The Pentecost Novena, itself, can be found here.
"Give them virtue's sure reward; give them your salvation, Lord; give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia." - From the Veni Sancte Spiritus, Sequence for Pentecost
Each of the Sacraments bestows upon the Faithful who receive them a foretaste of heavenly life. Baptism inaugurates a soul into that life by uniting them with Christ and infusing them with the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. It insures the reward of eternal bliss for the fulfillment of the Christian vocation, namely the Baptismal promises. Confirmation confirms this willful commitment and bestows further graces upon the soul in order that the Christian may come safely through the pilgrimage and warfare of this world. The Eucharist is the heavenly Food whereby we are nourished and flooded with grace.
It is this idea which the final meditation for the Pentecost Novena shall focus on, the philosophical axiom, especially popular among Thomistic theologians, "Gratia non destruit naturam sed perficit. - Grace doesn't destroy nature, but perfects it." The Holy Spirit, given to us especially in the three Sacraments of Initiation, does not force our hand, so to speak. He does not automatically make us love Him and He does not instantly destroy all vices present in our souls. Rather, He perfects that which is already present.
This is one of the themes which makes our Faith so precious, "The God Who created us without us, will not save us without us," as St. Augustine phrased it. The spiritual life is a mutual endeavor; it requires a commitment and effort on our part. When we make our baptismal promises, and each year when we renew them, it is not something we should take lightly. We are making a promise to God, the Power above all other powers, that we shall live our lives for Him, and this begins with the practice of natural virtue.
The spiritual life has its roots in the following of the natural law. Before we can participate in the Divine life to which we are called, we must be followers and practitioners of those four cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. By these the soul is given a fit foundation for the Holy Spirit to come and build His temple in our souls. The practice of those four natural virtues, along with the cement of the three theological virtues which the Holy Spirit pours forth especially through the Sacraments allow for those seven bricks of virtue - humility, chastity, generosity, meekness, love of others, diligence, and spiritual temperance - to be obtained by the Christian.
The practice and attainment of all these virtues is the sure reward for our simple effort of the will to live the Christian life and to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit. It requires a firm commitment on our part, and it does necessitate giving up many things this world offers, both bad and indifferent. Nevertheless, the small effort we put in is magnified more than we can imagine by the Holy Spirit. Our nature is perfected; we become full human beings. And not only do we "find ourselves," but we find Him for Whom our soul longs. But most importantly, ultimately, we gain salvation, and "joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia."
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Pentecost Novena: Day Seven
The Pentecost Novena, itself, can be found here.
"Bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray." - From the Veni Sancte Spiritus, Sequence for Pentecost
The spiritual life is always dynamic, never static, in this life. While upon this earth every Christian, indeed every person, is either moving closer towards God or further away from Him. And this movement is based entirely on the presence or the absence of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord said, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23)." But this love can only come about through the workings of the Holy Spirit. It is true, it seems more have been given certain graces by the Holy Spirit to bring this about in their souls, and it is of no profit for us to question why God, in His infinite Wisdom and Providence has done so, what is of concern for us is His working in our own personal lives.
If we truly believe the truths of the Christian Faith, or in reality any soul who truly believes their religion, how can they neglect to allow themselves to be affected by it? Us humans have an incredible capacity for ignoring our duties, for silencing our consciences, for deliberately choosing what we know to be bad for us. And this is all on account of the concupiscence which comes about because of our fallen nature. Even the greatest saint, our Lady excepted, had to bear with these difficulties.
And even though the acquisition of virtue can negate these tendencies to an extent, the only One Who can override them and change them is the Holy Spirit. By His grace the most vicious can become the most virtuous, the dumb can loquaciously preach, the invulnerable soul becomes vulnerable. It is He alone Who can truly change and transform a soul, there is no soul and no task He cannot accomplish.
For this reason, then, we must strive to become acquainted with Him. Although He first comes to us and draws us, we must respond to His invitation. When we do this, in love, it is then that He will make His home within us. When we ask Him to change us, He will not hesitate to respond. He shall knock down our pride and open our hearts to do His will. He will make Himself so irresistable that we will not, without knowingly forfeiting our eternal salvation, be able to turn from Him. And even, God forbid, we do this, He will still call out to us and attempt to draw us back to Himself and the path He has laid out for us.
In these days of prayer, then, as we pray for the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially those of wisdom, counsel, and understanding, may we make firm resolutions and plans for how we will come to know the Lord in a more intimate way. While our will may desire Him, unless we are ever coming to learn and meditate upon the Divine truths more and more, our hearts will likely grow cold and we risk turning away from Him.
Yet the more we study our Faith, the harder and less likely this will become. On one condition, though, we must be motivated by love - love for God! So let us delve into the Scriptures especially, but also let us learn the wisdom of the Fathers and Saints, those souls who while still on this earth, let the Holy Spirit mold them and destroy their tendency to turn from Him!
"Bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray." - From the Veni Sancte Spiritus, Sequence for Pentecost
The spiritual life is always dynamic, never static, in this life. While upon this earth every Christian, indeed every person, is either moving closer towards God or further away from Him. And this movement is based entirely on the presence or the absence of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord said, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23)." But this love can only come about through the workings of the Holy Spirit. It is true, it seems more have been given certain graces by the Holy Spirit to bring this about in their souls, and it is of no profit for us to question why God, in His infinite Wisdom and Providence has done so, what is of concern for us is His working in our own personal lives.
If we truly believe the truths of the Christian Faith, or in reality any soul who truly believes their religion, how can they neglect to allow themselves to be affected by it? Us humans have an incredible capacity for ignoring our duties, for silencing our consciences, for deliberately choosing what we know to be bad for us. And this is all on account of the concupiscence which comes about because of our fallen nature. Even the greatest saint, our Lady excepted, had to bear with these difficulties.
And even though the acquisition of virtue can negate these tendencies to an extent, the only One Who can override them and change them is the Holy Spirit. By His grace the most vicious can become the most virtuous, the dumb can loquaciously preach, the invulnerable soul becomes vulnerable. It is He alone Who can truly change and transform a soul, there is no soul and no task He cannot accomplish.
For this reason, then, we must strive to become acquainted with Him. Although He first comes to us and draws us, we must respond to His invitation. When we do this, in love, it is then that He will make His home within us. When we ask Him to change us, He will not hesitate to respond. He shall knock down our pride and open our hearts to do His will. He will make Himself so irresistable that we will not, without knowingly forfeiting our eternal salvation, be able to turn from Him. And even, God forbid, we do this, He will still call out to us and attempt to draw us back to Himself and the path He has laid out for us.
In these days of prayer, then, as we pray for the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially those of wisdom, counsel, and understanding, may we make firm resolutions and plans for how we will come to know the Lord in a more intimate way. While our will may desire Him, unless we are ever coming to learn and meditate upon the Divine truths more and more, our hearts will likely grow cold and we risk turning away from Him.
Yet the more we study our Faith, the harder and less likely this will become. On one condition, though, we must be motivated by love - love for God! So let us delve into the Scriptures especially, but also let us learn the wisdom of the Fathers and Saints, those souls who while still on this earth, let the Holy Spirit mold them and destroy their tendency to turn from Him!
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Pentecost Novena: Day Five
The Pentecost Novena, itself, can be found here.
"Where you are not, we have naught, nothing good in deed or thought, nothing free from taint of ill." - From the Veni Sancte Spiritus, Sequence for Pentecost
Many falsely believe the opposite of God is the devil, but to assert thus is to fall into the heresy of dualism which believes there are two gods or "forces" governing the universe, one good and one evil. The correct answer to, "What or who is the opposite of God?" is, "Nothing." God has no opposite; God, as the source of all that exists, can have no opposite, for this would imply another principle.
But let us not fall into this other idea, which is to assert "nothing," as something positive. "Nothing" is a lack, a privation of what might be there. While all of this can give rise to many fun word plays, it is integral to understanding just what sin is, and consequently what a life without the Holy Spirit in it is. For if God is not present, we are left with His opposite, and thus we have - nothing. Perhaps we now quickly see the reason a life without God is such a sorrowful idea.
Let this truth stir up in us great desires to never see the Holy Spirit depart from us! This is what inspires St. Paul to cry out, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-2, emphasis added)." Love - charity - is not only the foundation of the spiritual life, it is the necessary prerequisite for all merit, for virtue, for any supernatural good to be accomplished.
Without the virtue of charity, the Holy Spirit cannot impart His sevenfold gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, knowledge, and fear of the Lord to us, those gifts the novena specifically prays for! And this is because the soul is not open to receive any of those virtues without charity. Charity is that Divine receptivity, as well as that Divine Gift. To love anything implies an openness to receive from it. And the more we love, the more open we are.
Now it is the Holy Spirit, as Author of all Grace, Who accomplishes this in us. It is He Who both opens us to receive Him and He is the one Who gives Himself! Hence why our relationship with God is the most fundamental of all those relationships we shall ever know, for from it flows both our receptivity to love others and that which we can give to others. To be completely without God would imply a stone heart; it can give nothing to others, and it can receive nothing from them.
Of course, because we are not wholly destitute in this life, only the souls in Hell suffer this great burden, every soul still maintains some connection to God, no matter how small. Nonetheless, as God has the power to give speech to a rock if He so willed, so He has the power to change all hearts to be open to His love, however, He wishes to bestow it.
In order to grow in love, then, throughout these days, and in that great season of the year, Ordinary Time, which is fast approaching, may our prayer not only be for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, but may we also pray that He will open our hearts to receive their foundation more perfectly. For the more firm is the foundation, the stronger the entire edifice shall be!
"Where you are not, we have naught, nothing good in deed or thought, nothing free from taint of ill." - From the Veni Sancte Spiritus, Sequence for Pentecost
Many falsely believe the opposite of God is the devil, but to assert thus is to fall into the heresy of dualism which believes there are two gods or "forces" governing the universe, one good and one evil. The correct answer to, "What or who is the opposite of God?" is, "Nothing." God has no opposite; God, as the source of all that exists, can have no opposite, for this would imply another principle.
But let us not fall into this other idea, which is to assert "nothing," as something positive. "Nothing" is a lack, a privation of what might be there. While all of this can give rise to many fun word plays, it is integral to understanding just what sin is, and consequently what a life without the Holy Spirit in it is. For if God is not present, we are left with His opposite, and thus we have - nothing. Perhaps we now quickly see the reason a life without God is such a sorrowful idea.
Let this truth stir up in us great desires to never see the Holy Spirit depart from us! This is what inspires St. Paul to cry out, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-2, emphasis added)." Love - charity - is not only the foundation of the spiritual life, it is the necessary prerequisite for all merit, for virtue, for any supernatural good to be accomplished.
Without the virtue of charity, the Holy Spirit cannot impart His sevenfold gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, knowledge, and fear of the Lord to us, those gifts the novena specifically prays for! And this is because the soul is not open to receive any of those virtues without charity. Charity is that Divine receptivity, as well as that Divine Gift. To love anything implies an openness to receive from it. And the more we love, the more open we are.
Now it is the Holy Spirit, as Author of all Grace, Who accomplishes this in us. It is He Who both opens us to receive Him and He is the one Who gives Himself! Hence why our relationship with God is the most fundamental of all those relationships we shall ever know, for from it flows both our receptivity to love others and that which we can give to others. To be completely without God would imply a stone heart; it can give nothing to others, and it can receive nothing from them.
Of course, because we are not wholly destitute in this life, only the souls in Hell suffer this great burden, every soul still maintains some connection to God, no matter how small. Nonetheless, as God has the power to give speech to a rock if He so willed, so He has the power to change all hearts to be open to His love, however, He wishes to bestow it.
In order to grow in love, then, throughout these days, and in that great season of the year, Ordinary Time, which is fast approaching, may our prayer not only be for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, but may we also pray that He will open our hearts to receive their foundation more perfectly. For the more firm is the foundation, the stronger the entire edifice shall be!
Saturday, May 16, 2015
The Ascension of the Lord: Mediation on the Entrance Antiphons
"You kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; praise the Lord, who ascends above the highest heavens; his majesty and might are in the skies, alleluia." - Entrance Antiphon for the Vigil Mass of the Ascension of the Lord
"Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens? This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia." - Entrance Antiphon for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
These two Entrance Antiphons form an interesting pair for each other. For those who attend the Vigil Mass of the Ascension, they hear an antiphon which bids them to sing to God in the heavens, where Jesus Christ, the Conqueror of Sin and Death is seated in glory at the right hand of the Father. Yet those who attend Mass on the day of the Solemnity of the Ascension hear apparently the exact opposite. They have proclaimed the words of the angel to the Apostles immediately after Christ disappeared from their sight, to not gaze at the heavens.
The difference, we may say, lies in what each party is dwelling upon. The Apostles are at first rebuked for gazing at the heavens because they were still thinking in earthly terms. They had, right before the Ascension, asked Jesus when He was going to restore the Kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6). Jesus tells them, however, they are to go forth to every nation to proclaim the Gospel (Acts 1:8). After the Resurrection, though He dwelt upon our earth, Christ lived a glorified, spiritual life, and this is what He is calling the Apostles towards.
And this is what they finally began on the day of Pentecost, which shall occur in ten days. Pentecost ushered in the Age of the Church, and thus an age of spiritual living. We do not yet dwell upon this earth in glorified bodies, for that shall only occur after the Resurrection of the Dead when the new heavens and earth are ushered in, but we do begin to live spiritual lives.
But let us further define what we mean by the spiritual lives we now live, for we do not wish to fall into the Manichean heresy, which claimed that everything associated with the flesh was evil and all that was spirit was good. Indeed, this is a recurring idea throughout time. Similar versions are found in Plato, Gnosticism, and even some Christian denominations. It is true, after death, until the Resurrection of the Dead, we will dwell in Heaven in only a spiritual way, for the body is the physical component of man. Thus, without it we cannot have a physical presence in Heaven. Nonetheless, if we look at our Lord, the firstborn of the dead (Revelation 1:5), we know that on this day He ascended to Heaven and now dwells there in His physical body. Therefore, it cannot be that Heaven is closed to the realm of the physical.
Now as nothing impure can enter Heaven, it must follow that the body is not of itself naturally evil. So to say we now live spiritual lives is not to say we reject our physical lives. Instead, let us look at Christ and how He dwelt upon this earth for the forty days after His Resurrection. There is one key aspect we should look at, and it is that He eats with His Disciples (John 21:12-15). While theologians disagree on whether or not it will be necessary to eat after the Resurrection of the Dead, we can at least infer the body will be capable of eating. What's important for us to notice, though is the union the body and soul maintain.The body still partakes of its physical pleasures of eating, and this brings joy to the soul; the body is not mortified, but is able to enjoy itself through perfect temperance.
Just as on our earth, we are composed of body and soul, so at the end of time, we shall again be composed of body and soul forever in Heaven. If we ask for the difference, though, we may say that after the Resurrection of the Dead, there will no longer be discord between these two principles of man, but a perfect union. This, then, is what is meant by living a spiritual life, living a life where the body and soul are in union with one another.
But why call it a spiritual life, when the physical capacities of man are also involved. It is on account of the relation living a spiritual life bears to the Divine Life of God, Who is Spirit. We must recall that we believe and profess faith in One God, in Three Divine Persons. These Three Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have a union of the one same Divine Nature, and therefore, there is but one God. In a similar manner, man, made in the image of God, most perfectly shows forth that image when his soul and body are united, both in action and in will.
Some may now object, there are many times when a man wills and acts towards something evil, and thus how can he show forth the image of God perfectly at this time? The simple and accurate response is that his will and actions are not in union with one another, nor is his soul and body. Although he might will this immediate evil, perceived as good, and act towards it, his action is not in accord with his ultimate will, which is for God, Perfect Goodness. The discord within the soul becomes greater as the evil acts increase, for although man can only ever will the good, the acts he performs will become more insidious, and this shall decrease his capacity to recognize good from evil. In fact, it will be so bad so that it will actually make him detest the good.
When the soul acts for true good, on the other hand, it becomes ever more united and conformed to God, for it is being conditioned to love Goodness Itself through created things which also reflect the goodness of their Creator. And this is what Jesus constantly wished to instill into His Disciples, an outlook for the Ultimate Good, i.e. God. This is why He upbraided the Apostles for their focus on the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel; they were thinking in terms of earthly happiness. While this does not sound bad at first, we should recall the Gospel passage where Jesus rebukes Peter for this thought:
"Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, 'God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men (Matthew 16:21-23)."
These words sound harsh to us, but we must glean from them the seriousness of only focusing on earthly affairs. While it is true that planning and work for earthly goods is necessary and praiseworthy, to do so without thought of Heaven and our final end is not. This was the constant mistake of the Apostles. Nationalism in and of itself is at the very least an indifferent sentiment, if not a good one, but when all one is focused on is the success of that nation, it becomes problematic. For one must love one's nation and assist it on account of Jesus Christ, the King of all Nations. Every government is given authority ultimately from God and it is to use that authority to promote the laws of God.
And these laws are those that benefit the bodies and souls of men. Governments are tasked with making sure all peoples are protected and to promote justice. While we often think of them as primarily tasked with the earthly needs of man, they do have a share in the spiritual needs of man. While they do not have the authority over souls that the Church has, in the natural needs of the soul, such as to teach and instill virtue and right living, they participate.
Thus we come to the first of our Entrance Antiphons, which calls on the "kingdoms of the earth," to "sing to God." It does not give a singular or personal usage, such as "peoples," but addresses the kingdoms on earth, states and nations. Jesus ascends into Heaven to reign over all the earth seated at the right hand of the Father, but the nations of the earth, which have always derived their authority from God, are called to a higher degree of governance, just as their citizens are called to a higher life, the life of the Gospel!
The nations of earth must now be spiritual nations; no longer can they just be concerned with conquest and power. Instead, just as the perfection of the union of body and soul in men shows forth more perfectly the image of God, so the union of the spiritual and earthly lives of the citizens of each nation, and the union of the kingdoms of the earth themselves will manifest the image and authority of God. While the Church is meant to be the spiritual kingdom, which transcends all earthly borders and is subject to no earthly power, each earthly nation is still called to live lives of the spirit and to focus on the promotion of the laws of God within its borders. Moreover every nation is called to promote and contribute to the spreading of the Gospel.
While we may disagree on how this may come about, we can say at the basis it will involve how the government is responsible for making sure all the requirements are met for its people to live in a healthy society. And for a deeper understanding of the meaning of what a healthy society is, let us turn to Pope St. John XXIII's encyclical, Pacem in Terris, which is quoted by the Catechism:
"Human society must primarily be considered something pertaining to the spiritual. Through it, in the bright light of truth, men should share their knowledge, be able to exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations, be inspired to seek spiritual values; mutually derive genuine pleasure from the beautiful, of whatever order it be; always be readily disposed to pass on to others the best of their own cultural heritage; and eagerly strive to make their own the spiritual achievements of others. These benefits not only influence, but at the same time give aim and scope to all that has bearing on cultural expressions, economic, and social institutions, political movements and forms, laws, and all other structures by which society is outwardly established and constantly developed (Pacem in Terris, 36)."
One may notice here the interesting paradox, if governments promote healthy and true Christian ideals, that nation will be given the means to flourish and will be itself conformed to Christ. And this is on account of the spiritual aims of its citizens. A good Christian wants his civil leaders to flourish, because even in their offices, the authority of Christ is seen. A two way street is created when both parties help each other to attain Heaven, which is in itself a reflection of the Faith. God comes to meet us, who journey to meet Him. While we do not help Him, He helps us, but also asks us to participate with Him in our salvation!
And this brings us to our second Entrance Antiphon, where the Apostles are rebuked for continuing to gaze into the sky. But this rebuke comes, not because their minds are set on Heaven, for as we have said, that is the disposition we must have in all our earthly acts in order to act rightly and progressively. Instead, their rebuke comes because their minds are set on things of earth and they expect Jesus to have done all the work for them, without any need of participation.
This is contrary to what Jesus Himself had told them before His Passion. He explained to them at the end of the world, the Son of man will come in glory with all His angels, and sit upon His throne for all the living and the dead to see (Matthew 25:31-32). But He then explained that they would be judged according to their deeds, primarily their service to their neighbor (Matthew 25:34-46). After His Resurrection as well, He enjoined His Disciples to go out and preach to the nations. Through their actions, they participate in Jesus' mission of salvation, but they also reflect Him to the nations.
We may conclude that this is one of the meanings of Jesus' final words at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20)." While He was physically upon earth, He was bound to one location. Yet now that He has ascended into Heaven, He may be present to every people and nation. Indeed, the preeminent way He is present is through the Holy Eucharist, where He is truly present. Yet He is also, as we know, present in His members, insofar as they are conformed to Him.
This is why the angel says to the disciples and to us, "This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go," so that we remember we will be judged on how much we have conformed ourselves to Jesus Christ. While He walked this earth, He gave us an example of service and prayer. Now that He is ascended, as St. Teresa of Avila said, "Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world." This is the importance, then, of making sure our bodies and souls are in harmony with each other, for only by a healthy disposition can we show Christ to the world, for only then can we be in His image. But this is also the importance of making sure our nation is conformed to the laws of God, for without them, not only will it be a tool for the destruction of the Gospel in society, it will spread its errors throughout the world.
Let us, then, understand these two antiphons not as oppositional ones, but as two parts of the whole. We cannot gaze in wonder at the heavens, wondering why Christ does not return to save us and subdue the nations. Rather, we ourselves must go forth and make disciples of all the nations. We must promote cultures which give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, which clothe the naked, and visit the sick and those in prison, for these are cultures which shall endure as Christ does, because they minister to Him in their midst, and He shall continue to abide with them. But we must never lose sight of Whom we are serving or Whom we are conformed to. If we do this, we shall become embittered and angry, for only with Christ can we have authentic charity.
The Ascension of the Lord is then, an opportunity for us. It is an act of mercy of God. Through us, He now wishes to go forth to the nations in a way He could not while on earth. Through us, He wishes to show His love. Let us submit to this reign of love now so that we may not have to submit to the reign of justice. Let us look towards Heaven, not with wonder, but with love and adoration, and with that vision still in our minds, may we go forth and transform our culture, by first transforming ourselves! Then, we shall understand Christ is still present among us, and that the Second Coming at the end of time will be the glorification of that presence!
"Men of Galilee, why gaze in wonder at the heavens? This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go, alleluia." - Entrance Antiphon for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
These two Entrance Antiphons form an interesting pair for each other. For those who attend the Vigil Mass of the Ascension, they hear an antiphon which bids them to sing to God in the heavens, where Jesus Christ, the Conqueror of Sin and Death is seated in glory at the right hand of the Father. Yet those who attend Mass on the day of the Solemnity of the Ascension hear apparently the exact opposite. They have proclaimed the words of the angel to the Apostles immediately after Christ disappeared from their sight, to not gaze at the heavens.
The difference, we may say, lies in what each party is dwelling upon. The Apostles are at first rebuked for gazing at the heavens because they were still thinking in earthly terms. They had, right before the Ascension, asked Jesus when He was going to restore the Kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6). Jesus tells them, however, they are to go forth to every nation to proclaim the Gospel (Acts 1:8). After the Resurrection, though He dwelt upon our earth, Christ lived a glorified, spiritual life, and this is what He is calling the Apostles towards.
And this is what they finally began on the day of Pentecost, which shall occur in ten days. Pentecost ushered in the Age of the Church, and thus an age of spiritual living. We do not yet dwell upon this earth in glorified bodies, for that shall only occur after the Resurrection of the Dead when the new heavens and earth are ushered in, but we do begin to live spiritual lives.
But let us further define what we mean by the spiritual lives we now live, for we do not wish to fall into the Manichean heresy, which claimed that everything associated with the flesh was evil and all that was spirit was good. Indeed, this is a recurring idea throughout time. Similar versions are found in Plato, Gnosticism, and even some Christian denominations. It is true, after death, until the Resurrection of the Dead, we will dwell in Heaven in only a spiritual way, for the body is the physical component of man. Thus, without it we cannot have a physical presence in Heaven. Nonetheless, if we look at our Lord, the firstborn of the dead (Revelation 1:5), we know that on this day He ascended to Heaven and now dwells there in His physical body. Therefore, it cannot be that Heaven is closed to the realm of the physical.
Now as nothing impure can enter Heaven, it must follow that the body is not of itself naturally evil. So to say we now live spiritual lives is not to say we reject our physical lives. Instead, let us look at Christ and how He dwelt upon this earth for the forty days after His Resurrection. There is one key aspect we should look at, and it is that He eats with His Disciples (John 21:12-15). While theologians disagree on whether or not it will be necessary to eat after the Resurrection of the Dead, we can at least infer the body will be capable of eating. What's important for us to notice, though is the union the body and soul maintain.The body still partakes of its physical pleasures of eating, and this brings joy to the soul; the body is not mortified, but is able to enjoy itself through perfect temperance.
Just as on our earth, we are composed of body and soul, so at the end of time, we shall again be composed of body and soul forever in Heaven. If we ask for the difference, though, we may say that after the Resurrection of the Dead, there will no longer be discord between these two principles of man, but a perfect union. This, then, is what is meant by living a spiritual life, living a life where the body and soul are in union with one another.
But why call it a spiritual life, when the physical capacities of man are also involved. It is on account of the relation living a spiritual life bears to the Divine Life of God, Who is Spirit. We must recall that we believe and profess faith in One God, in Three Divine Persons. These Three Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have a union of the one same Divine Nature, and therefore, there is but one God. In a similar manner, man, made in the image of God, most perfectly shows forth that image when his soul and body are united, both in action and in will.
Some may now object, there are many times when a man wills and acts towards something evil, and thus how can he show forth the image of God perfectly at this time? The simple and accurate response is that his will and actions are not in union with one another, nor is his soul and body. Although he might will this immediate evil, perceived as good, and act towards it, his action is not in accord with his ultimate will, which is for God, Perfect Goodness. The discord within the soul becomes greater as the evil acts increase, for although man can only ever will the good, the acts he performs will become more insidious, and this shall decrease his capacity to recognize good from evil. In fact, it will be so bad so that it will actually make him detest the good.
When the soul acts for true good, on the other hand, it becomes ever more united and conformed to God, for it is being conditioned to love Goodness Itself through created things which also reflect the goodness of their Creator. And this is what Jesus constantly wished to instill into His Disciples, an outlook for the Ultimate Good, i.e. God. This is why He upbraided the Apostles for their focus on the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel; they were thinking in terms of earthly happiness. While this does not sound bad at first, we should recall the Gospel passage where Jesus rebukes Peter for this thought:
"Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, 'God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men (Matthew 16:21-23)."
These words sound harsh to us, but we must glean from them the seriousness of only focusing on earthly affairs. While it is true that planning and work for earthly goods is necessary and praiseworthy, to do so without thought of Heaven and our final end is not. This was the constant mistake of the Apostles. Nationalism in and of itself is at the very least an indifferent sentiment, if not a good one, but when all one is focused on is the success of that nation, it becomes problematic. For one must love one's nation and assist it on account of Jesus Christ, the King of all Nations. Every government is given authority ultimately from God and it is to use that authority to promote the laws of God.
And these laws are those that benefit the bodies and souls of men. Governments are tasked with making sure all peoples are protected and to promote justice. While we often think of them as primarily tasked with the earthly needs of man, they do have a share in the spiritual needs of man. While they do not have the authority over souls that the Church has, in the natural needs of the soul, such as to teach and instill virtue and right living, they participate.
Thus we come to the first of our Entrance Antiphons, which calls on the "kingdoms of the earth," to "sing to God." It does not give a singular or personal usage, such as "peoples," but addresses the kingdoms on earth, states and nations. Jesus ascends into Heaven to reign over all the earth seated at the right hand of the Father, but the nations of the earth, which have always derived their authority from God, are called to a higher degree of governance, just as their citizens are called to a higher life, the life of the Gospel!
The nations of earth must now be spiritual nations; no longer can they just be concerned with conquest and power. Instead, just as the perfection of the union of body and soul in men shows forth more perfectly the image of God, so the union of the spiritual and earthly lives of the citizens of each nation, and the union of the kingdoms of the earth themselves will manifest the image and authority of God. While the Church is meant to be the spiritual kingdom, which transcends all earthly borders and is subject to no earthly power, each earthly nation is still called to live lives of the spirit and to focus on the promotion of the laws of God within its borders. Moreover every nation is called to promote and contribute to the spreading of the Gospel.
While we may disagree on how this may come about, we can say at the basis it will involve how the government is responsible for making sure all the requirements are met for its people to live in a healthy society. And for a deeper understanding of the meaning of what a healthy society is, let us turn to Pope St. John XXIII's encyclical, Pacem in Terris, which is quoted by the Catechism:
"Human society must primarily be considered something pertaining to the spiritual. Through it, in the bright light of truth, men should share their knowledge, be able to exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations, be inspired to seek spiritual values; mutually derive genuine pleasure from the beautiful, of whatever order it be; always be readily disposed to pass on to others the best of their own cultural heritage; and eagerly strive to make their own the spiritual achievements of others. These benefits not only influence, but at the same time give aim and scope to all that has bearing on cultural expressions, economic, and social institutions, political movements and forms, laws, and all other structures by which society is outwardly established and constantly developed (Pacem in Terris, 36)."
One may notice here the interesting paradox, if governments promote healthy and true Christian ideals, that nation will be given the means to flourish and will be itself conformed to Christ. And this is on account of the spiritual aims of its citizens. A good Christian wants his civil leaders to flourish, because even in their offices, the authority of Christ is seen. A two way street is created when both parties help each other to attain Heaven, which is in itself a reflection of the Faith. God comes to meet us, who journey to meet Him. While we do not help Him, He helps us, but also asks us to participate with Him in our salvation!
And this brings us to our second Entrance Antiphon, where the Apostles are rebuked for continuing to gaze into the sky. But this rebuke comes, not because their minds are set on Heaven, for as we have said, that is the disposition we must have in all our earthly acts in order to act rightly and progressively. Instead, their rebuke comes because their minds are set on things of earth and they expect Jesus to have done all the work for them, without any need of participation.
This is contrary to what Jesus Himself had told them before His Passion. He explained to them at the end of the world, the Son of man will come in glory with all His angels, and sit upon His throne for all the living and the dead to see (Matthew 25:31-32). But He then explained that they would be judged according to their deeds, primarily their service to their neighbor (Matthew 25:34-46). After His Resurrection as well, He enjoined His Disciples to go out and preach to the nations. Through their actions, they participate in Jesus' mission of salvation, but they also reflect Him to the nations.
We may conclude that this is one of the meanings of Jesus' final words at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20)." While He was physically upon earth, He was bound to one location. Yet now that He has ascended into Heaven, He may be present to every people and nation. Indeed, the preeminent way He is present is through the Holy Eucharist, where He is truly present. Yet He is also, as we know, present in His members, insofar as they are conformed to Him.
This is why the angel says to the disciples and to us, "This Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven will return as you saw him go," so that we remember we will be judged on how much we have conformed ourselves to Jesus Christ. While He walked this earth, He gave us an example of service and prayer. Now that He is ascended, as St. Teresa of Avila said, "Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world." This is the importance, then, of making sure our bodies and souls are in harmony with each other, for only by a healthy disposition can we show Christ to the world, for only then can we be in His image. But this is also the importance of making sure our nation is conformed to the laws of God, for without them, not only will it be a tool for the destruction of the Gospel in society, it will spread its errors throughout the world.
Let us, then, understand these two antiphons not as oppositional ones, but as two parts of the whole. We cannot gaze in wonder at the heavens, wondering why Christ does not return to save us and subdue the nations. Rather, we ourselves must go forth and make disciples of all the nations. We must promote cultures which give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, which clothe the naked, and visit the sick and those in prison, for these are cultures which shall endure as Christ does, because they minister to Him in their midst, and He shall continue to abide with them. But we must never lose sight of Whom we are serving or Whom we are conformed to. If we do this, we shall become embittered and angry, for only with Christ can we have authentic charity.
The Ascension of the Lord is then, an opportunity for us. It is an act of mercy of God. Through us, He now wishes to go forth to the nations in a way He could not while on earth. Through us, He wishes to show His love. Let us submit to this reign of love now so that we may not have to submit to the reign of justice. Let us look towards Heaven, not with wonder, but with love and adoration, and with that vision still in our minds, may we go forth and transform our culture, by first transforming ourselves! Then, we shall understand Christ is still present among us, and that the Second Coming at the end of time will be the glorification of that presence!
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Fifth Sunday of Easter: Meditation on the Entrance Antiphon
"O sing a new song to the Lord, for he has worked wonders; in the sight of the nations he has shown his deliverance, alleluia." - Entrance Antiphon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
Throughout this Easter Season we have constantly spoken of the new life gained through the Resurrection of Jesus and which we are able to enter into through Baptism. Now, although this is a spiritual life, it must have implications in our physical and earthly lives. In other words, it should be manifest to the world that we are Christians!
We may recall to our minds the famous Letter to Diognetus, a portion of which is used for the Second Reading of the Office of Readings this coming Wednesday:
"Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
"And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law (From the Second Reading for the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter)."
We here recall the words of our Lord to Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3)." This new birth does not change our species as members of mankind, however, but instead transfigures that spiritual part of us, which was dead in sin. This is why the Letter to Diognetus says that men inhabit the world as apparently normal humans, but also inhabit another world, which cannot be seen. For the Christian has not undergone any physical change through the waters of Baptism, but his spirit has radically changed! He is now a dweller on earth, but a citizen of Heaven!
This is the reason that although one cannot tell we are Christians by simply looking at us, or by where we live, or work, etc., they should be able to say by seeing our manner of life, "That person is a Christian!" We may at first why this is, for there are many religions which preach the necessity of living a moral life. Our elder brothers and sisters in the faith of Abraham, those of Judaism, are called to live moral and upright lives. Those who profess belief in the one true God with us, the Muslims, live virtuous lives. Even the followers of the Eastern religions especially preach the necessity of living a life of integrity.
Yet there should be something different about the life of a Christian! Though many other religions promise an afterlife, we have already begun to live that here below! While it is true we live a life of suffering and are still ultimately subject to death, we are also already able to share in the foretaste of the eternal life we hope to enter into. In fact, we live that life in the spirit, already, with the exception of the Beatific Vision. It is for this reason the Christian is said to be a member of both worlds, for the soul, as long as it remains in the state of grace, is a dweller in Heaven, while the body still dwells on earth. The difference death and the end of time will bring is that, first, the soul will be united to the Beatific Vision, where the citizenship will become permanent. Then, at the end of time, both soul and body will share in this glory.
As citizens of the next life, then, we must live by those laws and not simply the laws of earth. And the laws of a Christian may easily be summed up in the two Laws of Love given by our Lord, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39)." These two summations of the Law and the Prophets work especially for Christians, who are no longer bound by the Law of Moses for its fulfillment has come, but who still live in the spirit of that Law.
It is completely true the law of Heaven is one simply of love, and we may compare it to the "Golden Rule," but that given by our Lord. The original Golden Law was not as we have it now, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them (Matthew 7:12)." Instead, the original Golden Rule was, "Do not do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you." It is upon this the laws of earth are based. Cultures almost always have laws against stealing, murder, etc. because no one wants that to happen to them.
But the Golden Rule of Christ is much more difficult, but infinitely more rewarding! To treat all as we would ultimately want to be treated requires a great self-denial, one of the features which so marks a Christian. But even this marks the other religions, especially those based on the Eastern philosophies, but what marks the Christian is the joy with which it is done. We will not go so far as to say joy does not mark the self-denial of other religions, but ours has a joy which is often lacking. For as we have already said, we perform our acts of self-denial and of charity as already citizens of that life which we hope to inherit.
It is very true we still have to hope that we may enter into the eternal life for which we long, for up until the moment of death we still have the possibility to lose the life of grace which is necessary for this inheritance. Nevertheless, as long as we live in this life of grace, we share in the eternal joys, and if we are truly and fully united with the grace of God, we cannot help but sing a new song to Him. And this is because this grace not only pervades every aspect of our lives, but renews them and allows us to transcend even beyond the daily doldrums and make every moment new! St. Augustine called the Lord, "O Beauty ever ancient, ever new (The Confessions, X, 27)." Every moment we are united with the God is a new moment because we can grow in love and knowledge of Him, and as we grow in love and knowledge we experience a new depth of life, for God can never be exhausted.
The paradox here is that as we grow in love and knowledge of God, we are forced to love and know Him more. As we learn of all the wonders He has done for us, we thus love the Lord even more because of His great and unparalleled generosity. Ultimately, then, this love transforms us; it forces us to live our lives in a new way. St. Louis de Montfort said, in regards to the Rosary, "You cannot live in sin and pray the Rosary. You will either give up sin or you will give up the Rosary." The very principle of this goes into our lives of grace. We cannot serve the laws of God or the laws of sin, which is what governs the world (though not every people and nation of the world), but we cannot serve both. Our Lord Himself said it, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24)." It is impossible for us not to be drawn, based on our actions and decisions, to either the laws of grace or the laws of sin. And the more we are drawn to the one, the further we will depart from the other.
The Lord has, then, shown His deliverance to the nations through us. For as we have departed from the laws of sin which govern this world, we stand out. We stand out because it is obvious we live for something more. We do not leave the world; rather, we still live in it, but there is a joy to our lives lacking in those who have no hope. The Christian loves not out of any profit for himself, but purely for love of God. Although he obeys the just laws of the nation in which he resides, he does so with a respect and not a fear of punishment. He obeys the laws of the kingdoms and the nations of earth in order to serve God, not out of a philosophical understanding for the need for order.
In this Easter Season, then, which we are now over halfway through, let us strive to continue to live as children of the Resurrection. Let us remember that we begin, here below, how we shall live our lives for eternity. Let us strive to make every moment a grace-laden moment in which we work to do God's will, in which we pray to know and love Him more, and in which we rejoice in the peace and triumph which union with Him brings!
Throughout this Easter Season we have constantly spoken of the new life gained through the Resurrection of Jesus and which we are able to enter into through Baptism. Now, although this is a spiritual life, it must have implications in our physical and earthly lives. In other words, it should be manifest to the world that we are Christians!
We may recall to our minds the famous Letter to Diognetus, a portion of which is used for the Second Reading of the Office of Readings this coming Wednesday:
"Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
"And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law (From the Second Reading for the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter)."
We here recall the words of our Lord to Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3)." This new birth does not change our species as members of mankind, however, but instead transfigures that spiritual part of us, which was dead in sin. This is why the Letter to Diognetus says that men inhabit the world as apparently normal humans, but also inhabit another world, which cannot be seen. For the Christian has not undergone any physical change through the waters of Baptism, but his spirit has radically changed! He is now a dweller on earth, but a citizen of Heaven!
This is the reason that although one cannot tell we are Christians by simply looking at us, or by where we live, or work, etc., they should be able to say by seeing our manner of life, "That person is a Christian!" We may at first why this is, for there are many religions which preach the necessity of living a moral life. Our elder brothers and sisters in the faith of Abraham, those of Judaism, are called to live moral and upright lives. Those who profess belief in the one true God with us, the Muslims, live virtuous lives. Even the followers of the Eastern religions especially preach the necessity of living a life of integrity.
Yet there should be something different about the life of a Christian! Though many other religions promise an afterlife, we have already begun to live that here below! While it is true we live a life of suffering and are still ultimately subject to death, we are also already able to share in the foretaste of the eternal life we hope to enter into. In fact, we live that life in the spirit, already, with the exception of the Beatific Vision. It is for this reason the Christian is said to be a member of both worlds, for the soul, as long as it remains in the state of grace, is a dweller in Heaven, while the body still dwells on earth. The difference death and the end of time will bring is that, first, the soul will be united to the Beatific Vision, where the citizenship will become permanent. Then, at the end of time, both soul and body will share in this glory.
As citizens of the next life, then, we must live by those laws and not simply the laws of earth. And the laws of a Christian may easily be summed up in the two Laws of Love given by our Lord, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39)." These two summations of the Law and the Prophets work especially for Christians, who are no longer bound by the Law of Moses for its fulfillment has come, but who still live in the spirit of that Law.
It is completely true the law of Heaven is one simply of love, and we may compare it to the "Golden Rule," but that given by our Lord. The original Golden Law was not as we have it now, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them (Matthew 7:12)." Instead, the original Golden Rule was, "Do not do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you." It is upon this the laws of earth are based. Cultures almost always have laws against stealing, murder, etc. because no one wants that to happen to them.
But the Golden Rule of Christ is much more difficult, but infinitely more rewarding! To treat all as we would ultimately want to be treated requires a great self-denial, one of the features which so marks a Christian. But even this marks the other religions, especially those based on the Eastern philosophies, but what marks the Christian is the joy with which it is done. We will not go so far as to say joy does not mark the self-denial of other religions, but ours has a joy which is often lacking. For as we have already said, we perform our acts of self-denial and of charity as already citizens of that life which we hope to inherit.
It is very true we still have to hope that we may enter into the eternal life for which we long, for up until the moment of death we still have the possibility to lose the life of grace which is necessary for this inheritance. Nevertheless, as long as we live in this life of grace, we share in the eternal joys, and if we are truly and fully united with the grace of God, we cannot help but sing a new song to Him. And this is because this grace not only pervades every aspect of our lives, but renews them and allows us to transcend even beyond the daily doldrums and make every moment new! St. Augustine called the Lord, "O Beauty ever ancient, ever new (The Confessions, X, 27)." Every moment we are united with the God is a new moment because we can grow in love and knowledge of Him, and as we grow in love and knowledge we experience a new depth of life, for God can never be exhausted.
The paradox here is that as we grow in love and knowledge of God, we are forced to love and know Him more. As we learn of all the wonders He has done for us, we thus love the Lord even more because of His great and unparalleled generosity. Ultimately, then, this love transforms us; it forces us to live our lives in a new way. St. Louis de Montfort said, in regards to the Rosary, "You cannot live in sin and pray the Rosary. You will either give up sin or you will give up the Rosary." The very principle of this goes into our lives of grace. We cannot serve the laws of God or the laws of sin, which is what governs the world (though not every people and nation of the world), but we cannot serve both. Our Lord Himself said it, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24)." It is impossible for us not to be drawn, based on our actions and decisions, to either the laws of grace or the laws of sin. And the more we are drawn to the one, the further we will depart from the other.
The Lord has, then, shown His deliverance to the nations through us. For as we have departed from the laws of sin which govern this world, we stand out. We stand out because it is obvious we live for something more. We do not leave the world; rather, we still live in it, but there is a joy to our lives lacking in those who have no hope. The Christian loves not out of any profit for himself, but purely for love of God. Although he obeys the just laws of the nation in which he resides, he does so with a respect and not a fear of punishment. He obeys the laws of the kingdoms and the nations of earth in order to serve God, not out of a philosophical understanding for the need for order.
In this Easter Season, then, which we are now over halfway through, let us strive to continue to live as children of the Resurrection. Let us remember that we begin, here below, how we shall live our lives for eternity. Let us strive to make every moment a grace-laden moment in which we work to do God's will, in which we pray to know and love Him more, and in which we rejoice in the peace and triumph which union with Him brings!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Fourth Sunday of Easter: Meditation on the Entrance Antiphon
"The merciful love of the Lord fills the earth; by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, alleluia." - Entrance Antiphon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Entrance Antiphon for today may be said to connect two events in the history of the universe, which Holy Mother Church loves to sing in Her Liturgy, especially at Christmastime and Eastertime, these two "lights" of the Liturgical Year. And these two events are the Creation of the world, especially of man, and of the redemption in Christ - the re-creation.
There is an especially famous Collect of the Church of the Patristic Era, attributed to St. Leo the Great, for the Solemnity of Christmas. It is currently used as the Collect for the Mass during the Day on Christmas, and runs:
"O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature
and still more wonderfully restored it,
grant, we pray,
that we may share in the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever."
A similar Prayer is found in the Easter Vigil Mass, after the first Old Testament Reading, On the Creation, and it runs:
"O God, who wonderfully created human nature
and still more wonderfully redeemed it,
grant us, we pray,
to set our minds against the enticements of sin,
that we may merit to attain eternal joys.
Through Christ our Lord."
Both of these prayers show the connection which has constantly been made between creation and redemption, for in both instances mankind emerges with new life, borne from the mercy of the Lord. For, as we can never tire of saying, within God, the words "mercy," and, "love," are completely interchangeable. God's act of creating the world was an act born from His mercy, for He had no need for the visible or invisible world which He created, but purely out of His love and to manifest His Almighty Power He created the visible world. Yet He also created the invisible world, consisting of the angels and man, who is part of both worlds, both of whom may know God.
The mercy of God is even displayed in the Fall of the Angels, for those who, along with Satan, fell and were condemned to an eternity in Hell were still kept in existence, even though sin is an infinite offense against God deserving of annihilation. God's love is so strong, it is even still present to the demons by holding them in existence, though with the denial of the Beatific Vision which they will forever long for.
The same is true in the Fall of this world, brought about through the Fall of the Angels and Man. For through Adam's sin the world is subject to decay and death. The animals and plants which were given for his benefit become a danger and snare to him. Nevertheless, though they can harm man, God did not take away the great benefits which they can bestow. If He did, they would no longer reflect His beauty and order, and thus could not exist!
Nonetheless, it is in the Fall and Redemption of mankind that the mercy and love of God are most perfectly displayed! We remember back to that moment three weeks ago now, when the Easter Proclamation sounded forth in the Easter Vigil and those glorious words, "O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!" While the Fall of Angels and of the world sees only the preservation in their existence, the Fall of Man sees the Son of God, the Eternal Word, Who, in the beginning, "was with God . . . and was God (John 1:1)," take on a human nature, purely out of love and mercy!
St. John tells us, "He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made (John 1:2)." It is truly by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, for Jesus is the Word of the Father! And it is through the Word of the Father the heavens are recreated, for it is through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus this comes about!
Within the innermost life of the Trinity there is nothing lacking, there is no outside force which can affect Their perfect and eternal Happiness, for there is nothing outside save by Their decree. Yet in the mystery of God's love for Himself and for mankind, God the Son deigned to take on a human nature, to become manifest to men, so they might know the love of God. And this love is indeed a mystery, for how can we fully understand it? Nonetheless, St. John tells us:
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us (1 John 1:1-2)."
Because God the Son, Love Itself, became flesh we are able to have a deeper understanding of this mystery of God's love. While it is true all His creation in some way manifests the marvels of his love, for as the Entrance Antiphon says, "The merciful love of the Lord fills the earth," it simply gives us theoretical reasonableness. But it is the Incarnation, followed by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection, which show us and provide an experience so that we may know God's love for us.
St. Paul says:
"God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Romans 5:8-10)."
The angels worship Jesus because of the great humility and love which He shows through the Incarnation, while theologians believe the demons rejected God because of the Incarnation, for in their pride they could not submit to a God Who would lower Himself to become man. We might imagine them saying, "If God is take not a created nature, the only acceptable nature would be an angelic one." But God went even lower than that. He took on the lowest nature He could while still being acknowledged as God.
And this far beyond the expectations of mankind! Man often looks for God outside the things of this world, i.e. something beyond, yet God, to be known and found by all, entered into this world! He is so near to us, and yet accepted by so few! He comes not in the power and majesty of old, as He did on Mount Sinai, but He comes in our own human likeness. However, in doing so He bestows a gift of inestimable value upon us, for not only does He raise our nature to a new level through its union with the Divine, but He pours the gift of the Holy Spirit into our hearts (Romans 5:5)!
The merciful love of the Lord indeed fills the earth, for all who are born into the life of the Spirit gain the divinity of Christ! When God first made the world, He bestowed natural life upon it, but in the Redemption a supernatural life has been given to us! Man simply longs for a long natural life, but the supernatural life, so far beyond our understanding, is offered to us instead! And yet, as we have already stated, so few accept it. Why is this?
We may suggest it is because of the coldness of hearts. The merciful love of the Lord is so readily poured out upon the world, but only an open heart may receive it. And a heart may only be open to the love of the Lord if it is has experienced the love of neighbor, save through a supernatural grace of God. So few are open to accept the love of the Lord because so few have experienced true love.
In our age so many through around the word love to mean simply an attraction, or a good feeling. The love of God is so far beyond this however! It is a self-emptying. It does not always feel good in the way of pleasure, but it is so much more satisfying. Indeed, we may even call it divine, for it bears a strong resemblance to the Word of God, on account of its "creative" nature.
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made," and it is through love of neighbor - albeit only true love - that a heart may be opened, that a whole new world may be "created" for that individual! As the Son gives Himself for our salvation producing life within us, so our self-giving in love, will produce an opening for the Lord to pour forth His Spirit into the heart of another!
Let us then both open our hearts for the Lord to enter, but also for the love of God to be poured out, through us upon others. Thus, the God Who created the world in marvelous fashion, and re-created it with even greater marvels, may show the greatest of all marvels to it, by showing all His Loving Face!
The Entrance Antiphon for today may be said to connect two events in the history of the universe, which Holy Mother Church loves to sing in Her Liturgy, especially at Christmastime and Eastertime, these two "lights" of the Liturgical Year. And these two events are the Creation of the world, especially of man, and of the redemption in Christ - the re-creation.
There is an especially famous Collect of the Church of the Patristic Era, attributed to St. Leo the Great, for the Solemnity of Christmas. It is currently used as the Collect for the Mass during the Day on Christmas, and runs:
"O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature
and still more wonderfully restored it,
grant, we pray,
that we may share in the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever."
A similar Prayer is found in the Easter Vigil Mass, after the first Old Testament Reading, On the Creation, and it runs:
"O God, who wonderfully created human nature
and still more wonderfully redeemed it,
grant us, we pray,
to set our minds against the enticements of sin,
that we may merit to attain eternal joys.
Through Christ our Lord."
Both of these prayers show the connection which has constantly been made between creation and redemption, for in both instances mankind emerges with new life, borne from the mercy of the Lord. For, as we can never tire of saying, within God, the words "mercy," and, "love," are completely interchangeable. God's act of creating the world was an act born from His mercy, for He had no need for the visible or invisible world which He created, but purely out of His love and to manifest His Almighty Power He created the visible world. Yet He also created the invisible world, consisting of the angels and man, who is part of both worlds, both of whom may know God.
The mercy of God is even displayed in the Fall of the Angels, for those who, along with Satan, fell and were condemned to an eternity in Hell were still kept in existence, even though sin is an infinite offense against God deserving of annihilation. God's love is so strong, it is even still present to the demons by holding them in existence, though with the denial of the Beatific Vision which they will forever long for.
The same is true in the Fall of this world, brought about through the Fall of the Angels and Man. For through Adam's sin the world is subject to decay and death. The animals and plants which were given for his benefit become a danger and snare to him. Nevertheless, though they can harm man, God did not take away the great benefits which they can bestow. If He did, they would no longer reflect His beauty and order, and thus could not exist!
Nonetheless, it is in the Fall and Redemption of mankind that the mercy and love of God are most perfectly displayed! We remember back to that moment three weeks ago now, when the Easter Proclamation sounded forth in the Easter Vigil and those glorious words, "O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!" While the Fall of Angels and of the world sees only the preservation in their existence, the Fall of Man sees the Son of God, the Eternal Word, Who, in the beginning, "was with God . . . and was God (John 1:1)," take on a human nature, purely out of love and mercy!
St. John tells us, "He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made (John 1:2)." It is truly by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, for Jesus is the Word of the Father! And it is through the Word of the Father the heavens are recreated, for it is through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus this comes about!
Within the innermost life of the Trinity there is nothing lacking, there is no outside force which can affect Their perfect and eternal Happiness, for there is nothing outside save by Their decree. Yet in the mystery of God's love for Himself and for mankind, God the Son deigned to take on a human nature, to become manifest to men, so they might know the love of God. And this love is indeed a mystery, for how can we fully understand it? Nonetheless, St. John tells us:
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us (1 John 1:1-2)."
Because God the Son, Love Itself, became flesh we are able to have a deeper understanding of this mystery of God's love. While it is true all His creation in some way manifests the marvels of his love, for as the Entrance Antiphon says, "The merciful love of the Lord fills the earth," it simply gives us theoretical reasonableness. But it is the Incarnation, followed by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection, which show us and provide an experience so that we may know God's love for us.
St. Paul says:
"God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Romans 5:8-10)."
The angels worship Jesus because of the great humility and love which He shows through the Incarnation, while theologians believe the demons rejected God because of the Incarnation, for in their pride they could not submit to a God Who would lower Himself to become man. We might imagine them saying, "If God is take not a created nature, the only acceptable nature would be an angelic one." But God went even lower than that. He took on the lowest nature He could while still being acknowledged as God.
And this far beyond the expectations of mankind! Man often looks for God outside the things of this world, i.e. something beyond, yet God, to be known and found by all, entered into this world! He is so near to us, and yet accepted by so few! He comes not in the power and majesty of old, as He did on Mount Sinai, but He comes in our own human likeness. However, in doing so He bestows a gift of inestimable value upon us, for not only does He raise our nature to a new level through its union with the Divine, but He pours the gift of the Holy Spirit into our hearts (Romans 5:5)!
The merciful love of the Lord indeed fills the earth, for all who are born into the life of the Spirit gain the divinity of Christ! When God first made the world, He bestowed natural life upon it, but in the Redemption a supernatural life has been given to us! Man simply longs for a long natural life, but the supernatural life, so far beyond our understanding, is offered to us instead! And yet, as we have already stated, so few accept it. Why is this?
We may suggest it is because of the coldness of hearts. The merciful love of the Lord is so readily poured out upon the world, but only an open heart may receive it. And a heart may only be open to the love of the Lord if it is has experienced the love of neighbor, save through a supernatural grace of God. So few are open to accept the love of the Lord because so few have experienced true love.
In our age so many through around the word love to mean simply an attraction, or a good feeling. The love of God is so far beyond this however! It is a self-emptying. It does not always feel good in the way of pleasure, but it is so much more satisfying. Indeed, we may even call it divine, for it bears a strong resemblance to the Word of God, on account of its "creative" nature.
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made," and it is through love of neighbor - albeit only true love - that a heart may be opened, that a whole new world may be "created" for that individual! As the Son gives Himself for our salvation producing life within us, so our self-giving in love, will produce an opening for the Lord to pour forth His Spirit into the heart of another!
Let us then both open our hearts for the Lord to enter, but also for the love of God to be poured out, through us upon others. Thus, the God Who created the world in marvelous fashion, and re-created it with even greater marvels, may show the greatest of all marvels to it, by showing all His Loving Face!
Friday, April 10, 2015
Easter Friday: Meditation on the Entrance Antiphon
“The Lord
led his people in hope, while the sea engulfed their foes, alleluia.” –
Entrance Antiphon for Friday within the Octave of Easter
For the
oldest Jewish understanding of God, one must look at the Exodus, for the
original understanding of God by the Israelites is not of Him as Creator, but
of Him as Savior. God is the One Who saved His people from slavery in Egypt,
and the rest of their understanding of Him branched off from this singular
event. Thus, in regards to the Creation of the World, the Israelites originally
understood God as the One Who saved the world from chaos, by giving order to
it, as related in Genesis 1.
This concept
of God as Savior then, is especially important in the gradual unveiling of the
promise of a Redeemer to Israel, for it will reach its definitive understanding
and manifestation only in Jesus Christ and His Church, founded from His wounded
side. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, refers to Jesus as the Savior who, through Baptism, would wash away the sins of the people (Acts 2:38). Although the Jewish people expected a Messiah who would save them from the rule of the Romans and restore the glory of the kingdom of Israel, as even the Apostles after the Resurrection show (Acts 1:6), yet God went even further in His gracious love, and saved them from sin!
We have already spoken of how the Exodus from Egypt is a type of Baptism, as well as Jesus' triumphant passage from death to life. Nevertheless, it would behoove us to look deeper at the many ways in which this is true. On the exterior, it is quite clear the main way these two events relate to each other is the passage from slavery to freedom. In regards to Egypt, the Israelites were led from slavery to Pharaoh to freedom, ultimately in the Promised Land. In regards to Christ's exodus, however, it is from slavery to Death that one passes into the freedom of new life in the Kingdom of Heaven, ultimately.
Yet there is even more we may draw from this, especially liturgically. As the Entrance Antiphon says, "The Lord led his people in hope." If we recall the Exodus from Egypt, the Lord was leading the Israelites in a pillar of cloud, for it is written, "The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people (Exodus 13:21-22)." The Lord God was the leader of the Israelites; and a leader is someone appointed over people, but may also be considered among the people.
It is in this sense God is so unique, especially the God of the Jewish people, and consequently our God! He dwells among His people! He is not some abstract deity above the heavens, but He takes a personal interest in His people. He wants to know them and to be known by them! As is said in Deuteronomy, "What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him (Deuteronomy 4:7)?" This is seen especially in the Exodus, for it also reads:
"When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were in great fear . And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD . . . . And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be still.' The LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. . . . and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen (Exodus 14:10, 13-15, 17-18).'"
We may here see the trust the Lord wishes His people to have in Him; our trust should be that He will provide fully for all our needs. He is a perfect king over His people; there is no other who could lead as He does. He is faultless in all His ways, and in the Person of Jesus Christ this sinless perfection is what allows Him to conquer on behalf of His people, i.e. the entire human race. What the Lord did for Israel was a foreshadowing of what He wishes to do for the entire human race through the Church.
Let us return, then, to our consideration of the Exodus and Baptism. At the Easter Vigil, the Paschal Candle is brought into the church, to symbolize the Lord Jesus leading His people from the land of death into life, as the pillar of fire led the Israelites by night through the sea. We discussed this in our post on the Easter Vigil (here). Jesus does not abandon us, but He leads the way. Nevertheless, we should not view this "journey" in the way the Gnostics did, where they believed there was actually a journey through spiritual realms the soul must pass through with Christ leading the way. Instead, this journey is the journey of our lives.
Jesus has given us a perfect example of holiness in how to live our lives, and in Baptism we were born into His life. We entered into the journey that would bring us ultimately to eternal life. While it is true that in Baptism we passed over from dominion to sin into a life of grace, we are still subject to concupiscence. Therefore, we must still pass through the sea of this life, pursued by the hosts of Death and Satan, before we may enter the Promised Land in heavenly bliss.
Yet it is in this way that the Lord will gain glory, for by our lives we shall glorify the Lord before all the nations. As we conform ourselves to the life of Jesus, we shall be images of Him before all the world and will consequently lead all the nations to acknowledge His holiness. Through Baptism, we are part of the Body of Christ and therefore when we are called Christians, we are called Christ.
Let us always place our trust in the Lord, confident that He will lead us in this life into eternal joys. May we never fear the oppression of our foes, for they were drowned in the waters of our Baptism, and will ultimately be forced to bend the knee at the end of the world and acknowledge Jesus as the Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). The Lord shall always open a way for us to grow in holiness. Even if we have to suffer in this life, we must not look back, but continue on towards freedom and the eternal song of alleluia!
We have already spoken of how the Exodus from Egypt is a type of Baptism, as well as Jesus' triumphant passage from death to life. Nevertheless, it would behoove us to look deeper at the many ways in which this is true. On the exterior, it is quite clear the main way these two events relate to each other is the passage from slavery to freedom. In regards to Egypt, the Israelites were led from slavery to Pharaoh to freedom, ultimately in the Promised Land. In regards to Christ's exodus, however, it is from slavery to Death that one passes into the freedom of new life in the Kingdom of Heaven, ultimately.
Yet there is even more we may draw from this, especially liturgically. As the Entrance Antiphon says, "The Lord led his people in hope." If we recall the Exodus from Egypt, the Lord was leading the Israelites in a pillar of cloud, for it is written, "The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people (Exodus 13:21-22)." The Lord God was the leader of the Israelites; and a leader is someone appointed over people, but may also be considered among the people.
It is in this sense God is so unique, especially the God of the Jewish people, and consequently our God! He dwells among His people! He is not some abstract deity above the heavens, but He takes a personal interest in His people. He wants to know them and to be known by them! As is said in Deuteronomy, "What great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him (Deuteronomy 4:7)?" This is seen especially in the Exodus, for it also reads:
"When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were in great fear . And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD . . . . And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be still.' The LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. . . . and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen (Exodus 14:10, 13-15, 17-18).'"
We may here see the trust the Lord wishes His people to have in Him; our trust should be that He will provide fully for all our needs. He is a perfect king over His people; there is no other who could lead as He does. He is faultless in all His ways, and in the Person of Jesus Christ this sinless perfection is what allows Him to conquer on behalf of His people, i.e. the entire human race. What the Lord did for Israel was a foreshadowing of what He wishes to do for the entire human race through the Church.
Let us return, then, to our consideration of the Exodus and Baptism. At the Easter Vigil, the Paschal Candle is brought into the church, to symbolize the Lord Jesus leading His people from the land of death into life, as the pillar of fire led the Israelites by night through the sea. We discussed this in our post on the Easter Vigil (here). Jesus does not abandon us, but He leads the way. Nevertheless, we should not view this "journey" in the way the Gnostics did, where they believed there was actually a journey through spiritual realms the soul must pass through with Christ leading the way. Instead, this journey is the journey of our lives.
Jesus has given us a perfect example of holiness in how to live our lives, and in Baptism we were born into His life. We entered into the journey that would bring us ultimately to eternal life. While it is true that in Baptism we passed over from dominion to sin into a life of grace, we are still subject to concupiscence. Therefore, we must still pass through the sea of this life, pursued by the hosts of Death and Satan, before we may enter the Promised Land in heavenly bliss.
Yet it is in this way that the Lord will gain glory, for by our lives we shall glorify the Lord before all the nations. As we conform ourselves to the life of Jesus, we shall be images of Him before all the world and will consequently lead all the nations to acknowledge His holiness. Through Baptism, we are part of the Body of Christ and therefore when we are called Christians, we are called Christ.
Let us always place our trust in the Lord, confident that He will lead us in this life into eternal joys. May we never fear the oppression of our foes, for they were drowned in the waters of our Baptism, and will ultimately be forced to bend the knee at the end of the world and acknowledge Jesus as the Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). The Lord shall always open a way for us to grow in holiness. Even if we have to suffer in this life, we must not look back, but continue on towards freedom and the eternal song of alleluia!
Sunday, September 14, 2014
In the Cross we Conquer and Reign!
"How radiant is that precious cross which brought us our salvation. In the cross we are victorious, through the cross we shall reign, by the cross all evil is destroyed, alleluia."
- Antiphon 3 of Lauds for the Exaltation of the Cross
Today the Sundays of Ordinary Time are interrupted, as is the series "A Look at the Mass," in order to celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the instrument of our salvation!
When we think of the Cross, sorrow often enters our hearts, since it was on account of our sins that the Lord bore the weight of the Cross, but the feeling the Church wishes us to have for this precious item is the exact opposite. She calls us to rejoice in the Cross, for through it was wrought the redemption of the world!
On Good Friday we encountered the Cross, but on that day we were so focused on the Passion and Death of Jesus that we were not able to pay it the full homage it deserved. Therefore, the Church has given us another day, well removed from Lent, in order that we may give it fitting homage and thanks. The date was chosen in accordance with the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but we may also see a sublime message within this date. It is celebrated within Ordinary Time, the Season of the Church, as I, and others, have often called it; the Cross is an integral part of the Christian life. A few Sundays ago, the Gospel for the Mass was the one in which our Lord said, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24)." However, as this Feast shows, the Cross is not a sorrow but a joy.
St. Andrew of Crete says, in today's Office of Readings:
"The Cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation - very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God's suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world."
Jesus Christ's death is the cause of our salvation, but the Cross is itself also part of that cause. In Thomistic philosophy, efficient causes have a principal agent, Who intends the cause produced, and an instrumental agent, which is the item directed by the principal agent, to cause the effect. Thus, with our Redemption, we see that Christ is the principal agent, but the Cross is the means by which He accomplishes the salvation of the whole world. Therefore we sing, "We must glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ant. 3, Evening Prayer 1 for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross)." When we adore the Cross, we bend our knee before it, just like the tabernacle, for it may contain a particle of our Lord's Precious Blood, but also because of its necessity for our salvation.
Our love for the Cross also extends to our personal crosses, for it is through them that we are able to share in the life of Christ. When we unite our sufferings - our crosses - to the Cross of Christ and to His sufferings, our suffering becomes redemptive. It purifies us of our sins and merits us unto eternal life. Thus, we may say, "through the Cross we are victorious."
Within the establishment of this glorious feastday, one cannot hesitate to overlook the story of Constantine's conversion. Leading a Roman army in a losing battle at the foot of the Alps, the sign of the Cross suddenly appeared in the sky, surrounded by the words In hoc vince, meaning, "In this sign thou shalt conquer." From this point Rome was conquered for Christ! Even though, throughout the almost two millennia, rulers would try to crush the Church and Christianity, and return to paganism, or establish themselves as the supreme head, Christ would always remain the head of this earthly city, in which the blood of the Princes of the Apostles, and so many martyrs were shed. Even today, walking the streets of a Rome plunged into secularism, it is impossible not to be reminded that Christ is the conqueror, for all of the churches throughout the city proclaim Him so.
But we must not fall into the idea that Christ is an earthly conqueror, which the Jewish leaders at the time of Christ were so insistent upon. No! Jesus Christ is the Conqueror of Sin and Death! In the Cross is our hope, for by the Cross we are now able to regain Paradise, which was closed to us by Adam's sin. Adam set us a penalty, but Christ brought us a relief. As the hymn Crux Fidelis proclaims:
"Faithful Cross the Saints rely on,
Noble tree beyond compare!
Never was there such a scion,
Never leaf or flower so rare.
Sweet the timber, sweet the iron,
Sweet the burden that they bear!"
The saints rely upon the Cross, because through suffering they, and us, are made saints. As metal is purified when it endures the fire, so we are purified through the fires of our suffering. Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29)." The Cross is the burden that we must bear, willingly, as Christ did, but it is a joy to bear the Cross because of what it does for us. It allows us to suffer in joy, for through it we are given rest even in this life.
Within all of this we see the profound mixture of sorrow and joy that the Cross brings. Yes, there is a certain sorrow in bearing the Cross, for suffering by nature is sorrowful. However, once we see the Cross as what it truly is, namely the Throne from which our King and Conqueror triumphed over all the powers of Hell, then it becomes for us our joy here on earth!
Allow me to close with a legend of the origins of the Cross, which comes from the Aurea Legenda of Jacobus de Voragine of the Middle Ages. My only disclaimer is that this is a legend; it does not have to be believed:
It is said that as Adam felt his death approaching, the ultimate penalty for his sin in the Garden of Eden, he entreated his son, Seth, to go to the Garden of Eden and obtain from the angel set to guard it a remedy, which had been promised in the Protoevangelium, or the promise that the serpent's head would be crushed by the offspring of Eve.
Seth returned to the home, from which mankind has its origins, and begged the angel for the remedy to heal his father. The angel responded by giving Seth three seeds from the Tree of Life and instructions to plant them. "When the tree bears fruit, your father shall live," the angel told Seth.
Seth hurried back to his father and gave him the seeds. However, Adam, with an apparently deep understanding of what the angel's instructions meant, submitted himself to his just penalty and died. Nevertheless, Seth carried out the angel's instructions and planted the seeds with his father. As the seeds became a sapling tree, they absorbed the blood of Adam into itself. Nevertheless, Seth and his descendents died without ever seeing Adam live again.
When God sent the Flood to cleanse mankind, the tree was not forgotten, but was taken by Noah onto the Ark along with the skull of Adam, which was beneath it. After the Flood, these two items were finally separated. Noah buried the patriarch of all mankind on Mount Calvary, and replanted the tree on Mount Horeb.
The burning bush, in which Moses spoke to the Lord, was indeed this tree, and it was from this tree that he received the Rod, which he would use to bring water from the rock during the Israelites' wanderings in the desert. However, because he was not able to enter the Promised Land, he buried his rod in Moab before dying.
The story of the angel's promise was not lost, however, but was passed down from generation to generation. After being crowned king, David went and searched for this tree, and finally found it in Moab bringing it to Jerusalem. Wishing to increase the glory of the Temple, Solomon ordered his workers to use the tree as one of the columns, but no matter how they cut it, it was always the wrong length, for that Temple was not meant to be the temple it would reside in.
Disgusted by this inefficiency of the tree, they instead used the wood for a bridge to connect Jerusalem with the surrounding hills. Then, when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, she was miraculously prevented from placing her feet upon the bridge. She instead had to go through the water to enter Jerusalem. This renewed Solomon's interest in the wood, and he ordered his men to wrap it in gold and place it above the entrance to the Temple.
The vices of Solomon only grew within his descendents though, one of which stole the gold and buried the wood to conceal his crime. Nevertheless, the spot where the tree was buried, burst forth in a spring, which became the pool of Bethesda, containing the power to heal.
One day, a log floated to the surface of the pool, and unsure what to do with it, it ended up being cut and turned into a tree of torture by the Romans - a cross. This cross, however, was the one carried by our Lord to Calvary, and when plunged into the ground, it hit the ancient skull of Adam, and the Precious Blood of our Lord flowed upon the Cross and into the ground, mixing with the remnant of Adam.
Never did a tree bear such magnificent fruit as this tree! Through its fruit, Adam did not return to earthly life, but was able to live the heavenly life!
And so it will be for all of us, if but bear and venerate the Cross in this life!
- Antiphon 3 of Lauds for the Exaltation of the Cross
Today the Sundays of Ordinary Time are interrupted, as is the series "A Look at the Mass," in order to celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the instrument of our salvation!
When we think of the Cross, sorrow often enters our hearts, since it was on account of our sins that the Lord bore the weight of the Cross, but the feeling the Church wishes us to have for this precious item is the exact opposite. She calls us to rejoice in the Cross, for through it was wrought the redemption of the world!
On Good Friday we encountered the Cross, but on that day we were so focused on the Passion and Death of Jesus that we were not able to pay it the full homage it deserved. Therefore, the Church has given us another day, well removed from Lent, in order that we may give it fitting homage and thanks. The date was chosen in accordance with the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but we may also see a sublime message within this date. It is celebrated within Ordinary Time, the Season of the Church, as I, and others, have often called it; the Cross is an integral part of the Christian life. A few Sundays ago, the Gospel for the Mass was the one in which our Lord said, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24)." However, as this Feast shows, the Cross is not a sorrow but a joy.
St. Andrew of Crete says, in today's Office of Readings:
"The Cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation - very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God's suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world."
Jesus Christ's death is the cause of our salvation, but the Cross is itself also part of that cause. In Thomistic philosophy, efficient causes have a principal agent, Who intends the cause produced, and an instrumental agent, which is the item directed by the principal agent, to cause the effect. Thus, with our Redemption, we see that Christ is the principal agent, but the Cross is the means by which He accomplishes the salvation of the whole world. Therefore we sing, "We must glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ant. 3, Evening Prayer 1 for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross)." When we adore the Cross, we bend our knee before it, just like the tabernacle, for it may contain a particle of our Lord's Precious Blood, but also because of its necessity for our salvation.
Our love for the Cross also extends to our personal crosses, for it is through them that we are able to share in the life of Christ. When we unite our sufferings - our crosses - to the Cross of Christ and to His sufferings, our suffering becomes redemptive. It purifies us of our sins and merits us unto eternal life. Thus, we may say, "through the Cross we are victorious."
Within the establishment of this glorious feastday, one cannot hesitate to overlook the story of Constantine's conversion. Leading a Roman army in a losing battle at the foot of the Alps, the sign of the Cross suddenly appeared in the sky, surrounded by the words In hoc vince, meaning, "In this sign thou shalt conquer." From this point Rome was conquered for Christ! Even though, throughout the almost two millennia, rulers would try to crush the Church and Christianity, and return to paganism, or establish themselves as the supreme head, Christ would always remain the head of this earthly city, in which the blood of the Princes of the Apostles, and so many martyrs were shed. Even today, walking the streets of a Rome plunged into secularism, it is impossible not to be reminded that Christ is the conqueror, for all of the churches throughout the city proclaim Him so.
But we must not fall into the idea that Christ is an earthly conqueror, which the Jewish leaders at the time of Christ were so insistent upon. No! Jesus Christ is the Conqueror of Sin and Death! In the Cross is our hope, for by the Cross we are now able to regain Paradise, which was closed to us by Adam's sin. Adam set us a penalty, but Christ brought us a relief. As the hymn Crux Fidelis proclaims:
"Faithful Cross the Saints rely on,
Noble tree beyond compare!
Never was there such a scion,
Never leaf or flower so rare.
Sweet the timber, sweet the iron,
Sweet the burden that they bear!"
The saints rely upon the Cross, because through suffering they, and us, are made saints. As metal is purified when it endures the fire, so we are purified through the fires of our suffering. Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29)." The Cross is the burden that we must bear, willingly, as Christ did, but it is a joy to bear the Cross because of what it does for us. It allows us to suffer in joy, for through it we are given rest even in this life.
Within all of this we see the profound mixture of sorrow and joy that the Cross brings. Yes, there is a certain sorrow in bearing the Cross, for suffering by nature is sorrowful. However, once we see the Cross as what it truly is, namely the Throne from which our King and Conqueror triumphed over all the powers of Hell, then it becomes for us our joy here on earth!
Allow me to close with a legend of the origins of the Cross, which comes from the Aurea Legenda of Jacobus de Voragine of the Middle Ages. My only disclaimer is that this is a legend; it does not have to be believed:
It is said that as Adam felt his death approaching, the ultimate penalty for his sin in the Garden of Eden, he entreated his son, Seth, to go to the Garden of Eden and obtain from the angel set to guard it a remedy, which had been promised in the Protoevangelium, or the promise that the serpent's head would be crushed by the offspring of Eve.
Seth returned to the home, from which mankind has its origins, and begged the angel for the remedy to heal his father. The angel responded by giving Seth three seeds from the Tree of Life and instructions to plant them. "When the tree bears fruit, your father shall live," the angel told Seth.
Seth hurried back to his father and gave him the seeds. However, Adam, with an apparently deep understanding of what the angel's instructions meant, submitted himself to his just penalty and died. Nevertheless, Seth carried out the angel's instructions and planted the seeds with his father. As the seeds became a sapling tree, they absorbed the blood of Adam into itself. Nevertheless, Seth and his descendents died without ever seeing Adam live again.
When God sent the Flood to cleanse mankind, the tree was not forgotten, but was taken by Noah onto the Ark along with the skull of Adam, which was beneath it. After the Flood, these two items were finally separated. Noah buried the patriarch of all mankind on Mount Calvary, and replanted the tree on Mount Horeb.
The burning bush, in which Moses spoke to the Lord, was indeed this tree, and it was from this tree that he received the Rod, which he would use to bring water from the rock during the Israelites' wanderings in the desert. However, because he was not able to enter the Promised Land, he buried his rod in Moab before dying.
The story of the angel's promise was not lost, however, but was passed down from generation to generation. After being crowned king, David went and searched for this tree, and finally found it in Moab bringing it to Jerusalem. Wishing to increase the glory of the Temple, Solomon ordered his workers to use the tree as one of the columns, but no matter how they cut it, it was always the wrong length, for that Temple was not meant to be the temple it would reside in.
Disgusted by this inefficiency of the tree, they instead used the wood for a bridge to connect Jerusalem with the surrounding hills. Then, when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, she was miraculously prevented from placing her feet upon the bridge. She instead had to go through the water to enter Jerusalem. This renewed Solomon's interest in the wood, and he ordered his men to wrap it in gold and place it above the entrance to the Temple.
The vices of Solomon only grew within his descendents though, one of which stole the gold and buried the wood to conceal his crime. Nevertheless, the spot where the tree was buried, burst forth in a spring, which became the pool of Bethesda, containing the power to heal.
One day, a log floated to the surface of the pool, and unsure what to do with it, it ended up being cut and turned into a tree of torture by the Romans - a cross. This cross, however, was the one carried by our Lord to Calvary, and when plunged into the ground, it hit the ancient skull of Adam, and the Precious Blood of our Lord flowed upon the Cross and into the ground, mixing with the remnant of Adam.
Never did a tree bear such magnificent fruit as this tree! Through its fruit, Adam did not return to earthly life, but was able to live the heavenly life!
And so it will be for all of us, if but bear and venerate the Cross in this life!
Monday, July 28, 2014
The Necessary Existence of Inequality
It occurred to me the other day that I often use the word "hierarchy" in my posts and explanations of things. Since the French Revolution, by my estimation, this term has often carried a negative connotation to it. With the spread of democratic values across the world, especially equality, the idea of a lack of equality in anything has been vilified.
Equality is, of course, a good and necessary thing, in its proper context. In the realms of social life, there is still a lot of work to obtain a fair and equal treatment of all citizens, which is in keeping with their human dignity. The problem is that, this social term, has been forced into the realm of philosophy without a change in its conceptual meaning. The consequence of making equality the center of philosophy is, since philosophy is the study of truth, that truth must conform to the social definition of equality.
The repercussions of this are fairly evident. Philosophically speaking, all things are not equal. Nothing has the exact same perfections as another. There are gradations of being within nature; St. Thomas Aquinas even uses this a proof for the existence of God (Summa Theologiae, I, Q. 2, Art. 3, Respondeo). Now this sounds like a complicated thing, but it's really not; in fact, I believe its the most evident of Thomas' proofs (contrary to what Aquinas would say).
St. Thomas's idea of gradation of being stems from Aristotle's understanding of it. Aristotle begins his De Anima (A work "On the Soul") with the concept that some things have more to be known and understood about them (Book I, Part 1). This should be fairly evident to us. There is more to be known when studying humans than when studying a rock, since there are simply more qualities that a human possesses as opposed to a rock; a human does and can do many more things than a rock does.
There is, therefore, a hierarchy in nature. There are inanimate objects, such as rocks, and then there are living things. The living things have more to be known, and are therefore greater in dignity, for they bear the image of God, Who is Life, more perfectly. Even within animate things, we see a hierarchy. Man is at the top, who is able to think abstractly, meaning he bears the image of God more perfectly, since he is able to grasp concepts. This is something lacking in the animals, but an essential part of God, Who understands concepts and Himself perfectly.
I would be negligent if I did not mention the angels, which are higher in the hierarchy of creation than man, for they, as purely spiritual beings, bear a more perfect resemblance to God. However, I say man is the highest of living things, since angels aren't physical, and therefore don't have life in the same manner as we do. Additionally, there are many other hierarchies we can reference as natural, but all of them will have the common component that God is the reference point for the highest part, since He is at the top of the hierarchy of existence, which contains all things that exist.
We would be foolish then to see inequality in and of itself as a bad concept. It is a natural concept, for all things are not equal. Man will never be equal to God, nor will a rose be equal to man. As our Lord says of humans, "You are more valuable than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31)." We would hopefully not hesitate to protect a fellow human over a tree, if both were in danger. This is not to say the tree does not have a dignity, it simply acknowledges the fact humans have a greater dignity. God of course has the greatest dignity, which is why we must follow Him before anything else.
Inequality can of course be evil, but only when it is used to attack the dignity of God's creation, meaning of course that God is attacked, for any dignity creation possesses is due to Him. To treat women as less than men is an attack against their dignity. A hierarchy must respect nature, not work against it. There is nothing in women, which makes them inferior to men, just as their is nothing in the color of skin making a person inferior. God made men and women equal in dignity. It is reasonable to establish hierarchies, but they must still respect the hierarchies established by God.
From the foregoing, I hope I sufficiently explained the importance of recognizing and acknowledging inequalities. Once again, in the realm of social justice, we need to work to eliminate inequality, for its existence there is an assault on nature, but in the realm of philosophy, inequality is a simple truth. The problems arise based on where it is applied.
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