De Cura Animarum

The Final Post for the Private Blog For Some Time

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:26:00 +0000

Well, the time has come for me to put a close to a chapter of private blogging. I am preparing to embark upon a time of reflection and formation and my life needs to be keenly focused on my prayer life and study. I have really enjoyed having this blog and it has offered me the space to reflect and share my own theological and spiritual journey. Things in my life are getting very exciting for me now and so I do ask for all of your prayers. One day, please God, de cura animarum will be back up and running but not for two years, I wouldn't think. I may be periodically writing for another community blog but that is yet to be determined. For now, may I thank all of you for kindly reading this blog and ask that you please remember me in all of your prayers as I begin a new chapter in my life of discernment.

If you are not already following me on Facebook, do send a friend request so that I can keep up with readers and readers can with me if you wish.

With all good wishes, love and prayers,

I remain your servant in Christ,

Jeffrey

Please Consider Donating to Priest Training Fund

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:06:00 +0000

Priest Training Fund from Catholic Westminster on Vimeo.

500,000 Visits

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:56:00 +0000

I know that some Catholic blogs are well into the millions for their number of visits and so 500,000 seems like nothing. But, for this lowly blog, I am pleased to have just surpassed 500,000 visits since I started it.

Osama Bin Laden's Death: How Should Christians Respond

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sat, 07 May 2011 21:04:00 +0000

Fr Robert Barron offers a brief insight into the way we as Catholics might better respond to the recent capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden. This is, and has the potential of being a very huge debate. I don't want discussion digressing into ad hominem attacks but discussing the points made by Fr Barron could be helpful and fruitful. That is my prayer as I offer this video for discussion.

Why I Have Not Blogged

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:45:00 +0000

I have missed having some time to blog of late. My daughter Hannah has been in the hospital for 8 days with a very large kidney stone. Today they put a stint in and had to push the stone back into the kidney in order for it safely to be dealt with in the near future. It was lodged and not moving so in order to keep her kidney functioning, this procedure had to be done. I have spent several nights in the hospital this week and was there for 14.5 hours today. I'm exhausted to say the least. I will hopefully try to blog something this weekend and I pray that Hannah can come home tomorrow. The poor thing had to spend her 16th birthday in the hospital.

Purity of the Intellect: The Way of Silent Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 08:05:00 +0000

It goes without saying that nobody can raise himself to God's level of the sheer force of intelligence. This is the great failure of an atheist. Humanity is infinitely lower than God and our intellect is contingent upon the God who dispenses knowledge. To know the limitations of our intellect is a result of the gift of divine wisdom. Faith teaches us that the intellect alone is not sufficient to know God. We are reminded by the author of Hebrews that 'Faith is the conviction of things not seen.' One Carthusian puts it this way:

Purity of intellect can only be truth, that is to say, conformity of the understanding with reality. To engage divine reality, this purity is to be found in the perfection of faith, because faith alone can attain the supernatural world as it is. The pure mind is therefore the mind that sees and evaluates everything in the light of faith, and is led by it.

What the purity of the intellect teaches us is that we are not wandering in a mental fog. Rather, authentic contemplation of God moves us towards God. We are always reminded of our absolute limits and the law of incarnation comes into play where we come to see the purity of Intelligence. We purify our intellect when we seek the rich substance of truth inflamed by love. This is stated by a Carthusian monk who said,

The thirst for understanding is born of love. When we love something, we are never weary of knowing it better. Gradually, as we more clearly perceive the face of infinite Goodness, our love becomes more intense and more authentic, and drives us on in our search for understanding ever more deeply. This impulse is without end, because the mystery of God is infinite. It will not cease even in heaven when we are face-to-face with God. We will move ever more deeply into the infinite abyss of his mystery for all eternity.

Royal Wedding Opinions: What Did You Think of the Ceremony?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:53:00 +0000

Heavenly Father,
we ask your blessing
upon his Royal Highness, Prince William and Catherine
as they pledge their love for each other in marriage.
May your love unite them through their lives.
Grant them the strength to serve you, our country and the Commonwealth
with integrity and faithfulness.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen

Palestrina Music For Holy Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:39:00 +0000

Pope's Homily from Mass of the Lord's Supper: A Call For Conversion

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:13:00 +0000

Saint Luke has preserved for us one concrete element of Jesus’ prayer for unity: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Lk 22:31). Today we are once more painfully aware that Satan has been permitted to sift the disciples before the whole world. And we know that Jesus prays for the faith of Peter and his successors. We know that Peter, who walks towards the Lord upon the stormy waters of history and is in danger of sinking, is sustained ever anew by the Lord’s hand and guided over the waves. But Jesus continues with a prediction and a mandate. “When you have turned again…”. Every human being, save Mary, has constant need of conversion. Jesus tells Peter beforehand of his coming betrayal and conversion. But what did Peter need to be converted from? When first called, terrified by the Lord’s divine power and his own weakness, Peter had said: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Lk 5:8). In the light of the Lord, he recognizes his own inadequacy. Precisely in this way, in the humility of one who knows that he is a sinner, is he called. He must discover this humility ever anew. At Caesarea Philippi Peter could not accept that Jesus would have to suffer and be crucified: it did not fit his image of God and the Messiah. In the Upper Room he did not want Jesus to wash his feet: it did not fit his image of the dignity of the Master. In the Garden of Olives he wielded his sword. He wanted to show his courage. Yet before the servant girl he declared that he did not know Jesus. At the time he considered it a little lie which would let him stay close to Jesus. All his heroism collapsed in a shabby bid to be at the centre of things. We too, all of us, need to learn again to accept God and Jesus Christ as he is, and not the way we want him to be. We too find it hard to accept that he bound himself to the limitations of his Church and her ministers. We too do not want to accept that he is powerless in this world. We too find excuses when being his disciples starts becoming too costly, too dangerous. All of us need the conversion which enables us to accept Jesus in his reality as God and man. We need the humility of the disciple who follows the will of his Master. Tonight we want to ask Jesus to look to us, as with kindly eyes he looked to Peter when the time was right, and to convert us.

After Peter was converted, he was called to strengthen his brethren. It is not irrelevant that this task was entrusted to him in the Upper Room. The ministry of unity has its visible place in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Dear friends, it is a great consolation for the Pope to know that at each Eucharistic celebration everyone prays for him, and that our prayer is joined to the Lord’s prayer for Peter. Only by the prayer of the Lord and of the Church can the Pope fulfil his task of strengthening his brethren – of feeding the flock of Christ and of becoming the guarantor of that unity which becomes a visible witness to the mission which Jesus received from the Father.

Mass of the Lord's Supper

Behold the Wood of the Cross on Which Hung the Saviour of the World

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:29:00 +0000

Come, let us worship!

Palestrina Music For Maundy Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Triduum Reflection: Eucharist and Sacrifice, Who is Being Changed?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:58:00 +0000

Today the Triduum begins as we focus on the Paschal Meal of our Saviour with his disciples. When thinking about the Mass and its implications for our daily lives, we have the potential of getting our theology a bit off by our devotional expressions. This was truly the case in some Medieval expressions of our required devotions to the Body and Blood of Christ really present in the consecrated Eucharistic species. Below, I have written a couple of entries on transubstantiation and what that does and does not mean with regards to the sacrament. In this brief entry, I want to say something about the Sacrifice of the Mass and who is being changed by it. The confusion amongst our Protestant friends is that Jesus inevitably suffers again and because of the reality of transubstantiation he 'must' suffer again as a result of our teachings of the Mass. This is so far from the truth and no matter how many times Catholic teaching denied this in the Reformation period, Protestants simply could not get their heads around it. Sometimes, we Catholics, struggle too because of the wonderful mystery that this teaching sets forth.

So, the first question, 'Does the sacrifice of the Mass teach that Jesus is being put back on the Cross anew every time we celebrate the sacred mystery?' Aquinas writes,

The Sacrifice which is offered every day in the Church is not distinct from that which Christ Himself offered, but is a commemoration thereof. Wherefore Augustine says (De Civ. Dei x. 20): Christ himself both is the priest who offers it and the victim: the sacred token of which He wished to be the daily Sacrifice of the Church.

When one explores this teaching throughout the time of the Fathers, it is abundantly clear that the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacrifice of the Cross are one and the very same sacrifice, not a new sacrifice in the sense that Jesus daily walks to Calvary. Aquinas goes on to say,

But the fact that we offer the sacrifice every day seems to contradict the statement that it is not repeated. I answer that we do not offer something different from what Christ offered for us, namely, His blood; hence, it is not a distinct oblation, but a commemoration of that sacrifice which Christ offered: "Do this in commemoration of me." (Luke 22:19) Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews

The priest never acts alone in offering the Sacrifice but with the Body of the faithful. As Matthew Levering stated in his book Sacrifice and Community, "As an expiatory sacrifice, the Eucharist not only provides for communicants the "daily bread" whose fruits cleanse us of our "daily defects," but also extends its salvific influence to all those who are united in Christ's Mystical Body."

So, if Christ, who is truly made present in the sacrament but not changed from his heavenly glorified reality in any way by the act of consecration and oblation, who is changed in the sacrament of the Sacrifice? The short answer is, 'we are.' Levering states it better than I can so I conclude with a quotation from him.

Christ in the Eucharist is not drawn into the present, but rather draws the present into his heavenly reality. Even though we can rightly say that the consecration of the sacrament makes the whole Christ present to us in the sacrament, nonetheless it is we, not Christ, who are changed by the sacrament of the Eucharist. Thus in participating in Christ's sacrificial body and blood, we participate in the power or redemptive effect of his sacrifice - that is, the reconciling grace that accomplishes charity in us.

As we enter into the Triduum and contemplate the initial self-offering of Christ in the sacrificial meal with his disciples on the night of his betrayal, may we give thanks for the One who, in his priestly service is, priest and victim on our behalf. Here we experience anew tonight the fulfillment of the law of love. May the Mass have its charitable effect upon us anew today!

A Warm Welcome to Our Anglican Ordinariate Family

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:23:00 +0000

Yesterday I attended the Chrism Mass at Westminster and it was truly a blessed occasion. It was two years ago around this time that I was in Rome praying and making my decision to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. I remember the great joy of being received and the feeling of freedom that really came upon me at my reception was an experience of liberation. What was most moving to us was the very warm reception we received from the Catholic community and the genuine rejoicing and sharing in our joyful moment.

While at the Chrism Mass at Westminster, I was moved by the number of former Anglican clergy and laity who were present for the Mass. Some were there who had just been received and others who are to be received this week. I know the joy and some of the uncertainties that many may be experiencing this week. All I can say, from our experience, is that it has been the best decision ever made in our spiritual journey. It is truly a homecoming experience and after a while, eyes will remain fully focused looking forward and looking back will become an altogether different experience as you reflect on the journeys you are making. As a Catholic convert who received a very generous and warm welcome from the Catholic family may I humbly say WELCOME HOME to all of you in the Ordinariate! God bless you and I pray you have a very happy and holy Easter season. Well done!

If any of you in the Ordinariate read this message, please go to this wonderful video from Catholic Come Home dot org.

The Purity of Charity: The Way of Silent Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 10:32:00 +0000

I have blogged a couple of entries in reference to the Way of Silent Love in Carthusian spirituality. The Apostle Paul writes to the Galatian Christians and says, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." What is very interesting about a discussion on the purity of heart is that each of us only knows ourselves and our weaknesses all too well. Unless of course, we live with blinders on and never go the depths of self-examination. The grace of love that conforms us to have a purity of heart is a grace received where there is no illusion as to what it is, God's free gift of his love. As believers, we should seek that special quality, a certain surrendering and gratefulness for God's love, that only those who have come to know the depth of their forgiveness are able to experience. This knowledge moves to avoid absurdities of understanding the meaning of purity of heart that are to characterize our lives. We are all frail and need to protect ourselves from our own weaknesses. To be honest with ourselves means that we come to understand what the monk says, "Purity of heart involves well-balanced vigilance and an appropriate self-distrust." This is why the writer continues saying,

Purity of heart is purity of love. We are pure in the measure that we love. Love is always pure. Because God is love, love is purity itself. Everything that springs from love is good and holy. Everything that does not spring from love is not good. But even in this case, what we do seeks to take on the name of love; and to some extent there is always a certain love that motivates all of our actions. Except that this is love gone wrong, shackled, distorted; a love that disproves Love, because it doesn't want to accept the ordering of love by which each specific love finds its true place in relationship with substantial Love. Love originates all true love; cut off from Love, love is nothing but a body without a soul, an obliterated face, a non-love.

When we are looking to discover our vocations from God our starting point must always be our vocation to love God first and foremost. This is why the Apostle Peter tells us that "we have purified our hearts by our obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God." )1 Peter 1:22-23. Do you know how we know that we love selfishly? When we love with expectations of return for ourselves. May God help us not to grieve the Holy Spirit and let us love with all our heart, with all our strength, with all our mind. This is true purity of heart.

Eucharist and Sacrifice: Denial Resulting from Misunderstanding

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:08:00 +0000

Over at the New Theological Movement, there is a recent post on the Mass as Sacrifice and why so many deny that theological truth. I welcome this article as it is something dear to my own theological pursuits in the PhD work over the past several years. The denial is often due to a severe misunderstanding of what the Church teaches and understands that the Eucharist is the Sacrifice of the Church. For those who argue that the Church could not view the Eucharistic sacrifice as a sacrifice in natura lest she be guilty of offering another sacrifice in the place of the cross of Christ, have misunderstood the tradition of the Church's teaching here. Though the sacrifice in natura was only once offered, the sacramental sacrifice offered is united in figure to the one offering so that the sacrifice of the Eucharist and that of the cross remain one. While this offering is made in many places, it remains only one offering. That which is offered in the sacrifice of the Eucharist is the sacrifice which was once offered. This is the eternal sacrifice of Christ made present to God in memorial.

What is very important for us here is to see that in the debate at Trent in 1551/52 there was a tremendous amount of emphasis put on the unity of the sacrifice of the cross and the sacrifice of the Mass. McHugh concluded in his essay that what Trent required from a Catholic was they hold fast to the doctrine that in the Mass a sacrifice is offered. This sacrifice is more than ‘praise and thanksgiving’ and includes an expiation of sins and an abundant source of grace that profited not only the living but the dead. Therefore, this Eucharistic sacrifice is offered primarily by Christ himself and secondarily by the Church in union with him; it is Christ’s one offering of Calvary memorialised by the Church. Christ offers this in his intercessory role as eternal priest. The priest acts in union with Christ who brings the offering to the Father by the instrumental agency of the office. These sacrifices are not two separate offerings but one and the same, which is eternally before the Father in heaven. Where Trent and hence the tradition of the Church are of one spirit is in the sacrifice of the Mass consisting of the formal liturgical offering given to God (immolatio) as gift and accepted by him for the forgiveness of sins actually committed.

For Trent, the offering of Christ was not a sacrifice of a bloody manner or a suffering again of the glorified and risen Christ since he is now impassibile. Rather the union of the cross, where Jesus was passibile, and the sacrifice of the Mass contain the very same redemptive quality. The Eucharistic offering, in union with the cross, fulfils every shadow of the cross within the Law under the Old Covenant. The view that the Eucharist is not a ‘proper’ sacrifice since there was no death or any sort of change in Christ as he now exists in his glorified state misses the point. That ‘proper’ sacrifice could only once ‘naturally’ be offered but the effects could be commemorated in the Eucharistic offering. Powers and McHugh both concluded that what Trent meant by a ‘proper’ sacrifice was that it must have ‘propitiatory’ value. That is, an offering presented before God to appease him for sins committed.

Du Perron, in his work Repliqe a la Response Du Roy, writes,

A Church which believed that the Eucharist was a true, full and complete sacrifice, the only successor to all the sacrifices of the law: the new oblation of the new testament, the external worship of the Christians: and not only Eucharistic sacrifice but also propitiatory sacrifice by applying that [sacrifice] of the Cross: and in this capacity offered it as much for those who were absent as for those present, as much for the living as for the dead.

A proper understanding of the Mass as the memorial sacrifice of the Church helps us to understand that we do not come to the presence of God empty handed but the very one and same offering of Christ on Calvary 2,000 years ago made present and effectual on our altars through the instrumentality of the priests for the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, can the Mass be said to be like that fiery coal from heaven that Isaiah spoke of when he came into the presence of the Almighty whose lips were cleansed from the coal from heaven touching his lips. That is the Mass and without that offering made present and offered in propitiation we remain in our sins.

Please Support the St Barnabas Society: They Support Converts!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:34:00 +0000

It has just been announced that the St Barnabas Society is donating £100,000 to the Ordinariate in England and Wales. I would like to take the opportunity here to encourage every reader to send a financial gift to the St Barnabas Society. Please send this to your email friends and link it to your blogs as well so that they can receive the support they need to help converts who have pressing needs on them. The St Barnabas Society is an incredibly generous charity that helps convert clergy in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland to survive after taking the steps necessary for being reunited to the Catholic Church. This fund was established long ago by Pope Leo XIII in order to support clergy from the Anglican Church who converted to Rome. This fund has been around for a long time and has helped numerous converts; your scribe is one of the recipients of their generosity. I cannot do enough to promote them. May I ask that every reader encourage their parish that on Easter Sunday One a collection be taken to be sent to the St Barnabas Society so that they can continue to do their work. I know that they must be giving out a lot of money right now and they deserve our support. I would encourage Ordinariate bound congregations to send a gift as well so that others may benefit in the future. It is good to give till it hurts a little and we all should be willing to support this tremendous charity. Therefore, please pass this blog post to everyone you know and support the St Barnabas Society! Thank you! What is it that they do exactly? You can contact them through their website here. Please mention this blog post if you do as I am hopeful that this sort of support has a positive result for them. Thank you!

