Being A Catholic In Utah

The state of Utah is widely and rightfully associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Nearly everything about the state’s settling by Westerners, its statehood, and much of its history is inextricably tied to the Mormon Church.

Yet the Catholic Church has been there since the beginning and continues to thrive in the Beehive State. In a state where the population is majority Mormon, it can seem like it would be nearly impossible to live there as a Catholic. But for many Catholics in Utah, this simply provides more opportunities for evangelization.

Mark Longe is starting his fourth year as superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Salt Lake City and his 26th year in Catholic education in Utah, having previously worked at elementary and middle schools. Prior to this, he worked in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Orange in southern California.

Most of the Catholic schools in the state of Utah are located near Salt Lake City. Most are within 15 to 20 minutes of each other, and of the 16 schools in the diocese, only three are about an hour from the city center. This allows Longe to communicate regularly with principals and to plan professional development opportunities that all of the teachers can attend. These 16 schools serve about 5,500 students, which is nearly double the number from about 20 years ago.

“When I used to take parents on a tour at my school, I used to say that ‘Our school is like a small town in a big city,'” Longe said. “Schools and parishes become small ‘neighborhoods’ for the Catholic community. Parents and students find and make lifelong friendships because they become involved with our schools.”

Catholic Education:

The population of Utah is around 3 million people, the majority of whom belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There are around 300,000 Catholics in the state, which makes them the second-largest faith group.

“Because we are such a minority, it is a challenge to find trained teachers and administrators who are Catholic,” Longe said. “This is a challenge for us, as principals are required to be a Catholic and any teacher who teaches religion needs to be Catholic.” This has become a particular challenge recently, as Utah is facing a teacher shortage. It is also a challenge to provide financing and scholarships in Utah, as with a smaller Catholic population there are fewer people to provide financial support.

“Like schools across the country, our Catholic schools are tasked with assisting parents in their role as the primary educators of their children, especially when it comes to their faith,” he said.

For Longe, operating Catholic schools in such a heavily non-Catholic region provides an opportunity for evangelization. Quoting the USCCB’s 2005 document “Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium,” Longe observes that, “Catholic schools afford the fullest and best opportunity to realize the fourfold purpose of Christian education, namely to provide an atmosphere in which the Gospel message is proclaimed, community in Christ is experienced, service to our sisters and brothers is the norm, and thanksgiving and worship of God is cultivated. When schools do this well, they are also powerful instruments of evangelization for our non-Catholic brothers and sisters.”

Interfaith opportunities

Magdalene Religious Goods is the only religious goods store in the Salt Lake City area. Opened in November 2013, the establishment has already become a staple of capital city life, having received Salt Lake Magazine’s Best of Salt Lake Award and City Weekly’s Best of Utah Award. For the owner, Jacque Smithe, living as a Catholic and operating a Catholic shop in Utah presents more blessings and opportunities than challenges.

“I don’t find it difficult to live my faith despite Utah being predominantly Mormon,” Smithe said. “I, rather, suspect that Catholics in Utah are perhaps stronger because of our status as not being predominant.”

“We are a strong bunch here in Utah,” she said. However, growing up as a Catholic did present a number of challenges. “We really didn’t know any of our neighbors, as they all belonged to the Mormon ward — and, of course, our family didn’t. There were parents who also discouraged their children from playing with non-Mormons.” Smithe was lucky enough to attend the parochial school, so she did not personally experience this issue, but said that many Catholic children — including her niece and nephew — who attend public school do often feel alienated.

Magdalene Religious Goods serves an eclectic clientele, being the only religious goods store in the area. “Many people find us interesting and different, so we don’t just see Catholics but all different religions,” said Smithe. “We even get a few Mormons who stroll in.”

Smithe strives to foster a welcoming atmosphere at Magdalene, with couches and free coffee and tea, as well as a prayer room where they ask visitors to leave prayer requests and obituaries, which is another opportunity to evangelize.

The atmosphere in much of Utah is different from most of the rest of the country. While much of the country is increasingly secularized, which makes faithful Catholics feel out of place and “other,” Utah is another story: very religious, but not in a traditional Christian sense.

‘Ecumenical draw’

Luke Stager went from Portland, Oregon — one of the bastions of secularism and the unchurched — to Utah as part of earning his master’s degree in teaching. First assigned to teach math and theology to juniors at St. Joseph Catholic High School in Ogden, Utah, for two years, he later applied to work at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City.

At Judge, he taught math and freshman theology and eventually became a campus minister. As campus minister, he organized the school liturgies and retreats, among other responsibilities. He has since returned to Oregon and is now a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Portland.

