As Through a Veil...

Vox Clamantis In Deserto…

A Voice Crying In The Desert…

This week as you come to Mass you probably noticed a change in the sanctuary: the tabernacle is in the middle, and not only that, but it is veiled.  On my first Sunday here I announced that the presider’s chair would be moved to the side, because the presider is not the center of attention, Jesus is.  This latest change is one more step in making sure that Jesus our focus.  He is the heart and focal point of our parish community, and now this is reflected in our parish Church.

The tabernacle is also veiled.  There are many reasons for this, the first of which is that the Church asks us to veil the tabernacle.  The very word “tabernacle” means “tent.”  It is the word that the Israelites used to describe the tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was kept.  The Ark of the covenant is where God dwelled.  Within it was kept some of the miraculous manna – the heavenly bread - which fed the Israelites as they wandered in the desert.  This tabernacle of old was considered so holy that is was kept veiled; hidden from our sight.  The tabernacle that we have doesn’t contain merely manna, but the very bread of life, Jesus Himself.  It is much more sacred, much more holy, and thus it too is veiled.

The veil is meant to remind us that in this life we do not yet see the fullness of heaven…we do not see God face to face.  One day we will enter behind the veil that is between this life and the life to come.  Then we will see God face to face.  But here we do not have such a privilege, heaven is behind the veil.  We know it is there, but we cannot see through it.  The veil on our tabernacle reminds us this.  It should make us long to see into the tabernacle…into the dwelling of God…into heaven itself. 

I pray that this small change to the Sanctuary will be a constant reminder of who is the focus of everything we do as a parish community.  Our eyes are set firmly on Jesus.  He is the center of our parish.  He is the heart of our parish, for from His Sacred Heart, truly present in the tabernacle, His Precious Blood flows to each and every part of His Mystical Body, the Church.  Ever time that we enter this Church, let us gaze upon His presence, hidden behind a veil, and let us fall to our knees and praise Him who loves us so much as to continue to live in our presence through the gift of the Holy Eucharist.

Homily: Holy Thursday

“Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival.”

-1 Corinthians 5:7

My dear sisters in Christ,

1. In the film The Passion of the Christ there is a great scene from Holy Thursday where Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdelene are sleeping, and Mary the Mother of Jesus suddenly awakens from sleep. Mary Magdelen asks here “What Mary. What is it?” The Blessed mother responds “Listen. “Why is this night different from every other night?” Magdelene looks at her knowing that something is very wrong, and responds saying “because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer.” This question and its response is one of great importance, because it a question that is asked every time a Jewish family gathers to celebrate the Passover meal. It sets the tone for everything that will transpire during that sacred meal wherein the sacrificial lamb is eaten. The Last Supper, the event that we mystically enter into this evening, is the Passover of the New Covenant, where Christ the Paschal Lamb is sacrificed and given to us as the food of eternal life. So why, my dear sisters, is this night different from every other night? Because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer.

2. Pope Benedict points out in his latest book, the second part of Jesus of Nazareth, that

in St. John’s Gospel, he goes to great lengths to indicate that the Last Supper was not a Passover meal. On the contrary: the Jewish authorities who led Jesus before Pilate’s court avoided entering the praetorium, “so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover” (18:28). The Passover, therefore, began only in the evening, and at the time of the trial the Passover meal had not yet taken place; the trial and crucifixion took place on the day before the Passover, on the “day of preparation”, not on the feast day itself…According to this chronology, Jesus dies at the moment when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple. Jesus dies as the real lamb, merely prefigured by those slain in the Temple. (Benedict XVI, 83).”

In order to grasp the significance of Jesus being the true and final paschal lamb let’s take some time to examine the requirements for the Passover meal, including the sacrificing of the paschal lamb and see just how well Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets.

3. The Passover meal during the time of Jesus had four general steps, although there are many more small steps involved. First, as we heard in our first reading, the father of the family is to procure a male lamb in its prime, one year old, that is without blemish of any kind. It is not to be sick, diseased, or imperfect in any way whatsoever.

4. Second, the lamb was to be sacrificed without breaking any of its bones so that it would be sacrificed in its perfection. In the time of the Exodus it was the father of the household that slaughtered the lamb in virtue of their familial priesthood, but by the time of Christ, it was the priests in the temple who slaughtered all the paschal lambs in the temple, and their blood was poured out at the base of the altar. This is why it was necessary for every Jew at the time of Christ to celebrate the Passover it Jerusalem, since it was only there that the lamb could be sacrificed. Since every Jew who wanted to fulfill the law and celebrate the Passover had to travel to Jerusalem, the streets would be teeming with people, the temple would be filled with men bringing their families lamb to be slaughtered by the priests in the temple. Josephus the great historian of the time of Jesus gives us a fairly detailed description of what it was like in Jerusalem and in the Temple at Passover time. He says

So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour (about 3pm) to the eleventh (about 5pm), but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice (for it is not lawful for them to feast singularly by themselves, and many of us are twenty in a company, for the number of sacrifices as 256,500; which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast together, amounts to 2,700,200 persons (Josephus, War 6:423-27).

Another fascinating bit of information about how the paschal lambs were sacrificed in the time of Jesus is that they were, get this, crucified! This is described in a book entitled Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist:

As the Israeli scholar Jospeh Tabory has shown, according to the Mishnah, at the time when the Temple still stood, after the sacrifice of the lamb, the Jews would drive “thin smooth staves” of wood through the shoulders of the lamb in order to hang it and skin it (Pesahim 5:9). In addition to this first rod, they would also “thrust” a “skewer of pomegranate wood” through the Passover lamb “from its mouth to its buttocks” (Pesahim 7:1). As Tabory concludes, “An examination of the rabbinic evidence…seems to show that in Jerusalem the Jewish paschal lamb was offered in a manner which resembled a crucifixion (Brant Pitre, 53).

This is also attested to by St. Justin, Martyr and the mystic Blessed Anne Catherine Emmeric in their writings.

5. So, my dear sisters, imagine for a moment what it must have been like to witness this sort of spectacle. Imagine the veritable hemorrhage of blood that would be flowing from altar of sacrifice as the blood of these two hundred thousand lambs was dashed against the altar. Imagine the sound of the sheep bleating as their throats were slit. Imagine the smell of the animals and the blood. Imagine the lifeless, bloodless, bodies of those perfect unblemished lambs on those wooden crosses waiting to be roasted and eaten.

6. This leads to the third step, the roasting and eating of the Paschal lamb. This step was of the utmost importance for the Jewish people, and ultimately for God who commanded them to do this. To just sacrifice the lamb was not enough, it had to be roasted and eaten. In order to be saved from the final plague, the death of the firstborn son, you had to both sacrifice and eat the Paschal Lamb. Again a quote from the book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist will drive home this point. The author says

If they took the lamb, sacrificed the lamb, spread the blood of the lamb (on the doorposts), but did not eat the lamb, what would have been the result? Well, the Book of Exodus does not say. But it’s a good guess that when they awoke the next morning, their firstborn son would be dead. For, as any ancient Jew would have known, the Passover sacrifice was not completed by the death of the lamb, but by eating its flesh…The Passover was not completed by the death of the victim, but by a “communion” of sorts – by eating the flesh of the sacrifice that had been killed on your behalf (Pitre, 49).

7. The fourth and final step is that the Passover was to be repeated every year, it was to be a perpetual memorial of how God had delivered the Israelites from slavery to the promised land. And this memorial was no mere commemoration of a past event, but in the Jewish mind, when celebrating a memorial of this sort, one actually entered into the past event. It was somehow mysteriously made present even though in time it was a past event.

8. So, my dear sisters, what does this lesson on the Passover have to do with anything? It has everything do with Jesus and the great gift which he instituted on this most holy of nights. Jesus, the Messiah, while celebrating the Passover was at the same time fulfilling Jewish law and inaugurating a New Passover, not one that freed us from the slavery of the Egyptians, but one that freed us from the slavery of Sin. Jesus did all of the things required of the law, yet he altered the Passover so as to make it His own, the Passover of the Messiah.

For instance, whereas the Passover usually focused on the covenant with Abraham, Jesus focused on the New Covenant in His Blood. Whereas the Passover usually focused on the body and blood of the lamb of sacrifice. First, the lamb would be slaughtered, and the priests in the Temple would pour out the blood of the lamb on the altar. Then the Jews would bring the body of the lamb from the Temple to the Passover meal, and the father would explain its meaning at the meal. Yet at the Last Supper, Jesus did something entirely different. With his words of explanation, he shifted the focus away from the body and blood of the Passover lamb (of which there is no mention), and turned it toward his own body and blood (Pitre, 58).

When we compare Jesus’ actions to these ancient Jewish traditions, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out his point. By means of his words over the bread and wine of the Last Supper, Jesus is saying in no uncertain terms, “I am the new Passover lamb of the new exodus. This is the Passover of the Messiah, and I am the new sacrifice.” (Pitre, 59)

9. We also see Jesus setting up this new Passover as a perpetual memorial, one that would allow those who partake in it to enter into the first Passover of the Messiah, the Passover where He, the true Lamb of God is slain to set us free from sin. This Passover of the Messiah began at the Last Supper, and ended as He, the true Lamb of Sacrifice was slaughtered on Calvary. Imagine, dear sisters, how, according to the chronology of the Gospel of St. John, just outside of the gates of the City of Jerusalem, and facing East toward the Holy of Holies, Jesus the spotless and unblemished Lamb of God, without a bone being broken, is nailed to a cross, and his blood is dashed upon the altar of the cross as it flows from His Sacred Wounds. This is the Passover of the Messiah.

10. My dear sisters, tonight we have the privilege of entering once again into that great Passover of the Messiah. Tonight, I, unworthy as I am, will make present that moment when the True Lamb was slain. We blood is poured out. His body is crucified. He gives his life so that we may be set free from the slavery of sin, and it will all happen right here before our very eyes. Then, so that the sacrifice may be complete and we may indeed share in the freedom He is holding out to us, we will eat the very flesh of the Lamb and we will smear our lips with his life-blood. We will become one with the Lamb, and thus it becomes possible for eternal death to pass over us.

11. My sisters, why is this night different from every other night? Because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer. “Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival.”

This morning during Matins I was struck by the second reading by St. Leo the Great, so I thought I would share it with you. The bold sections are the sections that really struck me as being important points to come to realize in our own spiritual life.

True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.

The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance. Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.

First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?

Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ’s eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding of tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?

It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only-begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of a human nature and the fullness of the godhead.

The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

Holy Week Is Near: Go To Confession

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

The collect from today's Mass in the new translation of the Roman Missal is:

O God, who delight in innocence and restore it,

direct the hearts of your servants to yourself,

that, caught up in the fire of your Spirit,

we may be found steadfast in faith

and effective in works.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

In a world where a lack of innocence is praised we hear in in the Liturgy that God delights in innocence. In other words, contrary to what we hear from the world, innocence is a virtue to be cultivated and not a vice to be quickly discarded. It seems rather obvious to me, and surely to you as well, that innocence is a virtue that is greatly lacking in our world. Even in schools, where innocence should be protected, children are being taught about things that are not so innocent at a very young age. Instead of cultivating innocence for as long as possible, it is widely believed that the sooner we teach them about "real life" the better. Now surely, sometimes discussions that might impinge upon a child's innocence will be necessary, but lets not overdo it.

But what about us, who have already lost our innocence? Well, there is hope. Today's collect points out the God restores our innocence. But how? Well, I think he restores our innocence first and foremost through the Sacraments, particularly the Sacrament of Penance/Confession and the Holy Eucharist. In confession the Blood of the Innocent Victim is applied to our souls so cleanse us of our sins, and in the Holy Eucharist we receive the innocent Lamb of God Himself. What could be a greater restorer of innocence than that? For our part, we can help the process of purification along through prayer, self-denial, purification of the senses, and being vigilant about what we put into our minds via sight and hearing.

Regaining innocence is a hard but necessary task. Jesus made it clear that unless we become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom. Let us seek to become innocent of heart, so that like children, we will be pure and ready to enter the Kingdom of God.

Saturday After Ash Wednesday

Image of Our Lady of Sorrows atop Mt. Calvary

in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Today's collect from the new translation of the Roman Missal:

Almighty ever-living God,

look with compassion on our weakness

and ensure us your protection

by stretching forth the right hand of your majesty.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Today's collect calls to mind an image that used frequently through Sacred Scripture and in the Liturgy of the Church, that of the right hand of God. Surely because God is pure spirit, He doesn't have a right hand, or a left hand for that matter. This phrase is used to describe the power, strength and might of God.

The right hand of God, as it says in this prayer, is stretched forth to us that we might know the protection of God. What are we to be protected from? In this prayer it is from ourselves, from our weakness. I don't know about you, but often times I am my own worst enemy. My bad habits, my tendency toward the easy way (which often is the sinful way), and my self-deception often lead me into sin. I am so weak that yes, I need God to protect me from satan, but I also need God's mighty protection from myself. Now that is a humbling thought.

Friday After Ash Wednesday

St. Josemaria Escriva offering the Holy Mass

The Prayer over the Offerings from the corrected translation of the Roman Missal for today is:

We offer, O Lord, the sacrifice of our Lenten observance,

praying that it may make our intentions acceptable to you

and add to our powers of self-restraint.

Through Christ our Lord.

This prayer over the gifts of bread and wine which will become the very Sacrifice of our redemption, the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, reminds us of something of great importance. It reminds us that all we are and all that we do, in particular our Lenten observances, can and should be united to the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

One particularly effective way to do this is to mentally and spiritually place ourselves and our actions upon the paten and in the chalice as the priest offers them at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. By doing so, we ourselves become united to Christ, the Lamb of God, the Victim for sin, and are offered to the Father by Christ and with Christ. This is truly the full, active, and conscious participation that the Second Vatican Council called for. When we do this we no longer become merely causal observers, but actual participants in the Paschal Mystery. When we do this our Lenten penances, resolutions, and acts of charity become united with the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ and take on even greater meaning.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

The Collect for today's Mass:

Prompt our actions with your inspiration, we pray, O Lord,

and further them with your constant help,

that all we do may always begin from you

and by you be brought to completion.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer reminds us that our good actions during Lent ultimately are the work of the Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit has prompted us to take on certain penances and other charitable actions, and without His continuing help and guidance, these good resolutions will come to nothing.

In many ways, this is a prayer of humility. We know that without God we can do nothing, and so in our weakness we cry out for His inspiration and help to continue fighting against evil in our life, even when the battle becomes tedious and wearisome.

Ash Wednesday

Today we begin our 40 day journey through the prayers of the new translation of the Roman Missal. The collect (opening prayer) for today's Mass is:

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting

this campaign of Christian service,

so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,

we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer, in no uncertain terms, sets the theme for the holy season of Lent. This season is presented to us as a battle, a war, a fierce struggle against the powers of evil. Surely, we find ourselves today in the midst of a great spiritual battle for our souls and the souls of all mankind.

All around us the battle for souls rages, and today we are invited to join this battle. We are called to take part in this "campaign of Christian service" by taking up the "weapons of self-restraint." By restraining our desires, even those desires that are good, we train our will, we build our spiritual muscles, so that when the evil one attacks, we will be able to withstand his fiery arrows of temptation.

Today as we fast and abstain from meat, let us see this self-restraint not as a burden, but as a powerful weapon with which we strike the evil one. Let us see it as a way to strengthen our will to fight against temptation.

Let us pray for one another and support one another in our Lenten penances. We are all brothers and sisters, fellow soldiers in the army of the Great King. We are fighting side by side. We are never alone in battle. We have the greatest King in the Universe, a host of heavenly helpers, an army of saints who have won the victory and urge us on to victory, and the weapons of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let us take up our weapons and join the battle. Let us fight to win.

The Extraordinary From of the Roman Rite

The Servant of God, Pope Pius XII

offering the Extraordinary Form in St. Peter's Basilica

As some of you may know (particularly those who are my facebook friends) I have been learning how to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. One of my priest-friends, Fr. S., is also doing the same and is offering some wonderful commentary on the Extraordinary Form on his extraordinary blog. Here is a taste of what he has to say:

Ad Orientem

In many Catholic minds today, this means, "turning one's back to the people." It is amazing to me how pride creeps into the mind! Somehow, if the priest is facing the same direction as the people, he must be intending to show his superiority as opposed to his unity. What insidiousness! I find that facing the same direction as the faithful is a great help in humility while offering the Holy Mass. When facing the people, ("ad populum") there is a constant temptation to make the Holy Mass about the presider and his own whims. When the priest faces the same direction as the congregation, that desire disappears because no one sees his face. It is far easier to speak to the Father.

This orientation has a second benefit, too. So often when one goes to Holy Mass, it seems that the priest is trying to tell a story or to be having a dialogue with the congregation. While there are certainly exchanges between the priest and the faithful, the Mass is primarily said by the priest, in the person of Christ, to the Father. I recall the first time that I offered the Ordinary Form ad orientem. After Holy Mass, people said, "Father, that was dramatic! It was so clear when you were speaking to us and when you were speaking to God!" Now, can this be clear ad populum? Surely. That being said, it seems easier to me to me ad orientem.

The third benefit of this orientation, it seems to me, is its intimate nature. When Holy Mass is offered ad orientem, the priest does not have the sense of being watched, of being on display. Rather, there is a great deal of closeness by virtue of having no one between the priest and the crucifix. This is, to me, the most important benefit of offering Holy Mass ad orientem.

If you want to read more of his commentary, check him out at his blog: Clerical Reform.

Alleluia! Happy Easter!

Victimae Paschali Laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful praises.

A Lamb the sheep redeems;
Christ, who only is sinless,
reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended
in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who dies, reigns immortal.

Speak, Mary, declaring
what you saw, wayfaring.
"The tomb of Christ, who is living,
The glory of Jesus' resurrection;

Bright angels attesting,
the shroud and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
to Galilee he goes before you."

Christ indeed from death is risen,
our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, Victor King, ever reigning.
Amen. Alleluia!

We Adore You O Christ and We Bless You, Because By Thy Holy Cross Thou Hast Redeemed the World

The Reproaches from the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday

I.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom,
but you led your Savior to the cross.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

Holy is God!

Holy and Strong!

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us!

For forty years I led you safely throught the desert.
I fed you with manna from heaven
and brought you to a land of plenty;
but you led your Savior to a cross.

What more could I have done for you?
I planted you as my faires vine,
but you yielded only bitterness:
when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar to drink,
and you pierced your Sacior with a lance.

Holy is God!

Holy and Strong!

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us!

II.

For your sake I scourged your captors and their firstborn sons,
but you brought your scourges down on me.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you from slavery to freedom
and drowned your captors in the seas,
but you handed me over to your high priests.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I opened the seda beofre you,
but you opened my side with a spear.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you on your way in a pilar of cloud,
but you led me to Pilate's court.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Today I wanted to share two beautiful pieces of music in honor of Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion. The first is the antiphon for the beginning of the Procession, and the second is my favorite hymn for Palm Sunday.

Why I Love Pope Benedict XVI

"Following Vatican Council II some people were convinced that all was new, that a new Church existed, that the pre-conciliar Church had come to an end and that there would be another, completely different Church, an anarchic utopia. Yet thanks to God the wise helmsmen of the ship of Christ, Paul VI and John Paul II, defended on the one hand the novelty of the Church and, at the same time, the uniqueness and continuity of the Church, which is always a Church of sinners, and always a place of grace." - Pope Benedict XVI

Today in the Divine Office there is a reading from St. Gregory the Great, I thought it was worthy of sharing on this Friday of Lent.

Holy Job is a type of the Church. At one time he speaks for the body, at another for the head. As he speaks of its members he is suddenly caught up to speak in the name of their head. So it is here, where he says: I have suffered this without sin on my hands, for my prayer to God was pure.

Christ suffered without sin on his hands, for he committed no sin and deceit was not found on his lips. Yet he suffered the pain of the cross for our redemption. His prayer to God was pure, his alone out of all mankind, for in the midst of his suffering he prayed for his persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Is it possible to offer, or even to imagine, a purer kind of prayer than that which shows mercy to one’s torturers by making intercession for them? It was thanks to this kind of prayer that the frenzied persecutors who shed the blood of our Redeemer drank it afterward in faith and proclaimed him to be the Son of God.

The text goes on fittingly to speak of Christ’s blood: Earth, do not cover over my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. When man sinned, God had said: Earth you are, and to earth you will return. Earth does not cover over the blood of our Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the blood that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and to the best of his power makes that blood known to all around him.

Earth has not hidden away his blood, for holy Church has preached in every corner of the world the mystery of its redemption.

Notice what follows: Do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. The blood that is drunk, the blood of redemption, is itself the cry of our Redeemer. Paul speaks of the sprinkled blood that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s. Of Abel’s blood Scripture had written: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. The blood of Jesus calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, for the blood of Abel asked for the death of Cain, the fratricide, while the blood of the Lord has asked for, and obtained, life for his persecutors.

If the sacrament of the Lord’s passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere. The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it. So that his cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ.

Lenten Hymns

Many of you are familiar with the Divine Office, or the Liturgy of the Hours. What some of you might not be aware of is that the hymns for the Divine Office were not translated into English, at least very few of them were. Instead we are stuck with much of the modern hymnody that gets old fast. The hymns that have been part of the Divine Office for centuries are rich in imagery and quite beautiful, especially when set to the origional chants. The Mundelein Psalter has translated some of these hymns and included them in the Psalter (which I recommend, by the way). Here is the hymn for Lauds (Morning Prayer) for Lent:

Now Christ, Thou Son of righteousness,

Let dawn our darkend spirits bless:

The light of grace to us restore

While day to earth returns once more.

Thou who dost give th'accepted time,

Give, too, a heart that mourns for crime,

Let those by mercy now be cured

Whom loving kindness long endured.

Spare not, we pray, to send us here

Some penance kindly but severe,

So let Thy gift of pard'ning grace

Our grievous sinfulness efface.

Soon will that day, Thy day, appear

And all things with its brightness cheer:

We will rejoice in it, as we

Return thereby to grace, and Thee.

Let all the world from shore to shore

Thee, gracious Trinity, adore;

Right soon Thy loving pardon grant,

That we our new-made song may chant. Amen.

I am particularly struck by two lines from this hymn. First, I am struck by the line in the second stanza that says "Give, too, a heart that mourns for crime." In our modern world we have forgotten how to mourn for our sins, our crimes against God. It is good to ask for the gift of understanding the effects of our sins, so that we may mourn for them.

Second, I like the third stanza because we ask the Lord to send us penance that is kindly, yet severe. Again, as modern men and women we tend to shy away from penance and mortification, yet it is penance and mortification that chisel away our hardness of heart and make us truly free to love as we ought to love. I think asking God to send us penance is a good prayer to pray, and the Church agrees, for this hymn is chanted daily in the Divine Office, or at least it is if you are using the Mundelein Psalter or the Latin Liturgy of Hours. To bad it's not in the English edition.

A Promising Development at Mundelein Seminary

It warms my heart to see this on the list of classes for next quarter. Will I be taking it? Absolutely!

Good Things Happening at the Liturgical Institute

I am very blessed to be studying at The Liturgical Institute where so much liturgical progress is being made. Here is one example of the great things that are happening here that my classmate, Fr. Rob Johansen, posted on his blog. It includes an audio recording of the Alleluia from the Mass for the Presentation of the Lord. Go and take a listen by clicking here, it was magnificent.

SoulWow

The ShamWow might be a ripoff, but this surely is not:

The Dance of the Holy Smoke

The title itself makes me laugh hysterically, which is exactly what I did in the library earlier today as I opened up a book entitled Parish Liturgy: A Handbook for Renewal by Robert D. Duggan and saw a section in Part II entitled Incense: The Dance of the Holy Smoke. As most of the regular readers of this blog (all five of you) know, I love using incense in the Sacred Liturgy. So, when I find such an interesting section title I just have to read it. I found this section to be particularly amusing because it provides a glimpse into a particular period in the development of liturgical thought. We look back and chuckle at it, but at the time it was considered by many to be quite serious. So, here are a few of my favorite excerpts from the section on incense.

For some people the use of incense at a liturgical celebration is a sign of the Tridentine Mass mentality and a sure indicator that those who favor it are stuck
in a rigid conservatism. For others, incense is a symbol of New Age exotica that brings to mind hippies smoking pot in the sixties and all the bad things one might imagine about the liberal Left...

The liturgical "dance of the holy smoke" triggers subliminal memories of childhood reveries, watching clouds form mysterious shapes on a sunny afternoon in mid-summer. It recalls campfires and family fireplaces, slender columns of smoke rising from birthday candles, and a hundred other forgotten memories...

But there may be times when a much more effective use of the symbol is achieved by a stationary container holding burning charcoal on which are placed (by a graceful liturgical dancer?) the grains of incense. The movement of the one applying the incense is, in fact, a kind of liturgical dance, despite the reluctance of many to use such terms to describe what is occurring. The stylized gestures called for in the ritual books (bowing, swinging arms, specified steps and paths to be taken) certainly qualify as choreography. And, like any dance form, its execution needs rehearsal, critique, and repeated practice if it is to seem - in the moment of celebration - effortless and un-selfconsciously graceful...

Thank God, that for the most part, such silliness is no longer commonplace in the Liturgy. Now that we have safely moved through that period in our liturgical history we have more noble and dignified ways of using incense - ways that are rooted in our 2000 year history. For that, let us thank the Almighty.