Egyptian Coptic Christian teacher accused of blasphemy

AsiaNews.it photo

From AsiaNews.it comes this excerpt of a story of the harassment of a young Egyptian social studies teacher.

In recent weeks, the case of Dimyana Ubeid Abdel al-Nour (also spelled  Demiana Abdel Nour) become front-page news. The 23-year-old Christian teacher at a primary school in Luxor was arrested on 8 May for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad in class.

Faced with a large number of calls for her release, Prosecutor General Abdhallah freed her on bail (US$ 2,900), a huge sum for the young woman's family. Yet, Dimyana is still in prison where she begun a hunger strike ahead of her trial on 21 May.

Dimyana's legal ordeal began on 8 April 2012. The young teacher taught at the Shaikh Sultan Primary School and on that day was covering polytheism, religious life at the time of the pharaohs, and how Pharaoh Akhenaten had adopted monotheism. The lesson also touched on the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During the class, the subject inspector was also present but he left ten minutes before the session ended.

Two days later, the school suspended the teacher after three children accused her of defaming Islam and praising the Gospel. In the following days, three separate committees as well as the school director questioned her.

The parents of some children had claimed that the teacher had compared Muhammad and the late Patriarch Shenouda III, judging the latter better than the former. However, from the start, Dimyana denied the allegations.

After questioning, all three committees cleared her. However, under pressure from parents and other teachers, the school brought the case to the attention of the Education Ministry, which opened a file against the teacher. On 8 May, she (was) arrested.

Let us pray for Dimyana, her persecutors and Dimyana's family—that truth, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and justice may prevail.

See also:
Coptic Teacher Remains In Prison
Egypt to try Coptic teacher for insulting religion

If it walks like a duck,... it's probably a corrupt administration.

Peggy Noonan, linked to on this site, not known for employing hyperbole nor playing loose with information, articulates the gravity of recent disclosures that justify serious concerns about Obama's methods of gaining and maintaining power, concerns that were expressed by citizens even prior to his election as president.

Pro life groups and conservative groups rallying for the American Constitution—that is, any group that the Obama administration considered a threat to its agenda—were targeted by the IRS and had their applications delayed while Obama-friendly organizations were fast tracked to approval. Individuals critical of the Obama regime have been targeted and audited.

The US state department has been caught tapping the email accounts of Associated Press reporters.

The enemy at the gate would be wise to drop all terrorist activities and simply pull up a chair while western societies crumble before them. The liberal religionists and their atheistic-secularist allies are busy drilling into the bedrock of each society, turning Judeo-christian foundations into relativist sand.

Meanwhile, Obama fiddles.

The hard work done to protect the USA and its allies, established in the aftermath of 9/11, is being undone by an administration that thinks it can soothe the savage breast of a militant Islam with sweet talk. Benghazi, Boston—the parents, families and friends of the victims can expect little consolation from an administration that seems more interested in preserving its own image than preserving the security of a nation and its citizens.

Meanwhile, Obama fiddles.

From her vantage point at the WSJ, Noonan speaks the truth to an administration that, like so many socialist and/or liberal-progressive entities in power in the West, does not merit the trust of the people they claim to serve.

Meanwhile, Obama fiddles.

Visit Noonan here: This Is No Ordinary Scandal: Political abuse of the IRS threatens the basic integrity of our government.

We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. The reputation of the Obama White House has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous. No one likes what they're seeing. The Justice Department assault on the Associated Press and the ugly politicization of the Internal Revenue Service have left the administration's credibility deeply, probably irretrievably damaged. They don't look jerky now, they look dirty. The patina of high-mindedness the president enjoyed is gone.

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The IRS scandal has two parts. The first is the obviously deliberate and targeted abuse, harassment and attempted suppression of conservative groups. The second is the auditing of the taxes of political activists.

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A conservative Catholic academic who has written for these pages faced questions about her meager freelance writing income. 

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The White House is reported to be shellshocked at public reaction to the scandal. But why? Were they so high-handed, so essentially ignorant, that they didn't understand what it would mean to the American people when their IRS—the revenue-collecting arm of the U.S. government—is revealed as a low, ugly and bullying tool of the reigning powers? If they didn't know how Americans would react to that, what did they know? I mean beyond Harvey Weinstein's cellphone number.

And why—in the matters of the Associated Press and Benghazi too—does no one in this administration ever take responsibility? Attorney General Eric Holder doesn't know what happened, exactly who did what. The president speaks in the passive voice. He attempts to act out indignation, but he always seems indignant at only one thing: that he's being questioned at all. That he has to address this. That fate put it on his plate.

Washington is burning... . Yep, Obama is still fiddling.

Will the mainstream media engage in a full court press now that one of their own, i.e., Associated Press, has been hacked by the Obama administration?

Perhaps these experiences will provide an occasion for the Canadian media, which typically sides with the socialist New Democrats and a politically correct, anti-religion agenda, to reevaluate their orientation and to reclaim their dignity as independent and nonpartisan entities helping to preserve freedom of expression and other fundamental freedoms stated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In British Columbia, recent election results have confirmed media bias. While media polls predicted an NDP win, the actual results devastated the predictions. Media pundits were baffled and in complete denial when the Liberal Party of BC, a centre right fiscally conservative party, was returned to power with a large majority. Apparently, the NDP and its media bedfellows missed the fact that British Columbians have a long enough memory to avoid making the same mistake again. BC-ers recalled the NDP's previous turns at bat, first in the 1970s and again from 1991-2001, a decade long nightmare marked by military suppression of protest, expansion of government, scandal, horrendous mismanagement of the province's resources and catastrophic damage to the economy resulting in a drastic drop in the Province's credit rating and a huge increase in unemployment in the private sector.

Under the Liberals, BC returned to prosperity and has weathered international economic pressures. NDP election spin, negative campaigning and smear tactics and media selective polling did not convince the majority of British Columbians that socialism is the way to go. There is nothing "new" about either the federal or provincial New Democratic Party. It's the same-old-same-old socialism BC-ers rightly rejected the last time around. What began as a rural political movement on the Prairies is now an elitist urban enterprise routinely rejected by rural Canadians. The political entity given life by a Baptist minister concerned with social justice now routinely inverts justice and denies inalienable rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom of speech as easily as Obama shrugs off responsibility for his administration's callous Nixonian actions.

Noonan blog: Stay Shocked

CNA article: Marriage Advocates plan to sue IRS over leaks

Liturgy Unplugged: laud versus loud.

And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-one two three four... .

This post is likely to be an unnecessary reminder to those who are already aware of the subtlety of rhythm of plainchant and sacred polyphony versus the nuance annihilating beat of so-called "praise and worship" ditties and the flaccid phrases of saccharine adult contemporary devotional stuff proffered as sacred music.

So, let's state the obvious... .

Where the text in chant and sacred polyphony is inflected, the text in pop music is afflicted. The text in metered music of the pop variety is, frequently, dominated by an unrelenting pulse and unyielding beat. Not only is the nuance of the rhythm of the text subdued by or subordinate to the beat, the dynamics are subject to repetitive and indomitable forces, e.g., furiously strummed guitars, galloping patterns on the djembe (shudder...) or hammer-fisted piano playing consisting of repetitive riffs accompanying sugary texts repeated ad nauseum. Ugh... . Which brings to mind the following video:

Typically, in pop devotional music, an all too common occurance is the vicious competition between voice and text on the one hand and amplification and beat on the other. The inclusion of amplification escalates the brutishness of the presentation, inhibiting or obliterating subtle nuances of dynamic, rhythm and pacing, in effect reducing the depth or breadth of meaning that might otherwise be perceived. What nuances there are usually consist of instrumental hooks or tricks, clever accretions attached to the song in an attempt to sustain 'audience' engagement, among other things. The term "hook" is an apt one: like a fish on a line, we are reeled in only to be filleted and fried by a pulverizing sonic assault. Rarely do these hooks accurately paint the character of the text. These affectations or accretions are typically employed more as a spontaneous outpouring of emotion that draws attention to the decoration itself instead of the text. Thus, they become ornaments for the sake of ornaments rather than enhancing the meaning of the text or assisting the delivery of the text in aid of the edification of the worshipper. By contrast, the pitch and rhythmic inflections in chant and authentic sacred polyphony enhance the apprehension of the theological import of particular words.

In popular devotional music, there is little musical theological nuance that compares with the sensitivity achieved in chant and sacred polyphony. It is the over exploitation of dynamics in pop music, particularly louder dynamics, that renders much pseudo-liturgical music a blunt instrument that obliterates intimacy and textual nuance. Our spiritual faculties are cauterized while we are tricked into believing that the satisfaction of our insatiable appetite for stimulation of the senses is worship. Furthermore, a common mistake among inexperienced musicians is an attempt to create musical interest by generating more activity by increasing the tempo and saturating and extending phrases with repeated rhythmic figures that have little connection to the meaning of the text. The result is an unbalanced phrase that confirms a musician's lust of rhythm. Typically, less artful musicians have an underdeveloped sense of how to create intensity without being forceful.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount—How did He ever make do without amplification?

Some might argue that it is precisely the intelligent application of amplification which allows vocal nuance and textual nuance to be heard in larger spaces. In response, one might argue that just as music is not transmitted with the same warmth or depth via the digital medium of a CD or MP3, even with the highest resolution currently possibly, amplification robs the voice of something intangible but nevertheless present. And, a facsimile of music, i.e., a recording, will never satisfy the way a live concert does, especially a live concert or recital that is not accompanied by amplification. In a word, technology takes a toll.

And he said to him: Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord: and behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces: the Lord is not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake: the Lord is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire: the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air. 1 Kings 19:11-12

The introduction of amplification results in the loss of the most obvious element of worship: the loss of an opportunity to establish an intimate relationship to the Word through His words made flesh, so-to-speak. The more technology added the greater the risk of a loss of intimacy, and greater is the risk that emotionalism is substituted for authentic worship in the Spirit.

Amplification, no matter how refined the technology, still acts as a filter, or if not well adjusted, a significant distraction. Similarly, the more unrelenting the beat the greater the risk of a loss of intimacy due to interference with the rhythm of the text. By contrast, chant preserves the fundamental relationship between text, rhythm of speech and melody.

When the melody and the text proceed in parallel motion, as in syllabic chant (that of the usual psalm Antiphon, for instance), the words, phrases and periods of the text indicate the divisions in the melody. When the melody develops apart from the text (as in the Gradual responsorium, etc.), the rhythmic divisions are melodic, without, however, ever functioning contrary to the text. In the latter case, the melodic formulas replace the words, and it is the manner in which these formulas are grouped that serves as a means of partitioning the song into its different divisions, just as in discourse the meaning of the words serves an analogous purpose. From this comes the "homogeneity" of the rhythm of Gregorian Chant. (Pierik: Spirit of Gregorian Chant. p. 106)

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Having quoted from Nietzsche, "The Beautiful is light; all divine things walk on dainty feet," Dom Mocquereau continues: "Gregorian Chant also walks on dainty feet; it takes as little as possible from matter. It is purely vocal. The human voice does not move in a mechanical fashion; its rises and falls are of a nature more spiritual than material, moved as it is by a vital and spontaneous power, free and intelligent, which transmits to it something of its immateriality. (Pierik: SGC. p.108)

The more that technology is added to the mix, the more the presentation is prone to becoming more material and mechanical.

