I grew up with dogs. Dogs, generally speaking, have a great outlook on life. This list is an oldie on the internet but, if you haven’t read it, it is really rather instructive. Dogs DO have a lot to teach us. God teaches us not only out of the Bible but in creation. In that spirit here are
Fifteen Things We can Learn from Dogs:
1. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.
2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
3. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
4. Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.
5. Take naps and stretch before rising.
6. Run, romp, and play daily.
7. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
8. Be loyal.
9. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
10. When someone is having a bad day, be silent. Sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
11. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
12. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
13. When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
14. No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout…. run right back and make friends
15. Delight in the simple joys of a long walk.
And here is one of the most amazing videos I have ever seen. It’s about “Faith the two legged dog”:
Does this sound like your life? Dr. Donna Orsuto, an American theologian at the Gregorian University in Rome and Director of the Lay Center at Foyer Unitas Institute believes the trenches are a place of contemplation.
It is a good reminder that as lay women and men we are called to bring the Gospel to the “trenches” and to share as we prayed in the Psalm at today’s Mass, ” how the Lord has done marvelous deeds for me.” This, of course, is Mary’s prayer. Take a minute and pray with her:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
When I talk with Catholics who have left the Church, the number one reason I get that they left was poor preaching.This is especially true of those who left for the Evangelical Churches. Catholic priests as a group have the reputation of being poor preachers. I think there are several reasons for this.
The expected length of a Catholic sermon is 7-10 minutes. This is far too brief a time to really develop well a biblical or doctrinal theme. It results in a slogan based and brief exhortation. In this matter the people of God have to work with us. Most Catholics are upset if the liturgy goes more than 50 minutes. We all need to agree to take more time to be with the Lord. Longer sermons are necessary to really develop and break open most passages. Most Protestant sermons are about a half and hour. True, I don’t want a preacher to go longer unless he really has something to say but it is also true that most priests have to wrap up when they’ve barely gotten started. It’s not a good context for preaching.
This leads to the second point. I think many of us priests confuse exhortation for preaching. Most of the sermons I grew up with could be summarized in two sentences: “1. Jesus is challenging us to do better today.” And 2. “Let us try to do better and now please stand for the creed.” This is exhortation but true preaching takes the Word of God and does four things: Analyzes, organizes, illustrates, and applies it. It doesn’t just exhort us to do better it shows how, and sets for the why and wisdom of God’s Word. This as you might guess takes a little more than 7 minutes.
Good preaching is edgy. It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. But too many priests are afraid of offending or upsetting. Despite the fact that we serve a Lord who got killed for what he said, too many of us are not willing to suffer even the raised eyebrows of our congregation. We have to be will to talk forthrightly about serious issues today, about sin, about injustice, about promiscuity and so forth. We have to speak the truth in love but the “Jesus loves you sermons” are not enough. Jesus loved us enough to speak the truth to us even when we killed him for it. We priests have to get a spine, and a heart and be willing to preach even the difficult stuff. It has been my experience that Catholics respond well to tough sermons. They don’t want angry priests but they do want priests who are zealous for the truth.
How about a little enthusiasm? If you really care about what you are saying shouldn’t it be reflected in your mannerisms and tone of voice? Too many priests have a kind of lecture like discursive approach instead of a fiery Charismatic approach. True enough there are different personalities but a fiery enthusiasm is hard to hide. But being on fire can’t be faked. It comes only from prayer and a deep love for God and His people.
Now I raise all this because this blog isn’t just supposed to be a cheer leading section. One of the purposes of this blog is to reach out to Catholics who have drifted or outright left. And I KNOW this is one of the big issues.
So alright readers I know you can add to the list above. Perhaps your feed back will help some of us priests improve. So have at it. Be kind and constructive but speak the truth. We priests can use it. And pray, pray, pray. You get the priests and the sermons you pray for. Also encourage Father when he does well and gently admonish him if he needs improvement.
Before you write take five minutes and listen to this sermon by Fr. Bill Casey, a great preacher, for his take on this! It’s powerful and talk about edgy! He tells us priests to stand up like men with a backbone. He also thinks that help is on the way. There is hope since the Holy Spirit has not given up on us!
