Merry Christmas

I send to all readers of this blog heartfelt wishes for a blessed and joyous Christmas! What we have heard for the past stretch of time bears repetition here: "All of the oracles of the prophets foretold him, the Virgin Mother longed for him with love beyond all telling, John the Baptist sang of his coming and proclaimed his presence when he came." I humbly pray that we all might be able to take some bit of that longing for Christ expressed in that prayer and allow it to transform our lives. As they say, a baby changes everything. Please also take a moment to enjoy the music below. It is Tomas Luis de Victoria's version of O Magnum Mysterium which was sung as the communion hymn last night at midnight mass at the cathedral. Once again; Merry Christmas!

 

For unto them a daughter was born on this day in 1993

That daughter, born to my parents, was my dear sister Kayla, who today reaches her legal adulthood by turning eighteen. Shortly, we will commence with the traditional cake and ice cream which, I must say, looks delicious. Below is a photo we found of me and my sister when we were little up in Marquette in the Upper Peninsula. Happy Birthday Kayla!

Feed the World (Do They Know it's Christmastime?)

"Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel," which means "God with us." - St. Matthew 1:23

It is a startlingly simple verse. In St. Matthew's forthright proclamation, we see the entire economy of salvation in one sentence: God has come to dwell among us, his people. The sentiment is echoed elsewhere, in the Revelation to St. John: "And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God is with men: and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people: and God himself with them shall be their God" (Rev. 21:3). In both instances - in the first coming of Christ as an infant in a manger and the second coming of Christ as king at the end of time - we see God coming to us. This is the fundamental fact of Christianity: we seek God, and God seeks us.

But, upon further inspection, we see that the work of the Trinity has not confined God to the beginning of the first millennium and the end of days, God is constantly reaching out to us through the work of his Holy Spirit in the Church. Most obviously, His sacramental presence in the Eucharist turns both of these verses into statements of present fact rather than fulfilled and yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecy. Let us consider the Eucharistic dimensions of both circumstances.

In his birth at Bethlehem, Jesus reveals a number of things about his continued presence among his people. Firstly, Bethlehem is a place-name which means "House of Bread", which of course has obvious Eucharistic overtones. Furthermore, the manger must not be overlooked - it was a place where animals came to feed. Are we not animals to one another without the constant grace of God? And, even further, we must consider that Bethlehem was the city of David, the king. Christ is the new and eternal king, who reigns over the universe forever. David had wished to build a proper temple for sacrifice. God would not permit him for he had ruined his purity by waging war. God instead chose Mary, the pure virgin, to bring forth Christ the eternal temple, priest, and sacrifice - Emmanuel. Micah 5:1 proclaims something to this effect: "And you Bethlehem Ephrata, are a little one among the thousands of Juda, out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity."

St. John in recording his visions in Revelation describes the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a bride prepared for her husband. The wedding feast of the lamb described in the surrounding chapters paints us a picture of perfect communion with the Lamb of God - a communion foreshadowed during each mass when we receive the Lamb of God in the sacrament.

God is not confined by time. By his very nature, God is eternal, and he acts in eternal ways. "Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today: and the same for ever," says the author of the letter to the Hebrews. God, when he came among us as a child in a manger is the same as the God who will establish his communion with us at the end of time in the eternal banquet of the Lamb. This is the same God, who by the power of his spirit, manifests himself in the Eucharist, at every mass, every day, around the world, "from the rising of the sun, even unto its setting."

The oracle of the prophet Isaiah, repeated by St. Matthew, is daily fulfilled: "The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she shall name him Emmanuel, God is with us." The eternal manna daily comes down from heaven to feed the world, just as it did 2,011 years ago in Bethlehem, and just as it will in the untold future when Christ returns in glory. This year for Christmas, consider all of the blessings God has given us, and take special note of the blessing of the Eucharist - God with us.

Mumford and Sons for the End of Advent

We are in the home stretch of Advent now, with Christmas exactly one week away. I discovered this song today by one of my favorite bands of late, Mumford and Sons. It is a cover of the old hymn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." Do enjoy!

End of Semester Diary

We have been ever so frantic on this side of the computer screen in recent days. With deadlines, due dates, and exams a-plenty, it has been hard to look forward to the coming weeks at home and the coming months in Australia. That said, I have managed to scrounge up a good deal of time to spend with close friends. It is times like these, after all, that give life its sweetness.

On Friday of last week, I was pleased to be able to attend a small Christmas party at a friend's home in Newcastle, Indiana - which is approximately thirty minutes south of Muncie (longer, if by some stroke of fate, all of the bridges across the White River are in a state of construction). Newcastle is one of those towns that could be the county seat of any of those rural counties that stretch from Pennsylvania to Colorado - a pleasant place full of welcoming people. She had invited several of us down to enjoy the particularly Midwestern pleasure of a social gathering in a barn. Pool was played, convivial conversation was enjoyed, and an all around good time was had by all. We retired to the house for the night, and were treated to a sumptuous country breakfast in the morning before heading back to Muncie, which plays the part of our Caput Mundi for nine months out of the year.

The rest of Saturday was quite frankly spent looking out the window in studio and accomplishing very little. It is a curious thing that during first and second year we were deprived of windows in our studios - to our considerable consternation, but, now that we have them, they end up being more of a curse than a blessing. It's no matter though, the project was eventually completed with great fanfare in the middle of the night on Sunday.

Saturday evening brought its own special delight - that of the Muncie Civic Theater's production of the classic holiday musical Scrooge! Our esteemed friend and colleague, Heather, played the role of townsperson very convincingly, and we all marveled at the assortment of headdresses such a role entails. Long story short, seeing the traditional tale of Ebenezer Scrooge performed was a fantastic way to begin to ease ourselves into the Christmas spirit!

Up early on Sunday morning - had the curious feeling that I ought to be productive all day long. Now, when struck with this feeling, I typically roll over until the feeling passes, but I was feeling especially ambitious for one reason or another. Off to 11:15 mass at St. Francis, which was said by the Most Reverend Timothy Doherty, Bishop of Lafayette-in-Indiana. His Excellency was installed quite recently in this diocese, and was surprisingly young and energetic (as far as bishops go). I am quite confident that he will continue to be a strong and wise shepherd to the local church.

The saying of mass by the bishop would perhaps not merit more than a sentence or two, but a most interesting and embarrassing episode accompanied me on my way to meet His Excellency after mass. You see, we have been stricken of late with a plague of sneezes that has produced quite violent results. Now, being a person of good manners, I endeavored after mass to greet the bishop and thank him for coming to Muncie and saying mass. I walked up to him and he said hello, and I was just in the midst of replying, when in the middle of the word "bishop" some trickster demon awoke within me the plague of sneezes and I sneezed quite vigorously. Needless to say, the accompanying "bless you" from His Excellency was probably the most meaningful one I'll ever get.

After recovering from the societal faux pas of sneezing on one of the successors of the Apostles, the rest of the day was spent laboring on various projects here and there, with very little time for anything leisurely. Monday was crit day for our studio projects, so we dressed up nicely and endured all manner of provocation from the faculty. The two bright spots of the afternoon were the cheese and cracker spread and the children from the Project School in Indianapolis who had come up to see our designs for a high school adjoining their grade school. They were quite fun.

Monday concluded with an evening get-together at the home of our studio professor. It was nice to enjoy the company of our studio colleagues in a non-pressurized setting, and to talk with our professor in a non-formal, non-architectural way. All in all, a good way to round out what has sometimes been a tumultuous semester in the Architecture Building.

Presently, final exams are upon Ball State. As we speak, hundreds of students are huddled in all manner of nook and cranny in the library, hopelessly attempting to cram their noggins full of information to be spewed out tomorrow morning. I, on the other hand, having undergone the more hellish demands of the semester last week, am engaged in different, but nonetheless important tasks. One such undertaking is responding to a questionnaire about Australia which was emailed to me. It was regrettably composed in Comic Sans, so one had to spend a good deal of time reformatting the thing so that a proper font could be used in an aesthetically pleasing way before it could be sent back. I am not sure if I can trust these people to get me across the Pacific in one piece if they are clinging to such childish things as Comic Sans.

We head back to the Great Lakes State on Thursday, and cannot be more excited to be home for the holidays at long last! We are looking forward with great expectation to a Christmas break brimming with happy times with family and friends before we depart for adventures on the opposite side of this ever-spinning globe.

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (Dante and the Virgen de Guadalupe)

One of my favorite songs of the season is the German carol "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" which is often translated into English as "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." The second verse, roughly translated into English without poetic license reads:

The rosebud that I mean, of which Isaiah told is Mary, the pure, who brought us the floweret. At God’s immortal word, she has borne a child remaining a pure maid.

Thinking about this song the other day, I thought it particularly appropriate to link the image of the rose described in the lyrics to the feast we celebrate today, that of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To remind you of the story, I turn to the infallible Wikipedia for its narrative of the events:

Two accounts published in the 1640s, one in Spanish and the other in Nahuatl, tell how, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531 (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire), the peasant Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen or sixteen, surrounded by light, on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language, Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor, and from her words Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary. Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return and ask the Lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. It was winter and very late in the season for any flowers to bloom, but on the hilltop (which was usually barren), Diego found Castillian roses, and the Virgin herself arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego opened the cloak before Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric.

Roses were instrumental in the miraculous apparition that occurred in 1531. Our Lady has long been addressed by the title of Rosa Mystica or Mystical Rose in the liturgical life of the Church. Dante added his ideas when he described the highest heaven in his Paradiso as a magnificent rose (of which the Virgin Mary had the highest place). This rose was the closest any created creature could come to the presence of God himself.

Now, I am no mystic or philosopher, but I can suspect some reasons as to the rose being such an important symbol throughout history. There is a pious legend that says that all of the roses in Eden had no thorns. The roses we know are very beautiful flowers that are blemished with thorns, just as humanity is blemished with sin. So, the rose, in a way, points to our spiritual journey toward God's presence, where all of our blemishes will be taken away, and we will stand before God's throne as the unique beautiful creatures that we are.

We can be comforted by this thought when we consider God's hand in the "pruning" process. Last week for the mass of the Immaculate Conception, we heard in the Gospel that "nothing shall be impossible for God." If God can be born of a virgin, if that virgin can be created as an unblemished rose, if that virgin can appear to a Mexican peasant to confirm God's presence among his people, what reason have we to doubt the power of God in our own lives? No matter how down we get, or how far away from God we are, nothing shall be impossible for God, if we but let him prune us of our thorns.

Help! I'm allergic to Rick Perry!

The social media sphere has erupted in the past few days over an ad that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry released. The video was met with an almost fanatical acerbic reaction, as if Mr. Perry had called for the abolition of the continent of South America or something. And just what did Mr. Perry say? He voiced his opposition to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and he expressed his dismay at the government's bullying of religious organizations of late. Now, let me voice my political disclaimer: I do not identify with the Republican Party, and I tend to view Rick Perry as a juvenile politician at best.

That said, I find it a bit disquieting that many of the same people who berate politicians for their supposed lack of civility are the first to jump on Rick Perry's dissenting opinion. Is this man not allowed to have his morals influence his politics? Thomas Jefferson, no fan of the organized religions of his day, was the first to point out that democracy cannot exist without virtuous citizens. Heck, even the pagan philosophers like Aristotle realized this fact. Why, when a similar sentiment comes from a Christian from Texas do some Americans boil over?

In my mind, there is legitimate room for debate on each of the issues Mr. Perry brings up in his campaign ad. If we truly believe in free speech and free exercise of religion as described in the First Amendment, Rick Perry has every right to voice his opinions as informed by his conscience - that's how democracy works, or should work in theory. But, it seems of late that this democratic dialogue is being increasingly stifled. We are to tolerate and approve of everything and everyone except those who voice religious or moral objections to certain policies or behaviors - those we must berate and scold for their benighted views.

Could Rick Perry's ad have been more eloquent? Could it have focused more on the pressing issues of the day - the economy, war, etc? I think yes is the answer to both. Was Rick Perry's ad offensive and mean-spirited? If you are offended by those different from you, then perhaps it was. Savor the irony here.

You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation for all Catholics. It is on this day that we recall the conception of Mary without sin in the womb of her mother, Anne. God, in his mercy and providence, preserved Mary from all stain of sin from the moment of her conception onward, so that she would become a sanctified vessel for bearing Our Lord. 

Our Lady, under the title of her Immaculate Conception has been invoked as patroness of the United States since 1792, when John Carroll, the first bishop of Baltimore (and the first Catholic bishop in the United States), asked her special protection for the nation. Pope Pius IX formalized this act in 1847. It is to her, especially on this memorial of her conception, that we Americans should ask for her intercession before God's throne for the sake of our nation. 

Since Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is our patroness, we have honored her in this country with the building of a spectacular church in our nation's capital. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. is truly an architectural monument of great beauty. It is the largest Catholic church in the United States, the eighth largest religious structure in the world, and the tallest building in the District of Columbia. Construction began in 1920 and was completed in 1959, though interior decoration continues to this day, with the main dome's mosaics yet to be completed as planned.

I have had the great privilege of visiting this splendid basilica during the course of a high school trip to Washington to take part in the March for Life. It is truly an awe-inspiring and beautiful place. The architecture is a curious - but successful - mix of Byzantine and Romanesque motifs. One gets the feeling that the architects took the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and melted them together. Marian symbols and quotations abound, and the crypt is lined with chapels devoted to Our Lady under her many titles. The crypt also displays several other pieces of interest, most interestingly the papal tiara of Pope Paul VI. 

The photo shows the high altar and the sanctuary decorated for Christmas. The mosaic in the apse (i.e. the background of the photo) is a particularly stern depiction of Jesus in majesty.

Prepare for Mitten War, Wisconsin!

We even have a children's book about it for God's sake!

Wisconsin does not often raise our ire, for it is generally an agreeable place with a charming dialect. However, recent shenanigans have made it abundantly clear that Wisconsin can no longer be trusted as a neighbor to the one and only Great Lakes State. The reason for this interdiction is the recent use of the mitten as a symbol of Wisconsin on the state's tourism website. Is nothing sacred?! Michigan has had exclusive claims on the mitten-shape since time immemorial! We Michiganders point out our hometowns on our built-in maps - our hands! Does Wisconsin possess this venerable geographical and anatomical heritage? I think not! I have just attempted to persuade my hand to form a shape similar to the state of Wisconsin, and was met with much resistance.

Now, I know a few people from Wisconsin, and have even lived with one. They are very nice people (please pronounce "nice" with as many long i sounds as possible). But, none of them has ever uttered the regrettable heresy that their state looks like a mitten. It's unthinkable. Very few things can rouse me this level of indignation, but - along with a call to deport the cast of Jersey Shore - I say we boycott Wisconsin, and anything of it, including cheese, if necessary, until this tragedy is brought to a happy conclusion!

If you wish to view the unholy image in question, do so at your own choosing. I will not be posting a link here, for these are respectable pages that shant by profaned by such undignified URLs. 

Haydn's "Te Deum" for the Empress Marie Therese

We have been rather too neglectful of Joseph Haydn, the Austrian composer of the classical period. His work is often overshadowed by the other giants of the era, most notably Mozart. This is Haydn's "Te Deum" for Empress Marie Therese. The "Te Deum" is an ancient hymn of praise originally written by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in the Fourth Century. This particular version is quite joyful and happy. Enjoy!

Some Novenas

The Catholic Church has a deep history and profound heritage of formal prayer. One form of prayer that is particularly common is that of a novena, which is essentially a nine-day prayer. Quoth The Catholic Encyclopedia:

A nine days' private or public devotion in the Catholic Church to obtain special graces. The octave [eight days] has more of the festal character; to the novena belongs that of hopeful mourning, of yearning, of prayer. "The number nine in Holy Writ is indicative of suffering and grief" (St. Jerome, in Ezech., vii, 24; — P.L., XXV, 238, cf. XXV, 1473). The novena is permitted and even recommended by ecclesiastical authority, but still has no proper and fully set place in the liturgy of the Church. It has, however, more and more been prized and utilized by the faithful. Four kinds of novenas can be distinguished: novenas of mourning, of preparation, of prayer, and the indulgenced novenas, though this distinction is not exclusive.

We bring this to your attention, O Reader, for today, Nov. 30 traditionally begins two interesting novenas: that of St. Andrew, and that of the Immaculate Conception. Since the feast of Mary's Immaculate Conception is celebrated December 8th, many have begun the novena today, so that the ninth and final day of prayer corresponds with the feast day (a holy day of obligation, we must recall). The prayers of this novena can be found here.

The Christmas Novena of St. Andrew is of a slightly different nature. It is not a novena, per se, because it lasts longer than nine days. It begins today, the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, and ends on Christmas. The form of the novena is the recitation of the prayer below fifteen times each day:

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

We understand that doing anything fifteen times a day seems like a lot to ask, but, we are positive there are many among us who check Facebook and Twitter much more than this per day. And, really, the prayer is no longer than your garden variety Hail Mary. Incorporating prayers such as these into our daily life can help us to conform our prayer to the mind of the Church and tune us in to the desires God has for us. Advent formerly had more of a penitential character, and in the Eastern Churches it is still observed as a time for fasting in anticipation of Christ's birth. Praying a novena - a regular, disciplined prayer - can be a bit of a small penance to help us on our way toward Christmas. And, any prayer whatsoever during this busy time of passing things can help to keep us grounded in eternal things.

So, we encourage all of you out there to copy and paste the Christmas Novena of St. Andrew (or any other prayer you like) to a little sticky note - or some similar application - and keep it on your desktop of your computer for the whole of Advent. If you are not technologically inclined, write it out on a real sticky note and put it on your real desktop in your room - somewhere you will see it. Rest assured, I will be keeping all of you in my intentions. Best wishes to you for a prayerful and joyous Advent!

Eero Saarinen's Religious Masterpiece

Should any reader of these pages also have the misfortune of following me on Twitter, you may have noticed our rantings to the wee hours of the night about the writing of a certain paper for a certain class that shall remain nameless. The subject of this paper, by our own choosing, was Eero Saarinen's design for the campus and chapel of Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. Readers may recognize Eero Saarinen as the architect of the St. Louis Arch. Anyhow, Saarinen's design for the chapel has grown on me a great deal since beginning the paper. It is unabashedly modern, all of Saarinen's works were, but it has a certain artfulness about it. Light is controlled successfully, and the traditional liturgical layout is respected. In some ways, it reminds me of the simplicity of a Carthusian monastery.

Thanksgiving Diary

Of all of our peculiarities as Americans, the celebration of Thanksgiving is by far my favorite. Though we must forgive its Puritanical origins, the holiday always forms such a nice kickoff to the commercial pre-Christmas mania, and is perhaps the only thing that keeps us from being inundated with Christmas ads immediately after Halloween (though, of course, Hobby Lobby always seems to be about three holidays ahead in what they display on their floor). The irony, I suppose, is that the Puritans wouldn't have celebrated Christmas, and would, I gather, cast a characteristically dour gaze toward our overblown Black Friday hullaballoo - or any hullaballoo, for that matter.

In any event, your humble and obedient scribe was home for the holiday in Grand Rapids. Time was well spent with family, friends, and food, though not necessarily in that order of importance. A grave number of calories was ingested on several different occasions over the Thanksgiving reprieve. And, a similarly obscene number of hours were spent lying in bed - a delightful occupation for those of us who are so often deprived of our sleep due to the demands of architectural instruction. So, what have we got - gluttony and sloth? Our cardinal sinning was decidedly confined to these two vices, which seems permissible, since Dante's punishments for the gluttonous and slothful are not terribly vile.

Also accomplished was the annual Schmalzelian dispersal of Christmas knick-knacks throughout the house. I say dispersal because once the giant rubbermaid tubs are hauled up out of the crawlspace, the various Christmas accouterments seem to automatically find their respective ways to their traditional posts throughout our home - much as we wish that the confounded garland that goes over the mantle would somehow disappear quietly in the night. In due course, the house was Christmasified, which was followed  with a celebratory ingestion of even more turkey, reinvigorated in the form of turkey Manhattans - the most agreeable way to deal with Thanksgiving leftovers.

The chief event of Saturday was the implementation of the new translation of the mass, which I have detailed extensively in the previous post. After our sacred language adjustment, dinner at Salvatore's commenced. Salvatore's is one of those staple West Side eateries that always sounds good, no matter what one's disposition happens to be at the time. Though, we must report regret in not making a pilgrimage to the laudable Red Jet Cafe on the Northeast end of town.

Sunday was chiefly a day of trial, in the form of driving back to Muncie. It rained abominably the whole drive, which apparently aggravated certain drivers from Illinois enough to encourage them into the ditches off the interstate - which caused quite a spectacle (read: traffic jam). We seldom mention persons from Illinois, for our mother taught us that if one does not have anything good to say, one should not say it. This also goes for Ohio, though mention must be made of the University of Michigan finally triumphing over the barbaric oafs of Ohio State. Deo Gratias! All's well that ends well, as they say, and we finally returned to Muncie in good health, well-rested, and prepared to handle the final three weeks of this semester.

It is Right and Just

The world should have ended this weekend. Or so some one would have thought from all of the thousands of words written on the changes that occurred in the translation of the mass. Catholics everywhere were supposed to have experienced "ritual whiplash" and "gross discomfort" with the changes and revisions that went into full effect this weekend. However, in my personal experience, none of this predicted chaos occurred. For as opposed as Catholics are to change, no babies cried, no women wept in the streets, no one was mangled, dismembered, or otherwise hurt. Things were a bit bumpy in spots (a few reflexive "And also with you's" instead of the new "And with your spirit"), but when isn't there going to be a bit of an adjustment when you change something that holds millions of English-speaking Catholics together. On the whole, things went rather smoothly.

A bit of background for those readers who are utterly baffled at what the above paragraph means. In 1970, in the wake of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Pope Paul VI issued texts for a revised mass for the Roman Rite (approximately 99% of the world's Catholics). These texts were promulgated in Latin, the official language of the Church, and were subsequently translated into vernacular languages. To cut straight to the chase, the translation of the Mass of Paul VI into English was rushed and a bit shoddy. Phrases and responses that had been a part of the Church's liturgical worship for centuries were mistranslated or mangled beyond recognition, scriptural allusions which provide a direct link to God's word were clouded, and so forth. The original English texts were supposed to be a temporary holdover until better translations could be implemented. As we now realize, this temporary holdover ended up being about forty years. This weekend marked the first time that the revised Roman Missal was put into use around the English-speaking world.

I am of the firm belief that the revised and properly translated mass will ultimately be a good thing for the Church in the English-speaking world. The way in which we worship communally is tremendously important - it is in the context of this worship that God Himself becomes present in the Most Holy Sacrament. Subsequently, the words that we use in the context of our liturgy must be proper to this miracle. The revised translation is much more proper, even elegant and poetic, than the now outdated texts. I was previously a fan of the Roman Canon (the oldest of the four Eucharistic prayers) because it was the most reverent in my opinion. This past weekend, our priest said Eucharistic Prayer IV and I was blown away at the change! It has become quite an elegant prayer, to say the least.

All in all, yes it will take time to adjust to some of the new phrases, yes there may be a few missteps along the way, but this is change we can truly believe in (to borrow and adapt that soiled phrase). And, to borrow from the mass itself, it is truly right and just.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes for a happy and blessed Thanksgiving among family and friends! Enjoy the turkey!

The Crystal Cathedral is Converting

There is perhaps no greater symbol of American Evangelical mega-churchmanship than the bombastic Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. It is interesting to note, then, the recent news that the Crystal Cathedral has been sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, for eventual use as the diocese's new cathedral. It seems that the operator of the building, Crystal Cathedral Ministries, had gone bankrupt and needed to sell their property and building. At the same time, the Diocese of Orange was in great need for a larger cathedral. So, the acquisition of the property is fortuitous for both parties involved.

As a student of architecture and a critic of modernism, I tend to dislike the building itself. It is impressive structurally, and the spire is quite nice, but it will take a lot of work (and apparently several million dollars) to renovate the cavernous, auditorium-like space into something appropriate for Catholic worship. But, if the Church can turn the pagan Pantheon into a suitable place for the mass, I have no doubt that a temple to modernism and Evangelicalism can likewise be converted.

Rule Britannia!

Fun discovery today: that little musical bit they always play in movies when the scene cuts to something British has words. The sound bit in question comes from the chorus of the British patriotic song Rule Britannia which reads, "Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves! Britons never shall be slaves." Have a listen to the fantastic (and slightly humorous) version above.

Christ the King, an Inconvenient Truth

Today is the solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday of the liturgical year. This feast is an agreeable time to meditate on what it means to be the subjects of the king of the universe, Jesus Christ. In some sense, especially to us emancipated moderns, the notion of Christ as a king is a bit of an inconvenient truth, if I may use that overwrought phrase. We can deal with Christ the Good Man, Christ the Mystic, Christ the Liberator, Christ the Nonviolent, Christ the Fill in the Blank. And, to some extent, Christ was all of these things. Yet, he is and will always be a king. And we tend to cringe at that. Kings mean authority, law, and obedience - words that are not particularly well-liked in our culture of libertinism.

Christ, however, gives us a perfect model for all three. He is perfect authority himself. He is the Word of the Father made flesh and given authority over all things. He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and perfectly merciful and just. Imagine if an earthly king possessed each of these characteristics! His kingdom would be overflowing with people. Christ is also the perfect lawgiver, the new Moses, who has seen God face to face. His law is true and extends over the whole world. It is neither an oppressive nor an easy law, but truth is never either of these things. And, finally, Christ is obedient. Obedience requires humility, of which Jesus is the paramount example. The qualities I have described above are true qualities of Our Lord, and they speak to his majesty and power. Yet, he also possessed the even stronger power to humble himself of these qualities and become a man, and suffer, and die as a finite man in a historical world - just like the rest of us. This is a king that I can follow.

As members of Christ's Body, we are each called through the virtue of our baptism to be loyal subjects to our King. Each day we are given the opportunity to respect and obey His authority and law, so that we might someday be called home to reign with him in his everlasting kingdom.

As I hinted before, these are inconvenient pills for us prideful moderns to swallow. We prefer lawlessness. We like to set ourselves up as our own kings in our own lives. As I read in a recent New York Times article concerning the recent troubles at Penn State, the reason we were so outraged with the persons in power there is that we are all "convinced of our own interior wonderfulness." We get so absorbed in how awesome we all are, fed by a culture that is hesitant to reprimand anyone, that we lose sight of the fact that each of us is a sinful person, capable of falling - and falling hard. Once we reject the idea that we are God's gift to mankind, we can get back on track following God's true gift to mankind - Himself.

Victorian Zebra Carriage

It is one of the true tragedies of history that such a form of locomotion has been lost to us. Victorian persons, for all of their tight-lipped moral scruples, somehow often managed to get away with such tomfoolery.

Bauakademie by Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was the chief proponents of the Neoclassical style in Germany. His most active period of designing was during between the 1810s and the 1820s, when he oversaw the transformation of Berlin into the showplace of the Kingdom of Prussia. In the latter half of his career, Schinkel would turn from the Neoclassical to a stripped-down version of the Gothic (as can be seen in his design for the Friedrichswerder Church). Another landmark commission of this later era was the Bauakademie in Berlin, a building for an architectural and technical school. It is a building that I rather enjoy. It has the simplicity and harmony of the modernism that would eventually be perfected in Germany, while still employing traditional construction materials and decorative elements. Sadly, the building was demolished in 1962. Plans to rebuild are currently under study.

Our Pope on Our Liturgy

Our dear pontiff Benedict XVI is a man whose intellectual capacity is a true marvel to me. I believe he truly has a fantastically analytical mind, which is in constant conversation with a gentle, humble heart - it is this synthesis that makes many of his statements so profound. Below is a small portion of a talk our current pope gave in 2000, before he was elected to the Chair of Peter. The overarching theme of the entire speech concerned the New Evangelization, and how the Church might go about fulfilling its missionary mandate in the postmodern landscape. The snippet below is his thoughts on how the liturgy must reflect our message (emphases mine).

