Undusted Texts

Today, on Holy and Great Saturday, we remember our Lord's burial in the tomb and at the same time His descent into Hades to free the just souls.  The Byzantine tradition for this morning, the Jersualem Matins (Orthros), includes a service known as the Lamentations at the Tomb, a set of hymns of lamentation interspersed with the verses of Psalm 119/118, the psalm in praise of the law of the Lord.  The English text of the Matins can be found at the Metropolitan Cantor Institute , and below is an English recording by the Boston Byzantine Choir , a pan-Orthodox choir based in Cambridge, MA.

By the witness of Lazarus, the Good News was spread, and the Church grew, even before the Passion of Christ.  He was a great witness, and thus a martyr, as the word originally means.  How great was his witness?  Great enough that the Jews wished him dead again, for many, many were converted by his witness to the wondrous works of God. That is truly what Lazarus' testimony was, for we do not see him preaching in the Gospels.  Instead, just by the fact that he received this astounding blessing from our Lord—that God did not let the righteous remain in Sheol—he converted many, leading them to believe in Jesus Christ.  He was not the only to be a witness, a martyr, to the wondrous works of God.  Is not the Bible, in some sense, such a witness?  It begins with the wondrous, marvelous creation of all things by the Lord, and it ends with the expectation of that wondrous event to come, the Coming in Glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  The historical books...

To commemorate Passion (or Palm) Sunday tomorrow, here is the first movement from a setting of St. Matthew's Passion in Church Slavonic by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev , Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, who attended Pope Francis' inaugural Mass last week.

Because I want to use what skills I have to help others, I decided to translate the words Pope Francis sent to the faithful gathered in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires today, watching his inaugural Mass.  The Spanish can be found here . "Dear children, I know that you are in the plaza.  I know that you are praying and making prayers, I need them much.  It is so beautiful to pray.  Thank you for that. I want to ask you a favor.  I want to ask you that we all walk together, that we protect one another, protect each other, do not harm each other, protect, protect the life of one another.  Protect the family, protect nature, protect the children, protect the elderly; that there not be hate, that there not be fighting, leave to the side envy, do not bad-mouth anyone [ Trans : the phrase the Pope uses is a colloquial one, literally meaning "do not take the leather to anyone"].  Dialogue, that among yourselves the desire to protect will live. That t...

  Pope Francis (then Cardinal Bergoglio) with Catholicos Karek in II of the Armenian Apostolic Church This title is merely a hunch I have, a hunch drawn from some bits of evidence.  Day by day I seem to be growing in the conviction that our newly-elected Holy Father Francis will be the one to begin healing, permanently, the schisms of the Church.  It is clear to see that Pope Francis has an ecumenical heart, from his encounters with the Jews (including his recent book of interreligious dialogue, Sobre el cielo y la tierra ) and his warm relationship with many Argentine Protestant leaders.  Not only that, but he has experience of the Eastern Church, being ordinary of the Eastern Catholic Churches in Argentina while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. His inaugural Mass will prove a stupendous ecumenical event, I am certain.  It began with Patriarch Bartholomew I's declaration of his intention to attend this inaugural Mass , the first time this has occu...

Like much (if not most) of the Church right now, I am stunned at Pope Francis' humility.  Such a self-effacing man is a Godly wonder to behold, especially in such a prominent role in the Church.  His camaraderie with all, his conversational sermons and speeches, and his life of humble poverty are a beautiful example for all.  He truly reflects his papal namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, the Poverello . The only main complaints I have heard about our Holy Father are from some people who are called "traditionalist" Catholics, meaning they have a great love and devotion for the traditions and practice of the Roman Church as lived prior to the Second Vatican Council, and their love is concentrated in an even greater way on the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and also the prime music of the Roman Rite, Gregorian chant.  Their fire for the Sacred Liturgy is a wonderful thing, and their desire to protect the Liturgy and keep it reverent and holy is a blessing for ...

To give an example of the preaching of our new Holy Father, what follows is my English translation ( Spanish original here ) of the homily given by Pope Francis when he was merely Cardinal Bergoglio at the Chrism Mass in Buenos Aires on April 5, 2012.  I apologize for any bad translation on my part: Psalm 88 that we have recently prayed tells us about the "forever" of the unction: "I anointed David my servant with the sacred oil, so that my hand would be always with him."  The unction of the Lord is "fidelity and love that accompanies us" to the length of our sacerdotal life.  Perhaps it is Saint John who best expresses this permanent character of the unction: "The unction that you received from Him remains in you and you do not require that anyone teach you" (1 Jn 2:27). The unction remains in us, it imprints on us a character; he treats of how we remain in it: "Already that unction instructs you in all and it is true and does not...

Although I am not certain, it seems that the motto of our newly-elected Holy Father, Pope Francis, will be his episcopal and cardinatial motto, Miserando atque eligendo .  According to a post on a website dedicated to Argentinian Heraldry, the motto comes from a homily by St. Bede the Venerable on the calling of St. Matthew.  The Archdiocesan website of Buenos Aires gives the relevant passage from the Venerable Bede's Homily 21 in Spanish: Jesús vio a un hombre, llamado Mateo, sentado ante la mesa de cobro de los impuestos, y le dijo: "Sígueme". Lo vio más con la mirada interna de su amor que con los ojos corporales. Jesús vio al publicano, y lo vio con misericordia y eligiéndolo, ( miserando atque eligendo) , y le dijo Sígueme, "Sígueme", que quiere decir: "Imítame". Le dijo "Sígueme", más que con sus pasos, con su modo de obrar. Porque, quien dice que está siempre en Cristo debe andar de continuo como él anduvo.  In Engli...

 As this is a time of penance and fasting when more attention is paid to how and how much we eat, I thought posting some words from St. Gregory of Sinai (1265-1346), a great Eastern monk and saint, on the effects of eating and how much we should eat.  I am not posting for his definite diet (though the limited bread and water is interesting to consider) but more for his principles, such as how the belly affects prayer, how each such determine his own course of holy eating, how the ill should not have restrictions, how to refrain from gluttony by the three degrees of eating, etc. " What shall I say about the belly, the queen of the passions?  If you can deaden or half-deaden it, do not relent.  It has mastered me, beloved, and I worship it as a slave and vassal, this abettor of the demons and dwelling-place of the passions.  Through it we fall and through it—when it is well-disciplined—we rise again.... As the fathers have pointed out, bodies vary greatly...