This, the longest of the Opus 3 Psalm Offerings, is a musical retelling of four Christmas stories. The opening melody, A, is the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that if she wills it, she will be the mother of the Messiah. The second melody, B, is when the now pregnant Mary visits her elderly and very pregnant cousin, Elizabeth. It is in this meeting that Mary proclaims her great Canticle, the Magnificat. The slower third melody represents the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem for the census, attempting to find a place to stay. The music ends with a juxtaposition of melody B in the right hand over melody A, representing the birth of Jesus in the stable.
I wrote this Psalm Offering for Ken Smith. I got to know Kenny when he was the faith formation director at St. Hubert. Much earlier in his life, Kenny was an educator at St. Hubert School, later becoming principal of the school. He left education for a while, but returned in that capacity as faith formation director. He later went on to be the faith formation director at the Church of St. Stephen, when I had the honor of working with him again, but this time, as parish life administrator, I was his boss. He is a gentle, kind man. I often thought of Kenny as more Catholic than the Pope. He has very strong political convictions, largely progressive (like me), and will share those with any who oppose those convictions.
Scripture: Luke 1: 26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (NAB)
Here I am at the old St. Hubert, directing music from the piano.
In the Catholic Tradition, Christmas Day is more than just the 25th of December. Time is suspended, and 8 days become 1 day. In other words, the Solemnity of Christmas begins on the 25th of December and ends on January 1st. We call this the “octave of Christmas.” In music, an octave is an interval of 8 pitches, and, when one thinks of the overtones contained within one pitch, the idea of 8 days equaling 1 day is not so farfetched. The following music over these 8 days are my musical celebration of the Octave of Christmas, composed by me in 1991 as Christmas gifts for the significant people in my life at that time.
This is an expanded version of the post I placed on Facebook, reminiscing about a choir concert in which my sister sang back in the early 1970’s.
My sister, Mary Ruth, during high school. She is holding her pet “Pekipoo”, Nicodemus.
Every time I listen to Benjamin Britten’s, “A Ceremony of Carols, “ I think of my sister, Mary Ruth. She sang alto in her choir at Our Lady of Peace High School. Our Lady of Peace High School was one of three high schools in St. Paul dedicated to the education of young women. The school was located on prestigious Summit Ave in St. Paul. Unlike the other two all female high schools which later merged with two all male high schools to survive, Our Lady of Peace remained an all female high school until it closed in the early 1970’s.
As is with all Christmas concerts in Minnesota, it was a cold, dark December night. And, as was with most high school concert halls of that era, the concert hall was a high school gymnasium with a stage situated on one end of the gymnasium. We, the audience, were seated on grey, metal, folding chairs. The choir processed on stage in their choir robes. Their accompanist, another high school student, extraordinarily gifted at performing on the piano, sat at the piano, and the Religious Sister who directed the choir came on stage and began this incredible choral music for treble choir (Soprano 1, Soprano 2, and Alto). This was my introduction to the music of the British composer, Benjamin Britten.
In 1942, while traveling by passenger ship from the United States to England, Britten set 11 Medieval English poems from a collection entitled, The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, to music. He scored it for an S.S.A. boys choir and harp. It was written for Christmas and is composed of 11 movements.
The majority of the text being in the English of the Middle Ages, made it difficult to understand what words the choir was singing. Having the text in the program was not particularly helpful, since the spelling and pronunciation of English from the Middle Ages is not close to our own (as you can see below). It didn’t help that the area in which my mom, dad, and I sat was darkened during the concert. Nevertheless, the performance of the choir was captivating and compelling.
The music began with the processional, “Hodie Christus natus est”, the Gregorian antiphon to the Canticle of Mary at Second Evening Prayer of Christmas in the Liturgy of the Hours. The Latin text is: Hodie Christus natus est,Hodie Salvator apparuit,Hodie intera canunt angeli,Laetantur archangeli, Hodie exsultant justi dicentes, Gloria in excelsis deo. Alleluia!
This is followed by “Wolcum Yole!” The Middle English text is: Wolcum be thou hevenè king, Wolcum Yole! Wolcum born in one morning, Wolcum for whom we shall sing! Wolcum be ye, Stevene and Jon, Wolcum, Innocentes every one, Wolcum, Thomas marter one, Wolcum be ye good newe yere, o good newe yere, Wolcum, twelfthe day both in fere, Wolcum, seintes lefe and dere, Wolcum yole, wolcum! Candelmesse, Quene of Bliss, Wolcum bothe to more and lesse. Wolcum be ye that are here, Wolcum alle and make good cheer! Wolcum alle another yere, Wolcum yole, Wolcum!
“There is no rose” is sung next. The text for the song is, There is no rose of such vertu, As is the rose that bare Jesu. (Alleluia) For in this rose conteinèd was Heaven and earth in litel space, (Res miranda) By that rose we may well see, There be one God in persons three, (Pares forma) The aungels sungen the shepherds to: Gloria in excelsis Deo! (Gaudeamus) Leave we all this werldly mirth, and follow we this joyful birth.Transeamus! Alleluia, Res miranda, Pares forma, Gaudeamus, Transeamus.
The fourth movement consists of two parts. “That yonge child”, That yongë child when it began weep With song she lulled him asleep: That was so sweet a melody It passèd alle minstrelsy. The nightingalë sang also: Her song is hoarse and nought thereto: Whoso attendeth to her song And leaveth the first then doth he wrong.; and, “Balulalow“, O my deare hert, young Jesu sweit, Prepare thy creddil in my spreit, And I sall rock thee to my hert, And never mair from thee depart. But I sall praise thee evermoir With sanges sweit unto thy gloir; The knees of my hert sall I bow, And sing that richt Balulalow!
The choir then launched into “As Dew in Aprille“, I sing of a maiden That is makèles: King of all kings To her son she ches. He came also stille There his moder was, As dew in Aprille That falleth on the grass. He came also stille To his moder’s bour, As dew in Aprille, That falleth on the flour. He came also stille There his moder lay, As dew in Aprille That falleth on the spray. Moder and mayden was never none but she: Well may such a lady Goddes moder be.
“This Little Babe” follows. This little Babe so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, Though he himself for cold do shake; For in his weak unarmèd wise The gates of hell he will surprise. With tears he fights and wins the field, His naked breast stands for a shield; His battering shot are babish cries, His arrows looks of weeping eyes, His martial ensigns Cold and Need, and feeble Flesh his warrior’s steed. His camp is pitchèd in a stall, His bulwark but a broken wall;The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes; Of shepherds he his muster makes; And thus, as sure his foe to wound, The angels’ trumps alarum sound. My soul, with Christ join thou in fight; Sticks to the tents that he hath pight. Within his crib is surest ward; This little Babe will be thy guard. If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, then flit not from this heavenly Boy!
The seventh movement is a harp interlude. At the performance I attended, this was played on the piano.
The choir then sang “In Freezing Winter Night”. Behold, a silly tender babe, in freezing winter night, In homely manger trembling lies Alas, a piteous sight! The inns are full; no man will yield This little pilgrim bed. But forced he is with silly beasts In crib to shroud his head. This stable is a Prince’s court, This crib his chair of Stat e; The beasts are parcel of his pomp, The wooden dish his plate. The persons in that poor attire His royal liveries wear; The Prince himself is come from heav’n; This pomp is prizèd there. With joy approach, O Christian wight, Do homage to thy King, And highly praise his humble pomp,Wich he from Heav’n doth bring.
This was followed by the “Spring Carol”. Pleasure it is to hear iwis, The Birdès sing, The deer in the dale, The sheep in the vale, The corn springing God’s purvayance For sustenance. It is for man. Then we always to him give praise, And thank him than.
The tenth movement, the choir sang a rousing “Deo Gratias”. Deo Gracias! Adam lay ibounden, bounden in a bond; Four thousand winter thought he not to long. Deo Gracias!And all was for an appil, an appil that he took, As clerkès finden written in their book. Deo Gracias! Ne had the appil takè ben, Ne haddè never our lady A ben hevenè quene. Blessèd be the time That appil takè was. Therefore we moun singen. Deo Gracias!
The eleventh movement, the “Recession”, ends the music as it had began with the Latin chant, Hodie Christus natus est, Hodie Salvator apparuit, Hodie intera canunt angeli, Laetantur archangeli, Hodie exsultant justi dicentes, Gloria in excelsis deo. Alleluia!
As a young music major in college, I was like a sponge soaking up all musical influences I could. When the concert concluded, I was drilling my sister for all the information she had on this music of Benjamin Britten. It has to be understood that this was long before the personal computer and the internet. Heck, we were lucky to have a Royal manual typewriter at home. Owning an electric typewriter was a bit of a dream for many of us.
