October 15, 2010

The Christ of the Burnt Men

Today in class our professor told a story about the Jesuit theologian John Courtney Murray. Some Jesuit students asked for his blessing before a big exam. He willingly gave it, in these words:

Ab illo benedicaris, in cuius honore cremaberis.

It's the prayer for the blessing of incense at the beginning of Mass.

"May you be blessed by him in whose honor you will be burned."
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3 comments:

  1. Greg8:18 PM

    Timing is everything. Last night I was puzzling over a passage in Luke that had to do with fire...

    Luke 12:49 "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!"

    Then, Luke 12:51 "Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division."

    Then he details divisions. I am thinking...I just wrote a book about gospel peacemaking. Was I ill-informed?

    Actually, experience with conflict resolution makes the passage a bit more clear...but I am contemplating further rather than jumping to a conclusion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. doughboy6:04 PM

    lol that's great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Zachary5:34 PM

    I had heard a couple other stories for the origin of that blessing being used for people...one by Archbishop Sheen, the other by a Pope (I think B. John XXIII or Paul VI), both for protestants who kept demanding a blessing...

    ReplyDelete

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

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