Jacob Wrestles with the Angel

Today in his Wednesday catechesis on prayer, Pope Benedict interpreted the story of Jacob's wrestling with an angel. He said, "The Church’s spiritual tradition has seen in this story a symbol of prayer as a faith-filled struggle which takes place at times in darkness, calls for perseverance, and is crowned by interior renewal and God’s blessing. This struggle demands our unremitting effort, yet ends by surrender to God’s mercy and gift."

I'm reminded of Charles Wesley's verse treatment of this same story, which reads the passage in a similar way. Of special interest are first of all the Christological dimension, and secondly, the recurrences of the word "nature." The wrestling is about the surrender of human nature to the divine nature. In Christian life, this dynamic is very interesting, because the human nature is not undone by its surrender. It is wounded by the encounter, but is not annihilated by it. The fear is that God's overwhelming strength will make an end of human nature, rather than saving it. But God loves what He has made. We see God face to face and live!

COME, O thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with thee;
With thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

In vain thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

Wilt thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable name?
Tell me, I still beseech thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

’Tis all in vain to hold thy tongue
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let thee go
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

What though my shrinking flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain,
When I am weak, then I am strong
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name is Love.

‘Tis Love! ’tis Love! thou diedst for me!
I hear thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love thou art;
To me, to all, thy bowels move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see thee face to face,
I see thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

I know thee, Saviour, who thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

The Sun of righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in his wings,
Withered my nature’s strength; from thee
My soul its life and succour brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life’s short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness, I
On thee alone for strength depend,
Nor have I power from thee to move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin, with ease o’ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Charles Wesley

Universae ecclesiae

On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued the Apostolic Letter “motu proprio” Summorum Pontificum. The Letter gave broad permission for priests and faithful to celebrate Mass according to an earlier form of the Roman Rite, according to the Missal of 1962. At the same time, the bishops of the world were asked to send to the Holy See, after three years, an account of their experiences of having both forms of the Roman Rite, the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary (1962) Form, in their dioceses. Today, taking into account the bishops’ input, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei issued a clarifying instruction, Universae Ecclesiae.

The instruction confirms the permission for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the rite. The English translation of the Latin instruction may be found here:

http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/27407.php?index=27407&lang=en#TRADUZIONEINLINGUAINGLESE

The Instruction bases itself, first, on the principle of continuity that also underlay Summorum Pontificum, and which has been a hallmark of the current pontificate. Something that was sacred in the past cannot be suddenly harmful in the present. Secondly, there are serious pastoral concerns. Some of the faithful have requested this form of worship. If there is nothing harmful, if in fact it is a positive good, then they should have it.

Today’s clarification is technical. Rather than changing the norms of SP, it generally specifies their implementation. For example, it clarifies which priests should be presumed competent to say the older form. Priests should not only be able to pronounce Latin, but also understand its meaning. However, any priest who has said the Mass in the older form already can be presumed competent. Another example has to do with the groups of the faithful who can request the older form of the Mass. They might come from outside of the parish or diocese. Overall it is a mild document, not earth-shattering. It simply responds to the expressed concerns of bishops regarding sacraments and administration. Its strongest message is the confirmation it gives that this co-existence of the two forms is not going away anytime soon.

The Gothic Revolution

Cardinal Burke's Lecture: "The Theo-Centric Character of the Catholic Liturgy"

This afternoon I had the privilege of being among a small group of guests invited to hear Raymond Cardinal Burke lecture on The Theo-Centric Character of the Catholic Liturgy. The Cardinal spoke on liturgy from the unusual perspective of a canonist: he spoke about God’s right to our worship.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke from Province of Saint Joseph on Vimeo.

Fr. Jolly's Daydream