Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue

Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue
Mary Dixon-Thayer

Lovely Lady dressed in blue
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
Tell me what to say!

Did you lift Him up, sometimes,
Gently on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way
Mother does to me?

Did you hold His hand at night?
Did you ever try
Telling stories of the world?
O! And did He cry?

Do you really think He cares
If I tell Him things
Little things that happen? And
Do the Angels' wings

Make a noise? And can He hear
Me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
Tell me; for you know.

Lovely Lady dressed in blue
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
And you know the way.

The Year of Faith

So, today begins the year of Faith. The Holy Father has asked for this year of faith to increase the waning faith of all Catholics throughout the world. Today, in the calendar of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, is also the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A feast established to commemorate the Fiftieth Centenary of the Council of Ephesus, where they declared the Perpetual Virginity and Motherhood of Our Lady and condemned Nestorianism.

This is one of the readings from Matins this morning. A sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux.

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 2:43-51
In that time having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And so on. 

A Homily of St. Bernard the Abbot
Homilia 1. de Laud. Virg. Matris
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Mary called God, the Lord of Angels, her son. Which of the angels would have dared to do so? It is enough for them, and they reckon it is a great thing, that, being naturally spirits, they should receive the grace of being made and called angels, as witness David: Who maketh spirits his angels. But Mary, knowing herself to be his Mother, doth boldly apply the word Son to that Majesty whom the angels do serve with awe; neither doth God despise to be called what he hath made himself. For a little after, the Evangelist saith: And he was subject unto them. Who to whom? God to men. I say that God, unto whom the angels are subject, and who is obeyed by the Principalities and Powers, was subject to Mary.

Marvel thou at both these things, and choose whether to marvel most at the sublime condescension of the Son, or at the sublime dignity of Mary. Either is amazing, either marvellous. That God should obey this woman, is a lowliness without parallel; that this woman should rule over God, an exaltation without match. In praise of virgins, and of virgins only, is it sung that These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Of what praise then thinkest thou that she must be worthy who even leadeth the Lamb? O man, learn to obey. O earth, learn to submit. O dust, learn to keep down. It is of thy Maker that the Evangelist saith: And he was subject unto them. Blush, O proud ashes. God humbleth himself; and dost thou exalt thyself? God is subject unto men; and wilt thou, by striving to rule over men, set thyself before thy Maker?

O happy Mary, lowly and virgin; and wondrous virginity, which motherhood destroyed not, but exalted; and wondrous lowliness, which the fruitful virginity took not away, but ennobled; and wondrous motherhood, which was both virgin and lowly. Which of them is not wondrous? which of them is not unexampled? and which of them doth not stand alone? The wonder would be if thou wert not puzzled at which to wonder most?motherhood in a virgin, or virginity in a mother; a motherhood so exalted, or lowliness in such exaltation. But indeed more marvellous than any one of these things is the combination of them all, and without all comparison, it is more excellent and more blessed to have received them all, than to have received any one of them alone. What wonder is it that God, of whom we see and read, that He is wonderful in his holy places, should have shewn himself wonderful in his Mother? O ye that be married, honour this incorruption in corruptible flesh; O holy maidens, gaze in wonder at motherhood in a maid; O, all mankind, take pattern by the lowliness of the Mother of God.

 It is so clear, that obedience is necessary for Faith. One may have faith, but without obedience to the Church, to her magisterium, and to the Pope, one will not be able to do much with it. We can already see the consequences of the works of faith without obedience. The wheels on the bus go round and round... ahem.

Of course, all this could be just a coincidence. Of course, the Pope is one who is promoting the Extraordinary Form. ;)

The Beginnning

Just give me a reason to keep my heart beating
Don't worry it's safe right here in my arms
As the world falls apart around us
All we can do is hold on hold on...

Take my hand and bring me back

I risk everything if it's for you
I whisper into the night
Telling me it's not my time and don't give up
I've never stood before this time
でも譲れないもの 握ったこの手は離さない

So stand up stand up (Just gonna keep it when I)
Wake up wake up (Just tell me how I can)
Never give up 狂おしいほど切ないよ

Just tell me why baby they might call me crazy
Or saying night cries until there is no more
愁いを含んだ選考眼光は感覚的衝動くらいね
I can't see the end so where do I begin

Say another word I can't hear you
Silence between us
何もないように映ってるだけ
I take it's chance that I make you mine
ただ隠せないもの飾ったように見せかけて

So stand up stand up (Just gonna keep it when I)
Wake up wake up (Just tell me how I can)
Never give up 悲しみも切なさも

Just give me a reason to keep my heart beating
Don't worry it's safe right here in my arms
砕けて泣いて咲いて散ったこの思いは
So blinded I can't see the end
Look how far we made it
The pain I can't escape it

このままじゃまだ終わらせることはできないでしょ
何度くたばりそうでも朽ち果てようとも終わりはないさ
So where do I begin

握り締めた失わぬようにと手を広げれば零れ落ちそうで
失うものなどなかった君の惰性を捨てて君を

Just tell me why baby they might call me crazy
Or saying night cries until there is no more
愁いを含んだ選考眼光は感覚的衝動くらいね
I can see the end
Look how far we made it
The pain I can't escape it

このままじゃまだ終わらせることはできないでしょ
何度くたばりそうでも朽ち果てようとも終わりはないさ
It finally begin

Today, I have discovered why St Guisseppe Moscati carried a rosary in his lab coat at all times.

Superheroes.

Somehow, the topic of heroes within society always seems to return to my mind despite long vacations. That shouldn't be much of a surprise I suppose, since virtue ethics is a pet topic of mine. That, and I will give you a earful about why society needs heroes and not role models.

This isn't going to be a long post, just some food for thought really. Heroic virtue is necessary for sanctity, in fact it is something that sanctity exudes, the necessity to go beyond the call of duty, to go beyond what one is capable, constantly pushing oneself in a sacrifice for someone else. I cannot think of a saint who is not a hero in some way or another. In fact, for quite a few of them, their entire lives could very well form the plot of a great comic book. Incidentally, we are all called to be saints. Oh yes, you too. You are meant to be a saint, to be holy. That is, you must become a hero.

So what makes a hero? It's not merely the external acts of valour, bravery and courage that make a hero. It begins from within. It is an interior transformation that must occur, the changing of cowardice to courage, of weakness to tenacity, of tepidity to passion, selfishness to generosity and so on. This takes time and the slow purification and distillation of the virtues within the soul become manifest in the outward actions that we see in real life.

Just think about it. Peter Parker didn't just become Spider-man over night. No, his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, from young, had been teaching him the very necessary virtues to become heroic. It was only the untimely stabbing of his uncle that led sealed in those lessons. Superman was made a hero by his foster parents, likewise Bruce Wayne became Batman because his parents, and later alfred, taught him justice and truth. Likewise, firemen don't dash into blazing buildings without first undergoing months of training; training which is more than just physical and technical but also internal. So to is the saint in the making. His internal change comes from similar means his prayer, penance, fasting and mortification, all which stem from and add fuel to that all consuming fire which is the love he has for God.

