It's Official: L'Osservatore Romano Publishes Official Coat of Arms
According to Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, an expert in heraldic insignia and the designer of the new coat of arms, “Benedict XVI has chosen a coat of arms rich in symbolism and meaning, in order to put his personality and papacy in the hands of history.”
Benedict XVI added to his coat of arms the pilgrim’s seashell, the symbol of the Way of Santiago. The shell has various symbolic meanings, the principal of which is taken from a famous legend about St. Augustine and his encounter with a young boy on the beach who was using a shell to pour seawater into a hole. It also refers to the emblem of the pilgrims who traveled along the Way of Santiago towards the Shrine of St. James in Spain.
The coat of arms also includes an image of the “Moor of Freising." The Moor’s head, facing left and crowned, appeared on the coat of arms of the old principality of Freising as early as 1316.
On the top right of the coat of arms is a figure of the “Bear of Corbinian," which refers to the legend of Bishop Corbinian, who preached the Gospel to Bavaria and is considered the spiritual father of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
According to tradition, when the bishop was traveling to Rome, a bear mauled his pack animal. Bishop Corbinian forced the bear to carry his supplies on its back to Rome. Once there, he let the bear go free.
The Pontiff’s coat of arms also includes two keys in the background, symbolizing the Petrine ministry of the popes.
I kind of wish he would have used a tiara rather than a mitre, but then again, he's the Pope.
Apparently the coat of arms below was not the offical one, only a rendition. The official one is now out and is similar, even though there still seems to be some discrepancies. One version has a mitre atop the crest, another the tiara.
"Dancing is not a form of expression for the Christian liturgy. In about the third century, there was an attempt in certain Gnostic-Docetic circles to introduce it into the liturgy. For these people, the Crucifixion was only an appearance. Before the Passion, Christ had abandoned the body that in any case he had never really assumed. Dancing could take the place of the liturgy of the Cross, because, after all, the Cross was only an appearance. The cultic dances of the different religions have different purposes—incantation, imitative magic, mystical ecstasy— none of which is compatible with the essential purpose of the liturgy of the “reasonable sacrifice”. It is totally absurd to try to make the liturgy “attractive” by introducing dancing pantomimes (wherever possible performed by professional dance troupes), which frequently (and rightly, from the professionals’ point of view) end with applause. Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attractiveness fades quickly—it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation. I myself have experienced the replacing of the penitential rite by a dance performance, which, needless to say, received a round of applause. Could there be anything farther removed from true penitence? Liturgy can only attract people when it looks, not at itself, but at God, when it allows him to enter and act. Then something truly unique happens, beyond competition, and people have a sense that more has taken place than a recreational activity. None of the Christian rites includes dancing. [The Spirit of the Liturgy, (SF, CA: Ignatius, 2000), p. 198] "
The above was written by Joseph Cardinal Ratziner before becoming Pope Benedict XVI. I hope and pray that he will issue directives such as these as Supreme Pontiff so that things like we see in the picture above never again taint the Sacred Liturgy. And in case you think stuff like that doesn't happen, it does, more than you might think. I have seen it with my own eyes on a number of occasions just in the past year.
Do you think we need a crack down in the Liturgy? I do.
If you click here and watch a few of the videos of Pope Benedict, or look at the picture to the left you will notice that he is wearing the white cassock (of course) but he is not wearing the white shoulder cape as did JPII and this predecessors. What's up with that?
Call to Action has a survey on what the new Pope should be like during his papacy The questions are the most biased questions I have ever seen in a survey. Needless to say I used the "Other: Please specify" box quite a bit.
Fr. Bryce Sibley suggests we all take the survey to see if we can skew the results. I agree.
Ned Rice has this wonderful little article on NRO which states:
"And that, folks, is pretty much how it works. The Catholic Church is not a democracy, or even a representative democracy. They don’t decide things by a show of hands, other than Bingo, and even then all winners have to be verified. The Church doesn’t use focus groups. The pope doesn’t go on listening tours. There’s no website that lets the faithful interactively change church doctrine based on how many hits it receives. Catholics don’t choose new gods to worship with the help of their good friends at A. T. & T. Wireless — although if they did the process would still look and sound remarkably like American Idol. The Church is not a democracy, and part of being Catholic is being cool with that.
So if you think this or any other pope is just plain wrong on celibacy or homosexuality or anything else big, and this upsets you so much it interferes with your spiritual life, you’d be well advised to find yourself another church. Otherwise you’re like the orthodox Jew who, in light of recent developments, has taken it upon himself to decide that it’s all right for him to eat pork. You can be an orthodox Jew, and you can eat pork. You’re free to do either one. But folks, you just can’t do both. There are names for Catholics who don’t accept that they can’t do certain things and still receive the sacraments, and one of those names is Senator John Kerry. "
The Moor The exact origin of the Moor wearing the crown is unknown, but Ratzinger sees him as a symbol of the Church's universality.
