You have destroyed Death by your Cross, you opened paradise to the thief. The sorrow of the myrr-bearers you turned to joy. You command your apostles to proclaim, Christ Our God is risen, granting great mercy to the world.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever Amen
No longer can the might of death rule over us. Christ descended destroying and crushing its power. Hades remains enchained the prophets rejoice together. The Savior has appeared saying to those in darkness come forth Faithful to the Resurrection.
Showing posts with label Divine Liturgy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Divine Liturgy. Show all posts
02 August 2014
16 July 2014
Sunday Troparian and Kontakian week 5
O Faithful, let us praise and adore the Word eternal with the Father and the Spirit and born of the Virgin for our salvation. For He chose to ascend the cross in the flesh and to suffer death and to raise the dead by His glorious resurrection. (sung here)
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever Amen
O Saviour, you descended into Hades. You crushed its gates as the Almighty, you raised the dead and destroyed the sting of Death as the Creator. You delivered Adam from the curse. O Lover of us all, therefore all cry out to you O Lord, save us. (sung here)
In these are beautiful summaries of our Faith...In our tradition, we sing the Troparia of the day when we do major blessings. For example, when a priest comes to bless the house, the troparia of Epiphany is sung. There's this intimate connection between the personal prayer and the Divine Liturgy. Or if one prefers the connection between private and public prayer. It's a beautiful tradition which I hope more can be brought out of this. I'll be reflecting more upon this connection in a while. But for now, I think this is a place where we can start.
Pax Vobis
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever Amen
O Saviour, you descended into Hades. You crushed its gates as the Almighty, you raised the dead and destroyed the sting of Death as the Creator. You delivered Adam from the curse. O Lover of us all, therefore all cry out to you O Lord, save us. (sung here)
In these are beautiful summaries of our Faith...In our tradition, we sing the Troparia of the day when we do major blessings. For example, when a priest comes to bless the house, the troparia of Epiphany is sung. There's this intimate connection between the personal prayer and the Divine Liturgy. Or if one prefers the connection between private and public prayer. It's a beautiful tradition which I hope more can be brought out of this. I'll be reflecting more upon this connection in a while. But for now, I think this is a place where we can start.
Pax Vobis
06 June 2014
Well, some thoughts on the NO...and what could be done.
**I premise this post by stating I believe in the validity of the Missal of Paul VI without question!...Also I'm open to hearing Latin corrections
The disclaimer said, the problem is that the NO is an expression of different theologies (Roman, Protestant, and Eastern) and the combination of such while not an intrinsic evil (As even the Traditional Roman Missal has Eastern Elements)...the confusion of such without a distinct focus, I believe is a problem, and should be addressed....Looking at the texts themselves, here's my humble opinion as to how the problem can be solved.
My summary of changes would look like this:
The disclaimer said, the problem is that the NO is an expression of different theologies (Roman, Protestant, and Eastern) and the combination of such while not an intrinsic evil (As even the Traditional Roman Missal has Eastern Elements)...the confusion of such without a distinct focus, I believe is a problem, and should be addressed....Looking at the texts themselves, here's my humble opinion as to how the problem can be solved.
My summary of changes would look like this:
- Codified chanting for all parts of the Liturgy
- Explicit references to sacrifice restored
- Trinitarian references added
- More signs of the Cross
- Options eliminated
- Codified singing of the propers...(with elimination of the options there of)
- Codified ad orientem
- Restoration of all genuflections
- Elimination of ab libbing chances
- Codified prayers of the Faithful, time for the Church to think with the same mind.
- Complete re-working of the GIRM
here's an example of what could be done for the doxology after the Our Father copied from the Greek text from the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom into Latin, which alludes to yesterday's thought of the day: Quia tuum est regnum et potestas Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Perpetuo, nunc et semper, et in saecula saecula...
Considering now is the season of interviews for teaching jobs...the time I have might be minimal, but I hope to finish soon. For I think that indeed the texts while not heretical are problematic and should be looked at.
More to this post later
Pax Vobis
16 February 2014
No, it's not a fad, it's a matter of being fed.
Over at Rorate....Our dear friend Pope Francis does not understand why the young wish to go back to the Traditional Liturgy.
As one of those young people, I'm gladly able to help in the misunderstandings that may occur.
a. It's not a nostalgia, and it's most certainly not a fashion, or a fad.
