Franciscan Friars, TOR, Province of the Immaculate Conception

Tradition in Light of the Gospel of Mark

2012-02-06T17:49:00.009-06:00

Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30; Mk 7:1-13)

One point that people use in the debate between organized religion and the personal practice of faith is that the Church is too centered on its traditions and not the practical use of the Gospel message in our day to day lives. This is far from the truth and it is this misunderstanding of tradition that leads to confusion. I am reminded of the old Thanksgiving tale about the daughter who asks her mother why they cut the ends off of the ham for dinner. The mother replies, “I really don’t know sweetheart, I’ll have to ask your grandmother.” So she goes into the den and asks her mother the same question. Her mother replies, “Well, it was just something that my mother always did.” We get accustomed to doing things a certain way and we never really bother to think about WHY we do things. They become apart of our very identity. They make us who we are.

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, Jesus is trying to show that God’s dwelling place is not blindly following the laws of humanity but in keeping his commandments in our hearts. The Pharisees are so stuck in their ways and are so intent on destroying Jesus that they fail to recognize that he is indeed God’s dwelling in the presence of his people. They wanted to fix God’s law to serve their own purposes and desires to be kept clean by God’s divine mercy. God’s greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. It is God’s love for us that keeps us free from sin. This love is shown through the signs of his grace in the sacraments of our Christian faith. By sharing in this sacramental covenant relationship with Jesus we become co-sharers in the divine mission. That is to work with him for peace and justice in the world. God’s will is never one that tries to overpower and dominate the human will. It is one that tries to work through us and in us to bring out the goodness that is found in Christ.

In today’s society our human traditions have taken precedence over God’s commandments. We strive for peace in the world but we do so out of our own righteous indignation. We live in a very individualistic society. We are bent on controlling our own destinies. We want to be free and independent to live our own lives. We are closed in on ourselves. We hang tight to the human traditions that define who we are as a people. It is this egoism that blinds us to the reality of God’s presence in the world. The power of God is meant to serve, not to control. Faith allows believers in the incarnation of God’s rule to simply live more fully in unity and harmony with each other. When we see people misuse the power of God that resides in all of us we see the ugliness and the unclean flesh of the human spirit. Jesus responded to the Pharisees with the words of Isaiah, “This people honors me with unclean lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine human precepts.” So in reality being a true disciple of Christ is that when we pray in communion with each other in the sacraments of God’s grace, we are called by Jesus not only to live faith but to practice faith. To indeed show as Solomon asked, “Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?” Lars Svendsen writes in the ‘Philosophy of Boredom’ that, “Traditions have been replaced by lifestyles.” This is true, however the very life of the Church, it’s lifeline, it’s blood donor is Christ Jesus himself who washes clean our hands at the table he provides. He fills the hunger and thirst that resides in our souls for peace among all peoples of the world. Amen.

– Jesse Darnell Augustine Pellow, Postulant T.O.R.

Scripture Reflection: Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

2012-02-05T07:47:00.005-06:00

Cycle B
(Jb 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23; Mk 1:29-39)

We begin with an overview of Sunday’s Liturgy. The first reading surely has to be one of the most depressing in the lectionary. Job is broken hearted and totally depressed. He sees this as the universal human condition. This is what Jesus has come to redeem in His ministry of preaching the Kingdom which begins with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and then all who come to Him. And this service to all both weak and strong is what Paul accepts as his duty and each Christian’s. Through our participation in the Eucharist and our personal prayer our own lives are healed and we are strengthened to follow Christ in care for others. Jesus directs our eyes towards those who suffer the tragedies of life. He shows us how to grasp their hands, to help them up, to bind up wounds, and to be healers.

In our reflection on today’s readings, we start with the Book of Job who is usually seen as the story of a good man whose faith is tested through suffering. In the end he will prove to be the faithful believer in God’s mercy although still not understanding God’s ways. But in today’s passage of his lament Job certainly does not seem to be the poster boy for the popular expression: “As patient as Job!” The popular wisdom of the ancients would hold that if you suffer well then you must have done something wrong and offended God in some way. Job is not about to patiently accept this. He protests vocally and eloquently that he has done nothing wrong so why is God allowing these terrible things to be happening? And when we hear his complaint there is the uncomfortable feeling that no matter how successful our lives, or how well off, or even how good, we might be walking on thin ice and at any moment it could break through. We hear of the divorce of close friends, of a serious sickness striking someone our own age, or watching the spectacular sinking of the Costa Concordia on its routine sailing and the weeping and anxious faces of passengers and rescuers. And, more than an uncomfortable feeling comes the terrifying question: “Is there a God out there who cares what happens to each and every one of us?” It calls for both faith and courage to believe that God really does heal the brokenhearted; a faith which rests on a solid foundation.

And perhaps this is why the Gospel of St. Mark at its outset shows the encounters with Christ over a broad range of experiences. The ground of the real world in the midst of people with real afflictions, obsessions and interior injuries is the ground on which Jesus sets out to proclaim the Good News. The Gospel gives us a foundation for faith when it shows Jesus healing with a gentle touch and words of power. The ancient world believed the world was locked in mortal combat between forces of good and evil represented by angels and demons. So the Gospel text is not simply about healing and exorcism but is showing the power of God in Jesus casting out the forces of evil in our world and establishing there the Kingdom of God. In describing the healing of Simon’s mother in law, Mark uses expressions which sound quite ordinary but are anything but. Jesus “helped her up.” This is the same expression often used in the New Testament resurrection stories. Mark is implying that this person is given a new life - a life that only the Risen Christ can give.

And what does this “new life” look like? Well, Mark says that when she was healed, the woman began to “wait on them.” But the word he uses is “diakoneo,” the word for Church work or Christian Service. Again, the implication is that she “waits” on the Community, she serves i.e. does the work of the Community. When people experience a new life from Christ then they want to share and they are able to serve others. And so many involved in this “deaconal” work of serving, helping others as Jesus did them, say that they get more out of what they do than what they put into it. As the Peace Prayer of St. Francis reminds us: “In giving, we receive”.

Suffering remains a mystery for us as it did for Job. What we heard in today’s Gospel is not a solution to the mystery but the Power of Jesus over suffering. He takes on our suffering so that we can be set free. We celebrate today that what Jesus did for Simon’s mother in law and those afflicted by pain and evil, He can do for us. He extends His hand to us, to raise us from the destructive, deadly forces of pride, anger, envy, gluttony, lust, avarice and sloth to New Life.

His new life doesn’t resolve the mystery for us. It gives us the power to see the needs of others and to be free to respond to make time for the children, to take care of aging parents, to mending marriages or friendships, to patiently soldier on after misfortune. In other words, in your own quiet ways, to do as Jesus did. And may He bless you in the doing!

– Fr. Seraphin Conley, T.O.R.

So, What Exactly Does TOR Mean? Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

2012-02-04T19:57:00.018-06:00

What does TOR stand for?

Often times we are asked by curious people “What does TOR stand for?” T.O.R are the initials of our branch of the Franciscan Family - the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis of Penance.

Franciscans serve the needs of the Church and participate in the mission of Christ to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Our Fraternal living provides a center from which our friars go out and are nourished and strengthened in our shared resources to be of service to the Church. Many of the religious communities in existence today were founded for a specific purpose or to meet a specific need in the Church.

The Franciscan family has three branches, there is the Order of Friars Minor (OFM), the Poor Clare's (religious sisters), and the Third Order Regular. Secular Franciscans, lay men and women bonded to Franciscan communities, have been known as Third Order Seculars and sometimes the terms are confused.

OFM Friars are what many people picture when they think of a Franciscans because there are so many different OFM groups, there are the Capuchins (Padre Pio for example was a Capuchin Friar), OFM Conventuals, etc. There are abundant OFM Provinces in the United States, and abroad the OFM Friars number into the thousands if not more. Poor Clares are religious sisters {CLOISTERED NUNS} who follow the footsteps of St Francis and Saint Clare, and then you arrive to our Order the Third Order Regular.

In the time of Saint Francis there existed a group of early Penitents. These lay men and women lived a life of penance and Francis was first called to join them. That is how the Franciscan Order began. Throughout the centuries the Third Order consisted of lay men and women, and the term "Regular" was added to distinguish between lay individuals and those who were priests and professed religious brothers, thus becoming known as the Third Order Regular, or the TOR’s. Many Congregations of religious brother and especially of sisters engaged in works of charity, education and hospital ministry also follow the TOR Rule

Today the Third Order Regular has about 900 Franciscan Friars who minister in seventeen countries around the world. The TOR's are indeed a small Order in numbers, but we are a great fraternity and blessed to have your support.

For more history on the Third Order Regular, view a video on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvZPlrev1U&lr=1

Scripture Reflection: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

2012-02-01T20:10:00.005-06:00

(Mal 3:1-4; Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40)

Today’s Feast recalls the Presentation of the JESUS in the Temple. We celebrate it 40 days after Christmas ... almost as if we don’t want to forget the joy of Christmas. In fact, in some countries it is the custom that today is the day to take down the Nativity sets. In winter’s darkness we recall the words of the faithful priest Simeon calling Christ “the light to the nations” which is the background for the custom of blessing the candles to be used in Church or at home --- and the popular name for the feast: Candlemas Day. The candles we bless are an especially beautiful symbol of the offering of Christ .... they are consumed by the flame and so light is spread about!

In the 2nd reading, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews highlights the human condition of JESUS. It was necessary for him to be in solidarity with our human weakness, sorrows and anxieties: he is “our flesh and blood,” our Brother, and so his sufferings and death can free us. Christ’s whole life is an offering of love which gives light to the world. Today’s Feast is also a meeting. We come to meet Christ the Light so that we ourselves can become Light as St. Paul puts it: “children of the light.” Jesus said we were to be the light of the world. And St. Paul exhorts us ‘to present Yourselves to God as a living sacrifice.’ We pray that our lives may be consumed in the flame of love and become “light” thanks to the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Gospel has an impressive scene with several persons. First of all Joseph and Mary who are obedient to the ancient law of God and come to observe the Mosaic prescriptions for the “purification” of the Mother after childbirth. This was not because the women were somehow “unclean”... but because of their contact with the God of Life in bringing life into the world made them extraordinary! Like Moses with the veil over his face after his encounter with God. It was a rite to bring them back into ordinary life! Mary & Joseph come for the ransom of their firstborn male child to be consecrated to God. Jesus belongs to the ranks of the poor and thus the offering of doves. Then as though representing the Prophets and Saints of the Old Testament patiently waiting for the Messiah, Simeon and Anna come to welcome the Child to the Temple.

The words of Simeon’s beautiful prayer acknowledge that this helpless child in His mother’s arms is the salvation and light to all the nations, not just to the Israelites. But the mission of Jesus in bringing the Good News and God’s Peace will not be easy. . The words of Simeon foretell the passion “This child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction...” and Mary’s share in it “Your own soul a sword shall pierce.” The sword that pierces her heart symbolizes her sharing in His work and sufferings. So today’s Feast is a prefiguring of Holy Saturday when the Paschal Light symbolizing Christ will be lifted high in the darkened Church. And by being lifted up on the Cross as an offering Jesus has become the Light which illuminates all nations and the glory of His People Israel whose destiny was to show God to the world.

As the Church joyfully celebrates this feast she reminds us that we also share in the mission of bringing God’s peace and good news to all people. Mary and Joseph, and the faithful, patient old priest Simeon and pious old lady Anna give us examples of joy and hope in God’s Plan. There is surely a lot of “darkness” in our society but rather than just complain or criticize we might be encouraged by the motto of the Christopher Movement: “It is better to light just one candle than to curse the darkness.”

Today we pray that our souls be filled with Christ’s light so that we may illumine our homes and our world.

– Fr. Seraphin Conley, T.O.R.

Scripture Reflection: Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

2012-01-28T20:04:00.006-06:00

Cycle B
(Dt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28)

Today’s gospel is interesting because it shows us a typical day for Jesus. It shows something of the When & Way that Jesus preached in the first stage of His public ministry before the hostility of some influential leaders and the vast crowds forced a change.

WHERE: Jesus did not preach in the Temple in Jerusalem which was THE place of worship and the only place where the Jewish priests offered sacrifice. Jesus preached in the Synagogues which were numerous since any place with 10 or more Jewish families had to have one. The Synagogue was a place of teaching and instruction....like a Catechetical Center. Usually it did not have a permanent teacher. The ruler or director of the Synagogue would simply call upon any competent male to give a teaching. Once Jesus became known as a Man with a message He could enter any synagogue confident that it would provide Him with a place to instruct and inspire the people.

THE WAY: Jesus did not teach as the Pharisees and Scribes and so He was a breath of fresh air. The experts were men who delighted to pour over the Sacred texts of the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) to find a direction and guidance for all of life. Don’t think of them as wrinkled old fellows but more like Teveya, the Jewish farmer in The Fiddler on the Roof. ...who prayed to God to strike it rich so he could spend all day with the Scriptures, learning and disputing about their meaning. The ideal of the Scribe was to try to know all that the old masters had taught about a text,….. not giving his own opinion but rather that of the ancient masters. So it was: ”There is an opinion that says......” and “On the other hand there is another opinion which says.....” They could get so bound up by all these precedents and viewpoints that they were hesitant to teach anything as definite or even give their own opinion! Jesus was so different. He spoke definitely and independently. He quoted no experts, no other authority. Unlike even the Prophets He did not begin with “The Lord told me……or …The Lord revealed this to me”. Jesus spoke with the Voice of God “It was said/written….but I tell you ….”…..and it amazed and captivated the people. It was the terrific certainty of a Man who had been there.......who knew what He was talking about from experience, who radiated the All Holy One of Israel Who had sent Him. Not only in teaching but in goodness and holiness He could confront evil and drive it away. Preaching to the ordinary people, expelling demons and evil, healing the sick ........These were some of the signs of the Messianic Age and so Christ aroused a great hope within the people.

As a newly ordained priest assigned to our Novitiate in Pennsylvania, I was dragooned by one of our priests, who was a recovering alcoholic to attend some AA meetings. I must tell you that he had not been my favorite as a young cleric. He was OK until he got drunk….and he was a MEAN drunk. But he really had changed and was a wonderful friend. So I reluctantly went because of him….and I found there men and women speaking of their lives, their failures and the pain they had caused themselves and their loved ones so often. Their stories often exemplified the virtues of truth, humility and compassion that I had read about in spiritual books. The difference was they made them come alive........because they spoke from experience and it was often deeply moving. And it was thus that Jesus spoke ....... not from books but from His own experience of the Father.