If the volume is excessive and the beat violates the vital consideration of maintaining textual nuance, then the worshipper is more likely to be driven in one of two directions: physical ecstasy, whipped into a frenzy by the emotive force of the music; or confusion. A common challenge to charismatic communities is the charge that their services/liturgies rely too much on loud beat-driven presentations which employ repetitive texts set to flatline melodies which result in a hyper-emotionalism that substitutes for authentic worship in the Spirit.

Copy Cats

While "traditional" Catholic communities flourish but are too often ignored or merely tolerated, the quiet work of evangelization is being accomplished by said communities which draw upon the rich treasury of Catholic art, architecture and music to empower their flocks to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By contrast, the Catholic communities which imitate commercialized or commodified worship, badly one might add, subject the Ordinary Form Mass to bizarre manipulations to the point the Liturgy has been mostly hijacked by a secular ethos which relies on glitz and glare and every method intended to provide a religious "experience", as if any authentic religious experience could be manufactured solely through human effort. The concept of active receptivity is lost between the drum solos and endless repetitions of trite one-liners that amount to "Yay, God! You're my bro'. I'm redeemed, so give me what I want!" Such parishes are closed in on themselves and frequently fragment when a charismatic priest moves on and is replaced by Father Les Glitzy.

Illiterate musicians = dumbed down music = unworthy vehicle for the sacred text.

In terms of harmony, rhythm and orchestration, there are few possibilities in the vocabulary of pop music from which to choose in order to adequately communicate the theological nuance of the sacred text. The problem is exacerbated when ensembles subject themselves and the text to the brute force of amplification and a driving beat. The Responsorial Psalm, arguably the most abused part of the Mass, is routinely subjected to the most banal treatments. And, let's not get started on the Gloria. To those who excuse their attempts to set the text of this great hymn by condemning the translation in the revised Roman Missal as awkward, the response is: not everyone is a James MacMillan, CBE. So, if you're not up to the task, don't feel you have to try and do something you're not good at, i.e., composition of sacred liturgical music. Leave the work to the serenely qualified. Most, if not all, of the new Gloria settings approved for use in Canada are so poorly written that they are laughable, and frequently painful. The rhythm of an ill-conceived melody so distorts the natural rhythm of the text that the effect would be laughable if it were not so distracting for anyone with even a minute concern for or an appreciation of the integrity of the sacred text.

Metered music, again of the "pop" variety, does configure a congregation to pray in lockstep fashion, but nowhere nearly as effective and with as much freedom as the "dance" of the heart enabled by the works of the master composers who understood, and those living composers who understand, that rhythm and meter can and must serve the text word for word, phrase for phrase. The loss of nuance and spontaneity in delivery and the loss of nuanced meaning due to marching everyone to the same drummer merits a reconsideration of both the mode of communication and content presented for liturgical "consumption".

Laud versus Loud

The rupture between music and text has resulted in chaotic and worldly liturgies. Too many liturgies (which is to say one such liturgy is too many) avoid liturgical norms that have existed from the dawn of the Christian era, norms that are rooted in the ancient liturgical practices of our elder Jewish brethren.

The nexus between voice, architecture or acoustic environment and theology has been severely disrupted with the introduction of instruments traditionally considered foreign to the Liturgy and, where rock bands squat near the altar, especially foreign to the sanctuary. A deeper appreciation of the relationship between sacred text, the human voice and acoustic environment is necessary in order to restore the fundamental relationship between the Word proclaimed and the liturgical environment.

