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Recipe for Readiness – A Meditation on the Epistle for the First Sunday of Advent

The first weeks of Advent focus more on the Lord’s second coming in glory more than his first coming at Bethlehem. The Gospel is clear enough to state that we must be prepared, for, at an hour we do not expect, The Son of Man will come! “Ready” is the key word. But how should we be ready?

 The Second reading of today’s Mass (Romans 13:11-14) gives us a basic recipe for readiness. We can distinguish five fundamental ingredients in Paul’s recipe.

 1. WAKE UP – The text says: You know the time;  it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.  For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;  the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness  and put on the armor of light;  let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day – St. Paul of course has more than physical sleep in mind here. But consider for a moment some of the aspects of physical sleep. When we sleep we are unaware of what is taking place around us or even of what we are doing. Perhaps a family member will say, “When you sleep you talk and snore!” “Really?” we may wonder. “I was unaware I was doing that.”  At other times we may doze off in front of the TV and miss the game-winning touchdown or the critical scene that helped the movie make sense. Further, when we are asleep our minds are dreamy and confused. Some of the craziest things happen in our dreams because our more rational part of the brain is asleep and any absurd thought may manifest itself and seem perfectly understandable. But when we finally do awake, we say. “What was THAT all about?!

Now this text which tells us to “wake up” refers to all of this in a moral and mindful sense. What St. Paul is really saying here is that we need to wake up, and become more aware of what is happening in our life. We cannot sleep through life like someone dozing on a couch. We need to live lives that are alert and aware of what is happening. We need to be morally awake and responsible for our actions. We cannot and must not engage in dreamy thinking that is not rooted in reality and is fundamentally absurd in its premises. Dreamy thinking has to go. We need to be alert, rooted in what is real, and what is revealed. We cannot go on calling good what God has called sinful. We need to wake up, take the “coffee” of God’s Word, shake off the cobwebs of drowsiness, and start living in the light of holiness, rather than the darkness of deceit and sin.

Waking up also means taking responsibility and exercising authority over one’s life. When we sleep we toss and turn and have little authority over our movements. But when we are awake we take authority over our actions and are responsible for them.

The first ingredient in the recipe for readiness is to wake up! The cobwebs of groggy and sleepy behavior have to yield to the alertness of a new mind. There are many scriptures that make a similar point

  • Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
  • 1 Cor 15:34  Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
  • Eph 4:17  Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them…22  Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts,  and be renewed in the spirit of your minds
  • Col 3:2  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth

2. CLEAN UP – the text says – not in orgies and, not in promiscuity and lust… and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.  – Notice the emphasis in this passage on sexuality. This is because the pagan world at the time of Paul was sexually confused and immature:  Promiscuousness, fornication, homosexual activity, divorce, abortion, and infanticide were all rampant. Sound familiar? We have slipped right back into pagan immaturity and immorality. This text tells us it is time to clean up and grow up and take authority over our sexuality by God’s grace. It’s time to act more like adults than irresponsible teenagers.

The text, in saying we should make no provision for the desires of the flesh, is indicating we should avoid the near occasions of sin. We should not easily find ourselves in compromising and tempting situations. To make “provision” literally means to “see ahead” or to “look toward” something in such a way as to facilitate it. The text says to resolve ahead of time not to provide occasion for the flesh.

Many people make light of sexual sin today and say it’s no big deal and “everyone is doing it.”  But God says otherwise and speaks very strongly against it in his Word. He does not do this because he is a prude, or wants to limit our fun. Rather, God wants to save us a lot of suffering and also protect the innocent. What does promiscuity get us? Sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, abortion, teenage pregnancies, children born outside of the ideal nuclear and properly formed family, divorce, bitterness, jealousy, broken hearts, and used, discarded human beings. God is not out to limit our fun, He is trying to protect us. He is also trying to protect marriage and children. With all this promiscuity, it is children who suffer most. Many of them are simply killed by abortion. Those who survive are often raised in less than ideal settings without both parents in a stable union of marriage. Many are born to teenage mothers not ready to raise them.