The Shellhas a double meaning. Firstly, it symbolizes the pilgrim nature of the Church, as the scallop shell is a symbol of the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela. Upon reaching the end of the pilgrimage at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, pilgrims receive a scallop shell to remind them of their part in the Pilgrim Church, and also of Saint James the greater, who was a fisherman and is often pictured with a scallop shell. Secondly, the shell is a reminder of Saint Augustine, about whom Benedict wrote his doctoral thesis. According to legend, Augustine was walking along the beach, pondering the mystery of the Trinity, when he came upon a child who had dug a hole in the sand and was attempting to fill it with sea water, which he would carry in a shell. Augustine asked the child what he was doing, and the child replied that he was attempting to empty the sea into his hole. When Augustine pointed out the futility of the act, the child replied that trying to understand the Trinity was just as futile as attempting to empty the sea into a hole.
The Bearrefers to the legend of Munich's first Archbishop, St. Korbinian. According to legend, Korbinian was travelling to Rome when a bear attacked and killed his horse. Faced with having no animal to carry his packs to Rome, Korbinian ordered the bear to carry his luggage. Once the bear reached Rome with the Bishop's luggage, Korbinian set it free.
The motto, Cooperatores Veritatis, is Latin for "Co-workers of the truth." This was Benedict's motto during his tenure as Archbishop of Munich, and certainly applied when he was Prefect of the CDF.
Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room.
Of the juices and other beverages, yea, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink. But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.
Laws When at Table
And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as it were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination unto me. Yea, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke.
Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you shall be sent away.
When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck: for you shall be sent away.
When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister hath done the same to you.
Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is.
And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that,that is why.
Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.
Laws Pertaining to Dessert
For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert.
But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert.
But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof.
And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.
On Screaming
Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault.
Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet shall not surely die.
Concerning Face and Hands
Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon.
And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see.
Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.
Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances
Bite not, lest you be also bitten again. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of the bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, not against any building; nor eat sand.
Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not the humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you shall drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.
A reader e-mailed me this, I thought it was a very clever way of showing the truth about many sex-ed programs.
I was holding a notice from my 13-year-old son's school announcing a meeting to preview the new course in sexuality. Parents could examine the curriculum and take part in an actual lesson presented exactly as it would be given to the students.
When I arrived at the school, I was surprised to discover only about a dozen parents there. As we waited for the presentation, I thumbed through page after page of instructions in the prevention of pregnancy or disease. I found abstinence mentioned only in passing. When the teacher arrived with the school nurse, she asked if there were any questions. I asked why abstinence did not play a noticeable part in the material.
What happened next was shocking. There was a great deal of laughter, and someone suggested that if I thought abstinence had any merit, I should go back to burying my head in the sand.
The teacher and the nurse said nothing as I drowned in a sea of embarrassment. My mind had gone blank, and I could think of nothing to say. The teacher explained to me that the job of the school was to teach "facts," and the home was responsible for moral training. I sat in silence for the next 20 minutes as the course was explained. The other parents seemed to give their unqualified support to the materials.
"Donuts, at the back," announced the teacher during the break. "I'd like you to put on the name tags we have prepared-they're right by the donuts-and mingle with the other parents. Everyone moved to the back of the room.
As I watched them affixing their name tags and shaking hands, I sat deep in thought. I was ashamed that I had not been able to convince them to include a serious discussion of abstinence in the materials. I uttered a silent prayer for guidance.
My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher's hand on my shoulder. "Won't you join the others, Mrs. Layton?" The nurse smiled sweetly at me. "The donuts are good." "Thank you, no," I replied. "Well, then, how about a name tag? I'm sure the others would like to meet you." "Somehow I doubt that," I replied. "Won't you please join them?" she coaxed. "I'll just wait here," I said.
When the class was called back to order, the teacher looked around the long table and thanked everyone for putting on name tags. She ignored me. Then she said, "Now we're going to give you the same lesson we'll be giving your children. Everyone please peel off your name tags." I watched in silence as the tags came off. "Now, then, on the back of one of the tags, I drew a tiny flower. Who has it, please?"
The gentleman across from me held it up. "Here it is!" "All right," she said. "The flower represents disease. Do you recall with whom you shook hands?" He pointed to a couple of people. "Very good," she replied. "The handshake in this case represents intimacy. So the two people you had contact with now have the disease." There was laughter and joking among the parents. The teacher continued, "And whom did the two of you shake hands with?" The point was well taken, and she explained how this lesson would show students how quickly disease is spread. "Since we all shook hands, we all have the disease."
