Meanwhile, in Seattle ...

Easter Vigil Liturgy of St Patrick Catholic Church, Seattle, 2010.


[Courtesy of an aghast son, C.B., in NYC]

My favorite spoof on liturgical dance:

Müller suggests new task for CDF: shoring up deficient "theological structure" of Francis Pontificate

In an interview with French Catholic newspaper La Croix, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, defined a new task for his office: providing the theological structure for the pontificate of Pope Francis. The Cardinal reportedly stated: “The arrival of a theologian like Benedict XVI in the Chair of St. Peter was no doubt an exception. But John XXIII was not a professional theologian. Pope Francis is also more pastoral and our mission at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to provide the theological structure of a pontificate.”

[Hat tip to CMTV Headlines, 4/8/15 and CFN, 7/4/15]

"Reasonable Republicanism"

It's another from Guy Noir:

Maggie Gallagher is someone whose writings have often seemed insightful. I suppose this ought to. She certainly seems to express a worthwhile concern:

Maggie Gallagher, "Who’s Really Showing Courage in Indiana?" (National Review, april 2, 2015)

But then again.... Look... if you can say this:

"I don’t see any reason why I as a Roman Catholic could not bake a cake or pizza for a gay wedding, in the unlikely event anyone wanted me to do so. (Gay couples: If you are turned down by a local business and want an alternative to crushing a local family’s livelihood, call me!)

And you can say this:

Will we find a way to stand and fight this new wave of hatred and intolerance, while recognizing and communicating that we know gay people have the same right that we’re demanding for ourselves — the right to live as one chooses?

Then explain to me again, just why do we object to the way gay people choose to live their life? I think our opponents might then be right that we are making a mountain out of a molehill. She is right about the lack of political firepower, but why should anyone muster that at all if the whole thing is as tepid an affair as she seems to suggest? "The right to live as one chooses" sounds a lot like the note sounded by Vatican II in its Decree on Religious Liberty. It certainly sounds good, even noble. But lest no one else mentions it, isn't it true that history's most notorious sinners also chose to live as they wanted, according to their lights? Would Maggie make them a nosegay or send them a cake? Is the problem that liberals are, well, over-reacting, or that Christians need to, well, take a tip from Francis and lighten up? Who's Okay, and who's not? Just wondering, even as I wonder at the fact NR chose not to review Robert Royal's Making Gay Okay.

Fr. Perrone on Christ's Descent to Hell & Resurrection

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, April 5, 2015):

On the third day He rose again from the dead. We say these words frequently and are sometimes perplexed when we do the math. Our Lord died on Good Friday and arose very early on Sunday, which counts for two days, unless we reckon the number of the days of the week, even partial days, in which His body was in death rather than count the number of twenty-four-hour days. Another interpretation holds that since Christ had been thrown into an underground prison on Holy Thursday night awaiting trial the next day, His body was “in the bowels of the earth” three days: Thursday in a cellar under the High Priest’s house, and Friday and Saturday in the tomb. In any case, our Lord emerged out of the earth alive in the body after having descended into “hell:” limbo or the abode of the dead. This mission into the lower regions of the earth (it was believed that spirits of the dead went to a place deep in the earth) must have been a sort of Easter celebration for the souls of those just men and women. Although Christ was not yet there in His body, His appearing there indicated to those souls that the purpose for which He had lived and died–to be the Victor over sin and death–had been successfully accomplished. Can we imagine the jubilation which took place in limbo? A vast sea of humanity, we should hope, was there waiting for this precise moment. A short time later these holy souls would follow Christ in His ascension into heaven, producing a sweeping procession of people into the Holy City, the Jerusalem above.

I use a bit of imagination to try to stir your minds to catch some of the excitement which must have greeted our Lord Easter Sunday morning. The rejoicing must have been at a feverish pitch. It was the vindication of everything the disciples had believed about Christ–that He is truly God, the Messiah, the Redeemer of humanity, the true judge of judge the living and dead. The resurrection meant that His teachings about heaven, beatitude, righteousness, the Holy Eucharist, about the worth of the sacrifices that had been made for the sake of Christ by leaving home and work–all is vindicated. This was the sign which confirmed everything. There would be no further proof needed to convince these witnesses to convert all the world to Christ. On Easter day any doubts about Christ were dispelled and the affection for Him must have been intense. The Acts of the Apostles indicates the prodigy of people whose faith was ardent.

