New Years

Euchre is my family's other religion. The card game, which seems peculiar to us Northerners, functions as an effective means for conversation and competition, while at the same time working as a stop-gap so that those two things don't spiral out of control too much. Too much competition coupled with too much conversation seems to be the subtext of each and every lukewarm reality-tv show spewed out of the mouth of Hollywood anyways. Clearly I digress.

Suffice to say that we take euchre seriously, especially when money is involved. What better way to kick off the new year than with a sixteen-person tournament of the game? Surely I can think of nothing better. The game (or games, rather) began round about six thirty on New Years Day, after the dishes had been finished and digestion inaugurated. All sixteen of us processed rather solemnly to grandma's kitchen table where we chose our scorecard, and by extension, the location and partnerships of all of our games. Card tables where swiftly set up in the front and back rooms so that four games could be accommodated all at once. Initial drinks were served - whiskey slush and variations of Kahlua-mixes (might as well be the national drink, as far as we're concerned). Sometime amidst the preliminary ballyhoo, the five-dollar entrance fee was assessed and the winner's pot decided (fifty dollars for the grand champion, twenty for runner-up, and ten for third place, twenty-five cent penalty per euchre).

Then the games began - trump was called, tricks were won, euchres (and partners) were endured. We shuffled about the house kaleidoscopically, shifting alliances and chairs. Conversation ebbed and flowed, depending on the amount of concentration and importance attached to each point. Shouts and laughter erupt from the back room! Grandma is accusing Sean of cheating. Threats (which we must assume are not serious) are made. Giggles from the front room as word of the incident filters through the house. Grandma must not be getting good cards we all agree. The back window is cracked to let in some crisp night air.

A general decree goes out declaring a halftime after the fifth game is finished. Not wishing to let the activity retreat to mere eating and drinking, several of us cousins begin a quick game of Black Jack to pass the time. Twenty-one is just as rare as the loners were in the first five games of the tournament. Back to the game! Find your partners! Find your table! Are you my partner? Sit here. No, let's sit there, those seats are hot. What's trump?

And so the evening went.

By the end of the night several incidents had transpired. Who of us will ever forget the time that me and Aunt Jane got seventeen points in one game because of her three loners? Who can possibly lose track of Margaux's record-breaking number of euchres (twelve in ten games, for those of you playing at home)? Grandma's half-joking cries of foul play will surely ring clear throughout the new year.

We reconvened to hear the end results. Mark won! Second place, Matt! Third place, a tie! The tie was duly settled by left-handed arm-wrestling on the circle table. Debate concerning the validity of such a tie-breaker continued for some time. At that point the whiskey slush, the fire, and the conversation were dying. We collected our winnings, bundled up, bid goodnight, and trod off into the cold, clear night assured of a warm new year ahead.

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.

Thoughts on ArtPrize, Three Years On

This past weekend I was home (yet again) and paid another visit to downtown Grand Rapids. It was the final weekend of the annual two-and-a-half week spectacle known as ArtPrize. Founded in 2009 by Amway heir and entrepreneur, Rick DeVos, ArtPrize is a radical and profound community event. Open to any artist that can find a venue (in the defined downtown district), the competition is voted on by the general public and comes with a $250,000 grand prize - the largest art prize in the world. The event has energized Grand Rapids intensely - estimates say that it has a $7 million dollar economic impact each year, and that this year 400,000 people visited.

All that said, however, ArtPrize has its detractors. Many claim that because of its democratic voting process and open-to-all mentality, good art is not necessarily rewarded. There was considerable outcry from the so-called art snobs when the top ten were announced this year. They were, in my opinion, not the best entries. Others claim that ArtPrize is nothing but a huge publicity stunt for Grand Rapids.

However, my opinion is that the democratization of art is a good thing - especially in our current economic times when the arts are the first to see the axe in federal, state and local budgets. Since ArtPrize is essentially free for artists (aside from material costs), there is no downside to creating good art, even if it does not win in the end. Even if a certain piece of art is only seen by a fraction of the ArtPrize crowds, it can still have an impact on a viewer's thinking. I have had this experience many times.

Of course, it's the large, showy, cool pieces of art in prime locations that will always win the competition. I hate to burst that bubble for all of you, but simple math seems to support me here. If you have a good location, you increase views of your art, leading to an increase in votes for your art. Perhaps this where a possible improvement can come in - having venues be more discerning in what pieces of art they allow to be displayed on their premises.

In any event, the competition was never meant to be an end-all decision on the merits of any particular art - Rick DeVos said as much when he ignited the competition three years ago. It's purpose was to create a huge public forum for discussing art. In that respect, any ArtPrize event will be a success. It has generated a huge public response every year from a variety of media outlets, and, given the ever-changing nature of art, this will likely continue.

Yet another lens through which to view ArtPrize is its effect on Grand Rapids' image as a city. Young people are attracted to cities with vibrant urban life. In order to stop the Michigan brain drain, cities like Grand Rapids need to get serious about their urban strategies. Young people, having by and large lived most of their lives in soulless suburbs, want someplace to live that has vibrance and excitement. Now, of course, economic development of a city cannot happen overnight, and cannot happen simply on the back of a two-week event each year. However, events like ArtPrize can get people interested in downtown. People have to love a place before they will want to change it for the better. ArtPrize is a way to help people fall in love with all that Grand Rapids has to offer.

St. Matthew

Today is my name-day. Once upon a time, the feast day of the saint after whom one was named was celebrated much as we celebrate birthdays today. Today is the feast day of St. Matthew, the repentant tax collector who wrote one of the four canonical gospels. St. Matthew is often portrayed with an angel, the symbol of his gospel (the others are: an eagle for John, a winged ox for Luke, and a winged lion for Mark). The painting is by Caravaggio, who did a series of paintings on St. Matthew's life as portrayed in the gospels.

Just some other facts about this Evangelist: tradition says he was martyred spreading Christianity to Ethiopia, the name "Matthew" means "Gift of Yahweh", Matthew's gospel was addressed to the Jews and written in Hebrew.

Also, Matthew's feast day has excellent personal timing as tomorrow is my birthday. St. Matthew, pray for us!

When Germans Come to Town

Well, distinguished readers, it has been awhile since I've written anything, so I want to update everyone as to the recent goings-on this side of the computer. I haven't blogged in a great long time because of a very happy set of circumstances caused chiefly by the visit to the US of my good friend Florian - of Weil am Rhein, Germany. You may recall some of my posts dealing with my grand tour of the Continent that transpired last May. Those wonderful travels grew out of my visit to him, for which I will ever be thankful. So, long story short, he has been staying in Grand Rapids with me and my family since June 10th and will depart for his home on July 5th.

In the time that he has been here, we have attempted to survey as much of the Midwest as possible, for he did not get much opportunity for travel while he was here on exchange (the genesis of our friendship was caused by him attending my high school my senior year). Chief among the places we sampled was the great city of Chicago. It is one of those cities that never really gets old - this, I believe, was my sixth (give or take) visit. Skyscrapers were gazed at, deep-dish pizza was ingested, and a grand time was had by all.

We shifted gears from the epitome of urban to the epitome of rural as we journeyed from Chicago to the humble town of Nappanee, Indiana (probably my sixth or seventh visit there as well). Several readers of this blog are residents of Nappanee and they were gracious hosts to the two of us. Seeing the Amish was a highlight for Florian and provided a nice contrast to the hustle and bustle of the big city. On our return from Nappanee, we stopped off at the University of Notre Dame to enjoy the sights and atmosphere of that august institution.

Since then, we have stayed closer to home, with a weekend visit to the cottage (involving an entire cohort of the Schmalzel-Mitera clan, in addition to my lovely girlfriend), and a trip to Lake Michigan to enjoy the sun and sand. This past Tuesday, a party was held in Florian's honor which brought together many old friends from high school that I have not seen in some time. The jovial company lasted into the wee hours.

The greatest adventure, however, surely lies ahead. Tomorrow, at the shocking hour of 5am, we (my family, plus Florian, plus my sister's boyfriend) depart for a ten day escapade featuring such locations as Niagara Falls, Upstate New York, Boston, Acadia National Park, and the Province of Quebec. Several of the places on the itinerary will be new to all of us (Quebec City, Acadia, and Boston), while Upstate New York is an old family favorite and Montreal featured on my architecture field trip last October.

Keep us in your prayers for safe travels and the maintenance of everyone's sanity as we embark on what will surely be a memorable week. When I return, expect blogs on a number of things that have occurred recently (Pentecost, Corpus Christi) as well as my thoughts on issues as diverse as the Republican Presidential candidates to the necessity of streetcars in urban Grand Rapids. Until then, Arrivederci!

The Visitation

Today (May 31st) is the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. We hear it recorded by St. Luke in this way:

39 And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. 40 And she entered into the house of Zachary and saluted Elizabeth.

41 And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed are you that have believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord. (Luke 1:39-45)

Compare this greeting and subsequent salutation with the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in the hill-country of Obededom.

9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? 10 And he would not have the ark of the Lord brought in to himself into the city of David: but he caused it to be carried into the house of Obededom the Gethite. 11 And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household.

12 And it was told King David, that the Lord had blessed Obededom, and all that he had, because of the ark of God. So David went, and brought away the ark of God out of the house of Obededom into the city of David with joy. And there were with David seven choirs, and calves for victims. 13 And when they that carried the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed and ox and a ram: 14 And David danced with all his might before the Lord: and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 And David and all the louse of Israel brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord with joyful shouting, and with sound of trumpet. (2 Samuel 6:9-15)

St. Luke, in his description of the Mother of God visiting her cousin Elizabeth, makes allusion to the Ark of the Covenant being brought to the city of David in the Old Testament. This connection reinforces the position of Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant - Jesus Christ himself. Consider the connections:

• The salutation: Elizabeth says, "And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" David says, "How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?"
• The setting: Mary goes to visit Elizabeth "In the hill country of Judah." The house of Obededom was located in the hills of Judah
• The duration of the visit: Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months (Luke 1:56). "And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months."
• The reaction: "For behold, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." "And David danced with all his might before the Lord."

These connections reinforce the continuity and fulfillment exhibited by the New Testament in relation to the Old Testament. Mary bore Christ in a similar way that the Israelites bore the Ark of the Covenant. Both Christ and the contents of the Ark were manifestations of God's covenant with his people. The contents of the Ark prefigured Christ:

• The stone tablets of the Law, the written word of God - Jesus is the final Word of God made flesh (John 1)
• Manna from the wilderness - Jesus, the Eternal Bread from Heaven - the Eucharist (John 6)
• The Rod of Aaron, symbol of the priesthood - Jesus, the Eternal High Priest (Letter to the Hebrews)

The devotion and honor that the Israelites gave to the Ark of the Covenant is continued in the devotion and honor that Catholics give to Mary, the Mother of God. Both bore the means of God's relationship with humanity. Mary, of course, being the perfection and fulfillment of the ark, and Jesus being the perfection and fulfillment of the Law.

The Hosts of Heaven, Exult!

A Happy Easter to All! Below is the text of the Exultet, a solemn hymn sung during the Easter Vigil by a deacon before the lighting of the Paschal candle before the Liturgy of the Word (which on this, the most sacred of nights, consists of nine readings and eight Psalms). Pictured above is the ceremony known as Holy Fire which occurs during the Easter Vigil held at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem (where Christ's tomb is located). One lit candle is brought to the sanctuary, and the congregation gathers and lights their own candles until the room is full. 


Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness. Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lighting of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

(Therefore, dearest friends, standing in the awesome glory of this holy light, invoke with me, I ask you, the mercy of God almighty, that he who has been pleased to number me, though unworthy, among the Levites, may pour into me his light unshadowed, that I may sing this candle’s perfect praises.)

(V/: The Lord be with you.
R/: And with your spirit.)
V/: Lift up your hearts.
R/: We lift them up to the Lord.
V/: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
R/: It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart, and with devoted service of our voice, to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten. Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father, and pouring out his own dear Blood wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness. These then are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin. This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, lending them to grace, and joining them to his holy ones. This is the night when Christ broke the prison-bars of death, and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer! O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night of which it is written: The night shall be as bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness. The sanctifying power of this night dispels all wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty. On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God’s honour, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human. Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honour of your name, may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night. Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your Son, who coming back from death’s domain has shed his peaceful light on humanity and lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen

Spy Wednesday

I hope everyone's Holy Week is progressing well. The Wednesday of Holy Week is traditionally called Spy Wednesday - the name refers to Judas Iscariot going to the high priests and setting in motion the events of Christ's passion which will begin in earnest tomorrow evening when we leave the season of Lent and enter into the Triduum (Latin: the three great days).

