Personal Failures

There have been a few incidences in the past months which have made me ponder human weakness. I thought I'd share my thoughts with you over the next couple posts. Here goes!

(From Despair.com)

 Personal failures. How easy it is for us to create a magnificent mental image of ourselves when reflecting on our achievements or even just our lack of "serious sin."  We begin to put ourselves on a pedestal and then we fall--not surprisingly. We repent and with God's grace get up again, yet even as our "mea culpa" is resounds, we fall again. And the cycle repeats itself.

We must get up each time, but how easy it is to become discouraged! It is so easy to think that as soon as we make a conscious decision to strive for sanctity, *poof* our weaknesses disappear. Everyone knows this is not true, but the thought can pervade our emotions and the temptation to discouragement seems ever greater. When we think like this though, our focus is in the wrong spot. (Geek warning!) It is as if we're looking through a diverging lens instead of a converging lens--instead of focusing beyond ourselves on God, our focus is inward on ourselves.

St. Josemaria Escriva wrote: 

"If you fall, get up with greater hope. Self-love alone is incapable of understanding that an error, when put right, helps us to know and to humble ourselves." 

Wow. You get a lot of bang for your buck there! Take a minute to reflect on that: "Self-love alone is incapable of understanding that an error, when put right, helps us to know and humble ourselves." Goodness. How easy it is to forget that we are not the Redeemer but rather the redeemed. Christ, the All-Perfect One is the reason we can strive to "...be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt 5:48)

Without His grace, all of our efforts would be in vain. Of course, we should never rejoice in our faults, but rather, once confessing them, rely on Christ's help to move forward. "With God all things are possible,"but the inverse could also be said: without God all things are impossible. If it were not for God's wonderful grace, we would be incapable of loving Him at all. Let us never forget to thank him for all the times he has helped us to love. (How good that he has pity on us even when we do not seek him out!)

Taken from The Curt Jester Blog

Someone once told me, "You know, no one--aside from Mary and Jesus--ever has been or ever will be completely perfect until heaven." It's easy to relativize that and say that "Oh yeah, every saint has sinned," but I believe there is a more profound truth to be found in that statement. That is, every saint had to deal with at least some sort of imperfection until the moment they died. As a local DRE once said, "The difference between saints and everyone else lies not in the fact that saints never sinned, but rather that they always got up and started over." This goes hand in hand with something Pope Benedict said in 2007:

"It is not correct to think we must live like this, so that we are never in need of pardon. We must accept our frailty but keep on going, not giving up but moving forward and becoming converted ever anew through the Sacrament of Reconciliation for a new start, and thus grow and mature in the Lord by our communion with him."

We all fail, but we can "gain" by our faults by turning to God in true contrition and acknowledging our weaknesses rather than focusing on our self love. In this way, God can bring great good even out of our greatest weaknesses. Obviously, we strive for perfection, but when failures come we seek He who is the Fountain of Mercy through placing our faults before the "doctors of the soul."

We're Going to Rome!

This is from Good Friday last year. The photo rights belong to the "Photographic Service of Vatican City"

Well, not exactly. 

Very few of us can actually be in Rome with the Holy Father this Easter (I can keep dreaming, can't I?), but at least we can accompany him virtually!

In case you haven't had a chance to check it out, the Vatican web site has a special page devoted to the events of the Triduum.

The site has practically everything you'll need for your trip! First of all, may I suggest that you "pick up" your virtual booklet? This will be especially helpful during the Triduum if you are not fluent in Latin. It contains the liturgy, not only in Latin but also in English and Italian. This way, when you accompany Papa Benedict at the Easter Vigil by viewing the Mass in video form, you can truly participate--well, virtually. (As an added bonus the booklets also contain the sacred music, so you can take part vocally as well).

If you want a handy copy of any of Pope Benedict's homilies to study with a friend, text files will be uploaded as each event in the Triduum takes place. Finally, if you would like to take a memento "home" with you after this virtual journey, photographs of each event will also be uploaded. :)



While few of us are privileged enough to truly go to Rome to celebrate the Easter Triduum, at least we can travel to "Rome from home"via the Vatican website. In this way, we can accompany the Holy Father in a unique way throughout this sacred time.

Come to think of it though, there's an even better way to accompany our dear Papa Bene this weekend: be truly present at the sacred liturgy. Truly pray the liturgy with Holy Mother Church. Are we not celebrating and participating in the re-Present-ing of the same passion, death and resurrection of Our Divine Lord? Are we not united with the Universal Church as she celebrates the saving love of the Divine Bridegroom? The Eternal Sacrifice of Christ is not one that is tied to the confines of space and time. Therefore, each time we attend Mass to celebrate the unbloody sacrifice of Jesus, we are in a special way united to all the Masses of the world--past, present, and future-- especially those Masses offered by the Vicar of Christ on Earth.

While it is worthwhile to take a trip to Rome--virtually or literally (and as I've heard nothing quite compares to the "real deal"), it is good to remember that all the glories of Rome cannot compare to the true Glorious One, who makes himself present on the Altar. After all, isn't that rather the point?

That said, let's remember to keep our Holy Father in our prayers this weekend as he leads the Church in her most sacred celebrations.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the webpage: http://www.vatican.va/liturgical_year/holy-week/2012/index_en.htm oops! :) 

Feet, Feet, Feet

Since it is Holy Week I've decided to re-run this post from January...

I just love babies, don't you?! One of my relatives is expecting, and we are all so excited!! I can't wait to see the little one! 

The other day, while I was making a visit I got to thinking about feet. (Bear with me here.) I was thinking about how cute and lovable baby Jesus' feet would have been. Think about it: it can be hard to resist kissing the tiny toes of any newborn, but imagine being able to kiss the adorable feet of God Incarnate! I bet Mary and Joseph spent long hours playing with and caressing His little hands and feet... though I'm not sure that they sang "This Little Piggy Went to Market." :) 

Needless to say, feet are mighty important things. They not only provide balance but also help us get around.  Without them, it would be hard--nigh impossible--to walk. 

When hearing the word "foot" one might think of a general appendage that is used for walking. But the truth is, feet can vary greatly: they can be hairy (like hobbits)/hairless, large (dufflepuds)/small, dirty/clean, overgrown/pedicured, fungus infested/... the list could go on and on. Basically, even among humans they can be quite diverse. 

Beyond a wide range of variation among types of feet, there are also many expressions in which we reference feet. Below I've included several that are well known, but there are many more.

put one's foot in it (or put one's foot in one's mouth ) informal say or do something tactless or embarrassing; commit a blunder or indiscretion. 

 have (or keep ) one's (or both ) feet on the ground be (or remain) practical and sensible: it's a very exciting time for the business but it's important that we keep our feet on the ground.  

have (or get ) a foot in the door gain or have a first introduction to a profession or organization.

have one foot in the grave informal often humorous be near death through old age or illness. 

my foot! informal said to express strong contradiction: Efficient, my foot!

feet of clay a fundamental flaw or weakness in a person otherwise revered.[with biblical allusion (Dan. 2:33) to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in which a magnificent idol has feet “part of iron and part of clay”; Daniel interprets this to signify a future kingdom that will be “partly strong, and partly broken,” and will eventually fall.]

at someone's feet as someone's disciple or subject: you would like to sit at my feet and thus acquire my wisdom. 

get one's feet wet begin to participate in an activity. 

But why am I talking about such things? Feet are so integral to normal life and even influence on culture (making it into our everyday cliches), that it might be of value to meditate on Christ's feet. 

We can picture Jesus' feet throughout his life:  his adorable baby feet in Bethlehem, his dusty sandaled feet that carried him in the ordinary years at Nazareth and throughout his public ministry, and his bleeding and swollen feet on the road to Calvary.

Like I mentioned earlier, I don't believe anyone would have trouble kissing Jesus' precious baby feet. 

We move on to the dusty, calloused, and hot feet of his public ministry. Here most people would refuse, rather grossed out. Yet these are the same feet that the immoral woman washed with her tears (Luke 7). And again, these are the same feet that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, sat by and (later) anointed with precious oil. 

Let us then try to imagine Jesus' feet at the time of his passion: bruised, bloody, swollen, torn up by the ascent to Calvary, dirt and grime caked onto Our Lord's open flesh.

 Placed at His feet at this point, I think many of us would recoil in horror at the thought of kissing them... Far away are those beautiful baby feet, yet here Jesus fulfills his salvific mission: Jesus--Yeshua " Y[ahweh] is Salvation."  

  

While we are not living at the time when Jesus walked the earth (and so cannot physically honor his precious feet), we can honor them through our ordinary tasks done well. 

As everyone knows, some tasks can be hard to do and can even repulse us in their repugnant (or just annoying) nature. Let us turn to these tasks with more love than before... as if every motion in their completion is a way of kissing Jesus' Divine feet on the Cross. 

In this way, our tasks can become a work of love--united to the work of True Love on the cross...

After all, we are called follow in his footsteps.

Changes to the Rubrics...

Hasn't the new translation of the Mass been wonderful? 

Apparently there are some changes in the Triduum rubrics as well! Fr V. from Adam's Ale summarized the changes here:


http://clevelandpriest.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-come-i-dont-remember-it-being-that.html

They're definitely worth checking out! : )