Other

iPod Blues

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Color me disappointed with the new line of iPods. I was hoping for a harddrive based iPod like the new iPod Touch which is flash memory based and has WiFi and looks similar to the iPhone. They have a new iPod Classic which is harddrive based but has the same size screen as the old one. My 60 gig Video iPod is almost full so no flash memory based unit is going to cut it for me.

So I can’t think of any good reason to update to the new iPod Classic except to have more space with the 160GB model. Thankfully more music companies are starting to offer more DRM free music at a higher bit rated so I will be filling my current iPod in the not so distant future, but maybe I can hold off till next year when hopefully they will offer what I want. Oh well maybe I should thank Apple for putting a damper on my technolust.

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Book Review

The Mass of the Early Christians

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I had been looking forward to reading the 2nd edition of Mike Aquilina’s The Mass of the Early Christians and I certainly was not disappointed. This is absolutely a great book and I believe required reading for anybody who wants to read on the early form and development of the Mass.

Mike Aquilina takes us sequentially through history using documented sources to give us a good idea of how the Mass was originally celebrated. We of course have some idea of this from the New Testament and the book goes thoroughly through both Old and New Testament sources in reference to the Mass and we see over and over again how the Church Fathers did the same. Part of the development of the Mass is shrouded in history, especially concerning the Eucharistic celebration. Early Christians kept the Eucharistic celebration secret and seekers and catechumen were required to leave prior to the Eucharistic celebration. Early writers pretty much kept to this tradition and so often we only have oblique references to this and it only becomes more explicit after the Edict of Milan. I think this practice is a good thing to meditate on in how sacred the early Christians viewed this celebration and how cavalier we can think of it.

Despite this lack of openness regarding the liturgy there are still a lot of good clues to give us an insight into these early celebrations and we of course find that they are not much different in structured compared to our current celebrations. Part II – The Testimony of Witnesses is the largest part of the book and starts with the New Testament, the Didache and then then chapters focusing on individuals such as Church Fathers and other historical sources including some Pagan and Gnostic ones. I really like how he laid out the book because instead of getting brief texts from multiple sources we get much fuller texts from these authors when they reference the liturgy. This book is not a listing of all the texts available on the early church, but does contain a prominent sampling of them. As Mike Aquilina mentions including all of them would have made the book twice as large and I think he came up with a great compromise. I much prefer the fuller texts along with full scriptural texts.

I found some of the Pagan sources quite fascinating along with some of the early accusations made against the Christians. I had of course heard of the cannibalism charges, but some of the other charges made makes Church reporting by the modern media quite tame in contrast. The best part those are of the Church’s witnesses and the insights they had towards the Mass and the view they give us of the early liturgies. This book can be used both for apologetics purposes and for spiritual reading. What I found most fascinating though was the texts from the Mass that still exist and the variety of them from the various geographical liturgies.

The last section of the book gives us a short and imaginative look at what it would have been like to go to a Mass in North Africa and a good idea of what it would have been like to go to one of these house Churches during the time the Church was being heavily persecuted.

Highly recommended for anybody.

Mike Aquilina also maintains an excellent blog called The Way of the Fathers which specializes in patristics.

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Parody

New liturgical position

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Have you ever been a Sunday morning quarterback during Mass where you critique and liturgical abuses or experimental oddities that you have observed. You just wish at times that somebody would step in and do something about what your are observing.Well we have some good news for you! Francis Cardinal Arinze the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has introduced a new program that will surely have an effect.

The recently created position of Liturgical Referee has been instituted to help to bring uniformity to the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Liturgical Referees will travel around the world randomly attending Masses. Liturgical Referees will stand, mostly quietly, to the side of the sanctuary during Mass and call out signals if he observes any liturgical penalties according to the GIRM and other liturgical documents. Only in the case of penalties that would make the Mass itself invalid will the Liturgical Referee blow his whistle and when necessary call for any replays to correct any mistake made. Penalty markers may be thrown during the Mass to alert the celebrant to any problems that might need immediate correction.


