One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

Question from a dear reader: Tell me how a Maronite differs from Roman?

Answer:

So, we're all One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We express our faith and worship to God in different Rites (mostly along cultural lines, but there are Rites for how the mass is celebrated, even within the same culture). The Eritrean Catholic Church is a Rite in its own right, but based upon the Coptic Rite, I am told, but the Eritrean Mass is in no way celebrated like the Coptic Mass is. The Byzantine Rites (I learned from VassalOfChrist that the Byzantine tradition has several Rites associated with it) has a very Eastern (European/Russian/Slavic/German) way of celebrating the Divine Liturgy (what those Rites call the Mass). The Latin Rites ('Roman') have several Rites associated with that tradition, did you know that? Each with their distinctive way of celebrating the Mass. The Maronite Rite is a very different Rite than all the other Rites, being 1,000 years in isolation, surrounded by Islam on all sides, but it has hints to it of both the Latin Rites (after the reunification with Rome in only very recent history) and the Eastern Rites.

Each of these Rites have their distinct form of worship, but each is unified in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith, so we all share some traditions with Rome and all have parts of the Mass/Divine Liturgy that you could recognize if you stumbled into a different Rite accidentally on purpose.

Others can talk about the beauty of their own Rites, let me talk a little bit about the Maronite Rite.

What strikes me in a Maronite Mass, like in a Byzantine Divine Liturgy, is the absolute awe and certainty of God's Divine Majesty. In both Rites during our Mass/Divine Liturgy, we keep calling out to God and praising Him. This is the Trisagion in the Maronite Rite:

ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ
ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬ ܚܰܝܠܬܳܢܳܐ
ܩܰܕܺܝܫܰܬܠܳܐ ܡܳܝܽܘܬܳܐ
ܐܶܬܪܰܚܰܡ ܥܰܠܝܢ

(Here is the youtube link to Quadishat Aloho/Holy God if video does not play.)

Note that we sing this in Syriac, which is close to Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. And that you notice right away: parts of the Mass are in the vernacular (English in the USA), Arabic, and then the high, holy parts (the Consecration and the Trisagion) are in Syriac.

Also, a lot goes into preparation both for the priest and the people. There are chants for vesting and incensing, even before the Mass begins (so don't be late, or you'll miss out!), the priest is asked for blessings before the readings, and the people are asked to pay attention to the word of God. The Gospel is read in the vernacular, then in Arabic. After Mass, at Our Lady of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., we have a holy hour of adoration. There are no kneelers in the church, because we remember when families had to run or be killed in the church by the monotheists (both Islamic and Arian) both in history and even today, with the our brother Coptic martyrs of the Church in the Middle East.

What I think, when I think of the Splendor of the Truth of the Catholic Church, is this: what a superabundant grace God has given us! He speaks to us each in his own language and tradition, but He speaks to us in one voice: Jesus, the Christ, our Lord and Savior, and we bow down and we worship the Lord in this various and diverse Rites in one voice in response, glorifying and praising God.

But not only that, but each Rite has something to give to its own, but to other Rites. You want the proof of the Universality of the Church on Earth? Look no further than the length and the strength of the reach of the Latin Rites! You want absolute fall-on-your-face adoration of God-Most-Holy, spoken in Jesus' native tongue? Look no further than the Maronite Rite! You want to know with certainty that Mary – Mary, ever pure, ever virgin, is the Θεοτόκος/Theotokos, the Mother of God? Look no further than a Byzantine Divine Liturgy! I have found, attending other Rites' sacrifices of the Mass – Maronite, Roman (both Novus Ordo and Extraordinary Form), Eritrean, and Byzantine – that my Catholic Faith is not only strengthened, but deepened. What does the 'Holy, holy, holy' mean, viscerally? Is Mary really the Mother of God? What does 'Universal Church' mean, physically? Certain Rites show you things about your Faith that you take for granted in your own Rite.

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church: the Catholic Church has it all, because we have Jesus, the Christ, and Christ has us.

