Occupying One House

“The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout the whole world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She likewise believes these things just as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down, as if she possessed but one mouth. For, while the languages of the world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the Tradition is one and the same.”
—St. Irenaeus
Against Heresies 1, 10, 2, c. AD 190

Occupying One House

I’ve been thinking about faith and the Church lately, I tend to do that a lot around Christmas time. It’s been especially important this year because of all the hubbub over Pope Francis rather unpredictable activities over the past year, especially the bungled Extraordinary Synod in October. The result of all this is that I’m reminding myself once again that my faith isn’t in the pope, he is human and can make mistakes. Rather, my faith is in the person of Jesus, whom I know about through occupying the one house St. Irenaeus wrote about all those years ago. It is the Church, the one house, that has custody of the preaching and faith that has been handed down to her and she has faithfully guarded. True, there have been momentary blips in time, I think we’re experiencing one now, where things seem dismal, but looking over the entire history of the Church, she has never wavered from the truth that, “the authority of the Tradition is one and the same,” it cannot change. I believe we can trust this to be true because, looking back from the beginning, despite detours along the way, the Tradition handed on by the Church has not changed.

Occupying One House

I’ve only just begun reading Newman’s An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine for the first time. I think, from the little I’ve read so far, this is what Newman is saying. He starts right off with the statement that the Christian religion is a historical fact. He means, I believe, that there is written record of the faith going back to the time of Christ and that the teachings of the Church have been written about since that time and those writings still exist. One common argument made by non-Catholics is that, somehow, at some time, the belief and practices of the very early Church were adulterated, changed and diluted and the practices of the Church today bear no relationship to them. They constantly long to return to the “first century church.”

I’ve long thought that, if you’re going to make that argument, you need to be able to document who made the changes, what changes were made, and when they were made. There is enough of a written record that exists to do so. Yet, it isn’t commonly done because it can’t be, the record doesn’t support that claim; those who make those kinds of arguments are forced to ignore history. It’s especially interesting that Newman looks at history and not the Church Fathers because individual fathers can be contradictory of each other and some even seem to support teachings we now recognized as heresies; the lived out Tradition of the Church holds the key. Newman, I think, is taking the longer view that history offers; he makes that explicit in a famous quote:

“It is melancholy to say it, but the chief, perhaps the only English writer who has any claim to be considered an ecclesiastical historian, is the unbeliever Gibbon. To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.”

Occupying One House

In this Christmas season, we look back at the birth of the Child in Bethlehem, we celebrate a historical event in Salvation History. But it’s important also to look forward in our own lives and the life of the world and do our best to remain faithful stewards of the faith. That is the best way to ensure we continue to live out the reality of occupying the one house of faith in Jesus Christ.

An Unprofitable Effort

A 7 Quick Takes Post as hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler at her  Conversion Diary blog.

-1-

This is a quote from St. Symeon the New Theologian, an Eastern saint:

“The aim of all those who live in God is to please our Lord Jesus Christ and become reconciled with God the Father through receiving the Holy Spirit, thus securing their salvation, for in this consists the salvation of every soul. If this aim and this activity is lacking, all other labour is useless and all other striving is in vain. Every path of life which does not lead to this is without profit.”

-2-

I’ve been pondering the events of the recent Synod, and all the electronic ink spilled over the event. It seems nearly every blog and Catholic news outlet has weighed in with an opinion on the topics covered by the bishops. I can’t help but wonder if there aren’t far too many Catholics more involved in Church politics than in building the faith. Has all of this controversy been a good thing? Has the Church been helped by it all? I think it’s been greatly harmed. I wish more people would heed the words of St. Symeon, “if [reconciliation with God] and this activity is lacking, all other labour is useless . . .”