The St Barnabas Society, a registered charity, operates in Great Britain and Ireland and exists to provide pastoral and financial help on behalf of the whole Catholic community to former clergy ministers and religious from other churches, who live in Great Britain and Ireland, and who have been led by faith and conscience to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.

St Barnabas was chosen as its patron because it was he who befriended Paul after his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus and encouraged him to begin a new life in the apostolic church with St Peter at its head.

Those who have been ministers, clergy or religious of other churches lose not only their jobs but also often their homes. Many are not qualified, trained or experienced in any other work and find it very difficult to obtain another job. Thanks to the generosity of the Catholic community the St. Barnabas Society is able to help these people with friendship, advice, and where necessary financial support.

Those who have been religious may have no money or possessions of any kind. The monetary grants we make may range from a one-off amount; to meet a particular need such as for clothes, to a regular monthly grant to help with living and housing costs. The Trustees decide the size and frequency of the discretionary grants on the basis of the needs of the applicant. Monthly grants are reviewed at regular intervals in the light of the applicant's current position.

The St Barnabas Society continues the work, begun over a century ago, of welcoming and helping clergy and religious of other churches. It cooperates with the Bishops and Parish Priests to provide support until the individuals have been integrated into the Catholic community and established in a new life.

Priests for the Third Millennium: A Return to Civility

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:04:00 +0000

I have been reading Archbishop Timothy Dolan's book Priests for the Third Millennium and find it a wonderful book surrounding formational issues. One of the important chapters is on courtesy. He reminds us that the courteous gentleman is civil. One of the things I found so refreshing about the Holy Father's visit to the UK was the courteousness and civility he displayed in his speech and actions. He won his critics over by this virtue and I believe that the words of Jesus that remind us that our love for one another is one of the most powerful apologetic tools we have at our disposal can and will change attitudes. A lack of respect and acrimony alongside our terrible trap of a hermeneutic of suspicion of one another does not help our witness. For instance, I would think that if we are going to use the Internet and other mediums of communication to witness to the faith of our Lord, our return to civility is paramount. We live in tense and sometimes unpleasant situations but we should always try to be civil. Our Holy Father's civility during his visit transformed his critics. May God help us to be so courteous and civil to one another! Archbishop Dolan writes,

The name-calling, suspicion, and vitriol that characterize the written and spoken word among Catholics is nothing less than sinful. Augustine claimed that the greatest of all heresies was lack of charity. A few observations:
Never should we get ad hominem. "Don't listen to him - he's a heretic!" "She's not orthodox." "He's a right-wing fanatic." The presumption for the civil man is that each person is good, honest, and respectable. We may disagree with what he or she says or does, but we are always civil to the person. "I wouldn't let Sister talk to the RCIA - she's a heretical feminist!" No, she's not...she's a child of God and consecrated daughter of the Church, whose particular views on a given issue may be wrong - and need to be corrected - but she deserves our respect, and our words about her are always civil.

* Civility means no name-calling, no angry outbursts, no accusatory charges. We express our criticisms calmly, charitably, and respectfully.

* Civility also means that, when we have made our point and brought it to the proper authority, we let up, and trust the goodwill of those who have proper responsibility to take care of it. We do not then wage guerrilla warfare to accomplish our goal. The Most Revd Donal Wuerl wrote in a pastoral letter, "We cannot highlight evangelisation and then destroy its fondest hopes by the way we talk with or about one another." He wrote, "To enter a dialogue convinced that the others engaged in the effort are dishonest, deceitful, or intent on harming us negates the possibility of a wholesome outcome."

There are great lessons for all in the above quotation from an address given to seminarians in Rome at the North American College. There has recently been a lot of talk about the bloggers meeting in Rome and I wonder if the above call to civility and courtesy will be the foundational hallmark of what it means to be a Catholic blogger. "Courtesy demands civility."

God's Plan, the Only Way to True Freedom: Veritatis Splendor

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:09:00 +0000

I was reading through Veritatis Splendor this morning and came across a quotation that I found quite useful to reflect on during these final days of Lent. It reminds us of something that seems strange at first thought but is really true when we get to the heart of it. God's plan and law for our way of life and living poses no threat whatsoever to our freedom. Quite the contrary, when we seek to live out God's plan through obedience to his grace and love we actually discover true happiness and freedom from those things that bind us in slavery to ourselves and sins of the flesh. God's plan is and has always been the way of perfect freedom!

45. The Church gratefully accepts and lovingly preserves the entire deposit of Revelation, treating it with religious respect and fulfilling her mission of authentically interpreting God's law in the light of the Gospel. In addition, the Church receives the gift of the New Law, which is the "fulfilment" of God's law in Jesus Christ and in his Spirit. This is an "interior" law (cf. Jer 31:31-33), "written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor 3:3); a law of perfection and of freedom (cf. 2 Cor 3:17); "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:2). Saint Thomas writes that this law "can be called law in two ways. First, the law of the spirit is the Holy Spirit... who, dwelling in the soul, not only teaches what it is necessary to do by enlightening the intellect on the things to be done, but also inclines the affections to act with uprightness... Second, the law of the spirit can be called the proper effect of the Holy Spirit, and thus faith working through love (cf. Gal 5:6), which teaches inwardly about the things to be done... and inclines the affections to act".⁸⁴

Even if moral-theological reflection usually distinguishes between the positive or revealed law of God and the natural law, and, within the economy of salvation, between the "old" and the "new" law, it must not be forgotten that these and other useful distinctions always refer to that law whose author is the one and the same God and which is always meant for man. The different ways in which God, acting in history, cares for the world and for mankind are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they support each other and intersect. They have their origin and goal in the eternal, wise and loving counsel whereby God predestines men and women "to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). God's plan poses no threat to man's genuine freedom; on the contrary, the acceptance of God's plan is the only way to affirm that freedom.

Poverty of Heart: The Way of Silent Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:08:00 +0000

This afternoon I have given my time to study and quiet reflection and it has been and continues to be an enjoyable day. Having the time to be quiet to read, meditate and pray is of such a value to the soul. Below I wrote a short piece on the Purity of Heart as the way of silent of love. This afternoon I have been looking at what makes the heart pure and that is a poverty of the heart. At the deepest level of our being, we know that in order to have purity of heart we need to come to grips with the poverty of our heart. 'Apart from me,' Jesus said, 'You can do nothing.' Reading again from my book on Carthusian spirituality, the conference speaker writes,

The needy heart, its hands open to God. It does not put obstacles in the way. It presents the emptiness of its poverty before the infinite generosity of its Father. Its poverty makes it like God, because its capacity to receive is limitless. As the heart is always ready to receive more love and the spirit more light, God is not able to refuse it. Poverty is the door of blessedness, blessedness since Christ chose to become poor for us to transfigure poverty into divine abundance...

We ought to be clear-eyed and loving in our acceptance of poverty. It is not that easy, however. It isn't easy to accept the inability of our soul to grasp God, the immense gap between our most exalted notions and the ineffable mystery of light. It is isn't easy to relinquish all of our pretensions, all of our self-sufficiency, our sense of personal importance, our 'rights' before God. We are even prepared to go to enormous lengths to appear righteous before God, a righteousness that comes, just a little, from ourselves.

One of the great paradoxes of our faith is that our poverty is actually our wealth. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The writer continues,

Poverty, this poverty, is true blessedness. It is freedom from that recurring anxiety of a perfectionistic personality that is primarily concerned with its own affectation and never with the grandeur of God; a freedom also from that fear that recognizes clearly enough our misery before God, but is unable to go beyond it with a faith that lays the foundations of our peace and hope beyond ourselves - not on the sand of our deserving, but on the rock of Christ. Because this blessed poverty is a poverty for love, the love of the one who loves and knows love in return. Who is poorer than the one who loves and who is richer? He receives everything completely gratuitously, he is utterly dependent on the Beloved who is his joy, he absolutely rejects his own resources. He knows himself to be nothing, but has assurance that the gift he makes of this nothing gives happiness to the other. Our poverty makes God happy because it permits him to give us his love, and God wishes only to give himself.

Purity of Heart: The Way of Silent Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:05:00 +0000

This evening I was reading some Carthusian spirituality and came across a quotation worthy of a blog post. Purity of heart comes when we cooperate with the Holy Spirit as we cultivate the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The effect of the Holy Spirit on our lives is a tremendous gift whereby we possess God's love and friendship within us. What are the benefits of the purity of heart?

