Aaron and Hur... and Benedict

"... As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.  Moses' hands, however, grew tired , so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.  Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that the hands remained steady till sunset.  And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword."  Exodus 17:11-13

   The image presented in this morning's Office of Readings, I think, is a timeless icon for ministry in the Church, and a wonderful image to consider as we look into the upcoming Sede Vacante of the Holy See.  As a priest and pastor, it is the people who stand with you, holding your arms up in those moments of fatigue, doubt, and trial that help you remember not only the limitations of your own strength, but the providence of God to provide.  All the more, how our bishops and our pope needs people standing with him, holding his arms to provide the strength to bear their offices well.

   Pope Benedict has rececived this spiritual support from the entire Church, and he has needed it.  Every time we celebrate Mass, he is mentioned during the Eucharistic Prayer... both as a reminder to pray for him, but even more importantly as a reminder of the unity of the Church we express in and with him before Christ.  Now as he steps back from the papal office, he sees his role as one standing, holidng up the arms of his successor... I presume that popes do intercede for their successors before the throne of God as they go on to their eternal reward, but Benedict's work is being done with not only incredible humility (recognizing he doesn't have the physical ability to hold the office any more), but with increidble spiritual intimacy... anyone who believes that, in this world, they have the ability to do the spiritual labor of supporting the Church and the one who will be the new pope, while still in this clumsy, limited human condition we all experience, has to be a true prayer warrior.  As I said in a previous post, for Benedict to accept this role for the Church places a spotlight on the thousands of religious and faithful everywhere who spend their days hidden in deep, profound, effective prayer for the holiness and deliverance of the Church.

Adopt a Cardinal!

I just saw this over at Curt Jester, and thought... wow!  This is exactly what the Church needs to be doing right now: less chatter, more prayer.

And so, I encourage my readers... all dozen or so of you... to go out and do this.  Adopt a cardinal for some serious fasting and prayer support in the coming weeks, not only as they elect a pope, but because cardinals probably need all the spiritual support they can get anyway.

Here's my cardinal:

Name:	José da Cruz Policarpo
Country:	Portugal
Day of birth:	1936-2-26
Cardinal since:	2001-2-21
Function:	Patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal

It turns out, I was in Rome with a bunch of seminarian buddies when he was elevated to the Sacred College back in 2001.  And get this... today's his birthday... what do you know?!

Your eminence, prayers are on their way.  May the Spirit reveal to you and your brothers our next Holy Father.

-- Fr. Tom Donovan

Pope Benedict XVI on the "True Council" and the Media

   Just over a week ago, the pope gave a final talk to the priests and seminarians of the Diocese of Rome, where he gave what many are calling his "final master class".  As a paretus of the Council, a bishop, cardinal, and pope, he has a perspective on the Church over the last fifty years which has a lot to tell us about how we have managed to enter into conversation with the "modern world", where we still need work, and where the "modern world" has drawn a line in the sand, that we are not supposed to not cross, except at our peril.

   As I have been recently reflecting on the role of the media in our contemporary (notice, I don't say 'modern',) society, there's a lot of truth here.  The council and the Church at large is in search of the truth (fides quarens intellectum), plodding and erring as it does, but through the sure guidance of the Holy Spirit in every age, no less our own.  The pope understands the "council of the media" to have a much different agenda and end, not the City of God, but the City of Man... the hermeneutic of politics rather than the hermeneutic of faith.

   Benedict offers a very instructive contrast to make his point: the teaching of the "true" Council vs. the teaching of the media with regards to his most beloved subject: the liturgy.  My highlights below are in bold:

I would now like to add yet a third point: there was the Council of the Fathers - the true Council - but there was also the Council of the media. It was almost a Council in and of itself, and the world perceived the Council through them, through the media. So the immediately efficiently Council that got thorough to the people, was that of the media, not that of the Fathers. And while the Council of the Fathers evolved within the faith, it was a Council of the faith that sought the intellectus, that sought to understand and try to understand the signs of God at that moment, that tried to meet the challenge of God in this time to find the words for today and tomorrow. So while the whole council - as I said - moved within the faith, as fides quaerens intellectum, the Council of journalists did not, naturally, take place within the world of faith but within the categories of the media of today, that is outside of the faith, with different hermeneutics. It was a hermeneutic of politics. The media saw the Council as a political struggle, a struggle for power between different currents within the Church. It was obvious that the media would take the side of whatever faction best suited their world. There were those who sought a decentralization of the Church, power for the bishops and then, through the Word for the "people of God", the power of the people, the laity. There was this triple issue: the power of the Pope, then transferred to the power of the bishops and then the power of all ... popular sovereignty. Naturally they saw this as the part to be approved, to promulgate, to help. This was the case for the liturgy: there was no interest in the liturgy as an act of faith, but as a something to be made understandable, similar to a community activity, something profane. And we know that there was a trend, which was also historically based, that said: "Sacredness is a pagan thing, possibly even from the Old Testament. In the New Testament the only important thing is that Christ died outside: that is, outside the gates, that is, in the secular world". Sacredness ended up as profanity even in worship: worship is not worship but an act that brings people together, communal participation and thus participation as activity. And these translations, trivializing the idea of the Council, were virulent in the practice of implementing the liturgical reform, born in a vision of the Council outside of its own key vision of faith. And it was so, also in the matter of Scripture: Scripture is a book, historical, to treat historically and nothing else, and so on.

And we know that this Council of the media was accessible to all. So, dominant, more efficient, this Council created many calamities, so many problems, so much misery, in reality: seminaries closed, convents closed, liturgy trivialized ... and the true Council has struggled to materialize, to be realized: the virtual Council was stronger than the real Council. But the real strength of the Council was present and slowly it has emerged and is becoming the real power which is also true reform, true renewal of the Church. It seems to me that 50 years after the Council, we see how this Virtual Council is breaking down, getting lost and the true Council is emerging with all its spiritual strength. And it is our task, in this Year of Faith, starting from this Year of Faith, to work so that the true Council with the power of the Holy Spirit is realized and Church is really renewed. We hope that the Lord will help us. I, retired in prayer, will always be with you, and together we will move ahead with the Lord in certainty. The Lord is victorious. Thank you. 

   The instructive point here is that we are all conditioned by the lenses we use to see the world, but those lenses themselves are not truth. Truth is perceived and identified and loved by people of faith who rightly interpret the messages and the signs and the challenges of the times. Those who can only see the Church as a mere social structure, where power is distributed and exercised, where order and coercion is maintained, where human beings control their own identity and destiny... they will always be disappointed as they see the Church in her authenticity and in her reality stand up and breathe fresh air upon the world through its teaching and its understanding of the human person in relationship to God. One only has to look at the angst spent against the Church in the recent debates against same-sex 'marriage' and the decades-old battle against abortion. These debates tend not to be a battle from enlightened ideas from "the world", so much an array of ideologies calling into question the legitimacy of the Church to even enter into the conversation. Read the comments on your local newspaper's blog whenever an article about the Church appears if you want to understand what I mean. This battle is personal, but we cannot back down from that battle.
   To apply a political lens to the Church, and to see the Church exclusively as a social reality results so readily in the misery, not only of closed seminaries and convents and weak liturgy as the pope points out, but may I add, the misery of poor Mass attendance (both in numbers and in fervor of those who are there), failing Catholic schools, a demoralized clergy, diminished human and financial resources, and a scattered (and scattering) laity. Benedict is getting at, most pressingly, the way a media hermeneutic has depleted the "imagination" of the faithful such that we don't even understand our own signs and symbols, prayers and practices... we have allowed ourselves to become unmoored in the muddy waters of contemporary, worldly concerns. I would dare say that reacquisition of this "spiritual imagination" is the great gift and the integrating force of the Council, in which Benedict finds and offers hope for the future.
   This is not to say that the political lens of the media is an invalid way to look at the Church in the contemporary world, but it cannot be the only way or even the main way if we are to be people of faith. Faith does not cover up the wounds and scars of past failures, but it can offer redemption to these wounds if allowed to permeate them. Faith is not an easy answer... it is, in reality, the hardest answer to underlying the question of the Church and its relationship to secular society. Faith engages all the reason the human person can generate, all the hope the human person can endure, and all the life and vitality the human person can offer. "Take up your cross and follow me" is not a game for wimps. It is not a bargain for those who think they can hold something back for themselves, just in case. It requires all that we are and all that we can offer.
   Without faith, there is no way that we can see the Church except in the most pathetic, dimmest light. I think Paul said something that pulls at least tangentially here: "If only for this life we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all." (1 Cor 15:19) As the machinery gears up for the conclave and the seasonal press coverage of the Church, remember the reference point of the media and the need for the gift of great faith to interpret the events correctly and fully. A week after the press circus leaves Vatican Square and the new pope gets on with the business of being the spiritual father of more than 1 billion Catholics, it will be the faith of the people that sustains him and the Church. The faith which will propel us to whatever the Spirit has in store for us next.

--Fr. Tom Donovan

Homily Thoughts - 2-Lent C

   I don't do much travelling, but last year at this time, I was in Germany in service to the Air Force.  On the Second Sunday of Lent, I had my one and only 'weekend off', which I used to travel to Paris which was only a couple hours away by the 300km/h bullet train.

   I had never been to Paris, although I had always hoped to get there at some point.  I took French back in high school, now twenty-five years prior, and I was pretty good at it.  I hadn't necessarily practiced my French much in the past years, but when I learned it, I was a young person, whose brain was still plastic enough to acquire not just a syntactical and analytical understanding of the language, but an idiomatic and 'natural' grasp... I was able to "think" in French back in the day... all I need to do as an older person is now have enough vocabulary to be functional in this new (old) environment.

  And so, I got a couple of 24 hour passes on the metro, a cheap hotel room by the Gard du Nord (the north train station), and Paris was mine until Sunday night at 9pm.

Notre Dame de Paris (photo by me)

  My most desired target was Notre Dame de Paris, in the spiritual center of town, on the Isle de la Cite, in the midst of the Seine.  After dumping my bags at the hotel (which was a story in itself... it was in a rather creepy neighborhood), and a couple minutes of interpreting the metro maps, I jumped on a train and eventually came out of the ground and saw the ancient cathedral.  Coming upon the Cathedral for the first time is sort of like the first time going to Wrigley Field or St. Peter's Square or any other famous place only previously seen on TV or in pictures.  The weight of the history and mystery of the place kind of hits you, and you realize that of all the places in the world you could be, you are there... at this iconic place at this iconic time.  So on Saturday, I simply went inside and milled around as all the tourists do.  I was able to catch the daily Mass, which I believe was at noon.  It was in French, of course, but it was the Mass.  You could hear people responding to the prayers in French and English and Latin and some other languages, and then there was also the constant din of the tourists who were circling the arcades and transepts around the main body of the church.  After Mass, I considered how Thomas Aquinas probably said Mass at this altar... or at least in this or that alcove.  I considered the horror of the Enthronement of the Goddess of Reason upon the altar during the Revolution.  I took some time to offer the office (from my cell phone) before the Blessed Sacrament one of the chapels in the back of the Church.

  That night, there was to be a Lenten concert of sacred music, which I came back for, and then I headed to the Tower for dinner on the Seine before calling it a night.  Mass the next day was at 11-ish, I think, and it was the "International Mass", which was celebrated by an African priest-student at one of the universities.  He celebrated in French... and I had practiced my French responses very carefully and was ready to offer any of the concelebrant's parts of any of the the Eucharistic Prayers in the local tongue.  As the "international" Mass, though, the sacristan insisted that I take one of the post-institutional prayers in English to edify the visitors (?), and provided me with a photocopied page of the old, familiar sacramentary (the old edition!) of EP-III.  So, the brute-tongue of English was heard resounding through the great French Cathedral with my unmistakable Central Illinois accent on that memorable morn.





Pilgrim's "Passport" for the pilgrimage
of St. James (source: Wiki)

   Spiritual travels have long been a feature of Christian devotion... pilgrimages we call them.  One would try to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land if they had the means and the spiritual devotion.  Many go to Rome to see St. Peter's and the other early Christian sites.  Others travel to Lourdes or Fatima or Ars, still others to more local destinations...  some travel the roads from France to Santiago in Spain for the feast of St. James every July.  In Germany I saw the thousand-year-old Cathedrals at Mainz and Cologne.  In the States we have the Basilica Shrine in DC, the Cathedral of St. Louis, and other destinations as well.  When we travel to these destinations, we do so out of both spiritual and tourist motives, looking to see something we haven't seen... to appreciate the faith of a time and place heretofore unknown... at its most basic, to encounter God in a new and special way during the efforts of our travels.  This is part of the incarnational aspect of our Christian faith... that God uses places and times and people and events for special purposes.  Life among these revealed signs of God's love is nothing less than a continual journey of discovery.

   And so, this second Sunday in Lent, Jesus leads us on a journey-- a pilgrimage of faith, to experience something new and different.  He presents himself in all of his glory to Peter, James, and John... and the Gospel narrative invites us along to see and experience the event as well.  Pope St. Leo the Great assures us in the Office of Readings that this prefigurement of the Lord's glory is intended to be a consolation against the backdrop of the crucifixion we are about to 'witness' as we continue more deeply into the journey of Lent.  Indeed, it is a waypoint to help us remember what our fasting and prayer and almsgiving is all about--not an end to itself, but like the cross, a seed planted in anticipation of a future glory.
   Now Peter, reliably, doesn't get it.  Seeing the glory of God revealed in Jesus, he proclaims to the Lord that he intends to memorialize that place.  He proposes to put up three huts... one for you (Jesus), one for Moses, and one for Elijah.  Maybe this could be a place where an enterprising apostle could set up a fourth booth to charge admission?  Instead, a cloud envelops him, showing us his spiritual blindness, and calling him and us back into Jesus' intended message.
   While pilgrimage is an important icon for our spiritual struggles, and while churches and destinations are important symbols in our spiritual lives, unlike so many other expressions of religious faith, Christianity is ultimately not centered on places or things or even ideas.  Christianity is focused on the person of Christ... "this is my beloved Son, listen to him!"  This is not to deny that incarnational aspect of our faith that enjoys a good pilgrimage, but it recognizes that this world, when raised beyond what we can merely see, reveals the glory of God which calls us beyond time and place and space into relationship with him alone.
   And so, what we commemorate in the Transfiguration, what we recall each Sunday as we gather at the altar is not just one or another miraculous event or memorable episode in the life and history of Christ, but the intimacy and immediacy of his glory when we meet him in person.  On that altar, we encounter no one less than the God of all creation, who wishes to draw us into his life and glory.  This is who we meet, whether at the Pope's altar in Rome, in our parish church, at Notre Dame Cathedral, in a foreign mission, at a prison or in a hospital or on the hood of a Jeep in some war zone or in a funeral parlor.  Christ is present.  It is not the places that are holy, but his divine presence that metamorphoses us as we stand in a particular time and space made holy by that presence.  Even when God's glory is not plainly visible, perhaps being hidden away under sacramental signs that our senses fail to recognize, his presence still beckons unto the glory of the world to come.
   For my own life and ministry, this realization is no less true.  I celebrated Mass this Second Sunday of Lent today in a quiet, rural chapel before a group of religious sisters, rather than in the glory of that great French cathedral or in my own parish church.  His glory might have seemed somewhat more hidden today, but his presence was unmistakeably there.  I am drawn to thinking of others who find themselves in new or difficult situations this year as they hear this Gospel... a particular family caring for its father in a hospital in St. Louis this weekend after a health crisis which has changed their lives forever.  May they recall how the Lord has loved them and protected them in the past and recognize Christ's enduring presence now.  I am also thinking of a brother priest whose mother died today.  May he and his family remember their mother with love and thanksgiving before God, embracing Christ's continued and newly-revealed glory with them today.
   We all are in different places and different times this Second Sunday of Lent, but it is no less sacred, no less precious in the eyes of our suffering, glorified Lord, who lies just beyond our sight, accompanying us on our earthly pilgrimages.  The sufferings of this world are no comparison to the glory that awaits.  The Transfiguration reminds us of not only the glory of our Lord, but also of his presence and immediacy in the humble and everyday as continue up to Jerusalem, taking up our crosses to follow him.

Twelfth Station: St. Alphonse Ligouri (1787)

The Twelfth Station:
Jesus Dies Upon the Cross

We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.
Because, by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Consider how Your Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross, is finally overwhelmed with suffering and, abandoning Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head and dies.

My dying Jesus, I devoutly kiss the cross on which You would die for love of me.  I deserve, because of my sins, to die a terrible death;  but Your death is my hope.  By the merits of Your death,  give me the grace to die embracing Your feet and burning with love of You.  I yield my soul into Your hands.  I love You with my whole heart.  I am sorry that I have offended You.  Never let me offend You again.  Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will.

Bulletin Article 2L-C

   Every second Sunday in Lent, we hear an account of the Transfiguration of the Lord. In this event, Jesus revealed his glorified body to Peter, James, and John. The disciples’ response seems rather puzzling, though: “Let us build three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” It seems disciples were seeking a moment to rest in this amazing encounter and have a place—a destination—where they and others could come to see the Lord and these revered prophets. In a way, this was a first step in ’capturing’ or ‘localizing’ the religious experience to a specific place or a specific time so that they could come back and draw strength from it later. In a way, the disciples were asking Jesus if they could build the first Christian church on that mountaintop site.
   Our church buildings and structures are the places where heaven and earth unite.  A church building is the nexus point of for the Church militant, the Church suffering, and the Church victorious, where all gather, singing the unending angelic hymn of Holy, Holy, Holy is God Almighty. (see Rev. 4:8) We hold special regard for these places where the Christian community gathers by anointing its walls, consecrating its altars, and reserving its spaces for the exclusive use of sacred rites. In many old churches, one can vaguely sense the decades of burnt incense and beeswax candles lingering in the air and on its walls.  One can see the effects of generations of feet which have tread the steps or the hands which have opened the doors or the knees that have knelt on its kneelers.  There is something special about our church buildings, but they do more than give shelter or simply mark the location of events in a family’s or community’s history.  They are the places where we encounter the Glorified Body of Christ in the Eucharist and the other sacraments. Here, too, we encounter the reality of the Christian people gathered as the Mystical Body of Christ.
   The disciples did not build a church on that site the day that Jesus was transfigured before them. In fact, all the Gospel accounts tell us that they were silenced until after the Resurrection. Is there something we might learn from this? I wonder if the disciples still had more to learn about the resurrection before they could be ready to commemorate the sights and sounds of that amazing day with a Church or pilgrimage site? I wonder if they were halted because they were not yet in full possession of the mystery which Jesus wanted them to have a glimpse of? I wonder if Jesus thought they were getting ahead of themselves in trying to commemorate in buildings an event that had not yet fully marked their hearts and minds and souls?
   Whatever the reason, the Transfiguration reminds us that our faith is more than history, buildings, institutions, politics, customs, locations, cultic practices, people, saints, visions, hopes, and dreams—as good as these things may be. The Transfiguration reminds us of the absolute centrality of Jesus Christ—the Risen Lord whom we encounter in the Eucharist—as the center and the summit of our faith.

Twelfth Station: Cardinal Ratzinger (2005)

Via Crucis, Scuola Veneta - Sec. XVIII
Cattedrale - Padova

TWELFTH STATION
Jesus dies on the Cross

V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.

R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to John 19:19-20

Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the Cross; it read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

From the Gospel according to Matthew 27:45-50,54

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “This man is calling Elijah”. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him”. And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit”. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

 

MEDITATION:  In Greek and Latin, the two international languages of the time, and in Hebrew, the language of the Chosen People, a sign stood above the Cross of Jesus, indicating who he was: the King of the Jews, the promised Son of David. Pilate, the unjust judge, became a prophet despite himself. The kingship of Jesus was proclaimed before all the world. Jesus himself had not accepted the title “Messiah”, because it would have suggested a mistaken, human idea of power and deliverance. Yet now the title can remain publicly displayed above the Crucified Christ. He is indeed the king of the world. Now he is truly “lifted up”. In sinking to the depths he rose to the heights. Now he has radically fulfilled the commandment of love, he has completed the offering of himself, and in this way he is now the revelation of the true God, the God who is love. Now we know who God is. Now we know what true kingship is. Jesus prays Psalm 22, which begins with the words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:2). He takes to himself the whole suffering people of Israel, all of suffering humanity, the drama of God’s darkness, and he makes God present in the very place where he seems definitively vanquished and absent. The Cross of Jesus is a cosmic event. The world is darkened, when the Son of God is given up to death. The earth trembles. And on the Cross, the Church of the Gentiles is born. The Roman centurion understands this, and acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God. From the Cross he triumphs – ever anew.

PRAYER:  Lord Jesus Christ, at the hour of your death the sun was darkened. Ever anew you are being nailed to the Cross. At this present hour of history we are living in God’s darkness. Through your great sufferings and the wickedness of men, the face of God, your face, seems obscured, unrecognizable. And yet, on the Cross, you have revealed yourself. Precisely by being the one who suffers and loves, you are exalted. From the Cross on high you have triumphed. Help us to recognize your face at this hour of darkness and tribulation. Help us to believe in you and to follow you in our hour of darkness and need. Show yourself once more to the world at this hour. Reveal to us your salvation.

Bonhoeffer on "cheap" vs. "costly" grace...

Lent is an opportunity to realize again the price of our redemption, the Word made Flesh, who not only shares, but fulfills our human destiny.  One of the great challenges to contemporary Christianity--especially among the observant--is the 'domestication' of this awesome mystery... becoming too familiar with the stories, too routine in religious practice, too methodical in our pursuit of holiness.  Lent gives us the opportunity to look deeply into the mystery of the cross and to see our Incarnate Lord anew, and to find ourselves drawn more deeply and personally into that Paschal Mystery.  What we witness at Easter is not simply the retelling of a story that stays external to us... a divine intervention hearkening to a long-forgotten history and doctrine imputing a kind of moral justification upon us... Easter and our participation the cross and resurrection of our Lord is a profoundly incarnational event that calls forth everything we are into personal abandonment unto the will of God.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian of the early 20th century who was martyred by the Nazis near the end of the war, wrote about the cost of discipleship and the regrettable tendency we have in placing hope in the worldly... the external formulas of faith... the unwitting hope we take in idols.  When we renounce the world and worldly pursuits, taking up instead the real path of radical discipleship, find ourselves on the Way of the Cross unto divine transformation.  Tough, costly grace is not something to be feared, but embraced, as it is the gift that truly satisfies the human heart and brings life and vitality to our churches and religious observance.

 

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship: 

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system.  It means forgiveness of sins as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God.  An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be itself sufficient to secure the remission of sins.  The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto, a part in that grace.  In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin.  Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.  Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.

 

[...]

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.  Cheap grace is a grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 

[...]

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.  Costly grace is the incarnation of God.

Bulletin Article: 1L-C

   As the Church enters Lent, the Church offers us the Gospel of Jesus’ temptation by Satan. It’s really an odd story, when you look at it, because there isn’t anything that the devil could give Jesus that he didn’t already have or have access to. Bread? Jesus had multiplied bread to feed 5,000. Power and glory? Jesus would explain that his kingdom “was not of this earth” in defiance to Pilate’s civil authority to condemn or acquit. Personal safety? Meaningless to one willing to humbly accept crucifixion.

   Theologians explain that Jesus was like us in all ways but sin. The temptation he experienced was real, but unlike our own encounters with temptation, his will to turn back temptation would have been perfect. What might that look like for us as we struggle with human wills and intellects darkened by sin?

   One might observe in the scriptures that Jesus seems rather unemotional and detached from the moment. But does Jesus draw his strength from being strictly rational like a computer or the famous Star Trek character, Mr. Spock? No. Scriptures attest over and over again of Jesus’ compassion. Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus. He asked that the cup of suffering might be taken from him as he sweat blood. He frequented festive meals and gatherings, eating with the couple at Cana, celebrating Passover with his disciples, and comparing life in his kingdom to an endless feast. Jesus was fully human in his emotional responses to the world. The difference is that he was not ruled by these feelings in the same way that we, through concupiscent desire are blinded as we run head-long into sin. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are intended to perfect the will, which in the confusion of sin are unable to distinguish relative goods of this earth from the absolute good of God.

Old collect for St. Valentine

There were no fewer than three St. Valentines who were martyrs in the first three centuries of the Church, however very little is actually known about them.  The name Valentine generically means, valens = "strength" or "virtue", and tenens = "holding", "possessing", which could be a description of this martyr's witness as one who held fast to the faith during persecution, as much as it could be a proper name.  Here's a clip from the 13th century Golden Legend (a most popular hagiography on the saints, akin to Bulter's Lives of the Saints) hosted over at Fordham: click here.

The St. Valentine commemoration disappeared from the missal with the reform of the calendar, presumably as an effort to trim some of the lesser-known and apparently-apocryphal saints in favor of those whose historical witness is more certain.  Today's actual commemoration in the missal is for the sainted brothers of the East, Cyril and Methodius, February 14 being the date of the death of St. Cyril in 869.

 

In the old missal, the collect for the Valentine commemoration remains:

 

Præsta, quaesumus, omnípotens Deus: ut, qui beáti Valentíni Mártyris tui natalítia cólimus, a cunctis malis imminéntibus, eius intercessióne, liberémur.  Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

 

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we who honor the birth of the martyr St. Valentine into eternal life, may be freed from all evil that threatens us, through his intercession.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for the age of ages.  Amen.

 

It's days like this where the Tridentine discipline of allowing multiple commemorations (up to three collects) would be most welcomed in our current ritual... three collect prayers could be offered, the first would be for the proper Lenten weekday, the next would be for the commemoration, and then the priest could even add a third prayer, for instance, for the pope (which would be very fitting to use again and again over the coming weeks) or for another lesser, devotional purpose.