-3-

I like to make up these meager blog posts on my iPad. In the past, I’ve used the Pages app from Apple, but this week Microsoft made their Office 365 apps available free on mobile devices. The switch seemed a no-brainer since the Office 365 apps are virtually the same as  the PC versions. However, it seems they are no where near as stable as the PC version. I had this post completed, almost completed, when I decided to copy a quote from the web and it came in an extremely large font. In trying to correct this, I managed to wipe out the entire post with one keystroke. Gone forever.   Ain’t technology grand?

-4-

Am I the only one who thinks that we’ve reached the saturation point with football on TV? I’m beginning to think so; when 30 million people tune in to watch the Cowboys and the Seahawks you might think something in society is a bit out of whack. On a personal level, the thought crosses my mind that I’d rather watch 3 hours of Mark Udall speeches than another football game.   I enjoy football as much as the next guy, but maybe we’re being fed far too much of a good thing.  Just sayin . . .

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An article this past week by George Weigel tells about the work being by a Professor Alan Guth on the Big-Bang Theory. He refers to an article about Dr. Guth that appeared in the Boston Globe.

“The universe is roughly 13.8 billion years old, and it began from a patch of material packed with this repulsive gravity. The patch was . . . tiny—one 100-billionth the size of a single proton. But the repulsive gravity was like a magic wand, doubling the patch in size every tenth of a trillionth or a trillionth of a second. And it waved its doubling power over the patch about 100 times in a row, until it got to the size of [a] marble. And that happened within a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a second. As a point of comparison, the smallest fraction of time that the average human being can detect is about one-tenth of a second.”

As Mr. Weigel points out, the question is begged, what happened just before that first trillionth trillionth of a second?  Physical scientists are coming around to that fact it’s impossible to know and, therefore, the possibility of a Creator can’t be ruled out. It’s only those working in the life sciences, that breeding ground of militant atheists, that are still incapable of recognizing such a question exists. It’s an interesting article and you can see the whole thing HERE.

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This must be the week for reading newspapers. An article in the Wall Street Journal last week reviewed Amazon’s new Kindle. It may just be the best thing to come down the pike since fur lined underwear, according to the reviewer.  However, unlike most e-reader commenters, he doesn’t venture into electronic vs print book controversy, rather he looks at dedicated e-readers vs e-books on tablets. In doing so, he makes the interesting point that reading books on tablets is a sure way to invite distraction from email and other message notifications. He says, “Reading books shouldn’t be part of a multi-tasking regimen. If we’re going to remain literate in the years to come, we need to think about how we read, and not just what we read.”

I agree that we need to think of both, but can’t get to the idea that electronic books are the way to do that. The thought keeps crossing my mind that, if the internet was ever hijacked by people of evil intent, or if somehow the power ever goes out (conspiracy nut? Nah) all those books on the web would be gone. Yes, it’s possible to burn print books, but all of them?  BTW, it’s been a long time since I’ve thought multi-tasking of any kind was a good idea.

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Do ya’ think?

“Morning Showers Should End by Early Afternoon”—headline, Atlanta Journal-Constitution website, Nov. 6

H/Tt to the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto’s Best of the Web Today from last Friday.

 

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Come Cross, Fire, or Mangling of Limbs

A Seven Quick Takes post, as hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler at her Conversion Diary blog

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St Ignatius of Antoch

Today is the memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch.

“It is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name…Come fire, cross, battling with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of my whole body, cruel tortures of the Devil–Only let me get to Jesus Christ!”
― St. Ignatius of Antioch

(2)
In all the kerfuffle surrounding the Synod, about to conclude it’s efforts this week, it’s good to remember what St. Ignatius said so long ago, that come “battling with wild beasts, mangling of limbs, crushing of my whole body, cruel tortures of the Devil–Only let me get to Jesus Christ!” Our faith isn’t in the Church, it’s in the person of Jesus Christ; the Church will fade away in the last days and, above all, is a human institution.

(3)
As I said, above, the Extraordinary Synod closes on Sunday, mercifully. I say “mercifully” because it looks like so far it has produced only chaos and confusion. I have to admit, there are times when I think the Church is her own worst enemy; producing a document that makes only those who have no real love for or understanding of the Church happy seems counterproductive, at best. The bishops managed this by using language that is clear to no one, a “cardinal” error (pun intended). Yet, the draft relatio is a meaningless thing that should soon evaporate into the ether. Earlier this week I read these words, from Thomas Peters (HERE), and they are worth keeping in mind. (I originally saw this reference here.)

“There are plenty of good people who are going to interpret these recent developments as signs of the end times. That doesn’t help anything. The Holy Spirit won’t let the church fall into error, and the same Holy Spirit is calling you, and all of us, to build up the church.”

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It might also be good to remember, concerning the efforts of the bishops in Rome, that all of us, including them, are mere human beings and certainly prone to error. I was reminded of this in a joke which Fr. David pastor of our parish used to open his homily this past weekend:

Fr. O’Brien, a good old Irish priest, was preparing the third grade class at the parish school for their upcoming first communion. To test their readiness, he asked the class to recite Scripture passages for each of the 7 sacraments.

“OK, who can give me a Bible passage for Baptism?”

Little Janie piped up, “Unless you are baptized in water and the Spirit, you have no life in you.”

Father said, “Very good Janie, you’ve done well in your classes, I can tell. Now, who can recite a Bible verse for the Sacrament of Reconciliation?”

Little Bobby raised his hand. “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Fr. O’Brien was very pleased and complemented Bobby for his excellent response.

Then he said, “OK, who can give me a verse for the Sacrament of Marriage?” There was dead silence and no child raised their hand.

Soon Father said, “Come now, someone must know the answer to this question!” The children could see he was getting a little impatient but still there was no response until suddenly a timid little voice could be heard from the back of the classroom, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do!”

(5)
I am going through my annual calendar hunt this year. I can’t believe it’s time to acquire a datebook already. When I retired, I expected that I would no longer need or use a planner or agenda since the days would be long and leisurely and there would be no meetings to attend and no schedule to keep. Boy, did I get that wrong. I forgot about doctor appointments, dentist appointments, clarinet lessons to remember, planning times for workouts at the gym, and so on and so forth. Even though retired, I still need to keep track of dates and times requiring my presence.

At work, I mostly used the calendar on Outlook and also kept a large(ish) generic monthly planner from Office Max or Office Depot, the At-A-Glance type. Last year, I used a loose leaf folio with Franklin Planner monthly calendar tabs. The problem with that was it’s rather bulky and difficult to carry around. I’m toying with the idea of getting a Moleskine extra large 18 month planner but have made no decision as of yet. Ah, the challenges of living the retired life.

(6)
That said, it is true that I have fewer appointments and a much looser schedule to keep. The reason I need a planner isn’t because these dates to remember are so copious, it’s because they aren’t and, if not kept track of, tend to be forgotten. I am already scheduling annual appointments and other things in the early months of 2015. If I don’t write them down, and remember where I wrote them down, I’ll soon forget they exist. Sometimes, I think this blending of days, one into another, a blessing, and I frequently try to remind myself of the importance of being fully present in the moment.

(7)
Since I’m doing weekly quotes from Thomas Merton, I thought I’d point out a development concerning his published journals on Kindle. All of them have been available on Kindle for some time but at nearly the full price you’d pay for hard copies. I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that several of the volumes are now available for less than $5.00 each, quite a bargain.

I go back and forth, sometimes several times a day, over the relative merits of having a book on Kindle vs. having, and reading, the hard copy. I think, generally, I prefer using hard copy of any given book, but when you think about buying a full set of books like Merton’s Journals, which could approach $100 in hard copy, against being able to acquire the same set electronically for less than $30, the electronic version becomes quite attractive.

The Way Back Machine

A 7 Quick Takes Post sponsored by Jennifer Fulwiler on her Conversion Diary blog.

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I decided to return to blogging, though on a part-time basis. I’m not sure why since I have little more to say than when I left off nearly two months ago. I’m not sure why because, in planning such a return, I would have liked to have had two or three months preparation time, time to do much more reading than I’ve done this year, and time to get a few posts put together ahead of time. In any case, I guess the spirit moveth where it listeth, so here I am back with a partial restart of the blog. In other words, I may not return to a full schedule of posts until January or thereabouts, if at all.

(2)

You will notice that the blog has a new name. A while back, I questioned how things on this site fit together and furthered some purpose. While away, it dawned on me that Hilaire Belloc had come up with the perfect title way back in 1902 or thereabouts. The Path to Rome was exactly what I was hoping to write about, my own path to Rome. My original intent was to share the experience, my own experience, of conversion, a conversion that is still very much on-going and far from completed at that Easter Vigil in 1995 when I made things official. I’m still in conversion and still on the path to Rome, so, I’m stealing a title from Old Thunder, like a thief in the night. I hope he doesn’t mind too much.

(3)

I won’t abandon projects previously started, especially having some focus on good Catholic books. I may broaden the scope a little to focus on good books in general, but I think that’s still fair. Books were an essential part of my conversion and, I think, necessary for continued conversion. The old computer slogan, GIGO, applies very much to one on the path to Rome. It’s important to have good things to feed our minds with in order not to get sidetracked.

(4)

A further development: In the next week or two, I’m hoping to try the Latin Mass again. There are a few logistical obstacles to doing so, time and distance being primary among them; the Mass isn’t offered at a great time for my wife and some meds she has to take, and the FSSP parish here is 15 miles or more away. Also, I still find Latin a daunting proposition even though I’ve begun the study of the language. However, knowledge of the Extraordinary Form seems to be a missing piece in my formation as a Catholic. I can’t help but think it’s something, on the order of the Pledge of Allegiance for American citizens, the every Catholic should know intimately. I’ll update here as appropriate.

(5)

Speaking of learning Latin, I found this little couplet that perfectly describes my feelings about it:

Latin is a language as dead as dead can be,
First it killed the Romans, now it’s killing me.

(6)

I will also be updating my clarinet studies as time goes on. There have been ups and downs but my teacher seems generally satisfied with how things are going. He made an interesting comment on Saturday last. He said he enjoyed our sessions because “(I) get it.” He was mostly referring to keeping tempo and understanding something about musical notation, not any particular virtuosity I am displaying as a clarinetist. But that wasn’t the interesting part. He told me he has students who can’t count, one who can’t even count to two. We didn’t have time to get into details, though I couldn’t help but wonder if this is a sign of the quality of education these days, or a symptom of a lack of coordination due to kids playing too many video games and not being out exploring in the woods. I found it an intriguing comment and would love to know more.

(7)

Tuesday was the feast of St. Jerome. In the readings from Vigils for the day, there is a passage from St. Jerome’s homily on Isaiah, the one where he says, “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” But that wasn’t the part that struck me as most interesting. In the homily, he also describes sound waves striking a persons eardrum. It’s amazing how smart those old folks really were.

A Sorry Sort of Saint

A 7 Quick Takes Post, hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler of Conversion Diary

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A saint who is sorry is a sorry sort of saint. St. Francis de Sales

(2)

There was an interesting article in our local Catholic newspaper by a physicist who was also an Anglican priest before he came home to Rome. He writes about buying a new laptop and, first thing, being forced to sign up for a Microsoft “account”, an idea he found disgusting. His solution? Go out and buy the necessary parts and build himself a computer, one with a lot of memory, 1 Terrabyte of space on the hard drive, a generic operating system, and no connection to the internet. I have to say, I find the idea fascinating, given my near addiction to all things electronic. I can’t help but think people would be better off not being so connected to what purports to be the world.