Purity of heart silences our unruly passions, our clouded egoism. Humility is born from the truth of ourselves, which we contemplate in the mirror of the Word of God. It is humility that does not give rise to despair but to hope, hope that confides everything in God, not resenting but loving the One who gives us all, the humility that gives us himself. Humility disposes us to receive his gifts, his fortitude, his inspirations, a participation in his knowledge and his love.

Aquinas: Conversion Not Annihilation of Substance

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:51:00 +0000

When Protestants have accused Catholics of treating transubstantiation as annihilationism, one cannot presume that annihilationism is actually what the Catholic Church teaches when she speaks of the conversion of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. One will find this sort of argument being used by many English reformers of the C16 and C17. Here is one very important example of why it is essential that we always go to the original sources for our understanding of what is actually taught rather than believing what others say the Catholic Church teaches. This is particularly the case of the Church's teaching on presence and sacrifice in the Eucharist. Here is St Thomas Aquinas in his own words concerning annihilation of the substance of bread and wine.

Because the substance of the bread and wine does not remain in this sacrament, some, deeming that it is impossible for the substance of the bread and wine to be changed into Christ's flesh and blood, have maintained that by the consecration, the substance of the bread and wine is either dissolved into the original matter, or that it is annihilated.

Now the original matter into which mixed bodies can be dissolved is the four elements. For dissolution cannot be made into primary matter, so that a subject can exist without a form, since matter cannot exist without a form. But since after the consecration nothing remains under the sacramental species except the body and the blood of Christ, it will be necessary to say that the elements into which the substance of the bread and wine is dissolved, depart from thence by local motion, which would be perceived by the senses. In like manner also the substance of the bread or wine remains until the last instant of the consecration; but in the last instant of the consecration there is already present there the substance of the body or blood of Christ, just as the form is already present in the last instant of generation. Hence no instant can be assigned in which the original matter can be there. For it cannot be said that the substance of the bread or wine is dissolved gradually into the original matter, or that it successively quits the species, for if this began to be done in the last instant of its consecration, then at the one time under part of the host there would be the body of Christ together with the substance of bread, which is contrary to what has been said above (Article 2). But if this begin to come to pass before the consecration, there will then be a time in which under one part of the host there will be neither the substance of bread nor the body of Christ, which is not fitting. They seem indeed to have taken this into careful consideration, wherefore they formulated their proposition with an alternative viz. that (the substance) may be annihilated. But even this cannot stand, because no way can be assigned whereby Christ's true body can begin to be in this sacrament, except by the change of the substance of bread into it, which change is excluded the moment we admit either annihilation of the substance of the bread, or dissolution into the original matter. Likewise no cause can be assigned for such dissolution or annihilation, since the effect of the sacrament is signified by the form: "This is My body." Hence it is clear that the aforesaid opinion is false.

The Beauty and Dignity of the New Roman Missal

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:53:00 +0000

Louis Boyer and the Shipwrecked Reformation: Liturgical Embarrassment

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:25:00 +0000

I read the following quotation from Boyer's Liturgical Piety and found it insightful so am sharing it here. Great for a theological discussion topic.

But it may be said in fact that, in this field as in many others, the Reformation was shipwrecked not because it was too daring, although this has often been said, but because it was much too uncritical of its own assumptions, the assumptions generally common at the end of the fifteenth century. The so-called Reformers imagined, for example, that a return to the primitive liturgy meant taking the low Mass as tie norm, suppressing everything in the Canon except the actual words of the Institution of the Eucharist; enlarging upon penitential features of the low Mass, such as the Confiteor; and, in general, not only centering everything on the memory of the Passion, but reducing everything to it...

With regard to the Eucharistic celebration, the Caroline Divines were imprisoned in the frame of worship already elaborated in the Prayer Book, a frame which abandoned in practice almost everything that was most primitive in the Mass. Everywhere in this field, therefore, we can see their obvious embarrassment. Only by returning to the undivided Church could they have regained the ground on which to build up the true Christian worship in its fullness. And since they were not prepared to make such a return, they could devise nothing better than a via media, a compromise in the worst sense of the word. In spite of their abortive efforts to reinstate a doctrine of the Real Presence and at least some of the features of a sacrificial Eucharist, they were tied to the Prayer Book. Not only did that frame of prayer with which they were determined to be contented at any cost preclude their rediscovering the traditional Eucharist in any practical or effective. fashion, but, what is far worse, they could not recapture what is only to be recaptured in the true Church, that is, the full and organic intuition of what the Christian Eucharist is in its wholeness and in its unity.

Aquinas and Transubstantiation: Not Local, Not Annihilation

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 05:30:00 +0000

Some have held that after the consecration the substance of the bread and wine remains in this sacrament. But this position cannot be sustained. First of all, it would destroy the reality of this sacrament which demands that the very body of Christ exist in it. Now, his body is not there before the consecration. But a thing cannot be where it was not before except by being brought in locally or by something already there being changed into it. For example, a fire is started in a household because either it is brought into it from outside or is newly kindled there. Now it is clear that the body of Christ does not begin to exist in this sacrament by being brought in locally. First, because it would thereby cease to be in heaven, since anything that is locally moved begins to be somewhere only by leaving where it was. Second, every bodily thing that is moved from place to place must pass through all the intermediate places, and there is no question of that in the present case. Third, it is impossible that the one movement of a bodily thing that is being locally moved should end up at the same time in different places; now the body of Christ in this sacrament begins simultaneously to be in different places. For these reasons it remains that there is no other way in which the body of Christ can begin to be in this sacrament except through the substance of the bread being changed into it. Now, what is changed into something else is no longer there after the change. The reality of Christ's body in this sacrament demands, then, that the substance of the bread be no longer there after the consecration. ST 3a. 73-78

NOTE from translator: One wonders how convincing this a priori proof really is. Anyway, it has the value of a suggestion and it can support the second argument which is stronger. The principle a thing cannot be where it was not before, except by being brought in locally or by something being changed into it is universally valid where natural presence is concerned. But the Eucharistic presence is not a natural one, though it is a real one. Moreover, the second mode of beginning to be, viz. by something being generated but of a prior matter, as fire out of paper and sticks, does not really apply to the body of Christ which is not produced out of the bread. It existed before the bread did, and the bread is changed into what existed before it by a unique and miraculous change. That this change should result in the body of Christ being 'where' the substance of the bread was is a further and gratuitous disposition of divine wisdom and power. But the principle helps our analogous thinking and it is intellectually satisfying to think that it must have happened in this way. Actually, the Scotist school of theology, although it will use the word 'conversio', will conceive of this conversio not is genuinely such at all, but as involving an annihilation of the bread and a bringing in of the body of Christ. The first limb of St Thomas's alternative will appeal more to them.

Aquinas and Real Presence: Understanding Transubstantiation

noreply@blogger.com (Jeffrey Steel) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:36:00 +0000

When Augustine says, you will not be eating this body which you see, he does not intend to exclude the reality of Christ's body; what he does rule out is that they would eat it under the same form in which they were looking at it. When he adds, I have entrusted a mystery to you. If you take it in a spiritual way it will bring you life, he does not mean that the body of Christ is in this sacrament only as in a mystical symbol; it is said to be there spiritually, that is, invisibly and by the power of the spirit. For this reason, commenting on the text of John, 'the flesh is of no avail',19 he writes, it is of no avail, in the way they understood. They thought eating flesh as if it had been torn from the carcass or sold in the butcher’s stall; they did not understand flesh as enlivened by the spirit. When the spirit s united to the flesh, then indeed it is of great avail, for if flesh could never be of avail, the Word would not have been made flesh to dwell among us.20 57 59

3. The body of Christ is not in this sacrament in the way a body is in place. The dimensions of a body in place correspond with the dimensions of the place that contains it. Christ's body is here in a special way that is proper to this sacrament. For this reason we say that the body of Christ is on different altars, not as in different places, but as in the sacrament. In saying this we do not mean that Christ is only symbolically there, although it is true that every sacrament is a sign, but we understand that Christ's body is there, as we have said, m a way that is proper to this sacrament. 59

4. This objection considers the presence of Christ's body as if it were present in the way that is natural for a body to be present, that is visibly in its normal appearance; it does not envisage spiritual, non-visible presence, in the way of a spirit and by the power of the Spirit. For this reason Augustine says, if you have understood in a spiritual way the words of Christ about his flesh, they are spirit and life for you, if you have understood them in a carnal manner, they are still spirit and life, but not for you.2 59

NOTE: This article is a first step in the theology of transubstantiation. The doctrine of impanation holds that the substance of the bread is hypostatically united to Christ, the doctrine of companation holds that the substance of the bread is united in some unspecified way to the body of Christ; the Catholic dogma defined at the Council of Trent teaches that the substance of the bread does not remain but is changed into the body of Christ—transubstantiation.