Clarify your thinking.
“Keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus.”
When I returned to the Church in 1972 I received some incredible graces. The most impressive was the experience that Jesus is really, truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the holy Eucharist. The experience was so intense and vivid, accompanied by such profound understanding of the truths of our faith, that I remained nearly oblivious to all the human mistakes of priests, religious, faithful, even the hierarchy, which were occuring in the Church after the Council.
Presentiments of troubles.
I remember two dreams I had, concerning persecution of the Church and Christians. The first dream had me in a ‘refuge’, apparently in the mountains. It was a sort of hermitage, though the building was more like a work shed. Soldiers came with guns to arrest me; I was beaten, and then taken away. That was all.
In the second dream I was in a lower church for Mass or some sort of devotion. The church was filled. Suddenly men broke in and began shooting. I was hit in the neck, fell to the floor, and could hear my blood pouring out like a faucet of running water. I knew I was dying and began the Act of Contrition. I later recognized that the church in my dream seemed to be the same as the lower church of St. Agnes in St. Paul. (I had only attended St. Agnes once or twice at that time, and always in the upper church, therefore I had no idea what the lower church looked like.) That was all.
“When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.”
For some reason, upon returning to the practice of my faith, I believed that the Church was living the dark night, literally following Christ on the way to Calvary. I always believed the times of persecution were imminent, though priests and religious often told me they never believed it would happen in our lifetime. (Interestingly enough, my thoughts paralleled the vision of the 3rd secret of Fatima.) Today I believe most of them would say they were wrong. Hatred for the faith is almost palpable in today’s culture.
Fr. Zuhlsdorf has a provocative post that seems to follow along these lines, although he is only asking, “What would you take?” if you had to suddenly leave your house and belongings, and perhaps your livelihood, to flee… In his post, Father isn’t making any statement about persecution, rather he is simply posing a question; “What if…” It is a good question.
Oh. What would I take?
My Rosary, my Bible, as many of my relics that I could carry, my cats with their food - cat food comes in small cans, and I’d pick up my best friend and we’d be off to that shed in the hills.
I must say, I was better off when I focused entirely upon Jesus and left the crises in the Church to Him. I need to follow Father’s advice and “clarify my thinking”.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Wow, those are vivid dreams. I’m staying away from St. Agnes in St. Paul. :>
In Conrad Baars autobiography he talked about surviving in a Nazi camp because he had a rosary. One day one of the guards took it and stomped it to pieces. It was devastating.
I think it’s good to think “what if”—it clarifies priorities.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:09 am
The question posed, also reminds me of another question posed recently by a priest I heard on Relevant Radio … if you were a prisoner on death row, what would your last meal request be?
October 8th, 2007 at 10:42 am
PML - I would like Southern Fried Chicken.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:20 am
If someone took my rosary I’d still (hopefully) have my 10 fingers to count on.
I would take my photos and the bible.
Last meal - the Eucharist.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Wrong answer for a Catholic … (now how do you do one of those smiley faces?)
October 8th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I was kind of thinking along these lines today, too. But, it was more that our country is really sinking and is there any other country to go to that isn’t hopping on the anti-Catholic bandwagon? What was it like for my ancestors to leave their homelands so they could practice their faith.
I don’t know what I would want for my last entree, but French Silk pie and chocolate chip cookies would be for dessert…although I think I could get those in Heaven if I make it there.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
For my last meal, I would like one of these:
An idealised feast scene from a Saxon manuscript. Note the curtains, table cloth, skewers and kebabs *MS Ill. of a feast
It seems, from written evidence of the period, that feast day food was looked forward to with anticipation and pleasure. You could look to having better food at a feast as well as copious quantities. Choicer cuts of meat, roasts - hot from the kitchen, rich sauces, cheeses, fish, sweet meats, fresh - well dressed salads, quality breads and plenty to drink. Beef and pork were well liked as the animals could be fattened for the purpose, poultry too was a tender meat, in some cases game and fowl such as plover, goose, swan and even peacock were on the menu.
A modest spread for mid day *Food for a midday meal
Considerable skill was displayed by the cooks who would have made breads enriched with added milk and/or eggs. The pastry crusts were not only as part of the dish, pies and flans would be moulded and decorated with flower heads in season. There would have been simpler editions for those guests of lower rank. Fish too was often made into what the modern diner would know as pates and terrines each carefully shaped and embellished to show the status of the feast-giver as well as the guest. The ornate dishes transported through time would gain applause from the modern hand and could rival some of the cordon-bleu’ chiefs of the twentieth century.
Drinks were sometimes brewed specially for a feast as the drinks were regarded as almost as important as the food. Ale, some probably fermented fruit based, beer made from such plants as Bog-Myrtle, meads and wines are recorded. Butter-milk, skimmed milk and whey were also drunk but probably not in such great quantity at a feast.
Three day feasts seem to have been the usual for great celebrations and day-long feasts were common. The feast began with the guests gathering and waiting for the sound of the horn. Handwashing came next and then they would enter passing the `door-wardens’ who stopped gate-crashers.
There were rules of etiquette even then - from the seating order to the use of napkins, table-cloths, how to eat and what to do if food fell from the table - is was not considered polite to pick it up and eat it, but one should pick it up, bless it, and lay it aside. (Perhaps this was part of what a rich feast giver used as left-overs to be disposed of in a charitable way?) During the early part of the Anglo-Saxon period a woman’s place was not at the table other than as a cup-bearer, the task of cup-bearing even included the lord’s wife and daughter, with the most honoured guests being served by them. By the eleventh century they were accepted at the table if they were of sufficient rank. Some guests were entitled to bring companions with them, minstrels and fotsetla (those who sat at the feet) but it was usual for a payment of honey to be made for the privilege.
Can’t you just smell it cooking *Cooking
People went to feasts to enjoy themselves and, especially as they lasted so long, could also expect entertainment. Scops (story tellers) would be welcome to tell of heroic deeds in the form of epic poems. Musicians - harp and lyre players during the meal with bagpipes, trumpets, flutes and drums reserved for after the eating was done. Then, at the feast of a wealthy man, the jesters, actors, dancers, singers could be expected . In an old poem about Athelstan’s coronation feast it is recorded that `stomachs are filled with delicacies, minds with song.’ The minstrel was often paid to sing the praises of his master at the feast (as bad as the holiday slides!) `one makes the harp resound, another contends with praises’. Gifted minstrels could expect good pay, either in the employ of one man or as travelling minstrels. There are records of gifts of jewelled bracelets, grants of land, houses and, for the more immediate moment, a horn of liquor at the end of their song. When that was done, guests would start the `home-made’ entertainment of riddling. Many of these were full of innuendo probably getting worse as the horn toasting cup went round and round those gathered! An account of the murder of King Æthelberht, in 792, tells that the royal party after dinner spent the whole day with music and dancing in great glee. Non-one was expected to leave the hall before the lord retired and many were probably glad of the right to sleep in the hall after the feast.