"Speak now, I thought, "but be humble." I noted wryly the latter admonition, then rose from my chair. I apologized for any upset I might have caused earlier, congratulated the teacher on an excellent lesson that would impress the youth, and concluded by saying I had only one small point I wished to make.
"Not all of us were infected," I said. "One of us ... abstained."
In his homily he gave a very fine explanation of the symbolism of the pallium and fishermans ring saying, "The first symbol is the Pallium, woven in pure wool, which will be placed on my shoulders. This ancient sign, which the Bishops of Rome have worn since the fourth century, may be considered an image of the yoke of Christ, which the Bishop of this City, the Servant of the Servants of God, takes upon his shoulders. Gods yoke is Gods will, which we accept. And this will does not weigh down on us, oppressing us and taking away our freedom. To know what God wants, to know where the path of life is found this was Israel's joy, this was her great privilege. It is also our joy: Gods will does not alienate us, it purifies us even if this can be painful and so it leads us to ourselves. In this way, we serve not only him, but the salvation of the whole world, of all history. The symbolism of the Pallium is even more concrete: the lambs wool is meant to represent the lost, sick or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders and carries to the waters of life. For the Fathers of the Church, the parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image of the mystery of Christ and the Church. The human race every one of us is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. What the Pallium indicates first and foremost is that we are all carried by Christ. But at the same time it invites us to carry one another. Hence the Pallium becomes a symbol of the shepherds mission, of which the Second Reading and the Gospel speak.
The pastor must be inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of Gods darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earths treasures no longer serve to build Gods garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, toward the place of life, toward friendship with the Son of God, toward the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.
The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the Ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all humanity, the living God, himself became a lamb, he stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how he reveals himself to be the true shepherd: "I am the Good Shepherd . . . I lay down my life for the sheep," Jesus says of himself (John 10:14f). It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is Gods sign: he himself is love. How often we wish that God would make show himself stronger, that he would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity.
We suffer on account of Gods patience. And yet, we need his patience. God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by the impatience of man. One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. "Feed my sheep," says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, he says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of Gods truth, of Gods word, the nourishment of his presence, which he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament. My dear friends at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love his flock more and more in other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.
The second symbol used in today's liturgy to express the inauguration of the Petrine Ministry is the presentation of the fisherman's ring. Peters call to be a shepherd, which we heard in the Gospel, comes after the account of a miraculous catch of fish: after a night in which the disciples had let down their nets without success, they see the Risen Lord on the shore. He tells them to let down their nets once more, and the nets become so full that they can hardly pull them in; 153 large fish: "and although there were so many, the net was not torn" (John 21:11). This account, coming at the end of Jesus' earthly journey with his disciples, corresponds to an account found at the beginning: there too, the disciples had caught nothing the entire night; there too, Jesus had invited Simon once more to put out into the deep. And Simon, who was not yet called Peter, gave the wonderful reply: "Master, at your word I will let down the nets." And then came the conferral of his mission: "Do not be afraid. Henceforth you will be catching men" (Luke 5:1-11). Today too the Church and the successors of the Apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and to let down the nets, so as to win men and women over to the Gospel to God, to Christ, to true life. The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food.
But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendor of Gods light, into true life. It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God. It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to Gods joy which longs to break into the world.
Here I want to add something: both the image of the shepherd and that of the fisherman issue an explicit call to unity. "I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must lead them too, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16); these are the words of Jesus at the end of his discourse on the Good Shepherd. And the account of the 153 large fish ends with the joyful statement: "although there were so many, the net was not torn" (John 21:11). Alas, beloved Lord, with sorrow we must now acknowledge that it has been torn! But no we must not be sad! Let us rejoice because of your promise, which does not disappoint, and let us do all we can to pursue the path toward the unity you have promised. Let us remember it in our prayer to the Lord, as we plead with him: yes, Lord, remember your promise. Grant that we may be one flock and one shepherd! Do not allow your net to be torn, help us to be servants of unity!"
For a thousand years the arms of the Munich archbishops have displayed a Moor, wearing a crown. No one knows how he got there. Ratzinger regards him as a symbol of the Church’s universality, which knows no distinctions of race or class, since "all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).
Ratzinger added two personal symbols. The first is a scallop shell, the pilgrim’s emblem (still given to pilgrims at Compostela), a reminder that "we have here no lasting city" (Heb. 13:14). The shell also reminds Ratzinger of his theological mentor and the subject of his doctoral dissertation, St. Augustine. Walking along the seashore as he reflected on the mystery of the Trinity, Augustine came on a child who had dug a hole in the sand and was trying to pour the sea into it with a shell. Augustine realized that his efforts to understand the mystery of God were as futile as the child’s attempt to get the sea into the hole. "The shell reminds me of my great master Augustine, of my theological work, and of the vastness of the mystery which surpasses all our learning." These words place their writer in the Church’s central theological tradition, along with such greats as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. All that we can know of God is always far less than what, in this life, we can never know.
The second symbol, a bear with a pack on his back, is connected with a legend about Munich’s first bishop, St. Korbinian. Traveling to Rome, Korbinian encountered a bear which attacked the horse which was carrying the saint’s luggage. As punishment Korbinian made the bear carry his pack to Rome before releasing him. The bear reminds Ratzinger of Augustine’s meditation on Psalm 72 (73). By a coincidence, which the new Pope will not have failed to notice, this psalm was in the Breviary Office of Readings on the day the Conclave began. Ratzinger writes about it as follows:
"The psalm speaks about the testing of faith, which seems to bring no earthly reward. The person who is faithful to God does not necessarily enjoy success. Often the cynic seems to prosper most. Why? The psalmist finds his answer as he stands before God and sees how insignificant material prosperity and success are, and what really counts and saves: ‘I was stupid and did not understand, no better than a beast in your sight.’
"Augustine takes the ‘beast’ in this verse to be a draft animal. He compares his work as a bishop to that of an ox pulling a wagon. ... Augustine had chosen a scholar’s life — only to find that God harnessed him to his wagon, to pull it through the world. How often Augustine rebelled against all his petty duties, which took him away from what he knew was his deepest calling. The psalm helped him overcome his bitterness. It enabled him to say: ‘Yes, Lord, I am a beast, a pack animal, an ox — but that is how I serve you, you hold me in your hand.’ As the farmer’s ox is close to him and works for him, so Augustine realized that his humdrum duties brought him close to God. He was doing the Lord’s work, closer to him than all others, essential to him.
"Isn’t Korbinian’s bear, compelled against his will to carry the saint’s pack, a picture of my own life? ‘I am no better than a beast in your sight’ — but a beast close to God. What more can I say about my bishop’s years? The legend says that Korbinian set the bear free once he reached Rome. It doesn’t tell us whether the animal went to the Abruzzi Mountains or returned to the Alps. Meanwhile I have carried my pack to Rome and wander for some time now through the streets of the Eternal City. When release will come I cannot know. What I do know is that I am God’s pack animal, and as such close to him."
The new Pope’s reflections eight years ago take on special poignancy when we know that some years ago he asked Pope John Paul II to release him from his duties in Rome to return to Germany and his first love, theological study and teaching. John Paul asked Ratzinger to stay on. “We’re both getting old, Joseph,” he told him. “We must continue to work together.”
Now the cardinals have told Joseph Ratzinger that he must carry his pack to the end.
Chuck Currie, UCC seminarian, is a little hot under the collar these days. So much so that he responded to me on his blog saying that "if there is a Satan active I'd sugguest it might be more active in you and your theology than through groups pushing for health care access and civil rights for gays and lesbians (not to mention their inclusion in religious life). "
Wow, I must admit that this is the first time I have been accused of being an instrument of the Satan, and as such am reminded of a certain scripture passage where Jesus is accused of the same thing.
When the Pharisees said to Him, "This man does not cast out devils except by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." Then Jesus said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?"
It is very interesting that he claims that the teachings of Jesus Christ found in the teachings of the Apostles passed on to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are actually the teachings of Satan.
I don't know about you, but I think he is a bit confused.
UPDATE: Now Mr. Currie believes I might be possessed. Here is the quote: "Perhaps you have simply been possessed by Satan and are unaware at how much you misinterpret Scripture for your own purposes and political desires. As noted, plenty of Roman Catholics (even plenty of priests and nuns whose comments and voices have been heard on this site) would find fault with your understanding of Christianity at nearly every turn."
UPDATE: Mr. Currie continues his personal attacks by claiming that the comments he made were not about me, which they clearly are because he is responding to my statement debunking his statement that I said something I did not say. Then he goes on to say "Dana, you're about as far away as being Christ-like as anyone I've come across. " I think it safe to say that he is indeed addressing me here and that it is a personal attack on me because he cannot deal with the fact that he is wrong, an immature tactic that I see used by many a liberal.
Tonight at the seminary there is a banquet in honor of the Deacons who will be Ordained to the Priesthood. As part of the evening I will be proposing a toast in honor of the Holy Father. Any ideas for a good traditional toast? Let me know in the comments box.