Liturgical Referee in action

After Mass any penalties will be reviewed with the celebrant and more serious penalties will be taken to the local ordinary for determination for any fines or whether the celebrant just needs to get back to the liturgical playbook (GIRM) and/or to review films of properly celebrated Masses. In the case of penalty free liturgies the Liturgical Referee will thank the celebrant and be given the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments seal of approval.

The Liturgical Referee’s has responsibility in enforcing the liturgical rules and maintaining the order of the liturgy. During the liturgy please do not yell out or insult the Liturgical Referee. We assure you he is not blind and is doing his job to the best of his abilities and whether you feel he has missed a liturgical abuse or that he is being too hard on your pastor we ask that you act charitably on his calls.

Applicants for Liturgical Referee should be well versed in Canon Law as applies to the liturgy, the GIRM and other liturgical documents, and a familiarity with any indults and permissions as set by the local bishop’s conference and the local ordinary. The applicant should also be physically fit so that he will be able to make all off the signals that might be required at a more experimental celebration of the liturgy. Applicants should be familiar with the following liturgical signals.

Example Liturgical Signals
No Crucifix in sanctuary.
Liturgical dance detected.
Member of laity giving homily – to be evicted from lectern.
Incomplete or no consecration. Occurs when illicit matter is used, wrong formula used, only one of the two elements of bread or wine is not properly consecrated, or no validly ordained male priest/bishop is present. In case where only one element is consecrated a replay is called for.
Illegal use of hands. Normally called when the celebrant has left the sanctuary to shake everybody’s hands.
Questionable or just downright heretical theology used in homily. When detected the Liturgical Ref pulls on his lips in a downward direction.
The "What the heck am my hearing" signal is one of the most common signals and indicates syrupy banal liturgical music or the inappropriate use of secular music such as show tunes and popular music (especially from the seventies).
Disregarding the prescribed text of the Order of Mass. This is another common liturgical penalty despite the fact that no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy)
Illicit Posture. Usually called when you are being asked to stand instead of kneel or any other poster adaptation not specified by the GIRM or set by your bishop’s conference or licitly specified by your local ordinary.
Illicit purification of sacred vessels. This is called when the purification of the sacred vessels is done by an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion despite the fact the the Pope revoked the indult in the U.S. for this permission.
Illicit Participation. Called when too many people are in the sanctuary. For example occurs when EMHC arrive before the fraction rite or when some members of the congregation are invited into the sanctuary to pray with the priest during the consecration.
Un-Christian Like Conduct. Can be called when elements of other religions contrary to Christianity are introduced such as new age beliefs. Un-Christian Like Conduct is also often called in the parking lot after Mass.
Illegal Pass. The celebrant is simply not allowed to make a pass at anybody.
Stole Infraction. Normally occurs when the celebrant wears his stole on top of the chasuble. Another penalty can be added if the celebrant does this and the stole is also horrendously ugly or has an seventies themes.
Illegal Receiver of Holy Communion. Those who are excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.
Clowns in the sanctuary – run for your life.
Excessive use of inclusive language. Penalty is thrown when grammatical awkwardness is detected in avoiding male pronouns and every other sentence begins brothers and sisters.

With the presence of the Liturgical Referee you can leave liturgical abuse spotting to the experts and spend your time instead trying to enter the Mass in prayer.

Update: Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP has some other liturgical hand signals not included in the examples above.

Update 2: Some have asked for a version of this they can easily print out. I have created a PDF version of this parody.

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Punditry

It's not easy being a green Pope

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Media
gaffes when it comes to the Church are often pretty funny such as the case of crow’s ear being substituted for crosier. But American Papist has found a real howler, as he calls it. The media has been working overtime to cast the Pope’s visit in Loreto as an eco-friendly youth rally.

"Intentionally wearing green vestments, [Pope Benedict] spoke to a vast crowd of mostly young people…"

Creative Minority Report gives his own vestment interpretation guide.

American Papist also has good commentary and coverage on what the pope actually said instead of the the spin given it to fit what they want him to mean within a narrow context.

Now it is no surprise that the media interprets so much within environmental terms since they are par of the eco chamber on this issue.

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News

Loreto

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

What an amazing spectacle of young and engaged faith we are living tonight! Tonight Loreto has become, thanks to you, the spiritual capital of the youth – the center of convergence for the multitudes of young people who inhabit the five continents.At this moment, we feel surrounded by the expectations and hopes of millions of young people of the whole world. Right now, some are staying up, some are sleeping, some are studying or working. Some are hopeful and others are desperate; some believe, and others cannot get themselves to believe; some love life while others are wasting it. I would like my words to reach everyone: the Pope is close to you, he shares your joys and your pains; above all, I share your most intimate hopes; and for each of you, I ask the Lord the gift of a full and happy life, a life that is rich in sense, a true life.

Unfortunately today, not unusually, a full and happy existence is seen by many young people as a difficult dream, and sometimes almost unrealizable. So many of your contemporaries look at the future with apprehension and ask themselves many questions.

They are concerned about how to fit themselves into a society marked by numerous and grave injustices and sufferings. How to react to the selfishness and violence which often seem to predominate. How to give a sense of fullness to life.

With love and conviction, I repeat to you, who are present here, and through you, to your contemporaries around the world: Do not be afraid! Christ can fulfill the most intimate aspirations of your heart. Are there are unreliable dreams when it is the Spirit of God who inspires and cultivates them in the heart? Is there anything that could dampen our enthusiasm if we are united with Christ? Nothing and no one, the Apostle Paul would say, can ever separate us from the love of God, in Jesus Christ, our Lord (cf Rom 8,35-39).

Allow me to repeat this to you tonight: if yo0u stay one with Christ, each of you can do great things. That is why, dear friends, you should not be afraid to dream with open eyes about great plans for good, and you should not allow yourselves to be discouraged by difficulties.

Christ has confidence in you and he wants you to realize each of your noble dreams for authentic happiness. Nothing is impossible for whoever trusts in God and entrusts himself to him.

Look at the young Mary! The Angel proposed to her something truly inconceivable: to participate in the most intimate way possible in God�s greatest plan, the salvation of humanity. Before such a proposal, Mary was troubled, aware of the smallness of her being compared to God�s omnipotence, and so she asked: How is it possible, why me? But she was willing to fulfill the divine will, and readily gave her Yes, which changed her life and the story of all mankind. Thanks to that Yes, we are here together tonight.

I ask myself and you: Can the requests that God makes of us – no matter how demanding they may seem to be – ever equal that which God asked of the young Mary? Dear boys and girls, let us learn from Mary to say Yes, because she knows what it means to answer generously to the requests of the Lord.

Dear young people, Mary knows your most noble and deepest aspirations. Above all, she knows your great desire for love, your need to love and be loved. Looking at her, following her obediently, you will discover the beauty of love – not a throwaway love, fleeting and deceptive, imprisoned in a selfish and materialistic mentality – but true and profound love.

Amy Welborn and Papa Ratzinger Forum
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News

Consecrated Barrista

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Coffee shop operator Eileen Belongea will become a “consecrated virgin,” taking on an old Roman Catholic rite that was reinstated by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

The 41-year-old woman learned about the rite in 1999 while visiting one of her siblings, who is a nun with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George in southern Illinois. She attended a youth rally during the late Pope John Paul II’s visit to St. Louis, Mo., and came away inspired.

“The Lord has given me the grace of virginity,” she said. “It is he who has preserved it my whole life, and I offer it back to him. Through God’s consecration, through the hands of the bishop, I’ll receive the strength and the grace that I will need.”

The operator of the Brewers Two Café at Meadowbrook Marketplace, a shopping center in Waukesha, and owner with her twin sister of that establishment and two other coffee shops admits that others find her choice unusual.

“When people find out I’m (becoming) a consecrated virgin, they’re very intrigued and they want to know more about it,” Belongea said. “I haven’t had anyone who didn’t treat it with respect. My employees know. Many of my customers know because it’s a neighborhood coffee shop and you become friends.”

