Nix

I'm dreaming of a white Easter...

On the second Sunday of Easter it snowed in Pittsburgh, the Sunday when JPtG passed on. Today, the fifth Sunday of Easter it snowed again, when Pope Benedict received his Pallium.

It reminds me of the legend of Our Lady of the Snows. Heaven rejoiced to receive JPtG, and it rejoices again for our new Vicarius Christi in terra.

Agendum

There is a movement, especially among the laity in America, to reform the Liturgy as celebrated in this country to better reflect the original noble intentions of the fathers of Vatican II, in short, to celebrate the Mass as it ought to be celebrated, with Gregorian chant and the Latin language given pride of place in our worship. Excellent organizations such as Adoremus seek to provide the knowledge and resources necessary for the laity to help renew parish life through that apex of parish liturgy, the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

But that will not be the focus of this blog.

The problem with this movement is that without the support of a like-minded pastor, it goes nowhere. Oh sure, we can always nag, but this rarely helps our overworked, liturgically challenged priests, and it rarely yields good results to either us or our shepherds. So rather than nag, it seems to me that we should encourage ... and LEAD.

"But how can we lead? You aren't one of these batty people who advocate laics saying mass, are you?" Far from it! But the mass is not the only Liturgy. The Liturgia Horarum, or Liturgy of the Hours, is "the prayer of the Church with Christ and to Christ." (IGHL 2) It is the Divine Office by which laics, clerics, and angels share in God's life (IGHL 3). It is a means of consecrating time, consecrating the hours of the day in the world. It is lead by a cleric when one is present, and by a laic otherwise. It can be celebrated in the church or in the home.

According to the Institutio Generalis Liturgiae Horarum (IGLH), "To the different hours of the day the liturgy of the hours extends the praise and thanksgiving, the memorial of the mysteries of salvation, the petitions and the foretaste of heavenly glory that are present in the eucharistic mystery, `the center and high point in the whole life of the Christian community'" [12]. It is a way of bearing the mass back into the world, back into our a daily lives after we drive out of the church parking lot. As such, it is especially relevant to the mission of us laics, us fideles.

And it is something we can do about the state of Liturgy in our lives. By practicing the reforms of the Liturgia Horarum as mandated by Vatican II in Sacrosanctum Concilium, we can renew or own lives and help lead the renewal of the Church's Liturgy in the Divine Office, and indirectly in the Mass.

In sum, here is a quote from number 27 of the IGLH, which will serve as a sort of Manifesto for my blog:

27. Lay groups gathering for prayer, apostolic work, or any other reason are encouraged to fulfill the Church's duty, by celebrating part of the liturgy of the hours. The laity must learn above all how in the liturgy they are adoring God the Father in spirit and in truth; they should bear in mind that through public worship and prayer they reach all humanity and can contribute significantly to the salvation of the whole world.

Finally, it is of great advantage for the family, the domestic sanctuary of the Church, not only to pray together to God but also to celebrate some parts of the liturgy of the hours as occasion offers, in order to enter more deeply into the life of the Church.

The name of this blog, Nauta Mundo Naufrago, is a line from a hymn addressed to the Holy Cross. It means "O Sailor for a shipwrecked world." It reminds me to look always to the cross of Christ for guidance through the stormy seas of this world by praying cum Christo et ad Christum.

Pennae Columbae Deargentatae

At matins today we chanted the 67th psalm. I love these difficult psalms, the ones with the obscure, often bizarre language that defies interpretation. Too often, in our modern English paraphrases these difficult words and strange images get smoothed over. In the rigid language of the Vulgate, however, meanings must be worked for and are, therefore, more rewarding.

Si dormiatis inter medios cleros, pennae columbae deargentatae, et posteriora dorsi ejus in pallore auri.

"If you sleep among the midst of the allotments, [you will be] the silvered wings of the dove, and those which are last of her back in the sheen of gold."

In desperation, I did something which I rarely do, but should do more often, I turned to the Glossa Ordinaria. And this, in its dry, heavily abbreviated language is what I was taught.

The allotments are the authority of the two Testaments, old and new, and to sleep among them is to rest and peacefully acquiesce to them. The dove is the glory of the Church who is carried into heaven on her silvered wings, which are her preaching.

The commentary of the Glossa goes on to say that the "last of her back" (posteriora dorsi) are where the wings join the dove's body. The Glossa calls them "the vigor of wisdom, that is love" (caritas), which has the sheen of gold.

Upon reading the Glossa, I was immediately reminded of the words of our late Great pope:

FIDES ET RATIO binae quasi pennae videntur quibus veritatis ad contemplationem hominis attollitur animus. Deus autem ipse est qui veritatis cognoscendae studium hominum mentibus insevit, suique tandem etiam cognoscendi ut, cognoscentes Eum diligentesque, ad plenam pariter de se ipsis pertingere possint veritatem.
(cfr Ex 33,18; Ps 27[26],8-9; 63[62],2-3; Io 14,8; 1 Io 3,2).

"FAITH AND REASON together seem like the wings by which the mind of man is carried to the contemplation of the truth. Now it is God Himself who has sown in the thoughts of men the intention [studium] of knowing the truth, and thus of knowing His very Self, so that knowing and loving Him, they can together touch the full truth concerning themselves."

Although Psalm 67 is not mentioned as one of the references to this quote, I was struck by the parallel between the silvered wings of the dove being the preaching of the church, and faith and reason being the wings of the mind of man. The two pairs of wings strike me as more than complementary; they are, rather, two sides of the same thing. I don't know whether Joannes Paulus Magnus had Psalm 67 in mind when he penned these words, but I suspect that they flowed from a mind which was accustomed to meditating upon the mysteries which these Psalms express.

Noli Timere

The best homily on the Road to Emmaus I ever heard was preached today by Father Michael From Among the Exiles at Pittsburgh's Heinz Memorial Chapel. You don't often hear fearless challenges of the culture of death from the pulpit of many American Catholic parishes these days - and especially not from many campus ministries. May there be many more Nolentes Timere in this new springtime of evangelization heralded by our late Great pope.

Father Michael is one of the Oratorian Fathers, whose campus ministry blesses our fair university.

Misericordia Divina

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, a Holiday instituted and popularized by John Paul the Great. It is also the day he died. Here in Pittsburgh I woke up to a white Easter holy day; we had an unseasonal and unpredicted snow storm. With the passing of JP2, the world has lost some of its warmth. God have mercy on him, and God have mercy on us who dwell in a cold world.