New Catholics will need hellos and examples of holiness

Those of you who celebrated Morning Lauds this morning sang or chanted the 42nd Psalm as the first chant, a psalm which has opening words in verses one and two that may be familiar to many Catholics, and certainly set me in a Holy Week mindset. The Grail translation, which is generally what is used in the English-speaking world for the psalter in the Liturgy of the Hours, renders Psalm 42:1-2 in this way:

Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of God?

Although this psalm repeats in the four-week psalter at various times throughout the year, it is always to be found at Lauds on Monday morning of Holy Week. Another time you might hear these words is at the Easter Vigil Mass during baptisms of catechumens or on Easter Sunday morning if anyone is baptized at that time. Reciting these words this morning reminded me in a very real way that while the entire Church is invited to join Christ in ascending the mount of Calvary this week and in waiting and celebrating at the Empty Tomb, catechumens and candidates for full communion with the Holy Catholic Church are waiting with anticipation for the opportunity to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Throughout Lent, we've prayed for catechumens and candidates, and I've had the opportunity-as I do each year-to assist in the formation of catechumens who will be baptized and candidates for full communion-I know how much they are looking forward to becoming a part of the Church at the weekend.





I can also speak with some experience about the excitement many of them feel knowing that their baptisms or reception into full Communion with the Church are now but days away, because some years ago, I was in their shoes. I wasn't baptized at Easter-because of scheduling issues, I had to wait until Pentecost Sunday-but I do remember how I couldn't wait to receive the Eucharist. The opening words of today's first psalm at Lauds are an apt description of how I felt, and I think is probably an apt description of how many catechumens feel around our diocese, and around the country and the world. They are eager, but there is a question that hangs over some of them.


After Easter, and after the formal mystagogia phase of their formation is over, what is to become of them? I know that we still have a few from years' past that I see at Mass, and that are active in the parish. I'm also sure that some move to other parishes and become active where they live. There is a third group, however, that I have always felt particularly burdened in prayer for, and that group are those people who come to Mass for a few months but then fall away. Often, they do this because no one other than the people on the RCIA team seem to them to display any friendship or interest in them. Indeed, I've heard that complaint from at least one former candidate that I know. I am certain that while those who say these things might be looking at things superficially from time to time, more often I think that it is not unreasonable for new Catholics who have willingly joined the Church of their own accord under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to expect that members of their parish community will befriend them and seek to include them, not merely to boost membership numbers in a parish group, but out of a real interest in that person's spiritual development.


I firmly believe that I took such a keen continued interest in the Church in my early days as a Catholic because some holy clergy and laypeople took an active interest in me and my spiritual development, and encouraged me to become involved with things in the Church that they saw I was interested in and good at, and encouraged me to develop a prayer life and a real relationship with both God and with the people around me. In short, I was very heavily encouraged to begin living out the faith into which I had been baptized and was willing to publicly profess. Because there were people around me at the time within the Church who encouraged me in this way, I believe that the spiritual road which the Holy Spirit put me on was leading me to where I am today in deaconate formation, though I couldn't have seen or understood it at that time in my life.


Obviously, not everyone who participates in the RCIA process is going to feel called to deaconal or priestly formation or to life as part of a vowed religious community. New Catholics are all called, however, to be a part of the most important priesthood of all, and that is the royal priesthood of all the baptized, a chosen nation, St. Peter tells us, who are called to "declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Pet. 2:9) There is what Blessed John Paul II rightly called a "universal call to holiness" which new Catholics (and all Catholics) are called to live out-being the Body of Christ present in a world that is often skeptical of that Body and hostile to it. It can be difficult for new Catholics to live out that call to holiness if they don't have holy people around them ready to help them in their faith.


If you have adults in your parish who are being baptized or received into the Church this coming weekend, watch closely to see who they are. Say hello to them. Invite them to prayer groups, adoration,  or Bible study. Seek them out just to introduce yourself, most of the time a friendly word just to know that the parish community still cares about them may mean the world to them and open their hearts to allowing the Holy Spirit to work even more deeply in their lives. In a few weeks, the formal part of their formation will be ended, but they need that continuing formation that we all need in order to make our faith the very center of our lives that God calls us to make it. Those who will come into the Church this weekend need our prayers and our support, so that they will always long after the Lord "like the deer that yearns for running streams."

A New Year's reflection on communio

On this New Year's Day, I have cause to look back on the year just past and say that it has been an eventful one, but that I have been blessed and fortunate. Today is both a Holy Day of obligation (unless the bishop has prorogued it, in which case I am not aware-it is listed in my Ordo as a Holy Day of Obligation this year) and the first day of the calendar year 2013. Hence, it is a good day to give thanks for the year just past as well a to think on the year to come.


Nicole and I drank in the New Year last night with a couple of glasses of champagne. I not only told her I loved her but also told her, as well as reminded myself, how thankful I am for her. She certainly has a lot to put up with out of me, but she has also been the one person I can go to more than anyone else to talk about my formation experience, talk about what I am feeling, how I see my call from the Holy Spirit and to talk about the things of God or ecclesiastical affairs as they might pertain to our formation or to the ministry I am called to carry out-now as an Aspirant, and (if the Lord is willing) in the future in the deaconate. Nicole has not been able to be at a formation weekend yet because her schedule really won't allow for that (we raise goats, and Nicole has horses...spring and summer is milking season, winter means the horses have no grass, and Nicole has to take hay to them on the weekends), but because I don't drive, when I have had to be at a deanery workshop or a church meeting, Nicole often makes time not only to take me, but to attend and participate herself. Indeed, it seems that the deanery workshops in our deanery, with our small group of three Aspirants and three wives, are known to be well-participated...all of our wives attend and pray with us at each workshop (and God knows we also eat well at these gatherings!). Nicole also prays with me every day-in fact, if I have prayed Vespers before she has an opportunity to join me, she becomes visibly irritated!


Truthfully, I could not move forward in formation or fulfill the Lord's plan for my vocation, whatever that might be, without Nicole's help and support. Bluntly put, it would be impossible for me to actively pursue formation to the permanent deaconate without her very active assistance. Sometimes that assistance may not appear openly to others, but it is always there. No one has helped me in the way that she has.

Secondly, but nearly as important, I never cease to be amazed at the support and encouragement I receive from my brother Aspirants. My classmates are a constant help to me, even though some of them may not realize it-I can feel their prayers. Furthermore, there are a number of them who have gone out of their way to insure that I can participate actively and get the most out of the theological education and spiritual formation that I am blessed to be receiving. If it weren't for Steve Helmbrecht and Don Griffith, who are my fellow classmates in our deanery, I wouldn't be able to make mandatory formation weekends, let alone be able to truly be spiritually and theologically formed. It is no exaggeration to say that doing this would be impossible without them, and that I have come to rely on them (Steve is at my house at 4:00 pm on formation Fridays like clockwork). Both of them were sent by the Lord to make my formation possible-I truly believe this. How I would make formation regularly was a real concern for Deacon Tim Elliott, our diocesan Director of Deacons-it was a concern for me too...but I told him that I believed that if it is truly God's will for me to be in formation for the deaconate, God would provide for me a way, and thus far through Steve and Don and their wonderful wives, he has done so.


I cannot stress enough the level of friendship and camaraderie that one feels with one's classmates in the process of formation. The Church calls this fellowship communio, and I've come to see how important it is when you are receiving the call of the Holy Spirit to devote your life to the Lord's work not only that you have this kind of relationship with your brothers, but that it be maintained. I also understand now-even more than I have before up to this point-what Deacon Bob Smearing meant when he told me that I would be amazed at just how close I became to my brothers in formation.


The kindness and consideration of my brothers does not cease to amaze me, whether it is that extra hand, or offer of help getting to my room after keeping vigil with some of them, or that word of prayer or touch of concern if something doesn't seem quite right. The front row regulars all now know how I take my coffee. Scott Maentz, whose blog is on my sidebar, not only ministers to all of us through his digital notes and audio recordings of our classes (which have saved me on more than one occasion), but  surprised me with a Christmas gift of Logos Verbum Bible Software. Scott has recommended this software to the other men for some time-now I see why. The digital library of more than 20 Bible translations and Catholic Bible commentaries, Greek dictionaries, concordances, maps, Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers, conciliar documents, catechisms (including the Catechism of the Catholic Church), writings of saints, historical resources, encyclicals, and papal documents spanning centuries would cost thousands of dollars in print form. Since literally everything is cross-linked and cross-referenced, a resource like this is invaluable not just for future class research, but has all that is needed for years worth of biblical and ecclesiastical study, teaching, homily writing, and preaching. If Logos stays in business (meaning that I'll continue to be able to download the updates as they come in), I may never have to buy another Bible commentary again, because if some new important item comes out, Logos will probably add it to their basic collection.


I wasn't expecting Scott's incredible gift, so I was truly humbled that one of my brothers would think of me in this way-and yes, so far I recommend the software too, and I think it is a whole lot cheaper than the money you'll spend building a similar print library.


The year 2012 was a trying year, but we were blessed in so many ways-I am praying that the Lord continues to bless me, undeserving servant that I am, in continued discernment. Thank you, people who have been praying for me...I have felt your prayers every day/

Worshiping at the altar of materialism

Today is what has become known in modern colloquial usage as "Black Friday," the day after the Thanksgiving holiday when the American Christmas shopping season is supposed to officially begin. When I was growing up, stores might open a few hours early today-6AM was a popular opening time-and have sales that are only good today. It has traditionally been called "Black" Friday because if a store or business was behind in its margins for the year, today was traditionally the day its proprietors could look to as a day that brought enough intake to insure that on December 31st, that business would not end the year in deficit, or "in the red," but in profit or at least even-in "the black."


We have gone well beyond the original intent of today-a day to get in a few seasonal Christmas deals-and instead today has become a holiday in its own right-one that celebrates neither giving thanks nor the joy of the coming Prince of Peace, but instead pays homage to the real god of modern American society-materialism. The god of our things, and our ability to have more things and buy more things than our neighbor. Not only is today a day of honor for our God of the Material, but it is often a day where we as a culture spend our time and energy perpetually breaking the tenth and final commandment-thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. Not only do we worship at the altar of the deity of materialism on this day, we insult the God of All Creation even further by breaking His Holy Law in a perpetual and cultural fashion.


Early this morning, I went with Nicole to Kohl's-she had been given a valuable coupon that helped her purchase some new clothing for her work at really rock-bottom prices, but since it was only good for today, she had to go early this morning just after midnight since she had to work on Friday itself. People were lined up outside the stores of the local mall like the needy at a soup kitchen-only these people didn't look like they needed much of anything, nor did many of them look like they couldn't afford to wait another few days to go shopping-especially sine most of the good sales aren't really going away after today. Some people could have done what my own mother used to do when I was growing up-she did most of her Christmas shopping through the summer months, so that by the time the rush came, she didn't have to visit the stores much.


I observed people coming and going-I didn't want to go in with Nicole and have to fight the crowd, and I think Nicole regretted it later. While I waited in the car, observing people behaving as though they had gone in and returned from some visitation with the divine, I had occasion to listen to the radio, and I happened upon Raymond Arroyo talking about his experience observing people waiting on this materialistic madness to begin. In addition to hosting The World Over on EWTN, Arroyo also occasionally sits in on a secular radio talk show that I happen to enjoy. I heard him talk about how he had passed by a local Target store on Thanksgiving morning and saw people camped out there, setting up what amounted to tent cities, waiting on the holiday sales to begin so that they could get in on some mythical deal. How many of those folks were running up credit they couldn't afford and will have to pay down later in the name of a deal today? Something seems terribly wrong with occupying places in line or in some overnight camp-out in front of a store when there are people who sleep out in front of malls and stores and on public benches and parks because they have nowhere else to sleep, while some of us camp out in front of Target or Belk or Walmart or Kohl's for our day of worship to the deus de materiali. With Black Friday rapidly becoming Black Thursday, Thanksgiving is becoming not a day for thanks to God, but just another shopping day, and Christmas is now just a day to eat and open presents so that we can all go to the store the next day for the big sale. The Christ Child? Who is that? What deal is this that's at the mall, the clearance rack is keeping? The Sale of Sales, good business brings, while customers' line is winding. This, This is Cash our King, while cashiers watch and  registers cling, haste, haste, to bring it laud, the jingle, the sound of profit.

Materialism has been the ultimate source of every wicked and evil ideology that has been formed in the mind of man, and it is the notion that only greater things can make us happy. Materialism brought us fascism, because only the State controlling the business you own can insure fairness-and while we're at it we'll go after those nasty Jews and other pesky people because they have more than us. Materialism gave us socialism and its child communism, because no one is allowed to earn more than their neighbor and if they have more it is always wrong, and it must be rectified-forcibly if necessary. Nevermind that we will kill all incentive to work or to achieve, and therefore to bless others as we have been blessed. Materialism also gives us a kind of crass capitalism that cares little for the individual or the dignity of the human person and only about the bottom line. Materialism is also the root of the sort of neo-socialism that we are seeing today that discourages thrift, because we want what we want now, even if someone else should pay for it.


None of this is to say that there is an inherent wrong in going Christmas shopping-there isn't. But our celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas have become about the creature more than the Creator, and we have made them more about the god of our making than the God who created us and who is using these special days as yet another way to call us all to Himself. When we prepare to give gifts to others, do we do it in the spirit of bringing Christ to others, or is it simply about the gifts-the things which, as St. Paul says, "passeth away?" (cf. I Corinthans 7:31)

Formation Weekend

Today I depart for Lenoir City for another weekend of formation, this one the final of two with His Excellency Bishop Joseph Martino, Emeritus of Scranton. It is regrettable, because if this month is anything like last month, I will greatly miss Bishop Martino and find myself hungering for more of his teaching on Church History. I really admire the holy commitment of this man to orthodoxy, and a willingness to stand up for, promote, and advocate for orthodoxy and for what we might call the Church's "big T" Traditional teachings.

Thanks to Scott Maentz for this great picture of Bishop Martino.

My allergies are really going haywire this week, so I really hope I can get to feeling a bit better through the weekend.



I am told that we may learn some more this weekend about what our summer service assignments will be. I am looking forward to mine, whatever it is, but I am a little nervous. I have no idea what it will be and I hope that whatever it is, the logistics work out. Then again, so far on this journey, the Lord has provided a way every time, and I know He will yet again.

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

John 18:1-19:42:

Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley
to where there was a garden,
into which he and his disciples entered.
Judas his betrayer also knew the place,
because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.
So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards
from the chief priests and the Pharisees
and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him,
went out and said to them, "Whom are you looking for?"
They answered him, "Jesus the Nazorean."
He said to them, "I AM."
Judas his betrayer was also with them.
When he said to them, "I AM, "
they turned away and fell to the ground.
So he again asked them,
"Whom are you looking for?"
They said, "Jesus the Nazorean."
Jesus answered,
"I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go."
This was to fulfill what he had said,
"I have not lost any of those you gave me."
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it,
struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear.
The slave's name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter,
"Put your sword into its scabbard.
Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?"

So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus,
bound him, and brought him to Annas first.
He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews
that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Now the other disciple was known to the high priest,
and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus.
But Peter stood at the gate outside.
So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest,
went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.
Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter,
"You are not one of this man's disciples, are you?"
He said, "I am not."
Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire
that they had made, because it was cold,
and were warming themselves.
Peter was also standing there keeping warm.

The high priest questioned Jesus
about his disciples and about his doctrine.
Jesus answered him,
"I have spoken publicly to the world.
I have always taught in a synagogue
or in the temple area where all the Jews gather,
and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me?
Ask those who heard me what I said to them.
They know what I said."
When he had said this,
one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said,
"Is this the way you answer the high priest?"
Jesus answered him,
"If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong;
but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?"
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm.
And they said to him,
"You are not one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it and said,
"I am not."
One of the slaves of the high priest,
a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
"Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.

Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.
It was morning.
And they themselves did not enter the praetorium,
in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.
So Pilate came out to them and said,
"What charge do you bring against this man?"
They answered and said to him,
"If he were not a criminal,
we would not have handed him over to you."
At this, Pilate said to them,
"Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law."
The Jews answered him,
"We do not have the right to execute anyone, "
in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled
that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.
So Pilate went back into the praetorium
and summoned Jesus and said to him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered,
"Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered,
"I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered,
"My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him,
"Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered,
"You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"

When he had said this,
he again went out to the Jews and said to them,
"I find no guilt in him.
But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.
Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"
They cried out again,
"Not this one but Barabbas!"
Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head,
and clothed him in a purple cloak,
and they came to him and said,
"Hail, King of the Jews!"
And they struck him repeatedly.
Once more Pilate went out and said to them,
"Look, I am bringing him out to you,
so that you may know that I find no guilt in him."
So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.
And he said to them, "Behold, the man!"
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out,
"Crucify him, crucify him!"
Pilate said to them,
"Take him yourselves and crucify him.
I find no guilt in him."
The Jews answered,
"We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God."
Now when Pilate heard this statement,
he became even more afraid,
and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus,
"Where are you from?"
Jesus did not answer him.
So Pilate said to him,
"Do you not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have power to release you
and I have power to crucify you?"
Jesus answered him,
"You would have no power over me
if it had not been given to you from above.
For this reason the one who handed me over to you
has the greater sin."
Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out,
"If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar."

