November 13, 2011
November 13, 2011 Column Father De Celles
Baby Mary Madeleine: Sofi. A year ago this coming Monday, November 14, is the first birthday of the baby girl I’ve been calling “Baby Mary Madeleine.” It is also the 1 year anniversary of the day a parishioner found her left in the parking lot of our church. That was a miraculous day. And we continue to give praise to the Lord Jesus for saving her life and entrusting us, if ever so briefly, with her young life.
When the police and EMS arrived to take her to the hospital she immediately became a ward of the County. Since then, officials have been rightly protective of her privacy. They have, however, kindly allowed me to keep in touch with her, while at the same time keeping me under a complete “gag-order.”
Well the gag-order has ended, as she has been legally adopted by the wonderful couple who have been her foster parents for this last year. Even though we want to continue protecting her privacy, her parents now want to bring her “home” and introduce her to her many brothers and sisters in Christ at St. Raymond’s.
So, next Sunday, Nov. 20, after the 12:15 Mass, all St. Raymond parishioners are invited to a birthday party in our Parish Hall for little Anna Sofia Rae, or “Sofi,” aka “Baby Mary Madeleine,” and her parents. This is a “private” party, parishioners only—no press, and I ask you not to publicize this in any way.
Sofi is a beautiful, sweet and vivacious child. And God has placed her with two kind and loving parents, whom I would like to thank for opening their generous hearts to God and Sofi, and also to me over this last year. And now they extend that generosity in a particular way to all of us at St. Raymond’s.
Consecration to the Sacred Heart. Next Sunday is also a special day for our whole diocese as Bishop Loverde will be consecrating the diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Moreover, he has asked all the pastors to consecrate their parishes in like manner. So at every Mass next Sunday the priest will say the very short prayer marking this consecration.
The devotion is to the Sacred Heart, which is as old as the Church, but became more particularly developed after a series of apparitions of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673. All this is beautifully explained in Bishop Loverde’s new Pastoral Letter, Fountain of Life, Fire of Love, (a link to the letter is on the parish website). In his letter the Bishop quotes Pope Pius XII:
“…Christ our Lord, exposing His Sacred Heart, wished in a quite extraordinary way to invite the minds of men to a contemplation of, and a devotion to, the mystery of God’s merciful love for the human race. In this special manifestation Christ pointed to His Heart, with definite and repeated words, as the symbol by which men should be attracted to a knowledge and recognition of His love; and at the same time He established it as a sign or pledge of mercy and grace for the needs of the Church of our times”
The Bishop goes on to write: “I invite families to make a family act of consecration, together with an enthronement of the Sacred Heart — that is, the placement of an image of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in the home — as a reminder that Christ should be the center of the family, the domestic church. In addition, the Lord promised that where the image of His Heart is honored, He would bring peace to the home, unite families, bless them with all the graces necessary for their state in life and be a secure refuge in life and death.”
NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MASS, continued. After a brief hiatus, let’s turn to the prayers/responses of the people after the Eucharistic Prayer. The first prayer would be the Our Father, which, fortunately, is not changed at all, since the old translation (OT) used a very ancient traditional translation. The doxology afterward (“For the kingdom…”) also remains unchanged.
The next part for the people comes when the priest lifts up and shows the Eucharist to the people and proclaims:
OT: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
NT: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.
The phrase “This is” has been replaced with “Behold,” precisely translating the Latin, “Ecce.” Although “behold” is not used in every day English, it used very frequently in most translations of Scripture, particularly in translating John 1:29, from which this acclamation is taken: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” This is, of course, the prophet St. John the Baptist’s acclamation after he baptized Jesus, not only recognizing Him as the Messiah, but as the Lamb who would be sacrificed for our salvation. Also, notice how “Behold” is repeated in the Mass’s version, as if to emphasize the marvel before us: “Look!…Look!” But this second “behold” is not in John 1:29. Its inclusion in the Mass’s version may point to John 1:36, where the Baptist repeats, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” this time to two men who go on to become the first Apostles, Ss. Andrew and John. Here we see the priest as prophet, calling us to recognize that what we behold before us is truly God in the flesh, the Sacrificed Lamb of the New Covenant. And then we are called, like Andrew and John, to follow him.
The priest continues:
OT: Happy are those who are called to his supper;
NT: Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.
In the NT we are not merely “happy” but “blessed” (Latin: “beati), a word Scripture uses to describe those who receive the fullness of God’s gifts (“happiness” being only one of those). We are reminded of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are…” and the incredible promises they make, including, “the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” It also ties us directly to the Scriptural source of this saying, from John’s vision of heaven recorded in Revelation 19:9: “Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” So here the priest reminds us, again, that we are present at the heavenly wedding banquet, Christ the Bridegroom and His Church the Bride. A very different prayer in the NT than in the OT.
And then we respond:
OT: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.
NT: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
Here, thankfully, the NT corrects the OT and gives us the Latin’s actual words, quoting from Matthew 8:8, as the Roman centurion responds to Jesus’ agreeing to go to cure his servant: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Scripture tells us: “Jesus …marveled, and said …”not even in Israel have I found such faith.” In all this we see not merely the profound humility (“I am not worthy”) but also the faith that is necessary to receive the Eucharist. This is a call to believe, with the faith of the centurion, that the Eucharist is exactly what we have just heard Jesus say it is: “this is my body.”
The only difference between the prayer and Scripture is the phrase “my soul” replacing “my servant” (and “I” in the OT), which reminds us that this is not merely physical food, but also food for the “soul.” On the other hand, “under my roof” reminds us that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,” so the spiritual food must have an effect on the way we live with our bodies: “So glorify God in your body” [1 Cor. 6:19, 20].
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles