Bowing one's Head at the Holy Names

"Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum, et donavit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen: 10 ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur cælestium, terrestrium et infernorum, 11 et omnis lingua confiteatur, quia Dominus Jesus Christus in gloria est Dei Patris." - St. Paul, Phil. 2:9-11

So just what is this all-powerful name to which every knee must bow; that holy name worthy of designating Our Lord and Savior, Christ the λόγος who had become Incarnate. The name which makes the Evil One tremble for when the name is invoked, he instantly reminded of his createdness, his disobedience, and his defeat at the hands of the Son of God

In the Hebrew, we find יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yĕhōšuă‘, Joshua) meaning 'Yahweh delivers.' When the the name underwent its Hellenization into Greek, we get Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), its Latin transliteration being Iesus.

Both parents of Our Lord were specifically instructed to name their child Jesus. No longer is Emmanuel or other types and prophetic names being used:

"Et ait angelus ei : Ne timeas, Maria : invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum. 31 Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum: 32 hic erit magnus, et Filius Altissimi vocabitur, et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris ejus : et regnabit in domo Jacob in æternum, 33 et regni ejus non erit finis." - Luke 1:30-33

"And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God. 31 Behold you shall conceive in your womb and shall bring forth a son: and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. 33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end."

and

"Hæc autem eo cogitante, ecce angelus Domini apparuit in somnis ei, dicens : Joseph, fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam : quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu Sancto est. 21 Pariet autem filium : et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum : ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum." - Matt. 1:21

"But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.""

So there we are: Jesus the Christ.

'We give honour to the Name of Jesus, not because we believe that there is any intrinsic power hidden in the letters composing it, but because the Name of Jesus reminds us of all the blessings we receive through our Holy Redeemer. To give thanks for these blessings we revere the Holy Name, as we honour the Passion of Christ by honouring His Cross.' (Colvenerius, "De festo SS. Nominis", ix)

But His Name is not simply another word, as our names our not simply words. Names provide and give identity. For this reason, when Our Lord was brought to the Temple to be circumcised, he was given the name of Jesus. Finally, we have a name with which to address the Deity formally known simply as "I AM."

Names are vitally important. If we wish to grow into a deep and intimate relationship with Our Lord, we call Him by Name and glorify the Father through His Name.

"Amen, amen dico vobis, qui credit in me, opera quæ ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet : quia ego ad Patrem vado. 13 Et quodcumque petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, hoc faciam : ut glorificetur Pater in Filio. 14 Si quid petieritis me in nomine meo, hoc faciam." - John 14: 12-14

"Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do: and greater than these shall he do. 13 Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you shall ask me anything in my name, that I will do."

We must revere and adore the Holiest of Names!

"Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary" - St. Bernardine of Siena

One the greatest promoters of this devotion were St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran. They carried with them on their missions in the turbulent cities of Italy a copy of the monogram of the Holy Name, surrounded by rays, painted on a wooden tablet, wherewith they blessed the sick and wrought great miracles. At the close of their sermons they exhibited this emblem to the faithful and asked them to prostrate themselves, to adore the Redeemer of mankind.

The name of Jesus is quite powerful. We know the name to be quite powerful. It protects us against Satan and his wiles, for the Devil fears the Name of Jesus, who has conquered him on the Cross. The priest, when in an exorcism, casts out the demon through aid of the power of the Holy Name. As St. Bernard notes, it is one's strongest name...the Blessed Name of the Holy Redeemer!!!

"Are not all consoled as often as they recollect the Name of Jesus, which Name impinges upon the mind, and when repeatedly invoked, heals the wounded senses, strengthens the virtues, stirs up good and honest manners, and keeps the affections pure. If you are afflicted with a sluggish mind or an indolent faith, Jesus heals you by exciting fervor, and the Name of Jesus will be always in our heart, and always on your fingertips, because all your emotions and all your actions will be directed towards Jesus" - St. Bernard

So there we are. The Holy Name, that also of Our Blessed Mother and the saint we honor with the festival of the day are names to point to the glory of God, our Salvation, and all that beautiful stuff.

