"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
So last night I felt the need to express my inner graphic designer, so I produced some posters for “Wear The Veil Day” on December 8th:
If you’re like to know a little more about the tradition of head coverings in the Catholic Church, please check out my earlier blog post. If you’d like to use any of the above images, downloadable versions are available below…
“We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he ‘wants a woman.’ Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want.
“He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition (one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes).
“Now Eros makes a man really want, not a woman, but one particular woman. In some mysterious but quite indisputable fashion the lover desires the Beloved herself, not the pleasure she can give.”
– C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
A while ago, I wrote a short post on the subject of veiling. In case you haven’t seen the advertising campaign, December 8th is “Wear The Veil Day”:
Essentially, it is encouraging women to wear a veil on that day in imitation of Our Lady and recalls this ancient tradition of the Church. You can sign up for the Facebook event here.
Doug Beaumont from Soul Device giving a presentation on the canon of Scripture:
(Thanks to Procreo for this video)
Today’s song is another from Kari Jobe, “Revelation Song”:
VERSE 1
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Holy, holy is He
Sing a new song to Him who sits on
Heaven’s mercy seat
CHORUS
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything and I will adore You
VERSE 2
Clothed in rainbows of living color
Flashes of lighting rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor strength and glory and power be
To You the only wise King
VERSE 3
Filled with wonder awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus Your name is power, breath and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me a question that I’d like to answer in this post:
So, what’s the deal with Latin? It seems to be considered holy or at least holier than the vernacular and I was wondering why. I know that shortly after Christ’s death the church was based in Rome and that Latin was the primary language of most of the Church fathers, I just didn’t know if that was all that was behind it or if there was more. Is it at all important to learn to pray certain prayers in Latin? Or even work to understand the Mass in Latin?
So, what’s the deal with Latin? In my opinion, it’s a horrible language that I was forced to study for three years in school which I absolutely hated. Next question? Okay, maybe that’s not the answer you were looking for.
I suppose that you could say that Latin is important to Catholicism for a few reasons…
1. Lingua Sacra
The Catholic Church’s love of Latin finds an echo in Judaism. Although most Jews spoke Aramaic (or Greek outside of Palestine), it was Hebrew that was the language of the Temple and the Sacred Scriptures. Latin in Catholicism occupies a similar position as a “Lingua Sacra” (Sacred Language).
2. History
As you rightly point out, a few centuries after Christ Latin is starting to overtake Greek as the common language of the Roman Empire. Starting with Tertullian, the Early Church Fathers increasingly wrote in Latin. This meant that, at least in the West, Latin became the language of theology, liturgy and learning in general. All this resulted in the Latin language being tied to the faith in a very special way. Even once the general use of Latin started to decline, it was still used in the Church, as well as being the universal language of published scholarly works, law, science, …
3. Catholicity
I never really saw the point in Latin Mass until I travelled abroad where my knowledge of the vernacular wasn’t too strong. I could typically follow along with the liturgy, knowing as I did the words of the Mass by heart. However, I remember my joy when we started singing the Sanctus, Benedictus, Amen*… I got a little taste of what a universal liturgical language could bring to the sense of oneness and catholicity of the Church.
* Please note, the “Kyrie” isn’t Latin, but Greek.
Now, is it important to learn to pray certain prayers in Latin or understand the Latin Mass? You could that is isn’t because typically most of the Masses you’ll attend will be in the vernacular (something which, by the way, the Eastern Churches have always done).
However, on the other hand, you could that it is very important because it is the patrimony of the Western Church and therefore deserves our attention, since it roots us to the historic Church. Personally, I go to Tridentine Mass a couple of times a year. I prefer my usual liturgy, but I attend periodically so as to gain an appreciation for the liturgy which was celebrated by many of our great Saints. Finally, please remember this great saying:
“Quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur”
“Anything said in Latin sounds profound”
A couple of years ago, Jason Stellman, a Presbyterian pastor converted to Catholicism. I remember when he converted that there were lots of nasty comments in his Comment Box saying that he was converting for the “fame” and the “money” which apparently comes with being a Catholic convert. Well, two years later, on the anniversary of his entrance into the Church, Jason posted a reflection concerning his life now he’s Catholic. It’s a sobering read.
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. – Mark 8:34
By the way, if you’re ever looking to study Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, I can thoroughly recommend the six-part series freely available on Jason’s website. It’s really good.