Ave Maris Stella

Avl be þow, ster of se!
godis moder, blessed þow be
and euer maden haldand state,
of hewen þow are þe sely yate.
taket an þat ilke gretyn vncowþe
þat þe was sayd of Gabriel mowthe,
settand man in pes ful fane,
tornand þe name of heue a-gayne.
onely maden þorw gois gast,
of alle wemen meked mast,
vs of syn þow lees in aste,
and make vs boþe mylde and chaste.
Sew tyle vs þi moderhede;
þow help vs euer at alle ower nede,
þat he þorw þe owre prayer be-take,
wat was borne of þe for vrre sake.

or:

From a post on twitter by Joshua Jennings.

Marriage, a husband's view and duty to his wife and family

Okay, guys, you married your gal, you lucky so-and-so! So, battle won?

No, the battle has just begun. When she said, 'I do' to you, Satan put you both in his crosshairs.

Here's some things I do to fight the good fight.

A thread by @geophf

1. At the end of the day, when your wife says her prayers, does she thank God for you? Every hour of every day, you, fellas, have a choice: to make her thank God for you, or to make her pray to make it today because you made her life harder, sadder, more scared. Do the former.

Today, did you:

• Tell your wife you love her?
• Compliment her in things in which she excels?
• See her as beautiful and tell her why?
• Thank God for the things she does today to keep this family happy, alive, prospering, surviving?

This week, when you go to Church together, when you go to receive communion with her, do you stand with her, and whisper in your heart to God, "I do"?
Do you wonder if she would say "I do" to you this week? Fnd and do things to make her eager to say "I do" to nobody else but you

You have children? No? Pray about this. Don't delay. We couldn't have children for 5 years. Now: children. You have daughters?

Be the man to your daughters that is better than every single man in the whole world. Show them how a gentleman treats a lady in how you treat your wife

The inlaws/'out'laws. You didn't marry your wife: you married your wife's family. Be the son to your inlaws that makes them proud that you are part of the family. Love and respect your inlaws. Make them delighted when you come to visit and sad to see you leave

Every
Single
Time

Dress. When you go out, you dress better than your wife, always. Make her proud of the man attached to her arm: you. Put on your Eph 6 armor, which means, soldier, you stand up and talk with others, listen, share your views. Don't be a drag at the party, be a source of light.

Friends. Your wife is your best friend. Period. You don't have guy friends anymore, and you definitely don't have girl friends. You are for her. You hate to leave her, and are happy to come home. Your other friends are your friends. Your wife is your best friend.

The job. Get a job, start a company, maybe? Do what you do to provide for your family. Here's the rub: you are not your job. You do your job and you be the best person in that company. The absolute best. But why? Because your vocation is your family: you will haul trash for them.

Time. Make time for your wife. Let her talk and listen to her. Find out, again, what she's dealing with today. Find out, again, what her passion is. Get excited about her successes; be there for her failures. Your woman, guys, is saying something to you. Hang on her every word.

Find her language of love, and speak it. You like giving her flowers? Give her flowers. But if she cries when you do the dishes for her, maybe you want to do that, too.

Strike that. Speak her language of love. It's not yours. So what? You love her and you want her to be happy.

Share with her what you are doing. She can read your mind and she knows every single secret of yours. She needs you to say what's on your mind. Do not maroon her in the marriage, no: you are the captain of this ship, so you tell her everything so you sail together to your end.

Plan things as a family, every month. Go to NYC or Rome or build a city (on Rock and Roll). Involve the whole family in the planning, adapt to what excites them, then do it, together. They will look back at these times and say: we did this.

You take care of them, they love you. This is way out of your comfort zone.

You don't have a comfort zone anymore, you have something much more precious: a family.

Now, you: find a cause that's bigger than you, that scares you, and pursue it. Don't die until you're dead. Live.

Memorare to Our Lady of la Salette

Remember, our Lady of LaSalette, true Mother of Sorrows, the tears which thou didst shed for me on Calvary; be mindful also of the unceasing care which thou dost exercise to shield me from the justice of God; and consider whether thou canst now abandon thy child for whom thou hast done so much.  Inspired by this consoling thought, I come to cast myself at thy feet, in spite of my infidelity and ingratitude.  Reject not my prayer, O virgin of reconciliation, convert me, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus Christ above all things and to console thee too by living a holy life, in order that one day I may be able to see thee in heaven. Amen Our Lady of LaSalette, Reconciler of sinners, pray without ceasing for us who have recourse to thee.

'Self-Improvement'

I think self-improvement is a grave danger. Get spiritual counsel. Love is not self-improvement, love is other: ich und du.* Love is nothing without the beloved. So, I say, hey! don't worry about where you are on your spiritual journey, just do what you are here for, and follow the Christ. That's why the vocation is always other for men: to be the head of a household is self-sacrificial, entirely:+ there is no 'me' anymore in a family, no more 'me-time' or 'my space.' There is the family and what you have to do for it to provide for it and protect it, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey, God made you the husband and father, and you'd better step up to the plate and swing, no matter how good you are.

In that context, you do better yourself, to be better in the service of others. And that's really, for me, the only way I am better, is when I tell my wife I love her, or when my kids do well, and they are happy. Everything of me and mine pales in comparison to these things.

* in fact, the Filipinos have a special pronoun: 'kita,' I and Thou (two-as-one)
+ And don't even get me started on the priesthood: giving up everything to follow the Christ?

Mind Your Own Business

People 'care' too much about silly things they have no influence over, like the pope and Hollywood's opinion, and care too little about the Last Things, that they have a direct say in. Coworker: "Did you hear about the news about ... [Haiti, Norway, Trump, the Pope]?" Me: "1. No. 2. Ask me if I care."

People get all worked up over Today's news, sharing their opinions loudly on the bus, then the very next day, they're back at doing exactly what they were doing yesterday: going to hell, day by day. It annoys me, but St. Bonaventure/Jose Maria tells me I should thank God for these mortifications and try to better myself, first, before I sully myself in argument that does no material good except increase obstinacy on both sides.

My brother calls me out on this: "Why didn't you speak up on Charlottesville? You're influential on twitter, you know." My answer was: "Because it's stupid and the only thing I can contribute is to add to the noise." If I am silent when I should speak out, this is my sin, but I find I shout my lungs out (too often?) for the salvation of a soul not ready to hear my message nor to receive it in love.

What, then, shall we do?

How, then, shall we live?

Be still and silent, and let the Holy Spirit guide you. When I do that, miracles happen and hearts change. And it takes a tremendous amount of bravery to do that one little thing of "Hey, how are you? I love you. Wanna talk? I'm here." And then listen.

Legacy and Tradition

Deconstruct the following phrase: “Humanity’s legacy is to abandon old knowledge.”

Question: is not “humanity's legacy” something that we are leaving to future generations? Is it not what will be said of us? So is not “humanity's legacy” old knowledge? Or: wisdom? So, if we abandon the things of old, are we not abandoning the wisdom our fathers taught us? And in abandoning our fathers' wisdom, are we not teaching our children to abandon the lessons we’ve learned so that they do not have to make the same mistakes we did?

I am an old man. And hard lesson I learned was this: when I abandon something or somebody, I do not leave them behind, they take a piece of me with them. And I am less for it.

The only abandonment that works is when we abandon the things that take us away from God. Total abandonment to wisdom is the only way we can leave a legacy that will last.

So the phrase: “humanity's legacy is to abandon old knowledge” is one of the most evil lies Satan has bequeathed to us. Abandoning old knowledge is dishonoring your mother and your father, and it is the very first Commandment that God promises blessings for us if we honor them. Our legacy is our traditions. They have built our civilization to what it was. And they will restore our civilization to greatness if we follow them again.