Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, although I didn't always like it so well. Growing up, I thought Thanksgiving was the most boring of holidays. To be fair, it had to compete with Halloween (candy), Christmas (presents), Easter (Easter baskets), and birthdays (cake and presents). Now that I'm a little older, I appreciate the gathering of friends and family to share in a meal. It's quite Eucharistic, of course.
* * *
We friars had a brunch earlier this morning, and now we're waiting to have our family feast tonight after evening prayer. I pray that tonight will be peaceful and happy for everyone.
God bless,
Br. Paul, OP~

Happy Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria

Today is the feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria, one of the two other protectresses of the Order of Preachers (besides the Bl. Virgin Mary) along with St. Mary of Magdala. St. Dominic reportedly had visions of St. Catherine, and this is why he chose her as protectress.
* * *
Sorry I haven't written much as of late. I have been running around trying to get my papers done. Yesterday I did a paper on C.S. Lewis, Benedict XVI, and Anders Nygren on the differences, etc. between Eros and Agape. Today, I tried to do research for my paper on Thomas Aquinas's theory on the eternity of the world. (The question being--how can the world be both created and eternal?) I say "tried", because I didn't get much reading done. It's not light reading, so my mind wanders pretty readily.
* * *
I hope everyone is ready for Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays. If only it would snow.
* * *
All for now,
P~
To learn more about St. Catherine of Alexandria see: http://willingshepherds.com/Dominican%20Saints%20November.html#Catherine%20Alexandria. You'll have to scroll down to the entry for Nov. 25th.

Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Happy Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The image to the left is of one of the wonderful windows found in my home parish church, Mother of God Church in Covington, KY. The top image is of the Presentation of Mary, the bottom is the Presentation of Samuel. My favorite depiction of this story is a stone carving on the exterior of Chartres Cathedral. I've only seen it in picture books, but I think it's the best. It shows Mary as a little, little girl carrying a basket, smiling away, as her parents (Ss. Joachim and Anne) discuss what's happening.
* * *
Apparently, the history feast does go way back. According to Enzo Lodi/Jordan Aumann, OP in Saints of the Roman Calendar the Eastern Church was celebrating this feast at least in the year 543 when there was a dedication of a basilica to Mary in Jerusalem. [Sadly, they tell us, the Persians destroyed this basilica.] For the West, the feast was confirmed in 1372 by Pope Gregory XI. It was already being observed in monasteries, etc. Where does the story come from? In the apocryphal work, Protoevangelium of James (which is full of fun and interesting stories from the childhoods of Mary and Jesus), Mary is said to have been presented at the Temple when she was just three years old. There she joined a group of holy women and other girls. (Thus, this story goes back to at least the 2nd Century, when the Protoevangelium of James was written.)
* * *
The second reading chosen by the Church for the feast [read at Office of Readings, one of the hours of the Divine Office] was just beautiful. It was from a sermon by St. Augustine. The last paragraph reads:

"Now having said that all of you are brothers of Christ, shall I not dare to call you his mother? Much less would I dare to deny his own words. Tell me how Mary became the mother of Christ, if it was not by giving birth to the members of Christ? You, to whom I am speaking, are the members of Christ. Of whom were you born? 'Of mother Church,' I hear the reply of your hearts. You became sons of this mother at your baptism, you came to birth then as members of Christ. Now you in your turn must draw to the font of baptism as many as you possibly can. You became sons when you were born there yourselves, and now by bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your power to become the mothers of Christ."
* * *
Well, I better get to work on some of my papers.
To see more of the windows from my home parish, see: http://www.mother-of-god.org/welcome.htm. For those of you who don't know. Kentucky has a rich Catholic history. Both Louisville and Covington have large Catholic populations. Covington is home to a minor basilica: St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. The Basilica has the world largest hand blown stained glass window in the world. [See:http://www.covcathedral.com/ ] So if you're in need of a spiritual pilgrimage, consider visiting the holy places of Covington and Cincinnati, OH.
* * *
Until later,
Br. Paul, OP~

