Benedictus Deus

I thought I would offer a few of my Christmas plans here.  First, a few general notes.  I will be off work from the 24th until January 11th.  Throughout the holy season I am going to try to get to daily mass as often as I can, and pray as much of the office I can.  We try to visit some of our local friends from church throughout the Christmas season.  I think it is good for the kids to see other families celebrate the real Christmas season.  They are becoming increasingly aware that most of their extended family considers Christmas to be over after the last present is unwrapped.

Christmas Eve:  For practical reasons the Christmas decorations will probably all be up by Christmas Eve.  But any finishing touches required will be finished on that day.  We’ll try to get the house tidied up.  I’ll keep the Christmas lights off until after first Vespers of Christmas.  Then we will have a nice tree lighting including some prayers.  Then we will put on the Christmas Carols and have our Christmas Eve dinner.  I plan to observe the traditional vigil fast until midnight, but honestly the Christmas Eve dinner will probably fill me up for the night anyway.  I will read some Christmas stories to the kids, and we might watch a Christmas movie.

Christmas Morning:  We get each child three modest presents, a stocking with small items and toys (like stickers, crayons, little green army men, etc) and I like to fill the tree with candies and treats, especially candy canes (I do this after the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve).  Sometimes I put a special hidden object in the tree and the one who finds it first wins an extra treat.  After presents are done we have a nice Christmas breakfast.  Then we enjoy the rest of the morning together before heading off to 11am High Mass.

Remainder of Christmas day:  After we get back from mass we start getting the Christmas feast ready, and just try to enjoy the rest of the day.  We might briefly stop over at nearby friends’ houses and share some Christmas desserts and fine drink.

Remainder of the Octave: We are normally visiting family during most, if not all, of the Octave of Christmas so we don’t really have the chance to develop many customs.  It’s always a bit distressing because the children hear most of their family make comments like, “well now it’s all over,” or “all that preparation and it’s over just like that.”  Especially sad is when we have to witness trees being unceremoniously taken down even before the Octave day.  Fortunately this year, we will be back from visiting by the 29th, so that sort of thing should be minimal.  In any case, I want to get a bottle of wine blessed for St. john’s day.  There is special blessing for it in the Roman Ritual (or so I am told).  If we were home, we might do some special decoration on the baby’s crib for the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  Also on St. Stephan’s Day I like to tell the children the story of Good King Wenceslaus.  We also set the Wise Men up away from the our Nativity scene and move them a little closer each day until they arrive on Epiphany.

Octave day of Christmas: We go to Mass of course, being a holy day of obligation.  We basically have a repeat of our Christmas dinner.  To make it easier we freeze some of the leftovers from Christmas Day.  I also restock the tree with treats for the kids to find in the morning.

Twelfth Day of Christmas:  On 12th night we have a little party with a “Kings Cake.”  There is a little trinket in the cake and whoever finds it gets to be the Epiphany King (or Queen).  The king gets to pick what the kids have for snacks, if we watch a movie he picks which one, and things like that.  I think last year we even let them pick dinner for the Octave of Epiphany.

Epiphany:  On Epiphany the children wake up to find one more present.  This present is always a religious item of some sort.  Again, we go to high mass, and try to have a nice meal.

Octave of Epiphany: This is the last day we light the tree.  The next (practical) day it will be undecorated, and cut up for firewood for next year.  Maybe I will read Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree.”

There is an excellent article I stumbled on about the relationship between culture, how we mark time, and the liturgy.  It was written back 1992.  The author, Thomas Storck, does a great job of saying what I am always trying to say here.  I highly recommend the whole article, but there are couple parts I would like to highlight.

Regarding state holidays:

By saying that this day is the Fourth of July or Veterans’ Day they assert that the community of Americans is the most important community to which we belong, the one that is primary in our lives. We receive holidays from work and take part in public celebrations (as our Thanksgiving turkey or our fireworks) only according to this schedule. Any other is at best supplementary and private and at worst a competitor to be driven underground. (In fact, one could argue that the secular American calendar has banished the notion of the Church year with its progression of holy days from the consciousness of Catholics much more effectively than the French or Russian revolutionaries and their reformulations of the calendar ever did.)

Now, I don’t have a problem with there being such a thing as state holidays.  But Mr. Storck makes a good point, that when your holiday schedule and participation in celebrations revolves around the state holiday schedule, that sends the message that those holidays are the most important ones.  Obviously I believe the Church festivals should take precedence.  We can have a day of appreciation for our veterans (11/11), but we do it on Martinmas, who would be a good patron for veterans.  In fact that would be a good way to frame it.  Show appreciation for our veterans on the feast day of their patron saint.  Or something to that effect.

Mr. Storck goes on to discuss how the Christmas Holiday we celebrate as a nation is really a fundamentally different Christmas than the one on the Church calendar.  Now, almost twenty years later, in the time of “Happy Holidays” we can seen plainly that he was right.  He continues with this (emphasis added):

Our secular world does not blink an eye for the feast of our Lord’s Ascension or of our Blessed Lady’s Assumption or Immaculate Conception, let alone the patron feast of our parish or town. But if we are to be faithful Catholics, then it is right for us, as much as we conveniently can, to observe these feasts. Within families, apostolic groups, a neighborhood here and there, things can be done. For starters, have a real Christmas party, i.e., a party sometime between the evening of December 24 and the Epiphany. Invite people, shock some of them. And, of course, refuse, as much as is consistent with keeping your job, to attend Christmas parties that desecrate Advent. Be militant. Do not conform. Make the true Faith and its expression the most important thing.

This is why I decided to allocate my vacation time for the observance the Church’s holidays.  I’m tired of letting the secular world dictate the days that receive reverence.  Of course we can go to mass on Holy days around our work schedule.  But in practical terms, it hard to get in the spirit of a certain festival if there in no actual festivity to accompany it.  I admit that I am usually more excited about the 4th of July than about The Ascension.  Why?  Because I get a long weekend on the 4th of July.  Well this year I am going to take a long weekend for Ascension.

Finally, what I think is a very interesting point to end the article (emphasis added):

Some might think that because the Church is in such a mess we should concentrate just on getting people to believe the Creeds and observe the basics of God’s law. But I do not think this is so. Certainly the Creeds and the Commandments are primary, but if the full practice of the Faith is to spread, then it must be practiced in its fullness. We cannot wait for the problems in the Church to be solved (they will never be entirely solved anyway) to begin our own small efforts at restoration. We must do whatever we can to make our lives and our families integrally Catholic.

I used to be among those who think we should focus on the creeds and basics of morality.  I was into apologetics then, and I was pretty sure you should be able to convert anybody with a sound, rational, argument.  But the fact is, almost nobody converts for intellectual reasons.  Most people simply don’t have the inclination to think things through thoroughly enough.  It’s really the example people see that has the most impact.  For the most part, argumentation is futile.  But living out our Catholic faith in our daily lives?  That might catch some people’s attention.

The November prediction was not so accurate.  Here is my note on the last Ember Friday:

November prediction -  Cloudy early, mostly sunny by late morning, warm but seasonable.

The actual weather around here was mostly rainy and unseasonably warm, especially at night.  Most nights the temperature did not drop below the mid forties.  The average low around here in November is the low thirties.  So, I’ll have to chalk that up in the L column.

For December, the last Ember Saturday was: Cloudy, seasonable but on the cool side, rainy late in the evening.

So if “rain late in the evening” means precipitation late in the moth, maybe we will have a white Christmas around here!  But I won’t hold my breath.  It’s been close to twenty years since I have seen snow on Christmas around here.

Back in 07 I started a series of posts on Advent based on the Advent volume of The Liturgical Year.  I don’t remember what happened to that but there is another passage I want to highlight, also from the chapter on Practice During Advent.  (You can click the Advent category to see all my past Advent posts).

