July 31 is the Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This year, it is superseded by Sunday. However, it is worth giving Ignatius a note of recognition on his day. St. Ignatius has always been a favorite of mine due to his zeal for faith and study and for teaching the Truth in ways people can understand.
As Ignatius himself tells the story of his life, the first lesson was “discernment.” He had lived life for himself until he was wounded in a battle. During his convalescence, he read the lives of Saints and discovered that when he thought about following their example he experienced a real depth of joy that endured after his thoughts were passed, whereas when he thought about his previous pursuits, he enjoyed the reflections, but the sense of delight ended and left him dry. He noticed the difference and decided to commit himself to the Greater Glory of God (Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam).
Ignatius also taught about prayer with Scripture, inviting those who follow his retreat to enter into the Scriptural accounts with imagination and feeling, as well as with thoughts. This form of prayer can make the Scripture passages you read more real and alive for you.
Many in our community have experienced the Jesuit method of teaching, an approach that allows for a rational study of our Faith. Those who use this approach are invited to reflect on the sources available to us to see how reasonable our act of Faith is: Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium, that is, the Bible, the writings of the Fathers and theologians through the ages, and the living teaching authority of the Church (our Pope and Bishops in communion with him).
As we prepare for our Jubilee, we are all invited to consider the roots of our Faith as a Parish Community. We need access to the sources of the life we share: those who were there in the beginning of the Parish, and the stories that have been told and passed down in families. We also need artifacts: the directories, parish rosters, and pictures of the way we were. All are asked to take some time looking through old boxes and albums and bring them to share. Let’s gather the story while we it is still fresh.
Countdown to our Golden Jubilee: Getting to know Saint Timothy.
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions through the hypocrisy of liars with branded consciences. They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the invocation of God in prayer.
(I Timothy 4:1-5)
The first Christians were very realistic about the cost of their Faith. They knew that there would always be trouble, physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual, as they sought to put their Faith in Jesus into practice. We can see the prophecy recorded in this chapter of the First Letter to Timothy as being fulfilled in our own day. Many families experience the loss of Faith across the generations. The common beliefs of our day are often exactly the falsehoods mentioned here. Marriage is under attack on multiple fronts. The latest fads about what foods are to be eaten or avoided have more influence than the Church practices of discipline of our appetites. The only answer to this is prayer, giving God thanks and invoking the Spirit to make the world around us holy. We need to see the world around us through the eyes of Faith and with the insight given by the Spirit of Christ. The world and all that is in it belongs to God. We are to make use of the material and spiritual gifts we have received to give Glory to God.
Reflections on the Liturgy:
The document that guides the Church in the Latin Rite in the celebration of the Liturgy is called “Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani,” the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. This has been published in three editions. The new Roman Missal which will be promulgated in English this November finds its norms in this Instruction. It will be helpful to offer a few notes on the principles guiding the celebration of the Liturgy as they are given in the G.I.R.M.
The G.I.R.M. is available online on the US Bishops’ website.
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/revmissalisromanien.shtml
A Preamble sets the context.
Preamble
1. When he was about to celebrate with his disciples the Passover meal in which he instituted the sacrifice of his Body and Blood, Christ the Lord gave instructions that a large, furnished upper room should be prepared (Lk 22:12). The Church has always regarded this command as applying also to herself when she gives directions about the preparation of people's hearts and minds, and of the places, rites, and texts for the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist. The current norms, prescribed in keeping with the will of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, and the new Missal that the Church of the Roman Rite is to use from now on in the celebration of Mass are also evidence of the great concern of the Church, of her faith, and of her unchanged love for the great mystery of the Eucharist. They likewise bear witness to the Church's continuous and unbroken tradition, irrespective of the introduction of certain new features.
The Church speaks today with the authority of Christ Himself. When she exercises her authority, she is at once attentive to the responsibility to do what Jesus Himself commanded and, at the same time, to the need to apply it to the needs of the present day. Some items are kept the same across the generations because they are the will of the Lord for the Church through all time. Some items are conscientiously adapted to present circumstances and the needs of the Faithful in order to continue to be faithful to the Lord in the new situation.
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