Birthday of Our Blessed Virign Mother- Mary

Catholics celebrate the Virgin Mary's birthday as the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, which is exactly nine months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Christians normally celebrate the day on which saints died, because that is when they entered into eternal life, but there are three major exceptions. We celebrate the births of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saint John the Baptist, because all three were born without original Sin. 

 

History of the Feast.

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated at least by the sixth century, when St. Romanos the Melodist, an Eastern Christian who composed many of the hymns used in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies, composed a hymn for the feast. The feast spread to Rome in the seventh century, but it was a couple more centuries before it was celebrated throughout the West. 

 

The source for the story of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written about A.D. 150. From it, we learn the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, as well as the tradition that the couple was childless until an angel appeared to Anna and told her that she would conceive. (Many of the same details appear also in the later apocryphal Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.)

It's no surprise, then, that the Christians of the second century A.D. recorded the details of Mary's birth in such documents as the Protoevangelium of James and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. While neither document bears the authority of Scripture, they provide us with everything that we know about the life of Mary before the Annunciation, including the names of Saint Mary's parents, Saint Joachim and Saint Anna (or Anne). It's a good example of Tradition, which complements (while never contradicting) Scripture 


The traditional date of the feast, September 8, falls exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Perhaps because of its close proximity to the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not celebrated today with the same solemnity as the Immaculate Conception. It is, nonetheless, a very important feast, because it prepares the way for the birth of Christ.

In earlier centuries, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated with greater fanfare.  Nowadays, less so.  However, like the Immaculate Conception, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an important date in our salvation history. Christ needed a mother, and Mary's conception and birth, therefore, are events without which Christ's own birth would have been impossible. 

Let us recommit to saying the Rosary each day.  Even if you cant commit to the full 20 decades, then why not commit to saying one decade each day slowly and with fervour. One decade said well and reflecting on the mystery is a great start. Start it today on Our Blessed Mother's birthday.
 

Reflection and Prayer Series: With God at our Side

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

My post is called:

                                                              WITH GOD AT OUR SIDE.
 

We have a God who seems to delight in doing impossible things,
When we're at the end of our strength,
He only begun.
We can face every trial without fear of defeat, 
for this is our hope and assuramce,
With God at our side,
the battle is already won.

May we live our life with God at our side this coming week 

About the Mass Series Vol 2: The Penitential Rite: The Confiteor Part 2.

The Confiteor is one of those prayers every Mass-going Catholic knows, but may not be aware of its name. The name is taken from the very first word of the prayer in Latin, Confiteor, which essentially means “I confess”. Since Catholics have a whole sacrament dedicated to the confession of sins they might wonder why the Confiteor is part of the Mass. Essentially the Confiteor is a necessary preparation for what we participate in at Mass, a work of the Lord.

Often before participating in a great work of the Lord men cleansed themselves. In scripture we see that a servant of God might have fasted, journeyed into the wilderness to pray, or even had his lips cleansed with hot coals by an angel (Isaiah 6:6) to prepare him for his work for the Lord. Although fasting before Mass is still our practice today, properly conforming our heart and soul to Christ also requires contrition for our sins. Through the Confiteor we fittingly offer contrition to God for our sins and prepare for our participation in the Divine Mystery of the Eucharist.

The prayer used for the last 40 years is familiar to us all:

I confess to almighty God,

and to you, my brothers and sisters,

that I have sinned through my own fault,

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done,

and in what I have failed to do…

The new translation, which is closer to the original Latin, is more emphatic and draws more attention to a particular pious practice. Although in the rubrics (i.e. the prescribed actions to accompany the words said) of the Mass, this practice was often forgotten in the last few decades. We will discuss that in a moment. Here is the new translation (which will sound familiar to many older Catholics):

I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers and sisters,

that I have greatly sinned

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done

and in what I have failed to do,

through my fault, through my fault,

through my most grievous fault…

When the penitent recites the last two lines of the Confiteor he takes his right hand, curls it into a loose fist and strikes his left breast. Immediately a couple of Bible verses come to mind. In the Old Testament, we find Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:19) saying, “I turn in repentance; I have come to myself, I strike my breast; I blush with shame, I bear the disgrace of my youth.” In the New Testament, the contrition of the publican, the tax collector, in Luke 18:13 is recalled: “But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’”

In ancient Judaism, striking one’s breast was a sign of deep sorrow our one’s sinfulness. This continued into the Christian era. St. Augustine, one of the greatest Early Church Fathers, noted that,

"No sooner have you heard the word 'Confiteor' than you strike your breast. What does this mean except that you wish to bring to light what is concealed in the breast, and by this act to cleanse your hidden sins ?" (Sermo de verbis Domini, 13).

The secular world today, however, shuns such displays, but the Church most certainly does not. As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has noted: “During the Confiteor the action of striking our breasts at the words through my own fault can strengthen my awareness that my sin is my fault.” Our physical actions, when done piously, help bring home to us spiritual truths.

At this time, using the current translation of the Mass, we strike our breast once. In the old Latin Mass, Catholics struck their breast three times – once for each use of the word “fault”. It is not entirely clear at this time whether we will still use one strike or three. In any case, the importance of such gestures should not be underestimated. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in Sacramentum Caritatis,

“the Synod of Bishops asked that the faithful be helped to make their interior dispositions correspond to their gestures and words… This is particularly important in a highly technological age like our own, which risks losing the ability to appreciate signs and symbols.”  (Sacramentum Caritatis, 64)

But what is the point of all of this? When we pray the Confiteor – and we have to remember it IS a prayer – we are professing our contrition to God, His saints in heaven, and the faithful on earth. We are asking for forgiveness for all those sins - thoughts, words, deeds and omissions – which we have committed. Such a confession of sins makes it possible for our venial sins to be forgiven during the Mass itself. However, it should be noted that it does not replace and is never intended to replace the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation.

The next time we are at Mass, let us keep in mind the following written by Fr. Nikolaus Gihr many years ago:

“The Confiteor is an open avowal of compunction of heart, a contrite and penitential prayer which should cleanse the soul from even the slightest stains of guilt and from all sinful defects. But in order that its recital, together with the threefold striking of the breast, may prove cleansing and salutary to the soul, it must in truth be the outpouring of a contrite spirit, proceeding from the depths of a heart touched with love and sorrow.”

(Nikolaus Gihr, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: Dogmatically, Liturgically, and Ascetically Explained, St. Louis: Herder, 1902, page 358).

Gospel of Mark Series: the healing at Tyre Chapter 7:24-30.

Welcome to my Gospel of Mark Series. During 2012-13, each week, I will write a post about the Gospel of Mark as I review and explore each of the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Mark.  I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season of Year B.  In today's post, we explore chapter 7: 24-30 which is called the healing at Tyre.

Jesus withdraws from the opposition to his mission in Galilee into the Gentile countryside around the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon to the north of Israel.  He goes there quietly, not in a public way. Yet, as Mark says to his reads, Jesus could not be hidden for long.

A greek-speaking woman, A phoenician from Syria, comes to seek Him out.  Agonised by grief, she falls down at the feet of Jesus in the house where He was.  Her little daughter is possessed by evil and she begs Jesus to free her from this demon.

The conversation the woman and Jesus shows the character of both.  There is the woman’s love for her absent daughter, her earnest faith in the power of Jesus to neal, and her confident hope that He will drive out the evil in her.

In Jesus there is a strange reluctance at first to show His power in this Gentile world.  He admires the woman’s perseverance and recognises a genuine faith in her towards the power that was in Him to free people from evil.

We are given a glimpse of His attractive simplicity when He humbly accepts that the woman has bested Him in the argument.  In His human consciousness is there a dawning awareness that God sends Him also to the Gentiles outside Israel?

Through the genuine faith in God which He recognises in this Greek woman, Jesus is able to free the daughter from the evil that possessed her, even though she herself is absent.  the woman questions  no more.

Trusting that through Jesus she has been blessed by God and her daughter freed from evil, she quietly goes off to her home.  There she finds her child cured, lying calmly in her bed.  The power in Jesus frees from evil where he finds persons of true faith in God.

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

• Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this passage of scripture?
• Reflect on the keywords in this passage for they contain the substance and purpose of all the things Jesus said and did-
• What do the sincerity and the feelings in this woman say to you?  What can I learn from this?
• Reflect on my relationship with Jesus and this teaching in the light of this gospel passage. What are my experiences of  asking God for healing for others?
• Try to enter into the feeling of Jesus as this woman argued with Him.
• What are some things in my life that I can ask God for healing?  Make a list of areas in my life that need a change of heart and develop an action plan on how this change of heart might occur. (eg name an area and name one/two changes that you will implement with God's help.
• What impact does Jesus’ teaching have on you (7:24-30).
• How has this passage spoken to you- what does it say to you personally?

Year of Grace Series: Faith and Reason Encyclical chapter 5 Part 1.

During this year of Grace, it is timely to consider whether Faith and Reason are interwined or as secular society would like us to believe that Faith and Reason are exclusive.  My purpose for writing this series is to explore this by examining carefully the encyclical  called " Fides et Ratio"- Faith and Reason written by the late Pope John Paul 11. I hope that during these next 8-10 weeks, you may explore with me, find your own answers and be able to communicate the truth to others. I also hope that in studying this encyclical you will be blessed with many graces. This week we continue to explore together chapter 5 which examines the the role of the magisterium and philosophy. I will examine this chapter in two parts, with today's post being part 1 of chapter 5.

The Church has neither a philosophy of her own nor does she favour any particular one.  Nevertheless philosophy must remain faithful to its own principles and methods, which must encompasses the demands and the data of revealed truth, using reason, otherwise it would serve little useful purpose.

History has shown that modern philosophy has taken wrong turns and fallen into error.  The Magisterium is required to respond clearly and strongly to controversial philosophical opinions, which threaten the pure and simple faith of the People of God, by the promulgation of false and partial theories.

Different Schools of philosophical learning and thought have developed, and it is incumbent upon the Magisterium to judge which different schools are compatible with the demands of the word of God and theological enquiry.

The reason for the Church to be involved in declaring certain philosophies to be erroneous is because the Bishops have the duty to be ‘witnesses to the truth’.  The Magisterium’s interventions are intended to prompt, promote and encourage philosophical enquiry and to correct error.  No historical form of philosophy can claim a totality of truth, because human reason has been wounded and weakened by sin.  The Church knows that ‘ the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ are hidden in Christ (Col 2:3) and therefore it intervenes to stimulate philosophical enquiry and to correct error.

Through the centuries the Church has intervened in correcting certain philosophical teachings, but since the middle of the last century the Magisterium has spoken more frequently on the subject.  Thr First Vatican Council pronounced solemnly on the relationship between reason and faith in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic Faith ‘ Dei Filius’.  It is still a standard reference point for correct and coherent Christian thinking in this regard.  

The first Vatican Council showed how inseparable and at the same time how distinct were faith and reason, Revelation and natural knowledge of God.  One pertinent extract from the document read:  ‘ Even if faith is superior to reason there can never be a true divergence between faith and reason, since the same God who reveals the mysteries and bestows the gifts of faith has also placed in the human spirit the light of reason.  This God could not deny himself, nor could the truth ever contradict the truth’.

In our own century the Magisterium has challenged Modernism, Marxist philosophy and atheistic Communism.  In addition Pope Pius X11 in his Encyclical letter ‘Humani Generis’ warned against mistaken interpretations linked to evolution, existentialism and historicism, which needed to be examined critically by Catholic theologians and philosophers to correct erroneous opinion.

Also more recently the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has been obliged to intervene to re-emphasise the dangers stemming from Marxism.  Looking at what is occurring at present, the late Pope believed that some old problems were so widespread that they have become to some extent the norm.  There is a deep-seated distrust of reason leading to ‘the end of metaphysics’.

The same thing is happening in theology.  This happened when theologians, through lack of philosophical competence, are swayed uncritically by thoughts and culture, which are poorly grounded in reason.

Now these days there is a tendency to make the reading of the Bible the sole criterion of truth, whilst ignoring that God is present in both Scripture and Tradition, which together comprise a single sacred deposit of the word of God entrusted to the Church.  There are 3 elements viz Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church, which provide the supreme rule of faith, and none of the three can survive without the others.

There is a danger in seeking to derive the truth of Sacred Scripture by using one method alone such as reading the Bible.  Pope Pius X11 warned against such neglect of the philosophical tradition and against abandonment of the traditional terminology.

Some think that truth is born of consensus, whereas it is derived from a consonance between intellect and objective reality.  Pope John Paul 11 wanted philosophers not to abandon the passion for ultimate truth and to forge new paths in the search. Faith is what matters and becomes the convinced and convincing advocate of reason.

Opening Prayer Series: Collect for 22nd Sunday of Year B

The Collect for the 22nd Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

God of might, giver of every good gift,

put into our hearts the love of Your name,

so that, by deepening our sense of reverence

You may nurture in us what is good 

and by Your watchtful care,

keep safe what You have nurtured.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever. 

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1. What does it mean to me to love the name of God?
2. Why do I need love of the name of God?
3. What does reverence mean to me?
4. Why should I desire a deeper sense of reverence?
5. What does it mean to me to be to be nurtured by God?
6. What does it mean to me not tobe nurtured by God?
7. What is good in me and how can I nurture this good this coming week?

One of the great obstacles to mobility and flexibility in the mission of the church during the first decades of Christianity were the interpretations of the Jewish law which resulted in long lists of community practices and ritual observances which many of the first Christians, as Jews, brought with them.  It is probably why St Mark introduces this passage and the next into this fourth part of his Gospel (6:6-8:30), which describes missionary journeys of Jesus with His disciples.  Both passages describe the attitude of Jesus towards certain Jewish religious practices.

When the local Pharisees with learned scribes from Jerusalem some of of His disciples eating without first ritually purifying themselves, they confront Jesus.  They had many rules for ritual washings of the body before eating  and for the washing of pots, cups and dishes.  All these things were to be done according to the ‘Halakah’ or Jewish oral law, considered by the Pharisees to bind as the “Torah” or God’s law itself.  

In reply Jesus first quotes the prophet Isaiah, who warns: “your worship is worthless, your doctrines are only human rules ( Is 29:13).  Jesus tells the Pharisees they have put aside God’s law and clung to human rules ( 6-8).

The second reply of Jesus picks out the Jewish practice of Corban, or consecrating things to God.  Human relationships are abused by declaring things consecrated to God.  Jesus shows how this become a way of putting aside God’s law by denying one’s natural duties and relations to others. Even the special relation of Children to parents was left aside in the name of God.  Such rules and practices empty the true meaning of God’s law through Moses (9-13).

Jesus goes to human needs when He teaches what God’s law means.  Religious practices are not meant to destroy genuine freedom and a true concern for others.

 

Jesus in this passage continues as He calls the people around Him and teaches what religious practices is meant to be, and what constitutes uncleanliness or impurity in God's eyes.  Jesus gives His teaching in two ways: first there is a teaching for all (7:14-15), second a deeper teaching for the disciples ( 17-23).

To the crowd, Jesus tells a brief parable.  A person can never be made unclean by something which comes form the outside.  it is what come from within a person that bring uncleanliness.  The source of true purity and religion that unites one with God is inside a person not outside.  Merely external circumstances or situations can never separate a person from God.  Only personal choices can do this.

For the disciples, in the privacy of a house, an early Christian symbol of the church, Jesus explains His teaching.  He first points to the lack of understanding of His teaching among the disciples, as He has already done before (4:13, 6:52).  Then He gives the earthy parable of food passing into and out of the human body (16-19).

By this comparison He clarifies for the disciples His emphasis that a right interior disposition, and not merely exterior religious practices, constitute in God's eyes genuine purity.  Jesus twice repeats to His disciples what He has already taught the people.  Real evil can come to a person only from within one's own heart ( 20 and 230.

The teaching  of  Jesus on the need for interiority in religious practices ends with a systematically arranged list of different kinds of evil that can follow for interior uncleanness or disorder in the human heart.  In Mark's list, there are 12 evils, six in the plural indicating particular actions: sexual vices, thefts, murders, adulteries, acts of coveting and wickednesses, and six in the singular describing habitual attitudes: deceitfulness, wantonness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly or lack of moral judgement.

Reflection and Prayer Series: God's will for us

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

My post is called:

                                                               GOD'S WILL FOR US.
 

God's higher will for us is a life of holiness, 
not feeting happiness 
enduring joy, not easy grace.

May we live our life according to God's will for us this coming week