"Radiant on the River"

Here's some beautiful poetry translated from the Maronite Liturgy. The hat tip goes to Siris, a blog I recently discovered.

First Sunday after Epiphany
2 Corinthians 10:1-11; John 1:29-34

John by the river saw Jesus
and proclaimed with true prophecy:
Behold the holy Lamb of God!
He takes away all of our sins;
I came that He might be revealed,
forgiveness radiant on the river.

O Son of the Almighty God!
You stooped to receive Your baptism.
The Father proclaimed You His Son.
The Holy Spirit like a dove
in power rested on Your head,
divinity radiant on the river.

With Your baptism You have clothed us,
the robe of glory you give to us,
the seal of the Holy Spirit,
the promise of holy rebirth
in water and in the Spirit
with Your light radiant on the river.

We do not fight with human strength;
we wield weapons of the Spirit.
The darkness has already lost;
with a glance from God light poured down
in magnificence and glory,
through His grace radiant on the river.

May divinity dwell in us
through the Spirit's descent on us;
may our minds receive Christ's great light.
Through Word and Spirit God made all;
Word and Spirit He gave to us
in splendor radiant on the river.

"Pray to your Father in secret."

I found today's Gospel commentary from Daily Gospel edifying.

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy « Sacrosanctum Concilium », § 10-12
"Pray to your Father in secret"
The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows... From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a font, grace is poured forth upon us; and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all other activities of the Church are directed as toward their end, is achieved in the most efficacious possible way.

But in order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects, it is necessary that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds should be attuned to their voices, and that they should cooperate with divine grace lest they receive it in vain (cf 2 Cor 6,1). Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.

The spiritual life, however, is not limited solely to participation in the liturgy. The Christian is indeed called to pray with his brethren, but he must also “enter into his chamber to pray to the Father, in secret” and yet more, according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, he should “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5,17) . We learn from the same Apostle that we must “always bear about in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodily frame” (2 Cor 4,10-11). This is why we ask the Lord in the sacrifice of the Mass that, "receiving the offering of the spiritual victim," he may fashion us for himself "as an eternal gift" (cf Eucharistic Prayer III).

The Blue Mass on 9/11

This is a good article about the Blue Mass which was celebrated at my parish on Saturday, 9/11. The priest gave a great homily about 9/11 which was straightforward, patriotic and of course very Catholic. The article points out that it is becoming common to celebrate the Blue Mass on 9/11 for obvious aptness.

Here's an excerpt from the article.

A Blue Mass is traditionally held to honor law enforcement officers, particularly those who have died in the line of duty or otherwise demonstrated a heroic commitment to their work for the community. Fr. Thomas Dade, a Washington, D.C. priest who founded the Catholic Police and Firemen's Society, began the tradition in 1934 of celebrating an annual Mass for emergency workers, who always attend in uniform.

Fr. Dade's tradition has since spread throughout the nation. Because hundreds of police and rescue workers were killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, the date is becoming an increasingly common one on which to celebrate the Blue Mass.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester in New York will hold a Mass to “pray in a special way for all firefighters and first responders, and for all those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center tragedy nine years ago,” on September 11, 2010 at 4 p.m., with Bishop Matthew Clark as the celebrant.

In other news, an ultra-traditional Catholic friend-of-a-friend who somehow got my email address sent me a 1500-word email (I counted the words using MS-Word statistics, so I'm not exaggerating) about how the 9/11 attacks were the actions of an "out of control criminal government" and the official narrative about Islamic terrorism was merely a fable "spun by the cabal of American CORPORATE Media." I almost sent him this link, but decide to use my time better. My encounters with Trutherism have let me conclude that the best Gospel reference under which to file it is Mark 9:29, "This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting."