Author: Msgr. Charles Pope

Even in a relativistic culture we like to think categorically about a lot of things. Is a person good or bad? Is an idea liberal or conservative? Are we a divided nation or a united one?

Truth be told, we are all a mixed bag, individually and collectively. God alone is wholly good. Even in the midst of our struggles and flaws there still lurks something good, something true and beautiful. There are also many times when we must frankly admit that some things are true and some are false, some are right and some are wrong.

The genius of Catholicism, often not appreciated by our opponents, is that careful distinctions are a hallmark of our Sacred Tradition and teachings. We insist that there are absolute and immutable truths, but we also hold that some teachings are not absolute and admit of distinctions or need to be balanced by other truths. For example, Jesus said that He came to give us peace (Jn 14:27), but He also said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mat 10:36). Thus, context and distinctions are often important, but they are in service of an absolute truth. In this case, the absolute truth is that no real or lasting peace can exist apart from the Truth, which is Jesus Christ, for He says, “I am the Truth” (Jn 14:6).

As we navigate an increasingly tense and divided world, our insistence on absolute truths as well as distinctions becomes more important. When are discussions fruitful and when are they not? What can we tolerate and what must we refuse to tolerate? What is the distinction between acceptance and approval?

The questions could go on, but the point is that we must be very thoughtful in such matters. Knee-jerk reactions must give way to reflection and careful consideration.

The following video does a good job of reminding us of the complexity of division and unity.

https://youtu.be/2SB4CbFB7OU

As a boy, I remember wondering why so many people liked to rush to Church to get ashes smudged on their foreheads. Frankly, I had some revulsion at the idea and would secretly rub them off when no one was looking. Today, though I’ll admit I still don’t like it too much, I behave myself and don’t rub them off!

I pray that this doesn’t seem impious, but I’m still amazed by how many people pack into the church to get ashes. Sadly, some don’t seem to want Holy Communion nearly as much. In fact, in some of the parishes where I served in the past, a significant number walked out the door immediately after receiving ashes, not even staying long enough for Communion.

Of course most people who come to Mass on Ash Wednesday are faithful and have their priorities straight, but it still interests me how large the numbers are for something that seems to me to be so unappealing and also challenging.

Indeed, the sign of ashes is quite challenging if we understand what it really means.

Ashes signify humility – Job said, “You [Oh Lord] asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-6).

Notice that Job does not merely repent in a general sense. Rather, having encountered God, he realizes that God is God, and that he, Job, is a creature, mere dust and ashes in the presence of God, who is being itself, who is all in all. Yes, Job is a son in the presence of a father; he is not God’s equal that he might question Him or put Him on trial.

Hence in this case the ashes represent not only repentance, but humility as well. The Church’s liturgy echoes this theme of humility in quoting Gen 3:19 as the ashes are placed on the individual: “Remember, you are dust and unto dust you shall return.”

Ashes are a reminder of death and a call to wisdom – After Adam sinned, God told him, By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen 3:19).

As he imposes the ashes, the priest usually recites some form of this passage. Memorable though it is, consider an even blunter form: “You are going to die.”

This is a salient and sobering reminder that we often get worked up and anxious about passing things, while at the same time being unmindful of the certain and most important thing, for which we must be ready. We tend to maximize the minimum and minimize the maximum. Sadly, like the man in one of the Lord’s parables, we can amass worldly things and forget the final things. To him the Lord said, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:21-22).

Thus, to consider our final end is wise; to fail to do so is foolishness defined.

Ashes are a sacramental that points to the Sacrament – The Old Testament declared, You shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin … For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there (Numbers 19:9, 17).

This text shows ashes obtained from a burned sin offering and mixed with sprinkled water as a cleansing ritual. In the Old Testament, this ritual could not actually take away sin (cf Heb 9:9-13) but it did provide for ritual purity. It also symbolized repentance and a desire to be free from sin.

In the same way, ashes on Ash Wednesday (mixed with holy water) cannot take away sin. They are a sacramental, not a sacrament.

To receive ashes on Ash Wednesday and then not go to confession during Lent is really to miss the point. If one really desires to repent and be cleansed from and free of sin, then from the sacramental of ashes one goes to the Sacrament of Confession. Otherwise the ritual of Ash Wednesday is pointless.

Ashes are a sign of a true change – When the news [of Nineveh’s possible destruction in forty days] reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust (Jonah 3:6).

Repentance is symbolized in this passage as well, but the symbol alone is not enough; actual repentance is required. The king does not just “get ashes”; he issues a decree calling for fasting, prayer, and true reform: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish (Jonah 3:7-9).

Hence another option for the priest to say as he places the ashes is, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”

It is not enough to get a sooty forehead. True repentance is called for, an actual intent to change. Otherwise the ashes are a false sign.

Ashes are a summons to faith and a new mind – Jesus said, Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Matt 11:21).

Jesus rebukes ancient towns for their lack of faith in what He said. It is good to recall that the Greek word translated here as “repented” is μετενόησαν (metenoesan), which more literally means “to come to a new mind” or “to come to a new way of thinking.”

The fact is, there are many ways that we think about things that are more of the world than of God. Our ongoing challenge is to come to a new mind and to think more as God thinks. This is only possible by His grace, working through Scripture and Church teaching.

It is significant that the ashes are smeared on the forehead or sprinkled on the head. We are called to a faith that transforms our mind. We are called to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2).

Hence another option for the priest is to say, “Repent and believe the Good News” as he imposes the ashes.

So, how real are your ashes? Do you intend the things described above as you go forth? Or is it just a ritual, something you do because it’s “sorta neat”? Pray and reflect on the deeper meaning of the ashes.

I have said the Traditional Latin Mass for all of my many years of priesthood. Back in the late 1980s, only a few priests were “permitted” to do so and there were few resources available to learn it. About the only visual help was the Fulton Sheen film from the 1940s describing the Mass. So, I trained under a few older priests during my seminary years. I moved from being part of the schola in the choir loft, to serving as sub-deacon, then deacon, and finally as priest-celebrant. Solemn High Mass was my specialty; I only learned the low Mass later. Most of us who celebrate the traditional Latin Mass exhibit great care in observing the rubrics and norms and have great esteem for its beauty.

During my training, I asked the older priests why they and their generation got rid of such a beautiful form of the Mass. They often replied that though they came to lament its loss later, at the time it was not always celebrated so beautifully; they spoke of hurried masses, cursory gestures, and mumbled Latin. They indicated that the Solemn High Mass (the form with a priest, a deacon, a sub-deacon, and a bevy of acolytes) was quite rare in Washington, D.C. Even the Missa Cantata (in which some of the parts are sung by the celebrant, but without the deacon and sub-deacon) was limited to one Mass, and many places didn’t even have that. Homilies at weekday Masses were rare and even a good number of Sunday Masses had minimal preaching.

With all the horrifying abuses associated with Masses after the liturgical changes, these problems may seem mild, but in any case, things were not as ideal as I had imagined—at least that was picture these older priests painted for me.

I recently came across a letter from the 1920s in our parish archive that confirms this generally perfunctory quality. It is a lament on this situation from Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore and is directed to his priests.

At that time, the Archdiocese of Washington was still part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Thus, the Archdiocese of Baltimore covered a very large area, stretching from the Delaware border in the east, through Washington, all the way to the western panhandle of Maryland. It contained large city parishes from Baltimore and Washington, a growing number of suburban parishes, and numerous small ones from the large expanses of rural territory.

Regarding the city parishes, remember that the immigrant Church of that period was expanding rapidly and vast numbers of newly immigrated Catholics from all over Europe were filling the pews. One of the needs was thus to schedule numerous Masses to accommodate the numbers. In addition, in those days all Masses had to be finished before noon. All of this led to a hurried morning schedule in which some of the liturgical principles suffered as a result.

And now we proceed to the letter itself. It is hard to imagine a bishop of our times being so informal and blunt, yet those were days in which many bishops and local pastors were known for their large, colorful personalities. Enjoy some excerpts of this colorfully blunt letter, which focused on encouraging priests to be more liturgically minded. I include some brief remarks of my own in red text.

July 9, 1929

Reverend and Dear Father,

Confusion worse confounded has arisen during the past few years in the matter of our Sunday services. An inter-parochial competitive system has ended in chaos and not a little distant disedification. We must now return to sane normal conditions. Hence the following mandatory regulations will be effective Sunday, October 6.

The High Mass (Solemn or Missa Cantata) must be the last of the parish masses and may not be an hour later than eleven. Every church in Baltimore, Washington, and Cumberland is expected to have a High Mass. The same is expected of all parishes outside the above cities where a choir is possible. The choir does not have to be an adult choir. It may be composed of school children. In country parishes where heretofore there has been no High Mass, I desire the pastors to work towards a High Mass. The Missa parochialis must be kept in its honorable place. … Let the well-prepared sermon be short and practical; let the music be strictly liturgical and let the liturgy be carried out with dignity and correctly.

We see that in certain areas, the low Mass (recited and whispered) had come to be the only type celebrated. High Mass, with the priest and choir singing significant portions, was becoming too rare. This afforded less possibility for the faithful to interact with the Liturgy. Further, it excluded a vast repertoire of chant, polyphony, and classical music from the Mass. In response, the Archbishop insisted that at least one parish Mass should open this treasure to God’s people.

The epistle and gospel should be read at all the masses. … A short discourse (of even five-minutes duration) should be given at each mass. The work of instruction should be supplemented by the recommendation of pamphlets as reading matter. No parish church should be without a pamphlet rack.

A significant problem in that era was that the readings were proclaimed in Latin by the priest at the altar. Because few if any of the laity knew Latin, the proclamation of the Word mostly fell on deaf ears. A common solution was that the priest would go to the pulpit and repeat the readings in the vernacular, but this lengthened the Mass. Some priests evidently skipped this altogether and merely continued on with the Mass. Some even skipped a sermon of any sort at certain masses. The Archbishop was surely not pleased and insisted that teaching the faith was an essential purpose of any liturgy.

Some of our younger parish clergy read their sermons. This should not be done except for some very special reason. The priest who is not capable of preparing and delivering a brief, clear instruction on Catholic teaching to his people is not fit to be in parish work. The people as a rule do not want to listen to a sermon reader. The reader is usually a poor one and his matter many times is poorer. We do not expect every priest to be a Lacordaire or a Bossuet. We do expect every priest however to be a teacher of God’s word, an intelligent and intelligible one. We have heard splendid eloquence on the subject of card parties, bazaars, church support, etc. and then mental confusion in many cases when the time came for the sermon. Our work as preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ is of infinite importance. It ought to be done with prayerful preparation. The sermon should be delivered in such a manner that our people can hear, understand, and take away with them a better knowledge of their faith and at the same time feel moved to live that faith and more practical way. If the priests of a parish wish to hold her people’s loyalty to their parish church, they cannot do it by competition in the matter of late hours for masses, unbecoming a hurry in the celebration of divine mysteries, or curtailment of devotional church practices.

Tough, but well said.

In some parishes of the cities there is no evening service. The reason given is that the people will not come. If the pastor will only give the people a chance to come, they will come in sufficient numbers to Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. They will come gladly to hear a course of sermons during Advent, Lent, novenas, etc. They will not come to hear the rosary and litany recited in a marathon style. They leave their parish church and go to one where there is devotion in the sanctuary.

We have completed our building program. The brick-and-mortar work is almost over. Let us now apply ourselves to the more important work of gathering our people around the sanctuary in order that we may build Christ our Blessed Lord into their hearts and lives. We have, thank God, many parishes where liturgical functions are carried out with inspiring dignity, order, correctness, and consequent impressiveness. … But where there is a tendency to starve the people spiritually, the priest soon realizes a reaction that, to say the least, is neither healthy nor pleasant.

Beautifully said.

Let us then in God’s name begin with enthusiasm a new era of order in matters liturgical October 6^th. 

Sincerely,
+ Michael Curley
Archbishop of Baltimore

I hope this provides you with a little picture of liturgy and parish life form the late 1920s. The problems of that time are nothing compared with the disorder often evident from the 1970s through today, but surely the human condition will always require that we battle the perfunctory observance of the sacred liturgy.

This video clip from the beginning of the movie True Confessions shows a beautiful depiction of the Traditional Latin Mass. I first saw it in 1981 and was amazed at the beauty of the Mass. I set about learning this form of the Mass well before it was more widely allowed. Although Solemn High Mass was not unknown in larger city parishes, its celebration complete with all the details was rarer than I thought. Low mass, recited and whispered, was more the norm. This situation led to Archbishop Curley’s request that at least one high Mass be sung in every parish each Sunday. Amen, Archbishop!

At Saturday’s daily Mass (Saturday of the 7^th Week of the Year) we read a beautiful reflection on the dignity and glory of the human person. It is deserving of deep meditation. This is especially true today, when some want to reduce humans to nothing more than “smart apes.”

Ponder with me this passage from the Book of Sirach. The full text can be found here: Sirach 17:1-15. Let’s consider the text in six parts. The Scripture text is shown in bold italics, while my commentary presented in plain text.

I Our Regal Place – God from the earth created man, and in his own image he made him. He makes man return to earth again, and endows him with a strength of his own. Limited days of life he gives him, with power over all things else on earth. He puts the fear of him in all flesh, and gives him rule over beasts and birds.

Here we ponder several truths about ourselves. The first is that our dignity is to unite two orders of God’s creation, the physical and the spiritual. We are made “from the earth”; this refers to our bodies. Yet we are made in God’s image; this refers to our spiritual nature, because God is pure spirit. In this union of two orders of creation is a unique glory. For sentient, non-human creatures as well as inanimate things, there is only a share in the physical world. For angels and even the members of the Trinity as God, there is only pure spirit. In each human being, however, both the physical and the spiritual are united in one person.

A second truth about ourselves is that we are at the pinnacle of the physical world. Though lowlier than the angels, we are above the animals and “all things else” on the earth. As Gods says in the Book of Genesis, we are to be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground (Gen 1:28). The text from Sirach speaks of God putting a fear of us in all other living creatures. It is fascinating that no animal on earth actively hunts us. Occasionally, out of fear or when caged, an animal will lash out; in instances of extreme hunger, a large animal may even kill a human being; but no animal is above us on the food chain and we have no natural predator from among them. We are peerless among them and they would rather avoid us.

A third truth is that we are called to humility. Though we are exalted on the earth and of regal stature, we must not forget that God has made us from the earth and has limited the number of our days. We are stewards here, not owners. Physically, we will die; spiritually, we will give an account to God

II Our Reflective Power – He created for them counsel, and a tongue and eyes and ears, and an inventive heart, and filled them with the discipline of understanding. He created in them knowledge of the spirit; With wisdom he fills their heart; … He has set before them knowledge, a law of life as their inheritance;

Here we see described many of the faculties of our rational soul that distinguish us from the animals. We can reflect, take counsel, and come to understanding and knowledge. We can comprehend meaning, intuit laws and order, and discern purposes. This reflective and rational power is a glory of the human person and is not shared by the animals.

Physically, humans have a lot in common with other mammals, but the similarities end there. Beyond the physical, the differences are immense; they are not merely differences in degree, but in kind. The human person in endowed with faculties that animals— even the highest primates—do not possess at all.

