Today is the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. I sometimes think of the Transfiguration as the reverse of transubstantiation: the appearance of Christ changed, but he didn’t.

Today is my mother’s birthday (also the optional memorial of the dedication of St. Mary Major, though the basilica is older than my mom). The occasion reminds me that I’ve used one’s mother’s birthday as an example before in a discussion about interpreting the Gospel for preaching.

Basically, my point was this: We need to avoid an approach that makes the stories in the Gospel generic. They’re not fables or fairy-tales. They contain archetypes, but they’re archetypal only secondarily. They are only exemplary because they are first concrete and unique occurrences in history.¹ When interpreting the Annunciation, for instance, we can’t let our preaching reduce it to a model of being called by God to do something that seems impossible or hard. Yes, it is a model, and the model applies to all of us, whereas none of us is going to be called to be the Mother of God. Nevertheless, it is first a unique event. The Annunciation is not only a species of the call-scene genus, it is more like the perfect form to which all other call-scenes are what they are by resemblance.

In a similar way, today is important to me not because it is an instance of “one’s mother’s birthday” but because it is my mom’s birthday.

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1 Have you ever wondered why the Bible includes things that seem completely irrelevant at times? Why, for instance, do we need to know that the slave’s name was Malchus? Because that’s how it happened. Those little lines are powerful connections with people and events, not concepts.

I’m not dead. I was in the hospital in México, though only for a day. When I get copies of the pictures my friends took, I’ll retro-blog them.

Last night, Ryan and I walked to the other parish. It’s about a 40 minute walk, and due to some difficulties with trying to get a working stove, we didn’t eat until late (not late for here, by the way, since they eat supper at about 9:30 at night). We watched Star Wars: Episodio VI¹ in Spanish. Well, we watched part of it, but it was getting late, so Ryan and I decided to go back to our parish. We took a cab rather than walk. This is the first time that I’ve had to give directions to the cab driver without a more fluent Spanish speaker. There were no problems, however, and we got to the parish just fine.

Next mission: Take a cab and argue about the price.

Unrelated notes:

They put ketchup on pizza. We went to Mass and ate supper at the seminary here, and they brought out big bowls of ketchup for the pizza. This was the second time we saw that, so we figured it was not just a fluke. The Mexican seminarians couldn’t figure out why we didn’t use ketchup. ¿Porqué no? the would ask. We were unable to give them an answer other than No es la costumbre in Los Estados Unidos.

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1 Unfortunately, we left before ¡Es una trampa!

I got the news this morning. We seminarians of Kenrick-Glennon will sorely miss Archbishop Burke but at the same time are proud of him and joyful for the whole Church.

Here are the Most Rev. Raymond Burke’s words:

June 27, 2008 – Memorial of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ARCHDIOCESAN CURIA:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today, at noon in Rome (5 a.m. CDT), it was announced that His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named me Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, effective immediately. With the announcement, I ceased to be the Archbishop of Saint Louis.

I am deeply humbled by the trust which His Holiness has placed in me, and, in priestly obedience, I have pledged to serve our Holy Father to the best of my abilities. Although you will no longer pray for me as your Archbishop, I ask your continued prayers for me, that I may faithfully and generously cooperate with God’s grace in fulfilling my new responsibilities.

Leaving the service of the Church in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis is most sad for me. It has been an honor and gift for me to serve the Archdiocese over the past four years and five months. It had been my hope to serve here for a long time, but, as the Bishop who called me to priestly ordination often remarked, “Man proposes, but God disposes.” I trust that doing what our Holy Father has asked me to do will bring blessings to the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and to me. Saint Louis is a great archdiocese which will always have a most treasured place in my heart.

In a particular way, I am saddened to leave you who have worked so closely with me in the pastoral care and governance of the Archdiocese. I thank you for your faithful and generous cooperation and collaboration with me.

With regard to the governance of the Archdiocese, the College of Consultors will meet, in the early afternoon, to elect an Archdiocesan Administrator who, with the help of the Consultors, will govern the Archdiocese, until the new Archbishop is appointed and installed. Please pray for the College of Consultors and for the Archdiocesan Administrator whom they will elect.

Although I am not fond of long farewells, it will take me some time to put my papers in order and to make the transfer to Rome. I will travel to Rome on July 1st next and will return to the Archdiocese on July 10th next. After that time, I will have to dedicate myself intensely to preparing for my definitive departure for Rome, which is scheduled to take place on or around August 22nd next. Also, as you may be aware, I am committed to the celebration of the Solemn Dedication of the Church of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse, of which I am the founder, during the last days of July and the first days of August. I, however, trust that, before I depart for Rome, I will have an occasion to express to you, personally and directly, my heartfelt gratitude.

Again, I ask your prayers. You can count upon my daily prayers for you and for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis.

Asking God’s blessing upon you and your service of the Church, I remain

Yours devotedly in Christ,

(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke
Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis

There is a press conference this morning at 11:00 CST, I believe.

The atmosphere is so different here in Guadalajara (and Mexico City also in some ways) from the EEUU. I feel really at home because of the Catholic atmosphere. The piety of the people is so great. True, not everyone comes to Mass, etc. but the Church is more tangible here.

For example at the parish where I am, there are six Masses on Sunday and priests hear confessions during all of them, and many people come. The statues and furnishings in the Church are beautiful, and people are very reverent to the Blessed Sacrament and our Blessed Mother’s image, etc. The parish has a food pantry, clothing for the poor, medical supplies for people, and a bookstore that is open almost every day. There are catechetical classes, the Rosary, etc. very frequently. People are just in the church during the day, too. It’s great.

I got the “Windows Key” on my laptop to be used as a modifier key to get international characters in x.org.

¿Tienes sueño?

The pastor of the parish taught Ryan and me to play Dominoes last night. I think I understand how to play. We begin classes a week from today.

Estoy esperando en el aeropuerto ahora, and I just got coffee at Starbucks. I just wanted black coffee, and their menu lists “el cafe del dia” (sorry no accents, I’m too lazy).

Here’s how it went down:

Starbucks employee: Que quieres a tomar? [What do you want to drink]

I: Que es el cafe del dia? [What is the coffee of the day?]

SE: Cafe del dia? Cual talla? [Coffee of the day? What size?]

I: (emphatically) Que es? [What is it?]

SE: What size?

I: Que es el cafe del dia? [What is the coffee of the day?]

SE: What size (indicating the different sizes)

I: Alto, por favor. [Tall, please.]

People in adoration at a nearby parish.

Zacharias and I in an alley.

A motorcycle weaving in and out of traffic.

Part of the garden of the place we are staying in Mexico City.

The cathedral of Mexico City.

Part of the reredos behind the high altar at the cathedral.

I in the sacristy of the cathedral.

Since you can’t drink the water.

We arrived safely and punctually in Mexico City. I cannot emphasize enough how large this city is (Es una ciudad mas grande que todas las otras ciudades en la tierra.). I also cannot emphasize enough how bad the traffic is. The lines on the road mean nothing. The signs mean nothing. Nothing. It is an absolute free-for-all struggle for survival.

So far, it’s been great. We went to the cathedral, which is absolutely amazing, of course. On Friday, myself and three others leave for Guadalajara.

We have some photographs (Tenemos algunes photos.), and I’ll try to get them up when I can.