By the way the goofy looking preacher with the big mouth in the picture at the top is yours truly. 🙂
Now it’s time for the offering. The scriptures warn us not to appear before God empty-handed (Ex. 23:15; Ex 34:20; Dt. 16:16). Bread and wine are the official gifts presented but they also represent our very lives given to God. In the Old Testament the priest always sacrificed something separate from himself, (an animal, occasionally libations or cereal offerings). But In the New Testament, Jesus the High priest offers his very self. The priest and the victim are one and the same! Each of u sin baptism are made priest (different from ministerial priests), prophet and king. As priests we are asked to offer our own self to God. The bread and wine are brought forward but we place our own lives on the paten, in the chalice. Further, our gift of money, of our substance, is also a symbol of our very self. So it is time for the offering, are you ready?
The general instruction of the Roman Rite (GIRM) describes the offering this way:
The offerings are then brought forward. It is praiseworthy for the bread and wine to be presented by the faithful. They are then accepted at an appropriate place by the priest or the deacon and carried to the altar. Even though the faithful no longer bring from their own possessions the bread and wine intended for the liturgy as in the past, nevertheless the rite of carrying up the offerings still retains its force and its spiritual significance.It is well also that money or other gifts for the poor or for the Church, brought by the faithful or collected in the church, should be received. These are to be put in a suitable place but away from the eucharistic table. The procession bringing the gifts is accompanied by the Offertory chant which continues at least until the gifts have been placed on the altar. (GIRM 73-74)
History – The Offertory procession was in the early days if the Church an important part of the Mass. However, in the very earliest days of the Church it was probably not necessary. Since the Mass was held in close proximity to a meal (the agape meal) and since the community was small an generally gathered in a house the bread and wine were already close at hand. Hence there was no special stress laid on the offering of these. However, at least two things brought about a change. In the first place, the Mass was removed from the context of the fraternal meal early on due to difficulties experienced with this format (cf I Cor. 11). Secondly, the rise of gnosticism promulgated a disdain for matter and the whole material order. This was incorrect to a Christian understanding of the world and it was necessary to stress the value of earthly creation. The heavenly gift had an earthly origin. Thus the offering of the material gifts came to a new prominence in the liturgy. By the middle of the third century it had become a general rule that the faithful should present gifts at the Eucharistic solemnity. They brought not only gifts of bread and wine, but also gifts besides for the Church, and the clergy and the poor. There were many things described: food stuffs, candles, oils and the like. The descriptions of these offertories vary a good bit but some were very elaborate. Gifts were brought forward and sorted out on the spot by deacons and others. Some were brought to the altar and others laid aside…whew! By the 11th century all gifts were gradually replaced by legal tender (money). And so we have the collection. Increasingly the clergy simply obtained bread and wine from these monies. The offertory procession began to decline in most places during the Middle Ages even despite the continued encouragement by the Church. Processions began to be limited only to certain designated feast days. By the 16th the offertory procession had all but disappeared. In the aftermath of the Council of Trent there were attempts to revive them but to little avail, Why it was unsuccessful in not exactly clear but it seems related to the financial entanglements of the Church and a desire not to stir up old angers against the Church in regard to money and gifts. Today, the offertory procession has generally been restored and is encouraged by the directives. The current practice steers a middle course however, since the offertory rite, although having a procession still retains a basic simplicity and has not thus become as elaborate as those of antiquity. Likewise, the prayers are brief and to the point.
The Gifts of the bread and wine are placed on the altar with accompanying prayers.
