By the Waters of Babylon...

 Do you ever read a Psalm and it just hits you deeply, you pray it and it expresses more deeply what you might want to say or how you are feeling?

Psalm 137 is one of the Psalms that just stands out in sorrowful and passionate beauty--"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill".  Ever since seeing Jerusalem in the Psalms as a type of the Church or a type of the heavenly Jerusalem, these lines have had a deeper significance.

We are exiles, and they require of us mirth.  "How can I sing the Lord's song in this foreign land?"

It is a haunting psalm deserving of some beautiful music.  The fragments I can hear in my head do not do it justice.

The end too, must not be left off, though perhaps a bit disturbing.  We have had too much white-washed and watered down.  It is better to look at it as it is.  Doubtless, the exile wished vengeance upon his enemies, and doubtless, we must be ruthless in crushing out our little vices that would keep us entrapped in exile in Babylon.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, 

yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song;

and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,

Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth;

if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem;

who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed;

happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

 

The Church of Saint Clarence Odbody

 If I were prone to attend an affinity church it would be something like:

The Church of Saint Clarence Odbody

formerly known as 

The Church of the Blessed Mess

It would have a sign (probably misspelled): 

“Welcome to the screwups, the not-good-enoughs, the awkwards and clumsies.  Welcome to the morons, the barely-made-its, and the can’t-you-be-on-times.  Welcome to the criticized, mocked, and ignored. 

Don’t expect that it will be better here, but we’re broken too.  

So perhaps we can share our brokenness.”

This week in reading through the year

Although I tend to prefer the lectionary, this year we have started doing a read through of the Bible.  So I will try to have a weekly Sunday post of the readings for the coming week.

Sunday, January 14 - Gn 27, Ps 14, Mt 16-17

Monday, January 15 - Gn 28-29, Ps 15, Mt 18

Tuesday, January 16 - Gn 30, Ps 16, Mt 19

Wednesday, January 17 - Gn 31, Ps 17, Mt 20

Thursday, January 18 - Gn 32-33, Ps 18:1-24, Mt 21

Friday, January 19 - Gn 34-35, Ps 18:25-50, Mt 22

Saturday, January 20 - Gn 36, Ps 19:1-6, Mt 23

Good Friday: The power of Christ's blood

From the Catecheses by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.

If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy Eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.

“There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit,” and from the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.

Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.

Lenten Reflections

I plan to post some short reflections this lent from Josemaria Escriva.  His directions are:

Read these counsels slowly.

Pause to meditate on these thoughts.

They are things I whisper in your ear-

confiding them-

as a friend, as a brother, as a father.

----

Don't let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the torch of your faith and your love.

With your apostolic life, wipe out the trail of filth and slime left by the corrupt sowers of hatred. And set aflame all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you bear in your heart.

The Necessity for Spiritual Food

I have lots of calorie-driven family and friends. I have learned that once they reach their "I need food to remain a nice person" point, they really need to eat some food. Otherwise, life will be unpleasant for everyone around them until they do get food. This can be applied to spiritual matters, as I realized this evening.
I was spending a bit of time reading the Bible and thinking about what I read. A while after I had finished reading and had taken my crocheting up again, I observed that in the short time between reading and thinking on the Bible and that moment, my outlook had altered for the better. I was a bit more energized and felt a bit more able to function in a decent and motivated manner. I seemed more able to focus on things. I began to think about what made the difference.
Why did I seem spiritually and emotionally energized after reading the Bible? I discerned that it was because I had just taken in spiritual food. Before I had read the Bible, I had been unknowingly starving for spiritual food and consequently very spiritually weak. When I took in some healthy, nourishing spiritual food, my spirit received energy and was able to function better. It was like the moment when a very hungry person has gotten some food. They savour it and then are able to get up from the table with renewed vigour to go about the tasks of the day.
If a Christian does not take in spiritual food on a regular basis, he will not be able to function spiritually. He will be spiritually starving himself. This is the reason it is so important that a Christian must be consistent about reading the Bible and communing with God. If he isn't, he will not be able to stand in a spiritual fight. He will be knocked over, easily overcome, and it will be difficult or nearly impossible to get up again. It would be easier for him to give up and die.
Tonight, the importance of reading the Bible frequently has been impressed on my mind. I knew before that reading the Bible was important and that it was spiritual food, but the implications of that have been made clear to me. Without consistent spiritual food intake, one will grow weak and unable to fight, causing him to lose and eventually die if not properly nursed back to health on nourishing, sustaining spiritual food, just as it is with physical food.