Allow me to introduce you to the song that’s been stuck in my head for the better part of a week.

Tell me it’s not infectious.

On modern evangelical churches:

We are using the iconography of Hollywood to form our vision of the kingdom of God. We’ve taken the crosses and other traditional symbols out of the modern church because they make the seeker uncomfortable. Then we replaced them with symbols of the culture. Evangelical Christians have largely given up the symbols of their faith. All the trappings that say this is the home of the body of Christ are gone. People will put something in its place- music, drama- symbols of the culture we bring into the church so we feel comfortable, just as if we were at the mall and the movie theatre. We are trying to create a Christian culture using someone else’s symbols. It is like using Styrofoam plates instead of Mom’s china. This is creating a crisis in the inner life of the church.

–Wilbur Ellsworth, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Wheaton, IL, who was ordained an Antiochian Orthodox priest in 2007

Responding to James Dobson (who today announced more layoffs for his purveyor of hate and right wing goods, Focus on the Family):

Christians should be committed to the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of America, and the church is to live an alternative existence of love and justice, offering a prophetic witness to politics.

–Jim Wallis, founder and editor of Sojourner’s

We had our first snow this afternoon.

This afternoon

And by the time I got off of work later this evening, I had to brush 1″ of it off of my car! Now, it’s coming down heavily and I foresee a couple of inches of the stuff by morning. And to make it interesting, half of the village has lost its electricity. (Someone should help them find it by morning, I hope.)

Something about the first snow always excites me. And it comes at a good time, liturgically. (There’s a connection for you!) This Sunday will mark the last Sunday of the liturgical year: the Solemnity of Christ the King. The Sunday after that is our New Year, Advent. The chill in the air and the snow on the ground help me, personally, to prepare for the ‘New Year,’ and the renewed expectation of our Lord. We should be, indeed, a people of Hope. Come, lord Jesus.

Pax et bonum.

Today is the Feast of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Patroness of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more.  (Psalm 10:17-18)

Saint Elizabeth, pray for us.

[Image source]

Receiving the Habit

Profession

Questioning

Receiving the candle

Two members of our fraternity made their permanent Professions at a Mass this evening. I attached a few pictures, and what follows is parts of the Rite of Profession, as this is not a ritual that very many people get to see very often. The “Rite of Profession” is taken from the Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order.

The Mass in which the Rite of Profession takes place goes, for the most part, as usual. I will insert the different bits.

After the Entrance, the Celebrant or fraternity Minister says:

We are assembled as a community to take part in the Eucharistic sacrifice. In this celebration of the Eucharist N.N. are going to make their profession of the gospel life in the Secular Franciscan Order. While giving thanks to the Father through Christ for all the gifts we have received from him, we have a special reason for gratitude today: the gift of his grace which he has given to those about to be professed to live in the world according to the spirit of the Beatitudes and also the gift of his grace which he has given to the whole community by adding new members to the fraternity. Especially today, after the example of Christ and in union with his own act of thanksgiving, we are invited to present ourselves before the Father as living sacrifices of praise for the life of the world.

The Liturgy of the Word continues as usual. After the Gospel is proclaimed, the Minister and the Candidates stand, and the Candidates make the Request:

We ask to be admitted to profession of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. The experience during our time of formation has strengthened us in our conviction that the Lord is calling us to observe the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi.

And the Minister receives the Request with these words:

The fraternity accepts your petition and is united with you in your prayer. May the Holy Spirit confirm in you the work he has begun.

All sit again while the Homily is given.

After the Homily, the Minister, Candidates, and Friar witness (if present) all stand for the Questioning. (I’m not going to give the text of the Questioning because it is forever long.) After the Questioning, the Celebrant prays the Prayer for Divine Grace:

Lord, watch over these your servants. May the Spirit of your love penetrate their hearts, so that your grace will strengthen them to keep their commitment to the gospel life. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Each Candidate now approaches the Minister and says the formula of Profession:

I, N.N., by the grace of God, renew my baptismal promises and consecrate myself to the service of his kingdom. Therefore, in my secular state (or: as a member of the diocesan clergy) I promise to live all the days of my life the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Secular Franciscan Order by observing its rule of life. May the grace of the Holy Spirit, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and our holy father Saint Francis, and the fraternal bonds of community always be my help, so that I may reach the goal of perfect Christian love.

After the formula, the Minister adds:

Thanks be to God! As the Minister I receive you into this fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order. Your membership in the fraternity is a cause of and hope for the members of this community.

When all of the Candidates have made their Profession and the Minister has accepted it, the Celebrant addresses them thus:

I confirm your commitment in the name of the Church. Our Seraphic Father himself encourages you in the words of his Testament: “May whoever observes all this be filled in heaven with the blessing of the most high Father, and on earth with that of his beloved Son, together with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and all the powers of heaven and all the saints.

After this, each newly Professed receives a Profession candle (which is left burning on the Altar during the Mass), their new habit (Tau cross on a cord with three knots), a San Damiano cross, and a book of the Gospels.

After all of this the members of the fraternity come forward to congratulate the newly professed. Mass continues as usual, with extra petitions inserted in the Intercession for the newly professed, for the local fraternity, and for the entire Franciscan Order.

I will leave out my usual two cents worth as this post is long. I hope, however, that this was a nice introduction to some of the ways of the Secular Franciscan Order if you are not familiar with it.

Pax et bonum.

At a Mass tomorrow evening two members of our fraternity will make their Professions in the Secular Franciscan Order. This is a very happy day. Upon their Professions, we will be able to begin the process of canonically establishing our fraternity, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and will be able to be independent of our “mother” fraternity in Wheeling, WV.

I will be taking pictures tomorrow evening, although I must confess there will be little to see. No one lies prostrate or anything like that. Tomorrow I will post the Ritual of Profession, as I know that some are interested in that sort of thing.

I’ve created a new page which houses a summary of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order, the most recent of which was approved by Pope Paul VI in 1978. This is also worth a look if that sort of thing so interests you, or if you are interested in the Order.

It’s rainy and dark tonight, and tomorrow some deep cold moves in, with snow tomorrow night. I leave you with this for now, as I still need to finish the programs for tomorrow night.

Pax et bonum.

Wally

It is no secret to anyone who knows me at all that I have a deep affection for animals, and that two of my favorites are goats [of which I have three: Wally (Alpine), Venus (Oberhasli), and Pippy (Pygmy)] and owls (which I enjoy from afar). I have always had this affinity, though as I age and, hopefully, mature, I realize more and more my attraction. Nature is so ordered, and yet there is so much room for individuality. Spend fifteen minutes with my goats and you will see very quickly three distinct, and powerful, personalities, each intelligent, each intuitive, but striking in their uniqueness. Owls, too, are known for their intelligence and confidence, but also their extreme sensitivity and loyalty. (For example: did you know that owls can be embarrassed? Did you know that owls, upon the loss of a mate or caregiver, will give up on life and can will themselves dead within one day?)

When the sheer chaos of life becomes too much, and personal concerns and tragedies pile up, sometimes it is good to look away from our constructs and look to something more basic, more natural. To see the intricacies of nature, and the delicateness of our non-human partners with whom we share our planet, is to see life in a deeper and more meaningful way. To look at the face of a wild turkey, for instance, is to look at the face of God. To see two goats, friends for life, fighting it out in a game that never seems to get old, is to see the playfulness of God. To see a father owl exhaust himself in his search for food for his newly hatched owlets, is to see God’s sacrificial care for us.

Seeing these things requires an experience of God that goes beyond a power paradigm. To see these things one must look deep inside, to meditate on the essence of God, and to recognize that God is so much more than we have ever been told, because no words could describe it. If God is the Creator, and God came to our lowliness, God is ever present in our world. To see all of creation reflect the Love that is God is a magnificent experience.

Recognizing nature as incarnational requires more than a textbook approach. It involves really seeing, and really listening.

When Pope Benedict visited the United States in April he made speeches at the United Nations, had conversations with the President, celebrated Masses that attracted hundreds of thousands of people, and did everything that a visiting dignitary does. Our very human shepherd also did something that most world dignitaries do not usually do. He listened. He called together some of the victims of abuse committed by Catholic priests, and he listened to them. He heard painful stories, and he looked into the eyes of the people who had come to speak with him. He could have received quantitative data about the abuses and the survivors. He could have even read qualitative case studies about the victims, or read memoirs written by the victims. Instead, he chose to experience them. He experienced their grief and their anger. With this, we discover an important truth: truly listening was not only pastoral on the part of the Holy Father, but it makes more credible his public acts of preaching and teaching.

So it is for us. If we truly listen to people around us whose stories weave together pain and grief and tears, and joy and contentment, and loneliness and hunger, and abuse and abandonment, we see a very different sort of life than if we had not truly listened. If we “hang out” with the goats for a while, we see personalities and senses of humor, instead of three goats standing behind a fence.

