Ad Dominum

Terry gives some background and context for the new monastic castle in Wyoming. Well-worth your time if you’re interested in such things.

More and more we will need to deal with the implications of traditional religious life in the modern (post-modern!) world.

This is perhaps the time to inaugurate a look at  New Monasticism. Stay tuned.

Pax et bonum.

[A couple of weeks ago I asked for photos of your home altars and sacred spaces. More photos have started to trickle in, and for that I am grateful. If you have a home altar or sacred space, no matter your faith tradition, send it in!]

Melody says:

The “altar” is an antique wash stand, the picture is a print by Bougereau.

The pocket shrine is probably the smallest one you’re going to get, it’s only 2.2″ x 1.5″. It’s just something I made from an Altoids tin.

I LOVE the pocket shrine. What a fantastic idea. I’m inspired to try that now. Thanks, Melody.

Pax et bonum.

Conservative Catholic pundit Matthew Archbold reported today about a cannibal restaurant. So far, so good (as far as cannibal restaurants go). But then he made a leap of which even Evil Knievel would have been envious.

This is assuredly an online p.r. stunt for something or other but it got me thinking, “Why not cannibalism?” Seriously. Many of the same arguments made in the defense of things like abortion, the legalization of drugs, and homosexual marriage could be used to legalize cannibalism.

Source

For real? Did I really just read that? 

What a way to elevate the conversation.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Pax et bonum.

I urge you to still every motion that is not rooted in the kingdom. Become quiet, hushed, motionless until you are finally centered. Strip away all excess baggage and nonessential trappings until you have come into the stark reality of the kingdom of God. Let go of all distractions until you are driven into the Core.

- Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity

[Last week I asked for photos of your home altars and sacred spaces. More photos have started to trickle in, and for that I am grateful. If you have a home altar or sacred space, no matter your faith tradition, send it in!]

Gawyn says:

This is an overview shot of both my general altar and my altar dedicated to Hera.

This is my main altar. It includes candles and other items such as stones, shells, pine cones, waters of the world, and various other items that honor each of the sacred elements – earth, air, fire, and water. There is also a statue of the ancient Goddess. It is a generic statue (found at Willedorf, Germany), that for me represents the ancient and holy mother. It is replicated in the censor right in front, which holds the incense used to honor the Goddess and in ritual.

The waters of the world contains samples of water from around the world including the Nile river, the Amazon river, the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Danube, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and many, many others. The water is collected and shared at various gatherings.

The plaques on the wall on either side of the picture in the center are representations of the ancient and sacred elements.

The picture in the center with the Pentacle and the candle was a gift from a dear friend and is representative of many things, but one of the things it represents is life. The flame on that candle also reminds us that life is precious and that each flame is unique. It reminds us that all life is sacred.

This is the part of my altar area that is directly dedicated to my matron Goddess Hera. Hera, though much maligned in the mythos presented by the Greeks and as the Roman Juno, is an ancient Goddess. Her presence in Greece long pre-dates Zeus and the attempt to “marry” her via the rape scenario is one that played out repeatedly as the Goddess religions were subsumed with other religions. One of Hera’s divine animals is the Peacock, hence the peacock feather and the candle.

Nicely done! Thanks, Gawyn.

Keep sending in those photos!

(I might also remind one and all about the Comment Policies we implicitly agree to when we post comments.)

Pax et bonum.

A pop star will soon face trial in an ultra-religious nation over remarks that “insulted religious feeling.” She could be sentenced to two years in prison for her “crime.”

If you think that the country is in the Middle East, you’re wrong.

It’s Poland.

If you think that Muslims were insulted, think again.

The case is being pushed by Roman Catholics.

I’ll sit back and wait for the outcry from those Christians who rail against tyrannical Islam.

Still waiting.

[Last week I asked for photos of your home altars and sacred spaces. I'm a little disappointed in only having received photos from two readers so far, but at least what has been sent in has been good. If you have a home altar or sacred space, no matter your faith tradition, send it in!]

But let’s get to it.

John says:

Mother of God of the Sign (based on Isaiah 7:14), 3 barred Cross, head of Christ, Nativity of our Lord (this one is hand painted by a wonderful woman in Charleroi, PA), the Three Holy Hierarchs (Bishops), Beheading of St John the Forerunner/Baptist, Extreme Humility, full figure of St. John the Forerunner/Baptist, Protection of the Mother of God, St. Anna and the Theotokos, Flight into Egypt (of the Holy Family with St. James), St. Elizabeth the New Martyr of Russia, St. Peter the Apostle, Epitaphios/Plashchanitsa (burial shroud of Christ icon used on Holy Friday and Holy Saturday in the tomb set up in the center of churches for veneration).

On the table is another 3 barred Cross, pictures of my kids, and a picture of a dear priest friend of mine who died just over a year after he was ordained. I also use the table to hold my books, holy water, incense, etc. during prayer.

Very nice. Thanks, John!

Pax et bonum.

If we are to live lives that enable us to hear more clearly who we really are, then we will have to learn to move to a rhythm that is superior to the ones we have fashioned for ourselves, or the ones a consumer society has foisted upon us. We will have to discover the rhythms of daily prayer and life that can be found in the steps of the Ancient Dance of the Ancient of Days: the liturgy, the Eucharist, the calendar and the mass, the prayers of confession and intercession and recollection and contemplation, the habits of reading and retreat and working with our hands, the practices of hospitality and forgiveness and being with the poor.

Our lives must be shaped by the same rhythms that shaped the ancients, those who have gone before us. Only then will we be able to take up our places and join in the general Dance.

Benson, Robert. Living Prayer. pp. 15-16

• The liturgy
• The Eucharist
• The Calendar… the liturgical cycle
• Prayer of confession
• Prayer of intercession
• Prayer of contemplation
• Reading
• Retreat
• Working with our hands
• Hospitality
• Forgiveness
• Being with the poor

Most of us have some of these down, but how many of us could check off everything on the list? I couldn’t. I guess that’s why we have tomorrow: to begin to dance the Ancient Dance once more.

Pax et bonum.

Happy Name Day!

(St. Bartholomew, pray for us.)

Pax et bonum.

Gregor Kollmorgen today posted photos at The New Liturgical Movement, (as that blog is wont to do), of an abbatial blessing at Rein Abbey (Cistercian) in Austria. The photos are quite nice; it looks to have been a splendid, joyous occasion both for the abbey and the Church.

The comments at the end of the article, however, are very discouraging. Kollmorgen wrote:

Yes, there are altar girls and Communion in the hand. While this is regrettable, let’s not make this the topic of discussion again on this occasion; otherwise I would have to disable comments on this post.

It seems that we have two issues:

• “altar girls”
• Ministering Holy Communion in the hand

In all of my reading about the liturgy I have never found the Church refer to “altar girls.” In our liturgy there are, however, “altar servers,” the gender of which is not specified. Yes, I have heard all of the arguments for male-only altar serving, but I don’t buy them. The denial of any baptized Christian a chance to serve at the Altar of God is nothing more than misogyny dressed up as holiness. Altar servers ≠ ordained ministers. Period.

Regarding the reception of Holy Communion in the hand, this is a perfectly licit practice. Really, that ought to end the discussion right there. If it’s licit, it isn’t regrettable. Personally, perhaps, but that wasn’t the point of the jibe.

Sacred liturgy is important. Therefore, it is of absolute importance to practice charity and prudence when we discuss it. Let’s leave aside the personal chauvinism in favor of a community-oriented approach to the liturgy which is, after all, the work of the people. Not male people: all people.

We must reform ourselves before we can reform the liturgy. Let us begin with charity.

Pax et bonum.