A brief indulgence
December 29, 2009, 10:11 am
Posted by David Gibson
Pardon this interruption of our irregularly scheduled discussions, but having been occupied by work and holiday fun and various viruses for a while now I am just now catching up on my dotCommunications and marveling yet again at how remarkable this space is. I find myself bookmarking posts for later reading, and checking in on past threads and generally wasting more time than I should–though to great profit, personally and professionally. The variety of posts, on matters spiritual and political and theological and just plain funny, is such a fine blend. And the commenters–sparring partners and friends or both–add just as much. So a year-end thanks to one and all.
On behalf of all Chicago-area clergy of Flemish extraction who post and comment here, David – you’re welcome!
And this seems a good opportunity to wish everyone a most blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, as well as good tidings and well wishes for any secular holidays that happen to coincide with that feast!
And speaking of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, does anyone know why the Circumcision was suppressed? There is a cause for traditionalists somewhere there, no?
When I was in the Seminary, in what passed for a course in preaching, we would be assigned a Sunday or a feastday for which we were to prepare a sermon and then deliver it in front of our classmates who would then give us index cards with their appraisals on them. One of my classmates was assigned the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. With his first sentences showed his acquaintance with the theology of the liturgical mysteries but made an unfortunate application. “The celebration of the liturgical feasts gives us opportunities to associate ourselves with the mysteries of Christ’s life. Today is the feast of the Circumcision, when we must learn to cut off the old man.” His classmates are still laughing over it.
“There is a cause for traditionalists somewhere there, no?”
Yep, they’re all over it. E.g. http://roamincatholicphiladelphia.blogspot.com/2009/01/circumcision-of-christ.html
I don’t often comment, but I read always- generally spending way more time than I *should* on the dotCommonweal pages, but always grateful that I did. Peace to all!
It did occur to me that wishes like “Have a Blessed Circumcision” might cause titters, but Jewish male children are supposed to be circumcised on the eighth day and Jesus certainly was. To ignore the fact is particularly inappropriate at a time when we are finally coming to think more about the Jewishness of Jesus.
Not to digress, but I have been studying Biblical Hebrew–I decided that reading from right to left would keep my brain active–and here is something I learned yesterday, In Exodus 6:12 Moses tries to get out of his mission because he is “a poor speaker” as the NAB has it and likewise the NRSV. Actually the Hebrew has him saying that “he is uncircumcised of lips”. Leave it to Robert Alter to preserve the image and discuss it his translation (The Five Books of Moses).