Signs, signs, everywhere the signs

Signs are good. They point us to our destination. In Christian typology, signs point us toward the greater good. So why, to continue robbing from the Tesla song, would I find they are "clogging up the scenery, cluttering up my mind"?

Well it is simple really, signs point to a greater good. They are not the good, they just help us find it. So if the sign holders get disordered, they can actually cloud the view of the destination. Imagine so many signs along the roadway that you miss the exit. Okay, enough analogies, how does this apply to us.

The ultimate good in the eyes of a Christian is Christ. Being connected with Him, having a relationship, knowing and loving Him. For Catholics, the ultimate connection with Jesus is receiving Him; Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist. All Sacraments point towards this ultimate Sacrament. The priesthood was given so Jesus could continue offering Himself to us at every Mass. Confession washes in the blood of the Lamb and reminds us that we are indeed forgiven, reorders our lives to better receive Him in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the ultimate good, the most Awesome connection we have to Jesus on this earth. Many signs point to this. Marriage is a prominent sign or type of the Eucharist. Type being something that prefigures or points to the Anti-Type. Adam, Moses and Elijah were all types of Jesus, Jesus being the Anti-Type. Eve was an type of Mary. The union of marriage points to heaven, our ultimate union with God. Without going to heavily into Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body, our earthly marriages should point to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

A quote I am going to work in here by Fr. Euteneuer of HLI, "The marriage bed is the altar of the domestic church." God intended our marriages to bring life to others, to bring love to the world. A good marriage requires sacrifice. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Ephesians 5:25. That is the basis for the e5 Men.

So marriage is a sign pointing to the Eucharist, to Christ's love for all humanity. Where does the clutter enter? Many of us have a passion for liturgy, we do our best to right the wrong and pray when we can't. But abuses can happen from any angle. It is an abuse when the Rainbow Sash people try to make Pentecost about themselves. It is also an abuse when the Marriage Encounter people twist the sign to point to themselves.

Perhaps you are not familiar with the practice of the husband and wife receiving Communion together. It seems to be gaining ground in our parish and it needs to stop. The husband and wife walk side by side to receive the Eucharist and wait for each other. Then when receiving the Blood of Christ, the wife takes the Cup first, and then hands it to her husband as a sign of their unity and love.

What could be wrong with standing up for good marriages, you ask? When you are in the presence of God Almighty, the signs shouldn't get in the way.

Think about it. We are at Mass to worship God. Any demonstration that draws attention away from God probably shouldn't be there. What is greater, the sign or the destination? The creature or the Creator?

***Update***
Thanks to Frival in the comments for correcting me on the Type/Anti-Type reversal. It is fixed in the article now. And for those dealing with this, feel free to use the article to help your case if you act on this.

Breaking down the myths

Glad someone did. I despise urban legends or myths that get bandied about like they are true. Jimmy Akin details a new study about Belief in the Eucharist.

Tri-fecta of trouble

Beautiful readings we had today. Heed the commandments of the Lord, for they are near to you. Christ came down to dwell in the fullness of humanity that we would be able to live the will of God with our whole heart.

But nay, what do we get fed in the homily? Good bread from the Holy Scriptures? Not quite, I am reticent to complain about the homily, rather preferring to pray for the homilist. But today, our good deacon nearly hit for the cycle in errors.

Breezing right by
Several ears perked up as he tried to breeze through a list of people God accepts "as they are". It doesn't take any imagination in our uber-tolerant world to know what the list included. Yes God loves us all unconditionally, but without repentance, we are free to reject that love. Many do and exclude themselves from God's grace. And by excluding ourselves from grace, we shut God out of our lives. So the "as we are" can include our self-imposed rejection of God leaving Him to respect our choice.

All seek truth
With the wealth of scripture at his disposal, and three especially great readings today, deacon decided we needed to look elsewhere for inspirations. As is good to know, all religions seek Truth to some extent. But to read from the scripture of Buddhism, Sikh, Islam... pointing out how they all teach kindness to each other, and yet failing to mention how they fall short of the fullness of that teaching we have in Christianity is just plain reckless. If we don't find our faith any different that all other world religions, why should we believe anything about it? Why should we suffer, why would martyrs die for the faith if it doesn't mean a thing?

Buddhism seeks to fade into Nirvana as our ultimate end. Quite opposite of the Christian belief of sharing in the Beatific Vision with God himself. Islam may well worship the God of Abraham, but they have no room in their belief for God as Father, or for a God who so loved the world to send his only Son. So if all that matters is loving one another and singing Kumbaya around the campfire, why did the scholar answer (correctly according to Jesus) that we must

love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
Luke 10:27

God desires that all may seek and find him. But to those whom much is given, much is expected. And who among us would, when asked for a fish, would give their son or daughter a serpent? With all the goodness we have, why water our faith down to the equivalent of a Rodney King-ism.

Vision? of what
To round out this grating lesson in how-not-to-inspire faith, we were told of the vision our bishop has for our world. How he foresees a world where all are welcome, where all kinds sit around the table at the Last Supper. Not just men, but women, children, handicapped, athletes, and so on. Funny how this is mentioned as a "vision". I thought all were already welcome at Mass? I see "all kinds" going up to receive our Lord in the Eucharist. But since he foresees this as not yet occurring, we must look a little deeper. And since prominence was given to women, not just men being at the Last Supper, are we to assume he promoting women priests? That issue is closed, the boat has sailed. Why beat the dead horse? Even the pope cannot change what Jesus has set for us in his example. It isn't to the exclusion of women, it is about proper order. The priest stands in the person of Christ and as Christ is the bridegroom, the Church is the bride. It doesn't work ontologically for a woman to stand as the bridegroom, unless we refer back to the breezy intro where nothing matters except groovy l.o.v.e. baby.

His vision isn't entirely incorrect, given a misunderstand faith. If the Last Supper was just a meal, his vision fits. Although the term "vision" wouldn't fit because this practice is happening in most churches in the U.S. every Sunday. "All kinds" gather around the "table" and share in the wonderfulness of ourselves. But if we go by the proper understanding of our faith, that Jesus instituted the priesthood that night for one specific purpose, to share his Body and Blood with the world, then his vision falls flat. Just a tad bit short-sighted.

Again, if all religions are the same and being holy is just about loving everyone but God, it would fit. But they why go to Mass, why belong to a church and why support them with our tithes? I could probably love others better if I had that extra 10% of my income to make my life easier on me.

Batting cleanup
And what bad homily would be complete without a misguided political statement? Batting clean-up in thise insulting lineup, he brought in his "I shouldn't go there, but I will" thoughts on immigration. The "we need to do something" to help them line of thinking didn't win any style points with anyone I talked to after Mass. In fact I think it got him an earful from some animated elderly gentleman. I would sum it up by saying, if he has some affluent-white-male guilt, perhaps he can settle his issues by a big group hug with the illegal immigrants, Muslim, Buddhist, feminists and poor farmer down the street.

But as for me, I come to Mass to receive our Lord and to hear some words of wisdom in breaking open the scriptures. Thank God I am Catholic, I at least got the former.

Imminent from Rome, and it isn't the motu proprio

Catholic World News : Apostolic exhortation on Eucharist is "imminent"

Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has announced that he will soon release the apostolic exhortation summarizing the work of the Synod on the Eucharist, which concluded its deliberations 16 months ago. The appearance of the apostolic exhortation is “imminent,” the Holy Father told priests of the Rome diocese, during a traditional early-Lenten meeting in the Hall of Benedictions at the Vatican on Thursday morning.

I can hardly stand the wait!