God says to all of us that, in order to be ready we have to clean up. We have to take authority over our sexuality by his grace. Promiscuity, orgies, pornography, illicit sexual union,  and lust have to go. Those who make light of sexual sin have been deceived. It is a very serious matter and God makes this clear in his word:

  • Ephesians 5:3-7 As for lewd conduct or promiscuousness or lust of any sort, let them not even be mentioned among you; your holiness forbids this. Nor should there be any obscene, silly or suggestive talk; all that is out of place. Instead, give thanks. Make no mistake about this: no fornicator, no unclean or lustful person – in effect an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with worthless arguments. These are sins that bring God’s wrath down upon the disobedient; therefore, have nothing to do with them.
  • 1 Cor. 6:9-11  Can you not realize that the unholy will not fall heir to the Kingdom of God? Do not deceive yourselves: no fornicators, idolaters, or adulterers, no sodomites, thieves, misers, or drunkards, no slanderers or robbers will inherit the kingdom of God…Flee fornication… You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within – the Spirit you have received from God. You are not your own. You have been purchased at a price. So glorify God in your body.

3. SOBER UP  – the text says, Not in drunkenness– Physically, to be drunk means to have our mind confused due to the influence of alcohol or drugs. Conversely, to have a sober mind is to have a clear mind that is capable of making sound judgments. So much of our battle to be ready to meet God comes down to our mind. Stinkin’ Thinkin’ is a real problem today. There are many fuzzy-headed, lame-brained, crazy and just plain wrongful notions today that amount to a lack of sobriety. They emerge from the haze of un-sober thinking and from a world that increasingly and in a moral sense resembles the Star Wars barroom scene. Don’t believe everything you think. Much of what we think has come from a drunken and confused world. Square everything you think with God’s word and the teachings of the Church. The third item in the recipe for readiness is to sober up, to request and receive from God a clear and sound mind. Scripture says elsewhere about the need to cultivate a sound and sober mind:

  • 1 Peter 1:13  Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
  • 1 Peter  5:8  Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith.
  •  Titus 2:2 Let the older men be sober, serious and temperate.

4. CHEER UP –  The text says, not in rivalry and jealousy – An awful lot of our sins revolve around our touchy little egos. Paul warns elsewhere of other things that flow from this source: enmity, strife, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, and envy (Gal 5:20). The recipe for readiness here warns that this sort of stuff has to go. We need to be more forgiving if we expect to be forgiven. We also to more generous to the poor, less stingy, and less prone to the kind of anger that comes from being thin-skinned and lacking in humility. The biggest sin is pride and it is enemy number one. It has to go and along with it all its minions: envy, jealously, selfishness, hatred, fear, bitterness, a hard and unforgiving heart, and being just plain mean. The Lord wants to give us a cheerful heart, a heart that is loving, generous to the poor, considerate, glad at others’ gifts, forgiving, truthful, patient and meek, a heart that is less ego-centric and more Theo-centric, a heart that is open to others.

5.  DRESS UP – The text says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, – If we miss this point, everything else is just a moralism, more rules to live by. But the moral life of the New Testament is not achieved, it is received. The Moral life of the New Testament is not so much a prescription, as it is a description. It is description of what we are like when Jesus Christ really begins to live his life in us. St. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20) Jesus says, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them , will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5). St John says, But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know [experience] we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did(1 John 2:5-6). Hence the moral life is not imposed, it is imparted, it is not achieved it is received, it is not demanded it is delivered. There is surely a requirement that the moral law describes, but the requirement can only be met in a real or full sense by Jesus Christ living his life in us. If we try and accomplish it by our flesh, any minor success will last about twenty minutes (max). Hence we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We must humbly give him our life and assent to his kingship and authority over us. The more we surrender the more he renders us apt and fit to the life he describes. The fact is, if we really hope to wake up, clean up, sober up, and cheer up it will have to be a work of his grace.

The Book of Revelation speaks of the garment, the long white robe that is given to each of the saints to wear (Rev 6:11). Later, Revelation 19:8 describes the long white robe (of the Bride of the Lamb) as the righteous deeds of all the saints.  It is in this sense that St. Paul tells us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”  Hence righteousness is imparted both to the individual and to the Church as the gift of God. It is given to us like a precious wedding garment. In the baptismal ritual the newly baptized is clothed in white and told that their garments represent their dignity which they are to bring it unstained to the judgment seat of Christ. In the funeral rites the cloth placed over the casket recalls the baptismal garment. Yes, the final element in the recipe for readiness is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Only Jesus can really can really get us ready.