Joe London, who has abandoned all dialogue with me and the readers of this blog has posted a sick and disgusting photo collection comparing Pope Benedict XVI to a Hannibal Lector. Let's move Mr. London and people like him up on the prayer list. May he one day be converted to the faith.
Amy Welborn says about the address, "Note the closed-minded refusal to dialogue. Note the arrogance.Note the smackdown of Vatican II. Oh? Really?" All I see is quite the opposite. Read it for yourself:
"Grace and peace in abundance to all of you! In my soul there are two contrasting sentiments in these hours. On the one hand, a sense of inadequacy and human turmoil for the responsibility entrusted to me yesterday as the Successor of the Apostle Peter in this See of Rome, with regard to the Universal Church. On the other hand I sense within me profound gratitude to God Who - as the liturgy makes us sing - does not abandon His flock, but leads it throughout time, under the guidance of those whom He has chosen as vicars of His Son, and made pastors.
"Dear Ones, this intimate recognition for a gift of divine mercy prevails in my heart in spite of everything. I consider this a grace obtained for me by my venerated predecessor, John Paul II. It seems I can feel his strong hand squeezing mine; I seem to see his smiling eyes and listen to his words, addressed to me especially at this moment: 'Do not be afraid!'
"The death of the Holy Father John Paul II, and the days which followed, were for the Church and for the entire world an extraordinary time of grace. The great pain for his death and the void that it left in all of us were tempered by the action of the Risen Christ, which showed itself during long days in the choral wave of faith, love and spiritual solidarity, culminating in his solemn funeral.
"We can say it: the funeral of John Paul II was a truly extraordinary experience in which was perceived in some way the power of God Who, through His Church, wishes to form a great family of all peoples, through the unifying force of Truth and Love. In the hour of death, conformed to his Master and Lord, John Paul II crowned his long and fruitful pontificate, confirming the Christian people in faith, gathering them around him and making the entire human family feel more united.
"How can one not feel sustained by this witness? How can one not feel the encouragement that comes from this event of grace?
"Surprising every prevision I had, Divine Providence, through the will of the venerable Cardinal Fathers, called me to succeed this great Pope. I have been thinking in these hours about what happened in the region of Cesarea of Phillippi two thousand years ago: I seem to hear the words of Peter: 'You are Christ, the Son of the living God,' and the solemn affirmation of the Lord: 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven'.
"You are Christ! You are Peter! It seems I am reliving this very Gospel scene; I, the Successor of Peter, repeat with trepidation the anxious words of the fisherman from Galilee and I listen again with intimate emotion to the reassuring promise of the divine Master. If the weight of the responsibility that now lies on my poor shoulders is enormous, the divine power on which I can count is surely immeasurable: 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church'. Electing me as the Bishop of Rome, the Lord wanted me as his Vicar, he wished me to be the 'rock' upon which everyone may rest with confidence. I ask him to make up for the poverty of my strength, that I may be a courageous and faithful pastor of His flock, always docile to the inspirations of His Spirit.
"I undertake this special ministry, the 'Petrine' ministry at the service of the Universal Church, with humble abandon to the hands of the Providence of God. And it is to Christ in the first place that I renew my total and trustworthy adhesion: 'In Te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum!'
"To you, Lord Cardinals, with a grateful soul for the trust shown me, I ask you to sustain me with prayer and with constant, active and wise collaboration. I also ask my brothers in the episcopacy to be close to me in prayer and counsel so that I may truly be the 'Servus servorum Dei' (Servant of the servants of God). As Peter and the other Apostles were, through the will of the Lord, one apostolic college, in the same way the Successor of Peter and the Bishops, successors of the Apostles - and the Council forcefully repeated this - must be closely united among themselves. This collegial communion, even in the diversity of roles and functions of the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops, is at the service of the Church and the unity of faith, from which depend in a notable measure the effectiveness of the evangelizing action of the contemporary world. Thus, this path, upon which my venerated predecessors went forward, I too intend to follow, concerned solely with proclaiming to the world the living presence of Christ.
"Before my eyes is, in particular, the witness of Pope John Paul II. He leaves us a Church that is more courageous, freer, younger. A Church that, according to his teaching and example, looks with serenity to the past and is not afraid of the future. With the Great Jubilee the Church was introduced into the new millennium carrying in her hands the Gospel, applied to the world through the authoritative re-reading of Vatican Council II. Pope John Paul II justly indicated the Council as a 'compass' with which to orient ourselves in the vast ocean of the third millennium. Also in his spiritual testament he noted: ' I am convinced that for a very long time the new generations will draw upon the riches that this council of the 20th century gave us'.
