End of Lent Novena

Good Friday next week marks the 25^th anniversary of the death of Abp. Marcel Lefebvre.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
* Born: November 29, 1905
* Ordained: September 21, 1929
* Consecrated: September 18, 1947
* Founded the Society: November 1, 1970
* Died: March 25, 1991

Today begins a novena, for private use, ending on the anniversary of the Archbishop's death, asking:
* The triumph of Holy Mother the Church
* The preservation and flourishing of the Society of St. Pius X
* The holiness of his priestly sons and religious

Novena
O Jesus, Eternal High Priest, who deigned to elevate Thy faithful servant Marcel Lefebvre to the episcopal dignity and to grant him the grace of being a fearless defender of the Holy Mass, of the Catholic Priesthood, of Thy Holy Church, and of the Holy See, of being a courageous apostle of Thy Kingdom on earth, of being a devoted servant of Thy holy Mother, and of being a shining example of charity, of humility and of all virtues; bestow upon us now, by his merits, the graces we beseech of Thee, so that, assured of his powerful intercession to Thee, we may one day see him elevated to the glory of the altar. Amen.

Triangulating on the Facts

After His Resurrection, Christ appeared repeatedly to His followers, in a variety of settings, at diverse times, in different circumstances.

Had He appeared only a single time, perhaps once in front of the whole lot of the Apostles and the other disciples, there might have been a tendency later for them to think, “Did it really happen? Did He really come back from the dead, or did we imagine it, convince ourselves of it?”

So no, He appeared to His followers after His Resurrection, again and again, time after time, first over here, then over there, repeating and reinforcing and reiterating that the source of their joy was real and tangible and true.

The chief sources which directly attest the fact of Christ’s Resurrection are the four Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul.

St. Matthew’s Gospel records that He appeared to the holy women, and again on a mountain in Galilee.

St. Mark’ Gospel records that He was seen by Mary Magdalene, by the two disciples at Emmaus, and the Eleven before His Ascension into Heaven.

St. Luke’s Gospel records that He walked with His disciples to Emmaus, appeared to Peter and to the assembled disciples in Jerusalem.

St. John’s Gospel records that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the ten Apostles on the first Easter Sunday, to the Eleven a week later, and to the seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.

St. Paul records (I Corinthians 15:3-8) that He was seen by Cephas, by the Eleven, by more than 500 brethren, by James, by all the Apostles, and lastly by Paul himself.

- Excerpted from The Angelus, March-April 2016 issue

The Man Who Lies

“The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn’t it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill - he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness...”
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Processions and Marches

The day before yesterday I flew to Washington, D.C. and back to participate in the March for Life.

Later I came across someone remarking that such a march is a waste of time, adding that one would be better off taking more practical actions. The comment reeked of William James pragmatism.

Marches are rather like latter-day processions, which have numerous excellent precedents - e.g. the processions with the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Kings 8, the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem.

In the case of Friday's event, for this Catholic the march became a form of public prayer attended by Rosaries and hymns involving numerous co-religionists. This is an old Catholic custom, which has been done for centuries during emergencies to implore Divine aid for all kinds of calamities - e.g. war, plague, famine, storms, drought.

Among the participants the public display of a march also serves as a great reminder that - all the efforts of the popular culture and media to suggest the contrary - we are not alone or isolated in attempting to cure a great evil.

I think a favorable word can be added about a public event that has peaceably gathered hundreds of thousands of people each year for over four decades.

In conjunction with other efforts, a march like last Friday's is a crucial and valuable aid.

Eternal, Not Modern

Time is the measure of movement and change. It is partly objective, partly subjective.

* Objectively, time exists whether or not we perceive it.

* Subjectively, we know time only in its relation to movement or activity.

Attributes of Time

(1) Succession: Time’s parts can be realized only one after the other as the past, the present, and the future.

(2) Irreversible: Time’s order of succession cannot be changed. Past time does not come back.

(3) Continuity: Time does not pause and cannot be interrupted.

(4) Divisible, measurable: Time represents to us a reality only the continuous parts of which can be measured.

Created or uncreated?

Is time or movement infinite - without beginning? Philosophically, there is no problem with the possibility of time being infinite - without any contradiction, God could have created time to be infinite. By Revelation we know that God in fact created time with a beginning; by Revelation we also know that one day, time will end in dramatic fashion.

Moderns

We moderns are avaricious about time. The notion of time passing without any private advantage is terrible to us; thus, time-misers that we are, we hoard our hours for mercenary activity and fill our days with even frenetic, mindless activity. Before we’ll do nothing, we’ll do anything; pushing irrelevant buttons is preferable to considering the lilies of the field.

Eternal, not Modern

Give time away generously. Bestow it without counting the cost or tabulating the seconds and minutes. Blessed are the poor in time, for theirs is the kingdom of the eternally debonair.

Augustine Christmas

Christmas

The maker of Mary, He was born of Mary;

The son of David, He is David’s Lord;

The maker of earth, made on earth;

Creator of Heaven, created under Heaven;

He is Himself the day which the Lord made, the day of our heart, that is the Lord.

He lies in a manger, but holds the world;

He is nursed by Mary, but feeds the Angels;

He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, but vests us with immortality;

He found no place in the inn, but makes for Himself a temple in the hearts of all who believe in Him.

He who so loves us, that for our sakes

He was made in time, through Whom all times were made;

Was in the world less in age than His servants, though older than the world itself in His eternity;

Was made man, who made man;

Was created by a mother, whom He created;

Was carried by hands that He formed;

Cried in the manger in wordless infancy;

He is the Word, without Whom all human eloquence is mute.

- St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430)

Texting Speed

Driving through the parking garage at work this morning, I was behind someone who was moving at a pace slower than I could push my car. “What’s up with this guy driving like my grandmother?” I wondered. When he parked I saw him heads-down, presumably looking at his mobile device. “That’s it,” I said, “he was driving at texting speed.”