A Deo et Rege

After the Tomb altar, I went a statue of St. Therese, the Little Flower and said a prayer from the pilgrim’s manual. The realism of the statue was utterly amazing, almost as if she was standing right there with us.

Then, I moved to an altar and a cabinet that held many holy relics and said a prayer before the altar. As an Anglican, I had never known relics personally, just in history books. That is one aspect of Catholicism (as well as shrines) that was completely new to me. It was amazing to see the relics in person of many of those holy people I’ve admired over the years such as Maria Goretti, the Apostles, Perpetua, Francis, Clare, etc. Once again, this was another vivid reminder of the Incarnation.

Next, I said a prayer before a statue of St. Anne and traveled to the other side of the Lower Shrine where there were cabinets full of testimonials from people who had been cured at the Shrine and other reminders of their former states in life. A large number of crutches and braces filled the cabinets and lined the walls. Photos of babies conceived after visits to the Shrine were plentiful too. On top of the cabinet was a basket that was used to carry in a blind man. After his visit to the Shrine he could see. God still works today; the Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation is a vivid reminder of that.

After examining the testimonials, I made my way over to the Souls altar, perhaps the most beautiful and intriguing of all the places in the Shrine. I said my prayer there and then went to another altar with the Blessed Sacrament and prayed to Our Lord. I then said a prayer before the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who has special significance since she is patroness of the Americas and I became engaged on her feast day (December 12th).

I prayed before statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua before ending my pilgrimage of the Lower Shrine before a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I’ve always loved the devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, perhaps because it emphasizes the love of Jesus.

Finally, we made our way upstairs and across the street to the Shrine cafeteria to partake of the Lenten seafood buffet.

The Final installment coming soon…

Left photo is of the Souls Altar and right photo is the Sacred Heart of Jesus

After praying at the altar with the Statue of Our Lady of Consolation, I moved to the high altar and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. As most Catholics know, praying before the Blessed Sacrament is a great privilege and a wonderful devotion. When I first wanted to become Catholic, I went to my current parish and asked them to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and I know the Lord heard me. Praying before him at the shrine was no different.

After the high altar, I moved to the Our Lady of Sorrows altar. The beauty of the altar served as a sublime reminder of our Lord’s death and the grief his Mother bore in her heart. It was a perfect place to pray during Lent. The prayer before this altar in the pilgrim’s manual starts: "Dearest Mother, before you could become Consoler of the Afflicted you had to know true sorrow." We attempt during Lent (and all year) to try to meditate on and share in Jesus’ suffering and there is no better example than his Mother.

After the altar of Sorrows, I went to pray before an image of Christ’s divine mercy. After that I moved to pray before the statue of the Infant of Prague. The statues and images really did remind me of the Incarnation and how God became truly flesh and redeemed our world in our world. I’m not surprised that those denominations that have rejected images have moved towards Gnosticism, whether liberal or conservative forms.

Next, I moved downstairs to the lower shrine and prayed before the altar of Christ in the tomb. Just like our Lady of Sorrows, the images in this altar were powerful reminders of the suffering and death of Jesus. One thing I’ve learned from Catholicism is the importance of Jesus’ suffering and Cross. Fortunately, we have not capitulated to the spirit of the age which rejects Christ’s suffering and cross and replaces them with feel good theology.

More to come…

Photo 1 is of the Sorrows altar and photo 2 is of the altar of Christ in the tomb. Photos taken by David.

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of going to the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation. I want to share a little bit about my pilgrimage and encourage others to make a pilgrimage to this or similar shrines throughout the country and world.

We left the house about 1:00pm and drove to Carey, Ohio. Carey is a small town of about 3,500 people, showing that size and prestige don’t matter to God. The shrine contains a replica of the statue of Our Lady of Consolation in Luxembourg. In 1875, when the locals were moving this statue in procession the 7 miles from Frenchtown to Carey, there was a severe storm and yet, although surrounded by rain, neither those in the procession nor the statue itself got wet. Ever since there have been miracles associated with the shrine. The miraculous occurrences were described in a 1911 report to the Ohio Bishop as "overwhelming." They have continued to this day (more on that later).

When we first arrived to the shrine, we went to the gift shop where we bought a pilgrim’s prayer book and some containers for holy water. Then we went off to the actual shrine itself. The church building is beautiful and the statue of Our Lady of Consolation is mesmerizing.

The church is divided into a lower and upper shrine with numerous altars. The first place I started was at the side altar where the statue of our Lady of Consolation is displayed. I asked her to pray for my pilgrimage intentions and did some other devotions as well as lighting a votive candle. It was very easy to become fixed in that spot, knowing the power of God that has been displayed in this place. It was also an amazing thought to contemplate all of the other fellow Catholics (and others I’m sure) who had come to this small town in Ohio to go on a pilgrimage. We were told that at the time of the Solemnity of the Assumption, the shrine attracts around 6,000 people.

More to come…

Photo one is of the outside of the church. Photo two is a view of the Our Lady of Consolation altar. Photos taken by me or my brother David.

Pontificator has a great post and a great discussion going on about the Spiritual Exegesis of the Holy Scriptures.

Jamie at Ad Limina Apostolorum has made some excellent posts on this topic as well.

Today I’m going to visit The Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio. I’ve never been on a pilgrimage before and am excited about visiting the shrine. Please keep my in your prayers as I go on this pilgrimage.

Tomorrow Earl at Times Against Humanity will be appearing on the Steve Kane Show on WNN 1470, South Florida at 7:30am Eastern Time. He is going to be interviewed regarding euthanasia and the fight to stop the forced starvation Terri Schindler-Schiavo. You can tune in online and participate by calling their toll-free nationwide number: 877-275-2326. Even if you can’t tune in, please keep Terri and those like Earl who are fighting for her life in your prayers.

I remember being days away (or close to it) from graduation and receiving a donation request from the university. I was pretty annoyed that they had just taken lots of my money and already wanted a donation from me. I receive requests for donations from the schools all the time. I don’t mean to seem stingy, but I don’t give them any money. Here’s my personal policy towards university giving: once my last student loan payment is made, I’ll consider it.

One of the traditional Lenten disciplines is prayer (along with fasting and almsgiving). Prayer is a great privilege of communicating with God and yet, for such a sublime act, it doesn’t seemed to get used a whole lot by a great many people. I wish I had a dollar for everyone who said he didn’t have time for prayer or for those people who say their prayer lives are dry and boring. Communion with the Almighty may not always be exciting, but it should always be meaningful and plentiful.

I used to be a lousy pray-er myself. Growing up I always looked forward to praying and wanted to do it more often. However, I did poorly at the actual act of prayer. I always had in my mind the idea that prayer was supposed to be free and flowing, with no forms or structure. Although, this would seem like a great way to pray on the surface, often the spiritual juices wouldn’t flow and I would be stuck at what to say. And of course, not wanting to spend time feeling stuck before God, my prayer life suffered. I have countless prayer journals, all of which are full for about three months and gradually taper off to nothing. I didn’t really know how to pray, as odd as that may sound. At least I didn’t know how to pray in a manner that helped me really worship God and do so in a regular and meaningful way…that is until I discovered form prayer, the Hours, and the Church year.

Form prayer at first seemed foreign to me, like I was cheating. But there was also something beautiful and intriguing about it. The prayers, even though written by someone else, seemed to minister to me and say exactly what was on my mind. They were not rambling either, but said what I was trying to say concisely. I learned form prayers through the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Along with form prayers I discovered the Office and the Church Year.

The structures of Morning and Evening Prayer and the changing seasons of the Church year provided me with a prayer structure and rhythm, something that was missing from my individualistic approach. In the Catholic Church, the Hours have been prayed for centuries and their structure is an ancient one. The prayers and readings of Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline give the whole day a sacred structure in the same way that Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary time give the year a sacred structure. The best way to devote myself to prayer was to re-orient my spirituality from a secular schedule to a sacred one. In this way, prayer was not a footnote in my worldly day that I felt I had to do (but rarely did), but a primary focus. Although many will object that form prayer and the daily and yearly cycles are boring and repetitive, I can honestly say I’ve never had the same prayer time twice. There really is great freedom and variety in the form prayers and the keeping of sacred time.

This Lent, I highly recommend to those seeking to deepen or re-invigorate their prayer lives the praying the Hours and fully experiencing the seasons and fixed days within the Church year. You should find, like me, that it re-orients your life to God and is a perfect antidote for spiritual dryness.