--Fr. Tom Donovan

Ash Wednesday

 

Psalm 51 (1662 BCP)



Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness
According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged.
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
But lo, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
Turn Thy face from my sins: and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
O give me the comfort of Thy help again: and stablish me with Thy free Spirit.
Then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness.
Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew Thy praise.
For Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee: but Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise.
O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young calves upon Thine altar.

Sacrament of Reconciliation: Explained

Ok folks, it's Lent tomorrow.  No fooling here.  Get thee to a confessional!

We have the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance, Confession) to help us in our Christian journey.  I know that I have readers who are Catholic and those who are not, so here is a good YouTube video that explains in just six minutes some of the essential ideas behind this sacrament, why we do it, and why we need it.

Catholics... pay attention, and remember what a wonderful gift this is.

Everyone else... isnt' this cool and biblical and such a sign of God's love that he so lovingly accommodates our human need to express our sorrow and hear authoritative words of absolution?  Without a doubt, God's grace and mercy cannot be confined or limited to the sacraments, but the sacraments are privileged ways of knowing God's enduring and faithful presence until the end of the age.

 

Thanks to the Missioners of Christ for producing this video phoenixmach12 for publishing it on YouTube.

A tale of two popes…

As I read Facebook this morning, like many of my priest-friends, I was struck speechless upon hearing about the upcoming ‘resignation’ of Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, from the Petrine ministry.  Commentators in the media were not struck nearly as speechless, of course, so a lot has already been said and there will be a lot more to be said in the days ahead by those who are wiser and more articulate than I am.  The initial thoughts I have is that, “this is fitting”- a very “fitting” thing that this gentleman, this priest, this chosen one to carry the mantle of Peter should choose to do this now.

 

I don’t say it is “fitting” as a matter of justice… only the pope can make this decision, and he will stand before God to account of it without owing me any explanation at all.  It is not in any way appropriate for me to judge or say that we need a younger pope or a healthier pope or a pope of a different political persuasion... that's God's decision.  When I say this decision is “fitting” it doesn't mean either of these things.

 

His decision is also not “fitting” in terms of giving this man a well-deserved retirement, even after decades of priestly and episcopal ministry, and 8 long, difficult years of Petrine ministry.  There is something to the statement that the one who is pope "does not come down from the cross" as Cardinal Dziwisz was reported to have said, but with all due respect to the Cardinal, what was "fitting" for John Paul II is not necessary as "fitting" for Benedict XVI.

I say Benedict's abdication (and I hate that word with respect to what he is doing) it is “fitting” as one would perceive the ‘fitting’ closure of a good story, where everyone will ‘live happily after’.  It is ‘fitting’ as a righteous conclusion to completing an arduous task.  It is ‘fitting’, as Benedict himself has concluded in prayer, that this is what the Church in this day and age needs. 

But God in his mercy has a way of leading us to those events in our lives that are most fitting to his glory, doesn’t he?

Pope John Paul II came to the See of Peter a vigorous man… fifty-eight, if I recall correctly.  I was in first grade and saw him come out onto the loggia on a black and white TV with lousy reception… it was right around lunchtime, and my teacher, Sr. Victorine, was making a very big deal over it, and over receiving the papal blessing which would end the appearance.  Pope John Paul served for more than 26 years as our supreme pontiff, the last 10 of which were rather painful for us all to watch, although we all knew it was ‘fitting’ for him to suffer as he did.  You see, Pope John Paul II deeply understood the importance of his “Witness to Hope”… a man broken physically by infirmity, this giant of outdoors and globetrotting needed to show the Church that the pope is not simply a tower of power, but is ultimately a man of prayer and suffering… one who bears the wounds of Christ in his own body and in his own life.  As a younger man, he courageously engaged and defeated the greatest political evils of our epoch manifested by the Nazi and communist regimes.  He appeared on the Loggia that dark night with the message “be not afraid”.  He took a would-be assassin’s bullet.  He shepherded the Church in the confusion of the years following the great council.

In time, his body betrayed him under the assault of Parkinson’s Disease, until he appeared a mere shell of his former self.  For all the spiritual and temporal power he wielded as pope, he knew that “power is made perfect in suffering”.  Precisely because we watched him over the years offer himself ever more fully and perfectly into the ministry of suffering, it was fitting that we walk with him all the way out to the end.  The world needed to see that this vigorous missionary of God’s love was first and foremost a man of prayer and intimacy with God, rather than simply a charismatic personality on the world stage… this core ministry defined him more than any pastoral trip or encyclical or public ceremony.  In his intimacy with the Cross of Christ, he showed us the greatest dignity of the human person.  Placing himself in the hands of the crucified Christ, he changed the world if you remember those intensely spiritual days of Easter 2005.  (Remember also the terrible, parallel death of Terri Schiavo also taking place at that time?)
 

A few weeks after JP2’s departure ‘to the house of his father’, Benedict came to the loggia in the middle of the day.  I was a deacon, finishing my last few weeks at Mundelein seminary.  The smoke was black and then turned white as I watched with several of my buddies on CNN.  (I preferred CNN because they tended to be quiet and let the news unfold, rather than dealing with the incessant yapping on other networks, but I digress.)  Mass at the seminary was to begin at 11:30, but I and my buddies hung back in the excitement of the moment (and we went to Marytown at noon… just don’t anyone tell my formation contact person about this!) and saw Joseph Ratzinger in the unfamiliar white and red that not only did not seem to belong to him, but had belonged to another-John Paul II-almost as long as I can remember.  There was a buzz around the house as Peter had been revealed anew in this theologian and vaticanista whom we all knew in one way or another from our studies.  (Yes, I still have my vintage 2003 “Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club” mug on my desk at the parish.)  He was the favorite going into the conclave by many, but as Cardinal George would later explain, when the cardinals sat down and looked around the room, it was obvious who the right choice was… it was ‘fitting’, that this leader and closest collaborator with the old pope sit on the Throne of Peter himself and bring order to a Church which was feeling lost and abandoned by the death of its beloved father.