While on this subject, may I be allowed to make a general observation on the liturgical question. Our way of celebrating the liturgy is very often too rationalistic. The liturgy becomes teaching, whose criteria is: making ourselves understood—often the consequence of this is making the mystery a banality, the prevalence of our words, the repetition of phrases that might seem more accessible and more pleasant for the people.

But this is not only a theological error but also a psychological and pastoral one. The wave of esoterism, the spreading of Asian techniques of relaxation and self-emptying demonstrate that something is lacking in our liturgies. It is in our world of today that we are in need of silence, of the super-individual mystery, of beauty.

The liturgy is not an invention of the celebrating priest or of a group of specialists; the liturgy (the "rite") came about via an organic process throughout the centuries, it bears with it the fruit of the experience of faith of all the generations.

Even if the participants do not perhaps understand each single word, they perceive the profound meaning, the presence of the mystery, which transcends all words. The celebrant is not the center of liturgical action; the celebrant is not in front of the people in his own name—he does not speak by himself or for himself, but in persona Christi. The personal abilities of the celebrant do not count, only his faith counts, by which Christ becomes transparent. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

I feel keeping these four short paragraphs in mind will help Catholics understand the reasons behind the revisions coming to the mass in two short weeks. We need to restore and revive the mystery and beauty of our worship.

A Bit of Heraldry

One of the lesser things lost with the abolition of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 was its spectacular heritage of heraldry. Very few current monarchies (excepting the United Kingdom) have any such heraldry worth boasting about. For those unaware of the subject, a cursory introduction is in order. Heraldry is the art pertaining to a person's coat of arms. Now, the coat-of-arms originated in Medieval Europe, when knights would cover their armor with cloth of a particular pattern and/or color (hence, the arms or armor, was being coated). This practice allowed the knights to be easily identified upon the battlefield. Eventually, arms became hereditary and a complex array of rules were drawn up to govern the awarding of arms to a person of a subsequent generation. A highly intricate system of symbols and colors also developed, often pertaining to a person's geographical origins or personality traits (a fleur-de-lys for France, or a dog for loyalty, for example).

In the arms of Austria-Hungary as they were immediately prior to its dismemberment by the Allies, we see a pictoral microcosm of the empire and of the ruling house of Habsburg. To the left, we see the arms of Austrian portion of the empire, with the black double-headed eagle supporting the minor arms of the constituent Austrian regions. On the right are the arms of the Kingdom of Hungary, surmounted by the sacred crown of St. Stephen with its characteristic bent cross. In the center are the arms of the house of Habsburg, whose members were of course both Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary simultaneously. Thus, by looking at the entire composition, we can visually understand the government of the realm. We can add a layer of insight by translating the motto "Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter" which means "Indivisible and Inseparable" which underscores the union of the disparate ethnicities under a single monarch.

It is somewhat of a tragedy that such emblems have, by and large, ceased to exist. We have become an extremely literal and word-oriented culture, and the ancient language of symbols is largely foreign to the modern mind.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Dear readers, I have begun updating my blog that I will be using during my time in Australia. So far, I haven't posted much, but I just thought I'd alert you to its presence, should you wish to check up on some pre-departure updates now and again.

http://mattschmalzel.tumblr.com/

In Memoriam

My grandfather was a veteran of this nation's Armed Forces. He served in Korea during the conflict there. As far as I know - and I don't know much - he was involved in the maintenance of the aircraft. I don't believe he was ever in a combat situation, but then again, I don't know. Sometimes I'm saddened by the fact that my grandpa died when I was only in eighth grade. In eighth grade, I wasn't concerned with understanding the lives of my relatives - our sense of history is so numb at that age.

Please join me this Veteran's Day in praying for the deceased souls of all of our service men and women. May God grant them a place of refreshment, light, and peace.

The photo at left is my grandfather during his tour of Korea. Once, at my aunt's house, we found a photo album that my grandpa had put together of all of his time in the war. This was one of the pictures inside. I love this picture - the mustache is definitely what seals the deal!

In 80 days...

I will be in Lennox Head, Australia. This weekend there is a big meeting where we will learn the in-depth information about studying in Australia. Classes, roommates, and sundry other things will be decided upon. Also, it will be the first time where everyone who's going will be in the same room. It will be nice to at least get acquainted with faces, if not personalities.

Soon...

The Daily Niblet: San Giovanni in Laterano

Today, November 9th, marks an interesting memorial in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is on this day that we recall the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome - the pope. Many people assume that St. Peter's in the Vatican is the cathedral of Rome. This is not the case. St. John Lateran is older and in some respects more important than St. Peter's, since it is in fact the place where the pope's cathedra - or chair - is located. Since it is the cathedral of Rome, it is the mother church of both the diocese of Rome and the entire Roman Catholic Church. The church, since it is a patriarchal basilica, is technically first and foremost dedicated as "Our Savior" which is reflected in the basilica's official name: the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and of Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran.

From the Roman Martyrology:
At Rome in the Lateran, the Dedication of the Basilica of the Saviour, which is the Mother and Head of all churches in the city and the world.

At left is a view of the nave toward the high altar

Does Truth Exist?

Often, in the course of my collegiate education, other persons in class (often the professor) will say something to the effect of "Well, we can't know what truth is for sure" or "What's true for x is not necessarily true for y." This attitude is so prevalent throughout academia that it takes a great deal of sorting to snap out of it and dissect it. Gradually, I've awoken to this attitude by the help of others - most notably by reading the writings our current pope, who sees this attitude as cultural suicide for the West (more on that some other time).

The logical fallacy that each of the above statement falls to is so thinly veiled that it's almost naked, yet we are so used to it that we are conditioned not to see it. The purpose of any intellectual discussion is to uncover the truth about something. In a court case, we swear to tell the truth so that justice may be administered properly. When we obscure truth, we thus distort justice. When we lie, we obscure truth.

So, when someone says "We cannot know truth for certain" we must assume that this person is telling the truth about their beliefs, and that they know that their statement is certainly true. See the error in logic here? If I say "the sky is blue," I genuinely mean that the sky is blue, and I genuinely wish to convey this truth to you. I would not claim that the sky were blue if I knew, deep down, that it was red - it would be dishonest. Thus, when someone presents the unknowability of truth, we must assume that they do not know if what they are saying is true. This is simply the extension of the logic presented.

The second statement is similar to the first. If truth is not the same between x and y, then one can claim that my truth is better than the truth of that statement. Again, the person arguing in this way is caught in an intellectual pickle.

Long story short, when someone says "Truth cannot be known for sure" ask him or her if that statement is surely true. I would be interested to hear the ensuing discussion.

The Daily Niblet: A Burial at Ornans

"A Burial at Ornans" by Gustave Courbet

We discussed this painting today in my Honors Humanities class, and how it showed an ordinary scene - a burial - on a scale that was typically reserved for grand historical paintings. This painting was completed in 1850, and marked the transition in French art from Romanticism to Realism. I rather like it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Mozart's Coronation Mass is perhaps the greatest musical treasure in Western civilization. Clearly I'm biased, however. But, lest I deprive you of your own opinion on the matter, have a listen to the Gloria above. Truly sublime (both the music and the stunning visuals of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna).

The text of this portion of the mass, in Latin and English is below:

Glória in excélsis Deo et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis. Laudámus te, benedícimus te, adorámus te, glorificámus te, grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam, Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis, Deus Pater omnípotens. Dómine Fili Unigénite, Iesu Christe, Dómine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fílius Patris, qui tollis peccáta mundi, miserére nobis; qui tollis peccáta mundi, súscipe deprecatiónem nostram. Qui sedes ad déxteram Patris, miserére nobis. Quóniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dóminus, tu solus Altíssimus, Iesu Christe, cum Sancto Spíritu: in glória Dei Patris. Amen.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father. Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

These Will Make Fine Ancestors

I am rather interested in the history of my own family. I am what you could call a mutt of Catholic Europe with parts French, Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Austrian. The Austrian branch is the most intriguing part of things for me, since it is the source of my surname. However, sadly, I know least about them, aside from some generalities and locations. This picture shows some of my Austrian ancestors - regrettably, I don't know their names or relation to me. I do know that this picture was taken in Sankt Michael im Burgenland, a small village in eastern present-day Austria that was under the dominion of the Kingdom of Hungary during the time of the photo. I am unsure if these persons emigrated, but their sons and daughters may have. The cause was likely Hungary's intense program of Magyarization around the turn of the century, which sought to stamp out German culture in Hungary. Interestingly, this social movement caused the bizarre inclusion of another consonant in our last name, rendering it the even-more-unpronounceable Schmalczel.

Redevelop

So, readers, you must be noticing by now that I've revamped the site! I know you must all be astonished that we who are so devoted to tradition have redone things on our little corner of the web. Well, your astonishment need not be great. This blog has evolved quite substantively since it was first launched, way back in those fabled days of aught nine. I find it refreshing to re-do things about once a year or so, oftener if I am feeling particularly spontaneous. But, generally, more change than that upsets my constitution.

I do hope you enjoy the new look. I myself enjoy the brighter, cleaner look of things. The photo, also, I rather fancy (please don't misinterpret that as conceit, I just think it's more appropriate for the blog nowadays than the other image). All that said, however, it seems a bit colder and more stark. This will take some getting used to. That's all for now. Expect posts in the near future on the French Revolution, Monarchy, and something Michigan-related.

The Daily Niblet: Memento Mori

Since it's All Souls Day, and we should be praying for all of the faithful departed, I thought I'd share this image that helps us remember that we too will eventually die and hopefully join their great company. This is the Sedlec Ossuary in Sedlec, which is in the Czech Republic. It is a small chapel that contains the skeletons of approximately 40,000 persons. The result is an eerily macabre chamber that is festooned with skulls and other bones. The chandelier contains at least one of every bone in the body. The reason for the chapel's popularity for burial was that earth from Golgotha (where Christ's crucifixion took place) was spread over the cemetery by an abbot in the Middle Ages.

Thoughts on Europe

"We were making sand castles, and now we swim in the sea that swept them away" - Rem Koolhaas

"Once abolish the God, and government becomes the God." - G.K. Chesterton

Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect (whose work I do not particularly enjoy), has some interesting thoughts about the future of the European Union and the European project in general. His general premise is that Europe needs to be fixed. I believe we can all agree on this point considering recent greatly destabilizing events. He goes on to say that the economic union of the EU cannot go on being viable without political union of the EU. This is something that I've suspected for awhile now. Europe has a somewhat united economy without any means of enforcing economic policy across the continent, the European Central Bank notwithstanding.

However, the underlying problem with the entire European project is that it is a top-down scheme. The entire system is utterly superficial. Often we Americans look at Europe as if it were the United States: with countries that are basically the same living peacefully together. This is emphatically not the case. Europe is a fractured continent - the Greeks are a decidedly different people than the Italians. You cannot, then, foist a bureaucratic mess on to both countries and expect the same results. No number of eurocrats in Brussels will be able to make the Portuguese and the Spanish identical.

A parallel stream of thought on Europe suggests that since Europe has lost its shared Christian culture, it cannot truly unite in a meaningful way anyway. The basis of the word culture is the Latin word cultus, which means veneration. Thus, a culture is a group of people who venerate things in common. For Europe, this was Christianity, until the so-called Enlightenment and afterward. Nowadays, Europe is about as religiously arid a place as you can find. It is a sad fact, but it underscores the point that any European Union-esque project is bound to be unsuccessful because the last substantive bond among European nations - Christianity - has been egregiously eroded.

What could result is a super-national government in Europe. It's possible. However, it would likely possess only one leg of Western Civilization. It would be Roman rule of law, devoid of Athens' reason and Jerusalem's revelation. In short, European bureaucrats would be constructing a government in their own image, an image dependent, not on the cultus of Christ, but on the cultus of power.

The Festival of Your Holy City

All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation, was observed throughout the Catholic Church today. Through our celebration of the great cloud of witnesses (c.f. Hebrews 12:1) who have gone before us in faith, we can be inspired to lives of greater personal sanctity. As our priest remarked during the homily this evening, "Each saint took a unique path of holiness toward God's presence." If we take the time to learn about the lives of the saints, we can begin to understand that no path is more holy than another: we can lead holy lives in even the most ordinary circumstances.

However interesting that subject may be, it is not the focus of this post. The chief idea that struck me about the mass of All Saints was how our liturgical prayers are shaped directly by scripture. The first reading was taken from the book of Revelation and read thus:

I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, "Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel. After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb." All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed: "Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen." Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb." - Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14

In this passage we receive a glimpse of heavenly worship. The object of worship is the Lamb of God, who is seated in majesty on the throne. Around the throne are people gathered from "every tribe of Israel". Again, as we remarked in yesterday's post, we can discern the connection between God's people of Israel and the Church instituted by Christ. There are people from all over the world who had been gathered into Israel, and are worshipping in the heavenly Jerusalem.

We Catholics believe that the worship described in Revelation is the eternal liturgy of heaven. The mass, the liturgy on earth, is mystically united with the liturgy in heaven by the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, which gained salvation for humanity. Imagine my delight, then, when during mass we reached the preface of the Eucharistic prayer (the prayer that comes immediately before the "Holy, Holy, Holy" and changes with the day):

Today we keep the festival of Your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother. Around Your throne the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing Your praise for ever. Their glory fills us with joy, and their communion with us in Your Church gives us inspiration and strength as we hasten on our pilgrimage of faith, eager to meet them.

The Church is truly universal. The saints in heaven whom we honor today are truly our brothers and sisters. Christ has but one body and it spans earth, purgatory, and heaven. This is what is meant by the phrase "communion of saints" and the concept helps us understand prayer to the saints, and prayer for those holy souls in purgatory - we are all one, and we all must pray for each other, as St. Paul recommends (c.f. 1 Timothy 2:1).

These doctrines, though taught by the Church, may not have been as apparent to me had I not connected it with how we were worshipping during mass. What we say and hear during mass aside from the Scriptures adds layers of insight to what we hear proclaimed in the Scriptures. This is why what we say and how we pray communally is important - it reinforces the revelation of God. I have heard a few complaints about the revised translation of the mass that will go into effect in a few weeks. However, it is my firm belief that this revision will make the biblical basis of our worship so much clearer, and will thus strengthen the connection between prayer and Scripture in rich and meaningful ways.

The Great Divorce

Alongside Halloween, some mark October 31st as Reformation Day - commemorating the day that Martin Luther supposedly nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, thus sparking the Protestant Reformation. Some persons with whom I am acquainted have said that they mark the day with parties and special sermons the Sunday before. I truly find it sad and decidedly ironic that anyone would make Reformation Day out as a thing to be celebrated.

Firstly, the original reformers rallied around the theory of Sola Scriptura. To catch up those not into theological lingo, this means that the reformers rejected (or at least thought they rejected) anything and everything that was not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. The great irony, then, is that they missed these two particular verses that come from the New Testament:

And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me. That they all may be one, as you, Father, in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you have given me, I have given to them: that, they may be one, as we also are one. - John 17:20-22

Obey your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls: that they may do this with joy and not with grief. For this is not expedient for you. - Hebrews 13:17

Translation? Jesus himself prayed that his followers would remain one united body that would give glory to God through their unity. This notion hearkens back to the Israelites, the one nation chosen by God to be his people. In a similar way the Church is the one Church into which humanity must be gathered to be saved. To achieve this goal of unity, the divinely instituted authority of the Church must be respected. As the author of Hebrews reminds us, "Obey your prelates and be subject to them." Yes, I am aware that respect for authority is unfashionable these days, but it is necessary to maintain unity, lest pride and dissent develop.

Celebration of the Reformation as a happy event is insulting to the very word of God that the reformers themselves held in such high regard. It is shameful to celebrate the disunity that currently plagues Christianity. And, those who celebrate Reformation Day would do well to recall its fruits - thousands of Protestant denominations of various stripes claiming the absolute truth of the Gospel. This situation is a far cry from the unity desired of us by God.

Casting the Reformation as a triumphant event that liberated true Christianity from the oppression of Rome is simply foolish. If true Christianity had in fact been liberated in the 16th Century, logic would say that the reformers would have agreed on it. Of course, we know that the disputes among Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli were as heated as those between Luther and Pope Leo X. Bickering and divisions have been the hallmarks of Protestantism since.

In the end, celebrating the Reformation as a happy event is like throwing a party in honor of a divorce - in poor taste and misguided. Instead, we should use this day to pray for increased unity among Christians - truly a nobler goal.

This is one of my favorite orchestral works of all time (save, of course, anything by Mozart). It just has such power and emotion. Particularly astute listeners may notice the tune of "O God Beyond All Praising" in the midst of the composition.

Big Sky

I think there are some interesting peculiarities that set Michigan apart from the rest of the Midwest. We Michiganders seem (in general) to possess a peninsular mentality. Due to the enigmatic workings of geography, the state is decidedly cut off from the rest of the country. We are not on the main east-west trucking routes that characterize the rest of the states in our nations midsection. We are bordered mostly by the Great Lakes. To me, at least, this geography makes me feel protected in Michigan. There are hundreds of spots along the coast where you can have your back to a forest and look out over the water - it feels safe and serene and primordial.

Indiana, and the rest of the Midwest, is thus a bit exhilarating. It's wide. You can see forever. It's disconcerting how far you can see in some places. There's no sense of protection from the rest of the world. The wind that blows across Indiana could have started in Colorado and just kept truckin'. There was no Great Lake to buffer it before reaching its destination. In the rest of the Midwest, borders seem arbitrary. You can drive in pretty much any direction and see the same thing. Places are not defined. Counties just bleed into other counties. One might say that everything between the Rockies and the Ohio River is just a bunch of counties. There might be one decent sized city every three or four counties. The rest is mainly agriculture. And, for the most part, there's not much that distinguishes the counties of Nebraska from the counties of Indiana.

It's just interesting. Michigan is defined, encircled, enclosed. The rest of our region is ephemeral, infinite, and open. It is big.

The photo above was taken on a hill on the outskirts of Bismarck, North Dakota in June 2008.

Occupy the churches

"And I will go in unto the Altar of God: unto God, Who giveth joy to my youth" - Psalm 42:4

As an addendum to my recent thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement and the general feeling of discontent throughout the country at this particular point in time, I offer this advice - occupy the churches. Pray in God's house, receive God's grace through the mass and confession, adore Jesus in the Eucharist during adoration and benediction - these are the medicines for our societal ills. We are not facing just an economic crises. We are facing an economic crises based on a moral collapse that's been going on for decades now. We have created an environment where, as one commentator said "Everyone thought they could screw everyone else over and everyone would end up rich." The proverbial chickens are coming home to roost, I'm afraid.

I am reminded of St. Augustine's magnum opus The City of God wherein the great doctor of the Church contrasts the decaying Roman Empire where he lived with the eternity of God's presence in the Church. The city of God will always outlast any city of Man, no matter how much we would wish it otherwise. The Church - the same church that Augustine was a bishop of - has seen the rise and fall of whole civilizations. Are we so proud to think that our American civilization will have a fate any different from that of Rome, or Byzantium or even the British Empire? Civilizations come and go. God remains the same.

If we make God a priority in life, we will have the strength to deal with whatever disasters befall the city of Man. Be bold. Go in unto the altar of God, to God who gave joy to your youth!

(Photo Source)

Disjointed Friday Thoughts

I've not had much work to do this week, interestingly, so I've been more caught up in the news than I have been recently. Consequently, I've been trying to digest a lot of information all at once. Mind you, not all of these are specific current events stories, but simply things that have been rolling around and echoing in my head.

• I do not understand Occupy Wall Street, and, though I know I am not the most perceptive person, I do not think this is because a deficiency in intellect on my own part. The logic of the "Occupation" seems to be ephemeral at best and nonexistent for the most part. The best line of reasoning I can discern is: I feel entitled to the same preference given to corporations, but without any preference given to corporations (plus some other wacky, economy-destroying idea like waving the magical political wand and forgiving everyone's debt). Oh, and I don't want to have to pay for it, even though my college education has already been subsidized by the taxpayer. I get that people are angry with the injustices done by many powerful people with government help, but I feel like demanding the government to get out of business and further into ordinary citizen's lives is deficient in reason. Frankly and completely honestly, it all seems whiny and a bit silly.
• There are two interesting currents fighting against each other right now in terms of the environment and the economy. One says that the economy needs to keep growing in order to produce more wealth for more people - a simple economic principle, I think. On the other hand, there is a widespread movement to reduce consumption, and invest in long-lasting onetime purchases. With the economists shouting "start spending to get our economy back on track" and the environmentalists shouting "stop spending money on more stuff and reduce your environmental impact" we seem to be in for an interesting show in the years ahead. My personal opinion is that unbridled capitalism in our current way of thinking is completely unsustainable and that eventually we will have to go through some sort of "Great Reset" and find a more equitable way of living on this planet.
• I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with any person with any pretensions of running for the Presidency of this country. I am bound by my conscience to not support our current president due to his unjust stances on religious liberty and practice, conscience protection, and abortion. His record in these areas is simply heinous. No matter the rest of his stances, I cannot vote for a man with such a record on things so foundational to our liberty as life and God. On the other hand, the Republican Party Presidential Primary Circus Incorporated is similarly disenchanting. None of the candidates (to my knowledge) have a realistic idea of how to deal with promoting environmental infrastructure in this country, nor do any have a convincing plan on reinvesting in this country and its future (in the economy, tax policy, and education).
• Speaking of religious liberty, this will be a contentious issue very soon I'm afraid. Conflicts have been flaring up between church and state across the country on a variety of issues. In a number of cases, Catholic institutions and ministries have been forced to close their doors rather than continue ministering (often to the poorest and most vulnerable in society) in violation of their conscience. Free exercise of religion, as protected in the First Amendment is quickly devolving into "free exercise of religion, as long as you don't actually attempt to act on religious principles anywhere near any other member of society."This is a sorry development in a country that was once upon a time a refuge where people of multiple religions could practice and operate according to their own principles without having to worry about rendering unto Caesar that which is God's.

That's all for now. In more personal news, I will be heading up to Notre Dame this weekend to visit friends. I always enjoy visits there, and I'm sure it will be a grand old time. Happy Friday!

Blessed Charles, pray for us

Today is the feast of Blessed Charles of Austria, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary. In our current age, when most politicians are barely decent, let alone saintly, we need the prayers of Blessed Charles ever more urgently. Charles is recognized by the Church as having been a lone voice for peace during World War I, as well as a personally holy man. His marriage to his wife Zita was exemplary of Christian matrimony, and his sense of duty to God and his subjects is worth imitating. In my estimation, it is a shame that the Allies pushed Charles off the throne after the war. A man of his moral character would have been a good bastion against the increased radicalism in Europe in the interwar period. But, alas, the Twentieth Century saw Christian monarchs as unfashionable, and deposed them without pity.

In any event, let us pray unceasingly through the intercession of Blessed Charles for the strengthening of the moral fiber of all of our leaders of authority, both civil and religious.

Photo: The blessed Emperor greets one of his subjects

Otto Wagner + Sundry Liturgical Rants

Here's a little parish church design based on some built and unbuilt precedents from Otto Wagner. Wagner was a key figure in the artistic movement known as the Viennese Secession, a group of Art Nouveau artists who rebelled against the classicist artistic establishment. However, though they rebelled against the Beaux-Arts classicism of Vienna, they maintained much in terms of ornament, decoration, and composition that would be discarded around the middle of the 20th Century.

This particular design is based a bit on Wagner's design for a Franciscan church in Vienna. It is a small church, with room for perhaps 300 persons. It is my humble opinion that many parish churches built in the past thirty-ish years are over-sized (as well as over-lit and over-microphoned, but that is for another post). People get lost in large parishes.

Anyways, the composition is essentially a circle within a square in plan, and a cube topped with a dome in three-dimensions. The circle and square are primal geometric shapes that have a lot of symbolic richness to them: the circle represents the eternity of God, while the square represents the earth and its four corners (decided by whomever decided the earth has corners). Consequently, the unity of the circle and square can be interpreted as God and earth uniting - which of course occurs in the mass as the sacrifice of Jesus is re-presented.

Though the nave is round, the altar is located in the liturgical east. In this scheme, I have actually pushed the altar against the wall, which would allow for ad orientem worship only. Translation: the priest and the people face the same direction during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Already I hear the howling of a certain generation saying that Vatican II did away with that unpastoral practice. But, ladies and gentlemen, having read Sacrosanctum Concilium (Vatican II's constitution on the liturgy), I can find no mandate that orders the priest face the people. But, I digress: ad orientem worship has its own benefits which I will no doubt enumerate someplace else sometime in the future.

On both sides of the nave reside confessionals. Yes, those archaic boxes have returned as well! They're in continuation with tradition, and seem to me to convey the sacramental nature of confessing a bit better than some whitewashed "Reconciliation Room" that turns the sacrament into some sort of postmodern self-help session. Wow, I am ranting a lot tonight!

The choir is placed in a choir loft, along with an organ. Ah, the organ, another vintage element, which, according to Vatican II, was to "maintain pride of place" in liturgical music. Well, we certainly have ignored that haven't we? We've tossed out the organ and Gregorian chant in favor of folk-guitar renditions of "Gather Us In"...because they're more prayerful?

Back to the architecture, please! The detailing is the flowing, organic lines typical of the Art Nouveau movement. Because of this movement's short lifespan, very few churches were built in this style. This, I think, is unfortunate. Let us overlook the architectural mediocrity of 1950-present and attempt to grow from the tradition where we left off.

Here endeth the rant. In short: Wagner, Vatican II, organ, church.

I love the dunes. The western coast of Michigan is blessed with many stretches of these sandy heaps, not least of which is the shore of Big Sable Point near Ludington. Today, me and my parents took a little trip up to Ludington State Park (not more than an hour and a half drive) to enjoy the lake and the nice - though horrifically windy - weather. We parked and then walked about a mile and a half to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse, which we were able to climb for some nice 360 degree views over the lake and the dunes. Michigan in the fall, though often cold and windy, is my favorite time of year: there are no summer crowds, the leaves are colorful, and the light just seems brighter.

Some Gothic Revival Thoughts

Last night I was struck with what I call an "art attack" - ideas that have been germinating for a while simply needed to be let onto the paper. The result was a facade of a Gothic Revival church. This facade design takes in a number of influences, chiefly the civil and ecclesiastical architecture of Bertram Goodhue, the Craftsman aesthetic of early 20th Century America, and King's College Chapel at Cambridge University. Oh, and perhaps a bit of Art Deco snuck in on the sidelines.

In composition, this facade hearkens back to Goodhue's noble and austere design of the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago. There are two small towers that flank a large, gabled, central mass pierced by an immense window. Twin portals finish out the bottom of the picture. In detail, however, the more - how shall I say - American aesthetic comes into play. Preference for straight lines, right angles, and clarity is established in the overall decorative scheme. This preference was perhaps best elucidated by the well-known works of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The overarching decorative scheme centers on the person of Christ in various ways. The twin portals are divided by a stylized stone depiction of the crucifixion. Below the crucifixion scene are the symbols of the Four Evangelists over the door frames - symbolic of the Church's mission to take Christ out into the world and evangelize. Above the portals is the large western window. This window would likely depict scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary - a lens through which we can view the way to Christ more clearly. The small towers are crowned with twin angels, each holding a shield depicting a Christological symbol (the cross, the Chi-Rho, the Alpha and Omega, and the Lamb). Crowning the entire facade is the Resurrected Christ in glory (similar, perhaps, to the great statue of the Cristo Redentor that crowns Rio de Janeiro). The angels on either side bow down, bearing the instruments of the Passion.

Driving this particular mental exercise was a desire to attempt to develop an American style for church building. I am indeed enthused with the contemporary drive toward a more traditional ecclesiastical design ethos, but sometimes these projects can seem slightly imported, or foreign, in a way. I think this is because some traditional designers tend to interpret tradition to simply mean "anything from the Italian Renaissance" or "anything Gothic" instead of perhaps its more authentic definition of "building on our shared past." This is why I attempted to draw so many architectural allusions to American movements - we need to build on our shared architectural heritage as a nation, while not disregarding the architectural traditions of our mother, the Church, and our teacher, Western civilization.

Please click the image to view larger, so that the detail can be better viewed.