Undusted Texts

I vilify persecutors.  I must admit that this is a habit I have, and one that I have trouble breaking.  When I hear of Kathleen Sebellius and the HHS contraceptive mandate, I vilify Ms. Sebelllius.  When I hear of attacks on Nigerian Christians by Boko Haram, I vilify militant Muslims.  Now, I don't say that they are going to hell: I know I can't judge that at all.  Though I sometimes speak in generalizations (such as just talking about "Muslims" when I discuss teachings of the Qur'an made prominent by militant groups or "Jesuits" when I discuss the many heretical teachings of individual Jesuits throughout the past few decades), I know that they're generalizations: not all Muslims want to kill me or subdue me with a jizya , and not every Jesuit is a Resurrection-denying, "historical Jesus"-promoting heretic.  Yet I have this terrible habit of vilifying those who commit manifest evil acts, particularly high-profile ones that they seem proud...

In the very start of those strange, exotic, "eXtreme" days known as the '90s, a quirky little band called They Might Be Giants released a nigh-nonsenical song entitled "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (paired with an incomprehensible video).   The song is sung from the point of view of a nightlight in the shape of a blue canary belonging to what seems to be a very lonely child.  The aforementioned nightlight asks the child, in the chorus, to "make a little birdhouse in your soul," so that the child will carry the memory of the luminous bird wherever he goes. While having a birdhouse in our souls would not be conducive to the spiritual life (unless you think of it as a birdhouse for housing the Holy Spirit in the form a dove), what would be conducive is a tabernacle.  The concept of keeping a perpetual space for the Lord within our hearts is one I wrote about before, in my post on the teachings of Ven. Clara Fey .  She wrote, "Our Lor...

Though I hesitate to take on the title, by my studies, I think I must be classed as a theologian.  Yet with the trends popular among many who bear the title "theologian," I sometimes recoil at the very name itself.  I have thought about these positions and ideas that many theologians hold dear to their hearts (or dear to their intellects).  It is with a strong heart, a sound mind, and a firm will that I renounce these opinions.  I declare: I renounce renouncing the Father.   Though, it is true, God is beyond gender, the First Person of the Trinity revealed Himself under the title of Father: who are we to renounce that title? I renounce renouncing the Son.   Jesus Christ is the Son of God, one divine Person in two natures, human and divine.  The Councils stated it, and I confess it: anything else is heresy. I renounce the Spirit's domination.   The Holy Spirit is God, the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity: this I affirm.  The Father a...

My girlfriend's grandmother died last night, and I have been praying for her soul.  We are called to pray for the dead in general, for they cannot pray for themselves once they have passed, and we usually especially pray for those who are close to us. One way I pray for the souls of the faithful departed is by listening to a musical setting of a Requiem Mass, the beautiful prayers of the Church for all her departed children.  While listening, I pray for the recently deceased (I often do this whenever someone I know dies).  While I have a soft spot in my heart for the works of the famous Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, the setting I usually pray with is the setting by the famous Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.  Though Verdi was an atheist, he felt inspired by the sacred prayers of the Church found in the Requiem Mass, and his recently-deceased friend Alessandro Manzoni (a poet and novelist famous for The Betrothed ) was Catholic, so he felt inspired to compos...

"Am I not here, I, who am your mother?" I must apologize for taking so long to write about Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe): though her image is not an icon in the typical sense (that is, made by human hands for the purpose of connection to Christ or the saints in Heaven), it most definitely should be classified as an acheiropoieton (an sacred image not made with human hands).  I apologize for not including it in my original post on these images: it didn't enter my mind until much later.  This post, then, is a supplement for my post on the acheiropoieta . St. Juan Diego (1474-1578) was a Native American from what is now Mexico (his birth name was Aztec: Cuauhtlatoatzin).  Originally a mystical and devout pagan, around 1520 or so he converted to Christianity, taking the name Juan Diego.  Shortly thereafter, in 1529, he became a widower, yet his faith remained strong.  It was in 1531 that the events for which he is now known began...

"Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."--Mk 1:17 This command of the Lord was heard yesterday (though in the New American Bible translation, not the Douay-Rheims) during the Gospel reading at Mass.  Though it was addressed to Simon (Peter) and Andrew, it is in some sense addressed to all of us: we are all called to follow the Lord.  While some (that is, religious and consecrated virgins) answer this call by "[following] the Lamb whithersoever He goeth", the rest of us are called to follow Him "not whithersoever He shall have gone, but so far as ever [we] shall have been able" (Rev 14:4; St. Augustine, On Holy Virginity 28). In response to this call to be followers, we are to draw close to Christ, so close that to be apart from Him is painful to us.  (Thus the absence of Christ's presence, or the feeling of it, is part of the dark night of the soul.)  Many spiritual writers have expressed this fervent desire to be with C...

