Faith Filled Friday: "Hiding Place" by John Michael Talbot

It's been such a hard week.  Besides working late and taking work home, work has been a drag.  And then at the end of last week my mother broke and dislocated her finger, which will require an operation.  So it's been hectic and busy and stressful.  Through it all I have one hiding place.

I love this song, and I love most of John Michael Talbot's music.  If you've never heard his music, here's his home page, and I know you can sample a lot of it on Youtube.  I think he looks better with the shorter hair and beard, but I guess that sort of thing doesn't matter to him.  ;)

Music Tuesday: "Gloria" from Bach's Mass in B Minor

I can never make up my mind on who's the greatest composer between Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven.  I guess it depends which one's work has been in my ear.  Leading up to Easter our local classical radio station, WQXR, 105.9 FM, presented Bach's complete works in about ten days of play time, calling the event Bach 360.  I had been sick of talk radio ever since the election, and so I've had WQXR on in the car.  During the Bach 360, every time I got in the car it felt like I was in heaven.  I love Johann Sebastian Bach. 

Here is his Gloria in excelsis from his Mass in B Minor.  Now I don't know why a German Lutheran would write a mass in Latin.  Honestly I know very little about the Lutheran liturgy, but if the Mass in B Minor is any indication, it appears to have a very similar form as the in the Latin rite.  Hope you enjoy this piece of heaven.

Director: Karl Richter and the Munich Opera Bach Orchestra

Matthew Monday: Class Switch

This needs a little preface.  Matthew had been in a class (pre-pre-school) of three year olds that was mostly boys.  I think it was four or five other boys and one girl.  I don’t know if that fact is very significant.  Perhaps the fact that the teacher did not seem to control the class that well is much more significant.  I visited the class once and was totally not impressed of her presence or command of the class.  As far as I could tell from that one hour there was not much structure.  The kids raced about and played with whatever they took, possession being the rule as to who got to play with what.  I could sense that could lead to problems, but it didn’t while I was there, and I don’t think that is the root of the current problem either.   It was a sign, though.

Don’t get me wrong.  It wasn’t a bad class.  The teacher, Miss Melissa, is young, dressed rather common that day, probably isn’t paid that much for this level, but the kids were happy.  Matthew has been in the class since August (I think) and the kids are all friends.  They are rambunctious and Matthew picked up some bad manners at first.  But the kids all hug each other.  I’m not sure how much he’s learned, but I’m not sure how much he’s supposed to have learned at this level.  He knew his ABC’s and numbers already, and I’d have to say now he’s infallible with them.  Other than improving on what he already knew, I don’t know what exactly he’s learned.

A few weeks ago Miss Melissa said that she thought Matthew was going to be a perfectionist, not so much as a compliment, but just because he insists on doing things himself.  He’ll start doing it and then, when it doesn’t turn out as quite it should, he wants to move on to something else.  He gets frustrated.  Then we were told his writing of the alphabet (calligraphy) was behind the other kids, and he didn’t want to do it anymore.  He was refusing.  Now the other kids are all I think in class five days a week, full days.  This amounts to day care for them while the parents work.  Matthew is only there three days a week for half days.  Obviously he’s not going to be at the other kid’s level. 

And then last week we were told that Matthew doesn’t want to do the school projects.  The school projects amount to gluing things together as a little craft.  When he gets frustrated and stops he starts to cry.  He told my wife last week that the other kids call him “cry baby.”  My wife verified this with the teacher, and she said they do.  Something was going on because it reached a point where Matthew on Tuesday was refusing to go to school altogether.  Wednesday he was crying when my wife dropped him off.  She spoke to the administrator and asked he go into another class. 

I was reluctant to make the switch.  After all Matthew has to learn how to deal with different types, and he’s got to toughen up.  He can’t quit just because he’s called names.  Thursday he was put into another class with fewer boys.    The following are email exchanges I had with my wife.

