Yesterday, the Feast of the Epiphany, we closed the Mass by singing Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Thankfully, this NOT being the 2nd Sunday of the Month, it was NOT accompanied by a guitar.
I found myself humming it during the day, in between watching as much football as I could. I also found myself thinking of what our pastor said during the homily, about the Epiphany being the "unveiling" of Christ and how the Magi "took a different route" once they'd seen the Lord. (Some of that had to do with the angels, of course).
The Epiphany or our Lord. Probably something the atheists hate even more than Christmas itself. I mean, for crying out loud, it's bad enough we have to celebrate His birth, then a week later we celebrate the "unveiling" for all to see??? Sheesh!!
So while humming Oh Come All Ye Faithful, somehow I was struck with the idea of how the secular humanists would sing it.
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Unfortunately, and it grieves me profoundly to have to use the word, they would probably sing "Oh come let us abort him". I dare not use the word they might add which rhymes with 'Lord'. Let's keep this to ourselves and not give them any such ideas.
God bless, and thanks as always for the blog.
Wow, good point Jane. There's nothing they wouldn't do in their hatred of God and His Church, that's for sure.
Why assume that Humanists "hate" the Church or "hate" God? Since the Winter Solstice festival was there long before Christ was born, the Saturnalia described in Vergil, so why not just make yourself welcome at the party by whatever name? We all do know about Bacchus, don't we? Whose divinity is revealed by his ability to turn water into wine, as Jesus did at Cana of Galilee on the same day? The Epiphany is the birthday of Dionysus, known to Romans as Bacchus. Why assume that everybody is out to get you and hates you?
blah blah blah, Francis; your paganism is simply the "god" you embrace over the God you reject. And because the majority of Americans believe in the real God, your only defense, since you can't elevate the false god of paganism, is to try to tear down the real One.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/pagan_propaganda_the_other_att.html
Thanks for your comment, Paul. I must admit that this is the first time this Catholic has been taken for a pagan. Christians do not need to hide from scholarship. The Church does not take shelter in self-chosen ignorance as the fundamentalists do. Thirty years before Christ was born, Vergil wrote his Eclogue 4. Have you read it? Do you know who Attis of Phrygia was and the dates of his birth and resurrection? And that a temple of his consort Cybele is to this day in the foundations of St. Peter's Basilica? The church with apostolic authority need not, and does not, rely on concealing of facts. Thanks for your fine blog.
You said :
We all do know about Bacchus, don't we? Whose divinity is revealed by his ability to turn water into wine, as Jesus did at Cana of Galilee on the same day?
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If you believe in the divinity of Bacchus, how does that square with Catholicism?
Francis, pagans might have celebrated the Winter Festival before the Incarnation, but the Second Person of the Trinity pre-exists the Winter Festival. Christian dogma is not borrowed from pagan religions. The very idea is preposterous, not least because the first Christians viewed paganism (as distinct from pagans) with horror and loathing. All that glitters is not gold; likewise, a glint or shimmer or hint of truth here and there in paganism does not mean that the totality of Truth resides in paganism.
By the way, Paul, I love your rendition of black-around-the-eyes rage. (Though my favorite cartoon of yours is still the guy in the La-Z-Boy at church -- "Shouldn't you just be glad I'm here?")
Great cartoon! I trust you don't mind my placing it on my blog (with full credit, of course).
http://beingisgood.blogspot.com/2010/01/secular-humanist-choir.html
Blessings and God's Peace,
Don't mind at all. Thanks Deacon!
Dagon Tabernacle Choir - Oh Come All Ye Olde Ones
Hi there.
I belong to the British Humanists Choir. We sing songs of love and joy. None of our repertoire (that I can think of) even mentions god. We just like coming together as a group to sing songs that celebrate the world and humanity's place in it.
Next time you're in London you'd be very welcome at a performance. You never know, you might enjoy it.
Yours in peace.
"Adeste fidelis" was originally a hymn to Osiris, and "O for a thousand tongues" comes right out of the Anthem to Isis. Anita, It would be petty indeed to assume that only Christianity can give rise to good stuff and that anything of non-Christian origin must be bad.
This afternoon I am looking forward to a special event following Evensong. We will engage in the Exposition, Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I expect they will use the Prayer Book of Saint Augustine since it isn't in the BCP.
I have no doubt that long before Christianity arose there were worshipers whose devotions honored the Almighty, the Father of Heaven and Earth, his only son, and the Theotokos, his mother whom we honor with the title formerly assigned to Isis, Queen of Heaven. They chanted the "Laudate Dominem" and the Angelus. They knew what it means to address Alma Redemptoris Mater ... stella maris ... peccato rum miserere ... .
Osiris went before his devotees to Elysium where he prepared many mansions for them. Meanwhile they regularly consumed the eucharistic meal, barley beer and bread, transforming themselves into his likeness. Only in 550 A.D. did Justinian destroy the Osirian religion and enforce by the sword its Christian clone.
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