In this chronologically-titled post, I’ll try to recap the time since my last post and let you know what’s ahead.
Since April, I finished the semester with an unbelievable amount of term-paper-writing (see posted documents at www.scribd.com/paulmnguyen) and wrapped up the year with our Seminarian Scholarship Dinner the third week of May. I had made some progress in physical therapy after my shoulder dislocation due to my car-vs-bicycle collision in early April, but I would need much more attention to fully recover.
I flew to Nashville to visit with Sr. Anna Sophia for a couple days; it was a blessed time that we got to spend together there and her (my!) sisters commented later that I seemed very comfortable during my visit.
From there, I returned home to Long Beach for a couple months of physical therapy, wrapping up work projects, spending time with friends and family (including a camping trip and a little family reunion) and Oblates, and studying Portuguese using the very cool Livemocha online language-learning community.
In mid-July, I packed my bags, shipped a box to Boston containing things I would need there but not on this trip, and flew to Curitiba, Brazil! I spent a week there with the other World Youth Day pilgrims from Oblate parishes in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Austria, Italy, and Nigeria, along with several Oblate priests and several sisters of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary of Fatima (founded by an Oblate priest a few decades ago). We had a wonderful time meeting one another, sharing our cultures, and expressing the one faith we treasure through prayer and missionary works in the neighborhood around the parish there. It was a blessed time.
The following week, we traveled to Rio de Janeiro, which took about 18 hours by bus. There, we assembled with similarly-motivated Catholic youth from around the world, all bearing their national and state flags, to attend catechetical lectures by various bishops, meet religious congregations at the vocations fair, and pray with our Holy Father, Pope Francis, as he led the opening prayer service, the Stations of the Cross, the prayer vigil, and the Mass of Sending, ultimately attended by over 3.5 million people! The next day, we visited the beautiful shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida to thank her for many graces received and to entrust our lives and vocations to her anew. I then returned to Curitiba for a few days of rest with the Oblate community before returning to the seminary in Boston.
I have spent the past week here recuperating from a complicated cold I developed while in Brazil and helping around the house here at St. Clement’s. We have several work crews remodeling the fourth floor of one of our residence buildings to become the novitiate residence for this year.
And that is where I will be! I am very excited to begin this special year of formation, my fourth year (my brother novices’ third year). It is a year of discernment and prayer, and learning about our founder and history and the vows taken by religious. It is also a year in which, in order to focus on these activities more fully, we renounce much of our communication with the world outside our community, spending more time in silence and with each other to study the material and learn more about ourselves and how to live charitably in community. We will make a trip to Italy, with the other novices from around the world, to visit the sites where our congregation was founded and experience a bit of our hereditary culture. At the end of the novitiate year, we may apply to make first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, for one year, and then study theology in preparation for priestly ministry. So this is a very special year, indeed!
All of this also means that this is most likely my last blog post until next August! You can follow Oblate news on our homepage, www.omvusa.org, and the Seminarians’ Blog at www.omvusa.org/vocation/seminarians-blog/.
Please pray for me and my brothers, and I will pray for you!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
On Violence and the Infidel
I am sure we are united in prayer for the victims and those traumatized
by Monday’s attack at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I found out via two text messages that came in within a minute of each other, one from a good friend who sings here at St. Clement’s and the other from a good friend back home, 3,000 miles away. I was spending the beautiful Patriots’ Day at Josh’s parents’ home in the Worcester area, about an hour west of Boston, studying scripture most of the day.
We bounced around the various news outlets but as things settled, I recalled an observation that was made earlier in the day by Glenn Beck in response to standardized testing in New York (“Common Core”) that is driving curricular change in a bad direction (forcing educators to teach to the test, which indoctrinates progressive ideas and perspectives), and that whole dynamic is cascading through other states by adoption. The observation was a challenge to the assertion that individual rights correlate collective responsibilities. That seems to say that the burden of the exercise of individual rights (health, employment, personal security, personal property ownership, access to and discretion concerning education, etc.) falls on the collective as such. Beck challenged this, saying that the burden of individual rights should fall on the individual (individual responsibility) and that the burden of collective rights should fall on the collective.
As should be evident, the collective is composed of individuals, each exercising his own will. The common sense balance of rights and responsibilities may be shown in any number of cases: an individual person’s right to own property bears the responsibility that it not be used to the detriment of others. Should it be used in such a way, that person bears the responsibility (individually) via such sanctions as fines or imprisonment such that behavior is deterred which compromises the good for which that right was granted.
I would like to apply this logic to what we saw on Monday afternoon at the finish line near Copley Square.
Certainly violence was committed. Blood was shed, property was damaged, and hundreds of trained personnel descended upon the area to provide security and medical assistance, and to begin the investigation of what had taken place. Three have perished, and their loss is deeply felt nationwide. Almost two hundred others are maimed in various degrees, with a dozen in critical condition in some of the best hospitals in the world. Several others lost limbs.
Media outlets show people speculating on who did this, on how security can be increased to prevent this in the future, expressing wishes for violence against the perpetrators, or at least that they be found and “brought to justice.”
My feeling is this is a tragic reminder of the brokenness that exists in our world, and the need for us individually to take responsibility in showing virtue by our lives and fighting for others to be able and inspired to do the same. I was vividly reminded of God's own people’s chronic infidelity as I studied the book of Judges in the hours before chaos broke out just 3 blocks from the church where I live, though I was out of town at the time. Reading Pope Francis’ reaction and message is very similar to what we might expect of one whom God raises up to judge and reclaim His people at such a time.
“In the aftermath of this senseless tragedy, His Holiness invokes God’s peace upon the dead, his consolation upon the suffering and his strength upon all those engaged in the continuing work of relief and response. At this time of mourning the Holy Father prays that all Bostonians will be united in a resolve not to be overcome by evil, but to combat evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), working together to build an ever more just, free and secure society for generations yet to come.” (Source: Vatican Radio)
The party responsible for the carnage receives his reward. We do not have to worry about that. As Obama said so well in his remarks yesterday, we respond to this evil “selflessly, compassionately, and unafraid.” We walk through the dark valley but fear no evil, for the Lord is at our side, with his rod and staff that guide us and give us courage. Christ has come into the world, the light shining in the darkness; and the darkness does not overcome it. Fr. Tom pointed out yesterday at our midday Mass and again at a special holy hour in the afternoon, that such evil cannot have an explanation; we will not “figure it out” or come to understand it in a way that resolves the issue. Rather, we respond with love and generosity to those affected, and, lest their lives, whether lost totally that day or partially in various ways, be given in vain, we must take this as an opportunity for personal conversion, turning from the little evils in our lives and embracing virtue courageously.
It is this infidelity in ourselves that these moments should expose; it is these violences that we inflict upon ourselves and that bleed over to those around us from which we must repent. Yet what can we do but open ourselves to the saving grace of the One who loved us into being and calls us to Himself?
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
We bounced around the various news outlets but as things settled, I recalled an observation that was made earlier in the day by Glenn Beck in response to standardized testing in New York (“Common Core”) that is driving curricular change in a bad direction (forcing educators to teach to the test, which indoctrinates progressive ideas and perspectives), and that whole dynamic is cascading through other states by adoption. The observation was a challenge to the assertion that individual rights correlate collective responsibilities. That seems to say that the burden of the exercise of individual rights (health, employment, personal security, personal property ownership, access to and discretion concerning education, etc.) falls on the collective as such. Beck challenged this, saying that the burden of individual rights should fall on the individual (individual responsibility) and that the burden of collective rights should fall on the collective.
As should be evident, the collective is composed of individuals, each exercising his own will. The common sense balance of rights and responsibilities may be shown in any number of cases: an individual person’s right to own property bears the responsibility that it not be used to the detriment of others. Should it be used in such a way, that person bears the responsibility (individually) via such sanctions as fines or imprisonment such that behavior is deterred which compromises the good for which that right was granted.
I would like to apply this logic to what we saw on Monday afternoon at the finish line near Copley Square.
Certainly violence was committed. Blood was shed, property was damaged, and hundreds of trained personnel descended upon the area to provide security and medical assistance, and to begin the investigation of what had taken place. Three have perished, and their loss is deeply felt nationwide. Almost two hundred others are maimed in various degrees, with a dozen in critical condition in some of the best hospitals in the world. Several others lost limbs.
Media outlets show people speculating on who did this, on how security can be increased to prevent this in the future, expressing wishes for violence against the perpetrators, or at least that they be found and “brought to justice.”
My feeling is this is a tragic reminder of the brokenness that exists in our world, and the need for us individually to take responsibility in showing virtue by our lives and fighting for others to be able and inspired to do the same. I was vividly reminded of God's own people’s chronic infidelity as I studied the book of Judges in the hours before chaos broke out just 3 blocks from the church where I live, though I was out of town at the time. Reading Pope Francis’ reaction and message is very similar to what we might expect of one whom God raises up to judge and reclaim His people at such a time.
“In the aftermath of this senseless tragedy, His Holiness invokes God’s peace upon the dead, his consolation upon the suffering and his strength upon all those engaged in the continuing work of relief and response. At this time of mourning the Holy Father prays that all Bostonians will be united in a resolve not to be overcome by evil, but to combat evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), working together to build an ever more just, free and secure society for generations yet to come.” (Source: Vatican Radio)
The party responsible for the carnage receives his reward. We do not have to worry about that. As Obama said so well in his remarks yesterday, we respond to this evil “selflessly, compassionately, and unafraid.” We walk through the dark valley but fear no evil, for the Lord is at our side, with his rod and staff that guide us and give us courage. Christ has come into the world, the light shining in the darkness; and the darkness does not overcome it. Fr. Tom pointed out yesterday at our midday Mass and again at a special holy hour in the afternoon, that such evil cannot have an explanation; we will not “figure it out” or come to understand it in a way that resolves the issue. Rather, we respond with love and generosity to those affected, and, lest their lives, whether lost totally that day or partially in various ways, be given in vain, we must take this as an opportunity for personal conversion, turning from the little evils in our lives and embracing virtue courageously.
It is this infidelity in ourselves that these moments should expose; it is these violences that we inflict upon ourselves and that bleed over to those around us from which we must repent. Yet what can we do but open ourselves to the saving grace of the One who loved us into being and calls us to Himself?
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Friday, March 15, 2013
Oblate Reception of Pope Francis
Speaking at least for this community at St. Clement Shrine in Boston, we answered our Rector Major’s request that, following the election of the pope, each member renew the Oath of Fidelity to the teachings of the Church. After Evening Prayer this past Wednesday, the professed priests and brothers came forward before the Blessed Sacrament to recite the formula of the Oath and so swear their fidelity to hold and teach all that the Church stands for, including magisterial pronouncements of various degrees (as I studied in my Fundamental Theology class last semester). It was a beautiful moment of solidarity and witness to communion with the universal Church.
In the coming days, we shared at mealtimes and in the car to and from St. John Seminary various reactions and news stories we had read and facts we had looked up since last we spoke. It has been a wonderful time getting to know a man who instantly drew you into himself, and immediately gave way to meeting God in prayer, with a wonderful Marian tone.
And he is so funny! I watched his homily at the Mass for the Church (Missa pro ecclesia) from last night, and his reverent yet conversational homiletic style is absolutely captivating. His message is simple yet deep, that in those readings and in the Church, we are journeying (caminare), building (edificare), and professing (confessare). Yet we cannot do so without the Cross. He kept repeating the Italian phrase, la cosa non va, meaning, unless you have the right ingredients (especially the Cross) and keep working at the journey and the building and the profession of faith, it just doesn’t work! After his final exhortation, which invited his cardinals to ask Mary’s intercession, he closed with cosi sia, an Italian alternative to the ancient Amen, so often used by other preachers. I love his style!
Then later, I watched a report about his meeting with the cardinals this morning, from Rome Reports. Yet again, his cheerful and close fraternal spirit overflowed and he stepped down from his chair to greet them standing, he showed tremendous respect for them and commented that they must all take courage (referring to Cardinal Mejia’s situation), as they are in their golden years, but that their age, as with aged wine, yields wisdom and it is up to them to impart that wisdom to today’s youth. Awesome!
I saw Cardinal Dolan’s reactions in an interview posted on Facebook in which he continuously laughs about all the moments that Pope Francis surprised the college by his spontaneity or his humor or his simplicity.
Finally, I read a short recap by Peggy Noonan, whose book on speechwriting we are reading for my Communication & Evangelization class. Her account is charming to read and is a wonderful account of her reactions to the new pope, many of which I share, and it is just a delight to have access to so many good and favorable resources to balance all the opposition that criticizes him for every viewpoint.
And can I say I love listening to Italian?? Viva il Papa!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
In the coming days, we shared at mealtimes and in the car to and from St. John Seminary various reactions and news stories we had read and facts we had looked up since last we spoke. It has been a wonderful time getting to know a man who instantly drew you into himself, and immediately gave way to meeting God in prayer, with a wonderful Marian tone.
And he is so funny! I watched his homily at the Mass for the Church (Missa pro ecclesia) from last night, and his reverent yet conversational homiletic style is absolutely captivating. His message is simple yet deep, that in those readings and in the Church, we are journeying (caminare), building (edificare), and professing (confessare). Yet we cannot do so without the Cross. He kept repeating the Italian phrase, la cosa non va, meaning, unless you have the right ingredients (especially the Cross) and keep working at the journey and the building and the profession of faith, it just doesn’t work! After his final exhortation, which invited his cardinals to ask Mary’s intercession, he closed with cosi sia, an Italian alternative to the ancient Amen, so often used by other preachers. I love his style!
Then later, I watched a report about his meeting with the cardinals this morning, from Rome Reports. Yet again, his cheerful and close fraternal spirit overflowed and he stepped down from his chair to greet them standing, he showed tremendous respect for them and commented that they must all take courage (referring to Cardinal Mejia’s situation), as they are in their golden years, but that their age, as with aged wine, yields wisdom and it is up to them to impart that wisdom to today’s youth. Awesome!
I saw Cardinal Dolan’s reactions in an interview posted on Facebook in which he continuously laughs about all the moments that Pope Francis surprised the college by his spontaneity or his humor or his simplicity.
Finally, I read a short recap by Peggy Noonan, whose book on speechwriting we are reading for my Communication & Evangelization class. Her account is charming to read and is a wonderful account of her reactions to the new pope, many of which I share, and it is just a delight to have access to so many good and favorable resources to balance all the opposition that criticizes him for every viewpoint.
And can I say I love listening to Italian?? Viva il Papa!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Others' Reactions to Pope Francis
Here are some reactions to Pope Francis’ election today. I hope these are informative and encouraging for you all!
From Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM, of Philadelphia:
Dear Friend of CV,
Miserando atque eligendo.
"Lowly, and yet chosen."
That was the episcopal motto of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected by his fellow Cardinals and now known as Pope Francis.
Pope Francis is neither "conservative" or "liberal," neither from the left or from the right. He is Catholic.
This is the holy man who the Holy Spirit inspired the Cardinals to elect, and who we are called to pray for and to go forth with to continue the work of the New Evangelization.
Because of an infection as a teenager, Pope Francis has only one lung. We the laity must be his other lung, and help breathe new life into our Church!
God bless Pope Francis!
Brian
P.S. The installation Mass for Pope Francis is scheduled for March 19, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. The election of a pope from Latin America confirms what we already know: The Church is universal indeed.
And after the Mass at the Cathedral, Josh and I were interviewed for the evening cable news. Check out our story here: http://soa.li/OdXWJDF.
Enjoy, and Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
From Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM, of Philadelphia:
Pope Francis, the former Cardinal Bergoglio, is a man from the new heartland of the global Church; a priest of extraordinary intellectual and cultural strengths; a man deeply engaged in the issues of contemporary life and able to speak to the modern heart; open to the new realities the Church faces; and rooted in a deep love of Jesus Christ. He is a wonderful choice; a pastor God sends not just to the Church but to every person of good will who honestly yearns for justice, peace and human dignity in our time. May God grant him courage and joy, and sustain him with his divine presence. (source: http://bit.ly/Wovqz2)From Cardinal Timothy Dolan, of New York and President of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference:
Cardinal Dolan: “So we take the buses over and cardinals kind of wait outside to greet the new Holy Father as he comes back to Doma Santa Marta…and as the last bus pulls up, guess who gets off the bus? Pope Francis” ... “So I guess he told the driver, ‘That’s OK. I’ll just go with the guys on the bus.” (source: http://cbsloc.al/ZJpmAb)From an email from CatholicVote:
Dear Friend of CV,
Miserando atque eligendo.
"Lowly, and yet chosen."
That was the episcopal motto of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected by his fellow Cardinals and now known as Pope Francis.
Pope Francis is neither "conservative" or "liberal," neither from the left or from the right. He is Catholic.
This is the holy man who the Holy Spirit inspired the Cardinals to elect, and who we are called to pray for and to go forth with to continue the work of the New Evangelization.
Because of an infection as a teenager, Pope Francis has only one lung. We the laity must be his other lung, and help breathe new life into our Church!
God bless Pope Francis!
Brian
P.S. The installation Mass for Pope Francis is scheduled for March 19, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. The election of a pope from Latin America confirms what we already know: The Church is universal indeed.
And after the Mass at the Cathedral, Josh and I were interviewed for the evening cable news. Check out our story here: http://soa.li/OdXWJDF.
Enjoy, and Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Habemus Papam Franciscum!
What an exciting day! Fr. John moved quickly through our halls, excitedly announcing the white smoke signalling a successful election. I was a bit annoyed at the hurriedness, the excitement, the urgency of the message; so many would receive the news so much later than I. But within a minute, I could not restrain the excitement of the moment and called home to make sure they knew. I then went up to our church (St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine of Perpetual Adoration) to offer some prayers of thanksgiving; Fr. Tom soon joined me and led those in adoration in the traditional Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the pope.
We then gathered in our TV room to await the announcement of who had been chosen and his regnal name, and his presentation and greeting. At long last, around 3pm Eastern Time, Cardinal Tauran emerged on the balcony to announce Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had chosen the name Francis. The excitement mounted, because the name was Italian, as many had suspected the pope may be, and already intriguing that he had chosen Francis.
Fr. John quickly turned to Google to find out more about Bergoglio, and landed on his Wikipedia page, which had already been renamed to “Pope Francis,” where we learned that he was Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The South American connection was additionally intriguing and we began to learn more about him.
His appearance itself struck me deeply. At our holy hour tonight, I journalled:
UPDATED:We also learned from Fr. Tim that Cardinal Bergoglio is very well-versed in the Spiritual Exercises and that he attended meetings with him and other experts on the Exercises in South America. Fr. Tim informed us at lunch today that his recollection was of another Argentinian scholar and not Bergoglio.
We seminarians went to the Cathedral for an evening Mass of thanksgiving for the election of the pope, which was said in Spanish by a visiting priest concluding a week of mission talks for the Cathedral parish. It was a lively Mass, full of joy, and the best part was in the homily, delivered in Spanish:
Follow more news about Pope Francis via the following articles:
As Pope Francis did, let us implore the intercession of our mother, the Madonna, that she may protect the Church and strengthen her leaders that, with humility, simplicity, and zeal for their Father’s house, they may teach, govern, and sanctify the people of God until the end of time. Amen.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
We then gathered in our TV room to await the announcement of who had been chosen and his regnal name, and his presentation and greeting. At long last, around 3pm Eastern Time, Cardinal Tauran emerged on the balcony to announce Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had chosen the name Francis. The excitement mounted, because the name was Italian, as many had suspected the pope may be, and already intriguing that he had chosen Francis.
Fr. John quickly turned to Google to find out more about Bergoglio, and landed on his Wikipedia page, which had already been renamed to “Pope Francis,” where we learned that he was Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The South American connection was additionally intriguing and we began to learn more about him.
His appearance itself struck me deeply. At our holy hour tonight, I journalled:
His greeting was somewhat short; he came out and waved, then stood for a minute, hands at his sides, taking in the moment and the cheering crowd. He used the familiar Italian greeting, ‘[Brothers and sisters,] good evening!’ He thanked those of Rome and all gathered, then immediately led us in praying an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for [Pope Emeritus] Benedict XVI. A powerful moment.
He then delivered a message calling all to pray for each other, calling us ‘fratelli’ – ‘brothers.’ Approaching the Urbi et Orbi blessing, he asked everyone to pray for God’s blessing for him - the silence was beautiful; he bowed his head and received the fruit of our prayers, then rose and imparted that special blessing to the world.
He lingered for a couple minutes... then addressed the crowd, expressing his love and closeness by saying, ‘See you Sunday, when we will pray the Angelus to the Madonna!’
His presence was remarkable; his patience and composure combine with his casual and intimate tone so that we are drawn to him, love him, and are taken up into the solemnity of the moment—he shared his silence with us, and prayed with us virtually continuously. Very cool!In the hours that followed, we learned that he prefers to cook his own meals, live in a simple apartment, and that his attitude of poor and humble servitude promises to be a distinctive mark of his papacy.
UPDATED:
We seminarians went to the Cathedral for an evening Mass of thanksgiving for the election of the pope, which was said in Spanish by a visiting priest concluding a week of mission talks for the Cathedral parish. It was a lively Mass, full of joy, and the best part was in the homily, delivered in Spanish:
We rejoice tonight because we have a pope, and a pope who speaks Spanish! (applause) But he also speaks the language of humility, the language of service, the language of sanctity... God has not abandoned his church and tonight we rejoice together, united as one family with our Heavenly Father.
Follow more news about Pope Francis via the following articles:
- From NPR regarding the name Francis; a well-sourced article: http://n.pr/WIxt3s
- From the Vatican News Service: first words (with audio, partially translated); and some points from Fr. Lombardi; and the official biography.
As Pope Francis did, let us implore the intercession of our mother, the Madonna, that she may protect the Church and strengthen her leaders that, with humility, simplicity, and zeal for their Father’s house, they may teach, govern, and sanctify the people of God until the end of time. Amen.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Viva il Papa!
The bells tolled eight. “Viva il Papa!” came the cry; the response “Viva il Papa!” And they closed and locked the doors.
The reverent commentators on EWTN fell silent in those final moments, allowing for prayer and the sounds and images of the place to carry. It was an emotionally-laden moment, punctuated dramatically by the Swiss Guards’ ceremonial display and the definitive moment, both visual and aural, of the closing and locking of the doors to the apostolic palace at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.
Earlier today, during my Liturgy class, we watched the Pope’s transfer to Castel Gandolfo by helicopter; it was also an emotional moment as they day we had marked two weeks ago, some with confusion, others in disbelief, had swiftly come. Having studied Cardinal Ratzinger’s Spirit of the Liturgy in this particular class, we were all more affected by his announcement of resignation than we would have been were the announcement made prior to our having begun this study. Entering into the mind of this brilliant wise shepherd made his imminent departure all the more wrenching; having experienced his presence intellectually (in addition to what his prayers brought us), his absence from the Chair is all the more pronounced.
Our Rector Major, Fr. Sergio Zirattu, OMV, sent a letter out to Oblates around the world, inviting us to pray fervently during the conclave, recalling our founder, Fr. Lanteri, and his passion for supporting the Holy Father. Fr. Sergio asked that Oblates around the world, upon the election of the next pope, renew together (in public, if possible) the “profession of faith and the oath of true obedience to the Supreme Pontiff.” And so we shall.
And with Fr. Sergio, I leave you with Pope Benedict’s final words: “In our heart, in the heart of each one of us, may there be always the joyful certainty that the Lord is beside us, He does not abandon us, He is near to us and He envelops us with His love.”
Viva il Papa!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
The reverent commentators on EWTN fell silent in those final moments, allowing for prayer and the sounds and images of the place to carry. It was an emotionally-laden moment, punctuated dramatically by the Swiss Guards’ ceremonial display and the definitive moment, both visual and aural, of the closing and locking of the doors to the apostolic palace at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.
Earlier today, during my Liturgy class, we watched the Pope’s transfer to Castel Gandolfo by helicopter; it was also an emotional moment as they day we had marked two weeks ago, some with confusion, others in disbelief, had swiftly come. Having studied Cardinal Ratzinger’s Spirit of the Liturgy in this particular class, we were all more affected by his announcement of resignation than we would have been were the announcement made prior to our having begun this study. Entering into the mind of this brilliant wise shepherd made his imminent departure all the more wrenching; having experienced his presence intellectually (in addition to what his prayers brought us), his absence from the Chair is all the more pronounced.
Our Rector Major, Fr. Sergio Zirattu, OMV, sent a letter out to Oblates around the world, inviting us to pray fervently during the conclave, recalling our founder, Fr. Lanteri, and his passion for supporting the Holy Father. Fr. Sergio asked that Oblates around the world, upon the election of the next pope, renew together (in public, if possible) the “profession of faith and the oath of true obedience to the Supreme Pontiff.” And so we shall.
And with Fr. Sergio, I leave you with Pope Benedict’s final words: “In our heart, in the heart of each one of us, may there be always the joyful certainty that the Lord is beside us, He does not abandon us, He is near to us and He envelops us with His love.”
Viva il Papa!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Monday, February 11, 2013
German Shepherd
Long live the successor of St. Peter!
I read the fateful news this morning while returning my dirty teacup to the kitchen before Morning Prayer; I was surprised but not worried.
Being an Oblate of the Virgin Mary (though still postulant seminarian), I have grown an ever deeper affection for the office of the Holy Father, and, in the case of Pope Benedict XVI, a familiarity with his teaching and mission. The highlights of this I am experiencing in our Introduction to Liturgy class, in which we are reading his treatise The Spirit of the Liturgy (written prior to his election). Fr. McManus has identified and demonstrated how Benedict’s program, contrasted with that of John Paul II, has been to reform the Church from within (ad intra) in order that she become a better witness to the world (primarily through the Church’s members’ expression of their identity in the liturgy). His predecessor’s program was to embrace modern society and show it how to become better and lead it back to the Church (ad extra, with respect to the Church).
We await with joy Pope Benedict’s final encyclical letter, on the theological virtue of Faith, in this great year inspired by the same theme. Fr. Pignato, who taught my Fundamental Theology class last semester pointed out how critical it is that we understand our faith well and be able to articulate it to those who challenge us and that we are able to comment, reflect, and share about worldly events with a language that does not deteriorate our ability to express our faith alongside it. This means preserving the notions of absolute truth and man’s rational powers and moderate realist epistemology in the face of rampant relativism on all fronts and extreme epistemologies in both directions. This was a cornerstone of Benedict’s program, as well, in maintaining a medieval intellectual and philosophical position as applied constructively to our modern situation.
The Vatican News service has a couple articles on the timeline and portrait of Benedict’s papacy, for your further reading. The reaction of the Vatican Press official, the United States Bishops and the Bishops of England and Wales are also online via Zenit.
Considering some of the arguments (sometimes mere “mentions”) that have arisen over the past couple years as to which country may provide the next pope (that he will likely not be from the United States, but perhaps from Africa, perhaps from Latin America), I thought it might be helpful to the Church to have a Canadian pope. In my three trips to Montreal and Quebec since I entered the Oblates, I see a Church dwindling severely and vast treasures historical and architectural that we really should reclaim.
And lo, many commentators (CBC, France24 news) have placed Cardinal Marc Ouellet among the front-runners in the race. He is presently Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. While it may not, in the end, matter—as the man to fill the office will, indeed, fill the office—the popular reception of the pope is a concern today. And my stronger hope is that the reforms begun by our present Pontiff be continued with great resolve and gentle firmness, especially as concerns our liturgy and the strengthening of faith, hope, and love in our Church. And as Christian Unity is dear to my heart, I just found out that Cardinal Ouellet’s episcopal motto is Ut unum sint (that they may be one), the same as John Paul II’s encyclical on Christian unity. That is an exciting prospect!
So let us pray for our beloved German (Bavarian!) Shepherd in his final weeks for his strength and for the unity of the whole Church as her cardinals elect his successor and her people face such acidic ideologies each day, that they may be able to explain their faith, show great love, and ever live in the eschatological hope of which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ assured us.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
I read the fateful news this morning while returning my dirty teacup to the kitchen before Morning Prayer; I was surprised but not worried.
Being an Oblate of the Virgin Mary (though still postulant seminarian), I have grown an ever deeper affection for the office of the Holy Father, and, in the case of Pope Benedict XVI, a familiarity with his teaching and mission. The highlights of this I am experiencing in our Introduction to Liturgy class, in which we are reading his treatise The Spirit of the Liturgy (written prior to his election). Fr. McManus has identified and demonstrated how Benedict’s program, contrasted with that of John Paul II, has been to reform the Church from within (ad intra) in order that she become a better witness to the world (primarily through the Church’s members’ expression of their identity in the liturgy). His predecessor’s program was to embrace modern society and show it how to become better and lead it back to the Church (ad extra, with respect to the Church).
We await with joy Pope Benedict’s final encyclical letter, on the theological virtue of Faith, in this great year inspired by the same theme. Fr. Pignato, who taught my Fundamental Theology class last semester pointed out how critical it is that we understand our faith well and be able to articulate it to those who challenge us and that we are able to comment, reflect, and share about worldly events with a language that does not deteriorate our ability to express our faith alongside it. This means preserving the notions of absolute truth and man’s rational powers and moderate realist epistemology in the face of rampant relativism on all fronts and extreme epistemologies in both directions. This was a cornerstone of Benedict’s program, as well, in maintaining a medieval intellectual and philosophical position as applied constructively to our modern situation.
The Vatican News service has a couple articles on the timeline and portrait of Benedict’s papacy, for your further reading. The reaction of the Vatican Press official, the United States Bishops and the Bishops of England and Wales are also online via Zenit.
Considering some of the arguments (sometimes mere “mentions”) that have arisen over the past couple years as to which country may provide the next pope (that he will likely not be from the United States, but perhaps from Africa, perhaps from Latin America), I thought it might be helpful to the Church to have a Canadian pope. In my three trips to Montreal and Quebec since I entered the Oblates, I see a Church dwindling severely and vast treasures historical and architectural that we really should reclaim.
And lo, many commentators (CBC, France24 news) have placed Cardinal Marc Ouellet among the front-runners in the race. He is presently Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. While it may not, in the end, matter—as the man to fill the office will, indeed, fill the office—the popular reception of the pope is a concern today. And my stronger hope is that the reforms begun by our present Pontiff be continued with great resolve and gentle firmness, especially as concerns our liturgy and the strengthening of faith, hope, and love in our Church. And as Christian Unity is dear to my heart, I just found out that Cardinal Ouellet’s episcopal motto is Ut unum sint (that they may be one), the same as John Paul II’s encyclical on Christian unity. That is an exciting prospect!
So let us pray for our beloved German (Bavarian!) Shepherd in his final weeks for his strength and for the unity of the whole Church as her cardinals elect his successor and her people face such acidic ideologies each day, that they may be able to explain their faith, show great love, and ever live in the eschatological hope of which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ assured us.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
On Hope and Presidents
This post is primarily in response to having watched the second inaugural address of President Barack Obama. Between some rather disturbing progressive exhortations and position statements, which always included sweeping generalizations as their justification, the re-elected president offered several thoughts that do stand the test of common sense and right philosophy. Quotes given are as nearly verbatim as I could take down during the speech.
Obama declared that we “must care for the vulnerable” among us, which is great, the collective responding to the needs of those who cannot help themselves. He declared that we have a “freedom inextricably bound to every soul on earth.” But he continued explaining that that deep-seated freedom “does not mean defining liberty the same way ... but that we act in our time.” This is quite foggy and is meant to dilute the absolute term (which is a practical one, governing the way we proceed to make policy and decide judicial matters).
He declared that we should work, “knowing that ours is an imperfect work” and that our “victories” may be “partial.” This is a surprising acknowledgement of human weakness and the reality of constant failure and shortcoming with the notion that we may progress incrementally and, at times, haltingly, even regressing as we continue striving onward—in a word, baby-steps. And that is a great way to approach things, so long as it is a legitimate acknowledgement of our capacity and not an excuse to drag our feet.
He also suggested that “absolutism” should not be taken for “principle,” again opening a window for relativism.
He referred to “words spoken to us from a spare Philadelphia hall,” obviously referring to the Declaration of Independence and the compelling statements of rights and dignity of persons that had become sufficient reason to cast off imperial governance for our own. This appeal to the historical, specifically in the transitive dynamic of words spoken hundreds of years prior, yet reaching the ears of those alive today, is remarkable at a time in our history when the judicial process wrestles with the language provided in our founding documents and the corpus of case precedent to date, preferring the disparate conclusions from this study to the spirit of the law and its underlying principles as is evident from the original documents themselves and their contemporaries. This preference for the textual interpretation over historical seems to have more easily led us (or permitted us to go) astray.
Toward the end of his speech, he noted that participation in society is “not only votes cast but voices raised for ancient values and enduring ideals.” This is also remarkable in an age in which innovation often trumps history, the new superceding the time-tested. And it is an amazing line, noting the continuous membership of individuals in society and their corollary continuous responsibility to effect change and order within that society.
The underlying appeal is to a spirit of hope rooted in truth: those values which have persisted from of old and the ideals and perfections toward which we strive are themselves evidence of the possibility of their attainment. As we know, attaining perfection (becoming “perfect as our Father in heaven”) ultimately requires grace, the free gift of participation in the divine, but an appeal to hope rooted in truth approaches, from natural terms, the transcendent.
So where there cannot be found an ounce of hope in the history of this man’s presidential service, as he erodes legitimate freedoms on so many fronts, and opens the door to immoral activities destructive to society in virtually all of its many dimensions, there is a stirring in the American people—an awakening with alarm—to realize the depth to which we have fallen and to become sufficiently restless with the lack of progress toward repairing our nation and society that people may be encouraged more and more easily to take up the fight and do their part.
We see this among the youth—at least the ones thinking on their own without having been snatched from the free exercise of their rational powers by the kind of propaganda present in every line of the president’s address—ravenous for truth and ultimate meaning, either finding a poor but stimulating substitute among the diversions of the world, or despairing to the point of taking their own lives and sometimes those near them. The neat quotes are many and well-known:
Why do we settle for the brokenness and decay in which we find ourselves? As the poor bishop concludes in The Mission, it is more than the simple fact that “the world is thus [corrupt; fallen];” rather, “thus have we made it; thus have I made it.” The lack of personal responsibility for our part in society is catastrophic.
For those who are able, higher-profile efforts may be coordinated, such as the efforts of numerous Catholic and other entities dedicated to inspiring value-based political process (Rick Santorum’s Patriot Voices, SBA List, CatholicVote, etc). For those less able, their grassroots expression of charity and joy courageously living a virtuous life will turn the tide. We, the citizens of this great nation (and by extension those non-citizen inhabitants) are responsible to and for one another, and we are all worth every effort by everyone else to reform our society, beginning with our own lives.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Obama declared that we “must care for the vulnerable” among us, which is great, the collective responding to the needs of those who cannot help themselves. He declared that we have a “freedom inextricably bound to every soul on earth.” But he continued explaining that that deep-seated freedom “does not mean defining liberty the same way ... but that we act in our time.” This is quite foggy and is meant to dilute the absolute term (which is a practical one, governing the way we proceed to make policy and decide judicial matters).
He declared that we should work, “knowing that ours is an imperfect work” and that our “victories” may be “partial.” This is a surprising acknowledgement of human weakness and the reality of constant failure and shortcoming with the notion that we may progress incrementally and, at times, haltingly, even regressing as we continue striving onward—in a word, baby-steps. And that is a great way to approach things, so long as it is a legitimate acknowledgement of our capacity and not an excuse to drag our feet.
He also suggested that “absolutism” should not be taken for “principle,” again opening a window for relativism.
He referred to “words spoken to us from a spare Philadelphia hall,” obviously referring to the Declaration of Independence and the compelling statements of rights and dignity of persons that had become sufficient reason to cast off imperial governance for our own. This appeal to the historical, specifically in the transitive dynamic of words spoken hundreds of years prior, yet reaching the ears of those alive today, is remarkable at a time in our history when the judicial process wrestles with the language provided in our founding documents and the corpus of case precedent to date, preferring the disparate conclusions from this study to the spirit of the law and its underlying principles as is evident from the original documents themselves and their contemporaries. This preference for the textual interpretation over historical seems to have more easily led us (or permitted us to go) astray.
Toward the end of his speech, he noted that participation in society is “not only votes cast but voices raised for ancient values and enduring ideals.” This is also remarkable in an age in which innovation often trumps history, the new superceding the time-tested. And it is an amazing line, noting the continuous membership of individuals in society and their corollary continuous responsibility to effect change and order within that society.
The underlying appeal is to a spirit of hope rooted in truth: those values which have persisted from of old and the ideals and perfections toward which we strive are themselves evidence of the possibility of their attainment. As we know, attaining perfection (becoming “perfect as our Father in heaven”) ultimately requires grace, the free gift of participation in the divine, but an appeal to hope rooted in truth approaches, from natural terms, the transcendent.
So where there cannot be found an ounce of hope in the history of this man’s presidential service, as he erodes legitimate freedoms on so many fronts, and opens the door to immoral activities destructive to society in virtually all of its many dimensions, there is a stirring in the American people—an awakening with alarm—to realize the depth to which we have fallen and to become sufficiently restless with the lack of progress toward repairing our nation and society that people may be encouraged more and more easily to take up the fight and do their part.
We see this among the youth—at least the ones thinking on their own without having been snatched from the free exercise of their rational powers by the kind of propaganda present in every line of the president’s address—ravenous for truth and ultimate meaning, either finding a poor but stimulating substitute among the diversions of the world, or despairing to the point of taking their own lives and sometimes those near them. The neat quotes are many and well-known:
- “that evil prosper, it suffices that good men do nothing;” (that the need to act is urgent) and
- “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime;” (for education to liberate citizens from their captivity to ignorance: “the truth will set you free”)
- and that “a society may be judged by the way in which it treats its children” (which applies to abortion, but, through the “vulnerable” also to those patients elderly or otherwise who require constant medical assistance in varying degrees).
Why do we settle for the brokenness and decay in which we find ourselves? As the poor bishop concludes in The Mission, it is more than the simple fact that “the world is thus [corrupt; fallen];” rather, “thus have we made it; thus have I made it.” The lack of personal responsibility for our part in society is catastrophic.
For those who are able, higher-profile efforts may be coordinated, such as the efforts of numerous Catholic and other entities dedicated to inspiring value-based political process (Rick Santorum’s Patriot Voices, SBA List, CatholicVote, etc). For those less able, their grassroots expression of charity and joy courageously living a virtuous life will turn the tide. We, the citizens of this great nation (and by extension those non-citizen inhabitants) are responsible to and for one another, and we are all worth every effort by everyone else to reform our society, beginning with our own lives.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Sunday, January 13, 2013
New Year!
Happy New Year! It’s been a month since my last post, again. After a final week of classes and several final exams, I had a nice couple weeks home for Christmas and New Years with family and friends, including a nice Christmas Eve Matins and Midnight Mass (in Latin, of course!) with the Norbertine priests and seminarians at St. Michael’s Abbey.
We had a very good retreat this past week: four days of silent prayer with scriptural passages selected by Fr. Michael Warren, OMV, who is parochial vicar at our Holy Ghost Church in Denver, CO. He began by defining prayer as seeking the face of the Father, the encounter with Him that invites us to surrender our lives, giving way to His grace, a sharing in His divine life, and realizing that He sought us first. This idea stayed with me for the whole retreat, as we looked at kataphatic and apophatic prayer (leaving behind the foundation of feelings and knowledge and understanding into the indescribable experience of God, a taste of heaven), praying with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and taking Mary as our model.
Adding to the notion of seeking the face of the Father, I was particularly attracted to the image of a child seeking his father’s face: a child sitting with his grandfather on the couch who looks up at his grandfather’s face, perhaps scratched by the stubble on his chin, as I fondly remember... or a child at play coming over to tug on the sleeve of his father as he converses with other adults, perhaps thirsty or just expressing the intimate love for his father, head back, looking up at his face. The invitation to “become like little children,” has attracted me for some time; “for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mt 18:3; 19:14).
This semester promises lots of interesting stuff to read and learn! I continue Old Testament studies with the Narrative Books (Genesis, Exodus etc and Joshua, Judges, Kings, Chronicles, etc); New Testament studies continue with the Letters of Paul; the Christological issues that were so much a part of Patristics and Fundamental Theology in the past semester give way to a course on the Blessed Trinity; we get to explore Communication and Evangelization with the director of Catholic TV, Fr. Robert Reed; and we open Sacramental Theology with an Introduction to Sacred Liturgy.
During my retreat, I began reading a recent book by Fr. James Martin, SJ, entitled Between Heaven and Mirth. I heard a few references to it last semester and grabbed a copy. It is a hilarious book that, using stories from the lives of the saints and prominent spiritual authors, as well as passages from scripture, demonstrates that humor, laughter, and joy (esp. in the fully spiritual sense) are an integral part of a healthy life, and, in the case of joy, evidence of a soul close to God. It is a very entertaining yet thought-provoking read with much material for prayerful reflection, and I highly recommend it.
