The rite has already explained in section 211 that the renunciation of sin and profession of faith are two inseparable part of one ritual. According to RCIA 223, after the baptismal water is blessed, sin is renounced and faith professed.

RCIA 224 gives three formularies from which to choose to reject sin. Choice A:

Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children?

Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?

Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?

Choice B:

Do you reject Satan, and all his works, and all his empty promises?

Choice C separates B’s questions.

In RCIA 225, the celebrant, informed again of each candidate’s name by the godparents, questions the candidates individually. Each candidate  is baptized immediately after his or her profession of faith.

[If there are a great many to be baptized, the profession of faith may be made simultaneously either by all together or group by group, then the baptism of each candidate follows.]

And the Creed follows in question and answer format.

Note the preference for the individual questioning and then the immediate baptism. Even with smallish groups of candidates, say three or four, I don’t recall having seen the first option used in many years. What have you readers seen at your Easter Vigils?

This is one of three very long prayers of the Easter Vigil. The rubrics are as follows:

222. After the Litany of the Saints, the celebrant blesses the water, using the blessing formulary given in option A.

When baptism is celebrated outside the Easter Vigil (see RCIA 26), the celebrant may use any of the blessing formularies given in options A, B, and C.

But when baptism is celebrated during the Easter season (see RCIA 26) and water already blessed at the Easter Vigil is available, the celebrant uses either option D or option E, so that this part of the celebration will retain the themes of thanksgiving and intercession.

Thanksgiving and intercession: just like the Eucharist. Here’s the text of option A:

Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs,
which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.

In baptism we use your gift of water,
which you have made a rich symbol
of the grace you give us in this sacrament.

At the very dawn of creation
your Spirit breathed on the waters,
making them the wellspring of all holiness.

The waters of the great flood
you made a sign of the waters of baptism,
that make an end of sin
and a new beginning of goodness.

Through the waters of the Red Sea
you led Israel out of slavery,
to be an image of God’s holy people,
set free from sin by baptism.

In the waters of the Jordan
your Son was baptized by John
and anointed with the Spirit.

Your Son willed that water and blood
should flow from his side
as he hung upon the cross.

After his resurrection he told his disciples:
“Go out and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Father, look now with love upon your Church,
and unseal for her the fountain of baptism.

By the power of the Spirit
give to this water the grace of your Son,
so that in the sacrament of baptism
all those whom you have created in your likeness
may be cleansed from sin
and rise to a new birth of innocence
by water and the Holy Spirit.

Here, if this can be done conveniently, the celebrant before continuing lowers the Easter candle into the water once or three times, then holds it there until the acclamation at the end of the blessing.

[Outside the Easter Vigil, the celebrant before continuing simply touches the water with his right hand.]

We ask you, Father, with your Son
to send the Holy Spirit upon the waters of this font.

May all who were buried with Christ in the death of baptism
rise also with him to newness of life.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The people sing the following or some other suitable acclamation.

Springs of water, bless the Lord. Give him glory and praise for ever.

Commentary:

It’s all based on Scripture. It’s deeply trinitarian.

I’ve seen the presider continue the text as the candle is lowered three times. It would seem that a pause is called for in the rite.

What are the other options like? Shorter, with brief acclamations inserted into the text.

Thoughts? Comments?

The presider invites the assembly to pray:

Dear friends, let us pray to almighty God for our brothers and sisters, N. and N., who are asking for baptism. He has called them and brought them to this moment; may he grant them light and strength to follow Christ with resolute hearts and to profess the faith of the Church. May he give them the new life of the Holy Spirit, whom we are about to call down on this water.

This invitation really takes on the character of a prayer. I think the first sentence is enough, followed by a bit of silence.

RCIA 221 offers the Litany of the Saints. I’m not going to reproduce the whole text, but the rubric deserves some notice:

The singing of the Litany of the  Saints is led by cantors and may include, at the proper place, names of other saints (for example, the titular of the church, the patron saints of the place or of those to be baptized) or petitions suitable to the occasion.

There’s no alternative given for singing the litany. This would be the first musical highlight of the Rite of Baptism. My sense would be that this musical directove should also apply to infant baptisms.

I do hope you music directors and catechumenate coordinators are together on adding the saints suggested here. What about “petitions suitable to the occasion”? Reminding you, these are the post-saint petitions:

Lord, be merciful … Lord save your people
From all evil … Lord save your people
From every sin … Lord save your people
From everlasting death … Lord save your people
By your coming as man … Lord save your people
By your death and rising to new life … Lord save your people
By your gift of the Holy Spirit … Lord save your people
Be merciful to us sinners … Lord, hear our prayer
Give new life to these chosen ones by the grace of baptism … Lord, hear our prayer
Jesus, Son of the Living God … Lord, hear our prayer

The obvious additions would be in parishes dedicated not to a saint, but to an event, like the Nativity or the Transfiguration, or some quality of Christ, like “the Teacher” or “Light of the World.” Any other solid and orthodox thoughts on additional petitions here?

The rite gives three options for presenting the candidates for baptism. With eminent Roman pragmatism, and choices and some of the rubrics are as follows:

219. …

A When Baptism Is Celebrated Immediately at the Baptismal Font

The celebrant accompanied by the assisting ministers goes directly to the font. An assisting deacon or other minister calls the candidates forward and their godparents present them. Then the candidates and the godparents take their place around the font in such a way as not to block the view of the congregation. The invitation to prayer (RCIA 220) and the Litany of the Saints (RCIA 221) follow.

[If there are a great many candidates, they and their godparents simply take their place around the font during the singing of the Litany of the Saints.]

In practice, the catechumenate director (“another” minister) calls the candidates. It would seem the rite presupposes the activity of the deacon in the catechumenate, but it does provide for the situation when the deacon isn’t active.

In option B–which I’ve used more often–the same prescriptions about calling and presenting are given. Note two things: the Litany of the Saints becomes the processional music, and will even be jumped in the order of the rite, and that Roman practicality suggests the candidates and godparents just join the procession if there are huge numbers.

B When Baptism Is Celebrated after a Procession to the Font

… In this case an assisting deacon … godparents present them.

[If there are a great many candidates, they and their godparents simply take their place in the procession.]

The procession is formed in this order: a minister carries the Easter candle at the head of the procession (unless, outside the Easter Vigil, it already rests at the baptismal font), the candidates with their godparents come next, then the celebrant with the assisting ministers. The Litany of the Saints (RCIA 221) is sung during the procession. … The invitation to prayer (RCIA 220) precedes the blessing of the water.

C When Baptism is Celebrated in the Sanctuary …

 The instructions for option C parallel what was given in A: who calls the candidates forward and who presents them, not to block the view of the assembly, the invitation to prayer and Litany follow in that order.

It is curious that the procession to the font isn’t listed as the “A” choice. It would be my first choice, unless the church architecture was an absolute obstacle. After the homily, the choreography would go like this:

- Candidates invited forward
- Godparents present/escort them
- Litany of the Saints sung during the procession
- People surround the font and the rite continues with the invitation to prayer and blessing of water, which we’ll cover in the next post.

J’ai mis à profit mes soirées désormais disponibles pour me remettre à la lecture. Et je viens de terminer l’ouvrage de Muriel del Valle.

Il retrace le parcours, un peu romancé, de l’auteure ; un sacré parcours !

“Quatrième de couverture

Voulez vous savoir à quoi ressemble une Femme qui accomplit sa destinée ? Alors ouvrez ce livre et laissez-vous surprendre, puis prendre…

Vous ne pourrez faire autrement, car de page en page, d’image en image, c’est une Magie qui court, incarnée par ces Femmes donneuses de vie, aux cultures si différentes mais étrangement semblables, toutes reliées par cette mystérieuse profondeur d’où jaillit la vie…

Et puis il y a Marthe, la rebelle, qui a eu le courage de sortir du carcan étroit et des préjugés de sa famille, de rompre le silence et l’enfermement des Femmes qui se taisent depuis des générations, pour surgir au côté de Muriel sa créatrice et lui donner le support de chair de son personnage.

Et nous voilà, emportés au rythme de la quête passionnée de ces deux Femmes qui, au fil des accouchements, de rencontres en partages, de regards surpris en sourires donnés, naissent peu à peu à elles-mêmes, se reconnaissent et retrouvent la source de leur féminité.

Ce livre étonnant est un signe des temps à venir mais qui participe déjà de la “Vie nouvelle”, car il sort de la guerre des sexes, pour nous montrer aussi des Hommes n’hésitant pas à afficher et à vivre leur part de Féminin, en particulier dans l’expérience insolite de “la Couvade”.

Mais au delà du regard singulier d’une artiste, portant en elle la vision de son époque, ce livre a une valeur universelle. Il se situe au-delà du temps, quand le destin d’une femme rejoint celui de toutes les femmes, ces Femmes qui ont fait de Muriel la dépositaire du “Secret”, qui l’ont chargée d’une mission, essentielle dans ces “temps insensés”, celle de porter le message de la vie.”

 (source : http://muriel.bdelv.chez-alice.fr/livre.html )

A peine le livre refermé, je me suis dit : “Whaouh, faut à tout prix que je lui écrive !!” . Bon maintenant que je suis plus à tête reposée, l’élan me manque, mais il y a plein de choses sur lesquelles j’aimerais avoir des renseignements, pour pouvoir approfondir.

J’ai beaucoup aimé, entre autres, le dernier chapitre où elle raconte son accouchement dans l’eau, mais pour lequel elle a fait un travail préalable autour du dauphin, et son lien avec l’accouchement.

Je vois que je suis incapable d’expliquer, il faudrait sans doutes que je relise ce chapitre, mais il a en tout cas bien trouvé écho en moi, d’autant plus qu’on aura normalement la piscine d’accouchement pour le jour J (si le petit gars est assez patient pour patienter au moins jusqu’au 12 décembre ; on y croit, on y croit ).