Judas is an intriguing figure in the New Testament, and like it or not, most of humanity has something in common with him. Legends and pious tradition claim that Judas was a Levite, a scholar, and one of the most educated of Christ's Twelve Apostles. Christ evidently saw promise in him, as He called Judas into the first generation of priestly ministry as an Apostle. Yet, Judas betrayed his Lord for thirty measly pieces of silver.

If anything, Spy Wednesday should be a day where we reflect how our actions have betrayed God. Each time we sin and disobey God, we are like Judas setting into motion the painful drama of the death of our Lord. Jesus bore all of our betrayals on the cross. He was our paschal sacrifice, substituting himself in atonement for our transgressions. Since his sacrifice was once and for all, we can take hope in the fact that Christ has born all of our evils before. We need only repent and accuse ourselves in humility in order to be free of their weight on our soul. And what a relief repentance is!

This past Monday I went to confession for the first time in a very long time. I was practically sweating bullets waiting outside of the makeshift confessional set up in the sacristy. While in the process of confessing, however, it felt at times like my sins were trying to escape as I was saying them - that in truly acknowledging what I have done and what I have failed to do - I was cleansing my soul of a disease. I was admitting my betrayals of Christ; and Christ, through the ministry of the priest, was restoring me to himself. At the absolution (the point during confession when the priest, through the power of Christ and his Body, the Church, absolves penitents of their sins), I felt such a rush of relief flood over me. As I left the church that day, I felt a bit like skipping.

Our betrayals of Jesus can be forgiven, and in that forgiveness we are able to be restored by the grace of God to his family. We need only admit that we've done something wrong. This can be a very difficult thing to come to terms with. Perhaps we are like Judas - we are too smart for God, we know that our way is best and that our personal convictions our never wrong. Of course, the Biblical record tells us where this, the deadly sin of pride, gets people: expelled from Eden, drowned in a Flood, forbidden entry to the Promised Land, exiled to Babylon, etc. If we can admit we are wrong, we can admit that we are fallen. If we can admit we are fallen, we can seek to better ourselves and receive the sanctifying grace available to us through the cross of Christ.

"Go, and sin no more." - John 8:11

Hosanna to the Son of David

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" - Matthew 21:6

Palm Sunday is always bittersweet. We echo the joy of the crowds in Jerusalem, who welcomed Christ as the Messiah, yet we know - like Christ knew - that it would end with another procession, a long arduous procession toward agonizing death. Of course, as Christians, we know that his death is what gives us hope for life. The obedient self-sacrifice of Calvary is the eternal gate for the salvation of mankind. Through the great salvific act of Jesus Christ, the cross - an instrument of torture - became a sign of triumphant joy.

That of course, will all be reflected upon in due time. Worth noting at present is the entry of Christ and the prophecies and allusions his passage into Jerusalem recalls. In the verse at the top of this post, we read that the crowd is shouting to Jesus as the "Son of David." We recall from the prophecies read during Advent that the Messiah was to be born of the House of David in Bethlehem, the city of David. We must recall the the Old Testament was not abolished or ignored by Christ, it was fulfilled by Christ. So, we can conclude (and indeed, Catholic thought agrees) that King David was a type of Christ and that Christ would in turn be a perfection of King David.

David, of course, was King of Israel when it was at the height of its power. From his lowly origins as a shepherd, he was chosen by God to lead the nation, and was eventually victorious over the forces of Goliath and the Philistines. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (and his son Solomon built the temple for it). His authority was far reaching and he entered into a covenant with God who promised that he would "Establish your throne forever." David was also the author of many, if not all, of the Psalms; the words of which point to the future Messiah to save the world.

Christ fulfills the role of David in many ways. Jesus, known as the good shepherd, came to defeat the forces of sin through a battle (the pain of his Passion), and establish the eternal kingdom of God. David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem is fulfilled by Jesus, the law of the new covenant, entering Jerusalem in victory. And, we should not forget the universal kingship of Christ whose laws are just.