The host. The word Host referring to the bread is from the Latin, “Hostio” meaning I kill, I slaughter and hence means “victim.” Recall that in the earliest days the bread destined to be consecrated was selected from that bread which the faithful brought forward during the offertory procession. However, early on there is seen the tendency to provide for it carefully from other means so as to assure its fittingness. Likewise, as the number of communicants increased, it became tedious to break one large host into many smaller pieces from the one host as had been the tradition. Now the individuation of the hosts took place before the Mass and this eventually led to the hosts in the form we have today. With the move to unleavened bread (in the west) the exclusion of bread provided by the faithful became a matter of course since it was not something they ordinarily had on hand. The definitive move to unleavened bread in the west took place in the eighth century. It is to be baked with flour and water without any yeast. At the Last Supper Christ probably took this kind of bread (Mazzah) which was also called the bread of affliction (the bread of nomadic shepherds who had no home of their own). The Exodus accounts also point out that unleavened bread was required of the Passover Meal since there was no time to knead the dough in the original exodus and hence unleavened bread was required of the ritual. Canon Law indicates that the bread must be made of wheat alone (no other ingredients such as honey etc. are to be added). and recently made so that there is no danger of corruption.(Canon 924.2) Likewise the bread used should appear as actual food. But the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship remarks that this is to be understood as linked to the consistency of the bread and not to its form which remains the traditional one (i.e. the traditional rounded hosts). Likewise, the preparation of the bread should keep in mind the dignity due the Eucharistic bread and that it be able to be broken in a dignified way, does not give rise to excessive fragments and offend the sensibilities of the faithful when they eat it.(Inaestimabile Donum, # 8).
Wine was used by Christ at the Last Supper as a part of the Passover meal. Wine for the Jews of the Old Testament was a sign not only of festive joy but also of undisturbed possession of the land. To later medieval symbolism wine was also a sign of joy born of pain. Only when the grapes were crushed did they eventually yield wine. The wine used at Mass must be natural wine of the grape and not corrupt (Canon 924.3) In the ancient world, wine was usually much thicker and heavier than it is now. It was thus the custom for people to mix their wine with water and thus dilute it. This custom has been carried over into the Mass. Although it had originally a practical purpose, it also gained a symbolic interpretation. Today,due to the quality of wines, it is largely symbolic. There are a number of popular symbols attributed to this mixing:
The union of Christ and his people The wine stands for Christ and water for humanity whose hope is to be lost in Christ.St. Cyprian for example wrote, “When wine is mixed with water in the chalice, the people are united to Christ…if the wine alone were to be offered, the blood of Christ would become present without us, if water alone were to be offered, the people would be there without Christ. (Epis. 63, ad Caecilanum, 13).<
There is an allusion to the blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of Christ.
The two natures (divine and human) of Christ are also symbolized in the wine and water. This is especially emphasized in the Eastern Liturgies.
The present prayer at the mixing expresses both 1 and 3.
Prayers are said as each gift is place upon the altar. In the older forms of the liturgy, there was only one prayer said over all the offerings. This prayer was said aloud. However, during the Carolingian and under eastern influence the prayer came to be recited in a low voice (a tendency which reinforced its sacral character). Once the silent recitation of the prayer took place, there also tended to be the multiplication of prayers said by the priest piously and personally. In this way there evolved prayers recited by the priest as he received the gifts of bread and wine from the deacon. Over the years these prayers came to be considered less and less a purely personal prayer of the priest and more and more a formal, required prayer of the liturgy. However, as sometimes happens, these prayers tended to grow longer and longer. There were several attempts to limit them. The form stabilized between the 10th and 12th centuries through a process too lengthy and complicated to explain here! They were formally standardized by the Missal of Pius V in 1570. Eventually there came to be a prayer at the offering of the bread, the mixing of wine and water, and the offering of the wine, concluded by a general prayer beseeching God to generally accept our sacrifice. These were set forth in the Tridentine Mass but were changed in the new order of the Mass.
(See appendix 9). The prayers of the New Order of the Mass are based on a prayer used by our Lord Himself at the Last Supper. They would be worded in approximately this way:
Blessed is the Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
who causes bread to come forth from the earth. For
every man, moreover to eat and drink and enjoy the
fruit of all his labor is a gift from God. (Eccl 3:13)
You are blessed, lord our God, King of the universe,
You who created the fruit of the vine.
Hence the new prayers point back to the Passover especially while the prayers of the Tridentine Mass emphasized the sacrificial aspects of Eucharist. The prayers may be said either aloud by the priest or secretly. There is a preference indicated in the General Instructions which goes as follows:
The priest says the formulas in a low (secreto) voice during the singing;
If there is no music or singing, the priest says the texts quietly; or,
He may (licet) say them aloud; and the people may (potest) say the acclamations at the end (i.e.Blessed be God Forever).
