The Annunciation

Today's the Feast of the Annunciation, when the angel "announced unto Mary and she conceived by the Holy Ghost" and salvation came into the world. 

I find this reflection by Benedict XVI helpful, from his visit to the Shrine of the Annunciation in Nazareth:

What happened here in Nazareth, far from the gaze of the world, was a singular act of God, a powerful intervention in history, through which a child was conceived who was to bring salvation to the whole world. The wonder of the Incarnation continues to challenge us to open up our understanding to the limitless possibilities of God’s transforming power, of his love for us, his desire to be united with us. Here the eternally begotten Son of God became man, and so made it possible for us, his brothers and sisters, to share in his divine sonship.

That downward movement of self-emptying love made possible the upward movement of exaltation in which we too are raised to share in the life of God himself (cf. Phil 2:6-11). The Spirit who “came upon Mary” (cf. Lk 1:35) is the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of Creation (cf. Gen 1:2). We are reminded that the Incarnation was a new creative act. When our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived in Mary’s virginal womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, God united himself with our created humanity, entering into a permanent new relationship with us and ushering in a new Creation. 

The narrative of the Annunciation illustrates God’s extraordinary courtesy (cf. Mother Julian of Norwich, Revelations 77-79). He does not impose himself, he does not simply pre-determine the part that Mary will play in his plan for our salvation: he first seeks her consent. In the original Creation there was clearly no question of God seeking the consent of his creatures, but in this new Creation he does so. Mary stands in the place of all humanity. She speaks for us all when she responds to the angel’s invitation. 

Saint Bernard describes how the whole court of heaven was waiting with eager anticipation for her word of consent that consummated the nuptial union between God and humanity. The attention of all the choirs of angels was riveted on this spot, where a dialogue took place that would launch a new and definitive chapter in world history. Mary said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Word of God became flesh. 

When we reflect on this joyful mystery, it gives us hope, the sure hope that God will continue to reach into our history, to act with creative power so as to achieve goals which by human reckoning seem impossible. It challenges us to open ourselves to the transforming action of the Creator Spirit who makes us new, makes us one with him, and fills us with his life. It invites us, with exquisite courtesy, to consent to his dwelling within us, to welcome the Word of God into our hearts, enabling us to respond to him in love and to reach out in love towards one another.

When we reflect on this joyful mystery, it gives us hope, the sure hope that God will continue to reach into our history, to act with creative power so as to achieve goals which by human reckoning seem impossible. Yes indeed.

Sursum corda,

Shrines on New Years Eve

 

After reading LL's reflection on Guan Gong, it struck me that 1: I do not have a shrine or even a statue of the Chinese God of War but 2: I do have a shrine. It's just above my desk, aka "kitchen counter" and consists of a flag, crucifix and an Our Lady of Walsingham prayer card.

Not very warlike perhaps but appropriate for a padre, I think. That said, pistols, kukris, assorted bay'nets and knives have been known to find their way onto the multifunctional worksurface of the office, ahem, kitchen.

Dog

Speaking of which, many clergy keep something called "office hours." Off they drive to their churches, sit at a desk from 9-5 and then go home to their place in the suburbs. Almost as though they've taken "middle management" as some kind of beastly model or paradigm for ministry.

Never done such a thing, with one notable exception I've always lived next to the church. On the job which isn't a job but a way of life. That this has been in rural Texas for over a decade is providential, God has been very kind.

Just some trucks

This in mind, may He give us all every blessing from the beyond reckoning abundance of His grace in the coming year. More on that later, in the meanwhile, happy, almost, New Year. And pray for the repose of the soul of Benedict XVI, an exemplary servant of God.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Sunday Reflection - Discipleship

 

As Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem he calls a man to follow him: 

And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “[Lord,] let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-60)

 

Christ's words sound callous at first glance, but surely it's the business of those whose home is the world and walk according to the flesh, who are spiritually dead, to attend to the end of their condition. The disciple on the other hand is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, life itself,  a proclamation which demands total "assent to Jesus' summons" to follow him as Lord and Savior.

Benedict XVI comments:

What is made clear to us here is that assent to Jesus' summons has priority and demands totality.  That means it takes precedence and demands the totality of our being.  One cannot simply offer a piece of oneself, a portion of one's time and one's will.  In that case one has not answered this summons that is so great that it really demands and fills a whole life, but only fills it if it is offered totally.

This also means that there is a moment of Jesus Christ which one cannot put off and calculate and say: "Yes, I want to all right, but at the moment it is still too risky for me.  At the moment I still want to do this and that."

One can miss the moment of one's life, and with prudence gamble away the real worth of one's life never again to be able to recover it.  There is the time of being called in which the decision is present, and it is more important than what we have thought out for ourselves and what is in itself quite reasonable.  The reason of Jesus and his summons have precedence: they come first.  This courage to defer what seems so reasonable to us in favor of the greater thing that he is, is decisive not only in the first moment but continually on all parts of the way.  It is only in this way that we really come close to him.

 

This courage to defer what seems so reasonable to us in favor of the greater thing that he is, is decisive not only in the first moment but continually on all parts of the way.  It is only in this way that we really come close to him. Amen to that.

May God grant us such courage,

LSP

The Trinity - Sunday Sermon

 

If you wanted to make up a religion for, say, profit, fun and a seat on a private jet you wouldn't come up with the Trinity; the doctrine's too hard, that God is a trinity of Persons in unity of substance. Not three gods or three aspects of god but one God who is three distinct Persons, each one of which is fully divine. The Athanasian Creed puts it thus:

We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost.

 

It goes on to say that unless you believe this you will, without doubt, “perish everlastingly,” which sounds harsh and is doubtless why this Creed's hidden away at the back of the 1979 Prayer Book.  It's just not very polite, especially for modern Anglican sensibilities. But there it is and if we aspire to heaven we'd better worship God as He's revealed Himself to us, as triune. Can we make any sense of this or must we fall into reverent silence in the face of the mystery?

Both, surely, and perhaps the African Doctor St. Augustine comes to our aid. He teaches us that the act of love, human love, necessitates three things, a lover, the beloved and love itself. This, he believes, is analogous to the Trinity, where from all eternity the Father pours out his being to the Son in an act of perfect love. 

The Son returns the Father’s love and gives himself to the Father perfectly. So they are one in essence or substance, yet distinct as persons in their relationship one to another. And from their love, this timeless interplay of perfect being, proceeds the Spirit. The love of God personified, distinct by virtue of his procession.

Benedict XVI describes the relationship with admirable clarity: 

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one because God is love and love is an absolute life-giving force; the unity created by love is a unity greater than a purely physical unity. The Father gives everything to the Son; the Son receives everything from the Father with gratitude; and the Holy Spirit is the fruit of this mutual love of the Father and the Son.

 

Per B16, St. John sums it up in three words, "God is love." Reflect on that for more than a moment and silence, to say nothing of fear of the Lord ensues, "Remove your sandals for you are on sacred ground." But we can say this, God, in the Trinity, has revealed himself to us as an infinitely loving communion of persons. So what? So a lot. Consider some of the other options.

What if your higher power is the enigmatic "Life Force," a popular deity in San Francisco, Portland, and Austin, which sounds suspiciously like electricity, doubtless solar. But however green, electricity doesn't love you, it can't, it's not a person. Stick your finger in a light socket and find out.

Again, what if "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" by you is simply the universe, the world writ large. The good Texan soil, the trees, the sun and moon, the stars glittering in the night sky, galaxies cascading out into the icy void of deep space. Such grandeur and all good in itself but here's the thing, the atoms don't care when they're smashed together and obliterate a city. Lake Whitney doesn't shed a tear when you tragically fall off the boat and drown along with your guns. Again, this version of God doesn't love us, it can't, it's not a person. 

So what? So a lot. People become like the gods they worship and an unloving, impersonal god produces unloving disciples; followers of the Life Force become just that, all about force. You'll note that "we just want civil unions" moved to "bake the damn cake!" at warp speed.

The doctrine of the Trinity saves us from this tyranny and the despair which goes with it. God, the ultimate reality, the great I AM, is love and He loves us. He dies for us on the Cross, he reconciles us to the Father, He restores God’s image in us, He adopts us as sons as we rise reborn in the waters of the font, the Spirit anointed Sons of God, beloved by the Father, heirs in Christ of everlasting life.

What can we do but fall down in humble adoration, wonder and praise before the God who loves us and has revealed Himself to us as love, as He who is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

God bless you all,

LSP

Sunday Homily

 

"Faith without works is dead," says St. James the Apostle, much to the annoyance of Luther who felt the letter an "Epistle of straw." Of course it was, to a former Augustinian friar who held that good works were "like fleas on the skin of a dead dog." Tell us what you really think, Martin.

Still, and Luther aside, we instinctively get what James is telling us. If you believe in something and that belief isn't enacted then it's not worth much, it ain't right. Worse, it starts to take on the sulpherous, pharisaical odor of hypocrisy. And our instinct's not wrong, faith which isn't animated, which doesn't move is dead, immobile. It doesn't "profit."

James drives it home:

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food. And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

 

What doth it profit to be full of belief, such as to move mountains, but be devoid of faith's animating principle, which is love, the Holy Spirit. Benedict XVI puts it well:

Being “just” simply means being with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Further observances are no longer necessary. For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love.

 

Right on, let's act accordingly, and be sure that the raging, nihilist hatred of Devil and his anti-kingdom, to say nothing of the gates of Hell, shall not prevail.