(3)

Browsing the web this week, I came across an interesting article on the Slate web site by someone named Michael Robbins, a review of a new book by Nick Spencer Atheists, The Origin of the Species. The book, it seems, takes the path already well trod by the likes of Richard Dawkins and other “evangelical atheists” and treats faith as belief in some primitive myth. Robbins does a pretty good job showing the poverty of that idea.

“What’s most galling about evangelical atheists is their epistemic arrogance—and their triumphalist tone: If religious belief is like belief in the Easter Bunny, as they like to say, shouldn’t they be less proud of themselves for seeing through it? [John] Gray put the matter starkly:

‘Driven to the margins of a culture in which science claims authority over all of human knowledge, [religious believers] have had to cultivate a capacity for doubt. In contrast, secular believers—held fast by the conventional wisdom of the time—are in the grip of unexamined dogmas.'”

The point I find most interesting is that such an article should appear in a venue like Slate, a left leaning web journal/magazine. A sign of hope that maybe there is the tiniest bit of awakening to new ideas among those on the left?

(4)

My adventures with the clarinet continue after a frustrating week of life and death struggle over trivial matters. I had been making pretty good progress until I hit the challenge of playing, in tempo, a dotted quarter note followed by a half note, in two/four time. It blew my mind. However, come time for the lesson and I played all but one of the assigned exercises to my instructors satisfaction. He was of the opinion that the assignments he had given me to play were, in fact, far too easy for me and my frustration resulted from boredom, so he has upped the challenge for the coming week. Boredom won’t be a problem for the next several days and I should have kept my mouth shut.

(5)

I can’t believe that in two weeks or less, NFL training camps will open, for me always a harbinger of fall. I know that idea isn’t completely reasonable but once football news starts hitting the headlines, it seems only a moment until the season opener, then the falling leaves, and then Halloween and All Saints Day. Time flies, it seems all the faster since I retired.

(6)

We now have a humanitarian crisis developing all across the country and our borders are now virtually non-existent. One has to wonder why. From all I can gather, this is what was once known as a “man caused disaster” and perhaps it’s time that our leaders, rather than putting political gain first, a fault on both sides of the political spectrum, our leaders began to take on the challenge of governing.

(7)

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” Jonathan Swift

 

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Angels Resigned and Sullen

A 7 Quick Takes post as hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler at her Conversion Diary blog.

(1)
“Those who, to please their listeners, avoid giving a forthright declaration of the will of God become the slaves of those they would please, and abandon the service of God.” — St. Basil the Great

(2)
This week my former Presbyterian denomination voted to allow their pastors to perform same sex “weddings” in states where such activity is legal. I’m sure there are a large number of those who remain affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) who are strongly opposed to this move and are doing a lot of anguished soul searching regarding their future journey in faith. I personally went through that same experience at a much earlier stage in the PCUSAs self-destructive process and I sympathize greatly. I’m also grateful that, as a Catholic, my faith isn’t something held up to a vote every two years with all the uncertainty and instability associated with such practice. Please pray for those faithful Christians adversely affected by this sadly misguided vote.

(3)
“There is one more thing: I may be interested in Oriental religions, etc., but there can be no obscuring the essential difference—this personal communion with Christ at the center and heart of all reality, as a source of grace and life.” Thomas Merton

As much as he was involved with the peace movement and Oriental spiritualities, especially in the last years of his life, a careful reading of Merton will nearly always provide a reminder that he never forgot or abandoned “the essential difference” between Catholicism and those other paths. I think that’s forgotten far too often and allows Merton to be used as an excuse for almost any diversion from the truth. That’s a shame.

(4)
The work with the clarinet is proceeding apace. I’ve now had the third or fourth lesson and am learning to produce a more or less real clarinet sound and refreshing my memories on how to read music. There have been times over the last week when the last thing I wanted to do was spend 45 minutes to an hour practicing on the horn, but I am beginning to make a bit of progress and enjoying the challenge.

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“We cannot pass our guardian angel’s bounds, resigned or sullen; he will hear our sighs.” — Saint Augustine

Happened to catch Mike Aquilina on The Journey Home program this week and he talked for a couple of minutes during the program about the importance of angels in our lives and how little the average Catholic knows about them. It was sort of a jolt because I don’t give a lot of thought to the topic of angels and the role they play in being Catholic. I realized I’d like to know more since I figure I need all the help I can get and it’s also a very beautiful and even Scriptural aspect of our faith. I’m not sure there are many books on the topic but I think I’ll begin looking into the subject. I wonder if my neglect makes my guardian angel resigned or sullen. I hope not.

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I’ve been thinking about the role church architecture plays in the celebration of the Mass. Our local parish church is a left over from the late 1950s to early 1960s in terms of design and atmosphere. In other words it’s very sterile and a Presbyterian entering the place would feel quite at home. I think it’s been having an effect on me lately, even to the point of my not being able to keep my thoughts wandering far and wide during the Liturgy. I don’t normally have the problem in such a severe form and the only factor I can attribute is the design of church building itself. I know that attending Mass in our local Cathedral, a building now over 100 years old, offers a very different and more awe inspiring experience. Another topic I need to investigate.

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I’ve struggled with the post this week and done much editing to avoid descending into rant mode. Never a good thing. I hope next week will see an improvement in attitude on my part.

Knowing When to Stop

A couple of weeks ago, I considered the project of doing a 7 Quick Takes post written by the Early Church Fathers and the Saints, allowing them to have a chance to speak for themselves.  I debated the idea for a week or two, but how could I argue with the saints?  Here are the “quick takes” they offered me.

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“A clear rule for self-control handed down by the Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied.” St. John Chrysostom

(2)
“There is no subject on which the average mind is so much confused as the subject of tolerance and intolerance. Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to principles. Intolerance applies only to principles, but never to persons.” – Archbishop Fulton Sheen

(3)
“We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other?” – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

(4)
“We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” – St. Charles Borromeo

(5)
“He who labors as he prays lifts his heart to God with his hands.” – St. Benedict of Nursia

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“In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; invoking her, you shall never lose heart.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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And, in honor of Corpus Christi on Sunday:

“Out of his loving-kindness for us he came to us, and we see this in the way he revealed himself openly to us. Taking pity on mankind’s weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us. He did not want creation to perish and his Father’s work in fashioning man to be in vain. He therefore took to himself a body, no different from our own, for he did not wish simply to be in a body or only to be seen.” – St. Athanasius

 

 

Something Loose Knit and Yet Not Slovenly . . .

Miscellaneous Musings on Wednesday

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Reading diary excerpts again and stumbled across this from Miss Virginia Wolfe:

“I got out this diary and read, as one always does read one’s own writing, with a kind of guilty intensity. I confess that the rough and random style of it, often so ungrammatical, and crying for a word altered, afflicted me somewhat. I am trying to tell whichever self it is that reads this hereafter that I can write very much better; and take no time over this; and forbid her to let the eye of man behold it. And now I may add my little compliment to the effect that it has a slapdash and vigour and sometimes hits an unexpected bull’s eye. But what is more to the point is my belief that the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. Never mind the misses and the stumbles. Going at such a pace as I do I must make the most direct and instant shots at my object, and thus have to lay hands on words, choose them and shoot them with no more pause than is needed to put my pen in the ink. I believe that during the past year I can trace some increase of ease in my professional writing which I attribute to my casual half hours after tea. Moreover there looms ahead of me the shadow of some kind of form which a diary might attain to. I might in the course of time learn what it is that one can make of this loose, drifting material of life; finding another use for it than the use I put it to, so much more consciously and scrupulously, in fiction. What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. The main requisite, I think on re-reading my old volumes, is not to play the part of censor, but to write as the mood comes or of anything whatever; since I was curious to find how I went for things put in haphazard, and found the significance to lie where I never saw it at the time. But looseness quickly becomes slovenly. A little effort is needed to face a character or an incident which needs to be recorded. Nor can one let the pen write without guidance; for fear of becoming slack and untidy.” Diary of Virginia Wolfe

I don’t usually like to post long quotes, but this particular excerpt, in spite of its length, rather concisely conveys some of the best advice on writing I’ve found. It should be framed and hung on my wall somewhere I can spy it every day.

