St. Paul and the Call

“Faith of Our Fathers and Mothers”

          Living in a country which celebrates Corpus Christi on the Thursday as a civil holiday and a Holy Day of Obligation, I find myself today (different from many folks elsewhere) on the 10^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, looking forward to the Feast of the Sacred Heart, which marks the close of the Year of the Priest.

“The Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ… Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans.” (2^nd Reading, 10^th Sunday, Year C – Galatians 1:11ff.)

There can be no question that profound differences in quality and scope exist between my vocation and St. Paul’s vocation. No doubt if I were more cooperative with God’s grace it might be harder to distinguish us, but it goes without saying that St. Paul is an Apostle, and one of the foundation stones of the Jerusalem on High, whereas at best I hope someday to shine like a star reflecting the light flowing from the One upon the Throne and from the Lamb.

I think, however, at this juncture we should pose the question once again: Where do vocations to the priesthood come from? Is the clergy abuse scandal the principal impediment to full seminaries and a new flowering of Church life in our day and time?

Answer: God does indeed call us as He did St. Paul from our mother’s womb. If by “the clergy abuse scandal” you mean the static to be picked up on the media, then how could it be the “principal impediment”? No, selfishness and a lack of faith, two of the components involved in the makeup of any priest who takes advantage of adolescents or young men, are deficiencies not limited to certain priests, but quite widespread in the Church. It might be more accurate to say that selfishness and a lack of faith have “taken the fizz out” of family life and militate against God’s Will being done in the lives of many of the baptized. The scarcity of faith or a faith environment at home has more to do with the scarcity of vocations today than any other factor except maybe zero population growth (and is that not a selfish refusal of life as well?).

Why did God make me? To know, love and serve Him in this life, so as to be happy with Him in the next… It’s not happening as it should: the “know, love and serve” part! Even before the economic crisis, which is slowing most economies, causing others to shrink or contract, increasing unemployment and leaving lots of highly qualified people just graduating without a window of opportunity for gainful employ, as I say, even before these hardships there were parents keeping their child to home and fighting off major commitment (read: a religious vocation) in the life of a child, as if it were living death or a recipe for heartbreak as opposed to being buried in a network TV “reality show”, amidst the desolation of a modeling career, or hip-hopping your way into a “Crib” to be rated on MTV, with fridges full of pre-wrapped food platters for consumption in front of a giant flat, flat, flat screen. Think of the parents who have fed an adult child at home beyond obesity to the point where they have to come through the wall with a forklift to carry them off to the coronary care unit and the grave. Where is generosity and where is faith in the equation of more than you think which passes as family life in our day and age? Do parents really want their children to live?

My Sunday Missal subtitles or themes this 10^th Sunday in Ordinary Time as follows: Christ Who Restores Us to Life.

The 1^st Reading from I Kings 17: 17ff. was in this sense and in terms of my question about vocations, especially to the priesthood, enlightening for me:

“And the woman said to Elijah, ‘What quarrel have you with me, man of God? Have you come here to bring my sins home to me and to kill my son?’ ‘Give me your son,’ he said, and taking him from her lap, carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, do you mean to bring grief to the widow… Lord my God, may the soul of this child, I beg you, com into him again!’ The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah and the soul of the child returned to him again and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. ‘Look,’ Elijah said ‘your son is alive.’ And the woman replied, ‘Now I know you are a man of God and the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth itself.’”

During this Year of the Priest lots of crying out in intercession to God on behalf of our priests and for vocations has taken place. St. John Vianney and his example of how to shepherd a parish and save souls have become much better known. Today in Poland in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square that young firebrand of a priest, Father Jerzy Popieluszko (1947-1984), was beatified as a martyr. For these two very different and great priests, and for countless witnesses with less profile, I am ready to say with full confidence that the lamp is lit and shining for all to see; nothing really clouds our view of the city on the mountain top.

A priest friend of mine recounted his disappointment when, as the last of the seeming obstacles fell away, the young man he had hoped would opt for the seminary inexplicably turned away. I thought of Jesus’ sadness over the rich young man who turned down the invitation to leave all and follow Him (selfishness).

Personally, more even than lacking generosity, I think that the hurdle blocking the path for too many, the barrier turning too many aside is a lack of faith. Sigrid Undset analyzes the formula which brought so many talented and formerly worldly young men into the entourage of St. Catherine of Siena and who after her death all followed her individual counsel to join monasteries, cloisters, hospital apostolates or to become hermits. Most certainly her otherworldliness, her mysticism captivated them, but undoubtedly it was the power of God shining through our human weakness in the person of Catherine which caused their faith in the Person of Jesus Christ, perhaps only yet the seed planted at baptism, to sprout and grow at their first encounter with this woman. This all happened against the backdrop of corruption in all quarters of the Church and amidst the heartrending discouragement which even a person like Catherine had to face because of the Great Western Schism.

