Having warned them therefore against this grievous pest, and amended them, He instructs also how they may escape it; by humility. Wherefore He adds also, “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. For whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and whosoever shall abase himself shall be exalted.”
For nothing is equal to the practice of modesty, wherefore He is continually reminding them of this virtue, both when He brought the children into the midst, and now. And, when on the mount, beginning the beatitudes, He began from hence. And in this place, He plucks it up by the roots hereby, saying, “He that abases himself shall be exalted.”
Do you see how He draws off the hearer right over to the contrary thing. For not only does He forbid him to set his heart upon the first place, but requires him to follow after the last. For so shall you obtain your desire, He says. Wherefore he that pursues his desire for the first, must follow after the last place. “For he that abases himself shall be exalted.”
And where shall we find this humility? Will ye that we go again to the city of virtue, the tents of the holy men, the mountains, I mean, and the groves? For there too shall we see this height of humility.
For men, some illustrious from their rank in the world, some from their wealth, in every way put themselves down, by their vesture, by their dwelling, by those to whom they minister; and, as in written characters, they throughout all things inscribe humility.
And the things that are incentives of arrogance, as to dress well, and to build houses splendidly, and to have many servants, things which often drive men even against their will to arrogance; these are all taken away. For they themselves light their fire, they themselves cleave the logs, themselves cook, themselves minister to those that come there.
No one can be heard insulting there, nor seen insulted, nor commanded, nor giving commands; but all are devoted to those that are waited on, and every one washes the strangers’ feet, and there is much contention about this. And he does it, not inquiring who it is, neither if he be a slave, nor if he be free; but in the case of every one fulfills this service. No man there is great nor mean. What then? Is there confusion? Far from it, but the highest order. For if any one be mean, he that is great sees not this, but has accounted himself again to be inferior even to him, and so becomes great.
There is one table for all, both for them that are served, and for them that serve; the same food, the same clothes, the same dwellings, the same manner of life. He is great there, who eagerly seizes the mean task. There is not mine and yours, but this expression is exterminated, that is a cause of countless wars. — Homily on Matthew XXIII
Chuck Konkel wrote a beautiful reflection on family, memory, nation, and the souls of our fathers in In the Shadow of Steel Mills.
I grew up in Hamilton Ontario in the mid 1950s, in the very shadows of steel mills that were still vital and a football team that still won games, the only son of a refugee family who didn’t own a car, nor a television, nor a cottage and whose idea of a vacation was a yearly trek to the Canadian National Exhibition in far distant Toronto and a day’s outing to the great and bustling metropolis of Buffalo.
The neighborhood was diverse and vibrant, ringing with the voices of immigrant families from the wasteland that was postwar Europe, Poles, Ukrainians, Italians, a rag tag bundle of hopes and dreams and frustrations who knew their place in the scheme of things, though they might bridle at it, for it was the Irish who were the Lords of the Manor having arrived a generation before. And Canadians who thought of themselves first and foremost of British stock and only with much prodding admitted that they too were once immigrants with the same insecurities finding themselves at the bottom of the social ladder in a stranger and daunting land.
My father worked the mills and cleaned the open hearth and toiled and sweated in the honest labour it took to put food on our table. My Dutch mother learned to make (kapusta) – cabbage in a barrel and (polskie ogórki) – Polish pickled cucumbers and (pączki) – Polish doughnuts. And every night, without fail, we ate hearty helpings of potatoes and red beets and (kaszanka) -black barley sausage and Polish pierogi. Every Sunday we dressed up in our best for church, a long, languorous service held in a language that I could never master (Latin).
I was an altar boy; it was a rite of passage for all Catholic boys at the time. That was just the way it was. There was no shortage of servers for weddings and funerals and at the three daily masses held in St Stanislaus, the Polish parish church, sandwiched between the Irish rigidity of St Anne’s and modernist cubist lines of the Italian St Anthony of Padua. At Christmas, St Stan’s held two midnight masses, one in the church proper and one in the very basement of the building, there were 40-50 altar boys at the High Mass and the church was full to overflowing.
The ushers and sacristans were veterans all, strong, spare men with florid faces and piercing eyes, brushed back straw coloured hair, booming voices and loud raucous laughs and brown pin striped suits. Men with unpronounceable surnames and remarkable personal histories, Tobruk, Monte Cassino, the Eastern Front, Fallaise, Arnhem, the crinkle blue skies over Europe and the turbulent oceans of the North Atlantic. And among them the remnants of the Home Army and the doomed Warsaw Uprising of 1944, heroes – gallant, brave and foolhardy as only a Pole in battle can be.
Such men could be meek as lambs during Mass, kneeling obediently as knights errant before a gilded altar that was the work of a previous generation of equally stolid Poles, as they listened intently to a sermon from a twinkle-eyed Franciscan who’d been a paratroop chaplain at Arnhem; a bridge too far on Poland’s bloodied road to true nationhood.
They were members of the Royal Canadian Legion, one and all, using the Legion Hall to keep alive, if for only a few precious hours a week, the comradeships they so cherished and the memories of the many friends they had lost in far off lands.
Yet if the Legion branch was the heart of the community …the church was its soul. Replete with chanted hymn, “Boże, coś Polskę” (God Save Poland), Byzantine gold, heavy incense and babcie (grandmas) sitting glowering in the first few pews as, with gnarled fingers, they click-beaded their rosaries and waited for the Black Madonna to free a Poland once more enslaved, this time under the Soviet boot.
…
Time has passed. It is November and a fitting time for reflection.
The veterans are almost all gone, the graves of southern Ontario holding the soul of a truly valiant Polish generation; a lilt sometimes holding in the wind like the “Hejnal” so played long ago by that lone trumpeter of Krakow, a whispered dream of wandering souls, a faint fleeting memory in a widow’s failing eye.
Perhaps they are all together about us, singing and laughing forever young in our renewed recollection of their glories. I like to think that and I also like to think that you and I, good readers, though proudly Canadian, do carry their torch.
I buried my father in his 89th year. It was a cold Canadian December day and the Legion provided and escort, frail old men they were with the fire dimming in their eyes. They played the Last Post and uttered the words that all veterans do at the graveside of a fallen comrade.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
And we answered solemnly: We will remember them!
Then, in the somber tradition of all Poles and dutiful sons from time immemorial, I retrieved some soil from the graveside to keep as a remembrance…
Eternal rest grant onto them O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.
Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Niech odpoczywa w pokoju, Amen.
November 1 – St. Dionysius the Areopagite from the Liturgy of St. Dionysius, Bishop of the Athenians
Priest: “Giver of Holiness, and distributor of every good, O Lord, Who sanctifiest every rational creature with sanctification, which is from Thee; sanctify, through Thy Holy Spirit, us Thy servants, who bow before Thee; free us from all servile passions of sin, from envy, treachery, deceit, hatred, enmities, and from him, who works the same, that we may be worthy, holily to complete the ministry of these life-giving Sacraments, through the heavenly Pontiff, Jesus Christ, Thine Only-begotten Son, through Whom, and with Whom, is due to Thee, glory and honour.”
People: “Amen.”Priest: “Essentially existing, and from all ages; Whose nature is incomprehensible, Who art near and present to all, without any change of Thy sublimity; Whose goodness every existing thing longs for and desires; the intelligible indeed, and creatures endowed with intelligence, through intelligence; those endowed with sense, through their senses; Who, although Thou art One essentially, nevertheless art present with us, and amongst us, in this hour, in which Thou hast called and led us to these Thy holy mysteries; and hast made us worthy to stand before the sublime throne of Thy majesty, and to handle the sacred vessels of Thy ministry with our impure hands: take away from us, O Lord, the cloak of iniquity in which we are enfolded, as from Jesus, the son of Josedec the High Priest, Thou didst take away the filthy garments, and adorn us with piety and justice, as Thou didst adorn him with a vestment of glory; that clothed with Thee alone, as it were with a garment, and being like temples crowned with glory, we may see Thee unveiled with a mind divinely illuminated, and may feast, whilst we, by communicating therein, enjoy this sacrifice set before us; and render to Thee glory and praise.”
People: “Amen.” — Prayer of Reconciliation.
October 31 – St. Dionysius the Areopagite from the Liturgy of St. Dionysius, Bishop of the Athenians
Priest: “O Lord God, Who art simplex, not compound, and hidden in essence sublime! God the Father, from Whom all paternity which is in heaven and earth is named, Source of Divinity, of those who participate in the Divine Nature, and Perfector of those who attain perfection; Good above all good, and Beautiful above all beautiful; Peaceful repose, Peace, Concord and Union of all souls; compose the dissensions which divide us from one another, and lead them back to an union with charity, which has a kind of similitude to Thy sublime essence: and as Thou art One above all, and we, one, through the unanimity of a good mind; that we may be found before Thee simplex and not divided, whilst celebrating this mystery; and that through the embraces of Charity and bonds of Love, we may be spiritually one, both with ourselves and with one another, through that Thy Peace pacifying all; through the Grace and Compassion and Love towards man of Thine Only-begotten Son; through Whom, and with Whom is due to Thee, glory, honour and dominion, with Thy most holy Spirit.”
People: “Amen.” — The Prayer before the Pax.
A few of the upcoming liturgies and events at my home parish: Holy Name of Jesus National Catholic Church — PNCC, 1040 Pearl Street, Schenectady, NY 12303:
- Saturday, November 1st, 11am – Noon: Confessions for adults and children
- Saturday, November 1st, Noon: Holy Mass for All Saints Day
- Sunday, November 2nd, 9:30am: Holy Mass for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
- Sunday, November 2nd, 7pm: All Souls Day Remembrance Service and Wypominki – the reading of the Rote of the Dearly Departed.
- Saturday, November 8th, 4 – 7pm: Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Dinner (eat-in or take-out). Tickets are $9 for adults and $5 for children under 10 years of age.
Please come and join us. All are welcome.
Robert Strybel provides an excellent overview of the commemoration of these Holy Days among Polonia in the United States. His article, All Saints/All Souls Day in Polonia appears at the PolishNews site. Along with the overview he provides suggestions for re-energizing these commemorations, and reconnecting our youth with the legacy of our saints, our forefathers who met the struggle and gained the ultimate victory.
I also want to thank Mr. Strybel for the nice shout-out to PNCC parishes:
All Saints Day is the patronal feast parishes named Parafia pod wezwaniem Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Parish) — an appellation often encountered among parishes of the Polish National Catholic Church, including Chicagoland’s All Saints PNC Cathedral.
I recall a posting I saw, long before I was a PNCC member. It was a young person lamenting the loss of tradition on All Souls Day, Dzień Zaduszny. He noted that he was heartened to find, in his search of cemeteries on that day, members of the PNCC at a PNCC cemetery, doing the five stations, the blessing of graves, the wypominki (reading the role of the deceased) and ending with the singing of Witaj Królowa Nieba.
[audio:https://www.konicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/9-witaj-krolowo-nieba.mp3]The examples given above are sufficient proof, therefore, that our God acts constantly as a most anxious watcher, a most tender ruler, and a most just judge. But perhaps one of my less enlightened readers is thinking: “If all things are now conducted by God as they were in those days, why is it that the evil prevail while the good are afflicted; and whereas in the past the evil felt God’s wrath, and the good his mercy, now by some strange reversal the good appear to experience his wrath and the evil his favor?” These questions I shall answer presently, but now since I have promised to prove three points, namely, God’s presence, his government and his judgment, by three methods, that is, by reason, by examples and by authority and since I have already given sufficient proof of them by reason and examples, it remains for me to verify them by authority. Yet the examples I have given should rank as authority, since that term is rightly applied to the means by which the truth of matters under discussion is established.
Which then of the above-mentioned points should first be proved by sacred authority — his presence, his government, or his judgment? His presence, I think, because he who is to rule or judge must surely be present, in order to be able to rule or judge anything whatever.
Speaking through the Sacred Books, the Divine Word says.: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Here you find God present, looking upon us, his eyes watching us wherever we may be. If the Divine Word assures us that God observes the good and the wicked, it is expressly to prove that nothing escapes his watchful scrutiny. For your fuller comprehension, hear the testimony of the Holy Spirit in another part of the Scriptures, when it says: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” This is why God is said to watch over the just, that he may preserve and protect them. For the propitious oversight of his divinity is the safeguard, of our mortal life. Elsewhere the Holy Spirit speaks in the same fashion: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears, are open unto their cry.”
See with what gentle kindness the Scripture says the Lord treats his people. For when it says the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, his watchful love is shown; when it says that his ears are always open to their prayers, his readiness to hear is indicated. That his ears are always open to the prayers of the righteous proves not merely God’s attention, but one might almost say his obedience. For how are the ears of the Lord open to the prayers of the righteous? How, save that he always hears, always hears clearly, always grants readily the pleas he has heard, bestows on men at once what he has clearly heard them ask? So the ears of our Lord are always ready to listen to the prayers of his saints, always attentive. How happy should we all be if we ourselves were as ready to hearken to God as he is to hear us!
But perhaps you say that the proof of God’s guardianship of the just is useless to our argument, since this is not a general watchfulness of the divine power but merely a special favor granted to the righteous. Note, however, that the Sacred Word testified above that the eyes of the Lord watch over both good and evil. If you still wish to argue the point, consider this, for it follows in the text: “Moreover the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
You see that you have no ground for complaint that God does not look upon the unjust also, since you know that he watches all men, but with different effect because of the inequality of their merits. The good indeed are watched by him that they may be preserved, the evil that they may be destroyed. You yourself, who deny that God watches men, have your place with these last; know then that you are not only clearly seen by God, but are without doubt in imminent peril. For since the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil, to cut off remembrance of them from the earth, you, who wickedly say that the eyes of the Lord do not see you, must learn by your destruction the wrath of an all-seeing God. These arguments, then, are sufficient to prove the presence and watchfulness of God. — Book II.
Also from Miguel José Ernst-Sandoval at Philadelphia Roamin’ Catholic: The Decline of the German National Parish.
It is a testament to the multi-cultural history of these United States that there are national parishes in many of the American dioceses. National parishes serve the spiritual needs of any ethnic group not belonging to the local culture or speaking the local language. Of course there are many national parishes in Rome for the multitudes of pilgrims, but there is also a multitude of them in North America due to the many waves of immigrants that sailed to our shores. Wikipedia defines a national parish as such:
National parishes are Catholic parishes that serve particular ethnic communities. They are distinguished from the other type of parish, the territorial parish, which serve a geographic area of a diocese. National parishes have existed in North America since the late eighteenth century, when they were established to meet the needs of immigrants not speaking the language of the majority population. The first national parish was Holy Trinity German National Parish founded in 1788 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In the eastern United States the territorial parish is where the Irish-American, and the small number of English (or Anglo-) American, Catholics worship. In California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Louisiana, the territorial parish is often Spanish-American, Mexican-American or French Cajun. The first national parish in the United States, however, served the many German immigrants coming to Pennsylvania…
Not to be confused with National Catholic parishes, i.e., PNCC parishes, the article presents an illustrated history of the parishes built by German Roman Catholics. It also provides a glimmer of hope for the future of these magnificent edifices in light of the proliferation of church closings.
As I noted on my post Reflections on national, cultural, and religious identity, Bishop Hodur taught that each person, nation, and culture has specific gifts and insights which add to the totality of the Christian experience. In part this article supports that, for instance in pointing to the contributions of German Catholics in the areas of music and architecture. This is not a bygone philosophy, but a philosophy that supports the gifts of God that exist within every person, nation, and culture. The National Catholic movement embraces that idea – in its democratic component, in its life. The Church supports each man and woman in expressing their gifts, supports each culture in offering its gifts – all for the building up of God’s Kingdom.
Those efforts, imperfect though they may be, look to the totality of the human experience and our encounter with Emmanuel, God with us.
God then puts far from himself, you say, all thought of mortal men. In that case what rational ground is there for our belief in his divinity? What reason is there for worshiping Christ, or what hope of winning his favor? For if God in this life neglects the human race, why do we daily stretch out our hands toward heaven? Why do we pray so often for the mercy of God? Why do we hasten to the churches? Why kneel in prayer before the altars? There is no reason for praying if the hope of an answer to prayer is taken from us. You see what vain folly lies in the urging of this idea; truly, if it is accepted, nothing at all remains of our religion. But perhaps you take refuge in the argument that we honor God in the fear of a future judgment, and perform all the ritual of our daily worship to gain absolution on the judgment day hereafter. In that case, what was the meaning of the daily preaching of Paul the apostle in the church, and his command that we offer constantly to God our prayers, our entreaties, our requests and our thanksgivings?
What is the purpose of all this? What else than, as he himself says, “that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all chastity?” For our present needs, as we see, he orders us to pray and beseech the Lord. Surely he would not command this if he were not sure that God hearkens to prayer. How can any one suppose that the ears of God are open for the granting of boons at some future time, but deaf and blocked against immediate petitions? Or what leads us when praying in the church to ask God for present safety, if we think that he does not listen at all to our prayers? In that case we should make no vows for our safety and prosperity.
Perhaps, to the end that the modesty of the request may win favor for the voice of the petitioner, we should rather pray thus: “Lord, we do not seek prosperity in this life, nor beseech you for immediate favors, for we know that your ears are closed to such petitions and that you do not listen to such prayers, but we ask only for those favors that shall be granted us after our death.”
Granted that such a petition is not without value, on what rational basis does it rest? For if God is without interest in this life, and closes his ears to the prayers of his suppliants, then doubtless he who does not hear our present pleas is deaf also to our prayers for the future. Are we to believe that Christ listens or denies his attention according to the diverse nature of our prayers, that lie closes his ears when we ask for present boons, and opens them when we ask for blessings to come? But enough of this. The arguments are so stupid and frivolous that one needs to beware lest what is said for the honor of God seem injurious to him. For so great and terrible is the reverence due to his sacred majesty that we should not only shudder at the arguments of our opponents, but should also make our defense of religion with due fear and circumspection.
If, therefore, it is stupid and impious to believe that the divine love despises the care of human affairs, then God does not despise it; moreover, if he does not scorn it, he governs; if he governs, he judges by the very exercise of his government, since there can be no rule without the constant exercise of judgment on the part of the ruler. — Book I.
Annual Polish Dinner and Raffle from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday in the parish hall of Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church, 17 Sheridan St., Heights, Wilkes-Barre. Traditional Polish cuisine including kielbasa and pierogi will be available. A raffle for a variety of baskets and gift items will be held after the dinner. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for youth ages 12 years and younger. Tickets will be sold at the door.