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Easter 2009: What does any of this mean?
by Richard McBrien on Apr. 06, 2009
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Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionEaster is at the heart and center of the Christian faith, and yet every year it seems more and more difficult to say or write anything about it that doesn’t strike many listeners or readers as repetitive or riddled with clichés.
If we were to pay attention to what Pope Benedict XVI says about Easter in his blessing this Sunday to the city (of Rome) and to the world, his words would have a completely familiar ring to them, as will the words uttered by the homilist at Mass.
This is not said in criticism of the pope or of anyone who is charged with offering a reflection on the religious significance of Easter.
I had a professor in the seminary many years ago who made a point that has stayed with me ever since, namely, that the liturgical year resembles a spiral rather than a circle. Every year we celebrate the same important feasts, but we are not in the same spiritual place that we were in the previous year.
For good or for ill, we change from year to year, and so does the impact of the feast upon our consciousness and our spiritual development.
We are simply not the same person, for example, who may have read this column’s Easter reflections three years ago: about the Resurrection’s being essential to our salvation (1 Corin-thians 15:17), about our abiding hope that we will somehow share in Christ’s Resurrection (Romans 6:3-11; 2 Corinthians 4:14; 11:25-26), or about the Resurrection’s making it possible for us to receive the Holy Spirit (John 7:39; 16:7).
To be sure, I wrote a year later, “belief in the Resurrection is just that -- an expression of faith. It is not grounded on scientific evidence, which is not to say that the belief is without any basis whatever.
“In fact,” the column continued, “there was a remarkable and wholly inexplicable change in the disciples (some 500 in all) who claimed to have ‘seen’ the risen Lord. Many willingly accepted martyrdom rather than deny him or his resurrection from the dead.”
“In the end, however, the Resurrection is not about [newly discovered] bones but about the transformation of one’s life. Faith in the Resurrection requires us to live as Jesus did, dying to self for the sake of others, in the hope of rising again.”
Last year, too, this column raised the problem of familiarity. What we say and write about Easter always runs the risk of becoming a kind of religious boilerplate.
That particular column focused on Jesus’ coming alongside two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus, a village just seven miles from Jerusalem. The disciples were downcast because they had invested such high hopes in the one who had been crucified.
When Jesus asked them what they had been discussing, they responded with some measure of disbelief: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?”
“What sort of things?” Jesus asked.
The two disciples proceeded to tell him about how the chief priests had handed over Jesus the Nazarene to be crucified. They also relayed the reports of some women in their group who had gone to the tomb the next morning and found it empty, and who insisted that they were informed by angels that Jesus was alive.
Jesus could contain himself no longer. He scolded his two disciples for their slowness to believe what the prophets had foretold, namely, that it would be necessary for the Messiah to suffer before entering into his glory. He then interpreted for them Moses and the other prophets.
As the three of them approached Emmaus, the visitor indicated that he intended to go on alone. Since it was almost evening, the other two invited him to join them for supper.
It was when Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them that “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30-31). At which point, the Scripture says, he immediately vanished from their sight.
The two disciples hurriedly returned to Jerusalem to share their experience with the Apostles and to tell them how the risen Lord had been “made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (vv. 33,35).
The Scripture says that Jesus then appeared in their midst, and, after eating some baked fish, led them to Bethany, where he was “taken up to heaven” (v. 51).
The question remains: What does any of this mean for us today? Does the Resurrection make any real difference in our lives, or are we left only with Easter boilerplate?
© 2009 Richard P. McBrien. All rights reserved. Fr. McBrien is the Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
I'm frustrated by the
I'm frustrated by the Church's exclusive focus on one man who lived 2000 years ago, instead of raising awareness about everyone's dying to new life. The paschal mystery describes the ongoing activity of the universe and demands an appropriate response not only from believers in a special resurrection in Palestine but from everyone who's alive.
Not funny. This is Holy Week
Not funny. This is Holy Week a solemn time for all Christians. Grace and peace with prayers always in Christ Jesus-God come in the Flesh...
Wow. You're frustrated about
Wow. You're frustrated about the focus on this one man. I'm enthralled that this one man has been remembered by people all over the world for the last 2000 years. There is a reason for that.
You are a sad old woman who's a femi-Nazi upset with the church. Get over it. We all have our problems.
You are projecting your warped experience of patriarchy and drowning out the good things that even the Vatican bureaucracy puts out these days about the contemporary and historical body of Christ that suffered, died, and was raised 2000 years ago AND which suffers, dies, and rises throughout the ages, even our own.
