The BBs and manly habits

I've been finding it difficult to get to sleep recently, and one night last week I was lying in my bed thinking about stuff (not the Four Last Things, I'm ashamed to say), and I started to remember my time in The Boys' Brigade.

I had joined The Boys' Brigade in primary school at the incentive of my best friend and many other boys in my class. It was actually quite an unusual situation to have so many Catholic boys in a Company (the most local division of the Boys' Brigade) as the movement is heavily linked to the Kirk*. Nevertheless, we all went along and wore the uniforms and practised marching and played football and other games. As a youth club, I think the ethos there was pretty good. There was a strong emphasis on prayer at the beginning and the end and a good balance of discipline, education, and fun.

Once I reached about 18 and had completed all the activities and badges, I became a warrant officer which meant I was basically like one of the staff. Both as a senior Boy (NCO) and as a warrant officer, I had to train the younger boys in drill and basic knowledge of the Boys' Brigade. Part of this was ten questions about the movement and its founder, Sir William Alexander Smith.

Now, I've gone through these questions so many times that I know most of them by heart. I have problems with remembering dates generally (except birthdays), so I've forgotten these. Anyway, out of these ten questions, one of them was usually the most difficult for boys to learn: what is called the Object of the Boys' Brigade.

When I thought about this last night, I couldn't help be struck by how Catholic the object sounded. Here it is in full:

The Object of the Boys' Brigade is the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among boys and the promotion of habits of obedience, reverence, discipline, self-respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness.

 Most boys had great difficulty in remembering the four habits or remembering to say "of habits". We usually said remember ORDS.

I find the habits chosen by Sir Smith to be particularly interesting, as to him they are clearly the habits he most identifies with manliness. Nowadays, obedience and reverence are rarely mentioned as being worthwhile habits at all, let alone habits particularly conducive to Christian manliness.

While lying in bed thinking about this, I first came to the conclusion that though I do prize obedience, reverence, discipline and self-respect as good habits, and I think I am fairly obedient and reverent (maybe), I'm not particularly manly. But then I considered what I thought to be manly. Was it secular, worldly manliness or Christian manliness?
I know for a fact that I'm not manly in a secular way. Whether I am manly in a Christian sense is yet to be decided. All I know is that I do desire to be obedient, reverent, disciplined and self-respecting. I do strive for Christian manliness. Perhaps the Boys' Brigade achieved its goal in this respect.

* The presbyterian Church of Scotland is commonly referred to as the Kirk in Scotland. The similarity between the Scots word kirk and the German Kirche thrills me probably more than it should.

Goodness, are we into the Third Week after Easter already?
Pope Francis has now been Pope for just over a month. I'm now slowly getting used to this fact. Unlike the first few days and weeks where I read everything about what he was doing, saying, (wearing), I now no longer pay much attention. Rather like normal, I suppose. With Pope Benedict, I read what he was saying and doing only intermittently, too. I just can't keep up with it all. I imagine this is the case for most people.

There have been a number of happenings since my last post. Most notably, I went to the Eternal City for five days, which was a wonderful yet exhausting experience. More on that in a bit.
Secondly, it was the end of Lent and Easter, which is always rather intense.
Thirdly, it looks like I'm set to move out of my parents' place into a flat with two friends.

First, my trip to Rome.
For long and convoluted reasons, I was lucky to attend a Church conference held in Rome. This meant some brilliant privileges such as a tour of the crypt to see the tomb of St Peter, and prime seats at Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square. Fantastic. The conference itself was very interesting, though the days were long (12 hours) and things often ran late. More on that soon as it develops (and I figure out whether I can give more info).

Second, Easter.
Since my parish shares a priest with another parish, it was our turn to have the Triduum. This meant being drafted in for serving, singing and a bunch of other stuff*. In one way, this turned out to be a blessing, as I will explain later. I served Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil (getting out the thurible for the Thursday and Saturday!), while serving on Friday seemed largely pointless. Finally, I imposed myself on everyone for the last time on Easter Sunday, where I sang the Sequence**. In Latin. The good thing is that many people complimented me on it. I'd volunteered myself for it so people didn't expect me to sing it (I'm not a cantor or singer at my parish). I think the element of surprise actually helped as it was refreshing.

