Reality

I've been a bit melancholy of late, and there have been temptations to allow this melancholy to be expressed in sinful behaviour. I've seen a lot of the news lately as a test, a temptation to put all my faith in those people who are to bring Christ to us. While two of those men are now disappearing from view in sudden and shocking ways, it allows me to realise that my faith goes beyond those people who present the Gospel to me, and that it lies in the one who will never disappear.
I have reflected on the possibility or impossibility of leaving the Church. I feel that to leave the Church based on the revelation that people commit egregious sins, are unkind, or whatever, would be extremely stupid. Yet I do know that people have left the Church for those reasons. For me, I find them shocking and infuriating at first, but then I remember that the Church is a hospital, a rehab clinic for weak-willed and fickle sinners. It confirms the Church's mission - to save.
That said, last night I read a more credible - and thus disorientating - reason to leave the Church. The person was no longer interested in her because "there are better ways of looking at reality than the box of medieval Western thought".

"What if he's right?" I thought. "What if the Catholic Church's teachings don't really match reality? Or what if they have a restricted view of reality? Does it really see the big picture?"
I then thought of Eastern cultures and my own ignorance of them. I thought of various places in Africa, Asia, the Americas. I thought of how few still believe in the Catholic faith. For a moment I was reeling.

Then I looked up, and the crucifix hanging on my bedroom wall caught my eye.
That is reality. That is the human condition hanging there, having been subjected to the worst of humanity.
The symbol of the crucified Christ is the symbol of the reality we live in, the true reflection of the human condition.
The beautiful calligraphy of Islam is too abstract. The fat golden Buddha is too distant. The elephant-headed Ganesh is too strange. The nature of the pagans is too mundane. The microscope looks too closely and misses the big picture. The telescope looks too far away and has its head in the clouds.

Jesus nailed to the cross shows every injustice of humanity. Jesus' cry to the Father reveals the transcendence of God.
This isn't just some medieval Western thought. This is reality on display.

From Wikipaintings.org

Ask the Mother of God for a good Pope

The situation of the Church and the world requires a holy and brave Pope. Commend your prayers and all the Cardinal Electors to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin as her prayers to the Holy Spirit are much more effective due to her submission to Him.

O God, eternal shepherd, who govern your flock with unfailing care, grant in your boundless fatherly love a pastor for your Church who will please you by his holiness and to us show watchful care. Through Christ our Lord.

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

In March in particular, it would be very good to pray to the Patron of the Universal Church, Saint Joseph, for a holy Pope as well.

It's now the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. My favourite term for this day is not the jovial terms of Pancake Day or Mardi Gras, but Shrove Tuesday. Why? Because to be shriven is a beautiful thing.

Based on yesterday's unexpected news, this Lent is set to be a particularly interesting one. The next Urbi et Orbi blessing that the faithful can receive at the end of Lent will be from a new Pope.

I think one of the best things we can do this Lent is to offer our penances and sacrifices for the cardinal electors and the new Pope, that he may be a faithful guardian of the Church's teaching and an image of Christ to the world. Naturally, we can offer our penances for other things, but the issue of the new Pope will be one that shapes the Church and the world. It will affect our daily lives in some way. Just think of what our current dear Pope has achieved within almost eight years. The Mass of Blessed John XIII is a lot more available. We have Youcat. The Year of Faith. Tighter rules on reporting child abuse. A Pontifical Academy for Latin.

On the other hand, Lent can help put things into perspective. Through prayer, we can gain reassurance that the Holy Spirit is in charge of all things and we should not be too afraid of what is to come. Even if the future is to bring great difficulties, if God is for us, who can be against?

Here is a good article on the importance of Lent.

And here is the collect from the Roman Missal for the election of a Pope. It might be a good idea to pray this in place of Pope Benedict's intentions for March (what happens with those and indulgences during sede vacante anyway??*):

O God, eternal shepherd, who govern your flock with unfailing care, grant in your boundless fatherly love a pastor for your Church who will please you by his holiness and to us show watchful care. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

*Update: Fr Zuhlsdorf has an answer to this and it seems as though we should continue to pray for the intentions in March. So pray the prayer above in addition to the intentions for March. Et sequitur that the normal conditions for indulgences apply too. 

The new year of grace 2013

Goodness! 16th of January already! Advent and Christmastide have already passed by (unless you count it till Candlemas on 2nd February) and we're back into the green of Ordinary Time. I've made one or two resolutions for the new year, and so far they are going reasonably. Normally, I wouldn't know whether they are going well as I'd have forgotten them already. Or I wouldn't have made any in the first place.
Anyway, here they are with commentary:

1. To work hard. (I was terribly lazy last year)
2. To read more. (I'll discuss this below)
3. To work on those nasty habits. (don't need to say more)
4. To stay in touch with friends. (Again, a laziness thing)
5. To move out of parents' place. (I'm getting desperate!)

1 and 4 seem to be going quite well. I seem to have developed a bit more zeal, and meeting friends has motivated me as well. 2 is still pending and I have a small pile of books lying on my table. Here's a photo...

3 is not going well, and 5 is a wait-and-see.

The books you can see in the pic are:
Bible (duh!)
Bilbo Le Hobbit (i.e. French translation of The Hobbit)
Imitation of Christ (read this before, but I want to read it again)
Introduction to the Devout Life (inspired by Shameless Popery's recommendation)
True Devotion to Mary (inspired by a post on Catholic Teuchtar's page at the turn of the year)
The Ten Commandments of Lifting Weights (so that my exercising is not a vanity project but a form of asceticism)
Crime and Punishment (started but not yet finished)

I also started War and Peace about two years ago and read about a fifth, so might try and crack on with that too.
Regarding the books written by the saints, I also hope to try and incorporate their teaching into my life and not just read them for pleasure or academically. I did this last Lent and it really helped.
I'll start with St Francis de Sales as his feast day is coming up soon.

Anyway, God bless you in 2013.

P.S. I've changed my name on here for the second time. My first name was sprachmeister (language master), which is rather arrogant, then sprachenbegeisterter (language enthusiast) which is a long and clumsy word. I finally changed it to the self-deprecatory spraffmeister (cos self-deprecation is thing to do these days, ken?) For those who don't know, to spraff is to talk nonsense or to waffle on, rather like what I'm doing now, and meister is master...

Phew! It's still there

I listened to France Info radio for the first time in a very long time and turns out I can still understand French despite not hearing it for over a year and a half! Woo! Go me.

The intolerant and bigoted Cardinal

It was announced in the news today that oor Cardinal, Archbishop Keith Patrick O'Brien, was voted as Bigot of the Year by Stonewall. I am not surprised at the award, but I do think that it casts more poorly on Stonewall than it does on the Cardinal. Even Ruth Davidson, the lesbian Conservative MSP leader and this year's winner of Stonewall's Politician of the Year, thought so.

I hope the Cardinal knows that there are many, many people who support his courageous stance on the issue of gay marriage and homosexuality in general. It is necessary for Stonewall to accuse the Cardinal and those like him of bigotry in order to maintain the image that the Catholic Church is the hateful group, rather than the compassionate, loving and yet firm and faithful image of Christ on earth.

Pray for the Holy Souls!

There's a new blog referred to by Mac McLernon at Mulier Fortis called Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, which is a verse from Psalm 90(91) "Qui habitat". If you haven't heard the 11 minute long tract from the first Sunday of Lent, go and do it now (or even next time round on Sunday 17th Feb 2013).

Anyway, SUAT has a nice post on the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, which you should read. Now.

Then say an "Eternal rest" for the Holy Souls.

Meanwhile, here's the best orchestra Requiem by Duruflé: