The First Sunday of Advent--Cycle A

Every year at the beginning of Advent, I experience such a thrill!  It is the beginning of a whole new liturgical year--and the beginning of the greatest rescue adventure ever.  Who ever could have imagined this? 

We are so accustomed to the same old, same old.  Our reality is so flat, we are so blase´.  The more wonders unfold before our eyes, the more we become jaded, consumed by the old ennui. 

This is our chance to see with new eyes; to set aside a season to wait, to look, to listen.  Just when the world is putting on it's flashiest, most materialistic show, we are really being called to stop and to step aside for a bit.  Look up!  Listen up!

Stay awake!

Jesus alerts us to the fact that we are being lulled to sleep by the world.  We will not be ready when the Great King comes.  And then, what a cause for regret!  Imagine, if the innkeeper had only known, if he had been aware of Whom he was turning away!  Imagine, if we only knew, each time we turn Him away, every day.  The Great King is coming, in the most unexpected ways, and at every moment--the most unexpected time.  But we are so drowsy, so ho-hum, that we miss it, we miss Him.  "If they had known".

We know (or we used to know, at any rate) that He came on that long-ago night--but we have managed to turn the awe of that occasion  into "the first lucky 13 people in the door will get a $95 IPad."  How sad; how boring.

But turn off the TV, the IPod, the Computer, and come away into a quiet place a little while.  Listen.

Stay awake!

He is coming at the moment you least expect.  He is coming right now.

There are so many excellent Advent resources in print and on the web.  I did just find one more that I am enjoying very much.  Fr. Hoisington's lovely blog Reflections On the Sacred Liturgy
has much to recommend it; at present I am especially enjoying his use of the Catena Aurea to illumine the riches of Advent's scriptures.

Cold Chills

Here is a quote from an article in the National Review by Fr. Robert Siroco of the Acton Institute .

The subject of the quote is the request by the Moloch Obama administration to Georgetown University that they cover any religious symbols be covered in the hall in which the President was speaking, the the acquiescence of the Georgetown University officials.  I couldn't agree with Father more.  it is saddening and horrifying to me--not that the president asked, but that the University complied.


"At the request of the White House, officials at the university placed cover over the letters IHS — the Greek abbreviation for the name of Jesus....Think of it: A Catholic university was willing to cover up the name of Jesus, hide it from the cameras, because the president of the United States was coming and asked them to do so. The fact alone gives me chills."

And not just a Catholic University, but a Jesuit run University--the Society of Jesus.  For shame.

 

US Orthodox Rabbi Leader Supports Papa Benny in a Lifesite News Article!

Deo Gracias!

This is so beautiful a gesture, one can feel great gratitude to Rabbi Yehuda Levin for his openness to the workings of the Spirit of The Lord.

from the article:

Left Wing of the Catholic Church Destroying the Faith Says Orthodox Rabbi

By Hilary White, Rome correspondent

ROME, February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The dissident, leftist movement in the Catholic Church over the last forty years has severely undermined the teaching of the Catholic Church on the moral teachings on life and family, a prominent US Orthodox rabbi told LifeSiteNews.com. Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the head of a group of 800 Orthodox rabbis in the US and Canada, also dismissed the accusations that the Holy See had not sufficiently distanced itself from the comments made by Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) on the Holocaust.

Please read the entire article here

Or better yet, read Fr. Z's complete annotated version

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On Not Pronouncing "The Name of God"

Well, I did not know this, and so perhaps you don't either.  In June of 2008 there went forth a letter from the  Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze, to the effect that we should refrain from pronouncing the divine tetragrammaton [YHWH].  This should be done as  the sacred tetragrammaton was never pronounced in Christian contexts, from the earliest times, nor was it left untranslated in amy Biblical translation (always another honorific was substituted for the proper Name of God--i.e. Dominus, Kyrios, LORD).

Now that I have seen this instruction, I will, of course, obey it.  And now that it is shown to me I must admit that it makes perfect sense.

Here is a link to a pdf of the letter from Cardinal Arinze

Furor Over the Holy Father's Latest Steps Toward Unity

While I renew with affection the expression of my full and unquestionable solidarity with our brothers receivers of the First Covenant, I hope that the memory of the Shoah leads mankind to reflect on the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man.

May the Shoah be for all a warning against forgetfulness, against denial or reductionism, because the violence against a single human being is violence against all. No man is an island, a famous poet write. The Shoah particularly teaches, both old an the new generations, that only the tiresome path of listening and dialogue, of love and of forgiveness lead the peoples, the cultures, and the religions of the world to the hoped-for goal of fraternity and peace in truth. May violence never again crush the dignity of man!

From the Holy Father's weekly audience today.

Fr. Zuhlsdorf has an excellent commentary on today's nonsense from some in the Jewish community over the Holy Father's lifting of excommunication for Bp. Williamson. One would hope that reasonably intelligent people could apply reasonable, rational thought to the issues and understand that the excommunication was neither incurred nor lifted over any issues relating to the holocaust.

Responding with reasoned charity leads one toward unity--responding with a lack of same leads away from it. Illustrated.

The Holy Father has (and needs) broad shoulders. Let's now, more than ever, pray for and support our Papa Benedict

The Mystery of the Headship of Christ

I had wanted to quote for you some of Our Holy Father's Wednesday audience, but with Benedict it is sohard to know where to begin!  Is it just me, or can it be positively heady to listen to or to read his discourses?  This one, on the "twin letters" of Colossians and Ephesians, is no exception.  The main topic is actually the headship of Christ and its ramifications for the Church and for her members.

Head over to Zenit for the full text.

There is also a special concept that is typical of these two letters, and it is the concept of "mystery." Once the "mystery of the will" of God is spoken of (Ephesians 1:9) and other times, the "mystery of Christ" (Ephesians 3:4; Colossians 4:3), or even the "mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:2-3).

This makes reference to the inscrutable divine design over the destiny of man, of peoples and of the world. With this language, the two epistles tell us that it is in Christ where the fulfillment of this mystery is found. If we are with Christ, even though we cannot intellectually understand everything, we know that we are in the nucleus and on the path of truth. He is in his totality, and not only one aspect of his person or one moment of his existence, he who gathers in himself the plenitude of the unsearchable divine plan of salvation.

In him takes shape what is called the "manifold wisdom of God" (Ephesians 3:10), since in him "dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily" (Colossians 2:9). From now on, then, it is not possible to think of and adore the approval of God, his sovereign disposition, without confronting ourselves personally with Christ in person, in whom the "mystery" is incarnate and can be tangibly perceived. Thus one comes to contemplate "the inscrutable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8), which is beyond all human understanding.

It is not that God has not left the mark of his passing, since Christ himself is the footprint of God, his maximum mark, but rather that one realizes "what is the breadth and length and height and depth" of this mystery "that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:18-19). Mere intellectual categories here prove insufficient, and recognizing that many things are beyond our rational capacities, we should trust in the humble and joyful contemplation, not just of the mind, but also of the heart. The fathers of the Church, on the other hand, tell us that love understands much more than reason alone.

New US Military Chaplain Appointed!

Thanks be to God, we have a new US Military Chaplain. Archbishop Timothy Broglio has been appointed by the Holy Father as the new head of the archdiocese for the Military Services, USA--a flock of some 1.4 million Catholic.

Archbishop Broglio, who is originally from Cleveland Ohio, is currently the apostolic nuncio in the Dominican Republic and the papal delegate to Puerto Rico.

The US military see has been vacant for only 7 weeks, since the for shepherd, the Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, was installed as Archbishop of Baltimore. To me, this short period of vacancy
(hey 7 weeks is blazing speed for any bureaucracy) is a mark of touching concern on the part of the Holy Father.

I believe it is very rare for a US native, once part of the Vatican Service, to return to a US Diocese. Archbishop Broglio, welcome home.

Thank you, Papa!

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A Baby Step Milestone on the Road to Reunion

With great joy I read today that the final document produced by the plenary assembly of the Joint International Commision for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church contains the seeds of future steps toward reunion. This important assembly was held in Ravenna this October and was prsided over by Cardinal Walter Kaspar and the Metrolitan Ionnis of Pergamo.

On Vatican Radio, Cardinal Kaspar reported that, " for the first time the Orthodox Churches have said yes, this universal level of the Church exists and also at the universal level there is conciliarity, synodality, and authority; this means there is also a primate; according to the practice of the ancient Church, the first bishop is the Bishop of Rome. However, we did not talk of the privileges of the Bishop of Rome, we merely indicated the praxis for futre debate. This document is a modest first step and as such it gives rise to hope, but we must not exaggerate its importance."

Perhaps a modest beginning, but nevertheless historic and important. Pray very much for the continuing success of efforts toward the reunification of communion between these "two lungs of the Church"!

No doubt there are many roadblocks to be passed, but this is such encouraging news. The only sad note is that the Russian Orthodox Church has abandoned the plenary assembly over an inter-Orthodox tussle between Moscow and Constantinople, concerning the recognition of the autonomous Church of Estonia. So let's also pray that this may be resolved, because obviously it is so important that the Russian Orthodox Church participate in these talks.

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