Upcoming Changes to the Mass

The USCCB has confirmed changes to the GIRM, again, and they are anticipated to approve them for use this November. The link in this post title leads you to the USCCB page where all Assembly and Priest Mass Parts Revisions (current and proposed) are shown word for word.

I submit for your consideration that some of the professions we make as revised appear rather serious, if you are one who A) attends an Orthodox Parish and B) have grown fond of every syllable of the current Mass profession and response parts.

I am both.

Take the Assembly Revision to the "Nicene Creed" for example. The current profession begins with "We believe in one God,..." while the revised Roman Missal proposes "I believe in one God,...".

It would appear by simple logic that the latter is now not the Nicene Creed but something other than the Nicene Creed. Think I'm splitting hairs? Check it:

As an RCIA Catechist, I have taught adults from the Catechism that traditionally, historically, and scripturally the Nicene Creed was written starting with the word "We" to amplify, confirm and profess in Liturgical Plurality (IE The Church, The Body) and that is consistent with Christs teaching on Unity. Changing this first word to "I", even when spoken audibly with other fellow Catholics/Christians, is now a singular statement. No Unity, no Community, no Church profession by more than one or two gathered in His name. This is only one example of the possible mental conflicts which may occur to some of us by these changes.

Don't get me wrong, I can adapt and will...the Bishops are our guide (ahem) in Liturgy, however, one hopes they have considered that we who teach or share the Faith might rightly request the intellectual back story to these changes, so we can convince ourselves that they in fact deepen the Mass experience. We will then be better equipped to teach those confused Faithful that don't see this coming at Christmas.

We Interupt this Blogcast #8 - Jazz Mass

You gotta love this:

On Seeking God's Will

I'm really absorbed in Merton's "No Man is an Island"(NMIAI), that's why the superficial and thin posting here lately. The study of one's own conscience and developing an intensely personal prayer life contained in this work, while some of it is well beyond my absolute comprehension, (Merton's language and writing style, not his vocabulary, goes to the heavy side of philosophy and introspection with frequent breaks using normal conversation) there is self-revelation on the first pass through. I have posted in similar ways that doing God's will, obedience, commandment keeping... leads to inner peace and why. From NMIAI Ch. 4 "Pure Intention":

"Our happiness consists of doing the will of God. But the essence of this happiness does not lie merely in an agreement of wills. It consists in a union with God. And the union of wills which makes us happy in God must be ultimately something deeper than an agreement.


Shall I be content to do God's will for my own advantage? It is better to do His will with a weak, but deliberate co-operation than to do His will unconsciously, unwillingly, and in spite of myself. But let me not confine my idea of perfection to the selfish obedience that does God's will merely for the sake of my own profit. True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God. If I seek some other reward besides God Himself, I may get my reward but I cannot be happy.


The secret of pure intention is not to be sought in the renunciation of all advantage to ourselves. Our intentions are pure when we identify our advantage with God's glory, and see that our happiness consists of doing His will because His will is right and good. In order to make our intentions pure, we do not give up all idea of seeking our own good, we simply seek it where it can really be found, in a good that is above and beyond ourselves...


...When we speak of God's will, we are usually speaking only of some recognizable sign of His will...it is one thing to see a sign and another thing to interpret that sign correctly...Nevertheless there are some signs that everyone must know. They must be easily read and seen and are indeed very simple...

For in the course of each day the duties of our state, the claims made on us by those around us, the demands on our energy, our patience, and our time all make known to us the will of God and show us the way to realize ourselves in Him by losing ourselves in charity. But the pharisee who splits hairs and rationalizes his way out of these chances for self-dedication, although he may theorize and dogmatize about the will of God, never fully does that will for he never really abandons himself to the influence of divine charity."

Sounds like the 2nd Commandment to me. As I have explained here and here, its tough territory for this journeyman. Yet, its yields are infinitely larger than me.

