This Sunday portraits the liberty of the New Covenant and its perfection
in prayer and the Spirit
David was afraid of God that day, and he said, “How can I bring in the ark of
God to me?”
See, the eyes of the LORD are
upon those who fear him, upon those
who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in
spite of famine.
David
was afraid because he had just witnessed Uzzah being struck dead because he
touched the Ark, the supreme object of Israelite liturgical worship as
prohibited in the Torah. (2 Sam. 6:7)
Stand in Awe[1]
It
is obviously no surprise that liberal Catholics have traditionally placed a low
value on the quality of liturgical celebrations; I say not on liturgy itself,
because progressive Catholics think liturgy is extremely important - that is,
so long as it is an anthropocentric, horizontal affair. It is not liturgy per
se they disparage, but liturgy done well - that is, liturgy that is
transcendent and centered on the dignified worship of God. "Why be so
finicky about the liturgy?" they say. "There are more important
issues to get upset about! Issues like poverty, war, abortion and social
justice! Why get all worked up about liturgical reform? It is just a matter of
aesthetics anyhow!" Unfortunately, it is also common for more conservative
Catholics to hold a dismissive attitude towards the liturgy as well, adopting a
minimalist approach that the externals of liturgical action are
"mere" externals, that they can be discarded or changed without
consequence, that all that matters is having a valid Eucharist, etc. Similarly,
the charismatic movement tends to foster an attitude of undue familiarity and
casualness in the presence of the Lord. All of these are deficient approaches
to the Sacred Liturgy which do not fully respect the importance of this holy
action. Care of the poor is certainly important. Economic and social justice
are important. But while the aforementioned topics are certainly worthy of
attention, liturgy takes a special place because in the Divine Liturgy we
worship God Himself. Remember when Judas was indignant with Mary of Bethany for
anointing the feet of Jesus? "Why was this ointment not sold for three
hundred denarii and given to the poor?" Jesus said, "Let her
alone...the poor you have with you always, but you do not always have me"
(John 12:5,7). When we adore and worship Jesus, we are performing a supremely
important action; in fact, it is the action we were created to do. How
important is liturgy in the larger scheme of things? One way of telling how
important something is to God is seeing how many people He has struck dead over
it. We don't mean to be facetious; consider the following facts: God
did not strike Adam dead when he committed the first sin, nor did He smite Cain
for murder. He did not smite Noah for drunkenness, nor did He kill Joseph's
brothers for selling him into slavery. Aaron was not even smitten for making
the golden calf and David was not struck down for his adulterous and murderous
affair with Bathsheba. Even wicked Manasseh of Judah was not killed by God when
he sacrificed babies to Moloch in the Valley of Hinnom. Yet, Scripture is
replete with examples of persons who were struck dead in wrath for violating
the dignity surrounding the Hebrew liturgy and the ceremonial worship of God.
The
Bible furnishes us with the following examples of people who were smitten
by God in divine anger:
·
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
are consumed by divine flame for offering unholy fire before the Lord, fire
"such as the Lord had not commanded them" (Lev. 10:1-3).
·
A man is put to death under God's
Law for not honoring the day of rest by picking up sticks (Num. 15:32-36). The
day of rest was supposed to be the day on which God was worshipped.
·
Korah, Dathan Abiram and their party
are consumed by fire and swallowed up into the earth because they sought to
usurp the priestly role of Aaron. Their heresy was that they asserted that
"all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among
them" (Num. 16:1-40).
·
Hophni and Phineas, the two wicked
sons of Eli the High Priest are marked out for death by God because they
partook of consecrated meat from the offerings made to the Lord at the Tent of
Meeting (1 Sam. 2:12-4:11).
·
King Saul offers a sacrifice because
the priest Samuel is late in arriving for the ceremony. As a result, God
rejects him from being King, he becomes tormented by evil spirits and is slain
on Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. 13:8-14).
·
Seventy men of Beth-Shemesh were
struck dead by God for looking into the Ark (1 Sam. 6:12). As lay people and
non-Levites, the touching of the sacred object of the Hebrew liturgy and sign
of God's presence was a profanation.
·
King Uzziah of Judah is smitten with
leprosy "to the day of his death" for trying to offer incense in the
Holy Temple in violation of the law permitting only priests and levites from
doing so (2 Chr. 26:16-21).
·
King Belshazzar of Babylon arouses
the wrath of God by using Israelite liturgical vessels for profane uses (Dan.
5). He is slain and his kingdom is lost.
·
St. Paul warns the Corinthians that
improper reception of the Holy Eucharist is a profanation of Christ's Body and can
lead to death (I Cor. 11:27-33).
Judging by all of these examples, it would seem that God's
wrath was more provoked by Korah and Dathan usurping the priestly role of Moses
than by Manasseh slaughtering infants. We know from Scripture that Manasseh was
taken into captivity, had time to repent, and indeed did repent of his
wickedness. But we know that Uzzah, Dathan, Korah, Nadab and all the rest on
this list were slain immediately without time for afterthought or repentance.
All of the people on this list died because they violated Old Testament
prescriptions regarding the proper worship of God in one way or another. In all
of our good deeds, we serve God in our brothers and sisters, but in the liturgy
we come into contact with God Himself, which gives opportunity for greater
blessing, but also increases the condemnation of those who participate in it
unworthily or profane it. Therefore, let anybody who is tempted to think that
the proper worship of God is not important (supremely important!), that it does
not matter whether we use Gregorian Chant or guitars and bongos in Mass, that
accurate liturgical translations are not vital, that God is not outraged
by Clown Masses, Guitar Masses and all the rest of the abominations we hear
about, that there is no difference between the Traditional Latin Mass and the
nonsense at your typical liberal parish, let them remember St. Paul's
admonition in the epistle to the Hebrews: "A man who has violated the
Law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How
much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned
the Son of God and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of Grace. For we know Him who said,
"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will
judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God" (Heb. 10:28-31).
Mother’s Day
In honor of Mother’s Day, here are a few quotes from
John Paul II’s apostolic letter On the Dignity of Women (Mulieris
Dignitatem) about the unique vocation of motherhood.[2]
John Paul II: “Motherhood involves a
special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s
womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life,
and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the
light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child
she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being
developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only
towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the
woman’s personality.”
“Motherhood implies from the beginning a special
openness to the new person: and this is precisely the woman’s ‘part’.
In this openness, in conceiving and giving birth to a child, the woman
‘discovers herself through a sincere gift of self’.”
“Human parenthood is something shared by both the man
and the woman. Even if the woman, out of love for her husband, says: ‘I have
given you a child’, her words also mean: ‘This is our child’. Although both of
them together are parents of their child, the woman’s motherhood
constitutes a special ‘part’ in this shared parenthood, and the most
demanding part. Parenthood – even though it belongs to both – is realized much
more fully in the woman, especially in the prenatal period. It is the woman who
‘pays’ directly for this shared generation, which literally absorbs the
energies of her body and soul. It is therefore necessary that the man
be fully aware that in their shared program of parenthood he owes a special
debt to the woman.”
John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (1988), no. 18
Mother's Day Top Events and Things to Do[3]
·
Take mom out to brunch or dinner. Be
sure to book in advance as Mother's Day brunches are always very busy.
·
Clean the house for your mother or
grandmother.
·
Send mom and grandma flowers. You
can either pick them up or deliver them yourself if you are nearby or use one
of many online services that ship directly to her door.
·
Give mom a gift she will really
appreciate - a day at the spa or a weekend off.
·
A simple phone call to mom will
suffice. Let her know that you love her and think about her.
Today it is my daughter Dara Hope’s (names mean: House of Compassion and Hope) birthday;
please pray for her intentions.
Daily Devotions/Prayers
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