St. Bridget of Sweden for a Monday morning

"Monday, Monday . . . da, da, . . . da,da,da,da," as the Mamas and the Papas once sang. Indeed, another Monday dawns. Nonetheless, "this is the day that the Lord has made," the Psalmist wrote, "let us rejoice and be glad!" Rejoicing always is important, especially when we don't feel like it (Phil 4,4). It is safe to say if there is a time each week we probably feel least inclined to "rejoice and be glad" it is Monday morning. Try it, you might be surprised.

As we learn about today's Saint of the Day, a feature of the website of the St. Anthony Messenger Press, a Franciscan undertaking, St. Bridget of Sweden, whose memorial is today and who, along with Saints Catherine of Siena and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (i.e., Edith Stein), was named co-patroness of Europe by Pope John Paul II in a 1999 motu proprio entitled Spes Aedificandi, "Despite the hardships of life and wayward children (not all became saints), Margery Kempe of Lynn says Bridget was 'kind and meek to every creature' and 'she had a laughing face.'"

On this Monday we ask:

Holy Mary, Mother of God- pray for us
St. Bridget of Sweden- pray for us
St. Catherine of Siena- pray for us
St. Teresa Bendicta of the Cross- pray for us
St. Mary Magdalene- pray for us
St. Gianna Molla- pray for us
Sts. Perpetua and Felicity- pray for us
St. Clare- pray for us
Bl. Teresa of Calcutta- pray for us
All holy women- pray for us

Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene

Today the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene is observed as a solemnity at the parish to which I belong and have the privilege of serving, The Cathedral of the Madeleine. Mary Magdalene is known in the Tradition as apostola apostolorum, apostle to the apostles, because, as the first witness of the resurrection, a fact attested to by all four evangelists, she was sent by our resurrected Lord to tell the others disciples that He is risen!

This morning, as our lectio, let us consider the first eight verses of the sixteenth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel. Mark was the first of the canonical Gospels to be written, probably in Rome, shortly after 70 AD. These eight verses from Mark 16 constitute the original ending of this Gospel. It is easy to see how this ending might be found unsatisfactory and how it prompted a later, different, more humanly satisfying ending to this Gospel (i.e., verses 9-20), which is the most succinct account of the life, death, and resurrection of "Jesus Christ (the Son of God)" (Mk 1,1).

This is mostly taken from my lecture last Thursday.

Mark 16,1-8:
"When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, 'Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?' When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, 'Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, "He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

As a reflection let's consider a brief passage from pages 12-13 of the book Embracing Travail: Retrieving the Cross Today, by Dr. Cynthia Crysdale, a professor at the Catholic University of America. In these pages she takes up Mark's account when the women arrive "at the tomb on the first of the week ready to anoint the body, only to discover that it is gone." Crysdale asks, "Where is the salvation here? What is the theme of death and resurrection for these women?" Because, unlike the twelve, including Judas Iscariot, they did not betray or abandon Jesus during his passion and death, the meaning for these women "is not that of betrayal and subsequent forgiveness." In this encounter with the empty tomb it is not possible for them to discover "themselves as culpable murderers." Rather, just as they did as Jesus hung on the cross, at the empty tomb "they are 'looking on from a distance.'" Their response is a typically human one, they try to go back to doing to what they have always done, which, according to Dr. Crysdale, is to "take concrete care-taking action." But their encounter, their discovery of this world-changing, cosmic, event allows them no such comfort.

What this encounter with the empty grave forces them to do is to confront their powerlessness as sufferers of evil. "The moment of truth for these women," we learn, comes "when they must confront the dissolution of themselves, of their false assumptions." This moment comes precisely when they discover the empty grave. This is where we take up Mark 16,8: "This terse ending," Crysdale continues, "has baffled many for years" and "reveals how shocking this encounter must have been for these women" (pg 12)

"The possibility of resurrection challenged these women's powerlessness, as well as their traditional ways of coping. In watching the crucifixion these women had to come to terms with their own impotence in the face of evil. In the resurrection of Jesus this lack of power could be transformed. What also had to be transformed, however, was the women's traditional roles as 'copers' with evil (they were not able, after all, to anoint Jesus). They were confronted with the possibility of being true Selves, and this possibility was both exhilarating and terrifying. Whatever their response, new life was offered to these women not as a forgiveness of sins but as a freedom from powerlessness." (pgs 12-13)

Christ's resurrection, which for us is experienced both as a forgiveness of sins and as a liberation from powerlessness, also confronts us with the possibility of becoming our true Selves, of becoming the persons who God, out of the greatest love and the deepest goodness, made us and invites us to become in Christ. Therefore, today let's consider what it is that holds us back from becoming who the resurrected Lord beckons us to become- which is who we really are.

