Vigil of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

St. Nicholas Cabasilas places the heart of Jesus Christ at the center of his doctrine of the Eucharist, because, as the head and the heart of the Church, "we depend on him for moving and living since he possesses life."

Read the three long quotes from St. Nicholas' The Life in Christ, published in The Lion, the St. Mark parish newsletter (PDF format)

Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy

Christ, hear us Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, (Response Have mercy on us here and hereafter)
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty,
Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful,
Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee,
Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium,
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses,
Heart of Jesus, obedient to death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints,

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Lord

V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, R. Make our hearts like unto thine

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thy most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers Thee in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Thy mercy, in Thy great goodness, grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee forever and ever. Amen.

Octave Day of the Feast of Corpus Christi

From St. Augustine's Tractates on the Gospel of John

13."I am the living bread, which came down from heaven." For that reason "living," because I came down from heaven. The manna also came down from heaven; but the manna was only a shadow, this is the truth. "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world." When did flesh comprehend this flesh which He called bread? That is called flesh which flesh does not comprehend, and for that reason all the more flesh does not comprehend it, that it is called flesh. For they were terrified at this: they said it was too much for them; they thought it impossible. "Is my flesh,"says He, "for the life of the world."Believers know the body of Christ, if they neglect not to be the body of Christ. Let them become the body of Christ, if they wish to live by the Spirit of Christ. None lives by the Spirit of Christ but the body of Christ. Understand, my brethren, what I mean to say. You are a man; you have both a spirit and a body. I call that a spirit which is called the soul; that whereby it consists that you are a man, for thou consist of soul and body. And so you have an invisible spirit and a visible body. Tell me which lives of the other: does your spirit live of your body, or your body of your spirit? Every man that lives can answer; and he that cannot answer this, I know not whether he lives: what does every man that lives answer? My body, of course, lives by my spirit. Would you then also live by the Spirit of Christ. Be in the body of Christ. For surely my body does not live by your spirit. My body lives by my spirit, and your body by your spirit. The body of Christ cannot live but by the Spirit of Christ. It is for this that the Apostle Paul, expounding this bread, says: "One bread,"says he, "we being many are one body." (1 Corinthians 10:17) O mystery of piety! O sign of unity! O bond of charity! He that would live has where to live, has whence to live. Let him draw near, let him believe; let him be embodied, that he may be made to live. Let him not shrink from the compact of members; let him not be a rotten member that deserves to be cut off; let him not be a deformed member whereof to be ashamed; let him be a fair, fit, and sound member; let him cleave to the body, live for God by God: now let him labor on earth, that hereafter he may reign in heaven.
14. The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"They strove, and that among themselves, since they understood not, neither wished to take the bread of concord: "for they who eat such bread do not strive with one another; for we being many are one bread, one body."And by this bread, "God makes people of one sort to dwell in a house."
15. But that which they ask, while striving among themselves, namely, how the Lord can give His flesh to be eaten, they do not immediately hear: but further it is said to them, "-->Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you will have no life in you."How, indeed, it may be eaten, and what may be the mode of eating this bread, you are ignorant of; nevertheless, "except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you will not have life in you."He spoke these words, not certainly to corpses, but to living men. Whereupon, lest they, understanding it to mean this life, should strive about this thing also, He going on added, "Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life." Wherefore, he that eats not this bread, nor drinks this blood, has not this life; for men can have temporal life without that, but they can noways have eternal life. He then that eats not His flesh, nor drinks His blood, has no life in him; and he that eats His flesh, and drinks His blood, has life. This epithet, eternal, which He used, answers to both. It is not so in the case of that food which we take for the purpose of sustaining this temporal life. For he who will not take it shall not live, nor yet shall he who will take it live. For very many, even who have taken it, die; it may be by old age, or by disease, or by some other casualty. But in this food and drink, that is, in the body and blood of the Lord, it is not so. For both he that does not take it has no life, and he that does take it has life, and that indeed eternal life. And thus He would have this meat and drink to be understood as meaning the fellowship of His own body and members, which is the holy Church in his predestinated, and called, and justified, and glorified saints and believers. Of these, the first is already effected, namely, predestination; the second and third, that is, the vocation and justification, have taken place, are taking place, and will take place; but the fourth, namely, the glorifying, is at present in hope; but a thing future in realization. The sacrament of this thing, namely, of the unity of the body and blood of Christ, is prepared on the Lord's table in some places daily, in some places at certain intervals of days, and from the Lord's table it is taken, by some to life, by some to destruction: but the thing itself, of which it is the sacrament, is for every man to life, for no man to destruction, whosoever shall have been a partaker thereof.
16. But lest they should suppose that eternal life was promised in this meat and drink in such manner that they who should take it should not even now die in the body, He condescended to meet this thought; for when He had said, "He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life,"He forthwith subjoined, "and I will raise him up on the last day."That meanwhile, according to the Spirit, he may have eternal life in that rest into which the spirits of the saints are received; but as to the body, he shall not be defrauded of its eternal life, but, on the contrary, he shall have it in the resurrection of the dead at the last day.
17. "For my flesh,"says He, "is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."For while by meat and drink men seek to attain to this, neither to hunger nor thirst, there is nothing that truly affords this, except this meat and drink, which does render them by whom it is taken immortal and incorruptible; that is, the very fellowship of the saints, where will be peace and unity, full and perfect. Therefore, indeed, it is, even as men of God understood this before us, that our Lord Jesus Christ has pointed our minds to His body and blood in those things, which from being many are reduced to some one thing. For a unity is formed by many grains forming together; and another unity is effected by the clustering together of many berries.
18. In a word, He now explains how that which He speaks of comes to pass, and what it is to eat His body and to drink His blood. "He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him."This it is, therefore, for a man to eat that meat and to drink that drink, to dwell in Christ, and to have Christ dwelling in him. Consequently, he that dwells not in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells not, doubtless neither eats His flesh [spiritually] nor drinks His blood [although he may press the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ carnally and visibly with his teeth], but rather does he eat and drink the sacrament of so great a thing to his own judgment, because he, being unclean, has presumed to come to the sacraments of Christ, which no man takes worthily except he that is pure: of such it is said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."Matthew 5:8
19. "As the living Father has sent me,"says He, "and I live by the Father; so he that eats me, even he shall live by me."--> He says not: As I eat the Father, and live by the Father; so he that eats me, the same shall live by me. For the Son, who was begotten equal, does not become better by participation of the Father; just as we are made better by participation of the Son, through the unity of His body and blood, which thing that eating and drinking signifies. We live then by Him, by eating Him; that is, by receiving Himself as the eternal life, which we did not have from ourselves. Himself, however, lives by the Father, being sent by Him, because "He emptied Himself, being made obedient even unto the death of the cross."Philippians 2:8 For if we take this declaration, "I live by the Father,"according to that which He says in another place, "The Father is greater than I;"just as we, too, live by Him who is greater than we; this results from His being sent. The sending is in fact the emptying of Himself, and His taking upon Him the form of a servant: and this is rightly understood, while also the Son's equality of nature with the Father is preserved. For the Father is greater than the Son as man, but He has the Son as God equal,—while the same is both God and man, Son of God and Son of man, one Christ Jesus. To this effect, if these words are rightly understood, He spoke thus: "As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats me, even he shall live by me:"just as if He were to say, My emptying of myself (in that He sent me) effected that I should live by the Father; that is, should refer my life to Him as the greater; but that any should live by me is effected by that participation in which he eats me. Therefore, I being humbled, do live by the Father, man being raised up, lives by me. But if it was said, "I live by the Father,"so as to mean, that He is of the Father, not the Father of Him, it was said without detriment to His equality. And yet further, by saying, "And he that eats me, even he shall live by me,"He did not signify that His own equality was the same as our equality, but He thereby showed the grace of the Mediator.
20. "This is the bread that comes down from heaven;"that by eating it we may live, since we cannot have eternal life from ourselves. "Not,"says He, "as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eats this bread shall live forever."That those fathers are dead, He would have to be understood as meaning, that they do not live forever. For even they who eat Christ shall certainly die temporally; but they live forever, because Christ is eternal life.

"Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it"

Flannery O'Connor's defense of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. A biretta tip to The Western Confucian and The Young Fogey.

"I was once, five or six years ago, taken by some friends to have dinner with Mary McCarthy and her husband, Mr. Broadwater. (She just wrote that book, "A Charmed Life.") She departed the Church at the age of 15 and is a Big Intellectual. We went at eight and at one, I hadn't opened my mouth once, there being nothing for me in such company to say.... Having me there was like having a dog present who had been trained to say a few words but overcome with inadequacy had forgotten them.Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the most portable person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable." -Flannery O'Connor

Feast of Corpus Christi

O Sacrum convivium,
in quo Christus sumitur,
memoria recolitur Passionis
Ejus, mens impletur gratia
Et futurae gloriae pignus
nobis datur.
( O sacred banquet, wherein Christ is received, and a remembrance of his passion is recounted! The soul is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given.)

On this day, Western Orthodox Christians, along with Roman Catholics, Anglo-Catholics and high-church Lutherans, celebrate the great feast of Corpus Christi. Some Orthodox Chirstians of the Byzantine Rite might be puzzled that this feast could ever be considered Orthodox, but if indeed the Eucharist is the supreme icon of Christ, why not be blessed by it, venerate it, IN ADDITION TO eating and drinking it? On this great feast, we reflect on what Christ has done for us in giving us his holy body and precious blood: this he did for the life of the world. While on Maundy Thursday (or Holy Thursday), we commemorate the insitution of the Eucharist, on Corpus Christi we celebrate as the culmination of the cycles of the Sacred Triduum, Pascha, Pentecost and Trinitytide the Blessed Sacrament, in thanksgiving to the One whose delight it is to abide in our midst.

When we partake of the Eucharist, we are not engaging in cannibalism. Cannibalism is a partaking of a dead human body. When we partake of the Eucharist, we are partaking in something that is even more alive than we are. We take in food for nourishment, and it becomes a part of us. Not so with the Blessed Sacrament, for when we partake of it, we are transformed into his likeness, becoming ever more perfect "icons" of him who gave himself for us. St. Thomas Aquinas, that venerable teacher of the Latins, captures the essence of this mystery, in a way that both Eastern and Western Christians can appreciate:

Among the immeasurable benefits, which the goodness of God hath bestowed on Christian people, is a dignity beyond all price, for, as saith Deuteronomy: What nation is there so great, who hath God so nighunto them, as the Lord our God is unto us? Concerning this dignity which was bestowed upon us, let us remember that the only-begotten Son of God was pleased to make us partakers of the divine nature; that is to say, he took our nature upon him, being himself made man that he might (as it were) make men into gods. (Opusculum 57)

Yes, it is his pleasure to "tabernacle" in our midst, so that an ineffable exchange can take place: as he takes our humanity, he gives us his divinity, that we, by grace, may become what he is by nature. The Eucharist is that pledge whaereby Christ covenants with us to always abide with us, and make us partakers of his divine nature. This fulfills our highest calling as human personsrestoring, in Christ, man's original priestly role in the created order.

Any wonder why we "praise, worship and adore Jesus Christ on his throne in glory in heaven, and in the most holy sacrament of the altar?" How could we not?

A happy feast to all!

Plight of Iraq's Christians

From The Tablet

Christians flee worst sectarian violence since war
Michael Hirst

A Catholic archbishop has issued a desperate warning about the persecution of embattled Christians amid Iraq's worst sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk warned that attacks on Christians by radical Islamic groups, previously localised in sectors of cities such as Baghdad and Mosul, had now spread across the country, even into areas previously considered a safe haven for Christians.
"In Iraq Christians are dying, the Church is disappearing under continued persecution, threats and violence carried out by extremists who are leaving us no choice: conversion or exile," said the Chaldean archbishop.
Radical Sunni groups in areas of Baghdad were threatening local Christians with violence unless they paid a jizya, or "donation", towards the insurgency, immediately converted to Islam, or handed over their homes and fled the country, Archbishop Sako said.
He said a recent spate of attacks in traditional Christian areas was a political gesture intended to show that "nowhere is safe".
"We can no longer be silent. We have to remind the world of the importance of the Christian presence in Iraq, for the good of Iraq," the archbishop told AsiaNews on Monday. "Christians are suffering from forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, blackmail, scarring and killing. Forcing Christians to leave their homes destroys the cultural, civil and religious mosaic of which Iraq is considered to be the very cradle."
Bishop Shlemon Warduni, an auxiliary in Baghdad, said the capital's Chaldean church of Ss Peter and Paul had received the blunt warning: "Get rid of the cross or we will burn your churches." "In the last two months many churches have been forced to remove their crosses from their domes," the bishop told AsiaNews. Ten of Baghdad's 80 Christian churches have closed since 2003. Fifty thousand Iraqis are fleeing the country each month, according to the UN. While they make up 5 per cent of the population, Christians constitute 40 per cent of those fleeing.

Trinity Sunday

From Mater Dei:

St. Leo the GreatSERMON LXXV(ON WHITSUNTIDE, I.)
I. The giving of the Law by Moses prepared the way for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.
The hearts of all catholics, beloved, realize that to-day's solemnity is to be honoured as one of the chief feasts, nor is there any doubt that great respect is due to this day, which the Holy Spirit has hallowed by the miracle of His most excellent gift. For from the day on which the Lord ascended up above all heavenly heights to sit down at God the Father's right hand, this is the tenth which has shone, and the fiftieth from His Resurrection, being the very day on which it began, and containing in itself great revelations of mysteries both new and old, by which it is most manifestly revealed that Grace was fore-announced through the Law and the Law fulfilled through Grace. For as of old, when the Hebrew nation were released from the Egyptians, on the fiftieth day after the sacrificing of the lamb the Law was given on Mount Sinai, so after the suffering of Christ, wherein the true Lamb of God was slain on the fiftieth day from His Resurrection, the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles and the multitude of believers, so that the earnest Christian may easily perceive that the beginnings of the Old Testament were preparatory to the beginnings of the Gospel, and that the second covenant was rounded by the same Spirit that had instituted the first.
II. How marvellous was the gift of "divers tongues."
For as the Apostles' story testifies: "while the days of Pentecost were fulfilled and all the disciples were together in the same place, there occurred suddenly from heaven a sound as of a violent wind coming, and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance." Oh! how swift are the words of wisdom. and where God is the Master, how quickly is what is taught, learnt. No interpretation is required for understanding, no practice for using, no time for studying, but the Spirit of Truth blowing where He wills, the languages peculiar to each nation become common property in the mouth of the Church. And therefore from that day the trumpet of the Gospel-preaching has sounded loud: from that day the showers of gracious gifts, the rivers of blessings, have watered every desert and all the dry land, since to renew the face of the earth the Spirit of God "moved over the waters," and to drive away the old darkness flashes of new light shone forth, when by the blaze of those busy tongues was kindled the Lord's bright Word and fervent eloquence, in which to arouse the understanding, and to consume sin there lay both a capacity of enlightenment and a power of burning.
III. The three Persons in the Trinity are perfectly equal in all things.
But although, dearly-beloved, the actual form of the thing done was exceeding wonderful, and undoubtedly in that exultant chorus of all human languages the Majesty of the Holy Spirit was present, yet no one must think that His Divine substance appeared in what was seen with bodily eyes. For His Nature, which is invisible and shared in common with the Father and the Son, showed the character of His gift and work by the outward sign that pleased Him, but kept His essential property within His own Godhead: because human sight can no more perceive the Holy Ghost than it can the Father or the Son. For in the Divine Trinity nothing is unlike or unequal, and all that can be thought concerning Its substance admits of no diversity either in power or glory or eternity. And while in the property of each Person the Father is one, the Son is another, and the Holy Ghost is another, yet the Godhead is not distinct and different; for whilst the Son is the Only begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, not in the way that every creature is the creature of the Father and the Son, but as living and having power with Both, and eternally subsisting of That Which is the Father and the Son[1]. And hence when the Lord before the day of His Passion promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to His disciples, He said, "I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth shall have come, He shall guide you into all the Truth. For He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall have heard, He shall speak and shall announce things to come unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I that He shall take of Mine, and shall announce it to you." Accordingly, there are not some things that are the Father's, and other the Son's, and other the Holy Spirit's: but all things whatsoever the Father has, the Son also has, and the Holy Spirit also has: nor was there ever a time when this communion did not exist, because with Them to have all things is to always exist. In them let no times, no grades, no differences be imagined, and, if no one can explain that which is true concerning God, let no one dare to assert what is not true. For it is more excusable not to make a full statement concerning His ineffable Nature than to frame an actually wrong definition. And so whatever loyal hearts can conceive of the Father's eternal and unchangeable Glory, let them at the same time understand it of the Son and of the Holy Ghost without any separation or difference. For we confess this blessed Trinity to be One God for this reason, because in these three Persons there is no diversity either of substance, or of power, or of will, or of operation.
IV. The Macedonian heresy is as blasphemous as the Arian.
As therefore we abhor the Arians, who maintain a difference between the Father and the Son, so also we abhor the Macedonians, who, although they ascribe equality to the Father and the Son, yet think the Holy Ghost to be of a lower nature, not considering that they thus fall into that blasphemy, which is not to be forgiven either in the present age or in the judgment to come, as the Lord says: "whosoever shall have spoken a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but he that shall have spoken against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come." And so to persist in this impiety is unpardonable, because it cuts him off from Him, by Whom he could confess: nor will he ever attain to healing pardon, who has no Advocate to plead for him. For from Him comes the invocation of the Father, from Him come the tears of penitents, from Him come the groans of suppliants, and "no one can call Jesus the Lord save in the Holy Ghost,'' Whose Omnipotence as equal and Whose Godhead as one, with the Father and the Son, the Apostle most clearly proclaims, saying, "there are divisions of graces but the same Spirit; and the divisions of ministrations but the same Lord; and there are divisions of operations but the same God, Who worketh all things in all."
V. The Spirit's work is still continued in the Church.
By these and other numberless proofs, dearly-beloved, with which the authority of the Divine utterances is ablaze, let us with one mind be incited to pay reverence to Whitsuntide, exulting in honour of the Holy Ghost, through Whom the whole catholic Church is sanctified, and every rational soul quickened; Who is the Inspirer of the Faith, the Teacher of Knowledge, the Fount of Love, the Seal of Chastity, and the Cause of all Power. Let the minds of the faithful rejoice, that throughout the world One God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is praised by the confession of all tongues, and that that sign of His Presence, which appeared in the likeness of fire, is still perpetuated in His work and gift. For the Spirit of Truth Himself makes the house of His glory shine with the brightness of His light, and will have nothing dark nor lukewarm in His temple. And it is through His aid and teaching also that the purification of fasts and alms has been established among us. For this venerable day is followed by a most wholesome practice, which all the saints have ever found most profitable to them, and to the diligent observance of which we exhort you with a shepherd's care, to the end that if any blemish has been contracted in the days just passed through heedless negligence, it may be atoned for by the discipline of fasting and corrected by pious devotion. On Wednesday and Friday, therefore, let us fast, and on Saturday for this very purpose keep vigil with accustomed devotion, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Senator Sam Brownback: "What I think of Evolution"

Brilliant op-ed piece in the New York Times by the Kansas Senator.

Biretta Tip: Fr. Ernesto Obregon via Huw Raphael

IN our sound-bite political culture, it is unrealistic to expect that every complicated issue will be addressed with the nuance or subtlety it deserves. So I suppose I should not have been surprised earlier this month when, during the first Republican presidential debate, the candidates on stage were asked to raise their hands if they did not “believe” in evolution. As one of those who raised his hand, I think it would be helpful to discuss the issue in a bit more detail and with the seriousness it demands.
The premise behind the question seems to be that if one does not unhesitatingly assert belief in evolution, then one must necessarily believe that God created the world and everything in it in six 24-hour days. But limiting this question to a stark choice between evolution and creationism does a disservice to the complexity of the interaction between science, faith and reason.

Read the rest here

Incidently, you'll see that the Senator draws on a basic Thomistic premise, without, of course, citing the Angelic Doctor himself: Gratia non tollat naturam, sed perficiat (Grace does not destroy or supplant nature, but perfects it).

Veni Creator Spiritus

VENI, Creator Spiritus,mentes tuorum visita,imple superna gratiaquae tu creasti pectora.

Qui diceris Paraclitus,altissimi donum Dei,fons vivus, ignis, caritas,et spiritalis unctio.

Tu, septiformis munere,digitus paternae dexterae,Tu rite promissum Patris,sermone ditans guttura.

Accende lumen sensibus:infunde amorem cordibus:infirma nostri corporisvirtute firmans perpeti.

Hostem repellas longius,pacemque dones protinus:ductore sic te praeviovitemus omne noxium.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,noscamus atque Filium;Teque utriusque Spiritumcredamus omni tempore.

Deo Patri sit gloria,et Filio, qui a mortuissurrexit, ac Paraclito,in saeculorum saecula.Amen.

COME, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,and in our souls take up Thy rest;come with Thy grace and heavenly aidto fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

O comforter, to Thee we cry,O heavenly gift of God Most High,O fount of life and fire of love,and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;Thou, finger of God's hand we own;Thou, promise of the Father, ThouWho dost the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our sense from above,and make our hearts o'erflow with love;with patience firm and virtue highthe weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread,and grant us Thy peace instead;so shall we not, with Thee for guide,turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may Thy grace on us bestowthe Father and the Son to know;and Thee, through endless times confessed,of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son,Who rose from death, be glory given,with Thou, O Holy Comforter,henceforth by all in earth and heaven.Amen.

Rabanus Maurus (776-856)

Western Rite Orthodoxy, or ‘Who’re you calling a Uniate?’

A lively discussion is taking place over at the Young Fogey's blog article, which is in part a response to Ben Johnson's article The Western Rite is not "Reverse Uniatism".

I am not normally a very pugnacious man, but when rank nonsense like this by a certain "Death" Bredon is uttered all over the blogosphereabout a rite in Orthodoxy in which I worship...well, let's just say that statements like this bring it out in me:

"Of course the Roman Rite (the words of the Eucharistic service) largely predates Trent, but the usage, ceremonial, art, architecture, music, devotions, etc. that surround the Rite itself and give it its character or ethos changed radically as the West first Germanized and then "Scholasticized." Hence, the ethos of Tridentine spirituality (including the liturgy) became extremely "Good Friday-esque" due in large part to the doctrines of satisfactionary atonement either to God's honor (Anselm) or wrath (Aquinas). Indeed, the difference between the Roman Rite in the first millennium and the second can be summed up in the very life-like crucifixes of Christ in agony found in traditional RC and Anglo-Catholic parishes today versus the stylized frescoes and murals of Christ Pantocrator in all his glory that typified all churches (yes, even in Britian) before the schism but only Orthodox and some Eastern Unitate churches now. In short, the Roman Missals according to Ritual Notes or Fortescue were employed (twisted?) to embody the very unOrthodox doctrines of Trent."

And here's the clincher:

"In any case, my main point is that Western Rite Orthodoxy parishes in North America are by and large engaged in varying degrees of false Uniatism with Orthodoxy."

Notice the lack of any specifics. Many critics of WRO speak in generalities, like "Well we all KNOW that the Western Rite is just Tridentine/Anglo Catholicism with an epiklesis..." and there the "argument" ends.

Now observe with what finesse our own Subdeacon Benjamin Andersen answers this "argument":

"Death Bredon -I can't say much about your view of the Antiochian Western Rite, which you have broadcasted far and wide in the blogosphere, except that I don't think that you have much experience of the way that the Vicariate actually is. Lots of people have strange ideas about what Western Rite Orthodox liturgies are actually like, and I find that most (even some of the most implacable Byzantine types) are pleasantly surprised when they actually experience it.Of course, we will never match your dreams and expectations for a perfect Church, but I doubt that any religious body ever will.Perhaps your problem is not necessarily with the Vicariate but perhaps with a very skewed, radically dichotomized view of East and West, the kind in which every day is either Good Friday or Pascha. Sorry, but it's just not that simple.Anyhow, we know absolutely nothing of the dreary religion you describe above. The Western Rite Vicariate may have its problems and inconsistencies (I am the first to admit), but we are far closer to the "Mass-and-Office" model of Catholicism described by the YF above than the caricature you so often describe (without, of course, having any experience worshipping in a Vicariate community)."

Well done, Cardinal Subdeaon :-)

The Right Rev. Archimandrite Michael Trigg, Requiescat in Pace

On Saturday, 12 May, 6:30pm, our dear pastor emeritus, Fr. Michael Trigg, fell asleep in the Lord, after over thirty years of faithful service to the parish family of St. Michael Orthodox Church in Whittier, CA.

What was most impressive about him was not his Oxford degree in anthropology (having studied under the famed anthropologist E. Evans-Pritchard), but his humility. This was the one quality that he tried to find in people, the one he most valued. Humility, he taught, was near and dear to the heart of God, as Christ himself humbled himself to the point of dying the most cruel and humiliating death. Love and humility for him were the calling of all true Christians, as all are enjoined to take up their cross and follow Him who humbled himself and triumphed over death. The way to glory for him was in none other than the way of the cross.

He had a way of looking straight into your soul, forcing you to look at yourself honestly. Nothing escaped him in confession. He was the kind of confessor with whom you knew you were in good hands, like a good surgeon.

His gracious manner was always quite welcoming. His congenial manner and engaging personality could make you feel like you were the most important person int he world for him at that moment.

He was at his best in the celebration of the blessed mysteries. Every mass was special to him, because he knew that at every celebration he was bringing his parishoners into the kingdom of God, where "with angels and archangels, and with all the hosts of heaven, we laud and magnify" the Lord's name. This was his highest vocation, what he considered to be his greatest moment, for which he would sacrifice a thousand Oxford D.Phils, and his very life, to do: to bring his flock into the throne room of heaven.

A man of prayer, he had a great personal devotion to St. Benedict of Nursia, nourished by the Anglican Benedictine Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, England, where he received his seminary education. He imbibed from this stream deeply.

He, along with a few intrepid souls, founded the parish of St. Michael, Whittier, on 10 April, 1977, after they had broken with ECUSA because of its continuing fall into theological and disciplinary innovations (he often called it by its true name-heresy). He often told me that at that sermon on Easter day, he encouraged those few faithful souls that if they remained true to the apostolic faith, God would bless them beyond their wildest imaginings. The work he had begun bore fruit, with a harvest of souls that spans the globe. He brought this parish into the Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in 1983, under the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in North America. When our new parish building was consecrated on September 9, 1990 by Metropolitan Philip Saliba, Saidna Philip said that when the history of Orthodoxy in North America is written, St. Michael's would be a shining light which historians could scarcely ignore.

The parish family of St. Michael's is saddened by the departure of our dear pastor, but I know that he is assured that the work he had begun will go on, inspired by his courage and vision.

The gates of heaven have opened up to him, and now he goes as angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, powers saints, martyrs, apostles, and the very Mother of God sing triumphantly: Axios! Dignus est! He is worthy!

For us, still living this side of heaven, we lament his passing as the end of an era. We can also rejoice, however, that his legacy will live on in the hearts of the faithful at St. Michael's, as we carry on his vision of a Western Orthodox parish intent on leavening the culture and engaging it with the ancient and yet ever new message of the faith of the Apostles, martyrs and saints. One of our best warriors is now safely in the hands of his Lord and King. May we be worthy of this great legacy he has left us.

Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

Requiescas in pace, pastor bonus et fidelis!

Congratulations to Nicolas Sarkozy

Here is a man who is determined to bring some of the market reforms that much of the EU had adopted in the 1990's. Will he succeed? Is this France's novus ordo saeculroum of sensible public and labor policy?

Felicitations, Monsieur President!

Read the story here

Episcopal Visitation

This past Sunday, our Father in God, His Grace Bishop Joseph, of the Antiochian diocese of Los Angleles and the West, granted us the blessing of an episcopal visit. Pictures of the mass are up on the diocesan website. You can view them here

Your host served as the subdeacon of the liturgy that day. The above picture shows the prayers at the foot of the altar, with Fr. Stephen Herney (standing), our new rector, Deacon Stephen Holley, (kneeling to his right), and yours truly, to the left of the good padre.

Fr. Stephen was officially named our new rector, Fr. Michael Trigg being named rector emeritus.

Happy Birthday King James Bible

From Fr. Joseph Huneycutt:

This, stolen with gratitude, from today's edition of The Writer's Almanac ...

It was on this day in 1611 that the first edition of the King James Bible was published in England. It is one of the greatest and most influential works in the English language, even though it was translated by a committee.It was produced during a particularly chaotic period for England.

An epidemic of the black plague had struck London so severely that the year before work began on the King James Bible, 30,000 Londoners had died of the disease. At the same time, Puritans in the country were beginning to agitate against the monarchy as a form of government. And a group of underground Catholics were plotting to assassinate the king.

Read the rest hear

Biretta Tip to the Young Fogey

Archduke Otto Von Habsburg: A Legitimist

http://orientem.blogspot.com/2007/04/awaiting-his-throne-is-his-most.html


"I am often asked if I am a republican or a monarchist. I am neither, I am a legitimist: I am for legitimate government. You could never have a monarchy in Switzerland, and it would be asinine to imagine Spain as a republic." Archduke Otto Von Habsburg


Birreta tip to The Western Confucian (http://orientem.blogspot.com/2007/04/awaiting-his-throne-is-his-most.html) and the Young Fogey (http://sergesblog.blogspot.com/)

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev on God, Science, Communism and the Russian Orthodox Church

Read it here:
http://en.hilarion.orthodoxia.org/7_1

"How do you think believers managed to keep alive faith in their heart when religion was forbidden in Russia?

Some people continued to go to church regardless of persecutions, but there were also many secret Christians, who practiced their religion in a clandestine way, without attending church services but keeping faith in their heart. Indeed, people in the Soviet Union had no direct access to Christian literature or to religious education. But Russian culture, including music, painting, literature and poetry, was so imbued with Christian ideas that it continued to become the bearer of religious message even in the times when religious propaganda was officially forbidden. For example, people could not access the works by the Church Fathers, but they could read Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, where many pages are dedicated to the presentation and interpretation of patristic ideas."

This is why a good, classical education steeped in Christian tradition matters!

Russian Ex-President Dies

From the BBC:

"Mr Yeltsin may have disappointed Russians by bringing them neither peace nor prosperity, our correspondent says.
But, she adds, he did help end 70 years of Soviet Communism, and that, in the long run, is what he will probably be remembered for. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6584481.stm

Requiescat in Pace!

Memory Eternal!

St. Paul's Philippian Odyssey

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mythfolklore.net/lahaye/237/LaHaye1728Figures237ActsXVI24PaulSilasInPrison.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mythfolklore.net/lahaye/237/index.html&h=1118&w=700&sz=243&hl=en&start=30&sig2=slIpcqsew4QV_7Ai6wCZag&um=1&tbnid=qkVcDG1mda3tgM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=94&ei=8E4pRoXJHYHAhAS_opWXDw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpaul%2Band%2Bsilas%26start%3D21%26ndsp%3D21%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGFRC,GFRC:2006-49,GFRC:en%26sa%3DN

From Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon's Pastoral Ponderings:

April 22, 2007
Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearers

Father Pat's Pastoral Ponderings

Of the three years (roughly 52-55) that St. Paul spent in Ephesus (Acts 20:31), we can account for only 27 months (19:8-10). This calculation leaves nine months unexplained. Some historians have suggested that Paul was in prison at Ephesus during that remaining time, an experience perhaps indicated by his having "fought with beasts in Asia" (1 Corinthians 15:32). I have always thought this an attractive and helpful suggestion.
Many of those that hold this view also believe that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians during that imprisonment. This has long been my own position.

While imprisoned in Ephesus during those nine or so months, Paul learned something important about his ministry. Whereas imprisonment would seem to be a considerable hindrance to the proclamation of the Gospel, the Apostle discovered the very opposite to be the case. He found that his time in confinement led, rather, to the advantage of the Gospel. During this imprisonment Paul wrote, "But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear" (Philippians 1:12-14).
The word translated as "palace guard" in the NKJV ("headquarters" in the NEB, "barracks" in The Living Bible) is praitorion, the Greek equivalent of the Latin pretorium. Roman governors were normally guarded by such a group, as we see at Jerusalem (Mark 15:16) and at Caesarea (Acts 23:35). Paul was under the custody of such a guard at Ephesus, where the governor of Asia resided.

In prison, then, the disadvantage of Paul became the advantage of the Gospel. Indeed, how else would these official Roman guards ever have heard the Gospel unless Paul had been their prisoner? This is what the Apostle learned in prison, and it was but another example of strength being made perfect in infirmity (2 Corinthians 12:9).
There is a special irony in Paul's writing these things to the church at Philippi, and the irony consists in this: Among the Philippian Christians sitting in church that day, listening to this epistle being read in public for the first time, was a family that understood exactly, and by experience, what Paul was saying—the family of the Philippian jailer.
When this epistle was read at Philippi, this Christian family could not but remember a certain night only a few years earlier. They had all been sleeping soundly in their beds when they were awakened by a sudden and considerable hubbub in the middle of the night. First, "there was a great earthquake" (Acts 16:26). This surely would have been disturbing enough, but shortly afterwards there was even more commotion.
The husband and father of the household, who was the city jailer, unexpectedly arrived back home, bringing two men with him. These, it turned out, were prisoners, incarcerated the previous day because of some obscure public disturbance (16:16-24).
Now, however, the father of this family suddenly appeared on the scene, and he had these men with him. Something rather exciting seemed to be happening. The jailer father, who was manifestly quite agitated, came in carrying a light (16:29). Next he washed the wounds of the two men (16:33), who had yesterday been very badly beaten with rods (16:22).
Then the whole family sat down and listened to the two prisoners, whose names were Paul and Silas. Whatever had happened back at the jail, the family could see that their father had been much impressed by it. They sat and listened, then, to what the two men had to say (16:32). At the end of it, the head of the household pronounced faith in someone called "the Lord Jesus Christ" (16:31), and then the whole family submitted to something called baptism (16:33). Afterwards they sat down to eat.
In the years that followed, the family's identity and history were determined by the events of that night. They gradually learned the significance of that teaching, that baptism, and the family's new relationship with "the Lord Jesus Christ."
Now this Paul had written a letter to the congregation at Philippi, of which they were among the original members, ever since that night when the writer of it had been their father's prisoner.

Anti-Americanism in Venezuela

Yes, we Yanks have misbehaved (and perhaps still do), but all of Latin America's problems cannot be laid at the feet of "The Great Satan." If anti-Americanism was the motivating factor in the Venzuelan parliament's vote to grant Mr. Chavez sweeping new powers (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6315819.stm), then a classic case of "cutting off your nose to spite your face" would be at work here, and it won't be long before they regret it.

Here is the latest:

For the second in a series of sceptical snapshots of the anti-American world, the BBC's Washington correspondent Justin Webb travelled to Caracas, the car-choked, sweltering capital of oil-rich Venezuela.

Chavez is one of the ringleaders of the anti-American movementWhy Caracas? Because at the moment it is the heart - the very epicentre - of Latin anti-Americanism.
Venezuela is unusual, indeed unique. It is a Latin American nation which in recent years has become rich enough to have the power to tell the US to take a hike. And Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected leader, loses no opportunity to do just that.
In the early part of this century, he became one of the ringleaders of the worldwide anti-American movement.
Hugo said this recently about George: "The imperialist, mass murdering, fascist attitude of the president of the United States doesn't have limits. I think Hitler could be a nursery baby next to George W Bush."

Read the rest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6572615.stm

Abortion and subsidiarity

By Rod Dreher

Friday, April 20, 2007
Abortion and subsidiarity
Megan McArdle, a libertarian who considers herself to be "moderately pro-choice," doesn't like the SCOTUS decision on partial-birth abortion, but believes that America's abortion politics would probably benefit from Roe being overturned and the abortion issue being sent back to the states for decision at the local level. Excerpt:

"This argument has a lot of appeal. As one of my colleagues at The Economist pointed out, Europe had the same conversation as America about abortion in the sixties and seventies. The difference is, European countries either passed laws, or submitted the question to referendum. Even those who weren't happy with the outcome felt the process by which it had been reached was legitimate. In America, neither group feels that the Supreme Court's process was morally legitimate--or at least, I infer that pro-choicers do not, since they seem to view an attempt to ban abortion by exactly the same process as a completely illegitimate usurpation of power by conservative ideologues. "

Read the rest: http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/crunchycon/2007/04/abortion-and-subsidiarity.html

Biretta tip: The Young Fogey http://sergesblog.blogspot.com/

N.T. Wright on Teaching Classics and Religion

Read it here: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/nicholas_t_wright/2007/03/teach_the_classics_in_all_fiel.html

"How do you teach religion, given that this word covers everything from Russian Orthodox Christianity to New Age crystal-mongering? It is possible to teach it all from a secular point of view ('these are the peculiar things some peculiar people like to do and teach'), but that is about as much fun as taking a course on the history of music from someone who's tone deaf. " N.T. Wright

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban of 2003

Te Deum Laudamus!!!!

Washington DC, Apr 18, 2007 (CNA).- In a stunning victory for life, the Supreme Court of the United States today upheld a 2003 law passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, which bans the procedure known as partial-birth abortion.In a 5-4 decision the justices ruled that the 2003 law does not violate a woman’s right to procure an abortion and, as such, is in line with the court’s precedent set by 1973 decision in Row v. Wade.The opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.The court accepted arguments on behalf of the legislation which claimed that the procedure, which involves partially removing the child then crushing or cutting its skull, qualifies as infanticide and not as abortion.According to the AP the cases constitutes the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how - not whether - to perform an abortion.The decision found President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, siding with the majority. Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also were in the majority.All five of the majority-voting Justices are Catholic.

Read the rest of the article here (http://ewtn.com/news/index.asp)

Eliminating the God of the Gaps to Make Room for God Himself

By Dr. Jeff Mirus

In 2005, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn touched off a firestorm in a New York Times opinion piece which raised significant concerns about the relationship among science, reason and faith. That intervention was not as successful as it might have been because of the Cardinal’s assessment of the idea of “randomness” in science. Returning to the subject in the April 2007 issue of First Things, Cardinal Schönborn makes what I believe is a far more successful presentation.
Most sound Catholic commentators over the past two hundred years have argued strenuously that there can be no intrinsic quarrel between faith and reason, or between religion and science. The chief problems have arisen because many scientists mistakenly believe—on the basis of unrecognized philosophical preconceptions—either that a mechanistic knowledge of nature is the only kind of knowledge possible, or that an explanation of how things work in a mechanical sense somehow eliminates the idea of teleology (that is, a consideration of nature’s design and purpose).

Read the rest of the article (http://beta1.catholicculture.org/commentary/blog.cfm?id=120)

Orthodox Prayer for Those Slain at Virginia Tech

Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend the souls of those slain at Virginia Tech, and beseech thee to grant them rest in the place of thy rest, where all thy blessed Saints repose, and where the light of thy countenance shineth forever. And I beseech thee also to grant that our present lives may be godly, sober, and blameless, that, we too may be made worthy to enter into thy heavenly Kingdom with those we love but see no longer: for thou art the Resurrection, and the Life, and the Repose of thy departed servants, O Christ our God, and unto thee we ascribe glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Catholic Teaching Outlawed in England...

Read it here (http://p202.ezboard.com/ftheyorkforumfrm2.showMessage?topicID=2464.topic)

England has long been known for its Burkian distate for radicalism, but now new winds seem to be blowing in Parliament.

This is of concern not only for RC's, but for all traditional Christians. If Catholics can't teach Catholic doctrine in Catholic schools, what a priest or minister says from the pulpit will be the next target of legislative interloping.

Biretta tip to The Young Fogey (http://sergesblog.blogspot.com/)

Happy Feast of the Resurrection!

St. John Chrysostom's Paschal Homily (http://www.monachos.net/library/John_Chrysostom,_Paschal_Homily):

If any man be devout and loveth God,Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!If any man be a wise servant,Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.
If any have laboured long in fasting,Let him how receive his recompense.If any have wrought from the first hour,Let him today receive his just reward.If any have come at the third hour,Let him with thankfulness keep the feast.If any have arrived at the sixth hour,Let him have no misgivings;Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.If any have delayed until the ninth hour,Let him draw near, fearing nothing.And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,Let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness.
For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,Will accept the last even as the first.He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.And He showeth mercy upon the last,And careth for the first;And to the one He giveth,And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.And He both accepteth the deeds,And welcometh the intention,And honoureth the acts and praises the offering.
Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord;Receive your reward,Both the first, and likewise the second.You rich and poor together, hold high festival!You sober and you heedless, honour the day!Rejoice today, both you who have fastedAnd you who have disregarded the fast.The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.Enjoy ye all the feast of faith:Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.
Let no one bewail his poverty,For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.Let no one weep for his iniquities,For pardon has shown forth from the grave.Let no one fear death,For the Saviour's death has set us free.He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.
By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:Hell, said he, was embitteredWhen it encountered Thee in the lower regions.
It was embittered, for it was abolished.It was embittered, for it was mocked.It was embittered, for it was slain.It was embittered, for it was overthrown.It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.It took a body, and met God face to face.It took earth, and encountered Heaven.It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death, where is thy sting?O Hell, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!Christ is risen, and life reigns!Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.For Christ, being risen from the dead,Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be glory and dominionUnto ages of ages.
Amen.

Another by St. Leo the Great (http://www.monachos.net/library/Leo_the_Great_of_Rome,_Homily_71:_On_the_Lord's_Resurrection,_I):

I. We must all be partakers in Christ's Resurrection life.
In my last sermon, dearly beloved, not inappropriately, as I think, we explained to you our participation in the cross of Christ, whereby the life of believers contains in itself the mystery of Easter, and thus what is honoured at the feast is celebrated by our practice. And how useful this is you yourselves have proved, and by your devotion have learnt, how greatly benefited souls and bodies are by longer fasts, more frequent prayers, and more liberal alms. For there can be hardly any one who has not profited by this exercise, and who has not stored up in the recesses of his conscience something over which he may rightly rejoice. But these advantages must be retained with persistent care, lest our efforts fall away into idleness, and the devil's malice steal what God's grace gave. Since, therefore, by our forty days' observance we have wished to bring about this effect, that we should feel something of the Cross at the time of the Lord's Passion, we must strive to be found partakers also of Christ's Resurrection, and 'pass from death unto life' while we are in this body. For when a man is changed by some process from one thing into another, not to be what he was is to him an ending, and to be what he was not is a beginning. But the question is, to what a man either dies or lives: because there is a death which is the cause of living, and there is a life which is the cause of dying. And nowhere else but in this transitory world are both sought after, so that upon the character of our temporal actions depend the differences of the eternal retributions. We must die, therefore, to the devil and live to God: we must perish to iniquity that we may rise to righteousness. Let the old sink, that the new may rise; and since, as says the Truth, 'no one can serve two masters', let not him be Lord who has caused the overthrow of those that stood, but Him Who has raised the fallen to victory.
II. God did not leave His soul in Hell, nor suffer His flesh to see corruption.
Accordingly, since the Apostle says, 'the first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is from heaven heavenly. As is the earthy, such also are they that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, so let us also bear the image of Him Who is from heaven', we must greatly rejoice over this change, whereby we are translated from earthly degradation to heavenly dignity through His unspeakable mercy, Who descended into our estate that He might promote us to His, by assuming not only the substance but also the conditions of sinful nature, and by allowing the impossibility of the Godhead to be affected by all the miseries which are the lot of mortal manhood. And hence that the disturbed minds of the disciples might not be racked by prolonged grief, He with such wondrous speed shortened the three days' delay which He had announced, that by joining the last part of the first and the first part of the third day to the whole of the second, He cut off a considerable portion of the period, and yet did not lessen the number of days. The Saviour's Resurrection therefore did not long keep His soul in Hades, nor His flesh in the tomb; and so speedy was the quickening of His uncorrupted flesh that it bore a closer resemblance to slumber than to death, seeing that the Godhead, which quitted not either part of the human nature which He had assumed, reunited by its power that which its power had separated.
III. Christ's manifestation after the Resurrection showed that His person was essentially the same as before.
And then there followed many proofs, whereon the authority of the Faith to be preached through the whole world might be based. And although the rolling away of the stone, the empty tomb, the arrangement of the linen cloths, and the angels who narrated the whole deed by themselves fully built up the truth of the Lord's Resurrection, yet did He often appear plainly to the eyes both of the women and of the Apostles, not only talking with them, but also remaining and eating with them and allowing Himself to be handled by the eager and curious hands of those whom doubt assailed. For to this end He entered when the doors were closed upon the disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit by breathing on them, and after giving them the light of understanding opened the secrets of the Holy Scriptures, and again Himself showed them the wound in the side, the prints of the nails, and all the marks of His most recent Passion, whereby it might be acknowledged that in Him the properties of the divine and human nature remained undivided, and we might in such sort know that the Word was not what the flesh is, as to confess God's only Son to be both Word and flesh.
IV. But though it is the same, it is also glorified.
The Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, dearly. beloved, does not disagree with this belief, when he says, 'even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more'. For the Lord's Resurrection was not the ending, but the changing of the flesh, and His substance was not destroyed by His increase of power. The quality altered, but the nature did not cease to exist: the body was made impassible which it had been possible to crucify: it was made incorruptible, though it had been possible to wound it. And properly is Christ's flesh said not to be known in that state in which it had been known, because nothing remained passible in it, nothing weak, so that it was both the same in essence and not the same in glory. But what wonder if Saint Paul maintains this about Christ's body, when he says of all spiritual Christians 'wherefore henceforth we know no one after the flesh'. Henceforth, he says, we begin to experience the resurrection in Christ, since the time when in Him, Who died for all, all our hopes were guaranteed to us. We do not hesitate in diffidence, we are not under the suspense of uncertainty, but having received an earnest of the promise, we now with the eye of faith see the things which will be, and rejoicing in the uplifting of our nature, we already possess what we believe.
V. Being saved by hope, we must not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
Let us not then be taken up with the appearances of temporal matters, neither let our contemplations be diverted from heavenly to earthly things. Things which as yet have for the most part not come to pass must be reckoned as accomplished: and the mind intent on what is permanent must fix its desires there, where what is offered is eternal. For although 'by hope we were saved' and still bear about with us a flesh that is corruptible and mortal, yet we are rightly said not to be in the flesh, if the fleshly affections do not dominate us; and we are justified in ceasing to be named after that flesh, the will of which we do not follow. And so, when the Apostle says, 'make not provision for the flesh in the lusts thereof', we understand that those things are not forbidden us which conduce to health and which human weakness demands, but because we may not satisfy all our desires nor indulge in all that the flesh lusts after, we recognizethat we are warned to exercise such self-restraint as not to permit what is excessive nor refuse what is necessary to the flesh, which is placed under the mind's control. And hence the same Apostle says in another place, 'For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it', in so far, of course, as it must be nourished and cherished not in vices and luxury, but with a view to its proper functions, so that nature may recover herself and maintain due order, the lower parts not prevailing wrongfully and debasingly over the higher, nor the higher yielding to the lower, lest if vices overpower the mind, slavery ensues where there should be supremacy.
VI. Our Godly resolutions must continue all the year round, not be confined to Pascha only.
Let God's people then recognize that they are a new creation in Christ, and with all vigilance understand by Whom they have been adopted and Whom they have adopted. Let not the things, which have been made new, return to their ancient instability; and let not him who has 'put his hand to the plough' forsake his work, but rather attend to that which he sows than look back to that which he has left behind. Let no one fall back into that from which he has risen, but, even though from bodily weakness he still languishes under certain maladies, let him urgently desire to be healed and raised up. For this is the path of health through imitation of the Resurrection begun in Christ, whereby, notwithstanding the many accidents and falls to which in this slippery life the traveller is liable, his feet may be guided from the quagmire on to solid ground, for, as it is written, 'the steps of a man are directed by the Lord,and He will delight in his way. When the just man falls he shall not be overthrown, because the Lord will stretch out His hand'. These thoughts, dearly beloved, must be kept in mind not only for the Easter festival, but also for the sanctification of the whole life, and to this our present exercise ought to be directed, that what has delighted the souls of the faithful by the experience of a short observance may pass into a habit and remain unalterably, and if any fault creep in, it may be destroyed by speedy repentance. And because the cure of old-standing diseases is slow and difficult, remedies should be applied early, when the wounds are fresh, so that rising ever anew from all downfalls, we may deserve to attain to the incorruptible Resurrection of our glorified flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Longinus

From Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon's Pastoral Ponderings:

In his description of the death of Jesus, Saint John is the only Gospel-writer to include the detail that "one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out" (19:34).

Although the evangelist does not name this soldier, Christian legend calls him "St. Longinus," a name that one suspects is corrupted from logke (pronounced "lonki"), the Greek word for "spear." A small feature of art history lends weight to this suspicion. A Syriac manuscript preserved at the Laurentine Library at Florence contains an illumination, by an artist named Rabulas, which depicts the death of Jesus on the cross. It includes the figure of the soldier in question, over whose head, in Greek letters, is inscribed the name "Loginos." This appears to be the immediate source for the Latin name "Longinus."

This manuscript illumination, which is safely dated to the year 586, is contemporary with our first records of the presence and veneration of the spear itself at Jerusalem. The later fortunes of that spear are also somewhat documented. The point of the spear, we know, found its way to Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. After the crusaders' sack of that city in 1204, it was taken to France, where it was enshrined, along with what was believed to be the Lord's crown of thorns, in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. It disappeared in the chaos that followed the French Revolution.

The larger portion of the spear, which seems to have been remained at Jerusalem long after being deprived of its point, eventually found its way to Constantinople, apparently after the Fourth Crusade. What the Crusaders had started, however, the Turks finished. The shaft part of the spear fell into the hands of the conquering Turks in 1453. These, in turn, as part of a later arrangement with the pope (who happened to have in his control a person that the Turks very much wanted released) sent that longer part of the spear to Rome in 1492. It is preserved to this day in St. Peter's Basilica, behind an enormous statue of St. Longinus, sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Various kings over the centuries, Athelstan and Charlemagne among them, have claimed to have at least a part of that venerable spear, but these claims seem less reliable.

Given such exotic legends about his spear, it is not surprising that Longinus himself became the subject of legend. For example, according to The Golden Legend of James of Voragine in the 13th century, the blood and water from the side of Jesus cured Longinus of poor eyesight. That same work goes on at some length to describe the martyrdom of Longinus in Cappadocia, and to this day the church of St. Augustine in Rome claims to hold his relics.

What these latter stories have in common, of course, is their assumption that Longinus was converted to the Christian faith in the context of what he did to the body of Jesus on the cross. This assumption, which is scarcely unreasonable, was surely related to the fact that the deed of Longinus was done as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. It was in this detail that St. John saw enacted the words of ancient Zechariah, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced." Thus, in opening the side of the crucified Jesus--in cleaving for all of us the Rock of ages--Longinus opened likewise the deep fountain of Holy Scripture.

Perhaps we may say, as well, that he opened the wellsprings of divine grace, inasmuch as the blood and the water, in which Longinus was the very first person to be bathed, have long been understood in the Christian Church to symbolize the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. It was this double flood of redemption that the Roman soldier brought forth to pour upon the earth. It was his spear that found its way into that source of infinite love which is the heart of Christ.

It is through Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, after all, that believers are united to the mystery of the Cross. They are buried with Him in Baptism (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), and as often as they eat this bread and drink this cup, they proclaim the Lord's death till He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). These two ordinances of the Church, summoned forth by the mystic spear of Longinus, make effective to believers the redemptive power of the Cross.

Thus, through the mystery of divine providence, the coup de grace given by a Roman executioner to a condemned criminal is transformed, by way of symbol, into a sort of sacerdotal act; it takes on the hieratic significance of a liturgical rite. It is certain that the Church sees it this way, something that is obvious in the prescribed rite preparatory to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. As the priest cuts into the bread that is to become the Body of the Lord, the Church's rubric requires him to recite the appropriate verse of John: "one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out." We may note, in addition, that an image the spear of Longinus is customarily stamped on the loaf designated for the Holy Eucharist.

In short, Longinus, in opening the side of Christ, provided a path of faith, furnished a place for the hand of Thomas--along with the rest of us. It was of this wound inflicted by Longinus that Jesus says, "reach your hand, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

Passiontide Anthem

Vexilla regis prodeunt,
fulget crucis mysterium,
quo carne carnis conditor
suspensus est patibulo.

Confixa clavis viscera
tendens manus, vestigia
redemptionis gratia
hic inmolata est hostia.

Quo vulneratus insuper
mucrone diro lanceae,
ut nos lavaret crimine,
manavit unda et sanguine.

Inpleta sunt quae concinit
David fideli carmine,
dicendo nationibus:
regnavit a ligno deus.

Arbor decora et fulgida,
ornata regis purpura,
electa, digno stipite
tam sancta membra tangere!

Beata cuius brachiis
pretium pependit saeculi!
statera facta est corporis
praedam tulitque Tartari.

Fundis aroma cortice,
vincis sapore nectare,
iucunda fructu fertili
plaudis triumpho nobili.

Salve ara, salve victima
de passionis gloria,
qua vita mortem pertulit
et morte vitam reddidit. Amen



The royal banners forward go,
the cross shines forth in mystic glow;
where he in flesh, our flesh who made,
our sentence bore, our ransom paid.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,
life's torrent rushing from his side,
to wash us in that precious flood,
where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told
in true prophetic song of old,
amidst the nations, God, saith he,
hath reigned and triumphed from the tree.

O tree of beauty, tree of light!
O tree with royal purple dight!
Elect on whose triumphal breast
those holy limbs should find their rest.

Blest tree, whose chosen branches bore
the wealth that did the world restore,
the price of mankind to pay,
and spoil the spoiler of his prey.

Upon its arms, like balance true,he weighed
the price for sinners due,
the price which none but he could pay,
and spoiled the spoiler of his prey.

O cross, our one reliance, hail!
Still may thy power with us avail
to give new virtue to the saint,
and pardon to the penitent.

To thee, eternal Three in One,
let homage meet by all be done:
whom by the cross thou dost restore,
preserve and govern evermore. Amen.

St. Fortunatus, 569

Sloth (Dejection and Listlessness)

Sloth is something people think they know when they see it, but there is more to it than meets the eye. You see, it is more than just mere inactivity. After all, not doing anything except "contemplating the universe" has its rewards. Contemplation is an activity which puts us in tune with the world around us, making our golden thread to our Triune God ever stronger and more resilient as we observe his truths in ourselves and in nature. It gives us true leisure from the workaday world, where we can rediscover ourselves in the God who created us. Sloth, more than inactivity, can be understood as a kind of boredom of human existence. The ancients called it "accidia".

St. John Cassian divides this vice into two parts: dejection and listlessness. Of dejection he says that it "obscures the soul's capacity for spiritual contemplation and keeps it from all good works." He goes on to say that this demon "instills a hatred of every kind of work," including the monsatic profession. Notice that this is no passive sin: the one who suffers from dejection is very active in his opposition to all good works. The soul afflicted with this kind of sloth is fuled by hatred towards his neighbor, since it has deluded itself into believing that people are the cause of his problems, rather than looking inward. This hatred so paralyses him to the point of hatred towards anything relating to prayer and good works. It is a hatred of life itself.

To the soul thus afflicted, St. Cassian gives a remedy-a recognition that the source of the malady is not external, but internal. This vice "suggests to the soul that we sould go away from other people, since they are the cause of the agitation." It fools the sould into thinking that the source of the problem lies with other people (I can't help but to think of Jean Paul Sartre's startling but logical conclusion in his play, No Exit: "Hell is other people"). This leads to a sense of melancholy, a stiffling of all good work, since this person can't see the real root of the problem: himself. He withdraws from all human company, only to find that his hatred of life gets ever more intense, bringing on a greater sense of melancholy.

Listlessness, on the other hand, is the kind of vice that falls upon a monk "at the sixth hour" (12noon), "making him slack and full of fear, inspiring him with hatred for his monastery, for work of any kind, and even for the reading of Holy Scripture." He calls this the "noontide demon", since it attacks the monk at the time of day when most folks (especially in southern European countries) take a break from the noontide heat and take their customary naps. This is accompanied by a great hunger. This is the hour where a greater vigilance must be maintained, with the full awareness that one has a limited time on this earth, and must therefore take up the weapons of ascetic struggle. Rather than engage in the struggle against his passions, the listless soul is content to fill his belly and sleep in idleness. Commenting from St. Paul's injunction to avoid the company of men who do no work, becoming busydbodies (I Cor. 9), he portays a natural progression that attends this vice: "from laziness comes inquisitiveness, and from inquisitiveness, unruliness, and from unruliness, every kind of evil." Taking his cue from the monks of Egypt, he provides a simple remedy: work. By this he does not mean constant business, but the kind of labor that is offered as an acceptable sacrifice to God. A person working in this spirit brings forth a great degree of charity and a hearty and sober love of life. Such a one, according to St. Cassian, may be afflicted by one demon, "while someone who does not work is taken prisoner by a thousand demons."

Perhaps this is why St. Cassian categorizes slothfulness (dejection and listlessness) above wrath in the list of vices. A wrathful man loves life, so much so that he thinks there are things to get riled up about (whether the things he chooses to b e angry about are worth it is quite another matter altogether). The murderer loves life; he just thinks some are not worthy of it. The slothful, on the other hand, are possessed of a boredom with life, not taking joy in any kind of work. Such a person may be continually busy, but still slothful, in that he hates life to such a degree that he sees no value in any kind of work. He suffers from dejection in that he suffers from melancholy, and such melancholy leads him to listlessness. The listless man's life thus becomes parasitic, for in addition to robbing himself of the joy of life, he sucks in others into his maliciousness.

In the cornice of the Slothful in Purgatory, Dante has the souls work out the effect of this sin through ceaseless activity done with godly zeal (Canto XVIII). But he precedes this cornice by having Virgil discourse about love. Dante the pilgrim asks his master to "Define me love, to which thou dost reduce all virtuous actions and their contraries." To which the master responds:

Fix then on me the luminous

Eyes of the intellect, and plain I'll prove

How, when the blind would guide, their way they lose.

The soul, which is created apt for love,

the moment pleasure wakes it into act,

to any pleasant thing is swift to move. (Canto XVIII, 16-20)

This, perhaps, is the key to the soul's remedy from this particular vice, and is embedded in St. Cassian's counsel that his monks undertake zealous activity as a meaningful sacrifice to God. Love is the central reality of all activity done to the glory of God, since it is what moves us to all good work. It lightens our load, so that we can more swiftly undertake such works with a joy and eagerness that characterizes any activity that a lover does for his beloved.

As Lent draws to a close, and we enter into Holy Week, I am reminded of how the lightness of Laetare Sunday (4th Sunday in Lent), with its joyful, celebratory character, announced by the theme of the introit-"I WAS glad when they said unto me, / 'We will go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1)- rolls into Passion Sunday. On Laetare Sunday, and the rest of that week, we experienced the "Elim" of our Lenten sojourn, for like the children of Israel, we too expereinced a small respite from our journey. With Passiontide, we are roused yet again from our slumber, taking up the weapons of our struggle for holy freedom. The Church bids us now to take up the royal banner of the cross, and go forward, to labor on with love and devotion to our true rest. The words that began our Lenten journey-Remember, man, that dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return-spur us on to action with holy zeal towards the goal of resurrection.

Ash Wednesday

We Western Orthodox Christians begin our lenten journey today with the solemn words "Remember, Man, that thou art dust, and to dust shall thou return," while the priest spreads ashes on our foreheads in the form of a cross. The remembrance of death is what initiates our lenten journey, a journey that will end in the glorious celebration of the Resurrection, where Our Lord "trampled down death by death." In this is mirrored redemptive history, as we show our connection to our first ancestors-Adam and Eve-in their creation and fall, hear the sentence, and then walk the road of redemtption. This is a time for us to look into ourselves and see that divine drama played out in our own lives. We are given the opportunity to look into our hearts and root out those things that keep us from living abundant lives well-pleasing to Him who is the author of life. Lent is our summons, a clarion call, exhorting us to get busy with the business of heaven, for "dust thou art, and to dust shall thou return." There is no time for sin and death. Choose life!

Hear is a little wisdom from St. John Climacus that will help us get started on this journey:

God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all – faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old – just as the effusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the seasons are for all alike; “for there is no respect of persons with God.”-- Those of us who wish to go out of Egypt, and to fly from Pharaoh, certainly need some Moses as a mediator with God and from God, who, standing between action and divine vision, will raise hands of prayer for us to God, so that guided by him we may cross the sea of sin and rout the Amalek of the passions. That is why those who have surrendered themselves to God deceive themselves if they suppose that they have no need of a director. Those who came out of Egypt had Moses as their guide, and those who fled from Sodom had an angel. The former are like those who are healed of the passions of the soul by the care of physicians; these are they who come out of Egypt. The latter are like those who long to put off the uncleanness of the wretched body. That is why they need a helper, an angel, so to speak, or rather, one equal to an angel. For in accordance with the corruption of our wounds, we need a director who is indeed an expert and a physician.-- Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me; “We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how can we lead the solitary life?” I replied to them: “Do all the good you can; do not speak evil of anyone; do not steal from anyone; do not lie to anyone; do not be arrogant towards anyone; do not hate anyone; do not be absent from the divine services; be compassionate to the needy; do not offend anyone; do not wreck another man’s domestic happiness, and be content with what your own wives can give you. If you behave in this way, you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven.” Ladder of Divine Ascent

Back on the saddle

For those of you wondering where I've been, fear no more. I've been working simultaneously on my dissertation proposal, and the actual text of my dissertation, as well as keeping up a full-time schedule of teaching in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University.

The working title of my dissertation is "St. Francis the Ascetic: Thomas of Celano's First Life of St. Francis in Hagiographic Context." What I propose to do is situate Thomas of Celano's work within a broader context of ascetic models of sanctity, stretching back to St. Athanasius' Life of St. Anthony, and noting some peculiar overlaps. This is partly a critique of some of the most recent scholarship on medieval Mendicant spirituality (taking its cue from Lester Little's Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe) that seeks to tie it closely to socio-economic shifts. I will attemot to show that at least insofar as the original sources are concerned, no reflection of a "merchant spirituality" exists, and where a merchant metaphor might occur, it is associated with a gospel imagery (the "pearl of great price"), which would have been familiar to the more monastically-oriented early middle ages. What Thomas of Celano is most eager to show is that St. Francis is one who follows a traditional path of sanctity-the ascetic path-but undertakes it in a new way: within the city walls of Assisi, which in away becomes his "desert." With Francis (at least as Thomas portrays him) we have a association of the new urban culture as the new "desert," where the passion of avarice is confronted directly. I'm hoping that this will have the value of reading the life of St. Francis "forward," seeing how it overlaps in some significant ways with past models of sanctity, especially that of the ascetic struggler, as opposed to the tendency to read later Jesuit spirituality back into what Francis is doing.

On another note, it has been a rich and rewarding time of reading and teaching from the canon of the Great Books. This past week I taught Virgil's Aenead and Ovid's Metamorphoses, and teaching these two books back to back is always quite revealing. On the one hand, we get a noble epic rendering about what the new imperial Roman order, inaugurated by Caesar Augustus (Octavian), is all about. On the other, there is some evidence of what might be called a "hermeneutics of suspicion" concerning what, in the end, the Roman Empire is really about. In the first, Aeneas, the hero, is given a vision of Rome's future greatness by his dead father, Anchises, in the underworld, and ends it with this charge: Tu regere imperio popule, Romane, memento (hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem, parcere subiectis et debellare superbos (Remember, Roman, these are your arts: to rule the peoples of the earth with order, to impose a settled way of peace, and to subdue the proud). The experience of the underworld proves crucial in Aeneas shedding his Trojan identity, and taking on a more Roman outlook.



And yet what is this "new Roman outlook?" Ovid seems to have a very "cheeky" take on it all, and he presents it with a great deal of humor. This is why C.S. Lewis often calls him "that jolly fellow." There is a humor that comes out, a "tongue and cheek" quality that almost jars you after you've ascended the heights of epic nobility with Virgil. Ovid, in a sense, is the Monty Python of the Roman world. What looks noble in Virgil, will be shown in a more hunorous light under his pen. Take, for example, the tale of the Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, with their unconventional weapons and battle scenes that almost verge on something one would see on Looney Tunes.



But there is a sobriety to Ovid's "cheekiness." His subversion of the heroic tradition comes in the very first book, where, recounting the ages of mankind, he makes a direct parallel between Caesar Augustus and Jove:

Confremuere omnes studiisque ardentibus ausum
talia deposcunt: sic, cum manus inpia saevit
sanguine Caesareo Romanum exstinguere nomen,
attonitum tantae subito terrore ruinae
humanum genus est totusque perhorruit orbis;
nec tibi grata minus pietas, Auguste, tuorum
quam fuit illa Iovi.

(All the gods murmured with a loud voice, and ardently
demanded fit punishment for those who committed such crimes.
Thus when with impious hands they burned to drown Romes name
In the blood of Caesar, the human race shuddered in the face
Of such a terror, and the whole earth was horrified.
Nor do you, Augustus, rejoice any less in the piety (loyalty)
Of you subjects than does Jove.)

But reading the rest of the Metamorphoses, it is clear that Jove is a scoundrel. This is brought out to full relief in the tale of Arachne, where Pallas and Arachne engage in a weaving contest, Pallas weaving a tapestry where the gods are prtrayed in majesty and power, with Jove sitting on his throne. Arachne, however, portrays the folly of the gods. Here Jove is anything but "regal": the rape of Europa, where he takes on the form of a bull and carries her off to Crete; the rape of Antiopre, where jove takes on the guise of a satyr, and makes her beget twins.

All of these instances of divine folly, portrayed by Arachne in full form, gets her the grand prize: to be turned into a spider by Pallas!

Towards the end of the work, he recounts the apotheosis of Aeneas, Virgil's hero. But a nagging doubt remains: is it really that good to be a god? in the end, Ovid ends with a triumphant proclamation of his own immortality, assuring his readers that whatever change comes, one thing will always remain constant: his own fame, which will live on through this book. So there we have it. The epic tradition ends with Ovid's immortality! No wonder C.S. Lewis calls him a "jolly fellow."

This is the world wher Our Lord will become incarnate, the "fullness of time," the time appointed by God. And the world was ready for it! With Virgil, we get a sense of messianic urgency (albeit pagan), with a desire for a unifying world empire that would unite "all peoples of the earth with order." And yet, Ovid shows its fulitily, taking note, in his own humorous way, of the fact that, inherent in the very title "Metamorhoses", all things do indeed change, and so will this universal imperial order. It is precisely at this point that christ came, bringing a kingdom not of this world. "Ant the Word became flesh..."

Well, this is what I've been up to.

Coming up next: further reflections from St. Cassian's "On the Eight Vices".