July 2012 Archives

"Dear friends, it is clear that configuration to Christ is the precondition and the basis for all renewal. But perhaps at times the figure of Jesus Christ seems too lofty and too great for us to dare to measure ourselves by him. The Lord knows this. So he has provided 'translations' on a scale that is more accessible and closer to us. For this same reason, Saint Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. For his disciples, he was a 'translation' of Christ's manner of life that they could see and identify with. Ever since Paul's time, history has furnished a constant flow of other such 'translations' of Jesus' way into historical figures."

Pope Benedict XVI

Let us praise Joachim and Anne, to whom, in their generation, the Lord gave him

who was a blessing for all the nations. (entr. ant.)

Since the sixth century the Eastern Church has venerated the memory of Saints Joachim and Anne; it was in the tenth century that the Western Church entered Anne's name into the martyrology and only recently have both been acknowledged together as the grandparents of Jesus.

Let's pray for grandparents, living and deceased through the intercession of Saints Joachim and Anne.

On grandparents, the Pope has said in 2008,

As regards the family, grandparents continue to be witnesses of unity, of solid values of faithfulness and that singular love from which faith and the joy of living flow.... In the face of the crisis of the family could it not be time to draw even more upon the presence and testimony of those -- grandparents -- who have a greater richness of values and experience? We couldn't, in fact, plan the future without recalling a past characterized by significant experiences and spiritual and moral points of reference. Thinking of grandparents, of their witness of love and faith to live, there come to mind the biblical figures of Abraham and Sara, Elizabeth and Zechariah, of Joachim and Anne, just like the elderly Simeon and Anna, or even Nicodemus: in every age, all of these recall for us how the Lord asks each to bring their own talents.

I met a man this afternoon doing some business with us on marketing and the question of beauty came to the fore. He remarked on how we are among the few clients he has who have concern for beauty, simple sophistication, not foppishness. I recalled for him that beauty is a theological datum; it is such a principled piece of Catholicism that it is shameful of what passes for beauty.

Several years ago I came across a couple of lines of Cardinal Ratzinger's that speaks of beauty as really, really important. He said, "A theologian who does not love art, poetry, music and nature can be dangerous. Blindness and deafness toward the beautiful are not incidental; they necessarily are reflected in his theology." In other words, don't trust a theologian who has no regard for beauty.

Then on FB I noted this quote and image on beauty.

It is one of the notable sadnesses of our time that so many are incapable of fascination with the deeper levels of human beauty, especially those rooted in the spirit, levels that far transcend physical attractiveness.  Before lofty human traits some people are more or less apathetic, listless, unmoved, even hardened. And many seem to die as they live. 

Thomas Dubay. S.M., The Evidential Power of Beauty, p.64-65.

Saint Benedict has a special place in his Rule for eternity. The eternal life is usually a subject that many people run away from because in order to fully enjoy eternity one needs to confront death. Well, that's what many think. The Lord's promise of eternal life and many of benefits can be enjoyed before one dies. In fact, that's what the sacraments give us: a foretaste of eternity. Baptism opens the door, washes away sin, imparts grace, and makes one an adopted child of God; the Eucharist nourishes our spiritual life, and builds communion with the Trinity; Confirmation imparts the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Beatitude, etc. Sacraments give the faithful a share in Beatitude if lived in a state of grace and according to the Eight Beatitudes. 

The question really is what the Apostle Paul said, and what is adhered to by true Christians, particularly saints, "To me to live is Christ," (Mihi Vivere Christus)" (Phil: 1, 21). Living means being closely united, in communion, with Christ. Catholics live in Christ by living the sacraments and according to Scripture but the teaching of the saints also illumine our path.

A verse in the Prologue to Saint Benedict's Rule refocuses us:

"If we wish to reach eternal life, even as we avoid the torments of hell, then - while there is still time, while we are in this body and have time to accomplish all these things by the light of life - we must run and do now what will profit us for all eternity." (Prologue 42 - 44,RB).

The teaching, some have said, can be interpreted to mean that Saint Benedict is urging his disciples to put into daily practice right now what we will be doing for all eternity: that is, giving glory and praise to God. How we give God glory and praise is done through our daily lives of personal and communal prayer, in faithfulness and obedience to the Divine Majesty. This was the source of someone who knows God: a lifelong fidelity, joyfulness, and an openness to Wonder. The position of wonder speaks to our youthful spirit and joy was keeping our eyes, our mind and our heart fixed on Jesus Christ and the promise of the Hundredfold.

Do you wish to reach your ultimate destiny, eternal life? What will you do to run along the path?

To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, "If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth."

Catholic TV will premiere "The Sea Within" Friday, July 27 at 9:30pm and Saturday, July 28 at 1pm. "The Sea Within" explores the spirituality of surfing as shared by Dr. Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College. 

The project is based on his three books on the subject: I Surf Therefore I Am, If Einstein Had Been a Surfer, and The Sea Within.  It was produced by Kindly Light, the media division of the Dominican Fathers Province of Saint Joseph. Donations to Kindly Light are tax-deductible and your gift is one way to actively participate in our media projects for the new evangelization. 

Send a DVD to someone you know by ordering it here. 

"The main task for us all is that of a new evangelization aimed at helping younger generations to rediscover the true face of God, who is Love." -Pope Benedict XVI.

In the US, the Church liturgically remembers the patron saint of nurses, the sick and hospitals, Saint Camillus de Lellis. We the Church we pray for all those who dedicate their lives to the care of sick.

O God, who adorned the Priest Saint Camillus with a singular grace of charity towards the sick, pour out upon us, by his merits, a spirit of love for you, so that, serving you in our neighbor, we may, at the hour of death, pass safely over to you.

The Church proposes today Saint Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614), a man with a weighty past who gave his life to Christ and served the sick and the dying. He was influenced by the great Saint Philip Neri. The witness of Saint Camillus is one that we ought to pay attention to: Christ is present to us in those are sick.

More of Saint Camillus' life can be read here.

From Butler's Lives of the Saints 1894:

THE early years of Camillus gave no sign of sanctity. At the age of nineteen he took service with his father, an Italian noble, against the Turks, and after four years' hard campaigning found himself, through his violent temper, reckless habits, and inveterate passion for gambling, a discharged soldier, and in such straitened circumstances that he was obliged to work as a laborer on a Capuchin convent which was then building. A few words from a Capuchin friar brought about his conversion, and he resolved to become a religious. Thrice he entered the Capuchin novitiate, but each time an obstinate wound in his leg forced him to leave. He repaired to Rome for medical treatment, and there took St. Philip as his confessor, and entered the hospital of St. Giacomo, of which he became in time the superintendent. The carelessness of the paid chaplains and nurses towards the suffering patients now inspired him with the thought of founding a congregation to minister to their wants. With this end he was ordained priest, and in 1586 his community of the Servants of the Sick was confirmed by the Pope. Its usefulness was soon felt, not only in hospitals, but in private houses. Summoned at every hour of the day and night, the devotion of Camillus never grew cold. With a woman's tenderness he attended to the needs of his patients. He wept with them, consoled them, and prayed with them. He knew miraculously the state of their souls; and St. Philip saw angels whispering to two Servants of the Sick who were consoling a dying person. One day a sick man said to the Saint, "Father, may I beg you to make up my bed? it is very hard." Camillus replied, "God forgive you, brother! You beg me! Don't you know yet that you are to command me, for I am your servant and slave." "Would to God," he would cry, "that in the hour of my death one sigh or one blessing of these poor creatures might fall upon me!" His prayer was heard. He was granted the same consolations in his last hour which he had so often procured for others. 

In the year 1614 he died with the full use of his faculties, after two weeks' saintly preparation, as the priest was reciting the words of the ritual, "May Jesus Christ appear to thee with a mild and joyful countenance!"

How theologians might reflect on communication and information technologies and the new culture that they create formed the basis of a symposium sponsored by the Pontifical Council on Social Communication, held at the Jesuit-sponsored Santa Clara University in California (USA) in late June. The PCCS, along with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Communications and the University's Communication Department, convened a gathering of 25 theologians to begin a process of sustained theological reflection. The group focused on three general areas: ecclesiology, approaches from historical theology, and a theological understanding of digital culture, in each area considering the challenges that contemporary communication poses to the church's theological understanding.

Communication, whether the mass media or the Internet, has changed the environment in which people live, raising questions about church structure, personal identity, parish life, religious self-understanding, and religious formation and participation. For example, people take their identity from popular culture more than from the Church's catechetics or even from the Gospel. The same mass media also promote a vertical model of the Church in which the local community, the parish, and the diocese disappear, so that only "the Catholic Church" headed by the Pope matters. Each of these poses a serious ecclesiological challenge, as each redefines the nature of the Church.

To read the whole article, see the text here.

Unless you are clued-in on the Carmelite martyrs, Blessed Teresa of St Augustine and Companions -- (d. 1794), also known as the Martyrs of Compiegne, are commemorated today as Virgins and Martyrs. These nuns are the subjects of the opera by François Poulenc, Dialogues of the Carmelites, for which Georges Bernanos provided the libretto.

The 1790 a decree of the new French Republic suppressed all religious communities, except for those engaged in teaching and nursing. You had show the government you were a utilitarian entity that did something for the common good.

The life of the Church is very interesting. Even such obscure things, seemingly that is, like that of the Papal Theologian, piques my wonder and awe at what is expected in our communal pursuit of Truth. And that's what the Papal Theologian helps us to do: seek the face of God. Perhaps in your seeking Truth, Beauty and Goodness you are genuinely curious about how the Church works and the people behind the work being done?

The Papal Theologian emeritus of the Papal Household, Georges Cardinal Cottier, OP, gave an interview to Jose Antonio Varela Vidal at Zenit (11 July 2012) about Blessed Pope John Paul II, with whom he worked intimately: "...he was a man of hope. When he said: 'Do not be afraid,' he certainly said it for the countries occupied by Communism, but he also said it because he saw that there was a certain decadence in the West. I would say he awakened the Church everywhere. Then, his love of life, this was fantastic and he witnessed this love of life in a life profoundly marked by illness, and young people understood him."

The NY Times op-ed columnist and author Ross Douthat writes about the decline of "liberal Christianity."  I found Douthat's "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?" a good article to ponder, even good enough to take to prayer, because Ross asks what within the tradition of modern Christianity is worth saving and what definitely needs to be jettisoned. Douthat, for me, reminds me of days not long ago when a prominent religious order of men adopted a form of liberal Christian thinking on all maters but the truth, even to the point of a several members saying they relished being post-Christian. Gone are the days --at least one hopes the days are gone-- when we are theologically shallow, lacking the biblical narrative and true theology.

Ross Douthat recently published the provocative Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (Free Press, 2012).

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, just as we celebrate the heavenly birthday of the bishop Saint Bonaventure, we may benefit from his great learning and constantly imitate the ardor of his charity.

Ask my parents about the number of books I have. They'd say, "Too many." But they also say that I don't easily with them. However, I do weed out some of the books I deem useless to me and donate them to a monastery or a group of Benedictine sisters in outside of Pittsburgh who collect books for new monasteries in the developing world. I do try to act charitably. 

A Capuchin friar friend of mine wrote a piece on his blog about his reluctance to lend books. I can relate. He found this paragraph of Saint Bonaventure's that seems to capture the feelings of anyone who has ever been reluctant to lend a book:

[T]hose who are most importunate in asking for them are the slowest to return them; books return torn and dirty; he to whom they are lent, lends them to another without your permission, and this other sometimes to a third, and this third not knowing by now who owns the book is not in a position to give it back; sometimes again he to whom a book is lent leaves the place and is then too far away to bring it back; and if he manages to find someone to bring it back for him, this someone wants to read it before giving it back, or lends it, and ends up by denying that he ever had it; finally if a book is lent to one man others are angry that it is not lent to them too, so that one is forced to do without it oneself while waiting for it to come back dirty, or be lost altogether.

There's still much to learn in the spiritual life when you take seriously the prayer of the Church (noted above), especially regarding the charity one ought to have. I fail at being charitable, a sin I confess often; but I keep trying to learn from the saints like Friar Bonaventure.

Some prior posts on Saint Bonaventure may be found here, here and here.

(Bonaventure, Determinationes quaestionum, II, 21, as quoted in Etienne Gilson, The Philosophy of St. Bonaventure, trans. Dom Illtyd Trethowan, 61-62.)

The Witherspoon Institute published an address, "At the Door of the Temple: Religious Freedom and the New Orthodoxy" by Philip Tartaglia on June 27, 2012. How are the challenges of faith and reason pressing us to think and act more boldly in the face of limitations being placed upon religious liberty?  The Most Reverend Philip Tartaglia is a responsible thinker and provokes all of us to do something that is reasonable.

The new orthodoxy of secularism fails to understand that the virtues generated by religious freedom underpin and encourage a healthy democracy.

When I was consecrated a bishop in 2005, I was not fretting about religious freedom in Scotland or in the United Kingdom. Yet just six and a half years later, I can say with a concerned and fearful realism that the loss of religious freedom is now arguably the most serious threat that the Catholic Church and all people of faith in this country are facing. The way this issue unfolds will determine how the Church will present itself to society for the foreseeable future. Will the Catholic Church--and other religious bodies and groups--have the space to adhere to, express, and teach their beliefs in the public square? Or will these basic elements of religious freedom be denied, driving the Church and other religious bodies to the margins of society, if not actually underground?

The Fraternity of Communion and Liberation has its patron Saint Benedict. Let's implore Saint Benedict to look kindly on this charism of the Church and for the Supreme Pontiff on his name day. In our charity we ought to remember before the Throne of Grace Bishop Martino Matronola, abbot of Montecassino, who was CL's first ecclesial superior.

You bestowed on Saint Benedict
rich gifts of the Holy Spirit,
making him the father
of a great multitude of the just,
and an outstanding teacher
of love for you and for our neighbor.
In his holy Rule, with a clear and wise discretion, he taught men and women to walk the path of salvation under the guidance of Christ and the Gospel and now he is revered as the patron of a multitude of nations.

-from the Eucharistic Preface for today's Feast of Saint Benedict in the Ambrosian Church.

My friend Benedictine Father Meinrad Miller told me about this essay, "The Vocation To Life" published in a recent issue of Homiletic and Pastoral Review by Father Charles Klamut. I was "blown away by it" and offer it to you here. It is truly an excellent essay; it captures the heart of what it means to be a Christian --a follower of Christ and His Church-- and to be a true man or woman with a humanity. Recently, I've had this discussion with a dear friend about vocation and he can't seem to get it across his mind (and heart) that there are things we need as a human being before being a monk or a priest. Father Charles gets it; Scola gets it as does Albacete and Benedict XVI and before him Paul VI and John Paul II. Are we listening carefully to the Master. On this feast of Saint Benedict, I offer this essay for us to reflect on.

Like the apostles, I first said "yes" to Christ because of the total answer he provided for my human need, and only within this context did a specific vocation to serve as a priest gradually begin to reveal itself.

A few years ago, during a retreat for priests, Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete shared with us a story of his friend, Cardinal Angelo Scola.  When asked by a journalist about the shortage of vocations to the priesthood in Italy, Scola replied that the problem stemmed from a deeper crisis: the problem, he said, was that life itself is no longer seen as a vocation.

Albacete reflected on this insight for the next few days, calling it very important, explaining to us what he thought Scola was getting at.  The call to life is something given, something prior to our thoughts and schemes.  It's even prior to the particular vocations like marriage and the priesthood.  We did not choose it; it's just there. Within the human heart is a cry for life, real life, eternal life: life properly so-called.  The New Testament, using a more nuanced Greek vocabulary than our modern-day English, used multiple words for "life:" bios to refer to material, physical life; zoe to refer to a more comprehensive, metaphysical, all-encompassing life, such as the kind promised by Jesus. The heart cries for infinite life, not just bios, but zoe.  The heart cries for a freedom and happiness which, alas, we cannot give ourselves.  In short, the heart cries for God.

This call to life which our heart always hears, even if we don't (affected as we are by reductionist cultural forces), is awakened and answered by the exceptional presence of Christ.  Jesus Christ is the infinite made visible and historical, the answer to the heart's cry for life: "I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Watching the current affairs of the Catholic Church in China always leaves me a bit perplexed. For me, there is no easy way to understand such a complex situation. The day bishops were ordained by the government sponsored Church without the approval of the Holy Father. This is not a mere stepping on someone's toes. It is the breaking of communion between the head and the body, between the Pope and a bishop. Catholics follow Saint Peter to Christ. Catholics faithful to the Faith thereby faithful to the Pope suffer for such obedience. In fact, Bishop Ma said the gathered people that he would not work with the government Church, his ministry was restricted. He went missing for a time following his ordination. See the Vatican Insider story here.

Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.

What follows is the Vatican summary of what's going on:

Following is the communique released this morning on the episcopal ordination of the Reverend Joseph Yue Fusheng in Harbin and the Reverend Thaddeus Ma Daqin as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Shanghai.

"With regard to the episcopal ordination of the Reverend Joseph Yue Fusheng, which took place in Harbin (Province of Heilongjiang) on Friday 6 July 2012, the following is stated:

1) The Reverend Joseph Yue Fusheng, ordained without pontifical mandate and hence illicitly, has automatically incurred the sanctions laid down by canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law. Consequently, the Holy See does not recognize him as Bishop of the Apostolic Administration of Harbin, and he lacks the authority to govern the priests and the Catholic community in the Province of Heilongjiang.

This love affair with Christ, this love story which is the whole of Monsignor Giussani's life was however far from every superficial enthusiasm, from every vague romanticism. Really seeing Christ, he knew that to encounter Christ means to follow Christ. This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that passes also--as we heard in the psalm--through the "valley of darkness."

Pope Benedict XVI

In him the hope of blessed resurrection has dawned, that those saddened by the certainty of dying might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come. Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven. (Preface I For the Dead)

Fourteen days of prayer, fasting and study have now concluded with the Sacrifice of the Mass offered by His Excellency, Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, DC). Below is the Archbishop's homily.

The homily given by His Eminence, Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, can be read here.

My dear faithful people of God and people of Good will,

Philadelphia is the place where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were written. For more than two centuries, these documents have inspired people around the globe. So as we begin our reflection on today's readings, I have the privilege of greeting everyone here today -- and every person watching or listening from a distance -- in the name of the Church of my home, the Church of Philadelphia, the cradle of our country's liberty and the city of our nation's founding, so greetings to all of you from the people of Philadelphia. May God bless and guide all of us as we settle our hearts and minds on the Word of God.

Paul Claudel, the French poet and diplomat of the last century, once described the Christian as "a man who knows what he is doing and where he is going in a world [that] no longer [knows] the difference between good and evil, between yes and no. He is like a god standing out in a crowd of invalids . . . He alone has liberty in a world of slaves."

With the Church we pray, 

God of justice, Father of truth, who guide creation in wisdom and goodness to fulfillment in Christ your Son, open our hearts to the truth of his Gospel, that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice guide our lives.

And for the intention of religious liberty which we've been praying for the last 14 days, 

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator, through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith. Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome -- for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us -- this great land will always be "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As Blessed Ildefonso Schuster reminds, "Prayer is indeed the atmosphere in which holiness develops and flourishes."  So, let's work on our prayer with His Holiness for the month of July with the hope of a flourishing life of prayer in our daily life.

For the month July let's pray for the following:

The Pope's general intention

That everyone may have work in safe and secure conditions. 

The Pope's missionary intention

That Christian volunteers in mission territories may witness to the love of Christ.