"I can just as well pray in the forest, in the freedom of nature."

"But against that could then rightly be voiced the objection that is always to be heard:  I can just as well pray in the forest, in the freedom of nature.  Certainly, anyone can.  But if it were only a matter of that, then the initiative in prayer would lie entirely with us; then God would be a mental hypothesis—whether he answers, whether he can answer or wants to, would remain open.  The Eucharist means, God has answered:  The Eucharist is God as an answer, as an answering presence.  Now the initiative no longer lies with us, in the God-man relationship, but with him, and it now becomes really serious.  That is why, in the sphere of eucharistic adoration, prayer attains a new level; now it is two-way, and so now it really is a serious business.  Indeed, it is now not just two-way, but all-inclusive:  whenever we pray in the eucharistic presence, we are never alone.  Then the whole of the Church, which celebrates the Eucharist, is praying with us.  Then we are praying within the sphere of God's gracious hearing, because we are praying within the sphere of death and resurrection, that is, where the real petition in all our petitions has been heard:  the petition for the victory over death; the petition for the love that is stronger than death."

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, "The presence of the Lord in the sacrament" (1978), in God is near us:  the Eucharist, the heart of life, ed. Stephan Otto Horn and Vinzenz Pfnür, trans. Henry Taylor (San Francisco, CA:  Ignatius Press, 2003), 90-91 (74-93).  This goes to the heart of all authentically Christian prayer.  All prayer, insofar as it is Christian, is built on the confidence that "God has answered," and the Real Presence is the most concretely sacramental form of "God as answer" that we have in this life.

Koskela on the importance of proclamation to apostolicity

"Only by proclaiming the gospel it has faithfully maintained can the church be truly apostolic."

Douglas M. Koskela, "'But who laid hands on him?'  Apostolicity and Methodist ecclesiology," Pro ecclesia 20, no. 1 (Winter 2011):  41 (28-42), italics mine.  This sentence stresses two of the "three primary ideas" the concept of apostolicity "has been employed to convey":  "continuity with the historical and visible church, the integrity of the church's life and witness, and the calling of the church to proclaim the gospel in word and deed" (29, italics original).

"Declaring the Southern Baptists (or at least the Revd R. Albert Mohler) off-side"

"The union of physical and spiritual praxis was possible for ancient Indians and remains a real goal for many contemporary yogis.  This sort of combination is affirmed by an old joke about a Jesuit priest who, when his bishop forbade priests to smoke while meditating, dutifully agreed but argued that surely there would be no objection if he occasionally meditated while he was smoking.  That one can, however, choose merely to smoke or merely to meditate is denied both by Christians of the Reverend R. Albert Mohler ilk and by Hindus of the Hindu American Foundation ilk, both of whom insist that yoga is only and always a religious system."

     Wendy Doniger, "Assume the position" (a largely enthusiastic review of Yoga body:  the origins of modern posture practice, by Mark Singleton, and a fine summary of the extremely complex history of "yoga"), Times literary supplement no. 5631 (March 4, 2011), 11 (10-11).

Farkasfalvy on the argument ex convenientia

"in Mariology sorting out arguments 'ex convenientia' is much more important than looking for compelling reasons of necessity."

Denis Farkasfalvy, "Reconstructing Mariology:  Mary's virginity and the future of Mariology," Communio:  international Catholic review 37, no. 1 (Spring 2010):  63n30.

Farkasfalvy on vocations

"while all shades of doubt about Mary's virginity in partu and post partum became fashionable and theologians grew more and more tolerant of such statements, thousands of religious communities, primarily of women, for reasons that are not very well known, suddenly lost much of their membership and began a painful journey along the road to extinction."

Denis Farkasfalvy, "Reconstructing Mariology:  Mary's virginity and the future of Mariology," Communio:  international Catholic review 37, no. 1 (Spring 2010):  57-58.

The Christocentrism of the Marian invitatoria

COMMON OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
MEMORIAL OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ON SATURDAY
Come, let us worship Christ, the Son of Mary.
Christum, Fílium Maríæ, veníte, adorémus.  OR:

Let us sing to the Lord as we keep this day in memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Memóriam beátæ Maríæ Vírginis celebrántes, iubilémus Dómino.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (8 December)
Come, let us celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord.
Immaculátam Conceptiónem Vírginis Maríæ celebrémus: Christum, eius Fílium, adorémus Dóminum.

1960:
Let us celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary:  Let us adore her Son, Christ the Lord.
Immaculatam Conceptionem Virginis Mariæ celebremus:  Christum eius Filium adoremus Dominum.

MARY, MOTHER OF GOD (1 January)
Let us celebrate the motherhood of the Virgin Mary; let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord.

1960 (MATERNITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, 11 October):
Let us keep holy-day in honour of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary:  Let us worship Christ her Son, our Lord.
Maternitatem Beatae Mariae Virginis celebremus:  Christum eius Filium adoremus Dominum.

ANNUNCIATION (25 March)
The Word became flesh; come, let us worship him.
Verbum caro factum est:  veníte, adorémus.

1960 (not sure about this one):
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Ave Maria, gratia plena:  Dominus tecum.

VISITATION (31 May)
Let us sing to the Lord as we celebrate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Visitatiónem beátæ Maríæ Vírginis celebrántes, iubilémus Dómino.

1960 (2 July):
Let us keep holiday for the Visitation of the Virgin Mary.  Let us worship Christ, her Son, and her Lord and ours.
Visitationem Virginis Mariae celebremus:  Christum ejus Filium adoremus Dominum.

ASSUMPTION (15 August)
Come let us worship the King of kings; on this day his Virgin Mother was taken up to heaven.
Veníte adorémus Regem regum, cuius hódie ad æthéreum Virgo Mater assúmpta est cælum.

1960:
O come let us worship the King of kings.  This day was His Mother taken to the heavens above.
Venite adoremus Regem regum, Cuius hodie ad aethereum Virgo mater assumpta est caelum.

QUEENSHIP OF MARY (22 AUGUST)
Come, let us worship Christ who crowned his mother as Queen of heaven and earth.
Christum regem, qui suam coronávit Matrem, veníte, adorémus.

1960 (IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY):
Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Sancta Maria, Dei Genitrix Virgo, Intercede pro nobis.

BIRTH OF MARY (8 September)
Come, let us celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary, let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord.
Nativitátem Vírginis Maríæ celebrémus: Christum eius Fílium adorémus Dóminum.

1960:
Let us keep the Birthday of the Virgin Mary.  Let us worship Christ, her Son, and her Lord and ours.
Nativitatem Virginis Mariae celebremus:  Christum eius Filium adoremus Dominum.

PRESENTATION OF MARY (21 NOVEMBER).  See the COMMON, above.


     Striking to me is how typical this (all taken from the current Liturgy of the hours and, for 1960, http://divinumofficium.com/) is of the Proper of Saints in general.  The celebration of the feast is but an occasion of the worship of the one God alone.

In essentials (including morals), unity; or Unity in morals is not a non-essential, not a non-necessarium

"There is a Reformation slogan that sums up the impossibility here: 'What the law demands, the gospel bestows.' The law demands righteousness, the gospel bestows righteousness, and it does so by bringing Christ to us and us to Christ. He is the living fulfillment of the law, the one in whom all that the law requires is fully and unquestionably realized. His righteousness covers our sin, when we become one with him by faith, but at the same time, he lives in us, which means that righteousness dwells in us, alive and triumphant, and we begin to live a new kind of life. But if the gospel bestows what the law demands, then without agreeing substantially on what the law demands, we cannot agree on what the gospel bestows. And pushed to the end, such disagreement will easily turn into disagreement about Jesus Christ and his saving righteousness."

     David S. Yeago, "Facing reality in the ELCA:  remarks delivered to the South Carolina Synod 'Day of Holy Conversation', Newberry, South Carolina, February 6, 2010.