It's impossible to be nostalgic to something that we don't memories of. Bear in mind that all of us young people were born well after the 2nd Vatican Council (the blogger 1985, a full 20 years some odd well after the conclusion of the Council). All of us have grown up with the Novus Ordo (Ordinary Form) since our birth. Many of us have experienced Liturgies that were "lacking" (and that's being rather kind). Between inviting all of us to the altar, surrounding priests for the Consecration, to "altar calls" with some subjective, how has the Lord affected my life that sounded like it came straight out of a self help book, to the Pouring of Jesus after the Consecration, and added on top of an attempted Catholic attempt at rock music which sounded as pathetic as the modern Justin Bieber, but didn't quite get that low. The youth were the subjects of Liturgical experiment after experiment...(Yes, everything I mentioned actually did happen at my parish growing up). And while emotionally "filling" (or epically lame depending on your point of view), none of these things substantially dwelled or edifies our souls. Why? Because it was exactly what we knew from our everyday culture, and we didn't need to come to church to find this. As much as I mock pop culture at times, there are good things within it....Everyone has the desire for Truth within them, and they're going to go where this desire can be substantially filled. The OF as celebrated in average everyday parish at St Liturgical Abuse, while most certainly Jesus is there because the OF is a valid Catholic rite, I can't really say at least from my own experience that it takes people out of the ordinary.
b. It's not the ordinary everyday experience, the reverence, the order and beauty all fill our crying hearts.
As alluded to earlier, if we wanted to go to a rock concert, jazz concert, tango dance, etc, those things are easily within access, and the Church does not need to provide those things to be found. We go to Mass (or Divine Liturgy) to adore God, to beg pardon for our sins, to thank Him for our needs, and to pray for others and ourselves. While most certainly these things can be done outside of Mass context, in justice by the virtue of religion, we do these things because of our love for God and His Holy Church.
The chanting (whether Gregorian or Byzantine) lifts our hearts and minds towards our Heavenly Father, and takes us away from reality and towards the Divine in ways that contemporary or modern music can't even attempt to achieve. Though rest assured if you want emotional, sappy, feeling stuff, contemporary music does that quite well. (Although believe me, a good Dies Irae can definitely be very moving)
While most certainly the NO can be done very reverently and absolutely beautifully (need we look at the examples of our beloved Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI for this)...I don't think it can be said that the reverence is built into the Mass itself. How can that be said? The variety in which the NO is celebrated, from clown Masses, to beautiful Gregorian Masses, shows that the degree of reverence that is shown is subject to the person celebrating, and this is indeed a problem. When subjectivity becomes our basis, that only leads down painful roads in which to some degree we're living out the consequences of such. In the EF (TLM) or Divine Liturgy, the person of the priest is gone....all of the rubrics point to the person of Christ. (Again, not to say that these things can't occur in the NO, they do, but to a lesser degree)....there's a rigidity to the forms, we know exactly what to expect. Every bow (genuflection) is for a reason, always pointing us to something higher. The precision in which the rubrics are done gives an order to an often disordered world.
Quite to the contrary, beautiful vestments are not a distraction (nor should they be donated to the poor) they lift us up because God is Beauty itself. The beauty shows how much we love God in the sense that we give back to God the most beautiful, because He in His mercy created us to love Him. The vestments that are plain are actually a distraction because they point to the ordinary, the cheapness in which somethings are done, believe me are noticed, even if in the subconscious, and often the question is asked "Is this how much we love God?" If we treat Him like this, what's the point. Again, it's the point about dragging us out of the ordinary and into the Divine.
Things like this are edifying to the soul
As one of those young people, I'm gladly able to help in the misunderstandings that may occur.
a. It's not a nostalgia, and it's most certainly not a fashion, or a fad.
It's impossible to be nostalgic to something that we don't memories of. Bear in mind that all of us young people were born well after the 2nd Vatican Council (the blogger 1985, a full 20 years some odd well after the conclusion of the Council). All of us have grown up with the Novus Ordo (Ordinary Form) since our birth. Many of us have experienced Liturgies that were "lacking" (and that's being rather kind). Between inviting all of us to the altar, surrounding priests for the Consecration, to "altar calls" with some subjective, how has the Lord affected my life that sounded like it came straight out of a self help book, to the Pouring of Jesus after the Consecration, and added on top of an attempted Catholic attempt at rock music which sounded as pathetic as the modern Justin Bieber, but didn't quite get that low. The youth were the subjects of Liturgical experiment after experiment...(Yes, everything I mentioned actually did happen at my parish growing up). And while emotionally "filling" (or epically lame depending on your point of view), none of these things substantially dwelled or edifies our souls. Why? Because it was exactly what we knew from our everyday culture, and we didn't need to come to church to find this. As much as I mock pop culture at times, there are good things within it....Everyone has the desire for Truth within them, and they're going to go where this desire can be substantially filled. The OF as celebrated in average everyday parish at St Liturgical Abuse, while most certainly Jesus is there because the OF is a valid Catholic rite, I can't really say at least from my own experience that it takes people out of the ordinary.
b. It's not the ordinary everyday experience, the reverence, the order and beauty all fill our crying hearts.
