Head coverings?

1 Corinthians has these interesting points about women:

but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil. (1 Cor 11:5-6)

the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. (1 Cor 14:34-35)

What do you think the typical Bible-only Christian's reaction is to these? Well, I assure you, the reaction is not far off for Catholics too, especially me. The reaction in question is basically a slack jawed "What the.... ???" or "How is that even relevant?"

Seriously now though, these two sections form an infamous doublet concerning the roles of women in church. The most jarring part though for most people I think is the head coverings part. It just sticks out as unique.

The Catholic Church's stance seems to be that this falls into the matters of discipline and resides as a non-crucial issue. Which is a nice way of saying, women you don't have to wear head coverings in church, but we won't stop you from doing it either if you so choose. More than being concerned with head coverings, shouldn't we be more concerned with those who show up at Mass, the banquet, without proper clothes, for fear that they might be tossed out to wail and grind their teeth?

If we continue on though, chapter 14 seems to be saying here that women should keep silent in church. Quite frankly that just sounds harsh. Initially too, it could seem contradictory to verse 1 Cor 11:5 where women are apparently allowed to pray and prophesy. Or is it? What would the reasons be for silence in the church? The context for this is becoming necessary.

Chapter 14 on a whole is about prophesying and if you keep in mind the thematic discourse on interpretation and proper order, the location in question is within the church, likely even during the liturgy. Also, on the same vein of information, it goes without saying that this is a physical location because the place is contrasted to the home where women are advised to speak.

Therefore, following from verse 33 For God is not a God of confusion, I must assume there is a logic behind St. Paul's words and no relevant contradiction. Switching therefore to a broader context of St. Paul's letters we find this:

I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. (1 Tim 2:12)

Now, within the context of my Catholic faith and the general themes of Timothy, it all begins to come together. For Catholics, the people who speak in church in the faculties of teaching/authority are Priests, specifically men who are Priests. Women, because of the contradiction of having a woman ordained to be "in Persona Christi," cannot supply that role.

Women instead have their own unique role to play that men cannot. I'm no expert on the role of women from a biblical perspective by any means though so I don't know exactly what that role is. So, before this turns into a gender war, I'll stop while I'm ahead. Or it will come up later when I am more knowledgeable on the subject.

Go and Set the World Ablaze

Kronos vs. Kairos

No, this is not some epic fantasy like The Lightning Thief. My intended referent is not that Kronos. I am not speaking of the biggest baddest most evil Titan but am speaking of "Time" and its two variant understandings.

Thanks to technohazard for getting me going on this. Sorry it took me so long to work on it.

To be acutely honest, I think anyone can reach the same conclusions and reach accord, but there are a few obstacles in the way, namely: translation errors, time, and human error. Sometimes things just get communicated wrong. Most of the time, these are the abstract concepts or things that are steeped in phenomenology, which is a fancy way of saying that we describe phenomena differently.

Take for example, "up" and "down" don't actually make sense in space (think Ender's Game) without a reference point. If we are on Earth, though, we might be better off saying "away from the earth's core," "movement towards earth" or something along those lines because those are more reflective of reality. Up and Down are based in the phenomena of our own limited perspectives.

Additionally, does the sun really "rise"? Or is that the Earth turns and the sun comes into view? Of course, we, native speakers of English, don't have any problems understanding "the rising of the sun" despite our knowledge of modern science and how the earth revolves around the sun. My thought is that differing perspectives can thrive in most any language but they might be harder to express. We just have to take the time...

Time though is seriously against us. We, especially those of us in America, live in a world of Kronos where everything is set to clockwork. One thing to the next, we rush. Kronos time points to a cultural focus on the seconds ticking by. If only we could get everyone to understand that they need to take the time to slow down from time to time and look at the more important things in and beyond this life.

This is where human weakness comes into play. Think about it, we live in a world focused on Kronos type time, why? Partially because we are thinking only of ourselves and what we can get out of life. It is when we take that first step out to sacrifice the time that is so precious to us that we enter into Kairos.

Kairos time is the parallel to Kronos time, and focuses more on a relationship-based way of chronicling time. In some cases, it could even be translated as "God's time." After all, God, outside the boundaries of Kronos, operates on His own set of rules and brings things to their fullest when the moment is opportune. I like to think of Kairos time as somewhere in between being lazy and being impatient.

Rushing because the seconds are ticking causes many things to go to waste, but on the other hand, inaction brings nothing into existence either. Kairos is the happy medium, where one's reliance on God keeps your focus centered and you progress from one spiritual stepping stone to the next in a calm unhurried manner. That is ideal, because really, when our trust is in the Lord what need we fear? Not even the passage of time.

Sometimes a simple gut check of our own phenomenological understanding of time can help us to keep on the right track. Are you stuck in Kronos? Can you live in Kairos?

Go and Set the World Ablaze

Pause, Reset, Rewind

Have you ever stopped and tried to revert your thinking to a past form of yourself? I've only just realized that was what I've been doing over and over again. Ironically, while I haven't reverted or changed dramatically, I do think I have come closer to understanding myself at the very least.

I'm not necessarily proposing this as a method of learning about yourself, but it seems to work for me. I try to pause my logic, reset my understanding of truth and then replay my current thoughts. Honestly, it could be going better.

Truth: to say of something what it is when it is
or to say of something that it is not when it is not. (borrowed from Aristotle)

Say for example, the wall is not there but we all believe it is there. Even though our beliefs are screwing with out perceptions of reality, the fact that it is not there, simply means that it is not there.

Truth in essence is that which jives with reality. The problem is that so many of us will never truly see the world from any perspective but our own. We will all each always have our own personal bias. So we must do the best we can.

ロサリオ - Rosary

Okay, I have to breach this subject again because of its importance to my life and the lives of others. I have, through a lot of searching, finally amassed all the prayer parts for the Rosary in Japanese.

First let me make some blanket statements that I will try to explain better in another blog posting or two.

1. Catholics do not worship Mary, we honor/venerate her.
2. Prayer to Mary doesn't equate to worship.
3. We give far less attention to Mary than I think we should as Catholics.
4. We give far less attention to Mary than you might think.
5. The Rosary should be used as a form of meditation
6. Like any prayer form, the rosary can be used as vain repetition,
but it shouldn't!
7. The Mysteries of the Rosary aren't about the Rosary
8. The Mysteries of the Rosary focus your mind on Jesus.
9. There are 20 mysteries in 4 categories:
Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, Luminous.
10. The origin of the Rosary is in the recitation of the 150 Psalms.

Now, without much further ado, the prayers.

使徒信経 (Apostle's Creed)
わたしは、天地の造り主、全能の父である神を信じます。
また、その独り子、主イエス・キリストを信じます。主は聖霊に
よって宿り、おとめマリヤから生まれ、ポンテオ・ピラトのもと
で苦しみを受け、十字架につけられ、死んで葬られ、よみに降り、
三日目に死人のうちからよみがえり、天に昇られました。そして
全能の父である神の右に座しておられます。そこから主は生きて
いる人と死んだ人とを審くために来られます。
また、聖霊を信じます。聖なる公会、聖徒の交わり、罪の赦し、
>体のよみがり、永遠の命を信じます。アーメン。

主の祈り (Our Father)
天におられるわたしたちの父よ、
み名が聖とされますように。
み国が来ますように。
みこころが天に行われるとおり地にも行われますように。
わたしたちの日ごとの糧を今日も お与えください。
わたしたちの罪をおゆるしください。わたしたちも人をゆるします。
わたしたちを誘惑におちいらせず、悪からお救いください。

聖母マリアへの祈り (Hail Mary)
恵みあふれる聖マリア、主はあなたとともにおられます。主はあなたを選び、祝福し、あなたの子イエスも祝福されました。
神の母聖マリア、罪深いわたしたちのために、今も、死を迎える時も祈ってください。

天使祝詞（古） (Hail Mary, Old version)
めでたし、聖寵満ち満てるマリア、主御身とともにまします。御身は女のうちにて祝せられ、ご胎内の御子イエスも祝せられたもう。天主の御母聖マリア、罪人なるわれらのために、今も臨終の時も祈りたまえ。

栄唱 (Glory Be)
栄光は父と子と聖霊に。初めのように今もいつも世々に。

ファティマの祈り (Fatima Prayer)
主イエス・キリスト
わたし達の罪をゆるしてください。
わたし達を滅びから救いすべての人々ことにおんあわれみをもっと必要としている人々を天国に導いてください。

サルヴェ・レッジーナ (Salve Regina)
元后あわれみの母わたし達のいのち喜び希望。
旅路からあなたに叫ぶエヴァの子嘆きながら泣きながらも　
涙の谷にあなたを慕います。
わたし達のためにとりなす方　あわれみの目をわたし達にそそぎ　
尊いあなたの子イエスを旅路の果てにお示しください。
いつくしみ　恵みあふれる　喜びのおとめ　マリア。

Go and set the World Ablaze