The Church is focused on one
The Church is focused on one man because that one man was also God. That man, born more than 2000 years ago, saved the world from darkness and sin. That one man, through His suffering, death, and resurrection, redeemed the human race and was the fulfillment of all prophecy and the "divine moment", if you will, that the entire universe was waiting for.
That one man, was, and is, Jesus Christ, our Lord and God. At Easter we celebrate the central mystery of our redemption. I can hardly believe anyone would write that they are "frustrated" by the Church's worship of God and our attempt to understand the unfathomable love that God has for each of us: that He would give His only Son for our salvation.
I do agree with one point. This mystery demands an appropriate response. That response is belief in Jesus Christ and in His Church. That is the only appropriate response, a response of love and total dedication and devotion to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The passion and resurrection
The passion and resurrection stories are so much more than a story of one person's journey. As Jeanette Clancy said they are the ongoing stories of the whole universe and of all of creation. And they are the stories of each of us as individuals, as members of families, of societies, of countries. We each live out our own passion, death and resurrection, sometimes daily. I think we need to turn to those more current stories, to understand the stories of Jesus.
Fr. Mc Brien, we have
Fr. Mc Brien, we have prayerfully worked our way through Lent. The sacred triduum will bring us to the same, but different place as we contemplate God's tremendous love for us. We, as the Body of Christ, will mourn the physical death of Jesus, face our own sinfulness and contemplate our mortality on Good Friday. So what if all we hear is "Christ is risen, Alleluia!" on Easter?
We long to hear those words and sing the alleluias. We love to hear and reflect on the resurrection, and its implications for our own immortal soul. I suggest that it is not your readers who may be tired of the message of Easter. Maybe it is the messenger who is getting tired of trying to find new ways to proclaim it, however eloquently it may be written.
Or...maybe it's because we
Or...maybe it's because we readers, unlike the "messenger," think so little about the Resurrection during the rest of the year, that it seems new and exciting to us once per annum.
Well, we do indeed focus on
Well, we do indeed focus on Jesus a lot. Why not? Without him, the rest would be purposeless. There would be no Church. There would be no Christians, anywhere. Resurrection or lifting up would not mean what it means now.
More than likely, the complaint is that not enough attention is paid to the down-trodden everywhere in the world. And that is the challenge for every one of us, to bring all the down-trodden to the attention of us all. No one of us can do everything that needs to be done, but together we can make a dent on the world.
Happy Easter
Well, its Holy Week,
Well, its Holy Week, therefore I will restrain myself and instead will strongly suggest that you read the following:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/pont_messages/19...
Also,try reading Gaudium et Spes in full located at: (NOTE TO READERS: ITS MAY SEEM PECULIAR TO SOME THAT I AM SUGGESTING THAT A PRIEST AND PROFESSOR AT NOTRE DAME READ A VATICAN II DOCUMENT-HOWEVER IT IS VERY COMMON FACT THAT MANY OF THE MOST VOCAL CRITICS AND "SPIRIT OF VATICAN II INTERPRETERS" WHO ARE PROMINENT EDUCATORS HAVEN'T READ IT PERSONALLY-THE USUAL ESCAPE USED IS "I SCANNED IT".. MY MONEY BET IS THAT FR MCBRIEN NEVER READ IT IN FULL).-CHALLENGE TO FR MCBRIEN-AT YOUR NEXT COLUMN TELL US HOW MANY TIMES YOU HAVE READ Gaudium et Spes IN FULL...
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents...
Jesus makes all things new! Grace and peace with prayers always in Christ...
Actually, friend Anonymous
Actually, friend Anonymous (and my but you really are a prolific writer here) the Reverend Father Richard P. McBiren, professor of Catholic theology at Notre Dame University, has not only, as you write, "READ IT PERSONALLY", as you throw your good money after bad with the odd and vain challenge: "MY MONEY BET IS THAT FR MCBRIEN NEVER READ IT IN FULL" with the arrogant charge to the good and Reverend Father "AT YOUR NEXT COLUMN TELL US HOW MANY TIMES YOU HAVE READ Gaudium et Spes IN FULL" (and I must wonder why you shout throughout but whisper upon coming to the title of that great document), not only has he read it deeply (and it is not how many TIMES - oops -forgive me for shouting - we read it but how carefully and deeply) but has commented upon it brilliantly, in print, in class, at all times and places.
You might for example see the HarperCollins Catholic Encyclopedia which the Reverend Father Richard P. McBrien edited, under the item Gaudium et Spes. You might also find instructive page 152 of his landmark and irreplaceable and vey comprehensive "The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism ." See also page 77 of his "Catholicism: New Study Edition--Completely Revised and Updated" as well as page 63 of his 1988 treatise on "Ministry: A Theological, Pastoral Handbook" which is as vital for our Catholic Church now in this age of Bishop Morlino's as it was over twenty years ago.
What I find most curious after your long and baseless rant at the Reverend Father Richard P. McBrien is your ending: "Grace and peace with prayers always in Christ . . ." Perhaps if we stopped shouting at one another in Church and listened for the Holy Spirit in silent prayer, we might perceive such grace and peace among us.
If I have a choice between
If I have a choice between Dick McBrien and the Documents of Vatican II, I'll take the documents of Vatican II each and every time. Why read a commentator when you can read the real thing? Much the same for reading Sacred Scripture.
McBrien has built a career creating a very eisegetical ecclesiology. Supposedly it stems from Vatican II, but it really comes from McBrien's non-authoritative reading of the Council documents. In the end the Catholic Church of McBrien's dreams looks, acts, sounds and is arranged very much like (you probably guessed it) The Episcopal Church.
So, Fr. McBrien, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You! Why "fight" to change a church when the church you want already exists?
I find there is no divergence
I find there is no divergence between the Reverend Father Richard P. McBrien (for not to address him by his canonical titles would certainly break canon Law) and the documents of Vatican II. In fact in several of his many books he has discussed them quite eloquently. Perhaps you may have time to read some.
For instance, his landmark work on Catholicism contains his cmomentary on them, as well as the HarperCollins Catholic Encyclopedia he edits. See also his major work The Church.
I read Sacred Scripture, but wish to read it in the light of Roman Catholic theology. Therefore I also read the prophetic, poetic and powerful commentaries recorded so gratefully by the Reverend Father Daniel Berrigan, SJ. I admire you are so learned that you read these Church documents without any context, without any commentary. I am very grateful for all of the annotation I can find. Have you ever seen one page of the Talmud?
As for the Council documents, I also receive gratefully the writings of those who did so much to create them, the Reverend Father Hans Kung and the Reverend Father Edward Schillebeeckx, who is wonderful. Concilium is of course always and ever very helpful.
I wonder where you discovered this curious bit of alliteration "eisegetical ecclesiology" and beg you to supply some concrete examples before you add more to your slander and calumny of a great and Catholic priest and preacher.
I object to the uncivil
I object to the uncivil language employed by this commenter. As a baptised christian Fr McBrien must be treated as what he is-greatly cherished by God, a a temple of the Holy Spirit. He also has been called to receive Holy Orders. To this blogger-Please do not try to efface his personhood and also imply that the people of the Episcopal and Anglican Church are non-christian. To our Episcopal and Anglican seperated brethren, please accept the apology of an ordinary Catholic. There are many more of us than this blogger, while most of us don't necessarily agree in some of the writings of Fr McBrien, we stand with him in our love of orthopraxy as we know that you do... Have a spirit filled Holy Week...
Note that you omitted your
Note that you omitted your latest "pious title" which at last count was now "oblate". You are a curious non-catholic self-identified "Benedictine", having so much time to blog during holy week. Noticed that you never answered multiple posts challenging your assertion saying that you are not a Benedictine at all. Trust that you are comfortable in your little apartment in the city. P.S. try to get to services this week!
dear one, In fact I do not
dear one,
In fact I do not read how the NCR window identifies me, but thank you very much for pointing this out.
In fact I have been a practicing and faithful Roman Catholic for some fifty five years, and began the Benedictine path over 35 years ago, thank you.
This Palm Sunday I, for being one of the few literate members of the congregation at that sunrise hour, was dragged into reading the Passion from Saint Mark in our little Church in Mexico (in Spanish, of course), where I enjoy the infinite and most undeserved grace of being a frequent communicant. I read the central narrator passages, even though the surpliced seminarian on one side and the priest upon the iother might have read it so much more powerfully. Nevertheless the faithful later told me I read it well for reading slowly and with feeling. I cannot read the final words of Our Lord quoting the Psalms without my heart ripping in two, even after all of these years of reading them.
