Worship & Faith in the Early Years of the Church

As always, we had a wonderful discussion in class today. Here are just a few things we discussed. Enjoy!

Do you remember the movie and book The DaVinci Code? Think about how that rocked the Church of today...this is similar to what happened hundreds of years ago during the many heresies of the Church. One of the first things we discussed was the filioque, which literally means "and the Son" in Latin. The question posed was regarding whether or not the Son existed from the beginning or was He created by the Father. This is a topic that has caused the Church many different problems throughout the centuries. It was why the Eastern Orthodox Church broke away, and it even continues today with such groups as the Jehovah's witnesses. It its also somewhat related to many protestant churches today that have broken from the Catholic Church and who do not necessarily believe in the Trinity, such as some pentecostal churches (specifically the Oneness movement). However, we as Latin Rite Catholics do accept the Trinity, and we do accept that the Trinity has always existed. This can even be proven by looking in the Bible. For example, twice in the New Testament we see examples of God speaking where all can hear Him. One of these examples is the Transfiguration of Jesus. During the Transfiguration, the apostles see Jesus transfigured and along with seeing Him, they see Moses and Elijah. Jesus was speaking to the two Old Testament figures as if He had known them for a long time, and He had. Jesus knew them because He has been here since the beginning. There is no other way to explain it. We often overlook this fact when getting into discussions on the filioque.  

We often get so involved in what we are doing during Mass or during anything dealing with our faith just trying to "get it right", that we forget why we do something.
To sum it all up, we must become intimate with our faith and believe in it and practice, as well as learn the history of it in order to fully understand it and why we believe it or practice it.
Some final thoughts....Dale suggested that we should try to pray the beautiful prayers of the Church more often. One prayer is the Confiteor...
I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault (traditionally at this point, you strike the left side of your chest with your right hand--it actually still says this in my missal),
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

I think that this is one of the most beautiful prayers in the Catholic church.

Another prayer is one that is said at the beginning of Mass (I hope I've gotten this one right, Dale; I had to look it up to remember it!):

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And I would like to add one more that I think is often forgotten, one that used to be said at the end of every Mass a long time ago. The prayer to St. Michael....
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

I'm currently trying to memorize this prayer in order to say it silently to myself at the end of Mass. I think that it is also a very beautiful and useful prayer.  

I hope that this summary of today's discussion was helpful to you. We are still discussing Chapter 5 in the book, and next week we will look at the history of the Eucharistic Prayers and some more early worship and faith in the Church. Until then, everyone have a blessed week!! †

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J.M.J. 

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-Kristy