I read part of an interview with the Bishop of St. Pölten in Austria the other day, where he was asked his view on all the controversy that the Church is facing. He spoke of the history of his diocese, of the utter devastation there and elsewhere in Austria on the eve of the Counter-Reformation and of the wonder worked by young men, properly formed as Catholic priests, who went out and won back to Catholic Faith and practice one parish after another.

The distraught widow of the Book of Kings accosted Elijah and gained his intercession on behalf of a boy that maybe she had been smothering with attention and investing too much hope in. In giving up her child to the prophet she not only had him back full of life but she found herself living truly in God’s presence:

“And the woman replied, ‘Now I know you are a man of God and the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth itself.’”

St. Catherine of Siena drew some of the young men she called to sainthood in the service of the Church of her day despite the selfishness and lack of faith of their parents. She did it with patience and love, and with no amount of prayer on her own part for those parents. Join me in prolonging this Year of the Priest in an insistent prayer on behalf of mothers and fathers: Lord, that they would let go of their sons, that You might give the men life in Your service, and that their parents might have these sons back in faith in this life and truly share happiness with them together with You in Your Kingdom! Not cribs, not abs, not curves, not red carpets or trophies, Lord, but to know You, to love You, to serve You, and really be happy!

In God’s Presence

Not A Moment to Delay

Idling is a terrible thing! Apart from my Google Reader list, which I try and trim down regularly so as not to waste time, however, I do occasionally seek things out of curiosity. Audio is challenging for me: it must really be good to hold my attention. I still prefer the printed word or its blogged equivalent.

          Those of you who follow my reflections on the debate as to where our “liturgical” salvation lies this side of heaven, whether in the reform of the reform or in a full restoration as the only means of picking up the threads and promoting a certain evolution or ongoing reform of the Sacred Liturgy, as willed by the Second Vatican Council, will know that I lean toward the reform of the reform.

          The piece cited below entitled “The Battle for the Ancient Mass” has not really swayed me on that account, but it has confirmed me in the urgent need of a reform of the status quo, let us say, for the sake of the children. The arbitrary, the capricious, the undignified must be banished from our churches such that small children, young children and young people might know these spaces for what they must be, namely as God’s House. Father Goodwin quotes the present Holy Father’s judgment that much of contemporary liturgy represents rupture, a banal, on the spot product. I am not so bold in my own pleas for faithfulness to rubrics and the cultivation of a certain gravitas in the way the priest approaches the Sacred Mysteries. While some might consider my adherence to ad Orientem worship as radical, I think if they were to try it for a longer period of time they would become as convinced as I am that this is how liturgy is meant to be.

Recent attempts on my part to involve others in reflection on sacred music have been fended off with appeals to the genius of any given people and the rightness of striving for a healthy measure of inculturation as a way to the people’s heart. Sadly, what my interlocutors spell as inculturation reads for me as little more than improvisation. I am reminded of a mother superior who roundly condemned the “offertory dance procession” of some local girls we had experienced as “too jiggly”, while acclaiming the rendition by her own postulants from Africa as genuine. I saw no difference except that the local girls preferred outfits with spandex and madras as opposed to the Africans’ full tunics. Both were “jiggly” to me and bringing up the Book of the Gospels in the fruit basket from the market on some gal’s head could hardly defend itself from Fr. Goodwin’s judgment “banal, on the spot product”, or to quote myself: “Say inculturation if you will, I am still reading improvisation.”

          As I say, I’m not a “restoration man” as such or as yet, but I fully understand what Fr. Goodwin is saying “for the sake of the children”. Save him for a quiet moment and decide for yourself whether we dare lose another moment to the arbitrary!

Audio: The Battle for the Ancient Mass

By FSSP on May 26, 2010

Father Calvin Goodwin, FSSP, discusses the history and struggles associated with the Traditional Latin Mass in this hour long talk.

By The Authority of Christ

The Priest as Guide

I was beginning to despair of finding the time and occasion for a brief comment on the Holy Father’s address at the General Audience of 26 May 2010, continuing his series of reflections on the specific tasks of priests, which, according to tradition, are essentially three: to teach, to sanctify, to govern, this one devoted to the third task the priest has, that of governing or guiding that part of the Church entrusted to his care by proper authority. Truth to be told, my real interest is in mining the Pope’s audience talk for use in my own reflection on the question: Who in the Church has or should have “skills for governing” and where do they come from?

