Ubi Petrus

NLM tells us there is a new journal on the usus antiquior just starting to get off the ground. Named, conveniently, Usus Antiquior, it is “[a] journal dedicated to the Sacred Liturgy edited by Laurence Paul Hemming & Alcuin Reid under the auspices of the Society of St. Catherine of Siena.” If you’re interested, hit their subscriptions page to indicate, and if you can spare they could use donations to help get going. A journal like this can’t possibly begin circulation soon enough.

In the Catholic-Protestant apologetics world somewhere early in every apologist’s career they’re faced with the issue of how to interpret Matthew 16:18 where we find Jesus telling Simon, “[a]nd so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” For Catholics it is one of the proofs Jesus intended Peter to be the visible head of the Church. For Protestants it is either ignored or, quite often, worked around by an appeal to the Greek.

In the Greek the words translated above as “Peter” and “rock” are transliterated as “Petros” and “petra” respectively. The masculine “Petros” means effectively “small stone” or “pebble” while the feminine “petra” means “large stone”. Protestant apologists will say this shows that Jesus was not suggesting Peter would be the Rock upon which the Church would be built but rather Jesus Himself. That argument has been answered a plethora of times (a quick search finds at least this, I’m sure you can find more if you want – suffice it to say it’s a rather weak argument at best) and is not what I’m aiming to talk about here.

What I want to do instead is to briefly take advantage of the whole “pebble” thing and look at it from a different perspective. The Protestant perspective would suggest the “small stone” interpretation means Peter was too insubstantial to be the “Rock” upon which the Church was built. But let us think for just a minute about what other time a small stone has played a major role in salvation history:

Then, staff in hand, David selected five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. With his sling also ready to hand, he approached the Philistine.
…
David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone, hurled it with the sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone embedded itself in his brow, and he fell prostrate on the ground. (Thus David overcame the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck the Philistine mortally, and did it without a sword.) (1 Sam 17:40,49-50)

David, the great king and patriarch of the line ordained from the beginning of time to lead to the Christ, used a small stone to slay the great enemy of Israel. A small stone, the weapon of a child and a shepherd – not a sword, the weapon of a warrior.

The parallels continue. David hurled the stone and struck the Philistine in the brow – if you will, struck him in his intellectual center, the “nerve center”. If you’ll allow a slight poetic license, Peter was similarly picked up from Israel and “hurled” to the very nerve center of the Roman Empire, Rome itself. God planted him in the very brow of the great Babylon as he hung upon his own inverted cross, as mortal a wound to Rome as the stone with which David struck Goliath.

So yes, maybe the whole “rock”/”small stone” issue is due to a misunderstanding about order of translations. But maybe it’s also providential that this very issue has come to us. If nothing else, it serves to remind us that we too are “hurled” into the center of our modern Babylon and only by doing what we are called to do can God use us as He used Peter. “The blood of Christians is seed.” Be planted, that the Church may grow.

I’ve been trying to find more details on this before posting on it, but since I haven’t found much I’ll put out what there is. As first detailed here, there was a very suspicious fire at Sacred Heart church in Laconia back in May, the damage from which while not catastrophic was rather expensive.

One of Laconia’s oldest Catholic churches was the victim of a hate crime.
…
Sacred candles were broken, crosses and crucifixes scattered on the ground, and pages were ripped right out of the Bible.

There was also, according to another report, significant damage to the main altar as well. Police have now made an arrest and are indeed charging the woman with arson. As bad as this sounds it’s entirely possible the woman was quite simply either insane or possessed as she is said to have spoken of ‘devils’ in the Catholic Church. The Boston Globe has this:

In court documents, police say when her pastor, Hayes Judkin of St. James Episcopal Church, visited her after the apartment arson charge, she told him there was nothing he could do as long as there were devils in the Sacred Heart Church.

As things develop I’ll be sure to post what we find. In the mean time, please pray for those affected by the fire and pray that what looks to be a very beautiful church is properly, beautifully and fully restored.

Jeff Vehige has put together a useful (and I must say very smoothly-designed) new blog at St. Peter Canisius Apostolate. I only want to know one thing: when do these people find time to sleep? Good stuff – if you visit (and you should) let him know from whence you came.

I heard this story this morning on Teresa Tomeo‘s radio show. It is stories like this that can help remind people who don’t yet understand the religious position of life beginning at conception that short of that we simply cannot define when life is and is not viable. From CNA:

Commenting on the recent birth of a baby who developed outside his mother’s womb, one of the doctors present at the delivery, Waldemir Rezende, said that the extraordinary results of the medical intervention show that it is always possible for science to save both the mother and the child.

Brazilian media has been following the case of Maria Benedita, whose difficult pregnancy could have ended in abortion but instead ended with the birth of a healthy baby.

In an interview with the Catholic News Agency, Dr. Rezende said that in cases such as Benedita’s, (which are 1 in 40,000 pregnancies), “the risks always exist and are great, but nature is wise and can help us find solutions for the different problems we encounter along the way.”

Never give up on life. Never.

I realize it is very late in her feast day, but such is life these days for me. I was struck, for what reason I still know not, today by something in the readings for Mass. Mary Magdalene wasn’t going to the tomb to see the resurrected Jesus, she was going to finish preparing the body for a proper burial. Since it’s late I’ll make the point brief – she didn’t get it right away either.

We often think of St. Thomas as the doubter, but yet here (albeit obviously earlier) we are shown as if in a caption that nobody really understood what was going on right away. Even after all the time they spent with Jesus they still didn’t understand. That is not to condemn the Apostles or any of the disciples in any way – the whole of the reality that Jesus came to fulfill was, and in many ways still is, far beyond the normal imagination of your everyday human. I very often try to tell those in our RCIA program “it’s okay – you’re not supposed to just understand it right away”. Normally we use Peter in the walking on the water episode or Thomas after Jesus appears to the Apostles to illustrate the idea that fides quarens intellectum also requires time, and that’s perfectly okay. Now I get to have one more example to add to the list. Yet another example of how the Gospels continue to talk to us in different ways no matter how many times we read them.

…that give me hope that it is possible to fix old mistakes, even in a parish church like mine that has some serious aesthetic issues in its sanctuary. (Yes, our pastor is working on it but things like roof work have taken priority first.)

A thing of beauty, I say. Congratulations to Fr. John Boyle for the courage and vision to see this work through to the end.

H/T to His Hermeneuticalness.

Fr. Rob Johansen has posted an excellent homily he gave this weekend that forms the first in a series of three on the Mass. It covers what all together too many people still get very wrong about the Mass – what is it all about?

But here’s the thing: even if we never felt we got anything out of Mass, it would still be the most noble, holy, amazing, and important thing we could ever do – because the Mass isn’t about us. The Mass is about giving the perfect honor, glory and worship to God, through making present to us here, on this altar, the eternal self-offering and sacrifice of Christ. The Mass is about Jesus, not about us.

Read the rest. You won’t be sorry.

I’d like anyone who stumbles across this post to tell me if they hear(d) anything about the first reading from the “new” lectionary (i.e. for the Novus Ordo Mass). While the Gospel is both pregnant and bursting with topics I was absolutely stunned last night when I read and then re-read the first reading. Maybe it was just me but as soon as I read it I realized that every single line needs to be read both of itself and within the collective whole.

There is no god besides you who have the care of all,

First, we are reminded that God cares for all creation, indeed that if He stopped thinking of us for even a second we would cease to exist. And not only that He has responsibility for us, but He also cares for us with a care, a love that only God can have.

that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.

God not only loves us enough to show us His Mercy, He loves us enough to show us His Justice, even as “mercy triumphs over judgement” (James 2:13). This is a clear reminder that true freedom is, as Pope Benedict has said, the freedom to do the right, not license to do whatever strikes ones fancy.

For your might is the source of justice;

Only God can be truly just and so as its epitome is also its source. Only God can be truly just because only God understands fully all parts of everything we do and has no need or use for ulterior motives. God being Truth is necessarily just.

your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.

With absolute knowledge and absolute power comes perfect mercy as well. Is this not a contradiction to everything we see around us in our world, where the “wise” and the powerful lord it over others and hold them to a higher measure than they hold themselves? No, God’s power and mastery comes from His Love for all creation and that true Love wishes only the best for each and every minute part of that creation.

For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved;

Just in case we’re tempted to think God is just a big ol’ softy who won’t do anything to us if we cross Him He provides reminders that He holds all creation in the palm of His hand. Yet we should also be reminded by everything we see around us – the flowing stream cutting through solid granite, the towering trees reaching high into the sky, the wonders our science shows us in the immensity of the tiny. We have no excuse for forgetting His might, for reminders and ever greater reminders always surround us.

and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.

This line, to me, is an absolute kick in the gut. Are we not reminded immediately of Revelations 3:15-16: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” But do we not find ourselves altogether too often lukewarm, comfortable in our beds, our homes, our conveniences and unwilling to become either hot or cold? “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (2 Tim 1:7)

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,

Again we are reminded of the disparity between the world we see around us and the Truth that is God. In our world all too often there is a no commonality between those who are “master(s) of might” and clemency. This extends from the womb to the tomb and to every point in between and points to each one of us even as we sit here thinking how it applies to someone else. We all, even our children, are a “master of might” in some way over some thing but only when we use that might with clemency – with mercy and love – do we emulate God. In God there is no disparity between power and Mercy.

and with much lenience you govern us;

Yes, indeed, God does govern us and watch over every step and every breath we take. Perhaps my favorite image is of the parent teaching their child to ride a bike without training wheels, only this Parent never really completely lets go. He loves us enough to let us do what we will, but we are never really alone.

for power, whenever you will, attends you.

I find this a most interesting and poignant statement “whenever you will“. Jesus did not will to show us His power when He hung upon the Cross – even as the great act of salvation was taking place He willed to keep it hidden; even as great power was being effected He willed to hide it in a mask of futility. And yet, when all seemed lost, that Power was revealed and neither rock nor even the chains of death could not hold Him. Only God could wield a sledgehammer and not break an egg.

And you taught your people, by these deeds,

We have been taught, but have we learned? God has given us an example and a way by which to live. Do we follow it – follow Him – or do we make our own way? Do we look for God and His Will not only in the great happenings but in the small things as well or do we shrug our shoulders at a random universe and go on unmoved, untaught? “Remember the wonderful works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered“. (Psalm 105:5) Remember.

that those who are just must be kind;

And now the tables are turned. God has shown us His ways, He has displayed His Mercy and His Justice and we are asked to participate. “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.” (St. Augustine, Sermo 169, 11, 13: PL 38,923) Our justice must be formed on His and as such must be formed and tempered by mercy. There is no other choice.

and you gave your children good ground for hope

Hope. Our hope is not unfounded, a grasping at a God we wish were there. “[A]nd hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5) Many theologians have poured hundreds of letters in proving this or that to be true, but in the end our hope relies on our faith – “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Think back to the recent visit of the Pope to the United States, the theme of which was “Christ our Hope” and you will see over and over again that in which we hope, that in which we believe, that in which we have faith.

that you would permit repentance for their sins.

It is interesting, is it not, that this Old Testament writer would put forth as the greatest hope that which we have all too often taken for granted in this day and age – “repentance for their sins“. Yet we have not only repentance but assured forgiveness right there in the confessional in Christ through the ministry of His priest, “I absolve you…” The mere thought of those words would have burst a prophet’s heart with joy. Do not avoid them, do not abandon them – allow God to do what He came down, lived and died to do – forgive our sins and give us Himself totally and completely. There is, at the end, nothing – nothing – better than this. It is our faith, it is our hope, it is our Wisdom. It is our God who does it all.