The Year for Priests to begin June 19, 2009

From The Vatican : "Pope Benedict XVI has declared a “Year for Priests” beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009. The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father on June 19, 2010....Precisely to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends, I have decided to establish a special "Year for Priests" that will begin on 19 June and last until 19 June 2010. In fact, it is the 150th anniversary of the death of the Holy Curé d'Ars, John Mary Vianney, a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock."

The Pope explains the intent behind this emphasis as safeguarding the "legitimate expectations of the faithful" These Men are really and truly living to serve our spiritual hunger. Called by God, discerned by Conscience and delivered by His Church, I am grateful for their service.

Book Review - The Shack

You will find this novel in the Fiction category, which is an ironic indication of how backwards we all have organised "our" world. The Shack succeeds in presenting truth; biblical, relational and theological, wrapped in a fictional delivery that bypasses our "religion" filters and presents a tale that is stunning and deep. Without a spoiler, here is a truth excerpt conveyed during a dialogue, by someone not of this world:

"People are tenacious when it comes to the treasure of their imaginary Independence. They hoard and hold their sickness with a firm grip. They find their identity and worth in their brokenness and guard it with every ounce of strength they have. No wonder grace has such little attraction. In that sense [people] have tried to lock the door of [their] hearts from the inside."

I couldn't agree more.

The story succeeds in compressing a wide spectrum of potentially human manufactured Christian misunderstanding of Scripture, through a lens of no religious predisposition. Instead, Paul Young places the reader in a purely human experience using Mack's personal and family relationships, including tragedy and dynamics as the truth communicating vehicle. If I go beyond that, it would be a spoiler.

*Spoiler Alert*

My exposure to it began with Paul Youngs collaborators and his interview with Sr. Ann Shields on Ave Maria Radio. To see into what we may assume are heretic, anti-institutionalism motives in the author(s), before I got the book, I listened to the God Journey podcast and many interviews with Paul Young.

Fearing its "churchless" undertone and exegeting this book like scripture is pointless. It is an attempt at exposing the centrality of Jesus' new covenant, and exploring how our our feeble human fears, secrets, lies and obstacles can be overcome by relational theology.

There are many highly visible Protestants (Chuck Colson, John MacArthur, Driscoll, etc,) denouncing this book for the obvious motives, it appears to take their well tithing members out of keeping them in the black.

Just like taking a single Bible quote from Romans out of context may lead to Calvinism, my advice is listen and read about the Author and collaborators, their personal religious backstories and one to one, in a human and personal way, read this book in the context of its sources. There is Catholic Truth in it, while it is fictional. One example: Numerous references by Papa to working in and not violating our free-will reinforce the Catholic belief of a "both-and" salvation relationship with The Father, while Protestants reel at this shot at double predestination theory.

Highly recommended.

We Interupt this Blogcast #7 - Nick

Cardiac Lenses

Investigating Predisposition lens theory, Is it possible to erase all personal predisposition when studying scripture or modern thought or philosophy and the like? I imagine one would have to first admit one IS predisposed, or angled toward or against a given thought trajectory. So, OK, in my best dressed humility I admit some level of predisposition to Orthodox Christianity, in general (IE. Catholic, Orthodox and a fraction Episcopalian). When I read a given scripture passage, I must be adding an Orthodox advocacy to understanding the intent of the passage or thought. In the cerebral flow of words into comprehension, my precious Roman Catholic Identity strives to bond with the given reading. Here, lets take this on at extreme of predisposition.

"And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church..."
[Matthew 16:18]

This small part of one verse (and its mosaic parallel in Isaiah 22:22) created all of Apostolic Succession Doctrine, the Papacy, Hierarchical authority. That's a tangible lens with a Catholic/Orthodox predisposition. Most often, it is quoted and conveyed to be absorbed in a concrete and sequential way. The language appears physical and direct, a singular path of appointment for a tangible purpose...to build a Church.

Lets remove that lens, break it down a bit and see what else is there, without losing the literal Orthodox definition:

"And I say to thee: That thou art Peter..."

Christ is communicating to Peter. He is facing Peter and showing trust in Peter. That is one essence of Christs Ministry, it is relational and trust giving. He is also exalting and honoring Peter in a singular and humanly understood way, by giving Peter revealing "Title". What does it say to Peter? I would be confident that Peter is saturated with the heartfelt relationship that this outward proclamation makes visible.

"...and upon this rock I will build my church..."

Christ repeats the Title in 2 ways, Peter (Cephas) and Rock, revealing his ability to not only have a personal relationship, but also to make a decision of responsibility placement, on Peters Heart. What do we imagine Peters comprehension was, at that exact time? Surely it was relational, and penetrating.

We know from further contextual reading that Peter built the Church, through the limited means available and the other Apostles. What drove Peter to carry it out to the ultimate Martyrdom? It had to be more than a simple concrete instruction. The relationship and mutual trust with Christ turned to Love, a Love not of this World. An unconditional Love. A Love of the Heart.

The challenge here is not only to study in a present day context of the writing, but also from the communicants perspective and their environment...inside the heart and mind and outside, and see where that Truth becomes the most real.

Ecumenism, Thomas Merton, The Shack, The God Journey and Universal Truth

I have spent a considerable amount of time recently listening to the "churchless" guys at the God Journey podcast. Before you get ahead of me, these Gents are not anti-church or anti-religion by far. They are having a painfully sincere, funny and honest dialogue about the performance misperceptions that churches & ritual appear to have on a good majority of Christian Religion followers, in the light of following Christ scripturally. Wayne and Brad at the God Journey are exploring Christian Thought on a level of Universality that few outside the Catholic/Orthodox Faith dare to tread visibly. These men advocate certain practices of Catholicism and Orthodoxy without even knowing their findings are explored and documented Catholic territory, at times.

(Wayne and Brad also collaborated on the recent popular novel by William Paul Young called "The Shack", which is gaining momentum in the secular fiction world as an insightful take on discovering God and Christianity.)

Anyway....I digressed...

Wayne and Brad recently had a conversation podcast where they discussed excerpts from Thomas Mertons "No man is an island". There are few spiritual resources as rare as Thomas Merton. That is, in the context of carrying on a life completely dedicated to Catholic spiritual thought and experience.

Many and rich are the Churches ancient and not so ancient Fathers, who's footprints are documented in the Theological Halls of higher learning and Seminaries; IE. Aquinas, Augustine, Ignatius, Iraneus, Cyprian, Origin, etc., etc.. While authentic work has been left to our consumption by numerous Church Fathers, Thomas Merton, a Catholic Trappist cloistered monk and Priest, stands apart due to his ability to put in language the path of the longest spiritual distance known to man, the 18 inches from Heart to Head.

Merton extensively studied many religions including Muslim, Zen Buddhism and Asian philosophy while remaining Catholic. He explored the Faith internally and externally, and was a gifted writer like few others of recent time. It is that combination of his environment and gifted talent that yielded a work called "No man is an island" (Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.ISBN/ISSN:1590302532).

Merton leads a journey in this book to attempt a language bridge from Head to Heart, or more specifically, he narrates the logic, belief and emotional positions to which we all strive to make more permanent than just factual intellectual understanding. Taking a purely mental understanding and perfecting that belief in the core of our being - actual transformation. This excerpt from "No man is an island" makes the case regarding learning to find love in a relationship with God:

"When we consider that most men want to be loved as if they were Gods, it is hardly surprising that they should despair of receiving the love they think they deserve...and yet our idea of ourselves is so fantastically unreal that we rebel against the lack of love, as though we have been the victims of an injustice. Our whole life is then constructed on the basis of duplicity, we assume others are receiving the kind of appreciation we want for ourselves, and we proceed on the assumption that since we are not loveable as we are, we must become loveable under false pretenses.

As if we were something better than we are.

