Monthly Archives: February 2006

EXCERPT:
Commercium is a loaded word. It means “exchange”. It has a theological, not a mercantile sense, of course. Bread and wine were chosen by God, from all gifts He gave us, to be transformed into His Body and Blood. We chose from among those gifts of bread and wine, those concrete gifts which we offered at this particular Mass. They were a symbol of something from to be offered ourselves, to be returned to the one who gave them. God accepted them, and transformed them through His Spirit into the Body and Blood of Christ. Then gave them back to us, so that we, through them might be transformed more and more into what they are. This is an amazing interchange of gifts, God always having logical prioroty over the giving and the given. Thus, in the process, we are united to God and each other in a marvelous sacred “exchange”. Continue reading →

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EXCERPT:
“For he who sings praise, does not only praise, but also praises joyfully; he who sings praise, not only sings, but also loves Him whom he is singing about/to/for. There is a praise-filled public proclamation (praedicatio) in the praise of someone who is confessing/acknowledging (God), in the song of the lover (there is) love.” Continue reading →

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EXCERPT:
The language of Latin prayers is quite different from our ordinary speech these days. One of the things you will notice right away is that it is “courtly”: the language immediately differentiates between the addressee and the speaker. The incomparable Lewis & Short Dictionary reveals that our term maiestas means “greatness, grandeur, dignity, majesty” and furthermore it is used “of the gods; also the condition of men in high station, as kings, consuls, senators, knights, etc., and, in republican states, especially frequently of the people”. One of the greatest crimes in ancient Rome was to harm or diminish the maiestas of the people, high treason: majestatem minuere or laedere… laesa maiestas. In English we use the French version, “lese-majesté”. Continue reading →

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EXCERPT:
By our baptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can be admitted to Holy Communion. It is by our baptism that we are enabled to participate at Mass with “full, conscious, and active” participation, with what I call “active receptivity”. “Active participation” reaches its perfection in a good Holy Communion. Communion, however, is never to be isolated from the rest of our lives. Continue reading →

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