The one that martyrdom lacks...

Saint Martin giving half of his cloak to Christ, by El Greco (Spanish, 1597)

Today the Church celebrates and remembers Saint Martin of Tours. While we rarely hear of Saint Martin anymore, it is interesting to see how many very old churches in Europe are dedicated to him, almost as many as there are dedicted to the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Saint Martin was the first non-martyr Catholic honored as a saint of the Church. This was remember in the Church with the saying: It was not Martin that lacked martyrdom, but martyrdom that lacked Martin. While this can remain only an interesting bit of trivia, we really should ask what this means in our life. Are we asked to make the ultimate sacrifice of martyrdom? Probably not, but by declaring Martin of Tours a saint, we re-affirm the belief that each of us are called to be saints. It is not limited to a holy elite, but the way of happiness opened to us all.

Saint Martin of Tours...

...Pray for us!

Duruflé's Messe "Cum jubilo"

One of the most interesting things I've been a part of in recent months (or really ever, for that matter) has finally come to fruition. No, I am not a priest yet. No, I have not managed to find the money to build one of the many cathedrals that fill the margins of my note book. No, I have not...

Last Spring, the choir of the Pontifical North American College recorded a full-length CD of a Mass setting by the 20th century French composer, Maurice Duruflé. The record, his Messe "Cum jubilo" is now available through JAV Recordings here. For anyone interested in classical/sacred music, it's a great buy!

Altogether, the CD is an entire Mass (sung the way it ought to be!) comprised of both Gregorian chant (Introit, Alleluia, etc.) and Duruflé's compositions, which use Gregorian chant as the foundation, of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus/Benedictus and Agnus Dei. It even includes all the prayers, propers and readings from the Mass of the Immaculate Conception—the College's patronal feast (you can see a picture of the chapel above, with the prominent Immaculata mosiac above the main altar).

Maurice Durufle at the organ

What's more, there's a great deal of organ improvisation as well, done by one of the most influential and noted organists in the world today: Stephen Tharp. From the bells on the first track to the organ sortie on the final, this recording is something worth checking out. Even the CD booklet has some cool pictures, and some interesting (and meditative) shots of the NAC that some might enjoy. (The cover photo, above, is the mosaic in the apse of the Immaculate Conception chapel at NAC.) Plus, you'll get to hear me sing—and you'll be supporting a good cause.

So visit JAV and pick up a copy. And play it for your kids. They will like it too! [And if they don't, you can teach them!]

Here is my practice homily from two days ago:

Please leave comments, suggestions, etc. in the comments

Reading for the third Sunday of Lent: First: Exodus 17:3-7, Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-2.5-8, JOHN 4:5-42
A reading from Saint Augustine that I used in preparing the homily: from a Treatise on John by Saint Augustine, bishop and doctor (scroll down to the bottom)

The homily:

For a number years I worked in a men’s shelter ran by the Sisters of Mother Theresa. In every one of their chapels next to the crucifix it is always written, “I Thirst.” This comes from Mother’s first inspiration for founding the Missionaries of Charity. She had seen a dying man in a train station in India, and through that man Jesus revealed to Mother these words, “I thirst,” and his deep thirst for souls.

These are also the first words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. He sits with the woman at the well and says, “Give me a drink.” He is thirsty. “Give me a drink of water.”

This woman is an outcast. She is a Samaritan, so she is not considered to be one of the chosen people of God. Even still she is outcast from among Samaritans, since she must gather her water during the heat of the day. Yet, alone at the well she meets Jesus. He thirsts, and says, “Give me a drink.” At this moment Christ is inviting us to join this woman at the well. He is inviting us to sit with him, and listen to his words. He is asking for a drink from us, but soon he will offer us a NEW DRINK.

In these words, “give me a drink,” Christ is revealing to us the heart of the Father, a heart that seeks us to worship and love him in spirit and truth. Soon we will pray during the preface of the Mass: when he asked the woman of Samaria for water to drink Christ had already prepared her for the gift of faith. In his thirst he awakened in her heart the fire of your love. Christ is thirsting for our faith, and for our souls, so that we can return his love through worship.

Jesus is not the only thirsty one in this Gospel. Like the woman of Samaria, we are also thirsty. We have come with her to draw water. She, the outcast, is thirsty for love; and we, who at times are distant from God, thirst for his love. Like in the psalm, “Like a deer that yearns for flowing waters, so my heart yearns for You.”

As we sit with Christ at the well, he gazes at us – He knows that we are thirsty. He offers us a drink saying, “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never be thirsty again; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus has asked us for a drink of water, but now he offers the most amazing drink – one that will satisfy all our thirst. At this moment the thirst of God for our faith and love meet our thirst for him.

What does he offer? He offers a “spring welling up to eternal life,” but where is this spring?
Let us remember these words, “There is no greater love than this; to lay down your life for a friend.” We meet this spring of eternal life at Calvary, where Jesus is dying on the cross. As Saint Paul teaches us in today’s second reading, “God proves his love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” God speaks to us and tells us, “My children, I love you so much! I come to you as a little child! I am even dying for you here on the cross! I thirst. Give me a drink of your faith. I thirst for you.” At this moment a solider pierces his side and out of his side flows “blood and water.” This is the spring welling up to eternal life, and he is living out the words of consecration, “Take this all of you, drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of a new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for the many, so that sins may be forgiven.” This is the “spring welling up to eternal life.”

Paul continues to teach us about how we respond to this love, as he writes, “[Our] hope does not disappoint because the Love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

We have been given the Holy Spirit at our baptism, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are brought again and again to the spring of eternal life.

The spring continues to well up to this day. It wells up not only in the sacrament of baptism, put also in the sacrament of the Eucharist in which we are celebrating.

This love calls for a response.

For Mother Theresa the response was a radical call to love in return; to love Christ in the poorest of the poor. During this season of Lent, we join her in her call to return the love of Christ with our own life. We are given main ways to do this: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Let the love that we will receive in this Eucharist, allow a spring to well up in our own hearts and lives, so that like the woman, we can say, “We have found the Messiah, we have found the spring of eternal life, and all our thirst have been satisfied.” And so draw others to the fire of God’s love.

God bless you, and may the name of Jesus be praised.

Saint Anastasia

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent:

Father, look on us, your children. Through the discipline of Lent help us to grow in our desire for you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Do you like to be called a child?


Today's pray calls us children. It asks the Father to look on us. He does look on us in love. He wants us to be happy. He sees into our heart, and knows it better than we do. He sees what keeps us from being happy. These are our sins -- the chains I wrote about yesterday. God has sent us this Lent to examine these, and to break free from them -- with His help.



It is through Lent -- and the disciplines of Lent -- fasting, prayer, almsgiving -- that God wants to draw us to greater freedom.



He wants to arouse us to desire to see Him more. In the prayer language of the Church prayer, to see and to know mean the same thing. So as we pray today asking God to help us grow in our desire to see Him, we are asking for our desire to know Him to grow.



Here in this Church there is a rare opportunity to see and to know the Lord. This is the only parish in Rome with perpetual adoration of the Eucharist. To see the wholeness of the Lord --body and blood, soul and divinity -- and so to come to know Him and to come to know that He knows us -- for He has come to become a man. He knows our weakness, since He has flesh, and so He can call us to greater things.



North American Church Guide

Saint John Cantius Parish Guide

Saint Peter in Chains

It is Monday of the First Week of Lent:

God our Savior bring us back to you and fill our minds with your wisdom. May we be enriched by our observance of Lent. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Saint Peter in Chains: It is a quiet and simple church located close to the Coliseum and the Maritime Prison (where Saint Peter was keep before being executed). Traditionally this church is thought to be on the sight of the house of Saint Balbina, the daughter of Peter's jail and who was converted by Peter while in prison.

What a great reflection for Lent. The chains of Peter -- chains in general. Peter was often chained down by hsi fear -- this lead him to deny the Lord three times -- to abandon Christ on the cross.

Can we reflect on the chains that hold us back from loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves? These are hard to face. But in the prayer today we asks God's help to be released from these chains, and this is what Lent is for -- to cooperate with God's loving call back. We acknowledge like Peter did, that we deny the Lord when we sin. But the Lord wants us to meet him on the sea shore, like He met Peter to ask us, "Do you love me?"

More about today's church:
North American College Guide
Saint John Cantius Parish Guide

Station Churches

It is Lent. That is not a new bit of news, but it does mean a few changes in my routine. The most significant are the station Churches. I shared this devotion with you last year. In the days of early Christianity, during the important holy days, including each day of Lent, the Pope would celebrate Mass at a different Church in Rome. Over time particular churches were associated with particular days -- these became known as station churches. While in theory this devotion was never abandoned (the Roman Missal continued to list the stational church for each day up until the Second Vatican Council), it fell into disuse. Heeding to the request of the council to return to ancient customs the North American College re-introduces the stations for English-speakers.

So now each morning, through the quiet and still dark streets of Rome it is possible to see the mysterious (but joyful) group of young men dressed like priest making there way to that days station.

While I will not be able to make it to every station, I hope to make it to more this year, and to take you along with me as we go.

Some Websites:
North American College Guide to the Station Churches
Roman Stational Churches - A Spiritual Guide through Lent (from the Canons of Saint John Cantius in Chicago)

Going up the mountain to pray...

Death of Saint Francis Xavier by Peter Paul Reubens

Dec. 3 is the feast of Saint Francis Xavier, a saint that I have a great devotion to since he is the patron of the diocese of Green Bay.

He is know as the Apostle to the Indies, since he brought the faith there. As the first missionary in the area, he made a number of mistakes, but he also laid down the ground work for further missionary work that has changed these cultures ever since.

He used artwork to evangelize, since it was difficult to explain the faith in the languages of the different peoples he encountered. For that reason I keep this post short, and leave you with some art.

Relic of the hand of Saint Francis Xavier in the Church of the Gesu in Rome. This is the hand that baptized "100,000" men, women and childre. You can see why I refer to Saint Francis as the "high-five" saint.

Word from Father Robert Barron

For the Octave of the Feast of

Christ, King of the Universe

Courtsey of Word on Fire:
From the Homily for November 23, the Feast of Christ, King of the Universe:
The feast of Christ the King should compel us to ask: Are we with him or against him?

Most observers of the current situation will acknowledge that the Catholic Church in the United States will be entering a very difficult time. Remembering that Christ is King of this all, we recognize that these trials come in some way from him. This tribulation of the Church also becomes a test for us: Are we with him or against him?

God bless!
Persevere!

Christ, King of All!

Christ the King, from an altar in Ghent, artist: Jan van Eyck

It has been an "open-secret" that when Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 in the Encyclical, Quas Primas, he was doing so for very political reasons. He wanted to illustrate to points: (1) to provide a vivid example of proper government, and (2) to show that government had necessary limits that it could not step beyond. He was not endorsing one political system over another, nor was he endorsing one candidate over another. He was simply highlighting the role of government in relation to other intermediate powers.

The historical context of Quas Primas is Europe between the two world wars. In Russia Papa Pio is seeing the rapid transformation of the Soviet Union into the world’s first totalitarian state under the dictatorship of Josef Stalin. In Germany he can see the incompetence of the Wiemer Republic. In Italy he faces the rise of Mussolini. In many places in the world he is seeing the expansion of atheistic communism and totalitarian-fascism.

Christ the King as depicted in the Cathedral of Wheeling in West Virginia

Neither of these two systems were good forms of government. They subjected their people from their proper roles as citizens, to the subservient role of servants to the powers of the state. Papa Pio accurately fore-told that this would lead to a rapid erosion of personal and human rights, and also to some the catastrophe of Western Civilization we now call World War II and the Holocaust.

These consequences were inevitable, since they denied the basic truths about man: (1) that each person has an inherent dignity that ought not to be violated, (2) that the rights of each person are inherent, especially life – liberty – and the pursuit of happiness, and they cannot be dissolved by the state, and (3) that these ends are to be promoted by the state. In short the state properly exists to promote the temporal and moral well-being of humanity, and both communism and fascism reverses, reducing man to an instrument of the greatness of the state.

Papa Pio wished to counter this by the example of Christ as King. As Saint Irenaeus writes, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” The Kingship of Christ was meant to glorify man and prepare him for eternal life. Papa Pio wished that this serve as an analogous model for the “kingdom of the world” that there glory be found in supporting the full dignity of its citizens.

Master it is good for us to be here...

Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.) While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

Luke 9:28-36

An image of the Transfiguration, apparently Saints Dominic and Catherine of Siena were there too!

Returning from Chinese food, Brian and were walking in through Firmum Est, and as we entered the corridor on zero-level we could look up through the big windowns and see the dome of Saint Peters illuminated and sort of hoovering over the college. At that moment I thought, "Wow - it is good for us to be here..." And I really do mean that -- last year was very difficult, but -- it's good for us to be here. Even in the difficulties I can say -- wow, it was good that I was here. This brought me to reflect on the Transfiguration of the Lord. Since the disciples -- Peter, James, and John said, "It is good for us to be here..." They were invited to see the Lord Transfigured before there eyes, and the vision was so amazing that they wanted to remain in it. This was not the Lord's mission though. He lived in the glory as bright as flashing lightning, even if it was hidden while here on earth. His mission was that each of us should live in that same glory, for as Paul writes, "He predestined us to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ." And we were adopted through the Blood of the Cross. This is why Jesus was discussion the fulfillment of his departure in Jerusalem with Moses and Elijah, and this is why they could not stay up on the mountain.

Mosiac representation of the Transfiguration from the apse of the church at Mouth Tabor, traditional location of the Transfiguration

We follow the same path as the Lord. We will be glorified like him, as bright as flashing lightening. This Transfiguration is given a name in among our brothers of the Eastern Christians, deification -- in other words: becoming God like. This starts here and now. For me being in the seminary is a big part of this transformation. I can see how I have been transformed during this past year. It has been great. But this "way of transfiguration" must follow the same way that the Lord took, and this is the "Way of the Cross." This means suffering. There is much suffering in the world, and in our own lives, so I am not saying seek out to suffer more. What I am saying is seek out to let this suffering be a gift -- yes a gift -- a gift to the Lord. He has the power to Transfigure this suffering into our glory -- this is the promise that Easter holds.

Praise be God, through His Mother Mary: She has not died, but gone to Heaven!

Zenale, Bernardino. L'Assunta. (Church of Saint Charles on the Corso: Milan, Italy).

This day the holy and animated Ark of the living God, which had held within herself her own Maker, is borne to rest in that Temple of the Lord, which is not made with hands. – St. John Damascus

Most Catholics probably do not know the significance of the great Mystery celebrated this day. It is clear of course that the Church places great importance in this Mystery. It assigns it the greatest solemnity, makes it a holy day of obligation, and in many Catholic countries this Great Feast is even celebrated as a public holiday.

This feast is not a new feast invented by Pope Pius XII in his declaration of November 1, 1950, Munificentissumus Deus. The common perception of this teaching is also not one of doubt, but one of apathy. Why does it matter that the Holy Mother of God has been taken up to heaven body and soul?

It matters – it matters deeply not only within our souls, but with in our bodies – our bones, our muscles, and our flesh. This great grace of Mary’s Assumption is the fulfilment of the promise of the God the Father to redeem us and call us back to him (cf. Ps. 16). At the beginning of time there was no need of redemption, since God walked in the Garden of Eden with the first Adam and the first Eve. As Pope John Paul II put it Adam and Eve were “naked without shame.” After the Fall, this was lost. For they realized they were naked, and became ashamed. They hide themselves from God (cf. Genesis 3:9-15).

Heaven was lost to Adam and Eve, and since we are their children, we have also lost heaven. For through the first Adam death entered the world. The death we all face is the unavoidable witness to this fall. Death, strong though it may be, is not stronger than the love of God. God’s love for us took on a body like our body – with bones, muscles, and flesh – he became incarnate in Jesus Christ. He came to redeem us – which means literally he came to buy us back. God wants us to be with him in heaven. So the promise of our own resurrection is shown forth in the resurrection of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20-6).

Saint Ireneaus of Lyon tells us how this was first shown worth with the Blessed Virgin Mary. By his own death, Christ – the “second Adam” – undid what the first Adam did. Christ reverses death. So Mary – the “second Eve” – in her obedient words, be it done unto me according to your Word (Luke 1:37), reverses the disobedience of the first Eve. Thus God’s promise is fulfilled in her, and her body does not even come to know the decay of death. This is important for us to reflect on. The redemption of our body is a gift that we have not earned. We cannot earn it. But God nonetheless respects what He has created – and respects the freedom that He has created us with. He will not force the resurrection of our bodies on us, just like He did not force more to become the Mother of God. He offers us the resurrection in the promise that took on flesh in His Son, and as all the angles and the rest of creation waited on the words of Mary – so all the angles and the rest of creation waits for us to say, be it done unto me according to you Word.

This Great Feast in fact is the great invitation to join Mary in heaven. To accept the gift that God so graciously lays before us. This now is the moment to make our own FIAT. To fulfil the promises of our baptism as a response to the great gift that God offers us. This is so great that the Church has always celebrated it. The first Christian bishops preached about the Assumption of Mary. This Tradition was handed on, as is testified to by countless homilies through all the ages down to the present. We see this in art – all of the famous painters have always painted at least one image of the Assumption. We hear this in music – as some of the most beautiful music was composed to commemorate the Assumption. It has always been believed by the Church, so that is the reason why Pope Pius XII, defined the Assumption in 1950. He was not proposing something new, but in his words drawing together almost two thousand years of Tradition to glorify Jesus through His mother, Mary.

Mary Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven, Pray for us.

Pius XII, of Blessed Memory, Pray for us.

More Incense, Less Nonsense!

Watch the video:
Creative Minority Report: More Incense, Less Nonsense! - A Catholic Blog: Religion, Politics, Current Events, Humor, and more.

No other religion would dare to have something so awesome! Well we also have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass -- as far as awesome goes.