In Memoriam: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Early this morning, as many of you probably know, our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away at the age of 95. Where do I even begin to summarize his epic life?  He lived through almost a hundred years of eventful history, participated in some of it directly, and wrote about the theological implications of most of it.  He wrote 66 books, three Church Encyclicals, four Apostolic Exhortations, and a number of major speeches.  His output was immense.  He was one of the key intellectuals behind the Vatican II Council, and an intellectual guide for the papacy of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.  Through it all, and there were many who demonized him both within and outside the Church, he was a gentle man, a lover of the arts, a man of prayer and spirituality.  One aspect of his character that seems to go unnoticed was his humility.  He was an intellectual giant of the type I deeply respect and have always wanted to emulate.  In short, he was my favorite pope of my lifetime.

From what I gathered surfing around the news world, Pope BXVI (my shorthand for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) will be remembered for being the first pope in almost 600 years to resign the office.  I have seen criticism of it, but he was 85, frail, in not the best health, and trying to perform the duties of the modern era.  He went on to live ten years, but from accounts he did not expect to live a year. 

If you want a general perspective on his life, writings, and thoughts, this article from Aleteia, “Benedict XVI,the pope of surprises” did what seems to be a thorough job.    

There are many theological ideas that Pope Benedict explored and commented on, but he had a way of bringing out their societal implications.  For instance, he first observed how the relativism of faith has had implications on our society, a concept he called “the dictatorship of relativism.” 

 

“Today, a particularly insidious obstacle to the task of education is the massive presence in our society and culture of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires,” he said in an address in Rome in 2005. “And under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one, for it separates people from one another, locking each person into his or her own ego.”

Can you see how gay marriage and what I’ll call the relativism of gender has flowed from what contemporary society has determined to be a lack of fixed truths? 

You can easily find the highlights of his life, so I’m not going to list them.  Instead I’m going to embed a video where Bishop Robert Baron puts Pope Benedict XVI’s life and ideas into context.  It’s just over a half hour. 

 

Finally, BXVI was a great lover of music, and from what I understand an accomplished pianist.  Aleteia  also has an article on BXVI’s favorite musical pieces, and it’s a good deal of Mozart and Bach.  

He seemed to have a special love for Mozart.  From the article:

 

Pope Benedict XVI once described one of his early encounters with the music of Mozart, while attending a Mass penned by the great composer. He described Mozart’s treatment of the Mass as “music that could only come from heaven; music in which was revealed to us the jubilation of the angels over the beauty of God.” He added:

 

“The joy that Mozart gives us, and I feel this anew in every encounter with him, is not due to the omission of a part of reality; it is an expression of a higher perception of the whole, something I can only call inspiration out of which his compositions seem to flow naturally.”

The article also goes on to say that the first concert Joseph Ratzinger ever attended was a performance of Mozart’s Requiem Mass.  So as a fitting conclusion to this post, I want to conclude this post with three pieces from “The Requiem in D minor, K. 626.”  First the Introit and Kyrie which are here together.

 

The third piece will be the Domine Jesu, an appeal to Christ to save the soul of the dead.  

Here are the lyrics in English.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,

deliver the souls of all the faithful departed

from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit:

deliver them from the lion's mouth,

that hell swallow them not up,

that they fall not into darkness,

but let the standard-bearer holy Michael

lead them into that holy light:

Which Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed.

That is just so beautiful.  I am certainly saddened by the death of my beloved BXVI.  But given his age, and watching my mother struggle with old age, I can see how it is eventually a blessing.  May Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI continue to bless us from above. 

 

Eternal rest grant unto him,
O Lord, and let perpetual light
shine upon him.

Blog Note: Tenth Year Blog Anniversary

December 29^th, 2022, today, marks the tenth anniversary of this blog.  Goodness, does anyone even read the blog?  I have one devoted reader.  Thank you Jan.  Otherwise I don’t know who even comes here.  I do send out links to friends when I have a particular post I think might interest them, but otherwise I live in relative obscurity.  I used to imagine the blog as being a monastery away from the world.  Now I think it’s a hermitage, and I’m the only hermit!