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The Battle Hymn of the Republic as Bible Hymn of the Republic

I was reminded today of one of my favorite hymns as I read the first reading from today’s Mass. In particular these lines stood out:

[An] angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud [Jesus], “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.” So the one who was sitting on the cloud  swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle……“Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s wrath. (Rev 14:14-19)

Ah, yes, the Battle Hymn of the Republic:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on
– –

We live in a time that does not usually appreciate these fearsome images of God. These are dainty times where many have tried to tame God. And yet the image from the hymn above is thoroughly biblical as you can already see. This first verse of the Battle Hymn also recalls Jeremiah

God will thunder from his holy dwelling and  roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,'” declares the LORD.  (Jeremiah 25:30-31)

Yet again Scripture is alluded to by the hymn in reference to the terrible swift sword which is from Isaiah:  In that day the LORD will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea (Isaiah 27:1).

The author of these words, Julia Ward Howe, lived in times that were anything but dainty or delicate. She lived in time of war, the Civil War. And she , like many of that time, possibly including President Lincoln, had come to see that horrible war as God’s judgment on a land that had enslaved, and cruellyand unjustly treated a whole race of people. Many decades before Thomas Jefferson had written, Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free (Notes on the State of Virginia). Yes, many abolitionists and others saw the Civil War in terms of God coming to render justice for the oppressed and to punish and purify by fire a land that strayed far from justice.

Julia Ward Howe had been stirred to write the hymn when, just outside of Washington DC, she heard the troops marching to the tune “John Brown’s Body.” The rythmn of that hymn stayed with her and that night she lodged at the Willard Hotel in Washington and recounts how she was was inspired to write:

I awoke in the grey of the morn­ing, and as I lay wait­ing for dawn, the long lines of the de­sired po­em be­gan to en­twine them­selves in my mind, and I said to my­self, “I must get up and write these vers­es, lest I fall asleep and for­get them!” So I sprang out of bed and in the dim­ness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered us­ing the day be­fore. I scrawled the vers­es al­most with­out look­ing at the p­aper (Julia Ward Howe, 1861).

She describes it as a moment of inspiration. The words seem to flow from her effortlessly as is the case with inspiration. We have been blessed by these words ever since. It is true,  these words do not remain without controversy. Some object to such warlike imagery associated with God. Even more objectionable to some is the human tendency to have God take sides in a war or to attribute any war  to his inspiration. And yet, for one who has read Scripture, it is hard to wholly dismiss the notions advanced in this hymn even if they are offensive to modern ears. The Battle Hymn remains a masterpiece of English Literature and the music is surely masterful as well.

Other verses contain Biblical quotes and allusions as well. Perhaps a brief look at them.

Verse two says,

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:His day is marching on.

A powerful word painting here. The campfires of the bivouacked troops burning like candles before an altar to God’s glory and justice. The righteous sentence perceived by the flickering light recalls Daniel 5 where the hand of God wrote a sentence on the wall near the lamp stand at King Bleshazzar’s feast: MENE, TEKEL, PERES. The King trembled and all with him as the words appeared in the flickering candlelight. The righteous sentence of God announced that the King had been “placed in the scales and found wanting.”  His kingdom was about to end. God’s “Day” of judgment marches on. The Scriptures often refer to the Day of the Lord as the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” (eg. Mal 4:5-6).

Verse Three says,

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.”

“Contemners” are those who despise God and his justice, who hold his law in contempt. Against these is the fiery Gospel. The Scripture says the Lord Jesus will judge the world by fire (eg. 2 Peter 3:7) and that his word comes forth from his mouth like a sharp sword: Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty(Rev 19:5). The author allows the bayonets of the soldiers to allude to Word of the Lord whose fiery gospel judges the world. And in the second line the Lord promises grace to those who fight for justice. The last two lines are the reference to Genesis: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, while you strike at his heel (Gen 3:15). It also refers to the reiteration of this in Rev 12. The Lord is destroying Satan’s power and ending the injustice of slavery, and ultimately all injustice.

Verse Four says:

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

A clear reference is made here to St. Paul who writes of the trumpet blast, For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised  (1 Cor 15:52) and of the judgment we must face: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor 5:10). The third line is a reference to Malachi which promises a joyful judgment day to the Righteous: Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out leaping  like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the Lord Almighty  (Mal 4:1-4).

Verse Five says,

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

The lily is a symbol of purity in the Scriptures. A sea a clear and calm as glass is described as surrounding the throne in heaven (Rev 4:6; 15:2). We are transfigured by Christ’s glory for we are made members of his body (Eph 5:30). Hence, when the Father sees Christ he also sees us, transfigured as it were in Christ’s glory.  We too are called to walk in Christ’s footsteps. We are to carry our cross as he did (eg. Lk 9:23). As his cross made us holy, our cross can help to make others free. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church (Col 1:24). Clearly Howe is appealing here to Northern Soldiers to be willing  to die in order to free the slaves.

The Final verse says is a kind of doxology:

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

Christ is Lord of History (Rev 1:8;  21:6; 22:13) and the earth is his footstool (Is 66:1; Mat 5:35; Acts 7:49). He will come in Glory accompanied by his angels: They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Mat 24:30-31). The world has doubted and scorned him and his teachings, Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children (Luke 7:35).

Ah, what a hymn. It is remarkably Christological and Biblical. Some consider it controversial. But that’s OK, the Bible is too, and this hymn is rather remarkable stitching of Bible verses and allusions. For this reason, it is not only the Battle Hymn of the Republic, it is also the Bible Hymn of the Republic.

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Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) as a Hymn of Mercy? Yes!

I am of the mind that one of the great treasures and masterpieces of the Church’s Gregorian Chant is the sequence hymn for funeral Masses, Dies Irae. It is almost never done at funeral today though it remains a fixture of the Extraordinary form Mass. I know it is a “heavy” hymn with a sobering message, but it sure is glorious. The gorgeous chant was one of the more beautiful and soaring melodies of Gregorian Chant and manycomposers such as Mozart and Verdi set the text to stirring musical compositions. With November, the month of All souls winding down and Advent before us, perhaps this hymn deserves a look.

Ah the Dies Irae! It’s syllables hammering away in trochaic dimeter: Dies irae dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla, teste David cum Sybila! (Day of wrath that day when the world dissolves to ashes, David bears witness to it along with the Sibyl!) Perhaps at times it is a bit heavy but at the same time no hymn more beautifully sets forth a basis for God’s mercy. The dark clouds of judgment part and give way to the bright beauty of the final line Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem (Sweet Jesus Lord, give them [the dead] rest).

The hymn was not composed for funerals. Actually it was composed by Thomas of Celano in the 13th century as an Advent Hymn. Yes, that’s right an Advent hymn. Don’t forget that Advent isn’t just about getting ready for Christmas, it is about getting ready for the Second Coming of the Lord. And that is what this hymn is really about. At this time of year, as the the leaves fall and summer turns to winter, we are reminded of the passing of all things. The Gospels we read are those that remind us of death and the judgment to come.

Journey with me into the beauty and solemn majesty of this hymn. I will give you an inspiring English translation by W J Irons, one that preserves the meter and renders the Latin close enough. A few comments from me along the way but enjoy this largely lost masterpiece and mediation on the Last Judgment. (You can see the Latin Text along with English here: Dies Irae)

The hymn opens on the Day of Judgement warning that the day will reveal God’s wrath upon all injustice and unrepented sin. God’s wrath is his passion to set things right. And now it is time to put an end of wickedness and lies:

    • Day of wrath and doom impending,
    • Heaven and earth in ashes ending:
    • David’s words with Sibyl’s blending.

And all are struck with a holy fear! No one and no thing can treat of this moment lightly: all are summoned to holy fear. The bodies of the dead come forth from their tombs at the sound of the trumpet and will all of creation answer to jesus, the Judge and Lord of all:

    • Oh what fear man’s bosom rendeth
    • When from heaven the judge descendeth
    • On whose sentence all dependeth!
    •  
    • Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth,
    • Through earth’s sepulchers it ringeth,
    • All before the throne it bringeth.
    •  
    • Death is struck and nature quaking,
    • All creation is awaking,
    • To its judge an answer making.
    • Lo the book exactly worded,
    • Wherein all hath been recorded,
    • Thence shall judgement be awarded.
    • When the Judge his seat attaineth,
    • And each hidden deed arraigneth:
    • Nothing unavenged remaineth.

