One of the most unusual Catholic churches in the world is in Amsterdam: Our Lord in the Attic, or as the locals say, “Ons Lieve Heer op Solder.” What looks like a beautiful, narrow brick mansion alongside a canal is a clever disguise for a very wellpreserved seventeenth-century home and a secret church. During the Reformation, the Netherlands was divided into Protestant Holland and the Spanish Netherlands, now known as Belgium, a Catholic stronghold. Protestant reformers seized all the Catholic parishes in Holland and “de-Catholicized” them. New laws forbade the celebration of the Mass in public. St. Nicholas Church was renamed “Old Church” by the new owners, and the dispossessed Catholics got to work “hiding” St. Nicholas Parish in the upper floors of this mansion. Other Catholics did the same thing, but this is the only hidden church that survives today. Sunday Mass is still celebrated here.
It’s a beautiful hideaway, with nothing spared in regard to marble, gilding, a pipe organ, and classic Dutch painting. A few steps away, the Old Church, begun in 1250, stands emptied of the statues and carvings of its Catholic days, its windows replaced by plain glass. The new tenants gave up when it came to the ceiling, which is still painted with saints, biblical scenes, and merchant ships. The Dutch reformers were tolerant sorts, and as long as the Catholics kept out of sight, they were out of mind. Catholicism was at last tolerated in Holland after 1853, but in 1924 when the International Eucharistic Congress was held in Amsterdam, processions of Catholics were still forbidden in the streets. Today, Roman Catholics are about nineteen percent of the population, and there’s no need for any of them to hide in the attic.
Take Five for Faith
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 2009
THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME; CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK BEGINS
The gospel truth
Catholic Schools Week begins today. Its purpose, according to the National Catholic Education Association, is to build community awareness of and involvement in Catholic schools throughout the country and to celebrate “education that goes beyond preparation for a secular life [to prepare] students for a Christian life.” Catholic school teachers show a special dedication by the sacrifices they and other teachers make on behalf of their students. Go out of your way to thank one of them this week, as you look for ways you and your family can help support education that promotes gospel values.
TODAY'S READINGS: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
DOMINGO, 25 DE ENERO DE 2009
TERCER DOMINGO EN TIEMPO ORDINARIO; COMIENZA LA SEMANA DE ESCUELAS CATÓLICAS
La verdad del evangelio
La Semana de Escuelas Católicas comienza hoy. Su propósito, de acuerdo a la National Catholic Education Association, es construir una conciencia comunal de y participación en escuelas católicas por todo el país y celebrar “la educación que va más allá de la preparación para una vida laica [para preparar] a los estudiantes a una vida cristiana.” Los maestros de escuelas católicas muestran una dedicación especial por los sacrificios que ellos y otros maestros hacen en nombre de sus estudiantes. Haz un esfuerzo especial para agradecer a uno de ellos esta semana, mientras buscas maneras en que tu y tu familia puedan ayudar a apoyar la educación que promueve los valores del evangelio.
LECTURAS DE HOY: Jonás 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corintios 7:29-31; Marcos 1:14-20
"El tiempo se ha cumplido, y el reino de Dios está cerca; arrepiéntanse, y crean en las buenas nuevas."
MONDAY, JANUARY 26
One true thing
“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate famously asked at Jesus’ trial. His question showed he had no idea what Jesus meant when Christ said: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). While people sometimes go to the opposite of Pilate’s question and are a little too quick to call something the Truth, most of us understand truth to mean something we know to be so—something we can trust.
The one we know is always telling the truth is God. How? One place to look is scripture. Listen to God’s Word revealed to us and learn it well, and you will “belong to the truth.”
TODAY'S READINGS: 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Mark 3:22-30
"For the sake of the faith . . . and the knowledge of the truth . . . that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began."
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27
FEAST OF ANGELA MERICI, VIRGIN
What a difference it makes to be different
Jesus was truly an extraordinary personality, an original thinker who continually challenged his followers (and us) to think beyond rigid definitions and long-established rules. Angela Merici (1470-1540) was one who accepted this challenge. At a time when women were either supposed to marry or enter a convent, Angela understood that single women could live with their families, immerse themselves in their community, and evangelize through their good works. She considered the women who joined her mission her “daughters,” and thus expanded, as Jesus calls us to do, our perception of who is family. In what ways do our definitions restrict what we think is possible? How can we open ourselves up to think in new ways, as Jesus and Angela Merici did?
TODAY'S READINGS: Hebrews 10:1-10; Mark 3:31-35
"Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28
FEAST OF THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
The ears have it
Surely the word sown has seldom brought in so great a harvest as it did in the heart of Thomas Aquinas. His formidable writings are still studied today, not only by theologians but by secular philosophers as well. While he did refer to his massive and unfinished Summa Theologiae as “so much straw” when compared with what he came to discover in his relationship with Christ, he is nonetheless an important model for us today when clear thought and study do not seem as prized as how we “feel” about life and God. We can also show Thomas respect by holding on to the intrinsic universality of our Catholic tradition, seeking to include rather than exclude, to understand more than worrying about being understood.
TODAY'S READINGS: Hebrews 10:11-18; Mark 4:1-20
"When he was alone, those who were around him along with the Twelve asked him about the parables."
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29
Good works, good lives
Children have virtuous living figured out. “If you do good things,” one child wrote in her report, “you will have good experiences. If you do bad things,” she continued, “you will have bad experiences.” Sounds like a plan. Jesus says it differently in the gospel: “The measure you give will be the measure you get.” So how do we get our children to live good lives? It might be wise during Catholic Schools Week to learn a lesson from our children. If we want them to live good lives, we need to live good lives ourselves.
TODAY'S READINGS: Hebrews 10:19-25; Mark 4:21-25
"Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds."
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30
Whose stuff is this?
Christians commonly suffered the confiscation of their property during the persecutions of the early church, and church property has been confiscated by hostile governments ever since. Perhaps that is why the Catholic Church defends the right to private property. Yet the church also says that this right is not absolute; it is limited by the concept of the “social mortgage,” our mutual obligations to one another and to a just distribution of wealth. You can read about church teaching on property and other social issues in the first “social encyclical,” Rerum novarum (“On the Condition of Labor”), written by Pope Leo XIII and issued in 1891 (see the Vatican website, www.vatican.va).
TODAY'S READINGS: Hebrews 10:32-39; Mark 4:26-34
"You cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting."
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31
FEAST OF JOHN BOSCO, PRIEST
Before there were Boys’ Clubs
With some notable exceptions, the default position throughout much of history for disciplining children was to force them to be good by punishing them harshly when they were bad. One of these exceptions was the 19th-century Italian priest John Bosco. As a young priest working in Turin, he encountered masses of boys left out in the cold. In response he established youth clubs, hostels, and boarding schools. What was especially unique was his “preventive system” of dealing with the boys, which was based on reason, religion, and kindness. It appealed to their intelligence and their desire for God and the good. Try it yourself: Rather than trying to force the bad out of a person, appeal to their good.
TODAY'S READINGS: Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Mark 4:35-41
"Where did this man get all this? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?"
Contributors: Father Paul Boudreau, Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Father Larry Janowski, Ann O'Connor, Sean Reynolds, Joel Schorn, and Patrice J. Tuohy
©2009 by TrueQuest Communications, L.L.C. PHONE: 800-942-2811; E-MAIL: mail@takefiveforfaith.com; WEBSITE: www.takefiveforfaith.com. Licensed for noncommercial use. All rights reserved. Scripture quotes come from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