As I said in my seventh year anniversary post, the blog has become more of a way of documenting what I read, my thoughts on what I read, and sending out an evangelizing message or two to bring back faith.  What bothers me is that when I do a search from my own blog, “Ashes from Burnt Roses,” it comes up empty in Yahoo and in Bing search engines.  It does come up in Google though, but I would expect that since I use Google Blogger.  I wonder if my posts even come up in a search of a subject.  If anyone knows what I’m doing wrong, let me know. 

The blogging world has certainly changed over the years.  I don’t know many who blog any more.  Podcasts, and now vlogging, are the new rage.  I’m probably not suited for either, especially not video.  And my reads would not adapt well to audio or video discussion. 

So you’ll have to bear with me.  I will continue to blog here.  I still put out over 100 posts per year.  That’s at least two per week.  My thousandth post was about a year and a half ago.  I still like my wall paper.  I would try something different, but changing it would change the wall paper for all the past blog posts, and that doesn’t seem right.  It would feel like Cancel Culture! 

So what has changed over the years?  Well, now I have almost a complete head of grey hair!  My son is now thirteen—a teenager!—and I wonder if that has anything to do with my grey hair. 

This started out as a secular blog, but now it’s almost completely a Catholic blog.  That’s because of the increased importance of faith in my life.  I still don’t opine on politics, though I have put out a political post or two in recent years.  Not much really, and it’s not because I don’t have political opinions.  Oh I definitely do.  I still want this blog to be a refuge from the ugliness of political battle.  I probably post less music lately.  Most pop music doesn’t suit my increased religiosity.  In the last year or so, I’ve gotten into the habit of providing a meditation the Sunday Gospel reading.  I’m not sure there is all that much that I’ve changed over the years.

Some highlights of the blog.  I always think the Matthew Mondays are a highlight.  I’m proud of my son.  Certainly the Dante links to my thoughts on the Divine Comedy are something I’m proud of.  My poetry and short story analyzes I hope are highlights. 

Ten years shows perseverance.  Is perseverance a virtue?  God bless, and we’ll see how long keep doing this.

Manny

 

Sunday Meditation: And the Word was made Flesh

There are four separate Mass readings for Christmas, but I will go with that of Christmas During the Day.  This might be my favorite passage in all the Bible.

 

  In the beginning was the Word,

        and the Word was with God,

        and the Word was God.

    He was in the beginning with God.

    All things came to be through him,

        and without him nothing came to be.

    What came to be through him was life,

        and this life was the light of the human race;

    the light shines in the darkness,

        and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.

He came for testimony, to testify to the light,

so that all might believe through him.

He was not the light,

but came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

    He was in the world,

        and the world came to be through him,

        but the world did not know him.

    He came to what was his own,

        but his own people did not accept him.

 

But to those who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to those who believe in his name,

who were born not by natural generation

nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision

but of God.

    And the Word became flesh

        and made his dwelling among us,

        and we saw his glory,

        the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

        full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying,

“This was he of whom I said,

‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me

because he existed before me.’”

From his fullness we have all received,

grace in place of grace,

because while the law was given through Moses,

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God.

The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,

has revealed him.

~Jn 1:1-18

 

Bishop Barron provides a thorough exegesis.    

 

Here is the takeaway for Christmas:  “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

Merry Christmas!

Notable Quote: To Master Life’s Gloominess by Fr. Alfred Delp, SJ

The character of life is to keep going, to keep a lookout, and to endure until the vigilant heart of man and the heart of God who meets us come together: presently in the true interior meeting of the sacraments, and later in the final homecoming.  God enters only his own rooms, where someone is always keeping watch for him…This is the deeper sense of Advent: that we scrutinize this center, little by little, and set up lights of recognition in our lives, and from the center master life’s gloominess.  There is no absolute darkness…Those who really wait on the Lord God will not be disappointed.

  

This is a quote in reference to Advent—the season on waiting for the Lord to come.  You will need some background.  Father Alfred Delp was a German priest with the Jesuit order who was arrested by the Nazis for conspiring to kill Adolph Hitler, and though found not guilty of participating in the conspiracy was executed nonetheless for his association with the conspirators.  While in jail he wrote some remarkable meditations, especially since it was Advent season and his coming meeting with God. 

Before I get to the quote, here is how Regis Martin summarized in the National Catholic Register earlier this month Delp’s arrest.  

