Second Sunday in Advent

by

Fr. Leonard Goffine

On this day the Church not only makes mention in the office of the priest, but also in the Mass, of the two different Advents of Christ, that by His first gracious advent may be gladdened, and by His last terrible coming at the day of judgment we may be impressed with salutary fear. With this intention she cries out at the Introit:

People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard in the joy of your heart (Is. 30:30). Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep (Ps. 79).

Prayer of the Church

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Thine only-begotten Son: that through His advent we may be worthy to serve Thee with purified minds; who livest and reignest with God the Father, in union with the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Epistle (Rom. 15:4‑13).

Brethren, what things soever were written, were written for our learning, that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: that with one mind, and with one mouth, you may glorify God and the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to Thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to Thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and magnify Him, all ye people. And again, Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Q. What does St. Paul teach in this epistle?

A. The Jews and Gentiles who had been converted to the Christian faith were disputing among themselves at Rome, in regard to abstinence and the use of certain kinds of food, reproaching each other severely; the Jews boasted that the Savior, according to promise, was born of their nation, thus claiming Him from the Gentiles, who, in their turn, reproached the Jews for their ingratitude in having crucified Him. To restore harmony St. Paul shows that each had reason, the Jews and Gentiles alike, to praise God, to whose grace and goodness they owed all; that each had in Him a Redeemer in whom they could hope for salvation; and he warns them not to deprive themselves of that hope by contentions. By these words the Apostle also teaches that we too, have great reason to praise God, and to thank Him for calling us, whose forefathers were heathens, to the Christian faith, and to guard against losing our salvation by pride, envy, impurity, etc.

Q. Why should we read the Scriptures?

A. That we may know what we are to believe, and do in order to be saved, as all Scripture inspired by God is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice (11 Tim. 3:16); that we may learn from what Christ has done for us, and the saints for Christ, to be patient in our sufferings, and to be consoled and encouraged by their example. To derive this benefit from the Scriptures, the Catholic must read them by the light of that Spirit through whose assistance they came into existence, who lives and remains for ever with the Church: that is, the light of the Holy Ghost must be sought, that their meaning may be read according to the sense of the Church and not be explained according to the reader's judgment. For he who reads the holy Scriptures by the light of his own private judgment, must, as experience shows, of necessity diverge from the right path, become entangled in manifold doubts, and at last, lose the faith entirely. For this reason the Catholic Church has very properly limited the reading of the Bible, not as has been falsely asserted, unconditionally forbidden it, but she allows the reading of those editions only, which are accompanied by notes and explanations that the unity of faith may not be disturbed, and that among Catholics there may not be the terrible bewilderment of the human intellect which has taken place among the different heretical sects who have even declared murder, bigamy and impurity to be permissible on the authority of the Bible. We are to consider also, that Christ never commanded the Bible to be written or read, and that not the readers but the hearers and the followers of the word of God by which is meant those who hear the word of God in sermons, and keep it, will be saved!

Q. Why is God called a God of patience, of consolation, and of hope?

A. He is called a God of patience because He awaits our repentance; of consolation, because He gives us grace to be patient in crosses and afflictions, and so consoles us inwardly, that we become not faint‑hearted; of hope, because He gives us the virtue of hope, and because He desires to be Himself the reward we are to expect after this life.

Aspiration

O God of patience, of consolation and of hope, fill Our hearts with peace and joy, and grant that we may become perfect in all good, and by faith, hope and charity, attain the promised salvation.

Gospel  (Mt. 11:2‑10)

At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: Art Thou He that art to come, or do we look for another? And Jesus making answer, said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them: and blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me. And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my Angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.

Q. Why was St. John in prison?

A. He was in prison, and lost his life, because he had rebuked king Herod for his adulterous marriage with his brother's wife (Mt. 14:310). Truth, as the proverb says, is certainly a very beautiful mother, but she usually bears a very ugly daughter: hatred. St. John experienced that speaking the truth very often arouses hatred and enmity against the speaker. Let us learn from him to speak the truth always, when duty requires it, even if it brings upon us the greatest misfortunes, for, if with St. John we patiently bear persecution, with St. John we shall become martyrs for truth.

Q. Why did St. John send his disciples to Christ?

A. That they should learn from Christ, who had become illustrious by His teachings and miracles, that He was really the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, whom they should follow.

Q. Why did Christ say to the disciples of St. John: "Go and say to John, the blind see, the lame walk," etc.?

A. That they should, by His miracles, judge Him to be the Messiah because the prophets had predicted that He would work such miracles (Isai. 35:5‑6). "Christ," says St. Cyril, "proved that He was the Messiah by the grandeur as well as by the number of His miracles."

Q. Why does Christ add: "And blessed is he who shall not be scandalized in Me"?

A. Christ used these words in reference to those who would be scandalized by His poverty, humility and ignominious death on the cross, and who for these reasons would doubt and despise Him, and cast Him away; though "man," as St. Gregory says, "owes all the more love to the Lord, his God, the more humiliations He has borne for him."

Q. What was our Lord's object in the questions He asked concerning St. John?

A. His object was to remove from St. John all suspicion of failing in faith in Him; and to praise the perseverance with which, although imprisoned and threatened with death, he continued to fill his office of preacher, thus constituting him an example to all preachers, confessors and superiors, that they may never be deterred by human respect, or fear of man, or other temporal considerations, from courageously fulfilling their duties. Our Lord commended also rigorous penance, exhibited by St. John's coarse garments and simple food, that we may learn, from his example, penance and mortification.

Q. Why does Christ say that St. John was "more than a prophet"?

A. Because St. John was foretold by the prophet Malachias as was no other prophet; because of all the prophets he was the only one who with his own eyes saw Christ and could point Him out, and was the one to baptize Him: and because like an angel, a messenger of God, he announced the coming of the Savior, and prepared the way for the Lord.

Q. How did St. John prepare the way for the Savior?

A. By his sermons on penance, and by his own penitential life He endeavored to move the hearts of the Jews, that by amending their lives, they might prepare to receive the grace of the Messiah, for God will not come with His grace into our hearts if we do not prepare His way by true repentance.

Aspiration

O Lord Jesus, by the praise Thou didst accord to Thy forerunner St. John, for his firmness and austerities, inflame our hearts with love to imitate his steadfastness and penance, that we may never do anything to please man which may be displeasing to Thee; grant us also Thy grace that we too, like St. John, may have those who are confided to our care, instructed in the Christian doctrine.

Tradition, New and Improved!

The Diocese of Orange in California, U.S.A. recently received a $20 million donation from an anonymous parishioner. It will be used to help fund the planned multimillion-dollar renovation of the 34-acre campus of Christ Cathedral, a building formerly known as the Crystal Cathedral, which was recently acquired by the diocese. While reading about the extraordinary donation, I came across the following paragraph in an article by Chris Haire, a staff writer for the Orange Country Register:

The $20 million does not have any specific uses attached to it, but it must be used for the renovation of the campus, which, at more than 50 years old, is showing its age and needs to be altered to adhere more closely to Catholic tradition.

That last bit caught my attention. I was already vaguely familiar with the architectural qualities of the building from the stories published back when the property was first acquired. How, I wondered to myself, did architects plan on altering what has been described by critics as a compound composed of "cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes and confused spaces" so as to make it "adhere more closely to Catholic tradition"? Short of razing it to the ground, that is? My curiosity piqued, I went in search of the renovation plans.

Here are some highlights:

Well, this just screams "Catholic tradition," doesn't it? I especially appreciate the Stations of the Cross panels. Can you say 8th century diptych?

Rumor has it that the team of Eucharistic Ministers will be equipped with a fleet of white and gold Segways to collect donations and distribute Holy Communion. Just like in the Middle Ages.

Vatican Unveils New Flag

Old Vatican Flag

(Vatican City) In a move which has stunned vexillologists around the world, the Vatican announced today that a new flag will soon be flying over the city. While an official statement regarding the reason for the dramatic change has yet to be made, it is rumored that the old flag, which bore the image of the papal tiara and the keys of St. Peter, was seen as too "triumphalistic" by Pope Francis.

Sources inside the papal household report that the Holy Father made the decision soon after discovering what the triple crown symbolizes. "We were sitting in the lounge, sipping Mate, and the Holy Father pointed to the tiara on the Vatican flag, asking, 'What does that even mean?' I explained that it was a crown symbolizing the threefold authority of the Vicar of Christ as Universal Teacher, Universal Lawmaker and Universal Judge of the Catholic Church, whereupon his smile evaporated. After a very uncomfortable silence, the Holy Father said, 'That thing has to go'."

Artists from around the world were asked to submit proposals for a new flag design, and a selection committee of cardinals was created to evaluate the proposals. "It was quite challenging," they told reporters at this morning's news conference, "but we think we have been successful in finding the design that captures our vision of the papacy in the 21st century. It is sure to become a powerful tool in the work of the New Evangelization."