As alluded to earlier, if we wanted to go to a rock concert, jazz concert, tango dance, etc, those things are easily within access, and the Church does not need to provide those things to be found. We go to Mass (or Divine Liturgy) to adore God, to beg pardon for our sins, to thank Him for our needs, and to pray for others and ourselves. While most certainly these things can be done outside of Mass context, in justice by the virtue of religion, we do these things because of our love for God and His Holy Church.
The chanting (whether Gregorian or Byzantine) lifts our hearts and minds towards our Heavenly Father, and takes us away from reality and towards the Divine in ways that contemporary or modern music can't even attempt to achieve. Though rest assured if you want emotional, sappy, feeling stuff, contemporary music does that quite well. (Although believe me, a good Dies Irae can definitely be very moving)
While most certainly the NO can be done very reverently and absolutely beautifully (need we look at the examples of our beloved Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI for this)...I don't think it can be said that the reverence is built into the Mass itself. How can that be said? The variety in which the NO is celebrated, from clown Masses, to beautiful Gregorian Masses, shows that the degree of reverence that is shown is subject to the person celebrating, and this is indeed a problem. When subjectivity becomes our basis, that only leads down painful roads in which to some degree we're living out the consequences of such. In the EF (TLM) or Divine Liturgy, the person of the priest is gone....all of the rubrics point to the person of Christ. (Again, not to say that these things can't occur in the NO, they do, but to a lesser degree)....there's a rigidity to the forms, we know exactly what to expect. Every bow (genuflection) is for a reason, always pointing us to something higher. The precision in which the rubrics are done gives an order to an often disordered world.
Quite to the contrary, beautiful vestments are not a distraction (nor should they be donated to the poor) they lift us up because God is Beauty itself. The beauty shows how much we love God in the sense that we give back to God the most beautiful, because He in His mercy created us to love Him. The vestments that are plain are actually a distraction because they point to the ordinary, the cheapness in which somethings are done, believe me are noticed, even if in the subconscious, and often the question is asked "Is this how much we love God?" If we treat Him like this, what's the point. Again, it's the point about dragging us out of the ordinary and into the Divine.
Things like this are edifying to the soul
Things like this, not so much:
The times of today, there's not rushing through prayers, there is a love, and a beauty which is not there for the most part in the OF as practiced in everyday parishes. We youth do notice these things, and while this is not meant to be an exhaustive post on why the traditional Liturgies are attracting, it's meant to help those that don't know, see, appreciate and love the Traditional forms of Liturgy.
Oh, but I'm not quite done, lest anyone think otherwise. Of course we must certainly be careful that the Liturgy does not become a form of idolatry, and while it's not the "Liturgical form" that saves us per se, Christ DOES act through the Liturgy, and it is He that redeems us through the Cross, and saves us, so far as we persevere in the end....so in that sense, one can say the Liturgy can indeed save the world. If my memory serves right, one of our presidents, I think it was John Adams, once went to a Catholic Mass, and saw it sloppily celebrated, and didn't convert because of that. So I thus think that it indeed quite important that Liturgy be celebrated well, and why I'm in support of the Liturgical movement.
So yes, do pay attention, and see where we're heading. The ugly will not attract, beauty will. And while certainly we youth still struggle with various sins, we're certainly trying...and for this, we'd rather not appreciate being mocked, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Pax Vobis
31 January 2014
The Divine Liturgy epistle from Weds.
James 3:11-4:6 From the DRB
Doth a fountain send forth, out of the same hole, sweet and bitter water? [12] Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear grapes; or the vine, figs? So neither can the salt water yield sweet. [13]Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew, by a good conversation, his work in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your hearts; glory not, and be not liars against the truth. [15] For this is not wisdom, descending from above: but earthly, sensual, devilish.
[16] For where envying and contention is, there is inconstancy, and every evil work. [17] But the wisdom, that is from above, first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, without dissimulation. [18] And the fruit of justice is sown in peace, to them that make peace. Doth a fountain send forth, out of the same hole, sweet and bitter water?
From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not hence, from your concupiscences, which war in your members? [2] You covet, and have not: you kill, and envy, and can not obtain. You contend and war, and you have not, because you ask not. [3] You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences. [4]Adulterers, know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think that the scripture saith in vain: To envy doth the spirit covet which dwelleth in you?
