Ep 1- Liturgy and the Bible ft. Dom Dalmasso
On Prayer to Saints
The question, “Why not go straight to Jesus?” Is often brought up in conversation with Protestants in regard to prayer to the saints. Sometimes prayer to the saints is treated as a form of idol worship, as if it is positively prohibited. Other times it’s treated as if it is inefficient and creating an unnecessary layer of middle management between the believer and Christ. However, I believe what is underneath both of these objections is an insufficient view on the relationship between Christ and His people. This view assumes a level of separation between Christ and His people that runs contrary to the evidence of Scripture. In Scripture, we see multiple places where the people of God are so united with Christ that they are identified with Him. In Matthew 25:40 we see that deeds of charity done to members of Christ’s family are counted as deeds of charity done to Christ himself. The opposite is also the case in that neglect for the family of Christ is counted as neglecting Christ himself. “And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” In Acts 22:6-8 this truth is shown in more extreme form. Saul, who has been persecuting the church is confronted by the risen Jesus and is admonished, not simply for persecuting the people of Jesus, but for persecuting Jesus himself. “While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’” All of this assumes the kind of union between Christ and His church that he envisions during the farewell discourse in John 14:20 when Jesus says, “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” Paul sees this vision of union beautifully in Ephesians 4:15-16 where he says, “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” When we come to a proper understanding of the deeply interconnected relationship between Christ and His church, we realize that prayer to the saints is neither idolatry nor a use of unnecessary middle men. In this view, 1+1=1. Just as in marriage, the husband and wife form one flesh, Christ and His church are one body. This is not to say that Christianity collapses into some form of pantheism where all is God and God is all. Our individuality is maintained while we yet become mysteriously identified with the risen Christ. This perhaps becomes most obvious through the lens of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the summit of our communion with Christ, wherein the faithful each individually consume the body and blood of Christ, and yet in that consumption we are united by our sharing in the same body and blood. Thus, prayer to the saints can, understood properly, be seen as prayer to Christ himself through the various members of His body because Christ does not separate Himself from His body and in fact identifies that body with Himself. Therefore prayer to the saints is not idolatry because it isn’t worship of a false God and it isn’t an inefficient middle man because the connection between Christ and His church is immediate.
What is the Bible?
The Bible is the written form of divine tradition that has been handed down to us by Christ Jesus through his apostles and their successors. It presents to us the fundamental shape and structure of reality and serves as a link between heaven and earth. It does this primarily through narrative, with supporting poetic and wisdom texts. The Bible tells a story, our story, that explains where everything came from (creation), how it went wrong (fall), how it’s been healed (redemption), and where it’s all headed (consummation). It is one of the primary ways in which we come to know and love God. We are able to come know and love God through the Bible because it is a record of His words and deeds throughout history. Paragraph 6 of Dei Verbum teaches: “Through divine revelation, God chose to show forth and communicate Himself and the eternal decisions of His will regarding the salvation of men. That is to say, He chose to share with them those divine treasures which totally transcend the understanding of the human mind.” Understanding the purpose of divine revelation in general, and the Bible in particular, will help us to understand what the Bible is. As stated above, the purpose of Scripture is to communicate truths about God and the salvation of men. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states this clearly, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” The Bible is a book that teaches us about how to live in proper relationship with God. The aim of Scripture is salvation, not science or history. Thus, to approach the Scriptures as a historian, though the Scriptures are rooted in history, is to miss the point. Likewise, to approach the Scriptures as a scientist, though the Scriptures tell us something about nature, is to miss the point. In the Scriptures we encounter Christ, who is the fullness of divine revelation. The catechism says it this way in paragraph 65-“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.” Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father’s one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one.” Thus, the Bible, because it testifies to Christ who is the fullness of revelation, is a closed canon. There is no new revelation to be added. To recap, the Bible is the foundational text(s) of Christianity. It reveals the nature and desires of God to humanity. It is a point of real contact between heaven and earth that places us within the fundamental narrative of existence. It tells us who we are, why we are, and where we’re going.
Letter to a young man
You are on a path into manhood. There’s nothing easy about the path, the process, or the destination. Along this path, a transformation takes place. Along this path, something within you must give way so that something greater may take its place. St. Paul says it this way, “when I was a child I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; but when I became a man, I put an end to my childish ways.” I think Tolkien illustrates this path well, with the character of Frodo, in The Lord of the Rings. When we are introduced to him in the Shire, there is an innocence, and perhaps immaturity, about him. Life is easy in the Shire. Life is comfortable and familiar there. The transformation from boy to man begins the moment Frodo realizes that he must accept a path that will lead him out of comfort and into unknown danger. This is what must be sacrificed in the life of anyone traveling the path from boyhood to manhood. It is the sacrifice of a carefree life in exchange for a life of responsibility; a life where your actions impact the lives of others, for better or for worse. A responsible man lives in such a way that the people in his care can experience that care can experience freedom and safety. What can you do to prepare for that? After all, it’s unlikely someone is going to drop in your lap a ring that you will have to risk your life to destroy. I believe the answer is twofold: first, begin to develop an image of the man you want to become. How does he handle and present himself? Why is he worthy of respect? How does he improve the lives of the people around him? Second, begin a pattern of intentional service and sacrifice now. Learn to say no to small things in your life in order to develop the bigger things. Pray, fast, and give. A effects of a good man are seen in the environment he fosters. A good man creates an environment of order, purpose, love, and safety. St. Joseph modeled this and is a true guide. Go to Joseph. By the grace of God, develop these things within yourself and watch His light shine into the world around you.
Why Christians Fast (pt2): a Spiritual Case
“Dada, why do you use weights?” my daughter asked me one morning as I was working out in the garage. I paused for a moment and said, “this is going to sound weird, but in order to get stronger, you have to be willing to make yourself weaker.” Her brow furrowed with that dada-are-you-kiddin’? look. “Seriously,” I said. I explained to her how in order to make your muscles get stronger in the long term, you use the weights to make them weaker temporarily. In doing this, the muscle grows back stronger than it was before. Strength comes from appropriate types and amounts of stress, along with nutrients for healing. A body that undergoes no stress and strain gets progressively weaker. My aim in this post is to show that the same principle applies to the spiritual life. Fasting as Spiritual Exercise In his essay “On Liturgical Fasting” from The Liturgical Cosmos, David Fagerberg makes this observation about two ways in which fasting is able to strengthen our spiritual lives. “But when Christ says, “man does not live by bread alone,” having never left the bosom of the father, he is articulating the true end for which man and woman were created. Remember that the church is both a hospital for sinners and a nursery for saints. The sinner must use fasting for mortification, but the saint in training finds that fasting’s true liturgical purpose is for deification. The repentant fast does battle with the passions, but only to enable the liturgical fast: we were not created for bread alone, but for fellowship with the Trinity.” (Emphasis mine) Here Fagerberg is laying out a path of spiritual progression that begins with fasting for the purpose of mortification (or putting to death the sinful passions) and culminates in fasting for the purpose of deification (growth in godliness). These may be new concepts for some, so let’s unpack each of these ideas from Scripture. Mortification St. Paul discusses mortification in both his letter to the Romans and his first letter to the Corinthians. In Romans, he states that mortification (putting to death the deeds of the body) is a requirement for spiritual life. “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:12-13) Note at least three things about Paul’s statement on mortification: In his first letter to the Corinthians he describes it this way: “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27) Again we see the idea that growth in the spiritual life requires discipline in the body. Much in the way that bodily discipline creates freedom for the athlete to perform, so too does discipline create freedom for the believer to live in a way that does not render him disqualified. Note again that this is an active process. While Paul does not directly mention fasting here, the Christian tradition has practiced fasting as a means of bringing the passions and appetites of the body under control while emphasizing our need for prayer and dependence upon Holy Spirit in that process. The season of Lent is a yearly invitation to revisit that process mortification. Deification Mortification, however, is not the end goal of the Christian life. The end goal is life in union with the Holy Trinity itself, such that we participate in the divine nature. St. Peter describes this in his second epistle: “His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4) The term used to describe this process is deification (or theosis in the eastern traditions). This is the process through which God transforms our nature to reflect His own as He pours His grace into our souls. This actively increases our righteousness or justification. Note again that for both Paul and Peter, God’s grace is prerequisite and always leads in the process of spiritual growth. While man is certainly active in the process, he is active in a sense of cooperation, not initiation. Conclusion This, according to Fagerberg, is the true purpose of fasting in the Christian life. Our voluntary entering into weakness and discomfort brings about strength, growth, and godliness. It is a way of entering into the life that Christ lived, while simultaneously asking Him to live through us. I pray that this Lenten season will be an opportunity for us all to put to death the deeds of the flesh and grow in the likeness of Christ.