While in Utah, Stager saw many opportunities for evangelization, as well. He sang with the choir of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City.

“The Cathedral of the Madeleine was a bastion of the arts and good liturgy,” he said, “which was a large ecumenical draw and was significant in developing relationships with the LDS Church through a common interest in a pursuit of the arts.”

Over the years, relations between Catholics and Mormons have been quite strained at times; however, great improvements have been made due to the dogged efforts of the leadership of both churches. This has, in large part, been due to a renewed common commitment to a pursuit of the arts, especially music. This is a common theme when exploring the relationship between Catholics and Mormons: Where is there common ground? And, on the other hand, what unique element can each bring to the table?

Resistance to piety

In spite of the major differences between Catholics and Mormons, and the insular nature of many Mormon communities, Stager did not feel like an “other” during his time in Utah — “at least,” he said, “not any more than I feel like an ‘other’ in pagan and unchurched Portland.” In Portland, he observed, being religious at all can seem very foreign, whereas in Utah it doesn’t seem foreign.

The makeup of the Church in Utah is affected by the culture of the state, including the exclusivity of many Mormon communities. “From a macroscopic perspective, life as a Catholic in Utah did not seem to me to be too different from life as a Catholic in Portland,” Stager said. The largest difference, in his experience, is that there are markedly fewer young Catholics — that is, college age and young adults — in Utah. Most Utah natives go out of state for college, and few Catholics come to the state to study, he said.

“One thing I noticed as a Catholic high school teacher was that the students were more resistant to what they perceived as being overly religious,” Stager said. “I think the kids associate piety and high levels of devotion with Mormons, and they generally wanted to distance themselves from that.”
While the trends observed and experienced by these individuals may not be universal, they speak to the overall culture in the state of Utah.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor, April 17, 2019 

Deep In The South --- Deep In The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Knoxville’s Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral Pulses with Local and Sacred Tradition

On March 3 2018, the bishop and the people of Knoxville, Tennessee, together with five cardinals and 18 other bishops, dedicated their new cathedral, named in honor of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The event received local media coverage as a milestone marking the growth of Catholicism in a region where only three percent of the population identifies as Catholic. But relatively unnoticed was the cathedral’s importance in the renewal of Catholic architecture in the United States. With its intentional embrace of the classical tradition, design sophistication, theological fullness, and iconic richness, the construction of the $31 million edifice marks a singular high point in the recent revitalization of Catholic visual and liturgical culture.

From the early planning stages, the diocese and its leaders sought a classical architectural mode for several reasons. First, the building was envisioned to embody a clear Roman Catholic identity with a renewed ecclesiology presenting a deep understanding of the truths of the Catholic faith, including the eschatological emphasis in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which famously stated:

“In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims…” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 8).

Moreover, within that cultural and theological vision stood the explicit understanding of the leadership role of the cathedral church in a diocese; it was designed to model architectural and artistic excellence for the diocese and even provide for the musical leadership expected of a diocesan mother church by creating ample space for a pipe organ and consideration of the building’s acoustical properties.

Secondly, the design acknowledged its presence in the historically Protestant American South. As such, the cathedral was meant to give outward signs of being “good neighbors,” beginning with a prominent front porch. In a kind of architectural inculturation, the southern tradition of the welcoming porch was engaged while at the same time using a deeply Roman version of the classical orders, combining the local and universal characteristics of the Church in Tennessee.

The cathedral was at first envisioned as a fully limestone structure to indicate its inherent dignity, but to engage the local culture, a mix of brick and limestone was eventually chosen.

The design intentionally avoided bright red brick, however, instead choosing a blend of stone-colored Roman brick—characterized by long, slender proportions—which provided a finish with high visual interest as well as a distinctly Roman, public character.

A similar approach to architectural inculturation was taken with the cathedral’s great dome, taken as much from the architectural tradition of local buildings as from the great Catholic tradition. Yet by being topped with a golden cross, the Catholic identity of the cathedral reads clearly.

Woven through the exterior design choices, however, lies a combination of perceived simplicity at the level of the entire design, but with sophistication in its many details.

Over the entry doors, for instance, an almost lyrical design of cut stones form elongated and structurally-logical keystones which interlock with the stonework of the walls. On the porch, a prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus appears in sophisticated “V-groove” lettering centered around a subtle but legible carving of the Sacred Heart. Even the downspouts which carry rainwater were carefully designed to match the dignity of the building and its use.

The cathedral’s design architect, James McCrery of Washington, DC, compared the design of every part of the building to the Mystical Body of Christ, where each member, no matter how different or differently placed, contributes to the beauty of the whole. The true noble simplicity of the building is achieved in simple shapes and exquisite details, yet each one is given careful attention.

