This week I’ve had the pleasure of attending the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy‘s annual summer symposium, focusing this year on “Liturgy and Vocation.” This was my first time attending the symposium — indeed, my first time on the campus of Notre Dame — and I was delighted by the rich conversations that matched pressing pastoral questions with deep theological insights.
For those wondering why a catechist like me is attending a liturgical symposium, just remember: lex orandi lex credendi. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 8, 2015
(Next year’s topic will be Liturgy and the New Evangelization — I would highly recommend attending!)
The symposium began on Tuesday evening with Msgr. Michael Heintz. His address on “Liturgy and Vocation” set the stage for the remaining general sessions and afternoon seminars:
Heintz: The vocation of creation is to glorify God. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 8, 2015
"The universal call to holiness means participation in the triune God, this is what divinizes our humanity" #NDSymposium2015
— Timothy O'Malley (@timothypomalley) June 8, 2015
Self-gift is the essence of all Christian vocation #NDSymposium2015
— Kate Mahon (@thekatemahon) June 8, 2015
Heintz: The Eucharist engenders in us capacity for agape, paschal love. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 8, 2015
Heintz: God will accept what we can muster and, like Peter, he will give us what we can't. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 9, 2015
What God offers us is nothing less than himself. What God asks of us is nothing less than ourselves. #NDSymposium2015 @NDLiturgyCenter
— Carolyn Pirtle (@carolyn_pirtle) June 9, 2015
The second general session by Dr. Brant Pitre was a whirlwind tour of nuptial imagery in the Bible, based in large part on his book Jesus the Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.
Dr Pitre: You must first understand ancient Jewish images of marriage to understand Christ as divine Bridegroom #NDSymposium2015
— Kate Mahon (@thekatemahon) June 9, 2015
Pitre: Salvation history begins with a wedding — Adam and Eve. Unique because bride is created from flesh of the groom. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 9, 2015
Pitre: The prophets read the Exodus as a love story between God and his people — establishes a (nuptial) union. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 9, 2015
It is sin that damages the nuptial relationship with the Lord. #NDSymposium2015 #LiturgyasHealing #LiturgyasVocation
— Timothy O'Malley (@timothypomalley) June 9, 2015
Pitre: Jesus is no ordinary bridegroom — he is supernatural husband. Points to Jesus' divine identity. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 9, 2015
Wedding at Cana: Jesus reveals his Messianic identity by providing abundant wine. That's my kind of Messiah! #NDSymposium2015
— Kate Mahon (@thekatemahon) June 9, 2015
Pritre: the blood of Jesus on the Cross consecrates the nuptial union of Jesus, the bridegroom, to the Church, His bride #NDSymposium2015
— Michael Bayer (@mbayer1248) June 9, 2015
On Wednesday Dr. Chad Pecknold of CUA spoke about the social and political dimensions of marriage and the priesthood, rooting his talk in St. Augustine’s image of the two cites.
The city of God and the city of humanity are not just political orders. But spiritual dispositions. #NDSymposium2015
— Timothy O'Malley (@timothypomalley) June 10, 2015
Pecknold: The natural family limits the state from below; religion limits the state from above. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 10, 2015
Augustine does not see the Church as the replacement of political communities. A commonwealth instead united by love. #NDSymposium2015
— Timothy O'Malley (@timothypomalley) June 10, 2015
Pecknold: Having & rearing children & isn't private; it's a public, social good. #NDSymposium2015 Vocation in general ≠ private; = public.
— Carolyn Pirtle (@carolyn_pirtle) June 10, 2015
Pecknold: When the state recognizes #marriage as prior to the political order it secures for itself limits, dignity. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 10, 2015
Pecknold: Very existence of celibacy declares that the Church has different values, end than the state. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 10, 2015
Pecknold: Clergy who refuse to witness all secular marriages are forfeiting state's recognition of Church's authority. #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 10, 2015
Finally, on Thursday, Dr. Holly Taylor Coolman helped us to reflect on the nature of icons in order to practice seeing marriage and ordination as icons of Christ’s love.
Coolman: Before they know what they must do, and how they must do it, Christians must first know who they are. #NDSymposium2015
— Michael Bayer (@mbayer1248) June 11, 2015
.@HTCoolman: Incarnation: God sanctifies & uses matter in the form of his own humanity to unite all creation to himself. #NDSymposium2015
— Carolyn Pirtle (@carolyn_pirtle) June 11, 2015
It is the details of an icon as a whole — not in their particularity — that serve iconically. – @HTCoolman #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 11, 2015
.@HTCoolman "#Icons are a window to heaven, an aperture to the very reality that they represent." #NDSymposium2015
— Carolyn Pirtle (@carolyn_pirtle) June 11, 2015
Thinking of ourselves as living icons gives us a new view of our call to holiness, vocation. – @HTCoolman #NDSymposium2015
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 11, 2015
Christ the Bridegroom — a deeply personal invitation — is an image of priesthood. – @HTCoolman #NDSymposium2015 pic.twitter.com/7LVNSIoiRn
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 11, 2015
"Sweet Kiss" icon offers an image of love, tenderness in an harsh, cruel world. – @HTCoolman #NDSymposium2015 pic.twitter.com/m0uyKf6ezx
— Jonathan F. Sullivan (@sullijo) June 11, 2015
.@HTCoolman: Invitation: think about the ways in which Christ is writing you as icon, & through you, the lives of others. #NDSymposium2015
— Carolyn Pirtle (@carolyn_pirtle) June 11, 2015
These highlights don’t even touch the panel discussion on marriage and priestly formation or the two-day afternoon seminar on marriage prep that I attended — I’ll share more on them next week. In the meantime you can browse all the live-tweeting from the event by following the #NDSymposium2015 hashtag.
Thanks to Timothy O’Malley for inviting me to the symposium and for the gracious hospitality extended by the staff of the NDCL. I look forward to attending more Center for Liturgy events in the future!