It is a name we must revere. We must strive never to take the name of the Savior in vane: 'Non assumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum : nec enim habebit insontem Dominus eum qui assumpserit nomen Domini Dei sui frustra.'

Ok...enough rambling...on to the bowing of the head.The custom of bowing the head at the mention of His Name was formally written into law at the Second Council of Lyons, A.D. 1274, convened by Pope Gregory X:

"Those who assemble in church should extol with an act of special reverence that Name which is above every Name, than which no other under Heaven has been given to people, in which believers must be saved, the Name, that is, of Jesus Christ, Who will save His people from their sins. Each should fulfil in himself that which is written for all, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow; whenever that glorious Name is recalled, especially during the sacred Mysteries of the Mass, everyone should bow the knees of his heart, which he can do even by a bow of his head."

That is, we should develop the habit, especially (but not only) during Mass, of bowing our head at the mention of the Holy Names. It is a simply bow of the head, not a waist bow or a profound bow as one would perform during a Confiteor. The reason is that, as with many things in the Church, there is a sort of economy or incremental stages of pious acts that mark of realities. Even recently, the The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament has made this point. Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds writes:

"It is part of our Catholic tradition that we offer reverence not just with the words on our lips but through actions such as a bow of the head. This bow is made whenever the Holy Trinity are named together, for example, in a doxology, and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honour Mass is being celebrated. Though the document from the Holy See is concerned with language and translation it provides an opportunity to remind ourselves of the reverence owed to the name of God both in worship and in daily life."

We genuflect on our right knee to Our Lord, substantially present in the Most Blessed Sacrament (left knee to human rulers like Bishops). In the Roman West, genuflecting is the greatest outward sign of obedience, servitude, and humility. When exposed in a monstrance, custom is to get on both knees and bow profoundly. When we hear the Holy Names, we bow the head and men remove their hats...or birettas...and give reverence to the Name that is reminds us of Our Lord truly present in a more essential way in the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, according to the Rev. Neil Roy who used to teach at ND, when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar, one in fact does not customarily bow the head at the Holy Name of Jesus as in a more profound way, Christ is present.

Anywho, another very scattered set. I leave you with the Greek Jesus Prayer:

Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

St. Theophan the Recluse regarded the Jesus Prayer stronger than all other prayers by virtue of the power of the Holy Name of Jesus.

May the Holy Name of Jesus Pronounced by the Holy Mother of God Protect and Defend Us!!!

Happy Birthday Mama!!!

Oh dear...well here we are...back in the game baby!

First I have to note, on this Feast of the Nativity of the Most Blessed Virgin, that the football game last Saturday at Our Lady's University was more than pitiful. In fact, (and I remind you I was a student in 2007...though I try to forget that season) that was the worst I think I have seen them play. It was so bad Our Lady intervened with her tears and tried to make it stop. When that storm wasn't enough, God tried to make it stop. Ok... rant over.

Today we celebrate the Nativity of the Most Blessed Theotokos, the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin, our Most Blessed Mother. Happy Birthday Mama!

So there we are. Virginity is alien to mothers and childbearing is strange for a virgin, but in You O Theotokos both are found! Therefore without ceasing we magnify Thee!

The only discussion of the Nativity of Our Lady can be found in the Protoevangelium of James where we read:

"The Birth of Mary the Holy Mother of God, and Very Glorious Mother of Jesus Christ.

1. In the records of the twelve tribes of Israel was Joachim, a man rich exceedingly; and he brought his offerings double, saying: There shall be of my superabundance to all the people, and there shall be the offering for my forgiveness to the Lord for a propitiation for me. For the great day of the Lord was at hand, and the sons of Israel were bringing their offerings. And there stood over against him Rubim, saying: It is not meet for you first to bring your offerings, because you have not made seed in Israel. And Joachim was exceedingly grieved, and went away to the registers of the twelve tribes of the people, saying: I shall see the registers of the twelve tribes of Israel, as to whether I alone have not made seed in Israel. And he searched, and found that all the righteous had raised up seed in Israel. And he called to mind the patriarch Abraham, that in the last day God gave him a son Isaac. And Joachim was exceedingly grieved, and did not come into the presence of his wife; but he retired to the desert, and there pitched his tent, and fasted forty days and forty nights, saying in himself: I will not go down either for food or for drink until the Lord my God shall look upon me, and prayer shall be my food and drink.

2. And his wife Anna mourned in two mournings, and lamented in two lamentations, saying: I shall bewail my widowhood; I shall bewail my childlessness. And the great day of the Lord was at hand; and Judith her maid-servant said: How long do you humiliate your soul? Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand, and it is unlawful for you to mourn. But take this head-band, which the woman that made it gave to me; for it is not proper that I should wear it, because I am a maid-servant, and it has a royal appearance. And Anna said: Depart from me; for I have not done such things, and the Lord has brought me very low. I fear that some wicked person has given it to you, and you have come to make me a sharer in your sin. And Judith said: Why should I curse you, seeing that the Lord has shut your womb, so as not to give you fruit in Israel? And Anna was grieved exceedingly, and put off her garments of mourning, and cleaned her head, and put on her wedding garments, and about the ninth hour went down to the garden to walk. And she saw a laurel, and sat under it, and prayed to the Lord, saying: O God of our fathers, bless me and hear my prayer, as You blessed the womb of Sarah, and gave her a son Isaac.

3. And gazing towards the heaven, she saw a sparrow's nest in the laurel, Tobit 2:10 and made a lamentation in herself, saying: Alas! Who begot me? And what womb produced me? Because I have become a curse in the presence of the sons of Israel, and I have been reproached, and they have driven me in derision out of the temple of the Lord. Alas! To what have I been likened? I am not like the fowls of the heaven, because even the fowls of the heaven are productive before You, O Lord. Alas! To what have I been likened? I am not like the beasts of the earth, because even the beasts of the earth are productive before You, O Lord. Alas! To what have I been likened? I am not like these waters, because even these waters are productive before You, O Lord. Alas! To what have I been likened? I am not like this earth, because even the earth brings forth its fruits in season, and blesses You, O Lord.

4. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, saying: Anna, Anna, the Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world. And Anna said: As the Lord my God lives, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its life. 1 Samuel 1:11 And, behold, two angels came, saying to her: Behold, Joachim your husband is coming with his flocks. For an angel of the Lord went down to him, saying: Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Go down hence; for, behold, your wife Anna shall conceive. And Joachim went down and called his shepherds, saying: Bring me hither ten she-lambs without spot or blemish, and they shall be for the Lord my God; and bring me twelve tender calves, and they shall be for the priests and the elders; and a hundred goats for all the people. And, behold, Joachim came with his flocks; and Anna stood by the gate, and saw Joachim coming, and she ran and hung upon his neck, saying: Now I know that the Lord God has blessed me exceedingly; for, behold the widow no longer a widow, and I the childless shall conceive. And Joachim rested the first day in his house.

5. And on the following day he brought his offerings, saying in himself: If the Lord God has been rendered gracious to me, the plate on the priest's forehead will make it manifest to me. And Joachim brought his offerings, and observed attentively the priest's plate when he went up to the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in himself. And Joachim said: Now I know that the Lord has been gracious unto me, and has remitted all my sins. And he went down from the temple of the Lord justified, and departed to his own house. And her months were fulfilled, and in the ninth month Anna brought forth. And she said to the midwife: What have I brought forth? And she said: A girl. And said Anna: My soul has been magnified this day. And she laid her down. And the days having been fulfilled, Anna was purified, and gave the breast to the child, and called her name Mary."

So there we are, precisely nine months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM, we celebrate and honor her Birth. As Saint Andrew of Crete so eloquently puts it, "The present Feast forms a link between the New and the Old Testament. It shows that Truth succeeds symbols and figures and that the New Covenant replaces the Old. Hence, all creation sings with joy, exults, and participates in the joy of this day.... This is, in fact, the day on which the Creator of the world constructed His temple; today is the day on which by a stupendous project a creature becomes the preferred dwelling of the Creator"

"Τὸ δέ ἐστιν ἡ παροῦσα πανήγυρις, προοίμιον ἔχουσα τῆς Θεοτόκου τῆν γέννησιν· συμπέρασμα δὲ, τῆς τοῦ Λόγου πρὸς σάρκα συμπήξεως τὴν ἀπόταξιν. Παρθένος γὰρ ἄρτι γεννᾶται καὶ τιθηνεῖται καὶ πλάττεται, καὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ παμβασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων ἑτοιμάζεται μήτηρ."

From the Divine Office we read: "Nativitatem hodiernam * perpetuae Virginis Genitricis Dei Mariae solemniter celebremus, qua celsitudo throni processit, alleluia./// Let us this day keep solemnly * the Birth-day of Mary, Mother but still Maiden, her Birth, a step toward the loftiness of her throne. Alleluia.

So what is the point? What advantage, with regards to the Salvation History, does her birth bring to man?

Since Adam and Eve, mankind had been tainted with the corruptive stains of Original Sin. For thousands of years, we lived in an Old Testament world. Mankind, whether they knew it or not, anxiously awaited the promised Messiah of Old, the Eternal and Divine Son of God. Then at a certain blessed moment, Divine Providence decreed that a woman should be born who would deserve the coming of the Messiah. Her nativity represents the entrance into the world of the perfect creature who found grace before God and had merit sufficient to end that extensive wait. And just like that, we are sprung forth into a New Testament World. creature be born to be the Mother of the Savior. Therefore, the entrance of this exquisite creature into the world marks the presage of the Redemption. Her birth represents the entrance into the world of a new grace, a new blessing, a new presence that was an incomparable presage of the presence, blessing and grace that would come with the Savior.

With her birth, and her eventual naming of Mary, the Theotokos takes her first step towards her throne in Heaven. In this grand day, the new tabernacle of Our Lord, that Temple of the λόγος that unites the Old and the New, the beginning and the end, is created. This created being, this most lovely and pure creature, will bear her Creator and give Him up to the Wood of the Cross for our sins.

It is for this reason, that St. John Vianney says of the Feast that ""Your birth, O Blessed Virgin Mary, fills the whole world with a sweet consolation and a holy joy, because of you was born our Jesus, our God , who has taken away from us the curse in which we were plunged by the sin of our first parents, and filled us with all kinds of blessings."

Thus, it is not without great diligence that the Church assigns a Feast of Birth to the Blessed Virgin. This corresponds to the worship of hyperdulia that the Church reserves for her. The Church reserves the worship of latria, or adoration, only for God - for Our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, Who is the Word Incarnate. The worship of dulia, or veneration, the Church assigns to the saints. But to Our Lady she has a worship that is neither the simple worship of dulia nor the supreme worship of latria, but rather the worship of hyperdulia, which is a higher veneration unparallel to any other.

Thus, Our Lady, worthy of the highest veneration, celebrates her birthday today and the world rejoices and praises God for so precious and beautiful a lily, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos that would bear our Savior, Jesus Christ Our Lord.

I know this was scattered, more so than usual, this was done amidst a myriad of other things I have to do here now that I am a fancy seminarian guy now o{]:)

God Bless in and in the joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Birth, please beat the you know what out of Michigan Notre Dame, please!!!

Viva El Papa!

Oh boy...what a day. Feast of Sts Peter and Paul and the 60th anniversary of the ordination of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger otherwise known as our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

Today we celebrate the two great pillars of the Church upon whose lives the great and Holy Catholic Church was built: Peter and Paul. The two heads that look down upon you from the baldichino in the Basilica of Our Savior in Rome. The two saints, besides Our Lord and Our Lady, that have a Major Basilica in Rome named after them.

The hymn for Vespers is:

Decora lux aeternitatis, auream
Diem beatis irrigavit ignibus,
Apostolorum quae coronat Principes,
Reisque in astra liberam pandit viam.

Mundi Magister, atque caeli Janitor,
Romae parentes, arbitrique gentium,
Per ensis ille, hic per crucis victor necem
Vitae senatum laureati possident.

O Roma felix, quae duorum Principum
Es consecrata glorioso sanguine:
Horum cruore purpurata ceteras
Excellis orbis una pulchritudines.

Sit Trinitati sempiterna gloria,
Honor, potestas, atque jubilatio,
In unitate quae gubernat omnia,
Per universa saeculorum saecula.
Amen.
---
The beauteous light of God's eternal majesty
Streams down in golden rays to grace this holy day
Which crowned the princes of the Apostles' glorious choir,
And unto guilty mortals showed the heavenward way.

The teacher of the world and keeper of heaven's gate,
Rome's founders twain and rulers too of every land,
Triumphant over death by sword and shameful cross,
With laurel crowned are gathered to the eternal band.

O happy Rome! who in thy martyr princes' blood,
A twofold stream, art washed and doubly sanctified.
All earthly beauty thou alone outshinest far,
Empurpled by their outpoured life-blood's glorious tide.

All honour, power, and everlasting jubilee
To him who all things made and governs here below,
To God in essence One, and yet in persons Three,
Both now and ever, while unending ages flow.
Amen.

I also refer you to my older post, Petrine and Pauline Roots for more on the importance of Peter and Paul. Christ is the King and Eternal Priest but, after his death, he left his authority to Peter, gave him the keys to run the Church. With that, let us develop a holy devotion to the Seat of Peter and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. We should pray for him daily.

Now, it just so happens that today, Pope Benedict celebrates his 60th anniversary as a priest:

There was a invitation going around the web to perform 60 hours of adoration specifically for the Pope and his intentions...I don't think it is too late to start now in thanksgiving for our Holy Roman Pontiff.


Well, here we are. So much to say and I have to run off to class. Maybe I will add to this later.

But I think a few pics and the Vatican Anthem should suffice:



AND YES, I AM A PAPIST AND PROUD OF IT!!!!!!!

Original Latin   O felix Roma – o Roma nobilis: Sedes es Petri, qui Romae effudit sanguinem, Petri cui claves datae sunt regni caelorum. Pontifex, Tu successor es Petri; Pontifex, Tu magister es tuos confirmans fratres; Pontifex, Tu qui Servus servorum Dei, hominumque piscator, pastor es gregis, ligans caelum et terram. Pontifex, Tu Christi es Vicarius super terram, rupes inter fluctus, Tu es pharus in tenebris; Tu pacis es vindex, Tu es unitatis custos, vigil libertatis defensor; in Te potestas. Tu Pontifex, firma es petra, et super petram hanc aedificata est Ecclesia Dei. Pontifex, Tu Christi es Vicarius super terram, rupes inter fluctus, Tu es pharus in tenebris; Tu pacis es vindex, Tu es unitatis custos, vigil libertatis defensor; in Te potestas. O felix Roma – O Roma nobilis. Don Giovanni and I sung this hymn, poorly I might add, yesterday

An English translation   O happy Rome - O noble Rome You are the seat of Peter, whose blood was shed in Rome, Peter, to whom the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given. Pontiff, You are the successor of Peter; Pontiff, You are the teacher, you confirm your brethren; Pontiff, You who are the Servant of the servants of God, and fisher of men, are the shepherd of the flock, linking heaven and earth. Pontiff, You are the vicar of Christ on earth, a rock amidst the waves, You are a beacon in the darkness; You are the defender of peace, You are the guardian of unity, watchful defender of liberty; in You is the authority. Pontiff, you are the unshakable rock, and on this rock was built the Church of God. Pontiff, You are the vicar of Christ on earth, a rock amidst the waves, You are a beacon in the darkness; You are the defender of peace, You are the guardian of unity, watchful defender of liberty; in You is the authority. O happy Rome - O noble Rome.

Friendship

One constant theme that ran through my Academic Career at Notre Dame was my friendship. In fact, reflecting back, time spent with friends are my most precious and prized memories and what made places like Alumni Hall and the Library truly special.