Another Day of Thinking

"For the dream of finding our end, the thing we were made for, in a Heaven of purely human love could not be true unless our whole Faith were wrong. We were made for God. Only by being in some respect like Him, only by being a manifestation of His beauty, loving-kindness, wisdom or goodness, has any earthy Beloved excited our love. It is not that we have loved them [other people] too much, but that we did not quite understand what we were loving. It is not that we shall be asked to turn from them, so dearly familiar, to a Stranger. When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been a party to, has made, sustained and moved moment by moment within, all our earthly experiences of innocent love. All that was true love in them was, even on earth, far more His than ours, and ours only because we shall have turned already; from the portraits to the Original, from the rivulets to the Fountain, from the creatures He made lovable to Love Himself. But secondly, because we shall find them all in Him. By loving Him more than them we shall love them more than we now do." From The Four Loves
* * *
Today, I am mindful of how lucky I am to be studying theology. My head has been swimming in a sea of theories all about God, the world, and the purpose of it all. These are the very things that, when humans are lucky enough to slow down and have leisure to study, they find to be the heart of everything. The beautiful quote above, on love, is a good example. It's taken from C.S. Lewis's very readable treatise on the subject of love. He looks at Affection, Friendship, Eros, and Agape, discussing what they are and how they work. Love, in the end, has to be rooted in, and centered on, God. Indeed, even if we love Mr. Right or Ms. Perfect, [Mom, Dad, Sis, Brother, or Grandma, for that matter], we would love them more, if we loved God properly. This is the key to what I think Lewis is saying.
* * *
In another class, we discussed the nature of God's knowing. We looked specifically at St. Boethius's Consolation of Theology. In the chapter in question, the character Boethius and Lady Philosophy discuss questions like: Is there really such a thing as chance? and If God foreknows things, and what he knows must come to pass, can humans be understood to have free will? Lady Philosophy's answer to the first is to affirm that all things have causes, even things that happen by "chance". Chance ought to be understood as "unexpected outcome[s] of a conjunction of causes in actions carried out for some purpose." The answer to the more important question is much more complicated. Lady Philosophy has to show Boethius that God doesn't know things in the same way that you and I know them. That is, it's not correct to say that God "foreknows" things, as if God were a being "in time". God, being eternal, is outside of time, and thus knows things [everything] in an eternal present. So, just as a person watching someone ride past them on a bike "knows" that this is what that person is doing, so God knows us and our actions. This relationship of God's knowing to our acting in no way interferes with our free will (necessarily). This is a fascinating idea, and key to St. Boethius's contribution to theology/philosophy. His thought helped Christians to understand more fully what it means for God to be "outside" our concept of time. We may speak of "past, present, and future", but these terms don't really apply to God. For God, there is only now. After all, when the holy prophet Moses asked God for his name, God answered: "I Am Who Am". [This is just a summary. Check out Boethius's Consolation, Book V for more.]
* * *
In my third class, we discussed George Weigel's Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism. It's a very interesting book, filled with food for thought about the steps needed to be taken to really address the root causes of terrorism and Jihadism. Personally, I think Weigel has a lot of good things to say about why things are the way they are, including some hard questions for Muslims about the future of their faith and culture in the global community. The class really debated back and forth, but one question that we looked at [that I've heard before] was: Is Islam where Christianity was during the bloodier and chaotic/fanatical years of the Crusades? or: Are we just waiting for Islam to "come to terms with" modernity and the Enlightenment? At the heart of these questions is the fundamental question: Can Muslims peacefully live in/accept a pluralistic world [a world of Muslims, but also Jews, Christians, etc.]? Christianity has already had to come to terms with pluralism [during the Reformation, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, etc.], where the Church's power wasn't absolute in regards to law making and social regulation. We see in America that same give and take, or tug-of-war, between Christians and the secular American society that they live in. For Weigel, until Muslims in the Middle East are able to accept pluralism, and respect freedoms like the freedom of religion, the dangers of Jihadism and terrorism will continue---and everyone will lose. After all, he argues, how do you fight an enemy that's willing to commit suicide? Arms are not enough to fight against terrorist, but reason informing faith just might do the trick (think of John Paul II's Fides et Ratio.)
* * *
My personal meditation today has focused on the question: How is the Jesus of my prayers/meditation/experience, etc. related to the Jesus of Nazareth who lived and walked the earth 2000 years ago? This may seem a silly question, but I find that it's extremely important to recall Jesus's concrete human incarnation.
* * *
Anyway, I'm off to take a break,
Peace,
Br. Paul, OP~

The Memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

"We cultivate a very small field for Christ,

but we love it knowing that God does not require

great achievements

but a heart that holds back nothing for self."

~St. Rose Philippine Duchesne.

* * *

We in St. Louis are honored to especially remember St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French missionary who lived and served in the St. Louis area.
* * *
Rose was born in 1769 in Grenoble, France. Her family was well-to-do, but Philippine (as she was called, I gather) was attracted to the religious life, especially to the idea of being a missionary. Thus, when she was 18 yrs. old she joined the Visitation sisters, only to have her dreams interrupted by the French Revolution. Her congregation was scattered (and I must say that she's lucky they weren't all led to the guillotine, as so many other sisters, brothers, and priests were, as well as lay men and women.) Eventually, however, she met St. Madeleine Sophie Barat and joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart.
* * *
As a member of the new congregation, she (at the age of 49 yrs. old) was made the leader of the mission to the United States (this is the year 1818). St. Rose Philippine and companions made the arduous journey to New Orleans, then traveled up the Mississippi to St. Louis/St. Charles. In St. Charles the sisters founded a school. Around the same time, the Jesuit missionaries arrived. St. Rose Philippine would do all she could to help them.
* * *
Eventually, we was able to minister to the Native Americans, founding a school for them. The Native Americans called her "The Woman Who Prays Always." She was 72 yrs. old! After one year of life with the Native Americans in Sugar Creek, Kansas, she would spend the rest of her life in St. Charles, living a life of peaceful contemplation.
* * *
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne was canonized by the Servant of God, John Paul II in 1988.
(Br. Joshua and I recently visited her shrine in St. Charles, and prayed at her tomb.)
* * *
As for me, I'm trying to get over a pesky illness. Forgive me if I don't post too much these next few days. I think the stress of the end of the semester is catching up with me.
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, pray for us!
Br. Paul, OP~
[Information gathered from Enzo Lodi/Jordan Aumann, OP's Saints of the Roman Calendar.

Litany Against Fear

I can't remember off hand if I've posted the Litany Against Fear before, but even if I have, it's worth posting again. It's come up twice in the past two days, so I take that to be a sign that it's useful. It came up during RCIA, today, when the group was discussing the Gospel reading about the Talents and the lazy servant. Fear was mentioned as one of the motivators for the third servant's lack of risk taking. Fear, the group agreed, is everywhere. Many of our lives are hemmed in by fear. Many of us silently battle fear, those nagging thoughts that frighten us, that make our blood freeze, and our backs stiff. These fears eat at us, and take us out of the moment, and capture us in thought, making us focus on them, instead of what's going on around us. Fear puts us in a box, and sings to us about our shadows--the sins we could do or have done, the things about ourselves that we're uncomfortable with, that we'd rather deny or hide. Fear often leads us to take refuge in all the wrong places---in alcoholism, in drugs (including prescription drugs), in sex or sex-related things (prostitution or pornography), or even in good things like work and family, but in a way that's obsessive and shallow. Fear is a cross that alienates us from God, from others, and especially from ourselves (our true selves, which actually are quite good, even if they're imperfect). So, below is the Litany Against Fear written by Frank Herbert. It was featured in Herbert's novels Dune and Children of Dune. I have memorized it, and have used it ever since I first heard in in the movie adaptation of Children of Dune (which the picture above is taken from--it's the actor James McAvoy, by the way).

Litany Against Fear

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death

that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it

to pass over me

and through me.

And when it has gone past

I will turn the inner eye

To see its path.