While the exterior uses the relatively subdued colors of the earthly realm, the interior presents itself as the world redeemed, where large scale, decorative richness, and fine materials enchant the viewer. Unlike the grey granite of the exterior paving, the interior suddenly changes to carefully-designed patterns of colored marble, marking the glorified “streets” of heaven.

Looking up from these magnificent floors, giant-order Corinthian flat columns, known as pilasters, line the nave, sitting on pedestals which themselves are nearly six feet tall. Between their capitals, honorific titles for Christ from the Litany of the Sacred Heart give the building an architectural “voice” of praise. An arcade of marble Ionic columns in polished marble tucks between the large pilasters, scaling the high ceiling down to the human scale.

The ceiling is organized by a grid of inset squares, known as coffers, in which the paint changes from the earthly white color of the walls, to golden hues that signify heaven, to blue inset panels filled with glorified stars suggesting the heavens above, which also participate in liturgical worship. As the viewer moves closer to the altar, a great dome rises to 144 feet above the floor, claiming the symbolic number of the height of the walls of the Heavenly Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation (21:17).

Within the cathedral’s dome, a 25-foot image of Christ with his Sacred Heart exposed stands surrounded by the saints in a heavenly garden, an iconographic plan developed by the architect together with the cathedral rector and executed by Evergreene Architectural Arts of New York.
The richness of the cathedral’s interior provides a setting for a great stone altar surmounted by a 45-foot baldachino, a four-columned canopy roughly the height of a four-story building.

The large interior provides a setting of awe and grandeur, yet the baldachino scales the great interior down to the size of the altar and, like a picture frame, makes it the natural focus of the viewer’s attention. Beyond the altar, the tabernacle sits under a tiny replica of the baldachino, marking the Presence of Christ both in the action of the Eucharistic liturgy and the abiding Presence in the reserved Eucharistic species.

Seen on the golden rear wall through the baldachino and above the tabernacle, a golden Tree of Life pattern in vine-like spirals extends the reach of the large crucifix, the true Tree of Life that healed the effects of Adam and Eve eating of the tree in the Garden of Eden.

In sum, the patrons, architects and artists of the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus have done something not seen for more than half a century: they commissioned an affordable building which nonetheless uses an erudite and recognizable classical mode, fine materials, local customs, time-honored Roman motifs, and a theologically-informed iconographic program.

To a faithful Catholic, it might sound obvious to do these things. But recent years have seen many new churches where the client meant well, but lacked the architectural sophistication to hire a classical specialist or the liturgical understanding to see an iconographic program as more than a collection of devotional images.

In Knoxville, the cathedral shows a wholistic approach to sacramentalizing a new world on the interior, a place where space and time suddenly change from the limitations of the fallen world to the expansiveness of the restored cosmos.

The cathedral does indeed represent a great local achievement, and congratulations are in order to all involved. But it is also more. With a humble budget in a diocese of a mere 70,000 Catholics, this cathedral has set the high point to date for architectural and theological richness in the postconciliar United States.

Credits : Adoremus 

Christmas And The Real Presence

It is not a matter of revving ourselves up to experience again the wonder of the Christ Mass. There is no point in trying to recapitulate Christmas as you knew it when you were, say, seven years old. That way lies sentimentalities unbounded.

The alternative is the way of contemplation, of demanding of oneself the disciplined quiet to explore, and be explored by, the astonishment of God become one of us that we may become one with God. He embraced the whole of our experience, beginning as an embryo, as we began as an embryo. In his abject helplessness is our only help.

In response to the announcement by the angel, Mary, the mother of Our Lord, and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptizer, asked the same question: “How can this be?” Zechariah asked in disbelief. Mary asked in wonder. Zechariah doubted, while Mary exemplified the maxim of John Henry Newman that a thousand difficulties do not add up to a doubt.

That the Creator of all should become a creature is a skandalon that is of a piece with the scandal of the cross, the skandalon that God could die. Maternal love is joined to maternal mourning as the mother pondered and anticipated the sword that would pierce her own heart. This is the decisive turning point in the history of man and, if you will, the history of God, for the two are one. Finitum capax infiniti—the finite is capable of the infinite.

There is in the Christian theological tradition the accent on God as the “Totally Other,” the ineffable that transcends our capacity to think or speak. J.B. Phillips’ popular classic Your God Is Too Small is always recommended reading. To appreciate the total otherness of God is to be immune to the angry ravings of the “new atheists” who so ferociously attack a “God” in whom Christians do not believe.

Their God is too small, and yet not small enough. Throughout the ages, people had looked up into the heavens in search of God. Bearing Jesus in her womb, holding Jesus in her arms, Mary looked down into the face of God. Immanence and transcendence require one another. The Totally Other is the predicate of Emmanuel, God with us. Finitum capax infiniti.

Call it a paradox, call it a tension, call it a dialectic. Better still, call it Incarnation. Incarnatus est is the end of playing off the infinite against the finite, the human against the divine, as though Reality were a zero-sum game. How can modern man believe in miracles, Rudolf Bultmann asked, when he knows how to switch on a light bulb? Or, as a parishioner opined the other day, why pray for the healing of a headache when Tylenol works so well?
  
 Incarnatus est is the forging of an unbreakable union between the miraculous and the quotidian, the transcendent and the immanent. All our thinking, our creativity, our science, our labors, along with our sorrows and disappointments, is participation in the life of God become man, in faith’s anticipation of our destiny fulfilled in the life of God.

Not for nothing is the day called Christ Mass. In the Eucharist, it happens again and again. Just as he says, this is his body, this is his blood. Sacramental realism is looking into the face of God as we look at the signs of bread and wine and confess with Thomas the Apostle, “My Lord, and my God!” Here, in this prescribed space and time, see God crucified, risen, and keeping his promise to be with us until his return in glory.

Catholics call it transubstantiation, reflecting the philosophical distinction between substance and accident. Rejecting the philosophy, Luther simply and adamantly insisted upon the sheer isness of the is in “This is my body.” Others have wandered into the mists of subjectivity, suggesting in a hundred different ways that it is if you believe or feel or think it is. But there is no Real Presence without bodily presence.

In communing with loved ones who are not with us, we have our feelings, our memories, our visual images. But that is just it: They are our feelings, our memories, our visual images. There is no breaking out of the circle of subjectivity unless we are encountered by the body of the other. The other is embodied, as in incarnate. And so it is with the Totally Other, the infinite within our finite space and time.

Theologians of an orthodox persuasion sometimes say that the Real Presence does not mean physical presence. This is to guard against the debased notion of a cannibalistic consumption of a portion of human flesh and blood. That is indeed a gross distortion of our being encountered by, and receiving body and soul, the living Christ in his humanity and divinity.

Yet I have come across people who are deeply troubled when they hear it said that the Real Presence is not a physical presence. They misunderstand that to mean that his presence is less than physical, when the point is that his presence is more than physical. The physical is part of the finitude of space and time, which is both embraced and transcended in the wonder of God become man. Finitum capax infiniti.

Mary asked, and we ask, “How can this be?” The fourth-century St. Ambrose wrote of the Real Presence: “Could not Christ’s word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.”

At the crèche and at the Christ Mass, we kneel to adore the human face of God. The Adore Te Devote is attributed to Thomas Aquinas:

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? That shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.

The Kingship Of Jesus Christ Is Good News

Jesus’ reign as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ (Rev. 19:16) is an essential aspect of the gospel we believe. He is the God who has come with might to reign for the Lord and satisfy the deepest needs and longings of his people (see Isa. 40:9’10). Throughout redemptive history, the Messiah was revealed as the promised Savior-King who would rescue, govern, and from the throne of David defend the people of God (see 2 Sam. 7:12’13). His reign marks the fulfillment of Israel’s monarchy, the true purpose of every good and legitimate kingship throughout salvation history.

When we confess Jesus as the Christ, we confess that he is that promised king, whose reign means eternal life and peace for the people of God and eternal judgment for the enemies of God. He is called the Christ (the anointed one) in part because he has been ordained, empowered, and accepted by God to reign as the eternal king over the creation and especially over the church. This article seeks to address three aspects of Jesus’ glorious kingship: (1) how Jesus is a king; (2) how Jesus’ kingdom is already and not yet; and (3) how we can participate in Jesus’ kingdom.

How Jesus Is a King:

As with his priesthood, Jesus Christ did not take upon himself the honor of becoming king (see Heb. 5:5). Rather, the Father appointed and declared Jesus to be king. God has ordained, empowered, and accepted him as supreme ruler over all creation, particularly the church. This means that the Lord appointed Jesus to be the king over his people. Although this can be seen in many places throughout Scripture, it was especially revealed at his conception and baptism.

In Luke 1:32, the angel Gabriel announces Jesus’ kingship to the virgin Mary saying, ‘And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.’ At his baptism, the Holy Spirit visibly descended upon Jesus to publicly anoint him as the Father pronounced the words of coronation over him, ‘You are my beloved Son’ (Mark 1:11). These words fulfill Psalm 2:6-7, which says, ”As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.’ I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

The Lord also empowered Jesus Christ to fulfill his duties as king, some of which include governing, protecting, preserving, enabling the people of God to enjoy the blessings of his kingdom and conquering the enemies of his kingdom. Not only has the Lord ordained and empowered Christ as king over the church and over creation, but he has promised to accept Christ’s labors in that office by granting him supreme authority now and forever. This eternal reign as king is a divine gift given for the glory of God and for the benefit of the church (Eph. 1:21’22).

How Christ’s Kingdom Is Already and Not Yet:

Christ’s reign has an already-and-not-yet aspect to it. Ephesians 1:22 emphasizes the ‘already’ aspect by telling us that ‘God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.’ God has already appointed Christ as ruler over all things he is king over all right now, and this reign has been established for the benefit of the church. However, there is also a sense in which Christ’s universal kingship has yet to be fully realized.

1 Corinthians 15:25 says that ‘he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. This indicates that in some way, there are enemies whose defeat has not been fully realized. In this case, 1 Corinthians is speaking of death as an enemy whose complete subjection has yet to be fully revealed.

Christ already abolished death through his righteous life, atoning death, and justifying resurrection (1 Tim. 1:10), but the universal effects of this victory are not yet fully seen. Death has already been stripped of its power to permanently hold the people of God in its icy grip, but it has not yet been permanently done away with.

We still weep at the funerals of the saints who have been separated from us through death. But on the last day, Christ’s decisive victory will swallow up death and his reign over it will be fully revealed (1 Cor. 15:54’55).

Death’s effects will be completely subsumed by Christ’s glorious reign of eternal life.

Similarly, the other enemies of the people of God namely, sin and Satan have also been conquered, stripped of their power to do any lasting harm to Christ’s flock. The serpent has been defanged, and through his saving work, Christ has indeed destroyed the works of the devil. He has liberated his people from the bondage of sin, but Christians (through the Spirit) must continue to resist and mortify these already defeated foes. This period of not-yet is the outworking of Christ’s already reign.

Until he returns, King Jesus gathers, justifies, and sanctifies more of his kingdom citizens by the Holy Spirit. He displays his authority through the preservation and protection of his people as their king and, in so doing, is glorified by them. However, God promises that when Christ returns in his kingly glory, not only his own people but every person’s knee will bow in submission and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10’11).

How We Can Participate in Jesus’ Kingdom:

At his ascension, Jesus announces his kingship to his disciples, telling them of the universal authority that has been granted to him by the Father. It is by this authority that Jesus commands his disciples to spread his kingdom throughout the nations by baptizing and making disciples (Matt. 28:18’20). He tells them that there are three primary ways people participate in the kingdom, ways in which his reign of redemption will come to the ends of the earth.

1. By Faith:

They are to preach the gospel because people participate in the kingdom by faith (Mark 16:15). By faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we come to belong to King Jesus as his people and to enjoy the blessings of his reign. Faith in Christ means entrusting oneself in loving submission to the kingship of Christ as he presents himself to us in his word. Rather than using sociopolitical or military means to establish his reign, Jesus established his kingship through perfect obedience to the Father, faithfully loving, serving, and giving his life as a ransom for his people.

As the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the glory of Christ’s reign of redemption, we embrace him and submit to him as our Lord. At present, Jesus exercises his lordship in our lives by the Spirit of Christ through the proclamation of the word and partaking of the sacraments. He uses both to transform our lives in conformity to his will. Even unbelievers submit to Jesus’ universal reign, whether they know it or not! According to Colossians 1:16, ‘all things were created through him and for him.’ But they don’t participate in his reign of redemption unless they repent and believe the gospel.

2. By Obedience:

Jesus tells his disciples not only to teach his commands but also to teach others to obey his commands (Matt. 28:20). Obedience is an essential aspect of participation in the kingdom of Christ.

In Luke 6:46, Jesus asks a crowd, ‘Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?’ According to King Jesus, participation in his kingdom means practical obedience to his commands by continual repentance from sin in submission to his lordship.

The Bible reveals Christ’s commands so that we might obey him. Therefore, we must study and obey Scripture in submission to Jesus’ lordship and teach others to obey for the furtherance of the kingdom. Obedience here assumes the context of faithful participation in the life of the local church. As we are reminded and challenged by the gospel witness of the local church, we spur one another on in obedience and hence greater submission to the lordship of Christ.

3. By the Sacraments:

Baptism marks a person’s entrance into the church, the visible expression of the kingdom of God. Anyone who seeks to participate in the kingdom should bear the visible sign of the kingdom. Baptism is Christ’s mark upon his citizens, which visibly distinguishes them from the world. By faith, it strengthens them in their warfare against sin and Satan by reminding them of their union with King Jesus as one of his people. The Lord’s Supper reminds us of Christ’s public victory over evil, sin, and death at the cross. But it also unites us across ethnic, class, national, and gender lines as citizens of one kingdom under the reign of Christ.

The Eucharist and Our Lady

During his visit to Ireland in August 2018, the Holy Father visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland. The apparition at the origin of this place of pilgrimage speaks of Mary as “Woman of the Eucharist.”

On that rainy evening on the August 21, 1879, a bright heavenly vision appeared outside the gable end of the parish church in the small isolated village of Knock, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland.

The Mother of God appeared, flanked by St. Joseph her spouse, and St. John the Evangelist, who was wearing a mitre and holding a book open in his hands. Near them was an altar on which stood the Lamb of God, with a cross at the back of the lamb.

“Around the lamb,” recounts Patrick Hill, one of the witnesses, “I saw angels hovering during the whole time, for the space of one hour and a half or longer.”¹ Our Lady did not speak at all during the apparition. As the same witness relates: “I distinctly beheld the Blessed Virgin Mary, life size, standing about two feet or so above the ground, clothed in white robes which were fastened at the neck. Her hands were raised to the height of the shoulders, as if in prayer, with the palms facing each other.”

This silent apparition is extremely eloquent. It is an icon of the Church: the Eucharistic Body, the Lamb on the altar, is at the centre of the Mystical Body, God’s holy People. The heavenly Church — Our Lady, Saints Joseph and John and the angels — are joined with the pilgrim Church, the group of local parishioners of Knock, in silent adoration of the Saviour of the world in the mystery of his sacrifice.

This beautiful catechesis is profoundly Eucharistic. The Liturgy of the Word (St. John with the book open in his hand) and the Liturgy of the Eucharist (the Lamb on the altar of sacrifice) together form one single event. The angels, saints and the local people — the entire Communion of Saints — are gathered around the altar of sacrifice. Mary’s silent prayer is a model of Eucharistic adoration. The mystery of the Church and the mystery of the Eucharist come together in the person, vocation and mission of Mary.

As Benedict XVI taught: “The Church sees in Mary, ‘Woman of the Eucharist’ . . . her finest icon, and she contemplates Mary as a singular model of the Eucharistic life”.

Active Participation with Mary

A human being can do many important things in the course of a lifetime, achieving ambitious goals and making a lasting impact, and sometimes even taking part in great historical events. Nothing however can remotely compare with the value and reach of a single Mass “in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”

As Pope Francis taught during his recent catechesis on the Eucharistic celebration: “This is the Mass: to enter this passion, death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus; when we go to Mass it is as if we were going to Calvary itself. . . The Mass is experiencing Calvary.”

Given this reality, in our weekly and daily routine there is nothing more valuable, effective, significant, or meaningful than to take part in the holy Mass. “Here is the Church’s treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfilment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns,” as St. John Paul II proclaimed.

To take part in the Mass with a good disposition is to come to experience at the deepest level of our being, independently of our emotional state at the time, “the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge” (Eph 3:18).

We can never deepen our understanding and love for the Mass enough because God’s love poured out in the sacrifice of Jesus, made present on the altar, is inexhaustible. There are nonetheless many ways to increase our knowledge and love for the greatest of all the sacraments. Among the most powerful ways is to “live” the Lord’s sacrifice in communion of mind, heart, and soul with Mary, the Lord’s Mother, and “Woman of the Eucharist.” As St. John Paul II taught: “Mary can guide us towards this most holy sacrament, because she herself has a profound relationship with it.”

In recent times the Church has repeatedly encouraged all the faithful to take part fully and consciously in the Eucharistic celebration. This active participation consists in fully uniting oneself with the self-giving love of Christ who offers himself for the salvation of the world. Such participation, not to be misconstrued as necessarily performing some physical activity during the celebration, is rather a full, active, and conscious partaking in Christ’s oblation insofar as we freely associate ourselves and all that we are and do with the Lord’s offering to the Father in the Holy Spirit for the salvation of the world. As Benedict XVI clarified:

“It should be made clear that the word ‘participation’ does not refer to mere external activity during the celebration. In fact, the active participation called for by the Council must be understood in more substantial terms, on the basis of a greater awareness of the mystery being celebrated and its relationship to daily life.”

Active participation, therefore, is to make our own “the mind” of Christ Jesus who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). Authentic participation in the liturgy is a positive decision and effort of our intellect and will under God’s grace.
Mary was not merely a witness or onlooker at the foot of the Cross. Indeed, “throughout her life at Christ’s side and not only on Calvary, [she] made her own the sacrificial dimension of the Eucharist.”

