Flesh for the life of the world.

My wife and I had a simultaneous identical insight which is heavy and very worth sharing.  What does the Divine Liturgy have to do with abortion?

Simply put, they both involve flesh and blood.  If we consider that God is the author of life and that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life, we can easily see the important relationship between all life and the Incarnate Son of God, Jesus.

There is much controversy regarding the display of abortion images as a tool to expose abortion for what it really is.  Who should see these images?  Some argue that the horror goes on and needs to be exposed in the same manner as other genocides.  It is a powerful argument, but not without problems.  However, if we momentarily step beyond the problem of actually solving this particular argument, and consider the power of images themselves, we can focus in on something very revealing and seemingly non-offensive..........at first.

There is a Latin saying:  "Illigitimati non carborundum" which translates into English "Don't let the bastards wear you down".  Bear with me for a second.  You see, the great river valleys of the earth were not cut away by water in a day, a week, or even a year.  If you wanted to see them form, you could not do so in a life- time.  Yet there they are to look at.  Some things change like that  but even slower, some things change like that but faster.

On to the Roman Rite Liturgy.  There it is.  But it was not always like that.  And here comes the power of the images.  If we could look at a photo of the Grand Canyon prior to its formation, and compare it with a photo of it as it is today,  we would scarcely believe that erosion could do this.   If we could look at a photo of the Liturgy prior to its decimation  --Oh, we can, and we ought to-- we can scarcely believe that it is the same thing as it is today -- because it is not.

The Eucharist is the source of our being.  The Triune God is the author or life:

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

.........................................Through him all things were made..........................

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life,...............................

 

And we also believe in the Real Presence of the Incarnate Jesus upon our altars.   Or do we?  Go have a look on-line at a few images of Holy Mass as it is celebrated now.  Compare them to images from fifty or sixty years ago.  As I said, at first it does not seem offensive.  Why?  Because we are the Grand Canyon.  We have been ground down to accept the compromises and lies of the devil.

Yes, these are really harsh words, but I believe they are very true.  How can the horror of abortion be going on around us?  How can babies be murdered and then dumped into the trash can by the hundreds of millions? Hundreds of millions --look it up.  How can a US President veto a bill that would prohibit a doctor from sucking the brains out of a partially born baby in order to kill it?    It can happen because we first threw out the baby Jesus and denied him on our altars!

I think that if we are going to ever see an end to abortion, we must first turn away from the sin against the First Commandment.  The First Commandment is first for a reason.

Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves.   He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.  John 6:53-55.

So here is a Lenten challenge:  Go have a look at some images of the way the liturgy is celebrated in our time.  Don't just go to Mass and say "Yeah, I'll do it there".  No, because there you are in the river with the rest of the water.  Get out of the river and go up on the bank and have a good look.  Get some good images of the liturgy as it was celebrated a few short decades ago.  Ask yourself what is due to the Triune God.  Ask yourself how this erosion came about that the Holy Eucharist, the true body and blood of Christ, is ignored and profaned.  Ask yourself what is more fitting to honor the Triune God truly present on the altar : Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart, Gregorian chant, a Bach Chorale, or an electric guitar and drums playing some sappy pop-tune to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy?  Ask yourself why the sacred vessels are treated with less respect than dishes from Wal Mart.  Ask yourself why so few believe in the Real Presence.

We are really rather consistent as human beings.  If we think something is valuable, we'll pay a lot of money for it.  If we don't value a thing, we throw it in the trash.  No! No! Recylce!  Hmmm...can you recycle an aborted baby?  Isn't that a horrific question?  Would it not be better if there were no such thing as an aborted baby?  Do we really value a used newspaper more than a pre-born child?!  But I digress.  And is that not also horrific, that I can digress from such a topic?

The first point is that we act as we believe.  The Liturgy as it is celebrated (-not sure I even like the word "celebrate" -) is a true reflection of modern belief, ........or disbelief.  And abortion is a reflection of the disbelief that life in the womb is human.  Here we could go into a whole new topic.  Is it belief, disbelief or denial?  Let's move on for now.

The second point is  -and here I invite you to consider that this seeming leap is no leap but rather an incredibly important connection- that until belief in the Real Presence returns, abortion can not end.  It will not end because it CAN not end.  Until we respect the Incarnate Flesh of the Son of God, how can we respect the life of mortal man?  See the brilliance of Mother Teresa?  She said that the fruit of abortion will be nuclear war.
 

Just one or two pictures of a beautiful new-born baby next to some pictures of a dismembered and bloodied corpse of an aborted baby shows that we have wandered very very far from the love of God.  Attendance at or pictures of the beautiful and fitting Eastern Rite liturgies (there are more than 20 Rites of the Catholic Church which are in union with Rome) compared to the very often abusive Roman Rite liturgies shows that we have forgotten that Jesus gave his flesh and blood for the life of the world and how we so easily forget the horror of abortion.

Humor and Mercy

In my family there has always been a great use of humor.  We make puns and jokes and enjoy numerous pranks.

One of our family jokes has to do with the aftermath of meals.  With five young children, a table that is too small, and a severely handicapped child who needs to be fed, the debris field beneath the table after meals is a job for a SWAT team in full riot gear or the National Guard.  When they are done we call in the local fire department to hose everything down.  Failing that, we just drive a Zamboni through the dining room.  "Hey, Joe!  Your turn to zamboni the dining room."

"I've heard of the multiplication of the loaves, but this is ridiculous."

We also like to joke (always with great interior reverence for The Word of God) about about the passage in The Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 15:

[21] Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
[22] And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
[23] But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
[24] But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
[25] Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
[26] But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
[27] And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
[28] Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.



If said dog lived beneath our table, he'd look like this:.



Well, today I was hard at it in between meals, muttering to myself trying to maintain my waning patience, and I kind of said to myself, "Well that should be clean enough for the next round of chaos."  Then I had a thought shoot thrugh my mind : "What if Jesus thought like that at Mass or after our Confession?  What if He took the cynical attitude that He had just cleaned up after us and the next week would bring a whole new load of sins that He would have to clean up again?"  Suddenly that fat dog wasn't quite as funny any more.

I am always after my family telling them that we at least have to TRY to not make such a disaster.  Yes, the thought is worth some pondering because our good effort is not only necessary in spite of the infinite Mercy of God, but precisely BECAUSE of it.  Otherwise we risk the sin of presumption.

I remember having commited a serious sin one day and was looking for some consolation.  Having prayed mentally to St. Padre Pio,  I opened a wonderful biography about him (by Bernard Ruffin) and asked, "Padre Pio, do you have some word for me?"  I looked down at the page and read "That was a useless effort". If we want to hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant", we will first have to fight the good fight --- and in some manner win.  Yes, Christ has already won the battle, but we must also carry the cross.

While helping with diaper changes and daily chores that young children bring, I have often pondered how this fits in to God's plan of salvation for us.  Little children too will ask innocently about why we have to use the toilet daily and about what happens to our food when we eat it.  A bit of simple thought about the whole cycle --from the seeds in the garden soil to the vegetables on the table and back to the waste pit-- can either produce a cynical hopelessness, or great joy at the wonder of God's great love for us.

This is a wonderful moment to remember Jesus's first miracle, the changing of water into wine --water representing death then becoming joyful life, a prefigurement of the Ressurection-- and His last miracle, the changing of bread and wine into His body and blood.  I explain to my children the immense beauty in the words Jesus says, in John 6; 53 -58, that "unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you have no life within you".  I get goose bumps when I think of the great love of Jesus when he says in Luke 22:15  "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer"

Just as the disciples cleaned up 12 baskets full of food after the multiplication of the loaves, we also must not waste the graces of God.  God is not like some haughty, proud billionaire who might say:  "I just gave you a million bucks.  Don't bother with the loose change." 

That fat dog under the table represents two things:  It represents God's infinite mercy, and it represents our  manifold sins and wickedness.  Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish.  He does not need much from us, but he does need a few crumbs of effort.  Perhaps even a mustard seed would do.

Behold: Mary the Mother of God

In the fifth mysteries of the Holy Rosary we have The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple;  the Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord, Jesus; and the Coronation of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth.

These mysteries are beautiful in their close correspondence to God pointing to His Mother and His Mother reflecting back and magnifying the Lord.

In the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, we find Jesus addressing His parents thus:  Luke 2: "49 And he said unto them How is it that ye sought me?  wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.  51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them: but his mother kept all these saying in her heart."




So at the face of it, we have a 12 year old boy who is at once demonstrating astonishing understanding and wisdom in his dealing with the doctors in the temple, and then seeming to brush off the anguish of his desperate parents who love Him.  Then He obediently goes with them to Nazareth. 

Jesus is telling us that it is His mother and father who should know best that he is the Son of God because they are His teachers.  He is pointing to His mother from whom He took His flesh and through whose Immaculate Heart we receive the Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist.  It is almost as if He asks her "Do you not remember who you are?"  Look at the great love here!  Would we not expect the opposite?  The modern mother might say "Who do you think you are doing this to your parents!?  I'm your mother!  Now get home with us now!"   Jesus, who later commands us to demonstrate our love for Him by keeping His commandments, demonstrates further his love of His mother and foster father by his quiet obedience to them.  His mother does not scold but magnifies His greatness pondering all these things in her heart.

In the mystery of the Crucifixion, Jesus again speaks to His mother:  John 19: "26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
27 The saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!  And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."


Perhaps once again it seems that Jesus is distant from his mother in addressing her as "Woman" rather than "Mother" or "Mama".  Yet at the same time he demonstrates His great desire to give his mother consolation and love by entrusting her to the care of the "disciple whom he loved" but not before first ensuring her continued motherhood.  Here is the great emcompassing of the Ark of the Covenant.  She holds all of us as her children by Jesus's command and we are heirs to everlasting life in the unfathomable brotherhood of the Word Made Flesh.  This flesh again is born of the pain and sorrow of the mother anguishing for her son.

In the mystery of the Coronation of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, we read:  REVELATION 11 & 12
"19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. 1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."


Here we see again the Blessed Mother, the Ark of the Covenant, refered to as "woman" and the mystery beneath the cross and in the temple is revealed.  This title is one of deep respect and reverence for that which the Father holds so dear.  His Ark which encompasses His people whom he loves is at once triumphantly victorious as a the crowned Queen of Heaven -through her unparalleled humility and purity of heart-, and still suffering in anguish over her militant earthly family.

As we read through the 12th chapter of Revelation about the dragon's hate for the woman, the Ark, we see clearly her motherhood to the followers of her Son : "17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

In these three mysteries of the Holy Rosary, we see clearly Jesus pointing to His Mother with love and respect, His great gift of her to us and thus His gift of Himself to us, and her magnification of the Saviour in humility, the Incarnate Saviour, her very flesh and now our brother!

 LUKE 1: "46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,  47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name." 

The Lord carries us.

In the fourth mysteries of the Holy Rosary we have the Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple, the Carrying of the Cross, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven.

Mary carries the Christ into the temple in love and obedience to the Law.  Then Jesus carries the cross to Calvary in love and obedience to the Father.  Then the Father carries the Blessed Virgin to heaven in love for His Church.  In a sense there is obedience even on the part of the Father, because he is faithful to his covenant.  Mary is the Ark of the Covenant.

What an amazing connection.  I am too dumbfounded to write more.  What I will say is that what happens in the next set of mysteries is even more amazing.  This will be a meditation on Epiphany embodied in the word "behold".



Merry Christmas!

Worth more than Gold

What's worth more than gold?  What is gold worth?  My dad used to say that a thing is worth whatever you can get for it, and there is some profound truth in that statement worth some careful consideration.

Sitting next to my 11 year old mentally handicapped daughter yesterday, I had a very strange mental awakening.  I was feeding her and thinking about the economy and the price of gold.  I realized that to her gold was not worth any more than a raw carrot.  I found myself laughing out loud and thinking of my dad's statement. 

As the price of gold shoots up and the people of the world contend with the reeling economy, all my lovely daughter Stella knows is that her daddy will feed her.  She does not have the capacity to understand the workings of supply and demand, intrinsic value, Ponzi schemes, derivatives, bail-outs, debt, or anything of the sort.  She values the food on her plate and the attention and love that she gets from her parents and siblings.

She is straight forward, trusting --but demanding--, and simple in her needs and wants.  She relies on the love, sacrifice, and dedication of those around her and she is able to do that without --as far as I can tell-- any sense of guilt.  Her needs are met and she is happy.

I think that is worth more than gold.

The First Commandment

I AM the Lord thy God, thou shallt have no strange gods before Me.

As pointed out in a former blog, the Ten Commandments are beautifully ordered.  God is first, then His Holy Name, and then His Day.  Then follows the unfathomable love of God in the ordering of parents right next to God.  This is the archtype of the Church.  Such beauty.

The ailments of our day have reached a feverish pitch but I fear that it is only the beginning.  I say that because I see so clearly that this First Commandment has been all but forgotten.  It is forgotten by mothers who murder their unborn children, it is forgotten by judges who no longer have any regard for the law, it is forgotten by law-makers who have no regard for the underpinning of truth, it is forgotten by parents who fail to discipline their children, it is forgotten by children who have no respect for authority -much less their parents-, it is forgotten by priests who deny the existence of sin and who make light of the liturgy.

It is not my intention here to confess the sins of others.  The point is the common thread and therefore THE REMEDY!  We must LOVE THE LORD OUR GOD!  We must put Him back at the top of our lives and truly love him with our whole heart, our whole mind, and with all of our strength.  We can not even love one another if we don't do that first!

As Jesus said, on these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets.  It truly is simple.

We don't need some great minds to solve the world's crises.  We need LOVE OF GOD.   Each day must begin with a firm resolve to seek and to do the will of God, and to truly love Him. We can not love God if we do not put Him foremost in our minds.

What else would help?  To my mind, a good dose of silence.  Stop talking.  Turn off the electronics.  Look around and see what He created!  Listen.  Listen to others. So much of what we say is truly useless if not down right harmful.  And PRAY for Mercy and Peace.  Fast when you can.

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly.  My God, I believe, I adore, I hope in, and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope in, and do not love Thee.

La Salette

So, this is another little miracle.  It is the reason that I started this blog because these "Coincidences" are just too prophetic.

Tonight, at the end of our dinner while we were enjoying some delicious green grapes- something we rarely eat around here!-, my older son tattled on his younger brother for saying "Oh God" while playing outside with the neighborhood kids.  Little Matthew is just six years old so we had a talk about the commandments.  I told him that I would not punish him if he could tell me which commandment he had broken.  So we had a little catechism review.  Then I explained to him how serious respecting the Lord's holy name is, and told him about Our Lady of La Salette, how she said the grapes would spoil, among other consequences, if men did not keep the Sabbath and stop their blasphemy.  We decided to have a story time and go and look up Our Lady of La Salette on the computer.

It was on the 18th of September, 1846 that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Melanie and Maximin in the hills of La Salette, France.  She warned them of great trials to come which resonate with the prophecies given in other approved Marian apparitions, namely famine and persecutions.  She spoke specifically of sins against the the second and third commandments. 

Today at Holy Mass we heard the readings about the labourers who recieved the payment due to them for their labours and the seeming injustice of the eleventh-hour workers receiving the same as those who worked a full day.  The thoughts come to mind: "Is it really so hard to do what is asked of us when it is reasonable?  Is keeping the Sabbath and honoring  the Lord's name not something we wish to do out of great gratitude for all His great gifts to us?"  As Jesus said, it is the Father's generosity that moves Him to give the eleventh hour workers the same pay as the others.  God is so generous and loving that He gives us not only what is just, but rewards us with abundance.  Shall we not thank Him?

Among the many things prophesied at La Salette, one can not help taking pause at the predictions of clerical sins.  Yet Jesus himself said "I myself will shepherd them, for others have led them astray".   Is it not true that our liturgy is rife with a lack of respect for the second commandment also?   How quickly we forget our history and our patrimony.  There can be no New Testament if there was not first an Old Testament.  And did Jesus not say that not one jot or tittle would be removed from the Law?  

Here's the question:  what is the liturgy?  Is it our own invention, our own personal celebration to make ourselves feel good?  No, it is what God asks of us through Holy Mother Church.  It is deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition and is a Sacraficial Offering, the New Covenant.  God did not give detailed directions for worship in the Old Testament only to have them abandoned to whim and fancy in the New Testament. Niether did he take on the flesh only to ascend to heaven in glory and leave his children orphans. Christ Jesus gave us the Rock on which He built the Church and to him he gave the keys to bind and loose.

Yet at Holy Mass today we were assaulted with the "Becoming Church" campaign.    The Church's direction for liturgical norms is rich, beautiful, and glorious.  Her history is so beautiful!  When will the hearts of the faithful catch fire with love for Christ and His bride, the Church, and reclaim their most fitting heritage?  Oh how I pray for that day when we, the Church, will do the work of Christ with great love and think not about our reward but our service to Him who is so generous to us!  Yes, we are the church, the Mystical Body of Christ, and yet the faithful are so asleep that they fall for this subversive propaganda that they have to "become church" by contributing funds to a campaign. The faithful truly have been ground down little by little to accept the compromises of the devil.  Surely, this is a terrible chastisement, an apostasy, a great and deep sorrow, and a terrible war.

So just what are the chances of looking up Our Lady of La Salette on September 18th, 2001, the precise One Hundred and Sixty-fifth anniversary of the apparition?  It strikes me as just a wee bit more than chance.