What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

There is an interesting CNN article you could glance at:

Harvard committee recommends returning religion to curriculum

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP)—Harvard University, founded 370 years ago to train Puritan ministers, should again require all undergraduates to study religion, along with U.S. history and ethics, a faculty committee is recommending.

The surprisingly bold recommendations come after years of rancorous internal debate over what courses should be required of all Harvard students. The current core curriculum has been criticized for focusing on narrow academic questions rather than real-world issues students would likely confront beyond the wrought-iron gates of Harvard Square.

The report calls for Harvard to require students to take a course in "reason and faith," which could include classes on topics such as religion and democracy, Charles Darwin or a current course called "Why Americans Love God and Europeans Don’t."

"Harvard is no longer an institution with a religious mission, but religion is a fact that Harvard’s graduates will confront in their lives," the report says, noting 94 percent of incoming students report discussing religion and 71 percent attend services.

"As academics in a university we don’t have to confront religion if we’re not religious, but in the world, they will have to," Alison Simmons, a philosophy professor who co-chaired the committee, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

...

I think this is very interesting in light of what Pope Benedict XVI was arguing for during his amazing Regensburg Address.  He argued for reintegration of theology in the university, which grew as an institution from Christian Europe.

Over at rogueclassicism there is an interesting comment about this date in Roman history. In Roman terms, still found in our breviaries by the way, it is iii nonas octobres, third day before the Nones of October. On this day the mundus was opened. Here is the entry from rogueclassicism:

mundus patet – the mundus was a ritual pit which had a sort of vaulted cover on it. Three times a year the Romans removed this cover (August 24, Oct. 5 and November 8) at which time the gates of the underworld were considered to be opened and the manes (spirits of the dead) were free to walk the streets of Rome.

 

In the wake of the horrific school shootings, I wonder if the gate to the underworld wasn’t already open.

Take note that in Roman numbering of dates, the Nones are on different days in different months. There is a little mnemonic you can use to keep the dates clear:

In March, July, October, May
the ides fall on the fifteenth day.
Nones on the seventh and all besides
have two less days for Nones and Ides.

So… you will immediate be shouting the obvious, "But Father! But Father! If the Nones are on 7 October and today is 5 October, how can this be iii nonas octobres, the third day before the Nones of October? This is because Romans counted the days themselves. The numbering was inclusive.

More about the interesting word "Nones": the excellent Lewis & Short Dictionary informs us the Nones are

...the fifth day in every month of the year, except March, May, July, and October, in which it was the seventh; the nones, so called because it was the ninth day before the ides,.... After the expulsion of the kings, the marketdays were no longer allowed to fall on the nones, because the people celebrated the nones as the birthday of Servius Tullius, and fear was entertained of a movement on that day in favor of royalty…. No wedding took place either on the nones or on the ides, because the following day was a dies ater, unfavorable for the offering to be made by the bride…. Augustus, for superstitious reasons, avoided undertaking any thing on the nones, (Suet. Aug. 92).

Notice that in Latin the month conforms grammatically to the name for the day?

We continue our Patristic Rosary Project today with the:

5th Joyful Mystery: The Finding in the Temple

Pious Jews would go to Jerusalem for the Passover so that they could bring a lamb to the Temple to be sacrificed at the right moment on the right day. Jesus Himself would be nailed to a Cross and die during the slaughter of the lambs in the Temple while the priests lined the stairs to the altar and sang Psalms. In the quiet of the ancient world, when Jerusalem was still on that holy day, Jesus could probabaly hear the crying of the lambs and the psalms being sung. Did Jesus picture the scene as He was dying? He knew the Temple well, after all. The Holy Family travelled to the Temple at least one during the childhood of the Lord and Jesus wound up spending three days there.

Mary and Joseph lost Jesus for three days and found Him again in the Temple. Few hints of His childhood remain to us in Scripture. Thus, the Fathers thought they were filled with meaning. St Ambrose of Milan (+397) wrote:

The beginning of the Lord’s disputation is takem from His twelf year. This number of the evangelists was intended for the preaching of the Faith. (cf. Mt 10:1-2,7) Nor is it idly that, forgetful of His parents according to the flesh, he who according to the flesh assuredly was filled with the wisdom and grace of God is found after three days in the Temple. It is a sign that He who was believed dead for our Faith would rise again after three days from His triumphal Passion and appear on His heavenly throne with divine honor. [Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.63]

The Father’s reflected about the divinity even in the context of this very human situation. Venerable Bede (+735) offers this:

The Lord’s coming every year to Jerusalem for the Passover with His parents is an indication of His human humility. It is characteristic of human beings to gather to offer God the votive offerings of spiritual sacrifices, and by plentiful prayers and tears to dispose their Maker toward them. Therefore the Lord, born a man among men, did what God, by divine inspiration through His angels, prescribed for man to do. He Himself kept the Law which He gave in order to show us, who are human beings pure and simple, that whatever God orders is to be observed in everything. Let us follow the path of His human way of life. If we take delight in looking upon the glory of His divinity, if we want to dwell in His eternal home in heaven all the days of our lives (Ps 27:4 (26:4 LXX)), it delights us to see the Lord’s will and to be shielded by His holy Temple. And lest we be forever buffeted by the wind of wickedness, let us remember to frequent the house, the Church of the present time, with the requisite offerings of pure petitions. [Homilies on the Gospels 1.19]

 

We can always find Jesus in Person in the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle of a Catholic church. When buffeted, find Him.

Sometimes we think we know more than we do and we press it on others. The young Christ, God, gives a good example to pushy know-it-alls. The always engaging Origen (+254) wrote:

Because He was a small child, He is found "in the midst of teachers", sanctifying them and instructing them. Because He was a small child, He is found "in their midst", not teaching them but "asking questions". He did this because it is appropriate to His age, to teach us what befits boys, even if they are wise and learned. They should rather hear their teachers than want to teach them and not show off with a display of knowledge. He interrogated the teachers not to learn anything be to teach them by His questions. From one fountain of doctrine, there flow both wise questions and answers. It is part of the same wisdom to know what you should ask and what you should answer. It was right for the Savior first to become a master of the learned interrogation. Later He would answer questions according to God’s reason and Word. [Homilies on the Gospel of Luke 19.6]

 

"The Church should ordained women!"
"The Church should back off about homosexuality!"
"The Church must conform to modern times!"

Perhaps some of those who are constantly telling the Church what ought to be believed might spend some time meditating on this mystery.

People lose Jesus all the time. They lose Him in the details of life. They lose them in their own naval gazing. They lose Him sometimes for years or decades and they never search Him out.

He never stops searching for us, however.