Sociologists probably have all kind of insights into the popularity of Halloween customs, especially the costumes. (Nobody needs a degree in social sciences to explain the popularity of free candy.) I'm sure the ghoul factor gets some attention in the ivory halls, too. Every year the costumes and movies get more gruesome, and the anti-Halloween pontifications in newspapers and blogs more pronounced. What is going on?
Beats me.
The Mexican tradition for All Souls Day, the Dia de los Muertos, features skeletons galore, usually in rather comic representations, and skull candies. My understanding is that this is a way of mocking death, because Jesus put death to death by entering into it himself. That's pretty close to the origins of our Catholic celebrations at this time of year, because the original feast of All Saints was celebrated in close connection with Easter and then moved to coincide with the Celtic observances that gave a nod to our ongoing communion with the departed. But it would be quite a stretch to say that is what is happening at Halloween in el Norte. I almost wonder if it is the exact opposite; that what we see advertised for the Haunted Houses and in the costume shops (I'm not going anywhere near the movies) reflects the loss of a theological sense of death at all, a kind of shrugging "whatever" before the most ghastly possibilities because, ultimately, none of it matters anyway.
Still, to just pitch Halloween altogether seems like a sell-out. It's almost like saying that there is nothing redeemable at the root of the festivities; that it really is all pagan (in the worst sense of the word). That wasn't the attitude of the Church in the 5th century, when anything that could be re-interpreted in the light of the Gospel was "baptized" and taken in.
Can this celebration be "saved" again?
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Blast from the Past
For Halloween or All Souls? You decide. Purgatory Cookies (from my blog archives).
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Curses!
During my talk on Saturday, I mentioned that the revised Liturgy of the Hours avoided using three of the Psalms--the "cursing" Psalms. Sure enough, someone wanted to know which Psalms I was talking about. (Silly me! I hadn't looked that part up.) On the spot, I was unable to identify them, although I did remember that the last part of Psalm 139 had been "edited for content" ("Do I not hate those who hate you, God? I hate them with a perfect hatred!")
So I did my homework, and the answer is:
I understand that in the monasteries, they continue praying the Psalms--all 150 o f them.
We may yet need those cursing Psalms ourselves.
So I did my homework, and the answer is:
Ps. 58 ("The upright will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.")Taken as a whole, none of those Psalms is especially violent or offensive. And Ps. 109 (against enemies) has some magnificent lines: "Let them curse, provided that You bless.... I shall praise God before all people, for he stands at the side of the poor.")
Ps. 83 ("Treat them like Midian...to manure the ground.")
Ps. 109 ("May God never forget the crimes of his ancestors... may no one take pity on his orphans."
I understand that in the monasteries, they continue praying the Psalms--all 150 o f them.
We may yet need those cursing Psalms ourselves.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Fielding Questions
I spent most of the morning talking about praying (praying the Liturgy of the Hours, that is). (I am giving myself two days to relax and then move into preparing the next talk--for the Archdiocese of Detroit Youth Ministry team.)
After my presentation today, a young man came over to me with his shiny leather Volume IV of Christian Prayer. He was eager to use it, but was wondering about something I had said. Evidently, he had been told that the Rosary is the highest form of prayer, after the celebration of the Eucharist. But here I was saying that the Liturgy of the Hours, as Liturgy, was the prayer of the whole Body of Christ, Head and members, and that it was Christ praying "for us and with us" while we prayed "to" him (as Augustine said). So what does that do to the Rosary?
Since the Rosary came into existence as a kind of substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours (150 Hail Mary's replacing the 150 Psalms for those unable to read), you can see that for generations, the Rosary would have been the next best thing for the vast majority of believers. They just didn't have access to the Psalter! But the Christian ideal, pretty much since those ragged Desert Fathers and Mothers in Egypt, has been to pray the entire book of Psalms as frequently and consistently as possible. The Psalms were composed to be sung in prayer, so the book of Psalms is the ultimate hymnal for worship, inspired by God himself. (St. Augustine said that in the book of Psalms, "God praised himself, so that we would know how to offer him praise.")
Not only are the Psalms the way Jesus learned to pray, the Church realized very early on that in a mysterious way, the Psalms were about Jesus. That "man" the psalms keep praising is not just anybody: in a Christological reading of the psalms, it is Jesus. The poor man crying out to God from the "depths"? Jesus in the depths of his suffering (in Gethsemane, for instance, or even in the Descent into Hell). The one who was made "for a little while lower than the angels"? Jesus again (that interpretation is as early as the letter to the Hebrews). It's all about Jesus.
So while you shouldn't just put your Rosary beads away forever (the Rosary is a wonderful and helpful way to contemplate Jesus in the mysteries of his earthly life and our redemption), you might think of plugging into the prayer of the Church in a little way, adapting some aspect of the Liturgy of the Hours and its way of praying the Psalms. (Here's a little something from the Benedictines to get you started.)
After my presentation today, a young man came over to me with his shiny leather Volume IV of Christian Prayer. He was eager to use it, but was wondering about something I had said. Evidently, he had been told that the Rosary is the highest form of prayer, after the celebration of the Eucharist. But here I was saying that the Liturgy of the Hours, as Liturgy, was the prayer of the whole Body of Christ, Head and members, and that it was Christ praying "for us and with us" while we prayed "to" him (as Augustine said). So what does that do to the Rosary?
Since the Rosary came into existence as a kind of substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours (150 Hail Mary's replacing the 150 Psalms for those unable to read), you can see that for generations, the Rosary would have been the next best thing for the vast majority of believers. They just didn't have access to the Psalter! But the Christian ideal, pretty much since those ragged Desert Fathers and Mothers in Egypt, has been to pray the entire book of Psalms as frequently and consistently as possible. The Psalms were composed to be sung in prayer, so the book of Psalms is the ultimate hymnal for worship, inspired by God himself. (St. Augustine said that in the book of Psalms, "God praised himself, so that we would know how to offer him praise.")
Not only are the Psalms the way Jesus learned to pray, the Church realized very early on that in a mysterious way, the Psalms were about Jesus. That "man" the psalms keep praising is not just anybody: in a Christological reading of the psalms, it is Jesus. The poor man crying out to God from the "depths"? Jesus in the depths of his suffering (in Gethsemane, for instance, or even in the Descent into Hell). The one who was made "for a little while lower than the angels"? Jesus again (that interpretation is as early as the letter to the Hebrews). It's all about Jesus.
So while you shouldn't just put your Rosary beads away forever (the Rosary is a wonderful and helpful way to contemplate Jesus in the mysteries of his earthly life and our redemption), you might think of plugging into the prayer of the Church in a little way, adapting some aspect of the Liturgy of the Hours and its way of praying the Psalms. (Here's a little something from the Benedictines to get you started.)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
pedaling away
on my treadmill, of course. Literally (sometimes) and figuratively as well. The past week had me pedaling in so many different directions, I am still not sure which way I am turned. Hopefully, toward Mt Carmel parish for Saturday morning's talk (since I am the speaker).
On and off the treadmill, I have been preparing for the talk by re-reading a series of books on the Liturgy of the Hours. The thing that strikes me most about this "Prayer of the Church" is that in the early Church, it was taken for granted that believers would pray at least three times a day (morning, noon and evening), and highly recommended that they would pause during their day's work, whether at home or in the Forum, and offer a few minutes of praise to God when the public bells rang at the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours of the Roman "clock." Then there was the prayer at midnight. In all, "seven times a day I praise thee," as the Psalmist had written, was the Christian ideal. And we're not talking monasteries here, just ordinary Christians. (There weren't any monasteries yet.)
Once Christianity was no longer a treasonable offense, Christians were expected to get together, along with the bishop, for morning praises. It was so much the prayer "of the people" that the bishops had to find ways to motivate the clergy to participate! Quite the opposite of our present situation in which the clergy are the ones entrusted with the praying of the "Hours" to the extent that most people think of them as the "priests' prayers."
Perhaps it was the Office's success in the monastery that led to its practical demise as a prayer of the people. In the monasteries, the bare-bones, easily memorized morning and evening psalms got embelleshed with additional antiphons, titles (to guide the interpretation and praying of the psalm), chants and sermons. Book on top of book got added to the Office until another book, the "Breviary" had to be created as a kind of index to all the different parts. Even monks who couldn't read were out of the running and had to pray a "little" office of limited proportions, or else just substitute the Psalms entirely with "Hail Mary's" (the origin of the rosary).
But I have news for you. The Liturgy of the Hours is the "people's" prayer in the Church. It is a primary expression of our baptismal priesthood, both as a "continual sacrifice of praise" and through our intercessions. And, like the Mass and other sacraments, it was revised after Vatican II to be a little more user-friendly and approachable.
It's really do-able now.
As long as you can read.
(If you are planning to come to my talk on Saturday, you did not get it all here. This is only 10% of it. So you may still want to come.)
On and off the treadmill, I have been preparing for the talk by re-reading a series of books on the Liturgy of the Hours. The thing that strikes me most about this "Prayer of the Church" is that in the early Church, it was taken for granted that believers would pray at least three times a day (morning, noon and evening), and highly recommended that they would pause during their day's work, whether at home or in the Forum, and offer a few minutes of praise to God when the public bells rang at the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours of the Roman "clock." Then there was the prayer at midnight. In all, "seven times a day I praise thee," as the Psalmist had written, was the Christian ideal. And we're not talking monasteries here, just ordinary Christians. (There weren't any monasteries yet.)
Once Christianity was no longer a treasonable offense, Christians were expected to get together, along with the bishop, for morning praises. It was so much the prayer "of the people" that the bishops had to find ways to motivate the clergy to participate! Quite the opposite of our present situation in which the clergy are the ones entrusted with the praying of the "Hours" to the extent that most people think of them as the "priests' prayers."
Perhaps it was the Office's success in the monastery that led to its practical demise as a prayer of the people. In the monasteries, the bare-bones, easily memorized morning and evening psalms got embelleshed with additional antiphons, titles (to guide the interpretation and praying of the psalm), chants and sermons. Book on top of book got added to the Office until another book, the "Breviary" had to be created as a kind of index to all the different parts. Even monks who couldn't read were out of the running and had to pray a "little" office of limited proportions, or else just substitute the Psalms entirely with "Hail Mary's" (the origin of the rosary).
But I have news for you. The Liturgy of the Hours is the "people's" prayer in the Church. It is a primary expression of our baptismal priesthood, both as a "continual sacrifice of praise" and through our intercessions. And, like the Mass and other sacraments, it was revised after Vatican II to be a little more user-friendly and approachable.
It's really do-able now.
As long as you can read.
(If you are planning to come to my talk on Saturday, you did not get it all here. This is only 10% of it. So you may still want to come.)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Trick or Treat?
It's that time of year again when convents across the U.S. field calls from hopeful partygoers: "Do you have an old habit that I can, um, borrow for a few days?" That's right, folks. Nothing like having a "nun" at a costume party to bring out the, um, best in people.
So what's the nun's take on this?
I suspect that most of our callers think of the habit merely as a (somewhat peculiar) uniform: nothing more than a general sort of identification of membership in some sort of association. They don't realize that the habit was blessed when it was given to us: that it's a sacramental, in other words (making it really inappropriate as the butt of jokes). Our habits are also consecrated by their history: the lives of the dedicated women who wore them before us (some of them saints, and some of them....women whose human weakness disappointed and hurt us). Anyway, our habits have a heritage. And when we wear them, we are reminded to make the best of that heritage available to people here and now.
Costume-party nuns (especially those who make hyper-sexual alterations to the dress) don't seem to realize that they are ridiculing very real people--and the values that motivated them to enter the religious life. I suspect that in great part this is because most people have not seen sisters in habit. We are almost like fictional characters from an imaginary world.
Then there are sisters and communities that do not wear a determined habit. How many people would go to a costume party dressed as a Sister in a plain skirt and blouse (perhaps purchased from a thrift store a few years back), with a community cross on a thin chain around her neck? Where's the fun in that? The costume-party queries seem to say that the habit makes the nun "real."
Then there are the devout people, like one secular Carmelite I met through Twitter. She just wanted to be sure there would be nothing untoward about her dressing in a nun costume to give candy to the children who came to her door. (Personally, I can think of few things more charming.)
I'd be very interested on getting other sisters' takes on this.
So what's the nun's take on this?
I suspect that most of our callers think of the habit merely as a (somewhat peculiar) uniform: nothing more than a general sort of identification of membership in some sort of association. They don't realize that the habit was blessed when it was given to us: that it's a sacramental, in other words (making it really inappropriate as the butt of jokes). Our habits are also consecrated by their history: the lives of the dedicated women who wore them before us (some of them saints, and some of them....women whose human weakness disappointed and hurt us). Anyway, our habits have a heritage. And when we wear them, we are reminded to make the best of that heritage available to people here and now.
Costume-party nuns (especially those who make hyper-sexual alterations to the dress) don't seem to realize that they are ridiculing very real people--and the values that motivated them to enter the religious life. I suspect that in great part this is because most people have not seen sisters in habit. We are almost like fictional characters from an imaginary world.
Then there are sisters and communities that do not wear a determined habit. How many people would go to a costume party dressed as a Sister in a plain skirt and blouse (perhaps purchased from a thrift store a few years back), with a community cross on a thin chain around her neck? Where's the fun in that? The costume-party queries seem to say that the habit makes the nun "real."
Then there are the devout people, like one secular Carmelite I met through Twitter. She just wanted to be sure there would be nothing untoward about her dressing in a nun costume to give candy to the children who came to her door. (Personally, I can think of few things more charming.)
I'd be very interested on getting other sisters' takes on this.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Cloud of Witnesses: The North American Martyrs
You might find yourself wondering if nuns ever go on vacation. Well, nothing extravagant, but we do get some time for R & R. It can be spent with one's family or in one of our communities. (We get a plane ticket and $50, so whichever it is, you need them to feed and house you!) Once (it was the year Mother Teresa died) I spent my vacation in our Toronto community, where my friend Sr. Margaret Joseph was stationed. We made a day trip to the shrine of today's saints, the North American Martyrs. It is on the site of the former Jesuit mission, Ste-Marie-among-the-Huron (there's a replica of the mission now, maintained by the government as an historic site). Ste. Marie was the base station for the Jesuit missionary work in the whole St. Lawrence seaway area, and served as a kind of Christian village for Huron converts, to support them in their first steps as Christians. The missionaries would be supplied from here for their evangelizing trips (by canoe) and here they would return, not just for fresh supplies, but to regroup spiritually, make a few days of retreat, write those famous Jesuit letters home (reading them was all the rage in European society) and catch up on news that may have come from back home in France.
Because in recent years we have become more sensitive to the cultural "biases" that many of these missionaries had, some people are unenthusiastic about this missionary history. Maybe even embarrassed; in the theology of the times, it wasn't all that clear that people could be saved unless they had some direct access to the Gospel. Was it dread of the damnation upon so many that motivated the missionaries? The reading from today's magnificent saint John de Brebeuf tells us what was in his noble heart: How I grieve, my God, that you are not known, that this savage country is not yet wholly converted to faith in you, that sin is not yet blotted out! (It's not politically correct to use the word "savage" either, but John was living among the Huron, and was tortured to death by the Iroquois, who then ate his heart because he had manifested such courage through all the torments they inflicted on him, so "savage" is, at least in this case, fully warranted--and serves as a warning as to what human beings are capable of.)
Anyway, incredible Blackrobes and their equally incredible lay volunteer ("donee") Rene Goupil, today's saints.
Because in recent years we have become more sensitive to the cultural "biases" that many of these missionaries had, some people are unenthusiastic about this missionary history. Maybe even embarrassed; in the theology of the times, it wasn't all that clear that people could be saved unless they had some direct access to the Gospel. Was it dread of the damnation upon so many that motivated the missionaries? The reading from today's magnificent saint John de Brebeuf tells us what was in his noble heart: How I grieve, my God, that you are not known, that this savage country is not yet wholly converted to faith in you, that sin is not yet blotted out! (It's not politically correct to use the word "savage" either, but John was living among the Huron, and was tortured to death by the Iroquois, who then ate his heart because he had manifested such courage through all the torments they inflicted on him, so "savage" is, at least in this case, fully warranted--and serves as a warning as to what human beings are capable of.)
Anyway, incredible Blackrobes and their equally incredible lay volunteer ("donee") Rene Goupil, today's saints.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Festival of Faith
I sure didn't expect to, but we spent all day at the Archdiocesan Festival of Faith, and it was a great experience. Above all, it was helpful to Sr. Elide, visiting from our Latin American "mission bureau" in Bogota, to see a local Church in the US where the Catholics are 45% Hispanic. She attended some of the talks and workshops, chatted up a storm with any number of people, and even met the Cardinal! (Yesterday we got word that the Cardinal would be unable to stop by our 
booth for a book signing, but this afternoon his secretary shepherded the shepherd to our booth. Quick-thinking Juan grabbed a draped table from an already-emptied spot and set the Cardinal up, while the Catholic paparazzi surrounded him with camera phones. (Me, too.) A lined formed with some people grasping "The Difference God Makes" in their hands (plus others who just wanted to shake hands with the Cardinal or kiss the ring that represents his marriage to the local Church), and the Cardinal got to work, giving all his attention to whomever was before him at the time, like a real Shepherd who knows his sheep.
I called Sr. Lusia back at the book center to see if she wanted me to ask the Cardinal to sign a few extra books for our display. "Ask him to do thirty," she said. "Thirty?" I repeated. That's right. When I broached the idea to the Cardinal and told him the...approximate number, he looke
d at me and said, "You're kidding." But he signed them all. And as he said good-bye, I thanked him again for the extra work. "You're going to pay for that!" he said. (I wonder what he has up his red sleeve?)
Alicia Torres was at the Respect Life Office booth in her Franciscan brown. Her "nun run" helped diminish her school debt considerably, but she still, well, has a good ways to run before she's in the clear.
Sr. Helena did a great job of arranging a huge amount of books into a mere two booth space. Sr Barbara spent and overspent herself helping people in English and Spanish, with the help of Juan and several volunteers (God bless them!). (That's Megan, getting a book signed. She helped out all weekend!)
booth for a book signing, but this afternoon his secretary shepherded the shepherd to our booth. Quick-thinking Juan grabbed a draped table from an already-emptied spot and set the Cardinal up, while the Catholic paparazzi surrounded him with camera phones. (Me, too.) A lined formed with some people grasping "The Difference God Makes" in their hands (plus others who just wanted to shake hands with the Cardinal or kiss the ring that represents his marriage to the local Church), and the Cardinal got to work, giving all his attention to whomever was before him at the time, like a real Shepherd who knows his sheep.I called Sr. Lusia back at the book center to see if she wanted me to ask the Cardinal to sign a few extra books for our display. "Ask him to do thirty," she said. "Thirty?" I repeated. That's right. When I broached the idea to the Cardinal and told him the...approximate number, he looke
d at me and said, "You're kidding." But he signed them all. And as he said good-bye, I thanked him again for the extra work. "You're going to pay for that!" he said. (I wonder what he has up his red sleeve?)Alicia Torres was at the Respect Life Office booth in her Franciscan brown. Her "nun run" helped diminish her school debt considerably, but she still, well, has a good ways to run before she's in the clear.
Sr. Helena did a great job of arranging a huge amount of books into a mere two booth space. Sr Barbara spent and overspent herself helping people in English and Spanish, with the help of Juan and several volunteers (God bless them!). (That's Megan, getting a book signed. She helped out all weekend!)
Friday, October 16, 2009
Guilty as Charged
Every once in a while I hear some environmental crusader accuse the Bible of making us think we humans are the pinnacle of creation or some such nonsense. This, they say, gives the human species an inordinate pride that causes us to look down on other (presumably equal) expressions of nature.
Well, yes.
We get that crazy idea from the creation accounts in Genesis, and from the solemn words to Noah about the accounting that must be made (even by wild animals) for every human life. Jesus adds his own divine perspective on the matter. Not only are we "worth more than many sparrows," he tells us, "the very hairs on your head are counted."
Naturally, the idea isn't to swell our hearts with conceit, but to give our hearts rest in God's enveloping providence.
If we really believed in the love Jesus describes (and he should know what he's talking about!), abuse of the environment wouldn't be an issue. There would be no need to strip the earth of resources, because greed would clearly be pointless.
So if you love creation and want to do your best to protect the environment, preach the Gospel!
Well, yes.
We get that crazy idea from the creation accounts in Genesis, and from the solemn words to Noah about the accounting that must be made (even by wild animals) for every human life. Jesus adds his own divine perspective on the matter. Not only are we "worth more than many sparrows," he tells us, "the very hairs on your head are counted."
Naturally, the idea isn't to swell our hearts with conceit, but to give our hearts rest in God's enveloping providence.
If we really believed in the love Jesus describes (and he should know what he's talking about!), abuse of the environment wouldn't be an issue. There would be no need to strip the earth of resources, because greed would clearly be pointless.
So if you love creation and want to do your best to protect the environment, preach the Gospel!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Our provincial arrived today with Sr Mary Domenica (from the provincial council) and Sr Elide (from the Latin American division). Sr Elide brought me a surprise from Sr Alicia: a charming work of Venezuelan folk art in ceramic. It's a round "relief" in bright colors depicting the Nativity. (I'll put a photo up tomorrow, God willing.) I just love it (but I may have to protect the Three Kings from Sr. Helena, who is intensely devoted to the Magi). Tomorrow our visitors' real work begins as Sr Elide interviews various leaders in Hispanic ministry in the area. As I mentioned earlier, I'll be driving them around (and cooking the meals, too: I don't know how that can actually happen, but if all else fails, I'll put a frozen pizza in the oven!).
On Saturday, Cardinal George will be at the Archdiocesan Festival of Faith, coming to our booth at noon for a book signing. I'll still be on call as the driver (and cook) for the visiting sisters.
Meanwhile, Sr Alicia's new (used) camera came today. Mom pitched in for it. I put in a 1 gb SD card. But this little Samsung point and shoot didn't come with rechargeable batteries, and regular alkaline AAs don't cut it: after four test shots, the new batteries were totally depleted! So I hope to find some high test batteries to send back to Colombia with Sr Elide. (Do they make extra strength rechargeable batteries?) Has anyone else had similar experiences with Samsung point and shoots? What do you recommend?
On Saturday, Cardinal George will be at the Archdiocesan Festival of Faith, coming to our booth at noon for a book signing. I'll still be on call as the driver (and cook) for the visiting sisters.
Meanwhile, Sr Alicia's new (used) camera came today. Mom pitched in for it. I put in a 1 gb SD card. But this little Samsung point and shoot didn't come with rechargeable batteries, and regular alkaline AAs don't cut it: after four test shots, the new batteries were totally depleted! So I hope to find some high test batteries to send back to Colombia with Sr Elide. (Do they make extra strength rechargeable batteries?) Has anyone else had similar experiences with Samsung point and shoots? What do you recommend?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
From the Judge's Bench
Paul and Jesus seem to say the same thing about passing judgment on others (besides just "don't do it"). Jesus says, "Judge not and you will not be judged." Paul says the same thing, but from the opposite direction: "Judge not, because you are doing the same things yourself."
This has been a hard passage for me to understand. In the letter to the Romans, he lists some pretty nasty vices. I would find it hard to believe that the Jewish Christians he was especially addressing were guilty of all that (could people who suffered scruples over dietary laws feel free to do things like robbing temples?). So what did he mean? In another context, Paul completely rejects judgments being passed on him. He says he won't even pass judgment on himself: all judgment belongs to God.
Jesus tells us how to avoid entering a world where judgments fly back and forth.
Is it possible that Paul is hinting at how superficial we are when we presume to pass judgment on one another, and so our judgment turns back on us?
This has been a hard passage for me to understand. In the letter to the Romans, he lists some pretty nasty vices. I would find it hard to believe that the Jewish Christians he was especially addressing were guilty of all that (could people who suffered scruples over dietary laws feel free to do things like robbing temples?). So what did he mean? In another context, Paul completely rejects judgments being passed on him. He says he won't even pass judgment on himself: all judgment belongs to God.
Jesus tells us how to avoid entering a world where judgments fly back and forth.
Is it possible that Paul is hinting at how superficial we are when we presume to pass judgment on one another, and so our judgment turns back on us?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Love to talk about a really good read?
Do you talk about books online?
What's your favorite venue?
Where do you get really good book recommendations online?
Stand up and be counted!
What's your favorite venue?
Where do you get really good book recommendations online?
Stand up and be counted!
The 13th Day
That's today, and it's also the name of the new movie about the apparitions at Fatima. I went to a free screening this afternoon at a Blue Army chapel just off I-90. I was really looking forward to the film; the classic "Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" is long due for an update, and it would be great to have a contemporary version to offer people.
It would be, but "The 13th Day" isn't it, at least in my book.
(Please note: I also thought "Bella" was a bore, so my opinion may not count for much in many people's books!) Usually a trailer gives you the dramatic highlights of a movie. The trailer for The 13th Day is actually a good sample of how the movie runs all the way through: so much drama that the drama inherent in the story itself gets lost.) The spare sets, the use of extreme close-ups and slow-motion, soft focus and irregular lighting (as in glare) as a technique were a real distraction from the story. So was that weird affect of the 3-D beating heart (in living color!) when the narrator spoke of how the children's hearts were moved by the first apparition.
The narrator, in the person of Lucia, seemed to have an Eastern European accent, and her voice was not pleasant. (Every time the narration began again I found myself shifting uncomfortably.) The story plodded on, with melodramatic music trying to convince me that I was very much engaged with it. (I suspect you would have to know the story beforehand to get anything out of the movie.) I wanted to run out after the first fifteen minutes, but I didn't want to scandalize the devout members of the audience!
The portrayal of the "miracle of the sun" was well done, very much along the lines of the description given by the witnesses, but overall, I found the whole movie melancholy. There was nothing attractive about this Lucia; the young actress must have been told to concentrate on looking alternately glum, sad or pitiful. I'm sure that this is the opposite of what its producers intended, but Our Lady's message took a back seat to the overwhelming emotionalism of the treatment.
I'm glad to know that Origin Entertainment has a Fatima movie in its lineup, and Barbara Nicolosi is the screenwriter! That gives me a new Fatima project to look forward to and pray for!
Sorry this didn't turn out to be a movie I can recommend with any enthusiasm....
But enough about my view. What's yours?
It would be, but "The 13th Day" isn't it, at least in my book.
(Please note: I also thought "Bella" was a bore, so my opinion may not count for much in many people's books!) Usually a trailer gives you the dramatic highlights of a movie. The trailer for The 13th Day is actually a good sample of how the movie runs all the way through: so much drama that the drama inherent in the story itself gets lost.) The spare sets, the use of extreme close-ups and slow-motion, soft focus and irregular lighting (as in glare) as a technique were a real distraction from the story. So was that weird affect of the 3-D beating heart (in living color!) when the narrator spoke of how the children's hearts were moved by the first apparition.
The narrator, in the person of Lucia, seemed to have an Eastern European accent, and her voice was not pleasant. (Every time the narration began again I found myself shifting uncomfortably.) The story plodded on, with melodramatic music trying to convince me that I was very much engaged with it. (I suspect you would have to know the story beforehand to get anything out of the movie.) I wanted to run out after the first fifteen minutes, but I didn't want to scandalize the devout members of the audience!
The portrayal of the "miracle of the sun" was well done, very much along the lines of the description given by the witnesses, but overall, I found the whole movie melancholy. There was nothing attractive about this Lucia; the young actress must have been told to concentrate on looking alternately glum, sad or pitiful. I'm sure that this is the opposite of what its producers intended, but Our Lady's message took a back seat to the overwhelming emotionalism of the treatment.
I'm glad to know that Origin Entertainment has a Fatima movie in its lineup, and Barbara Nicolosi is the screenwriter! That gives me a new Fatima project to look forward to and pray for!
Sorry this didn't turn out to be a movie I can recommend with any enthusiasm....
But enough about my view. What's yours?
Maybe next year
I understand that the "closer" for the Passover celebration is a hearty wish, expressed in the form of an acclamation: "Next year in Jerusalem!" Well, the Pauline Cooperators are saying something along those lines, only it's "Next year in Italy!"
This year's hoped-for pilgrimage to the founder's birthplace and other key locations in from Rome to Northern Italy had to be canceled. (Sister Margaret could have predicted the economic meltdown by the number of pre-registrations that didn't come in.) Maybe next year? (Dates set for Oct. 20-30; write to Sr. Margaret for a brochure and find your piggy bank!)
Association of Pauline Cooperators
Sr. Margaret Kerry
50 Saint Pauls Ave
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Meanwhile, Sr Margaret maintains a really fine blog of resources in Pauline spirituality and communications.
This year's hoped-for pilgrimage to the founder's birthplace and other key locations in from Rome to Northern Italy had to be canceled. (Sister Margaret could have predicted the economic meltdown by the number of pre-registrations that didn't come in.) Maybe next year? (Dates set for Oct. 20-30; write to Sr. Margaret for a brochure and find your piggy bank!)
Association of Pauline Cooperators
Sr. Margaret Kerry
50 Saint Pauls Ave
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Meanwhile, Sr Margaret maintains a really fine blog of resources in Pauline spirituality and communications.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Whereabouts
If you are in Our Lady of Mt Carmel parish, you would have seen the bulletin announcement... I hope you can make it! I'll be speaking on the Liturgy of the Hours in just under two weeks: October 24, starting with coffee at 9:00, followed by prayer and then a two-hour workshop for the parish liturgy volunteers, but open to all parishioners. (Even if you're not a parishioner, I'll bet you can give the parish a call and ask to participate.)
The week after that, I'll be in Detroit with Sr Barbara for a book display at the Archdiocesan religious ed conference. God willing, we'll find hospitality with our brother community in nearby Dearborn. (Which reminds me, I still have to call the superior there and request said hospitality!) And we get home from that, celebrate my birthday (Halloween) and then Sr. Helena and I head right back to Detroit, where we will be doing two workshops (Nov 5-6) on new media and youth ministry. If you're in the area, I hope you can make it to our evening session.
I'm supposed to be working on those workshops right now...
The week after that, I'll be in Detroit with Sr Barbara for a book display at the Archdiocesan religious ed conference. God willing, we'll find hospitality with our brother community in nearby Dearborn. (Which reminds me, I still have to call the superior there and request said hospitality!) And we get home from that, celebrate my birthday (Halloween) and then Sr. Helena and I head right back to Detroit, where we will be doing two workshops (Nov 5-6) on new media and youth ministry. If you're in the area, I hope you can make it to our evening session.
I'm supposed to be working on those workshops right now...
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Potpourri
We had our TOB class today. About seven people in the room here, and 35 online (including one who joined us from Australia!). Only as the class drew near its close did I realize...I had never hit the "record" button to preserve it in the archives for the people who had hoped to catch it later. The moral is: join us in real time when you can!
Tomorrow's Chicago Marathon route effectively seals us off from all the other parts of Chicago (by car, at least), so I'll probably take the "el" to Mt Carmel for the choir Mass. It would have to be on the coldest day of the season...meteorologists are even talking about snow flurries. (Somebody please send me a ticket to New Orleans!)
This week we will welcome Sr. Elide Pulita from our Latin American publishing division. Sister will arrive with our provincial and one of the counselors to meet with the Archdiocesan director of Hispanic ministry, Latino pastors and a dynamic transitional deacon to learn more about the needs of Spanish speaking Catholics in this part of the continent. I'll be the chauffeur, because Sr. Helena and Sr. Barbara (and Juan, I think) will be running the book display for the Festival of Faith. We're expecting our first shipment of Cardinal George's new book< right on time for the book display.(I'm looking forward to reading it.) Who knows? Maybe His Eminence will come around and sign a few copies, too!
Sr Elide works in Bogota with one of my good friends, Sr. Alicia (originally from Venezuela; Sr. Elide is Brazilian). Sr Alicia and I were in Rome together ten years ago, studying the works of the Founder. Because we have to communicate in broken Italian (hers with a Latina accent, mine "alla Americana"), we only touch base with each other intermittently. But with Sr. Elide coming from Bogota, I made sure to pop an email off to Sr. Alicia. She had bad news: the digital camera she has been using was stolen. I've been scouring eBay for a camera Sr Elide could take back to Colombia for her, but the digital cameras in my price range are all listed as "broken: for parts only." If you'd like to pitch in to replace the stolen camera, feel free to use the "donate" button under the music player in the sidebar; it takes you to the Daughters of St. Paul PayPal account. Whatever you might be able to do would give us the where-with-all to help Sr Alicia with her mission in Latin America.
And now...Runners, take your mark!
Tomorrow's Chicago Marathon route effectively seals us off from all the other parts of Chicago (by car, at least), so I'll probably take the "el" to Mt Carmel for the choir Mass. It would have to be on the coldest day of the season...meteorologists are even talking about snow flurries. (Somebody please send me a ticket to New Orleans!)
This week we will welcome Sr. Elide Pulita from our Latin American publishing division. Sister will arrive with our provincial and one of the counselors to meet with the Archdiocesan director of Hispanic ministry, Latino pastors and a dynamic transitional deacon to learn more about the needs of Spanish speaking Catholics in this part of the continent. I'll be the chauffeur, because Sr. Helena and Sr. Barbara (and Juan, I think) will be running the book display for the Festival of Faith. We're expecting our first shipment of Cardinal George's new book< right on time for the book display.(I'm looking forward to reading it.) Who knows? Maybe His Eminence will come around and sign a few copies, too!
Sr Elide works in Bogota with one of my good friends, Sr. Alicia (originally from Venezuela; Sr. Elide is Brazilian). Sr Alicia and I were in Rome together ten years ago, studying the works of the Founder. Because we have to communicate in broken Italian (hers with a Latina accent, mine "alla Americana"), we only touch base with each other intermittently. But with Sr. Elide coming from Bogota, I made sure to pop an email off to Sr. Alicia. She had bad news: the digital camera she has been using was stolen. I've been scouring eBay for a camera Sr Elide could take back to Colombia for her, but the digital cameras in my price range are all listed as "broken: for parts only." If you'd like to pitch in to replace the stolen camera, feel free to use the "donate" button under the music player in the sidebar; it takes you to the Daughters of St. Paul PayPal account. Whatever you might be able to do would give us the where-with-all to help Sr Alicia with her mission in Latin America.
And now...Runners, take your mark!
Friday, October 09, 2009
Spotless
A while back I was in the confessional at St. Peter's, waiting for the priest to "open the hatch" on my side of the box. Well. An argument ensued on the other side, with harsh whispers insistent enough and loud enough that I had to block my ears. (All I really hae to do is run my fingernail on my veil right where it covers my ears; can't hear anything over that!) Just from the tone of what I had heard, I understood that the penitent was refusing to change a pattern of behavior that led to sin. He (it was clearly a "he") probably didn't see that a pattern of behavior that leads to sin is a sinful pattern of behavior. He just wanted to go to confession and be done with it. It could be a picture of that strange parable in today's Gospel, the one about about a demon who is cast out, but comes back to the tidied house with seven even worse companions.
Sure, the house may get nice and clean, but without a truly "firm purpose of amendment," you haven't replaced evil with a positive good. You've only made room for greater spiritual harm, multiplied by the deceptively comforting thought that the sacrament has taken care of everything.
The first image in today's Gospel, the one about the attacker who overwhelms a "strong man" and takes over his stronghold, gives us the encouragement we need to really wage war against the sin in our life: Jesus has already won the victory!
Sure, the house may get nice and clean, but without a truly "firm purpose of amendment," you haven't replaced evil with a positive good. You've only made room for greater spiritual harm, multiplied by the deceptively comforting thought that the sacrament has taken care of everything.
The first image in today's Gospel, the one about the attacker who overwhelms a "strong man" and takes over his stronghold, gives us the encouragement we need to really wage war against the sin in our life: Jesus has already won the victory!
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Everyone's favorite Gospel
It's our community day (and was it ever a full one!).... so I'm only now putting down a little something from today's Gospel, which we heard at Mass (and again in our community Hour of Adoration). I think it must be everyone's favorite because it's where Jesus says, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened..."
Years ago Sr. Patricia Edward and I led a summer Bible program in a rural Kansas parish. She had the little kids. I had the junior high. (We were both junior professed sisters in our early twenties with no teaching experience.) Anyway, the kids were as involved and cooperative as they could be for their age. When we had to do a giant banner for the parish picnic at the close of the program (these were the early 80's), the junior high kids insisted that the message be "Seek and you shall find."
The parable of the persistent neighbor is darling for what it tells us of Jesus' knowledge of human nature, but it's not in the story that Jesus really gives us the secret of God's heart. It's after the story, after the exhortation to ask, seek, knock. Jesus practically reproaches us for selling God short. "Would any one of you give his child a snake if he asks for a fish, or a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to all who ask."
Sometimes we ask for the spiritual equivalent of snakes and scorpions, but God insists on giving us "what is good"; his own Holy Spirit.
Years ago Sr. Patricia Edward and I led a summer Bible program in a rural Kansas parish. She had the little kids. I had the junior high. (We were both junior professed sisters in our early twenties with no teaching experience.) Anyway, the kids were as involved and cooperative as they could be for their age. When we had to do a giant banner for the parish picnic at the close of the program (these were the early 80's), the junior high kids insisted that the message be "Seek and you shall find."
The parable of the persistent neighbor is darling for what it tells us of Jesus' knowledge of human nature, but it's not in the story that Jesus really gives us the secret of God's heart. It's after the story, after the exhortation to ask, seek, knock. Jesus practically reproaches us for selling God short. "Would any one of you give his child a snake if he asks for a fish, or a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to all who ask."
Sometimes we ask for the spiritual equivalent of snakes and scorpions, but God insists on giving us "what is good"; his own Holy Spirit.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Out of Africa
Just this week the special Synod for Africa convened at the Vatican, and after only three days, one of the bishops hurried back home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (not so long ago, we knew it as "Zaire", before the last civil war, which lasted several years). Two of his priests had been kidnapped "for a high ransom."
How fitting it is that the Synod theme is "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace". The Synod has its work cut out, and not only for Africa!
How fitting it is that the Synod theme is "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace". The Synod has its work cut out, and not only for Africa!
Behind the Lord's Prayer
Every evening, I usually read the articles by Celia Sirois in our Weekday Missal before looking at the Mass readings themselves. (The articles have been repositioned in a book of their own.) Sirois has been quite involved in the Catholic/Jewish dialogue in the Archdiocese of Boston, and also wrote our book, "My Jewish Friend," presenting Judaism for kids, so she has a great handle on the Jewish roots in our Catholic practices and on the overall Jewishness of Jesus, too. She sees that in the Our Father:
The first two petitions of the Lord's Prayer--'hallowed be your name/your Kingdom come'-- are paralleled in the Jewish prayer called the kaddish. It begins, 'Magnified and sanctified be his great Name,' and goes on, 'May he establish his kingdom during your life and during your days and during the life of all the house of Israel'.These beautiful words elaborate on the "spare" petitions of the Our Father. I like thinking that Jesus knew he was handing on (eventually to the Gentiles) the prayer of his own people.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Why?
Sometimes, the best question is also the worst question. I suspect that is often the case with the shortest question of them all: "Why?"
Context is everything.
"Why?" can be a genuine inquiry into another person's thoughts or motives. It is a bridge to understanding, and maybe to new insight.
"Why (me)?" can be pretty much all about me, maybe even just a roundabout way of saying, "Poor me!" It takes me nowhere, but circles around the self-same center.
Lately, I have come to realize that the question I need to ask is that other-directed "why" that seeks to better understand where people are coming from. It is a pastoral why that puts me in the other person's shoes. It can correct my own misperceptions, or equip me, in St. Paul's words, to "instruct, exhort and teach" more effectively (and more as Jesus did!).
Context is everything.
"Why?" can be a genuine inquiry into another person's thoughts or motives. It is a bridge to understanding, and maybe to new insight.
"Why (me)?" can be pretty much all about me, maybe even just a roundabout way of saying, "Poor me!" It takes me nowhere, but circles around the self-same center.
Lately, I have come to realize that the question I need to ask is that other-directed "why" that seeks to better understand where people are coming from. It is a pastoral why that puts me in the other person's shoes. It can correct my own misperceptions, or equip me, in St. Paul's words, to "instruct, exhort and teach" more effectively (and more as Jesus did!).
Martha and Mary
Oh, those two sisters are back again! I am almost embarrassed at how Martha-like I am, "busy with much serving" while Mary, with amazing freedom, didn't "keep her place" in the kitchen with Martha, but took her place as a disciple at the feet of Jesus. And she "listened to his words."
What was he saying? What was it that Jesus taught that day in the house of Bethany? Is there any way I can hear it today?
I think Luke gives it away in that one line: "There is need of only one thing."
Mary would say, as Paul did, "In the one who is the source of my strength, I have strength for everything."
What was he saying? What was it that Jesus taught that day in the house of Bethany? Is there any way I can hear it today?
I think Luke gives it away in that one line: "There is need of only one thing."
Mary would say, as Paul did, "In the one who is the source of my strength, I have strength for everything."
Monday, October 05, 2009
No escape
It doesn't happen often that the Mass readings "match"; the first reading and Gospel tend to run in their own cycle, and they're not planned with reference to each other. So it's always serendipitous (better, "Providential") when they have a common thread. And today could be one of those days, even if it doesn't immediately look like it.
The first reading is the very beginning of the book of Jonah: from "the Word of the Lord came to Jonah" up to the whale incident. The Gospel is the teaching on the two great commandments, a teaching provoked when a scribe attempted a "trick" question.
Jonah and the scribe are both faced with clear messages from God. Naturally, both try to escape: Jonah by sea, and the scribe with a diversionary tactic: a question he hoped would sidetrack Jesus--but which Jesus used, instead, to drive his point home with unmistakable (inescapable!) clarity.
If you were to ask Jonah and the scribe for advice afterwards, I suspect they would each say something like this: Don't put God on the spot. He owns the spot.
The first reading is the very beginning of the book of Jonah: from "the Word of the Lord came to Jonah" up to the whale incident. The Gospel is the teaching on the two great commandments, a teaching provoked when a scribe attempted a "trick" question.
Jonah and the scribe are both faced with clear messages from God. Naturally, both try to escape: Jonah by sea, and the scribe with a diversionary tactic: a question he hoped would sidetrack Jesus--but which Jesus used, instead, to drive his point home with unmistakable (inescapable!) clarity.
If you were to ask Jonah and the scribe for advice afterwards, I suspect they would each say something like this: Don't put God on the spot. He owns the spot.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Chicago's Olympic Dreams... (oh, well)
I had a morning errand to run just as the first vote was taking place in Copenhagen. As I made my way home, minutes later, I saw people with Olympic flags and t-shirts heading toward the lake, away from Daley Plaza. That was all I needed to know that the first IOC vote had not gone in Chicago's favor.
I feel bad for Chicago. The Olympics would have been, well, fun. (I was in Rome for the entire Jubilee Year, and that was fun.) I was thinking of all the evangelizing opportunities an international event of that size would offer us (with our Michigan Avenue location)... And the impetus of preparing for the games had potential for pumping some vitality into very blighted areas near the proposed venues. It's hard to get that same kind of energy for change without a unique motivation. Addressing endemic poverty...seems a bit like the same old same old. So the poverty will remain, unchanged, unless those same Olympic cheerleaders roll up their sleeves and "stir the soul" right here at home. (Oprah, are you reading this?)
I feel bad for Chicago. The Olympics would have been, well, fun. (I was in Rome for the entire Jubilee Year, and that was fun.) I was thinking of all the evangelizing opportunities an international event of that size would offer us (with our Michigan Avenue location)... And the impetus of preparing for the games had potential for pumping some vitality into very blighted areas near the proposed venues. It's hard to get that same kind of energy for change without a unique motivation. Addressing endemic poverty...seems a bit like the same old same old. So the poverty will remain, unchanged, unless those same Olympic cheerleaders roll up their sleeves and "stir the soul" right here at home. (Oprah, are you reading this?)
Angels and the Devil
The feast of the Guardian Angels seems like an odd day for me to go see an opera about a deal with the devil, but ... a friend of the community has tickets for the dress rehearsal of Lyric Opera's "Faust," so I am going! On the way, I will have to cross Daley Plaza, which (according to Channel 5) currently features some 12,000 people, all waiting to see if Chicago will win its bid for the 2016 Olympics. (Some people would say that this would be another deal with the devil!)
Tonight, the Mt Carmel choir is singing some heavenly music in a Mendelssohn concert. So, overall, the angels win today. And we'll see about Chicago.
Tonight, the Mt Carmel choir is singing some heavenly music in a Mendelssohn concert. So, overall, the angels win today. And we'll see about Chicago.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Timeline
This is from Sr. Margaret Charles (she always has great things to share at http://paulinelaity.blogspot.com):
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