Surprise!

One item of profound concern to me back when I was contemplating entering the Church was the note of dire warning in the collective voice of Protestantism. No daughter was ever more seriously cautioned against rash elopement – he’s not serious about you, he’ll mistreat you, he’ll get tired of you, he’ll leave you, you’ll come crawling home, you’ll rue the day…. The gloom-and-doom prognostication is enough to give any would-be convert grave pause; after all, conversion is a serious step, and anyone who undertakes it lightly has no real comprehension of the potential eternal consequences. I was worried, especially since I was bringing children into the Church with me. What if the warnings proved true?

Next Easter will mark our 10^th anniversary as Catholics, and after nearly 10 years I think I can speak with some authority on this subject. Did the Protestant misgivings hold water? Let’s examine them one by one – you might be surprised:

Protestants warned that by submitting myself to the teaching of the Church I would make of myself an intellectual slave.

Surprisingly, since proclaiming that “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God,” I have been freed to ponder and explore doctrine like never before, securely tethered to “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).

Protestants warned that by using set prayers, I would be putting a chokehold on my devotional life.

Surprisingly, written prayers proved to be the trellis upon which my frail prayer life has grown and borne fruit.

Protestants warned that by participating in the liturgy I would lose any sense of a personal relationship with Christ.

Surprisingly, by participating in the Church’s worship at Mass, my personal relationship with Jesus has been greatly strengthened, as I now have the assistance of the Church teaching me how better to pray and to worship my Lord, and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist to change me from the inside out.

Protestants warned that when I began striving to obey the commandments of Christ, I would become bound up in works and lose sight of grace.

Surprisingly, in attempting to obey Christ’s command to love God and love my neighbor as the Church teaches us to do, I have been overwhelmed by the necessity of God’s grace to fit me for this otherwise impossible task.

Protestants warned that by embracing a belief system that proclaimed the existence of a ministerial priesthood, I would betray my understanding of the “priesthood of the believer.”

Surprisingly, when I accepted the idea of priests who offer up the once-for-all sacrifice of the Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, I became profoundly aware of my own responsibility as a member of the priesthood of believers, most especially when I assist at Mass, and when I pray, “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”

Protestants warned that by confessing my sins to a mere man, I would forget that only God can forgive sins.

Surprisingly, by taking seriously my responsibility to confess my sins to a priest, I have become profoundly convinced of God’s love and forgiveness in the confessional.

Protestants warned that by forsaking their “once-saved/always saved” theology, I would lose all sense of “blessed assurance” and live in constant fear of hell.

Surprisingly, by admitting that the Bible does teach that we can lose our salvation, I have been freed to embrace a constant, trust-filled reliance on the only One Who can keep sin from ruling over me (Ps 119:133, Rom 6:12) rather than pretending that this One will turn a blind eye no matter what I do….

Protestants warned that my Christian walk would suffer as I embraced the notion of “a second chance” at salvation after death known as Purgatory.

Surprisingly, as I came to understand that the doctrine of Purgatory proclaims a final, thorough cleansing for those already headed to Heaven, I began joyfully offering up my sufferings in this life in cooperation with the God Who loves me too much to leave me the way He found me.

Protestants warned that I would be taught to consider 7 uninspired books to be Holy Scripture, books that the Church added to the Bible after the Reformation in support of false doctrines.

Surprisingly, the historical truth turned out to be the opposite of what I had been warned, and I began studying the 7 inspired books that Protestants removed from Holy Scripture, books that had been there since the New Testament canon was settled.

Protestants warned that I would end up praying to Mary and the saints rather than to God.

Surprisingly, as a faithful Catholic I have been taught to ask Mary and the saints to pray for me to the Lord our God that I would love Him above all things.

Protestants warned that I would lose sight of Christ when I cultivated a devotion to Mary.

Surprisingly, by drawing closer to Mary, my relationship to Christ has become deeper and wider and more profound than ever, as I ponder the events of her Son’s life through her eyes.

Protestants warned that I would become disillusioned with Catholicism when I found out what Catholics were really like.

Surprisingly, as I receive my Lord in Holy Communion Sunday after Sunday, I have been given special insight into the sins and failings of one Catholic in particular – myself. I am far too busy fighting to overcome that which displeases God in my own life to worry about what other Catholics are really like, although I suspect that they are for the most part a lot like me. “What is that to you? You follow Me.”

Protestants warned that I might get “left behind.”

Surprisingly, it turned out that the novel doctrine of the “secret rapture” so dear to Evangelical hearts is nothing more than theological speculation on their part, heavy on eisegesis and devoid of historicity. As a Catholic I await with the Church the glorious Second Coming of our Lord.

Protestants warned that I was leaving the Truth behind.

When I entered the Catholic Church, I left behind nothing that was true in all the Protestant denominations I had loved throughout my life. I entered into MORE truth, into the very Fullness of the Truth, when I was reconciled to the Church. After all, the Catholic Church is the Church established by Jesus Christ the Lord, and so there is

no surprise about that at all!

On the memorial of St. Francis Xavier

Deo omnis gloria!

Liturgy – You Say It Like It’s A Bad Thing

If you come to Mass with me, I won’t be surprised if you complain that we Catholics recite a lot of things from memory, leaving you at a disadvantage. The written prayers and liturgical responses we use are generally a sticking point with Protestants, and are one of their big objections to the Catholic form of worship. Written prayers are bogus! When I was in high school, my best friend’s father, a deacon in the Church of Christ, waited until all heads were bowed and eyes were closed before he pulled a prepared prayer out of his pocket and read it aloud. His daughter was scandalized (she had peeked). Many Protestants would look askance at reading a prayer; they believe that anything written down is “canned” and therefore insincere – true worship is spontaneous. That would certainly be news to Jesus Who, after all, said: “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation'” (Lk 11:2-4). Jesus and his disciples prayed the Psalms, which are written prayers (just as Catholics pray a Psalm at every Mass). And of course, many, many hymns are written prayers set to music – Be Thou My Vision, How Great Thou Art, Take My Life and Let it Be – Protestants sing many written prayers. Catholics do the same, but we don’t share this odd insistence that written prayers always be set to music.

At Protestant churches you never know what you’re going to hear, and a lot of people like it like that. Spontaneity! The movement of the Spirit! But spontaneity can be synonymous with foolishness and the spewing of large volumes of tripe. At my mom’s charismatic assembly, the leaders once had to take a “prophetess” outside for a little chat – “Thus saith the Lord!” she had spontaneously claimed, warning that His return was imminent and that He was coming “with a sword” to deal with those in the assembly who persisted in their sins. Chastened, she apologized, claiming that she was merely repeating what she thought she had heard the Spirit saying. Prayers can be as unpredictable as prophecy. Spontaneous prayers can range from the misguided to the gossip-ridden to the inane, as in the cartoon quip that Mark Shea likes to quote: “Oh Lord, I just really want to just really pray that you would just really touch me, Lord, in a special way right now, and that you would just really take the words ‘just’ and ‘really’ out of my prayer vocabulary!” “In a special way” can go, too, as far as I’m concerned.

Having certain prayers prepared beforehand makes sense from a Catholic perspective, on the understanding that God the Holy Spirit can inspire the contents of a prayer ahead of time just as well as on the spur of the moment, and that most people do better when not under pressure to “perform.” Prepared prayers reduce the “tripe” factor to nil, because as a reader of this blog, LizB, points out, they are “perfected prayers.” The Gloria that we pray after the Penitential Rite has been recited by Christians at Mass since the 4^th century – it brilliantly expresses the cry of Christian hearts. The Liturgy is replete with Biblical references, with layer upon layer of meaning in each phrase and in each action. Man-made attempts to develop “relevant worship” are shallow exactly because of the ties that bind that worship to the events and trends of the day. My own attempts to produce adequate prayers, prayers that express all the longings, fears, needs, hopes and love of my heart, are similarly inadequate because of the ties binding me to my own narrow interests. In other words, my prayers in my own words are sincere, but I recognize that they could use some help. My spontaneous prayers predictably run on their own little hamster wheel of my selfish concerns, i.e., I need… I want…
I’m worried… What if… Help me… Don’t let this happen… Don’t let that happen… Oh, please, God! Please! Please! Please! Even when I am able to praise and worship, that praise and worship is limited to what my tiny mind and stunted heart can come up with. I need help. St. Paul promised that the Holy Spirit will pray for us in our weakness, and thank God He does. He is there with us at Mass, teaching us to pray, lifting up our minds and hearts through participation in the Liturgy, up to the Throne where our perfected prayers are being poured out. There is a chasm between my puny efforts at worship, and the worship going on in Heaven, and that chasm makes the Grand Canyon look like a gopher hole. The Mass bridges the chasm, because the Mass is actually a participation in the heavenly liturgy before the throne of God. As Revelation 4 tells us, St. John was caught up in spirit and saw:

A throne was there in heaven, and on the throne sat One Whose appearance sparkled like jasper and carnelian. Around the throne was a halo as brilliant as an emerald. Surrounding the throne I saw twenty-four other thrones on which twenty-four elders sat, dressed in white garments and with gold crowns on their heads…. In the center and around the throne, there were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back…. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come.” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the One who sits on the throne, Who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the One who sits on the throne and worship Him, Who lives forever and ever. They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming: “Worthy are You, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; because of Your will they came to be and were created.”

…Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the [seven] spirits of God sent out into the whole world. He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the One who sat on the throne. When He took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. They sang a new hymn:

“Worthy are You to receive the scroll and to break open its seals, for You were slain and with Your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.”

I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless  in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: “To the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”

There seems to be a great deal of repetition going on in the heavenly worship! Notice, too – worship quite clearly is corporate. St. John reports that certain worshippers all cry out the same thing at the same time. Had he visited a charismatic Heaven, he would not have been able to report much more than “There was quite a cacophony when the Lamb received the scroll!” As it is, he knows exactly what the worshippers said, because they cried out in unison. They responded as one.

And at Mass we lift up our voices in unison to become part of that “one voice.” As the Catechism puts it:

In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle.

Three chapters of the ancient Christian document, the “Didache” (written between 60 and 110 A.D.) deal with the liturgy, so an innovation it is not. Christians have always attended Mass to devote themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). But Catholics don’t merely “attend” Mass. We “assist at” Mass. This is what the emphasis on “fully conscious and active participation” in the Mass is all about. Just mouthing the words gets us nowhere – we have to make those words our own. The prayer of the saints before the Throne must become the prayer of our hearts. We must learn the language of Heaven.

Sometimes “worship” in the Protestant sense boils down to “an awesome experience of God.” It must be that – but it mustn’t end there. Going to Mass is a part of our formation as Christians. We are there to learn how to worship more completely, and much of what we need to learn is contained in the words of the Mass, the greatest prayer the Church can offer. Every one of the words and the actions of the liturgy is there for a reason – to glorify God and to teach us how to glorify God. Every Mass can bring you that much closer to Him as you learn to speak the words of the language of Heaven, the words the Church is teaching your heart to pronounce.

On the memorial of St. Leo the Great

Deo omnis gloria!

Biblical Litany

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard the complaint that Catholics use written prayers rather than communicating with God spontaneously! It goes like this: Catholics pray litanies and novenas, heaping up empty phrases, thinking that God will hear them, when the Bible says: “And when you are praying, DO NOT use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”

Of course, the key words in Jesus’ warning are “empty” and “meaningless.” Jesus did not say, “Do not pray set prayers.” He and His disciples prayed the Psalms, which are of course set prayers. And in the Psalms we see a beautiful example of a litany – Psalm 136.

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

It goes along in this vein for 26 verses, with the set response of “For His mercy endures forever” repeated 26 times. So obviously, Jesus could not have been condemning the exceedingly Biblical practice of praying a litany. Clearly, Jesus was NOT condemning repetition, or He would have been condemning Psalm 136. He was rebuking the Gentiles for VAIN repetition, mindless chanting, thinking that God would hear them simply because they used many words.

