[ Archive for December, 2006 ]

The Immaculate Conception and Cosmopolitan

Posted by Karl (December 8, 2006 at 11:45 am)

Look at this R-rated icon, which depicts (in symbol) Joachim and Anna having the sexual relations which resulted in the Virgin Mary:

I was thinking of this feast the other day as I walked past the magazine rack at the newsstand, where almost every headline shouted something about “Have Better Sex!” or “Tricks He’ll Love in Bed!” or speculated on the “love” lives of Britney and Lindsay–at one point, sex was considered something holy, the means through which God acted in the world. Look at the icon: that’s Joachim and Anna locked in a marital embrace. Through this act of love, the Virgin Mary was conceived, and was preserved without sin. Don’t think of this as an unnatural act, a miracle by God. What it is is a restoration of the way things were supposed to be, before the Fall. All sexual acts should be ordered toward immaculate conceptions. Perhaps we should elevate the way we think of them. Maybe Cosmopolitan should have a headline that says “Have Holier Sex!”

Posted in General, Society & Culture | 7 Comments »

Liturgy and Union

Posted by Karl (December 1, 2006 at 10:50 am)

I provide you two links today: first, Patriarch Bartholomew’s wonderful homily on the feast of St. Andrew. Then see Amy Welborn’s trenchant comments, which I quote here:

The homily was on liturgy - its definition and power. The homily, whether purposefully or not, highlights a division between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy less frequently noted than issues of papal authority and other questions of ecclesiology and theology.

Many folks, with only a superficial understanding of either or both churches, sees relatively formal liturgies, the importance of Eucharist and male priests and thinks, “So? What’s the big difference?” A lot, particularly since the Second Vatican Council. The salient question is…why would the Orthodox want to “reunite” (whatever that would mean), or more dramatically, be in any sense under the authority of a structure in which the theology of liturgy, as it’s been lived out on the ground, has turned into a free-for-all?

Posted in Union, Liturgy | 3 Comments »