We are at a seeming disadvantage not having seen the Lord’s resurrection with our eyes. Our knowledge of Him comes rather through faith, a way of knowing which is often taken to be a lesser, weaker manner of knowing. “Seeing is believing” is a well-known phrase, but one that’s totally contrary to what we mean by faith. Faith is indeed a kind of knowing Christ, but not through sight, not through the senses. It is a supernatural gift infused into the soul at baptism. And in order to be a living faith, it needs to be fed by instruction and by intimate association with Him through prayer. This is how many lapse from faith. They suffer malnourishment through poor instruction, and are weakened by deceit and led astray through godless men. Our Lord indicated that the faith of many would grow cold. This does not happen of itself since faith is a permanent gift abiding in one’s soul. But faith can be lost by putting faith in falsity and it can be ‘cooled’ through neglect of religious practice.

Once I heard the sad words from a woman: “I’m afraid we’re rather poor Christians” (‘poor’ here referring to lax, not to material poverty). We’ve got lots of such people today, poor Christians, people without a passion for truth, without a deep personal love for Christ, but who have skeptical minds and sordid affections. What follows this laxity is disorder, sadness, misery, and deep spiritual loneliness.

I know you are aware of this enfeeblement of Christianity in the world today. It’s a worrisome thing for us and surely a heartbreak for the Lord who gave His all to redeem us. But I hope you are true believers in Him and in His holy Church which brings you truth and grace. If so, you are spiritually alive and so you must be joyful. Easter has literal meaning for you. Christ is living and you know Him with the superior kind of knowledge called faith. It’s wonderful to live in God’s grace and to have some of that apostolic zeal which the first Christians had ever since Easter morning.

I wish you to have this always: a strong faith in Christ and deep love for Him. If so, your life has meaning and a secure and worthwhile direction. You should carry the exuberance of Easter in your hearts today and keep it always stored within you. You won’t ever be defeated if the life of the risen Christ remains in you.

Fr Perrone

Lectionary censorship continues???

Back in 2006 we posted an article entitled "Lectionary censorship" (Musings, July 11, 2006) about large swaths of Biblical teaching withheld from parishioners on a regular basis by those who typically use the "Shorter Form" lectionary readings in the Novus Ordo liturgy.

What reminded us of this was a post entitled "What does the Bible really teach?" (The Nesciencent Nepenthene, April 6, 2015) based on a comparison of what can be found in the April 5 Easter Sunday readings with what is actually in the Bible. Pretty amazing.

This leads me to think there is a good research project here for someone willing to undertake the foot work. The discrepancies are simply scandalous.

For a few dollars more (Catholic Relief Services, etc.)

Our correspondent, Guy Noir, sent us an interesting cluster of links a few days back about Catholic charities and gross inordinancies in salaries of CEOs of these NGOs:

Concerning Matt C. Abbott's "The controversy surrounding Catholic Relief Services" (Renew America, March 26, 2015), Noir writes, "The entire article is interesting, but this stuck out like a sore to me:

... for a government-funded NGO that takes in just under a billion dollars per year, $460,000 is not unreasonable for a CEO's salary. For a Catholic charity that serves the poor, it shows a disconnect bordering on the extreme.

Then there's this article about Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo, President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services on the organization's website, about which Noir comments:

Note that this CEO is married to a Dr. I imagine is also a high earner. I am still confused why people are so self-righteous about the "one percent," when CEOs of associations and college presidents, institutions set up to be altruistic and not profit-driven, make these salaries of over $300,000. It all suggests not that there are a rich few, but that there is a sizable wealthy class steering not simply robber baron businesses but our entire culture. And so we are given moral instruction from a tier of folks who do their grocery shopping at Whole Foods.

Finally, this interesting aside, by Matthew Archbold, "Wide Disparity in Catholic College Presidents’ Salaries, From $1 Million to Zero" (Catholic Education Daily, August 22, 2013).

"The Elephant in the Higher Education Room"

Lydia McGrew, "The Elephant in the Higher Education Room" (What's Wrong with the World, March 31, 2015) - excerpt:

"When I obtained a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University in 1995, the rot was already firmly in place. In order to get my requisite graduate credits without taking Queer Theory and other postmodernism (which I did not entirely avoid) I had to do repeated independent studies with the last members of the old guard, all of whom are now long since retired or passed on "to the greater life." Most other relatively conservative students were not so lucky. And that was twenty years ago.

"Why in the world should people who want to defend the humanities write as if this were not a reality? Why should we pretend that a student who takes a literature course at the majority of secular colleges (and even some Christian colleges) can be sure of learning worthwhile content when that is, at best, a gamble with a risk of big losses?"

In correspondence on this post, Guy Noir commented:

This is spot on.

As proof, see this over at Crisis, where a well-intentioned, serious commentator seriously asks us, "Will Notre Dame Continue to Betray its Catholic Identity?"

...

Hahahahahahaha...

Is that a serious question? If conservatives are operating under paradigms so naive that they can ask something like this straight-facedly, I suggest that our serious conversations are little more than posturing and game playing. Let's just give Francis the blank check he wants minus the feigned open dialog already.

Must be forgetting to take his Prozac again by the look of it.

That White House Easter photo

Emily Zanotti, "We Need to Talk About the White House Easter Photo" (American Spectator, April 6, 2015):

This is what the White House put on social media to celebrate Easter. Now, I know, every holiday, obituary and random event must, by law, be celebrated by this President with a photo of himself.

But what on God's green Earth is happening here?

I feel like this is a poster for a depressingly dark independent "comedy" film I will never see, about a man and a giant imaginary bunny, sort of like Willard, but without the quality writing and with questionable casting choices. Does he see the bunny? Does he know its there? Is it really Joe Biden, performing the single most important duty of his Vice Presidency? Is this all a gloriously complicated scheme that will eventually be revealed to be the dawn of the New Order?

My money's on Biden.

[Hat tip to JM]

Have these questions been answered?

They have, have they not? I'm assuming so, since there is a major growth industry dedicated to explaining what the Holy Father really meant by what he said (about just about everything); but I've been out of the loop for a few weeks, what with cataract surgery and Easter break and family business. So maybe you can tell me. Here's what I have from some weeks ago:

An article by Eugenio Scalfari, in La Repubblica (March 15, 2015), raises questions about whether Pope Francis believes in the annihilation of non-believing souls and holds a minimalist view of the requirements for salvation.  The question arises when he is talking to Europe's nonbelievers.  The problem, as always in this sort of account, is that it's related from memory.  So if this is a misrepresentation of his views, has the Holy Father corrected the public record?  Please tell me he has.  Otherwise, here is what it appears he's saying:

[...W]hat about those with no faith? The answer is that if one has loved others at least as much as himself, (possibly a little more than self) the Father will welcome him. Faith is of help but that is not the element of the one who judges --  it’s life itself. Sin and repentance are part of life [and include]: remorse, a sense of guilt, a desire for redemption and the abandonment of egoism.

What happens to that lifeless soul? Will it be punished? How?

Francis’ answer is very clear: there is no punishment, but the annihilation of that soul. All the others will participate in the bliss of living in the presence of the Father. The annihilated souls will not be part of that banquet; with the death of the body their journey is ended and this is the basis for the missionary work in the Church: to save the lost souls. And this is also the reason why Francis is a Jesuit to the core.

The Company founded by Loyola taught and still teaches its followers that the premise of mission is being in tune with others, i.e. being on the same wavelength, without which dialogue would be impossible. For that reason the missionary Church has to update itself according to the passage of the times and the diversities of places.

When dialogue finally becomes possible among different peoples, of diverse cultures, civics and religions, it is then that the missionary Church may stimulate the call for the good and limit the love of self.

Francis’ teaching makes a lot of sense even for those who don’t believe because it touches a deeply human factor, which is independent of belief in God and Christ His Son. It is a teaching which highlights the difference between man and the animal from which he descends, with a mind capable of reflection and self-judgment, by holding the bridle of his own narcissism and his head hled high, gazing at the stars.

Deeply closeted Christians and their Post-Indiana Future: Law, Culture, and Rights

As Christine Niles says about this interview with a lawyer: "This is a gold mine of information and clarity. Plenty of naked truth."

Rod Dreher, "The Post-Indiana Future for Christians" (The American Conservative, April 3, 2015):

I spent a long time on the phone last night with a law professor at one of the country’s elite law schools. This professor is a practicing Christian, deeply closeted in the workplace; he is convinced that if his colleagues in academia knew of his faith, they would make it very hard for him. We made contact initially by e-mail — he is a reader of this blog — and last night, by phone. He agreed to speak with me about the Indiana situation on condition that I not identify him by name or by institution. I do know his identity, and when he tells me that he is “well-informed about the academy and the Supreme Court,” I assure you that from where he sits, and teaches, and from his CV, he is telling the truth.

I will call him Prof. Kingsfield, after the law professor in The Paper Chase.

What prompted his reaching out to me? “I’m very worried,” he said, of events of the last week. “The constituency for religious liberty just isn’t there anymore.”

Easter Reflection: Were the Apostles Deceived? ... Deceivers?

Let's come clean with the alternatives: Blaise Pascal writes in his Pensees, No. 322,

The Apostles were either deceived or deceivers. Either supposition is difficult, for it is not possible to imagine that a man has risen from the dead.

While Jesus was with them he could sustain them, but afterwards, if he did not appear to them, who did make them act?

Former Notre Dame Philosophy Professor, Thomas V. Morris comments, in his book, Making Sense of It All: Pascal and the Meaning of Life (Eerdmans):

If what the apostles reported about Jesus was false, then either they believed it and so were themselves deceived or they knew it was false and so were just deceivers. How plausible is either of these alternatives?

First, consider the claim that the followers of Jesus were themselves deceived, wrongly believing in his miracles and resurrection when no such things had ever actually happened. On this supposition they were themselves just mistaken. But there is something interesting about the concept of a mistake. I can be walking down the street and think I see an old friend approaching but on getting closer realize that I have made a mistake. I can mistakenly believe that today is Saturday when it's Friday. I can make some pretty big mistakes. We call can. But a mistake can only be so big. I cannot mistakenly think I see exactly 419 pink and purple elephants outside my office window, suspended in mid-air. I can't mistakenly think I have twelve arms.

Consider the claim that dismisses the literal interpretation of the resurrection, substituting for it the fuzzy intellectual abstraction that would have us believe that in one sense, a spiritual sense (or in a sense in which we can admit of a spiritually transformed body), Christ is risen, but in another sense Jesus' bones may still be moldering in some Palestinian grave. This is the sort of interpretation that is embraced by urbane contemporary sophisticates who would find the simple notion that Jesus could have arisen, bones and all, from the grave, as impossible to believe as that one sees exactly 419 pink and purple elephants outside his window, or that he has twelve arms. The point, however, is that the biblical Resurrection, like the Cross of Christ, is something scandalous -- something unbelievable in ordinary terms. One can't just mistakenly believe something like that. Morris continues:

The apostles reported detailed encounters with the risen Christ sometime after his death and burial. Would it have made much sense for loved ones to respond to such reports by saying, "Calm down, dear. It was just your imagination"? Pascal says that it is not possible to imagine that a man has risen from the dead. That's too extreme to be a mistake. And there were no cultural expectations in first-century Judaism that a single man might be raised from the grave by God into a new, yet recognizable, form of life. Hallucination is not plausible. Repeated, convergent mass hallucinations are even less plausible, much less plausible. Pascal finds this suggestion absolutely incredible, strictly speaking.

So what of the other possibility? If the testimony of the apostles is false, and it is utterly implausible to think of all of them as deceived by appearances concerning such extraordinary events, then the other possibility, as Pascal points out, is that they never believed for a minute these stories they told about Jesus but were themselves just deceivers. How credible is this supposition?

In another passage in his Pensees, No. 310, Pascal writes:

Proofs of Jesus Christ. The hypothesis that the Apostles were knaves is quite absurd. Follow it out to the end and imagine these twelve men meeting after Jesus' death and conspiring to say that he had risen from the dead. This means attacking all the powers that be. The human heart is singularly susceptible to fickleness, to change, to promises, to bribery. One of them had only to deny his story under these inducements, or still more because of possible imprisonment, tortures and death, and they would all have been lost. Follow that out.

Morris comments:

Lying is hard work. When you tell a lie, you don't have reality to back you up. When you tell a lot of lies, one building on the next, you get yourself in an even worse fix. Such deceit requires extraordinary powers of memory as well as imagination. Most of us have a hard enough time remembering things that have actually happened. And when we forget, we can usually rely upon the fact that the truth leaves traces of itself behind -- footprints, documents, memory impressions in other people's minds. But when we concoct an alternate reality, a history contrary to what really has happened, we have only our own memories to rely on concerning what we said happened.

A conspiracy of lies is even more fragile. This is from the beginning an exceedingly odd sort of agreement - a number of different people get together, concoct a story, and agree to lie about it, each promising not to break and tell the truth. It is crucial to their agreement that they're all liars, but how in the world can you trust liars to keep their end of an agreement? Any supposition that the apostles of Christ met after his death and entered into this sort of agreement is especially hard to swallow. Here a number of ordinary men from walks of life in which the truth mattered, who had just spent an extended period of time with a charismatic leader whom most non-Christians recognize as one of the greatest moral teachers in history, are supposed to have met together after the death of their leader and, to further his work, agreed to tell outrageous lies about him? This is just too bizarre. And worse, Pascal points out, from these lies they would have had little to gain and much to lose, as circumstances developed. Only one of them need have cracked and the whole conspiracy would have unraveled. And each of them, knowing that each of the others was lying against the grain of his own personality, would surely have suspected that one of the others would crack, and so would have been all the more prepared himself to tell the truth and cut his losses, distancing himself from the others in times of increasing pressure and persecution. Further, recall that we are talking about a message that itself emphasized the importance of walking in the truth. The hypothesis that the followers of Christ were just deceivers is just too out of step with everything we know about them, about their circumstances, about their message, and about human psychology.

The citations from Thomas V. Morris's Making Sense of It All: Pascal and the Meaning of Life are from pp. 173-176 of that volume. The quotations from Pascal's Pensees are also from Morris's book.

Also highly recommended:

• Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensees -- Edited, Outlined, and Explained by Peter Kreeft (Ignatius Press)

"Pesto for Easter Lamb"

Getting a good cut of lamb can be a trick, depending on where you live; but this post made me want to try again: Raider Fan, "Pesto for Easter Lamb" (The Nesciencent Nepenthene, April 4, 2015):

Any Catholic Traditionalist worth his salt will grille a Lamb for Pascha and Holy Saturday is when he makes his Pesto (with fresh herbs from his garden) to slather on the lamb and let marinate until Sunday afternoon when he cooks it for his family and drinks the best possible cabernet he can afford along with it and to toast the Resurrection and his love for his family and friends.

Obviously, the recipe is easily adjustable according to the weight/size of the lamb to be grilled.

• 1/2 Cup Mint
• 3/4 Cup Basil
• 1/2 Cup Rosemary
• 1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
• 2 Tbsp Parm Reggiano
• 3 Lg. Garlic Cloves
• 3 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
• EVOO to the eye
• Several Grinds Salt and Fresh Pepper

As I wrote in his comments, Lynn Rosetto Kasper couldn't have described the recipe more invitingly.

The author is definitely sui generis, and a good example of his winsome style can be found here:

Raider Fan once read a book by Richard Rohr, soaked it in lighter fluid, and then lit it. Watching that crummy book burn was fun. O, and Raider Fan took a photo of the burning book and mailed it to Rohr with the salutation: "I just finished your book."

And, yes, it's the sort of thing he actually does.

Indiana and Hate Central

"Corporate Concern Trolling: Always Good for a Derisive Chuckle" (Dyspeptic Mutterings, March 30, 2015):

Indiana: The Worst Place Ever?

It is if you listen to Apple CEO and billionaire, Tim Cook (scroll down).

Enacting a state-law religious freedom restoration act makes it a veritable hotbed of discrimination and such. According to him of the ironclad principles.

However, if you have an ounce of intellectual integrity, you'd ignore Tim Cook, given that he just opened the world's largest Apple store in the United Arab Emirates last month.

That would be the same United Arab Emirates where you can be put on trial for "gay handshakes" and other through-the-looking-glass views of human rights.

So, think of that when pondering Cook's admonition that "opposing discrimination takes courage." When dollars are on the line, his courage is placed into some kind of medically-induced coma. Well, OK, to be fair--Apple also expanded into Saudi Arabia this year, too, so...


You. Gotta. Be. Kidding. Me.
What the Hell, man?
Oh, and speaking of corporate posturing--Angie's List, too, is just so concerned about Indiana these days, alleging that it has to pass on the expansion of its headquarters in Hate Central.

Because Integrity.

But wait! There's more >>

Tridentine Community News - ordination of Br. Tonkin; EF funeral at St. Alphonsus, Dearborn; Easter Octave High Masses

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (April 5, 2015):

Deacon Brother John Tonkin to be Ordained a Priest on October 17

It is said that good things come to those who wait. God has certainly given the gift of patience to Deacon Brother John Tonkin of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem. Having entered religious life many years ago, first with a Franciscan community and then moving on to the fledgling CRNJ, he will at last be ordained to the sacred priesthood. His Ordinary, Bishop Michael Bransfield of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, has granted permission for the ordination to be performed according to the Extraordinary Form. The ordaining prelate will be Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, one of the world’s most prominent advocates of traditional liturgy.

Deacon Brother John, pictured at left in the below photo, hails from Windsor and was one of the original altar servers for the St. Benedict Tridentine Community in the 1990s. He regularly visits our Masses during his trips home.


Deacon Brother John invites all readers of this column to attend his ordination on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at St James Parish, Charles Town, WV. The time and additional details will be announced as the date approaches. Charles Town is one hour and twenty minutes outside Washington, DC. Dearborn’s St. Alphonsus Church

This past Tuesday’s funeral for Terry Klink was the second time that Dearborn’s St. Alphonsus Church has hosted a Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form in recent years. Previously Juventútem Michigan had held a Mass there.

In contrast to some of the high-profile historic downtown churches, St. Alphonsus does not receive much publicity. However, its grand scale, impressive architecture, and excellent physical condition merit attention. The church still contains a High Altar, Side Altars, Communion Rail with kneeler pads, High Pulpit, and traditional confessionals. Religious symbolism abounds. In 2010, pastor Fr. David Lesniak commenced a restoration project that included painting the statues that adorn the High Altar, seen below. Well worth a visit.


High Masses During the Easter Octave

As the below schedule indicates, there will be Tridentine High Masses this Easter Week on Tuesday at Holy Name of Mary Church in Windsor and Friday at St. Joseph Church in Detroit. High Masses are offered on Tuesdays at Holy Name of Mary on Feast Days on which a Gloria and Credo are specified. Friday’s Mass is part of the Prayer Pilgrimages Bus Tour of historic Detroit churches, but all are welcome to attend the Mass, whether or not you are on the tour. Speaking of which, congratulations are due to Prayer Pilgrimages director Michael Semaan, who has arranged for two buses of pilgrims to join this week’s tour from the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan. As Mike has proven again and again, there is broad demand for experiencing the treasures of our Catholic architectural and artistic patrimony, if people are only made aware of the opportunities.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 04/06 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Easter Monday)
• Tue. 04/07 7:00 PM: High Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Easter Tuesday)
• Fri. 04/10 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Joseph (Easter Friday)
• Sun. 04/12 3:00 PM: High Mass at St. Alphonsus, Windsor (Low Sunday) – Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 1:45 PM, Confessions thereafter, Benediction at 2:45 PM, Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3:00 PM, followed by Holy Mass [one hour later than usual]. A reception follows Mass in the Social Hall.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for April 5, 2015. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

He is risen! (an occurrence in history)

Christianity rests on the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection as a space-time occurrence in history. All four Gospels highlight it, focusing on the empty tomb and resurrection appearances, and Acts insists on it (Acts 1:3; 2:24-35; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30-32; 13:33-37). Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated his victory over death, vindicated him as righteous, and indicated his divine identity. It led on to his ascension and his present heavenly reign. It guarantees the believer’s present forgiveness and justification and is the basis of life for the believer here and now.

-- J. I. Packer

[Hat tip to JM]