimately, we are that crowd.  That crowd speaks for us.  We need to remind ourselves that it was, as Isaiah proclaims in the first reading used on Good Friday, "He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole."  It is important that this reality confront us, head-on and impact us.  A lot of the time, we tend to water down our faith and not really focus on our need for conversion.  Sin is a powerful reality.  It is also deadly, more deadly than AIDS or any form of cancer.  Cancer and AIDS destroy the body; sin destroys the soul.  Jesus said, "Beware of the one who can destroy the soul."

In his homily, my priest friend said that all of us have a role in the Passion.  In fact, nearly every serious sin is found there:  sloth, envy, hatred, violence and greed.  The most serious of these is despair, the despair that Judas languished in because he believed that he was beyond salvation.  This is the worst sin against God because despair means that we do not believe that He can save us.  That is the ultimate death of the soul.

Moments after the account of the Passion, we relive the sacred mysteries of our salvation when we enter into the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Jesus becomes just as present to us as He was to the Apostles who betrayed, denied and abandoned him, to the crowds who cheered for him in the beginning and then jeered at him towards the end and to Pilate, Caiaphas and the Romans who played a huge role in His Crucifixion.

Yet, as deeply profound as these mysteries are, many parishes sadly miss the boat in making the connection between the liturgy and the music for today's Mass.  They do not realize that with today's liturgy, we enter the high point, the summit of the Church's liturgical year.  So, what do these well-meaning parish music directors pick?  Very rarely will we pray the Introit and the Communion Antiphons (the Church's official music for the sacred liturgy).  Instead, choir directors select songs that really do not convey the sacred mysteries that unfold before us.  The King of Glory, One Bread-One Body, Our God Reigns, and other pieces lack the sober nature called for during this time of year.

I know I keep writing a lot about this issue, but there is cause for concern.  Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, in his excellent blog, WDTPRS, lamented about the emerging Magisterium of Sophomores, wherein students at a Catholic High School were protesting an address given by an orthodox priest which touched on some hard-truth issues.  I do not know if these students have been exposed to any liturgy (LifeTeen or otherwise); however, when the liturgy is watered down, that leads to a weakening in the Faith.  When the sacred mysteries no longer impact us and we replace the beauty and solemnity of the Mass with soft Christian pop music, we have contributed to the decline in our Faith.  Such a decline will eventually render us just as apathetic and slothful as the crowds on that first Good Friday.

As we go deeper into the mystery of Holy Week, let us pray that we will allow these sacred realities to permeate into our hearts and souls.

Imploring God's Mercy

If we read Monday's Gospel account of Jesus saving the life of the woman whom the Pharisees caught in adultery on the surface, focusing only on the Lord's rebuke of the men who wanted to stone the accused to death, we might miss out on the deeper message.

The elders had found the woman in the midst of the grievous sin of adultery, and, seized by bloodlust, they wanted her executed.  The scene is somewhat similar to the reading from the Book of Daniel, where the innocent Susanna was threatened with execution on a bogus charge of adultery, only, in Susanna's case, the two elders were guilty.

In the first reading, young Daniel condemns the lecherous judges to a violent death for falsely accusing Susanna.   On the other hand, in the Gospel reading, Jesus challenges the men wanting to kill the adulteress to look into their own lives and see the seriousness of the sins that they, themselves have committed.  One by one, beginning with the elders, the  lynch mob disperses.

After Jesus is left alone with the adulterous, he does something remarkable. He does not condemn her; however, he warns her about sin.  For Jesus, the life of her soul is just as important as the life of her body.  He had literally saved her from physical death; his main concern now is to save her from the eternal death that comes from sin.

Sin is a very painful reality.  Unfortunately, the modern age tends to sugar coat the real danger that sin poses to us.  Even the music that has crept into the Church over the course of 40 years downplays the need for repentance and ignores the fact that we stand in need of God's mercy.  Songs like "Beyond the Days" and "Ashes" tend to make the Lenten season somewhat syrupy, focusing on either social justice or some other sappy theme.

The chant par excellence for the Lenten season, the "Attende Domine", brings home the point that we are sinners.  We stand in stark need of God's mercy.  Like the woman caught in adultery, we stand bare before God in sorrow.  Although the above video, taken from the 2010 Papal Ash Wednesday Mass, features the chant in its original Latin, below, is a translation of the 10th century prayer.

Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy,
Because we have sinned against Thee.

Refrain:
Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy,
Because we have sinned against Thee.

