Ad Dominum

At first I thought this was an April Fools’ joke, but then I realized it’s only just March.

Saddleback Church, one of the largest “mega-churches” in the United States, pastored by Southern Baptist Church-affiliated and bestselling author Rick Warren, will hold its Easter Sunday services at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA. Those attending are invited to “tailgate” before the service begins at 10 A.M.

Headlining Saddleback’s services for the most solemn holy day in the Christian calendar will be… The Jonas Brothers.

American Popular Christianity has completely bastardized itself, and just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Thanks to Okey, I am reminded of this passage:

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

(John 2:13-17)

[Image source]

Pax et bonum.

I disagreed with that sentiment, and my resolve remains unchanged. I said last week:

Let the Mormons have their political conquests. We have a bigger, better Kingdom to build.

…and I still hold to that position.

Moroni and Joseph Smith, "South Park" style

My friend Eric left a link in the comments of that post that I found very interesting. It is my hope that those who defended the political alliance between the Mormons and the Catholic Church might thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the import of some of the quotes from that site. (Lest anyone have any questions, Eric was raised Mormon before he converted to the Christianity.)

The Greek and Roman Churches, which have been called Christian, and which take the name of Christians as a cloak, have worshipped innumerable idols. On this account, on the simple subject of the Deity and His worship, if nothing more, I should rather incline, of the two, after all my early traditions, education, and prejudices, to the side of Mahomet, for on this point he is on the side of truth, and the Christian world on the side of idolatry and heathenism.

- Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.38

He that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-christ.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p.312

Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. … Nothing on which we base our doctrine, nothing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration. I submit that if Joseph Smith talked with God the Father and His Beloved Son, then all else of which he spoke is true. This is the hinge on which turns the gate that leads to the path of salvation and eternal life.

- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign Mag., Nov. 1998, pp.70-71

What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing… Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.

- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225

What! Are Christians ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast.

- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225

Christianity…is a perfect pack of nonsense…the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p.167

Christians—those poor, miserable priests brother Brigham was speaking about—some of them are the biggest whoremasters there are on the earth, and at the same time preaching righteousness to the children of men. The poor devils, they could not get up here and preach an oral discourse, to save themselves from hell; they are preaching their fathers’ sermons —preaching sermons that were written a hundred years before they were born. …You may get a Methodist priest to pour water on you, or sprinkle it on you, and baptize you face foremost, or lay you down the other way, and whatever mode you please, and you will be damned with your priest.

- Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 5:89

Brother Taylor has just said that the religions of the day were hatched in hell. The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked on to the earth.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 6:176

With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.

- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:199

After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon.

- Apostle George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, p.324

If none of that was enough to be convincing, try this on for size:

Must we, under the broad folds of the American Constitution, be compelled to bow down to the narrow contracted notions of Apostate Christianity? Must we shut up our consciences in a nut shell, and be compelled to submit to the bigoted notions, and whims, and customs of the dark ages of popery, transferred to us through the superstitious of our fathers? Must we be slaves to custom and render homage to the soul-destroying, sickening influences of modern Christianity? No!

- Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, Vol.1, No.7, p.111

…and the kicker:

Instead of having apostles, prophets, and other inspired men in the church now, receiving visions, dreams, revelations, ministry of angels and prophesies for the calling of officers, and for the government of the church–they have a wicked, corrupt, uninspired pope, or uninspired archbishops, bishops, clergymen, etc., who have a great variety of corrupt forms of godliness, but utterly deny the gift of revelation, and every other miraculous power which always characterized Christ’s Church.

These manmade, powerless, hypocritical, false teachers, make merchandise of the people, by preaching for large salaries, amounting in many instances to tens of thousands of dollars annually. They and their deluded followers are reprobate, denouncing the faith once delivered to the Saints.

- Apostle Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, page 20

Am I saying that we should end our dialogue with the Mormons? Absolutely not! That’s absolutely the last course of action that we should take. But we should exercise nothing but extreme caution in the public square with any sort of alliances with them, for we run the risk of ruining our witness- our call to be “salt and light”- because of an unholy political pact forged on power and cemented with greed and pride.

Pax et bonum.

MadPriest posted a quote this morning by Matthew Parris in an article from The Guardian:

If Jesus had not existed, the Catholic church would never have invented him. Jesus of Nazareth is a colossal embarrassment to the Catholic church … The Roman Catholic church tell us to bow our heads, to take orders, and to be afraid … Rome stands between the individual and the sky, blocking the light.