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Speaking of diaries, I can’t help but wonder if anyone reads them anymore, especially the famous ones, like that of Samuel Pepys. Ever heard of him? He started writing on 1 January 1660 and wrote daily for the next 3,468 days, missing only 11 days in the interim. He was, I think, anything but loose knit or slovenly; from all those pages one gets a pretty complete picture of the hedonistic, self-serving, vain, Mr. Pepys. For all his personal failings on display, and despite it’s antiquity, it’s still great reading to this day. In the process of all this work, done in addition to his work in the British Admiralty, he pretty much invented the diaristic art form. I wonder if he shouldn’t be considered the first distant ancestor of the blogging world of today? The patron saint of bloggers?  Then again, what does that say about bloggers.

(3)

I’m tempted at times to ask myself what is the greatest problem facing the Church today and I’m tempted to answer: the Church. It reminds me of the old Cold War joke about some old Communist, a delegate from the Soviet Union, came to visit the Vatican and boldly told one of the Cardinals that the Soviets intended to destroy the Church completely from the face of the earth. “Good luck,” the old Cardinal replied, “We’ve been trying to do it for 2,000 years.” I wonder if we’ll ever stop trying?

(4)

The clarinet lessons continue on. It was a terrible week for practice; seemed more like I was at war with the thing than playing it. There was a time or two I thought it would be best to take the thing back to the music store and start rubbing the cat’s ears instead. The question comes to mind, though, if that isn’t the kind of experience that leads to true improvement. I guess I’ll find out.

We Have the Same Boss

A 7 Quick Takes post, hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler
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“When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.” Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

I remember when Archbishop Sheen was on TV and hugely popular. At the time Milton Berle was king of Tuesday nights, but Sheen beat him out in terms of ratings; up to 10 million viewers a night tuned in to see him. Can you imagine anything like that happening today, especially considering the show was just him on a TV studio set with a chalk board; no fancy graphics, video, sound, nothing. Quite an accomplishment.

In case you’re interested, Berle was good natured about their rivalry, reportedly once joking that, “We both work for the same boss, Sky Chief Supreme,” referring to Texaco gasoline, the company that sponsored both their shows.

(2)
“Truth has nothing to do with the number of people it convinces.” Paul Claudel

(3)
The clarinet playing continues apace. After the second lesson, it looks like the pattern will be for me to practice a lot allowing the lessons to be opportunities to correct errors in technique and to build good habits, one small step at a time. I like that approach because I always felt, while playing in school, that there was never enough time to build a solid foundation in technique and just plain understanding of the instrument. As they say, onward and upward!

(4)
I saw in the news yesterday that an FSSP priest, 28 year old Fr. Kenneth Walker, was shot and killed in Phoenix. I haven’t heard any further news of what provoked the attack, if anything, but please take some extra time over this next week to pray for him and for the full recovery of the two priests who were also attacked and survived.

(5)
In fits and starts, we’ve begun to study Latin. I’ve had it in mind to start attending the Latin Mass again. Lately, as you might judge from the post of earlier this week, I go through spells when I think what’s been done to the Mass in the last half-century, is nearly criminal. All the mystery has been removed from it. The only solution appears to be returning to the pre-Vatican II Liturgy. To do that, though, I have a strong sense that I’d like to have, at a minimum, a rudimentary understanding of Latin. I don’t know if that’s really necessary or not, but the feeling is there.

The study itself is turning out to be a little easier than anticipated, there are only a few letters pronounced differently than in English, and the general principles of grammar seems easy enough to pick up. In any case, it’s keeping me busy in retirement.

(6)
I may have posted this quote from St. Ignatius recently, but I keep coming back to it, churning it over and over in my mind:

“Be slow to speak, and only after having first listened quietly, so that you may understand the meaning, leanings, and wishes of those who do speak. Thus you will better know when to speak and when to be silent.” Saint Ignatius

The thing I would desperately love to be better at is listening, and listening quietly, letting the other person make their point and respecting that. The first thing that came to mind after I read this quote is that what Ignatius is asking for is showing of the love of neighbor. He wants us to make the effort to get into the other person’s place and heart, to understand their leanings and meanings and wishes of someone who is speaking. That is actually quite difficult, for me anyway. It would be quite good to know when to speak, but most of all, when to keep silent.

(7)

“I tell you the solemn truth, that the doctrine of the Trinity is not so difficult to accept for a working proposition as any one of the axioms of physics.” Henry Adams

Sunday is the Most Holy Trinity. Henry Adams makes a great point, if you can believe what physicists seem to be saying about reality these days, you’d probably end up going insane, it’s so far beyond anything we seem to be able to comprehend. Yet, you’d believe it. Why not put some faith in the Holy Trinity.

Don’t Holler ‘til You’re Stuck

Growing up, when I began to complain about some imminent doom looming over my life, usually stemming from some horribly postponed homework assignment, my father would pipe up with the advice, delivered in his fading but still noticeable Glaswegian accent: “Don’t holler until you’re stuck”. In other words, calm down and worry when the worst actually happens, not before..

I bring this up because I've noticed the Catholic blog world heating up recently in the face of the upcoming Synod on the Family Pope Francis has called for October. Many are predicting doom and gloom based on, I believe, rather tenuous and questionable assumptions.

The fact is, we don’t know what to expect. The most recent news stories I can find date back to February of this year save for one story that Pope Paul VI will be beatified at the close of the synod and a story yesterday about a meeting with the press held by Cardinal Baldiserri, Secretary for the Synod of Bishops, about which see below. Very little that I can see has been formally announced as far as the agenda, goals, etc that Francis would like the synod to pursue, other than the infamous survey, whose results, as far as I know, haven't been released to the public. I do find some significance in the timing of Pope Paul’s beatification, since he is famous for issuing the encyclical Humane Vitae which strongly reaffirmed Church teaching on the sanctity of marriage and dignity of the human person. The encyclical was issued at a time when everyone expected Paul to “update” Church teachings on these issues. Very interesting. I also find interesting the handling of the LCWR in the statement issued concerning them by the CDF at the end of April; the sisters are not getting the treatment they expected from the Vatican after Pope Francis’ election. Also, very interesting.

Finally, Cardinal Baldiserri held a news conference earlier this week and had some important points to make, cautioning the press against jumping to conclusions. Here is a quote from a story on the Catholic News Agency site:

“Regarding the possibility for the synod of bishops of changing the doctrine of the Church,” Cardinal Baldisseri said, “I underscore that the First Vatican Council’s document ‘Dei Filius’ affirmed that ‘understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding.’”

The cardinal then continued: “And I also remind you that John XXIII said in the inaugural speech of the Second Vatican Council that ‘authentic doctrine … should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another.’”

If these statements are any indication, there's at least some of the bishops who understand that changing the doctrines of the Church can't be done in the name of finding “a deeper understanding”, and that studying a question is not the same as determining to change anything; it's study.

Forecasting is always a dangerous business, panic about some future event is even more futile, especially when based on assumptions, statements that may never have been made and other fantasies. Much can happen to change the expected course of events between now and October. Let’s everybody calm down and try not to holler before we’re stuck. Oh, and prayer is never a bad idea.

 

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