Judgment shall be according to our deeds, whatever is in the Book (Rev 20:12; Romans 2:6)! Ah but also in God’s Word is the hope for mercy and so our hymn turns to ponder the need for mercy and appeals to God for that mercy:

    • What shall I frail man be pleading?
    • Who for me be interceding?
    • When the just are mercy needing?
    • King of majesty tremendous,
    • Who does free salvation send us,
    • Font of pity then befriend us.
    • Think kind Jesus, my salvation,
    • Caused thy wondrous incarnation:
    • Leave me not to reprobation.
    • Faint and weary thou hast sought me:
    • On the cross of suffering bought me:
    • Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
    • Righteous judge for sin’s pollution,
    • Grant thy gift of absolution,
    • Before the day of retribution.
    • Guilty now I pour my moaning:
    • All my shame and anguish owning:
    • Spare, O God my suppliant groaning.
    • Through the sinful Mary shriven,
    • Through the dying thief forgiven,
    • Thou to me a hope has given.

Yes there is a basis for hope! God is rich in mercy and, pondering the Day of Judgment is salutary since for now we can call on that mercy. And, in the end it is only grace and mercy that can see us through that day:

    • Worthless are my tears and sighing:
    • Yet good Lord in grace complying,
    • Rescue me from fire undying.
    • With thy sheep a place provide me,
    • From the goats afar divide me,
    • To thy right hand do thou guide me.
    • When the wicked are confounded,
    • Doomed to flames of woe unbounded:
    • Call me with thy saints surrounded.
    • Lo I kneel with heart-submission,
    • See like ashes my contrition:
    • Help me in my last condition.

And now comes the great summation: That Day is surely coming! Grant me O lord your grace to be ready:

    • Lo, that day of tears and mourning,
    • from the dust of earth returning.
    • Man for judgement must prepare him,
    • Spare O God, in mercy spare him.
    • Sweet Jesus Lord most blest,
    • Grant the dead eternal rest.

A masterpiece of beauty and truth if you ask me. Some years ago I memorized most of it. I sing it from time to time over in Church late at night, the hauntingly beautiful chant rings through the echoing arches of our Church. When I die sing it at my funeral! For I go to the Lord, the judge of all and only grace and mercy will see me through. Perhaps the plaintive calls of the choir below at my funeral will resonate to the very heavens as I am judged. And maybe the Lord will look at me and say,

    • I think they’re praying for you down there, asking mercy.”
    • “Yes, Lord, mercy.”
    • “They’re making a pretty good case.”
    • Yes Lord, mercy.
    • Then mercy it shall be

Amen.

Dies Irae from elena mannocci on Vimeo.

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A Pilgrim’s reflection

Fr. Anthony Lickteig reflected on the gift a pilgrimage can be to one’s spiritual life. He was reflecting on the story of Jesus calling Zacchaeus down from the tree so that he could visit with him. It seems as we end the Church year, it is also the wish of a new liturgical year. Jesus want to visit each of us. Fr. Lickteig in his homily for one of the Pilgrimage Masses said “…I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Lord himself wants to use this week to do something new in our lives, perhaps something we could never have dreamed of. It could happen while visiting a famous landmark, or while seeing the Holy Father, or while dinning with new friends, or any number of ways. We all need to be ready; to sit patiently in that tree and be open to Jesus Christ doing something new in our lives. Don’t take my word for it, listen to what our Lord told us in the first reading: “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.”

Reflect this week on how you need to ready your heart and home to welcome the Lord who wishes to dine with you.

 

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A Consistory Celebration-November 20-21

Fr. Carter Griffin, Parochial Vicar at St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill shares with us a first-hand account of the Consistory.

Saturday, November 20

The day began for the priests and seminarians of Washington with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal-designate Wuerl at the Pontifical North American College.  The NAC, as it is sometimes called, is where men are prepared in Rome for service to dioceses in the United States, and will serve as a “hub” for several events surrounding the Consistory.

Under a cloudy sky, Washington pilgrims made their way from their hotels to St. Peter’s square to arrive early for the 10:30 Consistory.  Unfortunately, there were far more tickets provided to pilgrims than the Basilica could accommodate, so by 8:30 am the church was full.