Later I returned to rest in the desert hermitage, and to build the monastery garden dedicated to the memory, the peace and the prayers of the Blessed Mons. Romero. I watered the roadrunners, fed the bees, set up by hummingbird feeders as I heard one buzz by looking for food, fed the wild doves and quail and set in some more stone walkway and raised planters. I also trimmed very severely the newly planted rose bushes: Peace, Love, and John F. Kennedy. In planting I did not like the looks of their roots and so removed much of the leaves and cut them back to three strong branches to give them a chance here in this dry, dusty and windy desert. I shall try to refrain from letting them blossom this year in order not to exhaust them. I also worked at the compost pile a bit, as I expect a shipment of composting worms this week and hope they may survive our heat. Pray for these thousand, please. One of my first lessons inside the cloister so long ago was in "Earthworm Spirituality" as preached by an excellent and brilliant Jesuit. If I had had any brains I might have become a Jesuit.
Oh, and then I returned to my tiny parish in Mexico. I had planne don making a pilgrimage to the Cathedral in Juarez that day to observe the noon Palm Sunday celebrations, but our parish priest requested I come help screen the candidates for the First Holy Communions and Confirmations this Triduum. I hope and pray nevertheless to visit the Cathedral this Good Friday to awlk once again this year with their Living Stations of the Cross, a deeply moving experience.
And so, my young moderate Catholic, I am sorry to bore you with all of this, but with whom in a desert hermitage may I share it? I hope you have also learned the proper usage of the title Dom, and that it is reserved for the ordained normally, and why.
pax tecum
benedicite
oremus pro invicem
You are very skillful in omit
You are very skillful in omit the fact that you are not a member of a Catholic Benedictine Order and therefore not subject to the requirement of listening deeply to a Superior. I find it interesting that you find some much time to blog, I have not heard of a hermitage with a computer and WIFI. I also find it interesting that another blogger did a search of the names of all male Benedictines everywhere (even non-catholic) and NADA. I see that you returned to referring to former President John F. Kennedy rather than "Jack", once someone asked you if you knew him. I rejoice in the fact that we are both in agreement for peace in the world. Most especially for peace in Christ...
Dear moderate catholic
Dear moderate catholic 20-something,
On the one hand you accuse me of having a computer in our hermitage, and on the other hand you accuse me of not being upon the internet's world wide list of Benedictines.
Perhaps the life of a desert hermit is too hidden even for the internet?
I have the great grace while travelling (daily now for Holy Week) to Mexico to spend a few hours upon a public internet shop there a block from the Roman Catholic Church, across the plaza. Such access is quite common thoughout Latin America and the world. Home usage is not the norm as in the USA.
In fact within our hermitage (the usage of the first person plural is a Benedictine custom to negate personal property, as in "our" monastic cell, "our" choir book, in fact choir books will be assigned simply "ad usum fratri caroli" or words to that effect, my ecclesial Latin not being the freshest, with no passage of ownership implied as we commonly understand it), there is no working computer (it fried in last summer's heat) and there has never been more than local phone service for emergencies (I rarely if ever make an out-going call), and never any internet connection. I cannot afford it, thank you. Also there is no television, plugged nor unplugged, etc. The radio is never on, but often I play the recordings from Solesmes, and remember, and I pray.
I say this not boldly out of pride but to address your legitimate concerns.
My canonical year occurred some 35 years ago or more in Solesmes. I shall humbly submit to my present prior, of the Order of Saint Benedict's Subiaco Congregation, who received me first upon the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, a figure of powerful strength to the community and to me personally, and then on the Feast of Benedictines (not of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict, but of Benedictines), your discernment that I am not a member of what you call "the Catholic Benedictine Order."
I resolve therefore through your prayers to renew with ever greater force my application to the Benedictine vow of the conversion of ways, and in particular within this Holy Week to read with attention the lectio divina of this wonderful and holy Benedictine Prioress (former head of the association of Benedictine prioresses in the USA) the Reverend Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, of whose blessed and spiritually edifying treatises we are blessed within the hermitage monastic library of having several at our most urgent usage.
Deo Gratias
ora pro me
benedicite
Kindly permit me to share
Kindly permit me to share with you our Triduum schedule so that we may jon in the most profound union of prayer this Holy Week:
Holy Thursday:
6 p.m. Last Supper Liturgy
8 p.m. - 11 p.m. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
11 p.m. Solmne Holy Hour
Good Friday
10 a.m. Living Way of the Cross (weather permitting)
5 p.m. Liturgical Celebration of the Passion of Our Lord and Adoration of the Holy Cross
8 p.m. Rosary with Our Lady of Sorrows and pesame a la Virgen
9 p.m. Silent candlelight procession through town
Holy Saturday
10 a.m. Celebration with blessing of the ill
5 p.m. Confession for families and First Communicants
9 p.m. Easter Vigil with Baptisms of those over seven years old and adults
Easter Sunday
10 a.m. Children's Mass
11 a.m. March of Joy
12 noon Youth Mass with closing of Youth Easter Retreat and Baptism of those under seven
6 p.m. Holy Mass
April 26 COnfirmations with His Eminence Bishop Don Gerardo de Jesus Rojas Lopez
(please notice that Don in Spanish is a title much like Dom to signify an older man of eminence)
This is at my tiny parish in Mexico. Please pray with us at these hours . MDT
oremus pro invicem
Among your many naive,
Among your many naive, ignorant, silly, anonymous and "peculiar" interventions, anonymous, this so-called "challenge" is simply STUPID -no other word in the English language will do here. If you had any familiarity at all with Fr. McBrien's prolific pen, you would know that his work is permeated with the true spirit (and sometimes even the true Spirit!) of Vatican II. Kindly turn your computer off and go back to TiVo'ing Jerry Springer reruns.
Ah Mr "Hong Kong" I find it
Ah Mr "Hong Kong" I find it interesting that in all of the posts that you have made to the website, not once did I read anything that actually encourages the Faith or in any way positively builds up the catholic Church...
Dear Anonymous: "It may seem
Dear Anonymous:
"It may seem peculiar to some that I am suggesting that a priest and professor at Notre Dame read a Vatican II Document." May a refer you to Fr. McBrien's most recent book The Church. You will find a detailed explanation of the Vatican II documents by Fr. McBrien in part V of that book. So not only is it peculiar but your accusation of not reading the documents is not true.
I wrote to you previously on
I wrote to you previously on A Fr.Mc Brien article in which you said you
would scan it and then print it. That was 2 weeks ago. Can you tell me what
was wrong with the comments if you aren't going to print them. I think it was
on Archbishop Dolan and some sex abuses issues he left unfinished in Milwaukee.
Dear Anonymous....why sign in
Dear Anonymous....why sign in as anonymous when you have so much to say...granted, not very kind or inligtening....just wondering... Shalom
Too many negatives and not enough good will.
If we do not grow in the
If we do not grow in the Spirit, this week becomes a week focusing on the death of Christ not on Christ entering into His glory with the Father. We have a choice in our life which is to see our life daily as suffering and dying or to see it as a wonderful journey to our Father. If the person who is responsible for giving the reflection has not grown in the message of the Resurrection; then, the recipient cannot receive and it is a boilerplate.
I appreciate, as ever, the
I appreciate, as ever, the reminder that Jesus' resurrection is intrinsically ordered toward the transformation of human life here and now, and in the life to come. But the false dilemma set between Jesus' resurrection as an historical event that involved the transfiguration of his corpse, and the 'deeper meaning' that people's lives must change in a 'resurrection faith' muddles the issue and needlessly posits boilerplates. The magnificence of God's historicity in Christ allows history to be an epiphany of God's redemptive mercy. Let us rejoice in it!
Fr. McBrien, much of your
Fr. McBrien, much of your writing has been life-changing for me! And so I say the following, with the greatest respect for you. First let me quote you.
“To be sure, I wrote a year later, “belief in the Resurrection is just that -- an expression of faith. It is not grounded on scientific evidence, which is not to say that the belief is without any basis whatever.”
What is faith? This is an epistemological question, as you know. So, we go to the sources that attempt to explain in a sophisticated, reasoned way what belief is, what justification is, what knowledge is. I am a beginner at this myself, but I am using Robert Audi’s Belief Justification and Knowledge.
You say that IT (FAITH) IS NOT GROUNDED ON SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE. But scripture scholars who do scientifically based work (as Pope Pius XII gave the nod to do) seek justification for Christian belief by way of historical evidence i.e. they pursue authenticity and demythologization issues etc. as the situation demands.
So, could we not say that SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE GROUNDS BELIEF (OR REASONS TO CHANGE ONE’S BELIEF)?
You also say, “which is not to say that the belief is without any basis whatever.” I think that you are saying belief has a basis. A perfect epistemological response!
I think that we are at the heart of the matter. Happy Easter 2009, Fr. Mc Brien! May our spirals keep on moving!
When we are examining Christianity we need biblical-historical scientifically based scholarship, philosophy, especially epistemology and logic, and science in general with an emphasis on evolutionary theory. Christianity originated in the age of myth. But it is being scrutinized in the age of far advanced human knowledge, especially science and philosophy. We are in a new historical age for humankind where faith and morality issues may surprise us because of the span of evolutionary leap for Homo sapiens.
Just as a postscript, regarding those 500 disciples you mentioned, Audi’s book as well as cognitive science may have some insight on that phenomenon.
Yes Fr. McBrien, the
Yes Fr. McBrien, the resurrection makes all the difference in the world. For once, from a historical perspective, the Church came into existence precisely because of it. Jesus of Nazareth, most likely, would have passed into oblivion as a failed Messiah, just like the other would-be-Messiahs. A crucified Messiah meant, for a first century Jew, a failed Messiah, a pretender, a fake. The 'inexplicable' change of the earliest disciples (who, to be sure,were no Greek philosophers but ordinary Jews operating within the Jewish worldview) becomes very explicable if only we allow ourselves to conceive the resurrection for what it is: a concrete historical reality. This of course does not mean we understand it. It means we have to postulate it on solid historical grounds. I submit to you that, according to my analysis of the problem, what is urgently needed today is a theology rooted more in history than in philosophy. But a history freed from the philosophical presupposition of the last two hundred years or so. A history freed from this or that agenda so that we can grasp Jesus' agenda. In other words, a more 'humble' history.
Please stop beating around
Please stop beating around the bush. McBrien honors Obama, who says that women have a right to murder their own babies. That says it all.
CHAYNES, Once again it is
CHAYNES, Once again it is clear that you are no friend of the catholic Pro-Life position... Its holy Week say some prayers instead. I suspect a 5th columnist...
A great deal of
A great deal of self-righteous talk between April 6-10th. More self-relection is in order. The "pro-life" proponents strike me as one-issue Catholics, too often blinded by their own "self-rights".
Fr. Richard McBrien is a tremendous resource in the Catholic Church. A man who is highly gifted with intelligence, dilligence -- you try teaching undergrads for decades -- compassion, and sacredotal integrity. I thank God for the gift of Richard McBrien. Too often, in all spheres of life, the less informed and, dare I say it, the less intelligent among us, spout criticism of what they do not truly comprehend.
CHRISTO-MONISM has always
CHRISTO-MONISM has always been a major theological and pastoral pitfall in the Latin Church. My own mentor, E.J. Kilmartin, S.J. (+R.I.P.) spent his career assisting in a re-discovery of the PNEUMAtological dimensions of liturgy and life - not yet experienced by the 500 or so witnesses of Christ's resurrection. May his work not have been in vain, and also aid as a remedy to the Easter problematic Fr. McBrien posits here.
I find it interesting how
I find it interesting how much the word "rediscovered" is used...Hmmmm
Yes, and if you had a better
Yes, and if you had a better grasp of church history (along with at least some basic familiarity with Fr. McBrien's more scholarly writings) you might be able to understand how Vatican II itself encouraged a return to the PRE-MEDIEVAL roots of Roman Catholicism as documented in earlier Apostolic and Patristic sources. This "re-discovery" of what was going on before the Council of Trent lowered the boom is actually VERY interesting and well worth some time studying before merely shooting one's mouth off in ignorance - and anonymity!
Yet the post-Vatican II
Yet the post-Vatican II liturgy REMOVED the offertory prayer to the Holy Spirit:
Now the priest calls on the Holy Ghost. He extends his hands and raises his eyes toward Heaven, asking the Holy Ghost to bless the bread and wine:
Veni, Sanctificátor omnípotens ætérne Deus: et bénedic + hoc sacrifícium, tuo sancto nómini præparátum.
(Come Thou, the Sanctifier, Almighty and Everlasting God, and bless + this sacrifice which is prepared for the glory of Thy holy Name.)
And could you elaborate on what you mean by "a re-discovery of the PNEUMAtological dimensions of liturgy and life - not yet experienced by the 500 or so witnesses of Christ's resurrection"? Are you saying the witnesses of the resurrected Christ were deprived of understand the Holy Spirit's role in worship?
Dear Carol I'm still
Dear Carol
I'm still bothered that Father McBrien stands mute while millions of babies are murdrered. How does this square with being gifted with intelligence and compassion?
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