Where the fear has gone

There will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

Remember, one of the "cures" for fear is to tell someone else. Often they can help us to see that there's no reality to our fears. If you suffer from some form of fear, whether worry, anxiety, negative thoughts, or phobias, share you thoughts with someone you trust, and see if you can start taking the power back from fear.

Holy Spirit, deliver us!

Br. Paul, OP~

Feast of St. Albert the Great, OP

Happy Feast of St. Albert the Great, OP---philosopher, scientist, mystic, teacher, and doctor of the Church. The central province especially celebrates this feast, because St. Albert is the patron of our province. St. Albert was asked by Our Lady to join the Dominicans, but Albert was afraid that he wouldn't do well in his studies. So..."[he] prayed and Wisdom was given to him." He became one of the shining lights of academics during the Middle Ages. During his years as a teacher, he had the joy of teaching a very bright student, namely, St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, as well. You know a guy is intelligent when people call him great during his lifetime, and this is what they did with Albert. One of Albert's great contributions to Christian thought is that the study of science and the study of theology are not irreconcilable. He also was able to incorporate the thought of Aristotle into his works, preserving Aristotle's insights for the Christian West. He was canonized in 1931.
* * *
St. Albert the Great, pray for us!
Br. Paul, OP~

Happy Feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

The Catholic Church in America celebrates the Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. Citizen to be canonized (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first U.S. native citizen to be canonized). To learn more about Mother Cabrini, see the link below.

http://www.cabrinifoundation.org/history/

* * *

Some Good News from St. Paul:
* * *

Romans 8:18-21:
"The sufferings of the present are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us. Indeed, the whole created world eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. Creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but by him who once subjected it; yet not without hope, because the world itself will be freed from its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God."

Praying for the Captive

As homework for my Contemporary Moral Issues class, I've been reading Michael Byers' book War Law. The book breaks my heart, in many ways, as it describes the continuous failure on the part of countries, including the United States, to follow International Law and to respect International Human Rights. The chapter I just finished reminded me of the Prisoner Abuse Scandal in Abu Ghraib. My stomach turned as I read the description of the abuses committed there by American soldiers, including murder and rape. Many of these people have been detained for no clear reason, and most are probably innocent of any crime, besides being Iraqi. Even if they weren't innocent, war doesn't give a soldier the right to entertain him or herself by abusing another human being, raping someone, or killing someone who is not a threat (and prisoners who are handcuffed are clearly not threats). It's disgusting to me to think that Americans, including Christian Americans can think that such actions are justifiable.

So, this is a call for prayers for all those who are unjustly imprisoned, especially victims of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay:

* * * * *

Lord Jesus Christ,

You know what it is to be unjustly tried and imprisoned.

Although innocent, they stripped you,

beat you,

mocked and abused you.

And when they could do nothing more,

they left you on the cross to die.

Take pity on all who are abused and imprisoned

and send the Holy Spirit to comfort and release them.

Let those who abuse and imprison the innocent be converted,

until at last the power of Sin is finally defeated,

and humanity learns to walk in your ways.

Jesus Christ, Source of Divine Mercy,

do not abandon us to the long night of sorrow,

but guide us to the light of the Father,

where you live and reign forever,

Amen.

* * *

Br. Paul, OP

[The picture above was found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenandrusphotographs/2812166396/]

Did St. Paul have the Stigmata?

Today I turned in the first of the four longer length papers due for the end of the semester. This one was for my Pauline Literature class, and it was on Galatians 6:17. "Henceforth, let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." In Greek, the word for "marks" is "stigmata". The heart of my paper was trying to tease out what exactly Paul meant by this.
* * *
During the course of my research, I discovered that the word "stigmata" used to have a very different meaning that what it does now. During St. Paul's time, the word referred to any kind of mark that signified a person belonged to someone or something else. For example, slaves or criminals were sometimes branded during this time period, and this "brand" would be called "stigmata". Also, some members of religious sects or cults who mark themselves to show that they belonged to this or that god or goddess, and these markings would be called "stigmata". Even the circumcision required by Jewish law to show that one belonged to the covenant of God with Abraham could be looked upon as a form of "stigmata."
* * *
Given the common uses of the term (a mark to identify a slave/a member of a religious group that belongs to a particular deity), I concluded that Paul did not mean to say that he had stigmata, in the sense of having mystical wounds in direct relationship to the wounds suffered by Jesus. Rather, he was referring to the wounds that he had suffered on behalf of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel. These wounds he liked to the "stigmata" of slaves, since he considered himself a slave for Christ. More importantly, however, he was comparing his "stigmata" with the "stigmata" of circumcision, which he was preaching against. After all, these wounds or "stigmata" showed that he belonged to Christ, to the new covenant, which he, as a Jewish Christian, saw as surpassing the old covenant.
* * *
It's not until St. Francis of Assisi that we have a recorded account of someone claiming to have received the wounds of Jesus. It has been suggested, however, that this passage from Galatians inspired the imagination of the mystics (like St. Francis, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Rita of Cascia, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina), who later opened themselves up to receiving the "stigmata" of Jesus in a new and mystical way--unlike the concrete way that St. Paul did through persecution.
* * *
Why don't I think that St. Paul meant the kind of stigmata St. Francis received? For one thing: there's a context to the Letter to the Galatians that makes the reading of the term done above more plausible. He really was trying to compare his battle scars with circumcision to show the Gentile Christians that they didn't have to be circumcised like some of the other Jewish Christians were saying they did. Secondly, nobody had yet used stigmata to mean "mystical wounds" and I suspect that had St. Paul wanted to give the term this new definition, he would have explain it, especially considering the fact that his audience would not have know what he was talking about otherwise.
* * *
Be that as it may, no one disputes the fact that St. Paul was a mystic. His conversion experience (Acts 9), his visit to heaven (2 Cor. 12:3), and the thorn given to him in his side (2 Cor. 12:7) are all mystical experiences, and his letters show a man that was intimately in communion with the divine.
* * *
Back to work for me,
Br. Paul, OP

But Why Should I love my neighbor?

Today I had a little time for meditation, in between attending mass and RCIA, and doing homework. One little thought that came to my mind was that Christianity's emphasis on loving one's neighbor makes perfect sense. I saw this in three ways.

1) Wouldn't it be odd for an artist (God) to be thrilled with a person (you, for example) who made fun of, disregarded, or vandalized his artwork (one's neighbor)?

2) Wouldn't it be odd for a parent (God) to be thrilled with a person (you, for example) who abused in any way her child (one's neighbor)?

3) Wouldn't it be odd for a husband (God) to be thrilled with a person (you, for example) who totally slandered or disrespected his wife (one's neighbor)?

Given the fact that God creates and holds people in creation, given that he cares for each human being as a child, and given that he have a spousal love for all who grow to spiritual maturity, it makes perfect sense that at the bare minimum, his divine law would be based on the premise that abuse or neglect of his creation/child/spouse would constitute an injury to him. Just as husband and wife are one, or just as children are a real part of their parents, or art of the artist, so too are our neighbors, even our enemies, a part of God.

Happy Dominican All Saints Day!

That's right, it's Dominican All Saints Day. The Dominican Order is rich in its saints. We have canonized priests, brothers, nuns, sisters, and lay men and women. Some of our saints have been declared doctors of the Church. Here's a taste:
St. Dominic (and his mother, Bl. Jane of Aza, and his brother Bl. Mannes.)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Doctor of the Church)
St. Albert the Great (Doctor of the Church)
St. Catherine of Siena (Doctor of the Church)
St. Rose of Lima (First canonized person of the New World)
St. Raymond of Penyafort (Organizer of Canon Law)
St. Martin de Porres, Cooperator Brother
St. Juan Macias, Cooperator Brother
St. Francis Shoyemon, Cooperator Brother and Martyr of Japan
St. Margaret of Hungary, Princess and Nun
St. Louis Bertrand, Patron of Novice Masters
St. Zdislava, Royal Woman, Patroness of OP, and OP Lay Woman
St. Catherine de Ricci, Nun
St. Peter of Verona, Martyr
St. Hyacinth, Apostle to Poland
St. Vincent Ferrer, Great Preacher
St. Antoninus, Holy bishop of Florence
St. Agnes of Montepulciano, Nun
Bl. Carino de Balsamo, Penitent Hitman
Bl. Fra Angelico, Angelic Painter
Bl. Piergiorgio Frassatti, Dominican Lay Man
Ven. Bartolomeo de las Casas, Missionary to New World
Ven. Teresa Juliana of St. Dominic, African princess and Nun
Ven. Rose Hawthorne (Mother Mary Alphonsa Lathrop), American Foundress
Ven. Samuel Mazzuchelli, Italian Missionary to U.S. Midwest
Girolamo Savonarola, Prophetic Preacher
Four Dominican Popes: Bl. Innocent V, Bl. Benedict XI, St. Pius V, and Benedict XIII.

Please pray for the canonization of all worthy Dominican men and women, especially Father Samuel Mazzuchelli and Rose Hawthorne. To learn more about them, click on their pictures on the menu to the right.
* * *
Peace,
Br. Paul, OP~

Here Comes Martin

Today is the great Feast of St. Martin de Porres, OP, patron saint of Social (Racial) Justice. Brother Martin was born in Lima, Peru to a Spanish father and a freed black slave. Because Martin resembled his mother, his father did not claim him as his son. Despite this, it was recognized that Martin was intelligent, so he was educated by a local doctor. Even though Martin eventually could handle the daily needs at the "clinic" were he worked, he eventually grew dissatisfied, and began to turn his thoughts to religious life. Soon after, he left his medical practice, and donated his services to the Dominican Convent of the Holy Rosary, one of several Dominican communities in Lima at the time.

* * *

It wasn't long after that Brother Martin was putting to good use his healing skills (not to mention, that God began working miracles through him). The greater miracle was, Brother Martin began to be seen by people far away from Lima. Apparently, he was seen as far away as Japan. This is the gift of biolocation (the gift of being in more than one place at a time). I was just hearing last night about St. Padre Pio's gift of bilocation.

* * *

Martin also had a great love for animals. One day, the prior of the house came to him quite angry. Mice, he said, were eating the sacred vestments. He demanded that Brother Martin do something about the pests--meaning, that Martin would capture and kill them. Martin saw a better way. Gathering the rats together, he gently asked them to refrain from eating the sacred vestments. If they would promise to do so, he would ensure that they would have plenty of food to eat in the barn. Saints are very persuasive, so the rats readily agreed to Martin's plan.

* * *

Martin was great friends with another cooperator brother--St. Juan Macias. The two of them would get together once a week to have a picnic, talk about community life, and about God.

* * *

Brother Martin was canonized by Blessed Pope John XXIII in 1962. He said of him: "He loved men because he honestly looked on them as God's children and as his own brothers and sisters. Such was his humility that he loved them even more than himself and considered them to be better and more righteous than he was...It is deeply rewarding for men striving for salvation to follow in Christ's footsteps and to obey God's commandments. If only everyone could learn this lesson from the example that Martin gave us."

* * *

Today, therefore, is a day of great celebration. God has raised up the humble, and made him an example for all who would follow Christ. For the Dominicans, I think having St. Martin de Porres among the ranks of our saints has allowed us, as an order, to be mindful of racial equality among ourselves, and in society. It is unfortunate that racial inequality remains. (I just heard a story last night about how at some parish out west were a Mexican-American brother of ours was attending holy mass, and the white Catholics wouldn't shake his hand during the sign of peace.) It just shows that there is still much work to do.

May the patron saint of social justice, St. Martin de Porres, intercede for us.

Br. Paul, OP~

PS: If anyone has purchased the movie about Martin's life that came out within he last few years, disregard the ordination scene at the conclusion. Br. Martin was never ordained. He was happy to be a cooperator brother.