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The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Sometimes the years seem to hurtle by. There are days when we may wonder: How do I let it all get away so fast? How can I hold on to it better? How can I see the sacredness of each day better?

To some degree the numbering of years helps and, like birthdays and the change of seasons, the marking of a New Year invites us to remembrance and recollection.

The celebration on January 1, of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, who “treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart,” starts our new year. The Gospel reading for the Liturgy of this Solemnity tells us of shepherds who took time to approach the mystery and wondrously saw Mary and Joseph and the child. Once they saw, they understood and glorified and praised God.

The Gospel Reading also tells us that Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

What are the things Mary reflected on “in her heart”? Both marvelous events such as the angelic message relayed by the shepherds, and the painful circumstance such as a birth in a stable.

Mary grappled with both sides of the mystery of Jesus’ birth: the miraculous and the everyday; the joyous and the painful; what was already unfolding and what was yet to be revealed.

In all this she was pondering the mystery of God’s presence and thus sublimely models how we too can recognize the Word being made flesh and dwelling among us.

Mary reflected “in her heart” on the mystery unfolding within and around her. This same mystery is revealed when God pours “the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,” making us children of God.

The ancient feast of Epiphany (this Sunday) also celebrates our “seeing”, our witnessing of the mystery that God could take our very flesh and bones. In the light of the Incarnation – Christmas-, with the “showing” of God in Jesus, all is changed, all human ordinariness transformed, all of the commonplace transfigured, elevated, and blessed.

A sense of how God “shows” himself each day; how his grace is manifest in every numbered year, allows us to take possession of our moments gently as time flashes by. We develop a richer taste for life itself, and our thanksgiving reaches deeper into our being.

If we fully enter into the revelation of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God , if we truly savor it and thereby savor the lives we’ve been gifted with, we may find ourselves joining the long march of witnesses, sent to all times and nations, to share the blessing of God that the Book of Numbers (First Reading) gives to us:

“The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look kindly upon you and give you peace.”

Once we are beyond the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and the Christmas season, we may tend to forget about the importance of the incarnation for our daily living. Mary teaches us that continued active reflection on this mystery is how we are drawn more deeply into its fullness and able more perfectly to live in the grace of being children and heirs of God.

We begin our new year by remembering and honoring Mary, chosen by God to bear and birth the savior of the world. May this remembrance urge us to give birth to Christ renewed in our lives; our decisions, our relationships.

Happy, peaceful, New Year!

Te Deum

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“You are God; we praise you. You are the Lord; we acclaim you. You are the eternal Father; all creation worships you.”

December 31 is a day of thanksgiving for the blessings of the Old Year that is passing (yes, we can find bless-ings; perhaps “mixed blessing”). Traditionally the Te Deum is sung in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome on this day (formerly it was sung at the Church of the Gesù).

This traditional practice of praying or singing the Te Deum on December 31 offers us a day to thank God for all the days, a moment to bless all the moments of mind and heart, breath and sight. A time to “see” and savor.
This ancient and beautiful hymn of praise, formerly attributed both to St Augustine and St Ambrose and now more reliably ascribed to Nicetas of Remesiana (ca. 333/5-414), is so old that its provenance is uncertain (the lines extolling the apostles, prophets and martyrs echo some similar lines in a work of St Cyprian, but this seems to be coincidence. More recently it has been proposed that the Te Deum is part of an ancient Easter Vigil hymn.

The Te Deum (whose name is simply the first two words of the prayer itself, not unlike the title of a papal document) is unique in that it is a part of the Divine Office: it is prayed at the end of Matins/Vigils/Office of Readings after the final reading and before the closing prayer on Sundays and Holy Days. (According to the 1962 rubrics it is said every single day, outside of the penitential seasons of Lent and Advent.) The Divine Office may be a private prayer — and the Office of Readings may be recited at any hour of the day per the Vati-can II rubrics — but for consecrated religious it is generally prayed in common in the middle of the night. So night owls who visit a monastery or abbey may hear it intoned—beautifully—together.

Another unique aspect of the Te Deum—the entire prayer is reprinted below—is that part of it is prayed during Mass (namely during the Sanctus):

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might
Heaven and earth are full of your glory

And the final part of the Te Deum is a nod (or better, a kneel) to the Credo in that the lines are supposed to be said on your knees:

V: Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
R: Govern and uphold them now and always
V: Day by day we bless you.
R: We praise your name forever.
V: Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
R: Have mercy on us, Lord have Mercy
V: Lord, show us your Love and Mercy
R: For we put our trust in you.
V: In you, Lord, is our hope:
R: And we shall never hope in vain.

Here we see an obvious invocation of the Kyrie from the Mass in the line, “Lord Have Mercy”, above.

Thus, the Te Deum is a prayer steeped in the Mass, and includes the only intact Hebrew word (“Sabaoth”) kept in the Latin version. The whole is a prayer of praise.

Technically, the Te Deum may be said or sung at the end of Mass or at the canonization of saint, or in a public procession of a saint’s relics.

The Te Deum is, in essence, a very ancient liturgical poem, and like many poems it has been put to music very effectively by some of the greatest composers, from Mozart and Verdi to Dvorak and Benjamin Britten.

And while Te Deum may be inextricably tied to the Divine Office, there’s no rule that says you can’t (or shouldn’t) pray or learn the prayer as a stand-alone oration.

The concluding line, “And we shall never hope in vain.” is an especially uplifting reminder to us individually and collectively.

Te Deum

You are God, we praise you:
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world, the holy Church acclaims you:
Father of majesty unbounded,
Your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
And the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the King of Glory
The eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free,
You did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death,
And opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come and be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
Bought with the price of your own blood,
And bring us with your saints to glory everlasting.
Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
Govern and uphold them now and always
Day by day we bless you.
We praise your name forever.
Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
Have mercy on us, Lord have Mercy
Lord, show us your Love and Mercy
for we put our trust in you.
In you, Lord, is our hope:
and we shall never hope in vain.

Amen.

October, Month of the Rosary

The month of October each year is dedicated to the Rosary. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The Pope attributed more to the “arms” of the Rosary than to the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.

It all started in 1571 when the Catholic League entered into battle against the Ottoman Empire to protect Italy from invasion. The Turks were on a warpath to overthrow all of Europe, killing millions of people and forcing Islamic conversion on survivors. They had conquered the Middle East and Mediterranean islands of Cyrus and Crete; Italy was next.

As the impending battle loomed, Pope Pius V called on various religious communities throughout Europe to join him in praying the Rosary, including public recitations, to defeat the Islamic threat. Heading into battle, every man in the Catholic League’s forces carried a Rosary. Their fleet was no match for the competition; they were vastly outnumbered.

Miraculously, the Catholic League returned victorious after a daylong battle known as the Battle of Lepanto that took place off the coast of Greece. In thanksgiving for Mary’s intercession and protection, Pope Pius V declared the day — October 7 — as a feast day for Our Lady of the Rosary. To celebrate, a Rosary procession was held in Saint Peter’s Square.

After the feast day was established, the entire month of October was dedicated to the Rosary in 1884 by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Superiore Anno:

“Last year, as each of you is aware, we decreed by an Encyclical Letter that, to win the help of Heaven for the Church in her trials, the great Mother of God should be honored by the means of the most holy Rosary during the whole of the month of October. In this we followed both our own impulse and the example of our predecessors, who in times of difficulty were wont to have recourse with increased fervor to the Blessed Virgin, and to seek her aid with special prayers.”

Although the commitment to the Rosary was formalized in 1571, it was an established prayer long before then. The Rosary was first given to Saint Dominic by the Virgin Mary during an apparition in 1214 in Prouilhe of southern France. She presented it as a source of strength to aid him in the conflicts with Albigensian heretics. The image of Our Lady of the Rosary reflects this apparition, with Mary holding the child Jesus in one hand and the other hand extending to give the Rosary beads to Saint Dominic. Pope Benedict explained the meaning behind the image in a 2007 Angelus homily:

“This important iconography shows that the Rosary is a means given by the Virgin to contemplate Jesus and, in meditating on his life, to love him and follow him ever more faithfully. It is this message that Our Lady has also bequeathed to us in her various apparitions.”

Saint Dominic went on to establish the Order of Preachers, known as the Dominicans. This spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern. The Dominican Pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. It was the same Pope St. Pius V, who in 1569 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices. It had been completed by the addition of the second half of the “Hail Mary” and the “Glory be to the Father” at the conclusion of each mystery.

It was in the Middle Ages that the Rosary came to be used in various monasteries as a substitute for praying the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 Psalms, they would pray 150 “Our Fathers” counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or “corona.” With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the “Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary” developed now substituting 150 “Hail Mary’s” in place of the “Our Father’s.”

The 150 “Hail Mary’s” were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478), further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries.

Saint John Paul II expanded on the Rosary’s power in his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, when he announced the Year of the Rosary and the addition of the Luminous Mysteries:

“With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and are led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.”

John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).

Many other Popes have contributed to the increased devotion to the Rosary by their writings. Pope Paul VI ( papacy: 1963-1978) devoted the last section of his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus to the Angelus prayer and the Rosary (MC 40-55). In this document, he wrote that “the Rosary retains an unaltered value and intact freshness.” (MC, 41)

The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer. This was summarized by Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939- 1958) who said that the Rosary is ” a compendium of the entire Gospel” (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419). The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.

In this month of October, let us consider the beautiful prayer of the Rosary as a means that we too can use to draw closer to God by meditating on the great mysteries of our salvation.

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

Archangels

The Catholic Church recognizes the existence of only three Archangels, or the three mentioned in the Scriptures: Michael (“Who is like God?”), Gabriel (“God’s Power”) and Raphael (“God’s Doctor”).

The Sacred Scripture then, attributes a particular mission to each Archangel.

Michael is the warrior who fights against Satan and his emissaries (Jn 9, Ap 12, 7, cf. Zec 13: 1-2), the defender of those who love God (Dn 10, 13.21), the protector of the people of God (Dn. 12, 1).

