Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Epiphany

I hope that everyone's Christmas was a good one. In this time during the the actual 12 Days of Christmas, I wanted to wish everyone a blessed new year. May you all have a blessed Epiphany on January 6th. Try to picture yourself there along with the Magi welcoming the true King after such a long time of searching. Christmas doesn't end on the 26th or even the 6th of January. We should welcome Christ into our hearts and homes everyday.

+Blessings and Peace to all.

The Trinitarian Formula

In the NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος.

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritūs Sancti. Amen


This simple formula has so much depth in terms of understanding the nature of the Godhead. It is given to us by Jesus Himself. The mystery of the trinity lies within this simple statement. It is a look, through the glass darkly, of the picture of the Trinity, the Triune God. We cannot fully understand the trinity and that is where Faith comes in. Faith in the Church, Faith in God, and Faith in the weight of these words.

Find what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says here.

Advent

The time of Advent has many parallels with the season of Lent. Indeed the Incarnation is intrinsically tied to the Passion of our Lord. The reason God came to earth in the first place was to ultimately die on the cross for us and save us from eternal separation from Himself.

The time of Advent is one of joyful preparation. Lent is a time of dying to self in order to more fully associate ourselves with the Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Advent is preparing for our Savior's coming. The joyous occasion of the Creator of the universe humbling himself and becoming one of us. Fully human; fully divine. Truly mysterious.

The colors of Advent even mimic the colors of the season of Lent. Again, the Church in her wisdom has done this on purpose so as to help us to see the corollary between the two liturgical seasons. Again it helps us to see that the Incarnation naturally and logically progresses toward the Crucifixion.

Christianity is unique in the fact that instead of man trying to ascend to God through various levels of transcendence and trying to reach up, we believe that God descends to man and reaches down to pull us out of this muck we are in. As far as I know, we are the only religion that has ever claimed this. It's something that is truly amazing. I for one am in awe of this fact and I think that Advent should be a time of awe. Everyday, every season, we should make ready for the coming of Christ. May our God be Blessed!

Science, the Church, and Monday Night Football

As I was watching Monday night football with some friends and family members at a local sports bar (the Packers won by the way!!!), the waiter who had our table overheard us talking about some things and decided to say a few words himself. Let me backtrack...

We were talking about science and my dad (a semi-lapsed Catholic who has "found" Jesus - I didn't know he was lost - at a megachurch) mentioned that he and a buddy of his called themselves evolutionary creationists. I was intrigued. That type of approach to the creation of the world is more appropriate of my views on the matter as well. Dad went on to explain that he and his friend believe in a good God who created the universe and also that he ordains things to evolve and move at a particular place in a particular way. He says, and I think I agree with him, that God would not just create something with a snap of his fingers and boom there it is (although he can if he wants to) and leave it alone. God planned out a specific way in order for His creatures to appreciate more the beauty and ways of His creation. Dad's friend is also an Apostolic Christian by the way. (If he were a true "apostolic Christian" he would be Catholic :] )

Back to the story: I could see where Dad was coming from. He had a point. And it was a lot better than some creationist stuff that I've heard. That's another post. He then segued into a slight against the Church saying that we had never approved or condoned science and that it was something that we were afraid of. I had to jump in with some words myself. This type of accusation that the church never condoned science is a misnomer. In fact, and I would recommend purchasing this book, the church was and always has been appreciative of science. You just have to do a little research.

At this time, our waiter guy over heard us and asked what we were talking about. So we filled him in. He started talking about how the church changed it position on the whole make-up of the solar system to fit the new information. We got into Galileo and he started into a whole new set of slights against the church. In fact, it was not the church that was in a hissy-fit over Galileo and Copernicus -both devout Catholics- it was the Protestants who were incensed over this new heliocentric model of the solar system. The church advised their scientists to treat these new theories as hypothesis until more information was obtained. That was the practice. Galileo thought that he had the truth already. He published it as such and the church, with the Reformation still fresh, gave Galileo a small slap on the hand. Protestants adhered to a rigid interpretation of the text and "clearly" this went agaisnt the word of God. The church did not want to have any further divisions happen. This whole ordeal is not what modern media and "scholarly" research make it out to be.

Ideas on the interpretation of particular passages of scripture were now "called into question". The church has always understood that the sum of human knowledge gained might shed more light on the particular interpretation of scripture. Reason is a gift of God and he intended that we use it. Nothing in nature can contradict what he has revealed in his word. Therefore, the interpretation of passages in the right context can and do make sense. St. Thomas Aquinas is worth quoting at length here:

"First, the Truth of Scripture must be held inviolable. Secondly, when there are different ways of explaining a Scriptural text, no particular explanation should be held so rigidly that, if convincing arguments show it to be false, anyone dare to insist that it still is the definitive sense of the text. Otherwise unbelievers will scorn Sacred Scripture, and the way to faith will be closed to them."