The success in virtue is not the only thing which defines a hero, there are also his failures. By now, one must realise that it is impossible to live in the world without falling and failing. This is what happens because of the very simple fact that we are all fallen creatures. That is, no one on this planet is sinless, save two individuals in the past. We live in a world where it is not alright to fail, yet failure is absolutely necessary to growth. We learn best from our mistakes, because successes do not tell us where we can wrong. Morally, of course this mistakes mean the committing of evil actions, however we need them from time to time to learn as well. It is, of course, necessary not to let the mistake define us, but the lesson behind the mistake. Hercules would not be Hercules if he hadn't done the reparation for accidentally slaying his children. Peter Parker wouldn't be Spider-man if he had stopped the thief from getting away. St Augustine wouldn't have become St Augustine if he hadn't fought his lust and won.

That's the lovely thing about being a hero is that heroes are allowed to make mistakes, whereas role models aren't. A role model that doesn't live up to his expectations, fails to fulfill the criteria of the role that he is supposed to be a the model for, thus losing the status. On the other hand, we expect the hero to fall out of his horse from time to time, and then get up and climb back on, this time with renewed resolve to charge at the dragon. Sometimes, he falls, and has to chase his horse, but he eventually gets there and wins, though he never knows if he will.

This actually applies to all aspects of our lives as St Thérèse de Liseux so wisely taught in her little way: to do all the ordinary things extraordinarily. In fact, that is where heroism first manifests itself, in the unseen things, in the things no one notices. When we listen to each patient as if they were the only patient in the world, or just always being on time, or doing each drill as it if it were the exam or game. See, it's never about the quantity of what one does, but the quality one inject into each action. Spider-man would be a hero even if he only saved one person, and only because he put all of himself into saving that one person.

Likewise, this is often where we fail, when we make mistakes. In the little things, and then the little things pile up and drown us. It is a common motif in comic books, where the superhero must juggle his heroism with his personal life. How many times has Spidey missed an important event because he was out saving some part of New York City from destruction courtesy of the Green Goblin? Bruce Wayne is always shown being asleep or uncaring during his business meetings. One of the reasons why Wayne Enterprises collapsed in the movies. Yet, even here, the superheroes apply their heroic skill and courage in starting afresh and reparating for all the hurt they caused. Likewise, when we fall, we have confession, and then once again bathed in the blood of Christ, we come out white as snow, and refreshed and ready to fix whatever harm we've caused.

So, it's actually rather simple to be a hero. We should be heroes, beacons of hope for our children especially, and our family and friends. Start today. It merely begins by loving God with all your heart, and mind and soul, and then to living out his commandments.

PS: Yes, I did promise a short post, but unfortunately brevity is not one of my heroic fortes.
PPS: I wrote this for you, and yes, I think you're a hero already.

EDIT: Thanks to the Anti-Modernist. I left out one very important point. Heroes always strive to do the right thing. They may make mistakes here and there, but they always come through in the end, even making reparation for their mistakes. Think of Boromir in Tolkien's famous epic, the Lord of the Rings. He attempts initially to steal the ring from Frodo, only to end up in sorrow realising his great sin. Well, Boromir doesn't remain there in sorrow, he gets up kicks orc butt saving Merry and Pippin...well until he dies at the hands of the archers. Nevertheless, a hero redeemed.

Our Love For the Church

The Church is the Bride of Christ, she is our Mother; we ought to love her because she brings us to Jesus and unites us to Him. We ought to love and revere her doctrine, because it is doctrine of Jesus Christ; to love her prayer and associate ourselves with it because it is the prayer of the Bride of Christ, and there is none safer for us, none more pleasing to Our Lord.

We ought to attach ourselves to the Church, to all that comes from her, as we should have been attached to the very Person of Jesus and all that came to us from Him, if it had been give us to follow Him during His earthly life.

St Pau compares her to an edifice 'built upon the foundation of the Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.' (Ipso summa angulari lapide Christo Iesu).

We live in this house of God, '…no more strangers and foreigners: but fellow citizens with the saints…' It is Christ 'in whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord.'

- Dom. Columba Marmion, Christ the Life of a Soul

Marriage and Vocations Pt 3

Da Boyz.

The men are not off the hook either. Just like there is a jarring loss of authentic femininity  in women today, there is also an equally jarring loss of masculinity in men today as well. Heck, in this case, I’m even willing to go as far as to say it was this loss of authentic masculinity that resulted in reaction known as the feminist revolution. However, unlike women who went wayward in a movement aimed at bettering women’s lives, men lost themselves in a slightly more complicated fashion.

Authentic Masculinity

To understand the heart of the problem, one first must understand what the man is supposed to be. The very essence of man is the need to sacrifice himself for the good of his family. In the bible, Christ reminds the Pharisees that, in the beginning, ‘a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh.’ This very act of leaving the caregivers of his life to enter into the unknown world is in itself a sacrifice. From then on, he will put aside his needs and desires and physically exhaust himself in a job that he may or may not like to bring home dough for his wife and children. In the past that would mean putting his body on the line to go hunt, in the modern world, it is sitting at a desk all day long.

All this can be observed through natural law. In some tribes there are coming of age rituals, signifying the boy’s transition from boyhood to manhood. From then on, he is expected to keep the company of the men, where he learns to be one of them and to hunt and protect his family. Even biology mimics this, where at the age of 4, the boy must separate himself from his mother and join to his father, or gender identity disorder may occur.

It is in this bond that the boy learns how to carry out his masculine duties through imitation, how to sacrifice himself and treat every woman as a lady, to put himself second, and give her the first place.

To draw a parallel, it is this same path that Christ, Himself, took. He left heaven and took on the form of man, where, He then went and sacrificed His body through the beatings, scourging, the crown of thorns, the carrying of the cross, and finally the crucifixion itself in order to redeem the entire world. It is this external sacrifice that is innate in masculinity that allows a man to become a priest and to act in persona Christi, in the person of the most masculine, to offer up the sacrifice of the most innocent to God the Father.

Hence the occupations that boysmost identify with often require some form of physical sacrifice. Every boy at one stage has wanted to be a soldier or a policeman or a fire fighter. To serve and protect is practically innate within the male. That is why men were given such great passions and energy, to channel it for the greater good of society. It is in growing up that we learn to master these passions and to defeat dragons, the first of which being ourselves. Only when we have the discipline to conquer our passioned wants and needs will we have the ability to take on other dragons, to be ready for battle. We were meant to be knights in shining armour. So where did we go wrong?

Utilitarianism

The fallout of traditional philosophy during the enlightenment period gave rise to empiricism and skeptism, which led to the ethics of Utilitarianism. As mentioned in the previous articles, Utilitarianism can be summed up as ‘whatever means to achieve the greatest pleasure’. It is a relativistic course of ethics whose moral principles largely depend on what one can get away with. Hence, the spawning of the ‘me’ generation whose effects can be largely seen in almost every aspect of society. In economics, duty and honour between employers and employees has since been thrown out the door, it is how much the employer can milk his employees for profit. In healthcare, doctors have been relegated to prescription writing, pill dispensing units thanks to the application of Prinicipalism which has utilitarian roots. In advertising it has become developed to the point of whatever sells the product, and of course, that is sex. One hardly comes across an advertisement nowadays that isn’t sexed up in some way.