When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out
and seated him on the judge's bench
in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.
And he said to the Jews,
"Behold, your king!"
They cried out,
"Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!"
Pilate said to them,
"Shall I crucify your king?"
The chief priests answered,
"We have no king but Caesar."
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself,
he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull,
in Hebrew, Golgotha.
There they crucified him, and with him two others,
one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross.
It read,
"Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews."
Now many of the Jews read this inscription,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;
and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
"Do not write 'The King of the Jews,'
but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews'."
Pilate answered,
"What I have written, I have written."

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,
they took his clothes and divided them into four shares,
a share for each soldier.
They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless,
woven in one piece from the top down.
So they said to one another,
"Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, "
in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says:
They divided my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
This is what the soldiers did.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple,
"Behold, your mother."
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I thirst."
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.


Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and that they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true;
he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may come to believe.
For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:
Not a bone of it will be broken.
And again another passage says:
They will look upon him whom they have pierced.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus.
And Pilate permitted it.
So he came and took his body.
Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night,
also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes
weighing about one hundred pounds.
They took the body of Jesus
and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices,
according to the Jewish burial custom.
Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.
So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day;
for the tomb was close by.

The worthy sacrifices of vocation

Allow me again to apologize for the dearth of postings in this space in the previous weeks. Ideally, I'd love to be able to post two or three times per week here, to give those of you who might be inclined to read a better idea of how the formation process is going. I have a paper that will be due at some point next month, and the topic that I have chosen is the development of Trinitarian Doctrine. As of yet, I have not started the paper, and those of you who know me know that to be more than a bit unusual, normally I begin assignments immediately, so as not to give in to the temptation to procrastinate. Part of this is due to the fact that I didn't get approval from our instructor, Robert Feduccia, for my topic until this past Sunday. Lest anyone think I am blaming Robert for that, I certainly am not-I suspect he has some of the same issues with schedule and time that the rest of us do. He came all the way from Oregon just to teach us, and I am very grateful for that indeed. I was given a perspective on the Trinity that changed forever the way I will view the God we serve, and will certainly increase my devotion to the Most Holy Trinity.

Just this past week, I had a dear friend from my own parish tell me that despite having a deep interest in the deaconate, he didn't go through with the application process because he came to the conclusion that there is no way that between his work schedule and his family commitments that he felt that he could take on the responsibilities that are required of him. This saddened me because I know how committed this person is to the Church and to our parish-indeed in my own mind, this person does more physical work for the parish than I could ever do. However, I have also learned through the experience of formation that time is at a premium. Just because I am in formation does not mean that my secular life can just grind to a halt-this is one of the great tests of formation and one of the ironies (if you will) of the deaconate. You might have seen me write of my administrative responsibilities at the fire department before. It is appropriations time, and I am on a time crunch deadline to complete that process by the end of next week before I leave for our formation weekend (forms and budget are due in Monday morning Feb. 6th, and formation is next weekend). I would love to take about four days away from the office next week to devote to research for our paper and prayer. The Fire Chief knows I am in formation (although like most people in these parts, he isn't Catholic so what the process involves is not something he or most other folks here would be familiar with) and if I tell him "I will be away for a day or two while I work on deacon things," he normally doesn't care-he knows that I take care of things in the office. This is a time, however, when he can't spare me as much, and I need his help as well. As a result, I need to meet with him regularly during a week like this one to make sure our fiscal ducks are in a row. Nevertheless, the ability to balance Church and spiritual life and one's secular responsibilities is a critical part of the deaconate-deacons live Holy Orders in the secular world.

                                        St. Lawrence the Deacon

I had my first meeting with my Spiritual Director this weekend. I know you'll understand that I'm going to keep much of what we discuss between us, but I took note of the commonality between us when it comes to two things-a very tight schedule, and a keen interest in the sporting world. I took many things away from our first discussion at length, but I also came away feeling blessed. I may never again complain about being pressed for time, for my spiritual director is a man who, frankly, has no time but somehow manages to be a deacon who is a model for the diocese, and for the rest of us, and for me.

Pray for all of us in formation-Lord knows, we need it.

The new Roman Missal and the Divine Office

Since the universal Church has plunged into the new translation of the Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent, several questions have arisen about the place of some of the prayers of the Roman Missal in the Liturgy of the Hours, since there are certain prayers that the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours and the English Translation of the Missale Romanum have traditionally held in common. Some of the concluding prayers on certain days of the week are traditionally the same prayers used at Mass that day-especially on the feast days of particular saints. The most obvious example of a prayer held in common is the use of the Confiteor or the Kyrie during the Penitential Act at Compline (Night Prayer). The English translation approved for use in the Liturgy of the Hours has not changed as of yet, and it dates to 1974 and first came into common use in the Anglosphere in 1975. The translation used in the English-speaking world is nearly universal, with the Grail translation of the psalms and canticles being used in every version in every English-speaking country.

The only difference between the editions issued for the United States and Canada and those issued for the rest of the world is that the U.S. and Canadian editions of the Office use the New American Bible as the translation for Scripture readings, while editions issued for the U.K., Ireland, and Commonwealth countries use the Jerusalem Bible and a few other English translations, including the Revised Standard Version, for Scripture readings. However, many web sources such as Divine Office, which intend to be faithful to the approved English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours are using the old versions of the Confeteor and Kyrie responses. Should they?

Although he is a layman, Jimmy Akin has done a fair amount of research into this issue for his podcast in order to answer a listener's question about the use of the new Mass translation outside of the Mass-especially where the Liturgy of the Hours is concerned. I've provided the link above in-text so that readers to this blog can have a listen at what Jimmy has been able to find out, but it would appear that we can begin to use the responses and prayers from the new Roman Missal where they are appropriate to the Liturgy of the Hours (i.e. Mass prayers, Kyrie, and Confeteor, etc.), including in group settings ("And with your spirit.") Indeed, we were using "and with your spirit" during the Office for formation last weekend. The changes in the Missal have given rise to the larger question: Will the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours also be changing?

It seems to be the consensus of the folks who follow such things that the English translation of the Hours will eventually be changing, and that many of us who are currently in formation for the deaconate or the priesthood (and who will thus be bound by ecclesiastical promise to pray the Office every day for the rest of our earthly life) will live to see whatever changes may be implemented impact our daily prayer life-certainly the changes to the Missale Romanum already have done just that. However, it ought to be remembered that the Latin revision to the Missale Romanum was approved in 2000, and we are seeing its implementation in our own tongue nearly 12 years after the approval of the initial text. To my personal knowledge, an official revision to the Latin text of the Liturgy of the Hours has yet to be approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The text of the Divine Office which we currently use will continue to be the version that we use for the foreseeable future then, even as we embrace minor changes to it that are related to the changes we are experiencing in the Mass.

Curses in the psalter

After this past weekend's deaconate formation class on the Psalms, I have reflected further in thought about the truncating of the psalmody in the Liturgy of the Hours as it relates to the so-called "cursing psalms." It should be remembered that while most clergy pray the Divine Office privately, we know that the Office has always been meant for community prayer-and not just in religious houses or monastic communities, but especially in church with an assembly of the faithful. In our own age, that would mean that the recitation of the psalms ought to be open to the public for the sake of worship. The Liturgy of the Hours is not a Eucharistic celebration, so the praying of the Office in church would be open to non-Catholics in a special way, since non-Catholics cannot participate fully in the celebration of the Eucharist.

Because the celebration of the Office in church is and ought to be very public, it might take some special explaining to our non-Catholic friends if they heard chants at Vespers like:

"May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them..... Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous." (69:23-24, 27-28)

"May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation." (109:9-13)

"Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. (139:21-22)

To the unknowing or, worse yet, the totally unchurched, that kind of Scripture passage doesn't sound anything think like "love your neighbor as you love yourself." These Psalms are a part of the psalter, however, and are a part of the inspired Word of God. Hence, as a matter of personal opinion, I tend to agree with those who say that we should reintroduce them into the Breviary-they were to be found there, after all, when the Church (especially and specifically the clergy) was praying the Office chiefly in Latin. In the name of accuracy and totality, it might be good to look at putting them back into our cycle of prayer.

Sister Timothea is right, however, when she says that there is no way we could do that without proper catechesis among the laity with regard to what the "cursing psalms" are really all about. God does not want us to kill the innocent infants of our enemies, or wish that those who wish us personal ills or harms would not be saved. Instead, the very harsh and strong biblical language of these psalms is meant for those who have totally rejected all possibility of God's grace and have completely embraced the work of Satan (examples: Hitler, Nazis at Death Camps, Stalin, etc.). Few people in the world would choose to so openly reject the basic goodness that God made them with (Genesis 1:27-31), but there are those few who do. When they do, they open themselves up to evils like the Holocaust or the Stalinist Purges. Unfortunately, there are such people in the world, and they are-by their own choice-wicked. The evils they have done to the human family are visited upon innocent people. It is precisely to remind us of the frailty of the human condition that we have the cursing psalms.

Before we look at putting these psalms back into the Church's public psalter, however, we need first to have more of the laity ready to pray the Office to begin with before any discussion of catechesis on the "cursing psalms" could take place.

The gift of the psalms

Not a few of my fellow Aspirants were left in wonderment after this past weekend's session of our deaconate formation classes. Sister Mary Timothea Elliott, RSM came not just to give us instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, but to teach us about the psalms themselves. Firstly, I was left mesmerized, then I found myself thumbing through psalms and corresponding scriptures during Sister's talks. I was getting so much out of them that I couldn't wait from one break to the next to hear more. When it was finally over, there were several of us who said that we wished we could have at least another day of this, and we didn't want it to end.

                             Sister Mary Timothea Elliott, RSM                                                     

We've already had a great Old Testament Scripture scholar in Father Ragan Shriver give our Introduction to Scripture course. Father Bede Aboh, who gave our Philosophy lectures last month, told me that "you will love Sister Timothea, you won't want it to end." Father Bede was right...

It didn't take us long to figure out that Sister is not only well-educated (she is so well-versed in Hebrew and in the Biblical languages that Father Ragan-himself very learned in Hebrew-recommends her as a source of good material and information), but she is an educator and has been a very good one for years. She captivated a room full of grown men, and taught us so much about the psalms that none of us wanted it to end-we wanted more.

As I pointed out in my entry Thursday, I have always loved the Liturgy of the Hours ever since I was first introduced to it as a college student. Entering formation for the deaconate has truly deepened this love, and I resolved to pray the Office more faithfully, and less out of a mere sense of rote duty-in other words, I resolved to truly pray without ceasing in a way that I have never prayed before. Most importantly, I resolved to make my prayers, as best as I could understand to do so, conform to God's will and to the prayers of the whole Church rather than to my own personal desires.

It might very well be that Sister Timothea didn't realize what a gift she gave me when we read some of the psalms in the Scriptures. Of course, we pray the psalms as part of the Divine Office every day, but in some cases, certain psalmody are excluded from the Liturgy-all or part of the so-called Imprecatory Psalms, or Cursing Psalms. These portions of the psalter can be problematic when introducing the Office to laity who aren't well-catechized, and so for this reason the Church made the decision to remove them from the Liturgy. As Sister Timothea pointed out, however, just because these psalms aren't in the current edition of the Liturgy of the Hours does not mean that there may not be some appropriate reason to pray them privately. However, one can understand why we would not want to have public recitation of words like:

How blessed will be the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. (Psalm 137:9)

Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave.
(Psalm 55:15)

Obviously, Christ is clear that we should not do such things to our enemies. However, those few people who knowingly embrace the lowest form of evil and reject all good with complete knowledge (Sister used the example of Nazis engaged in biological experiments and mass murder of Jews, Gypsies, and disabled people), praying psalms like this might be a way of petitioning God to put an end to such atrocities and those who commit them-indeed, one person who prayed this way would themselves become a great mystic.The idea of praying the psalms uniquely and individually seems as though it would be a source of deep spiritual richness and enhancement of prayer life.

Sister also took us through a lesson in how to use the Ordo of the Liturgy of the Hours and helped us learn to place our ribbons and use our liturgy books in a way that is proper.

I had the pleasure of sitting for breakfast with Sister Timothea yesterday morning. During the course of her lectures, she managed to confirm my personal bias toward the Revised Standard Version, and she told us collectively that she preferred to use it when teaching. However, when I asked her about using the RSV in the RCIA process (as I agree that it is a better version for teaching), she said the New American Bible would still be a better starter in RCIA-she pointed out that the NAB is far closer to what the catechumens and candidates will be hearing at Mass.


I'll have much more to say about this month's formation in the days ahead-it was a very spiritually rich and deeply fulfilling experience.

God, come to my assistance...

As part of the promises that every deacon makes to his bishop, he promises that he will pray at least two of the Hours of the Divine Office (the major Hours which have come in modern times to be called Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, specifically) every day for the rest of his life. This is one of the things that deacons do have in common with priests and with religious the world over-they are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day. We're being started early on that daily routine, and this month our deaconate formation weekend will be designed to teach us everything that we need to know about the Liturgy of the Hours in order to make the Hours a vibrant part of our spiritual and prayer life. The class will be taught by Sister Mary Timothea Elliott, RSM.

