For real, no joking around, I hope and pray that you and your loved ones have a joyful and happy Easter!
I don't think I will be making my usual Gateau Paris-Brest this year; I have something else I'm going to try that is too similar to have both. I will try to keep you posted on that.
I still have lots of cleaning and cooking to do, and then the Vigil! Mwah!
bits & pieces
I have only one link for you, a very old-school sermon on an old-school site: Sermon 23 of St. John Henry Newman: Keeping Fast and Festival, preached on Easter Day.
On such a day, then, from the very intensity of joy which Christians ought to feel, and the trial which they have gone through, they will often be disposed to say little. Rather, like sick people convalescent, when the crisis is past, the illness over, but strength not yet come, they will go forth to the light of day and the freshness of the air, and silently sit down with great delight under the shadow of that Tree, whose fruit is sweet to their taste. They are disposed rather to muse and be at peace, than to use many words; for their joy has been so much the child of sorrow, is of so transmuted and complex a nature, so bound up with painful memories and sad associations, that though it is a joy only the greater from the contrast, it is not, cannot be, as if it had never been sorrow.
My (hardback, with a ribbon) copy of Newman's sermons is well thumbed; it has stood me in good stead for 24 years now! At first, you may find Newman to be hard going, but read slowly and you will be well rewarded, spiritually.
I find that this sermon (not the only one he preached on this subject, of course) speaks to my state in these days — the sense of being battered and confused, of having undergone a purgation not of my choosing, and of being uncertain where the path lies.
As always, Newman keeps the heavenly realities well in view, unsentimentally and without denying earthly sorrow.
I hope it helps you if you are in the same frame of mind and spirit.
With love to you! Happy Easter, when we will proclaim: Christ is Risen!
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Lisa Beth W. says
A blessed Easter to you, too, Leila!
I feel compelled to say that I wish you could shed the extra trappings (and not to mince words), seemingly outright idolatry of your Catholic faith. Your arrangement there on the wall and sideboard (?) there is beautiful, but cluttered with extras that do not belong there. Nowhere in the Bible do we see God commanding or encouraging veneration or praying to other human beings, no, not even Mary. Only He is to be reverenced, venerated, honored and worshipped. The rest of us are mere creatures, some who lived lives more honoring to him than others. I am sure Mary, for example, would be (possibly is!) horrified at the adulation and prayers poured out to her. She was a humble servant, used by God, given a special place in history, to be sure, but not what you make her out to be. Only Jesus’ work has any effect for us before God the Father.
God bless you with clear sight and bring you fully into the light!
Grace says
I just have to defend Mary, the Mother of God. We Orthodox and Catholic Christians do not worship her but honor her as the holiest human being. She was chosen by God to become the mother of Our Lord! How could she be anything but someone whom we greatly honor. You are wrong about the Bible not encouraging us to honor her. “: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall bless me.” Luke 1; 48. We do bless her! Also, “the prayer of a righteous man available much.” James 5:16 How much more the mother of our Lord! Also “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” Mark 22:27, referring to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If they are still alive, how much more, the mother of our Lord! We do not believe that we are separated from the dead, but that we can still be linked through prayer, both ways. Why would a righteous man’s prayers be ignored by God after his death, since he is now closer to God than on earth? Protestants ask for other living people to pray for them as do we, but we don’t believe that people’s prayers and boldness before God stop when they die.
As for the icons, the church from the earliest times has always used depictions of righteous people and times to help prayer. Actually, Protestants do the same thing without realizing, when they have depictions of Jesus or lambs or crosses. As for the flowers, I have definitely seen people put flowers in front of pictures of people who have died. They aren’t worshiping them but honoring their memory. Think of flowers brought to funerals. No one is worshiping anyone there. It’s the same thing. As St John of Damascus says, “ The honor shown to the icon transfers to the prototype,( the original person). And why would we not honor holy people?
Lisa Beth W. says
You do not need to defend Mary’s true character to me. When I speak of venerating Mary, I mean in an idolatrous sense, in which she is worshipped, in effect, not in the sense of being worthy of imitation. Of course we can and should imitate her humbleness as a willing servant of the Lord. But we are not commanded or encouraged to do her more honor than Christ Himself did. He made sure she was cared for, but he did not say to anyone that He would give her a special spot in heaven from whence she would advocate for us with Him. 1 John 2:1 says that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. That’s it. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that saints in heaven can hear us and can or will pray for us. And Jesus was the holiest human being, by the way.
