Re: Angels

I discovered this in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

329 St. Augustine says: "'Angel' is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is 'spirit'; if you seek the name of their office, it is 'angel': from what they are, 'spirit', from what they do, 'angel.'"

I stand corrected regarding my original idea of "angelic nature" in the previous post. It would be better said that a creature with a spiritual nature is a spirit.

Just Human Nature

My friend, Lady Fett, was speculating on her blog (http://ladyfettscantina.blogspot.com) whether it would be possible for a human to have more than one nature. Since I spent all my "blogging time" today composing a comment, I thought I would simply copy it here to my own blog:

It wouldn't be possible for us to have two natures, because we're actually created with a single nature. If we had two natures, we wouldn't be human creatures, we would be something else. If you have a human nature, you are a human man or woman. A creature with an angelic nature is an angel. A creature with a wolf nature is a wolf. What we are is what we are created as.

Jesus can have two natures because He is a Divine Person with a divine nature from all eternity, Who then entered into time and took upon Himself a created human nature (body and soul) at His conception.

Personal identity is different than our nature. Our identities are so complex that we can't even completely know ourselves--there are just too many things hidden from our awareness and understanding. Only God can know us as we really are.

I'm just guessing, but it's more likely that someone could have a secondary identity, not a secondary nature. I don't think it needs to be considered a drawback. If one has taken on elements of an animal identity, the perceived beauty and strength of that animal will still be emulated by a human person.

A simple example: Imagine a duck egg is "orphaned" and placed with a broody hen. The duckling will imprint on the hen when it hatches, and line up with the chicks behind her. It has a duck nature (that is, it was created to be a duck), so it IS a duck. We could say it has a secondary identity as a chicken, because it thinks it's a chicken. But sooner or later, that duck is going to follow its true nature and swim--at which point it will begin to own its true identity as well, even if for a while it "thinks" of itself as a chicken that floats.

So say a human person has imprinted to or identified as a dog, or bear, or eagle. That would be a secondary identity, second to the primary human identity even when the animal identity seems to be stronger or dominant. A human person will do things that an animal cannot do. Just like a duck will do things a chicken cannot do.

A secondary identity would only be a problem if it is acted out in inappropriate ways: A duck trying to prove it's a chicken by fighting for a place in the pecking order is going to get raggedy pretty fast . . . chickens draw blood. I think here of those poor souls who suffer with gender identification issues, and how they are wounded by their struggle to be what they are not. They try to insist they have a right to their place, and fault the chickens for their pecking.

The Incorrupt Heart of St. John Vianney

I found a link to this CNS article at the Spirit Daily web site (for the full article, go to http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0605753.htm):

Thousands visit Long Island church to see sainted priest's heart

By Lena Pennino
Catholic News Service

MERRICK, N.Y. (CNS) -- More than 5,000 people entered Cure of Ars Church in Merrick Oct. 7-9 to pray before St. John Vianney's heart, and the pastor expected thousands more by Oct. 11, when the incorrupt relic of the sainted 19th-century French priest would end its visit and be taken to Boston.

St. John (Jean-Marie Baptiste) Vianney, who died in 1859, is widely known to Catholics as the Cure (parish priest) of Ars. He won over the hearts of his villagers in France by visiting with them, teaching them about God and reconciling people to the Lord in the confessional.

This was the first time that his heart has been brought to the United States. It is usually kept in the basilica in Ars near the incorrupt -- miraculously undecayed -- body of the saint. Pilgrims who wanted to see the relic waited in a long line leading up to the church entrance. After kneeling before the heart in prayer, many stayed to go to confession. In his life St. John Vianney often heard confessions for 16 to 18 hours a day.

I didn't know until I read this that St. John Vianney's body was incorrupt. How interesting that his heart is apparently kept in a separate reliquary near--not in--his body. And what a great priveledge that the relic could be brought to our own shores for veneration! It's a marvelous sign given to us of God's intention to fully restore us in both body and soul.

My own physical heart, like the hearts of many billions descended from Adam, will very probably rot in a grave along with the rest of my body. My spiritual heart is corrupt, in continuous need of repentance and conversion--in which circumstance I am thoroughly grateful for the loving assistance of the Cure's brother priests in the confessional.

[I praise You, Lord, and thank You for Your priests and for Your saints. Please, my God, grant many blessings and favors to all Your priests, but especially those who have served You by their ministry to my loved ones and to me. Protect them, perfect them, and bring them to heaven, where they will be both priests and saints!]

Re-Grafted

I haven't posted for quite a while. Sorry about that . . . while I was exploring the blogisphere and poking into interesting crannies, I wasn't watching where I was going and managed to fall off the edge of the earth. Had to haul myself back up. Fortunately, there was this Living Vine I could cling to. He re-established me as a branch and gave me a long drink of Water, so I'm feeling much better now.

I'll post again soon, I promise.

Prayer Request

Please pray for my aunt and godmother, Barbara V. in Minnesota, whose breast cancer has returned.

He Takes It So Personally

In a very "animated" and far-ranging conversation with my nephew a couple of nights ago--we both get over-excited trying to explain what we want to say--he asked me "Isn't there supposed to be a big war at the end of the world?" I told him yes: and that soon after Our Lord would come, that all the dead whether good or bad would be resurrected, that He would call the good to Himself to separate them from the bad forever. We talked a little about that separation of "sheep" from "goats" and the criteria Our Lord will use.

I told my nephew that Jesus means it when He says that whatever we do--or fail to do--"to the least of My bretheren," we do to Him. I pointed out that when Saul met Jesus after the Ascension, the Lord didn't ask why "My followers" or "the Christians" or "My disciples" were the focus of Saul's murderous attentions. He asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting Me?" Oh, He means it, alright!

From there the conversation with my nephew veered off onto other topics, but this line of thought has sort of stayed in the back of my mind since then. I've been thinking of Christians the world over suffering terrible persecutions even as I compose this. Baptised Christians, grafted to the True Vine, suffering because they belong to Him. Their enemies persecute none other than Christ Himself.

I've been thinking of how great saints have searched for the Face of Christ in every person they met, and given service even to foul and abusive patients (St. Francis of Assisi, I think), and even kissed lepers (St. Francis again). I thought of St. Camillus and how he overcame his own foul and abusive impulses to serve the sick and dying with such tenderness. And I thought about Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity serving the destitute dying and AIDS sufferers, serving Jesus in each one of them, recognising the image of God in every human soul. They have been priveledged to serve Christ Himself.

This is probably on my mind because I'm bothered by my own selfishness. It's so easy to turn a blind eye and go my merry own way. Thing is, I've been praying to St. Odelia for spiritual sight, but I'm not liking all that I see so far. I'm discovering that spiritual insights aren't necessarily consoling. Sometimes they're hard and gritty. Sometimes they reveal a boil that has to be lanced. If I just go on as I have in the past, there's a chance I won't be rubbing shoulders with sheep. I'm going to have to make some concrete plans to intentionally practice specific Works of Corporal and Spiritual Mercy, until being merciful is habitual.

I have often wondered what it might have been like to be there at our Lord's Passion. We are there with Him mystically whenever we offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, witnessing the miracle of transubstantiation at the hands of His priest, offering our lives with His, interceding for the needs of others. We are sent out to bring Him to the world. It occurs to me that--because we are His Members and we truly serve Him, Our Lord Himself, whenever we offer service to our fellows--that we are present at His Passion in our daily lives, if we make the effort to see and serve His little ones!

We are the women weeping over His suffering. We are Veronica wiping the sweat and blood from His Face. We are Simon lifting His Cross to our shoulders. We wait at His Feet along with Our Mother. We are Joseph and Nicodemus offering Him a burial place, annointing His Body with precious oils, wrapping His Body in linen. It really is Jesus Whom we serve! We really are there!

Highly Recommended

Terry Nelson's blog for Leaflet Missal Co., "Rome-ing Catholics,"
at http://rome-ingcatholics.blogspot.com/,
his own blog, "Abbey-Roads,"
at http://abbey-roads.blogspot.com/,

and Don Marco's new blog, "Vultus Christi,"
at http://vultus.stblogs.org/.

Bible Study

For five years, my sister has been attending a Bible study program: Called By Faith. It helps people study the Bible in the light of the Catholic faith. Every year for six years now, they have chosen a book of the Bible and met weekly from Fall through Spring. They read and prepare beforehand, then attend the weekly session for prayer, a lecture, and small group discussion. This year they decided to use the Great Adventure Bible Study materials. (The program fee covers the cost.)

This year I'll be attending along with my sister, who generously offered to pay for it. We had attended a one-day Great Adventure seminar last year, so I am already familiar with some of the materials. In fact, at the seminar I purchased the index tabs. Practically the first thing I did when I arrived back home was to get those tabs into my Bible. And yet--although the seminar itself was interesting and exciting--once I had the tabs in, I never cracked open my Bible again until today! Obviously, I'm not the most self-motivated person on the planet.

I'm not completely without exposure to the Scriptures. Most of the time I can find a passage I'm looking for when it's needed. I sometimes go over the Mass readings ahead of time and try to make some connections between the passages. I get bits and snippets of the Scriptures from various blogs and online sources, as well as from books and periodicals. But I have never read the entire Bible.

So when my sister said her Bible study group was going to study the Great Adventure materials and asked if I'd like to go with her this year, I jumped at the chance! It is so much easier for me to get things done when I feel a degree of accountability to other people. Now, I know that it's a matter of human respect. After all, my accountability to God is more a matter of my actions, not whether I feel like doing something. He's interested in how much I love, not whether others are of the general opinion that I am a fine human being.

Nevertheless, I freely admit: I need the little push of knowing that my sister will be picking me up for meetings and that I will be expected to contribute to small group discussions. I'll be getting a general overview of salvation history as we study 14 key books of the Bible in chronological order. The remaining books of the Bible will make more sense, too, in the context of where they fit into the story--and a three-month Bible reading plan is provided. Besides the actual Bible study, I hope to develop some discipline and to make regular habits of Scripture reading and study for the rest of my life.

It's very likely that some of what I discover will wind up in my blog . . . I can hardly wait to get started!

The Spiral Staircase in Santa Fe

There is an "impossible" spiral staircase leading up to the choir loft in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico--and I've been completely enchanted by the story since I first learned of it. Today the story of the staircase is the main feature at Michael Brown's "Spirit Daily" website (http://www.spiritdaily.com/santafestairs.htm). Like many others, I speculated that the mysterious man who built the staircase could have been St. Joseph himself. However, the true builder was actually another master carpenter. Even so, nobody to this very day has even the faintest clue how he built it!

A Spirit Daily reader sent this comment to Mr. Brown:

"Did the carpenter come as an answer to prayers? I believe so. Was the construction of the stairs divinely inspired? I would agree.

"However, as to the identity of the mystery carpenter, I tend to agree with historian Mary J. Straw Cook in her book, 'Loretto: The Sisters and Their Santa Fe Chapel.' The carpenter, according to her, was Francois-Jean Rochas. He was a member of 'les compagnon,' a French guild of celibate and secretive craftsmen.

"Cook researched the matter for seven years and made seven trips to France. Part of her evidence is an 1895 article in The New Mexican, in which the chapel's contractor, Quintus Monier, names Rochas as the staircase's builder. There is also an 1881 entry in the sisters' daybook that indicates a Mr. Rochas was paid $150 'for wood.' There is a freight slip for wood delivered by ship from France.

"It is a beautiful staircase and indeed miraculously built. It may not have been made directly by the hands of angels or saints (Rochas was allegedly a bit of a rascal and died a mysterious death), but God does answer prayers by placing the right individuals at the right place and at the right time to accomplish his tasks. That should serve as an inspiration to all of us. You never know when God is using you to answer someone else's prayers."