I’m not here to debate the factuality of his claim, but rather to mourn the reasons that he feels the way that he does. What an indictment. What an ironclad notice of failure for the Church- all of us.

What kind of spiritual violence must this man have experienced to feel this way and write about it. I have experienced it; I’ve been there. It is not a nice place to be, and it was entirely preventable.

Many of us run around half-cocked thinking that we know everything there is to know and confident that everyone should listen to us. We hold Truth hostage to our egos and our pride.

This Lent, let’s try to let that go. Jesus speaks for himself quite well, actually.

Pax et bonum.

I don’t usually feature vestments on this blog. However, I could not pass up sharing a set that I saw yesterday while pilfering around the internet.

According to The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny, a Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite was said at Fordham University this past Sunday. I grabbed a few of the photos to share, but the entire set is available if you follow the link to the Society’s blog.

The vestments are simply gorgeous. I think the reason that I’m so fond of them is the red/goldenrod/violet/purple combination, and the chi rho. I’m not usually a fan of any chasuble cut less amply than Gothic, but this particular one is full enough to make me love it anyway.

I do, however, have a question. Take a look at this next photo. See if you notice anything fishy.

Having trouble? I’ll give you a hint.

I will never understand the mistaken notion that a Mass may not be said ad orientem at a freestanding Altar, nor will I ever comprehend why some insist that the old rite must be said against a wall. The freestanding Altar is obviously the primary Altar in use at this particular church; it is even vested.

Anyway, there are some pretty vestments and a bit of liturgical minutiae for your enjoyment.

Pax et bonum.

[Some say,] “But pacifism is so impractical!” As if Christian ethics were utilitarian, as if there were a calculus for shalom! … In any case, it is not as if the whole church has tried pacifism and found it wanting, the fact is that the whole church has not tried pacifism at all.

- Kim Fabricius, Propositions on Christian Theology: A Pilgrim Walks the Plank (Amazon)

“The whole church has not tried pacifism at all,” and yet that is precisely the life that Jesus led. If Jesus is to be our model, what happened?

I encourage anyone who is serious about living the Gospels rather than just quoting them to this Lent give pacifism some serious consideration. After all, on Palm Sunday we will hear the first reading of the Passion. What did Jesus say while suspended from the cross by spikes through his wrists and ankles? He didn’t say, “Damn you! Don’t you know who I am?”

No. He said, “Forgive them.”

Pax et bonum.

Lent is a time when we enter more deeply into the interior spiritual life. Meditation and contemplation form the core of a successful Lenten cycle of prayer.

The following words from the Holy Father remind us of the benefits of prayer beyond the common conception of prayer as a cosmic lifeline:

It is right to pray to God also for the small things of our everyday life, but at the same time prayer is a way, I would say a ladder: We must increasingly learn the things we can pray for and the things that should not be prayed for because they are expressions of my egoism or of my pride.

In this way, prayer becomes a process of purification of our thoughts, of our desires.

[To] remain in Christ is a process of slow purification, of liberation from myself, a true way that opens to joy and that is characterized by a sacramental background.

Thus we can learn that God responds to our prayers, and often corrects them, transforms them, guides them so that we will finally and really be branches of his Son, of the ‘true vine,’ members of his Body.

Let us thank God for the grandeur of his love. Let us pray so that he will help us to grow in his love and to really remain in his love.

-Pope Benedict XVI, February 13, 2010, Address to seminarians at the Chapel of the Major Roman Seminary [Source]

My Lenten observance this year, in case anyone is curious, includes a more focused practice of Lectio Divina and private meditation of the Way of the Cross.

Our discussion of Lenten prayer really should apply to all of our prayer. However, Lent is a good time to speak about prayer as it tends to be thought about more often. So what about Lenten prayer?

Prayer is contemplation and meditation. Prayer is definitely more than presenting a list of wishes and demands. Prayer is meditation on God, on the Christ, on redemption, on creation, on love, on peace, on justice. Prayer is contemplating the vastness of God, the ‘wideness in God’s mercy,’ the face of Jesus our brother.

Gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him, as you desire to imitate Him. (St. Clare of Assisi)

Prayer is more than personal. Prayer is communal. Much is made of the liturgy; “liturgy” is the public prayer of the entire Church! It isn’t “me” communicating with God: it is “us” communicating with God, each other, and all of creation. The communal nature of prayer is often neglected, especially during Lent. This is why I am such a fan of communal penance services. During these services we gather to express first communally our shortcomings and transgressions, and then we are called to sacramentally confess our sins individually and receive absolution. Admission of failure communally is excellent preparation for admission of failure privately.

Prayer leads us inward. The Holy Father said in his address that prayer “becomes a process of purification of our thoughts, of our desires.” It also teaches how we ought to pray, as we communicate not only with God in Heaven but with the very God who dwells in us. Cultivating a life of prayer leads us, naturally, to live the divine life which we received through the grace of our baptism.

Prayer leads us outward. Silently mumbling words, no matter how piously executed, is profoundly worthless if our prayer does not lead us to action. Our actions outside of ourselves, as agents of God’s love, become extensions of our prayers. We cannot expect that the Monopoly pieces of life will be miraculously moved from on high; this world isn’t a divine board game. “God has no hands but ours,” right?

Pax et bonum.

Br. Stephen addressed distressing new developments in Palestine today.

Embrace traditional Lenten almsgiving this year; support the Good Friday Collection.

Pax et bonum.

Francis Cardinal George has been hobnobbing with the Mormons. Apparently, he thinks that we have a lot in common.

Cardinal George, in remarks to a forum at Brigham-Young University in Provo, Utah, said:

Catholics and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must continue to stand together as a “vital bulwark” against those in American society who want to “reduce religion to a purely private reality.”

When the government fails to protect the consciences of its citizens, it falls to religious bodies to defend them.

True religious freedom means not just freedom to worship or “individual conscience rights as long as you don’t make anyone unhappy,” but the right to “influence the public square.”

Both our communities have prospered in a nation that respects religious freedom and recognizes that government should never stand between its citizens and almighty God.

Note well the following section; this is the collaboration that spawned the warm fuzzies between Cardinal George and the Mormon Prophets:

Although he did not refer directly to the successful 2008 campaign to overturn same-sex marriage in California, in which Catholics and Mormons were prominent, Cardinal George said both religious communities believe that “every single person is made in God’s image and must be respected.”

“But that does not mean you accept everything they do,” he said. “The relationship is at question here, not the persons.”

He also said that those who “have gay people in their families, as I do … have to be there for them and love them.”

It seems that, based on the Cardinal’s remarks, all that the American Catholic Church and the Mormon organization share is a common political ideology.

Reading about this happy meeting called to mind a similar sort of meeting that others through the centuries have been purported to have held.

A Pact with the Devil and a Nobleman in Pignerole in 1676

Let the Mormons have their political conquests. We have a bigger, better Kingdom to build.

Pax et bonum.

[Quotes and photo of Cardinal George, source]

[Pact with the devil, image source]

I have something brewing about Lenten prayer, but it will have to wait.

Nothing until Sunday, dear ones.

btw…

Sacred music lost two giants today- Richard Proulx and and Richard Hillert. The music of both of these men has lifted me out of the mundane on more occasions than I can recall.

May these two men who shared the God of peace with so many now rest in God’s eternal peace.

Pax et bonum.

One of my favorite Gospel readings was used in today’s liturgy:

Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

(Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)

This passage is especially appropriate today, but it is equally applicable all of the time. (Showy piety will irritate me and turn me off quicker than no piety at all.)

Ash Wednesday, in some respects, flies in the face of this Gospel passage. Br. Charles addressed this seeming inconruency today on his blog:

At today’s Mass, after hearing the Gospel, we all line up to do not what Jesus commands, but the opposite. Unlike Holy Thursday, when we act out the command of Christ as literally as we can, today we do just what Jesus says not to do. He tells us to wash our faces, and then we all scramble to have someone put dirt on our heads. It is a kind of ritualization of our failure to live the Gospel, a common confession that we have not done what the Lord commands, a plain and public admission of our unfaithfulness.

May the humility of our mutual and public confession break our hearts open. May the open wounds of our compunction be a path for the grace of baptism to pour into us anew. By the time we arrive at Holy Thursday night, may we have been transformed anew by the God who makes willing and humble disciples even out of hypocrites.

Indeed.

I leave you with a section from the 1209 Rule of St. Francis that should serve as our guiding light this Lent as we make our way toward Easter:

I counsel, admonish and beg my brothers that, when they travel about the world, they should not be quarrelsome, dispute with words, or criticize others, but rather should be gentle, peaceful and unassuming, courteous and humble, speaking respectfully to all as is fitting.

We have wandered so far.

Pax et bonum.