Communio – Page 347 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Acquiring the Mind of the Church

Père [Cardinal] Yves Congar, OP, in 1963 quoted by Geoffrey Hull in The Banished Heart (2010):

Nothing is more educative for man in his
totality than the liturgy. The Bible is certainly a marvelous teacher of
prayer, of the sense of God and of the adult convictions of conscience. Used
alone, the Bible might produce a Christian of the Puritan tradition, an
individualist and even a visionary. The liturgy, however, is the
“authentic method instituted by the Church to unite souls to Jesus”
(Dom Maurice Festugière). The sort of Christian produced by an enlightened and
docile participation in the liturgy is a man of peace and unified in every
fibre of his human nature by the secret and powerful penetration of faith and
love in his life, throughout a period of prayer and worship, during which he
learned, at his mothers knee and without effort, the Church’s language: her
language of faith, love, hope, and fidelity. There is no better way of
acquiring “the mind of the Church” in the widest and most interior
interpretation of this expression.

My friend, Father Mark posted this paragraph quoting Cardinal Congar from a recently published book, The Banished Heart (Continuum, 2010 – the link above takes you to the book) on his blog and I am shamelessly posting it here because I think it fully captures what this blog is about, and more importantly, what the Christian life is exactly about.

Lent asks us to live in simplicity

We can’t live in abstractions. Reality as it is, God in Himself, is revealed in the concrete. The temptation is to let ourselves be consumed by what is non-essential, with things that burdensome or just plainly a pain. God is not known in the abstract; God is only revealed in the concreteness of life: in love, goodness, beautiful things, friendship, prayer, the sacred Liturgy, the proclamation of the Word, the sacred Tradition of the Church, and the like. Lent for some people is an abstract time of the Church’s calendar because they don’t necessarily know the aim, the goal, the necessity and the personal. What we all should bear in mind is that Lent is a simple time for getting back to basics so that these basics become virtue and virtue becomes a permanent way of looking at things in front of us. A little girl who does religious education following the method of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) focusses our attention in how she experiences this period of conversion. “What is Lent? Lent is a time of reflection, of preparing ourselves for the resurrection of Our Lord… by doing something that takes a great effort… a time of sharing and giving ourselves, body and soul to God and the Holy Spirit” (Jessica, 9 years old, Chihuahua Mexico, Journals of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, 1984 – 1997, p.149).

Jessica’s rather simple declaration hopefully gives you pause during the day to give heart and the mind the space to do something other than work. Lent, like Advent, is a fitting to time of the liturgical year to reflect on the meaning of the Cross and the our Lord’s resurrection (this is what we call the Paschal Mystery). In what concrete ways does God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit capture our imagination –our heart? The founder of the CGS movement Sofia Cavalletti writes: “Simplicity also imposes a kind of asceticism, but it is an asceticism that is joyful, happy, dynamic, and opens out to spaces that are always becoming wider. It is an asceticism that is invigorating, filling the lungs with fresh air that empowers us to keep climbing toward the summit, where the space we will stand on might have become smaller, but the space before us, the panorama we view, will have opened out on the infinite” (“Holy Simplicity,” Journals of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, 2003 – 2008, p. 4).

Thinking about the sacrament

There is no such thing as pure spirituality because there is no such thing as spirituality without reality. One needs a body to have a healing, water is required for holy water.

As Chesteron reminds us, the sacraments are both certain and incredible, both ideas are true and yet a paradox. The sacraments of the Church are solidly physical and wonderfully spiritual. The sacraments, as known by the Church, are ways of seeing (faith) the invisible. Any of the seven sacraments are philosophically the same as knowing the paradox of God: Spirit becoming flesh. Look at the greatest sacrament, the Eucharist, it is spirit and substance together, it is the Presence of the One who was crucified and risen, it’s healing and food and a pledge. And all these things are true we can never exhaust the meaning of the sacrament because of its divine reality.

Sacraments coming face to face with God, and face to face with ourselves. They reveal God’s face of love and mercy, and they also pull back the veils that cover our face. God comes and finds us through the sacraments.

