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
Thursday, February 28, 2013
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
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