Keep the Mass in Christmas

I think its important not just to keep a focus on Christ as the reason for the Christmas celebration, but to keep that celebration and worship of the incarnate God in its proper context, the Eucharistic celebration of the Mass/Divine Liturgy. After all, the "mas" in Christmas is a shortening of Mass. I've posted on this subject a twice before (2008, 2010), but it deserves repeating.
To keep from saying the same things again though I Googled "Keep the Mass in Christmas. The first result was a very poignant essay by a priest on the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit website. It was all very well written, but I think the following passage really got to the central point:

Christmas is not first of all a day, but a doing: it is the Eucharistic worship that Christians offer in honor of the birth of their Savior. For those who have linguistic curiosity, Christmas is not the only -mas in the English language: there is also Marymas (August 15), Candlemas (February 2), Michaelmas (September 29), Martinmas (November 11), and Allhallowmas (November 1).
But if we say “Keep the Mass in Christmas,” the point is this. Christmas isn't really Christ-mas without the Mass, without the Divine Liturgy. Christmas isn't Christmas if we don't make a point of coming together on the appointed day, with all the people of God, to observe the commandment that He gave, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Christmas isn't Christmas if we don't share the Eucharistic meal of His Body and Blood with one another in the Church. How is Christmas complete without receiving your most important gift?
Christ came to earth, not simply to be born in a lowly stable in Palestine, but to be born into the humble stable of the soul of each one of us. Through the sacraments He enters into our persons so that, as the Apostle Paul says, Christ is formed in you; and with Christ in you, you have the hope of glory.
Keep the Mass in your Christmas! Of course you should get together with family and friends. Of course you should open your presents around the tree. Of course you should enjoy your eggnog and mulled wine and ham and turkey and roast beast.
But don't forget the Mass! Don't skip the Liturgy! Don't leave out Holy Communion. If you do so, you are missing the real Christmas altogether. Come to church and worship the newborn King in the way that he Himself commands, by eating His Body and drinking His Blood. Keep the “Mass” in Christmas, and you will never lose “Christ” from your Christmas either.

Without the Eucharist the Christian celebration and worship fall short. I feel sad for our Protestant brothers and sisters who do not have this most precious Gift for the nourishment and salvation of our souls.
How much more of a personal relationship can you have with God than to receive Him, the Lover of mankind, physically and spiritually into your body and soul in the Eucharist? You are what you eat after all. We unite ourselves to Christ Jesus in the Eucharist and all the faithful through him.
Song of Songs describes our Creator seeking after us like a lover and in the Flesh and Blood He offers to us in the Eucharist, the Flesh and Blood that came into the world on Christmas Day, He consummates that love for mankind.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Why the Eucharist includes the Blood of Christ

I saw this question and the answer by an Eastern Orthodox apologetics site (we're in this together) and thought it was an excellent explanation:

I once asked a catholic priest how they could justify drinking Jesus's blood when the Law forbids it and Jesus Himself said that not one letter of the Law will pass away. He was unable to answer my question. I'm sure I'm misunderstanding something but I don't know what. Could you explain it to me?

ANSWER:

In order to answer your question, we must look first at Jesus' teaching concerning the Old Law. The Lord said:
(Matthew 5:17-18)  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Christ's "fulfillment" of the Law excludes both the idea that the Law is irrelevant, and also the idea that the Law remains exactly as is. Christ, through His incarnation, life, ministry, death, and resurrection, brings the Law to its complete purpose. In the broader context of this teaching, Jesus says things like this:
(Matthew 5:27-28)  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
(Matthew 5:38-39)  "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
In other words, Christ is taking the underlying principle of the old Law and bringing it to a higher and more complete meaning. This is not abolition, but fulfillment. Indeed, the Gospel of St. Matthew is in many ways modeled after the Torah as set forth in the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy sets forth a series of conditional blessings (28:1-15) and curses (28:16-68) upon Israel based on their obedience or disobedience. It then ends with Moses ascending a mountain and being shown the inheritance of Israel. (34:1-4) Jesus' teachings in the Gospel of St. Matthew are arranged in a set of blessings and (the Beatitudes,  5:3-11) curses (his debate with the Pharisees, 23:13-32.) It then ends with Jesus ascending a Mountain and telling His Apostles to go and make the entire Earth the kingdom of God. (28:16-20)
My point in saying all of this is to drive home the idea that "fulfillment" is not equivalent to changelessness. It means that things change, but they change in the way that they were always intended to. The Torah of Moses only foreshadowed the Torah that the Messiah would bring. The principles which underlie the old Torah are made explicit and applied to the heart.
Having understood that the old Torah is not abolished, but brought to completion in the work of the Messiah, let us examine the relevant text:
(Leviticus 17:12-14)  Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. "Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.
The reason that the ancient Israelites were not allowed to eat the blood of their sacrifices was because they were not to participate in the actual life-force of the animals, which is contained in the blood. As strange as it might first sound, the reason that Christians in the New Covenant partake of the blood of Jesus' sacrifice is the same reason that the Israelites were forbidden to eat the blood of their sacrifices. While it is not good to participate in animal life, we are supposed to participate in the life of Christ. Consider what St. Paul the Apostle writes in his first letter to the Corinthians:
(1 Corinthians 10:16-18)  The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
St. Paul points to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Covenant sacrificial system, He says that we "participate" in the blood of Christ, and significantly, He points to this as a fulfillment of the fact that the Israelites would eat their sacrifices. The "fulfillment" of the Old Law by Christ actually means that we must partake of Christ's blood, because where the Israelites did not want to participate in the life of their animal sacrifices, to participate in the life of Christ is the thing we want above all.
Hope this helps.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Wedding at Cana and Baptism and Eucharist

I was getting my daughter settled in for her nap and as always I read her a bed time story. This time I read her a children's Bible story book. We just happened to read the story of the Wedding at Cana because it was the first story in the book.
As I was reading, I thought about the water turned into wine and how I had been taught that the blood and water from Jesus' side at the Crucifixion. I wondered if there was also a Baptism/Eucharist connection to the Wedding at Cana. It would make sense, after all marriage is a covenant and we enter the New Covenant through Baptism and renew it in the Eucharist.
Google must know...
I found this page from Agape Bible Study. There was an information overload all about the Wedding of Cana and the significance of every part of it from the Scriptures, Jewish Tradition and the New Covenant. Please read through it and read for yourself, but I want to share this snippet regarding the water and wine as Baptism and Eucharist:

...Only the miracle at Cana has no parallel in the Synoptic Gospels.  The event is unique.  It is the event of the first sign performed by Christ inaugurating the New Creation and the first Sacrament of the New Covenant Church, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. On the 7^th day of the New Creation Jesus was present at the wedding at Cana just as God was present at the first marriage in Salvation history.  His presence was a sign that He blesses the love between a man and a woman united in the covenant union of marriage.  The Navarre scholars sum up Jesus' presence at Cana this way: God instituted marriage at the beginning of creation; Jesus confirmed it and raised it to the dignity of a sacrament...
Wine flowed from holy water vessels at the wedding at Cana and at Calvary blood and water flowed from the holy side of Christ, God's vessel of sacrifice, giving birth to the New Covenant Church in the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist.  Christ is the Bridegroom of the New Covenant Church and John's other great book, The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ to John, also known as The Book of Revelation, ends with the Marriage/ Wedding supper of the Lamb when Christ takes the New Covenant people as His bride in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.  Cana and Calvary are linked to Mary, the virgin daughter of Israel (Zion) and to Christ the Bridegroom of the new Israel, the Holy Catholic (universal) Church, the spotless virgin Bride of Christ.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Together Forever in the Liturgy

I saw this on FB, I love the way it succinctly phrases the great wonder of the Liturgy and it fit in with my Palm Sunday post so well that I had to post it and link.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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As the deer longs...

I saw this picture on Indonesian Papist. The post was written in a language I don't read, but I do know the little bit of Latin on the picture and I have always liked images which evoke Eucharistic imagery from this particular psalm. I especially like that the chalice has "FONS VITAE" to tell how our lives come from God present in the Eucharist.