This and the following posts will cover the rubrics and texts of the initiation rites. I plan to post the rubrics in some, though not complete detail. I’ll add some of the prayers where they illustrate certain principles in the rites. Today, a short rubric that emphasizes visibility for the assembly:

218. The celebration of baptism begins after the homily. It takes place at the baptismal font, if this is in view of the faithful; otherwise in the sanctuary, where a vessel of water for the rite should be prepared beforehand.

Many of the parishes in which I’ve served have had no permanent font, or none large enough for adult immersion. In four of these places, we would fill an animal trough or in one place, a hot tub (literally) with warm water on Holy Saturday. One of the many reasons why I like the monastic antiphonal seating pattern is the ability to provide for a sizable and visible font.

We’ve covered the instructions on baptism and confirmation. The third sacrament awaits:

The Neophytes’ First Sharing in the Celebration of the Eucharist

217. Finally in the celebration of the Eucharist, as they take part for the first time and with full right, the newly baptized reach the culminating point in their Christian initiation. In this eucharist the neophytes, now raised to the ranks of royal priesthood, have an active part both in the general intercessions and, to the extent possible, in bringing the gifts to the altar. With the entire community the share in the offering of the sacrifice and say the Lord’s Prayer, giving expression to the spirit of adoption as God’s children that they have received in baptism. When in communion they receive the body that was given for us and the blood that was shed, the neophytes are strengthened in the gifts they have already received and are given a foretaste of the eternal banquet.

Check our earlier discussion on Confirmation, and note here the emphasis on the neophyte as royal priest.

How would you interpret an “active part” in the intercessions and as bearers of gifts to the altar? In my parishes, often the role of prayer leader is set aside for one of the neophytes. When there are a large number of neophytes initiated, we can often involve most or all of them in a full dressing of the altar: mat, cloths, corporal, candles, as well as the bread and wine.

The Lord’s Prayer as an element of a theology of adoption: nice.

Other comments?

Every year as the hours of daylight grow progressively less in the Northern Hemisphere, western organized religions (especially Christian) burst forth during the approach of the Winter Solstice in lavish displays of belief that a one-time-only soul-saving event occurred just for them.  In truth, that which is being celebrated is the celestial panorama that activates the seasons and which has set the pace of life on Earth for millions of years.

Astrological elements are the basis for many portions of scriptural stories, and the two major turning points of the year—the solstices—have been artfully disguised in sacred tales which allowed practitioners of divine deceits to manipulate large masses of people.

The  seasonal change occurring with the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere signals a time of new beginnings.  That change is the meaning behind the word solstice, which comes from the Latin word sol, meaning Sun, and the Latin word sistere, past participle of stit, meaning “to stand.”   The illusion that the Sun moves periodically southward in the winter and northward in the spring is, as we know today, caused by Earth’s axial tilt as it orbits the Sun.  For life in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun appears to reach its most southern point on December 21, and appears to remain in a stationary period for three days time, after which it appears to start moving northward again—on December 25th.  In pre-Christian Rome the 25th of December was therefore known as Natalis Solis Invict, meaning “birthday of the Sun.”

With the approach of winter, the star Murzim  or Murzar (in constellation Canis Major) rises upon the eastern horizon.  The name Murzim is said to mean, “The Announcer,” and it precedes the arrival of the star Sirius, seemingly to announce the greater light to come—just as in the New Testament the character of John the Baptist is portrayed as announcing the coming of Jesus (who declared “I am the light of the world”).

The month leading into the Winter Solstice carried great significance in ancient cultures, and it is from Pagan study of astronomical movements that the observance of Advent was incorporated into Catholic formality—which allows four Sundays to make ready for the light (personified as Jesus) to come back in glory.

In Judaism, the festival of Hanukkah, meaning “dedication” (to light which will be increasing), is observed within the same seasonal period of the approaching Winter Solstice, being celebrated from the 25th of Kislev to the first of Tevet of the Jewish calendar (overlaps December-January).

The connection of the Muslim fast of Ramadan to the Winter Solstice is far less obvious, due primarily to Mohammad’s (or his scribes’) misunderstanding of Jewish/Christian myth that allowed for ceremonial observance of the solstice period.  Being from a desert culture the seasonal change was not such an obvious yearly transitional event as it was to those of more northerly or southerly regions.  In addition, Islam uses a lunar calendar which is about eleven days shorter than the solar calendar that is more widely used throughout the world.  For this reason the Islamic holidays “move” each year.  Nevertheless, the Muslim celebration of Laylat-al-Qadr, meaning the “Night of Power,” is held on the evening of the 27th day of the ninth month of the Muslim year.  Although not as obviously related to recognition of the light phenomenon at the Winter Solstice due to geographic location (desert), the fasting and rites of the Night of Power were inspired by the Jewish/Christian observances of the yearly occasion of feeble light, after which light increases.