The creator of the new flag, an Italian artist by the name of Pagliaccio, was visibly moved as he unveiled his work to a crowd of breathless reporters:

New Vatican Flag

Cardinal Schönborn on the Image of Saint Nicholas

In an article published in yesterday's edition of the Austrian newspaper Heute, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn urged readers to "discover anew the original St. Nicholas." Deploring the commercialization of the Catholic Saint through various advertising campaigns and his subsequent transformation into the pop-culture figure of Santa Claus, Cardinal Schönborn argued for reshaping the image of the 4th century Bishop of Myra to that of the "loving friend of poor children," because, he noted, "there are, unfortunately, far too many children in our world who are in need of our help."

St. Nicholas, Giver of Gifts and Smacker of Heretics

While the image of St. Nichols as benefactor of poor children has etched itself into the collective imagination of most of the western world, it is curious that the other feats attributed to him have received comparatively little attention. The most notable of these include his foot pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine, his combat against evil spirits and demons, his imprisonment and torture for witnessing to the Faith, and, above all, his having ended a debate with the heretic Arius at the Council of Nicae in A.D. 325 by punching him in the face.

I agree wholeheartedly with Cardinal Schönborn that the image of Saint Nicholas is in desperate need of a revision. Therefore, I would like to propose that Catholics, in addition to his great charity, remember St. Nicholas as the Holy Bishop who smacked a heretic in the face, because there are, unfortunately, far too many heretics in our world who need a solid slap.

Müller adversus Haereticos

His Eminence Gerhard Cardinal Müller
(Photo: Lauren Cater/CNA)

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, current Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made his most unambiguous defense of the unity of the magisterial and pastoral offices of the Church this past Tuesday, and has subsequently become the first high-ranking prelate to earnestly use the "H" word in recent memory. As reported by L'Osservatore Romano and kath.net, the Cardinal said:

Any separation of the theory and the practice of the faith would, in its formulation, represent a subtle christological heresy. 

Cardinal Müller was referring to the Gospel of St. John, which contains a key christological fact taught by Our Lord Himself: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (14:6). To separate the intellectual component of Christ's teaching, i.e. "the Truth," from the practice of the same, i.e. "the Life," would be to introduce a subtle and dangerous division within Christ - and to espouse heresy.

One can't help but be reminded of the comments made by Cardinal Wuerl two months ago, in which he attempted to introduce precisely such a division between doctrine on the one hand and pastoral application of doctrine on the other. Of course, Cardinal Müller did not direct his comment to any one prelate in particular. But the signal is clear: with Müller at the helm of the CDF, the days of unchecked lackadaisical pastoral theology are drawing to a close.

While I have reservations regarding some of the details of Cardinal Müller's own theological opinions as hitherto expressed, I think this demonstrates a clear intent on his part to faithfully defend the Depositum Fidei from at least the more egregious attacks of the - may we say it, finally? - heretics.

Jesus Christ

by
Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J.

Explain it as we will, in the history of the world, one influence stands out unique. There have been many great and good men; there have been some founders of great and permanent movements - religious, political, moral; great ideas have been started, great principles enunciated, which have altered the whole course of civilization and thought. But no single man, no single idea, has so revolutionized the world, its trend of life and its interpretation of itself, as the Person and teaching of Jesus Christ. A few would class Him with other reformers; they know that by so doing they deprive Him of His due. He stands alone. Anno Domini - the year of the Lord - is no accidental and convenient means of dating; we do not speak of the year of Confucius, or the year of Buddha, or the year of Luther, or the year of Napoleon. It stands for a great upheaval, greater than any that these have made; for the coming of One Who has transcended all others in His teaching, and in the effect His teaching has produced, and therefore Who surpasses all others in His life and being.

But that is not the whole of the matter. It is not even the most important part. Not only does the present state of man upon the earth drive me back to a point at which, and to a person in whom, the whole human race began again, but the momentum of that revolution is evidently not yet spent. In spite of the many back-waters, in spite of countless reactions, that force which is understood by Christianity has never worn out, indeed, was never stronger than now; to deny this, or even to ignore it, is a greater folly than to deny the fact of Christ Himself. And to this there is no parallel at all. Do what its enemies will, this faith in Jesus Christ goes everywhere, permeates everything, rouses slumbering embers today as much as ever it did, more than ever it did, in any generation before. Is a new country opened up? The followers of Christ pierce into it, if, indeed, they are not found to have anticipated the explorer. Is a new nation formed? Every day, in proportion to its growth in greatness, does its Christianity grow. Is a new philosophy thought out? Immediately it is tested on the anvil of Christianity. Does a new enemy of law and order lift up its head? The one and immediate object of its attack is the fact of Jesus Christ and the Spirit that He has sent into the world.