Where Shahbaz Bhatti leading us now?

A few times in the last month I’ve mentioned the the tragic death of a brother in the Lord, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic in Pakistan, a voice against oppression. His death should signal for us that religious freedom is not operative around the world as well as out-and-out persecution of Christians is a too frequent occurrence. Just read the end of the year stats on the deaths of people just because they are Christian published by the Vatican office of Evangelization of Peoples. We can’t under-estimate the our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world face just because they utter Jesus’ name as Lord and Savior: they face death and oppression daily.

In a recently published essay, “The Assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Jesuit Father Luciano Larivera, explores the details of a Christian’s murder by Islamic extremists. He writes in his summary, “On March 2, a commando of an Islamic terrorist group assassinated Shahbaz Bhatti, 42, the minister of Religious Minorities in Pakistan. He was a Catholic, and is already considered a martyr for the faith and interreligious dialogue. Let us quote the spiritual testament. As with the governor of the province of the Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, who was killed Jan. 4, Bhatti had fought for the abolition, or at least for the reform, of the law against blasphemy and the liberation of Asia Bibi, who was sentenced to be hung for insulting Muhammad. Pakistan is torn apart by numerous tensions and an internal power struggle. Religious violence and intimidation have weakened the Government’s action. The country needs the restoration of an effective criminal justice system, which also prevents and sanctions crimes against religious minorities. La Civiltà Cattolica (3859, 2011, II, pp. 81-90) carries the essay.

The UK’s Guardian carried this obit for Shahbaz Bhatti.

Preparing for (real) Christian life

Good question: how does one prepare one self for Christian living? I’d suggest

look for ways to grow in virtue by practice and asking for the grace from Jesus;
reduce time sitting in front of the TV, vedging-out; drinking, and eating bad food;
be aware of the ways in which self-ish behavior is the norm and make changes;
spend time doing lectio divina, praying the rosary and praying for enemies one’s conversion;
seek ways to be generous, self-sacrificing by offer a sincere gift of self, self mastery relationship with the Lord.

Many come to a conversion of life from within marriage (and some through religious vows and priesthood) but how we live our life right now is the question; it is also a matter of formation that will bear fruit later in life. Ask for the grace to live a real Christian life.

Court of the Gentiles –next step

Success is not a word that is appropriate for matters pertaining to faith, even if it’s dealing those hearing the message of the Gospel for the first time or fancy programs. But I think it’s fair to say that from the reports that are coming from the Court of the Gentiles last weekend, this event was extraordinarily successful. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, his staff and collaborators have the makings of very significant work for culture, humanity and theology which will, no doubt, bear much fruit.

What’s at stake is not theology but humanity, not God but man and woman. If we don’t deal with our humanity, our human need, our desire for the infinite, then we will be less than what we are made for: happiness and greatness.

Sandro Magister’s follow-up can be read here.

Chicago is on the list of possible events like the Court of the Gentiles. AND not New York?

BTW, read this blog post on the origin of the “Court of the Gentiles.”

Patriarch’s title for the Ukrainians?

For many moons now, some estimate 50 years in the asking, the question to the pope has been: when will the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church be given the title of Patriarch?

Currently, there are some people who use the title unofficially –even provocatively– because they know better than the pope. Somehow the thinking is that if we just use that which is due to us then the rest of the world –and the Holy See– will see they we’re right and they are wrong. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church holds the title of “Major Archbishop.” There are three other Major Archbishops in the Catholic Church: Romanian Greek Catholic Church, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malakar Churches (both in India).

This attitude is unhelpful, incorrect and obnoxius. It is acutally an attitude of entitlement AND no one is entitled to anything in the Catholic Church. While the title of patriarch may, in fact, be fitting and proper to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Church, it is a title and privilege that is given. It is bestowed, not taken.

You’ll recall that Pope Paul VI made the designation of “Major Archbishop” in 1963 and gave it to the Ukrainian Greek Church. and his successors have said the Byzantine Ukrainian Church that it is an open question and that the Church has work toward getting the title of Patriarch. You see, this Church has been persecuted and “run out town” by the government and other ecclesial bodies and really only since the early 1990s has the Church gotten its proverbial sea-legs back. For a time, which may be current, there’s been a fear jeopardizing ecumenical relations with the Orthodox sister-churches.

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk is in Rome to pray at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and to meet with Pope Benedict and the Roman Curia. It is the sharing of Communio between brothers in the Lord. He’s travelling with the Metropolitan Archbishops and members of his staff.

So, while it may be important to have the title of “patriarch” it is not the first of the priorities of the new head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The brief story is here.

Saint John Neumann: “he laid his life down”

His love for
people was authentic brotherly love. It was real charity: missionary and
pastoral charity. It meant that he gave himself to others. Like Jesus the Good
Shepherd, he lay down his life for the sheep, for Christ’s flock: to provide
for their needs, to lead them to salvation. And today, with the Evangelist, we
solemnly proclaim: “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life
for one’s friends” (John 15, 13).

Servant of God Pope Paul VI

excerpt, canonization homily

19 June 1977

Learn more about Saint John Neumann during this holy year, the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Patriarch Béshara Raï begins new ministry as the Maronite head and father working on unity

In his letter to the new Patriarch, granting “ecclesiastica communio”, Pope Benedict prayed that Patriarch Béchara Peter would be assisted by the Lord in the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the fervent in his teaching of the faith; the Pope also said “It is a motive of pride for your Church to be united from the beginning to the Successor of Peter. Peter was called by Jesus to preserver the unity of his one Church in truth and in love. Following a beautiful and ancient tradition, Peter’s name is added to the patriarch’s”

Pope Benedict’s fraternal support was echoed in his hope that the Patriarch had “all the ardor, illumined by wisdom and tempered by prudence, to guide the Maronite Church.”

The Maronite Church was established by Saint Maron having lived in the 4th and 5th centuries. Patriarch Béchara Peter is the 77th father of a Church of 3 million people worldwide. Besides the Middle East, Maronites are present in Western Europe, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, the United States of America, and Canada.

The video of Patriarch Béchara Peter Raï’s enthronement Liturgy on March 25, 2011.

Digging back into TV history, Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa of EWTN talks with the US Maronite Bishops Gregory Mansour and Robert Shaheen about the role of the Maronite Church in the overall unity of the Catholic Church. Father Pacwa gives a sense of Maronite spirituality. Watch the show.

80 years of monastic profession: the witness of a lifetime

Permanent commitment is an awesome gesture. It is, however, becoming a thing of the past these days. I remember a few years ago
when my parents were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and one of my
mother’s clients said to her: “I can’t believe you’ve been married to the same
man for this long.” I was taken aback by the statement. In my mind what else would you do but be faithful to your vows. Of course this woman is on her second marriage and from all
reports pretty self-absorbed. There was a time when you entered into a “life
commitment” by vows and you did what they indicated: live them forever, unto death is there parting. Times have changed: prenuptials are “in” and convenience has replaced permanency. Have we become too fickle? Just
recently an event in Rome gave me hope: Father Angelo’s 80 years as a Trappist
monk of the Abbey of Tre Fontane. Imagine 80 years do anything! Imagine living your monastic profession in the place where Saint Paul was martyred! Saint Paul’s head bounced three times. Hence three fountains of water sprung up.

Father Angelo (Archangelo Buccitti in
history), just celebrated his 94th birthday on March 3. Bishop Paolo
Schiavon, a long-time friend of the community offered Mass for Father Angelo’s
intentions.

Father Angelo’s monastic journey included entry at Frattochie abbey at 14 years of age, his journey to solemn profession, ordination to the
priesthood, time as chaplain for the Trappistine nuns at Vitorchiano, his election
as abbot of Tre Fontane and his ten years in that capacity. All of Father
Angelo’s life can be seen as a homage, a testament to grace and grace’s living through his deep humanity known through fraternal
charity, humility and faithfulness to God’s call.

Father Angelo said: “The
Lord does not count the number of one’s years, but weighs their quality” and “A
man is never taller than when he is on his knees before his Lord.”