|
The drama of contemporary culture is the lack of interiority, the absence of contemplation. Without interiority culture has no content; it is like a body that has not yet found its soul. What can humanity do without interiority? Unfortunately, we know the answer very well. When the contemplative spirit is missing, life is not protected and all that is human is denigrated. Without interiority, modern man puts his own integrity at risk. Pope John Paul II, Madrid, 3 May 2003.
New book by Stratford Caldecott: The Seven Sacraments: Entering the Mysteries of God
The following article is based on the final chapter of Stratford's book: Life Beyond Confirmation: How to Revive the Ancient Practice of Mystagogy.
Also note this important new series from CTS called Deeper Christianity
What happens after a convert is received into full communion with the Church, or after a young person is confirmed? All too often, they are left to sink or swim in the parish. A shortage of priests or qualified spiritual directors may mean they receive very little encouragement to journey deeper into the Christian mystery that now surrounds them. They may not even be aware of the full richness of the spiritual resources that exist within the tradition of the Church, resources to help them to grow in holiness and in the knowledge of God. Some may find this within one of the new ecclesial movements, but many settle down into a routine Christianity that too often turns into a spiritual wasteland for them. The possibility of a widespread Catholic renewal may therefore in part depend on the development of a post-baptismal catechesis in the mysteries of Christ and of the Church, a catechesis traditionally known as mystagogia ("initiation into the mysteries"). Baptism and Confirmation may be received only once, but Christian initiation is a continuing adventure, since the grace of these sacraments is the source of a new life that must be encouraged to grow and flourish. Several important works have appeared on mystagogy in recent years, notably The Wellsprings of Worship by Jean Corbon (Ignatius Press) and Mystagogy by Enrico Mazza (Pueblo), but there is a need for parish resources, and the new series is designed with this in mind. The series is intended to dovetail with deeper study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
See also The Veil
Prayers and Meditations
The Rosary
John Paul II on the Mysteries of the Rosary
John Paul II on the Eucharist
Stations of the Cross
The Angelus
The Holy Family
Jesus Prayer
Prayer to the Trinity
Prayers for a New Chivalry
Introduction to the art of prayer
What the catechism of the Catholic Church says about prayer
For informal daily online prayer and meditation see:
http://www.jesuit.ie/prayer/
An easy-to-use online Breviary (Divine Office) giving the Church's prayers for today and throughout the year is available from Universalis at:
http://www.universalis.com/20031201/today.htm
And please visit the following site for an online Catholic Calendar with today's Mass readings and the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary:
http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/
(The Links page on the Calendar site will take you much further.)
Extracts from The Wellsprings of Worship by Jean Corbon (the main author of the Fourth Part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on prayer). This writer is highly recommended by Scott Hahn:
http://rumkatkilise.org/wellsprings.htm
The Liturgy Forum
We are experiencing in postmodernity two opposed tendencies. One leads towards the celebration of irrationalism, and even to a kind of nihilism. The other leads to a recovery of the sense of the sacred, of a transcendent reality and the recognition of a moral (or at least spiritual) order at the heart of the universe. This process has been called the "re-enchantment of the world". The recovery of religious sensibility is working in favour of traditional sacramental and liturgical forms, even as it enriches and transforms them. It involves a rebellion against the prosaic language of functionalized liturgies, banal prayers, and bad music.
The appeal to Pope Paul VI (1971)
Beyond the Prosaic
Declaration on the Liturgy
Liturgical Organizations
Liturgical Renewal and Evangelisation (interview)
Liturgy and Trinity: Towards an Anthropology of the Liturgy
Ratzinger on Liturgical Reform
St Thomas on the Meaning of the Mass
The Veneration of the Holy of Holies (Hans Urs von Balthasar
For a collection of important articles on liturgy from Antiphon, (The Society of Catholic Liturgy journal) see:
http://www.liturgysociety.org/JOURNAL/antiphon.htm
For an invaluable studies of the history and usages of the short Breviary in the Catholic Church see:
www.kellerbook.com
For courses and retreats, see our ResSource web-site.
|