Third, moving out.
This is partly related to the previous point. Despite the relative success of the Triduum, the whole experience shed light on where my parish is and how it is faring. And also on how little can actually be done without the PP being on board. Or even on the same page. Comments during the Easter Vigil highlighted his hermeneutic and it crushed my spirits completely. The joy of the feast got me through it but I couldn't cope with it afterwards. This is convenient. I'm moving out at the end of the month into civitatem ipsam. This means that I'll be leaving my parish too. Time to move on. There's some excellent news in this respect. But that's for another time ;-)

*oh, alright, I admit I volunteered myself for everything!
**I love the Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes

Reflection on the first days of Pope Francis' pontificate

I have had a rather rollercoaster experience with regard to the election of Pope Francis on Wednesday. There have been a number of reasons for this, which I will enumerate below. Firstly, however, I wish to pray this following prayer:

O God, who have set over your Church Francis as Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of Christ, grant, we beseech you, that we may always follow obediently this earthly shepherd, to whom authority has been given to bind and loose, and so by your grace be admitted to the kingdom of heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

First of all, like many I was very surprised that the election was so short. I had mentally set myself up for a conclave of at least two days. I had the live feed to the chimney open on Wednesday evening, and I went downstairs for something and while downstairs I remember thinking that it would probably be Friday morning or afternoon before there would be any result. Yet I go upstairs and the bells were already ringing announcing a new Pope. A major shock and surprise!

After a tense wait to see who was chosen, there was a series of surprises with the name Francis, and his manner on the loggia. Unlike other bloggers, I didn't notice that he wasn't wearing the mozzetta (I thought that was just an Easter thing - shows what I know about these things!)

After this appearance, I went on the blogs, which was a mistake. I read the doommongerers over at Rorate and my heart sank. I realised how much I had set myself on the fact that from now on, liturgies would only ever improve. While things were going at snail pace, I still hoped in the fact that generally things would improve.

I then read a few more things over the next few days, and I switched between joy at having a man who so dearly loves the poor and fear that Benedict's reform of the liturgy would be undone. It has been exhausting and somewhat disheartening overall that such a contrast is there. I've also had to examine my own motivations for my disappointment. Do I really care for the poor? Probably no, or at least not enough. Do I care too much about externals? Probably yes, respectively. And yet I find that if I take one judgment of the Pope and Pope Emeritus, I judge the other in the opposite manner. It's all so confusing.

Right now, I'd quite like to install myself in a hermitage far from technology... But I can't, so I'll just have to suck it up and get on with things, prayer, penance and work.

Habemus Papam!

Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Georgium Marium,
Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Bergoglio
qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum!

Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco.
Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.

Pater noster. Ave Maria.

Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Franciscum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.

A suggestion for the next week or so...

Now that we know that the Conclave will start on Tuesday, a prayer idea came to me this morning when praying the Rosary during my parish's holy hour. If you say the mysteries of the Rosary each day, with the Joyful Mysteries on Mondays, Sorrowful on Tuesdays, etc., why not dedicate the third decade to the election of a holy Pope.

Why the third decade?
The third Joyful Mystery is the Birth of our Lord. We can pray that the Pope is a humble man and has a care for the poor especially. While this may seem rather obvious, the Holy Spirit does not guarantee a humble Pope as history has shown. Therefore, this simple yet obvious virtue is highlighted by this decade.

The third Sorrowful Mystery is the Crowning of our Lord with thorns. We can pray that the Pope chosen will reject any desire to conform to the world and that he may accept any ignominy from the world that he may receive by following God's will and that he will unite this suffering with the Lord's suffering.

The third Glorious Mystery is the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This is also obvious, but we can pray that the Cardinals are also open to the Holy Spirit as the Apostles were.

And, if you pray the Luminous Mysteries, the third Luminous Mystery is the Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Conversion, which is a summary of the Pope's task. While it is the task of each and every one of us, it is the Pope's task in a particular sense.

Judica me, Deus...

... et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta
ab homine iniquo et doloso erue me:
quia tu es Deus, fortitudo mea,
quare me repulisti? et quare tristis incedo
dum affligit me inimicus?
Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam:
ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum,
et in tabernacula tua.
Et introibo ad altare Dei
ad Deum, qui laetificat iuventutem meam.
Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus.
Quare tristis es, anima mea, et quare conturbas me?
Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi:
salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.

In tribute to Pope Benedict XVI

"It is important to recognize that true love carries with it a high seriousness. It desires the true good of the other person, and therefore it has the courage to oppose him whenever he does not see what is good, whenever he is running headlong into misfortune.
In explaining this, we have already said what is positive about love. It likes the other person. It wants things to go well for him, wants him to be happy, to be more truly himself. And for that reason love is good to him. But to be good to that person I must necessarily be guided by what is good, by what is really good for him and make an effort to help him be good. A true act of love is therefore one that springs from goodness and is directed toward what is good. And so, on one hand, self-discipline is always part of love, giving way oneself for the sake of the other, and, on the other, helping him is always a part. Helping him not to be wrapped up in himself, not just to take for himself, but to learn to come out of himself and to discover the way of the grain of wheat." (God and the World)