As the redemption of Christ is a universal gift for all, we must avail ourselves of it. The first step is Baptism, which incorporates us into Christ's Body with great joy - akin to the rejoicing of the crowds in Jerusalem. But, though we are members of the Church by virtue of the waters of baptism, we must continue to grow and learn to carry our crosses, even through the hardest times, for we know that at the end there is life. Carrying our crosses and living united to Christ is guided by the law of God fulfilled by Jesus, the King of All, Good Shepherd, and Son of the Living God.

Happy Birthday to the Pope

Today is the 84th birthday of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. Born in Marktl, in Bavaria, Germany to Georg and Maria Ratzinger, Joseph Ratzinger lived much of his early life with the desire to become a priest. His seminary studies were interrupted by his forced conscription in the German Army during World War II. No ideological sympathizer with Nazism (his cousin with Down syndrome had been taken to a concentration camp), he deserted his unit toward the end of the war, and was eventually allowed to return to his theological studies. He and his brother Georg were ordained on the same day as priests of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.

His priestly ministry centered on his teaching at various universities throughout Germany. He participated in the Second Vatican Council as an assistant to the Archbishop of Cologne. In favor of the reforms of the Council, he nonetheless wished to not break from the past as other, more radical theologians had desired. This position in the middle of the two extremes of modernism and traditionalism in the Church remains central to his papal ministry today.

In 1977, Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI. He served as archbishop from then until 1982, when he was made Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II, which caused him to move to Rome. As Prefect, he upheld the orthodox Catholic faith by reinforcing traditional views on priestly ministry, marriage, birth control, and other moral issues.

Ratzinger was elected pope during the Conclave of 2005, following the death of John Paul II. His firm defense of orthodoxy, coupled with his theological intellect, made him an appealing candidate. He took the name Benedict XVI because of his admiration for St. Benedict, an early monastic reformer and co-patron of Europe, and for Pope Benedict XV who worked tirelessly for peace during World War I.

Presenting the faith as the ultimate source of fulfillment in life has been a hallmark of Benedict's papacy. His three insightful encyclicals (letters on doctrine), have revolved around faith, hope, and love in the Christian faith as the ends to which all men aspire. His apostolic visits around the world have been marked with this message, delivered in a gentle and caring manner, contrary to the means of many of his detractors. Benedict has the heart and mind of a professor, who is proposing the faith to a classroom that has fallen asleep.

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At the start of his pontificate, Benedict did not impress me. I am not sure why, but I feel like it was due to my immaturity in my faith at that point in my life. As I have grown over the past few years into someone striving to take his faith more seriously, I have begun to appreciate more and more just how blessed we Catholics are to have a Pope like Benedict. The man is astoundingly intelligent (don't believe me, read some of his writings), has a caring heart for the entire world, and desires the unity of the Church as a force for Christ for fallen humanity. He has defended the moral positions of the Church with clarity, charity, and submission to the Gospel and Tradition, confounding many who see him as cold and autocratic. He is truly a "humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord," just as he said on that April day in 2005 from the balcony of St. Peter's. 

"May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies." - Psalm 40:3

(Picture taken from our friend Ross at subtectummeum.tumblr.com, because it is the most awesome picture of the Pope I have ever seen.)

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you

On this day in the Roman Catholic calendar, we commemorate the episode called the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she had been chosen to bear God's Son. This is one of my very favorite stories of the Bible because it brings all of God's plan together in a summary. The entirety of our salvation through the Church established by Christ hinged on Mary's obedience to the Lord's will.

Gabriel greets Mary
Gabriel, a messenger from God, visits Mary and declares her goodness with the words "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." From this we can understand that God is searching for us, he is seeking reunion with his children and comes to us in a variety of ways; for Mary it was through the words of an angel, for us it is through Christ, the living Word of God. The angel's greeting also stands as the ends of the Christian faith - to be full of grace in the presence of the Lord. Catholic dogma affirms Mary's lifelong sinlessness as a special grace conferred on her by the power of God. The result of this grace is that Mary is the highest example of purely human Christian life. She was full of grace her entire life, and literally was with the Lord when he was on earth. However, we can imitate her virtues and her care for her Son as we strive to live virtuously and tend to our relationship with Jesus. God is seeking us, and we seek the ultimate union with Him.

Mary's doubt
The story continues as Luke records, "But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be." Mary was troubled by Gabriel's greeting. So often we are troubled and astounded by the ways God speaks to us. Other times we hear him, but are worried about his demands.

