Meditation on the Feast of the Assumption: The New Ark

This has been a different Feast of the Assumption than normal for me.  About ten days ago I noticed that my mother’s pulse oximeter was reading a resting pulse in the 120’s.  She had not been feeling well for a while, and I was stumped as to why.  My first thought was that there was something wrong with the oximeter.  So I took out the blood pressure machine and measured her pressure, and there too the pulse was wildly high.  I did it a number of times to convince myself that it was true.  Her resting pulse was ranging from 105 to 125, and never slowing down.  I called the pacemaker doctor and made an appointment for weeks out.  He also had me activate a machine that communicates with the pacemaker and then sends the data back to office.  Later that day I received a call from their technician to pull up the appointment to the nearest opportunity.  That nearest opportunity was two days later.

That appointment was last week.  After interrogating the pacemaker, he found that my mother had been in A-Fib for three weeks, and there was no sign of it correcting.  He scheduled an Electrical Cardioversion procedure.  Someone described it to me as if stopping the heart and zapping it back up.  I don’t know if that is quite true, but they do zap the heart with electricity.  That procedure was scheduled and performed today, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I thought it quite coincidental that my mother might actually be dead for a second and brought back to life on the bodily assumption of Christ’s mother. 

It all went well.  She came right out and her pulse was a steady 70, and has been since the procedure.  Let us meditate on the Assumption.  First, today’s Gospel reading.

 

 

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

“Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled.”

 

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children forever.”

 

Mary remained with her about three months

and then returned to her home.  

~Lk 1:39-56

 

That is one of my favorite passages in Luke.  Dr. Scott Hahn beautifully explains the Biblical basis for the Assumption of Mary. 

 

The Blessed Mother, carrying Jesus in her womb, is the new Ark of the Covenant!

 

Meditation: “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

 

For the hymn, let’s go with the lovely “Immaculate Mary.”

 

Let me take this moment to thank God for today’s outcome with my mother’s procedure.  And to thank all my friends who helped pray with me for this outcome.

Joy to the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does) by Scott Hahn, Part 3

This is my third and final post on Scott Hahn’s Joy to the World.  You can find the first post here.  

And the second post here.   

Part 1 addresses chapters 1 through 4.

Part 2 addresses chapters 5 through 7.

Part 3 addresses chapters 8 through 14.

Summary

Chapter 8: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Hahn outlines the significance of Jesus being born in Bethlehem.

Chapter 9: “Do You Believe in Magic”

The Magi, who were gentiles, followed the star to find truth and give gifts to the new born king of Israel.

Chapter 10: “Shepherds, Why this Jubilee?”

Hahn connects the historical role of a humble shepherd to the shepherds who will be among the first informed of Jesus’ birth to the child who will eventually become the Good Shepherd.

Chapter 11: “The Glory of Your People: The Presentation”

Hahn provides the context to the three post birth Jewish rituals: the circumcision, the child’s presentation, and the mother’s purification. 

\\\\

Chapter 11 was probably the most difficult for me.  It probably requires a deeper understanding of the Jewish rituals.

Circumcision is easy enough to understand but Hahn takes it further than I ever thought.

Israel’s covenant with God was “the covenant of circumcision” (Acts 7:8); and, though Jesus, as God, was not bound by the law, only he could fulfill the law perfectly, precisely because he was God and therefore sinless. And so he did, as his parents took him to be circumcised, perhaps at the synagogue in Bethlehem.

Christians have always seen this moment as an anticipation of Jesus’s crucifixion. It was the first shedding of his blood, whose value was infinite. Because of Jesus’s perfection, this rite by itself possessed power enough to redeem the world; yet he pressed on to a more perfect fulfillment and more complete self-giving. To his own law he would be obedient—“obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8).  (p, 128)

First I had never heard that Jesus’s circumcision was a prefiguring of His crucifixion, but I can see that.  But Hahn says that “because of Jesus’s perfection, this rite by itself possessed power enough to redeem the world.”  You mean that Christ did not have to be crucified?  I can see the circumcision as a foreshadow, an echo, or, as Hahn initially says, an anticipation of His ritual death, but in lieu of it?  That seems like a step too far. 

\\\\

I have to admit, I really don’t understand that distinction Hahn makes concerning Jesus’s Presentation at the Temple. 

Luke’s narrative is quite odd.  He describes Jesus not as being “redeemed,” but rather as being “dedicated” or “presented” in the Temple.  It’s an important distinction.  The law did not require that all first born males be redeemed. (p.129)

Hahn goes on to explain.

If Jesus…was dedicated to God and not redeemed, he belongs to God permanently…Thus, Luke presents Jesus as a uniquely righteous first-born, who—unlike other Israelite males—did not need to be redeemed from service to the Lord, since he was not unclean.  Instead, he was consecrated as a firstborn (Exodus 13:1-2).  (p. 130-131)

So the distinction lies between redeemed versus consecrated.  If someone could explain that distinction further I might get it.

\\\\

Another interesting tidbit from chapter 11 is that Hahn tells us that Luke is one of the possible authors for the Epistle to the Hebrews.  I had not heard that.  I just finished reading the Epistle to the Hebrews as a continuous read and that does make sense.  The writing styles are similar.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary

Chapter 12: “Flight Into Joy”

Hahn explains how the flight into Egypt resonates in Biblical history.

Chapter 13: “Blessed Trinities: Heaven and the Holy Family”

Hahn contemplates upon why God entered the world and entering revealed how God is both a family and love.

Chapter 14: “Joy to the World”

Hahn explains why we celebrate Christmas, why it is important to do so, and the joy it brings to us and to the world.

\\\\

I recently saw a video from a vlog (I think that’s what it's called) titled "The Ruben Report" where Bishop Barron and Rabbi David Wople were discussing issues and religion.  You can find that video here.

They mostly agreed on things but they did stumble on a disagreement on the nature of God, of course, given their two different religions.  Around the 24 minute mark the Rabbi says Jews see the Father as perfect, why does He need to be three?  A few minutes before that Bishop Barron explained the central tenet of Christianity that God became man, but he never fully answered the Rabbi.  The conversation drifted onto other things after that.

But Scott Hahn in chapter thirteen asks the very question, "Why did God become man?  It is one of the insolvable mysteries, like Why is there something rather than nothing?" (p. 145)

To answer the good Rabbi one could just say that's what it is, just like gravity attracts and not repels.  God chose to do that, and it doesn't make Him any less perfect.  Bishop Barron says it's a mystery, but it's not a mystery.  Scott Hahn answers it.

But in this instance an angel gives us a clue by way of the Scriptures. It is the angel who tells Saint Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Surely Jesus’s name, given by heaven, tells us something about his purpose. He came to “save his people”—more specifically, to save them “from their sins.” To do this is a pure act of merciful love, because sins are by definition offenses against almighty God. Yet it is God himself who has taken flesh for the sake of our salvation. He came, moreover, not just to save the wayward members of his chosen people but to save even the gravest sinners of Babylon and Egypt.

In the act of saving us, God drew close to us, so that we could see him and touch him. He became a baby, so that he would need to be picked up and caressed, changed and fed.

As we draw close to God incarnate, we can see more clearly the nature of God eternal. And that, too, was why he became man; revelation is bound up with our salvation. In our fallen state, with our darkened intellect and weakened will, we could not see God or know him, though we could know that he existed.

God drew close so that we could see clearly—and know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). In eternity, that is his deepest identity. Before he created anything to love, he was love; and love is an act that requires both a subject and an object, a lover and a beloved. God is that pure act of love. Because of the revelation of Christmas, we know that love as the Blessed Trinity. Pope Saint John Paul II summarized the matter in a memorable way: “God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of family, which is love.”  (pp. 146-148)

God became man to (1) to save us as part of mankind, therefore redeeming mankind, because it was mankind that lost salvation, (2) to show us that God is love, (3) to reveal that God is a family of persons bound in love of which we are supposed to emulate, (4) to draw us close to Him since He took on physical presence, and (5) to show us that God can humble Himself to come as a babe that requires love and care.

\\\\

I thought the final chapter was a superb way of concluding the work.  First Hahn points out what makes Christianity special because of Christmas.

No human mind could have invented the triune God.  He is not a God we can contain in our categories or tame by our thoughts.  No human mind could have conceived a God who is love and who loves us as if we were gods.  No human mind, unaided by angels, could have dreamt up Christmas.

Christmas makes us different.  Christmas sets us apart.  Christmas calls us to share in divine love—and then to share that love with an unbelieving world.  (p. 163)

So in chapter thirteen Hahn tells us why the birth of Christ is so important, and then he tells us why we should celebrate it.  God entered humanity for our salvation, and that brings joy to us and to the world.

God has created the whole world for the sake of the joy we celebrate at Christmas.  He fashioned human nature so that every man, woman, and child should desire Christmas joy and seek fulfillment in Bethlehem, the House of Bread—through the Bread that came down from heaven.  God made us so that we would find all other joys unsatisfactory aprt from the joy of Christmas.  (pp. 164-165)

So we should spread this joy, despite the commercialism twist that it has taken the last hundred years.  Hahn is not afraid of the commercialism.  In its own way, it’s “an acknowledgment of Christmas joy.  It’s the market’s awkward attempt to join the party and capitalize on joy” (p. 166).  And why is Christmas joy so important?

Because the world offers countless pleasures, but no lasting joys.  What Jesus Christ gives is joy, even in the midst of hardship and sorrow—even amid persecution, flight, and exile.  (p. 165)

It is amazing how people can be secular all year long but celebrate Christmas.  In Christmas those people come the closest to tangibly experiencing Christian jubilance, but it still falls short of full mystical joy.  This is our calling as Christians, to bring people to this joy.

Joy to the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does) by Scott Hahn, Part 2

This is my second post on Scott Hahn’s book, Joy to the World.  You can find Part 1 here:  

Part 1 addresses chapters 1 thru 4.

Part 2 addresses chapter 5 thru 7.

Summary

Chapter 5: “Mary: Cause of Our Joy”

Hahn provides a historical and theological justification for the Virgin Birth, for Mary’s role in salvation history and her continued importance in our lives as Christians.

Chapter 6: “Silent Knight, Holy Knight”

Hahn shows the importance and significance of Joseph’s fatherhood to Christ.

Chapter 7: “Angels: Echoing Their Joyous Strains”

Throughout the Christmas story, angels supply guidance, wisdom, prayer, and protection, and the holy family is open to it.

\\\\

Hahn seems to think the “most controversial aspect” of Mary is her virginity.  Would that be because of her conceiving a child without “knowing man” or that it would be unlikely she maintained her virginity throughout her life?  Neither strike me as that controversial in my mind.  I think this is the key passage regarding her virginity.  Hahn is looking at the Isaiah prophecy of a "virgin" bearing a son.

We cannot read Isaiah’s mind, but we can read his context. The passage opens with the challenge: “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (Isaiah 7:11). He seems to be talking about a momentous sign, something indisputably miraculous. A virgin bearing a son would indeed be such a singular event. A “young woman” bearing a son would be unremarkable and underwhelming, as signs go.

Thus we can probably trust the authority of the Septuagint—which enjoyed a semi-official status in the Jewish diaspora and was uninfluenced by later Christian-Jewish disputes.

Mary’s virginal motherhood is a sign. It is not, however, a statement against the goodness of sex, as some heretics later claimed it was. It is rather a guarantee of God’s fatherhood—God is the only possible father of Jesus—and at the same time it is recognition of Mary’s special status as the mother of the Messiah. She was, as such, a vessel of the divine. Her body was, in a sense, like the golden vessels dedicated for Temple service. It was forbidden to use such chalices and plates at even the most dignified royal banquet. Likewise, her womb, having borne the Savior, could not return to ordinary activity, no matter how good, no matter how blessed.

Her perpetual virginity was fitting and proper to her unique role in the history of salvation. It is interesting to note that for the early Christians she was “the Virgin”—as if she had a special claim on the noun and required the definite article. It is the same grammatical construction found in the earliest Hebrew manuscripts of Isaiah 7:14. (p. 56-7)

That is an interesting comparison, Mary’s body as holy chalices and plates.  Knowing what I know of Judaism strict dietary and purity laws, that comparison is perfect. 

