Conversation With My Father

My last one-on-one conversation with my father was about liturgy.  Specifically, what had I taken away from the online courses in Theology of the Divine Office and of the Divine Liturgy that I took as part of a credential program.  My father was the head of the Liturgy, or Ritual, Committee at his synagogue in Manhattan, so this is both a personal and a 'professional' interest for him.

I had already picked up from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that the Mass or Eucharist, which the Eastern Christians call the Divine Liturgy, is a re-enactment of the Last Supper.  My studies in Eastern Christianity taught me the startling, profound truth that there is truly only one event of Sacrifice.  The Eucharistic Consecration of any priest on any given day is not a representation of that event, nor is it a re-enactment that connects us to Christ, as if the priest were concelebrating with Him.  Instead, the Eastern Theology of the Divine Liturgy teaches that the priest's act of consecration actually unifies the priest with Christ, and brings all participants into the one moment of His Sacrifice that is forever a present event.  We are brought into Eternity.

My experience with the Theology of the Divine Office was similar.  The Roman Breviary I have says that reciting the Divine Office is a "sactification of time." That never seemed a sufficient explanation.  Again, my studies of Eastern Christian Theology gave me a deeper and richer insight, which I happily heard echoed in last Sunday's homily.  The Christian perspective on the "End Times" is that they have already begun, that the death of Jesus on the Cross ended the "time" of the reign of Death, and since then we have been living the End Time that will last until He comes again in glory.

In the End of Time we hear that we will join with the angels and saints standing before the throne of our Lord, singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving.  That is what we are actually doing when we recite the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office.  We are stepping out of our mundane world into a parallel universe in which we are standing before Him, addressing our words to Him Who is ever present, though we may not see Him.

I try to remember this every day, though my fallen human nature makes my thoughts wander far away from Him into the mundane world.  I pray often for the grace to be more aware of the alternate, parallel universe in which these petty frustrations and sorrows weigh me down.  Lord give me strength to persevere!

Amen.

Taking humorous things seriously

Perhaps because I have a headcold and everything seems a bit echoey, including my thought process, but for some reason, anyway: outside just now I was chanting in my mind, "Dominus vobiscum," and the response, "et cum spiritu tuo." And my thoughts wafted into the memory of how we used to as kids have fun saying pretend-Latin, using English words to make nonsense Latin chants, using words like "Domino Nabisco" and "Animal Cracker." And just now I was considering that the reason it is possible to do that is that Latin is a significant ancestor of our language, such a foundational aspect of what we say that our own language gives us the tools to make fun of it.  As children of course we did so in innocence, simply for fun and knowing we were in some way ignorant of the truth and using our ignorance to jest about it.

Now as I write all this out, it occurs to me that we are doing the same thing as grown ups, not with language but with our culture, which came from the same source.  In many ways the rhetoric and concepts we string together to mock and diminish the Roman Church are tools which she herself cultivated and gave to society.  I don't have the brainwidth to take this further, but it is a thought that echoes in my head with the resonance of truth.  "Hmnn, there's something in that. . ."

I Miss You

I noticed that one of my contacts at my favorite social networking site disappeared overnight.  Because of something she posted yesterday, I suspect she deleted her account. I realize this is the nature of our virtual society: we now have acquaintences, neighbors, and friends in distant locations, who we may meet in person. Some of them disappear.

Then we have traditional relationships, founded on physical presence at least initially.  People we meet, speak with, spend time with in the same physical space. Their departures are generally less sudden and unexpected.

All endings stir a sense of sorrow and loss somewhere within me. Sometimes I feel personally rejected and wonder what I did or am that generates such a response.  In my older age I more often simply mourn the loss and say a prayer that they will find good things in life even when I won't know about it.

I am going to miss my friend. I will notice the absence of her particular tone of comment and feedback, and I will be reminded of her every morning when I check the weather in her city (a town I'd like to live in myself).

(wave)

To anyone I've lost track of - I wish you well!