1. To Thee, highest King,
Redeemer of all,
We lift up our eyes
In weeping:
Hear, O Christ, the prayers
of your servants.
Refrain

2. Right hand of the Father,
Cornerstone,
Way of salvation,
Gate of heaven,
Wash away our
Stains of sin.
Refrain

3. We beseech Thee, God,
In Thy great majesty:
Hear our groans
With Thy holy ears:
Calmly forgive
Our crimes.
Refrain

4. To Thee we confess
Our sins admitted
With a contrite heart
We reveal the things hidden:
By Thy kindness, O Redeemer,
Overlook them.
Refrain

5. The Innocent, seized,
Not refusing to be led;
Condemned by false witnesses
On account of impious men
Those whom Thou hast redeemed,
Keep safe, O Christ.
Refrain

The last verse contrasts sharply with the episode of the woman caught in adultery.  The angry mob seized the woman and condemned her to a shameful death.  While they quoted the Law of Moses against the impious woman, there was no mercy in their hearts, only a sick thirst for blood.  Just as the woman was thrust before Jesus, the Lord, Himself, would soon be bound and accused by false witnessed, condemned to a painful death.  He, himself, would take the place of the adulterous woman, offering Himself as a Victim for her sins, for the sins of the lynch mob and for the sins of everyone who has cried throughout the ages, "Crucify Him."  

Yes, there is a wideness in God's mercy; however, if we do not realize that we stand in stark need of it, then we become like that lynch mob and like the two elders who falsely accused Susanna. The Attende Domine helps us to remember that we are sinners who must humbly implore the mercy of so loving a God.    Only when we begin to realize this, and engage in a Lenten regimen that takes the focus off of ourselves and re-orients us to God and our neighbor, can we begin our conversion.

God is in His Holy Dwelling Place

On Monday, March 24, 2014, the parishioners of Laredo's Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church gathered for the celebration of the first Mass in the parish's new chapel.  Dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, the Patroness of both the United States and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (the Order who staffs the parish), the small chapel was filled to capacity.

For the pastor, Rev. Juan Ayala, OMI, the evening served as the culmination of his parish's 15-year journey.  As with any project, there were triumphs and hardships, but, the parish persevered.

To mark the occasion, Fr. Ayala accepted the offer to chant the Propers for the Dedication of a New Church.  These were taken from the Propers for the Solemnity of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (the Introit is the same as that used for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, as seen in the video above).

"God is in His holy dwelling place, the God who causes us to dwell together; one in heart in His house,  He, Himself, will give power and strength to His people."  The corresponding Psalm verses, taken from  Psalm 68, read, "The just shall rejoice in the presence of God."

Certainly, there was certainly cause for rejoicing.  As the incense wafted through the small chapel accompanied by a chant taken from the offertory for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (the chapel's patron), one could see how the music fit.  Mary was the first sanctuary for her Son.  In her pure womb, she carried the Lord, just as the Tabernacle holds the Real Presence of Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

In his homily, Fr. Ayala reminded us that God, indeed, is in his holy dwelling place.  Despite the difficulties of the journey in making the chapel a reality, the parish, like Namaan's servants (the first reading was about Naaman the Syrian who was healed of his leprosy), trusted.  In fact, I would dare to say, that even Namaan understood the meaning of providing a dwelling place for God.  Recall that, after he is cured, he asks Elisha for 10 mule loads of earth so that he can have a place to worship the true God when Namaan returns home.

After the homily, Fr. Ayala blessed the new sacred vessels and then, the Stations of the Cross.  As he sprinkled each station, the Attende Domine was chanted, reminded all of us that even though this was certainly a joyous occasion, the Stations remind us of the penitential nature of the holy season of Lent.  After the Offertory, as Fr. Ayala was incensing the altar, the offertory chant for the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica was used, "O Lord, God, in the simplicity of my heart, I have joyfully offered all things and I have beheld with immense joy your people gathered here.  God of Israel, preserve the good intentions, O Lord God."  This chant, taken from the First Book of Chronicles, is the prayer that Solomon uttered when he presided over the dedication of the Temple that he built for the Lord.  The verses, taken from the same biblical passage, echo the joy of the celebration.  As the chant was being sung, I was reminded of what Pope Emeritus Benedict wrote regarding Solomon and the dedication of the Temple.  Benedict recounted how Solomon knelt down as he dedicated the Temple.

As Fr. Ayala prayed the Eucharistic Prayer, I could sense the deep joy he had.  I knew that this final stretch had been difficult for him; however, as he elevated the Holy Eucharistic species during the Doxology, there was peace, the kind of peace that only the Lord can bring.

For Communion, the chant, taken from the Communion Antiphon for the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, was used. "Jerusalem, built as a city whose parts are bound firmly together!  It is there that the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to give thanks unto your name, O Lord."  The verses, taking from Psalm 122, remind us of the joy of entering into the heavenly Jerusalem. Jerusalem was where the temple was.

After Communion, Fr. Ayala formally blessed the new Tabernacle.  A traditional Spanish hymn was sung, one that is normally used for Benediction.  Fr. Ayala then invited us to spend some moments in silent prayer before the Lord.  He then formally reposed our Lord in the Tabernacle.

After the final blessing, we sang a traditional Spanish hymn of praise, thanking God for the dedication of the new chapel.  It was wonderful to hear everyone singing with joy.

God, indeed, is in his holy dwelling place.