Stay on Time by Keeping Pitch

Prior to the Second Vatican Council there was a common experience and emphasis on two major divisions in the liturgical or ecclesiastical year (at least this is what I am told and what I have read). These two divisions are the Temporal Cycle and the Sanctoral Cycle. The Church still retains these two "propers" within her sacramental life, but unless you frequent the Divine Office you might not even know, let alone realize, that this is still part of reality.

There is great wisdom in how the Church understands the order in which God has created all that is visible and invisible. To appreciate the temporal order proper to us still living on Earth and the sacred order for those living with God in Heaven is to see not just with eyes of faith but to experience the reality of all that is. These two orders are simultaneously present--for we live in a reality that is and that is becoming.

The problem today is that we have confused the two. All too often we think that this earthly world is the reality that is and that Heaven is something becoming of someone's imagination. The truth of God's order is that Heaven is what is and we are in world becoming. And the proper distinction between the Temporal Cycle, the experience of becoming, and the Sanctoral Cycle, the experience of being, can help us reclaim time according to God's cosmological symphony.

The Church used to frequently communicate about the time we spend with God in a language reflective of our understanding of music--particularly when she refers to worshiping God. This makes perfect sense, given that our experiences of God happen in time and we desire to sing praises to him when we experience an encounter with him.

The most basic miracle naturally found in music is called an octave, an interval between pitches according to the frequency. I am no music theorist or expert nor will I attempt to be one. Suffice to say, everything that is knowable is categorized and labeled so we can communicate about our reality. Music, time, and worship, which are intimately related, are no exception.

Some have said that the Church "simplified" her discussion of her liturgical life by reducing the structure and order of all things related to the liturgy. For example the Church for all practical purposes no longer refers to liturgical octaves. In doing so we seem to have lost time, specifically sacred time. Those intervals between solemnities and feasts seem to have been as important as those days which the octaves prepared us to celebrate and helped us to prolong the celebration. Like in music, if you loose an octave you're off pitch.

I pray that as the Church continues to revise the words of her liturgical rites, as done in the Roman Missal, that she will help us reclaim our lost octaves so we can all stay on time and keep pitch with the angels and saints in Heaven.

Mass: The Litmus Test

God does truly speaks to each of us, you and me. His Word is always being spoken. And many people hear his Word, but do not realize it. To know if you have heard God speak to you, there is one very important step that must be taken; that is the step or "leap" of faith. This step of faith cannot be done alone in solitude for God proclaimed that "It is not good for the man to be alone" even though Man knew God (Genesis 2:18).  God created us to be in relationship with one another in order to experience a sense of his divinity.

So for us to have faith in the Holy Trinity, we must have a personal faith that relates to a communal faith. In other words our individual faith depends upon the faith of the community to whom we belong. So faith requires us to be taken in by and accepting by our community.

There seems to be much focus these days on the necessity of being a village or rearing children in one. Who hasn't heard the common acclamation, "It takes a village." Yet I do not think we fully appreciate this reality of God's plan, especially in a country that professes in "individualism" despite being found as "We the People." Ironic isn't it.

So perhaps this village of ours has simply become disunited. A disunity that is of our own making because we have forgotten or neglected the source of our unity--not ourselves but God. We the people cannot find unity in some social contract, but only in the Covenant with God. Even our Founding Fathers understood this in declaring independence from the Royal Crown of England. Human rights must have a source beyond the human community. We can only be brothers and sisters to one another if we first recognize that we are adopted children of God the Father. In his Son by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can live as one family of God, respecting and protecting inherent rights we received from our Creator.

Well the truth is there is only one global village, one family of God, one Church of all. The Catholic Church is that global village, that family formed by God. The Church is that one, holy, apostolic, and catholic village. And in this catholic family our faith is born, nurtures, and matures. Every week as the one family of God, we gather together to celebrate us being that one family. Even more importantly, we as Church gather in Christ, his Son, to worship, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God the Father Almighty, Creator of all that is visible and invisible. We cannot proclaim this faith, let alone worship God, unless we are one like God--a communion of persons.

So if you seek to know if you hear God, there is a way. For you to validate if what you heard is truly from God, you need the Church. More specifically you must test what you hear with God's Word in Catholic worship, the Divine Liturgy. The Mass is to be your litmus test. This is not the doings of humanity, but solely in accordance with God's plan. He has revealed in Christ Jesus the Way in which we know and understand his Word--the Church, especially during the Mass.

The Golden Rule Tarnished

"Do into others and you have them do to you" Matthew 7:12.
Even before Jesus spoke these words, this law of reciprocity had been held by other religions and philosophies. And through the centuries this "Golden Rule" so called in the 17th or 18th century has become a universal ethical norm. Yet taken out of context, this rule is quickly tarnished of its guiding light.

Perhaps watching too many episodes of Criminal Minds has allowed me to over analyze the darker side of the human will, yet a clear understanding of the context of the Golden Rule is necessary in an ever increasing morally relativisitc society.

Case in point, what if the way I like to be treated is not good? What if a person tends to treat himself or herself in an abusive way, and doesn't realize it? What if a person has habitually formed a poor self-image? Would we really want that person to treat others in the same manner?

Taken in context, Jesus taught that the way we are to treat ourselves is to love ourselves as he has loved us. This is how we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. So before I am to do to others, I must love myself as God loves me.

How does God love? He loved us so much he sent his only Son for the salvation of the world. God's love is a self-abandonment of sacrificial giving. This kind of love is not difficult to find at any time, including today; however, this kind of love is not often celebrated publicly.  In fact what is often celebrated in the public eye today is quite the opposite.

When you are treating others, do you have the mind of Christ or that of a criminal? So beware of how the Golden Rule can be tarnished out of context. And remember the Jewish parable of long spoons--be sure your spoon is feeding your neighbor.