Keep the Faith,

LSP

Prayer & Transfiguration

 

When Christ goes up the holy mountain with Peter, James and John he goes to pray and this, prayer, is quite literally a matter of life and death, of union with God or not. Here's Benedict XVI via Catholic Exchange:

Thus, for the three apostles, going up the mountain meant being involved in the prayer of Jesus, who frequently withdrew in prayer, especially at dawn and after sunset, and sometimes all night. However, this was the only time, on the mountain, that he chose to reveal to his friends the inner light that filled him when he prayed: his face, we read in the gospel, shone and his clothes were radiant with the splendor of the divine Person of the incarnate Word (see Luke 9:29).

 

Radiant with the splendor of the incarnate Word. Beautiful, and this:

Dear brothers and sisters, prayer is not an accessory or “optional,” but a question of life or death. In fact, only those who pray—in other words, who entrust themselves to God with filial love—can enter eternal life, which is God himself.

 

A terrifying warning but also a remarkable, unfathomable promise of transfiguring glory. So listen up, you heathen, and get in the business of climbing that mountain.

Oremus,

LSP

All Saints

From the great, lucid, holy Benedict XVI (2008):

The Solemnity of All Saints came to be affirmed in the course of the first Christian millennium as a collective celebration of martyrs. Already in 609, in Rome, Pope Boniface iv had consecrated the Pantheon, dedicating it to the Virgin Mary and to all the martyrs. Moreover, we can understand this martyrdom in a broad sense, in other words, as love for Christ without reserve, love that expresses itself in the total gift of self to God and to the brethren. 

This spiritual destination, toward which all the baptized strive, is reached by following the way of the Gospel "beatitudes", as the liturgy of today's Solemnity indicates (cf. Mt 5: 1-12a). It is the same path Jesus indicated that men and women Saints have striven to follow, while at the same time being aware of their human limitations. In their earthly lives, in fact, they were poor in spirit, suffering for sins, meek, hungering and thirsting for justice, merciful, pure of heart, peacemakers, persecuted for the sake of justice. 

And God let them partake in his very own happiness: they tasted it already in this world and in the next, they enjoy it in its fullness. They are now consoled, inheritors of the earth, satisfied, forgiven, seeing God whose children they are. In a word: "the reign of God is theirs" (Mt 5: 3,10).

On this day we feel revive within us our attraction to Heaven, which impels us to quicken the steps of our earthly pilgrimage. We feel enkindled in our hearts the desire to unite ourselves forever to the family of Saints, in which already now we have the grace to partake. As a famous spiritual song says: "Oh when the Saints, come marching in, oh how I want to be in that number!" 

May this beautiful aspiration burn within all Christians, and help them to overcome every difficulty, every fear, every tribulation! 

Let us place, dear friends, our hand in Mary's maternal hand, may the Queen of All Saints lead us towards our heavenly homeland, in the company of the blessed spirits "from every nation, people and language" (cf. Rv 7: 9). And already now we unite in prayer in remembering our dear deceased, who we will commemorate tomorrow.

 

And here's an ecumenical prayer via FR5:

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui nos ómnium Sanctórum tuórum mérita sub una tribuísti celebritáte venerári: quæsumus; ut desiderátam nobis tuæ propitiatiónis abundántiam, multiplicátis intercessóribus, largiáris. 

Almighty and everlasting God, who has enabled us to honor in one solemn feast the merits of all Thy Saints: we beseech Thee, that, with so many praying for us, Thou wouldst pour forth on us the abundance of Thy mercy for which we long. 

 

May the powerful intercession of Our Lady and the Saints be with us all. And be assured, the iron gates of Hell shall not prevail against the onslaught of the hosts of heaven.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

Epiphany

We celebrate the great Feast of the Epiphany today and with it look to the Magi, the Wise Men, who in turn point to Christ and reveal his nature in their gifts. Gold for Kingship, frankincense for divinity and myrrh for embalming and death. The Christ child is our divine king whose throne is the cross. But what of the Magi themselves?

They were astronomers who followed a star, and some argue this was a supernova, a conjunction of planets or something else again, a miraculous event. Perhaps it was all of these, but the Wise Men were more than  astral calculators, they were "wise," they looked for the truth and they found it, Incarnate, lying in a manger.

I was struck by this, from Pope Benedict XVI:

They were "wise." They represent the inner dynamic of religion toward self-transcendence, which involves a search for truth, a search for the true God and hence "philosophy" in the original sense of the word. Wisdom, then, serves to purify the message of "science": the rationality of that message does not remain at the level of intellectual knowledge, but seeks understanding in its fullness, and so raises reason to its loftiest possibilities.

Loftiest possibilities? Heaven itself and the throne of glory, all to be found in the baby lying under a star in a manger.

God bless you all,

LSP

Resurrection - Evolutionary Leap

Are you incapable of serious thought, so-called "LSP"? Good question and for the most part, yes. So it's a good thing there's people out there to do the heavy lifting, like Benedict XVI. He describes the resurrection as an "evolutionary" or "ontological leap." From Jesus of Nazareth Pt. II:

Perhaps we may draw upon analogical language here, inadequate in many ways, yet still able to open up a path toward understanding...we could regard the Resurrection as something akin to a radical evolutionary leap, in which a new dimension of life emerges, a new dimension of human existence. Indeed, matter itself is remolded into a new type of reality. The man Jesus, complete with his body, now belongs totally to the sphere of the divine and eternal.

He continues.

Essential, then, is the fact that Jesus' Resurrection was not just about some deceased individual coming back to life at a certain point, but that an ontological leap occurred, one that touches being as such, opening up a dimension that affects us all, creating for all of us a new space of life, a new space of being in union with God.

In brief, the risen Christ is Man taken up to a wholly new level of existence, physical and bodily yet transformed and radically other through total communion with God. He has transcended death, much less the constraints of time and space.

Thomas touched this and worshiped. 

God bless,

LSP

Christ's Prayer In The Garden

Today we're looking forward to Maundy Thursday and with it the events of the Last Supper and beyond. Christ washes his disciples' feet, institutes the Eucharist, then goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prays before falling into the hands of sinful men.

Such mystery, and we tend to concentrate on the prophetic action of the foot washing and the sacrament of Jesus' body and blood. The one, of course, begets the other. As the disciples are cleansed by Christ and made fit for the Passover feast, so too are we cleansed by the blood of Calvary and participate in the heavenly banquet of the Eucharist. 

True enough and that's the least of it, but what of Gethsemane and Christ's prayer in the garden. Here's Benedict XVI:

Jesus says: “Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want” (Mk 14:36). The natural will of the man Jesus recoils in fear before the enormity of the matter. He asks to be spared. Yet as the Son, he places this human will into the Father’s will: not I, but you. In this way he transformed the stance of Adam, the primordial human sin, and thus heals humanity. 

The stance of Adam was: not what you, O God, have desired; rather, I myself want to be a god. This pride is the real essence of sin. We think we are free and truly ourselves only if we follow our own will. God appears as the opposite of our freedom. We need to be free of him – so we think – and only then will we be free. 

This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the fundamental lie which perverts life. When human beings set themselves against God, they set themselves against the truth of their own being and consequently do not become free, but alienated from themselves. We are free only if we stand in the truth of our being, if we are united to God.

This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the fundamental lie which perverts life. And what a perversion it is, the same tormented falsehood, for example, that tells Mothers they'll find meaning and fulfillment if they kill their children.

We know where this comes from, "He was a murderer from the beginning." We also know that Hell was broken on the hard wood of the Cross.

Have a blessed and holy Triduum,

LSP

Ash Wednesday

Lent's begun and with it the invitation to enter the wilderness with Christ and commit ourselves to the spiritual battle against evil. I've found Benedict XVI's reflections helpful, here's an excerpt:

What is the essence of the three temptations to which Jesus is subjected? It is the proposal to exploit God, to use him for one’s own interests, for one’s own glory and for one’s own success. And therefore, essentially to put oneself in God’s place, removing him from one’s own existence and making him seem superfluous. Each one of us must therefore ask him- or herself: what place does God have in my life? Is he the Lord or am I?

You can read the whole thing here and while we're at it, the Ash Wednesday Collect which governs the season.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Prepare Ye The Way

It's the 2nd Sunday of Advent and the Gospel asks us to reflect on John the Baptist's call to repentance. Here's Benedict XVI: 

“As the journey of Advent continues, as we prepare to celebrate the nativity of Christ, John the Baptist's call to conversion sounds out in our communities. It is a pressing invitation to open our hearts and to welcome the Son of God Who comes among us to make divine judgement manifest. The Father, writes St. John the Evangelist, does not judge anyone, but has entrusted the power of judgement to the Son, because He is the Son of man.

“And it is today, in the present, that we decide our future destiny. It is with our concrete everyday behavior in this life that we determine our eternal fate. At the end of our days on earth, at the moment of death, we will be evaluated on the basis of our likeness or otherwise to the Baby Who is about to be born in the poor grotto of Bethlehem, because He is the measure God has given humanity.

“Through the Gospel John the Baptist continues to speak down the centuries to each generation. His hard clear words bring health to us, the men and women of this day in which even the experience and perception of Christmas often, unfortunately, reflects materialist attitudes. The 'voice' of the great prophet asks us to prepare the way for the coming Lord in the deserts of today, internal and external deserts, thirsting for the water of life which is Christ.”

I like that, and I'll resist the strong temptation to make unkind remarks about "make his paths straight" and Bruce, sorry, Cait, Jenner.

God bless,

LSP