Vivat Agnus Dei

Read Readings Do you ever notice the feeling of anticipation that accompanies Advent? To me, Advent is a season symbolic of the journey of this life: we wait in eager hope for the life to come—the fullness of health, happiness, and holiness in Christ—and we conform ourselves so as to receive that fullness with eagerness and readiness, that is, to long in the proper way. In this sense, it is a livelier Lent, because it holds the anticipation of Christ in one hand and the strong conviction that all promises are about to be fulfilled in the other. As I read—and even before I read—I could not help but feel overcome by the sense that the biggest thing is about to happen: the one thing God has been laboring toward with us, namely the fulfillment of every covenant, God among us; what was destroyed in our sins and the sins of others beginning to be undone; people who once sneered now rejoicing in communion. It is much like last Sunday’s reading from Isaiah 11, which highlights how those natura...

If you have ever read the Bible, you know that is something obscure, at least as it differs from the present context of culture. However, this does not mean that its meaning is not timeless, logically anyway. On the contrary, I would believe that it rather transcends time, making it both behind the times and way ahead of the curve/times. This speaks to faith being equally transcendent. Of course, "faith" in this sense is used to describe all of the Catholic teachings on prayer, morality, and theology. If something is true and you know it, what can justify not acting on it? However, this post is about more than a "money where your mouth is" statement, as valuable as such statements are. Not only should faith be lived at the same level as science, but also one's life should be its own liturgy bestowing grace as though a sacrament, receiving such grace from the relationship one has with God, the sacraments one receives, and the extension of love to others one has/r...

"A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be an automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."[1] Once one has encountered beauty and does so repeatedly, what happens to our love of it? Do we soon think we have an exhaustive know...

If you have ever been to anything Catholic and sacramental at all, then you have probably encountered similar language to "those disposed to receive". Without being familiar with its source, this is probably a very strange statement to make, even seemingly scandalous. However, this concept comes from St. Paul when He speaks of receiving the Lord's Body and Blood in the Mass. We know this mystery to be the sacrament of sacraments, communion with the divine, the actuator of Christian unity. From the Chruch's earliest days, we have taken gravely the problem of some living life apart from God and still presenting themselves for public sacramental unity with God. It is true this is a sacrament for sinners. However, not a sign that sin is acceptable for the Christian life, nor encouragement for living a double life one of disunity with Christ and His Church and one repugnant to the former. If we truly believe that this is the Lord of lords and the Paschal Lamb truly present...

Have you ever heard something crazy, seemingly totally made up, and later found out it is true? Someone healed through prayer, God existing, the Creator becoming a part of creation, gas prices, and lightning is all very crazy. Our curiosity is meant to draw us into mysteries when we encounter them. The Eucharist after 2000 years and really even an institution that has lasted that long makes us wonder how it came to be. It may seem made up or supported but impure things, but the more one investigates the more those expectations dissolve. The Eucharist extends its origin to Christ, Himself, and was prefigured by the old testament, and mentioned several times in the New Testament by Paul, not to mention in the Gospels. From the earliest moments described by the Bible bread and wine were offered and shared (Genesis 14:18-20). In the Passover, the partakers engage in both a sacrifice and a meal.[ 1 ] They shared this ritual meal repeatedly (Exodus 12:43-51; Leviticus 23:4-14; Numbers 9:1-14...

After the conversation, comes the meal. Ceremonial meals have been a part of God's plan from the time of Israel. Indeed throughout the Gospel, there are many moments Christ ate meals with those He intended to save. After we have been baptized and are prepared to enter into a deeper relationship with God through true and sacramental repentance, we are free to become among His chosen people. So also in this is the evil one refuted from the beginning, he who once said to man that God does not want man to be like Him is contradicted. For not only was man made like God and meant for it but God through His grace and man's willingness also man to become like God once again through communion after having dealt with man's sin. Moreover, He does so in ways he prefigured in the Old testament and constructed in the New testament. The words exchanged during the Liturgy of the Eucharist testify to these things and make them truly present by them. After the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturg...

We have brought ourselves to terms with the sin that plagued us "from the beginning". We have repented of what has separated us from God and beseeched the prayers of our brothers while asking God for His forgiveness in each other's midst. We then proclaimed His Glory, recalling what He does for our redemption and His role as the one God. We gather all our prayers in a summary prayer. Now we sit to listen to what our Lord has to say. With Him, we recall the Old Testament, sing/speak in the language of the psalms, and look to the epistles for early Christian wisdom, and then we look into the Life of Jesus which gives meaning to the prior readings. Holy Mother Church acts most like herself drawing its members from the world to enter into the life of Her Savior and listening to Him. At hearing His Word, the faithful proclaim His and pray for the world. It is not hard to imagine there is something Biblical about the Liturgy of the Word. At this moment, we are drawn not only in...

The Mass is as old as the Eucharist itself. Extending back arguably to the feeding of the thousands, but definitely and sacramentally, to the Last Supper which is intimately united with Our Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Therefore/Thereby, the Mass is not only Biblical but is a living and perpetual extenuating of the essential/substantial nature of what scripture is and does. The next few posts will discuss not only the significance of the parts of the Mass and the words they use but also their intensely Biblical roots. In this post, let us look specifically at the first parts of the Mass. The Introductory Rites, as we call them, draw us to be one i.e the One Church, but most importantly one with God, and this movement is deeply scriptural. NOTE: the point of posts like this is to give you a guide to enter in Biblically into this mystery not so much to reveal a mystery but point toward it in a way that will allow the reader to be able to intentionally enter into it in a n...

As a kid, when you got a new toy, what did you do? You probably, played with a piece of material wealth until you grew used to it. Similarly, once one attains a new bit of fundamental knowledge, it moves them to find every bit of its implications and uses. Using our new term "transubstantiation", we were/are able to render our beliefs much more precisely. In light of this term, we were able to describe and understand one of the core Christian mysteries in a new and more profound way. This term made sense of the empirical vs. spiritual problem. Thomistic eucharistic theology satisfies the intellectual/philosophical comprehension of the bread and wine becoming Christ’s Body and Blood without change of empirical qualities. The Aristotelian-based theology allows for a predicable understanding of what the Eucharist is/His nature, explaining that the substance of the bread and wine is not preserved nor its substantial form in the sacrament.[1] Rather, it is instantaneously replaced...

There is a moment when writing a paper/doing a study between the time one knows exactly how to answer a question and not knowing if there is even an answer. This moment happened concerning the Eucharistic understanding in the Middle Ages. The undisputable parts of the Eucharistic mystery were not the subject of this moment but rather how to describe them best. The term “transubstantiation” was coined at the height of this controversy after Aristotle's works resurfaced after the loss of much history in library burnings and brought the Church the answer. The famous case that culminated in the resolve of the controversy involved Berengarius of Tours (AD 999-1088).[1] Berengarius, a materialistic empiricist and head of the Cathedral School of Tour in Paris tried to clarify what is meant by Eucharist, in terms of predicable truth.[2] He was a quick thinker and concerned his master with his intellectual ambition.[3] Due to his famed position, he attracted a large following, and likewise ...

The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life”. [1] This sacrament makes the Church capable of being the “incarnation perpetuated through time and space” on account of the Church being “the bread sent down from heaven”, the Body of Christ(cf. John 6:22-70, cf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23-29) [2] . Thus, there are few things as important to being a Christian. However, the mystery has always been difficult to understand, especially to the disciples of Jesus and (for a time) the Apostles (cf. John 6:22-70, cf. Luke 24:13-25, cf. Acts of Apostles 2:42 RSVCE ). In light of the fact of the consecration being a miracle, the lack of ease of description is understandable. However, the miracle can be understood in a useful way. As material empiricism began to rise, the former method of rendering Eucharistic theology began to break down. Analyzing the world more empirically and less philosophically, the mystical and Platonic understanding of the consecration m...

When people think of Mass they tend to only think about the hour they give to show up at a Church building and sit in a pew. This is problematic on a number of levels and I hope this series on the Mass and the Eucharist develop our love and understanding of the principal mystery of our faith. In the Mass, all of our existence is summarized and reflected upon. The Mass itself is a symbolic journey, with the exception of the True Presence of course Since it participates in the reality it signifies, which allows us to see the Mass as a certain popup book that all the symbols used therein are two-dimensional until Jesus is made actually present and then His person leaps from the story into the existence of the reader/listener of His Word. In this way, it also reflects the process of conversion and spiritual life (purification, illumination, and unification). In light of this, we come to understand that We are every bit united to Christ's body as much as His, since we each become One wi...