…as if Fr. Z needed any help driving traffic to his blog.
…it’s funny anyway. Writing answers to faux questions about the Pope’s overture to Anglicans, Fr. Philip Powell OP writes,
4). What are the main differences between the English translation of the Roman Rite and the rite the Anglican Use parish will use?The Anglican Use Rite doesn’t condescend to the people by assuming that they are too stupid to know what words like “ineffable” mean. The language is actually real English and not committee-speak designed to desacralize the liturgy with fortune cookie inanities.
Late again, as usual:
His prayer intention for the month: That all the men and women in the world, especially those who have responsibilities in the field of politics and economics, may never fail in their commitment to safeguard creation.
His mission intention: That believers in the different religions, through the testimony of their lives and fraternal dialogue, may clearly demonstrate that the name of God is a bearer of peace.
I’m going to be there. Are you? The speakers will be Bishop Robert Hennesey, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, Bob and Penny Lord of EWTN fame and Dr. Hugo Poza of the hosting Ste. Marie Parish. Mass will be offered by Bishop John McCormack, Bishop of Manchester. What better way to spend a day and $20?
I don’t know why thoughts like this routinely come into my head at 11:30 at night. God must be preparing me for a severe sleep deprivation sometime in the future.
There I was minding my own business making my pre-bed hot chocolate and ruminating over a couple of posts at Rich’s blog. I was thinking about how agitated I get over liturgical abuses when this little conversation took place:
But why do you care so much?
Because it’s the Body and Blood of Christ. It’s Him on the altar. There’s nothing I could care about more.
Really?
{Insert dread realization of how badly I’ve failed in my role both of late and in general. Like a book of my life being opened before me, only without all the pages flipping by for dramatic effect.}
I know. I just…
Yes. You just.
Ever get that feeling in the pit of your stomach that you’ve just been found out? Yeah, that was me right there. I briefly hoped my spiritual deer in the headlights look wasn’t too obvious, but, well, that just wasn’t going to happen.
I just…
For everything I could do I’ve always had an excuse, a delaying tactic close at hand. I just need to finish college. I just need to finish up this one little chore. I just need to get the bills squared away. I just need to wait until I know without a doubt what God wants from me. There is nothing I can’t put off five minutes, five days, five years more.
Do you notice the one thing missing? Trust. There is absolutely no faith, no trust in myself or in God in those statements. I look at an opportunity to do something good, maybe even something great, and respond with an “I just” that lets me fill up with microscopic time wasters guaranteed to make sure that good or great is never done. And best of all it comes with a built in excuse – “I would have, I just…”.
It all comes down to one simple question, “which do you love more, your excuse … or your God?” For someone who has practiced the fine art of delay and forestall as long as I have the honest answer to that question comes with far more difficulty than you might otherwise think. What should be the correct answer is obvious, but do I? Do I really? “I just” has been a constant companion of mine for so long the world should seem considerably different without it.
Just as the crack addict shakes when the drug is removed, I sit here slightly cowering, wondering if I can really do this. If it were not for “with God all things are possible” this would certainly seem a task far too great. Can I get the I just beast back in his cage? Not by myself no, but with the grace of God I shall start down the road.
“Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from the Evil One.” (Mt 5:37)
Yes, the language is a bit harsh to our modern ears. But sometimes harsh is not only not bad, it’s necessary. If you find it difficult, just let it tumble about in your brain for a bit.
I believe we shall never learn how to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness , and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. — St. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, The First Mansions Ch. 2
I’m going to start right off by saying that I took a long time to write this review because this book twisted me in knots. Part of that is, frankly, my own fault for getting ahead of myself. You see, when I picked this book to review from Catholic Company I had my own plan for what this book would be. As a good American I was all set for a Home Depot-style how-to book replete with charts and diagrams and a reading plan, telling this Bible-reading-challenged soul finally, once and for all, how to read the Bible and actually get it. Remember that old saying about making God laugh by telling Him your plans? Yeah, God was having a rib-splitter here.
This is, to put a fine point on it, not a self-help, step-by-step book on how to read the Bible and in a few months know the whole story. But that is because there is no “insert Bible-challenged individual on one side, receive exegetical genius on the other” mechanism in this world. No, this book is far more useful than that. Rather than teaching you how to read the Bible as if it were a technique one can learn like pitching a baseball or riding a horse this book does something far more important – it helps put you in the proper spiritual framework to understand the Book you’re trying to read. It is, if you will, a “spiritual” how-to rather than a “technical” how-to. The Bible, read properly, must become a personal experience and this book helps get you on that road.
Let me use Dr. Hahn’s words to illustrate my point. This is taken from his essay, “My Words Are Spirit And Life”, a speech given to Catholic educators but relevant to any and every one of us:
We must not approach the mysteries of faith as mere fodder for lesson plans. We need to let that truth sanctify us. God wants to make us saints more than He wants to use us to make others saints. And, make no mistake abou it, that’s what we’re doing when we’re teaching the faith, no matter what our venue, no matter what our methods or technology. We must be saints whom God uses to make more saints.
If you want to let the Bible affect your life, and if you’re searching for a way to put joy in reading the Bible this book might just be the one for you. No, it is not for the very beginner, but it is also not so advanced as to lose anyone else. If you’re not sure you’re ready for it, try it anyway. Your effort and His help will get you a long way. We as Catholics must know our Bible and this is a ready resource to help us get there.
This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Spirit and Life.
I’m one of those people who tends to take things to extremes at times. (For those that know me, the faux-shocked expression is unnecessary.) With that understood it should come as no surprise to say that when I first decided that saying Grace before a meal was a good idea I also extended that to pretty much any time I eat. Anything. Even a glass of water, before my first sip I repeat the classic thanksgiving prayer. Some have said I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive; I’m not entirely ready to disagree on that point.
That all said, however, it also provided me an opportunity the other night. It struck me as I was sitting there about to pray before my pre-bedtime drink how we can all too easily repeat these prayers without ever thinking of what we’re saying. Now for this particular purpose there must be a million variants as every so often my kids will come home from school with a new one they just learned. For my part, though, I prefer the classic for its density of word and meaning and for not trying to include everyone and everything but staying solely within the context of thanksgiving before a meal.
There are more ways than one to make this particular prayer. Some that came to mind:
Bless us O Lord
and these Thy gifts
which we are about to receive
from Thy Bounty.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
That’s pretty standard for the way I’ve heard the prayer recited. The accent here is on asking God to bless the food we are about to eat which, given that it’s said directly before a meal, only makes sense. Something else to notice is that the “Through…” is a separate sentence, meaning we’re asking for “all of the above”, if you will, through Him. Again, very well and very good. My pea brain, however, thought of something else:
Bless us O Lord
and these Thy gifts
which we are about to receive
from Thy Bounty
through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
The accent here is changed slightly, at least in my mind. In this way we’re asking a blessing both for ourselves and the food in equal yet distinct ways. This isn’t just the typical way thanksgiving is presented in America these days, one of “thanks Lord for the food, let’s eat!” but acknowledging both our need for His blessing and that indeed the food we consume is simultaneously itself a blessing and in need of His blessing. The other difference is that instead of breaking the “through…” into a separate sentence it is contained within the first. Here we reflect on the fact that all these gifts we receive come to us only through Christ Himself, that it is not something we did or made autonomously which we present before Him looking for His approval but rather the very gifts He gave us we present before Him again seeking His blessing.
Which is better? I don’t think either is per se “better” than the other, but rather that they both teach us something different and offer us the opportunity to reflect on the immense generosity God has for us and the unearned gift that is everything we have and own. As Pope Benedict has said in other circumstances, it is not a case of “either-or” but rather “both-and”.
If I have anything to say in closing it is this: think about your prayers. Turn them over and around. God has given us great graces through His Church, including Her treasure of prayers. From these prayers were taught saints before there were books to be read – let us always reflect on this warehouse of knowledge, ever ancient, ever new.
…or “Virtue stands in the middle”. It’s an old saying attributed to Horace to which I all to infrequently turn as a reminder of how to keep my sanity. Of late I’ve been allowing myself to get stretched in every direction, unwilling to show weakness by giving anything less than all I have to whom or whatever asks. As you can imagine, giving all of yourself to everyone all the time can be tiring even for the saints, in whose blessed company I most certainly am not. So the past two days I’ve taken the opportunity to spend just a little time reading purely for pleasure and have started a book you’ll be both shocked and appalled to know I’ve never before read. Yes, somehow J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit
Do yourself a favor. In these hectic times, now and then, take a half-step back and immerse yourself in something simple like this. God did not create us to burn ourselves out with constant worry and struggle, unless you’re one of the blessed few who can spend their whole life in such efforts. It’s amazing how revitalizing a few orcs, goblins and hobits can be. And to top it off, soon I won’t have to admit I’ve never read this series with head hung low. A win, one might say, all around. My apologies if I start to write in arcane prose or smatter my posts with poetry. (Okay, so the former happens now and the latter … well, doesn’t stand much of a chance. But you get the idea.)
