I’m on Dr. Ambrosio’s email list, and today’s mailing included an article on Faith vs. Works. Dr. Ambrosio happens to be a member of my parish, and used to be a professor at the University of Dallas, but now he’s primarily a conference speaker, and he has his website which is full of good articles and resources. He is very much in the Catholic mainstream, but I find his writing very understandable from a Protestant perspective, which is not the case with a lot of Catholic writers I’ve encountered. Unfortunately, like a lot of arguments in this world, much of the problem stems from each side missing the essential points of the other side. However, from time to time people emerge that are able like C. S. Lewis and Pope Benedict XVI who are able to articulate their beliefs in a way that outsiders can understand.

Here is a quote from the article that I believe beautifully captures the point of the Faith and Works issue.

Biblical faith is not just belief.  It is surrender.  It is a complete entrusting of oneself to God in Christ and acceptance of his power, his will, and his plan.  If we truly say yes to Him and let his grace into our hearts, we’ll never be the same.  His love begins to work through us and change our lives.  His Spirit takes up residence within us, giving us the strength to do what we could never do on our own, even to begin to love like He loves.

So true biblical faith is not passive.  It is active, dynamic, and alive.  That’s why St. James says that faith without works is dead (James 2:24-26).  Abraham believed that an unknown God was calling him to leave civilization and march into the desert to find a land that this God has promised him.  He did not sit and contemplate this call or set up a shrine to this God.  He got up and began walking (Genesis 12).

So we justified by faith, if we mean the authentic biblical faith that causes us to walk in God’s ways.  And we are justified by works, if we mean the works of charity that can only flow from faith and grace.

So really, it’s not faith vs. works.  It’s faith that works.

It’s been several months now since the latest encyclical letter from Pope Benedict was issued. This was the first encyclical that I read all the way through, and it is very good. The theme is that we need hope, and that ultimate hope can only be found in Christ. That’s nothing new for anyone who knows the basics of the Christian faith. What is astounding and important about this encyclical is the way Pope Benedict makes this case in terms that relate to the prevailing ideas of our world, especially as found in Europe. He is speaking of those who have already written off Christianity as having no relevance for true hope, relying instead on politics, education, economics, or technology to provide hope for the future.

There is a lot of good stuff in there that I won’t comment on here, choosing to focus on how he addresses the hope people put in technological progress. When I was a teenager, I completely embraced that hope until I came to a point where I wanted something more. This desire led to Christianity, which gave me my ultimate hope, but I did not initially find good answers to the issue of technological progress. This encyclical is the best treatment of this question I’ve found so far.

Here are a couple of quotes that I found particularly thought provoking. I provide them hoping that you will check out the rest of the letter and benfit from the treasures found there.

 First we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise? In the nineteenth century, faith in progress was already subject to critique. In the twentieth century, Theodor W. Adorno formulated the problem of faith in progress quite drastically: he said that progress, seen accurately, is progress from the sling to the atom bomb. Now this is certainly an aspect of progress that must not be concealed. To put it another way: the ambiguity of progress becomes evident. Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil—possibilities that formerly did not exist. We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man’s ethical formation, in man’s inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.
(N. 22)

In this next quote, I was particularly struck by the fact that anything we might do to ensure moral goodness in future generations requires the loss of moral freedom. If people have true freedom, then they have freedom to be evil. We will never build a political system that will guarantee a perfect society.

 Let us ask once again: what may we hope? And what may we not hope? First of all, we must acknowledge that incremental progress is possible only in the material sphere. Here, amid our growing knowledge of the structure of matter and in the light of ever more advanced inventions, we clearly see continuous progress towards an ever greater mastery of nature. Yet in the field of ethical awareness and moral decision-making, there is no similar possibility of accumulation for the simple reason that man’s freedom is always new and he must always make his decisions anew. These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others—if that were the case, we would no longer be free. Freedom presupposes that in fundamental decisions, every person and every generation is a new beginning. Naturally, new generations can build on the knowledge and experience of those who went before, and they can draw upon the moral treasury of the whole of humanity. But they can also reject it, because it can never be self-evident in the same way as material inventions. The moral treasury of humanity is not readily at hand like tools that we use; it is present as an appeal to freedom and a possibility for it.
(N. 24)

Happy Easter everyone! Since I posted yesterday about Holy Saturday, I felt like I should at least post something for Easter. This is the Exultet, a hymn dating back at least to the 7th century, which is always sung in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, the night before Easter Sunday. (I believe many, if not all Anglicans have a similar practice. I’ve also been to an Eastern Orthodox Easter liturgy which began at midnight with a lone candle in a dark church, but many of the details were different.)

The Easter Vigil begins with a “new fire” lit outside the Church, from which a large white candle is lit. The Easter candle is carried in procession to the front of the church, which is completely dark except for the candle light. Three times on the way to the front of the church, the procession stops and the deacon or priest lifts high the candle and sings, “Christ our light!” The congregation responds, “Thanks be to God!” At celebrations I’ve been to, the congregation also has little candles that are lit from the Easter candle as it moves through the church.

When the procession reaches the front,  the deacon or priest sings the Exultet, which follows:

Rejoice heavenly powers!  Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered!  Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes forever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church!  Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God,
the all powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin
to our eternal Father!

This is our Passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire
destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin
and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace
and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night
dispels all evil, washes guilt away,
restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed
when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen.

I want to give credit to the electronic sources of these texts which saved me from having to type them in by hand. I got the Exultet from Dr. D’Ambrosio’s Crossroads Initiative. Dr. D’Ambrosio is a former professor at the University of Dallas, but now he travels all over the country as a speaker. His website is a gold mine of informative articles, ancient texts, and other resources. Yesterday’s post from the Office of Readings came from Universalis, an online version of the Liturgy of the Hours (aka the Divine Office).

Today is Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday, when Jesus was executed, and Easter Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead. This is the day that Jesus spent in the tomb. In the Catholic Office of Readings for today, there is an ancient homily for Holy Saturday which is very inspiring, and I think it would be thought provoking for modern Christians, so I’m reprinting it here.

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all”. Christ answered him: “And with your spirit”. He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”.

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

Stizzyocayce tagged me to do the following:

• Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
• Find Page 123.
• Find the first 5 sentences.
• Post the next 3 sentences.
• Tag 5 people.

I think the closest book was the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I was consulting recently for an email conversation. It was towards my left, but I also have a stack of books towards my right, the top of which is Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel, which I just bought today after hearing Dr. Patel speak at a conference of the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS). I think that book is maybe a few inches farther away from me than the Catechism, but because it’s so close, I will quote it too.

First, from the Catechism :

440 Jesus accepted Peter’s profession of faith, which acknowledge him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man. He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man “who came down from heaven,” and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross.

Now from Acts of Faith:

It was Azim’s job to develop young Ismaili scholars. The only time I had ever detected pride in his voice was when he told me about Ismailis who had gotten jobs at major universities in North America and Europe, and he mused about the impact they would have when their work started to be published. I thought perhaps he would be excited about my new career focus.

Ok, I’ve done 4 out of 5 of the bullets. I’ve never been one to pass along things like this, so I won’t make any promises on the fifth obligation.

By the way, here is a little information about Dr. Patel. He is a young American Muslim from India who has founded an organization call Interfaith Youth Core, which seeks to promote discussion of religion among young people. There were several things in his talk that impressed me:

• His approach to interfaith dialog is not a process of watering down religions to a minimal and meaningless commonality, but for people who are passionate about their religion to discuss and learn what is common and what is distinctive about theirs and other’s religions.
• He said regardless of your particular religion, or your view of religion, it is clear that knowledge of religion is necessary to understand the world we live in. Classes on religion, that do not seek to convert students, but to inform them, should be a part of a good education. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that such classes in public schools do not violate the principle of separation of Church and State.
• He has found that an effective way of getting students interested in religion is to show how many people who have made positive changes in history were inspired by their faith. He names people like Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day as inspirations in his own life. When he teaches about religions, he takes certain values, such as “mercy”, and shows what the various religions teach about the subject, and then how it is worked out in civilization, and in individual people’s lives.
• He compares the religious situation of today to the race situation in the 20th century. Just as courageous people were willing to cross the “color line”, he is calling people now to be willing to cross the “religion line”.

I am taking a class on Patristic Theology, which is about the theology of the early Christians. I have a lot of reading for this class from the original ancient sources, and they are very fascinating. I have decided to try to share on this blog important passages as I run across them in my reading, hoping to benefit others as well as aid in my own learning process.

The first passage I want to share is from St. Clement’s letter to the Corinthians, written in 96 or 97 AD. It is the oldest extant work of Christian literature, apart from the biblical writings. Clement was the 3rd bishop of Rome after St. Peter, and he is writing to Corinth because of a schism that has happened in that Church. I am impressed by the following chapter, 42, because it is an indication of the early concept of Holy Orders and Apostolic Succession which is the backbone of authority in the Church. You can see the entire epistle at Early Christian Writings or New Advent Encyclopedia.

The apostles have preached the gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ [has done so] from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ. Both these appointments, then, were made in an orderly way, according to the will of God. Having therefore received their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and established in the word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the first fruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus says the Scripture in a certain place, “I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith.” (1 Clement 42)

Clement goes on in chapter 43 to retell the story of how in the time of Moses, the authority of the high priest, Aaron, was challenged by others, and God performed a miracle with Aaron’s staff to indicate he was the chosen one. Clement says this was done “that there might be no sedition in Israel“. Established authority is necessary for unity, so Clement tells the Corinthians what is the basis of proper authority in the Church in order to heal the split.

In Chapter 44, he says “Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect fore-knowledge of this, they appointed those [ministers] already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry.” He goes on to say that it is wrong to remove a bishop from his office who is rightly performing the role, which is what had been attempted in Corinth. One thing to note here is that “bishop” and “presbyter” are used interchangeably. It will be over a decade later before we see writings that indicate the separate orders of bishop and presbyter (priest) that we have today.

Merry Christmas everyone. For your Christmas reading pleasure, I invite you to read this great little article by Mark Shea regarding the common conception that the practice of celebrating of Christmas on December 25th is of pagan origin. I will not say anymore; just read it for yourselves.

Yesterday was the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. I ran across these notes from a blog I read written by a Benedictine Monk. He doesn’t provide much explanation, but I was still impressed.

I have heard Tim Staples make the connection between the virgin Earth , unstained by sin, from which the first Adam was formed and the Virgin Mary, unstained by sin, from which the second Adam, Jesus Christ, was formed, but Fr. Stephanos brings out more parallels here than I remember from Tim Staples. Beyond that, Fr. Stephanos draws a parallel between the Virgin Mary and the virgin tomb, which “gave birth” to the resurrected Christ. He even points out that Christ emerged from the tomb without breaking the seal of the tomb. (It was the angel that rolled away the stone in order to reveal the already empty tomb, Mt 28:2.) This is parallel to the early tradition that Christ emerged from the womb of Mary in some miraculous manner such that the integrity of her virginity was not violated. (Although Catholic dogma of the Eternal Virginity of Mary does not insist on this particular detail, it is a common Catholic belief.)

I saw the following quote from the opening paragraph of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason) on the Intentional Disciples blog:

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).