Great cathedrals and even humble parish churches of yesteryear embody or incarnate the Word. Some new buildings do, but the ones which do so are few and far between. There was once a necessary and beautiful synthesis between architecture, theology, music and the Word of God, call it a sacred orch-itecture or holy archi-stration. Nowadays, ecclesial barns are set-up with little appreciation for that incarnational sensibility. Technology is misapplied and thrusts the Word of God at us in arenas better suited to sporting events or a Tony Robbins rally. The result is cacophony. Technology is being used in an attempt to overcome distance and transmit the spoken and sung word to a crowd reduced to passive observers. It is ironic that the call for "active participation", interpreted to mean that the congregation should be busier rather than qualitatively more engaged interiorly, has led to a cascade of substitutions for authentic encounter. The introduction of large video displays in some parishes should come as no surprise, given the misguided notion that intimacy can be fostered between the viewer and the sacred actions by placing every action at the end of a telescope which magnifies the externals of the event but transmits little of the substance. The joyful ringing of bells to herald the Epiclesis and Consecration does more to engage the imagination and the heart than training a camera on the altar and then projecting the event on a jumbotron.

And what of melody, i.e., is it permissible to adjust the rhythm of the text in order to increase expression so as to make the meaning of the text more clear? Let's hear from Joseph Gajard, the choirmaster of Solesme:

A preacher in the pulpit has every right to emphasize any word he pleases, te or Domine or speravi etc., according to the idea that he wishes to impress upon his hearers. The chosen word will be stressed, pronounced more emphatically, with special intonation that will bring it into full relief. By this very fact, the other words will be passed over somewhat lightly. The liberty of an orator is so great that he can even upset the most authentic grammatical laws, and no one will have any right to reproach him. I will explain what I mean. In the sentence I gave as an example (In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum. p.61), every word is grammatically accentuated except the indeclinable monosyllables in and non. But if an orator wishes to insist on the idea of the absolute security that results from hope in God, he may perfectly well put all his energy into the word non, subordinating to it all the rest, even though it is unaccentuated.

Here then is one undeniable fact: the subordination of the word to the phrase, of the part to the whole, of the means to the end.

A second point, equally undeniable, is the subordination of the text to the melody. Although certain adherents of the modern school hesitate, or even refuse to admit it, it is one of the most certain principles of ancient music: Musica non subjacet regulis Donati, "Music is not subject to the rules of grammarians." Even common sense would seem to support us here, if it is true that melody was created in order to transfigure and widen the expressive capacity of our poor human words, which so often fall short of portraying by themselves all the wealth of ideas, sentiments, and aspirations that we have within us. Clearly, if words are susceptible of being enriched by melody (and that is the sole reason for the existence of Gregorian chant), they are subject to the melody which can expand them according to its own manner and choice.

Thus the composer is not obliged to follow the words step by step; he may make free use of them according to the light of his own understanding. For indeed, what he wishes to express musically is not each individual word that he uses, but solely the idea or sentiment expressed by the succession of words which make up the sentence or the phrase. He is only interested in the idea; the words and syllables - in modern as well as in ancient music - are, or may sometimes be, scarcely more than the necessary substratum on which to support his melodic developments. (p.62, The Rhythm of Plainsong)

At first glance it would seem that Doms. Gajard is contradicting the premise that rhythm must serve the text. Not so. Neither is he proposing a form of 'dynamic equivalency' that steamrolls the literal sense of the text. Gajard is not overlooking the fact that composition may expand the meaning of the text. However, he does not suggest that the rhythm of the text may be violated to the point of robbing it of its literal meaning nor to render the text incomprehensible or devoid of subtlety. Quite the contrary, he situates words within the context of the phrase. Words combine and inflect each other. It is the meaning of the phrase that must be fully respected without a loss of the etymological depth of individual words. We chant or sing phrases. Words combine to form phrases wed to melodies, or rather melodies are wed to text.

As Marie Pierik reminds us: "... the rhythmic divisions are melodic, without, however, ever functioning contrary to the text."

Unfortunately, our lax attitude toward biblical and liturgical texts has led to the imposition of exceedingly banal settings of non-liturgical poetry, if one could call the following example poetry:

Not in the dark of buildings confining

Not in some heaven, light-years away

here in this place the new light is shining

Now is the Kingdom, now is the day

Verse 4 from Gather Us In by Marty Haugen

Baby Steps In The Right Direction

Given the positive trajectory the renewed English translation of the Missal (3rd Typical Edition) has helped to assert, we can only hope that bishops will now take on the following challenges sooner than later.

1. Renew the music of the Liturgy by adopting the principles which assure that only musical compositions of high artistic and theological merit are permitted in the Liturgy.
2. Assert that the unaided human voice is the primary instrument for worship, and teach a renewed understanding of the appropriate instrumentation that may be located within the temple. E.g., organ - yes; piano - no.
3. Promote churches built with a natural acoustic founded on Catholic theological principles which orient the architecture to theology and the spoken and chanted text.
4. Promote the development of a hymnal or people's missal for Canada which presents the music "of" the Liturgy so that people may "sing the Mass" rather than sing alien music "at" Mass.
5. Reassert the proper role of the choir. Liberate the choir from mere utility and subordination to the congregation by allowing the choir to function as a distinct liturgical entity equal to other ministries, such as lector and server, a ministry that possesses a unique dignity requiring specific and special expertise necessary for the artful rendering in song of the word of God.

Worshippers deserve to hear the Mass sung and prayed as it should be sung and prayed. Chant and sacred polyphony facilitate an immediacy, intimacy and aesthetically beautiful encounter in a way that presentations encrusted with technology and vapid colloquialism fail to provide.

Music, theology and architecture (are supposed to) function harmoniously in the symphony of Catholicism. Isn't it time we reapply ourselves to a deep appreciation of the art of the Faith, the ars celebrandi, oriented as it is (or should be) toward the person of Christ incarnate Who suffered, died and is risen? Isn't it also time we set about creating noble sanctuaries wherein the constituent vehicles (music, art, architecture) that support worship achieve a synthesis to offer us a glimpse of heaven on earth and achieve an effective artistic and sacramental communication of Christian theology?

FOOTNOTE

An enlightened article that complements this post can be found at the First Things blog by Kevin White. Check it out by clicking HERE.

See also the very good articles by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, e.g., On the Wonder and Strangeness of Sacred Music.

Altar versus Alter

A quick perusal of Cardinal Mahony's shenanigans past and present brought to my attention something that pretends to be an altar.

Nothing says Sacrifice of Calvary like a big white box with sliding doors.

A brief blurb from the GIRM/CCCB (p.64):

301. In keeping with the Church’s traditional practice and what the altar signifies, the table of a fixed altar should be of stone and indeed of natural stone. In the dioceses of Canada, however, another natural material which is dignified, solid, and well-crafted may also be used, provided that the altar is structurally immobile. As to the supports or base for supporting the table, these may be made of any material, provided it is dignified and solid (i.e., not an imitation oak veneer table on wheels).

A movable altar may be constructed of any noble and solid material suited to liturgical use, according to the traditions and usages of the different regions. 

302. The practice of the deposition of relics of Saints, even those not Martyrs, under the altar to be dedicated is fittingly retained. However, care should be taken to ensure the authenticity of such relics.

Making the (large) Sign of the Cross in the Latin Tradition

Making the (large) Sign of the Cross in the Latin Tradition

Dear fathers, that is, priests and bishops, please make the Sign of the Cross in a dignified and accurate manner so that we lay folk can improve our understanding of the heart of the Faith. Most of you do just fine when making the Sign. Judging from the number of priests who repeatedly make inverted Signs, a little professional development might be in order.

Lay people—we, too, should be mindful of how we make the Sign. The Sign speaks to the heart of our Faith: the Most Holy Trinity.

The heart the Faith is also the heart of Jesus which stopped on the Cross, was pierced by a lance, and now beats for every person in the Resurrected Body of Christ. We receive that Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrifice of Calvary made present on the altar which is marked as Calvary by the crucifix. The reality signified by that cross is literally imprinted on us in Baptism (Oleum Catechumenorum) when we are also Signed and claimed for Christ and enter into His death and resurrection. The Sign is traced again on our brows when the bishop anoints us with the Sacred Chrism (Sanctum Chrisma) at Confirmation and seals us with gift of the Holy Spirit. The Sign is traced upon us in Extreme Unction/Anointing of the Sick (Oleum Infirmorum).