And for a little fun, check out this screenshot of the weather report for Long Beach. As you can see at the top of the page, I was sitting in a cool but not freezing Boston while my family was freezing back home!
Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord! As we leave the Christmas Season and move into Ordinary Time, let us recall how Jesus set the example, in the words of St. Francis and following the themes in today’s readings: to preach, and, when necessary, use words. Let us live out charity toward our neighbor so that what we do “all over [our] Judea” (Acts 10:37) will inspire the same charity in others bring all into the Father’s good pleasure (cf. Lk 3:22). And let us invite Mary, who nurtured the boy Jesus until He began His public ministry, to likewise nurture us with her Son’s graces and her simple example that we might come to see clearly the face of the Father, the Beatific Vision for eternity!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
We had a very good retreat this past week: four days of silent prayer with scriptural passages selected by Fr. Michael Warren, OMV, who is parochial vicar at our Holy Ghost Church in Denver, CO. He began by defining prayer as seeking the face of the Father, the encounter with Him that invites us to surrender our lives, giving way to His grace, a sharing in His divine life, and realizing that He sought us first. This idea stayed with me for the whole retreat, as we looked at kataphatic and apophatic prayer (leaving behind the foundation of feelings and knowledge and understanding into the indescribable experience of God, a taste of heaven), praying with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and taking Mary as our model.
Adding to the notion of seeking the face of the Father, I was particularly attracted to the image of a child seeking his father’s face: a child sitting with his grandfather on the couch who looks up at his grandfather’s face, perhaps scratched by the stubble on his chin, as I fondly remember... or a child at play coming over to tug on the sleeve of his father as he converses with other adults, perhaps thirsty or just expressing the intimate love for his father, head back, looking up at his face. The invitation to “become like little children,” has attracted me for some time; “for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mt 18:3; 19:14).
This semester promises lots of interesting stuff to read and learn! I continue Old Testament studies with the Narrative Books (Genesis, Exodus etc and Joshua, Judges, Kings, Chronicles, etc); New Testament studies continue with the Letters of Paul; the Christological issues that were so much a part of Patristics and Fundamental Theology in the past semester give way to a course on the Blessed Trinity; we get to explore Communication and Evangelization with the director of Catholic TV, Fr. Robert Reed; and we open Sacramental Theology with an Introduction to Sacred Liturgy.
During my retreat, I began reading a recent book by Fr. James Martin, SJ, entitled Between Heaven and Mirth. I heard a few references to it last semester and grabbed a copy. It is a hilarious book that, using stories from the lives of the saints and prominent spiritual authors, as well as passages from scripture, demonstrates that humor, laughter, and joy (esp. in the fully spiritual sense) are an integral part of a healthy life, and, in the case of joy, evidence of a soul close to God. It is a very entertaining yet thought-provoking read with much material for prayerful reflection, and I highly recommend it.
And for a little fun, check out this screenshot of the weather report for Long Beach. As you can see at the top of the page, I was sitting in a cool but not freezing Boston while my family was freezing back home!
Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord! As we leave the Christmas Season and move into Ordinary Time, let us recall how Jesus set the example, in the words of St. Francis and following the themes in today’s readings: to preach, and, when necessary, use words. Let us live out charity toward our neighbor so that what we do “all over [our] Judea” (Acts 10:37) will inspire the same charity in others bring all into the Father’s good pleasure (cf. Lk 3:22). And let us invite Mary, who nurtured the boy Jesus until He began His public ministry, to likewise nurture us with her Son’s graces and her simple example that we might come to see clearly the face of the Father, the Beatific Vision for eternity!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Publishing
If you're interested in what I've been writing for my classes, head over to my profile at Scribd.com, an online document publishing service. I've released my papers there licensed as Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution Share-Alike (cc-by-nc-sa) so that they are free to reuse, as long as I am credited, they are not used commercially, and they are also shared with this open license (the content on this blog is licensed similarly; see sidebar).
My papers are organized into collections, currently as Pre-Theology and Theology I coursework. Where I've remembered to post it, the grade I received on each assignment is also included in the description, so you'll know if you're reading a "bad one."
Read away!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
My papers are organized into collections, currently as Pre-Theology and Theology I coursework. Where I've remembered to post it, the grade I received on each assignment is also included in the description, so you'll know if you're reading a "bad one."
Read away!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Sunday, December 09, 2012
Advent
Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation. But what are we waiting for? The great "Advent" of course, Christ coming to us (ad-ventum: literally, toward the coming/arrival, from Latin). And from this notion flows directly the ancient invocation: Maranatha – Come, Lord Jesus! This applies both to our commemoration of His birth in Bethlehem (literally "house of bread"), and to our expectation of His second coming.
As we wait, we have been given a task; something to do while we wait. We are not only waiting or expecting (both literally "looking out) but also anticipating, receiving beforehand, in some sense, what we look forward to. Christ is with us now, in Word and Sacrament, though we look forward to His coming (eschatological return) among us yet again and hope that our lives may be pleasing to Him that we may join Him in eternal glory.
Last week, the Church presented just this notion of waiting with an active anticipation. Not only do we know that "the day is coming" (though it will be a surprise), but that we must continually turn away from the evil that threatens our righteousness and would prevent us from "standing before the Son of Man" and "[raising our] heads" (Gospel for First Sunday of Advent, Year C: Luke 21:25–28, 34–36). The first reading last week, from the prophet Jeremiah, emphasized this need to appear well before God, having sought to follow His instructions, to "do what is right and just in the land" (Jeremiah 33:14–16). And Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians further adds the wish that we "increase and abound in love so as to strengthen [our] hearts to be blameless in holiness" (1 Thessalonians 3:12–4:2). Taken together, the first reading's exhortation to righteousness and the second reading's exhortation to love unite in the Gospel message to receive strength to give God glory, precisely by our righteousness (by His grace) and love.
Today, we return to the beginning of Luke's Gospel to meet John the Baptist. His message is the quintessential call to repentance with the definitive sign of Baptism. We hear that John called all to a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Luke 3:1–6). The passage from Isaiah that the author of Luke reads in hindsight as referring to John the Baptist (affectionately shortened to "JBap" in scholarly literature!) also includes landscape renewal language: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth" (Luke 3:1–6; cf. Isaiah 40:3–5). The first reading, from Baruch, also refers to this same kind of renewal: "For God has commanded/ that every lofty mountain be made low,/ and that the age-old depths and gorges/ be filled to level ground" (Baruch 5:1–9). The further imagery added by Psalm 126 calls for rain to water the desert and raise up a forest that will bear fruit; according to Paul's letter to the Philippians, the "fruit of righteousness" (Second reading: Philippians 1:4–6, 8–11). And so we are called in our own lives and by our own reception of Baptism to die to ourselves and to sin, recalling how John's baptism in the violent Jordan river meant a near-death experience drowning in water that otherwise gives life and cleanses; through this death and rebirth in the spirit, we can work to clear the landscape of our souls to be able to bear that fruit of righteousness. And this is the work we are called to do while waiting, expecting, and anticipating Christ's return, the parousia (Greek παρουσία, "coming").
Fr. Peter Grover presented the further historical context for this landscape renewal imagery: it was the practical way to build a road, by clearing obstacles (both the tall and the deep) to make a flat road for conquest. Rather than use an existing road, an enemy's advantage would lie in their ability to construct their own egress route following the attack of a city. Fr. Peter connected today's abstract language with the concrete situation of Lazarus and the rich man: if only the rich man would have built his own road to heaven, filling in the valley of Lazarus' needs with his mountain of wealth to pave his way to the bosom of Abraham!
At the sweet spot of convergence of this week's readings, however, there is a further point: this renewal, cleansing, and death to self is to "show all the earth your splendor" (cf. Baruch) and to bear fruit for the glory and praise of God (cf. Philippians). The point is to make God known (Greek: γνωριζω / gnōrizō), and this conversion of the landscape and the conversion of our hearts together become revelation to the world (Greek: αποκαλυψις / apocalypsis).
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
As we wait, we have been given a task; something to do while we wait. We are not only waiting or expecting (both literally "looking out) but also anticipating, receiving beforehand, in some sense, what we look forward to. Christ is with us now, in Word and Sacrament, though we look forward to His coming (eschatological return) among us yet again and hope that our lives may be pleasing to Him that we may join Him in eternal glory.
Last week, the Church presented just this notion of waiting with an active anticipation. Not only do we know that "the day is coming" (though it will be a surprise), but that we must continually turn away from the evil that threatens our righteousness and would prevent us from "standing before the Son of Man" and "[raising our] heads" (Gospel for First Sunday of Advent, Year C: Luke 21:25–28, 34–36). The first reading last week, from the prophet Jeremiah, emphasized this need to appear well before God, having sought to follow His instructions, to "do what is right and just in the land" (Jeremiah 33:14–16). And Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians further adds the wish that we "increase and abound in love so as to strengthen [our] hearts to be blameless in holiness" (1 Thessalonians 3:12–4:2). Taken together, the first reading's exhortation to righteousness and the second reading's exhortation to love unite in the Gospel message to receive strength to give God glory, precisely by our righteousness (by His grace) and love.
Today, we return to the beginning of Luke's Gospel to meet John the Baptist. His message is the quintessential call to repentance with the definitive sign of Baptism. We hear that John called all to a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Luke 3:1–6). The passage from Isaiah that the author of Luke reads in hindsight as referring to John the Baptist (affectionately shortened to "JBap" in scholarly literature!) also includes landscape renewal language: "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth" (Luke 3:1–6; cf. Isaiah 40:3–5). The first reading, from Baruch, also refers to this same kind of renewal: "For God has commanded/ that every lofty mountain be made low,/ and that the age-old depths and gorges/ be filled to level ground" (Baruch 5:1–9). The further imagery added by Psalm 126 calls for rain to water the desert and raise up a forest that will bear fruit; according to Paul's letter to the Philippians, the "fruit of righteousness" (Second reading: Philippians 1:4–6, 8–11). And so we are called in our own lives and by our own reception of Baptism to die to ourselves and to sin, recalling how John's baptism in the violent Jordan river meant a near-death experience drowning in water that otherwise gives life and cleanses; through this death and rebirth in the spirit, we can work to clear the landscape of our souls to be able to bear that fruit of righteousness. And this is the work we are called to do while waiting, expecting, and anticipating Christ's return, the parousia (Greek παρουσία, "coming").
Fr. Peter Grover presented the further historical context for this landscape renewal imagery: it was the practical way to build a road, by clearing obstacles (both the tall and the deep) to make a flat road for conquest. Rather than use an existing road, an enemy's advantage would lie in their ability to construct their own egress route following the attack of a city. Fr. Peter connected today's abstract language with the concrete situation of Lazarus and the rich man: if only the rich man would have built his own road to heaven, filling in the valley of Lazarus' needs with his mountain of wealth to pave his way to the bosom of Abraham!
At the sweet spot of convergence of this week's readings, however, there is a further point: this renewal, cleansing, and death to self is to "show all the earth your splendor" (cf. Baruch) and to bear fruit for the glory and praise of God (cf. Philippians). The point is to make God known (Greek: γνωριζω / gnōrizō), and this conversion of the landscape and the conversion of our hearts together become revelation to the world (Greek: αποκαλυψις / apocalypsis).
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
It's already here! I knew Thanksgiving was coming, but it's already here and this time in two days I'll be in a car flying up a highway through New Hampshire on our way to the Oblate rectory in Montreal, QC.
It seems like we just finished midterm exams (which we did...) but we really are hurtling downhill now to the end of the semester. We just finished our direct treatment of Augustine in Patristics (yes, we read the 305 pages of his Confessions in 12 days, which is more amazing to me because on most of those 12 days I did not open the book - it was very focused reading!). I am glad we had the very tangible academic incentive to read it, because now I've seen what's there and can revisit it with a good sense of where to focus.
This morning in my Old Testament class, we began our treatment of the book of Psalms with the title of a book that Prof. Maluf heard about on the radio: "Help! Thank you! Wow!" He connected each exclamation with a major category of psalm literature: lament/complaint, thanksgiving, and hymns (mostly of praise). While Dr. Maluf's lectures are generally hard to follow, I appreciate how he daringly pursues what seem to us to be tangents and relates them later, allowing us to reach the obvious conclusions about the text we're studying and glean other points from the introductory articles with which we are provided; he presents the harder-to-find information in class, and as long as I keep that in perspective, I can appreciate what he offers us. [editorial note: that was a long sentence] He is such a scholar's scholar, though!
I've managed to rekindle my interests in classical violin and cycling, and have seminarian brothers to share them! A seminarian at St. John's who is studying with the diocese of Manchester, NH studied music in college and taught before entering the seminary. He and I had a nice jam session last week and scheduled another for next week. And Scott and I are setting up a program to keep each other riding bikes and build up some fitness to do some nice rides here. He had brought his extra bike and gear, so with a little dedication, we'll have a lot of fun and stay in shape, too!
It is a bit odd when we sit down to do a personal inventory and discover where our current imbalance is. It seems we are always a work in progress, momentarily sitting at dead center only because it's between the extremes of our oscillation. I have found that, as we seminarians gather to share our recent experiences and support one another, there can be a variety of dimensions that plague one or another of us, and those can change as the weeks roll by. For me lately, it has been attention to personal prayer that I have singled-out for particular emphasis. We have so much scheduled prayer that it seems we are always in church, but are we just located within those walls or are we attentive to the Trinity present with the angels, accompanying the Sacramental presence of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity? I have found that beyond my acknowledgment of His presence, my situation lacks, in large part, other personal interactions. It is not the case that when I go to chapel I forget where I am, or expect myself to have a deep and intimate conversation or mystical experience there. Rather, as was said multiple times in the intriguing dramatic film People Like Us, I need to "just be a person right now" when I enter a space of prayer (and this simple phrase can apply to so many moments in our lives).
And, as with many ideals in life, focusing our attention on them can be a great joy in fruition and a great suffering in anticipation. Sometimes in prayer, we are called to simply "keep watch" in silence; other times we are asked to listen; other times we are invited to pour out our hearts; still other times we may simply rest in the Son-light, looking at Jesus as He looks at us (cf. St. John Vianney).
Thankful for the gift of prayer, one aspect of being able to relate to our God, let us seek and strive after peace, born of solid family life and fraternal charity, and submit ourselves to Him who for our salvation sacrificed Himself, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
It seems like we just finished midterm exams (which we did...) but we really are hurtling downhill now to the end of the semester. We just finished our direct treatment of Augustine in Patristics (yes, we read the 305 pages of his Confessions in 12 days, which is more amazing to me because on most of those 12 days I did not open the book - it was very focused reading!). I am glad we had the very tangible academic incentive to read it, because now I've seen what's there and can revisit it with a good sense of where to focus.
This morning in my Old Testament class, we began our treatment of the book of Psalms with the title of a book that Prof. Maluf heard about on the radio: "Help! Thank you! Wow!" He connected each exclamation with a major category of psalm literature: lament/complaint, thanksgiving, and hymns (mostly of praise). While Dr. Maluf's lectures are generally hard to follow, I appreciate how he daringly pursues what seem to us to be tangents and relates them later, allowing us to reach the obvious conclusions about the text we're studying and glean other points from the introductory articles with which we are provided; he presents the harder-to-find information in class, and as long as I keep that in perspective, I can appreciate what he offers us. [editorial note: that was a long sentence] He is such a scholar's scholar, though!
I've managed to rekindle my interests in classical violin and cycling, and have seminarian brothers to share them! A seminarian at St. John's who is studying with the diocese of Manchester, NH studied music in college and taught before entering the seminary. He and I had a nice jam session last week and scheduled another for next week. And Scott and I are setting up a program to keep each other riding bikes and build up some fitness to do some nice rides here. He had brought his extra bike and gear, so with a little dedication, we'll have a lot of fun and stay in shape, too!
***
It is a bit odd when we sit down to do a personal inventory and discover where our current imbalance is. It seems we are always a work in progress, momentarily sitting at dead center only because it's between the extremes of our oscillation. I have found that, as we seminarians gather to share our recent experiences and support one another, there can be a variety of dimensions that plague one or another of us, and those can change as the weeks roll by. For me lately, it has been attention to personal prayer that I have singled-out for particular emphasis. We have so much scheduled prayer that it seems we are always in church, but are we just located within those walls or are we attentive to the Trinity present with the angels, accompanying the Sacramental presence of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity? I have found that beyond my acknowledgment of His presence, my situation lacks, in large part, other personal interactions. It is not the case that when I go to chapel I forget where I am, or expect myself to have a deep and intimate conversation or mystical experience there. Rather, as was said multiple times in the intriguing dramatic film People Like Us, I need to "just be a person right now" when I enter a space of prayer (and this simple phrase can apply to so many moments in our lives).
And, as with many ideals in life, focusing our attention on them can be a great joy in fruition and a great suffering in anticipation. Sometimes in prayer, we are called to simply "keep watch" in silence; other times we are asked to listen; other times we are invited to pour out our hearts; still other times we may simply rest in the Son-light, looking at Jesus as He looks at us (cf. St. John Vianney).
***
Thankful for the gift of prayer, one aspect of being able to relate to our God, let us seek and strive after peace, born of solid family life and fraternal charity, and submit ourselves to Him who for our salvation sacrificed Himself, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Snow!
This afternoon, my weather-aware Gmail theme informed me that it was snowing! I promptly looked outside (noticing that it was not, in fact, snowing here), then checked the local weather report. WeatherUnderground reported 34ºF at the time, and I posted "freeze, Boston, freeze!" on Facebook.
Soon after this, I went downstairs to make a cup of hot chocolate, found Fr. Tom bringing in groceries, and behold, a very light non-accumulating snow was falling!
After dinner and through our meeting (up to the present moment), it kept snowing, and about a half-inch has accumulated here. Fun! I hope there's more to come this winter; last year was pathetic as far as snow is concerned!
The first photo was taken with flash; the second without (this one did have a full 1-second exposure, though, and the colors came out great. The lighting is what is reflected off of clouds from surrounding streets/buildings, which is neat because it is nowhere near that bright to the naked eye).
Enjoy!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Soon after this, I went downstairs to make a cup of hot chocolate, found Fr. Tom bringing in groceries, and behold, a very light non-accumulating snow was falling!
After dinner and through our meeting (up to the present moment), it kept snowing, and about a half-inch has accumulated here. Fun! I hope there's more to come this winter; last year was pathetic as far as snow is concerned!
Enjoy!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Piles of pages!
Once again, it has been quite some time since my last post!
I have been very busy reading the books of the prophets in the Old Testament, poring over the Greek text of Paul's letters to the Philippians and to Philemon, digesting another century of Church Fathers, grasping the 300 years of Biblical history preceding the writing of the Gospels, and deepening my knowledge of how the Church has further clarified her teachings regarding Divine Revelation, the Scriptures, and the Tradition and Magisterium. And I took midterm exams in all of these (save the Pauline literature). If all of that does not excuse me from writing here, at least you know I wasn't hibernating!
It really is a joy to be able to come into contact with these great works. It is refreshing to see that the problems we have today are not new, that the world has endured similar trials for millennia. It is also, to some degree, alarming that after millennia of facing these same issues, we have not resolved them. Then again, need this world and our society in it approach the perfection of heaven? Each of us is called to endure the persecutions we suffer, to bear all things patiently with hope and to give of ourselves to one another to our dying breath, all the while giving thanks to our Creator, who from the beginning of time planned for our Redemption. How else could "the hills be alive with the sound of music" or "the heavens proclaim the glory of God", had he not known already that we would need such evidence around us to lead us to Himself?
Beginning this week, we embark in Patristics upon a great Augustinian adventure. We have divided his Confessions into three parts, and have formed teams to read and analyze the work according to seven dimensions, including Scripture, Love & Friendship, Philosophy, and Evil/Sin. I chose the topic of Law/Justice/Society. We will write a short paper pointing out how Augustine treats of our theme for each of the three divisions of his work, and each class meeting will consist of a discussion of what each of us found. Unfortunately, I will most likely miss the last discussion day as I fulfill my civic duty at the Superior Court House!
Things have been cooling off in Boston; the cold weather is a familiar and welcome reality in the Northeast, at least in my experience. I just need to push myself to work out and strengthen my back so I am ready when it comes time to shovel snow! Good thing there are more than a few "workout nuts" in this house! (By the way, when the workout video series are titled "Insanity" and "Asylum," the colloquialism "crazy" does not stray far from the mark!)