[6] But he giveth greater grace. Wherefore he saith: God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble
I was singing the epistle and somethings came to mind…in particular in verse 3 (I don't dare quote the NAB, which was the translation used in the Liturgy): You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences.
As we know from the catechism, concupiscence is the tendency towards sin, or an intense human desire.
We often times put ourselves first, when we're asking for things in prayer. I know I tend to fall into this trap too. So often we often ask, Why doesn't God answer our prayers…and often times the answer given is that God answers all prayers, and in His will, this is most certainly true, but perhaps, also we asked for something that will confirm us in our weaknesses? (Think of, I really want that 105' flat screen ;)….or I want car x)…God in His infinite Wisdom, knows our weaknesses and He will not confirm us in our weaknesses, as He wants us to get closer to Him…and confirming us in our weaknesses will not do such.
Perhaps the questions we should ask when praying are:
1. Does what I'm asking for lead me closer to Him? If yes, ask in prayer…if NOT, don't.
2. Am I seeking to do my own will or God's? Of course the latter isn't given with some lightbulb moment with unicorns and dancing rainbows.
Another thing that came to my mind during the singing of the Epistle: in verse 6 "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. "
Pride is of course a major form of idolatry, and all of us can fall into it. It comes in its various forms. I can tell you for myself, I'm one of the most self-determined people on the face of the planet….often times there are times when I should break myself and seek help, but I refuse because I do not want the help. (I of course am trying to fix this, but it's rather difficult)…giving grace to the humble. But of course humility is not merely a public display. Humility is the recognition that everything is God's first, yours last. (if at all). As I've mentioned before on this blog it'd be a false sense of humility to place one's own preferences ahead of one's duties. Something that comes to mind is the letter Pope Benedict XVI sent to the Bishops involving the removing of the excommunications of the SSPX Bishops. His grace is most certainly a free gift, we must certainly choose to accept it.
Upon doing some self reflecting, I can see situations where I've done the exact opposite of humility. It's quite tempting to want to go in and change things right away. (In certain situations it's absolutely necessary)….It's more humble to work with someone you disagree with than overtake them with might. The questions to think on humility are:
1. Do we recognize our gifts as from God, or from our own so called merits?
2. Are there situations where we exalt ourselves and our own preferences rather than working within what is given?
I pray that all of us are able to grow in both our prayer life and our humility in our daily lives and actions.
Pax Vobis
26 January 2014
Troparion for the 36th Su after Pentecost
Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, for the Lord has shown the might of His arm. By His death, the Lord has trampled Death, He has become the first-born on of the dead. He has delivered us from the death of Hades, and has granted great mercy to the world.
Music here
Music here
18 January 2014
18 November 2013
Has the Liturgy become subjective?
I hear often times in various circles that it doesn't matter how Mass is celebrated, all that matters is that Jesus is there. Stop worrying about the music, the rubrics, etc. And while I sympathize with much of this...it just can't be done. The commandments and the virtues do not allow us to be so indifferent towards things.
Justice as defined in the catechism is as follows: 1807 Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue of religion." Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. the just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. "You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor."68 "Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven."69
That is to say that it is Justice to give back to God what we ought to. It is not necessarily that God per se, needs our gratitude, God is God, but it is proper for us to give back to Him who gave us life right worship, correctly and by the rubrics established by Holy Mother Church.
The virtue of justice commands us to follow the rubrics of Holy Mother Church...everyone, the Pope included is not exempt from this. The virtue of justice means that we give to God the best e have, nothing banal, anthrocentric, devoid of beauty. It is justice that requires of us that we give to God the most solemn worship possible.
In the Christian East there is no such thing as "low Mass"...everything is sung. This the normative for the Roman Liturgy as well, the sung solemn Mass is the norm for the Roman Church, anything less is an exception to the norm and not the norm established by the Church.
One might say, but what if Father has a horrible voice ala Justin Bieber? Well, as my mom used to say, God gave us a voice, we ought to use it. (She always complained that I never sung in church....of course with Haugen-Haas greatest hits, can you blame me for not singing? ;)...even though I was no perfect Catholic as a child, I knew horrible music when I heard it :p)...(of course now I'm always singing at church (see what happens when there's good music, I sing ;))...God cares that we try to give justice to Him...
The willful ignoring of the rubrics of Holy Mother Church leads to an elevation of the dictatorship of relativism which goes on in our culture. Our love for God should command us to justice to serve the rubrics of Holy Mother Church and not disobey them at arms command.
One could very well argue with our Liturgically indifferent Pope at present that this is a contribution to the losing of the culture war. We can't transform the world if we don't have our relationship/worship with God correct. This isn't to say that from the Mass should flow certain things (Mass is meritorious in of itself regardless of the persons cooperation (or lack there of) with graces received)...but if we veil Jesus Christ at the Liturgy, how in the world do we bring Christ into the world? We don't, or we bring in a distorted version of Christ that is at the service of us, rather than us at the service of Him.
For example, that Christ supports gov't program x, or that Christ would support so called gay marriage, is this the Christ that we're supposed to bring into the universe? I don't think so.
Our understanding of Jesus primarily comes from the Liturgy, it is where He comes in His love for us Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, it is He who we need to bring out to transform the world, but this can't be done at the expense of our Liturgy.
Religion also follows under this justice. Religion, listening to our leaders (when they preach the orthodox Faith) comes under the virtue of justice. It is difficult, especially since the dis-enlightenment which wanted to define man as the centre of the world. This is especially true in American society which has its moments of independent mindset...We become selfish and we in a way become like the rich fool in the parable of the foolish rich man where we get concerned about ourselves and not about the 2 great commandments to Love God and to love neighbor.
The Church and her Liturgy is not a subjective thing where our own opinions matter....no, no, we are but humble servants to the Liturgy and we follow her rubrics out of Love for our God, period. The rubrics emancipate us as to focus on Christ himself.
Pax Vobis
Justice as defined in the catechism is as follows: 1807 Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue of religion." Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. the just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. "You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor."68 "Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven."69
That is to say that it is Justice to give back to God what we ought to. It is not necessarily that God per se, needs our gratitude, God is God, but it is proper for us to give back to Him who gave us life right worship, correctly and by the rubrics established by Holy Mother Church.
The virtue of justice commands us to follow the rubrics of Holy Mother Church...everyone, the Pope included is not exempt from this. The virtue of justice means that we give to God the best e have, nothing banal, anthrocentric, devoid of beauty. It is justice that requires of us that we give to God the most solemn worship possible.
In the Christian East there is no such thing as "low Mass"...everything is sung. This the normative for the Roman Liturgy as well, the sung solemn Mass is the norm for the Roman Church, anything less is an exception to the norm and not the norm established by the Church.
One might say, but what if Father has a horrible voice ala Justin Bieber? Well, as my mom used to say, God gave us a voice, we ought to use it. (She always complained that I never sung in church....of course with Haugen-Haas greatest hits, can you blame me for not singing? ;)...even though I was no perfect Catholic as a child, I knew horrible music when I heard it :p)...(of course now I'm always singing at church (see what happens when there's good music, I sing ;))...God cares that we try to give justice to Him...
The willful ignoring of the rubrics of Holy Mother Church leads to an elevation of the dictatorship of relativism which goes on in our culture. Our love for God should command us to justice to serve the rubrics of Holy Mother Church and not disobey them at arms command.
One could very well argue with our Liturgically indifferent Pope at present that this is a contribution to the losing of the culture war. We can't transform the world if we don't have our relationship/worship with God correct. This isn't to say that from the Mass should flow certain things (Mass is meritorious in of itself regardless of the persons cooperation (or lack there of) with graces received)...but if we veil Jesus Christ at the Liturgy, how in the world do we bring Christ into the world? We don't, or we bring in a distorted version of Christ that is at the service of us, rather than us at the service of Him.
For example, that Christ supports gov't program x, or that Christ would support so called gay marriage, is this the Christ that we're supposed to bring into the universe? I don't think so.
Our understanding of Jesus primarily comes from the Liturgy, it is where He comes in His love for us Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, it is He who we need to bring out to transform the world, but this can't be done at the expense of our Liturgy.
Religion also follows under this justice. Religion, listening to our leaders (when they preach the orthodox Faith) comes under the virtue of justice. It is difficult, especially since the dis-enlightenment which wanted to define man as the centre of the world. This is especially true in American society which has its moments of independent mindset...We become selfish and we in a way become like the rich fool in the parable of the foolish rich man where we get concerned about ourselves and not about the 2 great commandments to Love God and to love neighbor.
The Church and her Liturgy is not a subjective thing where our own opinions matter....no, no, we are but humble servants to the Liturgy and we follow her rubrics out of Love for our God, period. The rubrics emancipate us as to focus on Christ himself.
Pax Vobis
04 November 2013
Thought of the day
This is very soothing...May our mouths be filled with Your Praise O Lord so that we may sing of your glory, for You have deemed us worthy to partake of Your Holy, divine immortal, pure and life creating mysteries. Keep us in Your holiness so that all the day long we may live according Your Truth. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia :)
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