…Citing church canons, the association describes the virgins as irrevocably “consecrated to God, mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the church.

I wonder what consecrated virgins and women religious do at tax time? Mystically married to Christ or bride of Christ is not one of the options and besides how would you come up with his SSN?

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News

Aftermath

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

NEW ORLEANS – Clergymen struggling to comfort the afflicted in New Orleans are finding they, too, need someone to listen to their troubles.

Almost every local Episcopal minister is in counseling, including Bishop Charles Jenkins himself, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

…Roman Catholic priests have not reported any unusual counseling needs, said the Rev. William Maestri, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He said one possible reason is that priests do not have wives or children to support and protect.

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Punditry

Hardness of heart

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

You often hear criticism of the Church’s position on the sanctity of marriage and the indissolubility of the marriage bond as being cruel. Compassion is also often invoked as a response for those who want to remarry. The repeated suggestion is that for someone whose marriage has ended in civil divorce that it totally unfair to the person that they not be allowed to get remarried. Once again the Catholic Church is the cast as the sour old bad guy keeping people from living and enjoying their lives as they please. I have even heard a homily in a Catholic Church by a priest who was upset with the cruelty of the Church in not allowing remarriage.

With the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist occurring just a couple of days ago I wonder what kind of media attention John would have gotten in modern times. I can easily imagine headlines such as "Marriage activist looses his head" or "Intolerant nutcase wilderness preacher slams Herod’s marriage." It is quite obvious that the Church’s teaching on marriage has never been popular and St. Thomas More also was beheaded for defending marriage.

Today at Mass a reading from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 was used to mention something that Jesus had said regarding divorce. This reminding me of society’s current attitude which is exactly opposite of what Jesus said. Jesus said that it was the hardness of heart of the people that caused Moses to allow divorce, while critics say it is hardness of heart that doesn’t allow divorce. Jesus used "You have heard it said" to lead off to how the truth was quite the opposite of what he had heard said and this is just another example.The cruelty is suppose to be all on the Church’s part while the cruelty to children as the result of divorce is roundly ignored. As a child of divorced parents when I was a teenager I know of this cruelty that had put me in a downward spiral without realizing it. But there is also cruelty when spouses don’t reconcile and with divorce now seen as a quick fix and where the idea of not getting your way at all times has lead to massive selfishness.

Instead of reconciling problems and performing necessary compromises the horrible idea of irreconcilable differences has emerged. Love as emotional gooeyness has triumphed and as soon as you don’t feel love this is suppose to be evidence that love is gone. The idea that love is a willed act is little known and instead people say silly things like "I have fallen out of love with you" when the reality is that they have willed not to love that person anymore. Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies is now even more scandalous in our times than it was in his since we now attach love as purely an emotional feeling. The heresies of the seventies included such nonsense as "Love means never having to say you’re sorry." A statement like that makes you understand why they once burned heretics. Many now think that sacrificial love is an oxymoron and it is any wonder considering that sacrifice itself has come on such hard times? Not only do we want cheap grace, we want it on a revolving credit plan.

A culture of selfishness certainly does not prepare one for marriage especially since in every case they are a couple who both suffer from the effects of original sin. As Father Pacwa would say they don’t make the other model anymore. All the focus is on Cupid not concupiscence. Though as depressing the modern culture’s view on marriage is it does make me reflect on how strong the role of grace is. Looking at the cultural indicators I think it is much more amazing that the divorce rate isn’t much higher, but Jesus did promise that where sin abounds that grace abounds even more. The grace bandwidth is measured by Laud rate since we should certainly give praise and glorify God for it. Grace is what keeps me from being a pessimistic cynic since I know from experience He can touch even the most hardheaded individual. After 27 years of marriage my wife can also testify to that fact.

So while I doubt that society will anytime soon learn that it is their hardness of heart and not the Church’s in regard to marriage, we also know that grace is more powerful than propaganda.

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