February 27, 2017

Treasures of the Triduum at the Liturgical Institute

The Liturgical Institute is hosting a conference on Friday, March 3 at St. Mary of the Lake Conference Center. Join Liturgical Institute faculty member Christopher Carstens together with Dr. Anthony Lilles, Academic Dean of St. John’s Seminary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This year’s topic takes its starting point from Saint John Paul II’s document Spiritus et Sponsa, which asked that a “‘liturgical spirituality’ be developed that makes people conscious that Christ is the first ‘liturgist’ who never ceases to act in the Church and in the world.”  For more information, please click here or call 847.837.4542.
Anthony Lilles, STD has served the Church and assisted in the formation of clergy since 1994, and now serves in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as Academic Dean of St. John’s, associate professor of theology and Academic Advisor of Juan Diego House.
Christopher Carstens, BA Oratory of St. Philip, Toronto; MA, University of Dallas; MA (Liturgical Studies), The Liturgical Institute, University of Saint Mary of the Lake. Coordinator of Pontifical Liturgies, Director of the Office of Sacred Worship, liturgical coordinator for the diocesan Permanent Deacon formation program, diocesan Director of RCIA and Director of the Diocesan Televised Mass for the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Co-author of Mystical Body, Mystical Voice: Encountering Christ in the Words of the Mass (LTP, 2011) and frequent presenter in liturgical conferences and parish education. Member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy. He co-hosts The Liturgy Guys podcast which is produced by The Liturgical Institute and is editor of the Adoremus Bulletin
Session 1: Developing a Liturgical Spirituality.
What is meant by "spirituality" and the Catholic life? How does the personal presence of Christ make Catholic spirituality unique?  How have different spiritualties contributed to our celebration of the Triduum? Why is it essential to foster in oneself and one's family and parishioners a vibrant spiritual life? Pope John Paul called for the "development of a liturgical spirituality": what does this mean?  How does it relate to the overall spiritual life? Why are the liturgies of the Triduum a privileged fount of a liturgical spirituality?

Session 2: The Spirituality of Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Eucharist and, with it, the beginning of the New Testament Priesthood: how do these core realities inform Catholic Spirituality? How do the faithful understand the ordained priesthood and, along with it, their own baptismal priesthood? How does our Eucharistic participation on this night affect Eucharistic participation for the rest of the year? The other key element of Holy Thursday--the command of brotherly love--flows from the Eucharistic font: how should Holy Thursday shape my charitable life for others? Why do we keep vigil with the Lord on Holy Thursday?

Session 3: The Spirituality of Good Friday
Good Friday tells us to "Behold (Ecce) the man," "Behold the Wood of the Cross," and "Behold the Lamb of God." What insight can such intentional looking give to my spiritual life? Good Friday, the "day on which the Word himself is muted" (Verbum Domini) is filled with silence: what place should silence have for liturgical spirituality? The cross of Christ is central to this day, as central to the whole economy of salvation and, consequently, to my own spiritual life: what lessons from Good Friday's cross can be had for a liturgical spirituality?

Session 4: The Spirituality of the Paschal Vigil and Easter Season
Light, darkness, wind, fire, water, and oil: these elements are all present at the Paschal Vigil, as they have been in our own sacramental initiation. How are these elements, and the Sacraments of which they are a part, building blocks of a liturgical spirituality? As many as nine readings are heard at the Vigil: what role does the word of God play in my own spirituality--and how is my own life a part of the Economy of Salvation here recounted? How do the rites of Christian initiation renew our awareness of the whole mystery of salvation? At the Vigil's dismissal, the double "Alleluia" rings out: how does a liturgical spirituality impel believers into the world for its sanctification?

February 5, 2017

Marriage and the Word of the Father

When it comes to marriage, as to the rest of life, the Word of the Father does not offer us a fairytale, but a reason for our hope. He does not offer a happy ending in this life, but suffering, and the promise of glory in the life to come- for He commands us to deny ourselves and follow in His footsteps.  Whatever becomes of our marriages and our families, there is no room for anxiety or despair - for the Bridegroom calls. His voice resounds in both sorrow and joy, hope and anxiety. He is waiting for our response. To accept Him, come what come may, is to journey forward, even if in complete humiliation, towards a fullness of joy too great for this life to contain.

This journey progresses by means of the Cross - this means believing in God's love in all manner of hardships and trials, even when all human love seems to fail.  Only those who dare to make this journey, however, discover that love that no power or abyss of misery can overcome.  The love that awaits us ahead is stronger than death - and even if we die, death in the face of this love is not the last word.  For in this love and by this love we live.

This Love is a gift. He comes to us in the form of "the Word" spoken by the Father into our flesh. He comes full of confidence into our difficult life history - that common story in which each of us shares, and those particular sorrows that no one else can share with us, but Him.  In the midst of this life's storm, the silent majesty of this Divine Word is filled with a longing for our humanity that is deeper and more ancient than our resistance to Him. The soul's Deepest Center, He draws a response from places so deep in our being that we do not even know they exist. Even in the most bitter catastrophe, a hidden hope gestates because of the salvation that He has come to bring.

The One who aches for faithfulness is never indifferent to tears shed over married love.This Light walks into the darkness of failed or struggling marriages undaunted. He is confident even when we have completely lost our confidence. He walks on top of the waves of despair and reaches to pull us above the flood if we will turn our eyes to Him and cry for help.  In the face of an angry and hostile world, in our weaknesses and voids, He indissolubly fashions marriage and sanctifies it by His blood -- changing our limited efforts to give ourselves in service to one another into a wellspring of grace.

The Word by which all things were made, including marriage itself, waits for couples to seek Him in the silence of Eucharistic Adoration. He is present to those husbands and wives who in their humiliation and feelings of abandonment trust in Him. Through a family's icons He beholds the candlelight shining on the faces of both the betrayed and the betrayer, and He hears the faith that cries out to Him from pain. Before the barren wall that bears His Cross, He weeps with those who weep. His silent fullness fills every emptiness. His last wordless cry establishes meaning even when a marriage's crushing circumstances seem to render everything meaningless.

The conqueror of death, the Risen One has opened the gates even to the hell that we make of our lives and families. Where no other connection seems left, He is all the connection that we really need. For couples who need integrity restored, He is ready to become their integrity.  For couples whose purity is compromised, He is ready to purify anew.  He liberates from cycles of shame and disgrace. He establishes trust and peace. For couples that need a new beginning, He is the Word that is from the Beginning.

When we struggle against running away from heartache and are loathed to face the truth, the One who is True finds His rest in bearing even the most bitter struggles with us in love. He provides courage for those difficult conversations. He makes it possible to humble oneself, to forgive, to be forgiven. The Man of Sorrows is ever ready to teach how to intercede for the one who has betrayed, denied and abandoned his friend. He is ready to baptize a couple in His compassion when they have deeply saddened one another.

The humble presence of the Truth Himself causes pride to fall, and raises up from bitter humiliation. Because He is righteous and true, this Mighty Warrior does not fail to fight for faithfulness. Because He has overcome, not even addictions or depression or long painful illnesses can prevent His love from prevailing. Even when one's own life's companion will not hear His voice, He is enough to fill even the most difficult life with joy.  Against every obstinacy, He evokes conversion of heart and puts the whole of one's life into dialogue with the love of the Father.

The radiance of the Bridegroom purifies and transforms all our loves the more we make space for Him in our lives. The more a couple will allow Him to captivate their hearts, the easier it is to surrender everything to Him.  He treasures those fleeting moments of unexpected victory when husband and wife stand together in faith. He is amazed and gives thanks to the Father when together with Him they lift up their hearts in thanksgiving -- because of all of these mysterious blessings that they do not understand and struggle to receive.