Some good resources:

Liturgy of the Hours Online – has the current Liturgy of the Hours in booklet format for downloading
ChurchYear.Net – attempts to explain the Church year in easy to understand terms (N.B. run by yours truly)
Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours -the whole Hours in print (N.B. I get a small portion if you order it from here)
My Daily Psalm Book – includes the Psalms in traditional language for all the Hours. I bring this one to work since it’s pocket sized.

The Monastic Diurnal or the Day Hours of the Monastic Breviary – this Benedictine publication includes the hours of Prime, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, in parallel columns of Latin and English. It’s a great book, but is expensive due to the weak US dollar.

Sometimes the best way to spend an afternoon is just to take it easy, which is what I did today. A TV channel had a Cosby Show marathon and that was the perfect excuse just to sit down and do next to nothing. During commericals I practiced Greek from my old Greek textbook, but it was mainly just watching TV: me and Bill, Clair, Theo, Rudy, Vanessa and the gang. I still think the 80s were a high point in TV shows: The Cosby Show, the Facts of Life, etc. Ok, maybe it’s because I grew up during the 80s and am a tad sentimental. Either way, it’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

If I were a month, I would be: May (birthday, our Lady, spring)
If I were a day of the week, I would be: Saturday
If I were a time of day, I would be: 9:00am (just waking up!)
If I were a planet, I would be: Neptune
If I were a sea animal, I would be: a dolphin
If I were a direction, I would be: East
If I were a piece of furniture, I would be: couch
If I were a liquid, I would be: good coffee
If I were a body of water, I would be: a lake
If I were a stone, I would be: an emerald
If I were a tree, I would be: a maple
If I were a bird, I would be: eagle
If I were a flower/plant, I would be: tulip
If I were a kind of weather, I would be: light snow
If I were a musical instrument, I would be: violin
If I were an animal, I would be: cat
If I were a color, I would be: green
If I were an emotion, I would be: contentment
If I were a vegetable, I would be: green beans
If I were a sound, I would be: the sound of the wind
If I were an element, I would be: earth
If I were a car, I would be: BMW
If I were a song, I would be: All Creatures of Our God and King
If I were a movie, I would be directed by: Mel Gibson
If I were a book, I would be written by: J.R.R. Tolkien
If I were a food, I would be: Lasagna
If I were a place, I would be: Rome, Italy
If I were a material, I would be: cotton
If I were a taste, I would be: sweet
If I were a scent, I would be: rose
If I were a word, I would be: riparian
If I were an object, I would be: a statue
If I were a body part, I would be: head
If I were a facial expression, I would be: relaxed
If I were a subject in school, I would be: history
I were a dog, I would be: Golden Retriever
If I were a cat, I would be: a Hemingway cat (mitten pawed)
If I were a number, I would be: 100

I got this idea from Anastasia

St. (Pope) Leo the Great from Sermon 39, Section V ( On Lent: I)

Abstinence not only from food but from other evil desires, especially from wrath, is required in Lent. Relying, therefore, dearly-beloved, on these arms, let us enter actively and fearlessly on the contest set before us: so that in this fasting struggle we may not rest satisfied with only this end, that we should think abstinence from food alone desirable. For it is not enough that the substance of our flesh should be reduced, if the strength of the soul be not also developed. When the outer man is somewhat subdued, let the inner man be somewhat refreshed; and when bodily excess is denied to our flesh, let our mind be invigorated by spiritual delights. Let every Christian scrutinise himself, and earth severely into his inmost heart: let him see that no discord cling there, no wrong desire be harboured. Let chasteness drive incontinence far away; let the light of truth dispel the shades of deception; let the swellings of pride subside; let wrath yield to reason; let the darts of ill-treatment be shattered, and the chidings of the tongue be bridled; let thoughts of revenge fall through, and injuries be given over to oblivion. In fine, let "every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted be removed by the roots." For then only are the seeds of virtue well nourished in us, when every foreign germ is uprooted from the field of wheat. If any one, therefore, has been fired by the desire for vengeance against another, so that he has given him up to prison or bound him with chains, let him make haste 154 to forgive not only the innocent, but also one who seems worthy of punishment, that he may with confidence make use of the clause in the Lord’s prayer and say, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Which petition the LORD marks with peculiar emphasis, as if the efficacy of the whole rested on this condition, by saying, "For if ye forgive men their sins, your Father which is in heaven also will forgive you: but if ye forgive not men, neither will your Father forgive you your Sins."

Read the whole thing at New Advent.

Image used above and information on St. Leo at Doctors of the Catholic Church: St. Leo the Great.

The net looms large in religious debates. I’ve been debating, studying, and learning about theology on the internet for over five years now. I can honestly say that I would not be Catholic (and maybe not even Christian) if it were not for the positive and negative influences of the internet. Negatively speaking, the internet exposed me to all the various sects of Christianity, which made me move past debating the content of the Bible to thinking about questions of authority. Positively speaking, the net introduced me to great people and countless resources, both of which addressed the questions I was asking and gave satisfying answers.

One particular resource that was instrumental in my conversion to Catholicism was the blog Pontifications, written by an Episcopal priest. The Pontificator’s genius is not so much in the answers he gives or the resources he provides (although these are both excellent), but in the pointed and relevant questions he asks us all to ponder, especially with regards to authority. His questions troubled me; the solutions he gave resonated strongly with me. The debates among his commenters spurred me into further questions and taught me a lot (it’s amazing how many brilliant people comment on his blog).

The Pontificator has caught some flack from some of his readers recently, so I want to provide an alternative to the criticism and give him a hearty "thank you!" I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.

According to recent news, the Church of England (Anglican) is thinking about re-introducing heresy trials. Although this will surely anger some of the atheists posing as Anglican ministers, I think it’s an important step to re-vitalilze a once respectable, but now moribund church. I have been critical of Anglicanism during and after my conversion to Catholicism, but I will grant that this is a positive step forward. 

I know some people will hear "heresy trials" and shudder, conjuring up images of people being burnt at the stake, but it’s not about that at all. Rather, it’s about a group of people defining themselves and setting boundaries as to what is acceptable practice and theology. Would anyone be surprised or upset if a racist holding a leadership position were kicked out of the NAACP? Of course, not. So, why should a fuss be made about someone who denies key tenets of Christianity being removed from a position of leadership? For purposes of integrity, that person should’ve left a long time ago. There is one main obstacle with heresy trials in Anglicanism: a determination of what exactly Anglicans believe and what is authoritative. 

Ash Wednesday is here at last. Like my friend Charles, this is my first Catholic Lent and I’m excited about that. My parish is offering weekly Stations of the Cross and a Lenten discussion group on the Eucharist. I’ve always done Stations of the Cross privately, but can’t wait to do it with people from my parish this year. I also can’t wait to learn more about the Eucharist.

Growing up evangelical, I always had Advent, Christmas, and Easter, but oddly enough, never Lent. Maybe it was considered too negative, I don’t know. Lent always fascinated me, however, and even when I was in a campus evangelical group I always gave something up for Lent. Lent was a natural impulse, even if I couldn’t explain the reasons behind it. I was amazed how readily my other evangelical friends took to "giving something up" for Lent too. Of that group, I know that two of us are now Catholic and one is Orthodox.

I believe God instituted Lent through his Church, of course. But, why has Lent been so enduring, not only for Catholics and the Orthodox, but also Protestants of all stripes? I believe it’s because, as Christians, especially overworked, overstressed 21st century Western Christians constantly bombarded by society’s self-help philosophy, feel good theology, and the denial of sinfulness, we desperately need Lent to keep us oriented to God and on track spiritually. Too many people try to turn Christianity into a feel good religion of psychology or self help. They want only the resurrection. As Catholics, we seek to know and participate in the life of our Lord, not just the resurrection, but also the wilderness and cross.

Blessed Ash Wednesday to you all!

Lent is coming this Wednesday and it’s that time of year when Catholics and other liturgical Christians usually "give something up." I’ve been participating in Lent for about 5 years and have given up some standard things: coffee, meat, red meat, sweets, etc. The coffee was by far the most difficult, but still nothing compared to what our Lord gave us. I haven’t decided what to give up this year yet. I’m interested in what kinds of things my blog readers have given up in the past or are giving up this year. Comments welcome.