The real reason why so few men or women believe in God, is that they have ceased to believe that even a God can love them. But their despair is perhaps more respectable than the insincerity of those that think they can trick God into loving them, for something they are not. This kind of duplicity is after all fairly common among so-called believers, who consciously
cling to the hope that God himself, placated by prayer, will support their egotism and their
insincerity and help them achieve their own selfish ends. If we are to love sincerely, and with
simplicity, we are to first overcome the fear of not being loved. This cannot be done by forcing ourselves to believe in some illusion, saying that we are loved when we are not, we must somehow strip ourselves of our greatest illusions about ourselves... and learn to see that we are lovable after all, and in spite of everything... we must accept the fact that we are not what we would like to be...we must find our real self in all our elemental poverty and simple dignity, created to be a child of God." (Merton, No man is an island)

Merton is saying we control our connection to God and not through godly performance or good works. The train of "thought" here is not one of spiritual concepts controlled by those outside of mere human, but relational behaviors we enact with ourselves which are the barriers to receiving Truth.

He takes the saying "to thine own self be true" to an infinitely applicable and productive level.

So, Wayne and Brad are impacted by Merton's rays of light, and so they should be, as I am. But this is not "new" and "emergent" (nor are they advertising such) or "churchless" by any stretch of my experience. The God Journey is exploring Christs teaching of self truth, internal humility in its purest sense and thats valuable to every human. Beyond the obvious singular holiness quest of this dialogue, it is infinitely beneficial as Ecumenism.

The Catholic Church, in spite of its visible man inflicted flaws has reached for this type of dialogue forever. It is also a teaching based in scripture and with my highest language effort I convey:

Ecumenism is not a mere byproduct of this dialogue. This is an Ecumenical reach for Universal Truth.

Catholic Hat Tip to Wayne, Brad and Wm. Paul Young.

Silly Humans are all around Notre Dame

www.replacejenkins.com is reporting that $13.9 Million in donations is now lost due to Fr. Jenkins weak defenses of his Commencement/Obama decision. Truth is, Fr. Jenkins is on a B.O.D. of a pro-abort/pro-contraception organization and that is just hitting national light today. Truth is, Fr. Jenkins reports to a Trustee Board that exercises whatever secular influence they need on ND Leadership.

Fr. Jenkins is just a symptom. I cant wait for the speech and degree award spectacle, unless there is a last minute pull-out by either Jenkins or Obama, this will reveal just how silly humans under cultural apathy fail in our Church. Picture this, if Jenkins published a mea culpa and went to confession, he still has no fit for running a Catholic Institution based on a long history of degraded compliance with his own ordained Catholic conscience, let alone the Catechism. He is but a silly human.

There are silly humans on all sides of this issue. I don't agree with using a financial loss as a motivator to get Fr. Jenkins attention, if that worked it would just indicate how materially his values are based. But silly humans dont think ahead of their mouth or pen very well.

Fr. Jenkins is ignoring the Catechism, and we are enjoying the fight at the Church's expense.
We are silly humans. The Church is suffering the most here. More later from this silly human.

A Friend in Jesus...Mass Reading for May 17, 2009

Remembering back in the days of my teen youth, after falling away from the Catholic Church, I attended a Non-Denom Bible Church where every Sunday they sang "Oh what a friend we have in Jesus" and I found it to be such empty popcorn. It had no context or reality for me as I didnt study scripture, I was there for the social crowd. How ironic that was. I never tied it together that there was a relational theology happening in front of me to provide an example.

This Sundays Mass Gospel reading, John Ch 15:9-17 quotes Jesus telling his disciples:

"...You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father."

Christ is saying that we are raised to his level enough to be beside Him, not under Him. In a Corporate analogy, He held no secrets where we were unfairly put at a disadvantage. Recalling the explicit detail in Luke where he gave examples of Commandment violations, the path of being "In Him" was made clear. Thats what a friend does, he keeps no secrets to his heart.