To those who say that humans are just “smart apes,” or that we are just a little ahead of them in evolution, I have some questions. They are rooted in the premise that effects point to causes, that you can know something by its fruits. If we are no different than the other mammals around us,

• Where are their cities?
• Where are their complex social interactions?
• Where are their art museums, libraries, schools, and other repositories of accumulated learning?
• Where are their legislatures, in which policy and matters of justice are debated?
• Where is their moral code?
• Where are their courts, in which they adjudicate their moral code, assess responsibility, and mete out punishment?
• Where are their high-level languages, through which they can express both practical and abstract reasoning and can describe both physical and metaphysical concepts (e.g. justice, beauty, mercy)?
• Where are their mathematical systems, in which they can enumerate, compare, express proportions and relationships, or predict outcomes?
• Where is their progress, both technological and intellectual?
• Why is it that after ten thousand years or more, chimpanzees still swing from the trees as they always have, while we humans have emerged from the forests and even been to the moon and back?

My questions could go on and on, but let these serve to demonstrate that the gulf between us and the animals is vast. We are separated from them by far more than degree. Indeed, animals are not even “in our league.” Humans possess faculties that animals do not. If they do possess them, then where is the evidence?

Our rational intellect and our capacity to engage the metaphysical both point to the gift of our soul. Scripture says of us that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We are possessed of intellect and will. This is not said of the animals, nor is it said of them what is said of Adam (and us): that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. (Gen 2:7). Yes, the very breath of God entered the human person.

III Our Righteous Perception – Good and evil he shows them. He put the fear of himself upon their hearts … He says to them, “Avoid all evil”; each of them he gives precepts about his fellow men.

God has written His name and His law upon our hearts. Thus says the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people (Jer 31:33). God’s voice also echoes in our conscience. But your eyes shall see your Teacher, and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left (Is 30:20-21).

Every human person has the Law of God written in his heart and God’s voice echoing in his conscience. Sadly, many seek to suppress the fundamental truth found there, through rationalization and other forms of denial. Yet still the voice is there. As this text from Sirach teaches, God has put in all of us a sense of good and evil. He has put a reverent fear of Himself in us. We know His precepts innately. This is our glory. That is why it is so awful when any person (and all people were made to know the truth) runs from the truth to lies and darkness.

IV Our Rational Praise – And [God] shows them his mighty works, That they might glory in the wonder of his deeds and praise his holy name. His majestic glory their eyes beheld, his glorious voice their ears heard.

Animals praise God implicitly through their very existence, by being what they were made to be. The human person, however, can offer to God conscious, chosen, and rational praise. St. Paul bids us, I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Rom 12:1). The Greek word translated here as “reasonable” is λογικὴν (logiken), from which we get the word logic.

We worship God not merely in emotional ways, but also in ways that are sensible, reasonable, fitting, and edifying. Here, too, is our glory: to give not merely implicit worship—as do the animals by their existence—but fitting and freely chosen worship.

V Our Relational Potential – An everlasting covenant he has made with them, his justice and his judgments he has revealed to them.

Unlike the animals, man is summoned to a covenantal relationship, to a marriage with God. The Church is the Bride of Christ, and we, as members of the same, are espoused to God. Man has capax Dei, the capacity and potential to be in a free and conscious relationship with God.

The text further relates this relationship to God’s justice, for to be made righteous is to be in a right relationship with God the Father through the blood of His Son.

Here, too, is our dignity, because we must freely consent to this covenant. If we die saying yes, the covenant will be everlasting.

VI Our Responsible Position – Their ways are ever known to him; they cannot be hidden from his eyes. Over every nation he places a ruler, but God’s own portion is Israel. All their actions are clear as the sun to him, his eyes are ever upon their ways.

The passage ends on a teaching that points both to our dignity and to the responsibility we carry due to that dignity. Because we are free and blessed with all these gifts, we will also one day have to account to God for our use of these gifts. Everyone to whom much has been given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom much has been entrusted, will be demanded the more (Luke 12:48).

We should be sober, trusting in God’s mercy but not failing to seek it, and make good use of what he has entrusted to us. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Heb 4:13).

Fellow human beings, know your glory and dignity as God made you. Rejoice in the splendor and singular grace God has bestowed upon you.

O Lord, when I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him but a little lower than angels
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!  (Psalm 8)