Catholic Liturgy

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10/19/2021

I wanted to go through the Liturgy of the Hours (4-Volume Set) starting at the begining of the Advent Season. I come from a Christadelphian background, and remain one, and therefore there is no liturgy. The closest thing to a liturgy is the daily bible readings that most Christadelphians follow, which many will base their exhortation on. However, I also come from a Jewish background and attended Yeshiva and some shul. Therefore, I’m somewhat familiar with Jewish liturgy, the Siddur, and Machzor. I wish my faith community had a liturgical background. Because of the lack of liturgy, I want to investigate various liturgical traditions and find out more. I’m starting with the Catholic faith and will eventually get to other faith traditions.

I have a complicated background with Catholicism. My mother converted from Catholicism, and my father’s side were forced to convert to Catholicism in the old country, helped build two Catholic churches, and then for the most part the family deconverted. The Christadelphian faith tradition came out of the radical reformation, and therefore, tend to differ from Catholicism a lot, from theology to practice. Therefore, my true knowledge of Catholicism is very limited. Especially when it comes to the Liturgy of the Hours. Therefore, I’m starting with this book A Layman’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours: How the Prayers of the Church Can Change Your Life.

I will be updating this post regularly.

The Liturgy of the Hours has historically been used only by priests, monks, and nuns for around 1,500 years. However, after Vatican II, it was encouraged and recommended by the Pope and the council that the lay person engage in praying the Liturgy of the Hours. The reason given is that since Jesus Christ is High Priest those baptized in his name become priests as well, making them a nation of priests (Rev. 5:10). Therefore, the layman is also a priest, though they are not under the same requirements of an ordained priest.

The Liturgy of the Hours has 5 times to pray. It is generally recommended that the layman do at least two of them, the morning and evening prayers, due to contemporary life. However, it isn’t expected for all laymen to do all five prayers everyday, nor should they feel like they are sinning if they don’t.

I would recommend highly A Layman’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours: How the Prayers of the Church Can Change Your Life before starting. Once that is read, the general instructions found in the first volume of Liturgy of the Hours (4-Volume Set) is a great help in understanding the Liturgy of the Hours. The instructions are about 70 pages long.

11/8/2021

The Liturgy of the Hours can be a little difficult to navigate if you are a novice. There are multiple ribbons and it seems like almost every day there is something different, and nothing is routine. However, after some time you will have it down, especially if you read the book I recommended above. With that said, I have found this video helpful. This video will show you where to put the ribbons and how to use the breviary. You can also download the Liturgy of the Hour from your App store for your smartphone. This may make it much easier, as they will easily bring up all the correct readings without having to flip through the pages of a book in a manner you may not be familiar with.

I am an old soul, so I prefer the book version!

The Holy Embrace

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Where is God? In the Temple? What about the Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle?

Exodus 25:17-22:

  17      “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

  18      “You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.

  19      “Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.

  20      “The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat.

  21      “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you.

  22      “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.

Genesis 17:23:

23        Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him.

In Genesis 17 God commands Abraham to circumcise himself at a very old age. This was no doubt a very painful experience at the time of the operation. What would be even worse would be a couple of days later, during the healing process.

Genesis 18:1-8:

    1      Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

    2      When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them,he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,

    3      and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.

    4      “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;

    5      and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

    6      So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.”

    7      Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.

    8      He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.

While Abraham was recovering from his circumcision, three angels disguised as men appeared to Abraham. Despite his pain and current suffering he personally prepared the welcoming dinner for his guests. He prepared much of the dinner himself, fighting through his pain. He called his meal a “morsel of bread,” which was in reality a huge smorgasbord. Abraham exemplified hospitality, which with the current situation was very difficult for him. Then it was revealed to Abraham that the purpose of the angels was to destroy the cities on the plain, which Sodom and Gomorrah were listed.

Genesis 19:9:

9          But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door.

Upon the angels’ arrival, the townspeople wanted them to leave. In fact, they used rape as a tool to make them leave. Lot, who wasn’t exactly an easy person to get along with—he fought his uncle over grazing rights—showed hospitality to the strangers, given the state of the affairs of the city, wasn’t an easy or wise choice to make. The Bible shows how important it is to embrace one another. God even shows how important it is to Him with the flood story and tower of Babel.

Genesis 6:11:

11        Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.

God caused Noah’s flood so that the evil people would be blotted out. Their great sin, according to the Bible, was robbery and injustice, though sometimes inaccurately translated to unrighteousness. Injustice in Hebrew means hurting a fellow human being, like robbery, murder, and rape. To hurt another person is a disgusting act, and something that cannot be tolerated, and everyone took part except Noah and his family.

Genesis 11:1-9:

    1      Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.

    2      It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

    3      They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

    4      They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

    5      The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

    6      The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

    7      “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

    8      So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

    9      Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

However, the Tower of Babel incident was something different. These people wanted to make themselves gods, and build a tower that would amaze everyone and the generations following them. The people waged war against God Himself, yet all He did was give them a time out and put them of in separate corners of the world. Why didn’t he blot out these people? He said he would never destroy a people by water, but he never said He would NEVER destroy them. The difference between this generation and the flood generation was that they came together, and helped one another out. They showed kindness to their fellow man. They just wanted to be known as a god or prove that they didn’t need God.

A final point is what seems to be a contradiction. God commands that no image or idol should be made and put in the Temple. Yet He commands that two images be created and placed in the Temple, and not only in the Temple, but in the Holy of Holies! The Holy of Holies is where the Priest could only enter once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when all sins were erased. God commanded that two Cherubim be made on top of the Tabernacle, which would be placed in the Holy of Holies. What were the Cherubim doing?

2 Chronicles 3:10-11:

  10      Then he made two sculptured cherubim in the room of the holy of holies and overlaid them with gold.

  11      The wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits; the wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.

They were embracing one another. That is where the Holy of Holies is located; that is where God resides, when we learn to give one another the holy embrace, like Abraham and Lot gave their holy embrace to strangers; when it is easy, or when it is hard. So one could say God does reside with the Mercy Seat, but it is the Mercy Seat that we create, through the Holy Embrace.

A perfect example for us believers is the life of Jesus. He is held up as an example for all of us to follow. Following his death and resurrection, the angels attested to his status as the mercy seat.

John 20:11-12:

11        But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;

12        and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.

We have two angels, at the head and foot of where Jesus’ body had been. An allusion to the mercy seat of the tabernacle. What wonderful imagery to relay to us! As we approach the bread and wine, let us remember the words of Jesus, “where two or three gather in my Name, I will be in their midst.” Let us rejoice in embracing one another in the presence of our Lord and Savior. Let us enjoy the glimpse of the Kingdom of God here in the present, as we await the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in the future.

The Nuclear Family

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The Nuclear Family is a term that is often heard in conservative Christian circles. For a lot of people it probably brings up the idea of a 1950’s family, of a mom and dad and their children sitting around the dinner table. It is often held as a model that society should aspire to. Most of the criticism of the nuclear family seems to come from what some would view as radical elements, such as Marxism or LGBTQ+. However, there is a traditional argument that the advent of the nuclear family is not necessarily a good thing.

This is not to say have two parents is irrelevant. That is certainly not the case. Indeed, empirical evidence seems to suggest that those from two-parent households tend to have a better chance at good life outcomes. The criticism is that the nuclear family is evidence of a breakdown of family, not a preservation. In fact, the term nuclear family didn’t even make it to the dictionaries until 1925, indicating this is a rather new thing in society.

How is the wholesome mom, dad, and children a sign of decline? Prior to the relative extreme wealth Americans now have, large families were quite common, with multiple generations living in the same area, if not the same house. In fact, for most of human history that was the way of life. Wealth and opportunity allowed for children to move away, no longer dependent on the group for support, and the possibility of large income and wealth drove people from one location to another, most notably from rural areas to the city.

In many parts of the world where poverty is still rampant we can see these traditional social structures still existing. However, even in wealthy United States, there are still groups that remain with extended families. We see this in Orthodox Jewish, Mexican, and Eastern European communities. What is the traditional benefits of these structures? For one thing, child care is more easily available. The social network allows elderly, who are no longer employed to care for the children. Also, it increases the likelihood of parents properly taking care of the children. Abuse is more easily identified and the child has more options for seeking help. While it is true that abuse and murders are almost always inflicted by someone close to, such as a family member, these horrific events are also more discoverable from someone within the close circle of friends and family.

As science advances, we realize that mental health issues are more common than we once realized. This appears to be getting worse due to the feeling of separation and isolation. While some of this can be blamed ironically on social media networks that connects millions of people, it is also attributable to actual separation and isolation from family and community breakdown. Humans evolved with large families and tribes. Having large community and support network is supposed to be our default position in society. Unfortunately, it seems in wealthy, western society, that is becoming less and less common. We have essentially tried to undo a long history of social networks in just a few short years.

I’ll address two possible objections to this criticism (although I wouldn’t call it a criticism, but rather a concern or warning). The first is that one may not actually have a large family or that it is impossible to be around all of them. This true for a lot of people; however, that, I believe, is a misunderstanding of social networking in humans. In the legal world, in Child Protective Services, children are often times placed with fictive kin, meaning they aren’t related to the family, but are so close to the family that they might as well be called uncle, brother, mother, daughter, etc. We even see this in the Bible, when Jesus is on the cross and says, “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold, your mother!” These were not blood relatives, but fictive kin. Mary was now to be supported by Jesus’ disciple as family. This is not uncommon is the past, much less in the present. Often times I have seen designations of executors, trustees, and guardians that are fictive kin, rather than actual family members. This may be done because family couldn’t be trusted, or to release the burden placed on loved ones. Family is not just blood. Some of the worst perpetrators of violence and harm are from blood. However, as I mentioned above, these can be rooted out and reported in larger “families.”

The second objection may be that being wealthy caused this. Being wealthy certainly makes the breakdown of family easier, but I don’t think it is inevitable. As mentioned above, poorer societies still have a strong family and social network. However, I’m absolutely not indicating these were the good ole days in the U.S., or that I’m romantic about these societies. Our wealth today means our children have great opportunities and healthcare. I don’t want to change any of that. I think these things are all good. However, I think the church, or more accurately, the believers, have failed at their primary commandment: To love your neighbor as yourself. I’ll be the first to admit my guilt of not keeping up with family and friends. I’m usually wrapped up in my own work, nuclear family, social media, and other forms of entertainment. What made the early church unique was its love and support network. In fact, some pagans thought that they should replicate Christian behavior due their selflessness. Being wealthy has allowed us not to worry, and unfortunately, not worry about anyone else either. However, this doesn’t have to be.

Christians should not celebrate the advent of the nuclear family. It is a sign of the breakdown of the family, and for Christians, the failure of the church to maintain its role as a family. Instead what we should do as Christians is to once again become that family that loves and supports. Churches do have outreach programs for people and we all probably have church friends that we consider brothers and sisters. However, for many Americans, this is not the case. Church is a place you spend roughly an hour at once a week, if that. How close are we really to hour brothers in sisters, both real and fictive? I don’t have an answer to solve this problem; however, I do plan on starting with myself. How can I be a better brother?

Editor’s Pick: Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15

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This Editor’s Pick is Genesis 1-15, Volume 1 (1) (Word Biblical Commentary). This is by far the best book on the early chapters of Genesis 1-11. Each section of the book is divided up into further sections. It starts out with the translation to English from the original language of the text, Hebrew. The translation has a plethora of translation notes to better understand the nuance of the Hebrew language, which doesn’t always translated very well into English. After that the book dives into the form, structure, and setting of that particular section under review. This section can be a bit academic, and some may find it boring; however, it is immensely helpful. Those who are new to studying the Bible may want to return to this section at a later time, but I would not recommend skipping it.

The next part of the section is the comment section. Here, the author provides a deep dive, almost verse-by-verse, commenting on what the text is meaning. Finally, the last part of the section is call “explanation,” which brings everything together, giving a summary and meaning to the text and why it is in the Bible. For those new to Bible study may want to start and read only the explanation parts of the book, and then re-read the book in whole. There is so much value in this book, I believe it is best book I have on not just Genesis, but my entire Bible.

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