Sushi in space!

This is so cool!



Via Jimmy Akin

Freak Show

This is a bit late, but do check out Hot Air on the best freak-show moments from the health-care freak show

Third, an important part of the Democrats’ problem is that Obama himself is their only star, and this format is not working for him. He certainly seems engaged and well informed (even given a few misstatements of fact, at least one of which John Kyl made very clear.) But he doesn’t seem like the President of the United States—more like a slightly cranky committee chairman or a patronizing professor who thinks that saying something is “a legitimate argument” is a way to avoid having an argument. He is diminished by the circumstances, he’s cranky and prickly when challenged, and he’s got no one to help him. The other Democrats around the table have been worse than unimpressive. The Republicans seem genuinely well-prepared, seem to have thought through the question of who should speak about what rather carefully, and several of them have done quite a good job making their case against the Democrats’ approach. If we were to judge by debating points, Republicans certainly won the morning handily.

A Prayer from the Living

No matter how far you have gone down that road, there is always a path that leads away. I could offer no greater tribute to Andrew and his family than trying to help you take it, or at least see it.

You won’t find the beginning of that path in your house, or your room, or any other private place where you torment yourself, and wonder why a world you’re hiding from can no longer see you. You’ll have to step outside, and take a walk through your town. You’ll pass hospitals where the gift of life is unwrapped and presented to the universe. In another wing, life is held as precious treasure by families gathered around quiet beds, surrounded by tireless machines and their tired, but determined, keepers. Perhaps you’ll find a hospice, where the dying embrace their last opportunity to share their lives with all who receive the blessing of a seat beside them. You’ll pass churches and temples, filled with the sworn enemies of despair.

You may find yourself wishing you could give the unwanted years of your future to the clients of those hospitals and hospices. I did, years ago, when I stood where you are standing now.

Go and check out the rest of this beautiful plea not to give up on life.

Via CMR

The Bibbi-Babka Ditty

My sis and I used to love watching Perfect Strangers when we were kids. Our parents too. :) We still have some of the tapes of the show which we recorded when they aired it on local TV.



From Wiki:
Babka is a spongy yeast cake that is traditionally baked for Easter Sunday in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia. Darra Goldstein, professor of Russian at Williams College says "babka comes from baba, a very tall, delicate yet rich yeast-risen cake eaten in Western Russia and Eastern Poland." Traditional babka has some type of fruit filling, especially raisins, and is glazed with a fruit-flavored icing, sometimes with rum added. Modern babka may be chocolate or have a cheese filling.

They had a wonderful theme too:


If you look at the comments on this video, you'll see there's a longing for good, clean comedy on TV.

And finally - The Dance of Joy.


BTW the story revolves around Balki Bartokomous (who moves to the US from a Mediterranean island called Mypos where he used to be a professional sheep herder ) and his cousin Larry Appleton. More

Good Catholic girls

LarryD features three young women who are taking courageous stands on important issues.


Lila Rose from Live Action - the thorn in Planned Parenthood's side.


Leah Darrow, America's Next Top (Role) Model

These two are quite famous now. Larry has a third: Lauren Ashley, Miss Beverly Hills 2010.

"I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that's a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life."
...
"I don't drink alcohol and I don't smoke weed or cigarettes. My definition of partying is a little different," she said. "I feel like my body is the Temple of God and it's my temple so it's really good to treat it well.

"I also feel like sex was made for marriage. You really show your future husband or wife respect and you build a lot of trust before you get married. You don't have sex with other people, so that should definitely build trust, because you waited.

Go check his post out here.

I love my Legion family :)

Kriz handed over the Presidency to Ferninda on Thursday.

More photos here

The Mighty Macs

Via AmP



Check out the official site here

Edward Weber

Some stunning work by architect Edward Weber.

More at The Shrine of the Holy Whapping

"I know democracy is not popular with you lot"

My goodness! Abrasive and impolite - but quite right, I think, about the democratic deficit in the EU.



Via CMR

See this too:

The Negro Project

The Negro Project was initiated in 1939 by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. It was a collaborative effort between the American Birth Control League and Sanger’s Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau.¹

For a eugenist, it wasn’t controversial, it was integral to the implementation of eugenics to eliminate the ‘unfit’. Eugenics is “the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species.”² Negative eugenics focused on preventing the birth of those it considered inferior or unfit. This was the foundation of Sanger’s Birth Control Policy and advocated throughout her writings, speeches, and her periodicals including “Pivot of Civilization”, “Plan for Peace” and countless Birth Control Review articles. The pseudo-science (racial hygiene theory) of negative eugenics influenced social policy and eugenics-based legislation (Immigration Act of 1924³, segregation laws, sterilization laws) and led to the racial hygiene theory adopted by the Nazis. Noted eugenist, Eugen Fischer, was funded by The Rockefeller Foundation (one of many same organizations that also financially supported Sanger’s work), was responsible for the Nazi adoption of racial hygiene theory at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute that led to the eugenics implementation of the holocaust.⁴ The connection between American Eugenics and the horrors of Nazi Germany are irrefutable. The preponderance of evidence of where Sanger wanted to go (although she decried the atrocities of the holocaust after WWII) shows the ignorance and naivete of Eugenics philosophy and its eventual conclusion, left undeterred. The Negro Project was but a precursor to what eugenists wanted to implement on a much larger scale.

“The main objectives of the [proposed] Population Congress is to…apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”

– Margaret Sanger, “Plan for Peace”, 1932 Senate hearing⁵

----------------------------

She devotes an entire chapter on charities and how those who finance them “are dropping millions into rosewater philanthropies and charities that are silly at best and vicious at worst.”8

“Organized charity itself is the symptom of a malignant social disease…Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks [of people] that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant.”

– Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, Chapter V, “Cruelty of Charity”

Black Children are an Endangered Species.

Here is the simple truth. The intent of Sanger’s Negro Project is firmly intact. Nearly 40% of all African-American pregnancies end in induced abortion.9 This is by design. Abortion kills more black people than the seven leading causes of death combined (heart disease, cancer, strokes, accidents, diabetes, homicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases) according to CDC data.10



Margaret Sanger is considered the founder of Planned Parenthood.

Go check out TooManyAborted.com

Intuition

AmP has this thought-provoking story:

It’s not often that something I’m reading stops me in my tracks. This did, however:

When I was in middle school hanging out by the local shopping plaza, I saw these two kids (a year younger than I) riding their bikes around. Don’t ask me why, but I had this sudden urge to talk to one of them. Just that one. But I had nothing to say. He was younger, I never seen him before, and he was with his friend I was with mine. So I just kept walking, and looking back every now and then as if making sure he’s still there; Okay.

A few minutes later this kid got hit by a car crossing the highway by the shopping plaza. People started running to his side, cars stopped, and at that point I was the furthest one away. My friend and I went over and saw a helmet on one side, a smashed bike on a completely different side.

Why did I have this ridiculous urge to talk to a complete stranger? Why didn’t I just say hi, anything, that would stop him for just one second before he got onto that highway?

… How many times did we have a gut feeling, or an intuition, and didn’t go with it? What if we could be saving someone’s life every day if we just said what we felt, did what we knew was right, followed the journey we were meant to follow? That day changed me.

I’ve often thought these intuitions are given to us by our guardian angels – seriously. And if the intuition doesn’t have any harm in it (i.e., simply talking to someone or calling someone on the phone), why not do it? An angel will never tempt you do something that a well-formed conscience knows is wrong. But we may tempt ourselves out of doing something that we don’t think is easy.

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

by Wilfred Owen

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
and builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

The "old man" here refers to the rulers of Europe during World War I who, instead of sacrificing the "Ram of Pride", ordered their young men - the seed of Europe - to perish by the millions, mowed down by machine gun fire or dying in the trenches.

Something that characterized the dominant thought of the generals of the warring nations - particularly France, I noticed while reading Guns of Europe - was a blind devotion to glory and pride which led to foolish decisions that put the lives of countless young soldiers at risk. In France this fell under that doctrine of elan (ardour, vigor, self-confidence) - a mindset that called for permanent offensive, even when not strategically advisable. Because of elan, for example, defensive machine guns and heavy artillery were scorned at, as was the use of reserve troops (who, it was assumed, would not have the necessary elan). French troops were not equipped with sufficient tools to build trenches, as such defensive techniques were frowned upon.

There were avenues which, if taken, might have averted war. But, blinded by pride and stubbornness, Europe's leaders drove their citizens towards a hellish sacrifice.

The Sign of the Cross on the Olympic skating rink

VANCOUVER (CTV) - When world champion figure skater Kim Yu-Na of South Korea reached the ice Wednesday night, she was revved up for a fight.
Her biggest rival, Japan's Mao Asada, had just delivered a spectacular short program just moments before and the gauntlet had been thrown down.

With some jazz-inspired moves set to a medley of James Bond tunes, she glided effortlessly through her routine with her usual verve, speed and connection to the music. Kim ended it with her hands clasped together in a sly gun gesture, the competition blown away.

When it was over, Kim had set a new short-program world record of 78.50 points. She sits in solid contention for the gold medal after Thursday's long program, what would be the first for South Korea in figure skating.

Source








South Korea's Kim Yu-Na sits with her coach Brian Orser (R) after performing in the women's short programme figure skating event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics February 23, 2010.




South Koreans watch a TV program broadcasting South Korea's Kim Yu-na performance during the women's figure skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, at the Seoul Railway Station, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010.
Source

Kim was baptised a Catholic a couple of years ago, and makes the sign of the cross before her performances. Photos and video via Totus Tuus

Source of the images: Pyeonghwa (Peace) Newspaper

“I strongly believe she will win the gold medal, but I’ve never asked her to get it,” he said. “Whenever I hear my friends or acquaintances say Yu-na must win the gold medal, I ask them not to say that. I’ve always said it’s up to God’s will.”

Kim Hyeon-seok has faced much difficulty since his daughter became a figure skater. Yet he says he is grateful to be the father of the world’s top competitor in the sport.

“It seems God has sent Yu-na to Earth to nurture her as a figure skater. After considering who would be suitable parents for her, God chose us,” he said.

“My wife and I have had much difficulty. Sometimes, we even thought about giving up our support for Yu-na’s figure skating. But whenever we faced difficulty, we got support and our challenge was surprisingly resolved. God has probably looked after us since he gave Yu-na to us.”

- Kim Yu-na`s Proud Father Speaks About Daughter

The Koreans obviously love her:


Via Cassie:


Another story from the same event: Tearful Rochette wows crowd

Live Action at Planned Parenthood Wisconsin

LiveActionFilms has another exposé on the illegal activities of Planned Parenthood. How long before they're denied federal funding?

Obama’s ‘Chicago mafia’ blamed for paralysis at the top

“This administration has managed to divide its friends and unite its enemies,” said Steve Clemons, director of the American Strategy Programme at the New America Foundation.

He and others lay the blame on the Chicago team, advisers from Obama’s adopted city. “Obama’s West Wing is filled with people who are in their jobs because of their Chicago connections or because they signed on early during his presidential campaign,” complained Doug Wilder, who in 1990s Virginia was America’s first elected black governor and was an early backer of Obama. “One problem is they do not have sufficient experience at governing at the executive branch level. The deeper problem is that they are not listening to the people.”

Obama relies on five people, four of whom are Chicagoans. They are Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, David Axelrod and Jarrett, his political advisers, and Michelle, while the fifth kitchen cabinet member is Robert Gibbs, his chief spokesman, who comes from Alabama.

The president consults them on everything. Military commanders were astounded when they participated in Afghanistan war councils and referred to them as the “Chicago mafia”. It was this group that inserted into Obama’s Afghan surge speech the deadline of July 2011 as a date to start withdrawing.

With Democrats fearing big losses in the mid-term elections in November, the knives are out for Emanuel, whose abrasive manner and use of profanities have won him few friends. Although his job is to deflect criticism from his boss, Rahmbo, as he is known, seems to have gone over the top.

Read the entire story here.

The Chair Of St. Peter

Primacy in Love": The Chair Altar of Saint Peter's in Rome | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | From Images of Hope

Anyone who, after wandering through the massive nave of Saint Peter's Basilica, at last arrives at the final altar in the apse would probably expect here a triumphal depiction of Saint Peter, around whose tomb the church is built. But nothing of the kind is the case. The figure of the Apostle does not appear among the sculptures of this altar. Instead, we stand before an empty throne that almost seems to float but is supported by the four figures of the great Church teachers of the West and the East. The muted light over the throne emanates from the window surrounded by floating angels, who conduct the rays of light downward.

What is this whole composition trying to express? What does it tell us? It seems to me that a deep analysis of the essence of the Church lies hidden here, is contained here, an analysis of the office of Peter. Let us begin with the window, with its muted colors, which both gathers in to the center and opens outward and upward. It unites the Church with creation as a whole. It signifies through the dove of the Holy Spirit that God is the actual source of all light. But it tells us also something else) the Church herself is in essence, so to speak, a window, a place of contact between the other-worldly mystery of God and our world, the place where the world is permeable to the radiance of his light. The Church is not there for herself, she is not an end, but rather a point of departure beyond herself and us. The more transparent she becomes for the other, from whom she comes and to whom she leads, the more she fulfills her true essence. Through the window of her faith God enters this world and awakens in us the longing for what is greater. The Church is the place of encounter where God meets us and we find God. It is her task to open up a world closing in on itself, to give it the light without which it would be unlivable.

Let us look now at the next level of the altar: the empty cathedra made of gilded bronze, in which a wooden chair from the ninth century is embedded, held for a long time to be the cathedra of the Apostle Peter and for this reason placed in this location. The meaning of this part of the altar is thereby made clear. The teaching chair of Peter says more than a picture could say. It expresses the abiding presence of the Apostle, who as teacher remains present in his successors.

Continue reading...


Looks like a very interesting book!

Dear Lord, have mercy

:( :(

Freedom

Good speech.

He's very sharp - he was very quick in coming up a joke when the cell phone rang. :D

From Rome: Ukrainian Basilica of S. Sofia

Oooooooh. Beauuutiful. Go see more at J.P. Sonnen

"Crap-crapitty-crap-crap-crap"

Facebook diplomacy

Shameful Opus Dei-bashing

I was shocked to see this ugly post on Rorate Caeli. They've published silly things before but this is shameful. They allege that the Opus Dei is antagonistic towards Summorum Pontificum which liberalized the use of the Old Rite of the Mass. They also claim that members "do not seem to like Pope Benedict XVI very much".

Disgusting!

And some of the comments are equally stupid:

Ken said...
Before an Opus Dei member starts claiming its liturgies are beautiful and such, show me where they take any cues from Pope Benedict XVI -- Latin, facing ad orientem, communion distributed on the tongue only while kneeling, traditional altar arrangement of six candles and crucifix, Gregorian chant, etc. And not just once a month in a random location.

I'm not a member. But I've been to Masses at the Opus Dei centre near NUS.
Latin (check), ad orientem (check), communion on the tongue, kneeling (check, check), traditional arrangement of altar (check). Dignity and reverence? CHECK!
I guess Ken hasn't ever been to a centre for Mass. Typical.

Someone pointed out the fact that all the things Ken wants are present at an Opus Dei Mass. He mentioned for example that there are candle on the altar.

And one smart-alec "candle-counter"* replied:

chris said...
And, to anon, there was NOT six candles today. There were 4.

So he's antagonistic towards the Opus Dei, yet seems to go for their Masses? Just to count the candles?

And to that:

OB said...

"And, to anon, there was NOT six candles today. There were 4." My opinion of the Work has risen significantly. In the Roman Rite four candles should adorn an altar on a Greater Feria. To have six candles on such a day shows a lack of reading of the rubrics (c.f. C.E. Lib I, XII, 24).

Haha. Good one! :)

One commenter says:

Yeah definitely, I'd say the Holy Father cannot stand them - for all their sloppy liturgies and open disobedience.

Hahaha! Wow. Sure. You must have a better insight into the Holy Father's feelings than the Holy Father himself.

The people at Opus Dei promote a deep love and obedience to the Holy Father. Their priests (unlike most other priests), as well as their laity, incorporate Pope Benedict's teachings into their talks, meditations and sermons. They make it a point that their pilgrimages to Rome are aimed at "spending time with the Pope", which I think is beautiful. They recommend his books and his homilies for spiritual reading.

From J.P. Sonnen. One more photo from Mr Sonnen, a student and tour guide in Rome, and someone who serves at Traditional Latin Masses.

I'm not a member of Opus Dei - but I've benefited so much from the spiritual formation, the friendship and example of the lay members, and especially from spiritual direction by Opus Dei priests.

But more than this, what strikes me as shameful is that this post and especially the comments are quite reminiscent in nature and tone of how anti-Catholic Protestants talk about the Church. And there's a reason for the similarity - both are born of ignorance and prejudice.

Fair and just traditional Catholics who have actually come into contact with the Opus Dei don't suffer from this lack of charity.

New Liturgical Movement which is very much a champion of faithful traditional Catholicism has several posts on the Opus Dei.

Here's one:

'a nice implementation of the "Benedictine" altar arrangemt with four candles, as is appropriate for the private Mass of a Bishop, and very dignified chapel and vestments, as is to be expected from Opus Dei.'

I remember an FSSP priest telling us - at the first Tridentine Mass (which I love by the way) that I ever attended - that when the Rite becomes an end in itself, it's obvious that we've missed the point.

To the people at Rorate Caeli, being conservative and faithful mean probably only one thing - a narrow devotion to the Old Rite.

A wholesome, loving relationship with God; sincere and dignified worship of Him at Holy Mass (irrespective of which Rite is used), at daily prayer and in the ordinary things of life; a life of charity and truth; sound doctrine; an apostolic spirit; obedience, holiness - none of these seem to matter that much, judging from the words and tone of both the post and the comments. The Rite is all that counts. I suspect that any group which does not share their narrow-mindedness and is yet seen as conservative and orthodox really infuriates such people.

Surely we don't need to reinforce the commonplace of the cantankerous traditionalists whose main activity is to be angry at someone?

Too late.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* I like the term candle-counter. I got it from these two comments

So let me see if I've got this straight.

Opus Dei has committed the grievous sin of being wedded to the "Ordinary Form" of the Mass and it has been insufficiently expeditious in adopting the "Extraordinary Form", at least to the satisfaction of the blogger.

That's a good start to Lent. An "I'm a more traditional Catholic than thou" rant.

Excommunicate them!

Anyone else here who likes the "Ordinary Form" of the Mass? Anathemas on all of you, you Protestant heretics!!

This rant is precisely why many Catholics are unsure about traditional liturgy and those who promote it. Many of you come over as narrow, obsessive candle-counters with an overdeveloped "Church lady" mentality.


---


To the candle counters, read the Gospels a little closer this Lent.

The Work's mission is to help all people sanctify their ordinary life, not to carry the water for liturgical snobs, or to hold up the prideful banner on Liturgical norms for others.

You are quite free to do that yourself.

OD's 'work' is in the street.

Who Creates Anew?

We rise again from ashes,

from the good we've failed to do.

We rise again from ashes,

to create ourselves anew.

If all our world is ashes,

then must our lives be true,

An offering of ashes,

An offering to You.

I'm not sure whether I've heard this in the parishes in Singapore. The tune sounds familiar. Or maybe it's just many of our hymns today sound quite similar to each other?

Carl Olson mentions it in a reflection for the First Sunday of Lent

A popular contemporary hymn sung in many parishes on Ash Wednesday contains these lyrics:

We rise again from ashes, from the good we've failed to do.
We rise again from ashes, to create ourselves anew.

However sincere the hymnist’s intentions, Ash Wednesday and Lent are most assuredly not about creating ourselves anew. On the contrary, they should help us to recognize that only God can accomplish the necessary work of making us new creations through the gratuitous gift of His own divine life:

Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. (2 Cor 5:17-18; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1999)

At Lent, the disciple is called to follow more closely in the steps of his Master, to take up the cross, and to follow Him into the wilderness in preparation for the Paschal Triduum. Drawing upon today’s epistle reading, we see that Lent helps us appreciate more deeply that salvation comes through calling upon the name of the Lord.
...
“The temptation in the desert,” states the Catechism, “shows Jesus, the humble Messiah, who triumphs over Satan by his total adherence to the plan of salvation willed by the Father” (CCC 566). The confrontation between Jesus and the devil in the desert foreshadowed the battle that would take place on Good Friday. Whereas the devil unsuccessfully tempted Jesus to leap from the temple, Jesus would later willingly ascend the Cross and leap into the abyss of death. For us. So that we might be new creations.

Without that leap of love, we are lost.

Read the entire piece here

"Inevitability in War?"

Dr Malcolm H. Murfett's and Dr Daniel "Coach" Crosswell's module "The Making of Contemporary Europe" which I took in my first semester at NUS, made me certain that I wanted to switch from the Life Sciences to the Arts and Social Sciences. It's a pity Dr Crosswell's no longer at NUS - I was in his tutorial group and really enjoyed it.

Dr Murfett is a Catholic - and I remember him making that clear at lecture. Last Friday he gave a talk at Ravenahl on the idea of inevitability in war. I love history - and (oddly, think) I find military history especially interesting. So I really enjoyed the talk. :)

He showed us two of his books - which I'd like to read if I have the time. Should add them to my "TO READ" list. :D

Naval Warfare, 1919-1945 (goodness, look at the cost!) and Imponderable but Not Inevitable: Warfare in the 20th Century

He took 10 years and read 2000 books to write one of these - not sure which.

He's been in NUS for 30 years! And he thinks the Kent Ridge Campus buildings have no character - extremely boring. Very true.

Dr Alvin introduces the guest

Tautology Club

The Facebook group exists. :D

What's his problem?

Not only does he refuse to place his hand over his heart (I wonder what his rationale for this is), he can't stand straight and looks so bored. Yuck.



The rendition of the anthem was painful too.

Embarking on my masters thesis

Alexis de Tocqueville


Michael Oakeshott

the two people I'll be studying for the next year.

and my supervisor

TLM in English?

Fr Z asks:
"If someone were to ask you to explain why the Catholic Church uses Latin as its official language, what would you say?"

I found one reply interesting:

1. In the context where I could imagine being asked this question (namely, when it comes to my love of the Old Rite and promoting it)...my tendency would be to downplay the Latin thing, which I think is a huge distraction.

   As John Zmirak said in the recent article you recommended: “I don’t know a single Traditionalist who wouldn’t prefer the old Mass, facing the altar, said in English, to the Novus Ordo chanted in Latin facing the people.” And that, given time, this may be the solution that is ultimately reached, though we could probably maintain the Ordinary chant parts in Latin, people are familiar enough with those.

   I would definitely NOT play the whole “a Catholic could go to the same Mass anywhere in the world” card, which is accidental to the question. And it smacks of globalism, liturgical hyper-centralization, a monolithic notion of unity, and disrespect for the Eastern Rites and patriarchal boundaries.

   As for “why Latin” historically, I’d say simply because Latin was the language of Rome, where the Pope is, so that was his language.

   Technically, it is not “the official language of the universal Church”...there is no such thing. Each of the sui juris churches has its own “official language”. The Western Patriarchate’s language happens to be Latin, and since the bishop of Rome is also the Pope…he uses Latin, even in his “universal” correspondences. But that’s not quite the same as being “the universal language of the Church.” It’s the language of the Vatican apparatus, which just so happens to be the organ of “federal” authority in the Church. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one.

   Likewise, just because the president and congress happen to all speak English, that is different than it being the “national language”. Though there are pushes to give it such a legal status, theoretically an individual state could still designate a different State language.

   Comment by Oneros — 19 February 2010 @ 10:38 am

I've been wondering about this too. Would saying the Tridentine Mass in English be helpful?

The Church's One Foundation

Jesus Christ our Lord is the keystone of the Church which is built upon His Apostles. (Ephesians 2:20)

Was just listening to a good discussion on Papal Infallibility here.

It's a gift evident in Scripture and common sense. If Christ hadn't appointed the Apostles led by the Peter our Pope, we too would have descended into squabbling factions. Historically, the Bishops of Rome, unlike bishops of some other primatial Sees have never fallen into heresies.

The capacity for history

Broadly speaking, it could be said that the whole created universe is subject to time and therefore has a history. Living beings have a particular kind of history. Yet not one of them, no other animal species possesses a historical dimension of the kind that we attribute to man, or to nations, or to the entire human family. Man's historicity is expressed in his specific capacity to objectify history. He is not simply subject to the course of events, not does he limit himself to acting and behaving in a certain way as an individual or as a member of a group: he also has the capacity to reflect on his history and to objectify it, giving an account of the way it unfolds stage by stage. Individual families have a similar capacity, as do human societies, and especially nations.

- Pope John Paul II, Memory and Identity

Earthshine

Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars
Credit & Copyright: Mike Salway
APOD

Night Shinings
Credit & Copyright: Laurent Laveder (PixHeaven.net / TWAN)
APOD


The Old Moon in the New Moon's Arms
Credit & Copyright: Laurent Laveder
APOD

I saw earthshine today! I wish I had a good enough camera to capture it!

And a slightly unrelated astronomy photo, just because it's so beautiful:

Moon and Morning Star
Credit & Copyright: David Cortner

Explanation: Wednesday, the Moon and Venus rose together in early morning skies. Even through clouds, both show off a lovely crescent in this well-composed skyscape from Rutherford College, North Carolina, in the eastern US. Farther west, North American skygazers could also witness the Moon passing in front of Venus. The bright planet disappeared behind the Moon's sunlit crescent and reappeared along its darkened limb as morning twilight gave way to daylight hours. Of course the dimmer lunar crescent was waning, approaching today's New Moon phase. Beginning a stint as the brilliant Morning Star, Venus' crescent is waxing though, and will grow thicker in the coming months as Venus rises higher in morning skies.