After baptism and the “explanatory” rites follows the celebration of confirmation:

215. In accord with the ancient practice followed in the Roman liturgy, adults are not to be baptized without receiving confirmation immediately afterward, unless some serious reason stands in the way. The conjunction of the two celebrations signifies the unity of the paschal mystery, the close link between the mission of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the connection between the two sacraments through which the Son and the Holy Spirit come with the Father to those who are baptized.

Why confirm after baptism? It’s Trinitarian.

216. Accordingly, confirmation is conferred after the explanatory rites of baptism, the anointing after baptism (RCIA 228) being omitted.

So the loose end from RCIA 214 is tied up. I wouldn’t have added it, except as an appendix to this whole section.

214. The baptismal washing is followed by rites that give expression to the effects of the sacrament just received. The anointing with chrism is a sign of the royal priesthood of the baptized and that they are now numbered in the company of the people of God. The clothing with the baptismal garment signifies the new dignity they have received. The presentation of a lighted candle shows that they are called to walk as befits the children of the light.

Three rites, and notice no chrismation–not until confirmation, anyway.

“Explanatory” describes the rites well enough, but the term leaves us way short of what is trying to be communicated and celebrated here.

Instruction on baptism:

212. Immediately after their profession of living faith in Christ’s paschal mystery, the elect come forward and receive that mystery as expressed in the washing with water; thus once the elect have professed faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, invoked by the celebrant, the divine persons act so that those they have chosen receive divine adoption and become members of the people of God.

213. Therefore in the celebration of baptism the washing with water should take on its full importance as the sign of that mystical sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection through which those who believe in his name die to sin and rise to eternal life. Either immersion or the pouring of water should be chosen for the rite, whichever will serve in individual cases and in the various traditions and circumstances to ensure the clear understanding that this washing is not a mere purification rite but the sacrament of being joined to Christ.

Interesting, that reference to “individual cases.” It’s not clear if means individual baptisms, or an individual Easter Vigil celebration. At any rate, a dribbling of water would be a difficult connection to make to a ritual joining to God.

This is the longest section in the instruction (206-217) on the Easter Vigil. I’m going to chop up the two paragraphs. I find this section rich, but pretty dense with the repeated phrase “renunciation of sin and profession of faith. The Church tries to lay out the connection of the two, such that they form one liturgical rite. The strong implication in this section is that a believer cannot compartmentalize her or his life. You can’t profess faith without renouncing sin. You can’t renounce sin, in the sense of deciding not to do wrong acts, without having an accompaniment of faith. Ultimately, the power resides outside of ourselves, or any decision we make, however good it might be.

211. In their renunciation of sin and profession of faith those to be baptized express their explicit faith in the paschal mystery that has already been recalled in the blessing of water and that will be connoted by the words of the sacrament soon to be spoken by the baptizing minister.

This is obvious, placing this ritual after the Scriptural references in the blessing of the water. It seems a bit of a liturgical break not to go directly from the blessing of the water directly to baptism. But the Church is wise to focus not on the materials of the rite, but on a natural progression in the expression of faith.

Adults are not saved unless they come forward of their own accord and  with the will to accept God’s gift through their own belief.  The faith of those to be baptized is not simply the faith of the Church, but the personal faith of each one of them and each one of them is expected to keep it a living faith.

Adults cannot be saved when they lack a personal commitment: is this a valid corollary? Note that the will to be baptized is not a momentary impulse, but must be maintained through life. The strong implication is that the renunciation of sin and profession of faith is more than a liturgical act. It is an aspect of a continual conversion.

Why is this renunciation + profession linked to the dayof baptism and not separated out like other initiation rites? Because…

Therefore the renunciation of sin and the profession of faith are an apt prelude to baptism, the sacrament of that faith by which the elect hold fast to God and receive new birth from him. Because of the renunciation of sin and the profession of faith, which form the one rite, the elect will not be baptized merely passively, but will receive this great sacrament with the active resolve to renounce error and to hold fast to God. By their own personal act in renouncing sin and professing their faith, the elect, as was prefigured in the first covenant with the patriarchs, renounce sin and Satan in order to commit themselves for ever to the promise of the Savior and to the mystery of the Trinity. By professing their faith before the celebrant and the entire community, the elect express the intention, developed to maturity during the preceding periods of initiation, to enter a new covenant with Christ. Thus these adults embrace the faith that through divine help the Church has handed down, and are baptized in that faith.

It’s really more than a last-minute, are-you-sure-you-want-to-do-this.

Comments?

When we last left the Christian Initiation rites, we were deep into the explanatory sections on the Easter Vigil. Tonight, we look at one of the long narratives in the Baptism rite:

209. The celebration of baptism begins with the blessing of water, even when the sacraments of initiation are received outside the Easter season. Should the sacraments be celebrated outside the Easter Vigil but during the Easter season (see RCIA 26), the water blessed at the Vigil is used, but a prayer of thanksgiving, having the same themes of water as God’s creation and the sacramental use of water in the unfolding of the paschal mystery, and the blessing is also a remembrance of God’s wonderful works in the history of salvation.

The blessing thus introduces an invocation of the Trinity at the very outset of the celebration of baptism. For it calls to mind the mystery of God’s love from the beginning of the world and the creation of the human race; by invoking the Holy Spirit and the proclaiming Christ’s death and resurrection, it impresses on the mind the newness of Christian baptism, by which we share in his own death and resurrection and receive the holiness of God himself.

Well okay, we’re not looking at the actual blessing of baptismal water just yet. That will wait for RCIA 222. After the litany of the saints, why is there this long prayer/narrative speaking of the Trinity and God’s agency in the salvation of the human race? Can’t we just get on with the meat of the rite after all these months and years?

The rite suggests a sacramental theology in which God is at work throughout the rite, not just at the “magic moment.” That’s important to remember as modern-day Catholic ponder the issues of apathy, relevance, and a lack of strong faith in many believers as they progress through the sacraments. There is also a very Jewish sense of recall: recounting the deeds of God in history. Christians do well to root themselves as part of a spectrum of tradition and belief. We do not parrot old mumbo jumbo for its own sake. Recalling history puts us in our place. We have the sense of being a small part of a greater whole, that the baptismal rites are very grave affairs that lie beyond mere human invention and ingenuity.

People sometimes fuss about the Easter Vigil, but it’s important to remember that as good liturgy pretty much everything it contains has a reason to be there.

“J’accomplis à la lettre tous mes devoirs religieux, je sacrifie aux temps marqués, chaque mois à la Nouvelle Lune, disposant les couronnes et faisant la toilette d’Hermès, d’Hécate et des autres images divines que mes ancêtres m’ont léguées, les honorant par une offrande d’encens, de grains d’orge et de petits gâteaux; je m’associe durant l’année aux sacrifices publics sans négliger aucune fête. Dans ces occasions, à vrai dire, je n’immole pas de boeufs ni de victimes sanglantes mais j’offre ce que j’ai dans la main, ayant seulement soin de toujours donner leur part aux dieux, comme prémices des fruits nouveaux que la saison m’apporte, soit que je les dépose à leurs pieds, soit que je les brûle en leur honneur, persuadé que les dieux, se suffisant à eux mêmes, n’ont que faire de ces immolations de boeufs”.

(cité dans le “Grand livre des pouvoirs de la Lune”, Marie Delclos)

———————————————————————————————————————–

So I’m trying basically to make a book. The book is a printed version Of my personal book of shadows. But I am drawing a complete blank on what to call it. Basically the book is meant to be direct and to the point. It has simple spells for beginners more complicated ones for more experienced people. It has a brief explination under the titles in brackets. The herbs are in italics. There are herbal lists, tarot layouts and brief thingy on runes. The book is meant to be a spell guide not a teacher. It’s somethin I don’t see enough. I get a new book it’s say 200 pages and contains two or three small spells or charms that a child could have come up wight them. This book has love spells, curses, blessings, prayers, healing spells and rituals, crossing ceremony, a “wiccaning” ceremony (in quotes cuz I’m not a Wiccan), it has protection things, and banishings, things like the withes creed and witches rune and Wiccan rede and all that hubabaloo. The book will contain almost everything my books have. I will leave out some things like all that I copied from the goetia and the keys of Solomon an the necronomican (a book I put little faith in) or some of the stuff like comand and compell oil for which I made a ritual to to strip someone completely of their own freewill. I know “zomg that’s like really bad black magick! You shouldn’t do that!!!” *rolls eyes* not to be flip, but who cares!? I don’t use it permenantly, just to get a job done. Then end it. *shrugs*
My problem is I do not know what to call the damned thing. I don’t want some cocky ass title like “grimoire of the dark mother” pshh this is a book of random spells, rituals and beliefs thrown together. It’s not a teaching guide and it isn’t made on the behalf of any goddess or group of people. Though I could name it after the coven I have been trying to make and if I get it published give a copy to each member. Change it more to target the coven. *thinks* I don’t know. Tell me any name ideas you have and don’t mind getting used.

A Wedding Homily  by Marcus Curnow based on Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-15, 29-40, 12:1-3, 12-13

Ben and Raylene asked me to say a few words to help connect us with the rather unusual fact that we are celebrating their Wedding on Halloween.

The passage we heard read today commences by speaking of faith.  It describes faith as

“the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Whether you are religious or not this hope and ‘assurance of things not seen’ is a powerful force in our world which brings a peculiar quality to one’s living and to ones perspective.  Of course it can and is used for good or for ill.

That faith has been an important and a good thing in the life and Raylene and Ben and in their journey thus far I would say is evident to many.

Using this faith in ‘things unseen’ I want to suggest to you, and for you to believe, that we are actually surrounded by a crowd that is larger than that at Flemington Racecourse today.  A communion of saints, enveloping us as a great cloud of witnesses of the vows that will soon be made.

All Hallows or All Saints Day is traditionally celebrated on 1 November and was initiated in the eighth century by the Catholic Church as a day to commemorate all the “official” Saints or martyrs who didn’t already have a specific day of remembrance.  A day for remembering everyone who had been left out.  How appropriate for a couple such as Ben and Ray who are so good at including those who are often left out.  It has become a day for celebrating all whose lives have inspired us and to reflect on the continued presence of Christ on earth through his followers. 

All Souls Day on 2 November is in many ways an extension of All Saints Day, but with particular emphasis on remembering those who have died, as a day to remember “all the dead who have existed from the beginning of the world to the end of time.” A time to reflect on the hope of the Christian faith that is for life beyond this life.


The passage we heard gives a long history of those saints that have gone before us in faith.  The list included Kings, martyrs and even a prostitute.   It’s your usual wedding crowd, whether our families want to acknowledge it or not!  The promises made and witnessed in marriage connect and binds us to families, histories and the generations. Our sense of who we are, our home and our place, our past and in many ways our future.

Ben liked this aspect of All Hallows Day.  The emphasis that history is carried by ordinary people in ordinary ways.  Dorothy Day the great Catholic activist famously said “Do not call me a Saint, I do not wish to be dismissed so easily”  She was someone who emphasised the significance of very ordinary everyday acts of love.  The truth is that in many ways each and every day we are called to be saints.  To hallow, ‘make holy’ the life in which we share.  Christian Marriage is a communal act.  Ben and Ray certainly didn’t get to this point by themselves and if they are to persevere they will need the love and support of all of the saints that are gathered here today.

If the day and the passage we heard read and the nature of marriage itself suggests the importance of acknowledging those that have gone before it is significant that our opening ritual acknowledged the traditional owners of the land upon which we picnic today. David Tacey suggests that the cultural ‘mixing’ of Aboriginal spirituality and Christian revelation will give rise to an embodied religious sense, and an awareness of the sanctity and sacramentality of nature. This is not a pagan but a profoundly biblical idea. The biblical witness suggests that the oceans and lands are not inanimate matter but subjects with a voice that can worship the Lord.
 Some have suggested connections with this idea and that of ‘songlines’ that Aboriginal communities use as navigation stories for finding their way across the country.

If we take these ideas of land seriously it can lead to what some have described as “reverse colonization”.
 Carl Jung suggested that as we deepen our connection with place, the place slowly conquers us; that

“Man can be assimilated by a country.”
 

Some indigenous traditions also assert that one cannot conquer foreign soil, because in it there dwells strange ancestor-spirits who reincarnate themselves in the new-born.
 American Indian Chief Sealth Suaqamish once said,

“At night, when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and deserted, they will throng with the host that once filled, and still love this land, the white man will never be alone.”  


The idea of spirits haunting us invokes Halloween, the word that All Hallows Eve has become.

The Celts believed that this magical time of seasonal transition opened up a connection to the dead. They believed that the world of the living was closest to the world of the dead at this time they called Samhain at which the spirits of the dead travelled among the living. At its worst the church objected to the fascination with the spirits of the dead and so began to characterise them as evil forces associated with the devil. That’s where a lot of today’s rather commercialized, Halloween imagery comes from.


Whilst Christianity has no doctrine of reincarnation or ancestral spirits at its best it has been able to adapt to not destroy, but to honor and even fulfill the cultures it interacts with.   This positive cultural understanding of the roots of All Hallows Eve and Samhain was the aspect that Raylene was drawn to and it’s very her.   Whilst maintaining her own identity she extends a generosity to those who are very different to herself making people feel significant, accepted and loved for who they are.

Tacey suggests it is the power of this ‘spirit of place’, however described, that has caused many sensitive Australians to feel at ‘home’ in Aboriginal Australia.
  Ched Myers observes these changes in his own life.

“The love in the land has summoned a love in me for it. This love was buried in my soul like the smallest of seeds, placed there by ancestors I never knew.”

He concludes,

“I am convinced that beliefs of traditional cultures not only speak truth but they represent an ultimatum to Christians. Will we continue to ignore the songlines and to excommunicate the spirits of the land in which we dwell? Or can we learn to hear the songlines as essential verses in the earthsong of Gods praise and to see the spirits as part of the great “cloud of witnesses” spoken of in the New Testament book of Hebrews.”



I was trying to think of particular words which captured the particular saintliness of Ben and Raylene.  Ben and Ray are deep. So deep it can be almost intimidating for the rest of us at times.  Like the Saints of old they have a rich inner life which they each express differently.

Ben’s deep interiority is expressed in a quality of thought.  It flows out from the mind in streams of consciousness and passionate inquiry that are cosmic in scope.  The soaring legal eagle who’d just as rather be a chook.

Raylene’s deep interiority is expressed in a quality of thoughtfulness. It flows out from the heart to the ‘other’ in streams of love and compassionate presence that are particular in scope.  The dignified, steadfast Lizard Queen who’d just as rather be catching crickets and turning them into delicious meals that feed whole communities.

A quality of the ‘inner life’ of faith described in our passage and which united this collection of saints was their deep internal longing for something better, for a better country. Weddings are a time of hope and of longing.  Today you are surrounded by people who love you and who long for your best even when we don’t always easily agree on what that best may be.    Raylene and Ben share this longing for things unseen.  How much of the restless struggle of their union, what attracts them to each other is shaped by the ‘longing for a better country’, another sense of home for each other and their relationship, for our broken earth, and for others who have sometimes all but given up hope for themselves.   This has not made it an easy road for them but it is the powerful force of faith that makes such life and such relationships beautiful and thoroughly transforming.

Ben and Raylene however mysterious to say so on Halloween, I want to suggest that in this place today we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses made up of Hebrew Heros, Dreamtime Warriors and a bunch of us ordinary saints who love you very much. For all that you give to us, always know that there is a great crowd barracking for you and cheering you ‘out of the barriers’ today.

May this All Hallows Eve on this Melbourne Cup weekend remind you to,

“run with perseverance the race that is set before you, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame.”  

When the sense of home and the country you long for seems far off,

 ”consider him who endured such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”

That you may,

“lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”

Amen.

Sections 209 through 214 give an explanation of the main elements of the baptism portion of the initiation rites. A summary first:

209. The celebration of baptism has as its center and high point the baptismal washing and the invocation of the Holy Trinity. Beforehand there are rites that have an inherent relationship to the baptismal washing: first, the blessing of the water, then the renunciation of sin by the elect, and their profession of faith. Following the baptismal washing, the effects received through the sacrament are given expression in the explanatory rites: The anointing with chrism (when confirmation does not immediately follow baptism), the clothing with a white garment, and the presentation of a lighted candle.

Commentary:

As with all other sacraments, there are associated rites to go with the apex. Why are they important? I suppose if our catechesis were impeccable, there would be no need. In emergency situations, as we read often in the Pastoral Care rites, the important thing is the essential of the sacrament. At the Easter Vigil, however, these associated rituals have great value: they recount the story for the faith community. They also reinforce, as the rite attests, certain interior associations the newly baptized have already experienced. What are the effects of baptism? An inner strengthening, a renewal in one’s exterior life, and Christ’s light of faith: all represented in anointing, white clothing, and a lit candle.

It is not an absolute requirement that adult initiation take place at the Easter Vigil. We’ve read earlier that the whole process is to be accommodated to the liturgy, even to the point of inviting the faith community to observe another Lent in preparation and as an example for those to be baptized. Developing a second Lent during a year should be enough to give anyone pause.

208. When the celebration takes place outside the usual time (see RCIA 26-27), care should be taken to ensure that it has a markedly paschal character (see Christian Initiation, General Introduction, no. 6). Thus the texts for one of the ritual Masses “Christian Initiation: Baptism” given in the Roman Missal are used, and the readings chosen from those given in the Lectionary for Mass, “Celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation apart from the Easter Vigil.”

A good liturgist knows where to find these. The next posts in this series will outline the elements of the Liturgy of Initiation (209-216) as well as First Eucharist (217). I’ll have a few posts up today and tomorrow before my departure, then we’ll finish up the following week.

207. The usual time for the celebration of the sacraments of initiation is the Easter Vigil (see RCIA 23), at which preferably the bishop himself presides as celebrant, at least for the initiation of those who are fourteen years old or older (see RCIA 12). As indicated in the Roman Missal, “Easter Vigil,” the conferral of the sacraments follows the blessing of the water.

An interesting preference for the bishop to preside. Presumably that directive is for the cathedral parish, or for the bishop to travel to a catechumenate center or to invite the elect to the cathedral. Equally interesting is the bias for older teens and adults. Children may be baptized at other times, and by other ministers.

I’ve never been aware of a cathedral in which the bishop wouldn’t baptize younger children.

RCIA 206 through 243 cover the celebration of the Easter Vigil. The Vigil is the normative time at which adult baptism, confirmation, and First Eucharist take place. Sections 206-217 are the instructions given in the rite–not the rubrics, but the liturgical theology behind what happens at the Vigil.

Let’s start the eleven posts on these twelve sections:

206. The third step in the Christian initiation of adults is the celebration of the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and eucharist. Through this final step the elect, receiving pardon for their sins, are admitted into the people of God. They are graced with adoption as children of God and are led by the Holy Spirit into the promised fullness of time begun in Christ (Lumen Gentium 48, Ephesians 1:10) and, as they share in the eucharistic sacrifice and meal, even to a foretaste of the kingdom of God.

I find these paragraphs in the rites very instructional. There’s a lot packed into three sentences. First, a reminder that the celebration of the sacraments is the last of three steps, a transition to the last of four periods of the initiation process. There a rightful sense this is a very vital moment, but the Easter Vigil is not the beginning of Christian life, nor should it bring for the community and elect a sense that “Finally! The Moment has come.”

An important reminder that baptism forgives sin. Do the elect get off easy? Only if the scrutinies have been neglected or downplayed.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians supplies the metaphor of adoption. While emphasizing the Eucharist as both sacrifice and meal, the whole event is given an eschatological taste, pointing to the governance of God in our lives and our cooperation both in the present and in the reign to come, of that holy government and our part in cooperating with it.

Not bad for a mere eighty-two words.

Little pumpkin all set to trick or treat

Ghouls and ghosties are the order of the night for Hallowe’en. Trick or treating, visiting neighbours – to leave a dare or receive a treasure – has become not just an American ritual, but one which has caught on in the Western World.

How many of our children know the origins of the celebration which fills their imaginations with scary images until they shake with glee or cry for consolation?

2000 years ago the Celtic year began at Samhain. And as the Celts calculated in moons, their ‘new year’ night was celebrated during the moon of 31 October – 1 November: what is now known worldwide as Hallowe’en. For all Celtic peoples – contemporary with the height of Roman civilization – Samhain was a time of deliberate misrule and contrariness, rather like the Roman Saturnalia which was celebrated at winter solstice, or if calculated in the Julian calendar, beginning December 17 and lasting for a period of six days.

Pumpkins ready for carving into Hallowe'en lanterns

Saturnalia did not otherwise survive 2000 years of change.

Hallowe’en, on the other hand, seems not only to have survived, but blossomed: its increasing popularity attributed perhaps to its ability to touch on the element of fire – candles flickering in lanterns – the dark, calculation by the moon, the unknown.

Celtic names                   Modern months                  Meaning

Samonios                                       October/November        Seed-fall
Dumannios                            November/December    Darkest depths
Riuros                                          December/January           Cold-time
Anagantios                              January/February        Stay-home time
Ogronios                                    February/March                  Ice time
Cutios                                          March/April                         Windy time
Giamonios                                 April/May                           Shoots-show
Simivisonios                                May/June                            Bright time

Equos                                             June/July                           Horse-time

Elembiuos                                      July/August                      Claim-time
Edrinios                           August/September      Arbitration-time
Cantlos                                         September/October             Song-time

In the earliest known Celtic calendar, the Coligny Calendar of 13 moons (months), now in the Palais des Arts in Lyon, Samhain was the fire-Festival of the Dead. It was a time when the veil between this world and the Otherworld was thought to be so thin that the dead could return to warm themselves at the hearths of the living, and some of the living – especially poets, artists, clairvoyants and shaman-healers – were able to enter the Otherworld through the doorways of the sidhe, or fairyfolk, such as the stone-lined entrance to the Celtic Hill of Tara in Ireland.

2000-year old Coligny calendrical calculations are quite complex and sophisticated, using a combination of moon and sun calculations which are obviously significant to the belief that the cycle of the moon ruled (and rules) people’s lives. The calendar dates from circa 1st century BC, and is made up of bronze fragments, once a single huge plate, inscribed with Latin characters, but written in the Gaulish language. It begins each month with the full moon, and covers a 30-year period of five cycles of 62 lunar months, with one of 61. It divides each month into fortnights (two-week periods) rather than single weeks, with individual days designated – from observation – as MAT (good) or ANM (not good). Each year is divided into thirteen (lunar) months.

The Christian Gregorian calendar never fully succeeded in spreading a veneer over its Celtic predecessor. It managed, however, to change the ancient festival of New Year – Samhain- from night to day, making the day of November 1st a celebration for All Saints, instead of the eerie ‘pagan’ concept of a nighttime fire-festival by moonlight the previous night. That was considered too ‘devilish’, rural or ‘ignorant’ to continue in an enlightened Christian world. But celebrate the country people continued to do.

Hallowe’en simply means the evening (night or moon-time) before All Hallows. So the older pre-Christian fire festival succeeded in perpetuating its Samhain roots, with parades and mocking the Dead – or even the Undead – allowing the Underworld to merge with the ‘real’ world, cavorting with spirits through the thinnest of veils. By perpetuating Samhain as Hallowe’en, the populace voted with its feet: adopting the Christian calendar name and applying it to a pre-Christian fire festival which would not go away.

This time of year we loosen Saturn’s bonds.
The ancient God awakens from His sleep,
and rules the Earth as in the Golden Age.

Trick or treat

Saturn’s influence, while associated with midwinter solstice, is also felt in the giving of gifts, or, what has become the fun of Hallowe’en: trick-or-treating. The Saturnalia was not just another fire festival to celebrate a time of misrule or night lording it over day, but for giving thanks for the bounty of harvest; and knowledge, said to have been brought to Earth by Saturn the God who showed Man how to store and preserve seed from a bountiful crop until sown again in spring furrows. While the giving of gifts perpetuates in most festivals of the Christian calendar (feasting after Lenten fast, Christmas Day giving and gift-unwrapping) the Celts were also masters of the soil, adept at tilling the Earth to encourage her to provide for next year. So the ‘treats’ of Hallowe’en are also rooted in that pre-Christian tradition of gift-giving and appreciation.

Star-shaped piñata for Lent from original Chinese paper-decorated designs

Piñata now decorate supermarket shelves at any time, not just at Lent

Hallowe’en may have survived its 2000-year transition, but it is doubtful whether any Celtic wraith floating in through the veil would recognize the 21st century version.