Rain, and then thunderclouds, rolled over the Vatican, serving as a dramatic audible backdrop to the Consistory.  The twenty-four Cardinal-designates processed to their seats in a semi-circle around the main altar, followed by the Holy Father and his masters of ceremonies.  After introducing the sacred rites and those who were to be made Cardinals, the Pope listened to an address by Archbishop Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and one of the Cardinal-designates.  Speaking on behalf of all the soon-to-be Cardinals, Archbishop Amato noted that the men surrounding him were from different geographic regions, had walked different paths in the priesthood, and were engaged in different ministries on behalf of the Church, but all of them were united in the same faith in the Triune God and in their obedience to the successor of Peter.

The Scriptural readings followed, notably the Gospel in which the apostles James and John ask Jesus to place them at His side in the Kingdom of Heaven.  In reflecting on this Gospel passage, the Holy Father observed that Jesus took advantage of the opportunity to explain to his apostles the meaning of true greatness in the Church.  James and John, Jesus teaches, were looking for honor and for greatness according to the standards of the world.  He lifts their eyes to a higher vision of discipleship, inviting them to follow Him by giving themselves entirely to the will of God the Father, by serving their brothers and sisters without reservation.  The Pope continued that ministry in the Church must follow this “new logic, this new model” of greatness, which is the logic of servanthood.  He who would be first, as Jesus explains, must be a servant, must be the slave of all.  Thus the aim of ministry is not to fulfill one’s own will or to satisfy one’s own ambition, the Pope continued, but to fulfill the will of God the Father as Jesus Himself did.

In concluding his homily, the Holy Father asked for prayers for the new Cardinals who were being entrusted with a particular new ministry in the Church.  He reminded everyone present that tomorrow, on the Feast of Christ the King, he will bestow on each of them a special ring that will be a sign of their fidelity, a sign of their willingness to follow Jesus to the Cross even, if necessary, at the cost of their own blood, symbolized by their new red vesture.

Following the homily, the new Cardinals professed their faith in the Nicene Creed and affirmed their fidelity to the teachings of the Church and to the successor of St. Peter.  Each was then presented to the Pope in person, who placed on their heads their red zucchettos and birettas, the “red hats” that are worn only by Cardinals.  At the same time, the Holy Father announced which parish in Rome would be designated as each Cardinal’s “titular church”, the church for which he would be particularly responsible and which associates him in a concrete way with the Diocese of Rome and the ministry of the Pope.

To the joy of everyone in our pilgrimage group, Cardinal Wuerl received as his titular the ancient and beautiful basilica of Saint Peter in Chains (San Pietro in Vincoli) near the Roman Forum and which contains, according to tradition, the chains that bound St. Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem as well as those from his imprisonment in Rome – the two having miraculously fused together when Pope Leo I held them together.  The fifth-century church makes tangible in a striking way Cardinal Wuerl’s new relationship to Rome, to the Pope, and indeed to the titular church’s own patron, St. Peter himself.

Following the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Wuerl and the pilgrims from Washington and elsewhere him made their way to the North American College for a reception in which His Eminence was able to greet his visitors.

Finally, later in the afternoon all the new Cardinals returned to the Vatican, either in the Apostolic Palace or in the Paul VI Auditorium, to greet their visitors and all the well-wishers from Rome who wished to meet them.  One young married couple, both Americans who live in Italy, had a particular reason for gratitude: they first met each other at a Theology on Tap in which Cardinal Wuerl spoke some four years ago!  Greeting hundreds more people, Cardinal Wuerl – with great fortitude after such a long day! – remained in his place to see all those who had traveled far and wide to see the new Cardinal Archbishop of Washington.

In the course of these visits in the Paul VI Auditorium, the Cardinal expressed his deep appreciation for the prayers not only of those accompanying him to Rome, but of those who could not come, and his desire to join with their prayers in thanksgiving for the great blessings bestowed today on the Archdiocese of Washington.

Reading of the Biglietto from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.

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King Of Thieves? A Meditation on the Gospel for the Feast of Christ the King

Jesus Christ is King of Thieves, though he never stole. He is savior of sinners though he himself never sinned.