"I too, as I start in the service that is proper to the Successor of Peter, wish to affirm with force my decided will to pursue the commitment to enact Vatican Council II, in the wake of my predecessors and in faithful continuity with the millennia-old tradition of the Church. Precisely this year is the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of this conciliar assembly (December 8, 1965). With the passing of time, the conciliar documents have not lost their timeliness; their teachings have shown themselves to be especially pertinent to the new exigencies of the Church and the present globalized society.
"In a very significant way, my pontificate starts as the Church is living the special year dedicated to the Eucharist. How can I not see in this providential coincidence an element that must mark the ministry to which I have been called? The Eucharist, the heart of Christian life and the source of the evangelizing mission of the Church, cannot but be the permanent center and the source of the petrine service entrusted to me.
"The Eucharist makes the Risen Christ constantly present, Christ Who continues to give Himself to us, calling us to participate in the banquet of His Body and His Blood. From this full communion with Him comes every other element of the life of the Church, in the first place the communion among the faithful, the commitment to proclaim and give witness to the Gospel, the ardor of charity towards all, especially towards the poor and the smallest.
"In this year, therefore, the Solemnity of Corpus Christ must be celebrated in a particularly special way. The Eucharist will be at the center, in August, of World Youth Day in Cologne and, in October, of the ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which will take place on the theme "The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.' I ask everyone to intensify in coming months love and devotion to the Eucharistic Jesus and to express in a courageous and clear way the real presence of the Lord, above all through the solemnity and the correctness of the celebrations.
"I ask this in a special way of priests, about whom I am thinking in this moment with great affection. The priestly ministry was born in the Cenacle, together with the Eucharist, as my venerated predecessor John Paul II underlined so many times. 'The priestly life must have in a special way a 'Eucharistic form', he wrote in his last Letter for Holy Thursday. The devout daily celebration of Holy Mass, the center of the life and mission of every priest, contributes to this end.
"Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel stimulated to tend towards that full unity for which Christ hoped in the Cenacle. Peter's Successor knows that he must take on this supreme desire of the Divine Master in a particularly special way. To him, indeed, has been entrusted the duty of strengthening his brethren.
"Thus, in full awareness and at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome that Peter bathed with his blood, the current Successor assumes as his primary commitment that of working tirelessly towards the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, this is his compelling duty. He is aware that to do so, expressions of good feelings are not enough. Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and move consciences, encouraging everyone to that interior conversion which is the basis for all progress on the road of ecumenism.
"Theological dialogue is necessary. A profound examination of the historical reasons behind past choices is also indispensable. But even more urgent is that 'purification of memory,' which was so often evoked by John Paul II, and which alone can dispose souls to welcome the full truth of Christ. It is before Him, supreme Judge of all living things, that each of us must stand, in the awareness that one day we must explain to Him what we did and what we did not do for the great good that is the full and visible unity of all His disciples.
"The current Successor of Peter feels himself to be personally implicated in this question and is disposed to do all in his power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism. In the wake of his predecessors, he is fully determined to cultivate any initiative that may seem appropriate to promote contact and agreement with representatives from the various Churches and ecclesial communities. Indeed, on this occasion too, he sends them his most cordial greetings in Christ, the one Lord of all.
"In this moment, I go back in my memory to the unforgettable experience we all underwent with the death and the funeral of the lamented John Paul II. Around his mortal remains, lying on the bare earth, leaders of nations gathered, with people from all social classes and especially the young, in an unforgettable embrace of affection and admiration. The entire world looked to him with trust. To many it seemed as if that intense participation, amplified to the confines of the planet by the social communications media, was like a choral request for help addressed to the Pope by modern humanity which, wracked by fear and uncertainty, questions itself about the future.
"The Church today must revive within herself an awareness of the task to present the world again with the voice of the One Who said: 'I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.' In undertaking his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today: not his own light but that of Christ.
"With this awareness, I address myself to everyone, even to those who follow other religions or who are simply seeking an answer to the fundamental questions of life and have not yet found it. I address everyone with simplicity and affection, to assure them that the Church wants to continue to build an open and sincere dialogue with them, in a search for the true good of mankind and of society.
"From God I invoke unity and peace for the human family and declare the willingness of all Catholics to cooperate for true social development, one that respects the dignity of all human beings.
"I will make every effort and dedicate myself to pursuing the promising dialogue that my predecessors began with various civilizations, because it is mutual understanding that gives rise to conditions for a better future for everyone.
"I am particularly thinking of young people. To them, the privileged interlocutors of John Paul II, I send an affectionate embrace in the hope, God willing, of meeting them at Cologne on the occasion of the next World Youth Day. With you, dear young people, I will continue to maintain a dialogue, listening to your expectations in an attempt to help you meet ever more profoundly the living, ever young, Christ.
"'Mane nobiscum, Domine!' Stay with us Lord! This invocation, which forms the dominant theme of John Paul II's Apostolic Letter for the Year of the Eucharist, is the prayer that comes spontaneously from my heart as I turn to begin the ministry to which Christ has called me. Like Peter, I too renew to Him my unconditional promise of faithfulness. He alone I intend to serve as I dedicate myself totally to the service of His Church.
"In support of this promise, I invoke the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy, in whose hands I place the present and the future of my person and of the Church. May the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, also intercede.
"With these sentiments I impart to you venerated brother cardinals, to those participating in this ritual, and to all those following to us by television and radio, a special and affectionate blessing."
David Warren had this to say about the election of Pope Benedict:
"Benedict XVI will, with God's grace, turn his energies towards the reconstruction of the Church, the recovery from what I would call "the false heritage of Vatican II" -- by which I don't mean that the Council of 1962-65 was itself false. It has often been interpreted falsely, as if it had offered to water down the Catholic faith to suit the times. The new Pope will be, in many ways, the final interpreter of Vatican II (from which he was the most eminent surviving peritus), and will stress its continuity with Scripture and Tradition. I expect less "outreach" and much more "inreach".
Many of those who had already left the Church in spirit, may well now leave it in body; for the very election of Benedict XVI must send a thrill of horror through them. So be it: the Church needs no false friends.
And many more, especially among believing and thoughtful Protestants, will be drawn into the fold, to make the journey I have already made, back to Rome. We were, we are, tired of arguing about what Scripture and Tradition unambiguously teach: we want "a trumpet that makes no uncertain sound".
I especially pray for restorations of the spirit of Catholic liturgy, which this Pope is likely to make a special cause. As he wrote of the rites a few years ago:
"Unspontaneity is of their essence. In these rites I discover that something is approaching me here that I did not produce myself, that I am entering into something greater than myself, which ultimately derives from divine revelation. This is why the Christian East calls the liturgy the 'Divine Liturgy', expressing thereby the liturgy's independence from human control."
I wholeheartedly agree. I think the Church will grow stronger as a result of his election...it may get smaller, but when it comes tot he Church strength does not come with numbers but from faithfulness to the message of Jesus Christ passed on through the Apostles in union with Peter.
Well it all began as I was sitting in my Psalms and Wisdom Literature class with the Fox News live Chimney webcam on my laptop. As I was working I would occasionally glance at the webcam not really expecting any smoke until noon when it was scheduled to billow. Then I noticed it...something that looked like white smoke. I looked at my watch and it wasn't noon. It was early and it was not black.
I was reluctant to make any announcement to the class since there were no bells yet so I just casually got up and walked out of class and into the student lounge and turned on the television. They were reporting white smoke, but no bells.
I was quite anxious to hear the bells so that the process of decorating the building with gold and white bunting and ringing the bells could commence. I had been given the task of organizing all of this and making it come together within a matter of minutes after the smoke and bells. Then they began to toll and one of the decorating team and I sprinted to the Chapel to ring the bell. We were so excited and ringing the bell with such vigor that we turned it over and it got stuck - what disappointment - the bell had fallen silent when it was supposed to carrying the joyful news to the neighborhood. We immediately found someone a little less hefty to climb the bell tower and fix it which they did. The bell then rang the news to our neighbors.
During the fixing of the bell the team went to work climbing to the roof and hanging the bunting hoping that we would be done in time to watch the new Pope walk out onto the balcony and thankfully we had time to spare.
The whole community, faculty and staff gathered around the TV in the student lounge and waited anxiously for the moment when we would know who he was. Then the curtains opened and the senior Cardinal Deacon emerged and announced great joy to us. As soon as he said the name Joseph, we knew it had to be Cardinal Ratzinger...we began shouting for joy, jumping up and down, hugging one another, tears running down the faces of some...it was complete joyful pandemonium. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be there.
Then he emerged dressed in the white cassock, surplice and red silk mozetta. We thought we had died and went to heaven. It was truly a great day.
When John Paul II died I said "How will I ever be able to love a Pope like I loved him?" The Lord answered my question.
Then a group of us went out for German food and German beer to celebrate the German Pope.
This picture is of a group of students from the North American College in Rome, and as his luck would have it the gentleman in the center is one of my best friends, Ryan Moravitz who studies for the Diocese of Duluth, MN. This is just a hunch, but I think he likes the new Pope.
After the Great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.