I plan to make some remarks here about Obama's acceptance speech and our outlook here in the USA, including some prudent Catholic viewpoints; other priorities precede such an effort, but I hope to put it online soon.
Until then, persevere in prayer and every good work! Celebrate Friday, the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. And recall that we look forward to our heavenly homeland, as we work to consecrate to God this world in which we live, in all that we do.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
I have been very busy reading the books of the prophets in the Old Testament, poring over the Greek text of Paul's letters to the Philippians and to Philemon, digesting another century of Church Fathers, grasping the 300 years of Biblical history preceding the writing of the Gospels, and deepening my knowledge of how the Church has further clarified her teachings regarding Divine Revelation, the Scriptures, and the Tradition and Magisterium. And I took midterm exams in all of these (save the Pauline literature). If all of that does not excuse me from writing here, at least you know I wasn't hibernating!
It really is a joy to be able to come into contact with these great works. It is refreshing to see that the problems we have today are not new, that the world has endured similar trials for millennia. It is also, to some degree, alarming that after millennia of facing these same issues, we have not resolved them. Then again, need this world and our society in it approach the perfection of heaven? Each of us is called to endure the persecutions we suffer, to bear all things patiently with hope and to give of ourselves to one another to our dying breath, all the while giving thanks to our Creator, who from the beginning of time planned for our Redemption. How else could "the hills be alive with the sound of music" or "the heavens proclaim the glory of God", had he not known already that we would need such evidence around us to lead us to Himself?
Beginning this week, we embark in Patristics upon a great Augustinian adventure. We have divided his Confessions into three parts, and have formed teams to read and analyze the work according to seven dimensions, including Scripture, Love & Friendship, Philosophy, and Evil/Sin. I chose the topic of Law/Justice/Society. We will write a short paper pointing out how Augustine treats of our theme for each of the three divisions of his work, and each class meeting will consist of a discussion of what each of us found. Unfortunately, I will most likely miss the last discussion day as I fulfill my civic duty at the Superior Court House!
Things have been cooling off in Boston; the cold weather is a familiar and welcome reality in the Northeast, at least in my experience. I just need to push myself to work out and strengthen my back so I am ready when it comes time to shovel snow! Good thing there are more than a few "workout nuts" in this house! (By the way, when the workout video series are titled "Insanity" and "Asylum," the colloquialism "crazy" does not stray far from the mark!)
I plan to make some remarks here about Obama's acceptance speech and our outlook here in the USA, including some prudent Catholic viewpoints; other priorities precede such an effort, but I hope to put it online soon.
Until then, persevere in prayer and every good work! Celebrate Friday, the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. And recall that we look forward to our heavenly homeland, as we work to consecrate to God this world in which we live, in all that we do.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Monday, October 15, 2012
Obama-Romney Race Split
Incumbent Presidential candidate Barack Obama launched an email blast that opened with:
Let us see how the town hall debate goes tomorrow night!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Listen, this race is tied.Challenging Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's supporters received an email tonight from Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) that began with this:
What we do over the next 22 days will determine not just the next four years, but what this country looks like for decades to come.
Friends,Now if that does not speak volumes about the commitments of each candidate...
My dad used to tell me, “In this country, you will be able to accomplish all the things we never could.” He and my mom emigrated from Cuba to America to give us a better life.
They believed in American exceptionalism, the promise of America.
America was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights; power belongs to the people; and government exists to protect our rights. We shouldn’t be trapped by the circumstances of our birth -- we should be free to go as far as our talents and work can take us.
In America, we’re united not by a common race or ethnicity -- but by common values. This election’s about preserving those values and applying the founding principles to solve the challenges of our time.
It's a choice about what kind of country we want to leave our children. Let’s choose more freedom instead of more government. Let’s choose Mitt Romney and the Republican team to lead our nation back to prosperity.
Let us see how the town hall debate goes tomorrow night!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Updates
It has been a month since my last post! How the time has flown.
I am now in the midst of midterm season, with an exam each week for four weeks: Patristics, Old Testament, Synoptic Gospels, and Fundamental Theology. This is a phenomenon I did not experience in college, when several classes had multiple midterms, which meant that my exam schedule was basically the first and last few weeks exam-free, and the middle just full of all kinds of exams - having a well-defined "it's midterms" season is a bit new, but so far, I like it.
We took a hike for Columbus Day - up Mt. Wachusett here in central Massachusetts - followed by dinner at Josh's parents' home in Holden. Their hospitality is always appreciated and ever so generous.
We also had a much-needed day of recollection on the feast of the Archangels; Fr. Peter Grover presented the corresponding accounts of the healing of a blind man on the road to Jericho in the three Synoptic Gospels, beginning with Mark's. He noted the significant differences and then showed us the basics of praying with scripture and what kinds of questions we could ask of the text to guide our meditation. Today's second reading, from the letter to the Hebrews, reminds us of how useful this can be: "The word of God is living and effective, ... penetrating even between the soul and spirit."
Last night I gave a ferverino (short sermon) on today's Gospel reading; I focused on the theme of giving everything up, of giving ourselves over to the Lord when he calls us, joining ourselves to His Body and then receiving new brothers (fellow seminarians) and mother (Mary) as we begin this journey of formation in community with one another. I also invited my First Theology class over from St. John's Seminary and about a third of them were able to spend the evening with us. Being from a small congregation and the only one in my First Theology class there, it is good for the other men to see where and how we live, to have a fuller understanding of the community within which they are studying and what each of us bring to that community. Conversation often turns to family as we spend time together at the seminary, similar to college students asking each other what their major is or where they went to high school or grew up, and for me, part of my family situation is this religious family of which I am now a part.
I am glad to see Boston cooling off at this time of year - hopefully we will have a properly-snowy New England winter! The trees are changing colors and some have shed most of their leaves. The overnight low came down to 35 a couple days ago, and the squirrels are getting ready for winter.
I also began my pastoral service, along with Matthew, a Boston seminarian who just joined my class at St. John's. We work on Friday afternoons/evenings at Sacred Heart parish in East Boston (very close to the airport). So far, we have made communion calls to the homebound, assisted at a wake service, and helped with a baptism preparation class. And we have eaten what was set before us every time we went out there. I guess that's to be expected in an Italian parish! The parish also has a substantial Vietnamese community, which I have yet to experience, but I thought it incredibly providential that I was placed in a parish of very similar ethnic composition as my own background!
Time to return to the race! We have been following the presidential/vice-presidential race and debates here, as well as participating in events in observance of the Year of Faith - hopefully more on these themes soon!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
I am now in the midst of midterm season, with an exam each week for four weeks: Patristics, Old Testament, Synoptic Gospels, and Fundamental Theology. This is a phenomenon I did not experience in college, when several classes had multiple midterms, which meant that my exam schedule was basically the first and last few weeks exam-free, and the middle just full of all kinds of exams - having a well-defined "it's midterms" season is a bit new, but so far, I like it.
We took a hike for Columbus Day - up Mt. Wachusett here in central Massachusetts - followed by dinner at Josh's parents' home in Holden. Their hospitality is always appreciated and ever so generous.
We also had a much-needed day of recollection on the feast of the Archangels; Fr. Peter Grover presented the corresponding accounts of the healing of a blind man on the road to Jericho in the three Synoptic Gospels, beginning with Mark's. He noted the significant differences and then showed us the basics of praying with scripture and what kinds of questions we could ask of the text to guide our meditation. Today's second reading, from the letter to the Hebrews, reminds us of how useful this can be: "The word of God is living and effective, ... penetrating even between the soul and spirit."
Last night I gave a ferverino (short sermon) on today's Gospel reading; I focused on the theme of giving everything up, of giving ourselves over to the Lord when he calls us, joining ourselves to His Body and then receiving new brothers (fellow seminarians) and mother (Mary) as we begin this journey of formation in community with one another. I also invited my First Theology class over from St. John's Seminary and about a third of them were able to spend the evening with us. Being from a small congregation and the only one in my First Theology class there, it is good for the other men to see where and how we live, to have a fuller understanding of the community within which they are studying and what each of us bring to that community. Conversation often turns to family as we spend time together at the seminary, similar to college students asking each other what their major is or where they went to high school or grew up, and for me, part of my family situation is this religious family of which I am now a part.
I am glad to see Boston cooling off at this time of year - hopefully we will have a properly-snowy New England winter! The trees are changing colors and some have shed most of their leaves. The overnight low came down to 35 a couple days ago, and the squirrels are getting ready for winter.
I also began my pastoral service, along with Matthew, a Boston seminarian who just joined my class at St. John's. We work on Friday afternoons/evenings at Sacred Heart parish in East Boston (very close to the airport). So far, we have made communion calls to the homebound, assisted at a wake service, and helped with a baptism preparation class. And we have eaten what was set before us every time we went out there. I guess that's to be expected in an Italian parish! The parish also has a substantial Vietnamese community, which I have yet to experience, but I thought it incredibly providential that I was placed in a parish of very similar ethnic composition as my own background!
Time to return to the race! We have been following the presidential/vice-presidential race and debates here, as well as participating in events in observance of the Year of Faith - hopefully more on these themes soon!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Who Is He?
Today, the Gospel invites us to reflect on who Jesus is, and to make our assent of faith, that is, begin believing in who we discover Jesus is. At the same time, the second reading, from the letter of St. James, challenges us to also express our faith in good works, reminding us that both are necessary in Christian life.
Since my last post, I've had two weeks of classes, beginning my Master's level coursework in Theology. In a class called Fundamental Theology, which was formerly just apologetics (explaining the faith) and now includes a study of the source and nature of divine revelation as well as the history of its transmission according to apostolic succession and the magisterium (teaching office) of the Church, we have been looking first at the nature of divine revelation: what is it that God revealed to us about Himself and how did he do it?
One of the first places we looked was at the Old Testament revelations in the creation of the world, in the exodus from Egypt, and "the law and the prophets." This is all historical - moments of divine intervention in the course of human existence, and surely God has revealed Himself (made Himself known, at least partially) in our history (and continues to do so). But then "God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Gal 4:4) and revealed Himself by speaking not just with a human voice or human hands but through the entirety of human nature - this is revelation through the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God - Jesus Christ. And it is precisely to this that today's Gospel directs our attention: Who is Jesus?
Fr. Salocks, who teaches my class on the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) pointed out that Peter could not have responded with such a distilled phrase as "the eschatological mediator of salvation" because those terms were simply foreign to his vocabulary... rather he recognized in Jesus the fulfillment of prophecy and noted His relationship with God the Father: You are the Christ, the Son of God. And so we can begin to express who God is for us and what it means that we have Him in our lives.
Fr. Peter Grover pointed out this morning in his homily that Peter's confession is, as the following verses demonstrate, incomplete. He thinks he knows Jesus, but he does not truly know Him until he witnesses His passion and self-sacrifice: this is the meaning of Jesus' rebuke of Peter. According to His cross, and the sign which he wore while carrying it, Jesus is "King of the Jews" (The Latin inscription INRI: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum and the Greek INBI: Ἰησους ὁ Ναζωραιος ὁ βασιλευς των Ἰουδαιων) but he is clearly no earthly king, not after wealth or riches or lands or power, being subject to death at the hands of men. Rather, He is the king of love, His Sacred Heart on fire with love for us, drawing us back to Himself despite our repeated shortcomings and failures.
Let us then appeal to this King of Love in the midst of so much violence around the world, praying that He who is also Wisdom incarnate might open the hearts and minds of all to His Love and Wisdom that we will be open to understanding one another and seeking each other's good, even at our own expense and sacrifice, following His example.
And please continue to pray for us seminarians as we settle into the new year of classes and formation, and for the great work being done to coordinate formation programs and foster vocations in all the Oblate foundations around the world. We are ever grateful for your support and include you in our prayers, trusting that what assistance you give us that may be known only to our Heavenly Father may be richly rewarded!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Since my last post, I've had two weeks of classes, beginning my Master's level coursework in Theology. In a class called Fundamental Theology, which was formerly just apologetics (explaining the faith) and now includes a study of the source and nature of divine revelation as well as the history of its transmission according to apostolic succession and the magisterium (teaching office) of the Church, we have been looking first at the nature of divine revelation: what is it that God revealed to us about Himself and how did he do it?
One of the first places we looked was at the Old Testament revelations in the creation of the world, in the exodus from Egypt, and "the law and the prophets." This is all historical - moments of divine intervention in the course of human existence, and surely God has revealed Himself (made Himself known, at least partially) in our history (and continues to do so). But then "God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Gal 4:4) and revealed Himself by speaking not just with a human voice or human hands but through the entirety of human nature - this is revelation through the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God - Jesus Christ. And it is precisely to this that today's Gospel directs our attention: Who is Jesus?
Fr. Salocks, who teaches my class on the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) pointed out that Peter could not have responded with such a distilled phrase as "the eschatological mediator of salvation" because those terms were simply foreign to his vocabulary... rather he recognized in Jesus the fulfillment of prophecy and noted His relationship with God the Father: You are the Christ, the Son of God. And so we can begin to express who God is for us and what it means that we have Him in our lives.
Fr. Peter Grover pointed out this morning in his homily that Peter's confession is, as the following verses demonstrate, incomplete. He thinks he knows Jesus, but he does not truly know Him until he witnesses His passion and self-sacrifice: this is the meaning of Jesus' rebuke of Peter. According to His cross, and the sign which he wore while carrying it, Jesus is "King of the Jews" (The Latin inscription INRI: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum and the Greek INBI: Ἰησους ὁ Ναζωραιος ὁ βασιλευς των Ἰουδαιων) but he is clearly no earthly king, not after wealth or riches or lands or power, being subject to death at the hands of men. Rather, He is the king of love, His Sacred Heart on fire with love for us, drawing us back to Himself despite our repeated shortcomings and failures.
Let us then appeal to this King of Love in the midst of so much violence around the world, praying that He who is also Wisdom incarnate might open the hearts and minds of all to His Love and Wisdom that we will be open to understanding one another and seeking each other's good, even at our own expense and sacrifice, following His example.
And please continue to pray for us seminarians as we settle into the new year of classes and formation, and for the great work being done to coordinate formation programs and foster vocations in all the Oblate foundations around the world. We are ever grateful for your support and include you in our prayers, trusting that what assistance you give us that may be known only to our Heavenly Father may be richly rewarded!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Tender Compassion
In the tender compassion of our God,This is from the end of the Canticle of Zechariah, found at the end of Luke 1, which is the gospel canticle for morning prayer every day.
the Dawn from on high shall break upon us,
do shine on those who dwell in darkness, and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
It also happens to be a passage that summarizes my retreat experience this past week, five days in silence alongside my brother seminarians at the beautiful St. Joseph's Retreat House in Milton. Following a typical Ignatian formula, we spent the first day reflecting on prayer itself, the second day on desire, the third on Ignatius' Principle & Foundation seeking the grace of detachment, the fourth day on sin and mercy, and the fifth day on Ignatius' Call of the King, which looks essentially at Vocation and our willingness to respond to God's invitation to us to grow in holiness and deepen our relationship with Him.
It was an amazing retreat! At times, the birds or the bees (literally) became a distraction (bees were drinking from a Bonsai planter in the sun as I was enjoying a cup of hot tea at lunch outside - not much different!), and at times other preoccupations would threaten the silence of my prayer, but overall, it was a very grace-filled time of renewal, and I am excited to begin Theology classes and continue in our formation program here, welcoming "the new guys" and enjoying the company of our returning seminarians.
And my Dominican sister-sister is writing even more frequently, which is also a joy for me! So I echo St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians (4:4): "Rejoice in the Lord always; I say it again: Rejoice!" and remind myself to "Think of the Lord in goodness" (Wisdom 1:1) as we begin this new year.
May our good God, through the intercession of His Most Holy Mother, grant you every blessing! And, as the vocations directress for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist once said: "Mutual prayers!"
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Monday, August 27, 2012
New Floors!
We have new floors! New room furniture is still en route, but the rooms are nice and simple, but very bright-feeling due to the new floors. Here are some pictures I took over the last couple days while unpacking things in my room.
Now we're off on retreat - please pray for us as we pray for you!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Now we're off on retreat - please pray for us as we pray for you!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Friday, August 24, 2012
Airplanes and Chinatown
Sounds like another fantastic movie I haven't seen!
Actually, "Airplanes and Chinatown" abstractly defines my imminent return to Boston for my third year of seminary formation. I'll fly a 1-stop flight from Los Angeles to New York's La Guardia, and then hike to Chinatown NYC to catch a bus to Boston's Chinatown, a solid 20-minute walk from home at St. Clement's. If you see me after this ordeal, ask me about it!
I am excited to go back. I'm told I often hide my excitement, so here it is in writing: I'm excited! It has been an incredibly busy summer, with lots of work and lots of get-togethers, and I've enjoyed being busy. But the time has come, as inevitably it does, and now I must return to the seminary in Boston.
In one sense, I haven't left - keeping most of the Liturgy of the Hours over the summer months is a constant reminder of the community I belong to. And I've kept in touch with my brother Oblate seminarians, hearing of their adventures and sharing mine. In another sense, I have definitely been away. The type of work I was doing (technical writing, computer programming, and various technical labor) was inconsistent with the work and study of a seminarian, and the spectrum of social interactions I was a part of during the summer are not typical of seminary life per se.
This discord or discrepancy is, at least, an opportunity for discernment. Seeing the contrast, to which lifestyle am I being called? What elements of each am I called to combine, and are they altogether compatible with one another? This is by no means science built from matrices of experimentations, most of which yield no result. But in our humanity, these questions can begin to frame our discernment.
For me, general sentiments have played a large part in my discernment so far. Noticing how I feel as I begin to consider one state or option is so very important - is this situation troubling me and how? How would I characterize my discomfort in considering this option - do negatives rightfully deter me from it or are perceived negatives actually positive challenges I am called to face? This is at the heart of St. Ignatius' discernment of spirits - understanding that for a soul in a particular state, the good spirit may either challenge or encourage, and the bad spirit the same, but we have to train ourselves to recognize and follow the possibly painful good, always.
So off I go, with good material for meditation, and with plenty of time to do it! I greatly appreciate and humbly request your prayers for me and my brothers, and offer mine for you. As Fr. Jeremy articulated this morning, your prayers bear the fruit of men and women being open to hear God's voice calling to them, and being open to his strengthening graces to respond to that call.
As always, let us place our lives in the hands of our Blessed Mother and beg her to offer us to Her Son!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Actually, "Airplanes and Chinatown" abstractly defines my imminent return to Boston for my third year of seminary formation. I'll fly a 1-stop flight from Los Angeles to New York's La Guardia, and then hike to Chinatown NYC to catch a bus to Boston's Chinatown, a solid 20-minute walk from home at St. Clement's. If you see me after this ordeal, ask me about it!
I am excited to go back. I'm told I often hide my excitement, so here it is in writing: I'm excited! It has been an incredibly busy summer, with lots of work and lots of get-togethers, and I've enjoyed being busy. But the time has come, as inevitably it does, and now I must return to the seminary in Boston.
In one sense, I haven't left - keeping most of the Liturgy of the Hours over the summer months is a constant reminder of the community I belong to. And I've kept in touch with my brother Oblate seminarians, hearing of their adventures and sharing mine. In another sense, I have definitely been away. The type of work I was doing (technical writing, computer programming, and various technical labor) was inconsistent with the work and study of a seminarian, and the spectrum of social interactions I was a part of during the summer are not typical of seminary life per se.
This discord or discrepancy is, at least, an opportunity for discernment. Seeing the contrast, to which lifestyle am I being called? What elements of each am I called to combine, and are they altogether compatible with one another? This is by no means science built from matrices of experimentations, most of which yield no result. But in our humanity, these questions can begin to frame our discernment.
For me, general sentiments have played a large part in my discernment so far. Noticing how I feel as I begin to consider one state or option is so very important - is this situation troubling me and how? How would I characterize my discomfort in considering this option - do negatives rightfully deter me from it or are perceived negatives actually positive challenges I am called to face? This is at the heart of St. Ignatius' discernment of spirits - understanding that for a soul in a particular state, the good spirit may either challenge or encourage, and the bad spirit the same, but we have to train ourselves to recognize and follow the possibly painful good, always.
So off I go, with good material for meditation, and with plenty of time to do it! I greatly appreciate and humbly request your prayers for me and my brothers, and offer mine for you. As Fr. Jeremy articulated this morning, your prayers bear the fruit of men and women being open to hear God's voice calling to them, and being open to his strengthening graces to respond to that call.
As always, let us place our lives in the hands of our Blessed Mother and beg her to offer us to Her Son!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)