          My question is inspired by a whole series of quandaries, some even affecting me directly. Partly, I suppose, it is a desire to deal with the angry fists shaken (at least figuratively so) in the face of bishops in many different countries these days for having failed to confront priests especially for misusing their “power” or “authority” over minors. It is also somewhat piqued by the media attention to the Holy Father’s words about the style of governance of St. Bonaventure as Minister General of the Franciscans in a time of real crisis for that group. Many commentators took the Pope’s words as an expression of his own philosophy of governing:

“Thus we see that for St. Bonaventure governing was not merely action but above all was thinking and praying. At the root of his government we always find prayer and thought; all his decisions are the result of reflection, of thought illumined by prayer. His intimate contact with Christ always accompanied his work as Minister General and therefore he composed a series of theological and mystical writings that express the soul of his government. They also manifest his intention of guiding the Order inwardly, that is, of governing not only by means of commands and structures, but by guiding and illuminating souls, orienting them to Christ.” (LEV – Vatican Web Site – General Audience of 10 March 2010)

Then there is the matter that here in the islands we face the question of where do you look for people to govern the Church, given the scarcity of homegrown priests with the right age and temperament for the office of bishop? From my reading these days I can blame also dear Sigrid Undset’s life of St. Catherine of Siena for getting my “wheels turning” as well, as she describes this very young woman, with no qualifications in human terms for governance, who directs the spiritual life of people from every walk in life, who dictates terms of peace to the worldly princes of her day and really lays down the law with her “sweet Christ on earth”, the Pope. The sole explanation for St. Catherine’s ability to do this is that she is taught by God, that she is in constant and intimate communion with her Bridegroom, the Christ, and that she knows and is directed by Him to express His mind, His will for the salvation of the world of her time.

Who in the Church has or should have “skills for governing” and where do they come from?        

          The Gospel for this Trinity Sunday (Year C) offers me no small amount of consolation in terms of configuring or positioning any kind of response to that question:

“But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.” (John 16:13-15)

Remembering the Primacy discourse between Jesus and Peter, we can confidently say that governance in the Church belongs to those who love the Church as Christ did or to use Pope Benedict’s words from 26 May: “In fact, Christ feeds his flock through the pastors of the Church: It is he who guides it, protects it, corrects it, because he loves it profoundly.” [Translation by ZENIT]

          You might say that the “angry fists” to the extent that they are being shaken by faithful sons or daughters of the Church are more than understandable given the primacy which should belong to love. Let it be said that priestly ordination does not necessarily and enduringly confer that love which is at the heart of governance. It’s sort of like discussing the importance of the sacrament of matrimony for sealing the bond of love between man and woman, fully recognizing that the couple must cooperate with the grace bestowed. The same is true of the primacy of love in governing and guiding, of love’s triumph in the heart of the man ordained to the priesthood as a sine qua non for his being able to govern or guide. As the Holy Father said at the Wednesday Audience:

“If such a pastoral task is founded on the sacrament, nevertheless its efficacy is not independent of the personal existence of the presbyter. To be a pastor according to the heart of God (cf. Jeremiah 3:15) there must be a profound rootedness in living friendship with Christ, not only of the intelligence, but also of liberty and of the will, a clear awareness of the identity received in priestly ordination, an unconditional willingness to guide the entrusted flock where the Lord wishes and not in the direction that, apparently, seems more suitable and easy. That requires, first of all, the continuous and progressive willingness to let Christ himself govern the priestly existence of the presbyters. In fact, no one is really capable of feeding Christ's flock if he does not live a profound and real obedience to Christ and to the Church, and the docility itself of the people to their priests depends on the docility of priests to Christ; because of this, at the base of pastoral ministry is always the personal and constant encounter with the Lord, profound knowledge of him, conforming one's will to the will of Christ.” [Translation by ZENIT]

Who in the Church has or should have “skills for governing” and where do they come from?

          Any priest could or should have those skills if he truly loves, if he is truly a priest after Jesus’ own Heart… Perseverance is part of the equation too. The old wisdom about not proclaiming anyone a saint until that person has both feet firmly planted in the grave applies to the triumph of love: each day has its skirmishes; some days there are set backs; rest from battling comes at the end of our days despite the fact that we live in the hope of going from strength to strength.

