St. Marchelm, Confessor, (762)
St. Pancras, Bishop and Martyr, (90)
The Martyrs of Gorkum, Holland, Martyrs, (1571)
A hearty congratulations, and welcome back:
I would like to begin by offering a hearty congratulations to my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters on the occasion of the issuance of Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.
The Bishop of Rome has taken steps to reclaim something very precious, something that was lost for the vast majority of Roman Catholics, especially in the United States. That is, a spirit of deep and abiding reverence and Godwardness in the Liturgies of the Church.
I pray that your reclaiming of the Church’s patrimony will enrich your faith, deepen it, and strengthen it. I pray that this small seed will grow, and in its growth that it will support and nourish all the Rites of the Church.
A note on language:
SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM cura ad hoc tempus usque semper fuit, ut Christi Ecclesia Divinae Maiestati cultum dignum offerret, "ad laudem et gloriam nominis Sui» et "ad utilitatem totius Ecclesiae Suae sanctae».
Ummm, ok.
Mean much to you?
Me neither.
Many have posited that the Tridentine Mass is not about Latin. They continually repeat, ‘it is not about Latin.’
I understand the point. It is about focusing the congregation, the entire Church, on God.
Our relationship with God, as members of the Church, is completely interwoven with the Liturgy, most especially the Holy Mass. The Holy Mass, performed properly and devoutly, changes our perspective and enriches us.
That being said, based on my personal experience, rambling on in Latin, while quaint, will cause many of the pew dwellers to draw away, leaving behind geeky church types. The intended lesson will be wasted.
While still a Roman Catholic I attended indult Masses in Buffalo (at St. Vincent de Paul parish, since closed). I remembered it fairly well, because my very traditional Polish parish kept the old Mass alive up to 1974. I had my old missal and I was psyched for the experience.
They were very nice Masses, reverent and all, but they left me cold. I followed along, tried to be prayerful, understood what I was supposed to experience, but eh… I was looking for the glory, honor, and praise of God, and I got eh… Nice Mass, but I don’t get it…
Reading in silence is a great activity for evenings at home. It’s wonderful when you can delve into the experience of words, but it doesn’t quite work when reading distracts from focus, and focus is useless without the fullness of the context (that is culturally, linguistically, and aurally made present).
Another example.
I love Gorzkie Żale devotions during Lent. I grew up with them.
Gorzkie Żale are sung bitter lamentations reflecting on the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, as seen though Mary’s eyes and emotions, and as seen by us, in our complicity in what occurred.
The context for these Lamentations was explained to me by my mother. I was young, but I understood. I would serve at these devotions. I would reflect on the context, listen to the beautiful singing, and was often moved to tears. I didn’t understand a word… they were sung in Polish.
When I joined the PNCC, which still actively promotes these devotions, I was overjoyed. I went to Gorzkie Żale one Wednesday evening, and it was sung in English.
I was crushed. Not because it was in English, but because I understood every word and every nuance. I was guilty, He bore my sins. It hit me full force and I will never forget it.
A third example.
While I was dating the future Mrs., she was still an Episcopalian. She took me to St. Boniface in Guilderland, NY. It was the first time I had ever been in an Episcopal church.
I didn’t know what to expect. My limited knowledge of Protestants left me thinking that I was in for long winded sermonizing and happy-clappy music.
The Albany Episcopal Diocese is very High Church (didn’t know what that meant at the time), and I got the Mass. I think my jaw hit the floor. The Tridentine Rite in English?
Again, the experience was enriched by my ability to understand.
So, it is about Latin in a very big way. Latin will be the disconnect for all but a few, most particularly in the United States where education in the classics, and a wider view of world history, is lacking.
As the Young Fogey rightly points out, Godward and understandable work. That will move the pew dwellers, and ease a more thorough integration.
Documents, we don’t need no … documents:
A Motu on the election of the Bishop of Rome, a Motu re-integrating the old mass, and a forthcoming document cited at Reuters and elsewhere:
The Vatican will issue another text on Tuesday [July 10, 2007] expected to declare Roman Catholicism the only true church of Jesus Christ
Quite a few documents in a three week period (by the by – I was wrong here).
The problem with documents is that they do not replace discipline. How do the Orthodox or the PNCC retain Church discipline and the faith once handed down?
To be sure, we have documents, but besides our shared heritage built upon Sacred Scripture, the Fathers, and the commonly held Councils, how do we all do it?
With the forthcoming document stating that the rest of Catholicism (not to mention Christianity) is a conglomeration of schismatics, heretics, and other such bad/misguided people, I’d wonder if it would not be so, if we had documents ❓
On a more serious note, everyone is entitled to his self declaration (why I don’t buy into the whole – oooh, the Tridentine Rite will offend the Jews – as if they have a right to define another’s core beliefs).
The Roman Church is entitled to Her own declaration and to further clarify that declaration.
That defining is not for us, nor against us. It is Her own.
A final thought:
In all, faith is the key element. It is the binding and the salve that joins the Catholic faithful.
I have found the fullness of Catholic expression in the PNCC. Godward, faithful to tradition, understood by the people. In the end I am thankful to be part of Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. May I be granted the grace that it ever be so. As we pray before communion:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,
by the will of the Father
and the work of the Holy Spirit
Your death brought life to the world.
By Your holy Body and Blood free me
from all my sins and from every evil.
Keep me faithful to Your teaching and
never let me be parted from You.
Say to them,
‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’
Many will provide homilies on the topic of peace today.
It is very fitting to speak of peace today, based on the Gospel and the readings. The theme of peace runs throughout. There are also those who will speak on our calling, the call to proclaim the kingdom of God, our being sent like the seventy-two.
I would like to concentrate on things.
Do you have stuff? I have stuff. What is the value of all the things we own? How much more will we acquire in our lifetimes?
Our first reading speaks of Israel’s return to Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that laid in ruins, a veritable wasteland during Isaiah’s time.
Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
that you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!
For thus says the LORD:
Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.
The Israelites saw the prosperity of Jerusalem as the symbol of God’s abiding presence. If Jerusalem dwelt securely, God was with them.
Because of their concentration on stuff, they often lost sight of the true covenant, the one that was to be written in their hearts. They missed the point. That’s why the old Israel missed the Messiah.
Unfortunately there are Christians who will proclaim, in this day and age, that the physical Jerusalem is somehow vitally important, that somehow and in some way, God needs the city of Jerusalem.
We all know that the city of Jerusalem is just a place, a historical place to be sure, but still, just a place. It has become, in a very unfortunate way, the occasion of sin for many, because of a concentration on things, the symbol without the Spirit.
St. Paul rightly pointed out, these physical things are of little account.
For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision,
but only a new creation.
Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule
and to the Israel of God.
Only the new creation in Christ Jesus matters. Only the Israel of God matters.
Brothers and sisters,
We are the Israel of God. The new creation is in us. We are the Israel where neither Jew nor Greek matters. The Israel where neither man nor woman, slave or free is of import. The Israel where faith in Jesus Christ, and the proclamation of God’s kingdom, is all that matters.
By our faithful membership in Christ’s body, the Church, we are participants and partakers in the kingdom of God. We are invited to work and to stand ready, with all the faithful, when the new and eternal Jerusalem descends from the heavens.
That Jerusalem is not a thing, it is eternity, with Jesus, in heaven.
If we are waiting for things, for more stuff, for the outward, we are missing the point.
The Lord God tells us through the prophet Ezekiel:
And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
We have work set before us. Our work is not defined by stuff, by things, or by cities. Our work means that we must change ourselves from the inside out. Our hearts must be alive in faith. Our work is to seek our nourishment from the abundant font of faith in Christ Jesus.
With that faith we hear the words of Jesus. The words He speaks to us:
Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
St. Elizabeth of Portugal, Queen and Widow, (1336)
St. Procopius, Martyr, (303)
Saints Killian and Companions, Martyrs, (689)
St. Pulcheria, Virgin, (453)
Saints Ethelburga, Ercongota, and Sethrida, Virgins, (660 and 664)
St. Pantaenus, Confessor, (200)
From the New Britain (CT) Herald: Polish American Foundation gets $90K grant
More city residents of Polish descent should be wage earners in the months ahead.
The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded the New Britain-based Polish American Foundation of Connecticut Inc. a total of $90,000 to help Polish-speaking people find jobs.
The foundation was selected as among the best of competing applicants in two competitions; $30,000 of the grant represents a renewal from the previous year.
According to the U.S. Census, roughly 14,000 people claim Polish heritage in New Britain.
“These grass-root grants are designed for specific communities,” said Ted Fitzgerald, the department’s assistant regional director in New England. He said a “tracking mechanism” is built into each grant to ensure that terms of the grant are met.
Foundation President Andre Blasczynski said the funds will be used to continue a program that began in 1996 to provide “training and employment for people limited in English proficiency.”
Some of the money will fund a part-time position at the city’s Spanish-speaking center, He added.
“Through the work of Polish-speaking job counselors at the employment office on Broad Street in New Britain, hundreds of Polish-speaking people have received employment and training services for the first time,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said. “After completing English classes and employment skills training, people are able to find good jobs.”
“This money will help even more people enter our work force,” she said. “I want to remind the public these services are free of charge.”
Rell agreed with Blasczynski that the foundation’s goal “isn’t just job placement, it’s self sufficiency. I know the foundation’s job development capabilities are improving dramatically, and these funds will help them continue the momentum.”
Founded in 1996, the foundation enhances the cultural and economic development of the community by sponsoring cultural and educational programs and activities, improving access to and providing social and work force development services, promoting understanding among ethnic groups, fostering international exchange and providing humanitarian assistance.
Located at 121 Broad St. in New Britain, the foundation’s Employment Assistance Program is funded through a major grant from Capital Workforce Partners, the American Savings Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.
St. Jan Huss, Priest and Martyr, (1415)
St. Sisoes, Hermit, (429)
St. Sexburga, Abbess and Widow, (699)
From the Christian Science Monitor: Why teens have a tough time finding summer work
Many are enrolling in summer classes or doing community service while others are squeezed out by adults competing for the same entry-level jobs.
Boston – This summer is shaping up as a tough one for many of America’s youngest job seekers.
Camps still need counselors. Ice cream shops still need young arms with a knack for alternating between a scoop and a cash register. And the nation’s job market is strong.
Yet teen employment rates haven’t rebounded from the recession of 2001. Instead, these numbers are at historic lows.
The reasons include positive forces, such as the rise of new opportunities for summer education and community service. But the trend also reflects more competition from older workers for a shrinking pool of entry-level jobs…
While many are cheering the American economic dynamo, others ask, what, when, why, where, and how about me.
As the article points out, entry level jobs provide a training ground for young people entering the job market. In part, the share of jobs available to young people is decreasing as older, experienced workers compete for those jobs.
I’d ask why? Are older workers interested in shuffling hamburgers, cashing out sales to pre-teens, and doing janitorial work at the mall? Is this their motivation/career path, or is it simply their way of paying the bills?
It is regrettable in that our talent pool and experience are being wasted. It is regretable that our economic model relies on low paid service jobs. It is regretable that the division between rich and poor grows as uncle Bob and aunt Mary, formerly employed in their profession of choice, serve dinner at Red Lobster.
Some statements from President Bush on Independence Day, 2007
“We give thanks for all the brave citizen-soldiers of our Continental Army who dropped pitchforks and took up muskets to fight for our freedom and liberty and independence,” Bush said. He added: “You’re the successors of those brave men. . . . Like those early patriots, you’re fighting a new and unprecedented war.”
New and unprecedented because it was created in the mind of Mr. Bush’s neo-con advisers, those who push the commander-in-chief’s buttons. New and unprecedented because we are fighting against people who did nothing to precipitate our invasion, did not seek our help, and perfectly well don’t want us there. They want us less than the Colonists wanted their King George.
You cover your abuse of our citizen soldiers, who you are using as your personal hamburger, with faí§ades of glory. To the extent that we are involved in foreign adventures in Iraq, Kosovo, Korea, or elsewhere, our soldiers bear no resemblance to the resolute ideals of our Founding Fathers. Our founders fought for hearth, home, and self-determination… kind of like the folks in Iraq, fighting against our ill conceived venture.
Perhaps our citizen soldiers would be better successors if they were home, protecting our borders, or helping us in natural disasters.
Now for the fear mongering:
“If we were to quit Iraq before the job is done, the terrorists we are fighting would not declare victory and lay down their arms. They would follow us here, home”
All of them? Now how many Iraqis are there? Perhaps a few, perhaps one or two (I’m sounding like Dr. Seuss).
Of course they have no right to be ticked, our supporting Israel above all things (even ourselves) and our little jaunt through Iraq, leaving the country poor, in debt, with its infrastructure destroyed, its Christian population killed-off, with neighbor against neighbor, a puppet regime in place, and, and, and…
No Mr. Bush. No freedom for the Iraqis, no illusions, no allusions to our experience. No Mr. Bush, just criminal incompetence seeped in blood.
You cannot compare yourself or your adventures to anything the Founding Fathers did on that day in Philadelphia. At best you can compare yourself to a drunken and abusive father.
Saints Cyril and Methodius, Bishops and Confessors, (869, 884)
St. Anthony Zaccaria, Confessor, (1539)
St. Athanasius the Athonite, Abbot, (1000)