St. Mark’s Day, Alleluia.

He was a disciple, gospel-writer, evangelist, worked Cyprus in 47 with Paul and his cousin Barnabas. Did same later in Alexandria, where he “won the glory of martyrdom,” as Deacon John relates in his splendid TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS PROPERS IN ENGLISH blog.

But not before he did same with Pope Peter, working as secretary to the first pontiff, not to mention amanuensis, taking notes from his sermons about Jesus’ public ministry which became Mark’s gospel, the second after Peter in the New Testament but probably the first written.

His was “terse, picturesque language [that] must have been very close to the words of the former fisherman of Galilee.” Don’t you love it? We live and pray the words and recollections of a fisherman!

You see why I call it St. Mark’s Day and add an Alleluia. Because he was a reporter, just like me. AND arguably the best writer of a Gospel. His gospel is “short, action-packed,” wrote one-time newspaper reporter and AP wire editor Jack Zavada.

Here’s Mark’s gospel’s opener, in the nonpareil Knox translation:

1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2
It is written in the prophecy of Isaias, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare thy way for thy coming;
3
there is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten out his paths.✻
4
And so it was that John appeared in the wilderness baptizing, announcing a baptism whereby men repented, to have their sins forgiven.
5
And all the country of Judaea and all those who dwelt in Jerusalem went out to see him, and he baptized them in the river Jordan, while they confessed their sins.
6
John was clothed with a garment of camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle about his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7
And thus he preached, One is to come after me who is mightier than I, so that I am not worthy to bend down and untie the strap of his shoes.
8
I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9
At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10
And even as he came up out of the water he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down and resting upon him.
11
There was a voice, too, out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.✻
Such a lead. No editor would touch it.
St. Mark, pray for us. Especially newsies of any stripe.

To believe or not to believe in the Real Presence? Important question for Roman Catholics.

I see, or we saw, where 2/3 of Romans in the U.S. do not believe in the Real Presence, also where on 2nd thought the pollster, heretofore taken as horse’s mouth in such matters, got it wrong. Ah. Make that 2/3 of us do believe in the Real P, says another pollster. (When was the last time such a violent discrepancy happened? Should we be worried? More than usual, I mean. Hmm.)

In any case, so it goes, or went this time, in the wild and woolly world of polstering, where the devil takes the hindmost. Nonetheless, we do have the big show coming in Indianapolis aimed at bolstering said belief and I wish I could make it but find myself absorbed and/or spoken for in my customary round of fevered comings and goings, including regular meetings of the local Over 90’s club.

Nonetheless again, I remain intrigued by the issue. Not kidding, of course, nothing to joke about, depending as I am in my decades-long adherence to this faith of the Romans enforcing my assurance of the Savior in our midst and accessible by all, thank God for that. Indeed, I am reading a book on the subject, a sort of you don’t believe us here we are announcement by the Pius X society, offshoot of the Vatican 2 feature, its go-ahead on liturgical change, primarily of the Mass, The Problem of the Liturgical Reform: A Theological and Liturgical Study, meant for aficionados of the New Mass, also known as Novus Ordo.

Not just aficionados either but people who know what Denzinger is and do or did theology and read Latin at least a little. Many of you cannot imagine such at this point of our history as civilized people but I can and I am one of them. Denzinger? It’s an ongoing compilation of doctrine, fruits of labor by Jesuits and other people since 1854 and so you have Denzinger such and such, whatever’s the latest rewrite. Denzinger is ever a work in progress.

When this writer was a pup, sitting in a West Baden, Indiana, classroom, it was Denzinger Bannwart, named after its editor, to which we students referred as our understanding something as told us by our teacher, code name Forty, a splendid man on a lifelong mission to get things straight with not an irritating or contentious bone in his body. In retrospect, he was the boy at the dike, holding his thumb in the hole before all gave way, in this case, the devil MODERNISM, though in the early ‘60s we rarely heard the term. Pius X used the the word, calling it “the synthesis of all heresies.” His defense against the same was right-wing extremism in our book.

Be that as it may, Forty stood for the faith as it remained before Vatican 2 experimenters/innovators got to it, though we young Jesuits either didn’t know what was brewing in Rome or in varying degrees liked it. In this book from the society named after Pius, I found explanation, I think, for the 2/3 not believing (as above) but most of all probed for the whys and wherefores of liturgical change — as in my view has contributed to our alarmingly lessened belief.

Communion in hand standing up comes to mind. So does the overall, ah, noisiness of the New Mass vs the traditional quiet so praised by Cardinal Sarah but makes us so busy listening and responding to the celebrant/presider that we can hardly get with the main event, which is real, not merely symbolic, reenacted redeeming sacrifice. This liturgical book argues the old way, calling up Denzinger and other sources repeatedly to show (expose) the theology behind the new mass.

About which more later, please stay tuned . . .

Illinois SAFE-T Act diminishes public safety . . .

Letting bad guys and gals go to sin some more against the body politic.

It’s what I’d call Blue State Blues.
Another taste of same available at my Illinois Blues: How the Ruling Party Talks to Voters

God’s in the tabernacle, all’s right with the world — If you want it to be

Taking seriously my Catholic belief in the Real Presence in the tabernacle, I took to imagining Jesus up there in person, as approachable as can be, a presence that calms one down as it dominates. If church officials worry about the lack of belief in this Presence of Jesus, they might encourage this imagining of Jesus as present.

So give peace of soul a chance. Not just in church but everywere you go, where sunshine will or might follow you, like in the song. He’s in charge. Relax.

What a friend we have there. Approachable? Absolutely. And caring. Gave up his life for us, right? Lesson there. If He did that, and He did, we ought take Him up on it. How dumb can someone be who ignores that? No thanks. I’m for going into church to take Him up on it.

Not for any old slap-on-back, hiya Charlie, pull-up-a-stool way. But careful to keep in mind who He is. He’s royalty, for one thing, king of the world. A grand man, and God. one of a holy Trio who made the world, keeps it going, rules it. Not a dictator, lording it over mindless, helpless subjects. No, He made people who can think. And do the right thing.

He’s also gonna judge the living and the dead. which is what makes our friendship with Him unlike any other. We have friends in high places. We should stay in touch.

Adam in the underworld on the day we call Holy Saturday — a tale of unremitting sorrow attuned to a great awakening . . .

. . . told by a Washington DC Dominican seminarian in Dominicana Magazine.

Adam speaks:

. . . Bathed in darkness and pierced by cold, I have been weeping . . . unceasingly weeping for me and my children. I am alone amid the crowd of my poor family; weeping for what I lost! The warmth of the garden, the beauty of my wife, the gentle breeze of the evening—all sacrificed for a fleeting flirt with self-sufficiency.

We know the story — forbidden fruit, con-man serpent, the first sin, paradise lost, woe to him and his forever tainted descendents.

And what has this brought me? Pain, misery, sorrow, loneliness—rotten fruits of my own choosing! Deceived by the serpent, I deceived myself and chose to be my own pitiful god. Grasping for forbidden fruit, I spoiled my only chance at happiness.

But this day . . .

. . . there is a great silence . .  and stillness . . . the earth is in terror . . .  God died in the flesh, and the underworld trembles.

This dead one seeks out . . .

. . . our first parent like a lost sheep . . . comes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He comes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son.

We too have our waiting part.

On Holy Saturday we wait at the Lord’s tomb, with Mother Mary and the holy men and women, meditating on Jesus’ suffering and death.

The altars are left bare, and the Sacrifice of the Mass is NOT celebrated anywhere in the world.

Only after the solemn Vigil during the night, in anticipation of the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy that overflows . . .

Happy Easter, we say to one and all . . .

The Good Friday non-Mass brings us down, down to the very depths of God knows what, to where down looks up to us . . .

Down and dirty, brass tacks, let devil (who’s he at this point?) take hindmost, we are at the heart of things with this not-a-mass service on this day called good when all that is evil seems to have won the world series of god-damn-it-all.

Old style:

At the beginning of today’s service the priest lies prostrate at the foot of the altar. This is a sign of man’s desolate and helpless condition before being redeemed by Christ’s death.
Looking the part.
In the solemn petitions, every group of people, every affliction of mankind is brought to the dying Christ and united to the mediating power of His death.
Heavy load.
The Veneration of the Cross is one of the high points of today’s service. First, Christ on His cross is solemnly and dramatically unveiled and then adored and kissed.
One by one.
But wait.
Thus in worship we tenderly thank Jesus for the salvation He has purchased for all men at so great a cost.
Yes?
Through the cross He won the victory of the world’s redemption. Good Friday’s triumph is manifested in Christ’s resurrection.
Can’t help ourselves, looking ahead, keeping it in mind. And now. . .
The climax . . . is the Communion Service. After Christ is brought back to the re-covered altar, He is elevated and consumed.
The sacrificial lamb, yes.
. . .  The primary intention in receiving the Body of Our Lord, sacrificed this day for all men, should be to “obtain more abundantly the fruits of redemption.”
Ours, from this day forward. Liturgically, however . . .
. . . the absence of His Eucharistic Presence [returned to side-altar obscurity] deepens our mourning for His violent death.
We pray, as . . .
. . . our worship is directed not to the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, but exclusively to the bloody but triumphant sacrifice of Calvary.
Time now to drink in this story of self-sacrifice — until the great day dawns . . .
We can steal a thought from Christina Rossetti.

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,

That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,

To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,

And yet not weep?

Holy Thursday, Last Supper, final days of the honest-to-God savior of the world

From Traditional Latin Mass Propers In English:

Holy Thursday celebrates especially the institution of the Mass at the Last Supper. . . .  On this day, Jesus ordained the Apostles.

Twelve priests. The first class. Told them to say the mass.

“Do this in remembrance of Me.”

More than remembrance, of course. Not a memorial service, as we have for each other when we die or know someone who did, in or out of mass, as devout and heartfelt as that might be.

Or even a milked-down transubstantiation, giving us an enhanced spiritual presence, period.  No. A reenactment

This is a day to think of the great love Jesus showed in instituting the Eucharist and to return that love by receiving Him in Holy Communion.

Indeed.

Through Holy Communion we are united to Christ and to one another.

In that order, of course.

What happened then, per St. John Cardinal Newman in a meditation:

Our Lord’s sufferings were so great, because His soul was suffering. . . . before His bodily passion, as we see in the agony in the garden.

A grim scene.

The first anguish . . . was not from the scourges, the thorns, or the nails, but from His soul. His soul was in such agony that He called it death: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.”

A Jesuit friend told me he once had suffered physical and mental pain, both very bad, at different times. Said the mental was worse, hands down. So for our Savior, per Cardinal N.

The anguish was such that it, as it were, burst open His whole body . . .  The blood, rushing from his tormented heart, forced its way on every side, formed for itself a thousand new channels, filled all the pores, and at length stood forth upon His skin in thick drops, which fell heavily on the ground.

After He’d ordained His successors. Ceremony done, supper over, the traitor dispatched, he had gone out out to pray, and we have an idea of what happened.

More from Cardinal Newman here.