When applied to the man, this idea of I’ll use whomever I want to give me pleasure, has eroded the presence of the truly masculine in society. Once men were protectors, they have either become predators, just going around using women for their personal gain or they never grow up, being stuck in front of the computer screen all day long, indulging in their fantasies. This uh mascularism, if you will, the corruption of the masculine with utilitarian principles, is why women who desire to get married to a good and loving husband will be hard pressed to find one.

Over-sexed Culture

It doesn’t help that the culture has become sex-obsessed. The gender-sociologist have turned sexual preference into an identity, elevating it from an accidental feature of humanity into an essential feature, and the only essential feature, hence the LGBT movement and this silly notion that one’s gender is completely a social construct, never mind the staggering research into the physiological and anatomical differences between men and women. You can choose whether you want to be a boy or a girl in the head, but not whether you’re attracted to boys or girls. It’s all rather odd if you ask me.

What’s more, in today’s culture, boys are expected by society to watch pornography, masturbate and be promiscuous. This could not be more contrary to nature! Pornography addiction is particularly prevalent and its incidence is on the rise. What’s the big deal you ask? Well, leaving aside the obvious problems for the moment, like that it’s a grave sin, it denigrates the marital act in its fiction and teaches men to objectify women, what about the fact that porn stars themselves are horribly damaged and abused individuals? That’s right, as long as you watch pornography, you are supporting the abuse of men and women who are completely broken and damaged inside. (see theporneffect.com)

Masturbation is also a very dangerous habit. I won’t say much and let C.S Lewis do the talking for me, ‘For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back, sends it back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides. And this harem, once admitted, works against his ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman. For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifices or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attractions which no real woman can rival.’

Read more about that here in an article by Fr John Harvey, OSFS on the Courage website http://couragerc.net/Masturbation.html

I think I don’t need to speak as well about how sleeping around will mess a man up completely as well.

Chivalry is Dead

All these grave sins have lead to a huge rusting of the shining armour that men once proudly wore because the armour of virtue and chivalry cannot be worn by a man who is unable to lead such a life. The armour requires a great strength of mind to put on and to sustain, a great strength that can only come from God. When one is his natural state of sanctifying grace, in that communion with God, how light he is, and how light this armour will be. The opposite will of course be when he bogged down by these sins. In essence, the modern man, shackled by the fetters of pornography and sexual addiction, will have to overcome great obstacles in order to remain true to his essential nature, his masculinity. These sexual sins in particular have lead to an objectification of women, and ultimately to their degradation. When men view women as a objects, as commodities, they will no longer see persons to protect but things to possess, and there goes the masculine.

In addition to these woes, the feminist movement has also put a stop to the little courtesies that men afforded women in their external sacrifice of the self. The sacrifice of the feminine is an internal one, a sacrifice of the ego, in her mercy, she allows the man to care for her and look after her. It is in this act, that she allows the man to fulfil his masculinity. However, in becoming feminists, the women have essentially said no to masculinity and allowed men to become jerks. That said, I will agree that it is the men’s fault that the feminist movement erupted in the first place.

In Brief

Boys, you have a duty to God, to society, to women and to yourself, to be masculine men. To be the gentlemen regardless of how you are treated and to protect always, even those whom you have never met (but are tempted to view electronically). 

Lost

Have you seen it?
I don't know where I've put it.
Yes, it was just there a while ago,
I don't suppose you'd know?
It was supposed to be a present!
But, I don't think anyone wants mine...
Anyway, it's quite useless,
I might have dropped it a few times
and it broke into many pieces.
Yes, I've checked the Lost and Found,
but they didn't have it.
It's kinda red and round,
and slimy and empty.
It used to hold a sea before,
but now that's all gone.
I guess no one thinks it important anyway,
though I think I might need it.
I'm becoming quite cold and pale without it.
Are you sure,
you haven't seen it?

Cardinal Burke interviewed by CNS on Tradition.

Absolutely beautiful. Many thanks to Fr Z for the video!

My Love Affair with the Divine Office

I am...uh...'borrowing' this beautiful picture from Dr Taylor Marshall's blog Canterbury Tales to talk about the Divine Office today. This post was particularly inspired by the blog Medical Matins, which is a must read for all Medics! For all my busy Medic friends, I have written this post, especially with you in mind. I hope you will at least read through most of it!

I love the Divine Office, after Mass, it is the next thing that keeps me sane every day. Daily Mass thought me how to centre my life around Christ. Because of the fixed time of Mass, it really requires to plan your day around it, in a sense it becomes the centre of your life. Going to meet friends in town? Mass is at half past six, either meet before or after Mass. The Divine Office pushed that to a new level for me. They say you get the most graces when you say the hours in the times when they are supposed to be said (Thankfully, you can anticipate matins!). Thus, when you completely settle the entire day around praying, it is really special.

I cannot explain it, but you really get a lot of graces from praying the Office. For those who are unfamiliar with the Office, it is essential praying the entire set of Psalms. In the extraordinary form of the office (EF), you pray all 150 in a week, in the ordinary form of the office (OF), you pray 143 psalms across the span of a month. As you all know, I am your typical Catholic, I have never read the bible from cover to cover, and I would have never dreamed of reading all the psalms, let me repeat, all the ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY psalms. Yea, well, only through the grace of almighty God, I read it and continue to so every week. 

And not only that, Matins, which consists of 9 psalms arranged into three nocturnes with accompanying lessons means that if God willingly, this time time next year, I'd have read through most of the bible as well! Well, not in it's entirety, as they do skip verses, but it's amazing! Right now, I am reading through the soap opera of King David's life in the second book of Samuel. He's just done nasty things with Bethsheba and Prophet Nathan is banging on his door. You'll have to read the rest yourself, it's all very fiesty ;)

Back to the point, you really do get a lot of graces. God likes to give out graces to people who want to pray more. Having difficulty with your daily prayer, like me? He will shower you with strength. It seems long, but each just Office just flies by. Not to mention how much it keeps temptation at bay. 

For the Medic on the go, especially clinicals or doctors working, especially those who can't get to daily Mass, or find it hard to seek prayer during the day, or if you just need an escape into God's wonderful arms, the Office is the way to go. The various hours of the day punctuate the time, and will give you the strength to go on. Not to mention, the little hours are short, about 5 mins a piece. You can sneak them into your day at appropriate intervals. They are a booster of grace, if you will.

I said the Office only in the second semester of school, and it helped me to carry on during the long hours of study. You have no idea how many times through the day, when one stumbles upon an encouraging line, like psalm 56, 'Have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me, for upon You my soul has relied, /And in the shadow of Your wings I will trust, until the wickness passes by.' Not to mention all the lovely psalms of praise, like psalm 116, 'Praise the Lord all ye nations, etc'. Even if you can only find time to say compline, you will benefit greatly!

