According to the Whole

January 31, 2021January 24, 2023

The Unchanging Epiphany Propers

The Liturgy is made up of many different parts that all work together to accomplish a full and total service of prayer and praise and supplication. In the Western Eucharistic Liturgy, which we call the Mass, there are two main groupings of parts, the Ordinary and the Propers. The Ordinary of the Mass is that collection of prayers and declarations and songs that stay the same each Mass. The Propers of the Mass are those portions that are variable, which change from Mass to Mass.

July 14, 2020January 24, 2023

The Last First Step: A Conversion Story

I was born to and raised by Christian parents, God-fearing people who taught me to love God, taught me that God is good, that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They brought me to church every Sunday morning, most Sunday nights, and most Wednesday nights for youth group. This church was a Southern Baptist congregation where I attended from 0 to 18 years old, when I moved away for college. It would be impossible to overstate how formative growing up in that congregation was for me; it grounded me in a culture, a philosophy, and a faith. It grounded me so deeply in that faith that when I graduated high school I went on to a Southern Baptist college and earned a degree from a Baptist seminary.

March 31, 2020July 7, 2021

An Aid for Washing

The Asperges is a rite in which the priest sprinkles the people with holy water before the Mass while verses from Psalm 51 (50) are sung, followed by short responses and a Collect. This rite is performed throughout the year, Sunday by Sunday, though during Eastertide the antiphon Vidi Aquam from Ezekiel 47 is used with verses from Ps. 117 (116). The Asperges runs:

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020

A Visual for Lent

This handy visual provides some useful imagery for the season of Lent. At the center and dominating the picture is the Cross, because this entire season has at its center the Cross.

The steps leading up to the beginning of Lent are the preparatory Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. On the right side of the Cross is a censer with incense rising up representing prayer (Ps. 141:2; Rev 5:8, 8:4), because prayer undergirds everything we do in Lent and should even be increased now. On the left side of the Cross is a burning palm branch, because the palms used in procession on Palm Sunday the previous year are burned to become the ashes applied to our heads which remind us that we ourselves are the same dust (Gen 3:19).

January 7, 2020January 24, 2023

The Threefold Epiphany

The Feast of Epiphany in the Western tradition is an extravaganza of themes. On the feast day itself, January 6, it’s true that the primary theme is that of the visit of the magi to the Christ child. But in the various antiphons and hymns of that day, it’s linked to its octave day (8 days later) and the Sunday following its octave. On those days, the themes of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan and of his first miracle at the wedding in Cana are observed, respectively. While these themes get their due attention individually on their own days, they all stay linked together through at least some of the language in each of their liturgies.

November 30, 2019January 24, 2023

Ad te levavi

Ad te levavi animam meam, or “Unto thee lift I up my soul” is the first chant of the first Sunday of the first season of the liturgical year in the West. This Introit (Entrance Chant) comes from Psalm 25 (24) and is meant to set the tone not just for this Sunday’s Mass, but for the whole season of Advent. What is it about the character of this psalm that makes it appropriate for this season?

September 22, 2019January 24, 2023

Open Thou My Lips

The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim his handiwork. Trees and mountains can sing to God together, and even the rocks could start crying out. But I can’t seem to open my mouth to pray.

The phenomenon, I’m assured, is not unique to me. Prayer is hard to do. I could take the time to compile a list of saints, divines, and other luminaries throughout history who struggled with prayer for seasons or throughout their lives, but it would only be a slight comfort in reassuring us that the struggle is common—which we already know. On the other hand, I could list people who have prayed so well that they would glow with the uncreated light. Again, that’s interesting, but little comfort, at least to me.

April 19, 2019

The Passiontide Veiling

St. Michael Orthodox Church, Whittier, California

As the faithful of the Western Rite enter in our church buildings on the Sunday before Palm Sunday, our eyes search for the familiar and holy images that we have become accustomed to seeing there, but instead we find violet veils. Those experiencing this for the first time may be confused—and hopefully, disturbed—at not seeing the holy images. The cross and the icons are veiled from our sight on the fifth Sunday of Lent, traditionally called “Passion Sunday,” and it marks a distinct turning toward the end of this Lenten journey. But why are the icons veiled, and why is this called “Passion” Sunday if the Gospel passage (St. John 8:46-59) isn’t the account of Christ’s passion?

February 25, 2019February 12, 2023

The Secret Current: Lectionary Lessons and the Way to Easter

In the Western Tradition, Septuagesima Sunday kicks off the Easter cycle of the Church Year (like beginning the Triodion in the Eastern Rite). As the first of the three Sundays which make up the Pre-Lent season in the West, Septuagesima (the Sunday nearest the 70th day before Easter) makes it clear liturgically that we have turned a corner: all “alleluias” are suppressed until Easter, as well as other exuberantly joyful hymns and canticles, and the liturgical color is changed to violet. The lectionary also shifts gears to themes appropriate to this new path: themes of repentance, renunciation, and works of mercy.

December 26, 2018December 26, 2022

On the Feast of Stephen

In the carol “Good King Wenceslas“, we sing that the good king went out to serve a peasant gathering firewood “on the feast of Stephen”. The feast of Stephen is the day after Christmas in the Western calendar [two days after Christmas on the Eastern calendar] and celebrates St. Stephen, the first martyr for Christ (and my Patron Saint). In Acts, chapters 6 and 7, we read that Stephen was chosen to be a special servant of the Church in Jerusalem because he was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. It was in the context of his role as a servant that he was enabled to do miracles among the people, and this drew attention to him both among those open to the Truth of Christ and among those opposed to it. The enemies of the Church soon had Stephen arraigned before a hostile court that threw him out of the city and put to death by stoning.

The proximity of the feast of St. Stephen to Christmas reminds us that the coming of the Prince of Peace is no guarantee of an untroubled life for his followers. Just the opposite in fact: Jesus promised his followers that they would have struggles, that they would have to pick up and carry crosses, just like him. St. Stephen’s example shows us that the way of martyrdom is the prototypical way of the Christian.