“This authority does not come from man himself, but has its origin in the sacred, in the sacrament; hence it subjects the person to the vocation, to the mystery of Christ; it makes of the individual a servant of Christ and only insofar as he is a servant of Christ can he govern, guide for Christ and with Christ. Because of this, whoever enters in the sacred order of the sacrament, the "hierarchy," is not an autocrat, but enters in a new bond of obedience to Christ: he is tied to him in communion with the other members of the sacred order, of the priesthood. And even the Pope -- point of reference for all the other pastors and for the communion of the Church -- cannot do what he wants; on the contrary, the Pope is custodian of the obedience to Christ, to his word taken up again in the "regula fidei," in the Creed of the Church, and must proceed in obedience to Christ and to his Church. Hence, hierarchy implies a triple bond: first of all, the one with Christ and the order given by the Lord to his Church; then the bond with the other pastors in the one communion of the Church; and, finally, the bond with the faithful entrusted to the individual, in the order of the Church….” [Translation by ZENIT]

I really hope that younger people are discovering obedience, coming to an appreciation of the essential importance of obedience in the love equation. Frequently, sad to say, I hear young people criticized for their willfulness. I have heard it said that “he comes to the seminary or she comes to the novitiate with his or her idea of how it is supposed to go”. One Father Provincial told me that he and his whole council were totally aghast when each and every one of them finally became convinced that the young man standing before them was demanding admission to perpetual vows on his own terms and not those laid down by St. Dominic and the Church.

          Was it Cardinal Suenens or Karl Rahner who said that the future of the Church lies in the hands of the mystics? The quote is indeed creepy if you do not understand that never from the time of St. Peter has the Church depended on a military academy or elite finishing school of the Ivy League sort to prepare its leadership. Some say that Jesus asked Peter three times “Do you love me?” because Peter had to take back or make reparation for his three denials. It might just as well be that Jesus wanted no misunderstandings concerning what He considered the sine qua non for tending the flock… “Simon, do you love me more than these?”

Never Parted from You

Pentecost

          In the brief introduction to the Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost, offered by MAGNIFICAT, reference is made to the teaching of two of our fathers in faith and to my mind it is done so to great effect:

          The popular monthly prayer book paraphrases the Angelic Doctor: “Saint Thomas Aquinas says that the Holy Spirit interiorly perfects our spirit, communicating to it a new dynamism so that it refrains from evil for love.”

          “…It is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely other-worldly in outlook and for cowards to become people of great courage”. Saint Cyril of Alexandria

          Most of the programs which people turn to for help with an addiction of one kind or another work on the principle of sustaining our own weak will through entrustment to a higher authority or power and by cultivating structures of solidarity by leaning on others in an honest joint effort to stay clean or sober. Setting boundaries is a valid and thoroughly wise dimension of the whole strategy. These programs are good; in fact, they can be a great thing, a source of hope for the addict and of consolation for distraught family, friends and co-workers.

However, such an approach is not and cannot be a blueprint for my life as a whole, for that reality which is really me, for all that I am in truth. What is at stake when it comes to the fullness of life are those bookends on experience that are none such, as life does not come to an end when we rest from our labors, when we return to dust; what is involved here is what happens when life changes, when we go to meet the Lord in the heavens. Our eternal salvation and what we are seeking beyond the grave is something we must approach in a totally different way and without analogy to any program with props solely in the here and now. Granted, we might profitably use the principles of the AA Charter (or of any step program to sobriety or wholeness) to free ourselves from some sinful habit, but such an honest option does not nor does it pretend to go any further than that. Reforming or recovering is not yet being forgiven by God; it is not really reparation; on my own I can’t erase the temporal punishment which I may have incurred due to my sins; I cannot gain the total victory over sin by myself, let alone claim as mine the victory over everlasting death which Christ won for me upon the Cross. Our end and Jesus’ prayer for us goes far beyond personal achievement:

“If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever. If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.” (Gospel for Pentecost in Year C – John 14)

          Being God-less-ly moral and upright, seeking the True, the Good and the Beautiful with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength by myself or with the help of friends may be admirable, but to refuse God’s help by failing to live with Him and in His time (A.D. Anno Domini) is not heroically or stoically, stubbornly or dully to take the road less traveled; it is hopeless and hopelessly out of touch with what put the wise men from the East on their quest for the One born under that exceptional star. Jesus wrote history not only to edify people forever after but to change things forever thereafter baptizing us not like John in his quest for renunciation of sin, but in waters made holy by the One Who was baptized.

          “Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (2^nd Reading for Pentecost Sunday, Year C, Romans 8)

          The Holy Spirit and His Coming at Pentecost, God’s action in our lives, is what changes and saves us from Adam’s sin and our personal sins. Getting to Heaven is not dependent on something comparable to my finding the right fitness trainer and training strategy, which at best might give me (after only 90 days) that look which merits quick video documentation because, like holding your breath under water, at some point this game too will be over.

Personally, I never knew (other than in Germany) the Pentecost Monday holiday and so was overjoyed this morning in green to hear at Mass on the Monday of the 8^th Week in Ordinary Time (Year 2) these words of encouragement:

          “This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials; so that, when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been tested and proved like gold – only it is more precious than gold, which is corruptible even though it bears testing  by fire – and then you will have praise and glory and honour.” (1 Peter 1)

Malachi urged walking humbly with our God. All the great ascetic saints knew that our part in the salvation equation is small. For that reason I love both of the presently used private communion prayers of the priest very much. To conclude, I thought I’d quote the new translation which we are to familiarize ourselves with in preparation for making a good beginning in just over a year.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit, through your death gave life to the world; free me by this your most holy Body and Blood from all my sins and from every evil; keep me always faithful to your commandments, and never let me be parted from you.”

Christ’s Eternal Glory

The Ascension of the Lord

Responsorial Ps. “God goes up with shouts of joy;

the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.”

          One of those little shorthand caricatures of history with which I was brought up was a description of the Arian heresy as a negligent sort of refusal on the part of the rank and file to believe in the divinity of Christ. As this thumbnail description goes, Arianism swept through the world of its time mostly by distraction and because misguided temporal rulers found the followers of Arius to be better political allies and an Arian “church” easier to manage than the genuine Catholic variety. This caricature is in keeping with a saying passed on, which I would not know where to begin to footnote, that runs: “The Church woke up one day and found itself Arian.” I’ve heard the same applied to the Lutheranism of the Scandinavian countries, namely that it was imposed by opportunistic political leaders and accepted without a fight. The people of the far north of Europe just woke up one morning different or “out of communion with Rome”. The rest followed from there.

I am neither going to unpack nor challenge the caricature. It seems too simplistic to be true. In a lot of ways, however, this thumbnail description fits your average contemporary “Machiavelli’s” predilection to seek as political allies progressive or nominal Catholics as opposed to traditional or practicing/serious Catholics, who from an informed conscience confess their sins regularly, who tithe, who fulfill the two great commands of love of God and love of neighbor, and who assist at Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

Granted, such a shorthand description is a punch in the stomach also for people who straddle the fence, ever on the look-out for bouncy liturgy and lively music, not fasting before Mass and frequently wandering into church with gum in their mouths so as not to risk being sniffed by whomever and found guilty of bad breath. I would imagine that Sr. What’s-her-name of that Catholic Hospital Association in the U.S., who endorsed ObamaCare (shorthand expression) for a fist full of dollars and betrayed the Catholic moral witness so cautiously presented by the U.S. hierarchy, would be miffed at me as well if I called her a modern day Arian. Indulge my oversimplification just as you do it continually for anything anyone else may say who seems to have the “prince’s favor” and the upper hand in society today!

“God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.”

On the great feast of the Ascension of the Lord I think it is crucial to realize that when in the Response to the Psalm we sing “God goes up…” we are referring to Jesus. One of the constant worries of a dear, old priest friend of mine is that today in the Catholic Church they just may be many in number who miss that connection. He fears that those who discount the divinity of Christ may not be few or marginal in terms of the role they play in the “official” church. The refrain from today’s Mass “God goes up…” for them stands alone and does not connect back as it should to what we just read in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles about Ascension Day. It is a terrible thought but one I cannot really take away from him or lay to rest. There is too much out there to convince me too that lots of folks, priests included, do not get it (to use the colloquial phrase). They cannot distinguish between the glow of health, a face flushed after jogging, and the Glory shining forth on the Face of the Risen Christ, God made visible.“God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.”

Year C treats us to Hebrews 9:24-28. 10:19-23 as an optional second reading for the Ascension. What happened when Jesus was taken from the sight of the disciples by a cloud is explained there in terms of temple worship.

“It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modeled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf.”

On this Feast today, if you will, we celebrate the fact that the offering is complete. We wait only for our high priest to return, “… and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.”

Today is really all about the “once and for all” of Jesus, how, as the passage from St. Luke’s Gospel describes the scene on the outskirts of Bethany, “… as he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven. They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising God.” Salvation is accomplished; we need but wait for the return of the high priest.

I’ve started reading again the “Introduction to the Devout Life” by St. Francis de Sales. One of the counsels which he gives early in that book is to move quickly beyond renouncing sin to renouncing any affection we might have for sin as well. History explains in part Francis’ great success in bringing people back to Catholic faith by describing what a friendly and good man he was. They say similar of St. Norbert and his success as an evangelizer. Neither of these men could be classed dour or sour, in fact, Norbert is described as fun-loving. Nonetheless, I doubt if they would have gotten a kick out of the old country western refrain: “Temptation, get away from me… but not too far!” Patient confessors rightly encourage us to start again after each fall, but I wonder if they might not help us more by further asking us to face squarely the possibility that we might indeed have a genuine affection in our heart for that sin which pains us so each time we fall. Nowadays, you’ll hear tell of various types of addictions which are probably more aptly described in the words of St. Francis de Sales as an affection, a disordered affection, a real inclination toward evil as much as a denying what is true, good and beautiful, really. St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!

With our high priest interceding for us on the other side of the veil, the Ascension’s message has to be one of unbounded optimism in our struggle to conquer sin. “God goes up…” Our profession of faith in Jesus, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, is the cornerstone. We can draw hope from St. Paul’s encouraging words to his son in the faith, Timothy:

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you. Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (1 Tm 1:5b-7)

We need to rekindle or stir into a flame that which is so appropriately symbolized by our Baptismal candle and sad to say for many children just as carefully wrapped and packed away in a chest of drawers as the pretty candle itself was after the return home from church. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God: the words roll off our tongues but their profound meaning has to be renewed within a goodly number of Catholics. The faith must be rekindled. If you know your catechism, a resolution will help and so will a good confession. Not only must the sins be washed away but the cords which bind our hearts must also be broken. Let no one blush at the old recommendation to make use of confession for devotional purposes. I doubt if the word “devotional” there can be traced back to the school of St. Francis de Sales, but if it can’t it surely could find a worthy and worthwhile explanation in its providing an efficacious means for breaking the bonds which tie us or draw us to anything or anyone other than our great high priest who has passed through the veil and stands ministering before the throne of God on our behalf.

Let me repeat my refrain:

Come Thou, Holy Spirit, Come!

          And from Thy Celestial Home

          Shed a Ray of Light Divine…

Bend the Stubborn Heart and Will

Melt the Frozen, Warm the Chill

Guide the Steps that Go Astray…

The Priest as Sanctifier

Holy God, Holy Mighty One,

Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy…

The Holy Father’s address at the General Audience of 5 May 2010, continuing his series of reflections on the specific tasks of priests, which, according to tradition, are essentially three: to teach, to sanctify, to govern, was devoted to the second task the priest has, that of sanctifying, above all through the sacraments and the worship of the Church.

Pope Benedict said to those gathered in St. Peter’s Square, “… to sanctify a person means to put him in contact with God, with … light, truth, pure love. It is obvious that this contact transforms the person. … Without a minimum contact with God, man cannot live. Truth, goodness, love are fundamental conditions of his being.” [Translation by ZENIT]

The Holy Father points out that contemporary emphasis on the priest’s role as a preacher of the word has perhaps been at the expense of the priest’s role as sanctifier in and through the sacraments.  More specifically the Pope says: “It is necessary to reflect if in some cases this undervaluing of the faithful exercise of the munus sanctificandi did not represent, perhaps, a weakening of the faith itself in the salvific efficacy of the sacraments and, in short, in the present action of Christ and of his Spirit, through the Church, in the world.” The key word to understanding Pope Benedict’s message (at least for my purposes here) is undervaluing: it would be hard to resist the argument that the casual, the conversational, the flighty and whatever might be thoughtlessly borrowed from the everyday not only tends to but does indeed undervalue the exercise of the sanctifying task of the priest and, yes, it weakens the faith of the priest, first of all, but also of God’s People. We are not far from describing here what is meant in the Gospel admonition condemning those who “scandalize God’s little ones”.

At the heart of the task of sanctifying the Holy Father places the celebration of two sacraments in particular: the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist, which he exhorts priests to celebrate and live with intensity. Thereby the priest can show forth the infinite mercy and tenderness of God. Pope Benedict renews once again his invitation to priests to aspire to moral perfection and thereby provide an example of faith and witness of sanctity for the building up of the People of God.

While such words always present a challenge to me as a priest, I find no small encouragement in these words as well. They strengthen my conviction concerning the urgency of a recovery of a sense of the sacred in worship. You might rightly accuse me of being less “down to earth” than the Holy Father, especially as regards the Sacrament of Penance, where he is basically pleading concretely/pragmatically for the availability of the priest in the confessional and the restoration of the confessional as the rightful place for the celebration of this great sacrament of God’s forgiveness. His message even includes an invitation for the priest to simply spend time in there (there being the “box”).

Indeed, the Holy Father makes the confessional a true place of encounter with the mercy of God by fixing its proper ambience, rightfully situated in church and in the sight of Our Lord in the Tabernacle. Penance in the confessional channels or forms the experience of this sacrament, really transporting the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation beyond the limits of a mere human exchange in everyday surroundings, whether they be as simple and unadorned as your back step or as grandiose as a seaside at sunset or a mountaintop confession to a best friend. We people who confess regularly in a church setting know what a difference it makes to be able to come out into the silence of the church and place ourselves in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We’re moving beyond the barebones affirmation of the efficacy of the sacrament which, all things being equal, anywhere and everywhere forgives sins. We intend to make a statement about ambience and obedience to Church law as a sure antidote to the kind of undervaluing which can take place … “weakening … the faith itself in the salvific efficacy of the sacraments and, in short, in the present action of Christ and of his Spirit, through the Church, in the world.”

 Much the same commentary can be made on the Holy Father’s repeated invitations to celebrate and live with intensity the Eucharist. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass rightly celebrated bends or binds my focus in such a way that our habitual cry becomes that of the psalm refrain “…not to us, not to us, O Lord, but to Your Name give the glory”. A careless celebration of the Eucharist certainly has its hidden effect through grace but when the source and summit of Christian existence is properly brought to completion, it offers that much more not only as a plus but as a duty yoked to the priest’s and the Church’s task in the Name of the Lord “… to sanctify a person … to put him in contact with God, with … light, truth, pure love.”

Pope Benedict rightly calls priests to a profound change of heart. His invitation to priests to aspire to moral perfection and thereby provide an example of faith and witness of sanctity for the building up of the People of God is not breath wasted. The Holy Father wields the two-edged sword of God’s Word here and lovingly calls us all to account. He speaks in faith, confident that God’s Word will not return to Him without achieving that for which He sent it out.

As I say, the goal is the recovery of the sacred in every parish church. Some ask how such a recovery is possible, such a cleansing of the temple, casting out all the folly which around the world holds so much church space hostage. Personally, I think of every Adoration Chapel as a bridgehead and the necessary assurance to any fainthearted priest that he has allies for recapturing the body of the church and holding it secure for silence, for recollection, for genuine worship in spirit and in truth. The body of witness for what is possible, what has already been achieved in the parish next door, if you will, is truly impressive and challenges every priest to review his choices and, if need be, change his way of celebrating such that those who come in search of the living God might truly find Him.

Munus sanctificandi, ZENIT translates munus with task; duty, Father, isn’t far off either. In any case, it is all about what you were created for by the Church’s prayer and the laying on of hands: for to sanctify is to put yourself and others “in contact with God, with … light, truth, pure love.” Rabble-rousing and cheer-leading are not part of the job description.

The Sublime is Attainable

Today’s Family Feud

            “We hear that some of our members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any authority from us, and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ… It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves…” (Acts 15 – first reading of the Sixth Sunday of Easter)

          “In the spirit, the angel took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of God…” (Apocalypse 21:10ff.)

          Sigrid Undset, in her book “Catherine of Siena”, provides insight into the climate of violence which held Siena and many other mediaeval cities and towns in Italy in its grip at the time of St. Catherine. She explains how not even monasteries and cloisters were exempt from the bloody family feuds so characteristic of a period of transition where one social order had given way and no other had yet replaced it. No one is spared and we are indeed creatures of our times. I was reminded of the unfounded criticism leveled by a very Catholic journalist friend of mine, who insists that Church leadership must be above the shortcomings of its own day, must by definition be visionary/prophetic. This type of criticism, mixed no doubt with chauvinism or naïveté, berates the Church for not having been the first in every way e.g. to condemn slavery and long before the 1800’s, when economics finally granted space and reason to the righteous. In our day, this same sort of chauvinism shrieks out its sense of betrayal over bishops especially, who behaved like men of their time (1950-95) instead of as enlightened rulers of the 21^st Century in dealing with the whole pallet of abusive behavior directed against minors (in the church, school and family settings), behavior which had always been considered wrong, yes criminal, but is only now beginning to be faced resolutely and openly.

          My object in this essay is not to address the problem of the abuse of minors nor to defend short-sighted leaders but rather to ask what could possibly be meant by the now and not yet of referring to the Church as Christ’s Bride. The problematic character for some folks today of the words used by the Council of Jerusalem to formulate its decision regarding the requirements of Mosaic Law to be imposed on new Christians of Gentile origin:  “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves…” must be faced by all within the Church, whether they feel betrayed by those in leadership or not. This is not a new problem, but I fear that the reticence on the part of many when it comes to confessing Christ present and acting in His Church and the failure to embrace the doctrine that the one Church of Jesus Christ subsists in the Catholic Church may be as all-pervasive today as the violence of St. Catherine’s day and with even more tragic consequences for the younger generations in search of the Face of God.

          I was surprised to discover that my Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary does not even contain the world “triumphalism”. Wikipedia without quoting sources, however, does: “Triumphalism is the attitude or belief that a particular doctrine, religion, culture, or social system is superior to and should triumph over all others. Triumphalism is not an articulated doctrine  but rather a term that is used to characterize certain attitudes or belief systems by parties such as political commentators and historians.” Very simply, triumphalism is something you might be accused of by others who claim to know better. One man’s healthy pride or simply his humble adherence to the truth as it comes to him from God is another man’s pretence. Pilate asked Jesus, without expecting an answer, “What is truth?” and that is where much of society stands today, questioning while expecting no answer. What is odd and even frightening about this refusal on the part of some people who make themselves outsiders to truth and for many bishops, priests, religious and laity “committed” to the Church as they see it is that while labeling the claim to possess the truth that comes from God as triumphalism, they indulge in a sort of protagonism which leads them to nothing short of despair in the face of problems or issues beyond ordinary human capabilities. They are more apt to believe the “Iron Man Saga” than that “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves…”

          While I am more than ready along with Sigrid Undset to accept the credentials of a radical like St. Catherine of Siena, immersed as she was in the ocean of God’s love, I guess I have to face the reality as Catherine did of a Church where one monk might blacken another’s eye or knock out his front teeth for love of a brother on the outside whose fabric store had been vandalized by the confrere’s relatives seeking a larger share of the market. Even a child prodigy of holiness like Catherine was born into a family which has no other saints of the canonized variety to show for itself besides herself, Italy’s patroness and Siena’s pride.

          Speaking recently on the topic of vocations promotion to our conference of bishops, I laid the problem of too few vocations at the door of a crisis of faith within the community of the Church. Besides good preaching and catechesis, I made a plea at this historic juncture in time for creating a better ambience within the Church. I recommended especially at this juncture in time to do so by profiting from the publication of the New English Translation of the Roman Missal as a way to address squarely the issue of liturgical abuse. I implored the bishops to strive for a dignified cathedral liturgy and to seek to convince all of their priests to renounce caprice and adhere to the rubrics. We have at this point in time a “second chance”, if you will, to catch the runaway train and recover the possibility of worship in spirit and in truth. If each and every church and chapel were truly a place of encounter with the Lord, if the hectic and the willfulness were cast out of our Sunday celebrations, perhaps more children would perceive that it is indeed the God Who is near us Who calls. Success is as close as a little change of heart on the part of priests, liturgists and those who call themselves church musicians: that they might turn again and begin to receive instruction from legitimate authority as it is and must be given in matters of Divine Worship, “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves…”

          For my friends who may be wondering: at over nine months into celebrating Mass daily ad Orientem I assure you I am even more convinced that this minor change when possible (without a building drive or major financial outlay), along with a newfound attentiveness to the official directives of the competent authority ordering divine worship would free most priests of that ugly temptation to protagonism. Why would I ever want to stand over and against my people in something as important as the renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross? The Lord God and the Lamb are the temple and the light of the holy city. What is my “light” or my leadership by comparison?

One day soon, I am going to try and express my thoughts on the liturgical training I received in the seminary where we were urged as “presiders” to seek eye contact, apart from technique in homiletics or public speaking… My reflection is not yet ripe, but the question is posed: “What does eye contact have to do with worship of the living God?” It is not that simple, but the question must be posed and dealt with.

          The call to obedience or conformity with existing liturgical law in the Church, the plea for decorum in worship and the stripping away of a whole series of unfounded accretions, which like all attempts at improvisation are condemned to remain in the backwaters of bad taste and superficiality, may have an aesthetic dimension, but I think the real motivation is rooted in the words of the Gospel:

          “Those who do not love me do not keep my words… I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.” (John 14)

Let me repeat my refrain:

Come Thou, Holy Spirit, Come!

          And from Thy Celestial Home

          Shed a Ray of Light Divine…

Bend the Stubborn Heart and Will

Melt the Frozen, Warm the Chill

Guide the Steps that Go Astray…