From: Mrs. Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 9:35 AM
To: Manny
Subject: Matthew

Matthew actually looked forward to going to school this morning. Brought him to his new classroom and right away you can tell how mellow it is compared to his other class. He gave me no problem at all, not even a whine. Gave me a kiss and off he went to play. His new teacher Miss Vicki is the total opposite of Miss Melissa. Even Vicki told me that the boys in Melissa's class are a rough bunch.

I'll know more when I pick him up later.

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From: Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 10:57 AM
To: Mrs. Manny
Subject: RE: Matthew (UNCLASSIFIED)

Thanks.

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From: Mrs. Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 1:29 PM
To: Manny
Subject: Matthew

Today went very well. Matthew likes his new class and teacher. When his new teacher asked him if he wanted to stay in her class Matthew responded with a yes and gave her a hug.

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From: Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 01:31 PM
To: Mrs. Manny
Subject: RE: Matthew (UNCLASSIFIED)

Sounds like you made a good decision.

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Let’s hope it’s all resolved.    

Faith Filled Friday: "Divine Mercy Flood My Soul"

This coming Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday.  This song is just too moving to not post for the occaision.  Annie Karto has such a delicately beautiful voice. 

Divine Mercy Flood My Soul

by Annie Karto

I knelt before Him one stormy night
His Face was adorned in a golden light
I felt so unworthy, I want to run and hide
But His gaze was so intense I felt paralyzed

Divine Mercy
like a river, oh, flood my soul
wash me clean, and make me whole
Divine Mercy
like a river, oh, flood my soul
wash me clean, and make me whole

I found the lyrics here, if you wish to read the rest of them. 

Book Excerpt: Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset, Part 3

You can find part 1 of my blogs on this biography here and part 2 here. 

Catherine of Siena has been proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, which is an honor based on a saint’s extensive writings that promote the doctrine or explain theology or reflect great sanctity.  In her short life Catherine wrote almost four hundred letters (381 to be exact, taking up four volumes in collection) known to have survived, a book of prayers, and a book on her mysticism and spirituality simply called Dialogue.  I’d like this excerpt to give a sample Catherine’s writings, both to display her theology and her writing style, as showcased in Undset’s biography.

 First, here’s a little bit on Undset speaking about Catherine’s language.

 

Catherine always wrote in Tuscan, her native tongue.  It is impossible to give any proper idea of her style in translation—she has complete mastery over the music of the Italian peasant language, whether she is tenderly admonishing a soul whose welfare means just as much to her as her own, describing her heavenly visions, or threatening with the wrath of God; whether she is advising powerful lords or ordinary people, laymen or monks in cases concerning the fate if people and countries, or private people’s everyday difficulties.  But because her soul was filled with the love of Christ and belief in Him, her interest for everything human was bathed in faith; to use her own analogy, as the swimmer under the water only sees what is in the water, or what can be seen through the water, so she sees everything through her faith.  But in our time and the language of our time the expressions we use for religious emotions and religious experience have become worn out and meaningless; words which in Catherine’s language are as shining as new-minted gold, become, when repeated by us, worn-out coins, which have gone out of circulation.  Catherine speaks of Virtù, and for her the word retains its full weight; it means a vital and powerful pursuit of high ideals.  “Virtue in English has no connection in the popular mind with capacity, capacity for goodness; we think of virtue as something slightly sour, weak and boring.  Catherine’s eternal cri du coeur, “Gesù Dolce—Gesù Amore,” is filled with very different associations from those which occur to us when we read “Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love.”  A sweet Jesus, a lady Jesus; Jesus-Love—a substitute or sublimation of sexual love.  In Catherine’s language and when she lived, sweetness was also a name for strength, for all that is good and at the same time gentle and merciful.  That goodness must also at times be hard and aggressive, no one knew better than Catherine.  For her and her contemporaries, even for the hosts of people who in practice tried to forget it or deny it, it was acknowledged that “Amore” love, is fundamentally an expression for the connection between God and the soul of man.  [p.190-1]

 

The phrase “Gesù Dolce—Gesù Amore” was her favorite way to address our Lord, and apparently she used it to sign off many of her letters.  I’m so enamored (pardon the pun) with that phrase that I’ve begun to use it in one of my prayers where I address Christ.  Here is a sample letter, this letter to Pope Gregory XI to take responsibility like a man or the Church of Christ would continue to suffer.

 

As usual she begins her letter in the name of Jesus Christ and gentle Mary, and addresses herself to the Pope as her dearest and most worthy father in Jesus Christ.  For herself she has chosen the title of God’s servants’ servant and bondswoman—it is reminiscent of the Pope’s traditional signature, “the servant of the servants of God.”  She describes her longing to see him standing as a fruitful tree, loaded with noble fruit because it is planted in good earth.  But if the tree is not planted in this good earth, which is self-knowledge—the knowledge that we are nothing, existing only in Him Who Is—the tree will wither.  The worm of egoism will eat up the roots, for he who loves himself feeds his soul with mortal pride, the principle and origin of evil in all men, in those who rule and those who must obey.  A man who has become the victim of self-love becomes indifferent to sins and faults among his subordinates, for he is afraid to annoy them and make them his enemies.  Either he attempts to punish them so halfheartedly that it is useless, or else he does not punish them at all.  In other words Catherine tells the Pope that in the last resort it is he who carries the whole responsibility for the terrible abuses which are draining the life of the Church, even though according to human reckoning he may be a fine person with many good qualities…”If the blind leads the blind both fall into the abyss; doctor and patient hurry to hell together.”  The kind of mercy which is due to self-love and the love of friends, relations, and temporal peace is in fact the worst cruelty, for if a wound is not cleansed when necessary with the red-hot iron and the surgeon’s knife, it festers and finally causes death.  To apply salves to it may be pleasant for the patient, but it does not heal him.  Love your neighbor for Jesus’ sake, and for the honor and glory of His sweet name.   “Yes, I could wish you were a good and faithful shepherd who was willing to give a thousand lives if you had them, for the glory of God and the salvation of His creatures.  Oh, my beloved father, you who are Christ on earth, imitate the Blessed St. Gregory.  You can do what he did, for he was a man as you are, and God is always the same as He was.  The only thing we lack is hunger for the salvation of our neighbor, and courage.  But to arouse this hunger in ourselves, who are nothing more than barren trees, we must graft ourselves to the fruitful tree of the cross.  The Lamb who was slaughtered for the sake of our salvation still thirst—His desire for our salvation is greater than could be shown by His suffering—for His suffering is without end, as is His love.

“…Have courage Holy Father, no more indecision, raise the banner of the holy cross, the fragrance of the cross is what will bring you peace.”  “Forgive me, Father, for all I have said to you.  The tongue speaks of that which fills the heart”…

Finally she talks of the forthcoming nomination of cardinals, and warns him he must choose those men who are most worthy, otherwise he need not be surprise if God punishes him.  For the Dominican order, which is to have a new Master General, she begs him to chose a pious and virtuous man, “for that is what our order needs.”  She ends by asking humbly for his blessing and forgiveness for all she has dared to write.  “Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love.”  [p.187-9]

I love her use of what would today be called folksy maxims: the blind following the blind into the abyss, a wound that is not cauterized and cut clean will lead to death, applying salves may be pleasant but it will not heal.  Her language is very vivid, charged with simile (the Pope needs to be a fruitful tree) and then extends the simile almost in the manner of Homer (the tree needs to be planted in good earth or the worm of egoism will destroy the roots).  And of course her outspoken is at the very core of her identity.  Who has the audacity to tell the Pope to have “courage”?

Finally her great work, Dialogue, should be described and sampled, and Undset does that in a whole chapter.  I can’t copy an entire chapter, but I’ll try to give a taste of it.

Catherine calls the manuscript “the book” or “my book.”  It was Raimondo who first gave it a title and called it the Dialogue.  The first Latin translation, by Critofano di Gano Guidini and Stefano Maconi, had been called by the translators the Book of Divine Learning.  Since then the various translations and unprinted editions in several different languages have gone under several names…The undercurrent beneath the waves of shifting ideas in these conversations between the Eternal Father and her whom He calls His very dear daughter, and His much loved child, is the belief in God’s mercy.  With her heart crushed by compassion Catherine begs for mercy—for all this world which sin has laid waste, for all Christians and heathens and the infidel too.  And finally, when the Eternal father compresses all He has taught His daughter into a few sentences, He says: “I have told you that I will show the world mercy so that you can see that mercy is the sign by which I am known”…

In the Dialogue the Lord repeats for Catherine all that he has taught her before of the knowledge of God and the knowledge of one’s own ego and the way to perfection: “Your service of no use to Me, it is by serving your neighbor that you can serve Me.”  The soul which has once experienced the bliss of being united with God in love, which has reached the point where it only loves itself in God, will expand and embrace the whole world with its love.  Once it has won for itself the virtue which brings a life of grace it will work with the utmost zeal to help its neighbor.  But this is an inner virtue; outward action, physical work, diligent penitence, self-chastisement and all kinds of self-denial are nothing more than the tools of virtue—God is not interested in them for themselves.  On the contrary—they can be an obstacle on the way to perfection if the soul begins to love penitential exercises for their own sake.  One must do penitence from love, with true humility and perfect patience.  And it must be done with understanding, that is to say with a true knowledge of God and one’s own self…   .  [p.262-4]

It seems that Catherine is taking us on a journey, and the journey is inward toward her mystic visions.  She seems to be suggesting the notion of Divine Mercy centuries before St. Faustina.  The visions rely on a complex imagery and symbolism, such as one of her favorite images, the swallowing sea.

When she saw that she had been given a new and deeper understanding of the love which caused the redemption by Christ Crucified, Catherine was filled with holy joy and prayed again for the whole world—although if the Holy Church should regain the outward beauty which is an expression of its eternal inner beauty, the whole world would be saved…So when mankind had rebelled against God it immediately rebelled against itself; the flesh rebelled against the spirit and mankind drowned in the dark and bitter waters of sin…Man thinks it is the things he loves which float, but in reality it is he himself who is swept by the stream towards the end of his life.  He would like to stop, to keep his hold of this life and the things he loves, so that they are not washed out of his reach.  He reaches out blindly to whatever he happens to touch, but cannot tell the difference between valuable and the valueless.   Then comes death and takes him from all he loves…

God made a bridge over this abyss when He gave the world His Son.  For God, who created us without our having anything to do with it, demands of us that we should work with Him for our salvation…    .  [p.264-5]

The symbol of the bridge (God’s grace) becomes further complicated as it intertwines with the symbol of light as the path to God. 

But because it is through the grace which God gives us that we are able to work with Him for our salvation, Catherine prays for light.  This too she is given, and then she sees how one can receive and increase the grace God gives freely.  It is the old teaching of the mystics on the Via Purificativa, the way to cleanse the soul, the Via Illuminativa, the way to enlightenment of eternal truths, and the Via Unitiva, the way to unification with God in love.    [p.266]

Does the bridge become transformed into a bridge of light?  I’ve perused the Dialogue itself (here, free on the Internet), and I have to admit it is hard to follow.  Her imagery shifts fluidly, too fluidly, and her symbols seem to be built on top of each other.  She violates several rules of rhetorical clarity, but what she loses in clarity she gains in poetic vision.  She writes (actually mutters while in mystic transcendence and someone else is writing it down) like a complex modern poet, symbols morphing into symbols.

She develops the bridge symbol in several ways.  The soul steps onto the bridge by three steps.  Sometimes, according to her, the steps mean the three grades of intimacy with Christ, which are also expressed by the kiss on His feet, the kiss on the wound in His side, and the kiss on His mouth.  Then she lets the three steps mean three stages toward perfect union with God: slavish fear of God’s punishment is what leads most souls to the bridge.  The next step is the faithfulness of a servant who follows his kind lord through love, even though this love is still imperfect, because the servant of his reward—the blessedness which God gives His faithful servants.  This leads to the third step, where the soul loves God with the love of a son—for what He is, not for His gifts.  At another time, the three steps become a symbol for the qualities of the soul—memory, intelligence, and will.  With an interpretation, entirely her own, of a phrase in the Bible, Catherine declares that when these three qualities of the soul run together in the desire for unity with God, Christ will fulfill His promise: “When two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them.”   [p.266]

Undset describes that the structure of the work is not linear in progress, but rhythmic, as the sea.   The book was written in four or five days, the divisions into chapters and sections by others subsequent to the transcription.

The contents of the book came from Catherine’s lips during a series of visions and take the form of thoughts which are often repeated or which reappear constantly in new forms.  Her mind is like the waves of the sea which break inwards over the same problems and then wash back again, then break again.  The comparisons and symbols, some of them old favorites from earlier visions and letters, are repeated or given new meaning.  No translation can do justice to the beauty, tenderness, and pathos she expresses in her lovely Tuscan dialect, and which have made the Dialogue one of the masterpieces of Italian literature as well as a milestone in Catholic thinking.  [p.267-8]

Finally if you want to hear Fr. Thomas McDermott speak about Catherine's writings, you can watch his interview on EWTN's Bookmark.

Music Tuesday: "Jumping Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones

I'm a big Rolling Stones fan.  No I can square it with my religious faith.  I do not endorse many of the values expressed in the songs.  But really it's the music that one should assess musicians and composers; themes and lyrics are of secondary importance.  Here's one of my all time favorites.  I've said that this song is the perfection of what rock and roll should be: a driving beat, rhythm and blues core, great vocal inflection, and attitude.  Plus the Stones at their best just write interesting songs.  Supposedly the inspiration for Jack came from Keith Richards' gardener.  You can read about it here.  I post a YouTube version with showing the lyrics.

Matthew Monday: Easter Mass

I took Matthew to Easter Mass yesterday.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture, but he just looked so adorable.  He had on a stripped green and white, long sleeved polo shirt and tan slacks.  He just looks so handsome with his dark hair combed nicely. 

I think this was his third mass, other than his baptism.  The first two times we sat in what my church sort of isolates as a section for people with children, in the back corner with glass encasing.  I've never seen anything like that in any other church, but it's helpful for noisy kids.  Those two times we stayed through the homily and credo.  That's about the point he couldn't help being too active.  There's only so much constraint a two or three year old can take.

This time I took him into the main pews to where I normally sit.  I kind of wanted to show him off to the people who normally sit around me.  I will say he was very shy, but he did talk to the woman who normally sits next to me.  I don't even know her name, and yet we're usually both there every Sunday.  I do know she's a grandmother, and she started talking to him like a grandmother, and Matthew just loved it.  I told her he was adopted, and she in turn said she had been adopted as a child.  Isn't that something? 

What hooks Matthew with church is the music.  He doesn't understand anything else, but he does listen intently, hoping to hear a song he knows.  He keeps wanting to hear "The Wheels On the Bus," LOL!  No he didn't hear it.  The other two times at Mass I had to leave because I thought Matthew was getting a bit rambunctious.  This time, sitting in the crowded pews on a packed Easter Mass, he got intimidated and began to well up and cry.  It was a silent crying.  He pushed his head into me and his hands covered his eyes.  And when it got to the standing parts I had to pick him up and hold him. 

I got him to stop crying by taking out a pen and paper from my jacket pocket and having him scribble.  He did it quietly, thank God.  I got the idea from two children slightly older who were sitting two pews ahead who had crayons.  On the kneeling parts during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, I had to kneel on one knee and put him on my other.  Try that some time.  And then I got him to shake hands on the sign of the peace.  He was shy but I think he liked that.  There were two teenage girls sitting behind me that I think were ogling him the whole time and insisted on shaking his hand.  He's got such a way with the ladies. :)

We left when everyone was going up to receive communion.  He almost made it through the whole mass.  Next time I think I'll have him sit by the organist and choir.  I think that will keep him interested longer.