Gabriel announces God's plan to Mary
Gabriel reassures Mary saying, "Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." Here is the real crux of the entire story - the entire story from Genesis to Revelation. God, who has affirmed the goodness and potential of humanity through the words of Gabriel, announces his plan for the salvation of humanity by a lowly Galilean virgin. The eternal Word has become finite Flesh who will "be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." All of this, God, the highest, the King of all, will be born into a suffering world by a lowly girl. This mystery of the Incarnation, of God taking flesh, is the one most central to all of Christianity. That God is willing to become a mortal and humble himself showcases the love he has for creation and his desire to reunite us to himself.

Mary's reply
Mary, after understanding what was to become of her replied to Gabriel, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." Mary, understanding her role in the plan of God's salvation, agrees to Gabriel's message. This was not a case of what would Jesus do, this was a case of the much more important question what would God have me do. Mary was not motivated by her selfish plans for her own life, but rather she was prompted by grace to enjoin her actions to the plan that God had for her - another instance of the humility that all are called to.

Summary
So, from this two paragraph story of the Annunciation, a scant twelve verses of the Gospel of St. Luke, we have discovered the over-arching themes of God's plan for us. 1. We are called to be holy and to become 'full of grace.' 2. We cannot do this alone, and we have doubts. 3. God has sent himself to us to reunite us through his life, death and resurrection. 4. We are called to answer the call of God with joy and to align ourselves with the plan of grace that he has for each of our lives. This in effect means having a life of prayer and an understanding of the discipline needed to follow Christ so that we can answer that call effectively.

A summary of this summary can be found in the Angelus prayer which was traditionally prayed in the morning, at noon, and during the evening. It is said by the Pope and those gathered at St. Peter's Square at noon. It recounts the mystery of the angel Gabriel's visit to Mary and the subsequent conception of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. The text of the Angelus is below, along with a video of the prayer being chanted in Latin.



Latin Version

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ.
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.

V. Ecce Ancilla Domini.
R. Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.

Ave Maria...

V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
R. Et habitavit in nobis.

Ave Maria...

V. Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus: Gratiam tuam quæsumus, Domine,
mentibus nostris infunde;
ut qui, angelo nuntiante,
Christi Filii tui Incarnationem cognovimus,
per passionem eius et crucem,
ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.

Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

English Version

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the power of Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to your Word.

Hail Mary...

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary...

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, Your grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

This monumental event which is so central to our salvation is celebrated as a Solemnity, so that the ordinary directive against eating meat is lifted whenever this feast falls on a Lenten Friday. So, enjoy a steak today for Jesus, guilt-free!

Forty Days and Forty Nights

We are currently in the midst of the season of Lent, a time marked by austerity and penance in the Catholic Church. The forty days leading up to Easter is a time to reflect on the state of our spiritual lives and get everything in order before the joy of the resurrection. Traditionally, this reflection has been marked by an increased observance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Prayer, our ongoing heart-to-heart with God, helps us order our lives around the precepts of a God who loves us. Through prayer, we are able to hear the quiet voice of our creator who prompts us to recommit ourselves to living out his love to the world. Fasting and abstinence from meat helps tame our earthly and bodily desires and gives a certain sharpness and penitence to our prayers. We are sinners, and through the suffering of fasting and the traditional practice of giving something up, we are able to better understand the profound blessings God gives to us each day. Almsgiving, a constant vocation of the Christian, is emphasized in a special way during Lent. We are our brothers and sisters keepers and we are called to love them in Christian charity, which God in the person of Jesus shows us perfectly.

Recommitting to God with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving can be difficult. Indeed, it is often difficult. We are so often pressured by the goings-on of daily life that God can often seem to be a remote item at the bottom of a to-do list. Lent reminds us of what should come first in our lives - the joyful simplicity of being children of the Lord. How often do we say that God should come first in our lives and then we ignore him with every decision we make? Paying lip-service to Christ is not the same as being a Christian. I'm surely not saying it's easy, and I'm certainly not saying I'm remotely innocent, but that's what Lent's all about: putting God first in deed, not just in word. As the famed author G.K. Chesterton said: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and left wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried."

Lent is a time to try for the Christian ideal. Try to grow in holiness. Try to pray, fast, and give more. Nobody said it was easy, but that's where God comes in. With our trust in him, we can be assured of his grace to help us try, and then try harder.

Like the Israelites' time in the desert, and Noah's time on the ark (which are both related to the number forty), God provided for his people. In our desert of sin, God provides us with the life-giving waters of baptism, the guiding light of confession, the manna of the Eucharist, and the road map of the Gospel. It is up to us to take God up on his offer.

3rd Sunday of Advent

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer our spirits by thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Yesterday was the third Sunday of the Advent season, sometimes known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a Latin word that means "rejoice." And it is time to rejoice, for we are now past the halfway point in Advent, and Christmas will be here soon. It is because of this joy that this Sunday is represented by the single pink candle in the Advent wreath. It is also one of the few times during the year that the liturgical color is pink (or rose, as more emphatically stated by our pastor here at Ball State who claims he "doesn't wear pink").

The joyful nature of the Advent complements the more penitent aspect. We are awaiting our Savior with joy, yet we strive to prepare our hearts and our broken natures. Perhaps in this Advent season we can understand the Church's wisdom in requiring that Catholics receive the sacrament of confession. Confession in itself is the perfect icon for the Advent season. In both instances, we approach our God with a humble, contrite heart, yet we are secure in the joy that God truly loves us. And, when its all over, the joy is multiplied, and we are empowered to go out into the world and continue our ever-constant call to increased holiness.

Much conspiratorial nonsense is made of the simple fact that Christmas falls on the date of the Roman festival of Sol Invictus - the Unconquered Sun. To me this seems like a happy coincidence. Christmas radiates light in the darkest time of the year, and we are called to reflect that light to one another in a spirit of joyful love, suffering, and evangelization. The Romans were simply celebrating the wrong sun, the literal sun. Christ, the Day-Spring, the Light of Nations, evermore poignantly enlightens the heart of humanity and empowers us to take up our crosses and follow him in joy.

In Advent, which in some ways may be called the season of Mary - in her joyful expectation - we can look to Our Blessed Mother as the ideal representation of the joyful Christian. She truly and completely bore Christ and carried his message within her heart even after he was born. As she proclaimed to Elizabeth, her soul magnifies the Lord, and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, giver of all joy.

Our Lady, Cause of Our Joy, pray for us

Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12 is an increasingly important liturgical celebration for the Catholic Church in the Americas. On that day we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most iconic images of the Blessed Virgin in the world.

The story goes something like this:
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 bishop, 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 no flowers bloomed, but on the hilltop Diego found flowers of every sort, 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.

More impressively:
Catholic sources describe the many miraculous and supernatural properties of the image. The tilma has maintained its structural integrity over nearly 500 years, while replicas normally last only about 15 years before suffering degradation it repaired itself with no external help after a 1791 ammonia spill that did considerable damage, and in 1926 an anarchist bomb destroyed the altar, but left the icon unharmed. In 1929 and 1951 photographers found a figure reflected in the Virgin's eyes; upon inspection they said that the reflection was tripled in what is called the Purkinje effect, commonly found in human eyes. An ophthalmologist, Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann, later enlarged an image of the Virgin's eyes by 2500x and found not only the aforementioned single figure, but images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was first revealed before Zumaragga in 1531, plus a small family group of mother, father, and a group of children, in the center of the Virgin's eyes, fourteen persons in all.

Numerous Catholic websites repeat an unsourced claim that in 1936 biochemist Richard Kuhn analyzed a sample of the fabric and announced that the pigments used were from no known source, whether animal, mineral or vegetable. Dr. Philip Serna Callahan, who photographed the icon under infrared light, discovered from his photographs that portions of the face, hands, robe, and mantle had been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections and no visible brush strokes.

 Our Lady of Gaudalupe has been declared patroness of the Americas, and has developed a strong devotion in Hispanic countries - especially Mexico. In areas of the United States where there are large Hispanic populations, December 12 is a great time of celebration. I know in Grand Rapids, the Spanish-speaking parishes have elaborate, traditional Mexican ceremonies on the feast day.

With the increasing demographic shift in American Catholicism, from its Northeastern Irish cradle to the Southwestern Hispanic energies, Our Lady of Guadalupe has been an important unifying devotion, given her significance throughout the New World.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Much of the historical content of this post was taken from the Wikipedia article on the subject.