St. Mary Magdalene, apostola apostolorum - pray for us!

Potter-mania at our house

I am not one to jump on many bandwagons. I am usually driving what I want to be a bandwagon with only myself on-board. Nonetheless, I must admit that over the years I have grown fond the Harry Potter books. We have somehow wound up wit two copies of The Deathly Hallows and four people wanting to read it. My oldest son pulled an all-nighter and read it (Thank you J.K. for having the book published during the summer!). My oldest daughter has plowed through several hundred pages today, after the Potter-fest at the Salt Lake City library last night, which everybody but your humble scribe attended. I drank some wine and read some Schillebeeckx and Cummings.
Meanwhile, my lovely wife and I, reading The Deathly Hallows aloud together, are 22 pages in.

You know? I'm going to miss these guys! My heart was broken when Snape killed Albus Dumbledore in The Half-Blood Prince, not mention the death of my favorite J.K. Rowling character, Sirius Black at the hands of his cousin Bellatrix LaStrange, in The Order of the Phoenix. Bellatrix is played in the film by the always intriguing Helena Bonham Carter (left). Sirius is my favorite because I most identify with him. I would most like to be like Dumbledore, but, alas, he is not me. Anyway . . . a brief tribute this great series from which much of value can unpacked!

From orandi to crendendi and from credendi to praxis

In thinking once again about the likely direction of the liturgy during the current pontificate, I turn my attention to what may very well be the next change, which is having the priest, at least during the eucharistic prayer, face away from the people. I am being a bit combative to put it that way (i.e., "face away from the people"). I do so in response to the commentators who write emphatically that the proper name for this orientation is (in Latin- what else?), ad orientem, which literally means to the East, and not away from the people. So, I will compromise and use the Latin adversus populum for facing away from the people. The adversus populum proposal is made even more strange by the fact that, in most instances, churches do not face to the East. In the Cathedral of the Madeleine, for instance, such an orientation during the eucharistic prayer would have the priest adversus populum to the North. At another church building with which I am familiar, St. Charles Borromeo, in Albuquerque, the priest would face South.

I have read recently where many of these same commentators have taken to calling adversus populum, "facing the Lord." But if, as we are told in number seven of Sacrosanctum Concilium, that Christ is present in the assembly as much as in the eucharistic species, the priest, and the word, how can adversus populum mean facing the Lord? So, I will call Ad Orientem adversus populum, unless to face East in a particular Church building means facing the people, in which case it would be facing the Lord as mystically constituted by any gathering of the baptized. In these rare instances I will be happy to use ad orientem, or even facing the Lord.

Remember, Christ died for all, but being the Roman Rite literalists we must be, we can only say for many (i.e., pro multis) during the eucharistic prayer beginning next year. What does this change say about Prosper of Acquataine's lex orandi, lex credendi, let alone consider what effect this might have on our praxis? So it is with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek that I offer the hope that this change might help us make ecumenical progress with reformed, or Calvinist, ecclesial communities, which is to open an entirely different can of worms.

Hierarchy update

UPDATED AND CORRECTED MONDAY, 23 JULY

For all you Church geeks, like myself, it is time for another wholly unnecessary hierarchy update. The backlog is still there and getting longer, especially with the Holy Father's penchant for moving bishops from smaller dioceses to larger dioceses. There have been four appointments since the last update. The first appointment, made on 12 June, moved Bishop Joseph Kurtz from Knoxville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky, thus also making him an archbishop. The second appointment, made on 28 June, was of Peter Christensen, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, as bishop of the Diocese of Superior, WI. The past few weeks have seen Archbishop Edwin O'Brien being taken from the Military Archdiocese and transferred to Baltimore to replace the now retired Cardinal Keeler and, in a move made earlier this week, Bishop David Allen Zubik, formerly the bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is going back to his native Diocese of Pittsburgh, replacing Archbishop Donald Wuerl, who was installed last year in Washington, D.C.

Bishop Zubik

Including the Dioceses of Knoxville and Green Bay, along with the Military Archdiocese, the number of vacant dioceses has jumped from seven to ten since the last update. The remaining seven are the vacant dioceses: Des Moines, IA; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Shreveport, LA; Great Falls/Billings, MT; Little Rock, AR; New Ulm, MN; Birmingham, AL. With the retirements of Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop Kelly of Louisville, and Bishop Raphael Fliss of Surperior, WI, the number of ordinaries serving beyond the mandatory retirement age of 75 remained the same at ten. It must be noted that while it is mandatory for a bishop to submit his resignation at age 75, it is not mandatory for the Holy Father to accept it. Those now serving beyond 75 are two cardinal archbishops: Cardinals Maida and Egan of Detroit and New York respectively. The others are Bishops Balke of Crookston, MN; Leibrecht of Springfield/Cape Girardeau, MO; Mengeling of Lansing, MI; Yanta of Amarillo, TX, Murray of Kalamazoo, MI, Moynihan of Syracuse, NY, as well as Archbishops Lipscombe of Mobile, AL and Curtiss of Omaha, NE.