While it is only a devotion for us, the Divine Office is an obligation for all priests, and it sustains them. Here's a remark from a damned priest on the power of the divine office:

As far as I was concerned, I used to remember that I was a priest and, at the beginning, I used to exercise my Priesthood responsibly. And then, as time went by, I found that monotonous and, forgetting prayer, I also forgot about celibacy. I cut out prayer, firstly because I believed I was too busy, and then I used to take it up again occasionally, and then, finally, I abandoned it altogether. I used to think that those long prayers in the breviary were tedious and useless and, in the end, I lost the taste for prayer. 

When I cut out the breviary, I fell into the sin of impurity, and from that moment on, I had no more taste for saying the Mass. This was a chain reaction. When I fell into impurity this was the chain reaction - I no longer said the Mass devoutly because I was no longer in the state of grace. In this condition, the reading of the Bible and of the Gospel, in particular, and also the sight of God's commandments, became a reproach to me.

The above from the a transcript of the damned priest, Verdi-Garandieu, whom God allowed to speak during an exorcism to a give a warning of damnation. So, it's got a stamp of approval from a damned soul. I suppose that's not much in terms of accreditation, but the Saints also have much to say as well. See St Alphonsus of Liguori:

On the other hand, when one recites the Office with attention, what merit and what profit does one derive from it. What lights are then obtained from the divine words! With what holy maxims is the soul penetrated! How many acts of love, of confidence, of humility, of contrition, may one not make by merely paying attention to the verses that one recites! Above all, what beautiful prayers are found in each psalm! There is no doubt that, when recited with faith and fervor, they merit treasures of grace, according to the infallible promise made by our Lord that he would hear whoever prays to him : Ask, and it shall be given you.(Matt. 8:7) For every one that asketh, receiveth.(Luke 9:10)

My Affair with the Office
I first got started in the Office way back in 2009 when I bought an anglican breviary it was a translation of the 1955 Roman Breviary, so it was the EF office. During those days of tepid faith, I started clumsily with Compline. I loved it, especially the hymn, Te Lucis Ante Terminum, but unfortunately, a lack of mental stamina prevented me from overcoming the ribbon flipping and mountain of instructions. After a while, the saying of compline dropped out of my prayer routine.

It was only this year actually, after finding out all my friends were actually saying the office and so I thought, you know I'd better succumb to peer pressure like a good peer-pressure succumbing youth and jump on the bandwagon. I had, for sometime now, an app on my Ipod Touch, called Breviarum Meum, which allowed you to download the text of the EF Office into your phone for the week, which had both the Office in Latin and English.

See the none of this would have happened if I hadn't gotten into the habit of sleeping early and waking up at 3am to study. I just get more work done in the morning before heading off for morning Mass. I used to joke that me getting up so early was practice for saying Matins, which are usually sung at 4am in monastic communities. Unfortunately, God took too me seriously. I had originally started with Lauds, Vespers and Compline, each about 12 mins, and then I eventually, I felt that I had to add the little hours, Prime, Terce, Sext and None. The little hours are actually very short, and take about 5 mins each, with the exception of Prime (8 mins).

Before I knew it, I was toying with the idea of Matins...and BLAM! I'm waking up daily at 3am saying Matins every day at 4. And I loved it. Matins on normal days takes about 20 minutes to say, and on days with 3 nocturnes takes about 35 minutes. See what happens when you even joke about praying more?

All in all, if you're trying to squeeze in an hour of prayer a day, the Office is the way to go. It comes in delightful bite sized pieces. The aforementioned Dr Marshall has a really lovely piece on praying the Office. Read it here: http://cantuar.blogspot.sg/2010/12/how-to-pray-divine-office-in-latin.html. It is by far, the best article I have read on it yet. 

I've also never actually said the Office in the OF, also called the Liturgy of the Hours, before. I started with EF by coincidence and have just start with it. If you want to know more about the differences between the two, read the comments in the above link on Dr Marshall's blog. All I can say, having looked at the OF Office, is that is is a kind of Divine Office lite, though they have more readings of the church Fathers. Try out the online versions and see which one you like.

Anyway, don't let all this waking at 4am be an obstacle to your recitation of the office. I am a weird person after all. Now, that I am on holiday and am no longer waking up at 4am to pray Matins (which I miss doing), but I just start praying the Office in chronological order whenever I get up, which is between 10 and 1. I am a slob, I  know. I also used to be very scrupulous about not missing an hour within the proper time frame, it was a great fear actually. Thankfully, after chillin' with some deacons from the Fraternity, they taught me that you can just say the hours as time permits within the span of 24 hours. We were touring Dublin on foot, and they pretty much wiped out their breviaries whenever time permitted. Also, remember that as lay people, we are not obliged to say the breviary. 

I really hate when that happens, because of my short stamina for prayer.

Getting Started

My advice is to pray to God and ask Him for the grace to say the office, and then start with Compline. It is the sweetest and easier office to say, because it is nearly the same every day. Then add Lauds and Vespers. Don't worry about saying Lauds before dawn, just try and say it in the morning. Soon you'll be doing that Pringle thing where you can't stop popping and you'll find yourself saying all the little hours. And you know how the story goes from there.

It helps to start with an electronic form of the Office, because it has all the parts laid out for you in the right order. I.E. not ribbon flipping and confusion. Over time as you get used to it, go out and buy a set of Breviaries. The OF Office, also called the Liturgy of the Hours, comes in a 4 Volume set or a 1 Volume book called Christian Prayer. You should be able to get that from your Church bookstore, you can also order them from amazon or www.divineoffice.org, which also has the hours in English daily. That is a useful way to start. If you want it in Latin: http://www.almudi.org/Portals/0/docs/Breviario/fuentes/breviario.html. If you like to try the EF Office, the hours are available online here: www.divinumofficium.com. Unfortunately there is only one Latin-English Breviary available now, and that is by Baronius Press: www.baroniuspress.com. However, that is a rather dear breviary, but it is worth the price for something will last you over a decade and will be used every day.

For iPhone apps (which I think are available on android too):

OF Liturgy of the Hours:
http://www.ibreviary.com/

http://www.universalis.com/

EF Divine Office:

http://apps.liturgiaetmusica.com/

All the best, and drop me a note if you have any questions or if all goes well for you!

If Confirmation Class was Boot Camp.

ATTEN-HUT!

GOOD MORNING MAGGOTS!

I am Sergeant Mercurius O'Brien, and for the next few months, I am going to prepare you for confirmation.

Dooo-ooo YOU know what that is son? Confirmation, huh? I CAN'T HEAAAR YOU. That's right son, it's a sacrament. Anyone want to give a guest what a sacrament is? Nope? Not one? What are they teaching you in your catechism classes?

Right, now listen up. Confirmation is a sac-ra-ment. It is outward sign of inward grace, and in this particular sacrament, you, yes you baby face, you are going to be sealed with the Holy Spirit. Does anyone know why? No one?

*aside* Oh good Saints in heaven, we have plenty of work on our hands.

YOU are the CHURCH MILITANT. You are being prepared for SPIRITUAL WAR. Yes, son, SPI-RI-TUAL WAR. Didn't your teachers tell you that in class? That ongoing right now is a great war between them angels up above, and those devils down below? A war between heaven and earth for the our very souls?!

Yes, that's right Jones, a war. for. your. soul.

Now listen up, from this moment forward, YOU, are going to forget every single nambly-pambly thing that you have been told by your catechism teachers. This is a war, and when you die. YES, you will die eventually, but don't worry, Our Lord, Jesus Christ has already conquered death, you won't have to be afraid. But, when you die, there will be four last things that happen to you. You will. 1) die. 2) be Judged, 3) go to heaven, or 4) go to hell. Have I made myself clear? Good.

What's that, Verrelli? Your teacher doesn't believe in hell? She said you God will take everyone to heaven? WRONG. What's that? Speak up Verrelli! It isn't in the bible? Have you read it? Well you better get started. Now drop and give me three decades! YOU CALL THAT A DECADE? Why, my grandmother, God bless her soul, could say a decade better than you. God bless her soul, could say a decade better than you. Why, she was a saint, she could pray better than the entire camp put together!  Forty hours of exposition, she was there, all forty hours. On her knees. That's right her knees. On your feet, dirtbag.

Right, listen up maggots, you will, I repeat, you will go to hell if you live a life in a state of sin and a life contrary to the teachings of Holy Mother Church. If you support unnatural forms of marriage, or like to kill unborn children or not go for frequent confession. Do you have a problem with that son? Yes, you! The one in the tight pink shirt with the rainbow on it? Judgemental? Why.... clearly you haven't read the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Lemme give you some advice son. You have one and only one soul, and there is only one way to heaven, God's way. Better decide what you want, His way, or the highway.

I've never seen a more sorry bunch of fools in my life. Well, don't worry, we will teach you. Yes, we will teach you everything that you need to know to fight the good fight. We will arm you against the devil. We will teach you how to fast, and to do penance and mortify yourself. Here, you will learn to grab the cross when you are in trouble. You will learn to assist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. You will learn the teachings of Holy Mother Church as she kept them for two thousand years. You are here so we can turn you into a saint. IS THAT CLEAR?

Alright, I think you have too much energy. Let's go for a tour around camp. By tour, I mean run. After that you will turn in and polish your shoes for Mass.

Let's go, let's go, let's go. MOVE IT!

I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE BEEN TOLD,

THE CATH'LIC CHURCH IS BRAVE AND BOLD....

St Augustine Zhao Rong (and companions)

 

Today is the Feast of St Augustine Zhao Rong and companions, his companions being the many chinese catholics and catholics in China who were martyred since the 17th Century. He's a Chinese saint, so he, and you, get a special blogpost today! Yay!

Well, to tell you the truth, I also learnt the most about St Augustine Zhao Rong today during Mass, because the priest sadly decided to give a homily about him before Mass. I wonder why priests feel obliged only to do exegesis of the readings of the day during their homily in Mass? But, I think that will forever remain a mystery. Anyway!

Anyway, St Augustine ZR was a chinese soldier who lived in the 19th Century. Before being baptised he watched the martyrdom of Bishop St John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, MEP, and later was ordained to the priesthood.

Soon after, he was arrested as well, and suffered the most grievous tortures before giving up his soul and receiving his crown of martyrdom in 1815.

The Church in China has been persecuted since it began, and that persecution goes on even now, especially with the Chinese government controlling the church and ordaining her own bishops. There is a underground movement in China, and to part of that movement loyal to Holy Mother Church doesn't bode well for those caught by the government. Pray for the Church in China!

Also, read more about St Augustine ZR's companions in this Catholic Culture article: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3159

Some thoughts on prayer.

Many people eschew prayer because it is a very difficult thing to do. One often has to force oneself to do it. Yes, it is true, that one does desire to do it, but at times, it certainly does feel like a chore before one starts. And then when you start, it seems to drag on forever, especially when one does a Holy Hour or starts reading Matins on days of first class feasts or even one starts the saying a rosary. I would bet that most Catholics, being the lukewarm king, would probably find that praying more than just the three necessary prayers (the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.) would be an agony. I think Dr Peter Kreeft talks about this in one of his talks, though I can't find the one right now, but he concludes that it is necessary for believe that prayer be difficult, otherwise everyone get complacent.

But you know what, I welcome that feeling of prayer lasting forever. I want my conversation with God to last an eternity, I just want to spend all my time with Him. I know that I cannot do that now because I  am so attached to the material things of this world and that my heart is still attached to sin. The pain from this timeless striving for concentrating and continual focus is from these attachments, because one cannot be in the presence of the infinite God with stain of sin. One will burn, and that is why in death, should we be fortunate enough to attain heaven by God's great mercy, we go through purgatory to remove all the sin remaining in souls. I pray that He will cut asunder all those horrid bonds of unnecessary things and that my heart will become completely open to Him. And only then, when He can finally come into my heart, and close the door behind will I be able to experience Him without the chains of temporality. Then, I made silent, and listen completely to His sweet words.


That is what the mystics experienced, they opened their hearts so completely to Our Lord, that He was able to dwell completely in their hearts, and they completely set apart from the world, were in a completely connexion with God. I think about St Dominic Slavio, going into his first ecstasy, not realising the hours that had passed by, until St John Bosco tapped him gently on the shoulder. I remember what one very holy priest said about another mystic, St Bernardino of Siena,


'And we don't know to what extent he saint, because Brother Vincent who travelled with him on the same donkey, died just before him, and he was not allowed to say what he knew, because he was always in intimate union with God and often in ecstasy! That is the correct dynamic! God having access to the heart!'


Until my heart can truly commune with my Lord, I shall at least take some consolation in the short glimpse of eternity with my sweet Lord.

Marriage and Vocations Part II

Part II

In my last post, I wrote about the lack of understanding and following one’s vocation as one of the reasons for the decline of marriage. To continue on that train of thought, there are separate problems stop Catholic youth in Singapore from seriously considering Marriage as a vocation.

Feminist Mentality

The fallout of the revolutions left many scars in the world, the feminist revolution left us the feminist mentality. I find that the majority of my friends who come from good all girls schools in Singapore, especially one somewhere in central Singapore, tend to be groomed in it. The alien called feminism which grew up in the 60s has crawled and clawed its way into heads of many teachers who go onto fill all these girls with thoughts of all sorts of career-driven independence and girl power.

Feminism and the Feminist mentality

Now, if you are asking why I would write something so hateful and sexist, then you must put down your pitchfolks and lawyers and left me explain. See, all Feminism holds its roots in Marxism, see http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/is-feminism-a-heresy. So therefore, at the heart (essence) of all Feminism is Socialism, and at the heart (essence) of Socialism is a atheistic utilitarian state. Socialism thinks that religion is all stupid and that no one takes their religion seriously. It’s all a joke to them.

Utilitarianism is a philosophy that can be summarised as ‘what ever the means for the greatest pleasure’. At the state level, the greatest ‘pleasure’ is material wealth, i.e. the greatest profit. Therefore, in order to reap the greatest profit, more people need to be added to the workforce, i.e. women. So, at the heart of feminism is this need to make profits for the state, hence the career driven philosophy of feminists.

While, people who have a feminist mentality are not themselves feminist, they still have this prevailing attitude, since it is essential to feminism. So girls, if you think that getting married at thirty, after establishing your career and rolling around in your bathtubs of greenbacks and ‘living the life’. Congratulations, you’ve just been oppressed by Fredreich Engels and Karl Marx, two men.

Having the Cake and Eating It

Another problem that arises from the prevailing feminist mentality is that often these girls are no longer taught to be feminine. This great independence that they are empowered with will be their end. After all, being too independent doesn’t allow one the charity to be served by others. My friend was recounting to me the other day of how when she first went to a co-ed school, she had a bit of a culture shock when boys offered to carry her things for her.

This of course, stems from the feminist (and of course from the Marxist) idea of egalitarianism, that all Men are equal in all attributes and abilities. This is of course sold to people in the oversimplified form of, ‘all men are equal, and therefore should have equal rights’.

Heh, that reminds of the time I was having dinner with this group of friends and this really pretty girl that I had a huge crush on at that time. She is a lovely girl and she hailed from one of those schools. Anyway, of course I made the mistake of telling my favourite anti-feminist joke that I like to tease the girls with. It goes something like:

‘All the great wars were caused by women.’

[Vexed look] ‘But, but, what about the world wars?!Or, the ware to tease the girls withlen of Troy, all these started because of a competion  and she hailed from one of those scho’

‘They weren’t great. Entire peoples were not eradicated.’

‘So what’s great then?’

‘Think about it. The Trojan War? Complete eradication of Troy by the Greeks, over who? Helen of Troy, all these started because of a completion by Artemis, Hera and Aphrodite.’

‘But that’s mythical!’

‘Or, what about that time Genghis Khan wiped out the Merkits for kidnapping his wife?’

Well, of course the point is, in a bit of teasing jocular manner, that men start wars over women because women are worth fighting for. Now, that I’ve ruined a perfectly good joke(well, at least I think it’s funny) by explaining it. I always get two reactions: the girls who are authentically feminine get the point immediately and tease back or smirk to themselves or the girls get all riled up and reactionary. I can’t say I don’t enjoy both reactions.

Well, okay I didn’t that night. She was sitting across me and when I started, my friend interjected and said, ‘You better not say that in front of B----‘, and I looked up to find to a black stare. Whoops. ):

But that brings me to my next point.

Authentic Feminity vs Feminism

The truth is that men and women have never had equal rights in the past, feminists got that part right. Men have always given women much more rights. The right to have doors opened for them, hats doffed in the presence, to carry their things, and buy them dinners and all sorts of other ceremonies. Men didn’t do this out of obligation, they did it out of love. They did it, not because the women couldn’t do it themselves, they knew they could, but they did it because they wanted to do it.

Think of that famous (if you watch cartoons) dialogue between Toph and Uncle Iroh. Toph, the blind earthbender is aggressively independent and refuses to be helped in anything. When Uncle Iroh begins to pour tea for her, she objects, to which he replies, ‘You sound like my nephew. Always thinking you need to do things on your own without anyone's support. There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you, help you. Not that I love you. I just met you.’

Such great wisdom from a 2D character. Of course it is possible to love someone you just met or haven’t met, when you see them through the lens of Christ.

The Church, the only great enemy and obstacle to Socialism, and number one promoter of women’s rights, has always understood that all persons are not equal in make, but equal in dignity. She teaches that God made people different, some to suffer in poverty, who are Christ’s special friends, because he denies them material attachments that they might easily find their way home to Him, and other blessed with wealth, that they may help the poor, and in their sacrifices, learn discipline and detachment and find their way home to Him.

Likewise, in the beginning, God ‘made them male and female.’ He made them different, with different characteristics and abilities, but equal in dignity. Remember the path to Heaven is the way of the cross, it is a denying of oneself for God’s will. He asked that women sacrifice their pride, in order that man be chivalrous, and to submit to their husbands, but He also mandated that husbands should love their wives as Christ loves His Church.

At the heart of Feminism, though Marxism is the Utilitarian principle, which is the greatest pleasure for the self. This is a ‘me’ generation. On the other hand, to be authentically feminine is to be centred around one’s vocation. That is to have Christ at centre of one’s heart. That is the key difference between femininity and feminism. Feminism calls women to be slaves to the state, making it money, and then indulge themselves in material things, before anything else. Marriage, family and children are commodities. Childrearing is seen as a ‘job’, one that does not bring any material profits. (I had a friend who asked why women weren’t being compensated for their national service). Christ calls women to be wives and mothers, to take up the joy of the duty of motherhood. That is to part take in His divine plan and to co-create with Him, little souls that may fill up Heaven.

Feminism seeks the benefit of one. Christ seeks the benefit of all.  Feminism desires of society, rights, Christ desires love. Choose wisely.

Tomorrow: The boys aren’t off the hook either! They are in a much worse state.

Marriage and Vocations

A few months ago, I was having dinner with a few catholic friends of mine of the same very old goat age on the verge of 24. We sat, three guys and three girls, at the table, and were talking about life. The conversation drifted onto the topic of family and children. The conversation (to the best of my memory) when something like this:

'No, I don't want to get married and have kids so early!'

'yea, me too'

'but, why not?' (me, the only stupid one in the group)

'I want to live my life! I don't want to settle down so young.'

It’s true, my friends do deserve to live their life. They just finished slaving for a very long degree and should have a chance too, or so we in the field lie to ourselves once school is over. That said, this is the prevalent mentality amongst so many of my young friends these days. If you compared this to life eighty years ago, the young people then who couldn’t wait to get married and have kids would be scandalized, and then they would layeth the smacketh-down as only a world war one veteran layeth. And then it would hurt.

It seems as though life is now all about just career and money and living my life first. So, this raises some hairy questions. Why don’t Catholic girls (and boys) want to get married young? What is this life that they want to live? And, how did that woman from the ‘30s knock you out with one punch?

What is this life they want to live?

The hairy question is really what this ‘life’ is and is it worth living? Is it the working life, fraught with many hair-raising corporate tales, all the while sitting in a cubicle? Nope.

Is it making more money then you know what to do with it finally filling your bathtub with ten dollar bills just so you can pretend you’re swimming in dough? Nope.

Is it jet setting across the world, thus draining the metaphorical bathtub of all that metaphorical dough? Well…still nope.

Bathing in money will give you paper cuts and will make you feel icky. Try the Blood of Christ instead, washes away even the deepest hardest to reach sin.

Sure, all these things are great and you will be seemingly content for a short period of time until you go back to your empty bathtub and return to your cubicle and have to start writing patient discharge summaries again. Then you look in the mirror at that old greyed figure, thinking about the drudgery of life and repeat the cycle, jaded and empty and thinking about how you lost your childhood in the university library.

Vocation

But there is help. You see, there is only one life worth living, and that is the life that God has planned for you. Every single one us has a vocation in life, and the journey’s end is the same: REACH HEAVEN. That is the only thing that will make us happy, to be with God in heaven, it is our destiny!

So huge an epiphany was this that in writing his Confessions, the doctor of the Church, St Augustine of Hippo wrote, ‘for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee?'

