"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
In some circles, it’s very popular to complain about those in leadership, especially our bishops. A while ago I came across this challenging quotation from Archbishop Chaput, one which I think is well worthy of meditation:
It is the vocation of every Catholic to work in advancing the Kingdom. Therefore, prior to unleashing unbridled vitriol against the shepherds, I must first ask myself if I have been truly steadfast in contending for the Faith.
A few years ago I was looking after the speakers at Steubenville and got to hear Fr. Mike Schmitz speak. I recently discovered he has some very nice-looking, entertaining videos:
“Memento Mori” went the medieval saying…”Remember Death”. In the thoughtful arfticle below, Jennifer Fulwiler talks about the top five regrets of the dying, a very useful resource to read in preparation for a new year…
If you have ever visited an Eastern Catholic parish or Eastern Orthodox parish, you will have noticed that whenever the Trinity or any of the divine names are mentioned, the priest and people will cross themselves and incline their heads in a bow, even if only slightly.
This is a practice I really like and I’ve often wished that this would be more present at western parishes. Well, I recently found out that, at least in theory, it should happen there too…
The place where you discover this is the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), which is basically a commentary on the Missal, explaining how Mass should be celebrated:
A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.
– GIRM 275
How about that?! I did a little more digging and found out that this practice has considerable antiquity. For example, in the 13th Century, the Fathers of the Council of Lyons seem to have been inspired by the epistle to the Philippians where St. Paul talks about how “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:9-10). Here’s what the Council said:
Each should fulfill in himself that which is written… that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; whenever that glorious name is recalled, especially during the sacred mysteries of the Mass, everyone should bow the knees of his heart, which he can do even by a bow of his head.
– Council of Lyons II, Constitution 25
So, even if it’s not common practice in your parish, I’d invite everyone to follow the guidance offered to us by the GIRM and to honour the Lord, His Mother and His Saints with this small gesture of reverence.
I am currently in the middle of Trent Horn‘s latest book, Hard Sayings. In his book, he spends some time discussing the objections raised by critics of the Bible as they interpret Genesis’ account of creation. Just as I was finishing this section of the book, my friend Len shared the following video his Facebook wall:
This video is a 2015 episode of FocusToday, an interview programme which is part of a Christian apostolate. In this particular episode, Jimmy Akin, apologist at Catholic Answers, is interviewed concerning the Catholic interpretation of the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis. As usual, Jimmy discusses the issue in a clear and measured way.
At around the twenty-eight minute mark, the interviewer and Jimmy are joined by John Mittendorf who is associated with the ministry Answers In Genesis. He takes about ten minutes to respond to Jimmy’s position, after which Jimmy has an opportunity to respond, marked as always with his characteristic gentleness.
While I was walking on the Camino, virtually everyone I met along the road had seen The Way, a movie which I reviewed when it first came out in 2011. I think it’s safe to say that this film did much to revitalize the pilgrimage and bring the Camino to a new generation.
However, it turns out that “The Way” is not the only movie produced concerning this ancient pilgrimage across Spain. Just before I left for Spain, I shared a link to Phil’s Camino, the story of a man with Stage IV cancer, walking along the Camino:
I recently heard about A Way To Forgiveness, which is the video journal of a lady who decided to walk across the Camino, in an effort to find healing, following the breakdown of her marriage:
I’ve also come across I’ll push you, which tells the story of two life-long friends making the Camino, one of whom has a progressive neuromuscular disease which keeps him in a wheelchair:
While I was on the Camino myself, I came across Camino Sin Limites, a team with two brothers, Oliver and Juan Luis who is also wheelchair-bound:
What is it about the Camino which inspires such journies?
I’ve got a longer article in progress on the subject of abortion, but today’s post is an extremely short entry on a point I’ve been wanting to mention for some time…
Whenever you see an abortion debate, either in a formal setting or on Facebook, it’s not long before you hear someone, typically from the pro-choice side, talk about “fertilized eggs”. I only note this because I think it’s always worth pointing out that “fertilized egg” is something of a misnomer…
I say this because once an egg is fertilized, it ceases being an egg. It is now a new, distinct human organism. Calling it a “fertilized egg” is rather like referring to a man as a “married bachelor”. It’s nonsensical since, once married, a man ceases to be a bachelor. Likewise, we would never refer to someone being a “born fetus” because once the child is born it ceases to be a fetus.
That’s all for today 🙂