www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Need some advice

JMJ

I need some advice, especially from western rites. What Eastern practices would you suggest adoting so that one could "breath with both lungs" yet remain a western Catholic? I was talking with my spiritual director about this, and he said that I had to be careful because if I adopted to many Eastern tradtions, I would become Eastern Catholic. Now pardon me if I am wrong, but to be Eastern Catholic, you kinda had to belong to the Eastern Catholic churches. I'm so confused .

Joe Zollars

Strictly speaking, yes to become Eastern Catholic you must join an Eastern Catholic Church. However, I imagine your priest was just referring to your spirituality. There's nothing wrong with adopting practices that developed in other particular Churches, IMO.

Some easily adapted things would be to privately recite the Byzantine prayer before communion at Mass ("I believe and profess that You are truly present, etc."); the recitation of an Akathist hymn to Our Lady (if you pray the Rosary they could be done on alternating days, for instance); recitation of the Jesus Prayer.

None of these practices are contradictory to those of the Latin Church. In fact, NO eastern practice is contradictory to the west and no western practice is contradictory to the east. They are, rather, COMPLIMENTARY.

In my opinion the attitude of "East is East nd West is West and never the twain shall meet," is simply ridiculous when applied to the Churches. I don't think Jesus founded a universal Church and then allowed the particular Churches to develop in such a way as to be alien to each other.

This question really speaks to me. I, too, am going through something similiar to what you speak of.

Personally, I don't think its necessary to "breathe with both lungs." If you find yourself drawn to certain Eastern devotions, by all means, adopt them. I wouldn't adopt them for the purpose of keeping one foot in the West and the other in the East. This could lead to some spiritual confusion since the theology behind the devotions is different.

Let me tell you of my personal prayer life. I have adopted the East's approach to Communion preparation. On the night before, or the morning of, I pray the office, the Akathist of Holy Communion, and the Jesus Prayer on a 100 knot prayer rope. I have noticed a great change in me attitiude towards Holy Communion and the Mass in general. These devotions have enriched my prayer life. But notice I'm not doing it for the purpose of "being Eastern". It just so happens that the East offers these things and I have incorporated them into my Western way of doing things.

This, my Tridentine loving friend, is my advise to you. If you ever want to discuss anything, feel free to e-mail me at: goirish77@byzantines.net

God Bless,

Columcille

Dear Joe,

I was going to talk about Byzantine traditions, but since my Roman Catholic brothers have beaten me to it

You guys really put me to shame, you know!

Joe, your discussion with your confessor sort of reminds me of an anchorite we have living in our parish.

She was an RC nun who liked to attend the Ukrainian CAtholic liturgy. Her Mother Superior warned her about this and then told her she couldn't attend. That disobedient little nun didn't listen. And, yup, she kept on coming to the Byzantine Liturgy and, sure enough, it "infected" her and she became a Byzantine Catholic and is now an anchorite living the enclosed ascetical life.

But you don't have to worry about that!

The Jesus Prayer is a matter of spiritual discipline and is therefore something that relates to the universal Church. It really has nothing to do with "Rite." I know Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and some Evangelical Christians who use it too.

His Holiness the Pope has himself recommended that Western Catholics use the Akathists of the Eastern Church and he himself prays the Akathist of Our Lady before the Icon of Kazan in his private chapel every day.

The prayers for Communion and other devotional prayers, as Columcille has mentioned, are private devotional concerns and anyone may use them (do I have your permission to use your litanies? )

But you might want to begin your own Icon corner. Icons are also honoured in the West. You can collect icons of our Lord and our Lady and the saints to your heart's content, especially Western Catholic saints. That is a great way to enter into the spirituality of the East while still mainaining one's foothold in the West.

Alex

Everyone:

Thanks for the advice!

Alex:

I personnally suggest the litany of the Precious Blood and the Litany of Loretto. :>)

Joe Zollars

Great advise as always

As far as Litanies go, I sometimes go from the Jesus Prayer(on the prayer rope) into the Sacred Heart litany. I especially like doing this on Friday.

Sometimes East and West just come together perfectly

Columcille

>>Sometimes East and West just come together perfectly<<

And when hey don't, the problem is with us.

Dear Columcille,

And as always, you raise an issue that is dear to me.

As you know, the Prayer of Jesus has a lot to do with the image of the heart itself. The Pilgrim goes through an experience where he sees his heart and the Jesus Prayer going right through him etc.

Although the Sacred Heart devotion is Western, there is a liturgical form of it in the East in the services that refer to the Wounded Side of Christ and the Chalice is kissed following Communion in our Church in honour of that Side.

To make a long story short, I found myself reciting the Jesus Prayer before a picture of the Sacred Heart. I found the exercise so spiritually rewarding and the focus on the Heart of Christ seemed to bring together the spirituality of the Jesus Prayer in a way I had not experienced before.

I related this to my then spiritual director, Fr. Serge Keleher.

He listened to my story intently and then said that there was nothing "foreign" to our Church's tradition in my experience.

He even said that perhaps the Sacred Heart devotion could be "reconstructed" for the Byzantine tradition in conjunction with the Jesus Prayer etc.

Your post brought back a spiritually dynamic memory that still stays with me!

Alex

JMJ

Isn't the feast of the Sacred Heart sometime this week or next?

Joe

In the Latin Church we will be celebrating the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus this Friday (June 22) and then the Feast of the Immaculet Heart of Mary on Saturday.

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

JMJ

Thanks Ignatious. I did not know about the Immaculate Heart being on Saturday.

Joe

Two ideas:

a. This is a nifty Eastern practice used by monastics. Read ONE chapter from the Holy Gospels daily begining with that of St. Matthew and TWO chapters from the Epistles starting with Acts. Read the chapters in sequence. On the day you are reading the last chapter of the Gospel of St. John, there will be seven chapters of the Apocalypse left. Finish these last seven chapters on that day, then you begin again with the first chapter of Matthew and the first two chapters of Acts. This way things work out in an orderly sequence.

b. Also you could "adopt an Eastern Saint" as a special patron. It could be a Father of the Church like John Chrysostom, Gregory, or Basil the Great. It could be a female saint like Mary of Egypt. Catherine of Alexandria, or St. Rafka

He or she could be ancient or comtemporary. (The Holy Father will beatify many comtemporary Eastern Catholics next week, as we know.)Surf the net and find one that you like. The point is to find an Eastern saint, not a saint that followed the Roman Rite like Clare, Therese, or Dominic. (No offense; they just were Western.)

Then you could go from there and try to locate icons, as Alex mentioned and biographies of them and get to know them.

Hope this helps.
Stefan

Alex, dear friend: Ouch!

"Collect" icons?

Perhaps this is just a Greek perspective, but we have just a few, and these icons have special meaning since they were written for or obtained for a special event in the life of the family, i.e., a wedding, a christening, a new home, etc. (When my namesake cousin became a Dad for the first time, I had a St. Andrew icon written for his newborn son. His wife, who is Episcopal -- and daughter and granddaughter of clergy, was ecstatic and called me late at night from L.A. The icon was placed over little Andrew's crib. Her Episcopal instinct had her do exactly what her husband's Greek family would do. Remarkable how Christians have the same innate instincts.)

Blessings!

I have to echo somewhat Dr John's sentiment...it is a bit jarring to see the procurement of Holy Icons mentioned in a manner reminiscent of trading baseball cards.

Now I'm going to make a small confession here, mostly as an aside to affirm the necessity of education about the Eastern Churches and Orthodoxy. Some years ago, I had an opportunity to purchase an icon of St. Matthew (my middle/Baptismal name is Matthew) at a Catholic religious goods store. I turned it over and there was a small stamp that stated the icon had been produced at an Orthodox monastery. I put the icon back, abruptly thinking to myself, "I ain't buyin' no icons from no schismatics!" (Yes, that is a "mental quote").

I hope I have demonstrated that my attitude has changed much since then....and I think I may follow Alex's advice, and find myself icons of St. Matthew, St. Nicholas (my Confirmation saint), St. John Chrysostom (who died on my birthday, September 14), and St. Thomas Aquinas (my favorite saint, and yes, I've seen one of him before!)

--NDHoosier

Good going, NDHoosier. The icons are more than just ecclesiastical decoration. They are meant to speak to a person's spirituality.

Blessings!