In the Gospel for today’s feast we have an image for the Church. We like to think of more pleasant images such as the Church being the Bride of Christ or the Body of Christ. Today’s image is less exalted and more humbling to be sure but it is an image just the same: The Church is Christ, crucified between two thieves. Yes, this is the Church too. Somehow we are all thieves. The fact is, we are all sinners and we have all used the gifts and things that belong to God in a way that is contrary to his will. To misuse things that belong to others is a form of theft and we are thus thieves for we have all misused what belongs to God. Consider some of the things we claim as our own and how easily we misuse them: Our bodies, our time, our talents, our money, our gift of speech, our gift of freedom and so forth. We call them ours but they really belong to God and if we use them in ways contrary to the intention of the owner we are guilty of a form of theft.

So the Church is Christ, crucified between two thieves. But consider also that these two thieves were very different.

  1. One thief derides Jesus and makes demands of him: – Are you not the Christ! Save yourself and us!
  2. The other thief reverences Christ and rebukes the other saying, – Have you no fear of God? He recognizes his guilt – We have been condemned justly. And he requests – Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. But he leaves the terms of it up to Christ. He acknowledges he is a thief and now places his life under the authority of Christ the King.

Christ came to call sinners, thieves,  if you will. Yes, we are all thieves, that is true. But pray God we are the good thief, the repentant thief, The one thief who is now ready to resubmit himself to the authority of Christ, who is King of all creation, and King of us thieves.

But is Christ really your king? Well a King has authority. So another way of asking is, “Does Christ have authority in your life? Do you and I acknowledge that everything we call our own really belongs to Him? How well do we use the things that we call our own but which really belong to God?”

  1. How do we use our time?
  2. Are we committed to pray and be at Mass every Sunday without fail?
  3. Do we use enough of our time to serve God and others or merely for selfish pursuits?
  4. What of our capacity to talk?
  5. Do we use our gift of speech to witness, to evangelize, or merely for small talk and gossip?
  6. What of our money?
  7. Are we faithful to the Lord’s command to tithe? (Mal 3:7-12; Matt 23:23).
  8. Are we generous enough to the poor and needy?
  9. Do we spend wisely or foolishly?
  10. Do we pay our debts in a timely way?
  11. What of our bodies?
  12. Do we exhibit proper care and nutrition of them?
  13. Are we chaste?
  14. Do we observe proper safety or are we reckless and unsafe?
  15. Do we reverence life?
  16. Do we love the poor and help sustain their lives?

Well you get the point. It is one thing to call Christ our King, it is another to truly be under his authority. The Lord is clear enough in telling us that he expects our obedience: Why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I tell you?  (Luke 6:46)

Is Christ your King? Which thief are you?

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The Red Hat: November 20

 

Today, Cardinal-designate Wuerl and all of us who call the Archdiocese of Washington home will participate in the first-part of the Consistory, a tradition that dates back to the 12thcentury. Cardinal-designate Wuerl will receive his red biretta and wear a red cassock. The red is a reminder, as the Church Fathers like to say, that the life blood of the church is the blood of the martyrs.

Read: Luke 20:27-40

Reflect: Pope Benedict, as he gives each Cardinal the red hat, tells the Cardinal that the red hat “signifies that you must be ready to act with strength, to the point of shedding blood, to increase the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people of God and for the freedom and growth of the holy Roman church.”

Each new Cardinal receives a titular church in Rome and Cardinal Wuerl is assinged St. Peter in Chains. If you have been following this pilgrimage, you know that St. Peter in Chains was the first stop in the pilgriamge tour! A big thanks to Bishop Barry Knestout who provided me with this photo from his seat at the liturgy. Read more. 

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On the job as advisor to the Pope

Friday, Cardinal-designate Wuerl was on the job in his new role as Cardinal as he participated in a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. A wide range of topics were discussed. One topic the Cardinal-designate found very interesting was the one on religious freedom both from an international perspective and a local perspective. Cardinal-Wuerl said the discussion about religious freedom is particularly important, not only because Christians face violence in places like Iraq, but also because of threats in increasingly secular societies like the United States “where faith-based organizations are told they can’t carry out their activities according to their own conscience.”  Read the whole article from Catholic News Service. It is a good preview of the kinds of issues on which Pope Benedict will be seeking advice.

There was also time for celebration as more than 200 family and friends gathered at a restaurant near the Vatican for supper and a song written for Cardinal-designate Wuerl,just for this occasion, and sung by the Archdiocese of Washington seminarians studying in Rome. If you have ever visited Piazza Navona in Rome, surely you heard a group singing “Volare…” As they say, when in Rome do as the Romans and indeed that was the melody of the evening!