Like that fluffy new-age analogy, there is a ‘God-shaped’ hole in your heart that only God can fill. To take that a Catholic step further, and it will only be completely filled in heaven, but until then, the Lord in His omniscience and great mercy decided to that He would give us respite from this insatiable loneliness that can only be filled by Himself by giving us the religious life and Holy Matrimony. Some very privileged souls are called to the religious life.

The majority of us are called to be married and then help God to make more souls and populate heaven! How much more exciting can that get!? Like OH MY BRONTOSAURUS, do you mean almighty God lets me, poor, wretched, sinful ME, partake in HIS creation of a new soul?! You should be excited too. Stop rolling your eyes at the screen. Let me explain.

Yes, yes, I know, it’s big news and you’re wondering, does this guy even know what he’s talking about?! Hello! Earth to David, babies are hard work, they whine, and poop, and cry and puke all over the place, then live with you for 18 to 25 years (depending on the culture) and spend the latter of half that trying to exclude you from their lives, while still siphoning precious greenbacks from your wallet. How is that supposed to make you happy?!

Let me explain.

That doesn't look so hard to raise.

True Living.

If, you believe that 1)we are all put into this world by God to return to God, 2) and that God has a divine plan for us, 3) and that God is all and only good and wants therefore the best for us, then you can only draw the conclusion that to live according to God’s given plan will bring us the most joy.

Christ has already promised, ‘My yoke is sweet and my burden easy’ (Matt 11:30). And what more can this very yoke be for each of us, but our very vocations? We can be sure that work will have to be done, and while dragging the plough, we will suffer from pain and inconvenience, but Christ right there next to us helping us. He drags us bit by bit to heaven. But, He can only do so if we have taken up His yoke, and together with Him, we pull the plough.

Therefore, the faster that one fully recognises what one’s vocation is, and works toward fulfilling it, then one will truly find true joy with all of life. Thus St Laurence while on the grill can quip to his executors, ‘this side is done, turn me over’ and Mother Teresa can live in abject poverty looking after the poor.

Therefore, if it was planned that you live in a house of screaming children, so that you may lead all of their beautiful little souls into heaven, as a means of sanctifying yourself, then you will be happy. I jest obviously, it’s not always a house of screaming kids, sometimes the house is silent because it’s on fire and the screaming is outside, mostly from the fire department.  I’m really not sure how to explain this to you, so just listen to what Jennifer Fulwiler has to say about career versus children: http://youtu.be/SNX0szzmekA?t=25m57s

Trust me, ask any mother or father whether it was worth having children and they will tell you, 'yes'.

The truth is, the path to eternal happiness is the cross. It is about suffering, and suffering isn’t a bad thing. God lets us suffer, so we are not longer attached to this world. In a weak narcissistic age like us, that means to facebook, twitter, camwhoring, and technology. When we no longer want the things of this world, we will want the things of heaven.

The Path to Heaven

In the unlikely event that I should ever wed and pour forth my spawn onto the unsuspecting earth, it will be made that all 1st Class Feasts in the Church will be obligatory family occasions involving assisting at Mass followed by a scrumptious feast.

Head knowledge? Heart Knowledge? Huh????

 ‘Huh? Heart knowledge? That doesn’t exist right? Lolz’

‘I don’t know how to define that… is that where you get all the virtues like compassion, and charity?’

‘It’s the subjective experience right? Emotions and opinions that we have on God?’

Scarily enough, these are some of the answers that I got when I asked youth to define the term, ‘heart knowledge’.

Head knowledge and heart knowledge are favourite terms of catechists and adults in charge of formation and the like. I always hear them getting thrown around. You know, ‘David, you have too much head knowledge. You need to learn more heart knowledge!’? Well, actually, no, I don’t know. These terms have actually caused me much angst for a very long time now, because, 1) they are extremely vague and ambiguous terms, so I have spent quite some time trying to figure what they mean, and 2) growing up as an impulsive nerdy teenager, I obviously read a lot and acquired a lot of ‘head knowledge’.

As a confused youth, I went through several phases where I was confused about the terms and just nodded to trying unsuccessfully to ditch ‘head knowledge’, to trying unsuccessfully to ditch ‘heart knowledge’ in a reactionary manner, to finally finding peace after dropping the concept totally for one with clearer and well defined terms. It should be interesting to note that, as someone who has read books and extracts of Catholic teaching fairly decently across the history of the Holy Mother Church’s two thousand history, such terms where never employed until the last fifty years, and then, mostly in evangelical protestant circles. They’re essentially new age fluff as my theologian/teacher mentor calls it.

It tastes good, it sound good, but no one is sure about what it is.

Ambiguity

The ambiguity of terms is a great cause for concern and as a pseudophilosopher and student of science, I do not like ambiguous terms at all. While, head knowledge is easy enough to define, and is 'limited' to the theoretical knowledge or reason that one attains through reading and so on, often these are concrete concepts like ‘Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins.’, however, ‘heart knowledge’ is much more difficult to define. It is anything from between, ‘practical experience’ to ‘feelings and emotions’ to ‘subjective opinions’, but exclude what is head knowledge (after all, they cannot be the same in order for a distinction to occur).

Now, each of these three things are very different and shouldn’t lie under the same umbrella. ‘Subjective opinion’ is something not unique to ‘heart knowledge’ since it will exist in the realm of theory as well, thus the terms will overlap, and remain ambiguous.

Next, ‘feelings and emotions’ are not a good foundation for the faith at all; the church fathers warn that emotions are fickle and easily manipulated. For example, when we are in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, we should not expect to feel anything at all, because the transubstantiation happens at a level beyond our sensory ability to perceive. What we look at, smells, tastes, looks and feels exactly like ordinary bread and wine. Yes, we often feel a supernatural sense of peace in His presence under the veil of a sacrament, but what happens if all that is taken away, and we presented with the consecrated host that looks, tastes, feels and smells like ordinary bread? Well, our mind intellectually reminds us that piece of bread before is really the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ hiding under the appearance of bread. I can imagine several possibilities where one will not feel this feeling at Mass, for example being in a state of anger or in a state of distraction. Thus, if one’s foundation of faith is based on feelings, it will surely fall like the house built on sand. (This is not to say that there are not emotions involved in our spiritual life. That supernatural sense of peace that signifies God’s presence is mystical experience, and a great consolation, but should not be the bar for our faith. Neither does it not mean that there is only one way to know things, only that not all ways of knowing things are equal.)

Finally, we are left with ‘practical experience’, which is only one that provides somewhat of a clear distinction between knowledge from the Heart and from the Head. However, even here there lies ambiguity. For example, say, I was meditating on a piece of scripture and was then granted an epiphany of said passage by God, and felt his supernatural peace as reassurance, now would that be head knowledge or heart knowledge? It was certainly a theoretical and reasoned gain of knowledge yet, it was also a practical experience. Furthermore, the seat of knowledge is the head in western philosophy and the heart is the seat of emotion. It is from the west that we as Catholics derive our philosophy. Thus, that is how society has come to view these terms. No one says, ‘my head is filled with sorrow’ or ‘I have grasped the theory of relativity in my heart.’ That certainly sounds odd.

Anti-intellectualism

To add to the problem, when heart knowledge is used in juxtaposition to head knowledge, it is usually taken to mean all three aforementioned definitions at once, with the further presumption that intellect is limited to head knowledge. Yet, knowledge is function of the intellect, in fact, to know something is also act of the intellect (and yes, there is a difference between knowing and knowledge, whereby the former is a spiritual/emotional perception of information and the latter an ownership of information).  Thus, I can know Christ in my heart, but in order to do that, I must have knowledge of Him in my head.

However, this article is not meant to deal with that epistemology, and I trying to make this as readable as possible, so we’ll get back onto the real point, the separation and limitation of the intellect to the ‘head knowledge’. Often, when these terms are used, they are done so, while probably unwittingly, in an antagonistic fashion. At catechism classes and retreats, I so often hear the teacher or retreat master say after a very short and simple lecture, ‘Okay, I think that’s enough head knowledge, let’s do activity X to use our heart to learn instead.’ or during planning sessions, ‘that’s too much head knowledge, we don’t want to go too much in depth, it will fly over their heads.’ Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of keeping lessons ‘practical’ in such a manner is that the kids then go through life with the idea and complacency that I don’t actually need to learn about God, I’m just fine the way I am. Jason T. Adams, a high school theology teacher, sums it up rather neatly, with my emphasis:

In the religion classes at Catholic schools, the academic breakdown and failing interest of the students is caused by two factors. First, students have been conditioned to think that faith and reason are opposed. Catechists have coined an expression that reveals this: "When it comes to faith, I want to teach my students heart knowledge instead of head knowledge." Contrary to this trite philosophy, "head knowledge" (a grasp of the tenets of faith), and "heart knowledge" (the application of understanding to concrete practices) are not mutually exclusive; rather, they are mutually beneficial and inextricably related.

The result of this false dichotomy is an attitude in the students that religion is about feelings, not substance. Because their orientation is non-intellectual from the onset, they are ill equipped to handle concepts that stretch their minds or call for mental discipline. The content of faith becomes so subjective to the students that they believe there are no such things as right or wrong answers to questions of faith.

You can read the rest here. Again, that is not to say that these teachers do it on purpose. I firmly believe it is well intentioned and done as a means of maintaining interest or not to ‘scare’ the kids off. Moreover, these terms and the conventional way that they are used appear to my mind to be remnants of the great anti-intellectual movement of the 1960s. Yes, yes, intellectualism and the intellect are different things, but it is this general I-don’t-want-to-use-my-brain attitude that has prevailed and created the Generation Y and now Generation Z eras of mental laziness and apathy. I had a dear young friend cheekily remark to me the other day, ‘don’t you ever get bored talking about intelligent things? Talk about meaningless things, it’s more fun.’ Personally, I feel this particular attitude is annoying thorn left in society side, amongst other things, from the hippie revolution in the ‘60s.

Hippism. Bringing the world back to the stone age since 1969.

Another problem is that catechists don’t give their teenage students enough credit. In school, by the age of fourteen, they are learning abstract concepts like trigonometry or photosynthesis. These things seem rather easy to understand, however try to recall when you were fourteen trying to grasp the idea that light could be used to split water into hydrogen ions and oxygen ions and the H⁺ ions were then used to power the enzyme that made energy in the body. It probably took you a while, but you learnt it nevertheless and passed your examination.

Theology is no different, it has terms which seem foreign when first discovered, but the definitions are memorised and churned about in the head until an understanding is formed. For example, the idea of Transubstantiation. It essentially means that the substance or essence of the bread and wine, that is their ‘breadness’ and ‘wineness’, the things that make bread and wine, bread and wine, are changed into the substance of Christ, while the accidentals, the smell, shape, colour, texture, etc caused by this ‘breadness’ and ‘wineness’ remains. This is certainly not beyond the average teenager to comprehend, though it will take a bit of time to reflect upon.

However, all this is not to say that one should throw the Summa Theologica at young rebellious teenagers. There are of course different levels of understanding, and the appropriate level should be taught, however the point is that what is taught should not be watered down and diluted like a homeopathic therapy.

Devotion and Theological Thinking

A possible solution to the ambiguity of head and heart knowledge is simple to drop the terms altogether for something which is completely concrete and understandable at an instant.

Consider the third definition of head and heart knowledge, which is the only useable one, that of theoretical and practical application or experience of theology. Theology, very simply put, asks the question of if God exists, and He could talk to us, what would He say? In Christianity, God talked to us, He gave us the Word, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. So, what did this loving word say? In summary, God loves you so much that he sent His only Son to die for your sins, now love Him back with all your being and love your neighbour as yourself.

So how is this translated into theoretical and practical knowledge? Theoretically, one has to have the knowledge that God loves you; practically, one has to love God. Thus, to get the knowledge, one must first learn it and reflect on it, this we call ‘Theological Thinking’. This knowledge is then put into practice in an act of love towards God, simply put, a ‘devotion.’

The Rosary, both a devotion and contemplation.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen calls it 19 minutes of perfect prayer.

Recently, after a talk, my priest reminded us that most people nowadays perform a great deal of devotion but they leave out theological thinking. He said that the two of them go hand in hand and they cannot be separated from each other and that absolutely everyone is capable of some form of theological thinking.

This is certainly true, while not everyone will reach the same depth of thought, it is more than possible to meditate or contemplate on the word of God. That is why a church is usually filled with statues, paintings and stained glass windows that depict saints and various stories from their lives or from the bible. Together with the priest’s homily every Sunday, the simple illiterate folk from olden times probably had a much greater appreciation of theology than we do despite being unable to read.

Intellect

These acts of devotion and theological thinking are in fact acts of the intellect. Thus, in an ironic strict sense, ‘heart knowledge’ is ‘head knowledge’. While knowing God can come through various means, the act of devotion and theological thinking are both acts of intellect, because one must will oneself to perform the action. Since they both stem from the intellect, one cannot separate the practical from the theoretical, so to speak, and one requires both of them together to nourish the intellect and gain a greater knowledge of God. True to the both/and mentality of Catholicism, neglecting one of these acts will result in a stumping of spiritual growth.

This is one of the reasons that the Pentecostal Renewal movements that spring up megachurches have such high attrition rates, they are all devotion without any real foundation. The same can be said for the movements within the church which are influenced by it and similar groups. ‘Head knowledge’ gives ‘heart knowledge’ its foundation.

However, with ‘head knowledge’ being eschewed for ‘heart knowledge’ for the last fifty years, most will be found wanting for even the most basic foundations of the faith to begin some meditation. Which begs the question, over the last year, how many books on the faith has one actually read? They don’t strictly have to be theology, but even books about the lives of saints and spirituality, because if they are good books, they will spring out from theology. Or even articles online, which are very easy to find.

Yes, my friends, this very long article was to inspire you to go pick up a nice good Catholic book. But seriously, the words we use are important because of the concepts that they hold. You'll be doing what the Holy Father, and all his predecessors have been telling us, LEARN about the faith.