I am comforted by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and act even with insufficient instruments. And above all, I entrust myself to your prayers.
With the joy of the risen Lord and confidence in his constant help, we will go forward. The Lord will help us and Mary his most holy mother will be alongside us.
Long live the Pope! His praises sound
Again and yet again:
His rule is over space and time;
His throne the hearts of men:
All hail! the Shepherd King of Rome,
The theme of loving song:
Let all the earth his glory sing,
And heav’n the strain prolong.
Beleaguered by the foes of earth,
Beset by hosts of hell,
He guards the loyal flock of Christ,
A watchful sentinel:
And yet, amid the din and strife,
The clash of mace and sword,
He bears alone the shepherd staff,
This champion of the Lord.
His signet is the Fisherman’s;
No sceptre does he bear;
In meek and lowly majesty
He rules from Peter’s Chair:
And yet from every tribe and tongue,
From every clime and zone,
Three hundred million voices sing,
The glory of his throne.
Then raise the chant, with heart and voice,
In church and school and home:
“Long live the Shepherd of the Flock!
Long live the Pope of Rome!”
Almighty Father, bless his work,
Protect him in his ways,
Receive his prayers, fulfill his hopes,
And grant him “length of days.”
Purchase your Papist-wear to celebrate the election of our new Pontiff from the Ratzinger Fan Club. Maybe since I am advertizing for them they will send me a free sweatshirt, hat, and bumpersticker...
Raymond Arroyo of EWTN News has an article on National Review Online about the eerie silence that envelops Rome now that the Novendiales Masses are over and the conclave not yet begun. In it he has this to say about the rumors that Cardinal Ratzinger has a clear lead.
"If the rumor mill is to be believed, and in Rome these days the mill churns mightily, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is the leading papal contender. One of John Paul’s closest confidantes, Ratzinger has been the Vatican’s doctrinal officer for more than 20 years. The renowned theologian is described by intimates as a holy man, a humble soul, who has more than a passing familiarity with Church governance. But as comforting as his candidacy is to orthodox Catholics, it is deeply unsettling to Church progressives — making it very likely that the media chatter about Pope Ratzinger is a ruse designed to galvanize progressives to come up with an alternative candidate of their own before Monday. Personally, I think the speculation is ludicrous. Not because the game isn’t fun, and God knows everyone in Rome has played it innumerable times since the pope’s passing, but because it reduces the conclave to a political race. And it is much more than that.
The Holy Spirit is the wild card in these proceedings. As Father Richard John Neuhaus, one of Catholicism’s great minds and my co-host for EWTN’s coverage of the conclave, has pointed out time and time again, the Holy Spirit will operate not in spite of, but through the egos, the press coverage, and politics of this conclave. But you needn’t believe me. You need only ask the next pope, whom I think will surprise us all."
When I read this quote, especially the second paragraph, I was brought back to a conversation that I have had a number of times here at the seminary, and so I pose the question here as well. Has the Holy Ghost already chosen the next Pontiff? If he has, will he see to it that the Cardinals choose the one He has already chosen ,or is it the other way around where the Holy Ghost inspires the one the Cardinals choose and give him the graces he needs to be a good shepherd? Tough questions, but ultimately we know that the one chosen, whoever he may be, will be guided by the Holy Spirit so that he will not teach anything contrary to the truth. Oh blessed assurance!
Today McDonald's turns 50. I think that I will celebrate by increasing my cholesterol by partaking in a supersized double quarter pound cheeseburger combo. Let the grease flow...
The pastor must be inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of Gods darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earths treasures no longer serve to build Gods garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, toward the place of life, toward friendship with the Son of God, toward the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.
The second symbol used in today's liturgy to express the inauguration of the Petrine Ministry is the presentation of the fisherman's ring. Peters call to be a shepherd, which we heard in the Gospel, comes after the account of a miraculous catch of fish: after a night in which the disciples had let down their nets without success, they see the Risen Lord on the shore. He tells them to let down their nets once more, and the nets become so full that they can hardly pull them in; 153 large fish: "and although there were so many, the net was not torn" (John 21:11). This account, coming at the end of Jesus' earthly journey with his disciples, corresponds to an account found at the beginning: there too, the disciples had caught nothing the entire night; there too, Jesus had invited Simon once more to put out into the deep. And Simon, who was not yet called Peter, gave the wonderful reply: "Master, at your word I will let down the nets." And then came the conferral of his mission: "Do not be afraid. Henceforth you will be catching men" (Luke 5:1-11). Today too the Church and the successors of the Apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and to let down the nets, so as to win men and women over to the Gospel to God, to Christ, to true life. The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food.
