Ecce agnus Dei....

"John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?"
They said to him, "Rabbi" - which translated means Teacher -, "where are you staying?"
He said to them, "Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day.

It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
"We have found the Messiah" - which is translated Christ -. Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas" - which is translated Peter." --- John 1:35-42

Archbishop Brown.....

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His mercy endures forever. - Psalm 118

Merry Christmas...

The Resurrection presupposes the Incarnation. For God’s Son to take the form of a child, a truly human child, made a profound impression on the heart of the Saint of Assisi, transforming faith into love. “The kindness and love of God our Savior for mankind were revealed” – this phrase of Saint Paul now acquired an entirely new depth. In the child born in the stable at Bethlehem, we can as it were touch and caress God. And so the liturgical year acquired a second focus in a feast that is above all a feast of the heart. This has nothing to do with sentimentality. It is right here, in this new experience of the reality of Jesus’ humanity that the great mystery of faith is revealed. Francis loved the child Jesus, because for him it was in this childish estate that God’s humility shone forth. God became poor. His Son was born in the poverty of the stable. In the child Jesus, God made himself dependent, in need of human love, he put himself in the position of asking for human love – our love. Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity. Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.
-- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, Christmas Mass at Night 2011

Year of the Brother

One year ago today St. Andre Bessette, CSC was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. And now the Congregation throughout the world celebrates a Year of the Brother to celebrate the gift of the Brother vocation and to honor St. Andre, an example of brotherhood and holiness to us all.

Lord God, in your loving providence you inspired Fr. Jacques Dujarie to found the Brothers of St. Joseph and called Blessed Basil Moreau, to unite the Brothers of St. Joseph and the auxiliary priests of Holy Cross in a single religious family for the education of youth and the proclamation of the Gospel.

We humbly pray that through the intercession of St. Joseph you inspire the entire People of God with a deeper appreciation for the unique vocation of the religious brother in the various ministries formed in the heart of Christ's body, the Church, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

As his children we pray that through the intercession of Blessed Basil Moreau you lead all the members of our religious family to live our vows with greater fidelity and passion as religious brothers and priests in the family of Holy Cross.

We ask that through the intercession of Saint Andre you enable us to so live his charism of hospitality that numerous young men will be inspired to join their lives to ours as religious brothers and priests so that our charism may mirror in the heart of the Church the communion of life and love that you share with your Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

O how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul; and your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind. This is his particular desire when he says: True worshipers adore the Father in spirit and truth. For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth. Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, since we must always pray and never grow slack.

- A letter from St. Francis of Assisi to all the faithful

Vocation Website....

The Vocations Office of the United States Province of Priests and Brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross launched a revised website this morning.

www.vocation.nd.edu

Exaltation of the Holy Cross...

"Jesus entered into the pain and death that sin inflicts. He accepted the torment but gave us joy in return. We whom He has sent to minister amid the same sin and pain must know that we too shall find the cross and the hope it promises. The face of every human being who suffers is for us the face of Jesus who mounted the cross to take the sting out of death. Ours must be the same cross and the same hope." - Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross, 114.

9/11, the Tenth Anniversary...

This morning I watched a good bit of the 9/11 Memorial Service held in New York during which the name of each victim was read aloud by family members. Seeing children read the names of their fathers and mothers brought tears to my eyes. May God grant to all of the deceased eternal rest and may the Holy Spirit bring consolation to those who grieve.

Oblation Blog Posting, Missed In Translation....

My latest contribution to Oblation: Liturgy & Evangelization was posted today.

Upcoming Retreat....

The ND chapter of UFL will present a retreat on September 10, 2011. Registration is encouraged and is free by emailing Tracy.A.Westlake.1@nd.edu .

Faculty Retreat 2011

Two Resources for the Forthcoming English Mass....

A plethora of resources and commentary on the forthcoming English translation of the Missale Romanum are available in both book form and on the web. Two such resources come from Liturgical Training Press (LTP): Mystical Body, Mystical Voice: Encountering Christ in the Words of the Mass and Lift Up Your Hearts: A Pastoral, Theological, and Historical Survey of the Third Typical Edition of The Roman Missal. Both books clearly take the posture that this English translation is well-done, theologically richer, and thus a great gift and benefit to the English-speaking Church. So, in reading these books, one is not going to find debate or dissent regarding the translation process, its level of transparency or whether we should "just say 'wait'" or not. These books look forward and in doing so are fine resources for those in the pastoral trenches who are entrusted in celebrating well the liturgy and catechizing.

The first, edited by Christopher Carstens and Douglas Martis, walks the reader through not just where familiar Mass texts have changed but also through the ritual structure which isn't changing but is still rich fare for reflection. In a sense, the commentary touches on both text and the context.

The work is rich but not dense. The footnotes are helpful but not overwhelming. And the format's clarity persists throughout. The authors explain a particular ritual part of the Mass or a particular text and then write succinctly on "What the Church Wants Us to Know". This overall structure is concluded at the very end of the book with a Question and Answer section.

The book communicates well the beautiful cohesion of text and theology which marks the richness of the Roman Rite.


The next book is a series of essays edited by Robert Tuzik. Here one will find informative pieces which explain much of the "why" and "how" of the translation but is short on "what" deep theology the new translation holds. Unlike Mystical Body, Mystical Voice, Lift Up Your Hearts, in my opinion, will most likely not be a resource to which one continuously returns long after the new translation is implemented. This isn't to say that the text is unhelpful in this preparatory period.

Chapters 7- 9 elucidate the legitimate options presented to priest celebrants and others who prepare liturgies when using Eucharistic Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, rites of initiation, and Masses in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Familiarity of these brings the potential of a richer liturgical life.

Summer Reading...

Books on summer reading lists tend to receive less attention when one researches for and writes a dissertation. But now that I am on retreat and spending some time with my family, I can allow myself to pick up a few volumes that have patiently waited in the cue.

I wrote earlier about Ron Hansen's enjoyable collection of essays, A Stay Against Confusion. This week I finished rather quickly Matt Baglio's The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. I have not seen the Anthony Hopkins-starred movie based on this book which seems to get mixed results: thumbs down from professional reviewers and thumbs up from believers. The book certainly gets an enthusiastic approval from me. Often when an author writes on a topic dealing with Catholicism he or she fumbles mightily and I cringe at all the inexact phrasing and vocabulary. But Mr. Baglio, self-described as having been raised Catholic but not a strong practitioner of the faith, does get it. He understands the lingo and more importantly conveys the inner-workings of both the Church and the spiritual life in a fair and accurate light. The lack of cheap jabs at the Church and her life makes it easy for me to overlook the lower-case spelling of "mass" and the lack of footnotes (an increasingly more frequent curse upon the reading world).

While the main thread is the telling of the true story about a California priest sent to Rome to be trained as an exorcist, the book also touches upon the theology behind the ritual of exorcism, the history of its use and is therefore a beautiful reflection on the spiritual life, the role of prayer and sacraments for Christians. Yes, the book is filled with exorcism scenes but it also drips with solid spiritual wisdom which any reader can appreciate.

Professionally the book gave me much to ponder - assumptions of evil in our world, the particular attitude priests and bishops have toward demonic actions, etc. Personally my attention perked whenever I saw the Casa Santa Maria mentioned. It housed the main character while he studied in Rome just as it does me during these years.

First Profession of Vows....

Congratulations to the seven men who yesterday professed temporary vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Our Vocation Office blog, Spes Unica, has a great posting on this blessed event in the life of the congregation and the Church. God bless our newly professed and their travels from the Novitiate in Cascade, CO to their new home at Moreau Seminary.

Today I begin a week-long retreat with a few good friends. Please keep us in your prayers.

A Great "Anytime" Read....

Ron Hansen's writing was first introduced to me years ago by an ordination classmate who highly praised Mariette in Ecstasy. Indeed it is a great read. Early this summer mutual friends introduced me to Hansen's essay, "Eucharist" found in his 2001 collection A Stay Against Confusion.

I just finished reading the remaining essays and through the ideas and information I feel "more Catholic". It makes for a great summer or anytime read. Throughout the first three essays Hansen effectively and beautifully communicates the sacramentality of writing. A novelist, like any artist or craftsman, is capable of providing a glimpse of the Divine. Incapable of encountering the Divine directly, the Divine is know-able and we touch the Divine through the sacraments and sacramentals and by expressing the natural order sacramentally.

His essay on the story of Cain and Abel is piercing in honesty. In it he admits those rarely named raw emotions we all tend to feel in our childhood - jealousy, amazement of new abilities, desirous of praise etc.

His meditation on the "Anima Christi" prayer is beautiful and penetrating. It could be read by the pool and in a chapel. The familiar words are re-introduced.

The aforementioned essay "Eucharist" highlights all the smells and bells nitty gritty of Catholic liturgical life. The writing reminds me as a priest of the importance which should and is placed upon how we speak of the sacred. If we believe what we say and pray then with what great care and soberness should we attend to this august reality.

Episcopal Congratulations....

Congratulations and Blessings to Jose Manuel Gracia Cordeiro who has been named by Pope Benedict XVI as bishop of the Diocese of Braganca-Miranda in Portugal. Bishop-elect Cordeiro taught a seminar two springs ago at Sant'Anselmo entitled, "'Ministero' and 'Sacramentum' in the First Millennium". It was a fine course. A fine seminar.

Into Africa...

After morning Lauds at Moreau Seminary, Holy Cross Seminarian, Mark DeMott, CSC departed for the African nation of Uganda where he will serve for a year teaching at Holy Cross Lakeview Senior Secondary School in Jinga, Uganda.

DeMott has begun a blog in order to keep us all posted. Let us pray for him as he begins this year of ministry at the Headwaters of the Nile.

ND Oblation Post...

The Notre Dame Center for Liturgy's blog, Oblation: Liturgy and Evangelization posted part 1 of a piece I wrote on Liturgical Sequences.

Part 2 is now online.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.....