If we do not receive the Sign of the Cross, we will likely wear the mark of the beast.

Ezekiel 9:1-6

Then I heard him cry aloud, Make way there for the plagues that must befall the city, for the weapon-bearers of death! And with that, from the upper gate which looks northwards, I saw six men coming on their way, and none of them but bore his deadly weapon; in their midst walked another, clad in linen, with a writer’s ink-horn at his girdle. All, when they had entered, took their stand by the brazen altar; and now, borne on cherub wings, the glory of Israel’s God rose above the threshold of the house, summoning him of the linen clothes and the ink-horn to set about his task. Make thy way, the Lord said to him, all through the city, from end to end of Jerusalem; and where thou findest men that weep and wail over the foul deeds done in it, mark their brows with a cross (tau). To the others I heard him say, Yours it is to traverse the city at his heels, and smite. Never let eye of yours melt with pity; old and young, man and maid, mother and child, all alike destroy till none is left, save only where you see the cross marked on them. And begin first with the temple itself.

Revelation 7:2-3

And I saw a second angel coming up from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered to lay waste land and sea; Do not lay waste land or sea or wood, until we have put a seal on the foreheads of those who serve our God.

Revelation 9:3-4

And out of the smoke a swarm of locusts spread over the world, endowed with such power for mischief as scorpions have on earth; they were not to injure the grass on the land, the green things that grew there, or the trees; they were to attack men, such men as did not bear God’s mark on their foreheads. 

Revelation 14:1

Then I looked, and saw where the Lamb stood on mount Sion, amidst a company of a hundred and forty-four thousand, with his name, and his Father’s name, written on their foreheads.

Name Brand

We apostolic christians, the spiritual sons and daughters of the holy apostles and their legitimate successors, are united in our profession of the Apostolic Faith in communion with the universal shepherd, the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Saint Peter. Ours is not a national church nor a sect or denomination.

Misshaped churches and misshaped theology.

Is it any wonder that, as church buildings began to deviate from the cruciform design in our time, priests and laity became less adept at making the Sign normally embodied in the architecture surrounding them and the rubrics of the Mass? With no appreciation of the Cross, no solid theology preached from the pulpit and no external form to guide us, it seems somewhat reasonable to suggest that there is a correlation between shabby theology, i.e., a loss of appreciation for the form and substance of the Sign of the Cross, and unchristian architecture. The fact that many people make the Sign with about as much care and attention as they give to living the teachings of the Church is a telling sign of a very different kind. Dear parents—teach your children how to make the Sign of the Cross reverently with depth of knowledge and conviction.

The Mass is the Cross

Worship begins at the foot of the Cross at the entrance to the church nave, and proceeds to the sanctuary wherein heaven descends to earth and Christ becomes present on the altar. The shape of authentic worship is embodied in the Sign of the Cross. Holy Mass begins and ends with the Sign of the Cross.

General considerations: a mark of respect.