The Divine Office is not new to me, because I've been praying it in some form for years. Nicole and I are Benedictine Oblates, so we are already under a promise to pray the Office (three times a day, not just twice!). You might think "wow, David, you are way ahead of the game, you know how to do this." Well...sort of. If there is one thing that the formation experience is teaching me it is that the things about our Faith that I thought I really knew well, I don't know nearly as much as I thought I did, but I am eager to learn. Other things about the faith that I didn't think I was very educated about, I am learning that I probably knew a little more than I thought about those things. Deaconate formation has completely reawakened the passion for the Office that I had when I was first introduced to Benedictine spirituality. I have definitely learned that I didn't know nearly as much about the Liturgy of the Hours as I thought I knew.

Those of you who may have had any part of your faith formation in the Benedictine tradition may have been introduced to the Divine Office in the short form, and in my case I was given one week's worth of the Office along with some additional hymns and canticles in a little three-wing binder called the Benedictine Oblate Companion. Every few months Oblates of St. Meinrad Archabbey are sent things to put in that little three-ring binder. It is all good spiritual information that fits well with the Benedictine way of doing things and specifically with ongoing Oblate formation at St. Meinrad. When presented with the Office, Oblates are presented with a one-week cycle. I discovered the other three weeks via what in those days was a fairly new spiritual tool called the internet. I found a website called Universalis which had a translation of every office every day, as it is supposed to be prayed for every day of the year, and you could choose your calendar based on what country you lived in. "Wow," I thought, "this is great. Now I can pray essentially the same prayers as everyone else does in the monastery."

Years later I discovered a site called Divine Office, which not only gave me the written prayers to pray, but included a podcast of people praying the Liturgy of the Hours in a worshipful way in which I could join in. I love this, and I use it every day now. Divine Office begins each day by giving you these volume numbers and page numbers, and last month I finally learned what that was all about.

Four volumes of psalmody, canticles, antiphons, hymns, and ordinary instructions for how to pray the Office. This is the Breviary, folks, all of it...

All of us Aspirants had to purchase a set of the entire Office, and we had to do this because Deacon Tim Elliott, are Deacon Director, wants us all learning from the same source, so the shorter volumes that have only those prayers of the Office which we would be required to pray aren't quite acceptable enough. A brand new set of the Hours is not cheap, and I know of at least one fellow Aspirant who now has two sets (he already had one). Mind you, I'm not complaining about possessing the entire Liturgy of the Hours-I've learned more about the Office since I've gotten my hands on these books than I ever knew before. Along with the book we had to read for this month, The School of Prayer, I've already learned a few things in advance of our class this month about the Liturgy of the Hours.

One is that the Church doesn't call it the Liturgy of the Hours for nothing. Praying the Office is a liturgical act and it is a form of liturgy, just as the Mass is a liturgy. The Liturgy of the Hours is a different kind of liturgy than the Mass, and it serves a different purpose than the Mass, but it is a kind of liturgy. The Liturgy of the Hours also is not meant as the sole province of priests and religious, or of the uber-holy. The Divine Office is meant for everyone, and anyone can pray the Divine Office, alone or in a group. Priests, deacons, and religious are under an obligation to pray the Office because everyone should be praying it, so those whose lives are devoted to prayer had better be praying the Liturgy of the Hours. That brings me to the other major thing that I have learned over the last month...

People familiar with the Divine Office have long known that it is best prayed in a group. Most of us who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, though, end up praying it alone. Nicole prays with me as her schedule allows, but usually two of the three Hours that I normally pray in a day are prayed alone. Yet, in the first four centuries of the Church's life, the Liturgy of the Hours was regularly prayed by Christians in community, patterned after the Old Testament hours of prayer. Peter appears to have been praying the Hours in Acts 10:9:

And on the next day, whilst they were going on their journey, and drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up to the higher parts of the house to pray, about the sixth hour [None].

Some of our parishes in the United States are praying at least part of the Divine Office every week, even if it is just one Hour. Most aren't doing that, and it may be from the lack of someone to lead the group. Many of us in formation have wondered why we need to buy a four volume set of the Office when it is freely available on the internet. The obvious answer came up ("you may be away from your computer') but I wonder if there is another motive. Like the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours contains  red-letter instructions on how to lead a group in this important daily prayer.

We may need all four volumes in case any of us should need to lead a congregation of people in the Prayer of the Church