Reliance on hard data and reports can be useful at times, I suppose, but if you want to truly see, you have to turn to sources of revelation. The owls and the goats, the snakes and the beetles, and the stories of every person you encounter.

Pax et bonum.

If it weren’t for the Office, I don’t know what I would do.

I’ve been angry for the last week or so, and I seem to be getting angrier every day. And every Hour that I pray seems to be the only thing that helps. I’m at the point now where my two obligatory hours and my option of Night Prayer are insufficient. I may need to start the daytime hours, as well. It isn’t that I’m mad… I’m literally angry, and I have never felt anger like this before.

The most calm that I experienced was last night during Compline. Listen, really listen, to this part of the Psalm:

Come quickly and hear me, O Lord, for my spirit is weakening. Do not hide your face from me, do not let me be like the dead, who go down to the underworld. Show me your mercy at daybreak, because of my trust in you. Tell me the way I should follow, for I lift up my soul towards you. Rescue me from my enemies: Lord, I flee to you for refuge. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your good spirit will lead me to the land of justice; for your name’s sake, Lord, you will give me life. In your righteousness you will lead my soul away from all tribulation. (from Psalm 142, Compline on Tuesday)

I nearly lost my composure with that.

Buddhists feel every emotion fully. They see every emotion for what it is, and move from there. They live in the moment. If I can elaborate on that a bit, perhaps our emotions, which we have every right to feel, and to feel fully (after all, that’s why we have them), need to lead us beyond feeling only. To what destination? I can only hope that the prayer of the psalmist was received as my own prayer, and that the answer comes swiftly, and I can see God’s mercy at daybreak.

I leave you with a few links:

“You don’t need a Hate Crimes law. You’re not being “persecuted.” You just want to push your gay agenda.”

The Mystery Man behind Prop 8

Think the Klan is gone? Klan trial began today in KY

Hate groups recruitment skyrockets after election of Obama

‘Proud’ of marriage, just don’t put my face with it.

Mormons jumping ship

…and I bought a Five Star notebook so I can begin collecting signatures to place Proposition #1 on Ohio’s ballot in 2010: a Constitutional Amendment to ban divorce.

Pax et bonum.

Veiled tabernacle at Easter at my parish

Some things we do not know. We can think that we do, but sooner or later we find that our perspective was slightly or greatly off. For many, the search for Truth involves shining a bright light into lives or onto issues or what have you to see the essence of the thing.

It is now Autumn. The leaves have changed and have fallen. There was sleet falling this afternoon. The darkness comes very early, and the cold permeates everything. The light of Summer has passed, and we all eagerly await the return of the light at the Winter Solstice. To many, Autumn is a depressing time of the year. The grass knots up and turns yellow, the birds pause their songs and fly away, and even the hardy squirrels wall up to wait out the darkness.

And yet, Autumn is very telling. It shows us the world without the saccharine pretense of singing birds and “happy” scenes. We see life for what it is. We see how fleeting it is. And with the correct approach, we keep always in our minds that Spring will arrive always right on time, and the light will return. But the darkness of Autumn is telling.

Perhaps our search for Truth does not always need to involve shining a bright light. Sometimes, I posit, the greatest Truth can be found living in the shadows. God not only appeared in the burning bush or in the pillar of fire. Sometimes God appeared as a cloud. The Holy of Holies was deepest in the dark recesses of the Temple. During the traveling days no one was even to look at the Ark of the Covenant; it was to stay boarded up until the Temple was re-assembled.

Perhaps God can be found as easily in the shadows as in the light. In our churches the Tabernacle is veiled. That is the clearest sign that therein sits our Lord. We veil his dwelling because it is holy. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel the Word is “the light that shines in the darkness,” not the light that shines. The darkness does not overwhelm it, and neither does it outshine the dark.

Perhaps it is in the shadows that our God comes to us so that we can see glimmers of the Glory that was and is and will be forever.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then shall I know fully, as I am fully known. (I Corinthians 13:11-12)

Pax et bonum.

At the end of my telephone call that I made today to Sallie Mae to request forbearance once again on my student loans, the representative asked me if I was interested in requesting information on home loans and financing.

I laughed, and asked him how likely it was for someone to be requesting forbearance on student loans of a considerable amount and to be interested in buying a house.

But that’s capitalism for ya. American business at its finest.

I cannot imagine how we got into this mess.