Ave, maris stella

Ave, maris stella, Dei mater alma, atque semper virgo, felix cæli porta.	Hail, star of the sea, Nurturing Mother of God, And ever Virgin Happy gate of Heaven.
Sumens illud «Ave» Gabrielis ore, funda nos in pace, mutans Evæ nomen.	Receiving that "Ave" From the mouth of Gabriel, Establish us in peace, Transforming the name of "Eva"
Solve vincla reis, profer lumen cæcis, mala nostra pelle, bona cuncta posce.	Loosen the chains of the guilty, Send forth light to the blind, Our evil do thou dispel, Entreat for us all good things.
Monstra te esse matrem, sumat per te precem qui pro nobis natus tulit esse tuus.	Show thyself to be a Mother: Through thee may He receive our prayer Who, being born for us, Undertook to be thine own.
Virgo singularis, inter omnes mitis, nos culpis solutos mites fac et castos.	O unique Virgin, Meek above all others, Make us, set free from our sins, Meek and chaste.
Vitam præsta puram, iter para tutum, ut videntes Jesum semper collætemur.	Bestow a pure life, Prepare a safe way: That seeing Jesus, We may ever rejoice.
Sit laus Deo Patri, summo Christo decus, Spiritui Sancto honor, tribus unus. Amen.	Praise be to God the Father, To the Most High Christ be glory, To the Holy Spirit Be honour, to the Three equally. Amen.

Beautiful!!

Something interesting from Wikipedia:

Ave Maris Stella is the anthem of the Acadians, a francophone community in the Canadian Maritimes distinct from the French-Canadians of Quebec. The Acadians were highly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church, and had and still have a high degree of devotion to the Virgin Mary. As such, Acadia's symbols reflect its people's beliefs. This is particularly evident in their anthem which instead of being written in French is written in Latin.

It was adopted as the anthem of the Acadian people at the Second Acadian National Convention, held in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island in 1884. To this day, it remains a source of Acadian patriotism.

Salvation of Non Catholics

I heard it once too often.

You know how it goes. Some older Catholic, or ex-Catholic, tells you, “When I was growing up ...” — in the 1930s or ’40s or ’50s, maybe; or, perhaps, until Vatican II in the 1960s — “... when I was growing up, the Catholic Church said that only Catholics go to heaven.”

Balderdash.

Sometimes, it is said in all innocence. Sometimes, it is said accusingly. Sometimes, it is said with a virtual wink-of-the-eye, “knowingly,” as if to imply, You can believe that little white lie that the Church’s teachings don’t change. But I know better.

Malarkey.

Yes, I heard it once too often. So, here is a small compendium of Catholic teaching concerning the salvation of Non-Catholics. All of these documents were published before 1950. I present them here from oldest to newest, with a very brief extract from each. The links here go to pages that present the relevant passages of the documents. Those pages include links, when applicable, to the full documents elsewhere.

Here’s the truth.

A Stable Population

We're so worried about climate change that we're ignoring, and even hastening, a very real threat to our survival.

Check out the Population Research Institute's previous video here.

Via

CMR

Sign of Peace mishap

From Matt Archbold at CMR:

Patrick just wrote a post about the "Sign of Peace" at the National Catholic Register. Go check it out and then come back.

It just reminded me of the worst sign of peace moment I've had. I was at Mass with my family and my mother was there but in between us was like 4 or 5 children. (I can't remember if the two year old was born then or not)

So I lean over a few children to kiss my mother for the sign of peace but she doesn't see me and she's shaking my children's hands who at that age saw the sign of peace as something akin to the 7th Inning Stretch. (Dude, they were two or three years old!)

But the point is that I had kiss on my mind when my Mom dissed me. Then, I turned my head and there was a woman in the pew in front of me leaning over to shake my hand. And I...kissed her.

Well, her eyes bugged. I realized what I'd done as I was pulling away and just stared at her. My mom looked at me rather oddly.

The rest of the Mass was kind of awkward as you might imagine.

I still see that woman at Mass quite often. She doesn't sit anywhere near us.

So go check out Pat's piece at the Register. Share your own sign of peace horror stories in the combox over there.

I've reproduced the whole episode and hope he doesn't mind. Poor Matthew! This is just hilarious. :D

On Ash Wednesday

Photo via AmP



Pray for him, that this Lent he'll realise that it's obedience and faithfulness to the Catholic Church, and not the just the outward symbols of the Faith, that have eternal import.

St Leutfridus - holy wrath

When Satan approaches, we should be filled with anger and hatred, because the devil is the declared enemy of God and our souls. He wishes us every form of evil. Thus, when we are tempted, we should react with militant execration, like Saint Michael did.

Once, a friar called Saint Leutfridus from his cell to tell him that the devil was appearing in the chapel. Recognizing his old enemy, the saint ran to the Chapel and made the sign of the cross over the doors and windows, which closed, blocking all the exits.

Wisely, he captured the devil first, so that he could not get away.

Advancing towards the devil, the saint furiously beat him. The devil wanted to flee, but all the exits were blocked. Normally, he could have instantly left the body he had taken up, but apparently he had not permission to do so. God wanted to humiliate him further under Saint Leutfridus’ blows.

This is a splendid scene. The beating was physically given and spiritually felt, all under the Sign of the Cross. Just as the wicked souls are burned by Hell’s material fire, so too the devil’s soul was made to feel the saint’s blows.

Saint Leutfridus beat the body that was merely a doll of the devil.

Naturally, these blows tormented and humiliated the devil. We too can increase his torment. This is particularly excellent when Satan provokes an attack. Then, the counter-attack gives glory to Our Lady by showing that her children’s hatred of the devil is greater than his hatred of men.

God obliged the devil to flee by way of the belfry, so that he would feel his defeat more sensibly.

The devil was forced to flee by way of the tower, under the continued blows of Saint Leutfridus. We would love to have seen the saint deliver the final blow!

Read more about the Saint at America Need Fatima. Thanks to Krizia for the heads up.

Most holy Virgin Immaculate, my Mother Mary, to thee who art the Mother of my Lord, the queen of the universe, the advocate, the hope, the refuge of sinners, I who am the most miserable of all sinners, have recourse this day.

I venerate thee, great queen, and I thank thee for the many graces thou hast bestowed upon me even unto this day; in particular for having delivered me from the hell which I have so often deserved by my sins.

I love thee, most dear Lady; and for the love I bear thee, I promise to serve thee willingly for ever and to do what I can to make thee loved by others also. I place in thee all my hopes for salvation; accept me as thy servant and shelter me under thy mantle, thou who art the Mother of mercy.

And since thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or at least obtain for me the strength to overcome them until death. From thee I implore a true love for Jesus Christ. Through thee I hope to die a holy death.

My dear Mother, by the love thou bearest to Almighty God, I pray thee to assist me always, but most of all at the last moment of my life. Forsake me not then, until thou shalt see me safe in heaven, there to bless thee and sing of thy mercies through all eternity. Such is my hope. Amen.

- St Alphonsus Liguori

Master Sir

I wouldn't call it a love song though, as the title puts it.

Check out the English version here. Quite a poignant song.


From the video description:

This is the theme song from the 70s Sri Lankan film 'Kalu Diya Dahara'(A column of Black water).

Sung By : Sandra Edema & Nimal Mendis
Lyrics & Music : Nimal Mendis

The film is about colonial Sri Lanka, and the song is about the dignity of labour, and not just about wages but social justice too.

Pray for justice for all workers.

Shrove Thursday, Mardi Gras and (yes, Jean) Pancake Day :D

Had a truly enjoyable day at John's house today. Many thanks to him for helping us celebrate Mardi Gras in style.

Some of us started the day by joining Legionaries from all over Singapore in paying a Chinese New Year visit to the Archbishop. It was a great feeling to be able to kiss His Grace's ring - twice! :D
Archbishop Chia is a simple man and was very welcoming. He also posed for photos with us :)

We then head to John's place. Out visit started out with a tour of his extremely Catholic room. :D
Jean took on the job of cataloguing everything in sight on her new camera. I'm sure she'll have photos up soon.

We then had lunch - truly a feast, with pasta, rice, pizza, meats, cheeses, fruits. Yum. :D

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing board games, chatting, playing the piano and violin, singing. :)

We even buried the Alleluia! Something new for me, which I had just read about yesterday.

Thanks John, and the rest!

Will update with photos later, but first here's something from NLM:

Peter Brugel's "Fight Between Carnival and Lent"

Detail

The more portly personification of Carnival seated on a cask of drink with meat to left; on the right, the more emaciated personification of Lent, with fish, bread and pretzels

Carnival won the day. But from tomorrow, Lent will rule for 40 days. I pray it'll be a meaningful, life-changing season for all of us.

Ultimatum

I'm reading Guns of August - a gripping book about the events of World War I by Barbara W. Tuchman. Her powers of description are really amazing. How wonderful to be able to write like this!

Below is an excerpt. Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, makes the case in the House of Commons for supporting France against German belligerence and committing Britain to the protection of Belgian neutrality, both of which would to war with Germany. He had to do this while maintaining the unity both of the Asquith Government which comprised pacifist Liberals and of the British people as a whole, who were of meddling in Continental quarrels.

The House had gathered in total attendance for the first time since Gladstone brought in the Home Rule Bill in 1893. To accommodate all the members extra chairs were set up in the gangway. The Diplomatic Gallery was packed except for two empty seats marking the absence of the German and Austrian ambassadors. Visitors from the Lords filled the Strangers' Gallery, among them, Field Marshal Lord Roberts, so long and vainly the advocate of compulsory military service. In the tense hush when, for once, no one bustled, passed notes, or leaned over benches to chat in whispers, there was a sudden clatter as the Chaplain, backing away from the Speaker, stumbled over the extra chairs in the aisle. All eyes were on the government bench where Grey in a light summer suit sat between Asquith whose bland face expressed nothing and Lloyd George whose disheveled hair and cheeks drained of all color made him look years older.

Grey, appearing “pale, haggard and worn,” rose to his feet. Though he had been a member of the House for twenty-nine years and on the Government bench for the last eight, members on the whole knew little—and the country much less—of his conduct of foreign policy. Questions put to the Foreign Secretary rarely succeeded in trapping Grey into a clear or definitive answer, yet his evasiveness, which in a more adventurous statesman would have been challenged, was not regarded with suspicion. So non-cosmopolitan, so English, so county, so reserved, Grey could not be regarded by anyone as a mettlesome mixer in foreign quarrels. He did not love foreign affairs or enjoy his job but deplored it as a necessary duty. He did not run over to the Continent for weekends but disappeared into the country. He spoke no foreign language beyond a schoolboy French. A widower at fifty-two, childless, nongregarious, he seemed as unattached to ordinary passions as to his office. What passion broke through his walled personality was reserved for trout streams and bird calls.

Speaking slowly but with evident emotion, Grey asked the House to approach the crisis from the point of view of “British interests, British honor and British obligations.” He told the history of the military “conversations” with France. He said that no “secret engagement” bound the House or restricted Britain’s freedom to decide her own course of action. He said France was involved in the war because of her “obligation of honor” to Russia, but “we are not parties to the Franco-Russian alliance; we do not even know the terms of that alliance.” He seemed to be leaning so far over backward to show England to be uncommitted that a worried Tory, Lord Derby, whispered angrily to his neighbor, “By God, they are going to desert Belgium!”

Grey then revealed the naval arrangement with France. He told the House how, as a consequence of agreement with Britain, the French fleet was concentrated in the Mediterranean, leaving the northern and western coasts of France “absolutely undefended.” He said it would be his “feeling” that “if the German fleet came down the Channel and bombarded and battered the undefended coasts of France, we could not stand aside and see this going on practically within sight of our eyes, with our arms folded, looking on dispassionately, doing nothing!” Cheers burst from the Opposition benches, while the Liberals listened, “somberly acquiescent.”

To explain his having already committed Britain to defend France’s Channel coasts, Grey entered into an involved argument about “British interests” and British trade routes in the Mediterranean. It was a tangled skein, and he hurried on to the “more serious consideration, becoming more serious every hour,” of Belgian neutrality.

To give the subject all its due, Grey, wisely not relying on his own oratory, borrowed Gladstone’s thunder of 1870, “Could this country stand by and witness the direst crime that ever stained the pages of history and thus become participators in the sin?” From Gladstone too, he took a phrase to express the fundamental issue—that England must take her stand “against the unmeasured aggrandizement of any power whatsoever.”

In his own words he continued: “I ask the House from the point of view of British interests to consider what may be at stake. If France is beaten to her knees ... if Belgium fell under the same dominating influence and then Holland and then Denmark ... if, in a crisis like this, we run away from these obligations of honor and interest as regards the Belgian Treaty ... I do not believe for a moment that, at the end of this war, even if we stood aside, we should be able to undo what had happened, in the course of the war, to prevent the whole of the West of Europe opposite us from falling under the domination of a single power ... and we should, I believe, sacrifice our respect and good name and reputation before the world and should not escape the most serious and grave economic consequences.”

He placed before them the “issue and the choice.” The House, which had listened in “painful absorption” for an hour and a quarter, broke into overwhelming applause, signifying its answer. The occasions when an individual is able to harness a nation are memorable, and Grey’s speech proved to be one of those junctures by which people afterward date events. Some dissent was still vocal, for, unlike the continental parliaments, the House of Commons was not to be exhorted or persuaded into unanimity. Ramsay MacDonald, speaking for the Laborites, said Britain should have remained neutral; Keir Hardie said he would raise the working classes against the war; and afterward in the lobby, a group of unconvinced Liberals adopted a resolution stating that Grey had failed to make a case for war. But Asquith was convinced that on the whole “our extreme peace lovers are silenced though they will soon find their tongues again.” The two ministers who had resigned that morning were persuaded to return that evening, and it was generally felt that Grey had carried the country.

“What happens now?” Churchill asked Grey as they left the House together. “Now,” replied Grey, “we shall send them an ultimatum to stop the invasion of Belgium within 24 hours.” To Cambon, a few hours later, he said, “If they refuse, there will be war.” Although he was to wait almost another twenty-four hours before sending the ultimatum, Lichnowsky’s fear had been fulfilled; Belgium had been made the condition.

Sir Edward Grey

Heaven descended into the world of matter: The Incarnation and Catholic Sacramentals

Catholic devotion to relics and sacramentals has long been criticized by non-Catholic Christians and ridiculed by modern atheists as being superstitious. Just recently, Tim Cheetham, a Labour Party councillor from the English town of Barnsely, commenting on tour of the relics of St Thérèse of Liseux through Britain, wrote the following on Twitter: “With all those slobbering zealots kissing that glass case, I hope it has some mystical power to prevent swine flu,”[i] Another tweet from Cheetham said “It’s not Bigotry to highlight the lunacy of dark age mysticism in the modern world.”[ii] This is indeed how many people see relics and sacramentals today: a remnant of a time before the triumph of reason when superstition and the belief in magic were rife. Unfortunately, even many Catholics today are oblivious to, or even wary of relics and sacramentals. At the very least, many of us do not realise the meaning behind these practices of the Church.

Opposition to the practices like the use of relics and sacramentals is nothing new. They have their roots in age-old heresies which tended to pit the spiritual world against the physical, viewing the physical as evil and the spiritual as good. Manichaeism for example held that humankind’s present condition was painful and evil because the soul, which shares the nature of God, had fallen into the evil world of matter and is clouded by ignorance and lack of self-consciousness because of this mingling with the body and with matter. Spirit and matter therefore were as opposed to each other as good and evil, and light and darkness.[iii]

Such a philosophy of matter would obviously be opposed to the use of relics and sacramentals and even the sacraments. In the sacraments, common material things – water, wine, bread, and oil – become “outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification.”[iv] Related to sacraments are sacramentals – objects like medals, holy water, ashes; liturgical vestments; and even postures like the Sign of the Cross, genuflection and prostration – which manifest the respect due to the Sacraments and further the devotion and sanctification of the faithful.[v] Relics are the bones, ashes, clothing, or personal possessions of apostles and saints which are held in reverence by the Church and are often associated with miraculous heals and other acts of God.

The Catholic Church considers the above heresies heterodox for (among other reasons of course) their attitude towards the material world. Step inside a Catholic Church and you will realise how much the five senses are used in our worship. Apart from the words we hear and the gestures we see, liturgy also makes us smell incense, and taste the bread and wine which have become the Body and Blood of Christ. Catholicism appeals to the sense of touch through the laying-on of hands, and the use of unction, by attending to the sick, caring for the poor and assisting the dying. “God reveals himself and gives himself to us at the most critical moments of our loves, and his religion remains profoundly human.”[vi] The candles, the incense, the vestments, the liturgical colours, the postures, also help us, sojourners in the material world, to orient our hearts, souls and minds towards the heavenly Jerusalem.

This comfortableness with the material world is not something new – it did not originate in the mists of the superstitious middle ages (the notion that the medieval era was a “dark age” of ignorance and superstition is a myth in itself, but that’s another story – perhaps material for a future article in Splendour). Did not our Lord himself use clay and spittle when he healed the blind man and then ask the man to "Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am"?[vii] God does not spurn matter – he made the material world and he “saw that it was good.”[viii]

What about relics? Surely that is unbiblical, right? Wrong! The bones of the prophet Elisha revived a dead man.[ix] The very shadow of St Peter healed the sick.[x] And St Paul’s handkerchiefs were used to heal the sick and exorcise evil spirits.[xi] The veneration of relics was also evident in the early Church. St Polycarp, a disciple of St John the Evangelist, was an old bishop when he was brought before the Roman Proconsul and urged to offer just a small pinch of incense to Caesar’s statue to escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?” He was burned at the stake and (when this seemed not to harm him) was stabbed to death. After his martyrdom, the faithful:

...took up his bones, as being more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more purified than gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, whither, being gathered together, as opportunity is allowed us, with joy and rejoicing, the Lord shall grant us to celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom, both in memory of those who have already finished their course, and for the exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps.[xii]

In the fourth century, St Jerome, the great Biblical scholar, declared that “"We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore him whose martyrs they are."[xiii] Here lies the Church’s rationale in allowing Catholics to use sacramentals and relics. The Church, like God, is willing to use anything – even simple water and the bones of Her saints – to further the sanctification of Her children. “There is hardly any proper use of material things” says the Vatican II document on Sacred Liturgy, “which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.”[xiv]

There is, however, something even more profound in our use of sacramentals and relics and this has to do with the theme of this inaugural issue of Splendour. These Catholic practices, and indeed, the entire Catholic world-view, are animated, and find their roots in a unique and singular event in history: the Incarnation. Pope Benedict, meditating on Psalm 113 [112] in his 2008 Christmas Midnight Mass homily, speaks of God, who dwells on high, infinitely great and far, far above us and yet, “God stoops down.”

“That night in Bethlehem, it took on a completely new meaning. God’s stopping down became real in a way previously inconceivable. He stoops down – he himself comes down as a child to the lowly stables...God truly comes down. The Creator who holds all things in his hands, on whom we all depend, makes himself small and in need of human love. God is in a stable.”[xv]

G.K. Chesterton points out that there are many world-views, “embodied in the great religions or in the wide field of irreligion” which can reasonably be suspicious of relics and sacramentals. The belief that God is inscrutable and infinitely remote to mankind, for example, is “perfectly sane”, as is the belief that all life is bitter, and that ‘salvation’ comes from renouncing ties with the material world. Both these, and others, Chesterton says, can reject relics and sacramentals on principle. The whole point of Christianity on the other hand is that “God stoops down”, that “Heaven has descended into the world of matter; the supreme spiritual power is now operating by the machinery of matter, dealing miraculously with the bodies and souls of men. It blesses all the five senses; as the senses of the baby are blessed at a Catholic christening.” It similarly, and by extension, “blesses even material gifts and keepsakes, as with relics and rosaries. It works through water or oil or bread or wine.”[xvi] All of these are intrinsically tied to the Incarnation – the Word taking on the material. Chesterton thus goes on to say that while a Muslim can, on principle, think it blasphemous that God should become a workman in Galilee, for someone who claims to believe in the Incarnation to think it blasphemous that “God should become a wafer” has, not principle, but prejudice. Chesterton concludes:

If it be profane that the miraculous should descend to the plane of matter, then certainly Catholicism is profane; and Protestantism is profane; and Christianity is profane. Of all human creeds or concepts, in that sense, Christianity is the most utterly profane. But why a man should accept a Creator who was a carpenter, and then worry about holy water, why he should accept...that God was born in some particular place...and then say it is incredible that a blessing should linger on the bones of a saint, why he should accept the first and most stupendous part of the story of Heaven on Earth and then furiously deny a few small but obviously deductions from it – that is a thing I do not understand; I never could understand; I have come to the conclusion that I shall never understand. I can only attribute it to Superstition.”[xvii]

The popularity of relics and sacramentals seems to have almost completely vanished over the last decades of the twentieth century. One Catholic writer sees relics as representative of “a time when saints were posthumous medieval rock stars, pilgrims their devout groupies and monks their roadies.”[xviii] Perhaps this is part of a desire to simplify Catholic spirituality and strip it of what is viewed as non-essentials. Perhaps it stems from an attempt, too common among some members of the modern Church, to downplay teachings, practices and devotions that appear scandalous to our Protestant brethren. However, as the thousands of devotees who turned up to venerate St Thérèse’s relics indicate, there is a hunger for a less sterile, lowest-common-denominator form of Catholicism. Young people especially seem to be drawn to the mystery, beauty and uniqueness of our time-honoured Catholic customs. A Catholic mother admits to finding the veneration of holy objects “a concept foreign and unsettling to an American Catholic, who...became an adult in the simpler, less austere canon that followed the Second Vatican Council.” A Council in which, she believed, “Rosaries, relics, and an army of saints were swept away like cobwebs. Now Christ stood clearly at the centre of things.” She was startled to discover, however, that her twenty-one-year-old son was drawn to “the old ways of faith that we never taught him.” [xix] This attraction that the ancient practices of the Church have on the young people is not at all uncommon. We are drawn to the beauty and sacredness of our Church which, in its eternal youth[xx] reflects her God whom St Augustine, in his Confessions, memorably calls “Beauty ever ancient and ever new.” And, if catechised properly, we know that the Council did not sweep away like cobwebs, our ancient traditions. We also come to realise that Christ always stands clearly at the centre of authentic Catholic traditions and practices – both now and before the Council.

So, fellow Catholics, young and old, let us treasure our traditions – including our sacraments, our sacramentals, and relics – and grow in our understanding and love for them. They are not mere vestiges of the days of yore – they should form a vital part of our modern spirituality; for these rites, images, lights, sounds and smells serve to remind us of that joyous and wondrous Good News that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”[xxi] The Son, true God, from true God, left his divine splendour and took on the condition of servant and man; man fashioned from clay.[xxii]

O God, Who in creating man didst exalt his nature very wonderfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew; by the Mystery signified in the mingling of this water and wine, grant us to have part in the Godhead of Him Who hath deigned to become a partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God. World without end. Amen.

- From the Offertory prayers of the Extraordinary Rite of the Holy Mass.

---

[i] Damien Thompson, “Catholics venerating relics of St Thérèse are 'slobbering zealots', says Labour councillor”, Telegraph.co.uk, September 29, 2009. Available at: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100011334/catholics-venerating-relics-of-st-therese-are-slobbering-zealots-says-labour-councillor. Last accessed: 28/11/2009.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] "Manichaeism" Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Available at: http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~sbriggs/Britannica/manichaeism.htm. Last accessed: 28/11/2009.

[iv] Daniel Kennedy, "Sacraments", The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912). Available at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13295a.htm. Last accessed: 28/11/2009.

[v] Henri Leclercq, "Sacramentals" The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912). Available at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13292d.htm. Last accessed: 28/11/2009.

[vi] Robert Le Gall and Laziz Hamani, Symbols of Catholicism, (Paris: Editions Assouline, 1996), 9.

[vii] John 9: 6-7 (RSV)

[viii] Genesis 1 (RSV)

[ix] 2 Kings 13:20-21

[x] Acts 5:14-16

[xi] Acts 19: 11-12

[xii] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885). Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Available at: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0102.htm. Last accessed: 28/11/2009.

[xiii] St Jerome, Ad Riparium, i, P.L., XXII, 907. Quoted in http://www.catholic.com/library/Relics.asp. Last accessed: 29/11/2009.

Emphasis mine.

[xiv] Paul VI, Sacrosactum Concilium. (December 4 1963), #61. Available at: http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html . Last accessed: 29/11/2009.

[xv] Benedict XVI, “Homily, Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.” (December 25, 2008). Available at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20081224_christmas_en.html. Last accessed: 30/11/2009

[xvi] G.K. Chesterton, “The Protestant Superstitions”, in Stories, Essays and Poems (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1935), 236-237.

[xvii] Ibid. 237.

[xviii] David Farley, “The Bone Collectors”, The Slate, (October 29, 2009). Available at http://www.slate.com/id/2232883. Last accessed: 2/12/2009.

[xix] “Keep in touch with your faith: uneasy with medieval rituals and relics, a mother reflects on the very different ways in which she and her son approach and practice their faith.” Available at: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Keep+in+touch+with+your+faith:+uneasy+with+medieval+rituals+and+...-a088612408. Last Accessed: 2/12/2009.

[xx] “Yes, the Church is alive... And the Church is young. She holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way towards the future.” Benedict XVI, “Homily, Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI” (April 24, 2005). Available at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html. Last accessed:2/12/2009.

[xxi] John 1: 14 (RSV)

[xxii] See Benedict XVI, “Homily, Chrism Mass.” (April 5, 2007). Available at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20070405_messa-crismale_en.html. Last accessed: 30/11/2009.

Thought I'd post this article, which I wrote for the December issue of Splendour.