 

Even though past the age of 75, he took on the Office of Peter with profound humility and faith—something which I don’t think is understandable by so many who see the papacy as a mere expression of temporal power and influence over the political and social machinery of our Church.  I could see it in his eyes that very first day though, that understanding who he was to be as a ‘worker in the vineyard’ and the poor soul chosen to stand in the very big shoes of the fisherman before him.  He would be different; he would be approaching the ministry not in vigor of a young JP2, but in a careful, sustained way to preserve his ability to carry out the apostolic work as long as possible with his own sense of integrity and zeal.  Our expectations were different, our needs as a Church were different.  It would be only natural to see his papal persona in terms of the sustained theological reflection offered in his books, and the sobriety with which he celebrated the sacred rites, compared to his fiery predecessor in his prime.

 

And so we come to this day when Benedict formally announces his intention to lay down his Petrine ministry.  How is it ‘fitting’?  He says that a healthier, more vigorous man needs to step in, and he will go off to live his remaining days in intense prayer for the Church.  Like JP2, Benedict XVI is a man of profound prayer and divine intimacy.  One thing I see is that his announcement highlights and validates anew the fundamental work of so many religious and other faithful around the world who spend their lives in prayer outside of the eye of cameras and away from the microphones... some in cloisters, some in nursing homes (some as ministers and some as residents), some in quiet, seemingly-insignificant and forgotten ministries across the far-flung world.  A pope lives not only to rule and guide the Church, but to pray for it.  JP2 understood this and a great part of his witness to prayer was open, public suffering.  But Benedict XVI understands that God has not chosen to give him the same vocation of suffering, but rather the special gift of insight that he can legitimately lay down the yoke of ministry in the humility to allow another to take it up.  In doing this Benedict finds that he can maintain his personal integrity as Joseph Ratzinger, now to be bishop-emeritus of Rome and prayer-warrior for the Church.   In discerning this radical change in course, he is now being welcomed by God to do something new but no less important in his twilight years.  The Church needs his offering of praise and further, God will use his servant to highlight and raise the dignity of contemplative prayer as a vocation before the world while another Peter takes on the bold ministry of building up the brethren through active governance and pastoral care of the Church.  If this is what Benedict has heard with 'certainty' from God, how can we say anything but, 'how fitting'! 

 

I am confident that God will provide a successor to Benedict who will fulfill the needs of the Church going forward.  I don’t know if it is a globetrotter or a non-Italian ‘third-world’ pope, a liberal or conservative, old or young… I just know that in the last century-and-then-some, we have been tremendously blessed by the men who have heard the call to ‘put out into the deep’ as Peter did, and have taken that call with intense faith and dedication.  I trust that the Spirit is alive, well, and active in this ministry, and in doing so, I recognize that, while surprising, today’s announcement is eminently ‘fitting’.

--Fr. Tom Donovan

Anything you want, so long as it's fish. **

“Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; gather the people, notify the congregation; assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast; let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her chamber. Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD weep, and say, “Spare, O LORD, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach, with the nations ruling over them! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘where is their God?’” Joel 2:15-18

 

Wednesday begins the penitential season of Lent. As a public service, here's a briefing and reminder about the corporate act of penance we do as Catholics in order to recognize this season of self-denial and spiritual growth:

The Holy Season of Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, February 13, 2013, and ends just before the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2013, when the Easter Triduum begins. Lent is the principal penitential season in the Church year. All the Christian faithful are urged to develop and maintain a voluntary program of self-denial (in addition to the Lenten regulations which follow), serious prayer, and the performance of deeds of charity and mercy, including the giving of alms. 

Abstinence: Everyone 14 years of age and over is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent. 

Fast: Everyone 18 years of age and under 59 is required to fast on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. On these two days of fast and abstinence, only one full meatless meal is permitted. Two other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength may be taken according to each person’s needs, but together these two should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids (including milk and fruit juices) are allowed. To disregard completely the law of fast and abstinence is seriously sinful.

A few notes:

• "Meatless meals" may include fish and seafood such as shrimp, mussels, turtles, frogs, and even, by way of papal indult to Spanish missionaries in the 16th century capybara (which you will be pleased to hear is the world's largest rodent -- here's a mildly-unrelated Princess Bride reference to help your imagination along). The distinction between "meat" and "fish" comes from a distinction made in the very early centuries of Christianity between "flesh meat" (mammals, birds, etc) and cold-blooded (fish, amphibians, reptiles) creatures. The taxonomic precision of our day may confuse us and perhaps even seem contradictory as to what is 'meat' and what is not, but the idea is not really about what we eat and what we don't, so much as it is that under the authority and common action of the Church we are doing something all together that witnesses to the penitential season we are observing. Oh, that we as Catholics were so unified in purpose to heal society and politics and the ills of our world today! So many marginal and even non-Catholics do observe the Lenten Abstinence to one degree or another because this corporate action does speak to our hearts and imaginations about something that is important about this season and something that is important about doing this act of penance together.
• It would seem that it is advisable to make sure that the Lenten fish meal is somewhat penitential in nature... to simply go to Red Lobster and eat salmon and coconut shrimp instead of having a steak at the Texas Roadhouse is perfectly OK by the letter of the law, but seems contrary to the spirit of the law. It would seem that this is a judgment that is best left to a well-formed conscience (not too lax, not too scrupulous) in the individual involved.
• My (**) in the title of this post is meant to explain that one is not required to eat fish on abstinence days, but that fish simply considered one of several 'meatless' options. While growing up, my mom had the mistaken impression that we had to have fish on Fridays during Lent. This is simply not true, but Mrs. Paul, no doubt, appreciated it. Enjoy fish or not... it's your call.
• Back in Springfield, I invite you to consider supporting one of the organizations that have fish fries on Fridays during Lent. In particular, I am thinking of the K of C #4175 on the Northend of Springfield that hosts an award-winning Fish Fry every week. The profits from this operation support the many charitable and fraternal activities of the council through the year. One's participation and patronage in this project is a great way of doing almsgiving along with abstinence.
• The last line that says to carelessly disregard these regulations is seriously sinful-- these are 'code words' meaning that if one ignores this call to penance with full knowledge and consent of will, it should considered a mortal sin which must be confessed before receiving Holy Communion. This of course does not apply to those whose health is compromised by illness, pregnancy, or extreme manual labor.
• One should also consider that if one truly has an unintended 'accident' and completely forgets about a day of abstinence, this may very well not be an act with full consent of will constituting a mortal sin. My very first Lenten Friday as a priest (!), I made the mistake of fixing and eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup... completely innocently, without thinking about it being a Friday in Lent. I don't think I EVER in my life I had had meat on a Lenten Friday, but I screwed up right out of the box as a priest out of simply not paying attention. It happens. I did take it to confession, but in my examination of conscience, I found my sin was not so much breaking abstinence (which I did not intend to do that by a blatant act of disobedience), but in my carelessness in remembering that we were now in Lent and in a time of penance and abstinence. My confessor told me to just acknowledge it as a mistake and move on... and to take the following Monday as a 'make-up' day for abstinence.

