A brief rest . . .

I will be on vacation, a real vacation away from computers and the like, for about a week.  I'll be back on line next week.  God bless.  Charlie

Where sin abounds . . .

Sometimes in the Sunday Liturgy of the Word there is a clear and direct link between the Old Testament reading and the Gospel reading such as occurs tomorrow on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. Here our Lord makes reference to Isaiah's allusion to the region of Galilee, downtrodden and forsaken throughout history, but to be the ideal medium from which a light will come into view to dispel the darkness and shine brightly throughout the world. This area of land, with its topography exposed to higher ground on the North, was difficult for Jerusalem to defend and was therefore subject to constant plunder from the Assyrians and, in fact, any invader that wished to take advantage of the inhabitants there. It was consequently a poor mix of demoralized Jews and foreigners. In short, it would seem to be an implausible prophecy of good providence by Isaiah and an unfortunate choice of place by our Lord to begin to introduce the Kingdom of Heaven. Praise God, the rest is history!

Go figure. It is good to contemplate what we know has happened since the time of Isaiah and since the time Jesus made this reference. What we, in our human wisdom, would believe to be improbable has come to fruition, clearly not from mankind's intention, but from His design which we scarcely comprehend. So on this date, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, let us marvel at Paul's insight into all of this.

It is Paul who states that "Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more." He glories in what we might call the mission ground; those places where it would seem that God is forgotten, ignored, or perhaps never known. These places can be frightening and loathsome; places where it would seem that Satan has firmly established his kingdom. But Paul recognizes that this is exactly where our Lord wants us to go. This is where we are to bring His light to dispel the darkness and to be confident that His grace is enough for us and where we shine that light that grace will meet its purpose.

How often do we find ourselves distraught and discouraged by what we see occurring in our world? How many conversations do we find ourselves in which we are wringing our hands and wondering together if the world is going to hell in a hand-basket? I cannot imagine Paul joining in that conversation. Rather, with missionary zeal, he would be taking notes and making plans about how he, with the grace of God, was going to go after this new challenge. And he would thank God for this opportunity to serve Him.

Paul states in his epistle for tomorrow that we must be united in Christ in this grand mission that our Lord has for us and we have seen the evidence of the power of Christ acting through his Church. Let us therefore place all our faith and trust in Him.

Meetings with the Pope

Today French President Francois Hollande met with Pope Francis, apparently on state matters. The press, however, seems especially intrigued about whether there would be any discussions taking place regarding the personal affairs of the French president. It has been widely reported that Mr. Hollande is experiencing some turmoil in his private life. The woman with whom he shares the presidential residence and who has been with him for the last seven years was recently hospitalized with complaints of anxiety after reading in the media that Mr. Hollande was giving his affections to an actress. The media would like to envision Mr. Hollande having a close conversation with his confessor, the Pope; or perhaps would like to imagine Mr. Hollande receiving a good tongue lashing from the Pope about his immoral behavior. Do we or should we care?

It would seem that the Pope is viewed by the secular media as someone to pay attention to when it comes to moral matters. The reported behavior of Mr. Hollande has drawn the attention of the public just as the focus was upon Mr. Clinton in his days in the White House. There was, and is, spirited debate about whether or not the public should concern itself with the private affairs of an elected public official. Is the public trust violated when a private trust is violated? Is his public character reflected in his private character? And so the argument ensues. Wouldn’t everyone like to know what the Holy Father thinks of all this.

And that, I think, would be very instructive for us to know . . . although not for us to know. Certainly I would like to believe that any leader of state may be open to the spiritual guidance offered by Pope Francis; that his guidance would be valued, carefully considered and taken to heart. But I seriously doubt that the Pope is going to offer such unsolicited spiritual guidance on a private matter, even knowing that the behavior of the leader may often influence the behavior of the community he leads. I do expect, however, that the Holy Father will let Mr. Hollande know that he cares for him and that he is in his prayers. That alone is a very powerful message that Mr. Hollande needs to hear and one that may lead to further conversation.

In a few weeks President Obama will be visiting the Vatican. We will wonder if they will discuss such matters as the HHS mandate and state sponsored abortion. These, of course, are not about the private matters of Mr. Obama but rather the policies that he supports that are contrary to human dignity. While this may not be on the agenda of discussion I expect that Pope Francis may offer his thoughts and spiritual guidance on these matters. Regardless, Mr. Obama too will come to know that the Holy Father cares for him and that he is in his prayers . . . and ours as well.

Encountering the tragedy of suicide

I received a call the other day from a fellow deacon asking for prayers as a close family friend of theirs just lost a teenaged son to suicide. He was the third such young tragic death in that community over a period of just a few weeks. I prefer to be as specific as possible in my prayer, but in this case, I had to ask myself, where do I begin? The issue is multifarious, going beyond the angst-ridden teenager who has elected to leave this world. He is certainly in my prayers, as are his forever to be disfigured family and his community left bereft in confusion. Clearly prayer and healing is needed all around but for very diverse purposes.

There is so much confusion that surrounds teen suicide. Is there anything reasonably rational about the act? If not, why are there feelings of guilt and irresponsibility sensed by the survivors? Human nature seeks culpability; upon whom should it rest? Intense grief is experienced as evidence that there had been great love. What value had been placed on that love? What does this mean for his eternity? How does the Church view this act; this death; this person?

We have to begin by understanding that within each unique set of circumstances there is a unique person who makes the choice to take his own life. And only his merciful Creator can fully understand that choice. Yes, there are patterns of behavior that we can observe. It seems sometimes to be the signature of adolescence to be so self-absorbed as to lose all perspective of reality. Do we account this to hormonal or chemical imbalances or to environmental factors or perhaps a combination of the two? Who knows? But we struggle on, nonetheless, because there is good cause to avert the next tragedy.

Church clergy have not always dealt with these situations in the best pastoral manner. Emphatic statements have been made about the sinful nature of despair and such choices that are made that separate us from God. In an effort to show that despairing behavior is not condoned by the Church as within the teachings of Christ, clergy have at times and in some ways been callous to the wounds of the survivors. This has done damage to the Church through the damage to its believers. As we go forward let us remember that on this pilgrimage we should all seek to be nourished on hope in the depth of God’s mercy which is beyond our understanding.

And this of course should be our own enduring refrain that we faithfully impart to our adolescent loved ones. We can only begin to fathom the depth of the love that God has for each one of us. This love for us and our lives is given by him freely and unconditionally from the moment of our creation to forever. His prayer for us is that we live our lives fully and share his love abundantly.

The scandal of Christian division

As we approach the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul this weekend, Pope Francis today addressed the question, “is Christ divided?” This is the same question that St. Paul responded to in his exhortation to the community of Corinth. He emphatically decried the division he witnessed in the Christian community there by pointing out followers of Paul or Cephas or Apollos were separating themselves from Christ and the Christian community. Pope Francis recalled this response and stated, “[W]e must recognize sincerely, although with suffering, that our communities continue to experience divisions, which are a scandal. There is no other word for it: the divisions between Christians are a scandal.”

When we talk about the sin of scandal in the Church we are referring to any action or behavior that is divisive or casts a shadow on the Church that would cause others to avoid or leave the Church. I use the term sin because we know the source of divisiveness; that is the one who seeks to destroy all unity in the Church, the unity which comes only from the Holy Spirit. So we are clearly dealing with serious matter here. This is why St. Paul and our Holy Father call for unity in the Church with such passion. Unity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Divisiveness, the failure of unity, is the fruit of sin and the father of sin.

The fact that so many Christian denominations have fractured from the Church and remain unconnected is certainly an issue that Pope Francis is addressing. He is not, however, piling scandal upon scandal by expressing any condemnation of these separated communities. He rather reaches out to them to find those many points of shared Christian understanding and faith that brings about unity. In his reference to Paul’s reaching out to the Corinthians, the Pope stated, “In spite of the suffering of divisions, which unfortunately persist to this day, we welcome Paul's words as an invitation to rejoice sincerely in the grace conceded by God to other Christians. We have experienced the same baptism; the same Holy Spirit has bestowed grace upon us, so let us rejoice!”

And this, I believe, is the “takeaway” for us of our Holy Father’s message. He closed with noting that the search for unity “requires humility, reflection and continual conversion.” This conversion is the continual conversion of our own heart that we should always be seeking. Within our own parish community we have as many different spiritual dispositions as we do members. This is our nature as unique creations of our Lord and he obviously would have it no other way. Could it be, as Paul has expressed, that Christ wishes these differences to be used and embraced by our community to make a stronger, more effective unity through which he can express himself to the world?

Let us then rejoice in our differences, always sharing our faith with one another with humility, reflection and continual conversion, always welcoming the Holy Spirit.

When does it become a charade?

A few days ago a death row inmate was executed in another state. Apparently the prisoner’s death by injection lingered as long as twenty minutes as the he struggled for his breath. A few months prior to this a court informed the State of Montana that it would need to change its methods of execution because the lethal injection process it was using was apparently prolonging death and was deemed to violate federal and state constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. In response, the State then changed its protocol of lethal injection to correct this. Now the Montana office of the ACLU is calling to question the new procedures selected by the state as being too similar to the execution of a few days ago and for being otherwise untested. Within the talk of all of this there is protracted debate regarding three drug versus two drug cocktail injections and the efficacy of each.

This entire conversation should seem fairly bizarre to anyone listening to it. We are talking here about methods of killing another human being with the presumption that we find this act of killing to be acceptable. And yet the one thing that comes across loud and clear to me is that there is no consensus about why we are killing this person in the first place. I use the term we because whenever the talk is about government policy it is a discussion about that which represents us. Whether you and I like it or not, we are killing prisoners. Should we be? That should be the question for discussion and not how we should be going about it.

We, as Christians, are seekers of justice. When we witness injustice, we have the right and the obligation, as a society, to correct, as best we can, the injustice. We therefore have laws, codes of conduct, that we enforce to guide and support just behavior and to correct and inhibit unjust behavior. When an individual is found to have breached our code of conduct we exert our authority and impose our will over him so that the injustice he has committed may be corrected and perhaps prevented from recurring.

Why, as Christians, do we do this? First of all because we are called to love ourselves, as we are made in the image and likeness of our Creator. We seek justice for ourselves as well as for our neighbors for the reason that our Lord calls us to treat all others as we, ourselves, would want to be treated; with love which informs justice. Therefore the justice that we seek must have as its source, love, and serve both the wronged and the wrongdoer.

It should seem absurd therefore to be discussing humane methods of killing someone who is our prisoner, out of love. In fact, love is absent from any discussion in which revenge has primacy. And this is finally what we need consider; is revenge ours to have?

Our call to holiness

Has anyone ever expressed a particular interest in you and your gifts and then held out expectations of you that surpassed what you thought you were capable of or willing to fulfill? A parent, teacher, boss, or spouse perhaps? This can be a daunting experience that makes us wonder if this person really knows us. Our reluctance, and perhaps even active resistance, likely comes more from the fear of failure than the imposition of someone else's agenda for us.

The scripture passages for this Second Sunday of Ordinary Time should cause us to examine what may cause us to shrink from the call to holiness that our Lord continually and patiently makes to us. Isaiah looks directly into our eyes and into our hearts and expresses our Lord's desire for us. It is not enough for Him that the children of Israel serve to recover their inheritance, but he rather invites and encourages all of His children to bring His light to the entire world. The mission is much larger than once understood and his chosen ones are now understood to be all who answer his call. That is, of course, you and me, just as Paul describes us as being sanctified in Christ Jesus, through whom we live and move and have our being.

The psalmist hears this and is filled with gratitude to the Lord for this opportunity. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will. This is not sung with any sense of remorse or foreboding of some impending failure. It is expressed with confidence and joy in what the Lord has done for him, giving him everything necessary to achieve His purpose. Will we sing this psalm with the same sense of God given purpose?

What has the baptism of our Lord to do with this? It is about the reception and acceptance of mission. The Baptist clearly knew who his cousin Jesus was but the revelation of the fullness of his Lord's divinity or his mission had not yet been revealed to him. The immense implications of the incarnation of God into the created world is simply beyond the capacity of the creature that is man to draw from his own imagination. It must be revealed and John, although predestined to be the prophet who announces the Christ, received the revelation over the time to which he was subjected; just as you and I do.

We should not be discouraged because we do not now understand the full scope of God (we can't) or the future that may be ours, embraced by Him, as his servants. We should, however, yearn deeply for this like nothing else. To desire to know Him and His will for us should be our paramount concern. To love our Lord necessarily requires us to trust Him and to trust in our love of Him. It is with this heart that we can sing, Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Government surveillance and human dignity

Following the horrific 9/11 attack in New York City we were feeling particularly vulnerable to the ongoing threats that were being issued about future attacks from the “outside.” We looked to our national defense to make us safe and by and large we have avoided those dangers from the outside and instead have experienced various attacks from the inside, from our own. We come to find out, and none of us are really surprised, that one of the weapons used in this policing for our protection is the surveillance of communications; as it seems, all communications. And something about this makes us squirm, as it should.

Whether we think of Snowden as a hero or a traitor, no matter his motives, he has opened up the discussion of this thing we refer to as our “right to privacy.” When we look to the foundational and primary documents upon which the United States was established, it is clear that natural law is the basis for the delineation of our fundamental human rights. St. Thomas Aquinas defines natural law as "nothing else than the rational creature's participation in the eternal law." I-II.94. In other words, these are rights and obligations given to us by our Creator as recognition due to the dignity of the human creature. Does it belong to our dignity that the communication between two parties, who have the reasonable expectation of privacy, be, in fact, private?

I have heard myself say that if anyone wants to pry into my private life, they are welcome to and they will find it altogether unexciting. I try to follow my mother’s advice to keep my words sweet and tender as I might find myself eating them at some point. However, there is something onerous and treacherous about my government being that interested in me and my activities. It certainly feels like an attack on my dignity, and if it feels that way, it is, indeed, an attack.

Yet, at the same time, I want to be safe and I want my government to be able to investigate those who plot against my safety. And this is the rub. Do I need to relinquish some part of my privacy in order to gain the degree of safety I wish for? And if so, how much? I understand that information is golden to those investigating criminal behavior and that those who plot evil deeds wish to cloak themselves within the secrecy of their private conversations. But need we abandon our precepts of probable cause and judicial supervision in order to gain efficiency in our prosecution of terrorism? I would hope not.

President Obama announced today that he will require intelligence agencies to obtain permission from a court before tapping into its vast trove of telephone data, but he will leave the data in the hands of the government for now. Let us pray for our leaders that they may become more sensitive to and protective of the God given dignity of each one of us.

The dream wedding

Your son or daughter is getting married. Everyone is caught up in the excitement of planning and preparing for that dream wedding. Mom and Dad are of the mind that this should be a Catholic wedding because, “We are, after all, Catholic.” Son or daughter and the fiancé may be fine with this because, “After all, Mom and Dad are Catholic and this seems to be important to them.” It is about here that things seem to get out of sync. Something is out of order, isn’t it?

Marriage, in the Catholic faith, is deeply sacramental and an integral element of the Church. The Catholic wedding consists of a liturgical rite and we believe that graces are bestowed upon the couple who knowingly, lovingly and willingly minister to one another and enter into the vows of marriage. We know that the Church is here to be a witness to this sacrament and to provide the pastoral care and community that is the environment of a joyful and fulfilling marriage. We also believe that the sacrament does not end when the rite is concluded but rather continues throughout the married life of this couple with every loving act that they commit to one another and to their children. Each of these loving acts provides fertile ground for the graces initially received to generate the fruit of the Holy Spirit that nourishes the entire community. It is this “domestic church” that is at the root of what the Church is.

As Catholic parents, we often fall woefully short in cultivating in our children this facet of our faith. We may well have lived the sacramental marriage and understood the gifts we received through the course of our married life from our Lord and the Church. But in what ways did we convey that to our children? Did we ever tell them how blessed our marriage and by extension, our family, is because of the Holy Spirit working through the Sacrament? In what ways did we emphasize the critical function that the Church and the Holy Spirit has had in our married life? Or, by our silence have we tacitly taken full credit for the joyful successes we’ve realized in our marriage? Have we set our children up to believe that Mom and Dad or others who have experienced long and happy marriages have everything within themselves for a happy marriage, and that therefore they should expect the same?

This inculcation of the Catholic faith within the family obviously must begin long before the wedding engagement ever occurs. The desire to be married within the Church and to live the sacramental married life within the Church should be coming from the cultivated faith of the couple to be wed. Their notion of a “dream wedding” should be the icon of their shared belief in their life together in a sacramental marriage. Let us begin this teaching early with our children and revisit it often with each blessing our family receives.

Hearing and answering the appeal

The 2013 Annual Catholic Appeal of the Diocese of Helena is in the books and we can now look back and make a sober assessment of the response of St. Matthew’s Parish. Our parish managed to exceed the target dollar goal by a healthy margin as did a number of other parishes in the diocese. This is important as there will always be other parishes which are not able to meet their goals, as has been the case for St. Matthew’s in past years, and the essential services of the diocese rely upon these funds to continue operations. Let’s not neglect to offer prayers of thanksgiving for this generosity which is expressed as fruit of the Holy Spirit.

As I survey the returns of the parishes there is one thing that stands out for me. Most parishes did not come close to 100% participation. St. Matthew’s return of 48% was one of the best. And this seems to be typical from one year to the next. There are, no doubt, many reasons for this and it might be pointless and perhaps counterproductive to jump to any conclusions. However, there may be something gained by giving this some consideration.

As widely scattered as the parishes are throughout our diocese many parishioners do not seem to make the association with the cathedral in Helena and are simply unaware of all of the essential connections, financial and spiritual, that exist between the diocese and our parish. The role of the Bishop may even seem archaic to some. The result of this is that a Catholic parish begins to take on the likeness of a protestant congregation the more it becomes its own island, separated from its Bishop and its Pope. And that is not a good thing for the Church.

I don’t believe that it takes extraordinary know-how to correct this apparent lack of understanding. It begins at the steps of the church in the message given to our parishioners. The priests and the deacons (primarily the deacons) have to thoughtfully frame the conversation so that a more realistic image of the Church is given to the faithful. Our community needs to be able to see that it is not comprised solely of the parish family but that it extends upward to the diocese and to the Vatican and outward beyond the Church; that this is a basic tenet of our faith.

That, I think, accounts for about 20% of what is to be done. The balance of the work falls on the faithful. Just as we must pray and partake in the sacraments, we must also accept the personal responsibility to inform ourselves about the life of our Church. We must be at least as diligent in in this search for knowledge as we are as consumers in our day to day purchasing decisions. Let each of us make that determination and pray to grow daily in the understanding and wisdom that is our faith.

Of cookie carousels and cupcake wars

There is a cartoon hyperbole that floats around from time to time in which the Air Force is put in the position of holding bake sales to pay for the production of a bomber. There is a part of each of us that thinks, “Wouldn’t that be nice if the taxes we pay for bombers were instead used to pay for those things we otherwise support with bake sales and car washes?” We get some satisfaction with this thought for a couple of reasons. First, we are disappointed at the thought of paying for instruments of war and paying dearly for them, particularly when we have so little knowledge about and control over the situation. Second, we often seem to spend so much time and energy paying for those “little things” to support the activities of our children and community that we think perhaps the Federal government could be a little more help.

All argument about our country’s international policies aside, our Catholic social teaching would instruct us through the principle of subsidiarity that national defense is generally within the realm of the federal government. Clearly bake sales are out of the question. What I would like to focus on though is what this principle can tell us about the education and welfare of our children and our community. The principle of subsidiarity states that, in order to protect basic justice, government should undertake only those initiatives which exceed the capacity of individuals or private groups acting independently. So I would ask whether I want the government involved in the financing of those “little things” that we pay for with bake sales, car washes and auctions. What do I give up when I allow this?

In order to respond to that question I have to first define a well-functioning community. I would say that such a community is first and foremost comprised of individuals that show love and respect for one another. I come to love and respect others in my community when I come to know them and understand their uniqueness. I can only do this when I live among them and learn of their needs and desires. It is only then that I can wisely and with charity contribute my time, treasure and talents to this community of which I am now genuinely a part.

So this brings me to cookie carousels, cupcake wars and school auctions. Yes, these are functions that take a great deal of time and energy and sometimes we ask if it is worth all of the energy we put into it. Aren’t these events functions of the community in which we learn more about each other and the cause for which we are working? Don’t these events give us a better sense of belonging to the community and “ownership” in its welfare?

This is the other end of the principle of subsidiarity. We care for our community best when we know it, belong to it and love it.

The baptism of our Lord

Tomorrow we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. The image is familiar, perhaps too familiar to me and yet each time I revisit this I come away wondering if I haven’t missed something. Isn’t there something concealed here, in plain sight, which I am failing to fully appreciate? That is, of course, the marvelous aspect of the mysteries of our faith. The Holy Spirit seems to oftentimes tease us into pursuing that which is otherwise veiled from our understanding by hints of movement just on the edge of our peripheral imagination.

The gospel renderings of this event evoke obvious questions. The Baptist immediately recognizes that he has no business baptizing his Lord. He was baptizing with water those who repented their sins that they might know that repentance and “coming clean” was a necessary step before forgiveness ensues and a changed life can be lived. This process was obviously unnecessary for Jesus, the sinless, the clean, and the ideal to which everyone should dare to attain. And yet our Lord tells John that it is the will of the Father that this should occur for the purpose of fulfilling all righteousness. In other words, this act is in fact necessary and essential and not merely a showpiece.

