Epiphany

1/6/23

A retrospective on the Epiphany.

Yes, this idea is whacko, that we transfer the feast to the Sunday. It opens more questions than it answers. I’m not sure what the initial answer is supposed to be to begin with? That the faithful already weren’t celebrated the feast on Jan 6th, so this it salvage some recognition of the feast…? The rest of the Christian world doesn’t seem to have a problem with January 6th. Or for December 25 plus January 6th, for that matter.

This year January 6th is on a Friday. Therefore, a day of penance. Set aside, for the moment, the consideration of the importance and merits of a day of penance. Observe, rather, that they [Bishops] took away a one of the greatest dates for feasting & rejoicing on our Calendar in favor, this year, of a day of penance. Why not, for instance, keep the date and simply remove the obligation to attend Mass? Or why not altogether keep it a Holy Day of obligation. It there are too many on account of the January the First, we may have to take a look of that.

We seem to be missing out on a feast. It’ll come back, eventually.

The Twelfth Day

1/5/23

The Twelfth Day of Christmas.

Tonight is Twelfth Night.

Tomorrow, in most parts of the Christian World, is the Epiphany of the Lord.

Here we are, calling it “Twelfth Night,” which is what it’s been called for at least Five Hundred years.

The people celebrate and rejoice, with the encouragement of the civic and ecclesial governors. But not just randomly and raucously. Although reports of seemingly unrelated para-rituals involving elves in dress-up, reindeer and house-calls continue to preponderate. The purpose of counting to Twelve in Christendom has everything to do with the Incarnation and Our Lord making the use, according to his good will and pleasure, of one of his favorite numbers.

There are twelve days from Christmas (inclusive) to the Epiphany (exclusive). Go ahead and count them up—I’ve counted them twelve thousand times, just to make sure. If you include Christmas in the count then you exclude Epiphany, or vis a versa. You can’t include both, otherwise you come up with thirteen. Including Christmas makes sense and accords with scripture telling of His circumcision on the eighth day, which is the Gospel for the Octave of Christmas, January the First.

The Eighth Day is another favorite of the Lord’s. But that’s for another time.

Pinpointing, with the utmost probability, the exact days of these historical realities is beyond the capacities of the best scientists. The cultural History of the Church however has offered these two dates, 12/25 & 1/6. Separately, it seems, at first depending whether you’re from the East or the West. But ultimately, as consolidation happens and the mingling of cultures, we get them both. And probably pretty early than later in the first millennium. This gives everything enough time to become engrained in local custom and thus inexplicable beyond the well worn “we always did it this way.”

Baptism

The feast of the Epiphany is coming quickly. This year I’m appreciating the connection with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We’ve rediscovered this old blessing of Holy Water which is offered on the vigil of the feast. I think we were momentarily distracted by the power of the exorcism associated with the blessing that we lost sight of the reason for the water to begin with. The Baptism of the Lord is, in the East, the great Theophany. Why do they get such a kick out of it? The real shame is our own not-knowing why we ourselves get no kick out of it. We could hardly be bothered by the Lord’s baptism. Is it that we’re partied out by now? It could be. That too would be a real shame. We’re celebrating without knowing why. If we keep it up, at this rate Christmas itself will become a bore for us. It’s not good. We bless the water and distribute it as a reminder that we share in the baptism which was instituted by Jesus Christ, with everything that implies. God shines in the Lord’s Baptism, the Spirit descends. The Father’s voice is heard. The Son receives in this world the glory he deserves.

Charity & Justice

1/3/23

Do a Study on Respect & Obedience.

This is what is expressly owed by a priest to his ordinary and to the Holy Father.

Secular Priests are bound to render it according to the order of justice, that is, by law. This order is different from the way that members of religious communities are bound to render it to their superiors. But how does it differ?

What’s the difference between the mode of Justice and the mode of Charity?

Christians are all bound by both modes, of charity & of justice. But in what way are we bound?

A man owes what is right to all mankind. A Christian man, all the more so. Christ commands we love even our enemies and even to the point of laying down one’s life. 

Two extreme ends of the spectrum, then. On one end, no man ought to render anything to anyone, for any reason. On the other end, all men ought to lay down their lives for everyone, for every reason. Both extremes, certainly, are catastrophically wrong. How do charity and justice help us navigate between the two?

Certain men owe certain things to certain other men for certain reasons under certain circumstances. Fine.

Is this Charity or Justice, though?

Words

1/2/23

I did an etymology search on a few basic words, today.

These were all greek words which I use all the time.

I like that it seemed I discovered something new to me.

Category.

This one has “agora” in it. That tipped me off that there’s something almost “public” about it. I’ll come back to this “public” sense.

Ousia.

We don’t really have an English word for this. We use “nature” a lot of times. Etymologically, it’s simply a participial form of the greek verb “to exist” or “to be.” I won’t, here, parse the difference between being and existence. Rather, it’ll suffice to understand that we’re talking about reality, as it is, in itself.

Prosopon.

Here’s where it gets fun. “Pros” plus “ops” (I can’t find the greek characters on my keyboard. “Ops” is the face or the countenance itself. “Pros” in composition puts that face against or towards another. It implies relation, in other words.

Hypostasis:

That which remains on the bottom. It’s a nice contrast with Prosopon, because while their both often translated “person,” here, hypostasis seems to focus more inwardly, substantively, as opposed to outwardly or relationally/relatively.

Back to category. In Latin it’s predicament. Either way it’s committing, publicly, in speech, openly in words, as it were, to a certain description. The “Agora” is the assembly.

Happy New Year!

1/1/23

Happy New Year.

I’m rekindling the resolution to write.

I did it before, a year or two ago.

It helped.

It organizes the thoughts in the mind.

Or so says Jordan Peterson.

It wakes up the brain in the morning.

Not bad.

With some foresight and cleverness it may coalesce into a way to produce homilies articles and, dare I say, longer pieces, like chapters of books.

I did 200-a-day for 100 days before. That grew to 250 and lasted longer. I’d have to check, but it may’ve gone on for more than six months.

I turned it into a continuous, longer study on a topic of interest at the time. I may have to be more versatile with the projects. Have a few going on at once. Projects, also, would entail ending-points or goal. Like, I’d like to actually finish writing. I think this may help quite a bit. So, it’s not then about the act producing words so much as the act of completing thoughts, expressing ideas more perfectly.

One topic of interest will be “Respect & Obedience.” This is what priests owe to their bishops and to the pope. Can we get a firmer hold on what that is, how best to fulfill that promise, and what to avoid that would derail us?

Also, I’d like to articulate some questions on the topic of Sacred Music in the Parish.