Our little acts of penance and self-denial are not simply ends to themselves, but instead, invite us to a deeper consciousness of God's grace and mercy. The way we respond to this invitation--with a welcoming heart, desiring renewal and deliverance--is more important than simply following the rules.   Happy Lent, everyone.   May God's grace and mercy help you have a most wonderful observance of Easter just over six weeks from now.

Homily Thoughts... 05OT-C

This weekend I am not preaching a public homily, but I do have some thoughts on what I might have said.  This project/post did not get completed today as the Internet has been out all day here at the hideout, and the idea of typing a full text on my iPhone seemed less than appealing.  Maybe there's folks who can see where I was going with these notes, though, and let their own imaginations consider what might have been said?

Summary:  Even tired and weary, Jesus calls us to put out into the deep ("duc in altum" - "go to the extremes") for new growth, new grace, and a great catch.

Sources:  Lectionary (Gospel Lk 5: 1-11), Prayer/Balthasar, Novo Millennio Inuente/JP2

Observations:

• "Duc in altum"... 'altum' is related to the word "altar" which is a "high place"... I am going to flatten the translation a bit and recognize "altum" as not simply deeps (or heights), but "to the extremes", to the uncomfortable places, perhaps even to the unexplored wilderness?  "Bathos" in Greek which is in the original text has that same wiser sense.  This means the edge of our abilities and consciousness, the hazy edge of 'comfortable faith' where we grow and experience the newness of God.
• Fr. B. was once quoted (about saying 4-5 Masses in one day in a place where pastoral need required it) that these celebrations weren't all "deep spiritual experiences").  How common is that among the faithful who come to Mass or say their rosaries or live the everyday life of Christians?  ...but God breaks through even in our weariness (and sin and inattentiveness and ignorance...)
• Growth takes place in two ways: constant everyday growth (the green of ordinary time like the long, steady growth season of the summers), and the spurts of growth that take place in the privileged moments of life: youth, times of challenge, sometimes right before a harvest (exams, contests, candidacies).
• Next week is Lent, an invitation to got out to the 'growing edges' of our faith lives... To see the extreme love of God manifest in the cross.  If we take seriously the invite to 'take up your cross...', it is simply another way of inviting us out to the extremes... To self-sacrifice, to total commitment to one's calling, even 'ad limina vitae'... To the limits of life itself. 
• Peter admits to not being up to the job (as does Isaiah and Paul in the other readings).  This isn't simply pious modesty... they're totally right-- they're neither up to the job nor worthy of the ministry entrusted them.   But God who calls always provides.  Jesus called the fishermen back out to the deeps... they followed in faith, and God provided abundantly.  A miracle?  Not really.  Look across the breadth scripture... This is how God works every time.
• Weariness toward the faith and spiritual dryness are part of the human condition.  Consolation can usually be found in going back to basics.  

Science and Faith

From today's Office of Readings (the Vatican II Constitution Gaudium et Spes, #36) on the harmony of science, art, and faith: 

Many of our contemporaries, however, seem to be afraid that a closer relationship between religion and man’s activity will injure the autonomy of men or societies or the different sciences. If by the autonomy of earthly realities we mean that created things and even societies have their own distinctive laws and values, which must be gradually identified, used and regulated by men, this kind of autonomy is rightly demanded. Not only is it insisted on by modern man, it is also in harmony with the design of the Creator. By the very fact of creation everything is provided with its own stability, its own truth and goodness, its own laws and orderly functioning. Man must respect these, acknowledging the methods proper to each science or art. 

One should therefore deplore certain attitudes of mind which are sometimes found even among Christians because of a failure to recognize the legitimate autonomy of science. These mental attitudes have given rise to conflict and controversy and led many to assume that faith and science are mutually opposed. 

If, on the other hand, the autonomy of the temporal order is understood to mean that created things do not depend on God, and that man may use them without reference to the Creator, all who believe in God will realize how false is this teaching. For creation without the Creator fades into nothingness.

Nature and the natural order have an integrity all its own, owing to the fact that it has been endowed by its creator with its own law and order.  Thus, the appeal often made to 'natural law' to explain how humanity can live in harmony with the world around him.  If I refuse to eat nutritious food, preferring only the taste of only candy bars and soda pop, my body will break down and eventually die from the objective reality of malnutrition.  If I were to fly an airplane to 5000 feet and jump out, flapping my arms, I will fall, crashing to the earth no matter how sincere my belief that I will fly, due to the objective reality of gravity.  If one believes aging and death can be eliminated by some 'fountain of youth', nature will catch up, eventually, due to the objective reality of mortality.  We are subject to the law and order of nature, and by extension, we are thus bound by a law imposed by God... not coercively, not by imputation, but simply by the reality of our being.  After the reality of mere existence itself, cooperation with nature is the lowest level of human cooperation with the will and wisdom of God.

 

There is a virtue of studying and understanding nature's orderly functioning.  To retreat into fideism denies that there is truth in nature (e.g., if I only pray enough I won't need medical intervention for my injury, or, God created the world in seven literal days, so I don't care about what scientists say about fossils) and denies something of the reality of our created being.  (This is not to discount an appropriate role for divine, miraculous intervention into nature, but that's a topic for another discussion.)  Science and faith are not mutually opposed in this way, but are open to mutual discovery and harmonization.  This is why the Big Bang theory could be proposed first by a Catholic priest and physicist?  ...that this bishop could became the father of geology and stratigraphy--the science that explains that the layered fossil records give a chronology of life on earth? ...that this cleric could study and propose heliocentrism?  Truth does not contradict truth.  We just have to be courageous and smart enough to recognize truth in its many forms and accommodate it into our imperfect understanding of the universe when it reveals itself.

 

An opposite concern about faith and science is also true.  While we must avoid the extreme of fideism, we also cannot fall for what I'll call a natural determinism that ignores reference to the Creator.  Gaudium et Spes explains that creation 'fades into nothingness' by this error.  Perhaps we might also say 'meaninglessness'?  To propose that the universe and its order is nothing more than a product of random relationships is to say that the universe that has being and existence as we know it is no better than a possible universe that doesn't exist.  Existence and non-existence become morally, physically, existentially neutral concerns... whether 'I am' or 'I am not' doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things... ultimately, if I can propose that I actually do exist, whether I am 'good' or 'evil', 'eating' or 'eaten', in 'pleasure' or 'pain', 'male' or 'female' has no bearing on anything... it's all stupid, neutral chance.  This perspective is the appeal to pragmatism in Machiavelli, the appeal to fitness in Darwin, the appeal to power in Nietzsche, and the appeal to nothingness in Sartre.  In these four atitudes alone, we can see so much of the dehumanizing suffering and angst of the 20th century.  In its own circle of logic, a self-determining universe makes a certain amount of sense... but the Church simply asks that the thinkers of our age consider that there might be something bigger than the universe that we can see and touch and feel... that we might have the intellectual humility and honesty to consider there might be something bigger than ourselves out there that gives order and standing and meaning to 'all of this'.