The portrait of what occurs next is engraved into the minds of all Christians. Jesus, in all of his humanity, is then taken into the waters of the Jordan by John, his proclaimer, and baptized with water. As our Lord rises from the waters, God, his Father, from the heavens announces to the world that this is his beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, descends upon him. Jesus, who is fully human in nature, is now baptized with the Holy Spirit by the Father, announcing and revealing his fully divine nature. And the world is changed forever as humanity and divinity are inimitably joined here on earth. God becomes incarnate at Jesus’ birth; He is recognized in Jesus by mankind at the Epiphany; and He becomes active in the world in a new way by his Son’s baptism.

Is there something here to help us better understand the significance of our own baptism? Jesus endowed the Church upon his Ascension with the authority to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Just as it was essential for our Lord to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness, we find here that our baptism is likewise essential and . . . for the same reason. We too, like the Lord, are baptized in water and the Holy Spirit so that our humanity can be joined with the divine. We too are then called to make God active in the world, as beloved sons or daughters of the Father, brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the pure splendor of all this is too blinding.

Us and them

And from today’s headlines . . . , “New Jersey Gov. and presidential hopeful Chris Christie apologized and said he was ‘embarrassed and humiliated’ by the actions of his staff that closed busy access lanes of the George Washington Bridge in September, snarling traffic in a town whose mayor did not support the governor's reelection bid.” So apparently a staffer misappropriated the authority of a state governor to not only “cause trouble” for a stiff-necked fellow politician but also inconvenienced and, more seriously, compromised the safety of the general public. If only behavior like this was unheard of. Unfortunately it is more commonplace than we would like to believe.

Let us assume that the person who initiated this action is otherwise a decent and caring person and that this particular behavior is atypical for her. What brings her to make such a bad judgment like this? Did she consider all of the ramifications and, if so, how did she justify her actions to herself? Although we will likely never know the answers to these questions, based upon our own experiences we may be able to come to some fair conclusions.

We live in a world that thrives on competition. Politics, business, sports and war are all driven by the need and desire to do and be better than the rivals. It is in this desire to be better than the other that the line is most often crossed and behaviors arise from within us that we would normally consider repugnant. In war we think of the other as the enemy and we go through all sorts of mental and emotional gymnastics to dehumanize him so that we can cope with the thought of killing him. With the same mindset some will deny that the unborn infant is a living human. At a somewhat different level don’t we often witness rival sports teams and their fans denigrating one another with callous remarks and even assaults? So we shouldn’t be surprised when we see this same behavior in the world of business and politics.

Competition, of course, is not the culprit of this twisted thought process. In fact, I am the culprit if I ever allow myself to believe that I am better than someone else; that I have more value in the eyes of God than any other person. I have been given certain gifts by God that make me unique and in the bargain perhaps more capable of doing certain things better than another person. That does not translate, however, into me actually being better than the other person. In the eyes of God, this is not possible.

The remedy for this blindness from which we sometimes suffer is to seek to see others with the eyes of our Lord. Imagine if we fully understood the extent to which we are each loved by our Creator. Let us pray for the grace to reach for this understanding and for forgiveness when we fail to do so.

In the embrace of love

Being involved in the pastoral care of a Catholic parish is a special privilege that draws out many different and often surprising graces.  We are witness to and share in great moments of joy as well as times of deep sorrow.  We are naturally attracted to those joyful events of births, baptisms and marriages.  Who doesn’t like exulting in joyful affairs?  And yet, it seems that it is within the trials of loss, grieving and sorrow that we, as a faith community, come to understand the full extent of the love and caring that we have to offer to one another and that our Lord has for us.

A not so old parishioner passed away just a few days ago after suffering through cancer.  She left a ten year old daughter, an only child and a fifth grader at St. Matthew’s school.  This sweet little girl is much loved and will be cared for by close family friends.  The entire school and parish are truly in mourning at the loss.  The sorrow that is being expressed, though, seems to be primarily in recognition of the grief and sense of loss that is being experienced by one so tender and so loved. And we ponder what she knows and understands and believes . . . and will this bring her consolation?

Of course grieving like this as we do signifies that we have loved and been loved deeply.  This is confirmation for us that God has been active in our lives as we believe and know that he is the source of all love.  So we celebrate this best by sharing that love with which he has gifted us with others, especially with those who are acutely in need of it.  Nothing consoles like the offer of love.  We understand this innately and this too is God’s gift. 

The parish is a natural extension of the family, the domestic church.  This is all the more apparent when the parish, such as ours, is connected to a school in which the children of the parish live and play and learn together.  The communication of all that is happening within the families becomes a common bond for the parish family.  The joys and trials of any one family become wrapped in the embrace of the entire parish as all join in prayers of petition and thanksgiving.

To be a witness to all of this is to come to grow in the understanding of what amazing graces are showered upon the faithful parish family that animates and gives power to the love that is shared there.  Just as it is within the domestic church, so too is the parish family a school of learning where we practice our gifts of love so to ultimately share this with the larger world.  As we pray for this little girl and hold her close to us in our love, let us be mindful of all those little ones who may otherwise find themselves alone.

How we evangelize

In keeping with the weekly papal tradition this last Sunday at noon, Pope Francis spoke from his window over St. Peter's square and prayed the Angelus with thousands of the faithful gathered there.  The Angelus prayed to and with our Mother Mary and in faith of the Incarnation, was a fitting prelude for the remarks of the Holy Father that followed in which he prayed that we, the Church, may be steeped in “the joy of evangelizing” and invoke the aid of the Virgin Mary so that “we can all be disciple-missionaries, small stars that reflect His light.”