There are five bishops and archbishops who will turn 75 within a year. These ordinaries are: Bishops Cullen of Allentown, PA; D'Arcy of Ft. Wayne/South Bend, IN; Saltarelli of Wilimington, DE; Tafoya of Pueblo, CO. Additionally, Archbishop Hughes of New Orleans will turn 75 within the year. Archbishop Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis will also turn 75, but with the installation of John Nienstedt as his co-adjutor, there will be no vacancy in that archdiocese, but that accounts for the vacancy in the Diocese of New Ulm. So, that makes 25 dioceses, roughly 14% of all Roman Rite dioceses in the country that are vacant, overseen by a bishop 75 or older, or will have a bishop past retirement age within the year. The Diocese of Birmingham, AL, with EWTN operating within its boundaries, remains the longest vacancy in the history of the Catholic Church in the U.S. at 26 months. The retired bishop, His Excellency David Foley, remains as the administrator. It makes one wonder why his resignation was accepted more than two years ago!

One of the concerns expressed by the Holy Father both at the consistory he called in anticipation of the Synod of Bishops dedicated to the Eucharist and at the synod itself was the increasing number of retired bishops who are still in good health and able to serve. Cardinals do not become superannuated members of the Sacred College until they reach the age of 80. Putting these two issues together, it seems logical to assume that Pope Benedict XVI is not overly eager to accept resignations as soon as they are proffered by bishops turning 75, especially if they are cardinal archbishops of major metropolitan sees. If a bishop is capable and willing to continue his service beyond 75, it seems the Holy Father is disposed to allow such a prelate to continue.

As to the Sacred College of Cardinals, membership now stands at 183, with the passing of Angelo Cardinal Felici on 17 June 2007. However, there are now 78 members over age 80 who are superannuated and, therefore, unable to vote in any future conclave. This is an increase of two since the last update, with Cardinals Macharski, Pope John Paul II's hand-picked successor in Krakow, and Vithayathil reaching age eighty in recent months. This leaves five members of the Sacred College who are already 79 years old. Voting members of the college are limited to 120 (which the Pope can exceed anytime and for any reason, which Benedict is unlikely to do). Right now, the number of voting members, including the five who are 79, stands at 105. Hence, it is likely that there will be a consistory sometime in the near future, perhaps later this year, during which new cardinals, among whom will likely be Archbishops Wuerl and O'Brien, will be created. Another U.S. citizen, Archbishop John Foley, since leaving the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and becoming the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, also stands to receive his long overdue red hat from the Pope. So, the Holy Father can create 15 new cardinals this year without exceeding 120. However, just as Pope Benedict is unlikely to exceed 120 voting cardinals, he is just as unlikely to create cardinals just to get the number of voting members up to 120. So, there is your Church hierarchy update for a Saturday in July.

rejesus: A virtual space to explore!

Today I stumbled onto one of the most intriguing websites I have found in a long time. I linked to it from the the website of The Church in Wales. The website in question is rejesus. I most heartily recommend spending some time browsing it. Of particular note is a part of the site called expressions. A part of this section well-worth visiting is a page by Jude Simpson, who is described as a "comic poet, entertainer and all-round lover of words." She puts her talent to use by composing "five 'funny' poems about Jesus".

Put simply, all Jude's poems are a joy! You can read them and listen to her recite them. It is always nice to hear a poet recite her own poetry. To whet your appetite here is the last stanza of her poem entitled Fish:

"During Jesus’ appearance on 'fish is your life',
they asked him, if you could fish for anything, what would it be?
a carp? a sturgeon? a salmon? a bream?
Jesus said, I’d like to fish for every single person in the world, and
save them from their sins.
How you gonna do that, Jesus, that’s a pretty big wish?
Jesus said, there’s only one thing for it, I’ll have to go and die."

I urge you to read/listen to all five of her "funny" poems.

In case you need further encouragement, here is part of a stanza from her poem You won't find Jesus on Myspace:

". . . Jesus doesn’t have a MySpace page,
even though it’s fast, fun and easy.
Jesus shut down his p.c. before p.c.s were invented
and he put on his sandals, with or without socks,
and he walked to your door, and sat by your heart,
and invited you to be his friend.
That was like, 2,000 years ago –
and he still hasn’t had a reply."

Another feature worth looking at is the pub quiz.

Lecture sketch

A very rough sketch of my lecture last evening for our celebration of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, entitled St. Mary Magdalene: First Witness of the Resurrection is up on our parish blog, The People of St. Mary Magdalene.