But was Mary’s virginity chosen? Had she already committed her life to God before the angel visited her? Mary’s dialogue with the angel is indeed curious. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:26–35) A more literal rendering of Mary’s question would be: “How shall this be, since I do not know man?” “To know” is the common Hebrew idiom for sexual union. In the book of Genesis we read: “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch.… Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth” (Genesis 4:17, 25). Still today we use the phrase “carnal knowledge” as a kind of polite phrase for sexual intercourse. The connection between “knowing” and “conception” was clear in the Torah as it was in life. So what could Mary have meant by her question? The angel had told her she would conceive a son, and she did not understand how that could be. She had not carried out what she knew to be the requisite act for pregnancy. It’s not that Mary was ignorant of the facts of life. She genuinely wanted to know how the angel Gabriel’s announcement could be true. Reading this passage, Saint Augustine noted: “Surely she would not have said this unless she had already vowed herself to God as a virgin.… Certainly she would not have asked, how, being a female, she should give birth to her promised son, if she had married with the purpose of sexual intercourse.”4 According to Christian tradition, Mary remained perpetually a virgin—before Jesus’s birth and after. Even before his conception, she may have discerned a special call to consecrated virginity. We have already seen that such commitments, though rare in Judaism, had ample precedent.

\\\\

I found this passage incredibly insightful on St. Joseph’s fatherhood.

Joseph’s vocation is to be an earthly image of Jesus’s heavenly Father.  God is more Father than any man on earth, though he fathers without gender, without body, without sexual organs or a sexual act, and without a spouse.  God’s fatherhood is not primarily physical, but rather spiritual.  The fatherhood of Joseph is spiritual and real, though virginal, just as the fatherhood of God is spiritual and nonphysical.

Saint Joseph then serves, then, as an icon of God the Father, and even Jesus would have thought of him in that way… (p. 69-70)

One certainly realizes that St. Joseph is Jesus’ foster father, but in being a non-bearing father he emulates God’s Fatherhood to us all.  What’s also fascinating is that studies show that it’s the father’s faith in a family that tends to get passed onto the children.  If the father of a family is devout, the children have a much higher chance of retaining the faith, especially the sons.  So this notion of the father as being an icon of God the Father is important to all our lives.

\\\\

I was really surprised to find three theories as to why Joseph decides to divorce Mary.  (1) The suspicion theory: Joseph suspects Mary of adultery. (2) The perplexity theory: Joseph couldn’t figure out how Mary got pregnant but couldn’t attribute adultery. (3) The reverence theory: Joseph knew of the Holy Spirit’s impregnating her and didn’t consider himself worthy.  Hahn finds the third theory the most satisfying. 

I had never heard of the other two theories, and I don’t find the perplexity and reverence theories all that plausible.  The support for those theories is rather tenuous.  The suspicion theory is the only one that seems to fit.  Anyone think differently? 

Joy to the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does) by Scott Hahn, Part 1

Leading into to Christmas, the Catholic Thought Book Club selected and read Joy to the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does) by Scott Hahn.  It proved to be a wonderful selection as a Christmas read.  I’m going to post a series derived from my summaries and comments from the discussion.

If by any chance you don’t know who Scott Hahn is, you can read about him here.  He is probably the most important Catholic convert from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism in the last fifty to a hundred years.  He started out as a Presbyterian minister and PhD theologian but as he explored the roots of Christianity was shocked to find the truth in Roman Catholicism, both from a historical point of view and a Biblical point of view.  His conversion story went viral through recordings of his speeches, his conversion story, Rome, Sweet Rome, and finally through the internet.  Do a YouTube search of Scott Hahn and you will find his conversion story.  From his conversion story, a slew of Protestants have followed suit, including many Protestant clergy.  You can find him on many theological discussions on EWTN and he teaches at Franciscan University of Steubenville.  He has gone on to write many books on the faith.  He has a remarkable ability to find eye opening theological insights, in many ways like Pope Benedict XVI, but still be able to communicate them to the laity.  Joy to the World is a great place to start with a Scott Hahn book.

