by frival
on July 23, 2006
You know, sometimes God has other plans for you. I was all set to quote a particular passage from Pope Benedict’s book, Principles of Catholic Theology, when I continued reading and came across one that struck me in a completely different way. Perhaps some day I’ll come back to the original quote. This quote struck somewhat close to home, as I often feel I haven’t enjoyed the glory of my faith in the right way.
That the word evangelium means “glad tidings” is one of those bits of information that remains in nearly everyone’s memory from religious instruction or from a sermon. All to ofte, however we compre this attractive designation – with melancholy, if not with bitterness – with our own daily experience of Christianity and the impressino made on us by Christians, with the joylessness, the cramped scrupulosity, the narrowness of spirit that seems to us to be the most telling refutation of what Christianity claims to be. This feeling that Christianity is opposed to joy, this impression of punctiliousness and unhappiness is surely a more likely explanation of why people leave the Church than are any of the theoretical problems the faith may pose today.
Ouch. That’s a hard way of saying, “try to live each day with a smile, for nothing can be that bad if we indeed have Christ on our side”.
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by frival
on July 23, 2006
With a hat tip to Fr. Jim at Dappled Things, there’s a great piece on the Latin Liturgy Association, its goals and some at times poignant personal stories here. I agree with Fr. Jim on the selection of relevant quotes too:
“We don’t oppose Mass in the vernacular. But we don’t believe that it should be to the exclusion of our whole religious heritage. Ideally we would like Latin Mass to be available at all parishes each Sunday,” he said. “The Latin Mass is our heritage, and too many Catholics have been deprived of that.”
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by frival
on July 21, 2006
Over at Pontifications there’s a good discussion going on the question of whether lay ministers (lectors, EMHCs) should wear some type of vestment. Yours truly has submitted that it can be a good idea, provided the vestments do not become a stumbling block to either the ministers or the congregation. One of these days I’ll learn to be more careful in the words I choose.
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by frival
on July 21, 2006
Hmpf. I finally got the joy of being comment spammed, so I’ve turned on word verification for comments. Being a software engineer I should have known better than to not do so right away. I guess that’s what I get for being a little too trusting…
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by frival
on July 19, 2006
After surfing over to mycatholic.com, I found a link to a great article by Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph. D. at catholiceducation.org, “‘Imposing Our Beliefs’ on Others“. In it he makes the same argument I have made to many before regarding the concept that we cannot form laws to impose our beliefs on others, noting the fact that the essence law itself is the imposition of a belief on others. He says it, however, more eloquenly:
…law is fundamentally about imposing somebody’s views on somebody else. Imposition is the name of the game. It is the very nature of law to impose particular views on people who don’t want to have those views imposed on them. Car thieves don’t want laws imposed on them which prohibit stealing. Drug dealers don’t want laws imposed on them which make it illegal to sell drugs. Yet our lawmakers are elected precisely to craft and impose such laws all the time. So the question is not whether we will impose something on somebody. The question is instead whether whatever is going to be imposed by the force of law is reasonable, just, and good for society and its members.
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by frival
on July 18, 2006
I’m still slowly making my way through Pope Benedict’s book. The interesting thing is, when I first started reading Benedict’s writing, I thought it almost too simplistic in comparison to the up-front depth of Pope John Paul II’s writing. As I read more, I discover that in the ready comprehension I was missing the depth of Benedict’s thought – the stream of thinking runs so easily one needs to pause occasionally to realize just how far one has come in his writing. Another, somewhat extended, quote from the book:
Now at last we have reached the inmost core of the concept “Church” and the deepest meaning of the designation “sacrament of unity”. The Church is communio; she is God’s communing with men in Christ and hence the communing of men with one another – and, in consequence, sacrament, sign, instrument of salvation. The Church is the celebration of the Eucharist; the Eucharist is the Church; they do not simply stand side by side; they are one and the same. The Eucharist is the sacramentum Christi and, because the Church is Eucharistia, she is therefore also sacramentum – the sacrament to which all the other sacraments are ordered.
His handling of “Church as sacrament”, something I think is still totally missing from the common understanding of the work of Vatican II, even though brief is not to miss. I’m not even a hundred pages in to the book yet, and I can already almost guarantee this goes on my “must get” list.
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by frival
on July 18, 2006
From over at The Curt Jester there’s this beautiful ditty from Planned Parenthood (why again do they receive federal tax subsidies?) with a rather interesting list of groups under the heading of “Terrorists and Extremist Organizations”. Yes, I suppose the thought of having abortion outlawed would terrorize those who have based their whole lives on preaching death and hate, wouldn’t it? It’s amazing how much the radical Left depends on Newspeak to continue in their miserable train of thought. Depressing. Truly depressing.
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by frival
on July 18, 2006
From a reference by the good folks over at Totus Pius I’ve been led to another great resource, Fish Eaters. There is such a volume of information here, I may never get through it all. The site, as the maintainer clearly states, is plainly traditional in its bent, but in a positive and non-confrontationalist sense (i.e. we’re not looking at the rabid fringe of SSPX or Sedevacantist folks). The more great resources we can find, the better!
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by frival
on July 17, 2006
From a full-page piece in my parish’s bulletin this weekend, our pro-life organization is promoting a fast for the eight days (July 23-30) preceding the Supreme Court review of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton as “no longer just”. It’s a voluntary fast, but I think giving up a little something for a few days to help strengthen your prayer and bond with those who suffer before ever breathing air is only a tiny thing to ask. If your parish isn’t participating in this fast, maybe you should suggest something to them. Israel was saved time and again by prayer and fasting – perhaps this is the time ordained for the return to grace our country so desperately needs. Orate, fratres!
N.B. Interestingly, I haven’t seen anything about this hearing in any of the pro-life sites I’ve visited or in trying to discern the Supreme Court schedule. If someone could confirm this that’d be wonderful…
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by frival
on July 16, 2006
The American Papist has a good overview of the parties involved in the Middle East and a high-level review of positions and issues. He’s done a nice job keeping it fair and balanced and staying away from leaning into anything that could be seen to condemn either side in particular. Very useful.
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