David Ancell / Tuesday, March 02, 2010 / Comments(0)
I now post my final reflection on the retreat that I went on. Our last group discussion topic was about evangelization. I decided to say my piece in this one, and I touched on a few different things which I will expand here. I will be quoting the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI, named Evangeli Nuntiandi, here, and I highly recommend reading it.
I must admit that I get a bit uneasy when I hear someone emphasize preaching by example. It’s not that I disagree with the idea, but sometimes I think it is used as an excuse not to talk about Jesus Christ and His Church. I remember when, as a teenager, I first heard a priest talk about our duty to preach the Gospel. He went into several examples of preaching by example, identifying them as preaching the Gospel. My response was somewhere along the lines of “Whew! I don’t have to talk to anyone about Our Lord! I can just preach by example.”
Many people are familiar with a quote from St. Francis of Assisi exhorting us to “Preach the Gospel at all times, and, when necessary, use words.” It is absolutely essential that we preach by example, but I am quite convinced that words are very necessary these days. Many people, through no fault of their own, have never heard of Our Lord or have heard things that are wrong. If we preach solely by example, many will not know of what we are being an example. Pope Paul VI addresses this in articles 41 and 42 (excerpts below):
. . . it is appropriate first of all to emphasize the following point: for the Church, the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless zeal. As we said recently to a group of lay people, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” AND
Preaching, the verbal proclamation of a message, is indeed always indispensable.
Preaching by example is necessary to show someone a lived experience of the Gospel and to avoid undermining the message, but the need for words is not eliminated. How does one know what to say? How does one get the courage to do so?
One thing that I have shared (and need to do more of myself) is to mediate on what we have. Think about this:
Sadly, some people don’t see the need to evangelize. I have heard stories of people who inquired about the Catholic Church only to be told that Vatican II eliminated the need to be Catholic. This is a lie! Others, perhaps after having tried to bring the Gospel to someone for a time, become complacent and assume that God will save someone because he is a “good person” despite the apparent lack of faith. This is possible, but I’d hate to depend on it. Pope Paul VI addresses this in article 82:
It would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about the following thought: men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God’s mercy, even though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame- what St. Paul called “blushing for the Gospel”- or as a result of false ideas we fail to preach it? For that would be to betray the call of God, who wishes the seed to bear fruit through the voice of the ministers of the Gospel; and it will depend on us whether this grows into trees and produces its full fruit.
In other words, even if someone can be saved because it was of no fault of their own that they did not hear the Gospel, we will have the guilt of failing to evangelize. Therefore, it is imperative that we do our best to live the Gospel and shine Christ’s light on others. We want them to know the truth that sets them free!
Category: Spirituality
David Ancell / Monday, March 01, 2010 / Comment(1)
Many of my friends, as well as my wife, know that I have a tendency to . . . well . . . not like a lot of the music that we sing at Mass. Still, it is important to me not to be arbitrarily critical, so I want to propose some criteria with which I would consider a song acceptable. This is not based directly on any Church documents but rather is my own reflection. I am not a liturgist but rather an easily-distractable lay person who goes to Mass often with a great desire to worship the Lord.
First and foremost, the hymn should be doctrinally sound. I have found that I often have to pay close attention to the words of some hyms I’ve seen used before I decide to sing. One of the best known offenders is one that is often used during Lent. It’s called “Ashes,” and the offending statement is that “We rise again from ashes to create ourselves anew.” If this isn’t heresy, it’s darn close. God is the only one who can create us anew. Another offender that I have been recently introduced to is entitled “Sing a New Church.” The title itself should be enough to convince anyone concerned about fidelity to the Catholic faith that it’s problematic.
Second, the hymn should be addressed to God or be about God (or possibly a saint). Take a look at the great hymns like “Holy God We Praise Thy Name” or “Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All.” They are addressed to God. The songs “Where Charity and Love Prevail” and even the St. Louis Jesuits’ “Glory and Praise to Our God” are about God. The song “Make Us True Servants” is a petition to God. Soon, Lent will be over, and we’ll be singing one of my favorites, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” It is, of course, a song about the Resurrection of Our Lord. I could probably name many others, both old and new.
Contrast that with some other hymns of today. A commonly used hymn that I’ve blogged about before is “Gather Us In,” which doesn’t mention God in it. I was recently introduced to a song called “Anthem” which begins “We are called; we are chosen; we are Christ to one another . . .” It’s sung to a tune that sounds kind of like “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain When She Comes.” It’s the congregation praising itself. “One Bread One Body” is another one where we are singing about ourselves. Finally, let’s not forget “All Our Welcome.” The hymn is about the house that we build, not God.
Third, the song should not have the congregation singing the part of God. Two known offenders are “Here I Am, Lord” (“I the Lord, of sea and sky . . .”) and “I Am the Bread of Life.” I know that I am not comfortable singing as though I am God, and I’m sure there are others out there as well. In the aforementioned article by George Weigel, he mentions that this is unprecedented in Christian history. I would go further to say that this would also be offensive to the Jewish people. The name for God, “I Am Who Am,” is a personal name. For a Jewish person to say it out loud would be for him to say that he is God. Therefore, they are forbidden to pronounce it. Given that our faith is a fulfillment of Judiasm, it doesn’t seem right to be singing the part of God.
Fourth, the hymn should be musically simple enough that people who sing like I do can sing it. Look, the only way I would sing a solo is to evacuate a building. I can’t sing very well, and the more complicated rhythms are difficult for me to follow. The best way to ensure full participation in the Liturgy is not to innovate but to simplify. When I was a teenager, the Danish Amen Mass was almost always used in my parish. It was very nice and easy to follow. Even some of the praise and worship songs are easier to sing than some obviously feminine high-pitched modern “hymns.” Really, though, I can understand how singability (Is that a word?) can be overlooked as it is a judgment call made by people of much greater musical ability than I. However, we must all keep in mind that the Mass is worship, not a performance intended for entertainment.
Of course, there are a lot of other elements that I like – some old Latin hymns, older hymns in general, and even some Gregorian chant (which Vatican II said should retain the pride of place at Mass). However, what I have written above is something I believe to be a good standard to use. I am always wanting to be at Mass when it is a genuine, prayerful experience dedicated to the greater glory of God.
Category: Liturgy
David Ancell / Sunday, February 28, 2010 / Comments(0)
I was doing random Internet searching for fun and found this parody of Marty Haugen’s Gather Us In. For me, this particular “hymn” is the symbol of all really awful songs that we sing in church these days. In this song, we, the congregation, and singing about ourselves, and there is even a verse which could be taken to eschew our desire for Heaven. I laughed out loud when I read this article.
On a better note, I found this great article by Fr. Gary Coulter on the priest celebrating the Mass facing the same direction as the people. Notice that I said “the same direction as the people” instead of “with his back to the people” or “facing the wall” or something like that. The distinction is important here even though any of these phrases would have the priest facing the same way. I am hoping for a return to the practice of the priest facing the same direction of the people at least for the Eucharistic Prayer. It shows a sign of unity of movement of priest and people towards God, and, more importantly, it shows that the prayers of the Mass are addressed to God, not the people. And to think, this practice could be changed without a single legislative act on the part of those in authority. It is already permitted.
Category: Liturgy
David Ancell / Sunday, February 28, 2010 / Comments(0)
Here’s my second post about last weekend’s retreat . . .
An interesting point was made about giving money as a possible substitute for going and doing service to an organization. One of the young adults suggested that she felt that giving money might be a way to “buy my way out” of serving. She has a point. Though this is not always the case, it is possible to give money because we’d rather just write a check than go to serve.
One of the center staff had a good response. She mentioned that she wrote a check to help efforts in Haiti. She said she’d like to go, but she can’t. This particular person has a very young child. However, she mentioned that she would have to work a certain number of days to earn the money that she is giving. So, she was basically working in that capacity to have the money to give.
I’m adding my own thoughts here since I didn’t get to weigh in on this particular part of the discussion. One thing to add is that we cannot possibly give time to every worthy cause. We just do not have time for everything. We most certainly cannot do so at the expense of the duties of our state of life. Some of us may have health problems with preclude work in certain areas.
On top of that, organizations have a genuine need for money. There are only so many things that volunteers can do. In a homeless shelter, unless the local power company donates electricity, money is needed for the utility bill. There’s just not a way to volunteer electricity. Money was needed to buy needed supplies to send to Haiti and the fuel to get there. For these things, writing a check is very helpful. Some operations need full-time staff, and they need to be paid in order to have a livelihood.
It takes prayer and discernment to decide where to volunteer time. While we don’t want to give money as an excuse not to serve, it is good to give to causes we wish to support but cannot work with.
Category: Spirituality
David Ancell / Wednesday, February 24, 2010 / Comments(0)
Here is my first note on the retreat. We had a group discussion on stewardship and evangelization, and we spent time on each topic of time, talent, and treasure. Here I’m going to expand on some comments that I made about time . . .
At one time, I knew that I needed to do a lot of new things in my life. For longer than I wish to admit, I’d simply decide I wanted to do something, and then I’d keep doing everything I had been doing. I somehow expected to just magically start doing whatever it was I needed to do, whether it be to read more, join a gym, get out more, etc. Well, it just doesn’t work that way. In order to make room for what I needed to do, I had to sacrifice something I was doing.
I had a rather time-consuming hobby. I’m a big electroholic. It didn’t even occur to me how much time and money I was spending needlessly. I decided I had to spend less time shopping and playing with my little toys and spend it on the things I needed to do. Within months, I found time for that which I needed to do.
Being a good steward of time means evaluating how we are spending our time. It means making a sacrifice so that we can do something more important. I am thankful that God finally allowed me to realize this. It’s even more important now that I am married and will hopefully be a father someday.
Category: Spirituality
David Ancell / Monday, February 22, 2010 / Comments(0)
I am writing at the end of one of a really great trip that my wife and I have taken. We drove to Pennsylvania to see friends and their new baby, and he’s a real cute little guy. Then, we went on a young adult retreat at a retreat house in Cape May, NJ. This brings back special memories for us because our courtship officially began right after that retreat. Now, we are back as a married couple. It was a lot of fun, but being around all these twenty-somethings makes me feel old. In fact, I will have only one more year before I am too old for the young adult retreat there. It is just as well, though, because I’m now in a whole new phase of life now that I’m a married man.
We took the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to Delaware and have been making our way through Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Yana managed to get in touch with one of her friends visiting her mother in Delaware, and we got to meet up with them. We thought we’d get all the way home, but we were a bit too ambitious on that one. My wife found a great deal as she always does, and we were able to stay a night in downtown Portsmouth, Virginia. It is just beautiful here. We will be heading home this morning, and I have to go back to work.
The retreat brought me some things that I want to expand on when I get a chance. We had an opportunity for group sharing, and after speaking I always seem to think of something else that would have been good to talk about. So, I should be back to post more later.
Category: News on My Life
David Ancell / Monday, February 08, 2010 / Comment(1)
You have probably noticed a bit of change on this web site. I moved to a different server, and I set up my blog as a WordPress blog because I figured that they’d have better software than I would have time to write. I managed to import most, if not all, of Danger! Falling Brainwaves, but I decided not to use that name anymore. I am just not good at naming things. Hopefully, I’ll be here more often than I have been recently.
On my web page, you will now see that I am posting links to talks I have given and to my favorite Catholic books. I hope you will find this useful. I have gone through the links and been a bit more selective. My blogroll has also changed as many blogs that I had links to are no longer active.
I hope you will enjoy the new pages.
Category: News on My Life
David Ancell / Monday, January 25, 2010 / Comments(0)
I have, in the last three and a half years, become a big fan of my Macintosh computer. I have both an iMac and a MacBook Pro, and I have found them much better than my old Windows machines because I’ve spent less time having to fix them. Multitasking works so much better as well.
However, that’s not to say that there isn’t room for improvement. I’m a long way away from a new MacBook and quite a while away from a new iMac, but I really hope that future Mac updates incorporate Cnet’s requested changes. The iMac already has the more powerful processors, but the card reader, Blu Ray drive, and especially the HDMI output would be very welcome. This is especially true since Macs are significantly more expensive than Windows PCs. My sister got a 64-bit laptop with Blu-ray and HDMI output for less than the price of the least expensive MacBook.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Technology
David Ancell / Friday, January 08, 2010 / Comment(1)
Despite not getting to blog much, I haven’t lived under a cave when it comes to following what is happening in the Church. With that being said, I just can’t wait for the new translation of the Mass and wish they would implement it right away. The language is just so much better than what we have now.
Unfortunately, I am well aware that not everyone shares my enthusiasm. There’s a campaign going on named What If We Just Said Wait that is gathering signatures on a petition. It makes no sense to me; we have been waiting for years. By the way, you can sign a counter-petition here. The donation is optional; your signature will have been recorded as soon as you leave the petition page.
Truthfully, there probably will be some kind of backlash of varying degrees when this is promulgated. One argument, which I believe to be a very poor one, is that the new translation doesn’t reflect the way we normally speak. My own view on this argument can be found on this post from 2005. And to think, the waiting had been going on for years at the time of this post.
However, the real problem that we are likely to encounter is simply ignorance of what the Mass really is and, for that matter, an ignorance of worship in general. In his last encyclical, Pope John Paul II mentioned that abuses occurred in which the Eucharist is celebrated as though it were merely a “fraternal banquet” (see paragraph 10 in this link).Vatican II called for liturgical instruction (see paragraphs 14 and 19 on this link) to enable the faithful to participate fully in the Mass, but this has never been realized. I have found that it is more difficult to find solid cathechetical material on liturgy than on any other topic. I recommend Jeffrey Pinyan’s Praying the Mass.
Our worship is not a matter of our own expression. It is a response to the command of Christ to “Do this in memory of me.” There is something in particular that we are a part of when we are at Mass. This must be brought forth in the words we use. If we do not convey the proper, accurate meaning to what we are doing, then we are not doing what Christ commanded but are doing something else. Unfortunately, in our world today, the “Dictatorship of Relativism,” spoken by Cardinal Ratzinger not long before he became Pope Benedict XVI, has taken hold of our worship just as it has morality. By providing us with a more literal translation, the Church is helping us to better understand what we are doing. The reason it may be shocking to people is because we never were taught the truth about what we were doing in the first place.
In fact, where is the needed catechesis now? The backlash regarding the new translation could easily be lessened by solid catechesis by people whose hearts and minds are with the Church. I hope we are seeing it soon.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Thursday, January 07, 2010 / Comments(0)
At one time, I was a fairly regular blogger. Now, if there is still anyone left reading, they hardly hear from me anymore. Life is much different for me these days. In most aspects, it has changed for the better by far. More on that later.
Before too much time goes by, I am hoping to rewrite my entire web page and even do some more blogging. Right now, everything is running on an application that I built myself. I probably will not have time to have a site like that again, and any blog that I have is most likely to be a WordPress blog. Whether I can keep my archives up remains to be seen. It’s little matter to me because there are many things that I still believe strongly but would say differently today.
You may know that I got married on August 8, 2009 to a wonderful woman. Because of this, I have moved to North Carolina. Married life is going very well. We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and have since made other trips. We flew back to my parents’ home in Missouri for Thanksgiving, and we took a big road trip back there for Christmas, including a trip back to Memphis to see my friends there.
My work schedule is something else. I took a third shift job in a hospital to get to this area. I work seven nights in a row and then have the next week off. This means that, for one week, I can do almost nothing but work and sleep. The next week I’m free, but I’m having to readjust to human hours. It has given us lots of travel time, but it’s pretty hard to have every other week as a zombie.
Anyway, hopefully I can be around occasionally. Married life is worth the sacrifice, but I still hope to do something on the site.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized