~Holy Saturday~


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From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday (source: divineoffice.org)
The Lord descends into hell

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

RESPONSORY

Our shepherd, the source of the water of life, has died. The sun was darkened when he passed away. But now man’s captor is made captive.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

He has destroyed the barricades of hell, overthrown the sovereignty of the devil.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

 

~ Good Friday~

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"So they took Jesus and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle."

John 19:17-18

 

Be with Christ today. Stand beside the cross and unite your suffering with his. Compare your wounds with his and see that they are small, but give them to him anyway. Compare your strength to his and see that you are weak, but give yourself to him anyway. Walk with him, bleed with him, die with him today.

Catholic Women have Style, Sex, and Substance

  StyleSexSubstance

It was the perfect storm. Just as the HHS mandate was making front page news and all the world was becoming aware that the Catholic Church forbids contraception, Rick Santorum was pushing towards the front of the GOP presidential nominee race and my children were being featured on the front page of the New York Times because they advocated in Richmond for homeschoolers to gain access to afterschool activities in the public schools. All of a sudden, I found myself confronting stereotypes of faithful homeschooling Catholics everywhere I turned.  Social media outlets were minefields of misinformation, misperceptions, and misunderstanding.

I learned that many people have strong opinions--about the Church, about openness to life, about home education-- and those opinions are not positive. I saw a whole lot of hatred spewed. What surprised me most, though, is that the people who advocate for all sorts of progressive liberties were venomous when confronted with the witness of my life and my assertion that I am entitled to live my faith freely, openly, and completely in this country. They failed again and again to understand the beauty that I see--that I live--in the living the fullness of the faith. There is a widespread misunderstanding about what it is to be a faithful, joyful, wholly Catholic woman.

It is a very happy coincidence that a long awaited book was published just as this storm raged. Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things That Really Matter is edited by Hallie Lord. Hallie is joined by nine of the brightest voices in America today. These are sharp, articulate, thoughtful, humorous, happy women who live lives in full communion with the Catholic Church. They embrace the truth, the whole truth, and live to write about it with candor and joy.

Of the ten contributors, nine are married. None of them uses contraception. Several of them educate their own children at home. This slim volume is packed with wisdom and insight into the lives of women who are real and really live a life of contradiction in this culture. None of them is oppressed. None of them is a haggard, frumpy, wrung out woman who has wasted her life on her man and his kids. Actually, I know several of them personally, a few very well, and they are all rather beautiful. And funny. And fun. They are warm, lovely women in love with God and with life.

This is no shrinking violet of a book. These women tackle tough topics. Elizabeth Duffy’s essay on sex is frank and forthright. She presents a picture of what it is to live a life of honest openness to life and love with clarity and grace. Where the caricature is of judgmentalism and oppression, Elizabeth Duffy is compassionate and understanding and fresh and (yes!) funny.

Danielle Bean writes about marriage with her customary style and sensitivity. And honesty. This is real marriage, the kind that is one’s vocation, one’s true calling and path to heaven. It’s hard work. It’s forever. It’s the grace-filled, authentically Catholic variety. Not only do you want to keep reading about it, you want to have it for yourself. Danielle isn’t a woman trapped by a man and eight kids. Far from it, she’s the editor of a major magazine, a blogger, and a television personality meeting the demands and the blessings of life and love with the benefit of huge doses of sacramental grace.

And that whole idea of a homeschooling mama with a dated hairstyle and a denim tent dress? Hallie Lord confesses that it was cute Catholic fashion that first had her considering converting to the faith. She makes it clear that modesty is wholly compatible with stylishness, that dressing well enhances self-confidence and a sense of wellbeing, that there is an art to womanly presentation and it is an art we would do well to learn. Hallie looks honestly at the struggles of a mother to look and feel her best and she offers genuine encouragement to women of all sizes and shapes.

There is much, much more. We are treated to practical thoughts on cultivating a rich prayer life, pragmatic observations about our place in cyberspace and beyond, and thoughtful encouragement towards healthy friendships. It’s the kind of book that inspires one to call a friend read passages aloud.

The book is a quick read. I devoured it in an afternoon, eager to pass it along to so very many people. I came away from the experience holding my head a little higher, my shoulders a little more square. More importantly, I came away feeling as if I’d just had a long, leisurely talk with kindred spirits. It can be a brutal world out there. It’s awfully nice to be understood.

 

"Style, Sex, and Substance" book trailer from Hallie Lord on Vimeo.