As you can imagine, the discussion got a little heated. I thought the waiter guy was going to flip a gasket. He suggested that we watch movies entitled "Zeitgeist" and "Zeitgeist II". He said they go on to explain how all the religions are the same and that they are different expressions of the same thing. Sadly, I've heard that many times. If truth is objective, then there can only be one path. I tried explaining this to him and he couldn't wrap his mind about it. He called himself a pan-theist. I know. It's like ancient pagan times again. Regardless of his views it was quite the discussion and the evening.

I really enjoy Monday Night football.

Miracles

I recently finished the book Miracles by the great C.S. Lewis. The writing was his usual down to earth commentary that the "everyman" can understand and enjoy. My understanding of what exactly a miracle is was greatly helped by this book.

There are two categories that Lewis distinguishes between: Naturalists and super-naturalists. Naturalists, according to Lewis, have a specific emphasis that everything is just a process and progress of nature itself. But, Lewis argues, miracles then would not be miracles and therefore just something that nature does naturally. Which, as you can probably deduce, would not make it a miracle. It is an interesting distinction.

The super-naturalists are those that attribute that miracles can and do occur and that they are actions of the hand of God reaching into nature. The nature that he created. It is not a disruptive action or one the goes against the laws of nature. They are consistent with nature, but beyond nature so to speak. And this "beyond nature" is a benevolent being, the being that we have been privileged to call God our Father.

Now, I am just an amateur, but the way that I interpret that is this: God plays a role in our lives through various miracles and these miracles are tastes of the new creation that will be at the end of the world. The perfect world that God had intended for us in the first place. They are outward signs that God is still with us, kind of like sacraments. I think the question is then how does God interact with the world? Miracles don't go against the laws of nature, they show us a different dimension of nature. God's nature.

Just check out the book for yourself.

Cardinal George on the Year for Priests

I came across this earlier today. In it, Cardinal George addresses his brother Bishops on the unity and authority of the church and the role of the priest in the world today. It is here in it's entirety:

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
2009 FALL MEETING OF THE US CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
BALTIMORE
16 NOVEMBER 2009

My dear brother Bishops:
The Year for Priests proclaimed by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, aims to renew among ordained priests a sense of the sacred vocation that is theirs in the Church, drawing ever more confidently on the grace that was given them with the laying on of hands (I Timothy 4:14). It is also an opportunity for the whole Church to thank God for this grace, which is given to those called to Holy Orders for the sake of others’ salvation. It has already moved some of the faithful to thank their priests for their lives of self-sacrifice for Christ’s people. In this gratitude, we bishops, who shepherd our Churches with and through our priests, join wholeheartedly.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a recent homily, spoke about the Church’s “sacerdotal form,” explaining that the category of priesthood is an “interpretative key of the mystery of Christ and, in consequence, the Church…Jesus Christ’s priesthood is no longer primarily a ritual one but an existential one,” the Pope preached; the ordained priesthood affects every dimension of the Church’s life. Ordained so that Christ’s headship of his Church might be visible and so that the baptized will know where they must gather if they want to be visibly one in Christ, priests are called to ever-greater depths of pastoral charity by the demands of their ministry. To appreciate the many dimensions of priestly ministry, it helps to consider what the Catholic Church would be without the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Priestly Ministry rooted in Holy Orders

The priest teaches the people in Christ’s name and with his authority. Without ordained priests, the teaching ministry would fall primarily on professors, whose obligation is first to seek the truth in the framework of their own academic discipline and whose authority to teach derives from their professional expertise.

The priest governs the people in Christ’s name, exercising Christ’s authority in collaboration with the bishops. Without ordained priests, the only instance of real governance in any society would be that of civil and political leaders. Their authority comes from God through the people they have sworn to serve; but, in Catholicism, secular kingship confers no religious authority and a civil government has no right to deprive the Church of freedom to govern herself by her own laws and under her own leaders.

The priest counsels people to see the hand of God directing human affairs, using the discernment of spirits to govern souls and to free people from what oppresses them. Without ordained priests, counseling passes into the hands of therapists, dedicated to their clients and skilled in examining the dynamics of human personality, but without consideration of the influence of God’s grace.

The priest leads his people in worship, making possible the real presence of Christ, the head of his Church, under the sacramental forms of bread and wine. Without ordained priests, the Church would be deprived of the Eucharist, and her worship would be centered only on the praise and thanksgiving, the petition and expiation open to all by reason of baptism. Without ordained priests who love and govern their people in the name of Christ and with his authority, the Church would not be connected to Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, as Christ himself wants us to be joined to him. Without ordained priests, the Church would be a spiritual association, a faith community, but not fully the Body of Christ.

Episcopal Governance and the Sacrament of Holy Orders

During this Year for Priests, we bishops are called to reflect on our relationship to our priests, to help them grow in holiness, to deepen our fraternity with them, to unite them with us around Jesus Christ. We are called as well to examine the ministry that is properly ours by reason of the fullness of the priesthood given us at episcopal ordination. To us bishops, gathered into this Conference established by the Holy See in order to strengthen our unity with the Holy Father and among ourselves, the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch speak across nineteen hundred years of the relationships that constitute our own participation in the sacrament of Holy Orders and in the governance of the Church. On his way to martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote to the Philadelphians: “For all who belong to God and Jesus Christ are with the bishop; all who repent and return to the unity of the Church will also belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ.” And again, in his letter to the Trallians: “Your submission to your bishop, who is in the place of Jesus Christ, shows me that you are not living as men usually do but in the manner of Jesus himself, who died for us that you might escape death by belief in his death. Thus one thing is necessary,…that you do nothing without your bishop…”

Episcopal Governance and Catholic Communion

If such is not the universally accepted sense of Catholic communion, we bishops must look to ways to strengthen Church unity. Relations do not speak first of control but of love. If there is a loosening of relationship between ourselves and those whom Christ has given us to govern in love, it is for us to reach out and re-establish connections necessary for all to remain in communion. As you know, we have recently begun discussions on how we might strengthen our relationship to Catholic universities, to media claiming the right to be a voice in the Church, and to organizations that direct various works under Catholic auspices. Since everything and everyone in Catholic communion is truly inter-related, and the visible nexus of these relations is the bishop, an insistence on complete independence from the bishop renders a person or institution sectarian, less than fully Catholic. The purpose of our reflections, therefore, is to clarify questions of truth or faith and of accountability or community among all those who claim to be part of Catholic communion.

Our pastoral concern for ecclesial unity does not diminish our awareness of our own mistakes and sins. There are some who would like to trap the Church in historical events of ages long past and there are others who would keep the bishops permanently imprisoned in the clerical sexual abuse scandal of recent years. The proper response to a crisis of governance, however, is not no governance but effective governance. Loss of trust, we know, weakens relationships and will continue to affect our ministry, even though clerical ranks have been purged of priests and bishops known to have abused children and the entire Church has taken unprecedented means to protect children and to reach out to victims. In any case, the sinfulness of Churchmen can not be allowed to discredit the truth of Catholic teaching or to destroy the relationships that create ecclesial communion.

Relations in the Church and among priests and people are mutual. The faithful need the bishops in order to be Catholic, and the bishops need the faithful in order to be Catholic pastors. Pastors are given authority by Christ to govern the Church not according to their own whims or desires but according to the will of Christ and to keep the faithful united around him. Every pastor has Councils for this purpose: to listen to those to whom he has been sent to guide and govern. I believe I speak for all of us here when I say that the bishops look forward to the dialogues that will clarify and strengthen the conditions necessary for all of us to be Catholic.

The Unity of the Church and her Mission to the World

The Church, as St. Paul reminds us, has the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). If we are not of his mind, not of one mind, we cannot preach who Christ is to a divided world. The Second Vatican Council reminded the entire Church that we are to be a leaven for the world’s transformation. Catholic communion is to be the counterpart of human solidarity. Recently, we have tried to be such a leaven in the debate about health care. It is not for us to speak to particular means of delivering health care; it is our responsibility, however, to insist, as a moral voice concerned with human solidarity, that everyone should be cared for and that no one should be deliberately killed.

This voice and these concerns are not novel. My predecessor as Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Bernardin, speaking to the National Press Club in 1994, said that concern for health care “requires us to stand up for both the unserved and the unborn, to insist on the inclusion of real universal coverage and the exclusion of abortion coverage, to support efforts to restrain rising health costs, and to oppose the denial of needed care to the poor and vulnerable.” Participating in the same debate fifteen years later, we are grateful for those in either political party who share these common moral concerns and govern our country in accordance with them.

The challenge to governing effectively and pastorally as bishops and priests is to be public without being co-opted and to be who we are without being isolated. We approach every issue from the perspective of the natural moral law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for issues that are moral questions before they become political remain moral questions when they become political. To limit our teaching or governing to what the state is not interested in would be to betray both the Constitution of our country and, much more importantly, the Lord himself.
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole world, of our public lives as well as our private lives, of our business concerns and of our recreational outlets, of our families and of our institutions, of the living and of the dead. In his name and as bishops of his Church, we gather now to seek his will for his people, and with his authority we govern. May Christ bless and guide, with the power of his Spirit, our deliberations and this meeting of our Conference. Thank you.

Francis Cardinal George OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

Pope Benedict Sings

In a few weeks, our Holy Father Pope Benedict will have a recording released of him reciting the "Regina Coeli" over the sounds of a choir. This particular recording of the "Regina Coeli" is the first that he sang after he was made pope. This recording took place May 1, 2005 in St. Peter's Square. Choir pieces were recorded later. The CD is called "Alma Mater." The release is slated for November 30th. Check out more info here.