The Holy See

Many Catholics unfortunately are unaware of how awesome the Vatican truly is. Let alone the beauty of its artworks - which when visited often provide an enhancement to one's faith, or its architecture - which draws one to contemplate the mystery of God, or the order by which the Church is run.

One of things that many may not be aware of are the outreaches which the Vatican has for those who desire to see the pilgrimmage sites of the world. The main branch of the Vatican is known as the Opera Romana Pelligrinagi - don't worry there is no singing here. The translation for this office is the Work of Roman pilgrimmages. In other words, this Vatican branch provides Christians with itineraries to travel throughout Christendom to many of the Church's most revered pilgrimmage sites. You can check out their website in English here.

Another of the Vatican's many branches is the Opus Fundatum Latinitas. This is a Vatican institute whose expressed purpose is twofold:
"1) to promote the study of the Latin language, classical literature and Medieval Latin;
2) to promote the increased use of the Latin language by publishing texts in Latin and other suitable means."

Unfortunately, one must have some grasp of the Latin Language to utilize the online magazine which they provide, but if one is so inclined one may view it for interest's sake here. You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to get the articles that were written in Latin.

As I was growing up, I never thought I would be into Latin. I remember specifically thinking oddly of the "geeks" in High School who studied Latin. As I studied at University, however, it becamse apparent that much like in the movie "Braveheart" Latin is a language for those who are truly learned. It is not just a language for those who are "into it," but truly it is important for Western Culture as really our whole civilization and language rest upon the foundation of the Latin culture of Rome. Many of our words and customs continue to be excercised from their Latin roots. In fact, I remember reading an author who pointed to the sign hung on Jesus' cross reading "Jesus, the Nazorean, King of the Jews" which from the Latin is where we get the INRI on the top of crucifixes. This author pointed out that there, where this epitaph was written in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, we see an image of the culimation of the ancient world in Jesus: 1) The wisdom of the Greeks, 2) the worship of the Jews, and 3) the order or structure of the Latins. All of these three become combined in the Catholic Church.

More personally, for us Latin Rite Catholics, it is important that we begin to think about learning some of the most basic prayers of our faith in Latin. Why? In the recent presentation of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church the Holy Father encouraged all members of the Latin Rite, to which St. Jude parish belongs, to learn the most basic prayers found at the end of the Compendium - but don't worry Kevin or Dave (or any other readers out there) because you can find them online here (but I would copy and print them as the Compendium is a little long to be printing out). How beautiful it would be that we recall what many ancients saw about the Latin language - it is undoing the Tower of Babel! That is, when we pray together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we undo the curse of the Tower of Babel by uniting in the common language of our Rite of the Catholic Church. Whether we meet a mexican, a German, an African or others who come from different parts of the world and don't speak our American-English language we could engage in prayer with the common language of our Holy Mother Church. As well, this reminds us of the real family we have been made a part of through our Baptism - the adopted family of Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is quite exciting to realize that we belong to an incredibly well established and active family that is the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ. Our current Holy Father watches over the whole family as the "face of Christ on earth" or vicar of Christ. From the one same chair of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI continues to guide the Church from the snarls and traps of this world. Probably the most beautiful image of this reality is what the ancients referred to as the Barque or boat of St. Peter, which is the Church. The Pope can be thought of as being at the helm of this great ship as it is fought from all sides by the turmoil and strive of our present age. And yet, with Christ as our food and the Holy Spirit in our sails, we will arrive at our destination if we perservere in our faith.

This whole analogy really gives a whole new meaning to the idea of "jumping ship" when one commits mortal sin! We can see precisely what the Catechism of the Catholic Church means when it is says that Confession or Reconciliation is "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace." The main difference, of course, is that we are never swept away by sin, rather we are the ones who choose to jump ship. This is our human dignity, that God allows us the "luxury" of rejecting Him by our mortal sins. Let no one of us ever become so impoverished as those who are filled with this type of "luxury" for such is the will of God, that all come to eternal life.

This then is precisely the reason we have a Holy See - the Holy Chair of St. Peter that watches over us and calls us to renew our faith and love and hope in Jesus Christ Our Lord. See what great love the Father has for us, that we should become his children - and that we allow ourselves to rest in the shelter of the Church he has provided for us.