1. Theological. The Sign is a summary of the Faith. The shape of the cross and the manner in which we make it, or apply it, speaks volumes in mere seconds.
2. Design. Make the Sign actually look like a cross—and not an inverted cross! Saint Peter may have been crucified upside down, but tracing an upside down cross at the altar over the Gifts, for example, sends the wrong message.
3. Pacing/Timing. We do not swat flies, so slow it down and be mindful of the reality signified by the Cross, i.e., the Holy Trinity! Do not reduce the Sign to an empty gesture. If we think of the Last Judgement every time we make the Sign, we'll be less likely to empty the Sign of meaning. The Cross was Jesus' altar of sacrifice. Recall the procession on Good Friday during the carrying forward of the Cross for veneration when the priest chants: This is the wood of the Cross on which hung the Saviour of the world. And, the congregation responds: Come let us adore Him. That is the reality we have imprinted upon us in baptism. We have died to the world and sin and given our lives to Jesus Christ.
4. Public Witness. Are we ashamed of Christ? Are we to remain like St. Peter before the Resurrection, he having denied Christ three times? Or, will we be like St. Peter who was restored by Christ and who boldly proclaimed the Faith throughout the then known world? We should be humble enough to proclaim the Faith in public using words and actions. The Sign of the Cross identifies us as christians who have received the Faith from the Apostles, that we belong to Christ. Don't be shy! When you are out for dinner at a restaurant, take a moment to ask God to bless you and the meal and others present. Make the Sign; pray the blessing; then seal the blessing with the Sign. When you pass by a Catholic church, make the Sign of the Cross because the Lord is there in the tabernacle. By making the Sign you acknowledge Him and point others to Jesus. Making the Sign in public reminds others that the Catholic Faith is both personal and public. In a society that is steadily increasingly hostile toward Catholics, let people know the Faith is present and we are willing to be identified as Catholics (...and we are not going to roll over and die or remain quiet while society and culture sinks into the toilet). The Sign is an artful way to remind others that faith, hope and love is all around them, and that our act of faith is an invitation to share in the joy of the Resurrection. Remember, we christians are in the world but not of it. Be bold, be brave, be a rebel and make the Sign of the Cross frequently and in a meaningful manner. Be prepared to provide a good reason to anyone who asks you why you are Catholic. 1 Peter 3:15.

Additional considerations: the art of blessing.

1. Those receiving the Sign during a blessing by the Celebrant, regarding hand shape: barring arthritis or other crippling disease, hold the palm of the right hand open and with the fingers together and touch the forehead, sternum and shoulders (left then right). Obviously, if a person is born with a missing right hand or has lost the hand to an accident or his right arm is in a cast, it is perfectly acceptable—as an exception—to perform the Sign with the left hand.
2. The priest who imparts the Sign: keep the hand in a vertical position so it doesn't look like you're waving at the crowd. If you are tempted to wave at the congregation, please don't. Furthermore, no limp wrists! We've had far too much of that over the past forty years. Give us a manly Sign of the Cross befitting an Alter Christus, a priest of God. In other words, stay in character. The Sign done solemnly can do more to form a sense of the sacred in your parishioners and lead them to God than twenty minutes of blather following the Gospel.
3. Whole Body Workout. Take note of the "Amen" hand position on the image below. The hands are held in a way that helps us collect our intentions. We are body and soul, not just heads floating around in the pews. We embody our intentions. We kneel, we genuflect, we stand, we sit, we bow—we Catholics worship with our whole bodies. By doing so, our actions done reverently also help discipline or focus the mind and reinforce an orientation of prayer, of receptivity to God. Please note—the hand position shown in the images is not the namaste/namaskar of hinduism. The palms are held together lightly, not forced together or pressed hard against each other. The right thumb is crossed over the left—see the attached file for additional information.

Recommended reading: The Sign of The Cross—Recovering the Power of the Ancient Prayer by Bert Ghezzi. LoyolaPress, 2004.

P.S.—It should be duly noted that there are other ways of holding the fingers of the right hand when making the Sign of the Cross. Our eastern brethren, Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, have customs which are profoundly beautiful. Typically, the easterners make the Sign from right to left with a right hand position that is theologically rich in meaning.

Saint Damian (1840 - 1889): pray for us.

Memorial to Saint Damian, Paia, Maui, Hawaii - 2011
photos by Wendell

Me ke aloha poina `ole
"And unforgettable love"
or "Truly with unforgotten love"

Architects - Stanley Gima & Alvin Yoshimori

Benefactors & Supporters

This will bring a smile to your face: three year old boy "celebrates" Mass... from memory!