Saturday, September 18, 2010

Narcissism and me

"Happily I can eat, pray and love to my heart’s content — all within the confines of my home with the people whose very lives bless and fulfill me and a God who has blessed me beyond anything I deserve. I need not seek Him in out of the way places but rather find Him here every day in my home; and a mile away where His real presence resides in my church and in the face of those I meet all around me." --Mary Ellen Barrett, "Worst Book Ever (At least, that I've read"), Catholic Exchange.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

"Lame Duck" translations

I share with Fr. Zuhlsdorf at What Does the Prayer Really Say? an enthusiasm for the upcoming revised translation of the Roman Missal. The language is much more theologically robust, poetic, and scriptural. He has done a lot to help the faithful get past the obscurities of the current ICEL translation to see the depth and beauty of the Latin text.

I wonder, though, whether "lame duck" is the best term to describe the current translation. I associate that term with impotence and ineffectiveness. Whatever its inferiority to the revised translation, it is certainly neither impotent or ineffective. In fact, many wonderful and holy Catholics today have had their relationships with Christ an His Church fed exclusively with this translation. And this will continue to be the case until Advent, 2011. I have always advocated for a better translation and at the same time defended the spiritual potential of the present translation. It is not negligible.

I think the best approach is to say, "You think the current translation is spiritual rich; wait until you try the revised one!"

Monday, September 13, 2010

In honor of today's memorial

From the Catechism.
8. Periods of renewal in the Church are also intense moments of catechesis. In the great era of the Fathers of the Church, saintly bishops devoted an important part of their ministry to catechesis. St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, and many other Fathers wrote catechetical works that remain models for us.