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - the titular feast for the priest society of the Congregation of Holy Cross. When founding his community, Blessed Basil Moreau dedicated each society with the hope that through divine protection and providence the three societies might flourish and bear witness to the Holy Family. He wrote in his Circular Letter 20:

Above all, let us work with that strength, unity and clear understanding which come from mutual cooperation and the possession of all things in common. We must never lose sight of the fact that strength of numbers, joined with unity of aim and action, is the greatest of all strengths and is limited only by the bounds of the possible. Besides, it is this perfect unity which, with the aid of grace, I have tried to cement among the various members of our association by consecrating the priests to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the brothers to the Most Pure Heart of St. Joseph, and the sisters to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Thus, these three establishments, although separated by special dwelling places and special rules, will be united among themselves like the Holy Family, to which our future chapel will be dedicated.

On this feast of July 1, 2011 the Eastern Province of Priests and Brothers officially merge with the Indiana Province. And from this merger comes a new name and a new website: United States Province of Priests and Brothers.

May God's Providence and the Divine Mercy which flows from the Most Sacred Heart guide and bless us.

The Nativity of John the Baptist...

So that these your servants can, with all their voice, to sing your wonderful feats, clean the blemish of our spotted lips. O Saint John!

An angel came from the heavens to announce your father the greatness of your birth, dictating your name and destination.

Zacarias doubted of these divine promises and was deprived of the use of the speech; but when you were born it recovered the voice that had lost.

Still locked in your mother's breast, you felt the King's presence housed in the vestal womb. And prophet, before being born, you revealed this mystery to your parents.

Glory be to the Father and to the engendered Son; glory similar to the Holy Spirit that is knot of both, for every century. Amen

Beatificatio Johannis Pauli II

Live Streaming of today's beatification liturgy.

Pocahontas Flood 2011...

Please keep in your prayers the people in my hometown of Pocahontas, AR. The largest recorded flood has hit the town and surrounding farms due to the overflow of the Black River and other nearby rivers and creeks.

This wide shot is of East Pocahontas and shows several flooded businesses. Just outside the top-right corner of the photo are residential houses.

I don't know the background story, but somehow and for some reason the local KFC was spared by sandbags. The grocery store next to it, where can be found fresh produce and healthy foods, etc., did not experience the same fate.

This final shot is of the local community college, again in East Pocahontas.

Eucharistic Procession.....

For those of you in the area, a Eucharistic Procession will take place at Notre Dame beginning immediately after the 11:45 A.M. Mass.

More information can be found here and sign up for Eucharist Adoration can be made here.

An Online Journal: Oblation...

April has arrived and with it a new online journal from the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy.

Oblation: Liturgy and Evangelization "explores through both regular columns and occasional writings the role of liturgy in the evangelical mission of the Church". Under the leadership of the editors, David Fagerberg and Timothy O'Malley, this journal is a promising new addition to digital communication and research.

May St. Isidore of Seville, patron saint of the internet, pray for the journal's good fruit.

As thousands attend today's March for Life in the nation's capitol, let us unite ourselves with them and their witness to the sanctity of all life, from conception until natural death.

Consistory 2010...

Say it ain't so, but for Rome residents the annual cursus of papal events can sometimes be treated as ho-hum and ordinary. But there are some events which grab even the attention of veteran vaticanisti.

One such event is a papal consistory to establish new cardinals. Called for in late October by His Holiness, the November 19 - 21 consistory seemingly grabbed the attention of Rome and thousands of pilgrims who traveled world-wide to see the creation of 24 new cardinals.

Three major events marked the weekend: the consistory itself on Saturday morning, when the 24 cardinal-delegates were elevated to their new rank, a Saturday evening "open house" when pilgrims may enter the Apostolic Palace to greet the new cardinals, and a Sunday Mass during which the Holy Father distributed rings of the office.

Sadly, hundreds were turned away at the security checkpoint for the Saturday morning consistory. St. Peter's Basilica may be monstrously large but it can't hold everyone. I was disappointed but I was especially sad for the pilgrims who had traveled from around the world for this one event.

A real highlight though was the evening "open house". This is a rare opportunity to see areas of the Vatican that a lowly religious like myself does not normally visit. I was able to greet and meet briefly in the Sala Regia with Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and in the Sala Ducale with Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Both men recognized the Holy Cross habit, congratulated me on the recent canonization of St. Andre Bessette, and were very personable. Amato relayed that he remembers fondly his visit to Notre Dame two years ago.

Another utilized room was the Hall of Blessings where the Holy Father on occasion greets various groups. And it is from this large room where the various balconies look out upon St. Peter's Square - including the balcony where the newly elected pope is introduced. And no, I did not hear any "whisperings" while in the room.

I was honored to serve as a distributor of Holy Communion for the Sunday morning Mass. This particular papal liturgy was marked by the use of a brass quartet who stood in a balcony from the Hall of Blessings which looked into the nave of St. Peter's. While some cautiously lament the use of the brass as a form of a returning triumphalism, I found the honorable instruments to bring a welcome change to the organ-only program of post-Vatican II papal liturgies. I noted later that this same quartet played for Christmas Midnight Mass this year as well.