2014 – Page 35 – Communio

Needed: Mature Christians today

The New Testament is replete with references to believers being mature in their faith, in their manner of being a follower of Jesus Christ, of standing up and taking responsibility in the Church. Saint Paul speaks the people of Corinth in a direct way that helps us to see his view of being a mature Christian who takes adult faith formation seriously: “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,” (1 Cor. 3:2).

Through the decades the popes of have taught similarly. One example is Benedict XVI who exhorted priests to not be satisfied with “a childhood of faith”, meaning that many Catholics have yet to mature in their knowledge and practice of the faith. It seems as though we, in this most educated of centuries (at least in the first world) have yet to get past first level of discipleship. The pope observes that a lot of Christians “cannot — as adults, with competence and conviction — explain and elucidate the philosophy of the faith, its great wisdom and rationality” in order to illuminate the minds of others. To do this they need an “adult faith” and to see the bigger picture of a vigorous faith and a faith that works in mature ways that put what one believes into concrete action. It seems to me that we need a closer coherence between what we say we believe, how we worship and how we live. On many occasions Benedict has spoken thus to the Church through the bishops, priests and laity to be concerned with faith formation.

The current pope is echoing what his predecessors have said in spades, namely, Christians: grow up! You can see some of what the bishop of Rome is aiming at in his recent Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium) numbers 160-175. Mature Christians is means that the Christian responds fully to the Lord’s call to discipleship.

What is needed is an educated heart and mind. Our work is nothing more and nothing less than being educated to Christian maturity. In a very real sense that is what the Church is about, this is what the ecclesial movements of Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei and Focolare are about. Personal holiness, a reasonable expression of faith, and a enlivened response to human need is what defines the real Christian person. But don’t fret. We are in-process of becoming, real Christian living means recognizes that we all are on a journey to wholeness and holiness. Here the lens of faith informs and shapes life whereby our happiness in this life and in the next is realized. Porta Fidei (the Apostolic Letter opening the Year of Faith by Benedict XVI) has this line that I think each of us needs to recall: “Through faith, this new life shapes the whole of human existence according to the radical new reality of the resurrection. … ‘Faith working through love’ becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man’s life.” What the Pope is getting at is that we take adult faith formation with a degree of purpose. Hence, as Christians we have the modalities of a community of faith, the priest, and spiritual direction to help us walk the path given to us by the Lord. Each of these experiences will help us to recognize the contours of sin and grace: they keep reality alive.

The heart of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church is repentance and conversion. Conversion to what? Rather, it is not a what, but who. To convert means that we turn our lives over to Jesus Christ in a radical way: no reservations, no “ifs, ands or buts.” Our past is the past and it is redeemed, that is, our misdeeds and moral incompetencies are brought into the inner life of the Trinity (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) being made right. The Christian believes that it is the Trinity who renders judgement and mercy.

And here is the Good News: the offer of salvation made by God is crucial to the aim of belief and everything in the event of Christian proposal seeks to make this known. Good News “is the message capable of responding to the desire fro the infinite which abides in the human heart” (no. 165).

What I’ve quoted here before and what is renewed again: good catechesis needs good witnesses. How well does one “walk humbly with God.” Pope Paul VI said we need more witnesses than teachers of the faith. The “good witness” is the person who takes his or her faith seriously, who lives knowing that he or she is loved and redeemed by God. The saint, that is, the real Christian is not perfect perfect but the redeemed sinner.

Bartholomew convokes Orthodox Primates

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the point of unity among Eastern Chrsitians, has called the patriarchs and archbishops of the world’s Orthodox Churches to a meeting in Istanbul in March. This meeting is a precursor to a Pan-Orthodox Synod slated for 2015. Orthodox Primates last me in Constantinople in 2008.

Asianews.it carries one of the stories. For more on the event and for Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon’s comments read, “Bartholomew convokes the Primates of the Orthodox Churches.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch is 74 and has served the Church as a priest since 1969 and in this present capacity since 1991. He is the 27oth successor of Saint Andrew the Apostle. His Holiness’ biography is here.

This is terrific news!!!

All the holy Apostles, pray for the Primates!

The nail links friendship

Today we buried an old friend, Julius S. Markowski, 100. May God grant him mercy, peace and light. May St Stanislaus assist him.

Julius and his family’s history is intertwined with my family’s these past many decades. So many memories of Julius and Betty with my grandparents Julius and Helen. There is also a long friendship with Julius and his grandson John with whom I went to primary school.

One of Julius’ sayings: “The nail is a wonderful thing.” Indeed it is. Among other things, nails hold things together, including friendship.

A new year, a new soul

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”

– G.K. Chesterton

Saint André Bessette

Saint André Bessette is one of my favorite saints. Something about him and his personal story always struck me as important for my formation. As a high school student at Notre Dame High School (West Haven, CT) I was introduced to Brother André by the Brothers of Holy Cross. Not a lot was said of him unless you asked about the man whose picture hung on the office wall. His life simple and it made an impression on me because his average background resembles my own in a way: André came from an average Catholic working class family with a subtle devotion to St Joseph. Some may say poor, but that is a relative thing when your priorities are not fixated on money and status.

We are fascinated by holiness and the sacred. Just look at the fascination we see today with Pope Francis —the media calls this the “Francis effect”: simplicity and holiness is attractive. But what is really fascinating to me is the life discipleship which opens the heart to works of charity and sanctity. In what ways is André an example of being a disciple of Jesus and the apostles? How does this discipleship form the heart that leads to being made a saint by God? The Church tells us that one avenue to understanding these questions is focus on one’s charity. “Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it,” is the common perspective. To go deeper, grace not only perfects something, this something depends on the personal action of the Trinity. Aquinas will teach, I am told by the Dominicans,

The quantity of a thing depends on the proper cause of that thing, since the more universal cause produces a greater effect. Now, since charity surpasses the proportion of human nature . . . it depends, not on any natural virtue, but on the sole grace of the Holy Spirit Who infuses charity. Wherefore the quantity of charity depends neither on the condition of nature nor on the capacity of natural virtue, but only on the will of the Holy Spirit Who “divides” His gifts “according as He will. (ST, II-II, 24, 3)

The life of Saint André Bessette was moved by the Spirit to be a friend of Jesus. In recommending his student, André’s pastor said to the Congregation of Holy Cross: “I am sending you a saint.” Note the recognition of holiness early on. Not intellectually gifted, André made his life the object of charity which literally opened doors for others to follow: he was the porter at Montreal’s Notre Dame College. We follow witnesses.

The little way was not only a way of life for the Little Flower but a scriptural manner of living that bore great fruit. You will recall that his heavenly guide was Saint Joseph, the spouse of Mary, and it is to him that Saint André built the largest Catholic church in Canada: St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal. He died there in 1937 and then more than a million attended his funeral.

The simplicity of Saint André pointed to Saint Joseph and he pointed to his son, Our Savior. Just after the Epiphany we honor a man who manifested the work of the Holy Spirit in Saint André Bessette. May we follow.

Epiphany: A recognition

The 12th Day of Christmas is upon us with the Solemnity of the Epiphany. The Magi, the Star, the three gifts, the angels, the shepherds and the animals all coalesce to manifest in-breaking of God in human history. All recognized and read the signs. Two different church fathers give perspective on the meaning of the Epiphany as the great manifestation of the Divine.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the Epiphany in this way:

“The wise men from the East lead the way…They were, as we might say, men of science, but not simply in the sense that they were searching for a wide range of knowledge: they wanted something more. They wanted to understand what being human is all about. They had doubtless heard of the prophecy of the Gentile prophet Balaam: “A star shall come forth out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Num 24:17) (January 6, 2012).

Saint Basil the Great spoke of the Epiphany in this way: “The star came to rest above the place where the child was. At the sight of it the wise men were filled with great joy and that great joy should fill our hearts as well. It is the same as the joy the shepherds received from the glad tidings brought by the angels. Let us join the wise men in worship and the shepherds in giving glory to God. Let us dance with the angels and sing: ‘To us is born this day a savior who is Christ the Lord. The Lord is God and he has appeared to us’, not as God which would have terrified us in our weakness, but as a slave in order to free those living in slavery. Could anyone be so lacking in sensibility and so ungrateful as not to join us all in our gladness, exultation, and radiant joy? This feast belongs to the whole universe… Stars across the sky, wise men journey from pagan lands, earth receives it savior in a cave. Let there be no one without a gift to offer, no one without gratitude as we celebrate the salvation of the world, the birthday of the human race. Now it is no longer, ‘Dust you are and to dust you shall return’, but ‘You are joined to heaven and into heaven you shall be taken up.’”

Journey of the Magi

JOURNEY OF THE MAGI

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:

The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,   Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,

And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,   And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly  And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,  Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,  Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation:  With a running stream and a water-mill beating

the darkness
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow,  Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,  Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,  And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued  And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon  Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,  And I would do it again, but set down

This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death: There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,

But had thought they were different; this Birth was   Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.  We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,  But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,  With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

T.S. Eliot

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Monsignors curbed

It was reported today that Pope Francis curbed the use of the ecclesiastical title of monsignor. Some priests I know will be mad and some will go on antidepressants. The papal directive is that the monsignor title will be not available for those under 65 and that when it is bestowed, it be the title of “Chaplain to His Holiness”; the other two titles are shelved (i.e., Prelate of Honor and Prothonatary Apostolic). Gerard O’Connell’s article in Vatican Insider is here.

In the archdiocese where I live there are few monsignori: for the last 30 plus years the archbishops have rarely bestowed the title on priests, though very few have it. In neighboring dioceses like Bridgeport and New York priests crave the honor and too many feel they are entitled to it. Sadly, too many of those who have received the title of monsignor are sycophants and many unseemly characters who are less loyal to Jesus Christ and the sacrament of the Church than to his bishop. A bishop no longer in Connecticut used the title to reward those who he were behind him in all things–those who never questioned his authority; the criteria to judge a man’s worthiness was understood to be subjective.

In fact, and in my opinion, for a good many priests the discernment of service was too connected with preferment. The call to genuinely serve all people for ever really was sclerotic. Some monsignors would state that being a priest was difficult enough today and that they deserved a little bone now-and-again. The regular ministry of salvation of souls, spiritual and corporal works of mercy, preaching and the administration of sacraments was not enough, not meaningful enough.

Catholics are often happy with their parish priest’s genuine and holy “accomplishments” for the Church; they enjoyed the bishop’s recognition. But laboring in the Lord’s vineyard, no matter how long and how hard, does not warrant such reward. Some are arguing that doing away with outward ecclesiastical signs is a kind of iconoclasm. I doubt it. In fact, what the pope did is not iconoclasm by definition. Ecclesiastical titles neither create nor diminish careerism in the church, necessarily. The careerist attitude is born of another reality based on sin and not discipleship and apostleship. It is true we all like some measure of respect and acceptance for the bishop and society. Human nature will foster other ways for reward. We already of the mentality of the ‘better’ parish, the influential diocesan job, or a softer ministry, or “doing your own thing.”. Humanity can skirt the monsignor title with titles like “executive committee, ” the “Special Advisor to the Bishop” and “Senior Priest.” I am sure some bishop or clever canonist will devise something to reward the worthy.

The place of monsignori in a diocese is not really the only thing that needs reform. Careerism will still exist in a most horrible way with the translating a bishop from one See to another and the creation of auxiliary bishops. Again, we just had a bishop in the State who got “promoted” to a a larger diocese after leaving the diocese in great debt and seeking preferment. After all, he “deserved it.”

Is this move no the part of the Holy Father a jab at tradition? Perhaps, but I would not want to place that criticism on him. It seems to be true that “Pope Francis going back to older traditions” and that is what I think is key for us. An older tradition is sometimes best especially if there it is perceived to be less inclined to immature and sinful behavior. But I would look it this way: Pope Francis comes from a religious order that does not accept the mentality of preferment. The Society of Jesus has always been against, and rightly so, the notion of serving the Lord with the idea of reward in mind and heart. Following under the standard of the cross has a very deep meaning that I think is operative in Francis as the bishop of Rome.

The Jesuit Constitutions (Part X, N°6 [817]) based on experience and desire of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, is against Jesuits being made bishops. Bishops are not monsignors, I know. But the idea is the same when it comes to prelacy. Hence, a Jesuit priest when he makes his final profession in the Society of Jesus vows:

I also promise that I will never strive for or ambition any prelacy or dignity outside the Society; and I will to the best of my ability never consent to my election unless I am forced to do so by obedience to him who can order me under penalty of sin. And moreover, if I shall find out that anyone [another Jesuit] is seeking to secure anything of the two aforementioned things or is ambitioning them, I promise that I will communicate his name and the entire matter to the Society or its Superior.

Mary’s motherhood embraces us

The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God was just celebrated on January 1 and today is the first Saturday of January, a day in which we attend a little more to the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is appropriate to stay close to the Mary in these early days of 2014 for it is Mary who will lead us into the arms of the Messiah. I came across this reflection on Mary by the Cistercian Father Blessed Guerric of Igny. As I have echoed so often before on these pages, a proper Marian theology always indicates a proper Christology. This Berlinghieri icon of the Theotokos (1230) illustrates what I think is the true Marian theology of our Church: to know Mary is to know, love and serve her Son. In the printed word, thanks to Blessed Guerric we have a great example of what the Church teaches: Mary always points to her Son and Savior; Christ is made known through the yes of Mary. Today, ask yourself, in our own body, do we say yes to Jesus Christ?

“One and unique was Mary’s child, the only Son of his Father in heaven and the only Son of his mother on earth. Mary alone was virgin-mother, and it is her glory to have borne the Father’s only Son. But now she embraces that only Son of hers in all his members. She is not ashamed to be called the mother of all those in whom she recognizes that Christ her Son has been or is on the point of being formed…Like the Church of which she is the model, Mary is the mother of all who are born again to new life. She is the mother of him who is the Life by which all things live; when she bore him, she gave new birth in a sense to all who were to live by his life. Recognizing that by virtue of this mystery she is the mother of all Christians, Christ’s blessed mother also shows herself a mother to them by her care and loving kindness. She never grows hard toward her children, as though they were not her own. The womb that once gave birth is not dried up; it continues to bring forth the fruit of her tender compassion. Christ, the blessed fruit of that womb, left his mother still fraught with inexhaustible love, a love that once came forth from her but remains always within her, inundating her with his gifts.”