The Break in the Harmony of the Divine Plan

Alas, man is free to destroy God's harmonious plan! Everything is in equilibrium, because everything tends toward God. All things cohere, because all things are submissive to the Author of life and being. But this adhesion to God is effected in a free act of love. The freedom with which man is adorned, gives to the entire creation an incomparable majesty. God thus receives a praise that is spontaneous. This very freedom, however, exposes the one enjoying it to immense peril. Let man but once refuse to spread forth his hands in a gesture of oblation, and the whole order of things falls apart. But one day man, in a gesture of pride and egoism, rejected his priesthood. His role of mediator no longer satisfied him. Man "would be like God." Through his lips, Satan once more uttered his cry of rage, "I will not serve!"

By his refusal, man shattered the universe. For the universe rested on man as the arch on the keystone. The entire universe turned against man its betrayer. In chorus, it hurled back into the teeth of man the cry that man had dared to address to God, "I will not serve!"

First of all, man's own body revolted. Man, terror-stricken, suddenly beheld within himself the unleashing of sinful passions. Henceforth, seven fetters, which theology is later to designate by the title of "Capital Sins," will shackle his formerly free impulses--Adam and Eve "perceive themselves to be naked."

Man is deeply stricken in the very harmony of his being: "I will multiply your sorrows and your conceptions; in sorrow shall you bring forth children."

Social discord now corresponds to inner imbalance. "You shall be under your husband's power, and he shall have dominion over you."

Looming up on the horizon, in addition to these "domestic squabbles" are quarrels between families, wars between city and city, between nation and nation, world war, revolution.

The animal kingdom, over which man formerly reigned, rises up in its turn. The earth itself refuses to cooperate with man. Only at the cost of a struggle, will man be able to wrest from it miserably a few meager fruits: "Cursed is the earth in your work. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you."

Man is broken, disoriented. Suffering is to be, henceforth, his earthly portion. "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread.... In sorrow shall you bring forth children."

Man created to be the friend of Christ, has gone astray in the disobedience of Adam. Humanity, separated from Christ, is without form or beauty. Will God remain deaf, insensible, to the cry of His distressed creature? Will He punish or pardon?

Man's Return

Man, having come from God, must return to God: his Final End. "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God," cried St. Augustine, "and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee!"

The creation--a work of sheer mercy, a stooping of the Creator toward the creature--returns to God, chanting a hymn of praise and thanksgiving. A feather from a bird, a ray of light, a finely modulated voice, a drop of water falling to earth, a hastening ant, a seed sprouting from the earth, the stars that whirl in the firmament with never a collision; all are directed by God to that magnificent end for which He has ordained them--man's pleasure, Christ's happiness, and finally, the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.

Your Mass and Your Life

In God's plan, it is not man who is the center of the universe, but Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. God created all things for Christ. For the sake of Christ Jesus in whom the Father already had "placed all His delight" and for the sake of Mary, His Mother, "full of grace," God decided to create man and the universe.

To this Son, in whom He is well pleased, friends were to be given--and so man was created. (The race of man represents the "friends of the Bridegroom" mentioned by our Lord in the Gospel.) To this Son whom He loves, the Father will give a house and a garden--and so the universe was created. Man, created for Christ, is loved in Him. We thus form, as it were, a "wedding gift" from God the Father to Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom.

In Him, through Him, and for Him, we are pleasing to the heavenly Father. Without Him we are nothing. This is very important for an understanding of the Mass. Our sacrifices are of value only through their being united with Christ's Sacrifice. Since all have issued from the heart of God solely to give pleasure to Jesus, all then are brothers. Creation itself is our kin. The universe and I, what are we, if not a delicate thought of the Father toward His Divine Son?

The creation, launched into existence by God's loving power, will forever have something unfinished about it, until that time when it shall return to the Source of its perfection; there to receive from that same Source its final perfection and beatitude. Thus the general plan of creation appears to us as an image and prolongation of the fecundity of the Most Blessed Trinity. The chronological order of the plan is as follows: (1) Creation of the heavens; (2) Preparation of the earth; (3) Creation of minerals, vegetation, and animals; (4) Creation of man.

King though he may be of that creation predating his own existence, man, however, is not creation's final goal.

Man--simple link in a chain that must go back to God--paves the way for the coming of the blessed Virgin Mary. Mary, God's jewel case, in which reposed He Who upholds all things, Jesus Christ! Christ is the center of the universe. He is before all things: "He is before all creatures" (Col 1:17). "The firstborn of every creature" (Col 1:15). "In the beginning was the Word..." (Jn 1:1).

"In Him...through Him...unto Him...all things!" (Col 1:16,17)

Singing the Mass

In light of the liturgical changes coming the first Sunday of Advent, 2011, this recent address by Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of the ICEL Secretariat, at the Southeastern Liturgical Music Symposium bears some thoughtful meditation and serious thought by the clergy:

Towards the Future: Singing the Mass by Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth

Harvard Valedictorian Delivers Valedictory in Latin!

Mary Anne Marks, Harvard University's most recent valedictorian, delivered her valedictory in Latin. Albeit her Latin is the Germanic pronunciation rather ecclesiastical, it's still a homerun in my book! Oh yeah...and she's off to the convent joining the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist! Ad multos annos, Mary Anne!!



Read her full interview here.

The Consequences of Contraception

Michael Barber (The Sacred Page)posted the following:

"A couple of weeks ago, a local paper out of Louisiana ran an op-ed on contraception on the anniversary of the release of "the pill". I had wished to cover it back then but I was traveling all about the country and didn't have time to post on it. Anyways, here it is, "better late then never" I suppose. Come to think of it, that actually sounds like a slogan for a birth control company, doesn't it?

. . . Women have been told for this entire time that they would now be in charge of their fertility.

Many have taken the bait, finding that emotional, physical and spiritual scars follow the use of artificial hormonal chemicals for control of fertility. . .

. . . The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that more than 65 million Americans have an incurable sexually transmitted disease, with 13 million new cases developing each year.

In 2005, the World Health Organization classified oral contraceptives as Type I carcinogens (cancer-causing agents).

The following year, “Mayo Clinic Proceedings” published an analysis in which at least 21 studies showed links between oral contraceptives and breast cancer.

Many women never realize that the birth-control pill does not always prevent ovulation.

A statistically significant number of times the pill prevents implantation of fertilized embryos, causing early abortions when women aren’t even aware they are pregnant.

According to the package inserts contained in the pill packages, missing the pill for one day or taking it at a different time can allow women to ovulate, conceive and abort without ever knowing it.

The pill also has serious detrimental effects on the environment. Contrary to popular thought, the pill is not natural. Whereas the hormones women and men normally produce are rapidly processed by nature, the artificial steroidal sex hormones contained in the pill remain in the environment almost indefinitely.

Scientists have determined that the high levels of artificial estrogen and progestin in bodies of water downstream from city sewer plants are causing alterations in the sex characteristics of numerous animals and plants.

While many in the media, as well as trusted sectors of government, science and medicine, are celebrating this 50-year milestone and continue to promote the pill as safe, informed people should be aware of the long-term personal, societal and environmental consequences of using artificial hormones to control our fertility.

The story mentions the fact that scientists have now linked unhealthy levels of estrogen in drinking water with the use of contraceptives. Indeed, this is an old story. . . Strangely (or maybe not!), I don't find too many people concerned about the fact that we aren't doing anything to stem the tide of this ecological nightmare."

The Liturgical Experts' Long Tassles

A wonderful article on the "reform of the reform" from a parish priest's perspective. Surely worth the few minutes it takes to read it. I couldn't have said it better myself!