 Mary is mother of the Victim offered on the Cross and on the altar; she is the mother of the eternal Priest who carries out the sacrifice and she fully associates herself with his offering for the sake of the salvation of all her children and for the entire world. As preeminent member of the Church, Mary also offers the sacrifice of the Mass in union with the whole People of God. As Vatican II teaches: “Suffering with her Son as he died on the Cross, she cooperated in a totally singular way by her obedience, faith, hope, and ardent charity in restoring supernatural life to souls.”

Mary guides and accompanies us as we unite ourselves deeply with Christ’s love-offering on Calvary and in the Eucharist.

This text is merely an attempt to suggest some aspects of the mystery of the relationship between Our Lady and the Sacrament of Love which is the Eucharist. It can be seen that Our Lady relates to the Mystery of the Eucharist in the three dimensions of this Sacrament, of “sacrifice, presence, banquet.”

Sacrifice-Sacrament

As St. John Paul II pointed out in his first encyclical, the Eucharist is “at one and the same time a Sacrifice-Sacrament, a Communion-Sacrament and a Presence-Sacrament.” No one like his Mother can show us how to offer ourselves in union with Jesus, how to receive him with gratitude and joy, and how to adore him with the loving gaze of contemplation.

Before all else the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Passion of Jesus. While “there is no doubt that the most evident dimension of the Eucharist is that it is a meal . . . yet it must not be forgotten that the Eucharistic meal also has a profoundly and primarily sacrificial meaning.”

Our Lady is personally involved in this oblation since she freely and consciously associates herself with Christ’s offering. Her heart, like that of her Son, is pierced (cf. Lk 2:35 and Jn 19:34).

In the words of Benedict XVI, “Mary, present on Calvary beneath the Cross, is also present with the Church and as Mother of the Church in each one of our Eucharistic celebrations. No one better than she, therefore can teach us to understand and live Holy Mass with faith and love, uniting ourselves with Christ’s redeeming sacrifice.”

Presence-Sacrament

The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which become present on the altar under the appearances or “species” of bread and wine, are the Body and Blood the Lord received from Mary his ever-virgin mother. The Blessed Mother “bore in her womb the Word made flesh” and thus “became in a way a ‘tabernacle’ — the first ‘tabernacle’ in history.”

The Holy Prophet Isaiah had foretold that a virgin would “conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (Is 7:14, Mt 1:23). This same Saviour is the God who is with us, really, truly, and substantially present in the Eucharist.

The Body offered on the altar of the Cross and made present in every Mass is the Body Christ received from his virgin-mother by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:35). As Venerable Fulton Sheen has written: “When the Divine Child was conceived, Mary’s humanity gave him hands and feet, eyes and ears, and a body with which to suffer. Just as the petals of a rose after a dew close on the dew as if to absorb its energies, so too, Mary as the Mystical Rose closed upon him whom the Old Testament had described as a dew descending upon the earth.”

Catholics often appeal to Mary: “Show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb.” This prayer can take on a Eucharistic meaning as we ask the one most intimately united to Jesus to help us recognise, love, and adore him in the sacrament of his Real Presence. In fact, true devotion to Our Lady always leads to love for the Eucharist. Time and again the history of the Church has shown that “Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist.”

Communion-Sacrament

Mary also teaches us how to receive Christ into our body and soul. At the moment of the Annunciation she welcomed the Saviour into her virginal womb.

Our Lady freely accepted her vocation to become the Mother of God, and thus “the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” (Jn 1:14). She teaches us how to receive the Lord with unconditional love and openness to his will: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). The presence of Christ in the body and soul of Mary increased her holiness. Learning from her, we can seek to welcome all the graces arising from Eucharistic Communion with her divine Son.

St. Josemaría Escrivá (+ 1975), founder of Opus Dei, was a great lover of the Eucharist. As a young boy he was prepared for his first holy Communion by a Piarist priest, Fr Manuel Laborda de la Virgen del Carmen, affectionately known as “Padre Manolé.” To help the young Josemaría prepare to receive our Lord, Padre Manolé taught him this spiritual communion prayer: “I wish Lord to receive you, with the purity, humility and devotion, with which your most holy Mother received you, and with the spirit and fervour of the saints.”

 The prayer is simple and very deep. It expresses the desire to welcome Jesus with the loving dispositions with which his mother Mary embraced him in body and soul. There is no better way to desire to receive Christ.

 The relationship between Mary and the Bread of Life is beautifully expressed by St. Peter Chrysologus, the “Doctor of Homilies” (+ c. 450): “Christ himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.”

The Mass and the Gift of our Mother

There is also a specifically Marian dimension to the Mass. Shortly before he died, the crucified Christ gave Mary his Mother to be the mother also of his followers: “Behold your mother!” (Jn 19:27). It is within the context of his Passion that the Lord gives us his mother to be our mother too.

The Mass is the “memorial” of the Cross. The liturgical action makes present the work of salvation carried out by Jesus in his life, death and resurrection.

 In his encyclical on the Eucharist, St. John Paul II pointed out that “in the ‘memorial’ of Calvary all that Christ accomplished by his passion and death is present. Consequently all that Christ did with regard to his Mother for our sake is also present.

To her he gave the beloved disciple and, in him, each of us: ‘Behold, your Son!’ To each of us he also says: ‘Behold your mother!’ (cf. Jn 19:26–27). Experiencing the memorial of Christ’s death in the Eucharist also means continually receiving this gift. It means accepting – like John – the one who is given to us anew as our Mother.”

To take part in the Mass is to welcome Our Lady once and again as our beloved mother, and devotion to Mary leads us to the Mass. Indeed, “the piety of the Christian people has always very rightly sensed a profound link between devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the worship of the Eucharist.”

This is borne out by the prominence of the Blessed Eucharist in every Marian shrine. Indeed the Eucharist has been called “the source and crown of all Marian piety and spirituality.”

A Mystery to Explore

A great deal more could be said regarding the relationship between the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist. It could be a fruitful theme for study and prayer.

In any event, reflection on the Holy Eucharist from a Marian Perspective can only go to show how Christocentric true Marian devotion is, since the person and vocation of Mary are shown to be inseparable from that of the one and only Saviour. In the light of the Eucharist Mary is seen as the New Eve who collaborates in a unique way with the Redemption carried out by the New Adam, Christ Jesus.

Are Indian Catholic Christans No Different Than Other Indians In The Eyes Of Immigration Officials In North America and The West ??

I have often wondered about this having lived for more than 4 Years In The United States some 20 Years ago.

As Things stand now in Countries Like The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and The United Kingdom it is difficult to gain entry even if you are an Indian Catholic Christian with trappings of Western Culture and all.

It seems like you are viewed just as any other Indian is viewed.

Indians as Immigrants seem to be despised in all countries I have mentioned above.

Well, They are to blame also.

Many Indians specially those who enter into "Arranged Marriages" tend to abuse the Immigration System in General.

However, When an Indian Catholic Christian who is highly educated and Westernized wants to enter a Country in North America he is viewed with suspicion just as the Average Indian is viewed.

Immigration Officials in North America do not tend to be "Discerning" in any sort of way.

There is a lot of stereotyping that goes on as far as Indians as Potential Immigrants is concerned.

I would like to appeal to Immigration Officials in the United States and Canada in particular to have a "Discerning Mind" when an Educated Indian Catholic Christian applies for an Immigrant Visa.

Educated Indian Catholic Christians should not be grouped with other Indians who are Hindus, Sikhs, Or Moslems.

They need to be viewed differently and treated with some Deference.

October Is The Rosary Month

Current scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages period. The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful.

The Feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.

Legend tells us that the Rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. The Dominican pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. It was the same Pope St. Pius V, who in 1569 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices. It had been completed by the addition of the second half of the "Hail Mary" and the "Glory be to the Father" at the conclusion of each mystery.

Middle Ages where it came into being in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 "Our Fathers" counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or "corona." With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" developed now substituting 150 "Hail Marys" in place of the "Our Fathers."
The 150 "Hail Marys" were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary.

The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. He also attributed the origin of the Rosary, then known as the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin" to St. Dominic and thus spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern. The Dominicans have, since then, promulgated the Rosary with notable results.

The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the last century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary.

Beginning on September 1, 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898. We are currently celebrating the centennial of these papal encyclicals.

Many other popes have contributed to help increase devotion to the Rosary by their writings. In the recent past, Pope Paul VI ( papacy: 1963-1978) devoted the last section of his Apostolic Exhortation MARIALIS CULTUS to the Angelus and the Rosary (MC 40-55). In this document, he wrote that "the Rosary retains an unaltered value and intact freshness." (MC, 41)

The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer. This can be summarized by the traditional phrase used by Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) that the Rosary is " a compendium of the entire Gospel" (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419). The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.

John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).

Every October, let us consider this beautiful prayer of the Rosary as a means that we too can use in order to draw closer to Jesus and Mary by meditating on the great mysteries of our salvation.

 Credits : University Of Dayton at Ohio.

Also Read, "OCTOBER IS ROSARY MONTH -- WHY PRAY THE ROSARY.

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