Summary

Chapter 1: “A Light Goes On In Bethlehem”

Using his daughter’s love of children, Hahn locates the Christmas story as wrapped in the human institution of the family.

Chapter 2: “What Happens in Bethlehem…”

Hahn provides the justification that the Gospel’s recounting of Jesus’ birth is history and not fable or folklore.

Chapter 3: “A New Genesis”

Hahn distinguishes the different objectives between Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, especially considering the differences in genealogies. 

Chapter 4: “The Counterfeit Kingdom”

Hahn details the expectations at the time of the imminent coming of the Messiah. 

\\\\

How unexpected to start the Christmas story with Hahn’s twelve year old daughter, having a baby placed in her arms.

Yet that young woman, long centuries ago, found fulfillment in Bethlehem—in a baby placed in her arms. Everyone who saw her remembered her radiance, and after two thousand years we still remember it.

Looking at Hannah as she looked at those babies, I could understand why.

The effect on Hannah was long-lasting. She was changed—visibly changed and inwardly transformed. You could see it in her face and in her deeds. Months later, she organized a fund-raiser to send clothes to “her orphans” in Bethlehem. She had undergone a spiritual awakening, but still more than that. It was a kind of maternal awakening—a coming of age—a transition from being a little kid to caring for little kids.

I’m just curious.  Since we have so many women in this book club, do any of you remember the first time an infant was placed in your arms and did it have some maternal effect on you?

\\\\

Great comments all. Nadine, I may have once known about the genealogy differences but I had long forgotten what the differences were.

And Scott Hahn is very big on the family dimension of Christianity. It did not surprise me that he would expand on it here,

As to the Holy Family, I keep a small medal of the Holy Family on my neck chain, along with a crucifix and another of St. Catherine of Siena, who I consider my patron saint. But the Holy Family is special to me. My wife and I adopted our only child, a son, late in life. So we are father, mother, son, a mirror of the Holy Family.

\\\\

Hahn finds it important—and rightly so—to emphasize in chapter two that the events narrated in the Gospels are true fact, historical fact, not some fable or folklore.

Though the Gospel is certainly rich in allegorical meaning, it is first of all history. If there is allegory in the infancy narratives, it is fashioned by God, and not simply with words, but rather with creation itself—with the very deeds of sacred history. God writes the world the way human authors write words. Spiritual truths are everywhere to be found in the events at the beginning of the Gospels, but the events are nonetheless real and nonetheless important. They are no less historical for being extraordinary. To invoke Pope Benedict again: “If God does not also have power over matter, then he simply is not God. But he does have this power.”6 And so he can (and has) guided history and creation, just as he guided the prophets, to tell his story.  (p. 20)

If these events are only fable, then it is meaningless.  That sort of skepticism is what has caused western culture to lose faith in God.  What separates Christianity from any religion that I can think of is the incarnation of God into man for the salvation of mankind. 

\\\\

In chapter three I think Hahn makes what might be the most important point of the book.  Hahn points out that through the genealogy, St. Matthew is joining with St. John in the fourth Gospel that Christ’s arrival is a reformulation of genesis.

Saint Matthew’s first readers knew nothing of the field of genetics, but the title spoke still more loudly to them. To those first readers, the evangelist was suggesting a new Genesis, an account of the new creation brought about by Jesus Christ. In the fourth Gospel, Saint John accomplishes something similar when he begins by echoing the first words of the Torah: “In the beginning” (John 1:1; see Genesis 1:1). Saint Matthew introduces the same theme, though in a different way. The message in both is clear: with the arrival of Jesus, God brings about a new beginning, a new creation, a new Torah, and a New Testament. (p.24)

Christ’s birth is monumental.  It is the incarnational entrance of God into world, the one and only time in human history.  And with Christ’s entrance, the world is renewed.  The fall from Eden will be reversed. That is the reason for our joy, which is reflected in the book’s title.  That is why we celebrate Christmas.