 

When Gestapo agents arrived on the morning of July 28, 1944, slipping into the back of the quaint little country church outside Munich where its pastor, Father Alfred Delp, was saying Mass, they waited until he’d finished before arresting him on a charge of treason. It hardly mattered that he had committed no treason — they were determined to destroy him anyway. His record of resistance to Nazi tyranny was sufficiently known already among members of the Reich, and the time had now come to silence him for good. So, they hauled him off to prison where he was tortured, tried and sentenced to be hanged, which took place on Feb. 2, 1945, the Feast of the Purification of Mary.

But Fr. Delp’s antagonism with the Nazis went deep in his formation.  It seemed his whole adult life was in some way a reaction to this ideology that had taken over Germany.  From Delp’s Wikiwand entry: 

 

Following philosophy studies at Pullach, he worked for 3 years as a prefect and sports teacher at Stella Matutina Kolleg in Feldkirch, Austria, where in 1933, he first experienced the Nazi regime, which forced an exodus of virtually all German students from Austria and thus the Stella Matutina by means of a punitive 1000 Mark fine to be paid by anyone entering Austria. With his Director, Fr Otto Faller and Professor Alois Grimm, he was among the first to arrive in the Black Forest, where the Jesuits opened Kolleg St. Blasien for some 300 students forced out of Austria. After St. Blasien, he completed his theology studies in Valkenburg, The Netherlands (1934–1936), and in Frankfurt (1936–1937). 

 

Upon being ordained it seemed Delp increased his resistance to the Rech, both rhetorically and in deed.

 

In 1937, Delp was ordained a Catholic priest in Munich. Delp had wanted to study for a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Munich, but he was refused admission to the university for political reasons. From 1939 on, he worked on the editorial staff of the Jesuit journal Stimmen der Zeit ("Voices of the Times"), until the Nazis suppressed it in April 1941. He was then assigned as rector of St. Georg Church, part of Heilig-Blut Parish in the Munich neighbourhood Bogenhausen. He preached both at Heilig-Blut and St. Georg, and also secretly helped Jews who were escaping to Switzerland through the underground.

But it was in joining a group called the Kreisau Circle that got him marked.

 

The Jesuit provincial, Augustin Rösch, Delp's superior in Munich, became active in the underground resistance to Hitler…Rösch introduced Delp to the Kreisau Circle. As of 1942, Delp met regularly with the clandestine group around Helmuth James Graf von Moltke to develop a model for a new social order after the Third Reich came to an end.

This finally came to a head with the July 20^th plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler.

 

After the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler failed, a special Gestapo commission arrested and interrogated all known members of the Resistance. Delp was arrested in Munich on 28 July 1944 (eight days after Claus von Stauffenberg's attempt on Hitler's life), although he was not directly involved in the plot. He was transferred to Tegel Prison in Berlin. While in prison, he secretly began to say Mass and wrote letters, reflections on Advent, on Christmas, and other spiritual subjects, which were smuggled out of the prison before his trial.

So, the context of the quote is that Fr. Delp, consigned to prison and waiting his hanging, was able to secretly write meditations on life and the transcendental.  It recalls the fifth century Roman philosopher, Boethius, who wrote his famous On the Consolation of Philosophy while awaiting his execution.  But Delp languishes in prison in the late fall while awaiting Christmas, and so many of his meditations are on the importance of Advent, the coming of the Lord.  But this is of double significance for Delp.  Not only will he be meeting the incarnation at Christmas,; he, fully aware, will be meeting the Lord face to face upon his execution.

Each day during Advent, the days grow shorter and darker, until the beautiful light of Christmas morn.  Each day in prison, as one faces one’s execution, the days grow shorter and darker.  And so, Delp says he will endure, as we all must in our lives, “until the heart of man meets the heart of God.”  If we are prudent, through our faith and spirituality, we set up lights in our hearts to “master the gloominess.”  With God, there is no absolute darkness.

 

Matthew Monday: Chanukah

I haven’t had a Matthew Monday in a while.  He’s growing so, and he’s thirteen years old now.  Yesterday he woke up and said, “I think I grew overnight!”  And by golly, I think he did.  He’s going to be taller than me

Yesterday was the first night of Chanukah, and we celebrated at my mother-in=law’s house.  His grandma helped him light the first candle in the menorah.  Here are a couple of pictures.

 

 

Now, being the first night, only one candle is lit.  But the shamash, or “the attendant” candle, used to light the nightly candles.  In the most iconic menorahs, the shamash is usually in the middle.  In this menorah it’s over to the right side.