Referring to those Christians who have been somewhat lax in treasuring the Lord’s presence in themselves and molding their life to his (which I suspect is most of us):

You, who have had Him within you without knowing Him, and have possessed Him without relishing the sweetness of His presence, open your hearts to welcome Him, this time, with more care and love,  He Repeats His visit of this year with an untiring tenderness; He has forgotten your past slights; He would ‘that all things be new.’  Make room for the divine Infant, for He desires to grow within your soul.  The time of His coming is close at hand: let your hear, then, be on the watch; and lest you should slumber when He arrives, watch and pray, yea, sing.  The words of the liturgy are intended for also for your use: they speak of darkness, which only God can enlighten; of wounds, which only His mercy can heal; of a faintness, which can be braced only by His divine energy.

I found that very touching.  It also reminded me of an aspect of the Liturgy that I think is generally under appreciated.  The Liturgical observances are more than just a commemoration of historical events.  They are an actual participation in those events.  When we celebrate Christmas with our hearts and minds united to the intentions of the Church, we participate in that great mystery no less than the Shepherds who were there at the manager with the Incarnate Lord.  It is the same idea as being at the foot of the cross at Mass.  God opens a window through space and time for us.  The Liturgy is that window.

During each phase of the year the Church presents us with various sentiments as She progresses through the Liturgical year.  We should try to make these sentiments our own.  It is in the Liturgy that we will see what these are, and where we are provided with the words to express them.  During Advent we can join our prayers with the prayers of the ancient patriarchs which are frequently presented to us in the Liturgy, and stir up in ourselves a sentiment of longing for our Lord.

Yesterday was the start of “Quadragesima Sancti Martini” or St. Matin’s Lent (or the forty days of Saint Martin). In former times the Advent fast would begin today (at least in some places), and this year I decided to do the same. It’s name comes from the fact that St Martin’s day was yesterday and his feast used to be huge all around Europe. Almost as popular as the Nativity of John the Baptist as I have noted in previous posts on St. Martin.

The early history of Advent is very cloudy and there was nothing like a uniform observance of Advent until around the late sixth or early seventh century.  The forty day fast was probably only common from about the sixth century to, maybe the 10th.  However Pope Innocent III mentions it being observed in Rome in a letter he wrote in the early 13th century.  So even then it does not seem there much consistency with Advent from place to place.  But by the 14th century, the custom of fasting for Advent seems to have fallen into general disuse, though various holy bishops did try to bring it back from time to time (like St. Charles Borromeo, and Pope Benedict XIV when he was still archbishop of Bologna).  Nevertheless at times such as these with so much profanation of the season I think a penitential Advent is needed now more than ever before.  (Most of the info above comes from The History of Advent section of the Liturgical Year, vol 1, and the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for Advent.)

So before starting this fast, we had some friends over for a Martinmas feast the other day. Rainy weather precluded a bonfire, but since we had to do it after work we probably wouldn’t have had time anyway. Goose is the traditional main course, but since the local butcher didn’t have any geese we got a couple of ducks instead. I had never had duck before but I became an instant fan. My wife simply roasted them in the oven with an apple and maybe an onion stuffed in them (we needed two to feed the five adults and ten children present). She also made sweet potato casserole, stuffing (just a box mix), and spinach artichoke dip. Our guests brought a spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette, drinks, including some kind of really good Trappist ale and chocolate bacon toffee for dessert. I also made a pumpkin pie. Best dinner I have in some time, and a great way to lead into a fast. Of course the dinner also featured a toast to good St. Martin.

I completely forgot about making paper lanterns for Martinmas, but again the weather would not have been suitable for a lantern walk, we didn’t really have time, and I’m not sure where we would have walked to anyway! Maybe next year we can figure something out for that.  But we did hear stories about St. Martin from the Golden Legend.

So now it is on to fasting and preparing for Christmas. This fast, although close in length to Lent will not be nearly as rigourous. First off there more days that days that will preempt my fast. In particular Thanksgiving, St. Andrew, St Nicholas (Sunday anyway), St. Ambrose, Immaculate Conception, St. Lucy (Sunday), and our Lady of Guadalupe. The Advent fast is also a good time to make reparation for the abuses of the season.

Otherwise I expect my Advent plans to be pretty much the same as last year. Which is good because my plans have been in flux for much of the last few years and it is high time to start settling into some customs that will hopefully be carried on by my children.

As you may know the weather on Ember days is said to predict the weather of the coming months. So just for fun I noted the weather during the last (Michaelmas) Embertide. Wednesday predicts October, Friday predicts November and Saturday predicts December.

For Wednesday (October) I had: Cloudy, some rain, warm. Partly cloudy in the afternoon, hot and humid.

This past October was in fact rather rainy, and except for a four day cold snap I think temps were above average. It did also seem to be rather humid for the Fall owing to all Southern winds we got (which is also why temps were warm). So I would say this Ember forecast was fairly accurate.

For November I have: Cloudy early, mostly sunny by late morning, seasonable but slightly on the warm side. Let’s see how it turns out!

It has been some time since I harped on praying for the dead. Of course the occasion for this is the celebration of All Souls day yesterday. As I have written before, praying for the dead has become almost totally neglected today. I can’t imagine that in the entire history of the Church that there have been fewer prayers offered for the faithfully departed than there are today, even though we have so many more living! There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the most notable is the rise of the “everybody goes to heaven” mentality and a general disbelief in Hell. Recently a coworker of mine passed away and in the obituary it stated the time and place for the “Mass of Resurrection.” What is that!?

Anyway, the one thought that always comes back to me is how many poor souls are there in purgatory with NO ONE praying for them? It’s got to be a lot. But on top of that here is something else I have been wondering about. Priests today have a tendency to soft serve people in the confessional. They don’t want to scare anyone off so they give light penances. So if your penance is too light for your since are you going to extra time in Purgatory? According to Jacobus de Voragine you sure will. In the Golden Legend entry for All Souls he says that those whose penance is inadequate for their sins will make up for it with much greater suffering in Purgatory.

Now think of all of those souls who went through life getting one Hail Mary and a Glory Be everytime time they went to confession! So its a double whammy in modern times. No one is praying for the Poor Souls, and many of them probably have more to make up for than they would have in former times.

In short, the Church Suffering needs our prayers, fasting, and alms giving on their behalf more than ever. And if by chance any priest sees this: please, stiffen up the penance a little bit. Three Hail Marys for a years worth of sins isn’t doing anyone any favors.

On a number of occasions both here and in private conversations, I have complained about our society not being ordered in a such a way that major feast days are also public holidays (except for Christmas). And on this Feast of Christ the King our pastor gave an excellent homily about putting Christ at the center of all things, and the bad things that happen to society when our Lord is officially banished from the public sphere. We all know the condition of society at large today, but our homes are also little societies.

There have been a number of times when I was trying to hype up this or that feast day to my children, but I had to go work, and there wasn’t time to do anything special, so it passed without much notice. So I have decided to implement a plan I have been considering for a while now. I am going to allocate as much of my vacation time as I can to take time off for major feast days. Ideally I would take off the whole octave of Christmas (which I do), Easter and Pentecost, and also Holy Week, all first class feast days, and a few other days that have become special for my family (e.g. Nativity of John the Baptist, St. Nicholas’ day). But obviously I don’t have that kind of vacation time. Also, all my family lives pretty far away and I need vacation to visit them. So keeping in mind the reality of our present situation here is my tentative plan:

I always take off a couple weeks at Christmas time. So I will be off Christmas Eve through Epiphany.

Good Friday through Easter Tuesday (and more if possible)

Ascension Thursday

Pentecost Monday and Tuesday

Nativity of John the Baptist

All Saints

Other feasts I may try to squeeze in are Candlemas, St. Joseph, Assumption, All Souls, Martinmas, St. Nicholas, St. Lucy. (Some of these are already on off days this year).

At some point I will try to do a post on how it goes.

Today is the feast of St.Luke even though it gets overshadowed by Sunday. As I have mentioned before, St. Luke is my patron saint. When it was time for my confirmation I had a really hard time picking a saint. To be honest I didn’t know that much about any of them. What it came down to was that St. Luke seemed to do so many awesome things. He wrote a gospel and another book for the new testament, he was a physician, he travelled around with St. Paul, and he painted the only picture of our Lady by someone who actually saw her. Add all that up and it sounded like a good choice. Over time I developed a strong devotion to Saint Luke and I am sure he took pity on a foolish young man and offered many a prayer for me.

Of course, I read the Golden Legend entry for St. Luke and there is a ton of interesting stuff in there. But a couple things stood out the most to me. The first is that it says Luke shows us the Lord in three ways. First by writing a gospel about Him. Second by his picture of our lady holding the Infant. And also by reflecting Christ in the example of his life. That last one stands out because not all of us can write eloquently, or paint beautiful images. But we can show Christ to others by our lives. In that way we can all be Evangelists.

Another point made in the Golden Legend is that Luke’s gospel is the only one that has a lot of the details about Christmas. This indicates that he spoke to Mary about these things more than the others. I think this point, coupled with the painting shows what a fondness Luke had for Our Lady, which is really just another way that he manifests Christ in his own life.

Hope you all had a good St. Luke’s Day.

I recently ordered both volumes of the complete Golden Legend. The translation in this version is nice and clean, and easier to read than some other versions available online. Now when I write posts about feast days, I am looking forward to included notes from this great work of the Middle Ages! Lest you be tempted to disrespect the Golden Legend…

Each cathedral or monastery kept the acts of the saints of the diocese, and solemnly read them on their festivals, while the lives more or less abridged of the saints famous throughout Christendom were contained in the lectionary. For centuries the saints lived in the memory of the Church through the lectionary, and when in the course of the thirteenth century the various old liturgical books were replaced by one book, the lessons of the lectionary passed into the breviary. The lectionary was made up of extracts from the more famous legends. The Historia apostolica of Abdias, the Historia erimitica, translated by Rufinus of Aquileia, the Dialogues of St. Gregory, the Martyrology of Bede, and many anonymous stones were all requisitioned with great simplicity and a complete absence of the critical spirit. It was a summary of the lives of the saints, invaluable at a time when books were scarce.

Thus it was no new departure when at the end of the thirteenth century Jacobus de Voragine wrote the famous Golden Legend, for in it he simply popularised the lectionary, preserving even its sequence. His compilation is in no sense original. He is content with completing the stories by recourse to the originals, and with adding new legends here and there. The Golden Legend became famous throughout Christendom, because it put into the hands of all men stories which until then had hardly been found outside the liturgical books. The baron in his castle, the merchant in his shop could now enjoy the beautiful tales at will.

The attack made on Jacobus de Voragine by scholars of the seventeenth century misses its mark. The Golden Legend, which they accused of being a legend of lead, was not the work of a man but of the whole of Christendom. The candour and the credulity of the writer belonged to his time. The stories of St. Thomas’s voyage to India or of St. James’s miraculous cloak, recounted so naively in the Golden Legend, though displeasing to the strict theologians trained in the school of the fathers of the Council of Trent, were universally accepted in the thirteenth century. They were read in public in the churches, and they were illustrated in the windows. To condemn Jacobus de Voragine is to condemn all the ancient lectionaries, and with them the clergy who read them and the faithful who listened.

From The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the 13th Century by Emile Mâle, courtesy of Daniel Mitsui at the Lion and the Cardinal. Mr. Mitsui has several other excerpts from this book on his web site, all of which are absolutely fascinating (look for links starting with Emile Mâle).