 

The Church is often criticized polemically for delaying the advancement of science and holding on to the idea of the earth being at the center of the universe.  How ironic that the scientific revolution has freed the Church from this error, and now the individual, rational thinker, unable to grasp beyond the confines of the physical, sensate world... the cogito... is the one locked at the center of a much smaller, (perhaps we can even say 'pucillanimous',) universe.

-- Fr. Tom Donovan

Happy Quinquagesima

   This weekend in the calendar followed by the Traditional Latin Mass, the Church celebrates "Quinquagesima Sunday"... that is the Sunday "fifty days" before Easter.  The old calendar has an interesting season of time before Lent measured by "seventy", "sixty" and "fifty" days before Easter, which are not completely Lenten in nature, but are meant to be a reminder that the spiritual intensity of Lent is on its way.

   Now Lent itself is a period of preparation for Easter.  Why might the Church have a season to prepare for a season of preparation?  The trajectory of Lent is inseparable from Easter, that's right, but Lent itself is an important time, not to be wasted or endured... not to simply have the faithful 'put the knee down on the ball' until the clock runs out for Easter.  Lent is a blessed time that if we can enter it with a conscientious attentiveness, we can find great joy and spiritual growth.

   One does not plant a garden or field on unprepared, untilled land.  One does not run a marathon without months of training and preparation.  It is impossible to walk into a surgical suite as a doctor without years of medical training.  Preparation time is critically important for success, even if the goal is several steps beyond what can be seen in the moment.

   As Catholics, it is important to consider how we are going to use the gift of Lent before it is upon us.  Ash Wednesday is a great day for commitment to a new way of life and a new spirit, but how often do our resolutions turn out to be no more realistic or binding than the resolutions we make for New Year's day?  (Remember that New Year's diet and all that weight you were going to lose by now?)  The perennial wisdom of the Church has been to call out a reminder that we need to be ready, not just for the apex of our Church year on Easter, but even for that privileged time of preparation.

   And so, I put it to you, what is the Spirit asking you to look at during Lent?  What invitations are you receiving to become more holy during the next seven weeks?  How are you going to accomplish these changes?  Look deeply with the eyes of faith, knowing that there is something special... something critical to celebrating Easter with renewed joy which the Lord wishes to give you this Lent.  Accept with faith the invitation to follow him on the road to Calvary.

   The Gospel from the old missal for this weekend (Luke 18: 31-43) tells of Jesus setting his face toward Jerusalem and warning his disciples that a tough time lies ahead.  Even as this happens, a blind man calls to the Lord in faith, is healed, and joyfully takes up the path of Jesus.  If you think about it, Jesus gives the blind man a gift that will haunt him... the sight of the persecution and crucifixion which his savior is about to endure.  Would it not have been better simply to have received the gift of sight in the joy of the light of the resurrection?  ...or to have been given the gift and then been dispensed from the pain of the cross?  Sure it would, but by opening the man's eyes to the Lord's suffering and inviting him to participate in that suffering with his new-found sight, Easter Sunday will have a much deeper meaning for the formerly-blind man, won't it?  The formerly-blind man will recognize his sufferings--his blindness, his participation in the 'happy fault' of Adam, even his own death--have reason and meaning in the resurrection of Easter Sunday.

   We are the blind--those who have been dulled and discouraged, sullied and savaged by the spiritual struggles of the year behind.  We call out for mercy to the Son of David and accept again the invitation to walk with him into the very reality of his saving death.  In doing so, we are renewed by the hope of his resurrection--this coming Easter and when he calls us forth from death to new life.

--Fr. Tom Donovan

Bulletin Article: 5OT-C

   Good fishermen (and fisherwomen) are not born that way—they learn the art of fishing from others who are successful.  I have been out fishing only a couple times in my life, and I have pretty much nothing to show for my efforts. But why should I have expected to be successful?  I did not know where to look for the fish.  I was not there at the right time of the day.  I wasn’t using the correct equipment.  I didn’t even know what I was going to do with the fish once I caught it.  Thankfully my life and livelihood did not depend on my ability to make a catch.

Simon Peter, and his partners, James and John, were professional fishermen whose lives and fortunes did depend on their ability to make a catch. They had a boat.  They invested in nets.  They had the patience and persistence to be out all night working their trade in the Lake of Gennesaret.  After a difficult night and upon coming back, they encountered our Lord who had something to teach even these old salts:  put out into the deep waters and lower your nets for a catch.

   A good fisherman knows that they need to go where the fish are, at the right time of day, using the right equipment. At first they protest, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing!” But going out again, in obedience to the master, they make a spectacular catch and they learn a new way to fish: do not be afraid: from now on you will be catching men. They left their old equipment on the shore and followed the Lord who offered them something new and exciting and different: the prospect of fishing for the hearts of people longing for the Kingdom of God.

   I am convinced that the Lord continues to encourage his Church with the same words: put out into the deep. We can’t do things the same way over and over again and expect the same results. That’s the challenge of evangelization in our contemporary world. That’s the challenge of living a vocation in the contemporary world.  If we do not update our techniques and attitudes, if we do not go to where the fish are, if we do not have the persistence to try and try again, if we do not have the humility to listen to a wise teacher who can show us the way, our fishing cannot be successful.
   Our Church is ever ancient and ever new... a timeless Gospel continues to be announced throughout the world as it always has, but in new and exciting ways.  Wouldn't the apostles marvel at the power of a smart phone or a web site to accomplish their mission?  Wouldn't they be among the first ones out there, 'putting into the deep' for the sake of evangelization?
   There is a daunting challenge which stands before us as a Church as we consider who will sit in the pews, who will serve as the priests and religious, who will bring the Good News of salvation to the ends of the world in generations to come.

   Jesus tells us as individuals and as a Church, 'do not be afraid!'   We already have the tools and the know-how.  Do we have the faith and persistence to invite the Lord to work through us to yield an abundant catch?

-- Fr. Tom Donovan