One goes back, then, to examine this beginning; and here the discovery is still more startling. Given the most stirring description of this Christ that His most devoted follower has drawn, given, if you like, the most exaggerated picture that the stoutest enthusiast has painted, what an insignificant cause it offers to explain so stupendous an effect! To say that the movement had none but a fancied founder is portentous enough; to say that this and no more was the founder seems almost more portentous. And yet it is the matter of fact. Whichever way I turn, however I may search, whatever explanation I may devise, all my paths converge upon this common centre. I may accept it or I may leave it. I have no other escape. If I leave it, I do violence to my reason, and to all my first principles of knowledge; if I accept it, whatever consequences may follow in its train, however hard may be their details, I am at least consistent with all my other axioms of thought. Startling as it may appear, impossible as it may seem, an unknown carpenter of an unknown village, who wrote no books, who built no monument, who assembled no army, who conquered no country, who founded no school, who developed no philosophy, who made no addition to science, who invented no machinery, who explored no strange land, the most noteworthy event of whose life was the fact that He died a convict's death, has been the reformer of the world; nay, more, is the world's reformer today.

Evidently, then, whether I see it or not, there is something in this Christ more than appears, something behind, whatever there may be outside. In shape and behaviour I see Him to be as other men. He eats and drinks, He grows and matures, He works and rests, like the rest of us; there is that in His speech and in His manner so entirely ordinary, common, that He is classed as insignificant by those who knew Him best, and they were only village labourers. And yet with all this insignificance there is no man more noticed than He. He is noticed so as to make many friends. Wherever He goes, into whatever city, among whatever class, among rich and poor, innocent and sinful, learned and ignorant, rulers and ruled, He has some who make Him their all-in-all. In His own age, in every age since, and in our own, whether or not men deny Christ Himself, they cannot deny the unbroken line of His friends, who have lived for Him, have laboured for Him, have died for Him, have found their one glory in Him - a line to which there is no end, and in comparison with which there is no parallel. And he is noticed, on the other hand, so as to make many enemies. If Christ had always, and still has, the longest line of the former, He has the largest number of the latter also. "Behold, all the world goes after Him," in the one company or in the other. He who is not with Him is against Him; there is no neutral attitude possible.

What is it that makes this difference? What else can it be but something which sets Him apart from all others? This Jesus Christ, if He has done what He has done, if He is what He is, is not merely unique among men. He is, He must be, something more than man. Then what is He? What is that being which never dies? What is that life which so outpours itself and yet is never exhausted? "Jesus Christ, yesterday, today, and the same forever," was said of Him now nineteen hundred years ago; the same is said of Him still. They are shut up in a deep and dark cavern who think it is not so. When we are dead and gone, and the best and greatest of us is forgotten, when His enemies are dead and gone, and all their ammunition has been spent, it will still continue to be said of Him, He will still be the force that will count, for the resurrection and for the fall of many, and for a sign to be contradicted; still will He be making friends, still making enemies. At times the world will recover itself and own Him, and will rejoice and be glad and go forward in the knowledge; at times and in places - though never wholly, as it has never done - it will go backward and disown Him, and those will be days of falsehood and unrest. But in either case it will always be, as it has always been since He came, the acceptance or the rejection of this Christ, this obviously living Christ, that will characterize every succeeding generation, and every soul that it contains.

Once more, then, who and what is this Christ? This is not the argument. Strictly speaking, it is not one of the arguments by which the Divinity of Christ is proved; but surely it is one of the signs by which it is manifested. It is not the argument by which we show that, having loved His own who were in the world, He has loved them unto the end, but surely it compels us to cry out: Ecce quomodo amavit - "Behold, how He has loved!" It is not the basis commonly given of the heroism of the Saints; but surely it is the secret of their superhuman strength, and the fulfillment of that promise: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." And if so, it justifies that portentous charge: "Go, therefore, and teach all nations," and it explains that commission's fulfillment. What no human power could have done, the Divine Man of Nazareth has effected. What the mightiest of emperors with his legions could not hope for has been accomplished by a band of fishermen, with this Divine Leader at their head. What today combined science and learning, armies and navies, alliances and agreements, would not dream of taking in hand, that same is being carried through before our every eyes by the unknown disciples of this unknown Master, without money to help them, without a sword to defend them, in almost every unknown corner of the world. And when present empires have passed away, and the learning of our time has come to be smiled at as old-world simplicity, the work they are now doing will still abide, and will still be spread by others fired with the same unutterable craving that He may be known, and loved, and served.

To know this Jesus Christ as He is now, living, and active, and fascinating by His perfect self, not merely as He was in the days of His pilgrimage, this is the secret of the Saints. For to know Him is now, as it was then, either to love Him or to hate Him; to love Him with a boundless love, or to hate Him unto death. It is a matter of proportion. The man who says he neither loves nor hates, does not yet know Jesus Christ as He is. That which he knows is but a shadow, but a feeble imitation of the truth; the true Jesus Christ compels. Caritas Christi urget me - "The love of Christ drives me," says the Apostle St. Paul; it drives every man that comes within its thrall, and it is a thralldom whose yoke is sweet and whose burden is a glory.

Team Bergoglio: A Brief Résumé

Over the past few weeks, a growing number of blog and news articles have appeared treating the revelations contained in Austen Ivereigh's newly released biography of Pope Francis entitled The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope. The newsworthy part is that Ivereigh's book reveals information on the concerted effort by several important Cardinals to get Jorge Bergoglio elected, the - now disowned - admission that Bergoglio knew about the campaigning and possibly even condoned it, and some inadvertent evidence that Pope Francis was elected on the condition that he advance the reforms most desired by his electors, whom Ivereigh, in a rather apt allusion to the campaigning strategy of the failed American President Obama, calls "Team Bergoglio." It's a story that has even more explosive potential than the recent 2014 Synod Midterm Relatio, and yet the mainstream media outlets are largely ignoring it.

Who makes up Team Bergoglio? There can be little doubt that there were many individuals pushing in their own ways for the election of Cardinal Bergoglio, but four men stand out above the rest as the most active campaigners:

Team Bergoglio:
Cardinals Kasper, Lehmann, Daneels, and Murphy-O'Connor

A brief résumé:

Cardinal Walter Kasper, that widely famed champion of public adulterers, holds the miracles of Christ to be "non-historical legends":

The result [...] is that we must describe many of the Gospel miracle stories as legendary. Legends of this sort should be examined less for their historical than for their theological content. They say something, not about individual facts of salvation history, but about the single saving event which is Jesus Christ. To show that certain miracles cannot be ascribed to the earthly Jesus does not mean that they have no theological or kerygmatic significance. These non-historical miracle reports are statements of faith about the significance for salvation of the person and message of Jesus.

Not to be outdone by his fellow German in things heretical, Cardinal Karl Lehmann denies even the historicity of the Resurrection of Our Lord:

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ through the Father is, strictly speaking, an event in the sphere of God which, at its core, does not belong to history. But it manifests as an event in space and time.

That is to say, the Resurrection, while not a real, historical event, is still "historical" because real people in history believed in it. Right. Oh, and he explicitly renounces faith in the Catholic Church: 

I do not believe in the Catholic Church. I believe in God.

Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, while hesitating to venture into the dizzying heights of speculative heresy, is very much at home in denying the right of the Church to inform civil law, has shown himself to be quite receptive to a change in Church praxis regarding the reception of Holy Communion by public adulterers, and openly condones state legislation approving homosexual unions, saying:

I think it's a positive development that states are free to open up civil marriage for gays if they want.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor appears, at first glance, to be something of the odd ball in the bunch. For one thing, he doesn't live anywhere near the Rhine. For another, he has spoken out numerous times against the evils of abortion and contraception - the latter of which Cardinal Kasper believes the Church can and should approve. So what's the connection? Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, like his teammates, believes all men, regardless of religion, are saved:

I think that the [religious] divisions manifest here on earth will be reconciled in some mysterious way in heaven. I'm not thinking just of Catholics and Protestants, but people of other faiths and people of no faith. We are all children of God.

So, these are the men who campaigned to raise Jorge Bergoglio to the Chair of Peter. Is anyone surprised by this?

Lest you be left with a sour taste in your mouth, gentle reader, I offer the following quote from St. Gregory Nazianzen:

These men have the houses, but we the Dweller in the house; they the Temples, we the God; and besides it is ours to be living temples of the Living God, lively sacrifices, reasonable burnt-offerings, perfect sacrifices, yea, gods through the adoration of the Trinity. They have the people, we the Angels; they rash boldness, we faith; they threatenings, we prayer; they smiting, we endurance; they gold and silver, we the pure Word. (Orations, 33:15)