As for Protestants using icons, I do not have one depiction of Jesus anywhere, nor do I use any other icons such as lambs or crosses. And I believe you are seriously mistaken if you think the human heart, which is an idol factory, does not succumb to worship when it kneels before a statue of Mary and beseeches her help instead of turning to it’s true Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Also, do you really think so little of Jesus’ heart of compassion that you think you need to ask his mom for help in reaching him? Ludicrous to think that he would not listen to your prayers if raised to Him in true faith. Again, there is absolutely no precedent for this anywhere in the Bible.
(Putting flowers by a picture at a funeral is so extremely different from using a statue of Mary in a church that it is a laughable comparison–no one is trying to communicate with the dead person there.)
Dixie says
Lisa Beth, you make some big assumptions about what Catholics (and others, such as the Eastern Orthodox) believe and do, and about what the experience of having a special relationship with Mary is like, and about that relationship having no biblical basis. Our faith and practice are 2000 years old and soundly biblical, and much deep, prayerful thought has gone into all of this. You may have concerns about it, but it should not be dismissed with quips and assertions.
There are many sound Catholic responses to each of your claims here. I could make quips right back at you about Luther’s beliefs about Mary or various other things, but that wouldn’t get us anywhere in our discussion.
I know that the separation between Catholics and our Protestant brothers and sisters is painful for all of us. Perhaps it would be a good idea to try to get to know some faithful, well-catechized (those who know their faith well) Catholics in your local area (perhaps a priest?) and chat with them about your objections and concerns. I’m not sure there’s a way to communicate well about this in blog comments. Have a blessed Easter!
Leila says
Lisa Beth, you know Auntie Leila is plain spoken and appreciates plain speaking!
If someone thinks I am going wrong, it’s best just to say it… so thanks for that!
But your position, as I understand it, is one of novelty in the history of the faith; yours is the innovation, yours the practice (of having no images) that deviates from what has been handed down. You hold, it seems, that one ought not to venerate Mary, and that Jesus Christ has no need of intermediaries; that faith does not require any material manifestation. But Jesus Himself came to be a man, to take on a material nature. He himself offered His Mother, the source of his human nature, to His disciple, and by extension to all of us. Surely we are not to dismiss his gesture and words as empty of promise, much less dismiss the implicit command!
All of Scripture resonates with love for Mary and honor for her exalted place by God’s side. From Genesis to Revelation, Mary is there. From the very first, Christians gave her the highest honor *without ever worshiping her*.
The oldest liturgies that we know of include acclamations extolling her status as Mother of God and the highest honor of our race, and hymns to her splendor. One of the oldest prayers, dating from the 3rd century, is the Sub Tuum Praesidium:
Beneath your compassion,
We take refuge, O Theotokos [God-bearer]:
do not despise our petitions in time of trouble:
but rescue us from dangers,
only pure, only blessed one.
The person who turns away from this venerable practice is the one who separates himself from the perennial practice of the Church.
Idolatry is definitely the most dangerous sin (which is why the First Commandment is what it is). But iconoclasm is not the answer. If you look carefully at my little oratory, you see that Christ is the center. But around Him are the saints and angels *that He placed in their places Himself*.
I don’t have to defend iconography — the entire history of Christendom is its own defense. History shows that iconoclasts are hedonists and worse — sodomites and devil worshipers. Where Mary is not venerated, the population quickly becomes… idolatrous. Whoever is successful at dethroning her is able to turn hearts away from God and make them cold.
We aren’t going to argue about this here — it’s a matter of love. God so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten son to be born of the Virgin Mary. “All generations shall call me blessed.” If our love for her grows cold, we will lose everything.
Lisa Beth W. says
You defend Mary’s place in Catholicism based on tradition, not the Bible. You have added to the Bible with your traditions, and that is not God-honoring. History shows a lot of things about Catholics, as well, but where we have to look is to God’s Word. I do not agree with you that iconoclasm necessarily leads to hedonism, sodomy and devil worship. These things are surely not rampant in our congregation, and just because the Catholic church considers itself an ancient faith doesn’t make it better. (My faith comes straight from the Bible, by the way.) I’m sure those things exist within the Catholic church as well as anywhere else. Hmmm…ever heard of any Catholic priests being sodomites? I could go on…
No, what I hold to is NOT an innovation. You do not see anywhere in the letters of the apostles that they tried to talk to Mary after she died, made images of her to kneel before, considered her an intermediary or any such thing.