Gabriel is one of the spirits closest to God, before his heavenly throne (Lk 1, 19), the one who revealed to Daniel the secrets of God’s plan (Dn 8, 16; 9, 21-22), announced to Zechariah the birth of John the Baptist (Lk 1, 11-20) and to Mary that of Jesus (Lk 1, 26-38).

Raphael stands before the throne of God (Tb 12, 15, see Rev 8: 2), accompanied and protects Tobias in his perilous journey and healed his father from blindness and his future bride from the influence of evil.

In general, therefore, the task of the three Archangels, in addition to contemplation of God, is to communicate His Will to man in various ways, to be an inspiration for human beings, and the catalysts of divine grace for them.

In 2013, Pope Francis consecrated the Vatican City State to St. Joseph and St. Michael the Archangel, recognizing once again his role as defender of the Faith and of the Church.

Christian iconography depicts Gabriel as a young winged cherub, who often carries a lily in his hands, as a symbol of the Annunciation to Mary.

In ascending order, the choirs or classes are 1) Angels, 2) Archangels, 3) Principalities, 4) Powers, 5) Virtues, 6) Dominations, 7) Thrones, 8) Cherubim, and 9) Seraphim.

Below is a beautiful prayer to the Archangels that highlights the role each Archangel has been given by God and how that role can help us when we need them the most.

Heavenly King, You have given us archangels
to assist us during our pilgrimage on earth.

Saint Michael is our protector;
I ask him to come to my aid,
fight for all my loved ones,
and protect us from danger.

Saint Gabriel is a messenger of the Good News;
I ask him to help me clearly hear Your voice
and to teach me the truth.

Saint Raphael is the healing angel;
I ask him to take my need for healing
and that of everyone I know,
lift it up to Your throne of grace
and deliver back to us the gift of recovery.

Help us, O Lord, to realize more fully
the reality of the archangels
and their desire to serve us.

Holy angels, pray for us.
Amen.

Text Messages

Without a doubt it is always useful to look behind the text to gain fuller insight into the messages contained in and conveyed through Sacred Scripture. In Sunday’s Gospel proclamation (Matthew 16:13-20) we will hear Peter publicly profess his faith to Jesus saying “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The site of this Confession is significant.

Caesarea Philippi is located in the northern most part of Israel, situated some 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee on the southwestern base of Mt. Hermon. There is a great spring that feeds the Jordan River as it begins its journey south from the surrounding heights. In the first century, the Jewish historian, Josephus, in The Wars of the Jews, (Book 1, Chapter 21.3) described the topo-graphy: “[Here] is a top of a mountain that is raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave opens itself; within which there is a horrible precipice, that descends abruptly to a vast depth; it contains a mighty quantity of water.”

Caesar Augustus gave this district to Herod the Great, who annexed the territory to his kingdom. Herod, being a shrewd politician, erected a temple in the city in the emperor’s honor, making the city one of three cities which Herod dedicated to Caesar (the other two being Sebaste in Samaria and Caesarea Maritima along the Mediterranean coast). Josephus noted, “And when Caesar had further bestowed upon [Herod the Great] another additional country, he built there also a temple of white marble.” After Herod the Great’s death, his son Philip ruled the area and gave the city the name Caesarea Philippi.

Jesus posed the question “Who do you say that I am?” to the disciples in Caesarea Philippi. As is often the case, understanding the location gives us a deeper understanding of Jesus’ words and actions. To better understand the connection between the passage in Matthew 16 and Caesarea Philippi, we need to explore the practice of the imperial cult.

The worship of the Roman emperors began with Caesar Augustus’ adoptive father Julius Caesar, who saw himself descended from the goddess Venus. After his death, the Roman senate conferred upon Julius the status of a god of the Roman state. Augustus dedicated a temple to him. Augustus also benefited from his father’s title. It followed that if his father was “god,” then Augustus himself was a “son of god.” Soon temples were built not only to honor the “god” Julius, but also the “son of god”, Augustus.

This practice was repeated as temples honoring various emperors were built across the empire over the centuries. Herod the Great’s temple to honor Caesar Augustus in Caesarea Philippi was part of the backdrop behind Jesus’ question to the disciples.

Worshipping a pagan king as a god was nothing new. Cultures reaching as far back as the Egyptians and Mesopotamians believed in the divinity of their leaders. Many times God’s people were tested, as pagan rulers required them to choose between fidelity to the one true God of Israel or the pagan state, gods, and cultural practices.

The pagans of Jesus’ day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves.

To the pagan mind, then, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld— the netherworld. In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in detestable deeds.

When Jesus brought his disciples to the area, they must have been shocked. Standing near the pagan temples of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” Peter boldly replied, “You are the Son of the living God.” The disciples were probably stirred by the contrast between Jesus, the true and living God, and the false hopes of the pagans who trusted in “dead” gods.

Jesus continued, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (see Matt. 16:13-20). Standing as they were at a literal “Gate of the Netherworld,” the disciples must have been overwhelmed by Jesus’ challenge.

Location, location, location!

The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Te Deum

Te Deum

October, Month of the Rosary

Archangels

Text Messages

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