Our dear Holy Father is a very good writer. I managed to miss reading Deus Caritas Est when it came out last spring, and Sacramentum Caritatis as well. (Josh has plans for a CSC discussion group for the apostolic exhortation; we’ll see how that works out.) The only exposure I have to his work is through my Zenit feed, as I’ve written about before. I’d put off reading his urbi et orbi message and his Easter Vigil homily until tonight.
The homily is wonderful.
Let us return once more to the night of Holy Saturday. In the Creed we say about Christ’s journey that he “descended into hell.” What happened then? Since we have no knowledge of the world of death, we can only imagine his triumph over death with the help of images which remain very inadequate. Yet, inadequate as they are, they can help us to understand something of the mystery. … In the incarnation, the Son of God became one with human beings—with Adam. But only at this moment, when he accomplishes the supreme act of love by descending into the night of death, does he bring the journey of the incarnation to its completion. By his death he now clasps the hand of Adam, of every man and woman who awaits him, and brings them to the light.
I’ve always had trouble with that aspect of the creeds (Apostle’s and Nicene). It was a long time before I understood that “hell” in Christ’s time didn’t mean eternal damnation. No one was allowed into heaven until Christ died and threw open its gates. On Holy Saturday, I was wondering what to do, since I refused to do homework at all during the Triduum. I decided to try the LOTH’s Office of Readings. I think I did it wrong, but the important part was that I discovered the non-biblical reading. I read it aloud to myself, struggling to get to the end, and then I cried. Easter is all about Christ’s dying to save us, but never before had I read something that even attempted to describe that act of salvation. Praise God.
Tags: Catholicism
The semester was half-over at spring break, which is when I went home and finally got around to this blog redesign. If you remember the old design, you can probably guess that this one isn’t finished. I did a bit of touching up, but it’s not even properly dedicated to St. Rose of Lima or Our Lady or anything. My goal for winter break was to catch up on blogging the entire fall semester. I did not. I barely even got to writing recaps of each class, old Catholic Carnivals, or updates on my spiritual life.
I don’t like living in the past. It gets depressing, like remembering past (absolved) sin. So I’m giving up on the recap and just picking up from here.
On Palm Saturday, the CSC hosted its Third Annual Collegiate Eucharistic Congress (a.k.a. (by me) EuCon 2007). Last year was so awesome that there was no question as to my attendance this year; I returned the registration form the day after I got it in the bulletin. I buckled down and did as much homework as possible on Friday to buffer against being out all day Saturday. I got up around 7am, got dressed in my new knee-length (a.k.a. (also by me) church-length) black skirt, and read the lectionary for Saturday and Palm Sunday in preparation.
When I got to the CSC around 9:50am, no one was there. (It was supposed to start at 10.) I ran into Jim and Chris M. on the way, but then everyone else showed up in a huge wave. I had eaten breakfast at home (Lenten Friday fasts for me mean no Honey Nut Cheerios, ergo, a serious craving from them on Saturday morning), so I just talked while everyone else munched. We moved into the chapel around 10:30 for praise and worship to start the day. Fr. Bill gave us a quick intro to the EuCon and to the practice of adoration, and then exposed, and Julie and the choir led us into song. They sang several that I’d never heard of, but we did “Sweet Redeemer,” “Here I Am to Worship,” and, after the break, “You Are Holy (Prince of Peace).” They took the last two a bit too fast, but singing to Jesus is always lovely.
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Tags: Catholicism, School
