Catholic – Communio

Spiritual habits recommended by Saint Pio

Here are five spiritual habits Saint Padre Pio promoted to Catholics in their practice of the Faith.

I. WEEKLY CONFESSION

“Confession is the soul’s bath. You must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession more than a week. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust; return after a week and you will see that it needs dusting again!”

II. DAILY COMMUNION

“It is quite true, we are not worthy of such a gift. However, to approach the Blessed Sacrament in a state of mortal sin is one thing, and to be unworthy is quite another. All of us are unworthy, but it is He who invites us. It is He who desires it. Let us humble ourselves and receive Him with a heart contrite and full of love.”

III. EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE EVERY EVENING

Someone once told Padre Pio that he thought a nightly examination of conscience was pointless because he knew what was sin as it was committed. To this, Padre Pio replied, “That is true enough. But every experienced merchant in this world not only keeps track throughout the day of whether he has lost or gained on each sale. In the evening, he does the bookkeeping for the day to determine what he should do on the morrow. It follows that it is indispensable to make a rigorous examination of conscience, brief but lucid, every night.”

IV. DAILY SPIRITUAL READING

“The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder…. What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection.”

V. MENTAL PRAYER TWICE DAILY

“If you do not succeed in meditating well, do not give up doing your duty. If the distractions are numerous, do not be discouraged; do the meditation of patience, and you will still profit. Decide upon the length of your meditation, and do not leave your place before finishing, even if you have to be crucified. Why do you worry so much because you do not know how to meditate as you would like? Meditation is a means to attaining God, but it is not a goal in itself. Meditation aims at the love of God and neighbor. Love God with all your soul without reserve, and love your neighbor as yourself, and you will have accomplished half of your meditation.”

Calling yourself Catholic?

In CCD the other day a question we hear from time-to-time: why do the followers of Jesus call themselves “Catholic”?

The first written reference to the term “Catholic” is found in the early days of the second century with Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who as bishop, was arrested and brought to Rome by armed guards. This was the time of persecution of diverse practice of religion. Before his martyrdom, he wrote a letter to his fellow Christians in Smyrna (the city of Izmir in modern-day Turkey) in which he said, “Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church.” Hence, the word “Catholic” comes from the Greek root meaning “universal.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the Church is catholic because “The Church is catholic: she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She encompasses all times. She is “missionary of her very nature” (868).

Traditional Catholicism has virtue

In an April 2012 Wall Street Journal article by Anne Hendershott and Christopher White, “Traditional Catholicism is Winning” the authors calmly present the data of what is happening in the various sectors of the Church that are prospering, that is, thriving, in an authentic way. Clear teaching and beautiful liturgical practice leads to human flourishing. As I am fond of saying, communion with the Divine Majesty leads to one’s greater freedom in Christ Jesus.

Pairing the word “traditional” with Catholicism gives some people the hives. Knee jerk reactions to all sorts of things happen and the reasonable and the holy are marginalized. The trouble is that as Catholics we’ve been sloppy in living the gift of Catholic faith and we’ve been too easy with regard to the manner in which we live it. In short, we’ve experienced these past years a lack of coherence in the areas of what we believe, how we pray and how we live. It all has to hang together in an authentic way. Otherwise the faith becomes moralism –lifeless.

It is true that we have to be very clear on what we mean, how we live the faith, and why we do what propose to do. Remember that Catholicism bridges the gap between faith and reason; it does not abandon the mind, nor does it rely merely on liturgical practice. Catholic faith is totality of reality, revealed and natural.

The authors of the article say,

They are attracted to the philosophy, the art, the literature and the theology that make Catholicism countercultural. They are drawn to the beauty of the liturgy and the church’s commitment to the dignity of the individual. They want to be contributors to that commitment—alongside faithful and courageous bishops who ask them to make sacrifices.

and

Cardinal Francis George, the longtime leader of the Chicago archdiocese, once gave a homily that startled the faithful by pronouncing liberal Catholicism “an exhausted project . . . parasitical on a substance that no longer exists.” Declaring that Catholics are at a “turning point” in the life of the church in this country, the cardinal concluded that the bishops must stand as a “reality check for the apostolic faith.”

Read the whole article. You will want to read it, and reflect –and then do your part.

Tradition implies uncompromising and total faithfulness to apostolic preaching

Sometimes others can reflect back to us our own perduring mission and charism given by the Spirit. Here Orthodox theologian Father John Meyendorff gives a trajectory for us to comprehend, and to recover.

“. . . all true civilizations have discovered that the energy of youth should not be immediately directed to action, but should first given the opportunity to learn at the school of experience of others, in order to benefit future responsible service from the wisdom of the past. In the Orthodox Church this rather obvious truth is not simply matter of common sense. It has absolute, theological dimension, because we believe that there is no church without Tradition. The Orthodox faith is not a sect improvised by an enthusiastic preacher in the American Bible-belt; it is the catholic faith of the Apostles, the Fathers, the councils, the saints of all ages, and there is no way in which one can live it, or preach it, before learning first and becoming rooted in Holy Tradition. This requires responsible effort and patience. To bypass this responsible process, by simplified “super-Orthodox” heresy-hunting, by growing of beard and hair, or the formal preservation of the nineteenth-century liturgical minutiae would be caricature of traditionalism. Indeed – as anyone cognizant of the early Church, or of St Basil the Great, or of Photius of Constantinople, or of Orthodox historical and theological literature of the last two centuries knows – one cannot preserve Holy Tradition by freezing it in forms and formulae of one particular historical moment. If one does that, one cuts oneself from the past, as well as from the living responsibility of the present: the Russian Old Believers are a tragic example of this. Holy Tradition implies uncompromising and total faithfulness to the apostolic preaching, unchanging, but also living and saving. It alone teaches how to avoid the pitfalls – so typical of Protestantism – of fundamentalism and liberalism. It alone allows us to separate not only Truth from falsehood, but also the essential from secondary. Maintained by the succession of bishops, it also requires knowledge and discernment by all. In our youthful enthusiasm to build the Church in this country, let us build the Church catholic – which is two thousand years old – and fight the dangers of ignorant amnesia.”

John Meyendorff. Witness to the World (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987),192-193.

Robert Barron’s Catholicism to be shown in New York in 2012

CATHOLICSM: The New York Premier

You are invited to a screening of CATHOLICISM with ArchbishopTimothy Dolan’s introduction and a presentation by project’s creator
Father Robert Barron, and Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete.

A reception and book signing following the event.

Presented by Crossroads
Cultural Center and Word on Fire

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

The Times Center

242 West 41st Street

New York, NY map

Click here to
RSVP

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York

President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete

Author, theologian, columnist

Father Robert Barron

Author, speaker, theologian Founder of Word On Fire.

MORE
INFORMATION

This event is open to the public and
free of charge, but seating is limited.

Tickets must be obtained online
through www.catholicism.eventbrite.com

Continue reading CATHOLICSM: The New York Premier

Omaha Archbishop reminds faithful on the meaning of Sunday observance

Working with religious education of children and adults I see a bad trend: the over managed life. So much so that people are putting their social and personal activities above their religious duties and relationship with God. The Third Commandment is no longer holding sway; the Church’s teaching on keeping Sunday for worship and family seeming is out the window. Of course, people strenuously rebut this accusation. Truth be told, you can’t deny that there are activities competing with a proper Catholic observance of Sunday. Praying in Church –with a stable faith community– is not merely an obligation (speaking of Sunday Mass as “an obligation” is a mediocre way of approaching the question of faith, relationship with God and Church observance).

Continue reading Omaha Archbishop reminds faithful on the meaning of Sunday observance

Catholicism from a Jewish viewpoint

Having another perspective is always helpful. Excerpts of an article written by non-Catholic Sam
Miller – a prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman: “Why
would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions
that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

Do
you know – the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the
cost to that Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to
the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. The graduates go on to graduate
studies at the rate of 92%.

The Church has 230 colleges and universities in
the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students.

The Catholic Church has a
non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment
of 1 out of every 5 people – not just Catholics – in the United States
today.

But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way
the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia
on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the
institution of marriage.

Let me give you some figures that Catholics should
know and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed
admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other
inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church,
41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have
been sexually harassed.

Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found
guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of
pedophilia. This is not a Catholic problem.

A study of American priests showed
that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had
expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again
in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.

The Catholic
Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have
felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been
hurt by a small number of wayward priests that have probably been totally
weeded out by now.

Walk with your shoulders high and you head higher. Be a
proud member of the most important non-governmental agency in the United
States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: ‘Stand by the roads, and look and ask
for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for
your souls’. Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence
and learn what your Church does for all other religions. Be proud that you’re a
Catholic.”

American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile, the latest by Richard John Neuhaus

I am still saddened by the death of Father Richard John Neuhaus. Many are. I pray for him regularly at Mass and while saying the rosary and I find myself wondering what he’d say about this or that today. First Things arrived the other day and I shelved it temporarily because I’ve got other things to read first (what, I am not going to drop everything to read FT???); I look forward with eagerness to read to First Things

One of the last gifts he gave to us is the forthcoming book, American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile. It’s not a book from the grave as it was in production long before RJN got ill and died. I am looking forward to it as I have looked forward to everything RJN wrote for publication or said in the public forum.

Available from Amazon. A Google preview of American Babylon.

Product description

Christians are by their nature a people out of place. Their true home is with God; in civic life, they are alien citizens “in but not of the world.” In American Babylon, eminent theologian Richard John Neuhaus examines the particular truth of that ambiguity for Catholics in America today.

Neuhaus addresses the essential quandaries of Catholic life–assessing how Catholics can keep their heads above water in the sea of immorality that confronts them in the world, how they can be patriotic even though their true country is not in this world, and how they might reconcile their duties as citizens with their commitment to God. Deeply learned, frequently combative, and always eloquent, American Babylon is Neuhaus’s magnum opus–and will be essential reading for all Christians.

Let me recommend to you the Richard John Neuhaus Online Archive, a well stocked blog of materials by or on Father Richard.