If I were to try to draft a “best practices” manual for the Catholic in the pew who desired to know how to evangelize, I could do no better than to cite this brief statement of the Pope.  He emphasized the “dual movement” that brings us to our relationship with God.  First, God loves us: “we are His children; He loves us and He wants to liberate us from evil, from sickness, from death, and take us to His home in His Kingdom.”  We, for our part, are attracted by “goodness, truth, life and happiness and beauty.”   As these two sides attract, it is Jesus who is “our point of encounter” with the Lord as His love incarnate.

There is, I believe, a general tendency to think that “proselytize” and “evangelize” have the same meaning.  Proselytize, however, means to recruit or otherwise bring into the fold.  If I wanted someone to join my fraternal organization I would proselytize by informing him of all of the benefits of belonging and of the wonderful works accomplished by the organization, thereby hopefully persuading him to join.  If, however, I wanted that person to consider my Catholic faith, I would evangelize by first recognizing and acknowledging his natural attraction to goodness, truth, life, happiness and beauty and then bringing him to an encounter with Jesus, who is all of this. 

This is why we tell our inquirers in the RCIA program that their focus is misplaced if they seek to “join” the Catholic Church.  It is not about joining.  It is about “becoming” more like the image in which we are made.  A huge mistake is made if we place our emphasis on “weekly meetings” and “dues” and opportunities for “social networking.”  That describes the activities of a club.  We evangelize when we emphasize the love that our Lord has for each one of us and His invitation to love and serve Him and all others through Him.  Once the inquirer has that encounter with Jesus and he has been catechized in the faith, he no longer needs to be convinced about participating in the Mass or giving of his time, treasure and talents to the Church.  These now become an act of love.

The Pope observed that, “The Lord does not proselytize; He gives love.  And this love seeks you and waits for you.”  And that should be our brand of evangelization.

May he run the good race

The Diocese of Helena recently selected Moe Wosepka as its new Development Director.  Moe is well known and loved throughout the large network of social concern advocacy with which he has been involved over the years.  He was director at the incredibly successful Good Samaritan Ministries in Helena from 1996 to 2006 that provides critical assistance to those in need.  He was then tabbed to be the director of the Montana Catholic Conference tasked with advocating for Catholic social teaching to be reflected more closely in the law.  Now he will turn his attention to marshaling resources for the Diocese of Helena that it may be better equipped to deliver the Gospel.

Moe will work closely with the Bishop and his staff on the goals and objectives of the Diocese.  As with any entity whose purpose it is to provide services, there is necessarily a component to gather the funds required to make the delivery of those services possible.  This is the arena in which Moe will work.  It will be his job to seek and establish relationships and partnerships with like-minded individuals and entities, Catholic and non-Catholic, who seek to join forces to make the world a better place to live.  In the parlance of our Catholic faith we would refer to this as working to usher the Kingdom of God into the world.

He will undoubtedly run into all sorts of obstacles along the way.  Perhaps the most discouraging of these will be the denial or avoidance of support by potential benefactors because of the clergy scandal and the potential legal claims against the assets of the Church.  So how does he open the conversation?  Does he begin with an apology?  Or does he simply forge ahead as though there is no history of sin in the Church?   I would suggest that the only message to lead and end with is the truth and love that is found in Christ.

You may have heard it said that the Church is a population of saints and sinners because within each person there is the nascent saint cloaked within a sinner.  Certainly we feel let down and angry when we discover that this truth is not limited to those in the pews but also to those serving in the sanctuary as well.  Moe will do well to deal with this fact head on and to assert that repentance in this matter must not be limited to introspection and correction within the Church but must be accompanied by a renewed vigor to deliver the Gospel in word and deed.

Let us keep Moe and our Diocese in our prayers, remembering these words, [T]herefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12: 1-2

Hold the ice

A research vessel carrying scientists and tourists has been trapped for some time in the Antarctic ice while attempting to recreate Australian explorer Douglas Mawson’s 1911-13 voyage to Antarctica.  Various icebreakers attempted to reach the ship unsuccessfully and finally helicopters were used to remove all but the ship’s crew to another vessel in open water.  This rescue operation prompted one radio talk show host to comment on the apparent irony that climatologists studying the receding polar ice caps should find themselves stranded in this position.

And so the back and forth on the subject of climate change goes.  Unfortunately although anecdotal stories such as this provide interesting, if not entertaining fodder to the discussion it does little to reduce the acrimony of the debate.  And what exactly is the focal point of the issue?  Or is it just that the focal point seems to shift, depending upon who is pressing the argument.  It seems to me that it is imperative to any honest and critical analysis of the subject that the points of principal interest be clearly defined and understood.

A reasonable framework to apply for this purpose may be found within our own Catholic social teaching.  Scripture imparts to us that God loves and cares for all of creation [Matthew 6: 2-34] and that mankind is the steward of this creation [Genesis 2: 15].  Pope Benedict, in his 2009 Encyclical Caritas in Veritate at No 48, teaches that, Nature is at our disposal not as “a heap of scattered refuse”, but as a gift of the Creator who has given it an inbuilt order, enabling man to draw from it the principles needed in order “to till it and keep it”, but that nature should never be viewed as something more important than the human person.  It is within this balance that we should consider our course.

Does “smarty-pants” man have a complete understanding of the inbuilt order of creation?  A little humility is in order here and we can answer honestly that our grasp of the universe is incomplete.  Does Catholic social teaching suggest that there is an obligation that man should seek a better understanding of this inbuilt order of creation so that he may be a better steward of it?  Yes, I believe that it does.  Ongoing study of our world, including its climate, is therefore a good use of our resources.  Further, an effort to increase our understanding of the effects we humans make on the world by our activities is likewise a duty we should foster.

Whether or not we have adequate knowledge to be legislating certain climate change policies is probably fair game for discussion.  We can be sure that we will never have a complete grasp on the complexities of God’s creation.  But as we advance in our understanding of it we are called to be prudent and care-filled stewards that we may generously share all that the world yields with this and all future generations.  Let that be our charge.

Every day a cause for celebration

The couple was married thirty four years ago today.  No Guinness record set by this, but a cause for celebration nonetheless.  The anniversary presents an opportunity to pause and reflect on all the many blessings (too many to count) that God has bestowed upon this family and to express gratitude to the source of this love.  And wonder will find its way into the thoughts of the couple of what they ever did to deserve such favor.  The only truthful answer is that God loved them first and seeks only that this love be made manifold and generously shared.

So it is that to those to whom much is given, much is expected.  The good news is that this expectation does not bring with it a burden.  It is rather an exhortation to come to understand that these gifts that God showers upon us are intended to be shared with others and will only attain their full measure when given away.  It is within the family, the domestic church, that this seeming paradox is most evident.  It is within the family that we first come to truly trust in God’s providence.

This is what makes the parish family, our faith community, the dynamic treasure that it is.  On any given day within the parish, a wedding anniversary occurs . . . or a marriage . . . or a birth . . . or a baptism . . . or a celebration of life within a Resurrection Mass.  On these hallowed occasions the graces that our Lord confers upon the family spill over, splash over and generally wash over all who are present with collateral blessings.  To be a guest is to be invited to a much grander banquet than the invitation would suggest.  It is God’s intention that the generosity of his love, which is the main course of the feast, be known.  We should therefore not be taken by surprise when we come away from these celebrations feeling nourished and fulfilled although we had thought of ourselves as mere witnesses.

The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is, of course, the “source and summit” of all of our celebrations.  I say, “of course”, because I know that the Mass, being regularly attended as it should be, can seem to become routine, ordinary and commonplace; hardly a celebration at all.  In light of the thanksgiving liturgy that the Eucharist actually is, we must always be looking at this parish family gathering as the grand banquet spread before us by our Lord who showers us with his love, making all of our other wonder-filled family celebrations possible.

Each day, therefore, the parish celebrates the life within it that is lived out in its families and shared and witnessed by the community.  This is the reason to belong to a parish.  That we might give and that we might receive the lifeblood of the Church; the shared love of Jesus Christ, who loves us first.

“[T]hey departed for their country by another way.”

This familiar tag at the end of the passage gives us the image of the magi and their entourage skirting around the main byways serving Jerusalem in order to avoid Herod’s minions and thereby preserve the obscurity of the Christ child and his Holy Family. Imagine how bewildered these men must have been to discover the almost complete lack of awareness, appreciation or enthusiasm from the people in the Jewish capital; the city of the Temple; the very subjects over whom this infant Messiah would gloriously rule.  No one cared, it seemed, except for King Herod, who could expect to be supplanted by this much anticipated successor, anointed by God.  They must have shaken their beards and wondered what sort of topsy-turvy world they had stumbled into.

Doesn't this lead us to look at this passage from an alternative perspective and to come to understand that by commenting that the magi departed for their country “by another way,” it can also be taken to mean that they as well as their direction were changed by this encounter with the Christ child?  These “wise men” were students of history and of prophetic writing.  They may have personally experienced the ravages of war and slavery between the peoples of the area and were most certainly aware of the unrelenting cycle of evil perpetrated on the poor and powerless.  It is easy to imagine that they were starved for peace and dreamed of a resolution to all conflict through the powerful intervention of God who would anoint a beneficent King.  That this King would then gather and rally his Jewish subjects to conquer the world and bring it all under his peaceful rule.  The Jewish scriptures gave them this hope and they searched for it, guided by the star.

What they found were a people with ears oddly unattuned to hear the joyful news that the Messiah was arriving as well as a ruthless King with all of the means to destroy this infant interloper within his first moments of life.  And yet strangely no one monitored the magi on their short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Even though a host of angels loudly heralded the good news to the shepherds in the fields, a mere few miles from the Temple, all was numbly quiet in the streets of Jerusalem and the halls of Herod’s palace. 

What was discovered by the magi in that Bethlehem cave was an infant in full possession of timeless love and peace which emanated from him as a gift to touch their core.  This was not a fearsome warrior, but a tender lover.  He had no need for military protection because he was under supreme protection.  Guidance came to the Holy Family directly from God’s envoy.  No one and no thing would disturb this anointed one of God from fulfilling his mission as foretold by the prophecies.  And this finally was the epiphany experienced by the magi: God’s love prevails.

To Russia with love

Two bombs exploded this week in the streets of Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, Russia killing 31 people and seriously injuring many others.  The backdrop to this tragedy is the 2014 Winter Olympic Games scheduled in Sochi, Russia, 400 miles away.  A Chechen Muslim rebel leader has reportedly called on Muslims to attack civilians and to prevent the Olympics from occurring as he is quoted as saying that the games are, “Satanic dancing on the bones of our ancestors.”

This is news from a world away.  Just more senseless suicide bombings.  It looks like the Muslims are up to it again.  Isn’t it a shame that it might affect the Olympics?  And after that thirty second sound bite we move on to news in the entertainment world.  Wait . . . is that the extent of our concern about this?

What sort of deeply felt conviction makes a human being blow himself (or in this case, herself) up for the singular purpose of killing, maiming and terrorizing others?  What is the story of the Chechen Muslim people and their connection to the Sochi region?  What is it about the Olympic Games in this location that inflame such anger and hostility from these individuals?  Is it a fair question to ask what the ultimate cost will be, in human lives, of these games?

These are all important concerns for each one of us.  Yes, this is on the other side of the world and yes, it is all very complex.  And yes, it would be very hard to measure any difference you or I could make in the matter.  Yet, others will make decisions and take actions that will influence the outcomes to the events that will unfold in the coming weeks.  Will any of these decisions and actions by guided by love?  And by this I mean with recognition of the love that God has for all of his children. 

The Olympic Games provide extraordinary opportunities to bridge the differences between peoples and cultures.  That is, at least for those people and cultures who are invited to the games, or have the economic capacity or desire to compete.  Clearly there are those who will remain outside of the fraternity.  That, I believe, is at the crux of the question.

In the meantime, Russia and much of the rest of the world are likely to frame the issue solely as how to most efficiently remove the threat against the games.  I am loath to guess what degree of success decisions based on such a narrow view will meet.  It will therefore remain for you and me to take up our duty (our cross) to stay informed and to pray that the peace and wisdom of Christ may find its way into the hearts of those making the decisions (on all sides).  Let us pray that the evil that has already been perpetrated over the years on the people in this region will not be compounded by further acts of malice.

Wide-eyed with wonder

During one of our Masses on the fourth Sunday of Advent we baptized an infant, the second child for this young family and an addition as well to the extended family with young cousins all gathered around the baptismal font. They were allowed in close, in front of the adults, so that they could see and hear and touch and smell the occasion. In rapt attention they watched as their baby was anointed with oil and water was poured over her head and a candle was set alight just for her. One of the cousins swished her hand through the running waters of the font and practiced blessing herself and her little sister. Some of the children stood on their tiptoes as if to get closer and take in more of the fragrant chrism oil. In witnessing this I was struck with the thought that these wide-eyed little children, filled with wonder, were perhaps appreciating the sacrament at a level often overlooked by the older and wiser of us who sometimes believe we have taken in all we need to understand about these treasures from God.

Just a few days later at the first Vigil Mass of Christmas Eve we blessed the crèche in the presence of the children's choir and many of the young families of the parish and school. Again the awe and wonder was readily apparent in the faces of the young children. This simple familiar scene set in statuary now radiated a special significance to them as they could see and imagine the new Christ child before them. Families made a point to stay after the Mass to gather at the crèche to pray, to take pictures and to just be with the Holy Family. Isn't it interesting that it is the extraordinary perception and animation of a young child that often brings the grown-up around to take a closer look at what may have been missed or perhaps forgotten?

There is a great mixture of genius and mystery designed into our Catholic liturgy. All of our senses are provoked to the purpose of impressing upon our memories these outward signs that signify another, more significant reality. But the point here is, that we mustn't let ourselves become complacent and give short shrift to the present experience. We must be present to it to fully appreciate the beauty, truth and the love of God that is being expressed.

The young child does not yet have the rational tools to over-think things. He makes sense of his world primarily from what his five senses tell him. When his senses are pleased by the beautiful his nature recognizes the truth and goodness that is there and he accepts them with awe and wonder. And so it should be the aim for the rest of us of all ages to sharpen our awareness of the beauty that is before us in the liturgy that we may be present to the gift we are given.

From unknown to Man of the Year

What do you think of Pope Francis?  He has not been the Holy See for a year and the media is already posting thoughts about his first year.  Much that is written has a positive spin to it.  “A man of the people” . . . “Champion of the poor” . . . “A simple, yet holy man, steeped in the gospel”.  Some that is written are voices of caution and concern.  “He is, at his core, a Marxist” . . . “For all his inclusive language, he will not let women or gays in” . . . “He is a loose cannon to the orthodoxy of the Church”. 

I have made an effort to not limit myself to excerpts of his thoughts, as digested by someone else, but rather have sought out the primary sources of his communications; his homilies, addresses and writings.  It has been fascinating to me to read reviews of Pope Francis, as others see him, inside and outside of the faith, in light of the actual text of the message that he gives.  What has been demonstrated to me is that, first of all, the world, for all of its apparent casual approach to faith, cares very much about the message that is given by the Holy See.  And finally, whatever message he attempts to convey will be sieved through filters of both hopefulness and cynicism.  The responses that we hear to the Holy Father are not so much accurate reflections of his message as they are true likenesses of his hearers.

For this reason I believe it is important to listen very carefully to the responses to him that we are receiving from all corners of the room.  For this purpose he is not only the Pope, but he is the Church.  He is, in fact, a not so simple holy man, steeped in the gospel and the teachings of the Church who unapologetically takes the Catholic faith to the streets, reaching out to both believer and unbeliever. He challenges the most orthodox of Catholics as well as the most virulent detractors of Christianity to come to an understanding of the person of Jesus.  It is to this challenge that people are responding and not to the person of Pope Francis.

If we are to evangelize effectively it is critical to recognize the hopes and anxieties of those we seek to reach.  This outpouring of reaction to the message of our Pope is a treasure trove for anyone wishing to understand the mission.  Let us pray for the ears to hear and the heart of Christ to deliver the gospel to all we meet.