Mary is NOT enthroned in heaven. Only God is on the throne. Again, nowhere in the Bible do we see Mary given such a position. Mary is loved by God, surely, greatly, but He does not give her any special powers. It matters not how many years of or what volume of acclamation she has been given–if it’s unbiblical, it’s wrong. Jesus was talking to John as a human son who desired another human to care for his mother on earth, not giving a command to the church at large. (And Jesus came to take on a material nature in order to satisfy God’s justice, not to satisfy man’s desire/need for a material manifestation! There are just so many issues…)
For Dixie, you can criticize Luther all you want. I don’t follow Luther (and would not call myself Lutheran or Calvinist or any manmade title) or any man. I don’t venerate or pray to fellow sinners, of which Mary is one. I follow Jesus. I do love Mary and all others who truly claim Jesus as their Savior. I just hate to see people blindly following blatant errors that interfere with the honor and glory that Jesus should alone receive. You assume that I am ill-informed and should talk to a priest/someone Catholic. Have you done the same with a Protestant?
I don’t ask for a response. I just can’t keep silent when I see all the grievous additions to God’s word. And I’m sorry that what I say is blunt and perhaps sounds ungracious. I feel it is grievous to God when errors like this are practiced, so of course it’s grievous to me. I don’t dislike you, I just vehemently disagree with the traditions you hold.
I know this is far from the best format in which to discuss these things. And probably I should have never started this conversation here. It’s regrettable that we cannot sit and talk together, but someday all will be clear. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Lisa Beth W. says
A slight edit to a sentence in my first paragraph: My faith is based on the Bible, It comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart.
Leila says
Dear Lisa, your devotion to God comes through your messages, and I thank you for that.
Yes, there are Catholic priests who are sodomites. And there are Protestants too. Sodomy unfortunately is a way of life these days. The reason one’s mind goes to the Catholic Church is that it’s held to a higher standard on account of its mission of sanctification… but as a whole, society descends into depravity when it turns from the saints, who are God’s witnesses — “a cloud of witnesses”. And that in fact is what we are seeing today. The less we have beautiful images of real saints, the deeper we go.
And yes, I would say that most of us writing here and reading *have* read what Protestants say about all this, and find it lacking. Here’s why:
Tradition is what gives you the Bible in the first place. If you deny that, you lose the Bible, because it was put together after its parts were written (with some books being rejected) and offered to the Church by the apostles, the Church which had already been in place and acting as the People of God before it appeared.
If you say that the Bible is authoritative, you have located an authoritative, extra-Biblical (outside of the Bible) tradition. If you say that the Bible is not authoritative, you have taken away your “only Scripture” position.
If you say that the books of the Bible are not reliant on authority, you lose the Bible itself — suddenly, it’s up for grabs (and there are many books that could be part of it if some authority had not said no).
However, there is another problem, which is this: Where in the Bible does it say that something must be explicitly mentioned in the Bible to be believed? It simply does not say that.
However, Catholics agree with you that the Bible is authoritative. And… right after the Commandment not to make graven images, God instructs Moses to… make an image.
Scripture is replete with homage to Mary, the Mother of God. Again, from Genesis through the Psalms to Revelation she is there, as Queen. Surely you don’t think that everything has to be mentioned as in a manual, but that some things are expressed as prophecy, a way of life, poetry, and apocalyptic imagery.
But just as importantly, those who walked with Jesus and those who walked with those who walked with Him are unanimous on the subject: She is our Advocate with the Father, our Queen. Surely you don’t lightly dismiss these witnesses? Be careful, because if you do, as I said, you also dismiss the Bible itself.
I agree that this isn’t the best place to discuss this, and as I said, I am thrilled to find someone who is committed to her convictions! So I am happy to continue the discussion via email… and I join you in your prayer that Jesus come soon!
Also, I recommend that you and anyone reading this check out this list of books in this post if you want to know with some accuracy what Catholics believe and why (and yes, Lisa Beth, I have also read books that Protestants recommend to me):
https://happydespitethem.blogspot.com/2021/02/books-to-give-to-questioning-protestants.html
Anamaria says
Hi Lisa Beth, and Happy Easter.
One of the most beautiful images of Mary we have is from Mexico, near the beginning of the Spanish conquest, as the Spaniards try to convert the Aztecs away from their religion of human sacrifice to belief in Christ. This image of Mary has her head down, signaling that she was no goddess but a mortal woman. Her long hair symbolized virginity and a bow tied around her waist showed her pregnancy; a flower on her stomach showed the baby was divine. This image brought about mass conversions in Mexico, even reordering polygamous family units into monogamous relationships.
And do you know where we get this image?
From Mary herself.
She appeared to an Aztec peasant, Juan Diego, and asked him to build a church in her honor on a hill. He went to the bishop, who asked him for a sign. He went back to Mary and asked her for a sign; she gave him Spanish roses, which he gathered in his cloak. When he brought these (already miraculous) roses to the bishop, Mary’s image appeared on his cloak.
She is known as Our Lady of Guadalupe- a name that also added the Spanish in re-conquering and re-Christianizing Spain from the Muslim moors.
The miracles at Fatima and Lourdes and the Battle of Lepanto show Mary receptive to our prayers.
Something to think about.
Amy says
Happy Easter to you and your family!
I do find myself in the same frame of mind and spirit, so thank you very much for your suggestion of John Henry Newman.
Your little oratory is beautiful, in every possible way.
Leila says
Thank you so much!
Lisa says
Happy Easter tomorrow!! Thank you for the time you take to post and share. I too have felt the way you described. I’ve been feeling very angry, frustrated and sad….mostly because so many, including very close solid Catholic friends, and family, have not agreed on so many issues as of late. Especially the vaccine issue. I felt it was my moral obligation to share whatever news I came across to help guide people in making the right decision. Friends who have fought long and hard for the rites of the unborn, have willingly taking the vaccine. When I send these same friends articles, that they too would have sent in the past, long before covid, I get in return anger, and shock that I would “push” my feelings on this subject, on them. The tide has turned. The feeling of not being able to turn to close friends or rely on family, is very prevalent. The anger and upset was consuming me so much, even amongst many hours spent in prayer and reflection. I came to the conclusion that this can’t be how God wants me to spend my days. The anger was pushing out joy, compassion, and understanding. I haven’t given up on the good fight. I will continue to give a voice to the unborn in my own small way. I will leave our friends and family to God. He knows much better then I what to do. I thank you for being a voice of reason and support in a time when this is very much lacking around us. To know that my husband and I do not stand alone on many issues does our heart tremendous good. Reading your posts keeps us going. Just know, there are people listening to you, there are people heeding your words and the words you share from so many. We want to be able to stand in front of God and for Him to say, well done, good and faithful servant….you are helping us to do this. God bless you.
Diana says
Ditto to this comment!!!
Ann says
Blessed and Joyous Easter to you and your family! I’m looking forward to reading Newman’s sermon. A couple of Advent’s ago I read his “Waiting for Christ” and enjoyed it. As you mentioned, a slow and thoughtful approach is best when reading his writings. I am enjoying your informative posts over at “Happy Despite Them”, especially those regarding the Covid vaccine. The icons and natural signs of spring in your little oratory our beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Mrs. Bee says
Came here today to find that old favorite, the Meyer Lemon Cake – somehow I never wrote it down offline, only “my” version, attempting to melt the butter instead of letting it come to room temperature… alas, it is not the same result!
Wishing you a beautiful Easter, full of peaceful blessings!
Love,
Mrs. Bee
Claire says
As the Sisters in my grammar school used to say “A Happy and Holy Easter to you!” and all your dear ones.
I’m especially happy about Easter this year, isn’t that odd? It’s been . . . such a year.
Maybe I’m just getting it through my head that everything really IS grace, as Therese said. I do feel like it’s been a year of spiritual progress (albeit kicking and screaming, alas) and really in the end that’s all that matters.
Many blessing to you, and to all your readers!
Dixie says
Happy Easter to you, too, Auntie Leila!
Diana says
Happy Easter to you and your family! Thank you for both of your blogs!
Luana says
Happy and blessed Easter to you and your family, children and grandchildren!