I have heard a reference to Aristotle as describing 'A true friend as one soul in two bodies.' In fact he says in the Nichomachean Ethics:

"The perfect form of friendship is that between the good, and those who resemble each other in virtue. For these friends wish each alike the other's good in respect of their goodness, and they are good in themselves; but it is those who wish the good of their friends for their friends' sake who are friends in the fullest sense, since they love each other for themselves and not accidentally. Hence the friendship of these lasts as long as they continue to be good; and virtue is a permanent quality. And each is good relatively to his friend as well as absolutely, since the good are both good absolutely and profitable to each other. And each is pleasant in both ways also, since good men are pleasant both absolutely and to each other; for everyone is pleased by his own actions, and therefore by actions that resemble his own, and the actions of all good men are the same or similar.—Such friendship is naturally permanent, since it combines in itself all the attributes that friends ought to possess. All affection is based on good or on pleasure, either absolute or relative to the person who feels it, and is prompted by similarity of some sort; but this friendship possesses all these attributes in the friends themselves, for they are alike, et cetera, in that way. Also the absolutely good is pleasant absolutely as well; but the absolutely good and pleasant are the chief objects of affection; therefore it is between good men that affection and friendship exist in their fullest and best form." (NE1156b-1159a)

He then continues to say that "Such friendships are of course rare, because such men are few."...well good thing I am such a magnanimous man ;)

But seriously, we are by nature social beings. We are not meant, by nature, to be hermits in the mountains. This may be the calling of a few now due to the Fall but that is a different story. By nature, we are social beings and establish friendships and relationships. My prized memories...and what I miss most...are the nights talking to friends and just spending time with friends in the dorm or library or chapel or grotto or football games or etc...

Socrates and Plato were on to something that Philosophy is done in a dialogue. That which fully fulfills us as a human being, the life of a philosopher, is by nature...you guessed it... a social project. It is not a set of facts one learns in the privacy of his study. Not to say that there isn't the time needed to read and write. But all the private studying serves to enhance the conversation at conferences or smoke breaks.

One quote I loved is from Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind:
"This sense of community is more important for them than any disagreements about the final things. Philosophy is not a doctrine but a way of life, so the philosophers, for all the differences in their teachings, have more in common with one another than with anyone else, even their own followers. Plato saw this in Parmenides, Aristotle in Plato, Bacon in Aristotle, Descartes in Bacon, Locke in Descartes and Newton, and so on...The real community of man, in the midst of all the self-contradictory simulacra of community, is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers...of all men to the extent they desire to know. But in fact, this includes only a few, the true friends, as Plato was to Aristotle at the very moment they were disagreeing about the nature of the good...They were absolutely one soul as they looked at the problem."

whoa...eerie

         

whoa...hilarious...

ok anywho

So then, this leads me to my last point (hope this is somewhat coherent..I just got back from Indiana where the good Parish of St. Catherines had their 'camp out' and it is now 1am ish. In my eyes, a lot of the Spiritual Battle and our life here on Earth is built on relationships. We are, as I have been saying, social beings. So then, who are we going to open ourselves up to a relationship with?

This last year, Morrissey Manor sponsored a talk on exorcisms on campus by an official exorcist from Chicago.

Among some of the great things he discussed, he talked about how possessions typically come about.

A big thank you here to Fr. Vierling, my rector at ND in the Manor for the correct info:

There are three doorways to diabolical influence: (1) cultivation of a habit of sin; (2) direct engagement with the occult (the things or activities we put in place of God to provide answers, rather than trustful submission to Divine Providence); (3) unhealed trauma as a result of abuse which leads a person to enclose oneself within the 'arena of darkness.'

What all three have in common, he said, was that they all open oneself up to a relationship with Satan. Even a mortal sin, which kills the life of grace within a soul, is inviting the Devil in and that is obviously horrible. The priest, conformed to Christ in Holy Orders, has the authority to call Satan by name (part of the Ritual is finding out who the demon is, by name) and commanding, not asking or pleading, but commanding the demon to leave.

So on this, the second celebration of Corpus Christi, let us strive to rid ourselves of sin (he also, brilliantly focused on making the point that Confession is more powerful than any exorcism...there is just fanatics attached to it), establish a relationship with Our Lord, and grow in a true, Aristotelean friendship with Him such that we are similar souls...that, we practice the virtues He exemplified for us in His Earthly Life. Ok I am really tired, I may elaborate on this later but I just wanted to make the point regarding relationships and that, even as Adam and Eve did, we must deny a relationship with Christ and accept a relationship with the Devil to fall into sin. Enjoy your day!