So, discovering that St. Joseph didn't build the spiral staircase, you'd think that would burst my bubble, wouldn't you? But it doesn't. He still had a direct hand in the project: When the sisters prayed for help, they prayed a novena to St. Joseph.

And anyway, I am encouraged to know that even "rascals" can do great things for God!

"O-oh-h-h . . . O-KAY!

Just getting to Sunday Mass is a big deal for me. Not that it's hard logistically to get to a Mass. I have no physical disabilities or illnesses that prevent my attendance. It's strickly the struggle against sloth.

I stopped going regularly when I was in college, then went on and off sort of haphazardly for years afterward. I never wanted to stop being Catholic. And I knew that Mass attendance on Sundays and Holy Days was a precept of the Church. But in high school, college, and the years following, I didn't "get it" that a precept of the Church had the same moral force as the Ten Commandments. Nor did I make the connection between Mass attendence and the First and Third Commandments.

I was struggling even to just learn the actual Faith well enough to defend it, using second-rate catechisms found at a local Catholic bookstore that sold books authored by modernists, dissenters, and just plain flakes--then, and still today. The Baltimore Catechism and the Catechism of the Council of Trent weren't even on my radar at the time. The current "Catechism of the Catholic Church" was just a glimmer in the papal mind. I was a public school student and all that the parish CCD classes taught us was the "Peace-Love-Joy" pablum from the third grade on up. So a lot of the time, unless I was going with someone else or had a secondary obligation such as singing in the choir, I just didn't make it to Mass.

And yet, I loved being at Mass once I was there! I just wasn't taking the steps to actually get out the front door!

At some point, I learned that intentionally or negligently missing Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day is mortally sinful. I also began to understand why, not just from the standpoint of the Church's authority to command it; but also some of the reasons Mass attendance is necessary: Especially of God's right to our worship; but also of our need to worship, to have our emptiness filled, to have our longings answered, to find the help we can't find anywhere else, to benefit the Church and the world by our prayers, to serve as tools in the distribution of God's mercy and graces, to experience the power of worshiping with other Christians, to know our helplessness even to worship unless we are united with Christ--to receive Him in the Word and in the Eucharist.

You'd think now that I know all of this, getting to Mass would be easier for me. But it's not. Attending Mass regularly is a habit. I had acquired the bad habit of not attending and also found myself struggling against a tendency to be slothful and lukewarm. Twenty-plus long years of hit-or-miss attendance have dulled my conscience to the point where I hardly feel a pang if I skip Mass.

Here is an instance where I am extremely grateful to God for His Mercy in the confessional! I get to call on God's grace as I try once again to establish myself in the routine of attending Mass when I'm supposed to be there and have no good reason not to be there. So often I've been forced to confess that "It's been two months since my last confession. I've missed Mass seven (or five, or eight) times."

By God's mercy and grace, I really am more regular at Mass than I used to be. God has faithfully provided the graces I need to get there: Sometimes He helps me by sending someone to attend with me. Sometimes He gives me the desire and ambition to get to the Church. Sometimes, like this morning, He sends my Angel Guardian to keep "Murphy" from throwing a monkey wrench into my plans. Sometimes, He just reminds Me that the consequence of mortal sin is an eternal stint in hell, so it would behoove me to show up, unless I'd rather be hot than inconvenienced.

This is all leading up to the Mass readings for today. They have really heightened this whole long struggle for me: Joshua's challenge to the Israelites as to whether or not they were committed to serve only God; the love of husband and wife as the illustration of the love of Christ and His Church; and the Lord's challenge to his disciples and the Twelve as to whether they would abandon Him or believe His teaching about His Body and Blood. So that finally clinches it: I choose to serve the Lord. He loves me and I love Him. And besides . . . there is no one else that I can go to. Only Jesus can give me Eternal Life.

[My Lord, I am there without fail from this day forward!]