May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Keep Mass in Christmas

Every year we see pictures and car magnet with the catchphrase "Keep Christ in Christmas". What about the other part of Christmas...Mass. Even if someone reduces Christmas to Xmas. The Mass and Christ truly present in the Mass are still in the word. That's not to say I am defending the Xmas abbreviation. I find it repugnant and a blatant attempt to remove anything religious from our culture. What I am saying is that our majority Protestant culture in the United States conveniently overlooks the Catholic origins of Christmas and denies the Catholic foundation of all Western culture.

Keep Mass in Christmas...




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Sacrifice

I have decided to use this deployment to finally read the Bible cover to cover. Genesis and Exodus were fairly quite despite all the "begats". Leviticus is a bit dry to say the least and is proving a challenge.
With that said, what I have read has given me something to think about in regards to sacrifice. There is a lot said about sacrifice in these first three books.
Exodus says at least three times that I can recall that the Israelites are to dedicate, that is sacrifice, their firstborn from their animals and among their children. Donkeys however can be redeemed by sacrificing a lamb instead and their firstborn children MUST be redeemed. As St Paul wrote, Jesus is the "firstborn of all creation". While God has been merciful to His people and not allowed them to sacrifice their children, He sacrificed His Son, His Firstborn for us.
Of course, Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on the cross was the lasting Sacrifice for all eternity and His Body and Blood offered on our altars is a continuing participation in that one Sacrifice. I couldn't help as I read through these books, but to notice parallels between the Old Testament sacrifices and the Eucharist.
As Isaac carried the wood that was for sacrificing himself up the hill, he asked his father Abraham where was the animal for the sacrifice. His father answered him that, "God will provide the lamb." Over course we know that later, the Lamb of God, carried the wood of the cross up Calvary hill and sacrificed Himself and we share in this Sacrifice every time we partake in the Eucharist.
Also, Leviticus prescribes sacrifices for sins of the people, priests, and individuals. These sacrifices are no longer called for since Christ's Sacrifice is for all sin. Fat from the animals and certain organs were placed on the altar to burn, but the meat was eaten by the priests. Christ as both Priest and Sacrifice now offers us his flesh eternally as His Sacrifice of Self for our sins.
I forget where exactly, but somewhere in Exodus around the Ten Commandments chapters, Moses sprinkled the Israelites with blood from a sacrificed animal as part entering the people into the Old Covenant. I thought about that compared with receiving Christ's Blood internally as part of renewing the New Covenant. I am not sure if there's anything to that, but I thought it was an interesting comparison.
At one point the Law called for the sinner to publicly declare his sins before the sacrifice. I like confession better today.

You are what you eat.

Another autopost for my readers:

Eucharist as Calvary Continued

I can see in the consecrated Host or the Eucharist a mystical passion, the
continuation of the Lord's Passion at Calvary... It is the same Heart that
suffers, and the same sins It is sacrificed for... I can see Him in a constant
act of atonement, holding back divine justice, searching for souls, but holy,
pure and sacrificed souls that in their union cry out to Heaven for pardon
and mercy... He is tireless in this mystical crucifixion, abandoned in His
solitude, infinitely patient, receiving so much ingratitude in exchange for so
much love.

--Conchita

I don't have any commentary on this. I think its speaks very well for itself.

Conchita on the Tabernacles

Oh my God, my God! What would become of the world if there were no tabernacles?
They are the lighting conductors, the light, the warmth, the life... the
whiteness, the purity that covers the filthy mud of the Earth... Jesus is there,
and almost every time I draw near Him He asks me for purity, purity, crucified
and clean souls to console Him... The Lord is thirsty for purity and for
the Cross, and yet the world is deaf, wallowing in its dirt and sleeping on its
material comforts. A terrible awakening awaits it that makes me tremble, and
also makes that Heart that is all goodness to men tremble (incredible love!). He
wants His Cross to reign in our hearts- only the Cross can save the world;
spirits can only be sanctified through Him.

Conchita, mystical foundress of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit
Other quotes and posts about Conchita here

Second Week of Advent

I am feeling deliquent. I am proud to be a St Blogger but yet its already the second week of Advent and I have remained silent.
I am listening to O Come O Come Emmanuel as I write this. I was thinking about the meaning of the words. "Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel" Just as Israel was and still is His chosen people, we also are a chosen people and indeed we can think of ourselves as the new Israel. Of course, as Christ promised (Matthew 28:20, among other places) He has never left us. We need look no further than the nearest Tabernacle to know that Christ still dwells among us body, blood, soul and divinity.
Nonetheless, we look forward (especially at this time of year) to Christ's return in all His glory and majesty. Every time Mass is celebrated we repeat the same words used by the Ancient Jews of Jerusalem to greet Jesus. "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord." Ever time I hear those words I picture our Lord riding His donkey down the aisle toward the altar to be present for the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist. That's just me, but I also wonder from time to time about Him riding back to us, the new Israel, but this time He returns in glory to establish peace and justice. As a Soldier, I long for peace more than most. And we know that someday, He will return to do just that. Although, somehow I think He'll forgo the donkey the second time.
The point though, is that as Christians we look not so much backward to the Birth of Christ some 2000 years ago. We look forward to that unknown day when He shall return in all His glory and majesty. That day when the lion shall lay down with the lamb and the child shall play with the asp.
Marana Tha!

Haikus just for cause

Today we recall
the Resurrection's glory
our eternal hope

Heavenly Manna
Nourishes body and soul
Precious Body, Blood

Blessed Sacrament
Jesus' Holy Sacrifice
His Blood shed for all

More than writings

I read a conversion story a couple of weeks ago. I wish I could find that blog post again, but I really can't remember where I found it. Anyways... in the story, a woman related how she was struck by something her pastor (he was converting and she was talking to him about it) said to her about his reason for becoming a Catholic.
He told her, more or less, that Jesus gave us Himself and not a collection of writings. I gathered that what he meant was that Jesus didn't leave us with the Bible, but rather His body and blood in the Eucharist.
God has put things into writing before (think 10 commandments), but Jesus chose not write anything for His children. The Gospels and the other writings of the New Testament were written by early Christians after the death of Christ. Don't get me wrong. The NT is a great thing and it has been very instrumental in the salvation of countless souls, but Jesus left us with something much more personal and intimate.
At the Last Supper Jesus left us with the gift of His body and blood. Almost everyone of us has heard the question, "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?". Accepting Him however is just a beginning. Jesus is waiting for us in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist we can accept Jesus with more that just words; we can take in His actual body into our own.
The hosts and wine consecrated at each Mass are part of the same Body that hung on the cross 2000 years ago. Jesus comes to us in a very real and physical way as well as the sanctifying grace. We are nourished body and soul by the Blessed Sacrament. Like a lover Christ waits for us to accept Him and His love.
God is Love and he left the gift of Love at the altar every day waiting, like always, for us to to love and accept Him who loved us first.

Mass and Communal Celebration

I have heard the question asked many times. Its always something to the effect of: Why can't I worship God by myself/at home? Why do I have to go to Mass with a bunch of other people?
And I have heard, as well as given, many responses to this question. I read the best one yet, yesterday at Steve Ray's blog.
He linked on his blog to a pdf file where a woman told her revert story. In it she said that a priest told her that she shouldn't think of it so much as having to go to Mass, so much as it is getting to go Mass. That really hit home.
Mass is an obligation, yes. But it is a privilege much more than an obligation. Just like people gather together for concert to hear a good band play, we gather together to be in the presence of Our Lord. We come together because we want to be part of the Heavenly Liturgy of the Mass and able to see and to RECEIVE Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist.
Cake, Audioslave, and Newsboys are bands that people enjoy and gather together from all over to see in concert, but surely Jesus is a bigger attraction than any of them could ever hope to become. Sadly, such a big name is very often ignored or even scorned. It is a privilege and a pleasure to go to Mass and sit right in front of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
"Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day."
Gospel of St John 6:54, 55

Five Reasons Meme

The Ironic Catholic tagged "the rest of God's frozen people" for the Five Reasons you love Jesus meme. Fairbanks definitely qualifies. I've got more than 5, but these are the top reasons.

1. He died for our sins. I'm sure this is cliche and everyone else's number 1, but it deserves to be no other place. It's HUGE that God should submit Himself to death as a common criminal, and all for the forgiveness of our sins when we don't deserve it at all.
2. God is love. Its hard NOT to love a person who is Love itself.
   
3. He gave us His body, blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist. He told us that He would be with us until the end of time and He has been true to His word. As the song "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" says, "He wil give to all the faithful His own Self for Heavenly Food".
   
4. He condescended to Human form. Its not enough that He understands Humanity because He created us, He became one of us and shared in everything Human except sin (although he shared in temptation).
5. He brings peace into my life. At different times I have tried to be at peace by different means, such as alcohol, food, people, ideas, or things. Nothing brings peace and joy into my life the way that Jesus does.

I peeked at some of the other responses. Mine is less emotional and more intellectual. If you know me that's no surprise. I would like to mention #5 from Vito at "Long Road to Priesthood": Because sometimes you have to yell and flip some tables to get your point across.

I tag anyone who reads this and feels moved to respond.
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord!

5 Best Things About the Eucharist

1. "Man does not live by bread alone, but..."
The Real Presence is a physical form of the nourishment that comes from the Mouth of God. We do not live by bread alone, but, according to both Leviticus and Christ in the desert, we by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
2. You are what you eat
By receiving the Eucharist we rejoin ourselves to the Body of Christ. We become one with Christ and in doing so we become one with all other Christians receiving His Precious Body and Blood.
3. "I will be with you until the end of the age."
Christ never left us and indeed he also remains with us physically in the Eucharist. He is with us now just as he was when He preached in Israel.
4. Living breathing tabernacles
By receiving Christ in the Eucharist we become living breathing tabernacles. We walk around with Christ inside of us and the fire of His Love burning within.
5. The enormity of it all
God humbles Himself to appear to us as bread and wine. It has struck me many times how amazing it is for my hand or tongue to hold our Savior and that He has willed it that we should receive Him in such a humble form.

Conchita and the Eucharist

It is in this way that I would love you, my Jesus hidden here within the Host, without measure, with all the power of my heart, with all the energies of my soul.
-Conchita

Good Friday 2007

This year's Good Friday I am reminded of two passages from the Gospels about Our Lord's Crucifixion.
The first one comes from one of the two men crucified with Jesus.
"And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:41-43 Douay-Rheims Translation
Just as the crucified man was a criminal and deserved death, we are all sinners and we deserve death. However, despite this Our Lord died even though He had done nothing wrong. It hits home every time that Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation, chose to humble Himself... even unto death, death on a cross. And just like the thief we turn to the Lord for forgiveness and ask Him to remember us in His Kingdom.

The other passage comes from Jesus Himself.
"After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother..."
John 19:27 Douay-Rheims Translation
As He was dying, so that He might rise again, He gave us Mary as our mother just as much as she was to Him. She has been as much of a mother to me as my mother, who gave birth to me and raised me.

I am also reminded that Christ is our Passove Lamb. His crucifixion is the killing of the lamb. Just as the Jews remember every year that the Lord of Hosts delivered them from bondage in Egypt. We Christians remember that Christ delivered us from the bondage of sin and we wander toward the promised land of Heaven for 40 years.
And as the Jews ate the lamb every to remember and Jesus is our Passover Lamb, we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood in rememberance of His death and resurrection. Today, Good Friday is the day after He established the Eucharist. It is the day that His blood was shed for our sins and His Precious Body and Blood were given to us as a manna to give us everlasting life and sustain us while we wander through the desert.

And like to leave just one more thought. The word excruciating comes from the Latin for "From the Cross". Crucifixion was so painful that the Ancient Romans had no words to describe it, so they left it that it was from the cross.

--Contra

Blessed Sacrament Divine
Sacrament of bread and wine
The Lord becomes present in our midst
To us He gives this Heavenly Kiss

O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament Divine
All praise and all thanksgiving be ever Thine

Fed by Christ

When I was in the seminary a fellow seminarian (He is now a priest, Fr. Ben Uhlenkott) pointed out to me that mangers were used to hold hay for the livestock. Of course, the significance as he and the Church Fathers before him pointed out was the association of Jesus with food. Just as the hay was for the animals, the Lord is for us.
In a way that has since made me think of Nativity scenes as a sort of subtle Eucharistic imagery. It still blows me away how much the Gospels hint and a times scream to us about the Eucharist.