Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Anglican Communion’s greatest contribution to ecumenism, ev-er!

Posted on 14 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Remember my proposal that Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, should facilitate the creation of ordinariates for disgruntled Catholics?

Archbp. Williams could issue a document responding to Benedict XVI’s Anglicanorum coetibus called, say, Romanorum coetibus, by which he would offer provisions to give a safe-haven to liberals who want to keep their large puppets and pottery, 60?s music and the ordination of women, prayer to the earthmothergoddess… all without the spirit-repressing domination of masculine Rome! And they can use whatever translation they want!

O my prophetic soul. You can’t make up some things fast enough.

In The Church Times we read this, with my emphases and comments:

Peru Anglicans set up own ordinariate for RC priests

by Ed Beavan

AN “Ordinariate of Postulants” has been set up by the diocese of Peru in the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone to host a growing number of Roman Catholic priests who are keen to join the Anglican Church. [HUZZAY! Did I get that one right?]

In contrast to the situation in England, where three former bishops recently joined the Ordinariate for former Anglicans established by Rome, clerics are making the reverse journey in South America.

The Bishop of Peru, the Rt Revd William Godfrey, [There’s a Peruvian name.] said that, so far, about ten RC priests had joined the new group to explore the possibility of switching denominations. Some may bring congregations with them. [Hasta la vista.]

About half of them are from churches that have become independent from the RC Church, often because the priests have got married.

Bishop Godfrey said that he had also received requests from RC clergy in Uruguay, Ecuador, and Argentina, to join the Anglican Church.

He said that it was not entirely new for Roman Catholics to make this journey, as “the Anglican Church in Latin America would not exist if it wasn’t for ex-Roman Catholics”, but priests were now leaving on a larger scale.

He said that many of these priests were looking for stability in their ministry, and that the Postulate was “some sort of body where these people can draw close to the Anglican Church and experience its liturgical and pastoral tradition and theology, [You just can’t make some things up fast enough.] before taking the final step of being received. It provides a buffer zone [a… “safe-haven”?] in which we can prepare to receive them.”

Bishop Godfrey believes that some priests may have been encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI’s positive words about Anglicanism when setting up the Ordinariate, when he was “extraordinarily positive” about the Anglican tradition. [We win that trade.]

He said that the new body was not meant to be “provocative” towards Roman Catholicism; [I don’t sense the Church trembling to its foundations because of these folks.] there was in fact “a lot of respect towards the Pope” in the region. There is no financial motivation for clerics to move to the Anglican Church, as there is no guarantee of a stipend when they join the diocese of Peru.

The diocese currently has 35 clerics, an increase from just four in the late 1990s. It has two seminaries in Lima and Arequipa. RC orders are recognised by Anglicans. [Yes… they would be.]

The diocese is currently working out how it will deal with bishops from independent RC churches [Ummm… if they are “independent” they aren’t “Roman”. Did they miss that part? But… wait… could this mean the SSPX bishops? Is Bp. Williamson in the shadows of Romanorum coetibus?] who wish to become Anglicans.

Spectacular.

I get how you can have Anglicans in Australia. It’s a stretch, but they do use more or less the same language. But, in Peru… are they going to use Spanish? To be in communion with Canterbury? I wonder if they are not attracting people who just like to dress up as bishops and priests.

Meanwhile the Anglicans named a female bishop from Toronto to ARCIC! That’ll help. Catholics, on the other hand, appointed Prof. Janet E. Smith.

If anyone wants out, feel free to contact the Anglican bishop in Peru.

“But Father! But Father!”, you might be saying with furrowed brow.

“Who, pray tell, should go over to them? Do you have anyone in mind?”

Lemme think.

Homosexual activists attack iPhone examination of conscience app for confession

Posted on 13 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

No surprise here. The Guardian in the UK has an article about homosexual apologists attacking the new iPhone app to help people make a good confession.

I reviewed the iPhone here with follow up entries:

In my review I pointed out the inclusion of homosexual activity in the examination of conscience. NB: activity not orientation.

Let’s have a look with my usual emphases and comments protocol.

Gay rights groups attack iPhone confession app for Roman Catholics

Group claims app fosters ‘anti-gay spiritual abuse’ as it shoots up list of popular downloads

Jamie Doward and Gabriel Stargardter

The Catholic church has approved [First line of the article, factual error. The “Catholic Church” did not approve this app. One bishop in the USA gave the app an imprimatur. An imprimatur does not mean that the “Catholic Church” approves of the content. It means that nothing in the app is contrary to Catholic doctrine.] an iPhone app that helps guide worshippers through confession.

The launch of an iPhone app that guides Catholics through confession has prompted a furious response from gay rights groups, who accuse it [? Do they mean the creators of the app?] of “promoting anti-gay spiritual abuse“. [A rather slimy choice of words. They are trying to link language associated with the subject of clerical abuse of minors to this app. Ironic, no? Most clerical abuse of minors, by large percentage, was same-sex abuse of minors. Furthermore, I believe the hijacking of the word “gay” is an act of spiritual abuse of happy virtuous people everywhere!]

“Confession: A Roman Catholic App”, which costs £1.19 from the Apple iTunes store, has shot to 26 in the download charts, behind Sims 3 and Resident Evil 4: Platinum.

The app allows “a personalised examination of conscience for each user”, and has already won the backing of senior members of the Catholic church. A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said it was a “useful tool to help people prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation”. [Is the spokesman a senior member of the Catholic church? Perhaps readers in the UK can help with this. Have any bishops there commented on this app?] Among the questions users are asked is: “Have I been guilty of any homosexual activity?” [NB: activity. Homosexual activity is a sin. It is deviant behavior, as is evident from man’s nature, from Scripture, and the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church which cannot err in matters of faith and morals.]

Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a group that campaigns on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people, accused the app of “helping to create neurotic individuals who are ashamed of who they are“. [The app is focused on action, not on the orientation. Of course, the orientation itself is a departure from what is normal for a human being. But what is necessary to distinguish are the acts from the orientation. The app does not go beyond activity.]

“This is cyber spiritual abuse that promotes backward ideas in a modern package,” said Besen. [Ho hum.] “Gay Catholics don’t need to confess, [They do if they commit homosexual acts! Homosexual acts are intrinsically evil. They are mortal sins. Commit a mortal sin and die unrepentant and unconfessed and you will probably wind up for eternity in the state of separation from God which is called Hell. Sin = Death + Hell.] they need to come out of the closet and challenge anti-gay dogma. The false idea that being gay [This is either mendacious or the person saying this is a little thick. The app doesn’t say anything about homosexual orientation. The person who said this seems to think that people must express themselves genitally with a person of the same-sex if that is the orientation. I suspect this is a manifestation of the sexual obsession and enslavement that habitual and vicious deviant behavior can drag a person into over time.] is something to be ashamed of has destroyed too many lives. [Indeed? Repent, amend your life, friend, and go to confession to save your soul, no matter what the sins are.] This iPhone app is facilitating and furthering the harm.”

Gay rights groups have become concerned at the use of technology to target minorities. [For pity’s sake, that’s just silly. As if homosexual groups haven’t ever employed technology to target the Catholic Church.] Besen pointed to the Manhattan Declaration app, which was released last October on the back of a 5,000-word petition drawn up by several Christian groups, and opposed LGBT rights and gay marriage. A furore among liberal commentators prompted iTunes to pull the app from its store. [To the eternal shame of Apple.]

A spokesman for the Confession App’s creator declined to comment. However, the company has insisted it did not write the questions, which were posed by Catholic priests.

Shocked! I’m shocked! The Catholic Church says homosexuality is not normal and, GASP, homosexual sex is sinful! Imagine such a thing! Imagine an app designed to help with confession might mention deviant sex! Imagine!

I like this app more and more.

All compassion and charity is required towards our neighbor. If our neighbor has a homosexual orientation, our homosexual neighbor should have compassion and charity just like everyone else. It is never charitable or compassionate to say intrinsically sinful acts are good or indifferent. They are evils which can result in the spiritual death of our neighbor whom we are called by the Lord Himself to love with the love He modeled on the Cross: charity – the love that looks to the good of the other. It is a spiritual work of mercy to instruct the ignorant and to admonish the sinner. We do so with compassion and charity. Remembering that we, too, are ignorant sinners in many ways, we do so with humility. We should not be indifferent to the spiritual peril of our neighbors. It may or may not be our place in our relationships to “admonish” directly or with strength. But in our actions and words we can admonish in ways suited to our positions and places.

Meanwhile, may I suggest to the readership that, if you have an iPhone, even if you don’t need or want to use it, you should immediately go buy this app?

I am not getting a percentage of the sale for the app, btw.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Biased Media Coverage, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged confession, homosexuality, iPhone app, reconciliation, sacrament of penance, sin
51 Comments

QUAERITUR: knee injury makes me choose either sitting or kneeling

Posted on 13 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I have incurred a quite painful knee injury and am currently wearing a brace, between the pain and the brace kneeling is out of the question, Is it preferable to stand or sit during the consecration, I am in the pew in the back with extra space so there is no question of causing a commotion, no one sees me except the priest and The Lord. One way seems so nonchalant and the other seems to imply that I am too proud to bend before the Lord. What is your call?

Just reading about that makes me hurt in sympathy. I’ve had knee injuries. brrrrrr

I don’t know the prevailing practice in your parish, that is, whether many people stand (quod Deus avertat) during the consecration or not. Assuming your fellow congregants are mainly kneeling (as they should), perhaps taking the lower profile route may be best. Perhaps sitting is not a bad option for you while you are ailing if everyone is kneeling. When you find a place in the back of the church, or on a side, in other words in an unobtrusive place, stand if you believe that this is more reverent than sitting. If everyone else is kneeling, perhaps you shouldn’t be standing if you are in the front pew, if you get my drift.

I am glad you are worrying about this. It shows that you are serious about your posture before God. Just don’t worry too much. Friend, if you can’t kneel physically, do something else. God sees the heart and know what you would rather be doing. Given the injury, it don’t think it is a matter of pride to stand.

Heal quickly. Solidarity.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged kneeling
33 Comments

A Valentine’s Day alternative to teddy bears, chocolates or naming stars

Posted on 13 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The remedy for those profoundly annoying commercialized Valentine’s Day garbage guilt commercials.

From FoxNews with my emphases and comments.

Name a Giant Hissing Cockroach After Your Valentine

“Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever.”

Ambitious Romeos looking to differentiate themselves from the typical diamonds, roses, and chocolates are in luck. The Bronx Zoo is offering a one-of-a-kind Valentine’s Day gift — naming a gigantic hissing cockroach after a loved one.

The unique light-hearted gift, though gag-worthy, has deeper meaning to coincide with its shock value. The zoo’s famous Madagascar hissing cockroaches are part of an award-winning Zoo habitat that also includes lemurs, crocodiles, and many other unique species. [Hey! It’s green, too! What’s not to like?]

With a simple online form, each $10 gift comes with a colorful e-card sent to your loved one — or favorite ex-girlfriend, bestowing upon them not only the honor of having a cute, loveable cockroach named after them, but also the satisfaction of knowing that the proceeds will go to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which helps save wildlife and wild places around the world. [Awwwww!]

“They’re extraordinary, which means if you’re cool about bugs, they’re really cool,’ a spokesman for the Wildlife Conservation Society, told FoxNews.com. “We’ve got about 50 or 60 thousand in a hollowed out tree.” [What gal could resist that?]

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are the world’s largest roach species reaching nearly four-inches long. The hissing noise they make is a natural defense mechanism. [Rather like the sound a vase makes in that last moment before it strikes the wall next your head.]

“Nothing says forever like a cockroach,” said Jim Breheny, Senior Vice President for Living Institutions and Director of the Bronx Zoo. “They are resourceful, resilient, and have been around for hundreds of millions of years. [The gift that keeps on giving.]

PHOTO OF YOUR COCKROACH HERE.

Did you know that in Roman dialect “cockroach” is the nickname for a priest? Bet you didn’t know that. Just some roach-lore for your Sunday relaxation.

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged cockroaches
18 Comments

Prayer, silence and noise during Mass

Posted on 13 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My friend Fr. Ray Blake, P.P of St. Mary Magdalen in Brighton, has posted something about silence in the Mass.

Here it is with my emphases and comments.

I had a discussion with a group of priests recently on silence in the liturgy. We all thought it was necessary but for the most part absent, certainly at Sunday Mass. [Not if it’s a TLM.] Most of the priest suggested adding pauses in the Liturgy, even to the point of saying, “We are going to have 30 seconds of silence before …”. I couldn’t help reflecting that imposed silence was used as a punishment in schools when I was a child. In the Liturgy one priest’s silence becomes a whole congregations waiting. [Bingo!]

I must admit to personal problem I have of integrating personal prayer with liturgical prayer. I think it all hinges around silence, and yes, a problem with actuoso participatio. I suspect in the minds of most people there is little integration between private prayer and liturgical prayer, at best the liturgy is a form of lectio divina but isn’t really what most Catholics would identify as “prayer”. It is a problem, a very serious one. Personal prayer for most people under a certain age is silence. Sitting on one’s own, meditating, silent reading or reflection has replaced family Rosary, Litanies, the Angelus [Great observation.] and all those things which where the mainstay of Catholic prayer and although they are not liturgical, they certainly are corporate and vocal and therefore akin to the liturgy.

My friend Fr Michael Hollings used to tell the story of the shock of the Abbot of Caldey who had a group of 6th Formers staying in the monastery for a week, they joined the monks for the Liturgy and everything else, at the end of the week one lad asked the Abbot, “When do the monks actually pray?” The same question surely can be asked in most parishes: When does prayer actually take place? The readings can be read in a non-didactic prayerful way, there sermon can be preached to speak more of God than the preacher, [Amen.] intercessions can be announced in such a way that the lead us to prayer, we can use the preferred silent option for the Offertory, all this should lead to Church gathering for the most profound prayer of all, the Canon or the Eucharistic Prayer but as the Pope says in the Spirit of the Liturgy “the Eucharistic Prayer is in crisis”, his suggestion is not only a re-orientation of the Mass but also a return to the silent Canon or even silence but a with few key words as subject headings for prayer.

I have a suspicion that in ancient times, when silent reading and probably silent prayer were unknown, that the Canon was quite a noisy affair with everyone quietly vocalising their own prayer along with the priest.

One of the things that caused comment during the Papal visit was the quality of the silence at the Masses one of factor that was not commented on at the time was the Pope’s use of Latin for the Eucharistic Prayers. The use of Latin has a tendency to veil the liturgy, its incomprehensibility helps the liturgy become a sort of focused silence. There is a good article by Fr Christopher Smith over at Chant Cafe on the use of Latin.

So… how was your parish’s Sunday Mass?

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged silence, silent Canon
73 Comments

Archbp. Nienstedt’s letter to editor about legislation, taxes and abortion

Posted on 12 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune on7 February printed an editorial calling for no new limits on abortion rights. My emphases and comments with editing.

Reject new limits on abortion rights

If ending a pregnancy is legal, income should not be a barrier. [Translation: The editors of the STrib want you to pay for abortions with your taxes or for employers to be forced by law to pay for abortions.]

Last update: February 7, 2011 – 5:44 PM

[…]

The issue keeps coming back because strong, heartfelt feelings on this difficult subject run deep. Reasonable people will forever disagree about abortion based on health, moral, religious and privacy concerns. [Don’t accept the premise. “Reasonable people” see abortion for what it really is.]

Understanding those legitimate differences, [noooo…] we come down firmly on the side of current law and a woman’s right to choose. [euphemism]

Passage of the proposed bill would directly contradict a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision determining that state health programs for the poor must cover reproductive health procedures — including abortions. [Consider that pregnancy is not a disease or an abnormal condition.]

In fact, the issue is a matter of equity. [And the equity for the child?]

As a legal medical procedure, abortion must be covered under most medical plans. That same right to coverage should be extended to those of lesser means. [And who is going to pay for that? Taxpayers?]

A woman should not be denied this important reproductive choice simply because of her income. According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, state and federal funding paid for about 3,700 abortions in 2008, at a cost of about $1.5 million. [Taxpayers.]

Minnesota lawmakers who oppose abortion are expected to suggest another bill that would further chip away at reproductive rights. [euphemism] As in several other states, legislators here will likely seek to ban most abortions at 20 weeks after conception.

That restriction is unnecessary because about 90 percent of abortions occur during the first trimester. Typically, later pregnancy terminations occur only after a tragic fetal diagnosis has been made or when the pregnancy has resulted from rape or incest. [If you can kill someone who is inconvenient, it’ll soon be your turn to die.]

In a national assault on abortion services also fueled by a political shift, some U.S. House Republicans are attempting to push through more-extreme, intrusive measures that could end insurance coverage for countless American women.

The new federal bill would ban outright the use of federal subsidies to buy any insurance that covers abortion. [By now, I’m getting the impression that the editors want as many abortions to take place as possible.]

Under that misguided plan, small-business tax credits that encourage employers to offer health insurance could not cover abortions. [It’s always some else who gets to pay for abortions, is it?] Those who use a tax-preferred saving account to pay medical costs could not use the money for an abortion without paying taxes on the cost of the procedure.

Another bill would deny funding for family planning services to any organization that provides abortions. The measure is directed primarily at Planned Parenthood health centers that offer other important health services and use no federal funds for abortions. [How stupid do they think readers are? Is money not fungible? Are they seriously suggesting that federal money given to Planned Parenthood isn’t supporting the big business of abortion?] Both the insurance limits and funding restrictions should be rejected by Congress.

With a governor and majority in the Legislature opposing abortion, neighboring South Dakota passed a ban on abortion in 2006. But citizens, understanding the need to preserve the option, undid that law in a 2008 statewide vote.

Minnesotans who value reproductive rights [euphemism] should also speak up by contacting their lawmakers and responding to the revived momentum of abortion opponents.

Tell policymakers that this difficult decision is best left to women and their doctors and families. [Never mind about the infans, “one who can’t speak”. ]

And remind local politicians that with a $6.2 billion state deficit and high unemployment, they’ve got more pressing matters to handle than tampering with a woman’s right to choose. [I love that argument. Don’t worry, Star-Trib, pro-lifers can multi-task.]

Most Rev. John Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis fired back today on the editorial page of the same abortion promoting STrib.

Readers write for Saturday, Feb. 12

Abortion editorial
Board got it wrong, board got it right

I write to express my concern and dismay regarding the Star Tribune’s Feb. 8 editorial “Reject new limits on abortion rights.”

I agree that reasonable people may differ over abortion based on health, moral, religious and privacy concerns. [I guess it depends on what we mean by “reasonable”.] I cannot, however, agree with the idea that the taking of an innocent life is a woman’s right. [Because it isn’t actually “reasonable”. It’s contrary to right reason.]

The 1973 Supreme Court decision wasn’t based on a “woman’s right to choose” but rather on the right to privacy. [“But Your Excellency!” the editor may be sputtering. “What about the emanations from penumbras and… stuff?”] I believe that it is misleading to suggest this decision affirms that, if a woman wants to have an abortion, taxpayers are expected to pay for it. [EXACTLY.]

While it is reasonable to affirm a person’s right to basic health care, it’s also misleading to say that an elective abortion is a health issue. [EXACTLY.]

Citizens do disagree on civil and legal matters, and when they do, legislative bodies react to their constituents. This is the process we are now seeing played out in Minnesota.

It’s democracy at its best.

THE REV. JOHN C. NIENSTEDT

The writer is archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Well done, Your Excellency. WDTPRS kudos.

Biretta tip o{]:¬) to Stella Borealis.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Emanations from Penumbras, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged abortion, Archbp.Neinstedt, Archd. St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, taxpayers
20 Comments

HELP WDTPRS in the Reader’s Choice Awards!

Posted on 12 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

WDTPRS is a finalist for BEST BLOG and BEST PODCAST in the About.com Reader’s Choice Awards.

You have been so good with these things. Will you help again? WDTPRS is in two categories. There is a strong readership here and you always step up.

Best Catholic Blog
Best Catholic Podcast

You don’t have to register on that site to vote! It’ll just take a moment.

You can vote once PER DAY, not just once period.

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged awards
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QUAERITUR: seminarians and earrings

Posted on 12 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Do you think seminarians should be allowed to wear earrings? I know of two seminarians who are allowed to wear earrings or one earring in two different seminaries. Do these earrings mean something, as I have been led to believe.

NO.

I don’t think seminarians should be permitted any jewelry. I don’t even think facial hair is a good idea. I am rather old-fashioned in this regard. I guess it’s what you are used to. These things were once forbidden under the older Code for clerics of the Latin Church (except of course for some men in religious orders … and perhaps some members of the LCWR).

The 1983 Code of Canon no longer forbids them. There is no legal proscription and seminarians (not clerics anyway unless they are deacons) are free to do as they please within the bounds laid down by the seminary and their bishops or superiors.

If I were their rector, however, I would probably frequently frown at those who wore them and would watch them with special attention.

I don’t know what earrings mean these day. They may be more neutral. I don’t know. Still, they are a vanity and are meant to attract attention.

When I was in a US seminary in the late 80’s, the only guys who had or were interested in earrings were creepy effeminate heretics, now either out of the active priesthood or dead.

I remember one guy whose Archbishop told him explicitly to lose the earring. He refused. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even bother finishing his exams in his deacon year. The Archbishop ordained him anyway. He quit the priesthood within a couple years. That seminary was hellish. I am happy to report that it has been turned around like day from darkest night.

No. No earrings. Nope.

Perhaps seminarians reading this can (after voting for WDTPRS) send me email or post here about the policies of their seminaries. I am interested about the status quaestionis.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged earrings, seminarians
58 Comments

WDTPRS – 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time: “being on the inside what we are on the outside”

Posted on 12 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A swift look at the Collect for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

This is an ancient prayer, found already in the 8th c. Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis. I don’t think it was in the 1962 Missale Romanum or its Roman predecessors.

LATIN TEXT (2002MR):
Deus, qui te in rectis et sinceris manere pectoribus asseris,
da nobis tua gratia tales exsistere,
in quibus habitare digneris.

Pectus signifies a range of things from “the breast bone, chest”, “stomach” and therefore by extension concepts like “courage” and other “feelings, dispositions”. It also refers to the “spirit, soul, mind, understanding.” In the ancient world, the heart was thought in some ways to be the seat also of the mind and understanding and not just of feelings and emotions. It is reasonable to translate this as “upright and pure hearts”. Exsisto according to the mighty Lewis & Short Dictionary is “to step out, emerge” and also “spring forth, proceed, arise, become.” It also means “to be visible or manifest in any manner, to exist, to be.”

SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who declare that You remain in upright and pure hearts,
grant us to manifest ourselves to be, by Your grace,
the sort of people in whom You deign to dwell.

LAME-DUCK ICEL (1973 translation of the 1970MR):
God our Father, you have promised to remain for ever
with those who do what is just and right.
Help us to live in your presence.

Quite simply dreadful.

CORRECTED ICEL TRANSLATION:
O God, who teach us that you abide in hearts that are just and true,
grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace
as to become a dwelling pleasing to you.

Better than the lame-duck ICEL. It strays from the Latin at the end. I think they did a back-flip here to avoid using the word “deign”. Is that okay? You decide.

In this Collect the distinction between “be” and “show forth” is tissue thin. We take from this the sense of being on the outside what we are inside, or rather in the case of the outwardly pious and practicing Christian, being sincerely and truly on the inside what we are showing on the outside.

At baptism the Holy Spirit enters our lives in the manner of one coming to dwell in a temple.

With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes “habitual” or sanctifying grace and all His gifts and fruits by which we live both inwardly and outwardly in conformity with His presence. We manifest His presence outwardly when He is present within. There is nothing we do to merit this gift of His presence and yet, mysteriously, we still have a role to play in His deigning to dwell in our souls. We can make choices about our lives. We can make use of the gifts and graces God gives, allow Him to make our hands strong enough to hold on to all He deigns to bequeath, and then cooperate in His bringing all good things to completion.

That phrase in today’s prayer, in brutally literal fashion “the sort of people in whom you have deigned to abide” (altered in the new, corrected version) forces us to reflect on our treatment of and conduct towards our neighbor, whom Christ commands us to love in accord with our love of God and self.

Paul writes in 2 Cor 13:11-13:

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Posted in WDTPRS |
5 Comments