The Church in Nigeria has been frequently persecuted as of late.  The persecution came into the spotlight with the Christmas Day bombing of St. Teresa Catholic Church near Abuja, in which the militant Islamic group Boko Haram murdered at least 32 people.  According to the Associated Press (via The Telegraph ), Boko Haram is responsible for at least 510 killings in 2011 alone, and many of these killings (if not most or all of them) were of Christians.  Already this year in Nigeria, there have been 28 murders specifically of Christians by militant Muslims (many most likely part of Boko Haram), including two attacks on churches.  It is very obvious that Catholics and all Christians in Nigeria desperately need prayers. To help with prayers, I searched for information on the Church in Nigeria.  According to my research, there are two patron saints of Nigeria: St. Patrick (yes, St. Patrick of Ireland) and Mary, Queen of Nigeria .  Nigeria has no saints so ...

The original icon  The original icon without its riza (the metal covering revealing only the faces) The Axion Estin (Αξιον εστιν), "It is truly meet," is an icon of the Theotokos (Eleusa-style) located in the the Protaton, a church in the Karyes settlement of the famous Mount Athos in Greece, home to many ancient monastic communities.  The event which the icon takes it name from occurred in 980, so the icon was written sometime before then. The name of the icon comes from the opening words of a Marian hymn in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.  Up until this famous event, the hymn only included the latter half, starting at "More honourable than the Cherubim," which was written in the late 700s by St. Cosmas the Hymnographer, foster-brother of St. John Damascene.  This section of the hymn reads thus: More honorable than the cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim. Without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Wo...

Pope John Paul I at his Papal Inauguration Mass Today I am beginning a new series: Opera Consecrata (Consecrated Works).  In this series, I will attempt to look at the liturgies of the Church throughout the world, both those formerly celebrated and those currently celebrated.  I will look at the liturgies of all rites, not just the Roman Rite.  My goal is to provide a short history of each liturgy along with a very short description of the liturgy, along with aspects that make each one unique.  I hope the series is informative and interesting, and I hope it brings us all (myself included) a deeper appreciation of both the liturgy and the diversity within the Catholic Church. [Etymological note: The name of this series is etymologically related to the word "liturgy": " liturgy " comes from the Greek λειτουργια ( leitourgia ), which itself is made from the words λαος ( laos , people) and εργον ( ergon , work).  Since the Greek word for liturgy contains t...

  The original Vladimirskaya The Theotokos of Vladimir (Our Lady of Vladimir, the Virgin of Vladimir), Владимирская ( Vladimirskaya ) in Russian, is an Eleusa style icon of the Theotokos.  According to Russian tradition, it was written by St. Luke the Evangelist on a board from the Holy Family's table: upon seeing it, the Virgin exclaimed, "Henceforth, all generations shall call Me blessed. The grace of both My Son and Me shall be with this icon." The first historical mention of it is its sending by Greek Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges of Constantinople to Prince Mstislav (or Grand Duke Yury Dolgoruky) in 1131.  The icon was placed in a monastery near the city of Vyshgorod.  Andrei Bogoliubsky (son of Yury Dolgoruky and a saint among the Eastern Orthodox) built the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir and installed the icon there in 1155.  (Tradition says the location of Vladimir was chosen because donkeys carrying the icon would not move past the town, and...

  The copy of Our Lady of Kazan given by Pope Bl. John Paul II to the Russian Church Our Lady of Kazan (Virgin of Kazan, Theotokos of Kazan), Казанская Богоматерь (Kazanskaya Bogomater: "Theotokos of Kazan") in Russian, is a close-up version of a Hodigitria icon that is one of the most venerated icons in the Russian Orthodox Church.  It is difficult to determine the exact history of this icon due to the many copies that were made of it.  Of the numerous ancient copies that exist today, there is still debate which one (if any) is the original. According to tradition, the icon came to Kazan (a city in Russia) from Constantinople in the 13th century.  When Kazan was besieged by the Tartars in 1438, the icon disappeared until it was found buried in a garden by a young girl named Matrona on July 8, 1579, after the location was revealed by the Theotokos in a prophetic dream.  The icon was placed in the Church of St. Nicholas in Kazan, where it cured a blind m...

Happy New Year, and Holy Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God!  To celebrate today's Solemnity, I decided to post a short writing by St. Ephrem (Ephraim) the Syrian, a Doctor of the Church: a prayer to the Theotokos asking for her prayers in preparing to receive the Sacred Mysteries.  If you have yet to attend Mass today, perhaps you can use this prayer during your preparation for Communion.  If you have attended, perhaps this prayer could help you in the future.  Whatever the case, I hope you find this prayer helpful.  God Bless! To the Theotokos --  A Confession of Her Pepetual Virginity  and a Prayer to Partake Worthily of the Holy Mysteries O Mother of God, who surpassest every mind and word!  O Virgin who exceedest all earthly virginity, for even before the Divine birth wast thou a Virgin beyond all virgins -- and such didst thou remain both during and after the birth! T hee, O Lady do I beg, thee do I entreat, O merciful and m...