A very old picture of the students at Our Lady of Peace High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Though by the time my sister attended Our Lady of Peace High School, the habits of the nuns had been greatly modified from what is pictured here, my sister’s uniform did not change. She wore the identical uniform worn by the young women in this photograph.
This beautiful set of Middle English poems set to music for SSA choir and harp by Benjamin Britten is a very special treat for me each and every Christmas. Many years have passed since that cold, December night in St. Paul. The doors of Our Lady of Peace High School have been closed for many years (the William Mitchell School of Law now occupies the buildings of the high school) . My sister has been dead now for close to 19 1/2 years. Yet, with every listening I am whisked back to the concert hall/gymnasium of Our Lady of Peace High School and watching my beloved sister dressed in choir robes singing this beautiful music with her choir.
Once more, Christmas rolls around. A new liturgical year begins and another calendar year concludes. As with all of life, changes continue. I seem to mark the passage of time by the surgical scars I accumulate. This year, there is a nice long scar over the right knee indicating where a new knee has been implanted. As old body joints depart and new ones arrive, so it is true with the newness that comes with the passage of another year. Andy, a skilled artisan much in demand, has started up his own wood floor installation business. Judging by the lack of time his work truck is at home, his clients are keeping him very busy. Olivia, his beautiful bride, remains much in demand for her skills as a professional photographer. For my birthday this year, she gifted me with 4 beautiful portraits of Ruthie. Their boys are busy growing in age and in wisdom. Owen began high school this year. I am presently having the pleasure of teaching both Owen and Aidan piano. Ollie, just beginning 1st grade is far too busy to think about piano lessons presently. Our youngest daughter, Beth, graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Psychology this past October. She is busy doing her internship and working at Hennepin County Medical Center. Luke remains busy at Coborns, and when he is not working out at SNAP Fitness, he is busy being a dad to his 4 year old Boxerdore, Belle E Button. Meg, recently moved to Anoka which means we don’t see her, Alyssa and Sydney as often as when she lived at home. Meg continues to work at the Minnesota State Veterans Home as she pursues her degree to become a Registered Nurse. Meg has her sight set on eventually becoming a nurse practioner. Alyssa, a freshman in high school, too, and Sydney are both busy in school. Ruthie, agelessly beautiful, continues to work full time nights as a Registered Nurse at the Minnesota State Veterans Home. While she would love to be able to retire this coming year, with the political situation for the next 4 years, and the political party in power determined to cut or eliminate Social Security and Medicare, it seems unlikely that Ruth, or I for that matter, will know what it means to retire. I remain in church ministry in the New Prague Area Catholic Community. With an anticipated drastic shortage of priests and deacons, I think I will probably continue ministry for quite a while yet. As we look to the next 4 years, it is hard for us to utter, “Merry!” or “Joy,” this Christmas. However, we place our hope that as in all things, God will see us through these dark times as God has done for us in the past. In spite of our flawed humanity, Jesus remains Lord of Heaven and of Earth and humanity’s only hope for peace. So this Christmas, we bid you, “Peace!”
The Dream of St. Joseph. Artist Anton Raphael Mengs
In 1997, my little sister, Mary Ruth, died. She was 42 years old. About 3 or 4 months following my sister’s death, my mother had a very vivid dream in which my sister visited her. Mom explained to me that this dream was not like most ordinary dreams. It was very real with all her bodily senses engaged: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. In her dream, mom said she went to visit my sister, Mary. She knocked at the door of this building, and a beautiful woman with long, brown hair answered the door and invited my mother in. My mother told the woman that she was looking to visit with my sister. The woman smiled and told my mother that my sister was busy at the moment and asked her to take a seat in the waiting room. My mother settled down in a chair. After a little while, the beautiful woman invited mom to go with her. They went down a hallway and entered a room. On one end of the room was a window that allowed people to observe activity in another room. The beautiful woman told mom, “Come, look at your daughter.” My mother gazed through this window at my sister, Mary, sitting on the floor and playing with some little children. My sister’s appearance was transformed from the way she looked when she died. Gone was the gauntness and the pain that used to be etched into her face. Her face was vibrant, her eyes sparkled and she laughed as she played with the children. Her body was no longer bent over and painfully thin from her illness, but was now healed and healthy, my sister moving about with great ease. Alongside my sister was a young, bearded man. The beautiful woman then led my mother back to the waiting room. After waiting just a short while, my sister came into the room accompanied by the beautiful woman and the young, bearded man. My sister went up to my mother, kissed her and hugged her and told her, “Don’t worry about me, mom. I am very, very happy.” At that point, my mother awakened from her dream, the heaviness and grief my mom had carried since the death of my sister, was gone.
Dreams are important to human life. Dreams are the one thing in which all human beings have a share. Many ancient societies and cultures believed that it was through dreams that the gods communicated to human beings. We find the prominence of dreams in the Hebrew Scriptures. It was one of the ways by which God interacted in human life. Jacob had a dream in which he saw angels ascending and descending a ladder reaching to the Heavens. God repeatedly blessed Jacob in this dream. Jacob interpreted the ladder to represent the number of exiles the Jewish people would suffer before the Messiah would come, and the number of angels, the number of years passed before the Messiah would come. In a dream, Jacob wrestled with an angel from God. Following that dream, Jacob was renamed, Israel, meaning “I wrestled with an angel from God and survived.”
Joseph, the son of Jacob, was well known as an interpreter of dreams. The prophet, Daniel, interpreted the dreams of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Dreams figure greatly in the gospel of Matthew. In today’s gospel we hear of Joseph being very troubled by the news that Mary, the woman to whom he is engaged to be married, is pregnant. He tosses and turns not wanting to expose her to shame and suffer the consequences of his society imposed upon women who got pregnant outside of marriage. He finally decides to quietly break off their engagement to be married. It was then in a dream that Joseph encountered the Divine. An angel from God reassures Joseph that Mary’s pregnancy did not result from some wrongdoing. Rather, the child with whom she was pregnant was the culmination of the dreams of the Jewish people going back to the time of Adam and Eve. Within Mary’s womb was the Son of God, the Messiah, who will fulfill the hope and the dream of countless generations of Jewish people. Joseph, reassured by the angel, takes Mary as his beloved wife, and agrees to raise her child, the Messiah, as his own son.
When something for which someone hopes happens in that person’s life, we generally say that that person’s “dream has come true.” Jesus, the Emmanuel, God with us, is humanity’s dream come true. The dream of Jacob came true with the birth of Jesus. The fulfillment of the Jewish people’s dream came true with the birth of Jesus. Everything told Joseph by the angel in his dream came true. The “dream” did not end when Joseph awakened. The dream, Emmanuel, God with us, did not end when Jesus died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. The dream of Emmanuel, God with us, continues to be fulfilled in our lives today.
It seems that it is often in our darkest hours that the realization of Emmanuel is the most profound. Jesus did not abandon my sister as she suffered those long 26 years of chronic illness. Jesus did not abandon my mother and father as they watched their daughter suffer and waste away from her illness and then die. They had a profound experience of Emmanuel during those years. It was the knowledge and experience of God being with them that sustained them during the hardships of those years.
The dream of Emmanuel, God with us, comes true. The dream has come true for my sister, Mary, who is now healthier and happier than she ever was when she walked this earth. The dream has come true for my mother, who saw her sick daughter returned to full health and at peace with God.
When I asked my mom, what she thought about her dream, she said, “Mary is finally healthy and happy again. And you know what?” “What?” I replied. “I think that beautiful woman is Mary the Mother of Jesus. And, that young man with the beard is Jesus.” I said, “I believe you are right, mom.”
This dream with the happy ending never ends. This dream comes true time and time again. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, now and forever.
All around us the retail world is already celebrating Christmas. Whether we walk through the stores, listen to the radio, or turn on the television, we are being bombarded with Christmas images, and innocuous Christmas songs that range from Frosty the Snowman to chestnuts roasting on some mythical fire. Even when we try to Christianize this season, with such platitudes as “Jesus is the reason for the Season,” that is not necessarily accurate either. Why? Because it is the Season of Advent , not the Season of Christmas. We are people awaiting with great anticipation the coming of the Christ, not of the past, but the Christ of the future, the second coming of Jesus. It is this joyful anticipation of Jesus’ second coming that sustains us during the dark times in our lives. It is the knowledge that when Jesus comes again, he will bring to all humankind the peace, the joy, and the love absent in our present world. At his second coming, Jesus will bring to our Earth the fulfillment of God’s reign.
During Advent, we draw parallels between the era of past anticipation with that of our present era of anticipation. Like Israel of old, we long for Jesus to enter into the darkness of our humanity, to bring wholeness to our broken world, to heal the divisions that exist within ourselves and outside of ourselves. Pregnant with this hope, we do not just sit around waiting for the second coming to happen. As a very pregnant Mary brought the presence of Christ within her womb to her cousin, Elizabeth, so, we, too, need to bring the presence of Christ within ourselves to others. This is why when we express the mystery of our faith at Mass we sing, “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.” At every Eucharistic liturgy we remember that we are a people of anticipation. However, ours is not a passive and static anticipation. The Body and Blood of Jesus which we receive at Mass, compels us to go forth and bring the presence of Christ to others until that time when he, himself, will come again in glory.
May the Season of Advent be more than just the mere decorating of our homes with lights and garland, and the making of special treats reserved for this specific time of year. May our Advent be a time when we prepare ourselves for the Second Christmas, when Jesus returns in glory.
When my kids were young, and use to come home after school and watch cartoons. My sons were big fans of He- Man, and the Masters of the Universe. He-Man looked like a blonde, long haired professional wrestler on steroids. When his alter ego, Prince Adam, who was a bit of a wimp, sensed that the evil Skeletor was going to cause trouble he would whip out this magical sword, raise it to the heavens and shout, “I’ve got the power.” Lightning would hit the sword and the wimp would be turned into He-Man, Master of the Universe, who would then ride his battle tiger to go and fight Skeletor. Whenever I hear the name of this feast, Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, this cartoon series comes to mind. The images we learn when we are kids stick with us for a lifetime. As children we are programmed to think of kings in human terms, people who lord power over others. Kings are not on the same level as their subjects. With the exception of Good King Wenceslaus, many kings have been ruthless, cruel men. Jesus, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, challenges us to redefine what a king really is.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus never refers to himself as a king. He will refer to himself as Son of God, or Son of Man, depending on the Gospel. Many times he refers to himself as servant, an image that appears prominently in the Isaiah. In John’s account of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus runs away and hides from the crowd because they want to make him a King. In the Passion of John’s Gospel, while being interrogated by Pontius Pilate, Pilate says to Jesus, “So, you are a king,” and, Jesus replies with some disdain, “It is you who say that I am a King.” Jesus is the complete opposite of a human King. Unlike a human king, Jesus’ relationship with humanity is a power with relationship. In the Incarnation, when he was conceived within the womb of Mary, he let go of his Godly nature to become one with our human nature. He became as you and I in all things but sin. Jesus shares his power with us. At baptism, when we were anointed with sacred chrism, through, with, and in Jesus, we became priests, prophets, and kings.
St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes, “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who,though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself,becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the namethat is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
For Jesus, the meaning of the word, King, means that of being a servant, a slave. Jesus further emphasizes this at the Last Supper by getting down on his knees at the feet of his disciples and doing the work of a slave, that is, washing their feet. The One through whom all in the Universe was created, gets down on his knees and becomes a slave to the very people whom he had created. Jesus concludes this action by saying to his disciples, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” If we wish to give homage to Jesus, King of the Universe, we are required to drop to our knees and wash the feet of others.
Pope Francis exemplifies this so very well. He has said, “No,” to the old trappings of the Papacy, with all the rich, golden vestments, and has adopted a much simpler dress. He has shunned the luxury of the papal apartments and lives in the simple guest house of the Vatican. He takes his meals in the same cafeteria as all who work at the Vatican. On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis washes the feet of not just Catholic men, he washes the feet of refugees, Muslims, Hindus, men and women. So often in the past, Popes have often been referred to as the Supreme Pontiff, Sovereign of the Vatican, Successor of the Prince of Apostles. The one title that has rarely been applied to past Popes is Servant of the Servants of God. Pope Francis is the Servant of the Servants of God. Pope Francis truly has taken the words of Jesus to heart, and is living them.
To live our baptismal vocation to be priests, prophets, and kings calls us to wash the feet of others. To be Servants of God and authentically wash the feet of others calls us to leave our comfort zones to do things we are not comfortable to do. To wash the feet of others requires us to take risks. Mary Jo Copeland, answered her vocation to serve the poor and the homeless by starting Sharing and Caring Hands. Daily, she and those who volunteer with her, are on their knees washing the bleeding, sore covered feet of the homeless and providing for their needs. Mother Teresa answered her call to be a Servant of God took a risk and left her religious order to begin her ministry to the dying poor Muslims and Hindus of Calcutta. Cathy Heying, the highly educated former director of Social Justice at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, went back to school to learn how to be a car mechanic. Because many of the homeless live in their cars, she wanted to provide low cost car repair to the poor and homeless. She is now a licensed car mechanic and has begun a non-profit ministry called The Lift Garage that provides affordable auto repair to Minnesotans of limited means. These people are three examples of those called by God to take chances, to leave their comfort zones and enter a realm of uncertainty to become Servants of God. Washing the feet of others for them is just not a figure of speech. It is an action.
As an ordained deacon, one of the most powerful moments in the entire liturgical Church Year is getting down on my knees on Holy Thursday and washing the feet of those I have been assigned by the Archbishop to serve. Because of all the hip replacements and now a knee replacement, strict restrictions by my surgeon prevents me from getting down on my knees any more. There are others among us today, who have similar physical restrictions. However, there are other ways to wash feet. Within the Pastoral ministry of St. Wenceslaus alone, there are many who figuratively wash the feet of others by serving at Hope House, Loaves and Fishes, and the Dorothy Day Center. The same can be said for those who visit the homebound, who volunteer as BeFrienders, or at Mala Strana, or the hospital. As I speak, we have those who are serving the poor of Le Sueur County in the Adopt a Family program. Washing the feet of others is not limited to just pastoral ministry, but is inclusive of all other ministerial areas of our parish and the community at large.
If we truly wish to give homage to Jesus the Christ, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, on this Holy Solemnity, we must, as St. Paul wrote the Philippians, have the same attitude as Jesus, who did not lord his Divinity over others, but became a slave out of love for God and us. As all of us, throughout heaven and on earth, get down on our knees and confess to God the Father that Jesus Christ is Lord, let us do so by serving Jesus the Christ present in the person at whose feet we are washing.
Pope Francis washing feet on Holy Thursday. (photo NY Daily News)
On the evening of Holy Thursday, Dante finds himself lost in a forest, thus begins his descent into Hell. Illustrator – Gustave Dore
When I was a senior at St. Bernard’s High School, in St. Paul, one of the required books we had to read for literature was the first part of Dante Alighieri’s great trilogy, The Divine Comedy. Mr. Kolbinger, my literature teacher, a critical thinker himself, had us read as well, George Orwell’s AnimalFarm, and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, some pretty heavy reading for this blue collar high school along Rice Street, St. Paul. Critical thinking always requires book reports and papers, and Mr. Kolbinger made sure there were plenty of those.
The Divine Comedy is divided into three books, namely, The Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise or Heaven). In the Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, we encounter Dante on Holy Thursday night, lost in a dark wood. Unbeknownst to him, it was the beginning of his descent into the maelstrom of Hell. To his rescue comes the Roman poet, Virgil, who will guide Dante safely through the 9 circles of Hell.
I was thinking about this in the wee hours of Wednesday morning as the election results were being counted. I thought and still do think that on Tuesday, November 8th, the United States began its own descent into the darkness. There have been many scapegoats suggested upon which to blame this disastrous turn in our nation’s history. In my own anger and depression following the election, I have been as guilty as the rest in this regard. Yet, I believe there is a greater evil that has laid quietly underneath the surface awaiting its chance to strike at the heart of the United States. I have known of this evil since 1985, when first I read the book, Habits of the Heart, a critical and scientific study on American individualism.
Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William Sullivan, Ann Swindler, and Steven Tipton conducted this study on the four types of American individualism. In their study, they noted a tremendous swing from the individualism that formed the United States, Biblical and Republican, to the individualism that has a strangle hold on our nation today, Utilitarian and Expressive.
What is the huge difference between these two groups? Biblical Individualism and Republican Individualism extoll the virtue of the good of all over the good of the individual. Biblical individualism, commonly known in Christian circles as St. Paul’s image of the Body of Christ, states that the needs of the entire body comes first, followed by the needs of the individual. Republican individualism, not to be confused with the political party, was a model created by Thomas Jefferson and best expressed in John F Kennedy’s words, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” In both of these individuals exist to serve the needs of the many. In serving the needs of the many, the individual will find his/her own needs being met.
Both Utilitarian and Expressive Individualism hold that the needs of the individual, outweigh the good of the many. Utilitarian Individualism is in many ways is best expressed by Libertarianism. A Utilitarian individualist does not believe in helping any other people other than him or herself. Pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps, making one’s way, and the hell with anyone else best describes this kind of individualism. Utilitarian Individualism is about acquiring power and destroying anyone who gets in the way of that acquisition. The vice of Greed exemplifies this Individualism. Expressive Individualism puts the needs, particularly the sensual and comfort needs of the individual primary over the needs of the many. This is best expressed in the feeding of oneself to the exclusion of those around one who may be starving. The hoarding of wealth and the acquiring of all creature comforts from housing to cars, to all the creature comforts that will satisfy all the senses is contained within this individualism. The vice of Gluttony best exemplifies this Individualism.
What the author of Habits of the Heart noted in 1985, was that the citizens of the United States were falling away from healthy individualism, namely, Biblical and Republican, and descending into the nightmare of unhealthy individualism, namely, Utilitarian and Expressive.
Virgil leads Dante into Hell. Illustrator – Gustave Dore
In The Inferno, when Dante and Virgil cross the river Achelon, they come to the entrance of Hell, over which is a sign with the words, “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate” (Abandon hope all ye who enter here!). Passing through this entrance Dante descends with Virgil through the levels of Hell, namely, Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. As Dante takes this terrifying journey he becomes self-aware of his own sin, of his own rupture in his relationship with God, who is love. With the exception of Limbo, the first circle of Hell, a Heaven without God, reserved for Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, and Greek and Roman philosophers and all those (including Muslims) who lived selfless lives, the sins of the following circles of Hell have one thing in common; those entrapped in eternal damnation were consumed in their own individualism without any regard for the plight of others. In other words, Dante’s Hell is filled with those who lived Utilitarian and Expressive individualism. They are damned by their own greed and gluttony. At the lowest level is treachery, where Satan and the worst of the worst are trapped in ice. Satan’s own pride has encased him in ice. He is depicted with three heads, the great bat shaped wings fan the lowest circle all the more frozen. From his six eyes flow pus, tears, and blood. In each of his three mouths are the worst of all traitors, their legs sticking out of each mouth, as Satan gnaws on their bodies. The worst of the worst is Judas Iscariot whose head is being gnawed upon for eternity.
In Dante’s Hell, the punishment that is inflicted upon the damned for eternity matches the harm they caused while they were alive. This is the stuff about which nightmares are made. From entrails of the living damned being devoured by animals, to heretics being burned alive in their own graves, Dante fills in with great detail what happens to those who do not love as God loves. No longer recognizable as human, the damned live in the horror of a sub-human state.
The punishment of the gluttonous was to wallow in filth, slime, and putrescence as a cold, putrid rain falls upon them for eternity. Illustrator – Gustave Dore
Long before Dante’s allegory of Hell, St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, described the humanity, after the fall of Adam and Eve, as sub-human. This sub-humankind was consumed by selfishness, self-centeredness, self-indulgence, a narcissism that had little to no regard for anyone else. St. Paul harangued the Christian Corinthian community to not fall prey to the sub-humans around them. The selfishness, self centeredness that was destroying the community around them was destroying the celebration of the Eucharist. St. Paul very pointedly told the community that the selfishness of the Corinthian community was robbing the Eucharist of its efficacy, so much so, that those perpetrators of this selfish behavior were guilty of murdering the Body of Christ to the same degree of the Romans who crucified Jesus. St. Paul went so far to say that when these perpetrators ate and drank the Body and Blood of Jesus, they ate and they drank their own damnation.
Beginning with the 1980’s, the United States started a long descent into the sub-human darkness that St. Paul saw in Corinth. The exultation of the self over the needs of the common good, the pursuit of possessions and money over relationships, the elevation of greed as a virtue, greed as an admired trait, began then and this creed of an unhealthy individualism has strangled all that has been good out of our nation. The human community in the United States has gotten so self-involved that the greater good of the totality of the human community is ignored if not condemned. It has altered the meaning of the “American Dream” from the possibility of all citizens to live lives that are fulfilled and free from the worry of hunger, poverty and homelessness, to mean acquire as much power, wealth, and goods for one self and to Hell with everyone else. The only thing that holds any importance is if it benefits the individual, screw all the rest.
The whole of this election cycle has been a choice between a healthy individualism in which the good of all is foremost, and a perverted individualism in which only the individual is primary to the exclusion of all others. Americans made their choice and elected the epitome of this perversion of individualism, perhaps electing the very image of the electorate themselves. The unimaginative, the greedy, and the gluttonous have been convinced, like the rubes of old time snake bite remedies, that the all the problems of the world are fixed in the person they have elected, and that each one of them will be far better off individually. It would be tragic if it were it not so horribly pathetic.
Dante and Virgil speak with Pope Anastasius II as he is burned alive in his tomb. Illustrator – Gustave Dore
The circles of Hell to which Dante confined those guilty of the many sins of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery still remain and are still destructive of human society and the Church. It should be noted, that the many condemned to Hell in Dante’s story included among them politicians of Florence, his home. However, Dante made equally sure that among the damned were a great number of clergy, including bishops, cardinals, and Popes. As St. Paul noted to the Corinthian community, the Church is as vulnerable to Utilitarian and Expressive individualism as the rest of human society.
St. Paul writes in his theology of the Body of Christ, that the needs of the totality of the Body of Christ, far outweigh the needs of the individual part of the Body of Christ. Unless, we, as Catholics, and as Americans begin to live this meaning of healthy individualism, in which the needs of the many outweigh the need of the one individual, we will pass through an entrance over which hangs a sign that say, “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here!” Our society will be destroyed, and the allegorical vision of Dante Alighieri’s Hell will become a living reality.
The lowest circle of Hell where Satan resides. Illustrator – Gustave Dore
This past weekend, Ruthie and I, and our family were up in Two Harbors for a family get together. Ruthie and I went to the 4:30 pm Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Two Harbors, having the wonderful pleasure of actually worshiping in the same pew together. Initially, when I read the gospel earlier in the week I remembered an Ollie and Lena joke that I won’t repeat here. As the priest was homilizing on the gospel this was the reflection that came to my mind.
When the comedian, Woody Allen, was doing stand-up, he had an observation about death that I still enjoy to this day. He remarked, “I am not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
As our gospel readings wind down to the end of the liturgical year, we begin to reflect on death and our life’s journey. Each liturgical year, we accompany the paschal mystery of Jesus, his life, his death and his resurrection. In doing so, however, we are not merely observers of some historical personage from a long time ago. The flow of the liturgical year and the scriptural readings that accompany that flow are meant to engage us in reflecting on our own life’s journey as we journey with that of Jesus. This merging of our life’s story with his began the moment we were baptized into his passion, death, and resurrection.
The gospel for this weekend calls us to confront our own mortal condition. We are going to die, whether we, like Woody Allen, want to be there or not. We generally avoid thinking about our own demise. Plain and simple it is just too depressing. However, the shortness of our human life is a reality we have to confront.
In Psalm 89, the psalmist writes, “To your (God) eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night. You sweep us away like a dream, like the grass which springs up in the morning. In the morning it springs up and flowers: by evening it withers and fades.” A little later in the psalm, it is written, “Our life is over like a sigh. Our span is seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong. And most of these are emptiness and pain. They pass swiftly and we are gone. … Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart.”
Acknowledging that the time we have on this earth is so short, forces us to think about how we have lived our lives. How have we used the gifts we have been given? In what way has God’s Kingdom been advanced in the world by our presence? Is the world better off for us having lived, or would it have been better had we never had been born? Have we used the time we have had, wisely? Will the lives we have led been deemed worthy to attain to the coming age, where we will become like angels?
All of these questions, and many more, remind us that we are living in the end times, the “eschaton”, when Jesus will return in glory. If this makes us uncomfortable, well then, we should be uncomfortable. Perhaps, we should begin to rectify our lives, to reform our lives. Unlike so many others who run from death in fear, let us embrace death after having had a lifetime of preparation. Let us be good stewards of our short time on earth. Let us be good stewards of the gifts that God has given us, sharing those gifts with others in need. Let us be faithful servants of the God who loved us into creation, and will love us into recreation at our deaths.
I am never too sure as to how many folks look at this blog or not. While I hope that it gets read or listened to, as in the case of the music, were it followed only by a couple of folks that would be just fine.
I am having my right knee replaced tomorrow, which, along with recovery and therapy may either give me a lot of time to post things, or may not. If it is the latter, I ask you to be patient. If it is the former, well, I guess that unless I get really obnoxious there won’t be any problem.
