Doesn’t it just go to show that the world doesn’t change that much? The issues St. Anselm faced almost 1,000 years ago are still very much present in the modern world. We modern folk are not as unique as we sometimes think we are. There is always common ground to be found, no matter how distant in time and space we may be. And that is a good thing, an instructive thing. We are never alone, and we never have to start from scratch in dealing with the ills of the world.

I may not be an incredible philosopher and theologian like St. Anselm, but I definitely feel kinship with him when it comes to taking a stand against the secular world when necessary. Perhaps he can teach me greater courage, patience, and graciousness–things that can become especially difficult when a big election season is heating up.

St. Anselm of Canterbury, pray for us!

[P.S. It's not too late for you to get your own Patron Saint of 2012!]

I have to say, I have not been a very good companion this year. I have not devoted myself to cultivating my relationship with my patron as much as I would have liked. And yet, being the Saint that he is, St. John has been faithfully present with me, working behind the scenes, gently steering me toward where I need to go. This past year has been fraught with difficulty, and yet I have come through it with a simple grace that I cannot attribute to myself alone. In fact, it has sometimes been in the midst of difficulties that I have come to understand the great value and necessity of simplicity and of childlike faith and humility before God.

Although I cannot pinpoint any specific lessons, I can definitely say that I have learned a lot over this last year. That is often how God and the Saints and the angels work in our lives. They rarely come upon us like flashes of lightning. Rather they gradually kindle a flame in us, nurturing it to a lasting glow. Eventually, we come to see that our lives and the world around us have taken on a new color, a new clarity.

I thank God and St. John Berchmans for being with me this year, speaking softly to my soul and helping it grow.

I am eagerly waiting to see who my patron will be!

I have very good feelings about 2012. I feel a special energy and joy and hope for this year. Never mind all the doom-sayers who are sure the world is ending this year!

I hope everybody is having a good Christmas. I spent it with my family in Savannah, Georgia. I attended Mass at the glorious Cathedral of St. John the Baptist; that was a highlight of the trip for me, but even moreso, I enjoyed spending the time with my mother and sister and brother-in-law.

I’m guessing many of you were surprised that I didn’t post a great big article extolling the greatness of the new, corrected English translation of the Roman Missal, given how often I’ve expressed excitement about it. Well, to put it briefly and mildly, I have not been disappointed! :D I think it is beautiful, majestic, elegant, elevated, and uplifting. I think it allows the English language to shine most radiantly. It reminds me of how beautiful our language can be.

I was shocked–shocked, I tell you–that I noticed absolutely no adverse effects among the congregations I have been part of. Nobody running from the church screaming and pulling their hair out because the new words were so confoundedly alien and difficult. I mean, given the furor I heard/read during the lead up to this fateful first Sunday of Advent, I thought surely there would be at least a few people snapping and breaking down. Maybe a few ears bleeding. Maybe even a head or two exploding. But no, not one. Could it be, dare I say, that the complainers, the protesters, the rebels, and the scoffers who permeated the liberal secular and “catholic” media didn’t actually represent the vast majority of Catholics in the pew? Or have I merely been fortunate to be in congregations dominated by sane people, or at least people polite enough to keep their complaints to themselves? What has your experience been in the wake of Translation Apocalypse? Has your corner of the world ended or . . . not so much?

One thing I’ve noticed is that the music has improved dramatically in some parishes I have visited, since we’ve had to come up with new settings for the new translation. Again, no awful adverse effects that I’ve seen.

With that, dear readers, I pray that you enjoy a wonderful and richly blessed new year! May God and Mary and the hosts of Heaven be with you always!

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 1596.

What speaks to me most on a personal level is the theophany on Mount Horeb.

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
1 Kings 19:11-13 (RSV)

To briefly put this passage in context, Elijah had recently obtained a spectacular miracle by calling upon God to send down fire to consume an offering (you really must read the whole story in 1 Kings 18:20-40). He had hoped to re-convert the people of Israel to faithful and exclusive worship of God via this spectacular display of power, and at first it seemed that he had succeeded. But it was a very short-lived victory and brought a death-threat from the infuriated Queen Jezebel, who had brought Baal-worship to Israel. When he realized his failure, Elijah went out into the desert, disillusioned and even suicidal.

Eventually, he came to Mount Horeb (aka Sinai), and like Moses before him, received the rare gift of a theophany–a manifestation of God’s presence. Phenomena such as tempest, earthquake, and fire were characteristic of a theophany–and exactly what one would expect. But to Elijah, God presented Himself in a very different and unexpected way: in “a still small voice.” It was in that tiny sound that the prophet perceived God’s presence.

It’s important to note that Elijah was not a person who much appreciated silence and stillness. He was a gutsy, intrepid, self-assured man of action. When he called upon God, God listened and acted. And Elijah expected God to act with power, as He did when He sent down fire to consume Elijah’s offering. Elijah wanted to shock and stun the people of Israel into straightening up their act, and he expected God to cooperate. But ultimately, that plan had failed, and Elijah wasn’t sure what to do.

In this scene, we see the prophet at his weakest and most human.  Can we not see ourselves in him?  I know I can see myself.  I often expect God to act according to my expectations and my timing.  Occasionally, He deigns to do so, at least on the surface.  In fact, it rarely turns out the way I would like it to.  And that doesn’t make me very happy!

What God teaches Elijah–and what He teaches to us all at times–is that His true essence and His true way are not found in earth-shattering power.  Oh, He is mighty, very mighty!  But true might is much more than mere brute force.  We honor God’s true power when we fall silent and still and allow His still small voice to permeate our souls, our innermost beings.  The truth is, that is a far more humbling, stunning, and awe-inspiring experience than any external tour de force we could ever imagine!  The realization that God wants first and foremost to be Master of our souls is enough to make these souls of ours shiver and prostrate themselves!

Instead of wishing to exert power over others or over our circumstances, we should strive to submit ourselves to God’s power, lest our own hearts grow hard and turn away from Him. When we do so, we receive the greatest miracles of all: the life and love and grace that come only from our Lord and Master.

I’ve decided that, as a way of entering more deeply into the liturgical year and a way of deepening my spiritual life, I am going to make some resolutions for this new Church year.

In general, I want to keep living my life more and more by the mottoes “What Would Mary Do?” and “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

What I want to work on most is having and maintaining a constant spirit of joy and love, no matter what is happening to me or around me. Being joyful and loving is always a choice–and I want to make the right choice more often, so often that it becomes habitual. This includes being joyful even if I am hurting or feel sad. It also includes being loving to everybody, even those who have not been good to me. I want to do these things freely, without counting the cost or expecting anything in return.

Also, I resolve to write blog posts far more often than I have been!

I think that should keep me plenty busy and challenged for a year!

A happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day to my fellow Americans!  I am looking forward to feasting with my family tomorrow!  :)

Related post:

How true a subject am I?: Reflections at the end of the Church year

Anyway, you know what drives me up the wall? When a man who knows I have taken a liking to him, and who I thought felt the same for me, tells me he “just wants to be friends.” And is then mystified or offended when I say, “Um, no.”

Now understand, I have plenty of male friends. But they are not “just friends” as a substitute for some other kind of relationship. As if to say, “I know you want a relationship with me, but I’m not going to give you the relationship you want–oh, but I’ll allow you to be my friend.” Right, because it is so darn friendly to hold an unrequited love over a woman’s head while you go merrily and live happily ever after with someone else.

None of my proper male friends would be so inconsiderate and selfish to me. The difference with a proper male friend is that the friendship is mutal and two-way. It doesn’t only benefit him or me. It benefits us both. That is a requirement for any friendship, is it not?

I refuse to substitute anything else for it. I refuse to have anything to do with a lopsided, one-way relationship. I have more true friends than I can ever count. I don’t need half-way friends. And I definitely don’t need a man to treat me like I’m just one of the guys whom he can call up and hang out with when he isn’t with his lady love.

Again, it’s not that I don’t enjoy male friendship. Actually, I tend to get along extremely well with men. I drink whiskey, I read Patrick O’Brian, I play video games, I like watching sports (sometimes). But I still expect to be appreciated and liked for who I am–and that includes my womanhood.

So, Mr. Just Wanna Be Friends, focus on your girlfriend and/or on your real female friends. If you want “just friends” then for heaven’s sake, go meet some other men–leave me out of it.

1 – 8 November:

An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed.

The indulgence is plenary each day from the 1st to the 8th of November; on other days of the year it is partial.

2 November:

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who on the day dedicated to the Commemoration of all the faithful departed, piously visit a church, a public oratory or — for those entitled to use it — a semipublic oratory.

In visiting the church or oratory, it is required, according to Norm 16 of the same Apostolic Constitution, that “one Our Father and the Creed be recited.”

Here is more information about plenary indulgences and how they may be obtained.  Let us revive this tradition and partake in the rich graces of our Lord and Church!

Just think of all the poor souls who have nobody to pray for them after they die… perhaps they have no family or friends left… perhaps their surviving loved ones do not believe in Purgatory and in praying for the dead… perhaps their surviving loved ones simply haven’t been educated about Purgatory and praying for the dead.

Remember that the poor souls cannot pray for themselves (they can, however, pray for us, and especially for those who pray for them).

For their sake and the sake of our own souls, let us pray and obtain those indulgences!  If you don’t think you are in a state of grace to obtain a plenary indulgence, ask for it anyway!  Something I always say to God when I am asking for indulgences for the poor souls is:

Lord, I know I am not worthy to obtain such a blessed gift, but I pray that You may overlook my unworthiness and look instead to those poor souls who are suffering and yearning so greatly to be in Your presence at last!

If you are seeking a plenary indulgence for yourself, of course, then you want to make sure you have fulfilled all the requirements.

Note that you cannot obtain indulgences for other living persons.  Only for yourself and for the poor souls in Purgatory.