A good example of a Catholic litany would be the one below, the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is prayed after Mass every first Friday of the month. It is repetitious, with the response of “Have mercy on us!” after almost every petition (I have omitted this response below, beginning with the 10th petition, to save space). Note how Scriptural this litany is! I have attached a chapter-and-verse reference to show the Biblical origin of each petition (litany is in red):

Lord, have mercy
(Ps 123:3) Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us!

Christ, have mercy
(Mt. 20:30) Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!

Lord, have mercy
(Lk 18:13) God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Christ, hear us
(Ps 4:1) Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Christ, graciously hear us (Ps 17: 6) I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us! (Ps. 106:47) Save us, O LORD our God!

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us! (Mt. 15:22) Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!

God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us! (Ps 71:2) Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me.

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us! (Ps. 86:1) Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father
(Jn 1:14) We saw His glory, the glory that is His as the only begotten Son of the Father.

Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother (Lk 1:35) The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God
(Heb 10:5-7) … a body you have prepared for me

Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty
(Jude 1:25) to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Heart of Jesus, Sacred Temple of God
(Jn 2:21) But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High
(Jn 14:10) …the Father who dwells in me does His works.

Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven
(Jn 10:9) I am the Gate.

Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity
(Heb 12:29) For our God is a consuming fire.

Heart of Jesus, abode of justice and love
(Ps 89:14) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before You.

Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love
(Titus 3:4-5) But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us….

Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues
(1 Pet 2:9) …that you may declare His virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise
(Rev 5:12) Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts
(Rev 15:3) Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Heart of Jesus, in whom are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge
(Col 2:3) In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells the fullness of divinity
(Col 1:19) For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased
(Mt. 3:17) This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received
(Jn 1:16) And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills
(Rom 8:22-23) For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Heart of Jesus, patient and most merciful
(James 5:11) The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

Heart of Jesus, enriching all who invoke Thee
(Rom 10:12) …for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him.

Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and holiness
(Jer 2:13) They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters….

Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins
(1 Jn 2:2) He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobrium
(1 Pet 2:23) When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate

Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses
(Is 53:5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities

Heart of Jesus, obedient to death
(Phil 2:8) He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance
(Jn 19:34) One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear

Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation
(2 Thess 2:16-17) Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts….

Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection (Jn 11:25) I am the Resurrection and the Life.

Heart of Jesus, our peace and our reconciliation
(Col 1:20) and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things….

Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins
(Rom 4:25) He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee
(Hebrews 5:9) He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation

Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee
(1 Tim 1:1) Christ Jesus, who is our hope

Heart of Jesus, delight of all the Saints
(Is 61:10) I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness….

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord (Ps.118:25) O LORD, save us!

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, Lord (Ps. 80:1) Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel!

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy on us (Is. 33:2) But Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you!

V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, (Mt. 11:29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

R. Make our hearts like to Thine!

SO MUCH SCRIPTURE! Think of the teaching value of a litany like this! Someone who prays this regularly will have these phrases imprinted on his heart, and will know that Jesus is:

–    Of infinite majesty!

–    The Temple of God!

–    The Gate of Heaven!

–    The Burning Furnace of Love!

–    Full of justice and love!

–    Most worthy of all praise!

–    King of our hearts!

–    The repository of wisdom and knowledge!

–    Filled with the fullness of God!

–    The One who bestows His riches on all who call upon Him!

Need I go on? The Biblical case for praying litanies is quite clear – how much more Biblical can you get?

Still object to the practice of praying novenas, prayers offered up over a period of nine days?

Acts 1:3 – Jesus tarried with His disciples for forty days after the Resurrection.

Acts 1: 9 – Jesus ascends into Heaven.

Acts 1: 14 – Jesus’ disciples gathered in the Upper Room, and prayed for 9 days.

Acts 2:1 – On the 10th day (Pentecost), God answered their prayers.

For a look at the Scriptural basis for the Mass, check this out at Crossed the Tiber!

 

On the memorial of the Guardian Angels

Deo omnis gloria!