Each year on Holy Thursday the bishop blesses new sacramental oils which will be used to anoint the catechumens, the sick and be used in confirmations. These oils are a mixture of olive oil and special perfumes. Representatives of each parish go down to the cathedral and obtain the oils to be taken back to their parishes for use in the sacraments during the upcoming year. At the end of the year, the Book of Blessings stipulates that the oils should be burned. Some parishes burn the oils in the Easter fire on Holy Saturday. In communities that do not burn the oils they often bury them in consecrated ground.
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One of the first things that Jesus says in the New Testament is "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mark 1:15). This verse is sometimes used in the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday at the beginning of our retreat for purification and enlightenment. The Greek word μετάνοια or metanoia, which has been alternatively translated as "repentance," "conversion," or even "change of one’s mind." That last option, while the most literal, doe not quite capture the depth and richness of the term. Metanoia comes from the combination of meta meaning "after" or "beyond" and nous meaning "mind". This term evoked the Hebrew תשובה (teshuvah) which is a “return” or turning back to God. Metanoia is not merely changing one's mind in the sense of exchanging one set of beliefs for another. Nor is it merely repentance in the sense of critical self-examination and sorrow for one's sins. Rather, metanoia involves a radical realignment of our vision, a fundamentally new orientation or way of seeing the world. As we continue to journey through this period of purification and enlightenment, ask yourself, "In what ways has my new faith fundamentally changed the way in which I see the world?"Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts 40 days until Easter. The 40 days are symbolic. Tradition holds that Christ himself was in the desert for 40 days before the start of his ministry. The Jewish people journeyed for 40 years to the promised land. The Gospel of Luke describes there being 40 generations from the creation until the advent of Christ. St. Gregory the Great taught that the Ten Commandments were fulfilled/multiplied by the Four Gospels and that we rightly offer a tenth of the year to God.
This journey of purification and enlightenment toward the waters of baptism recalls the People of God’s journey from Egypt to the river of Jordan and their entering into the Promised Land. In the early church, at the start of the catechumenate, participants were signed with salt, so also the entire community recalls their journey toward full initiation and is signed with ashes. At the end of this period we enter the promised land of Full Communion with the Church. Traditionally, these ashes are made from the burned palm leaves from the previous year that were once fresh and green and now dry. When signed with ashes on the forehead it is stated that “you are dust and to dust you shall return.” In this way, we begin anew in humility, and we renew our commitment to live out our baptism with prayer, fasting and alms-giving. This also recalls the Signing of the Senses we received at the beginning of this journey. The period of purification and enlightenment for those seeking initiation gave rise to the period of lent. Lent is the time for the whole community to participate in this call to deeper conversion and to share with the elect in their preparation to enter the promised land of full communion. We do not join in their celebration of Lent for the first time. Lent is what we call the participation of those already initiated when they share in our period Purification and Enlightenment. Predestination is a Calvinist doctrine that God decides, independently of a person’s exercise of freedom and manifestation of good will, who will be saved and who will be damned. According to this system people can do nothing at all about their salvation, all people deserve to damned by justice but some are saved as a favor to manifest the grace of God. John Calvin was a French theologian who left the Catholic Church in 1533. The Catholic Church does not believe in predestination. The Council of Trent taught that all people have been called to the status of adopted children of God. The Catholic tradition insists that God not only makes a declaration of worthiness for salvation but he also transforms us and makes us new creatures in Christ and the Holy Spirit. God offers the gift of inner transformation to all people. No one is excluded beforehand. Only a free choice to reject God’s grace can prevent this. God wills the salvation of all people and will achieve that purpose unless people choose to reject salvation by their own choice. The Catholic tradition strongly emphasizes the freedom of people to make decisions that matter. Neither heaven nor hell is imposed on anyone by God. Both are states of being which are consequences of their own choices.
Advent wreaths come out with the start of Advent which is normally the last week of November and there is a special blessing found in the Book of Blessings for the occasion. Christmas Trees on the other hand are normally put up after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 and remain up until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 8. A manger scene or Crèche is generally put up after Gaudete Sunday following a tradition began by St. Francis of Assisi. In the Church the Christmas Season does not officially begin until Christmas and ends on the Feast of Baptism of the Lord.
At the begining of Mass the Book of the Gospel is often processed into the church and placed on the alter. The book is often decorated with four symbolic creatures; angel, lion, ox, and eagle. These symbols come from the visions of the prophet Ezekiel and the Revelation of St John. The book of Revelation describes:
In the center and around the throne, there were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. The first creature resembled a lion, the second was like a calf, the third had a face like that of a human being, and the fourth looked like an eagle in flight. The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” In our tradition these creatures are associated with the authors of the four gospels; St Matthew with the angel, St Mark with the Lion, St Luke with the Ox, and St John with the Eagle. This tradition goes back to the early centuries of the Church. These depictions have been common in the Latin West and can be found in the famous Book of Kells, or the Psalter pictured above from around the year 1200, along with many Gospel Books used today. The voice of a lion crying out in the wilderness became associated with St Mark’s Gospel because that is how his gospel begins, with John the Baptist preaching from the desert that now is the time to prepare for the Lord is coming. St Matthew first laid out the human geneology of Christ and so the human face has become linked to that narrative. St. Luke started his narrative with Zechariah a priest of the Jerusalem Temple and father of John the Baptist. The image of the Ox evoked temple sacrifices and the priestly origin of the Baptist. St. John had a soaring view of who Christ was which he decribed in his prologue and thus was associated with the symbol of the eagle. Advent Wreaths are something that you may see in Catholic churches and homes during the season of Advent. Sometimes they are lit by the priest at the beginning of mass and other places they may simply be burning during the liturgy. Many catholic families have one that they place on the dinner table during Advent. Often times the candles will by lit by the family before or after the family meal. The wreath itself is made of evergreens to evoke everlasting life because they stay green and alive through the cold of winter. Normally the wreath also has four candles, three purple and one pink. Each week during advent one additional candle is lit starting with the purple ones. On the third Sunday of Advent the pink candle is lit. The third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means rejoice. The day gets its name from the first words of the mass on that day which are “Gaudete in Domino semper…” meaning, rejoice in the Lord always. Gaudete Sunday has a more joyful theme than the rather somber tone of the other sundays of advent. Some advent wreaths may have a fifth white candle at the center signifiing Christ.
The crucifix is a depiction of the execution of Christ by the State. After the trial, when Christ was set to be executed, the Governor ordered a sign to be placed above him in Aramaic, Greek and Latin. The Greek read Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων and the Latin was IESVS·NAZARENVS·REX·IVDÆORVM. Most crucifixes simply abbreviate this to INRI for the Latin text. The sign read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Generally Christ is shown in a in a loin cloth but occasionally entirely nude and his right hand is in the gesture of blessing. The body is referred to as the corpus. Often a cross is processed into church and placed near the altar at the beginning of Mass. After the signing on the forehead by the priest during the Rite of Acceptance the Catechumens are presented with a cross as a memorializing that they have been marked by the cross and have received the sign of his love. The Golden Legend written in about 1260 and was one of the most widely read books during the medieval period. The author was Giacomo da Varagine, Bishop of Genoa who was later beatified. It is said that the book was read second only to the Bible during this period. The work is a collection of reflections that go along with liturgical year and contain fantastical stories of the Saint’s lives that go along with the feast days. Most of the details and imagery found in the book are the influences for the religious symbolism in medieval art. In the Golden Legend the story of the cross begins with the death of Adam. As Adam lay dying his son Seth went to the gates of paradise seeking oil from the tree of mercy to anoint and heal his father. An angel did not bring back resin/oil but rather gave him a shoot from the tree and informed him when it grew and bore its fruit his father would be made whole. Sadly when Seth returned he found that his father had already died. Seth planted the shoot above his father’s grave. By the time of King Solomon the shoot had grown into a mighty tree. The tree was cut down and intended to be used in his palace however the way it was cut caused it to be useless for that purpose. It was then used as part of a bridge which was being built at the Temple. The Queen of Sheba had a dream that a man would be hung from it and bring about the destruction of the kingdom. Solomon therefore removed the piece wood and buried it deep in the earth to prevent this and a pond formed above the spot. The pond then was said to have healing powers. At the time of the Lord’s passion the wood dislodged and floated to the surface. It was then used it to make the cross. Christ was then hung at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal, the temporal and eternal. The affliction of Adam had been healed after a circuitous and unforeseen route. The Golden Legend wanted to make clear the connection between Calvary and Eden, the old Adam and the new. In the Eastern Roman Empire the common language of the people was Greek. Even in Rome where the language of the governing classes was Latin the mass was however celebrated in Greek until the third century. From the third century onward the Mass was in Latin in the West. The change in language was done so that the people could understand what was being said in their own language. In the fifth century the Kyrie Eleison became part of the liturgy in the West. It was an adoption of Greek customs from the eastern Church. The Kyrie Eleison is a Greek prayer which is a repeated asking God for mercy. Kyrie Elsison is a transliteration into Latin letters of the Greek phrase Χριστέ, ἐλέησον which means “Lord, have mercy.”
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