Epiphany

Crèche with three magi taken on the Epiphany, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, in Saint Louis, Missouri. The weather that day was rather brutal, as can be seen here, so few were present to celebrate this feast.

I had earlier written about Epiphany:

Epiphany, from the Koine Greek word ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, meaning ‘appearance’ or ‘manifestation’ is also called the Theophany and is the day after the Twelfth day of Christmas.

Writings from the early Church indicate that the following events were all celebrated in various localities on January 6^th from at least the second century, before a universal feast was recognized.

— The Nativity of Jesus.
— The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.
— The Wedding Feast at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.
— The visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus.

While Epiphany commemorates all of these manifestations of God made Flesh, most of the Apostolic Churches have also split one or more of these occasions to their own separate commemorations.

‘On Catholicism in the United States’

FROM THE ENCYCLICAL, Longinqua Oceani Spatia, ‘On Catholicism in the United States’, by Pope Leo XIII, from 1895:

4. Nor, perchance did the fact which We now recall take place without some design of divine Providence. Precisely at the epoch when the American colonies, having, with Catholic aid, achieved liberty and independence, coalesced into a constitutional Republic the ecclesiastical hierarchy was happily established amongst you; and at the very time when the popular suffrage placed the great Washington at the helm of the Republic, the first bishop was set by apostolic authority over the American Church. The well-known friendship and familiar intercourse which subsisted between these two men seems to be an evidence that the United States ought to be conjoined in concord and amity with the Catholic Church. And not without cause; for without morality the State cannot endure — a truth which that illustrious citizen of yours, whom We have just mentioned, with a keenness of insight worthy of his genius and statesmanship perceived and proclaimed. But the best and strongest support of morality is religion. She, by her very nature, guards and defends all the principles on which duties are founded, and setting before us the motives most powerful to influence us, commands us to live virtuously and forbids us to transgress. Now what is the Church other than a legitimate society, founded by the will and ordinance of Jesus Christ for the preservation of morality and the defence of religion? For this reason have We repeatedly endeavored, from the summit of the pontifical dignity, to inculcate that the Church, whilst directly and immediately aiming at the salvation of souls and the beatitude which is to be attained in heaven, is yet, even in the order of temporal things, the fountain of blessings so numerous and great that they could not have been greater or more numerous had the original purpose of her institution been the pursuit of happiness during the life which is spent on earth.

5. That your Republic is progressing and developing by giant strides is patent to all; and this holds good in religious matters also. For even as your cities, in the course of one century, have made a marvellous increase in wealth and power, so do we behold the Church, from scant and slender beginnings, grown with rapidity to be great and exceedingly flourishing. Now if, on the one hand, the increased riches and resources of your cities are justly attributed to the talents and active industry of the American people, on the other hand, the prosperous condition of Catholicity must be ascribed, first indeed, to the virtue, the ability, and the prudence of the bishops and clergy; but in so slight measure also, to the faith and generosity of the Catholic laity. Thus, while the different classes exerted their best energies, you were enabled to erect unnumbered religious and useful institutions, sacred edifices, schools for the instruction of youth, colleges for the higher branches, homes for the poor, hospitals for the sick, and convents and monasteries. As for what more closely touches spiritual interests, which are based upon the exercise of Christian virtues, many facts have been brought to Our notice, whereby We are animated with hope and filled with joy, namely, that the numbers of the secular and regular clergy are steadily augmenting, that pious sodalities and confraternities are held in esteem, that the Catholic parochial schools, the Sunday-schools for imparting Christian doctrine, and summer schools are in a flourishing condition; moreover, associations for mutual aid, for the relief of the indigent, for the promotion of temperate living, add to all this the many evidences of popular piety.

6. The main factor, no doubt, in bringing things into this happy state were the ordinances and decrees of your synods, especially of those which in more recent times were convened and confirmed by the authority of the Apostolic See. But, moreover (a fact which it gives pleasure to acknowledge), thanks are due to the equity of the laws which obtain in America and to the customs of the well-ordered Republic. For the Church amongst you, unopposed by the Constitution and government of your nation, fettered by no hostile legislation, protected against violence by the common laws and the impartiality of the tribunals, is free to live and act without hindrance. Yet, though all this is true, it would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the type of the most desirable status of the Church, or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced. The fact that Catholicity with you is in good condition, nay, is even enjoying a prosperous growth, is by all means to be attributed to the fecundity with which God has endowed His Church, in virtue of which unless men or circumstances interfere, she spontaneously expands and propagates herself; but she would bring forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she enjoyed the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority.

Pope Leo reiterates the core fact of civic life, that a government cannot be good unless those who govern, and those who are governed, are also good — a happy state of affairs which is best found if all have religion. Democracy does not automatically produce a good government, if the people are wicked, but rather, virtue can flourish if left unencumbered by the State, since far too often grasping leaders wish to control all things, including religion.

But Leo also strongly states that this flourishing has, as a primary cause, the faithfulness of the Church to Christ, and the faithfulness of the people to the Church. For this reason, Pope Leo condemned the heresy of Americanism, which attempts to incorporate into the Church many American notions. Condemned American ideals include religious individualism, emphasis of the active over the contemplative life, ecumenism leading to indifferentism, the confusion of license with liberty, seeking democracy in Church governance, the confusion between the laity and clergy, and finally the idea of American particularism, which demands that Americans ought not be subject to the same strict disciplines as other Catholics.

Americanism did eventually spread explosively, most apparently in the 1960s, with devastating consequences, to both the Church and to the American Republic: religion is no longer a reliable source of virtue, and the State is increasingly encumbering the Church and limiting her freedom.

Two Poems by G.K. Chesterton

THE PROLIFIC WRITER Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), a prominent and influential essayist of the post-Victorian era, is much beloved of Catholics, especially as he confronts the new ideas of his era, those ideas which have been imposed on us in recent decades.

While better known for his essays, he also wrote novels, plays, and poetry. Here are two excerpts from some of his poetry, which have a distinctive Catholic character: the following is from The Ballad of the White Horse, the last major epic poem in the English language. In this excerpt, King Alfred is facing invasion of his country by heathen barbarians, and there seemed to be little hope for victory. He meets the Blessed Virgin Mary, who offers him some unusual comfort:

And naught was left King Alfred
But shameful tears of rage,
In the island in the river
In the end of all his age.

In the island in the river
He was broken to his knee:
And he read, writ with an iron pen,
That God had wearied of Wessex men
And given their country, field and fen,
To the devils of the sea.

And he saw in a little picture,
Tiny and far away,
His mother sitting in Egbert's hall,
And a book she showed him, very small,
Where a sapphire Mary sat in stall
With a golden Christ at play.

It was wrought in the monk's slow manner,
From silver and sanguine shell,
Where the scenes are little and terrible,
Keyholes of heaven and hell.

In the river island of Athelney,
With the river running past,
In colours of such simple creed
All things sprang at him, sun and weed,
Till the grass grew to be grass indeed
And the tree was a tree at last.

Fearfully plain the flowers grew,
Like the child's book to read,
Or like a friend's face seen in a glass;
He looked; and there Our Lady was,
She stood and stroked the tall live grass
As a man strokes his steed.

Her face was like an open word
When brave men speak and choose,
The very colours of her coat
Were better than good news.

She spoke not, nor turned not,
Nor any sign she cast,
Only she stood up straight and free,
Between the flowers in Athelney,
And the river running past.

One dim ancestral jewel hung
On his ruined armour grey,
He rent and cast it at her feet:
Where, after centuries, with slow feet,
Men came from hall and school and street
And found it where it lay.

“Mother of God,” the wanderer said,
“I am but a common king,
Nor will I ask what saints may ask,
To see a secret thing.

“The gates of heaven are fearful gates
Worse than the gates of hell;
Not I would break the splendours barred
Or seek to know the thing they guard,
Which is too good to tell.

“But for this earth most pitiful,
This little land I know,
If that which is for ever is,
Or if our hearts shall break with bliss,
Seeing the stranger go?

“When our last bow is broken, Queen,
And our last javelin cast,
Under some sad, green evening sky,
Holding a ruined cross on high,
Under warm westland grass to lie,
Shall we come home at last?”

And a voice came human but high up,
Like a cottage climbed among
The clouds; or a serf of hut and croft
That sits by his hovel fire as oft,
But hears on his old bare roof aloft
A belfry burst in song.

“The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gain,
The heaviest hind may easily
Come silently and suddenly
Upon me in a lane.

“And any little maid that walks
In good thoughts apart,
May break the guard of the Three Kings
And see the dear and dreadful things
I hid within my heart.

“The meanest man in grey fields gone
Behind the set of sun,
Heareth between star and other star,
Through the door of the darkness fallen ajar,
The council, eldest of things that are,
The talk of the Three in One.

“The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gold,
Men may uproot where worlds begin,
Or read the name of the nameless sin;
But if he fail or if he win
To no good man is told.

“The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.

“The men of the East may search the scrolls
For sure fates and fame,
But the men that drink the blood of God
Go singing to their shame.

“The wise men know what wicked things
Are written on the sky,
They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,
Hearing the heavy purple wings,
Where the forgotten seraph kings
Still plot how God shall die.

“The wise men know all evil things
Under the twisted trees,
Where the perverse in pleasure pine
And men are weary of green wine
And sick of crimson seas.

“But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.

“I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

“Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?”

Even as she spoke she was not,
Nor any word said he,
He only heard, still as he stood
Under the old night's nodding hood,
The sea-folk breaking down the wood
Like a high tide from sea.

He only heard the heathen men,
Whose eyes are blue and bleak,
Singing about some cruel thing
Done by a great and smiling king
In daylight on a deck.

He only heard the heathen men,
Whose eyes are blue and blind,
Singing what shameful things are done
Between the sunlit sea and the sun
When the land is left behind.

“And you have wars you hardly win, and souls you hardly save.” Does this not describe our life, even the very best of times? Do we “have joy without a cause,”  or “faith without a hope?” You can read the rest of the poem here.

According to this website, “During the dark days of 1940, when Britain stood virtually alone against the armed might of Nazi Germany, these lines…were often quoted”:

I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

Here is Chesterton’s poem, To St. Michael in Time of Peace, which continues the theme of spiritual warfare:

Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning,
Michael of the Army of the Lord,
Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael,
Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael,
Under the fullness of the white robes falling,
Gird us with the secret of the sword.

When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven,
Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky,
Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest,
Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High:
Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation
Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn:
Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon
Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return.

Down through the universe the vast night falling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!)
Far down the universe the deep calms calling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!)
Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness,
In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and the fretfulness
In the huge holy sempiternal silence
In the beginning was the Word.

When from the deeps of dying God astounded
Angels and devils who do all but die
Seeing Him fallen where thou couldst not follow,
Seeing Him mounted where thou couldst not fly,
Hand on the hilt, thou hast halted all thy legions
Waiting the Tetelestai and the acclaim,
Swords that salute Him dead and everlasting
God beyond God and greater than His Name.

Round us and over us the cold thoughts creeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the battle-cry!)
Round us and under us the thronged world sleeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Charge!)
Guard us the Word; the trysting and the trusting
Edge upon the honour and the blade unrusting
Fine as the hair and tauter than the harpstring
Ready as when it rang upon the targe.

He that giveth peace unto us; not as the world giveth:
He that giveth law unto us; not as the scribes:
Shall he be softened for the softening of the cities
Patient in usury; delicate in bribes?
They that come to quiet us, saying the sword is broken,
Break man with famine, fetter them with gold,
Sell them as sheep; and He shall know the selling
For He was more than murdered. He was sold.

Michael, Michael: Michael of the Mustering,
Michael of the marching on the mountains of the Lord,
Marshal the world and purge of rot and riot
Rule through the world till all the world be quiet:
Only establish when the world is broken
What is unbroken is the word.

The battles of old are the battles we fight to this day. Here we are reminded that Christ’s apparent defeat on the Cross was actually a great victory against the world.

More of Chesterton’s writings can be found here, here, and here.

Happy Easter

Stained glass window of the Resurrection, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, in Cuba, Missouri.

From the Exsultet for the Easter Vigil:

It is truly fitting and just to proclaim with all the affection of our heart and soul, and with the sound of our voice the invisible God the Father almighty, and his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who paid for us to his eternal Father the debt of Adam: and by his sacred blood canceled the guilt contracted by original sin.

For this is the Paschal solemnity, in which the true Lamb was slain, by whose blood the doors of the faithful are consecrated.

This is the night in which thou formerly broughtest forth our forefathers, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, leading them dry-foot through the Red Sea. This then is the night which dissipated the darkness of sin by the light of the pillar.

This is the night which now delivers all over the world those that believe in Christ from the vices of the world and darkness of sin, restores them to grace, and clothes them with sanctity.

This is the night in which Christ broke the chains of death, and ascended conqueror from hell.

For it availed us nothing to be born, unless it had availed us to be redeemed.

O how admirable is thy goodness towards us! O how inestimable is thy love! Thou hast delivered up thy Son to redeem a slave.

O truly necessary sin of Adam, which the death of Christ has blotted out!

O happy fault, that merited such and so great a Redeemer!

…

Holy Saturday

Jesus is laden in the Sepulchre, at Saint Patrick Church, in Grafton, Illinois. Photo taken in October, 2010.

God is dead. We killed Him.

He is in hell because of us.

