A Personal Lenten Journey: Conclusion

April 12, 2009

jbrighteye

(Continued from “A Personal Lenten Journey“)

Well, I survived it. We’re here at Easter, ready or not, and Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Weeks 3, 4 and 5 of Lent went pretty much like the previous week: I stumbled through it. There were a few high points when the light of grace broke through the fog in wonderful ways, but it was  mostly nothing to write home (or blog about) when it came to my end of the deal.

I was sick with a nasty chest-cold for most of Holy Week. I was achy, restless and anxious. Although it was no fun, it did help me enter the drama of Triduum in a more sympathetic way this season.

Last night, at the Easter vigil, my family and I sat in a darkened church and watched it fill with light. I was giddy as kid on the last day of school when we got to sing “alleluia” again. We watched half a dozen people become new creations in Christ through water and the Spirit. We saw two of our dearest friends confess the Catholic faith, be sealed with the Holy Spirit and receive our Lord in the Eucharist for the first time (pray for Trevor and Jen, our newly un-separated siblings.)

Christ was indeed risen and among us and, if you had asked me to last night, I’d have done a dozen more Lents back-to-back for another Vigil like that. And that’s just a preview of the Big Easter that Christ returned to the Father to prepare for us.

As I reflect back this morning on Lent 2009, one thought keeps coming back to me: Christ’s mercy and grace.

Of course I was a failure at Lent and when I tried to step out of my relatively comfortable,  casual suburban stupor and walk next to Christ in the wilderness I looked like an idiot. This should be no surprise. It’s all there in Holy Week: the same mouths that shout “hossana” also shout “crucify”, the Lord’s friends deny and betray him and all save a few abandon Him in his darkest hour.

Christ still welcomed me to the feast. I was a bruised reed left unbroken and smoldering wick left unsnuffed. Or, as someone more golden-mouthed than I once said it:

If any man be devout and love God,
let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast.

If any man be a wise servant,
let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.

If any have labored long in fasting,
let him now receive his recompense.

If any have wrought from the first hour,
let him today receive his just reward.

If any have come at the third hour,
let him with thankfulness keep the feast.

If any have arrived at the sixth hour,
let him have no misgivings,
because he shall in no wise be deprived.

If any have delayed until the ninth hour,
let him draw near, fearing nothing.

If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,
let him also be not alarmed at his tardiness;
for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor,
will accept the last even as the first;
he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour,
even as unto him who has worked from the first hour.

And He shows mercy upon the last,
and cares for the first;
and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts.
And he both accepts the deeds,
and welcomes the intention,
and honors the acts and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord,
and receive your reward,
both the first and likewise the second.

You rich and poor together,
hold high festival.

You sober and you heedless,
honor the day.

Rejoice today,
both you who have fasted
and you who have disregarded the fast.

The table is fully laden;
feast sumptuously.

The calf is fatted;
let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy the feast of faith;
receive all the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one bewail his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one weep for his iniquities,
for pardon has shone forth from the grave.

Let no one fear death,
for the Savior’s death has set us free:
he that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

(St. John Chrysostom’s Paschal Sermon)

photo by Brandi Sims


On Conversion to God

February 11, 2009

Lent encourages us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and thus to know the fundamental truth:  who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what road to take in life. And thus, the Season of Lent offers us an ascetic and liturgical route which, while helping us to open our eyes to our weakness, opens our hearts to the merciful love of Christ. BENEDICT XVI, GENERAL AUDIENCE, 1st March 2006.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The liturgical season of Lent is fast approaching. The Lord is giving us yet one more opportunity to work on ourselves, on our souls. For this, I thank Him!

As you are well aware we are living in a very tumultuous time; a time of financial distress, war, and a time in which radical politicians –and presidents–boldly undermine the sanctity of life. This time in which we live demands conversion, a radical turning away from sin to God. But unless we ourselves begin this conversion process, the world will continue getting worse and worse by the minute.

I warmly encourage each and everyone reading this post to take advantage of Lent, to make it the best Lent you ever had, the most spiritually fruitful. Let us enter into this holy season with a deep desire “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,” so that we “may be filled with all the fullnes of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Please realize that God has given us everything we need to experience the conversion of our own hearts and minds, if we but humbly accept His Divine Grace. Let us ask our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, to plead our cause before the Lord, to teach us how to be good sons and daughters of the Most High, to protect us from all harm. Let us also ask our Brothers and Sisters who dedicated their lives to the fulfilment of the Christian vocation, and who now enjoy the Beatific Vision, to come to our aid in times of temptation so that we may be strengthened and may come off unharmed after the battle. Finally, let us be mindful that, through Baptism, we are members of the Mystical Body of Christ, and so we all have the responsibility to look out for one another, especially for the poor (Philipians 2:4; Matthew 25:40). Let us, then, pray for one another during Lent!

Lenten Resources:


Hail Festal Day!

April 10, 2008

Below is an English translation of an Easter poem of Venantius Fortunatus from the 6th century. You may recognize that that the hymn “Hail Thee Festival Day” is based on this poem. The poem uses the metaphor of spring to describe the resurrection, and is very beautiful.

Tree Blooming

The seasons blush
varied with the flowery, fair weather,
and the gate of the pole
lies open with greater light.
His path in the heaven
raises the fire-breathing sun higher,
who goes forth on his course,
and enters the waters of the ocean.
Armed with rays
traversing the liquid elements,
in this brief night
he stretches out the day in a circle.
The brilliant firmament
puts forth its clear countenance,
and the bright stars show their joy.
The fruitful earth pours forth its gifts
with varied increase,
when the year has well returned its vernal riches.
Soft beds of violets paint the purple plain;
the meadows are green with plants,
and the plant shines with its leaves.
By degrees gleaming brightness of the flowers comes forth;
all the herbs smile with their blossoms.
The seed being deposited,
the corn springs up far and wide in the fields,
promising to be able to overcome the hunger of the husbandman.
Read the rest of this entry »


Happy Octave, Quasimodo, Low, etc. etc. etc.

March 30, 2008

quasimodosm.jpgThe Sunday of so many, many names:

Second Sunday of Easter. Since the reforms of the 1960’s, this is the common name in all the liturgical texts such as the Sacramentary, Lectionary, etc.

Octave of Easter. Once the Church had many octaves throughout the year. The Octave of Easter can refer to either the eighth day or all eight days of the Feast of Easter which ends today.

In the Eastern Churches, this is known as Thomas Sunday as the gospel is always taken from John 20 and the story of doubting Thomas which occurred one week after the day of the Resurrection. Read the rest of this entry »


On the Importance of Easter

March 28, 2008

easterlights.jpg

Even though most of us Westerners tend to naturally make a huge deal about Christmas (for good reason!), sometimes we can forget that Easter is a very important feast and Church season too. In fact, technically, it is Easter that is the high point of the liturgical year, not Christmas. Of course, Christmas and Easter are not in competition, and are on the same team, since both celebrate important components of the mystery of our redemption by Christ.

Have a look at what the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar says about Easter and the Easter season:

– The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one “great Sunday.” These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia.

- The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday.

- The first eight days of the Easter season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord.

- On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holy day of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter

- The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

As you can see, Easter is a very important time in the liturgical year. In fact, every day of the Octave of Easter (today included) is celebrated as a solemnity. So, enjoy the Easter season. Feast. Celebrate. Yell out those “Alleluias” at Mass and during Morning and Evening Prayer with gusto, and celebrate the resurrection of Christ like…well…like it’s Christmas!

“Easter Lights” image from christmas-decorations-gifts-store.com


Why Do Evangelicals Celebrate Easter When They Do?

March 25, 2008

Ok, I grant that a number of non-Catholics go out of the way to call the holiday “Resurrection Sunday“  a few seem to have gravitated towards calling it “Pascha” like Eastern Christians do…  Some of them dislike the term “Easter” wrongly thinking it connotes paganism. (Taylor Marshall has the 411 on that with today’s entry Why is the festival of Christ’s Resurrection called Easter? – it is about as “pagan” to use the term “Easter” as it is “Thursday” or “January” or “Sunday“[!] for that matter!)

Read the rest of this entry »


Did you Dyngus today?

March 24, 2008

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Today is Dyngus Day. Polish Easter Monday’s traditions reach back over a millenium to pre-Christian times. A rite of Spring in the old country, it was a festival which included pranks, singing, dancing, feasting, revelers throwing water on each other, and boys chasing girls with fresh spring willow switches to flirt with them by swatting them on their legs. Ah, those Poles are so romantic!

Today Dyngus continues in Poland and is a major celebration in Chicago, South Bend and Elkhart, Ind. and Buffalo. N.Y. Buffalo’s tradition is a parade with the hanging of the switches on the door. South Bend’s tradition has redefined the event in the MidWest, making it a day for politicians to mingle with the drunken who are also stuffed beyond comprehension with Polish sausage.

40 years ago Bobby Kennedy came to South Bend for the Dyngus and today Bill and Chelsea renewed South Bend’s central place in presidential politics at the old West Side Democratic Club, returning the city to its rightful place of national prominence.

Happy Dyngus Day!!


Magdi Christian Allam in his own words:

March 24, 2008

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“…I took the simplest and most explicit Christian name: “Cristiano.” Since yesterday evening therefore my name is Magdi Crisitano Allam.

“For me it is the most beautiful day of [my] life. To acquire the gift of the Christian faith during the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection by the hand of the Holy Father is, for a believer, an incomparable and inestimable privilege. At almost 56 […], it is a historical, exceptional and unforgettable event, which marks a radical and definitive turn with respect to the past. The miracle of Christ’s resurrection reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness in which the preaching of hatred and intolerance in the face of the “different,” uncritically condemned as “enemy,” were privileged over love and respect of “neighbor,” who is always, an in every case, “person”; thus, as my mind was freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimates lies and deception, violent death that leads to murder and suicide, the blind submission to tyranny, I was able to adhere to the authentic religion of truth, of life and of freedom…

I know what I am headed for but I face my destiny with my head held high, standing upright and with the interior solidity of one who has the certainty of his faith. And I will be more so after the courageous and historical gesture of the Pope, who, as soon has he knew of my desire, immediately agreed to personally impart the Christian sacraments of initiation to me. His Holiness has sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a Church that until now has been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, abstaining from proselytizing in majority Muslim countries and keeping quiet about the reality of converts in Christian countries. Out of fear. The fear of not being able to protect converts in the face of their being condemned to death for apostasy and fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries. Well, today Benedict XVI, with his witness, tells us that we must overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even with Muslims.

For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. By one of those “fortuitous events” that evoke the discreet hand of the Lord, the first article that I wrote for the Corriere on Sept. 3, 2003 was entitled “The new Catacombs of Islamic Converts.” It was an investigation of recent Muslim converts to Christianity in Italy who decry their profound spiritual and human solitude in the face of absconding state institutions that do not protect them and the silence of the Church itself. Well, I hope that the Pope’s historical gesture and my testimony will lead to the conviction that the moment has come to leave the darkness of the catacombs and to publicly declare their desire to be fully themselves.”

More from Zenit.


Welcome Home!

March 24, 2008

open-door.jpg

Was just curious to find out if any of our dozen readers or so out there were received into the Church this weekend. If so, welcome home! Also feel free to leave a note in the combox.

I know more than a few of our regular combox warriors as well as (a majority?) of our contributors made that journey – some in just the past several years. For them, how long have you been Catholic?

Anyone picking out swim apparel and eyeing the Tiber for next year out there?


CHRISTOS ANESTE!

March 23, 2008

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tomb, bestowing Life! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

- Byzantine Kontakion for Easter

Christ is risen! Al-Masih qam! Ha-Mashiach qam! Khristos voskrese! Christus resurrexit! Christus ist auferstanden! Christos aneste!


Easter Sunday: a reflection

March 23, 2008

“Resurrection” by Piero della Francesca

(Resurrection by Piero della Francesca)

Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

And this will be the last of my Holy Week/Easter reflections, so for those of you who may have been annoyed by them, that’s one more reason to rejoice!

At the Easter Vigil last night I thought back over the accounts of Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, his passion and his resurrection. I thought about the different people I identified with: the crowds whose shouts of “hosanna” soon turn to cries of “crucify him”, the spineless Pilate who has an innocent man beaten and crucified out of fear of those above and below him, the despairing traitor Judas, the repentant denier Peter, the awed solider who proclaims “surely, this was the Son of God, the hopeless disciples hiding behind locked doors while the Lord is in the tomb and the joyful women who hear the angel say “he is not here for his is risen.”

Placing myself in those scenes, I identify with all of the above. I realized, however, that it’s not any of those people that the Scriptures invite us to walk the road of Holy Week with. We, by grace, are invited to walk this path with Christ himself.

Those of us who are Christians know, as Christ did, that when he enters Jerusalem he is headed for a cross not an earthly throne. With Christ we know which diners at the table in the upper room will deny and betray him. We know the contents of the cup he is about to drink as he enters the garden to pray. We know that he will not receive justice from his own people or from Pilate. We know as he cries “it is finished” that this is not the end. We know what those who come to the tomb on Easter morning will find.

This is what it means to be a Christan: to be made an heir with Christ and to be adopted as sons and daughters of God receiving by grace what Christ has by nature. The first Adam fell into a grave and took us with him, but the second Adam descended into that grave and rose again, bringing us out.

Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!


Happy Easter!

March 23, 2008

Happy Easter to all contributors and readers. May God richly bless all of you during this Eastertide.

Christ is Risen!!


Good Friday: 3 p.m.

March 22, 2008

H/T: A Conservative Blog for Peace where it is written:

Fascinating

Can we be as precise as to say [the Crucifixion happened at] 3pm, the Jewish “ninth hour”? Four years ago, a pair of astronomers claimed to have scientifically verified this. Their computer programme looking at star activity between 26AD and 35AD found the first full moon after the vernal equinox was registered on Friday 7 April AD 30 and Friday 3 April at 3pm on 33AD. The solar eclipse, described in the Bible, was only visible in Jerusalem on the latter date.

From The Spectator.


Lent Begins Today For Some

February 4, 2008


For Eastern Catholics (and those in the Orthodox Church of Finland!) who use the same reckoning for Easter as the Roman church, Lent (or the Great Fast) begins today. Every few years, Eastern and Western reckoning for the date of Easter coincides (like last year). Most years it does not. Easter will next occur on March 23 in the year 2160 for the western churches… Frankly, I hope to not be around to see it!

Some have asked why the Eastern Great Fast doesn’t start on Wednesday. It is a simple matter of reckoning what days count for Lent. In the Latin Church Lent starts Ash Wednesday and ends Holy Saturday. Not counting Sundays that gives 40 days.

For the Eastern Churches Lent starts the Monday before the Latin Ash Wednesday and ends Holy Thursday. Not counting Sundays that gives 40 days.

By and large, we don’t do ashes. Although the Maronite Catholics do celebrate “Ash Monday.”

A venerable bishop who came to our parish to give a mission made an excellent observation worth passing on. 40 days represents a tithe of the year – rounding up, it is a little more than 10% of 365 (or 366!) days for the year. In a special way, we are offering a tithe of our year during this season.

For you Roman types, don’t eat too many pączki tomorrow!


Listen Up! Apocolypse & Israel – Always Interesting!

October 29, 2007