After these two prayers the priest bows and says secretly this prayer “Lord God We ask you to receive these gifts which we offer you with humble and contrite hearts” This text is from the Book of Daniel (3:39-40) where it is prayed by Azariah who, missing the sacrifices of the temple, realizes that it is the spiritual sacrifice which best pleases God. It appears gradually in ancient liturgies and was made obligatory by the Missal of Pius V (1570). It is retained in the Mass today.
Here are two videos depicting an offertory procession. The first is a typically American one, albeit in the informality of a “youth Mass” The Second is in the setting of an African Parish. In both Africa and many parts of Asia, offertory processions are big affairs, featuring a lot of dancing and congregational participation as you’ll see.
Sometimes a text gets so familiar we lose sight of its meaning. Consider a two thoughts from Psalm 23:
The Lord is my Shepherd – Sheep only recognize one shepherd. If another shepherd calls to them they flee in fear because they do not recognize his voice. (see John 10:5) Are you as smart as a sheep? Too often when false shepherds call to us we do not run. We listen to their voices, even though they do not sound like the Lord. These false shepherds tell us to indulge our greed and passions, to give way to lust and vent our anger. Hardly the voice of Jesus. But we listen and often follow them! Sheep have brains enough to run but what about us?
He [the Lord] has prepared a table for me in the sight of my foes, my cup is over flowing. Have you ever thought that the Mass, the holy Eucharist, the altar and table of the Lord are a great sign to you of the victory the Lord has in store for you? Did he not say in John 6: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I will raise him on the last day.” An old Latin hymn (O Sacrum Convivium) says that in the Eucharist, “a pledge of future glory is given to us.” Our ancient enemy the devil must cringe with disappointment as he sees us approach the table, the altar of the Lord to be fed with the Body of the Lord. The Lord has indeed prepared a table for us in the sight of our foe the devil and the devil isn’t happy! Our cup overflows because the Lord’s grace in this sacrament is super abundant for us. It is never lacking and the more we grow the more we can receive. With this promise attached to the altar, why would you or I ever stay away?
Wow! In case you haven’t been keeping up, the“Marriage Can Wait???”post has 35 responses! I think Msgr. Pope hit a chord.
To continue the conversation, let’s just imagine that Boy X and Girl Y meet at a party. They get into a great conversation (she’s flirting and making it obvious that she’s interested) and he asks for her number. They go on a date, it’s a great time, and they are both excited about going on a second date. Now what?
Well, let’s talk about friendship! Certainly, taking initiative and asking a person out is a big deal. But the process of becoming friends is where the relationship really starts to take shape and where a deeper discernment begins.
Does she have strong relationships with the women in her life? Does he have strong relationships with the men in his life? Do they know how to begin a friendship with someone of the opposite sex? Will this person be a faithful husband or wife? Will this person be a loving father or mother? Do I see virtues in this person that I admire? Will this person help or hinder our journey toward Christ?
All of our friendships, whether romantic or non-romantic, have as their goal God who is Love. What does this mean to you? Leave your comments and attend our next Relationship Speaker and Discussion Series! Working with insights from Pope Benedict’s Deus Caritas Est as well as Scripture, Dr. Yohe will speak on how to be a good friend, the importance of same-sex friendships, and the importance of opposite-sex friendships as a groundwork for dating and marriage.
Sunday July 19 – 6:30pm (after the 5:30 Mass)
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle – North Conference Room
The Essential Groundwork of Friendship
Dr. Katherine Yohe received her Ph.D. in Historical Theology with a focus on spirituality from Catholic University of America. Her dissertation was on human friendship as a means to grow in union with God, and most of her publications and lectures have centered on the lay vocation and friendship. She has taught at Catholic University and LaSalle University and is presently teaching Scripture and Catholic Doctrine at Trinity School at Meadow View. She has been married for fifteen years and has a thirteen year-old son.
I have updated my video on Pictures of the Pope. As you know he is a very photogenic man and this little video I put together has some of the more humorous pictures I have seen of Him. Enjoy a 1 minute diversion:
