I just wanted to share this because it looks so cool! I think this would be a great series to watch with various groups at the parish level, I could definitely see having a series of movie nights to watch this at our little home theater. :-)
"Catholicism" comes to U.S. public television stations this fall, with the first broadcast set for Thursday, September 22, 2011 from 8-10 p.m. EST in Washington, D.C. and Maryland.
WTTW-11 (PBS) in Chicago is the presenting station for the "Catholicism" series and will air four episodes on consecutive Thursdays from 8-9 p.m. CST beginning October 13th. PBS affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and over 75 other public television stations plan to broadcast "Catholicism."
I'll be keeping an eye out for sure!
This one is a longer version, almost 10 minutes. Looks fascinating!
Just wanted to share this video with some lovely images of prayer cards, set to the music of the film Les Choristes by Bruno Coulais. If you haven't seen this film, go rent it and watch it! It's a beautiful story and the music is divine. :-)
If you've been following my Lenten series of posts, you've probably noticed in various pictures and videos that Catholics move around quite a bit! There is genuflecting going on, kneeling, standing, bowing, lots of action. This is because Catholics believe that we're not only to worship God with our hearts and minds, but we're to worship Him with our body too.
I think it's sometimes easy to forget just how important our body is. When we think of God and spiritual things, we often tend to discount the physical world as unimportant or unnecessary, or in some cases even as evil (as is the case with gnosticism, a heresy which continues to pop up in various forms today.) But countering this is a central mystery of our Catholic faith...the Incarnation. God became flesh and dwelt among men! This, in and of itself, should remind us just how important the physical is, and that it is a good because it was created by God.
So while Catholics pray to and adore God with our hearts, we feel it is also useful and more holistic to adore God with our bodies as well. It takes thoughts, feeling, and intent to the next level, and turns it to action, which then reinforces those thoughts and feelings and so on. It's like a cycle that makes itself stronger the more we do it!
What are some of the ways we incarnate reverence and adoration?
Genuflection is one of those ways. This is when, upon entering or leaving a pew for instance, a Catholic will bend down on one knee to acknowledge Christ's presence in the Eucharist, and many make the sign of the cross as well. (As a side note, there is a popular tradition that one genuflects on the right knee to God alone. To show honor to royalty or clergy such as one's bishop, one genuflects on the left knee.)
A double genuflection is when one genuflects, then brings the other knee to the ground (as in a kneeling position) for a moment before getting up. This is done during any exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, as when entering a pew for adoration, which again emphasizes our belief that Christ is truly present in front of us.
Kneeling, for me, is one of the most personally humbling forms of reverence. I remember at my first mass, seeing all the people, young and old, kneel together at the time of the consecration. I couldn't help but know, even as an outsider, that something special was happening then. I'd never before seen a group of people so simply, visibly, and uniformly humble themselves in this manner. At that point I probably could have counted the number of times I'd actually knelt in prayer or worship of God myself on one hand, it was just not something I ever really thought to do.
Bowing, either a bow of the head or a "profound bow" from the waist, is also a way to show reverence. Many bow before receiving the Eucharist, and we also bow during creed while stating the mystery of the Incarnation (when we say, "By the Power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary and became Man"). It has also long been a tradition to make a slight bow of the head any time the name of Jesus is mentioned. It's a beautiful way to remind ourselves of the Lord's sovereignty.
Standing is a position of prayer and honor. We still stand when a judge enters the room out of respect, and it used to always be proper etiquette for a man to stand when a woman entered the room. At mass, "let us pray" is typically code for "stand up." We stand for many of the prayers we recite together, and we also stand out of reverence for the gospel reading, acknowledging the preeminence of Christ's words among scripture.
Prostration is a posture of reverence which isn't used often, but is a beautiful way to show humility and submission to God. This is when one lays completely on the floor, face down. It is used during the Rite of Ordination, as can be seen at the right. (I love the fact that one of the men prostrating has a cast and a crutch, lol, that's dedication.)
For more on the subject, here is another great episode of That Catholic Show called Sit, Stand, and Kneel.
Opening the windows in his upper chamber towards Jerusalem, he knelt down three times a day, and adored, and gave thanks before his God, as he had been accustomed to do before. (Daniel 6:10)
I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands to the Lord my God (Ezra 9:5)
Enter, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us. (Ps 95:6)
Then going out [Jesus] went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives...and kneeling, he prayed. (Luke 22:39, 41)
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2: 9-11)
We move now from God's dwelling place, the tabernacle, to a vessel called a monstrance in which the Eucharist is exposed to us, visible and vulnerable so that we may adore Him. The word monstrance itself comes from the Latin monstrare, which means "to show." It's typically a beautiful and ornate vessel, with a transparent center so that the host which is placed in it can be seen by and shown to those present.
The monstrance is used for several occasions. One is adoration, where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in the monstrance, and left on the altar so that people can come and pray or simply be in Christ's presence, and adore him. A famous story from the Curé d'Ars, St. Jean Vianney, relates the tale of a peasant who would spend hours apparently doing nothing but sitting quietly in church. When asked what he was doing, he responded, "I look at Him, and He looks at me." This is what many do in adoration. Some pray. Some read scripture or devotionals. Some even sing...recently at adoration, it was calmly quiet as usual, when a lone lady began singing hymns to Our Lord. It was touching, hearing one lone voice echoing in the cathedral in hymns of adoration.
I have a special place in my heart for adoration, as my very first time in a Catholic Church was in the middle of the night during adoration. I wasn't yet 100% convinced of the truth of Catholicism...and before attending my first mass, I took an opportunity to simply check out the church from the inside first. Many parishes will have perpetual adoration, and when this is the case people sign up for typically around hour long slots, so that the exposed Christ is never left alone, even in the dark of the night. There was one or two other people there praying, but what I remember most was a beautiful and surprisingly tangible sense of calm and peace (and this in a quite turbulent time of my life.) This was my first encounter with Christ in the Eucharist, and I look back on it fondly!
Benediction is when the priest takes the Eucharist in the monstrance and blesses the people with it. When he does this, he wears a shawl-like vestment called a humeral veil, to cover his hands when picking up the monstrance so that he doesn't touch it. This is to symbolize the fact that this blessing is not from him, but from Christ present in the Eucharist.
Another use of the monstrance is in a Eucharistic Procession. This is especially common on the feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ.) Once again, the monstrance is held by the priest using the humeral veil, and it is processed outside under a rectangular canopy called a baldachin (which can be seen in the two pieces of artwork which portray a procession). It's quite a powerful way to bring Christ to those in the street.
The following video is one that was made to promote and encourage vocations, but it shows a Eucharistic procession in the streets of New York. The juxtaposition of the modern streets in the background with this long held tradition is really very beautiful.
"In thy presence there is fullness of joy" (Ps 16:11)
"Be still, and know that I am God." (Ps 46:10)
"Can you not watch one hour with me?" (Matt 26:40)
"And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the ancients, and about the living creatures; and they fell on their faces, and adored God, saying: ‘Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen’" (Rev 7:11-12).
At every mass, during the consecration, we believe Christ becomes truly present to us under the appearance of bread and wine. After we receive the Eucharist, there are typically hosts still leftover, and once they are consecrated, they remain so. We wouldn't dare throw the Eucharist away, and so in every Catholic Church, you could say as the heart of the church is the tabernacle, Christ's dwelling place.
photo by marylea Once again, this is a Jewish concept brought into Christianity. In Exodus, we first read of Moses asking God to dwell among them (34:9). This is indeed a dangerous thing, and God warns against it at first (33:3) but graciously agrees at Moses' request and acknowledgement of their unworthiness. And so, a tent is set apart as a sacred space to be God's dwelling place. A whole chapter (35) is taken to describe the very detailed requirements for this space. The numbers used and materials used all have great meaning, they all point to wholeness, to purity, and the best stones, linens, metals, and woods are called for. Obviously, this is no light matter, and nothing is too precious for the dwelling place of God! No expense is spared for this most holy of places, and the Tent is brought with the Israelites through the desert.
Later in the Old Testament, the Temple replaces the tent as there is no need for it to be portable any longer. Once again, great care is taken and no expense spared for the building of this Temple. Directions are given in 1 Chorinthians 28, and in the following chapter we can see His dwelling place was to be beautiful, crafted by the best artisans, and created with the wealth given willingly by King David and his people.
But now, because of the delight I take in the house of my God, in addition to all that I stored up for the holy house, I give to the house of my God my personal fortune in gold and silver: three thousand talents of Ophir gold, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the rooms, for the various utensils to be made of gold and silver, and for every work that is to be done by artisans.(1 Chorinthians 29:3-5)
Sometimes, non-Catholics have a hard time understanding why we often include such ornate and beautiful objects in our churches. The simple answer is because, as Moses and Kind David knew, nothing is too precious for God. If Jesus were coming to one's house to have dinner, I imagine we'd all bring out our best china and crystal, our richest foods...nothing would be too good for God Himself!
And so, the Christian equivalent of the Tent and the Temple, the dwelling place of God, is the Tabernacle. It is often a beautiful and ornate golden box. Outside of every tabernacle is a lamp, called an altar lamp or sanctuary lamp. This lamp is kept lit at all times when the Eucharist is inside to remind us of Christ's presence there. (Also a concept carried over from the Jews, as in Exodus 27:20-21.)
Out of respect, any time one crosses in front of the tabernacle it is customary to bow or genuflect to acknowledge Christ's presence. People are welcome to come and pray, knowing Christ is there. His presence makes it a holy place, and our actions reflect that. The scriptures remind us, too, that our bodies are also to be considered temples of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor 6:19) We can look to the beautiful tabernacles to remind us of the amazing gift residing within it, so that when we receive it ourselves we recognize our unworthiness and praise God accordingly.
A recent, somewhat controversial issue concerning the tabernacle has to do with its placement in the church. It has become more common to place it off to a side rather than being centrally located, and sometimes even off in a separate room not visible in the main part of the church. It may not seem like a huge deal, but it's likely no coincidence that as the tabernacle became less visible, less central in some places, belief in the Real Presence has seemed to diminish alongside it. Ornate tabernacles replaced with simple wooden boxes could make it easier to forget the precious gift that is dwelling within it. We are physical creatures, and physical attributes remind us of spiritual truths.
The video below shows some examples of tabernacles, both some modern simplistic tabernacles placed off to the side, and more ornate tabernacles cenntrally located. At the end of the day of course, what matters is what is inside...God Himself, who humbly comes to us in the form of bread and wine. May we never forget what a precious gift this is!
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home there, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God! How happy are those who can live in your house, always singing your praises.(Ps 84:1-4)
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild it’s ruins, and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things. (Acts 15:16-17)
My husband was kind enough to give my family a little bagpipe concert on Christmas day, so I thought I'd share a taste of his piping here on my blog as well. :-)
Mark Shea posted one of these videos on his blog, and I went and watched all of them. They are SO cute!! They're recordings of little Irish children telling Bible stories set to animation, lol. I could listen to the accents all day, so so cute!
Birth of Jesus
John the Baptist
Lol, I love "Are ya reeeally God or are ya a ssshhhhhockin' holy saint?"
Bagpiping! Well he hasn't gotten to the actual pipes yet, but he's doing well on the practice chanter. This was his first public performance along with his fellow student and teacher (she's the one in the kilt), only after several months of learning.
And here's a taste of what's to come in the future. This is the Silver Thistle performing, the group that teaches his lessons.
We sang the Lourdes Ave Maria today at mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which reminded me that I hadn't yet put up a little video I got of the bells at Lourdes ringing the tune.
It's not very long but it's a bit slow to load, sorry!
And just to prove that I'm an equal opportunity critic, lol, here is a clip from the French version of "Millionaire."
For the non-French speakers out there, this is the basic rundown:
The question is, "What orbits around the Earth?"
The options are A: The Moon; B: The Sun; C: Mars; D: Venus.
As you can see he looks thoroughly perplexed...so he decides, after some hemming and hawing, to use the "poll the audience" option. The result of that is what really shocked me!
You can probably figure out the rest from watching!
If I didn't, at one point, have a real life roommate who asked me if London was in France (she also happened to be a cute blonde with a very thick East Texan accent, lol), I would have a much harder time believing that this wasn't an act:
Here's my life in a nutshell - I was raised in the Church of Christ, met a French Catholic guy online in my teens, tried to convert him to the Church of Christ, and-SURPRISE!-ended up converting myself to Catholicism. We ran off to France and got married, came back to the states, I got a degree in English, he got a degree in Computer Science, he got a job, and I am now happily living life as a Catholic housewife.