Here are some basics on how to light a menorah.

Sunday Meditation: The Virgin Shall Conceive and Bear A Son

An angel comes to Joseph to tell him.

 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

but before they lived together,

she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

"Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means "God is with us."

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.

~Mt 1:18-24

 

Bishop Barron gives a superb homily tying together the three readings. 

 

One further connection that Bishop Barron doesn’t quite get to: “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.”  Joseph was obedient. 

Under the same circumstances?  Would you have been obedient?  Would I?

Personal Essay: My Butterfly

I am not a butterfly collector but someone asked me to share this.  In passing I mentioned that a couple of years ago I found a dead butterfly on the stoop of my mother’s house.  I think it was summer, but I don’t exactly remember.  I just looked up the purchase of the display box and it was in the first week of September of 2020.  So I must have found the butterfly within of a week of that.

I found the dead butterfly on the front steps and I was surprised.  It had just plopped there.  My mother does have a pretty garden and I have seen butterflies fluttering about often.  I never saw a dead one before, and one completely undamaged.  I went to pick it up thinking it would fly away, but it didn’t move.  So I picked it up, realized it was dead, and thought it was beautiful.  I can’t imagine it had been a long time since it had died.  My first thought was of the author Vladimir Nabokov.   He was a passionate butterfly collector.  My next thought was, maybe I should try to preserve this like the collectors. 

I delicately put the butterfly on the passenger seat of my car and drove it home.  I figured you needed to refrigerate it, since that is what they do with dead bodies.  I put it in a plastic container and put it in the refrigerator until I read up on how to preserve it. 

You can Google it and find a bunch of sites.  There are variations on the process.  One thing I read that I was certain was that the body needed moisture from drying out.  So I wet a paper towel and put the butterfly inside the wet towel, then back in the plastic container, and then back in the refrigerator. The moisture is supposed to “relax” the butterfly.  I think I kept it in moisture for several days.

So I researched different display boxes and found one that was the perfect size and came with foam filler.  I had planned to follow the directions on pinning the butterfly into place but I realized that the foam actually pressed the butterfly against the glass, and so held it in place without pinning.  Good thing.  I probably would have screwed up the pinning and ruined the body.

Next was that you needed an antiseptic to preserve the body and prevent other insects from munching on it.  Moth balls turned out the easiest solution.  So behind the foam I placed a nice amount of moth balls, centered the butterfly on top of the foam, and closed up the box.  I have never opened it.

 

I think it’s gorgeous.  Comparing the pictures of male and female monarchs, this appears to be a male.  In passing I called this a tiger butterfly but on reflection and checking pictures on the internet, this may be a monarch.  I don’t know the specific differences but the color and line pattern of my butterfly seems to fit the monarch more so.  If anyone can tell the difference, let me know.  Here’s another picture with a ruler to gage the size.

 

It’s almost five inches.  According to the Wikipedia entry, they are supposed to have a wing span of four inches.  So this is a very big one.  

Maybe this is a better picture.  There is some glare off the glass in the above photos.

Sunday Meditation: Are You the One Who Is to Come?

It’s wonderful when all four readings connect and relate to each other.  I’m not going to pull that together for you.  You’ll have to do that yourself.  Here is the Gospel.

 

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,

he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,

"Are you the one who is to come,

or should we look for another?"

Jesus said to them in reply,

"Go and tell John what you hear and see:

the blind regain their sight,

the lame walk,

lepers are cleansed,

the deaf hear,

the dead are raised,

and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.

And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me."

 

As they were going off,

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,

"What did you go out to the desert to see?

A reed swayed by the wind?

Then what did you go out to see?

Someone dressed in fine clothing?

Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.

Then why did you go out?  To see a prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is the one about whom it is written:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way before you.

Amen, I say to you,

among those born of women

there has been none greater than John the Baptist;

yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

~Mt 11:2-11

 

What a strange question: Are you the one who is to come?  Well, anyone would have said yes.  I would have answered sure with full bravado.  But would anyone else have answered the way Jesus answered it?  Actually could anyone else have answered as Jesus did?  Dr. Brant Pitre explains why.

Isn’t it interesting that after Jesus answers if he is the one, he speaks about John the Baptist as being the one who is to come: “This is the one about whom it is written: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.”