 —

Recall what Our Lord said before his Passion:

“This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’”

All of the men turned and fled, in fear of their lives; only the women — and one boy — had the courage to remain. Imagine how the disciples might have felt on that first Holy Saturday: lost, betrayed, confused, fearful, distrustful, full of doubt, full of rage. Was their faith in vain? To whom shall they go? But their shepherd was killed, and one of their own betrayed Him. Surely His mother Mary knew better?



Christ in the tomb, at Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows, in Starkenburg, Missouri. Photo taken in February 2012.

But we are told that Christ had a new flock to minister to, those who had gone before us, all the souls of the righteous who were waiting in the darkness of Hades. Iconography of the ‘Harrowing of Hell’ for Holy Saturday shows Christ, triumphant, rescuing these souls, including Adam and Eve, who got us into this predicament.



Christ Leading the Patriarchs to Paradise, by Bartolomé Bermejo (or Bartolomé de Cárdenas), ca. 1480. [source]

Good Friday

GOOD FRIDAY, the most solemn and bleak day of the liturgical year, a day of bitter darkness, for we have crucified Our Lord, and so are guilty of the crime of Deicide. During the Office of Tenebrae, the readings warn us impending chastisement and destruction, due to our evil, unrepentant ways, particularly in the books of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, and in the choice of Psalms. Over the course of the liturgy, the many candles we find near the altar are snuffed out, one by one, symbolizing this greatest of crimes, increasing our fear of just judgement upon us. Do we really want justice? Rather, we should tremble with fear knowing that true justice would require a severe punishment that we could not bear.



Crucifix, depicting Christ dead on the cross, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, illumined by the flame of a single candle, after the office of Tenebrae for Good Friday. There was hardly any light to take a photograph, and so this photographic image itself is battered and ugly. 

Your wickedness will chasten you, and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts.
For long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not serve.’
Yea, upon every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down as a harlot.
Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed.
How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?
Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord God…

Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me, says the Lord.
In vain have I smitten your children, they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
And you, O generation, heed the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to thee’?
Can a maiden forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
How well you direct your course to seek lovers!
So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.
Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’
Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’…

— from Jeremiah 2; (RSVCE)

Then, as now, we say ‘I will not serve’ God and ‘I have not sinned,’ and we have shed the “lifeblood of guiltless poor.” Contemporary man lacks the fear of God and His justice, we believe that we are immune from God’s wrath:

The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.

— Lamentations 2:2 (RSVCE)

That will never happen to us, we believe. But we forget that the ‘unintended consequences’ of our sins serve to punish us also: “Your wickedness will chasten you, and your apostasy will reprove you.” We break the laws of God, of our human nature, and of our relationship with Creation, and are surprised that this does not make us happy, but rather miserable. And so we create new laws, systems, technologies, and propaganda campaigns to overcome these, which leads to more consequences that lead to greater misery.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

— Jeremiah 2:12,13 (RSVCE)

Man, without God, is nothing, and left to his own devices, man reshapes himself into a vessel that is even incapable of sustaining himself, a ‘broken cistern.’

In the Office of Tenebrae, the candles are snuffed out one by one, until the final candle, representing Christ, is taken away for a while. Our Lord has been taken away and it is our fault. But the candle is brought back while it continues to burn. This tells us that while we ought to tremble in fear of God’s justice, we still have a glimmer of light to give us hope.

Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum! Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return to the Lord your God!

Habemus Papam!

POPE FRANCIS, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of the Society of Jesus, age 76, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

O God, who in your providential design willed that your Church be built upon blessed Peter, whom you set over the other apostles, look with favor, we pray, on Francis, our Pope, and grant that he, whom you have made Peter’s successor, may be for your people a visible source and foundation of unity in faith and of communion.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.

Relic of Saint Mary Magdelen to visit Saint Louis

MARY MAGDALEN — whose titles include Myrrhbearer, Equal of the Apostles, and Apostle to the Apostles — is not only famed in the New Testament, but also, according to tradition, was a missionary to the Roman province of Gaul, or modern-day France.



Painting of Saint Mary Magdalen, at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

The Saint's missionary journey has not ended, for a major relic of the Magdelen will be visiting Saint Louis. From an article in the Saint Louis Review, here are the locations for public veneration of the Saint:

Thursday, March 21:

• St. Mary Magdalen, 4924 Bancroft Ave. in south St. Louis; 7:50 a.m. candlelight procession carrying the relic into the church, followed by Mass; 9:15 a.m. Chaplet and Litany; 9:30-10:30 a.m. spiritual talk; 11:30 a.m. Mass; 1 p.m. relic departs. Call (314) 352-2111.

• St. Mary Magdalen, 2618 South Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood; 2 p.m. candlelight procession carrying the relic into the church; 2:15-3 p.m. Confessions, followed by Mass; 4-6 p.m. Confessions; 4:30 p.m. Chaplet and Litany; 5 p.m. Rosary; 5:30-6:30 p.m. Blessed Sacrament exposed for spiritual talk, followed by 7 p.m. Mass; relic departs at 8 p.m. Call (314) 961-8400.

Friday, March 22:

• St. Dominic Priory, 3407 Lafayette Ave. in St. Louis; 8 a.m. Morning Prayer with preaching; 11 a.m. Mass, with veneration throughout the day; 2 p.m. Rosary or Chaplet to St. Mary Magdalene; 4:30 p.m. Evening Prayer with preaching. Call (314) 678-9427 for more information.

On Analogy

THERE ARE SEVERAL common modes of human reason, which includes the familiar processes of inductive and deductive reasoning, as well as abductive reasoning, hypothetical reasoning, and others.

But one of the most powerful modes of reasoning — if not the most precise — is analogical reasoning, where you compare and contrast one sort of thing to another. Inductive and deductive methods are rather precise, but can be slow, plodding, expensive, or difficult, and we can often end up with trivial results such as “Oceans are determined to be very large and full of water.” However, analogical reasoning takes the full capacity of the human imagination to quickly jump from one thing to another, which may lead to unexpected and novel results. For example, Niels Bohr developed a model of the atom, analogizing it with the solar system, which led to a new understanding of nature. Some think that analogical reasoning is the base or primary mode of reasoning of the human intellect, since it contains within it aspects of all the other modes of reason. Analogical reasoning is very fruitful: it proposes, and the other more precise modes of reasoning fills in the details; perhaps deduction and induction are not possible without first making the analogy.

Examples, parts, or close relations of analogy include:

...exemplification, comparisons, metaphors, similes, allegories, and parables, ... association, ... correspondence, mathematical and morphological homology, homomorphism, iconicity, isomorphism, ... resemblance, and similarity....

In the field of artificial intelligence, it was originally thought that computer systems based on pure deductive reasoning would lead to a human level of intelligence, but this did not work out in practice, and it seems that research on this has been moribund since the 1980s. However, a newer computer algorithm, the Vector Space Model, uses analogical reasoning and has nearly achieved the average human level of performance on the College Board's SAT multiple-choice analogy test. Analogical reasoning is used effectively in Google Search, which often produces surprising yet reasonable Internet search results.

Some of the powerful analogies include arguments from symmetry and proportion. Indeed, the English word “analogy” derives from the ancient Greek ἀναλογία, analogia, meaning “proportion”. We say that the proportions 3:2 and 6:4 are analogous since they have the same ratio of 1.5, and likewise we can analogize by saying that fingers are to the hand as toes are to the foot. The Greek philosopher Plato used his allegories as analogical arguments, as did Our Lord in His parables. Analogy is particularly important in the figurative arts, where we associate daubs of paint on a canvas with say, a human face. Biologists use analogy extensively when comparing the anatomy of various species, and have thereby discovered the principle of convergence.

Good analogical reasoning not only compares similarities between two things, but also contrasts their differences. When Bohr developed his atomic model, he reasoned that the tiny electrons orbit around a large nucleus, as the planets orbit around the sun. But on the atomic scale, quantum effects predominate, and so the analogy breaks down a bit, since it is hard to claim that the electrons are actually orbiting, and so this needed a better mathematical model. But one of the great benefits of analogical reasoning is that the things that we learn about a new unfamiliar system (such as the atom) can shed light back upon the old familiar system (such as the solar system): some of the newer mathematics that explained the atom, in turn, can be analogously used to more fully explain the solar system.

Some claim that analogies are methods used by those in power to impose meaning, and this could happen, and so analogies have to be made intelligently to be truthful and fruitful. An old model of the atom, called the ‘plum pudding model,’ did not bear (or even contain) fruit, although it does sound tasty: but it is an absurd analogy. A good analogy must highlight any differences that exist, as well as similarities, otherwise it indeed is an imposition of meaning. It seems that a good analogy must start with something baser, and then go by analogy to something higher. Modern political discourse will often attempt to analogize a current political issue with something Biblical, such as the Jews' exodus from Egypt. Since this is an inversion of the hierarchy of importance, this trivializes scripture and tells us nothing new, and so we aren't learning anything: where, according to the politicians, are the Commandments of God? Lest we forget, new knowledge is the goal of reasoning. Our Lord's parable of the Prodigal Son indeed starts with something common — a father's forgiveness towards his wayward son — but instead points to the greater meaning of God's forgiveness for our sins; while this analogy tells us something about the relationship between human fathers and sons, that is not the main point of the parable, which mainly reveals to us knowledge of God.

Analogy is of great importance in Catholic and Orthodox Biblical exegesis — the interpretation of scripture — and this forms the basis of what is called Biblical typology. A ‘type’ in ancient Greek is a small model which is made by an artist in preparation for his larger final work of art (we still use this sense in the English word prototype), and so what God made in the Old Testament can seen as types, figures, or models for what we find fulfilled in the New Testament. We find many striking similarities in events and persons between the Old and New Testaments, and by using analogical reasoning, we can compare and contrast these, seeing the Old Testament types as models or foreshadowings of what is to come. We often find that something in the Old Testament reveals something in the New, and that what is found in the New Testament more fully explains the Old. We are told, explicitly, that the lamb slaughtered on Passover is a type of Christ, and in turn, Christ reveals more clearly the meaning of the Passover. The lovers in the Song of Songs analogously show the relationship between God and the human soul, which is something that was long recognized by the ancient rabbis, but can also be seen as a type of the relationship between Christ and the Church, and the Holy Spirit with the Virgin Mary. Through analogy, we see that Eve is a type of Mary, and so the Virgin is called the New Eve, and the main contrast illuminated by the analogy is that Mary succeeded where Eve failed.

Analogical reasoning applied to sacred scripture is also used in moral theology as well as in eschatology. We also find much analogy in the liturgy: the Old Testament reading at the Mass often prefigures the Gospel reading, and the Roman Canon explicitly mentions various Old Testament figures:

Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as once you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of our Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.

 

A stained glass window depicting Mary and Eve, at Immaculate Conception Church in Union, Missouri, illustrates the typology of Mary being the New Eve.

These analogies are of great importance to understanding Catholicism in general, and even when understanding Catholic art, where we might see the sacrifice of Abraham juxtaposed with the Crucifixion, or Melchizedek juxtaposed with the Last Supper. A flat, exclusively literal reading of sacred scripture — while not being denied by the Church, which is very important — tends to be dull, plodding, and disconnected. Reading the analogies in scripture brings it to life. Also, analogous reasoning can also be applied to nature, where natural objects such as water and light (which can be used to wash us or to light our way) give us spiritual insights, and in turn, we find that natural things such as water can have a sacramental role as in baptism.

We also find that analogical-typological reasoning can be useful for analyzing secular works. In the novel The Lord of the Rings, the characters of Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn, are each seen to be Christ types, being analogous to Christ's threefold office of prophet, victim-priest, and king respectively, and the plot of the novel can be better understood in this light. Analogies between secular Roman works on love and sacred scripture have also proved to be fruitful: the Romans discovered that jealousy is necessarily found in a lover, otherwise he does not love, and this shows to us the Biblical claim that God is jealous is likewise necessary, otherwise He does not love us; the Faith then more fully illuminates the classical notion that love has a Divine source.

In general, failure to observe analogous situations tends to set up an intellectual opposition between things, leading to ideologies. Scientism, for example, is an ideology that claims that the inductive method is the only valid form of reasoning, and this in turn ends up denying cause and effect. In religion, some see the Old and New Testaments as being in opposition to each other, which is core idea behind Gnosticism and ideological anti-Semitism; but this makes analogy impossible and so destroys the full Christian understanding and has unfortunate implications. Without good analogizing, things are seen in conflict which ends in destruction, and indeed we find a great distrust of analogy in Marxism, which is the ideology responsible for the greatest shedding of blood in human history. Analogy, on the other hand, tends to unify knowledge, and so in turn may help unify and harmonize society.

---

Starting on Wednesday, January 23^rd, 2013, Dr. Lawrence Feingold will deliver a series of lectures at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, “Typology: How the Old Testament Prefigures the New,” where he will demonstrate the fruits of the Church's typological understanding of sacred scripture. More information can be found here, and the outline (and eventually, God willing, audio recordings) of the lectures can be found here. Some of Dr. Feingold's previous lectures on typology can be found here and here.

Also, you might want to visit the exhibit Federico Barocci: Renaissance Master at the Saint Louis Art Museum, which runs through January 20^th, 2013. The exhibit is free on Friday. In addition to devotion-inspiring large religious paintings by a little-known but excellent artist, the exhibit includes many fine drawings that are models or types that Barocci used before making his finished work.

“The Adoration of the Magi”

“BEHOLD,” says Our Lord, “I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Redemption applies not only to our souls, but also to our works — transforming, even, our works of art. This is evident in the art of Christendom, long in decline, but now experiencing a revival. “...The riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you...” (Isa. 60:5), so says the first reading for the liturgy of the Epiphany, and with a humble, obedient faith, these riches can be put to good use, even in art:

Man, if he tries to be a god in his art, makes a fool of himself. He becomes like God, he makes beauty like God, when he is too much aware of God to be aware of himself. Then only does he not set himself too easy a task, for then he does not make his theme so that he may accomplish it; it is forced upon him by his awareness of God, by his wonder and value for an excellence not his own. So in all the beauty of art there is a humility not only of conception, but also of execution, which is mere failure and ugliness to those who expect to find in art the beauty and finish of nature, who expect it to be born, not made. They are always disappointed by the greatest works of art, by their inadequacy and strain and labour. They look for a proof of what man can do and find a confession of what he cannot do; but that confession, made sincerely and passionately, is beauty. There is also a serenity in the beauty of art, but it is the serenity of self-surrender, not of self-satisfaction, of the saint, not of the lady of fashion. And all the accomplishment of great art, its infinite superiority in mere skill over the work of the merely skillful, comes from the incessant effort of the artist to do more than he can. By that he is trained; by that his work is distinguished from the mere exclamation of wonder. He is not content to applaud; he must also worship, and make his offerings in his worship; and they are the best he can do. It was not only the shepherds who came to the birth of Christ; the wise men came also and brought their treasures with them. And the art of mankind is the offering of its wise men, it is the adoration of the Magi, who are one with the simplest in their worship—

Wise men, all ways of knowledge past,
To the Shepherd's wonder come at last.

But they do not lose their wisdom in their wonder. When it passes into wonder, when all the knowledge and skill and passion of mankind are poured into the acknowledgment of something greater than themselves, then that acknowledgment is art, and it has a beauty which may be envied by the natural beauty of God Himself.

— excerpt from the essay “The Adoration of the Magi,” from the book Essays on Art (1919), by A. Clutton-Brock (1868-1924).

Epiphany

Three Magi adoring the Christ child, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.

A description of the Magi, attributed to the Venerable Bede:

Magi sunt, qui munera Domino dederunt: primus fuisse dicitur Melchior, senex et canus, barba prolixa et capillis, tunica hyacinthina, sagoque mileno, et calceamentis hyacinthino et albo mixto opere, pro mitrario varia compositionis indutus: aurum obtulit regi Domino. Secundus, nomine Caspar, juvenis imberbis, rubicundus, mylenica tunica, sago rubco, calceamentis hyacinthinis vestitus: thure quasi Deo oblatione digna, Deum honorabat. Tertius, fuscus, integre barbatus, Balthasar nomine, habens tunicam rubeam, albo vario, calceamentis milenicis amictus: per myrrham Filium hominis moriturum professus est. Omnia autem vestimenta eorum Syriaca sunt.

Elsewhere, St. Bede wrote that one Magi was European, another African, and the third Asian. A mosaic at a fifth century church in Ravenna gives their names as Balthassar, Melchior, and Gaspar.

God's message, once limited to his Chosen People, became public and universal for all the nations, and so Epiphany has been called the most Catholic — or universal — of all feasts. Besides Christ's manifestation before the Magi, this feast day also traditionally celebrates the Nativity of Christ, the baptism of Christ in the Jordan River, and the wedding feast at Cana, where Christ turned water into wine.

Feast of Saint John the Apostle

Stained glass window of Saint John the Apostle, at Saint Louis University.

“The true meaning of Christmas”

...if you do not like what is sentimental and ceremonial, do not celebrate Christmas at all. — G.K. Chesterton

The commercial and tangential aspects of Christmas — those aspects which have nothing to do with the Incarnation of God in Bethlehem — are as criticized in our culture as they are celebrated, as we see in the well known television program A Charlie Brown Christmas, based on the characters from Charles Schultz's Peanuts comic strip, from 1965:



The animation and audio quality are rather poor, and the creative decision to use children for the voices (several of whom were too young to read the script) gives this a rather choppy quality. CBS executives thought that the Jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi was unsuitable for a children's program. The executives believed that the show would be a flop; rather, it turned out to be one of the most successful television programs of all time.

The show starts with the protagonist, Charlie Brown, being depressed over the commercialism of Christmas, and even his dog Snoopy falls into this, decorating his doghouse in order to win a contest.  Brown asks “What is the true meaning of Christmas?” and he is answered by his friend Linus:

‘And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.’

...That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

The studio executives thought that quoting sacred scripture was unsuited for television, but Schultz fought to keep it in. As far as I can remember, this is one of the few popular mainstream Christmas programs that actually mentions Christ.

A Lamentation

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent...
Disaster follows hard on disaster,
the whole land is laid waste...
I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light....

Feast of Saint Nicholas

Russian icon of Saint Nicholas, at Saint Louis University.

The stories about Santa Claus are insignificant compared to the legends of his namesake, Saint Nicholas the Bishop of Myra, whose veneration as a saint throughout history is second only to the Blessed Virgin.

Santa Claus gives toys to good little girls and boys, but Saint Nicholas saved little children from lives of prostitution — and we are not told if they were good or bad, if that mattered. Saint Nicholas is a patron saint of children, but he is also the patron of thieves, murderers, pirates, and prostitutes, for even the very wicked are in need heavenly help.

The Christian life is serious business indeed, but this means that festivity is also important. The commercialization and secularization of the seasons of Advent and Christmas are well-known, but the answer is not to turn these popular observances into something personal and private. The Puritans forbade the celebration of Christmas, because they thought its celebration turned people away from Christ: but it was the Puritans who eventually turned away from Christ, not the celebrants.

Mulled wine is a traditional beverage for celebrating Saint Nicholas' Day: red wine, cloves, cinnamon, and perhaps lemon, orange. mace, apple cider, nutmeg, raisins, and sugar (or any combination of the above) are simmered together for several minutes, and the beverage is consumed while warm. The Saint Nicholas Center website has many other popular customs for celebrating the feast.

Feast of Saint Francis Xavier

TODAY IS the feastday of Saint Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, who is called the greatest missionary since the Apostles, doing work in India, Indonesia, and Japan.



Statue, at the Cathedral of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, in Joliet, Illinois. Photo taken in 2007. He is a patron saint of the city of Joliet.



Stained glass window, at the White House Retreat, in Oakville, Missouri. Photo taken in 2011.



Saint Francis Xavier Church, on the campus of Saint Louis University, photo from 2009.

A Thanksgiving Proclaimation

GIVEN IN THE Continental Congress on November 1^st, 1777, a Thanksgiving Proclamation:

FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost."

And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.

— Pilgrim Hall Museum

All Souls Day

Day of wrath and doom impending, David’s word with Sibyl’s blending, Heaven and earth in ashes ending!

O what ear man’s bosom rendeth, When from heaven the Judge descendeth, On whose sentence all dependeth!

Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth, Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth, All before the throne it bringeth.

Death is struck, and nature quaking, All creation is awaking, To its Judge an answer making.

Lo! the book exactly worded, Wherein all hath been recorded; Thence shall judgment be awarded.

When the Judge His seat attaineth, And each hidden deed arraigneth, Nothing unavenged remaineth.

What shall I, frail man, be pleading? Who for me be interceding, When the just are mercy needing?

King of majesty tremendous, Who doest free salvation send us, Fount of pity, then befriend us!

Think, kind Jesu! —my salvation Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation; Leave me not to reprobation.

Faint and weary Thou has sought me, On the Cross of suffering bought me; Shall such grace be vainly brought me?

Righteous Judge! for sin’s pollution Grant Thy gift of absolution, Ere that day of retribution.

Guilty, now I pour my moaning, All my shame with anguish owning; Spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning!

Through the sinful woman shriven, Through the dying thief forgiven, Thou to me a hope hast given.

Worthless are my prayers and sighing, Yet, good Lord, in grace complying, Rescue me from fires undying.

With Thy sheep a place provide me, From the goats afar divide me, To Thy right hand do thou guide me.

When the wicked are confounded, Doomed to shame and woe unbounded, Call me, with thy Saints surrounded.

Low I kneel, with heart’s submission, See, like ashes my contrition! Help me in my last condition!

Ah! that day of tears and mourning! From the dust of earth returning, Man for judgment must prepare him:

Spare, O God, in mercy spare him! Lord, all‐pitying, Jesu blest, Grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.

Photo of Trorlight monument at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, in Saint Louis. Text of the sequence Dies Irae, from the translation approved for use by the Ordinariates erected under the auspices of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus.

Halloween

Some articles for the Eve of All Hallows' Day:

Traditional First Hallowmas Post
The Propriety Of Catholics' Celebrating Halloween
Are Scary Halloween Costumes Okay?
Memento Mori

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha is depicted here in the mosaics at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, along with Saints Isaac Jogues and René Goupil. Saint Catherine, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, was canonized on Sunday by Pope Benedict, who speaks about here:



Click here for the text of his homily.