St. Damien of Molokai

May 10th is the liturgical memorial of St. Damien of Molokai. He’s become the famous leper priest with the famous leper nun, St. Maryann Cope. Some of thoughts are worth reflecting upon:

“I feel no disgust when I hear the confessions of those near their end, whose wounds are full of maggots…This may give you some idea of my daily work. Picture to yourself a collection of huts with 800 Lepers. No doctor; in fact, as there is no cure, there seems no place for a doctor’s skill.

The Blessed Sacrament is indeed the stimulus for us all, for me as it should be for you, to forsake all worldly ambitions. Without the constant presence of our Divine Master upon the altar in my poor chapels, I never could have persevered casting my lot with the lepers of Molokai; the foreseen consequence of which begins now to appear on my skin, and is felt throughout the body. Holy Communion being the daily bread of a priest, I feel myself happy, well pleased, and resigned in the rather exceptional circumstances in which it has pleased Divine Providence to put me.”

~St. Damien of Molokai
Canonized by Benedict XVI, 2009

Saint Isaiah, the prophet

I love the prophets. For Catholics we place a great emphasis on the work and prophecies of the men called by God to call us into relation to him. Yet, the prophets are not well known among Catholics. Thanks to the Byzantine Church for keeping a liturgical commemoration alive.

As you know, the Holy Prophet Isaiah lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Some fun facts on Isaiah to recall: he had a royal lineage and is revered as a martyr. In another blog I remembered for the readers that the Jewish king Manasseh ordered that he cut in half by a wood-saw. Isaiah was buried near the Pool of Siloam but his bones were moved to Constantinople in the church of Saint Laurence at Blachernae. Part of the head of the Prophet Isaiah is preserved at Athos in the Hilandar monastery. The importance of being buried near the Pool of Siloam comes from a miracle he performed through God’s power to quench the thirst of those defending Jerusalem from her enemies. Siloam means i.e. “sent from God.” The holy prophet is known to be wonderworking. Genealogy shows us that Isaiah’s father Amos, raised him in the fear of God and in the law of the Lord.

In addition to the virtue of life of Isaiah, he important because he is clear in his prophesies about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, Christ the Savior. The prophet names the Messiah as God and Man, teacher of all the nations, founder of the Kingdom of peace and love.

In the Kondakion the Church sings,

You were favored with the gift of prophecy, O martyr and seer, Isaiah, preacher of the things of God, and you announced the Incarnation to all when you proclaimed: Behold, a virgin will be with child.

By Isaiah’s prayers, may our souls be saved. May we, like the Holy Prophet make the Incarnation known.

The Received Iconography of the Mother of God

Today, May 7, Marek Czarnecki, a well skilled in iconography, from Meriden, Connecticut, gave a presentation on the Iconography of the Mother of God. The presentation was given as part of the Knights of Columbus Museum’s webinar series.

 

Scholars have classified over 600 distinct prototypes for icons of the Mother of God. How can this multiplicity point to only one source, the first century Miryam of Nazareth? The first Christians responded to her intuitively with the earliest catacomb frescoes. The early church validated her importance with biographical icons narrating her participation in the life of Christ. Icons representing her solely with the Christ child expressed formal Marian dogma, beginning with her title as Mother of God. As Intercessor, her icons catalogued every possible human need. Other icons commemorated the sites of miracles or apparitions, while new prototypes continue to be revealed and painted into the present.

The Lamb’s high feast

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing praise to our victorious King, Who hath washed us in the tide flowing from his pierced side. 

Praise we him whose love divine gives his sacred Blood for wine, Gives his body for the feast: Love, the Victim; Love, the Priest. 

Where the Paschal Blood is shed, Death’s dark Angel sheathes his sword; Israel’s host triumphant go through the wave that drowns the foe. 

Christ, the Lamb, whose Blood was shed, Paschal Victim, Paschal Bread; With sincerity and love, eat we manna from above. 

Mighty Victim from the sky, powers of hell beneath thee lie; Death is conquered in the fight, Thou has brought us life and light. 

Now thy banner Thou dost wave; vanquished Satan and the grave; Angels join his praise to tell, see o’erthrown the prince of hell. 

Paschal triumph, Paschal joy, only sin can these destroy; From the death of sin set free souls re-born, O Lord, in Thee. 

Hymns of glory, songs of praise, Father, unto Thee we raise; Risen Lord, all praise to Thee, ever with the Spirit be. 

— Ambrosian Hymn, 7th Century

St Joseph models work

Yesterday (May 1), we observed the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker. The history of this feast is rooted in the ideology of work propagated by Communists and Pope Pius XII wanted to remind Catholics that theory of work of the Communists contradicted what the Church (and by extension St. Benedict) taught about work so he instituted the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. That was 1955.

Pius XII considered St. Joseph to be the model of work: “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Savior of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work.”

In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “…the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”

The coronavirus has many of us on a work hiatus it so it seems like a good time to break this great encyclical out and read or reread it. Do you consider your professional work to have meaning for your life in the family, does your professional life have dignity and an importance that you can see it as cooperating with the work of God in building up the Kingdom of God? Is there a creative genius that connects with the care of the land as proposed by Genesis 2:15?

 

Roman woman fined for walking turtle

I am sure the turtle appreciated the fresh air and sun. But that’s not excuse for breaking the Italian State’s restrictions. The turtle’s owner, however, now supports the Roman state with the $440 fine for breaking the coronavirus restrictions for taking her turtle for a walk. “The 60-year-old woman was caught outside her home without a justifiable reason” and fined, Roman police said, according to a statement.

Italian Police reported issuing a record 13,756 fines were issue on Easter Sunday and another 16,545 fines on Easter Monday.

Christ is risen!

We little fishes, after the example Christ

For Christians Eastertide has multiple associations: the Resurrection of Jesus, new life, enlightenment, the Holy Spirit, birth of the Church, and Baptism. During this week, Baptism has caught our attention.

Thinking about Baptism we are led by Tertullian (AD 160-240?), a prolific, bombastic, and brilliant Roman North African who lived in Carthage. He left his mark on the Church until this age. He is the Father of Latin Christian Literature. He famously said, “I believe [in Christ] because it is absurd.”

On Baptism:

Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life! …The consequence is, that a viper of the Cainite heresy, lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism. Which is quite in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps and basilisks themselves generally do affect arid and waterless places. But we, little fishes, after the example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety in any other way than by permanently abiding in water; so that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew full well how to kill the little fishes, by taking them away from the water!

On Baptism

More on the person of Tertullian, please listen to this brief podcast by a friend, Mike Aquilina, you won’t be disappointed: Tertullian and the Theology of Sarcasm

The Orthodox Church in the Time of COVID-19

“The Orthodox Church in the Time of COVID-19”

The Wheel Journal (@wheeljournal) has an extraordinary online Symposium “The Orthodox Church in the Time of COVID-19” is available on YouTube.

The conversation is moderated by Joseph Clarke. The panelists include: Archpriest Alexis Vinogradov, Sister Vassa Larin, Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, Father Peter Scorer, Dr. Gayle Woloschak, Archpriest Andrey Kordochkin, Deacon Nicholas Denysenko.

I highly recommend listening the symposium. It will open up some new perspectives.