There is a famous little book about St. Francis and his first companions called the Fioretti or Little Flowers of St. Francis. This book of lovely stories was read in the small houses of the friars to teach them in a very simple and practical way how to be like St. Francis.......how to be Franciscans. When I was a young friar we still used to read it in the refectory during meals. One of the stories tells how St. Francis and a new enthusiastic brother were coming into a town. Francis had advised the brother to pray and meditate because they were going to preach to the people when they got there. The two friars walked through the town greeting the people, stopping by the church for a visit, going to the marketplace , talking to the vendors and accepting their charity, ....Francis listening to problems and promising his prayers. And they went on their way. Outside the town, the brother disappointedly said: “Brother Francis, you forgot that we were supposed to preach to the people”. And St. Francis smiled and said....”But we did”.

That’s an important point which you should never forget. The priests and deacons officially preach in Church and there is a solemn responsibility to prepare and do the best we can. But often time our best efforts remain only words, or as my classmate used to say “Homilies are written with water”.....and you....and even the preacher....will forget them. But deeds are seldom forgotten and they do speak much louder than words! And in imitation of Jesus whose deeds of compassion gave authority to His preaching, they are what every follower of Christ is called to show. So, really every one of us “preaches” out of his own experience when we are sent from here in the Name of Christ. The question to think about this Sunday is: What or Whom are we preaching???

– Fr. Seraphin Conley, T.O.R.

Christ and the Steward of God’s Creation

2012-01-28T19:02:00.008-06:00

Image Collage (2012) by Bro. Jeffrey Wilson, T.O.R. [1]

(Click on image to view larger picture)

This work was first conceived after I wrote a reflection on the one year anniversary of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and Gulf of Mexico oil spill (http://franciscanfriarstor.blogspot.com/2011/04/holy-week-2011-way-we-treat-ourselves.html). The reflection centered around a statement that Pope Benedict XVI made in Caritas in Veritate, “The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa” (¶51). Pope Benedict’s statement echoes a quote that is popularly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” I wanted to visually depict the spirit of these two statements. Below are some of my initial thoughts and reflections on the symbolism of the images in the collage. Although these notes do not reflect every conceivable aspect of the collage, I hope that they may assist in making this collage a beneficial and fruitful form of meditation and prayer.

– Bro. Jeffrey Wilson, T.O.R.

________________________

† Christ: The image of Christ is taken from Salvador Dalí’s, Christ of St. John of the Cross, which many consider to be the greatest religious painting of the 20th century. In his work, Dalí took the lone figure standing at the far left of the painting from a drawing by Diego Velázquez and the figure standing by the boat from Louis Le Nain’s Peasants Before Their House. In a similar manner, I have used Dalí’s image of Christ for this collage.

The crucified Christ is hovering over the landscape representing that Christ’s passion and death is the source of healing and reconciliation for the violence and division depicted in the scene below. The original sin of Adam and Eve wounded the created order, both humanity and the rest of creation. Therefore, Christ’s salvation and restoration heals all creation; both humanity and the rest of creation. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ recreates all things. “And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new’” (Rev 21:5).[2] “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:19-21).

† Throne: As Christ is the source of healing and reconciliation, the throne represents the source of division; domination over others, the domination over both humans and the rest of creation. The stone foundation disperses the weight of domination and oppression evenly among the humans on the left (humanity) and the elephant on the right (the rest of creation). Below the throne, a rift begins to open in the ground and spreads out towards the observer, growing wider as it goes. The rift represents the growing division and alienation between humanity and the rest of creation.

The two serpent armrests represent the direct opposites, or antitheses, to the great commandment given by Jesus. “The first is this, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12:29-31). The opposite of loving God with all one’s heart is idolatry. St. Paul equates idolatry to greed; “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)” (Col 3:5). “Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph 5:5). The serpent head on the man’s left hand side symbolizes greed/idolatry. Below the serpent’s head, lies a stack of money and a bag that is tied tightly closed. While the money represents monetary greed, the cinched bag represents those things that we covet as our own, and thus, greedily desire above God. In other words, they are our idols.

The serpent head on the man’s right hand side symbolizes the opposite of loving one’s neighbor as oneself which are malice, violence, and unjust war. The right hand side is customarily a warrior’s weapon hand. Below the serpent’s head are a machine gun and a gurkha knife, tools that can be used for violence and war. “Simeon and Levi, brothers indeed, weapons of violence are their knives. Let not my person enter their council, or my honor be joined with their company; For in their fury they killed men, at their whim they maimed oxen. Cursed be their fury so fierce, and their rage so cruel!” (Gen 49:5-7).

The throne rests on two stone tiers, or platforms, that serve as the foundation. The front of the top tier is engraved with seven symbols representing the seven deadly sins while the bottom tier is engraved with eleven symbols representing various expressions of the seven deadly sins in today’s culture. The lower symbols are meant to help interpret the corresponding symbols above them, starting from the lower tier to the upper tier and on to the two serpent armrests.

† Man and woman on the throne platform: The man sitting on the throne represents the leaders in society, those in governments, businesses, and communities. He holds a posture of superiority and dominance. He believes that the two serpent armrests are at his service. However, he is actually slave to them. “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). His head is wrapped in a white cloth and he is holding his face in his left hand. In his right hand, he holds on object representing the double helix of human DNA topped by an atom with the Earth as the nucleus. This object represents the human desire to control and manipulate every aspect of created order, from designer babies to the splitting of the atom. The man views the Earth and all of God’s creation as his own possession and not as the gift that it truly is.

The woman standing behind the man is an image of Diana Moore’s sculpture, Figure of Justice, and represents those who do not actively engage in the exploitation, oppression, and violence but still benefit from these actions. She is tying a blindfold around her eyes to insulate herself from the truth around her. In many ways, she is like the rich man who ignored the needs of Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of sin” (¶1859).

† Two men holding up the throne: The two men holding up the throne represent those people who are exploited and oppressed for the benefit of others. The pairing represents solidarity and philia love (the love of friendship) among the human race despite the presence of exploitation and oppression. The man on the left/front is an image of Auguste Rodin’s sculpture, The Shade, while the man on the right/back is an image of Evan Benelli’s sculpture, Sisyphus.

† Young woman and man sitting under the throne: The young woman and man sitting under the throne represent those in despair from exploitation and oppression and the love that can support them. The young man is an image from Robert Shure’s sculpture at the Boston Irish Famine Memorial. The young woman is an image of Lyn Maxwell’s sculpture, Sitting Arab Woman.

† Man and woman kneeling: The man and woman kneeling represent the “cry of the poor;” those who are in anguish and who are completely ignored by those who have power and influence in society. “Those who shut their ears to the cry of the poor will themselves call out and not be answered” (Pr 21:13). The man is an image from Kenneth Treister’s sculptures at the Miami Holocaust Memorial. The woman is an image of Lyn Maxwell’s sculpture, Famine.

† Elephant: The elephant is the largest living land animal on Earth and represents creation that is exploited and oppressed by humans. God gave the Earth to humans in order to care for our needs and it is meant to be used wisely. However, there are times when God’s creation is exploited and oppressed for the sake of human greed and because of simple apathy.

† Prophet and the lion: On the right of the collage, a prophet and lion stand on a cliff and look out over the scene. The paring of the prophet and the lion represents truth and justice and the proper relationship between humans and the rest of creation. “The lion has roared, who would not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken, who would not prophesy?” (Am 3:8). “Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the clouds drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let righteousness spring up with them! I, the LORD, have created this” (Is 45:8). “I will listen for what God, the LORD, has to say; surely he will speak of peace to his people and to his faithful. Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss. Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven” (Ps 85:9, 11-12).

The prophet is an image of Walter Seymour Allward’s sculpture, Justicia. The prophet standing on the cliff is inspired by Gustave Doré’s engraving, The Prophet Amos. The Prophet Amos pronounces various crimes committed by the nations: “Because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron (Am 1:3); Because they exiled an entire population (1:6); Because they […] did not remember their covenant of brotherhood (1:9); Because he pursued his brother with the sword, suppressing all pity, persisting in his anger, his wrath raging without end (1:11); Because they ripped open pregnant women (1:13); Because they hand over the just for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; They trample the heads of the destitute into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way” (2:6-7). The crucifix that the prophet is holding represents the “Christian lens” of the prophet, that is, the Christian perspective and understanding of the proper stewardship and care for God’s creation. This perspective is “Christocentric” and is reflected in St. Paul’s Christ hymn; “He is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible [...] all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:15-17).

The lion is an image of a Sir Thomas Brock’s sculpture, Agriculture, at Queen Victoria Memorial, Buckingham Palace. The lion is inspired by several sources such as the lion being the king of the animal kingdom, the Lion of Justice, and the Lion of Judah. At first, it may appear that the lion is looking directly at the observer. However, upon closer observation, one discovers that the lion is actually looking over the observer’s shoulder. The prophet is looking over the violence of the scene while the lion is looking at the violence that is occurring back behind the observer in their society. The observer is invited to follow the lion’s gaze and examine the reality of their own situation. Concerning the relationship between humanity and the environment, Pope Benedict XVI explains, “This invites contemporary society to a serious review of its lifestyle, which, in many parts of the world, is prone to hedonism and consumerism, regardless of their harmful consequences. What is needed is an effective shift in mentality which can lead to the adoption of new lifestyles in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness, and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings, and investments” (Caritas in Veritate, ¶51).

† Girl in red: The girl is an image of one of Kenneth Treister’s sculptures at the Miami Holocaust Memorial. The girl in red is inspired by the girl with the red winter coat in the Steven Spielberg’s movie, Schindler’s List. In the documentary, Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust, Spielberg discusses the symbolism of the girl in red and explains, “America and Russia and England all knew about the Holocaust when it was happening, and yet we did nothing about it. We didn’t assign any of our forces to stopping the march toward death, the inexorable march toward death. It was a large bloodstain, primary red color on everyone’s radar, but no one did anything about it. And that’s why I wanted to bring the color red in.”

In the collage, the girl in red represents the young innocent victims of violence and war. In one sense, she represents the loss of innocence and the vulnerability of the orphan. Righteousness in the Old Testament was often measured by how one treated the most vulnerable in society: widows, resident aliens, and orphans. The color red represents the blood of the innocent and the sin of those that shed this innocent blood. “When you spread out your hands, I will close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they may become white as wool” (Is 1:15-18).

In addition, the color red has a second meaning which is tied to the San Damiano Cross. The San Damiano Cross depicts blood rolling down Christ’s arms and flowing from his pierced side and feet onto the other figures in the scene. This represents Christ’s redeeming blood that washes his disciples clean and blesses them. In a similar manner, the color red in the collage represents Christ’s redeeming blood. Dalí’s image of Christ is meant to be beautiful so as to be a direct opposite, or antithesis, to the image of Christ in Matthias Grünewald’s The Crucifixion. Thus, Dalí’s image of Christ does not bear any nails or reveal any blood. The collage tries to balance the beauty of Dalí’s image of Christ with images of Christ’s passion that are placed into the scene below. The red of the girl’s clothing represents Christ’s saving blood. At the bottom of the scene, a nail embedded in a rock represents Christ’s crucifixion nails while a rock opening of a geyser represents Christ’s open wounds and the living water that flows from Christ’s side.

† Human bodies: The human bodies at the bottom right of the scene are an image from George Segal’s sculpture, The Holocaust, at Legion of Honor Park in San Francisco. They represent the victims of violence, war, and genocide. The blending and shading of the bodies is inspired by the “atomic shadows” left by human bodies from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb explosions. The bodies also bring to mind Carl Sandburg’s poem, Grass:

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.

However, violence and destruction have left the scene devoid of any living vegetation. In this case, the grass has not been allowed to work.

† City buildings: The city in the background is comprised of the largest buildings in the world. They represent unhealthy progress and development, that is, seeking progress for the sake of progress which is fueled by pride, consumerism, and the belief that bigger/more is better. In many ways, the city can be viewed as a modern day Tower of Babel. “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves’” (Gen 11:4). Pope Benedict XVI explains, “Openness to life is at the center of true development. […] The acceptance of life strengthens moral fiber and makes people capable of mutual help. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, and instead, they can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual” (Caritas in Veritate, ¶28).

† Oil covered lake: The oil covered lake represents environmental pollution and is particularly inspired by the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Three oil covered birds add to the environmental disaster scene. Instead of offering God the sweet aroma of the fruits of the Earth, a thick, black, toxic smoke rises into the heavens. “Awake, north wind! Come, south wind! Blow upon my garden that its perfumes may spread abroad. Let my lover come to his garden and eat its fruits of choicest yield” (Sg 4:16). “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Cor 2:14-16).

† Buffalo bones: The dead buffalo, or bison, adds to the scene of environmental violence. Many believe that, at one time, the buffalo represented the largest population of any wild land mammal on Earth. However, they almost became extinct in the 19th century do to over hunting. In fact, during the wars with the Native Americans, the U.S. Army encouraged the wholesale slaughter of the buffalo in order to deprive the Native Americans of their main food source. The violence against the buffalo represented violence against humans as well.

________________________

[1] The image of the Martian landscape and cliff are from NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org.

[2] New Testament scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation while Old Testament scripture quotes are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) translation unless otherwise noted.

Visual Theology - Preaching the Gospel Through Art

2012-01-21T19:26:00.005-06:00

Angels Gather Here is the title of Saint Bridget’s 2011 crèche. Part of the exhibition includes 12 black and white photos of the devastation caused by the tornado that ripped through north Minneapolis last May. The black and white images were enlarged, then cut up and mounted. These shattered images are displayed on five, large, white panels that outline the 2 room. Interspersed among the black and white images are small color photographs of volunteers, public workers, and resources that gathered to provide desperately needed relief in north Minneapolis in the weeks and months that followed. At the center of the room, the Holy Family is surrounded by four paper-lace angels. The 8’ x 24” panel designs are cut into translucent, white vellum and incorporate images and symbols from Jewish, Christian, and Native American traditions. The paper angels mimic a column of light and rotate protectively around the Holy Family.

Over the years I’ve developed a bit of a reputation as a Franciscan brother for the various crèche scenes I assemble at Christmas. Many hours are spent planning and executing the unique designs. The design often emerges as a response to the question, “Where is God in the messiness of life?” It is one way I enter into the meaning of the Incarnation.

A recent men’s retreat led me to a new insight into why I value spending so much time on crèche displays. The retreat facilitator invited the participants to recall the first experience they had of working “shoulder to shoulder” with their father. He suggested that this experience acts as a form of initiation for young boys into the world of men, and vestiges of that experience can be traced in the development of each man’s life. With a chuckle and an amazed nod to the facilitator’s theory I recalled a late afternoon in mid- December when my dad found me, his 11 year-old son, hammering away in his work shed on a Christmas present for my mother.

My folks had a beautiful nativity scene—a wedding gift from my grandparents. Although the set contained all the requisite characters of the Christmas story, I always felt bad that this Mary and Joseph had, not only no room at the inn, but also no stable. I was determined to make suitable housing to complete the Christmas story for my mom’s beloved crèche. I was frustratingly engaged in attempting to nail two, raggedly cut, ten-inch, two-by-fours together when my dad found me. “What are you up to?” he asked. Standing there with what, to me, was obviously a stable roof in my hands, I couldn’t lie, so I conspiratorially told him my gift idea. He thought it was a great idea but informed me that when you build a house you don’t start with the roof! He then introduced me to the finer points of home design and construction as well as the purpose and proper use of the boggling array of power tools that occupied the shelves and floor space of his work shed. Together, my dad and I hacked and hammered, primed and painted for the next few weeks. If memory serves me right, some of the wrapping paper stuck to the still-wet stable finished just in time for Christmas.

My mother loved her Christmas present. Ever the gallant man, my dad quickly informed her that I had built it. In truth, it was my dad that designed, cut, and assembled the beautifully proportioned stable – complete with a wing and window for the donkey! I was responsible for the glue gobs, bent nails, and blotchy stain. Every year thereafter, for as long as I lived at home, it was my task – and privilege – to arrange the crèche.

Whether one believes in the retreat facilitator’s theory about the shaping of men’s identities or not, I had to wonder at the fact that I have continued to construct crèche scenes for the last 40 years. Maybe I never grew up; maybe I am still trying to get it right; maybe I am still trying to please my mother; or maybe I am tapping the roots of my manhood and connecting with my father. Whatever the case, I know I love creating crèche scenes. Every year it is a challenge; and every year—much to the consternation of the pastor, local minister, or my fellow friars— I finish just in time.

I learned a few things from my dad. I also like to believe that I learned a few things from my father in faith, Francis of Assisi. Francis understood the power of the visual to move and inspire the hearts of people. Francis’ famous enactment at Greccio in 1224 was a form of visual theology. His assembly of the nativity scene was not simply a desire to re-enact an ancient story. Rather, it was a desire to re-present that ancient story in a new and memorable way so that its deeper meaning might be unveiled and the slumbering hearts and deadened hopes of the people gathered at Greccio might be resurrected. No one remembers what was preached that night in Greccio, but 800 years later what was visually re-presented that wondrous night is still remembered and reflected upon.

A few years ago Anthony asked me to preach about the particularly poignant – and disturbing—crèche scene I had assembled at Saint Bridget’s. I respectfully declined, stating, “I have already preached.” I don’t know if anyone recalls his Christmas homily that year. What I do know is that people still talk about that crèche scene and other crèche presentations before and after it. I’m under no illusion that these sometimes odd creations will be remembered 800 years from now, but I do hope that the theology I visually “preach” contributes to the prayerful reflection and incarnational acuity of a few people for at least a few years.

I believe that as a son I am using well the skills my father gave me 40 years ago in his musty, musky work shed. I hope that as a brother the “preaching” I offer through the arts inspires the hearts of the viewer. I trust that as a Franciscan each new crèche deepens an appreciation for how the Word made flesh dwells among us.

– Bro. David Liedl, T.O.R.

Day of Prayer to End Racism

2012-01-15T22:36:00.002-06:00

“O God, who show a father’s care for all,
grant, in your mercy, that the members of the human race,
to whom you have given a single origin,
may form in peace a single family
and always be united by a fraternal spirit.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.”

– Roman Missal (masses and prayers for various needs and occasions, 30)

Scripture Reflection: Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

2012-01-15T21:50:00.002-06:00

Cycle B
(1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19; 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20; Jn 1:35-42)

The ancient and sometimes-noble occupation of matchmaker has taken on modern twist with the advent of the computer age. Instead of going to see the neighborhood Yenta, dozens of on-line services are now available to match you with your soul mate from the comfort of your living room or home office. They advertise that their process is designed to guarantee that within six months you will meet someone who is meant only for you and with whom you can build a long and life-giving relationship. You may even know a couple or two who met this way, who fell in love, and are now happily married. More probably, though, you know many more couples who met and entered into a relationship thanks to the efforts of family and friends...someone who knew them both well and who said, “I know the perfect person for you; I can’t wait for the two of you to get together!” Sometimes such efforts are less than successful, but when someone knows both parties...and knows them well...the introductions they arrange can lead to a lifetime of friendship and love.

In today’s gospel, people are introducing their friends and family to Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, whose whole life has been dedicated to preparing a people for the Lord, recognizes him immediately when he comes upon the scene. Although he has developed a following of his own, he does not hesitate to point out Jesus to two of his disciples: “Behold the Lamb of God! There is the One you must follow.” And they leave John to become disciples of Jesus Christ. One of these disciples is Andrew and, having encountered Jesus, he can’t wait to tell his brother Peter. “We have found the Messiah!” He brings Peter to Jesus; Jesus already seems to know who he is and even changes his name.

When you think about it, all of us came to know Jesus Christ through the agency of another person. Whether we are cradle Catholics or came to faith as an adult, someone introduced us to Jesus Christ. It may have been a parent or grandparent who told us about God and taught us our first prayers...it may have been a loving teacher or a priest, brother, or sister...it might have been a friend or coworker who invited us to come to Midnight Mass or attend a parish potluck supper. That invitation meant something to us because it came from someone who knew us and who we believe cared about us—cared about us enough that they wanted to share with us a relationship that was so important to them: a relationship with Jesus Christ. In recent years, the Church locally and throughout the world, has tried to re-awaken in us a spirit of evangelization... the responsibility we all have to spread the Gospel. Most of shrink back from that word because we associate it with holy rollers, Mormons on bicycles, or people who stand on corners and hand out Bible tracts. “We’re Catholic,” we think, “We don’t do that!” But the work of evangelization need not be so dramatic or threatening. Basically, it is doing what we hear about in the Gospel today—inviting others to “come and see”—sharing with those we know and care about a relationship that has been and is life-giving and important to us.

Who could you introduce to Jesus today...this week?

– Fr. Anthony Criscitelli, T.O.R.

Baptism of the Lord

2012-01-07T17:55:00.005-06:00

Cycle B
(Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mk 1:7-11)

Please pray with us that all the faithful will respond more fully to their baptismal call and that many will answer the call to serve God as vowed Franciscan men and women:

Almighty, eternal,
just and merciful God,
give to your faithful people
the grace to do
for You alone
what you want us to do and
always to desire
what pleases You.

Inwardly cleansed,
interiorly enlightened
and inflamed by the fire
of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow
in the footprints
of Your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
and, by Your grace alone,
make our way to You,

Most High,
Who live and rule
in perfect Trinity
and simple Unity,
and are glorified
God almighty,
forever and ever.

Amen

Christmas Reflection: Saturday after Epiphany

2012-01-07T17:51:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 5:14-21; Jn 3:22-30)

“I must decrease, the Lord must increase” (John 3:30), in order “to know the one who is true. . . . Jesus, the true God and eternal life” (1 Jn 5: 20). From the moment we rise and shine to the moment our heads set on the pillow, we are called to name and claim the presence of the Lord in our lives. When we do so, our appreciation of the Lord increases in the experiences of living and in our encounters of meaning. Our Christian journey involves developing the virtue of humility—the discovery of Truth. When we know the Truth, any falsehoods we have deflate and awareness of God inflates.

Our inspiration for the day finds its source in John the Baptist’s dialogue with his disciples. John claims, “I am not the Messiah, but I was sent before him” (Jn 3:28). John explains that he was sent before the Lord to proclaim and make ready the coming of the Kingdom Messiah. John recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and says, “Jesus must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

Although we arrived after the Lord’s coming, our response is the same as John’s. As we celebrate this day, may we recognize and respond to the presence of the Lord in every experience of life. What a challenge! In our awareness of the Lord this day, let us allow the Lord to increase in our lives, and bear the fruit of discipleship and authentic living— love of God and neighbor— through word and deed.

The door of this day opens us to fruitful experiences of our Messiah, as will the door of death open to eternal life. Lord, we pray that we may be aware of your presence in the moments of the day, in our work, our play, our prayer, our relationships, our eating, our exercise and our sleep. As we do so, may we continue to build your Kingdom of Love.

– Fr. Rod Soha, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: Friday after Epiphany

2012-01-07T17:44:00.004-06:00

(I Jn 5:5-13; Lk 5:12-16)

Saint Luke, in the Fifth Chapter of his Gospel (vs. 12 - 16), tells us of the miraculous cure of a leper, who when asked by our Lord what he wanted, replied: “If you want to, you can heal me.” Our Savior emphatically answers: “Of course I want to. Be healed.” Having cured the man, Jesus instructs him to go to Jerusalem and show himself to the priest as proof of his having been restored to health. Jesus tells him to make the required offering and cautions him to tell no one of this miraculous healing.

The Gospels tell us that in many instances of cures and visions those who were beneficiaries of our Savior’s power were told not to reveal them to anyone. Peter, James and John, who witnessed the Transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Tabor, were commanded by our Redeemer not to tell the vision to anyone until after His Resurrection from the dead. We might ask ourselves why.

Saint John Chrysostom and other Doctors of the Church in their sermons and writings offer the following opinion. Christ wanted the people to receive the truth of His message by the power of His word and their spiritual and intellectual acceptance of Him as the Son of God and the Promised Messiah. Too many were fascinated by our Lord merely because they saw or heard of miraculous cures or reports of crowds of thousands having been fed in deserted places by the multiplication of bread and fish.

During His crucifixion His enemies taunted Him mockingly: “Come down from the cross, then we’ll believe in you.” Didn’t they believe Him when He changed water into wine, cured lepers, restored sight to the blind, raised the dead to life, cured paralytics, expelled demons? Saint Bernardine of Sienna comments on this Scripture passage: “Even had our Savior come down from the cross, His enemies would have exclaimed: ‘What are you going to do now, so that we might believe you?’”

Secular magazines and publications take an almost imbecilic delight in reporting visions and miracles, the stranger the better, and the numbers of people who flock to these sites. The saddest thing is that the greatest miracle takes place in their parish churches where Christ renews at Mass the offering He once made of Himself on Calvary. In Holy Communion Christ Who called Himself “the living bread come down from heaven” gives Himself to His believers in this Sacred Banquet. He assures us: “I am with you all days.” He is present in our tabernacles; our churches are truly the house of God and gate of heaven. Our faith in the Holy Eucharist is solidly based on Christ’s own word. This is His greatest gift to us— this miracle of His love— the gift of Himself.

+ Fr. Adalbert Wolski, T.O.R. (1931 – 2012)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Christmas Reflection: Thursday after Epiphany

2012-01-07T17:42:00.002-06:00

(I Jn 4:19-5:4; Lk 4:14-22)

After Jesus read the passage from Isaiah, he said, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” That Scripture passage is fulfilled in our hearing whenever and wherever we practice the love of neighbor that is delineated by St. John in the first reading. When John tells us that we are to love one another, he is not offering us an option. We can’t claim that we love God and at the same time reject or hate our brothers and sisters. Mahatma Ghandi once pointed out that Christianity is beautiful as it is proclaimed in the Gospel, but not as it is lived by Christians. In other words, we must show by our actions what we profess with our lips. You and I who claim to be Christians are the only Gospel example that some people ever see. The love of God and neighbor is a tremendous challenge every day. It's so easy to say that we love God, but not so easy to see God in one another.

If we do not do so, we are effectively denying our faith in the Incarnation we are celebrating in this season. “The Word was made flesh” means that God dwells in our humanity, that God is present in the people all around us— even in the people we dislike the most or the people we can't seem to get along with on a day-to-day basis. Our love for the God we cannot see is revealed to others in our love for those whom we can see— the people we encounter each day.

– Fr. Adrian Tirpak, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: Wednesday after Epiphany

2012-01-07T17:39:00.002-06:00

(I Jn 4:11-18; Mk 6:45-52)

As we approach the end of the Christmas-Epiphany season, the apostle John, in today’s first reading, continues to discuss God’s love for us and our duty to share this love with others.

John reminds us that, “No one has seen God. Yet if we love one another God dwells in us and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1John 4:12). What a very important thought to keep in our minds as we continue to be His disciples in the world today. John declares that the Holy Spirit we received at baptism guarantees our union with God. Our awareness of God living in our hearts will help us not to be afraid of God.

Love truly has no room for fear. We also pray this is our experience of the love relationships in our lives—that love is always without fear. This same theme of freedom from fear occurs in our Gospel reading from Mark. This passage is also appropriate for this special week after the Epiphany, a Greek word that means an appearance. Jesus appeared to all the world by means of the Feast of the Epiphany to proclaim to everyone that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus appears to the apostles as they battle a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus tells them not to be afraid but to have faith. Is not that what we come to celebrate today? Our faith in Jesus, a faith without fear, a faith that calls us to action and love of our sisters and brothers. A faith that knows no bounds, a faith that brings us ever closer to Jesus, the Lord.

Resource: Alert to God’s Word, Cassian A. Miles, O.F.M. (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 1971.)

– Fr. Terrence Smith, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: Tuesday after Epiphany

2012-01-07T17:37:00.004-06:00

(I Jn 4:7-10; Mk 6:34-44)

“Beloved, let us love one another
because love is of God.”
(1Jn 4:7)

Observe the “1-3-5 Rule” today.
Tell one person, directly, that you love them. Call, or write, to 3 people and tell them you love them. E-mail 5 people and pass along this same, infinitely valuable message.

Christmas Reflection: Monday after Epiphany

2012-01-07T17:33:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 3:22 - 4:6; Mt 4:12-17, 22-25)

“As the liturgy of this Christmas-Epiphany season takes a turn toward emphasizing Jesus’ public ministry, it is clear that he is actively engaged in teaching and healing— he speaks and his words have effect. By word and deed, he reveals the reign of God. But this is only part of the story. The same gospel that presents his message and that recounts his activity also recounts that he spent whole nights in prayer, and that he withdrew to quiet places to commune with the Father in heaven.

Even this Messiah-Lord had to have quiet times on earth so that he could experience the tranquility of spirit necessary for his deeds, actions, and activity. This offers a paradigm and model for us. . . . Our common witness to Christ must include presence, action, and prayer. Does it?”

– Kevin W. Irwin, Advent/ Christmas: A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours (New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986), 290.

Christmas Reflection: The Epiphany of the Lord

2012-01-07T17:15:00.002-06:00

(Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12)

“O God, who on this day
revealed your Only Begotten Son to the nations
by the guidance of a star,
grant in your mercy, that we, who know you already by faith,
may be brought to behold the beauty of your sublime glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.”

– Opening Collect for the Solemnity of Epiphany, Roman Rite

Christmas Reflection: January 7th

2012-01-03T10:49:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 5:14-21; Jn 2:1-12)

“We have this confidence
in God:
that he hears us
whenever we ask for anything according to his will.”
(I Jn 5:14)

“But besides the praise of God, the Church in the liturgy . . . expresses the prayers and desires of all the faithful; indeed, it prays to Christ, and through him to the Father, for the salvation of the whole world. The Church’s voice is not just its own; it is also Christ’s voice, since its prayers are offered in Christ’s name, that is, ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ,’ and so the Church continues to offer the prayer and petition that Christ poured out in the days of his earthly life and that have therefore a unique effectiveness. The ecclesial community thus exercises a truly maternal function in bringing souls to Christ, not only by charity, good example, and works of penance but also by prayer.”

– General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours, 17.

Christmas Reflection: January 6th

2012-01-03T10:46:00.002-06:00

(I Jn 5:5-13; Mk 1:7-11)

John the evangelist tells us how important it is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. He writes to those who do not believe. To show us, the evangelist brings in the testimony of the Spirit, water and blood. Also the testimony God gave on his own Son’s behalf at the baptism of Christ by John the Baptizer. You recall that as Christ came out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. The heavens opened and a voice came from the heavens: “You are my beloved Son; on you my favor rests.” Again at the transfiguration of our Lord, God spoke: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

This is divine revelation. If we do not believe these revelations, we call God a liar. God gave us eternal life and this life is in the Son. Those who possess the Son, possess life. Those who do not possess the Son of God do not possess life. How important it is to believe! Jesus Christ is to be number one in our lives.

+ Fr. Vincent Spinos, T.O.R. (1924 – 2008)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Christmas Reflection: January 5th

2012-01-03T10:42:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 3:11-21; Jn 1:43-51)

Don’t you wish you could have been there ... could have seen the disciples in person? Or even Jesus himself? I hear people say that every once in a while. Wouldn’t it have been something to meet Peter or to have a conversation with Matthew? What if we could go back in time and listen to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount? We do this with a sense of healthy curiosity and perhaps the idea that it would be easier to believe the Gospel if we could have seen the Gospel events unfold before our very eyes.

However, I’m not convinced that seeing the disciples first-hand would make the Gospel any easier to believe. In fact, seeing the disciples might just make the Gospel more DIFFICULT to believe! Remember, the disciples were more “crusty” than “upper crust.” They weren’t very educated— or well groomed—or outwardly impressive. In other words, they were pretty common folks. So, can it really be that this rag-tag bunch of uneducated fishermen was in touch with the deepest truth and faith in Jesus?

Most everyone has a soft spot in their hearts for fairy tales. There’s just something about a fairy tale's reversal of expectations that captures our attention. There’s something fantastic about finding out that the frog is really some handsome prince, or that the ugly duckling is the one that grows into the most resplendent swan. Fairy tales are stories of transformation, and that’s exactly what happened to these simple people we call disciples. If you took the disciples and brought them together into one room, you’d never in your wildest dreams guess by looking at them that this weak-looking pack of ordinary folks could change the world. But that’s exactly what they did! The disciples changed the world because it was to them that the truth of salvation was first revealed in Jesus Christ.

That’s why Jesus called them in the first place. If you’re going to save the world, you’ve got to start somewhere. And if in the end you’re going to save the world through humility, gentleness, compassion and sacrifice, it makes a whole lot of sense to begin with a bunch of people who couldn’t get much more humble if they tried! The messengers fit the message! In fact, over the course of his ministry if Jesus had any significant struggles with his disciples, it was the struggle to keep them humble and ordinary. Every time a couple of them began a power struggle or argument among themselves about who was the greatest, Jesus brought them back down to the street level of service.

And that’s the bottom line, I believe, to being a follower of Jesus. To be transformed into a humble, gentle, compassionate person who continues Jesus’ mission of service, who continues washing our sisters’ and brothers’ feet. This is what our faith calls us to— the realities of a very real and sad world. But, helping one person at a time, we continue the mission of Jesus and his rag-tag bunch of ordinary, but brilliantly transformed disciples.

– Fr. Blase Romano, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: January 4th

2012-01-03T10:38:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 3:7-10; Jn 1:35-42)

“Today’s first reading expresses the contrast between holiness and sin. The contrast motif continues throughout these verses with Christ pitted against the devil and holiness contrasted with sin. When placed in this dualistic framework, the reality of Christian truth stands out clearly— in Christ, we who have been saved from our sins are to lead holy lives, rejecting sin and abiding in Christ. This gift of salvation is therefore not an individual possession; it endures in the Christian community whose chief characteristic is love for each other. The holiness referred to in this reading should not be understood as the moral perfection of each member of the body; the state of being like God is given to the church as a whole so that God’s love and salvation can be experienced in the Christian community. This Christmas season is a time of annual renewal in love— of God’s love for us in Christ and of our love for each other. Empowered with God’s love, we must choose Christ over the allurements of the devil and holiness over attachment to sin.”

– Kevin W. Irwin, Advent/ Christmas: A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours (New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986), 251, 252.

Christmas Reflection: January 3rd

2012-01-03T10:35:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 2:29-3:6; Jn 1:29-34)

John the Baptist tells us that when he first saw Jesus, he did not know who he was. When John finally recognized Jesus it was through the power of the Holy Spirit and his life of humility and self-discipline.

We come to know Jesus in the very same way. First, through the bountiful gifts of the Holy Spirit and our invitation to live a life of holiness, consisting of the virtue of humility, surrender to God’s will, and self-discipline. When we have found Him, we, like John the Baptist, will point him out to others by living a Spirit-filled faith and humble way of life. By our holiness, we will cry out to others what we believe as John did, “There he is, there is the Lamb of God!”

In Jesus, John saw the true and only sacrifice which can deliver us from sin. When he said that he did not know Jesus, he was referring to the hidden reality of his Divine Nature. But the Holy Spirit at that moment revealed to John the true nature of Jesus, which was Divine. John bore witness to this mystery by proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God.

May the Lord Jesus Christ fill us with the power of his Holy Spirit and allow us to increase in faith, truth, knowledge, and love of God.

– Fr. Patrick Seelman, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: January 2nd

2012-01-03T10:30:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 2:22-28; Jn 1:19-28)

Many commentators renounce any effort to find a logical arrangement and progression of thought in the internal structure of 1 John. Most biblical scholars hold that this epistle can be divided into three groups of remarks, preceded by a prologue and concluded with an appendix. The prologue holds to the principle of communion with the Father and the Son. Communion with God is walking in the light: the antithesis of light is darkness; the antithesis of truth is the lie. The author stresses the necessity of confession of sin and keeping the commandments and also of abstaining from the world and rejecting false teachers. Living as children of God is to bear witness to the truth.

The author of 1 John wants to confirm that the tradition that has been communicated to the community is authentic. He indicates that the anointing with the Spirit that came upon the community is God’s confirmation of the message’s authenticity. The author emphasizes that the Christians must hold onto the tradition they have received if they want to remain in authentic communion with the Son and in the Father.

The lack of structure in 1 John leads some scholars to suspect the book is a compilation of a didactic and a homiletic composition. In its literary form and purpose it lacks some of the marks of the epistles: it has no name of the sender or receiver and certainly no formulae of greeting or of conclusion.

+ Fr. Aloysius Hankinson, T.O.R. (1924 – 2006)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Christmas Reflection: January 1st - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

2011-12-30T17:32:00.005-06:00

(Num 6:22-27; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21)

CHRISTMAS

Because the cross
became a tree;
because the rock
became a door;
we celebrate
return to birth,
we kneel upon
the humble floor.

For this our shepherds
sing their hymns;
for this our Wise Men
travel far:
because the cross
became a tree;
because the stone
became a star.

– poem by Jean Burden;

offered for reflection by Bro. Didacus Wilson, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: December 31st - Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

2011-12-30T17:29:00.003-06:00

(I Jn 2:18-21; Jn 1:1-18)

“Silence can open a door
on a new dimension of reality.
In silence we find ourselves
in open country.”

– Morton Kelsey

As this year ends, and a new year is on the horizon, give yourself the gift of twenty minutes of silence today.

Christmas Reflection: December 30th - Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas

2011-12-29T21:16:00.002-06:00

(I Jn 2:12-17; Lk 2:36-40)

The author of this passage from John's first letter is addressing many in the Christian community who have experienced the forgiveness of the Father. Those who have experienced and accepted the forgiveness of the Father have in this way also strengthened themselves against the power of the evil one. In having been forgiven, they have experienced the love of the Father and His Son, Jesus.

John also warns those who have been forgiven against following and loving the things of this world. “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father in not in him.” So, the writer of this letter is telling us that we must not waste time loving “the things of the world.” By this he means that we must not be influenced by what is against God. That is all those things in the world that are contrary to the following of the Gospel. We must live our lives entirely in the presence of the Father and His Son, Jesus, if we are to gain eternal life. Only in renouncing all for the sake of Christ will we be in the love that is of Christ.

– Fr. Donald Frinsko, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: December 29th - Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

2011-12-29T08:37:00.002-06:00

(I Jn 2:3-11; Lk 2:22-35)

God is light. God is that light, that perfection and love which we strive to follow and emulate. While perfection for us may not be attainable, that does not mean that we should not strive for it. God has given us the means to do this. God has allowed us to see this love and perfection in His only Son, Jesus. Jesus has given to us this great gift of an example. Yet we must choose this gift. We must decide not once but always to follow Jesus and to follow the commandments which He has given us.

Simeon, Anna, Mary and Joseph all had to make that decision to follow God. God did not reward Simeon and Anna because they were in the temple. No, God rewarded them because of the faith that they nurtured and put into action. Their faith was rewarded by seeing the Son of God.

Mary and Joseph, while family, were not automatically brought into faith in God. They had to make that decision. They had to make a choice to believe in God. They had to make the choice to follow God.

Do you recognize the hand of God in your life? Do you choose to see the good that God does for you? Do you choose to do this good for others? Your love of God, your faith, is not just an activity of the mind but is an outward activity to others. Pass it on!

+ Fr. Robert Juroszek, T.O.R. (1959 – 2010)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Christmas Reflection: December 28th - Feast of the Holy Innocents

2011-12-27T21:21:00.006-06:00

(I Jn 1:5-2: 2; Mt. 2:13-18)

“If we walk in light,
as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another.”
(I Jn 1:7)

“ ‘A cry was heard at Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation:
Rachel bewailing her children;
no comfort for her,
since they are no more.’ ”
(Mt 2: 18 —quoting Jeremiah 31:15)

From 1973 through 2007, an estimated 48,000,000 abortions were performed in the United States. This is an average of about 3,800 abortions that are performed in the United States every day.

As of December 28, 2011; 1,277 death row inmates have been executed in the Unites States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In addition, the Innocence Project reports, “Seventeen people have been proven innocent and exonerated by DNA testing in the United States after serving time on death row” (http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/The_Innocent_and_the_Death_Penalty.php).

In this season of light and life, spend some time in prayer today for those whose lives are no more.

Christmas Reflection: December 27th - Feast of St. John the Evangelist

2011-12-26T20:43:00.002-06:00

(I Jn 1:1-4; Jn 20:2-8)

John, John, John. Whether my name was called endearingly by my mother many years ago or mischievously today by one of the friars, I like to hear it. One who can name me usually knows me. Naming and knowing me gives me an identity which is unique and precious.

Today’s gospel never uses the name John. John the evangelist had a greater purpose than honoring one disciple. He calls the disciple with Peter “the one Jesus loved.” That is the disciple I want to be. The reality is that I am… and so are you.

Mary Magdalene is the beloved disciple who first came to the tomb and found it empty. Peter is the beloved disciple who heard the news and later became the head of the new Church. Yet the beloved disciple who outran Peter is even more special. Why? Maybe because he was given the talent and the athleticism, but particularly because of the faith that made him fleet of foot. Jesus’ love in him literally lifted him along the path to the tomb.

St. Francis must’ve been fairly fleet of foot, because we know people were always chasing him. “Why are they all running after you?” one of his brothers asked. I think it was because they saw a man who was radiant with love and they wanted some of it for themselves. Francis

made God visible to all of his time when they had thought it was only possible to find the Lord in clerical garb or behind cloistered walls.

Long before the Middle Ages when Jesus’ first disciples were experiencing a new life with him, they were compelled to share it. In John’s letter we read “Our purpose in writing you is that our joy may be complete.” Today I am called to believe: “John, you are the beloved disciple; share it with others to make your joy complete.” I hope you will hear God’s call of the beloved and share that joy with those you meet today.

– Bro. John Kerr, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: December 26th - Feast of St. Stephen, First Martyr

2011-12-25T17:55:00.001-06:00

(Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59; Mt 10:17-22)

The desert was cool that morning.
A crowd had gathered at the Pit.
A young man from Tarsus had stirred up the mob.
They led Stephen, the follower of the
Carpenter from Nazareth
to the area outside the walls.
He was a man like many others of that region—
dark, rough skin, lithe and strong,
a worker.

The leaders of the new sect had ordained
that he was to be one of those chosen
to assist the widows and orphans.
Hardly a Crime.
He was living what they were beginning to call the
Good News!
He was in peril but at peace.
They expected him to be scared,
but what they saw was a man with the fire of
the Holy Spirit
burning in his clear brown eyes.
A fire of love,
a fire so brilliant that no
stone could ever extinguish it.
A moment of darkness,
then the light of new life.

– Bro. Stephen Baker, T.O.R.

Christmas Reflection: Christmas Day - Mass at Midnight

2011-12-24T21:08:00.003-06:00

(Is 9:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Lk 2:1-14)

There is something fascinating about the hands of an infant—especially when they reach up and grasp the outstretched fingers of a doting adult. Although the child will not be able to speak for months, through their hands, they are able to express one of our most basic needs; the need to belong, to touch and be touched. Most of us find it easy to respond to this need and to do so eagerly. Caressing a baby in our arms seems to soften even the most hard-hearted among us.

Why is it that we are so ready to love and be loved by an infant? Perhaps it is because of their absolute innocence. Maybe it is because we love that which is fresh and new. It is probably both of these—and more. But I think it is also a matter of being drawn into a love that demands very little from us. It’s easy to love an infant—to hold and lavish attention on someone without any commitment. It makes us feel good and there are no strings attached (except, of course, if you are the parents).

And so, we delight in the feast of Christmas. We gaze lovingly at the infant Jesus and wish that we could just pick him up and hold him and love him.

My brother and sisters, sometime during the weeks of the Christmas season, go to the crib scene in church or in your home. Reflect on the mystery of God’s loving patience and then look at those outstretched hands that seem to demand so little from us. They are the same hands which, as they grow older and before they are folded in death, will demand a great deal from us. They are the same hands that commanded the sea to be calm as he and his disciples were being tossed about on the stormy sea. They are the hands which, when laid upon the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, or the withered limbs of women and men broken and in need, brought sight, hearing, and wholeness. They are the hands that took bread, blessed it, broke it, and said, “Take and eat; for this is my body.” They are the hands which, when fastened to a cross, embraced every woman, man, and child whoever lived and whoever would live, in one supreme and selfless act of blessing and redemption.

My brothers and sisters, by all means, take the hand of the infant Savior into your hands. But as his hand grows larger and his grip grows stronger and the wood of the crib becomes the wood of the cross, do not pull back. Rather, tighten your grip and savor the unimaginable peace and joy that comes with total commitment—not just a warm and sentimental Christmas moment—but total commitment to the eternal Son of God.

– Fr. Anthony Criscitelli, T.O.R.

Christmas Season Reflections

2011-12-24T21:00:00.004-06:00

The Story of Greccio

“Therefore, desiring to represent as faithfully as possible the lowly poverty of the infancy of the Savior born at Bethlehem, when the Feast of the Nativity was at hand, the man of God sent word to a religious nobleman in the town of Greccio named John, who provided an ox and an ass, with a stable, in anticipation of the joys of the coming celebration.

Finally the holy night arrived. Blessed Francis was there with many of his brothers gathered around him.

The hay in the manger is prepared, the ox and the ass are arranged around the manger, and the vigil celebration begins with joy. A great multitude of people stream together from various places, the night is filled with an unaccustomed joy and made luminous by candles and torches. And so, with a new ritual, the festival of a new Bethlehem is celebrated.

The brothers also paid their debt of praise to the Lord, and all present acclaimed him with new songs of praise. Blessed Francis, however, was standing before the manger full of sighs of joy and suffused by an indescribable sweetness. Finally, when Solemn Mass was celebrated above the manger, the holy Levite of God, dressed in festive vestments proclaimed the gospel with a sonorous voice and then with a voice flowing with honey he preached to the people about the poor King born in Bethlehem. Truly, he was so overcome by sweet devotion toward the infancy of that King, that whenever he had to speak the name of Jesus Christ, he would, as if stuttering, call him “the babe of Bethlehem,” out of an excess of loving tenderness.

Lest it be thought that these things happened without divine approval, a miraculous vision was shown to a certain virtuous man, who saw Blessed Francis go up to the manger and waken, as if from a deep sleep, a child who seemed to be lying there lifeless. It is therefore believed, and not without reason, that the Lord Jesus aptly revealed his infancy in this vision to the one who reflected upon it. He who was asleep or dead in the hearts of many, owing to forgetfulness, was awakened and recalled to memory by the teaching and example of Blessed Francis. The solemnities were completed with great exultation, and everyone happily returned to their homes.”

– Julian of Speyer, The Life of Saint Francis, X:53-55.

The reflections that follow have been prepared by friars of our Province to aid you in your prayerful meditations through the Christmas season.

Please keep the friars in your prayers. May the Christ-child no longer slumber in our hearts but be reawakened to become a living, vibrant presence in this world.

– The Franciscan Friars; Province of the Immaculate Conception, USA

According to Your Word - December 24th of the Advent Season

2011-12-24T12:30:00.003-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(II Sam 7:1-5, 8-11, 16; Lk 1:67-79)

“The Dayspring shall visit us
in his mercy
To shine on those
who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the way of peace.”
(Luke 1:78, 79)

As we stand on the threshold of Christmas, create a space of quiet in the midst of today’s many activities.

“There is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before. . . .

Stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder.

There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing.

For now, stay. Wait.

Something is on the horizon.”

– Jan Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas (Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press, 1998), xiii.

According to Your Word - December 23rd of the Advent Season

2011-12-23T07:05:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Mal 3:1-4, 23-24; Lk 1:57-66)

Advent is the Church’s “privileged time” to focus on Jesus, Emmanuel– “God-With-Us.” It is God's story of coming to us in the concrete reality of Jesus Christ. It’s the story of God bending down in love to embrace our fragile humanity and to bring us into unity with the divine love. Advent is about God’s Word become flesh and our reception of it— God’s intervention, a most noble work, in the lives of His people.

When the young and impressionable Francis of Assisi first heard the word of the Crucified say to him: “Rebuild my house, as you see it is fallen into ruin,” he immediately took mortar and stone and went about the task of rebuilding. As his relationship with the Lord grew and deepened over time, contemplation on that word revealed to him to rebuild his heart that had fallen into ruin.

St. Bonaventure tells us that God has come to us in a loving and personal way, making Himself visible and audible, so that seeing and hearing, humanity could once again be united to God and contemplate Him. (Bonaventure, “Vigilia nativitatis Dominus,” IX, 1O3a). By God’s grace and mercy, He has given us a capacity for a single-hearted relationship with Him, but it has been covered over with other things. Our Scripture readings for today remind us that this is the “privileged time” to clear away the clutter in our hearts and make room for the Word to be born within— a truly noble work— to be a dwelling for the Lord. For the One who has created the universe has called us to be intimately in relationship.

God bending over, embracing us, bringing us into unity—divine intervention, obscured in Advent darkness within us and around us. Let it come to light now in re-kindling and rebuilding our relationship with the Lord and with others. Forgiveness given, forgiveness received— a most noble work for the rebuilding of all things especially the human heart. Then “the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter His Temple.” (Mal 3:1).

– Fr. Christopher Panagoplos, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - December 22nd of the Advent Season

2011-12-22T08:16:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(I Sam 1:24-28; Lk 1:46-56)

The central figure of the first reading is Hannah, the mother of Samuel. She was married to Elkanah, who loved her more than his other wife, Peninnah. Hannah was childless but Peninnah had several children. When Elkanah could not notice, Peninnah would humiliate Hannah because she was barren.

Once a year Elkanah and his family would climb the hillside of Shiloh to offer sacrifices at their favorite shrine. During one of their visits, Hannah hid near a deserted altar, tears streaming down her face, her voice uttering incoherent prayers. Eli, the high priest, old and half blind, found the grieving woman and accused her, “Woman, you have taken too much wine.” “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit.” Eli apologized and joined her in praying for a son. Hope filled the heart of Hannah as she left the shrine.

Hannah gave birth to a baby boy and named him, Samuel, which means “Name of God.” When it was time to go to Shiloh again, Hannah declined to go because it was more fitting to consecrate him to the Lord after she stopped nursing him.

Our reading today describes the moment that Hannah returned to Shiloh to fulfill her vow. She left Samuel with Eli in order to be trained for service to the Lord.

It is a well-chosen reading. With Christmas only three days away, the Church gives us the example of Hannah. She believed that Samuel, “Name of the Lord,” was born because of God’s intervention. The story prepares our hearts to believe that Jesus, “The Lord Who Saves” is the result of God's special intervention: “God so loved the world that He sent his Only Son so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life” (John 3:16). God gave Hannah a son. God has given us His very Son. Let us rejoice and be glad! Let us welcome him into our hearts!

– Fr. Bonaventure Midili, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - December 21st of the Advent Season

2011-12-21T07:09:00.006-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Song 2: 8-14; Lk 1:39-45)

“O Radiant Dawn,
Splendor of eternal light,
Sun of justice:
Come shine on those
who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.”

– “O” Antiphon for December 21 –

It is the month of August [2003] as I write this. The New York Times this morning reported that 95 people were killed by a car bombing in Iraq. As I look out over Lake Howell at San Pedro Center [Winter Park, FL] and see the sun dancing behind clouds, I think of this valley of darkness and the shadow of death.

George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, reported a vision wherein he saw a vast sea of darkness covering the earth. This frightened him, until he saw that over the sea of darkness flowed an even greater sea of light. At Bethlehem, over 2,000 years ago, a shaft of that light burst through that sea of darkness, “and the darkness did not overcome it.” Oh, how hard it is, in a world of such evil to realize that evil has already been conquered! That is the truth about Advent. We do not wait for promises to be fulfilled; we celebrate their fulfillment. The Father’s Kingdom will come and, in fact, it has already.

We pray that the “Peace on Earth” that we sing about every Christmas will become reality. All it will take is for each person to wake up and smell the poinsettias. How can you bring the peace of Christ into your life and the lives of each person you meet?

According to Your Word - December 20th of the Advent Season

2011-12-20T07:20:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 7:10-14; Lk 1:26-38)

Have you ever wondered what significance the phrase “God-with-us” has for your daily life? What might an awareness of this significance look like in terms of one’s attitudes, thoughts, words, and deeds?

In today’s readings we get an illustration both of one who lived with such an awareness and another who did not. Mary’s response to God’s messenger is a clear example of someone who was animated by the knowledge of God's closeness. Through her “fiat” Mary gave witness to an on-going process at work in her life of assenting to the unfathomable and mysterious plan of a God who can do all that he wills.

In contrast to the example of Mary, we have in the reading from Isaiah that of Ahaz. At first glance, the response of Ahaz saying that he will not tempt God seems pious enough. However, this was but a gloss of the fact that he, unlike Mary, did not trust in the word of God as spoken through the messenger sent to him. Ahaz was facing some very tough political and military circumstances and could not believe in the ways of a God who had it in mind to resolve these issues through the birth of a helpless child. In refusing to accept the sign and plan offered by God, Ahaz was revealing the fact that he had long since chosen not to live in an abiding awareness of “God-with-us.”

As we continue our Advent journey, let us follow the example of Mary by seeking to immerse ourselves in the fact that God, as Holy Mystery, is indeed with us and seeks to change the difficult circumstances of our lives and world through the birth of Jesus in our hearts.

According to Your Word - December 19th of the Advent Season

2011-12-19T07:45:00.001-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Judg 13:2-7, 24-25; Lk 1:5-25)

“It has been said that two things frustrate us in life— when we don’t get what we want and when we get what we want. In either case, our expectation (generally inflated beyond imagining) exceeds reality. Hence, we are frustrated. Obviously, when we don’t get what we think we need or would like to have, we are frustrated and sense incompleteness and unfairness at the way we are treated.

But, the other (more serious) cause of frustration comes when we get what we want and then find out there are strings attached or challenges implied in our accepting it. Such is the plight of Zechariah and Elizabeth in today’s gospel. They had prayed for a child and had been careful in observing religious customs to be found worthy before God. But, just when what they had asked for was promised through the angel’s message, Zechariah doubted whether this could be true. He was about to get what he wanted and yet he could not accept this on God’s terms. Hence, he was struck dumb and could not announce or explain the coming birth to others.

It is when we submit to God and surrender to his plans for us, whether they are or are not what we expect or want, that we are able to achieve contentment and happiness. Real happiness comes from God’s ways, not our designs. Deep contentment should come from knowing that we are part of God’s people and that his plan involves our salvation. Nothing we could want on earth could ever substitute for the one thing that really matters— the life of God within and among us as we yearn for complete union with God in eternity.”

– Kevin W. Irwin, Advent/ Christmas: A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours (New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986), 147, 148.

According to Your Word - Fourth Sunday of Advent

2011-12-18T12:20:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

Cycle B
(II Sam 7:1-5, 8-11, 16; Rm 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38)

Words can be weapons and medicine. Words can be beautiful and ugly. Words can hurt and kill. They can heal and encourage. It depends on how we use them. It depends on us and our free choices.

Today’s readings mention the beautiful words spoken to Our Lady that she would be the Mother of God. The words of invitation troubled her at first. Being a solid and assured woman she questioned their meaning. When she understood the angel, she willingly accepted to become pregnant with the Savior of the world.

“And the Word was made flesh.” Jesus took his whole body from Mary. There was nothing of St. Joseph in Jesus’ making.

This tremendous mystery of God becoming human was accomplished through words: words of invitation and words of acceptance; the words of the Archangel Gabriel and the words of the Virgin Mary.

We hear the healing words of the Church which invite us to prepare for Christmas— a healing invitation to confess our sins and receive God’s pardon.

Our joyful acceptance opens us up to Christ and his becoming human.

Jesus will use words to teach, to heal, to console, to work miracles. He will say, “Come and see” to those who want to follow Him more closely.

I came and saw the Franciscans 46 years ago and am still listening to, laughing with and learning from the friars. They have brought Christ to me.

– Fr. Raphael Eagle, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - December 17th of Advent Season

2011-12-16T17:43:00.003-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Gen 49:2, 8-10; Mt 1:1-17)

Today the Church goes into “Advent overdrive” with Scriptures and prayers that attempt to sharply focus our attention in the last eight days before Christmas. The best example of these is found in the “O Antiphons” which are prayed, beginning today, in the Church’s Evening Prayer: “O Wisdom, Holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care: come and show your people the way to salvation!”

With ordinary life examples the Scriptures invite us to reflect on the extent of the wisdom which fashioned, and continues to fashion, this way of salvation.

Chapter 49 of Genesis recounts Jacob’s last will and testament. In its entirety it paints a very human and poignant picture. The dying Jacob desires to bless all his sons yet understands, in a moment of personal insight, the impossibility of this fatherly desire. Why? Because personal choice has made some of his sons allies of darkness instead of light. For them admonitions and instructions are the only words Jacob can offer. However, in today’s selection, blessings are given to Judah, one of Jesus’ ancestors. And these blessings are messianic in character: long lasting power and authority. From a simple tale of the ordinary life experience of dying, the author intimates that God’s promises endure despite the vagaries of human choices. God not only shows the way of salvation, God makes it happen.

Chapter 1 of Matthew’s Gospel is a challenge for most readers and listeners alike. On the surface, genealogies do not seem to capture the imagination. What is interesting is the inclusion of five women in this list. They lead us in a direction which can help give some contemporary significance to this little preached text. It is not difficult to understand the inclusion of Mary, mother of Jesus. The author’s intent is to emphasize that Jesus is born of her and not Joseph her husband.

The mention of three others—Tamar (Gen.38), Rahab (Josh. 2), and Bathsheba the wife of Uriah (2 Sam 11:1-27) – invites us to read their stories and to understand that God can and does work even with the shadows (theirs and ours) to form a hopeful future. Come Lord Jesus!

– Fr. Giles Schinelli, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Friday of the Third Week of Advent

2011-12-15T17:31:00.001-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 56:1-3, 6-8; Jn 5:33-36)

“Observe what is right,
do what is just;
for my salvation
is about to come,
my justice
about to be revealed.”
(Is 56: 1)

The restoration of God’s justice is a key theme throughout all of Advent.

What can you choose to do today that will begin to restore a broken relationship? Act on it.

According to Your Word - Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

2011-12-14T20:58:00.001-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 54:1-10; Lk 7:24-30)

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL TIME

This is a beautiful time, this last age, the age of
the Holy Spirit.
This is the long-awaited day of His reign in our
souls through grace.
He is crying to every soul that is walled:
Open to Me, My spouse, My sister.
And once inside, He is calling again:
Come to Me here in this secret place.
Oh hear Him tonight crying all over the world
a last desperate summons of love to a dying race.

Acres we are to be gathered for God: He would pour out His measureless morning
upon divinized lands, bought by blood, to their
Purchaser given.
Oh, hear Him within you speaking this infinite love, moving like some divine and audible leaven,
lifting the sky of the soul with expansions of light, shaping new heights and new depths,
and, at your stir of ascent,
spreading the mountains with flame, filling the
hollows with heaven.

– Jessica Powers, Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, ed. Regina Siegfried ASC and Robert Morneau (Kansas City, Missouri: Sheed and Ward, 1989), 27.

According to Your Word - Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

2011-12-14T20:52:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 45:6-8, 18, 21-25; Lk 7:18-23)

Isaiah announces to us in this reading that there is only one true God, the Lord God of Israel, who is the “vindication and the glory of all the descendants of Israel.” These descendants include us; God is our only vindication whose glory radiates down, soaks into every fiber of our being and makes us holy. God's decrees are just and beneficial for his children, and his word, once uttered, cannot be changed. Yet, there is nothing to be feared from his word since it is just and not arbitrary.

The Lord calls us to justice: “Let justice descend...like dew from above,” let justice spring up from the earth and from the hearts of my people Israel. Pope Paul VI had once said, “If you want peace, work for justice.” He meant social justice. We cry out for peace, the world cries out for peace; but there is no peace because many individual lives, and the policies of not a few nations, are based on injustice, above all against the weak and poor.

Unless our lives, and the socio-economic programs of nations, are predicated on justice, there will be no peace. Charity begins at home; however, it cannot end there, but must flow out beyond the perimeters of our own self-interests.

John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod because he had denounced Herod for his on-going adultery. John languished in jail, and while he was there his disciples had told him about the miracles that Jesus was performing among the people.

When we are educated, have money, status, good health and freedom of movement, we feel that the world is our oyster. But, take away these sources of well-being and we begin to withdraw into ourselves and the scourge of mental illness makes its presence felt by stages. We start losing our equilibrium; what we had believed was normal, true and ours by right are now desperately questioned.

It seems that John, while he suffered imprisonment, began to wonder if Jesus was the Holy One of God. So, he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them and blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” All of these were the signs, that were written by the prophet Isaiah (35: 4-6) of the coming of the long-awaited Messiah into his kingdom. John was sure to understand Jesus' words, and by understanding them, would be consoled and at peace.

– Fr. Cyprian Mercieca, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

2011-12-13T08:10:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Zeph 3:1-2, 9-13; Mt 21:28-32)

“I will change and purify
the lips of the peoples,
that they all may call upon
the name of the Lord.”
(Zeph 3:9)

“Today, the scriptures invite us to ponder how truly converted we are to the Lord’s ways and how much we truly need this season for deeper conversion to the Lord. The gospel plays on words today; this can be amusing and offer a twist on religious truth. But Advent is no word game; it is about resolute conversion to the Lord.”

– Kevin W. Irwin, Advent/ Christmas: A Guide to the Eucharist and Hours (New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986), 107.

“Within themselves
let them always make
a dwelling place and home
for the Lord God Almighty,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
so that, with undivided hearts,
they may increase in universal love
by continually turning to God
and to neighbor.”

– T.O.R. Rule 2:8

According to Your Word - Monday of the Third Week of Advent

2011-12-12T09:13:00.003-06:00

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(Num 24:2-7, 15-17; Mt 21:23-27)

“The utterance of one whose eye is true. . .
Of one who sees what the almighty sees,
enraptured and with eyes unveiled.”
(Num 24:3, 4)

“When [my grandmother] died, it was as suddenly as her Christmas cactus: here today, gone tomorrow. She left behind her letters and her husband of sixty-two years. Her husband, my grandfather Daddy Howard, an elegant rascal with a gambler’s smile and a loser’s luck, had made and lost several fortunes, the last of them permanently. He drank them away, gambled them away, tossed them away the way she threw crumbs to her birds. He squandered life’s big chances the way she savored the small ones. […] ‘I don’t know how she stands it,’ my mother would say, furious with my grandfather for some new misadventure. She meant she didn’t know why.

The truth is, we all knew how she stood it. She stood it by standing knee-deep in the flow of life and paying close attention.

My grandmother was gone before I learned the lesson her letters were teaching: survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention. Yes, her letters said, Dad’s cough is getting worse, we have lost the house, there is no money and no work, but the tiger lilies are blooming, the lizard has found that spot in the sun, the roses are holding despite the heat.

My grandmother knew what a painful life had taught her: success or failure, the truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.”

– Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992), 52-53.

According to Your Word - Third Sunday of Advent

2011-12-10T17:19:00.002-06:00

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Cycle B
(Is 61:1-2 10-11; I Th 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-8, 19-28)

Exuberance is one of the words that befits the church’s momentum at this point in our celebration of the season of Advent. The coming of the long-awaited Messiah is so near that the church is bursting with anticipation. In some way, this is the rehearsal dinner to the great wedding feast of heaven and earth. Rejoicing is the only mood. John the Baptist lends clarity in the confusion of identities, the bewilderment that sometimes, even today, perplexes those of us who still seek the Anointed One of God.

John tells us that not only is he unworthy to wash the feet of the one in our midst, but that he should not so much as approach his sandal. Here is the summons to awe, awe that we are so gifted by the presence of God, not only in our midst but also as one of us. This Good News cannot but move us to embody the best of ourselves: perhaps rather to diffuse the best of ourselves, made in the image, and after the likeness.

May the God of peace sanctify us... the One who calls us is faithful! How can we keep from rejoicing?

– Fr. Robert D’Aversa, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

2011-12-10T17:16:00.003-06:00

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(Sir 48:1-4, 9-11; Mt 17:10-13)

Elias and John the Baptist were prophets of the one true God. Both spoke the same true inspired message of God. Elias predicted the coming of the Messiah and offered a message of spiritual deliverance. Moses delivered the Hebrew people from spiritual bondage in Egypt and established the kingdom of Israel.

Now we hear the same message from John. The Messiah is here to establish the kingdom of God on earth by delivering us from the bondage of sin and unlocking the gates of paradise. The Messiah will establish the kingdom of God on earth, the new Jerusalem, the Church of God. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, now sits upon his throne and is present in the Eucharist. Come to him. Unite with him. Commune with him in the Eucharist.

+ Fr. Barnabas Barker, T.O.R. (1924 –2004)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

According to Your Word - Friday of the Second Week of Advent

2011-12-09T06:58:00.005-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 48:17-19; Mt 11:16-19)

A WOMAN'S LIFE

What Mary knew was just
enough for the usual day;
pull water, flint fire, bake
bread, smile, pray

the dark orations, sleep, wake
wait. When pain honed a nerve,

when birth or dying clotted
an hour, she leaned to the curve

of living, resilient to fear,
laughter, suffering.
Partings are a little death.
Each one's journey is a thing

wholly without precedent.
She looked at the sky
for compass. None. She, too,
created a road to travel by.

– poem by Maura Eichner;
offered for reflection by Bro. Didacus Wilson, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

2011-12-09T06:55:00.001-06:00

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(Is 41:13-20; Mt 11:11-15)

Today marks the second phase of Advent weekdays as described in the Introduction to the Lectionary for Mass:

“On Thursday of the second week the readings of the gospel about John the Baptist begin.” (no. 94)

Bring to mind today someone who pointed the way to a deeper faith for you. Spend time in a prayer of thanksgiving for that person.

According to Your Word - Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

2011-12-07T07:36:00.002-06:00

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(Is 40:25-31; Mt 11:28-30)

There are many words of hope and consolation in both of today’s scripture passages: a loving and kind Father as well as a caring Son; a God who created the universe and continues to care for it; a Son who came to confirm this love to us in our own time.

As the road seems to get longer and the hills are harder to climb, it is refreshing to read and reread these texts of Isaiah and to find that the Lord is one who gives help and strength to the overburdened and the weary. For those who put their trust in him they can be assured of his help. When the going gets tough, trials and temptations set in, and depression and anxiety seem to take over, he waits for our request for help.

Placing all our concentration on the “burden” of life we often overlook to see or find the “yoke,” the guide to help carry the “burden.” Jesus gives us the example and courage to go on. There are many difficulties in life today and at times it appears useless to continue, but these words of Isaiah and Matthew are for our hope and help. Let us reflect on them frequently.

– Fr. Seamus Corcoran, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

2011-12-07T07:28:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 40:1-11; Mt 18:12-14)

The familiar opening lines of chapter 40 of Isaiah challenge us with opposing images of God: Judge and Comforter, Hidden, yet Revealing, Immortal, yet Creator of Mortality, Strong Ruler and Gentle Shepherd. For Isaiah, it is not a question of which of these characteristics describe God; rather God is all these things. What would be regarded as inconsistency in any human being we experience as perfect consistency in God.

“What is your opinion?” This is the question Jesus asks in chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel. Does it make sense to us that the shepherd of a huge flock would leave it to seek after one, lone, lost sheep? Human logic says, “No.” Society tells us that the life of the one is not as important as the life of the many. But human ways are not the ways of God. For God, the life of every child is equally important. Once again, what would be foolish behavior for a human is perfect behavior for a loving God.

Can we accept God for who God is? Can we run to the rooftops and proclaim the love and mercy of God? Only when we acknowledge our own imperfection can we reclaim ourselves as children of God. Like a child, we will see the world and our Creator with innocence, wonder and awe. We will gently yield our sense and will to the perfect inconsistency of the Shepherd’s embrace.

There is work to be done: the coming of the Lord must be proclaimed.

There is work to be done: we must examine our lives.

There is work to be done: we must become children again.

We are invited to leave our sins behind and become the herald of God’s mercy in the world. “Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!”

– Fr. David Kaczmarek, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Monday of the Second Week of Advent

2011-12-05T07:22:00.003-06:00

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(Is 35:1-10; Lk 5:17-26)

Today Isaiah strikes a triumphant note in a passage that is a song of joyful celebration. Jerusalem has been delivered from the hands of her enemies and this is cause for joy. Cripples leap about, the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf are opened to see and hear of Israel's liberation. Even the dry desert seems to bloom, and a highway - a holy path - has been cleared for all those whom Yahweh has ransomed.

This note of liberation is continued in our Gospel. Here it is a case of ransom from sin. We are given the example of some men who have brought a paralyzed man for Jesus to cure. There is such a crush of people within that the man's friends resort to removing roof tiles to lower their friend on his pallet down to Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you.” The friends had expected Jesus to heal the man’s body. Instead Jesus heals both body and soul. It is the only time in the Gospels where an adult is healed because of the faith of someone else.

By the power of God Jesus forgave the man’s sins and restored his body to health. Divine and human forgiveness go hand in hand. In the Our Father we ask that our sins be forgiven as we forgive those who have offended us. We gain mercy for ourselves when we show mercy to others. The measure of our forgiveness of others is the measure of the quality of our own love for God and others.

+ Fr. Columba Enright, T.O.R. (1930–2006)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

According to Your Word - Second Sunday of Advent

2011-12-01T20:49:00.004-06:00

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Cycle B
(Is 40:1-5, 9-11; II Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8)

“One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down to loosen his sandal straps. I have baptized you with water, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John's ministry was one not only of preaching but also of waiting for the coming of the promised one.

Waiting is perhaps the most widespread of all human experiences. Waiting is an art unto itself. More often than not, we discover that what we were waiting for was not worth the wait. Or at least, that it wasn't what we had hoped for nor expected. A prolonged experience of waiting tends to show us we are not patient. The kind of waiting Advent asks of us as Christians is neither for impatience nor for cynicism. The basic thrust of Advent is waiting for something already experienced as present and powerful to be completed. It is waiting for someone who is always and already coming toward us in greeting and welcome.

Advent rekindles in us that sense of watching and waiting wherein we see and identify the constant breaking in of Jesus into our lives. The world around us will rush while Christians find themselves wrapped in a deep spirit of hope that is restored.

Christ has come among us; Christ is among us; Christ will come again in a glory to be recognized only by those who keep watch in the growing darkness and cold.

– Fr. Edward Sabo, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Saturday of the First Week of Advent

2011-12-01T20:46:00.002-06:00

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(Is 30:19-21, 23-26; Mt 9:35-10:1, 6-8)

“The gift you have received, give as a gift.” Isaiah speaks today about the wondrous gifts God will give to the people of Jerusalem. “You will weep no more.” The Lord will give you what you need and no longer hide from us. We will see our teacher, and it will all be made clear what we should do – “walk this way, turn left or right.” Sometime we ache for such clarity in our lives. What is it we should do? What is our path in life? What is the Lord calling me to? Isaiah uses some of the language of the desert to promise us what we need, lots of water and fodder for our cattle to graze – not much of each in the desert.

Often our lives can seem like we are living in the desert, without much water and so we are thirsty, and no greenery to rest upon when we grow weary of wandering and searching. Isaiah uses the image of light: even the moon's light will be like that of the sun and the sun seven times as bright. How much more enlightening do we need? Isaiah promises us the presence and the power of God to wipe away our tears and give us clarity by his teaching us the path to follow, and to enlighten the darkness of our minds so we in brilliant light where we are going.

Jesus tells us that the reign of God has come in the person of himself and this great gift that we have received can now be given as a gift to others. We are invited to become one with him in his ministry. We have known what the presence and the power of God has done in our own lives and we cannot keep to ourselves the possibility of that happening in other's lives. We will proclaim healing, clarity and bold teaching to others. We want them to share the joy we have felt in finding the Lord. What we have been given as a gift we now give as a gift. We have indeed seen our Teacher, and he is the Christ. The gift of God in Jesus and his transforming power in our lives is meant for all. How can I keep from sharing this wondrous gift with others? “The gift you have received, give as a gift.”

– Fr. Ambrose Phillips, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Friday of the First Week of Advent

2011-12-01T20:43:00.001-06:00

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“When Jacob's children
see the work of my hands
in their midst,
they shall keep my name holy.”
(Is 29:23)

“Jesus touched their eyes and
said, ‘Because of your faith
it shall be done to you,’;
and they recovered their sight.”
(Mt 9: 29-30)

As we near the end of this first week of Advent take a 20 minute walk today. Spend the time gazing upon creation. Pray for sight and insight to see the work of God’s hands in your midst.

According to Your Word - Thursday of the First Week of Advent

2011-12-01T06:52:00.004-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 26:1-6; Mt 7:21, 24-27)

Recently the media, both in the press and on television, gave reports of a number of serious scandals in the construction field. Public buildings and homes were built upon faulty foundations. This resulted in dangerous problems that had to be taken care of and are proving to be quite costly. Had solid and stable foundations been made in the first place, the danger and additional cost could have been avoided.

Today’s Gospel reveals our Savior letting the Apostles know that they are to be considered sensible who hear His words and put them into practice, like men building their houses on a rock. Those who hear His words and do not put them into practice are foolish, like men who built their houses on sand. All through this holy season of Advent, through the Scriptures, we are provided extremely wise yet plain and simple counsels to build our relationship with God. Our Savior assures us that those who love Him must keep His Commandments. He guarantees us that those who would be His disciples must pick up their daily crosses and follow Him. We
cannot just cry out “Lord, Lord...” and then look for excuses and alibis not to do what God expects of us or what we have vowed or promised to do.

Advent is a time for us to seriously and prayerfully consider the depth and sincerity of our spiritual life. Is it solidly built on the rock of faith in and service to Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever? It is with reason that Jesus founded His Church on a rock– Peter– whose name means rock. In our trials, doubts, problems, fears and anxieties we say with Saint Peter, “Lord, to whom can we go?” We have the assurance of our Incarnate God, whose birth we prepare to celebrate. He tells us, “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened.” This is the foundation of our trust, hope and confidence solidly based on the rock of the word of God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

+ Bro. Bernard Dougherty, T.O.R. (1926–2009)

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

According to Your Word - Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

2011-11-29T19:59:00.002-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 25:6-10; Mt 15:29-37)

Our readings present us with a look at what is to come in our lives. They tell of the Messianic banquet and that period of time when there will be peace and tranquility. The future holds grace and hope for us.

Isaiah mentions this hope and Matthew’s gospel has Jesus curing those who are ill. He gives bread to those in need in order that they will not grow faint. We are those in need. God gives to us in great measure.

The season of Advent is a time of reflection and expectant prayer. We see the direction of our lives and prayerfully seek change and improvement. Jesus will feed us and direct us as we proceed on our Journey.

This journey is filled with God’s graces and blessings. God’s Word is our way. We cannot help but be moved to greater spiritual longings and directions. Our lives will be full because they look forward to each day being a time of grace and fulfillment. We long for what is to happen in the present and in the time to come.

Let us pray in this season of preparation and expectation to be instruments of God’s will. May each of us follow in the path of the expected Savior.

– Fr. Vianney Cunningham, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

2011-11-28T20:16:00.003-06:00

(Image of the Advent wreath is from ImageVine/courtesy of www.imagevine.com. All rights reserved.)

(Is 11:1-10; Lk 10: 21-24)

A philosopher once said: “Walk straight into the peace of God; don’t look back; don’t ask if you are there yet; just keep walking.” We live in a world that seems to question everything. I believe we question so often, that we don’t take time to enjoy the possibilities for our lives. One possibility is that God’s peace is with us in this season of Advent, and can grow within us, if only we are open to that peace.

Isaiah reminds us that “the spirit of the Lord is upon us,” and the promise of that spirit is a kingdom of peace. This is a message of hope, in these days of war and ongoing terrorist threats. Luke reminds us that in the same way Jesus’ disciples are blessed, we too are blessed with the peace and hope that comes from knowing that God loves us so much, that He sent His only Son to be with us: to teach us, heal us, love us, and be a part of our daily lives, if only we ask for His presence.

But, if we continue to question the possibility of peace, hope, and what Jesus can do for us, then we speak only with our minds and not our hearts. It is the response of the heart that says: “I need the peace and hope that only the Savior of the world can give me. I don’t have to understand it; I just need it.” We can discover that peace and hope in this season of Advent. Before our minds question the possibilities, may our hearts embrace these gifts, each and every day, so that this will be our best Christmas ever. God bless you!

– Fr. Brad Baldwin, TO.R.

According to Your Word - Monday of the First Week of Advent

2011-11-27T16:34:00.005-06:00

(Is 2:1-5; Mt 8:5-11)

ADVENT
(poem by Jean Burden)

Before you come
old springs flower
in the silence of my earth
and rivers locked for seasons
in my cold
flow with longing
toward the hour.

And this is love, I know:
to wait
composed as stone
while ancient nativities
tremble in my darkness
gathering a violence
of their own.

– poem offered for reflection by Bro. Didacus Wilson, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - First Sunday of Advent

2011-11-23T15:23:00.005-06:00

FIRST SUNDAY of ADVENT
Cycle B
(Is 63:16,17,19,64: 2-7; I Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37)

Watchfulness is the word that fills the Scripture reading and begins this new Liturgical Year. For the community of Israel listening to the prophetic words of Isaiah, it is a watchfulness for the actions of God who is the “faithful Father.” For the community gathered to hear the Good News according to Mark, it is a watchfulness for the actions of Jesus Christ, God’s faithful Son.

While the community of Israel was enjoying a respite from enemy attack and exile, their relative ease found them forgetful of the God who is their very life. Verse 5 of chapter 64 remarks: Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! They were losing sight of their true identity, which was always to be a reflection of God’s just and loving ways. Yet because God is always the “faithful Father,” faithful men and women, like the prophets, were sent to remind them. Advent is the time when Christians are reminded to keep a faithful watch for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the liturgy, whose spirituality is really about remaining watchful for the Lord in all the aspects of our lives, helps us to remember that God is our very life. How can we do this? St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians pays tribute to the many gifts that infuse the church and tells them that these gifts flow from God. Such gifts, whatever they are, should be used to build up fellowship with one another and, therefore, with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the Advent summons will bring us to incarnate the ultimate gift that Paul will later address in Chapter 13: Love. Incarnate Love: the feast that we prepare to remember as the first Christmas and the feast that we will live eternally as the last.

– Fr. Carl Vacek, T.O.R.

According to Your Word - Reflections for the Advent & Christmas Seasons

2011-11-23T15:10:00.006-06:00

The Coat of Arms for the Province of the Immaculate Conception bears the inscription, “According to Your Word.” The text is from the Gospel of Luke and comes from the story of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she is to bear a child. Mary, moving beyond her incredulity and her fear, acknowledges her dependence upon God, assents to the request, and utters words that changed the course of history, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

This radical assent to God marks the lives of the friars of our Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception. Following Mary’s lead, we have vowed ourselves to live in a stance of a daily turning in faith to God, fostering hope in God’s promises, and living love enfleshed in generous service.

The seasons of Advent and Christmas are especially dear to Franciscans. The following reflections were originally released in According to Your Word, a three booklet series featuring some of our friars’ reflections on the cycle of scripture readings for the Advent and Christmas season. We offer these brief reflections to you in a spirit of faith, hope and love: faith in God’s power continuing to manifest itself in today's world through weakness; hope, that as you pray through the readings and reflections a prayerful bond will be formed between you and our friars; love, knowing that only through acts of love will our lives be formed according to God’s Word.

The following reflections are offered as one way to sustain a prayerful focus through what is very often the hectic seasons of Advent and Christmas. The friars of the Province were invited to prepare a brief reflection on the daily scripture readings of the Church’s liturgy. The fruit of these meditations is reprinted in the following blog posts.

Part of the beauty of the Province of the Immaculate Conception is the diversity of the men who have committed themselves to following the Franciscan way of life. That diversity is reflected in these writings. No attempt has been made to reconcile the various writing styles or theological viewpoints. What you will find in common in these reflections and among our friars is a very human approach to the great mystery of the incarnation. Franciscans are noted for their popular and accessible preaching. This fact is evidenced in these prayerful reflections provided for your daily meditation.

We invite you to prayerfully enter this season of incarnation. Take a few moments each day to read the assigned scripture readings. Ask the Holy Spirit for insight and wisdom to guide your personal reflection. Afterward, read what the friars offer for reflection on the scripture passage assigned each day. Because this is a season when we ponder the implications of what it means that the Word became flesh, on some days the written reflection is replaced with an activity. You are invited to participate in that activity or to choose some other way to allow your prayer to find expression in action. Finally, we ask that you take a moment to say a prayer for the friar whose reflection you have read. As Franciscan Friars, we are men who have dedicated our lives to helping others discover and grow in love for the Word made flesh. Pray for us that we may remain faithful to our vows, farsighted in our vision, and courageous in our response. For our deceased Friars, pray that they may enjoy God’s eternal embrace of peace of love.

May these seasons of Advent and Christmas be a time of great grace so that your heart and ours may respond daily to the mystery of God-among-us with the life-changing assent, “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”

Be assured of our heartfelt prayers. With a share in the love that God has for you.

– The Franciscan Friars,
Province of the Immaculate Conception, USA

Summer Bounty Festival Brings Central Pennsylvania Community Together

2011-08-07T16:30:00.028-05:00

Despite early August drought conditions and many prayers for rain for our garden and especially local farmers, we were not hoping for rain on the day of our festival. Sr. Water was very generous, however, and we were forced inside the garage at St. Bernardine's Monastery. Yet spirits were bright as the music, food and particularly the wonderful crowd of friends, old and new, joined us friars and our gardeners to celebrate the gifts of our land and God's abundance for all.

Br. Corey Smoot, TOR Professes Vows

2011-07-25T12:54:00.008-05:00

Br. Corey Smoot, TOR placed his hands in those of Very Rev. J. Patrick Quinn, TOR, Minister Provincial of the Immaculate Conception Province, as he professed his vows to God and the community on June 4 in Immaculate Conception Chapel, Loretto, PA. As a sign of his bond with the community, Br. Corey embraced Fr. Patrick and all the friars in attendance with the sign of peace. Very Rev. Christian R. Oravec TOR, (next to Fr. Patrick in center photo) Minister Provincial of the Sacred Heart Province, received the vows of his friars, Br. Richard Boland, TOR, Br. Richard Fornwalt, TOR, Br. Nathan Meckey, TOR, Br. Paul Norman, TOR, and Br. Jared Weaver, TOR. Also vested in the group photo are Fr. Bernie Tickerhoof, TOR, novice master, and Fr. David Pivonka, TOR.

Blessing of the Community Garden

2011-06-11T09:16:00.005-05:00

On a beautiful spring day at the end of May, Fr. Eugene Kubina, TOR blessed the 2011 community garden at St. Bernardine's Monastery. Br. John Kerr, TOR (middle) welcomed friars and gardeners. All celebrated a potluck lunch afterward at the Care for Creation Center.

Second Sunday of Easter: Belief without Seeing as Transformation in the Spirit

2011-05-01T08:46:00.005-05:00

The Gospel of John is wholly unique in the way that it depicts Christ's Resurrection and his first appearance to the disciples (John 20:19-31). Unlike the other Gospel writers who have Jesus rising, spending a period of time with his disciples instructing them, ascending to heaven, and than sending the Holy Spirit to them (Pentecost), John conflates the Resurrection and sending of the Spirit into one event occurring simultaneously. To conflate two things or ideas is to "bring them together; to meld or fuse them." What is the significance of conflating the Resurrection and the sending of the Spirit in John? To begin with, it's important to bear in mind that John was written 30-40 years after the other Gospels. Hence, the Christian community had the opportunity to mull over, reflect on, and experience the power of Christ's Resurrection for some time. Therefore, we can presume that the point isn't a historical one but a theological one. The Christian community has come to understand the Resurrection not merely as God's "antidote" to death, nor even sin, but, as the "doorway" to new life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. "Belief" in Jesus no longer is a matter of seeing the risen Lord, nor even professing faith in Christ's with one's lips, but, even more, by being transformed through the Spirit. Jesus tells Thomas after appearing to him, "blessed are those who have not seen and believed." (John 20:29). We are indeed blessed in not seeing the Lord because we must rely, rather, on the presence of the Spirit in our lives as a guiding and empowering force which transforms us, our relationships, our communities, and, even our world ever slowly but surely into a "Christ-like" environs that is more open to God's Kingdom.

To see an example of what it means to believe in Christ as transformation through the Spirit, take for example the aftermath of the horrific storms that ripped through Alabama, Mississippi, and a number of other southern states this past week. Despite the apocalyptic-like carnage surrounding the survivors of these storms, many have spoken of how fortunate and blessed they feel to be alive, of having a new appreciation for life, of relationships that are being strengthened through this tragedy, and of communities that are drawing together more closely in mutual support, care, concern, and love. The bonds being formed among members of these devastated communities and those who are reaching out to them both near and far speak to similar dynamics that were at the heart of the early Christian communities mentioned in today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles: "They devoted themselves  to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,  to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.  Awe came upon everyone,  and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.  All who believed were together and had all things in common." (Acts 2:42-47). The Risen Lord is indeed at work every bit as much today as he was immediately after the Resurrection, forming disciples whose faith is grounded not in seeing but in transformation through the Spirit. Pat, TOR

Taste of New Creation: Dispositional, Relational, and Communal

2011-04-29T13:42:00.007-05:00

The stories of Christ's Post-Resurrection interactions with the disciples and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles gives plenty of insight into how the power of Christ's Resurrection and the promise of new life avails itself to us. To begin with, we see the effect that Christ's Resurrection has on the disciples disposition. Through their interactions with Jesus after his Resurrection (c.f., the Road to Emmaus story in Luke 24:13-35) the disciples come to an entirely new way of understanding the mystery of Jesus (as a suffering Messiah) and how that mystery applies to their own lives (as those who will likewise struggle and suffer for Christ). Another effect of Christ's Resurrection and taste of the New Creation is relational in nature. In John's account of the Resurrection (John 20:19-31), John has Jesus not only appearing to the disciples, but breathing into them the Holy Spirit. Unlike the other Gospel writers, John ties the Resurrection of Christ to the intimate presence of the Spirit being given to those who are related to Jesus. New creation now consists in a completely unparalleled bond to Jesus in and through the Spirit who is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of his Son. Finally, a taste of new creation is experienced through the new communal ties made possible by Jesus' Resurrection. Through Jesus' Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the first Christians in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, a community of worship and mutual support is formed in which no one is in need of anything (Acts 2:42-47).

Just as the earliest disciples "tasted" and experienced new creation, so can we. Through allowing the Lord's Words in scripture to take hold of our imaginations and settle deeply into our hearts, our dispositions change from being "reactive" to life's events to being "reflective" and deliberately interpreting all of life's circumstances through a "paschal" (meaning, Christ-like) frame of reference (for more on this, see Tuesday's blog reflection). We likewise experience new creation when we open ourselves to the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and our world. This can be as easy as talking a walk in nature and being drawn into the beauty and fragility of the web of life or it can be as challenging as making more deliberate decisions regarding what information we allow into our lives (following the proverb, "garbage in, garbage out"). Lastly, new creation cannot be experienced in all of it's robustness without an integral connection and commitment to community. This implies being led by the Spirit of the Resurrected Lord to some degree of involvement at all levels of community: socio, cultural, and political. It means taking a stand for the values of the Kingdom and working hard to sew them into the fabric of culture - not with the aim of making culture Christian but, rather, making it open to the Reign of God that is already among us but not fully so. The experience of new creation made possible by Christ's Resurrection is something that is indeed accessible to us, all we need do is allow ourselves to be more deeply and powerfully drawn into this ever-present though very subtle mystery. Pat, TOR

Road to Emmaus: Pathway to Paschal Mystery

2011-04-27T15:43:00.008-05:00

The Gospel from today's Daily Mass tells the story of two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus after the Crucifixion and alleged Resurrection of the Lord (Luke 24:13-35). They are discussing the events that have recently unfolded when Jesus joins them in such a way that they are unable to recognize him. He joins in the discussion and asks what they are talking about. They seem incredulous that he isn't aware of what has transpired. They tell him about Jesus, their dashed hopes as a result of his crucifixion, and the Resurrection event reported by some women disciples. Jesus than turns the tables in dramatic fashion and remonstrates them with equally forceful credulity at the disciples hardness of heart in not understanding that the Messiah was destined to suffer and sacrifice. Jesus than interprets all the scriptural passages of the Hebrew Scriptures that refer to him in a way that begins correcting their flawed understanding.

The story of the journey to Emmaus is less historical than metaphorical. The "Road to Emmaus" is a portrait of the life of discipleship and how it is a matter of acquiring a new way of seeing and experiencing reality, and, ultimately, walking the pathway to Paschal Mystery. Initially the disciples are "reactive" to the circumstances of Jesus' crucifixion and Resurrection - meaning, they are reacting with the normal, knee-jerk and very human response of the "woe is me" emotions of confusion, fear, disorientation, and, even, sorrow, and perhaps a tinge of self-pity. What Jesus exhorts them to do is to exchange their "reactive" response for a reflective response. A reflective response is one that is grounded not only in objectively analyzing a situation but also making a free choice of how to interpret an event, and, for that matter, our lives. In so many words, Jesus is helping the disciples to not only understand the facts of scripture more accurately in regards to himself, but, more importantly, he is empowering them to choose hope and new life rather than surrender to despair and death.

I recently experienced a bit of a health set-back at a very inopportune time. Initially, I "reacted" to the news with a "woe-is-me" complex and for a time was yielding to fear, sorrow, and self-pity. I asked the question, "why THIS and why NOW?" Than, after being moved by what I believe was a genuine nudge of the Spirit, I transitioned into a mode of a more reflective understanding. In reflecting on this set-back, I realized that it is much better that I experience it precisely now rather than even two months from now or later. In a sense I chose to opt for hope and new life rather than to yield to despair. The main reason for moving from reactive to reflective understanding isn't so that we can be more positive, it's so that we can be more paschal. A positive attitude is something that more or less rides along the surface at best, and, at worst, can be a bit "polly-annish" because it fails to recognize or react appropriately to truly disturbing and distressing events. Sometimes lemons simply can't be made into lemonade - life doesn't always provide the water and sugar!! A paschal attitude, to the contrary, is about something much deeper: namely, the hope that the cards life deals us, even the ominous and threatening, can be an occasion for being drawn closer to God and to others as sources of love, support, and new life. Pat, TOR

Prayer before the Crucifix Collage

2011-04-24T18:41:00.004-05:00

Prayer before the Crucifix [1]
Iconic image collage(2011) by Bro. Jeffrey Wilson, T.O.R.

Prayer before the Crucifix [2]
by St. Francis of Assisi

Most High,
glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart
and give me
true faith,
certain hope,
and perfect charity,
sense and knowledge,
Lord,
that I may carry out
Your holy and true command.

This work takes the perspective of St. Francis kneeling and praying before a crucifix in an abandoned church that has fallen into ruin.

“Seeking out solitary places, he [Francis] used to go to deserted and abandoned churches to pray at night. [3] […] One day when he went out to meditate in the fields, he walked near the church of San Damiano, which was threatening to collapse because of age. Impelled by the Spirit, he went inside to pray. Prostrate before an image of the Crucified, he was filled with no little consolation as he prayed. When tear-filled eyes were gazing at the Lord’s cross he heard in a marvelous way with his bodily ears a voice coming from that cross, telling him three times: “Francis, go, rebuild my house which, as you see, is all being destroyed!” [4] […] The voice from the Cross, which repeated three times the command concerning the rebuilding of the house of God, stands out as a prophetic sign. We recognize now that it is fulfilled in the three Orders established by him.” [5]

Visually, this work is inspired by several works of Salvador Dali, particularly Christ of St John of the Cross, Corpus Hypercubus, and The Ascension of Christ. I was interested in the play between vertical and horizontal perspectives in Christ of St John of the Cross; the detachment of the body, or corpus, of Christ from the cross in Corpus Hypercubus; and the suspension of the body of Christ in The Ascension of Christ.

Christ: The image of the crucified Christ is taken from a picture of the Celtic crucifix in the Founders Chapel of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. I took the picture kneeling before the crucifix to capture the vertical perspective of looking up at the crucified Christ. The body of Christ is washed in light; darker at the feet becoming brighter at the head.

The image of the crucified Christ can be viewed from both a vertical and horizontal perspective. In relation to the wall and statues, the crucified Christ is viewed from a vertical perspective. This is the more literal and natural perspective. In relation to the Earth, sun, and nebula; the crucified Christ is viewed from a horizontal perspective. This is the metaphorical and supernatural perspective.

In the traditional analogy for the natural and supernatural, horizontal represents the natural while vertical represents the supernatural. I do not intend to collapse the vertical into the horizontal or the immanent Trinity into the economic Trinity. [6] The inverting of the analogical vertical and horizontal perspectives symbolizes Francis’ insightful vision of the created world. The created order mirrors the Triune God. As the Most High God is perfect Trinity (diversity) and simple Unity (one), so too is God’s creation. [7] The created universe is diverse yet unified and ordered. [8]

Cross / lack of visible cross: As an image of the crucifix, one might ask, “Where is the cross?” After all, one of the widely used prayers among Franciscans is Francis’ prayer: “We adore You, Lord Jesus Christ, in all Your churches throughout the whole world and we bless You because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.” [9] I was tempted to title this work Prayer before the Crucified because of the explicit omission of a visible cross. And yet, there is the rub. The work omits a visible cross, but the cross of Christ is still present; it is etched into the hearts of the faithful. As Francis explained to Sultan Malik al-Kamil, “We possess the cross of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, and that cross we adore and surround with total devotion.” [10] So, the cross is present in the heart of Francis, who is in prayer before the crucified Christ, as well as the faithful observer of the work.

Wall: The ruined wall represents the wall of a one of the many abandoned and ruined churches that Francis visited and rebuilt during his life. “He [Francis] would spend the night alone praying in abandoned churches and in deserted places where, with the protection of divine grace, he overcame his soul’s many fears and anxieties” [11]

Statues of Mary and John: The statues of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, the Apostle, contribute to the crucifixion scene since they were present at the foot of the cross.

Earth: The Earth represents both the literal Earth and the created universe as a whole. The original sin of Adam and Eve wounded the created order, both humanity and the rest of creation. Therefore, Christ’s salvation and restoration heals all creation; both humanity and the rest of creation. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ recreates all things. “And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new’” (Rev 21:5). [12] “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:19-21). Thus, the image of the crucified Christ is suspended over the image of the Earth.

The sunlight reflecting off of the surface of the Earth symbolizes creation mirroring God. In addition, the sun’s reflection represents St. Clare’s theme of the mirror of contemplation. She instructs, “Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance and, through contemplation, transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself, so that you may feel what friends feel in tasting the hidden sweetness that, from the beginning, God Himself has reserved for His lovers.” [13]

Sun / light: The sun/light represents God and the Beatific Vision. Jesus is placed in front of the light to represent that Jesus is the door to salvation. St. Bonaventure explains, “[One] cannot enter into himself to delight within himself in the Lord unless Christ be his mediator, who says: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved; and he will go in and out and will find pastures. But we do not draw near to this door unless we believe in him, hope in him and love him. Therefore, if we wish to enter again into the enjoyment of Truth as into paradise, we must enter through faith in, hope in and love of Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and men, who is like the tree of life in the middle of paradise.” [14] Bonaventure’s insight is expressed in Francis’ Prayer before the Crucifix. In his prayer, Francis asks God for the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity/love. Francis has placed himself before the door the salvation, the crucified Christ, and humbly asks God for the gifts of faith, hope, and love, so that he may enter through the door into paradise.

Nebula: The nebula is an image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63). The image was copied and reduced several times to create a tunnel effect. The tunnel image reflects the analogy of the spiral for the spiritual life, contemplation, and greater union with God. At the far end of the tunnel is the light representing God and the Beatific Vision which is the ultimate goal of humanity. Through the door that is the crucified Christ, the soul is traveling, or spiraling, towards eternal union with the Triune God. The tunnel image also plays on the imagery of Jacob’s ladder with gradations/levels/steps moving from Earth to heaven. “And he [Jacob] dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place – and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’” (Gen. 28:12; 16-17).

------------------
[1] The Earth and space images are from NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org.
[2] Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Vol. 1 - The Saint. Eds. Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap., J.A. Wayne Hellman, O.F.M. Conv., and William J. Short, O.F.M. (New York: New City Press, 1999), 40.
[3] St. Bonaventure, The Major Legend of Saint Francis, ch. 10, 3.
[4] St. Bonaventure, The Minor Legend of Saint Francis, ch. 1.5.
[5] Ibid., ch. 1.9.
[6] Karl Rahner explains, “The “economic” Trinity is the “immanent” Trinity and the “immanent” Trinity is the “economic” Trinity.” Karl Rahner, The Trinity, (New York: Herder & Herder, 1970), 22. Or in other words, as Fr. Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap. explains, “With regards to revelation […] the manner in which the Trinity reveals himself in the economy is in keeping with the manner it is in itself.” Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., Does God Suffer?, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2000), 142.
[7] “Most High, Who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity, and are glorified God almighty, forever and ever.” St. Francis of Assisi, A Letter to the Entire Order, 52.
[8] Weinandy explains, “We clearly perceive now the awesome truth that because creatures, especially human persons, are in the act of creation related to the persons of the Trinity as they are in their own subsistent relations, and so are related to each person of the Trinity in a specific and proper manner, they are assumed in the very mystery of the Trinity itself. Thus, the act of creation mirrors, though imperfectly, the processions within the Trinity.” Does God Suffer?, 142.
[9] St. Francis of Assisi, The Testament, 5.
[10] A Book of Exemplary Stories, 98.
[11] Thomas of Celano, The Life of Saint Francis, 71.
[12] All scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation unless otherwise noted.
[13] St. Clare of Assisi, The Third Letter to Agnes of Prague.
[14] St. Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey into God, ch. 4, 2.

"Wholly Thursday": Wholly Receiving and Wholly Giving

2011-04-21T10:39:00.005-05:00

Following the theme of the last two blog entries concerning a slight twist on "Holy Week" as "Wholly Week" (the week in which we remember how Christ gave himself "wholly" to us), what might be gained from approaching Holy Thursday as "Wholly Thursday?" Holy Thursday is traditionally celebrated as the Institution of the Lord's Supper and commemorates the last, Passover style meal that Jesus had with his disciples. One focus of the meal is Jesus' "ritualizing" his impending and total self-offering to God and humanity for the life of the world. The other aspect is the call of Jesus for his disciples to follow his example by offering themselves in this self-same way. Jesus "ritualizes" his gift of self through the symbols of bread and wine. The bread he breaks and the wine he pours at the meal symbolize how, throughout his three year ministry, he has shared and poured himself out unhesitatingly for the well-being of others. Now, at the end of his life, and with the ominous clouds of crucifixion on the horizon, Jesus doesn't hide away in a corner but "he love his own in the world and he loves them to the end." (John 13:1). The Last Supper is the "swan song", "pinnacle", and "crescendo" of the deep meaning behind all of Jesus' actions on behalf of others. It is the summation (summary) and con-summation (fulfillment) of all that he has done and all that he is about. What the Last Supper symbolizes, summarizes, and fulfills is Jesus wholly giving himself for the life of others and for the life of the world.

In a sense, therefore, "Wholly Thursday" is about "wholly receiving" the gift of Christ as the One who alone can penetrate the depths of the ambiguity and complexity of our lives and world to bring light, purpose, hope, healing, transformation, and, in a word, redemption. How can we be assured of this? Because, time and time again, Jesus did this for others during his ministry and, when the going got tough (meaning his life was on the line), he didn't turn tail and run but dug in even deeper in his resolve to be gift for others - even when it meant forfeiting his own life. The Last Supper, in a very real sense, was Jesus' "digging in" - not to defend his own life but to "defend" (meaning, "redeem") the life of others for generations to come. However, as much as Holy Thursday is about Jesus' wholly giving himself, it is also about our "wholly receiving" this gift and "wholly giving" it to others.

This comes across clearly in the way in which the Gospel of John depicts the Last Supper (John 13:1-15). These passages of John relate the dramatic actions of Jesus in washing the feet of his disciples and than instructing them to do likewise. This gesture would have been completely "over the top" for Jesus' disciples. Rabbi's and revered masters simply did not bend so low in a mode of condescending service. Peter even objects to this action, apparently appalled by his Master's gesture. Yet Jesus insists that if Peter is to be in communion with him, he must open himself and wholly receive this new, saving way of being and relating to God. What, precisely is this new way of being and relating? It consists of the continual process of opening ourselves wholly to receiving the way in which God desires to serve and save us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This way of serving, saving, or "gracing" us, has little to do with outward favors granted by God (material blessings, etc...) and is about allowing God to "condescend" and bend so low as to reach, touch, wash, and heal the parts of us that are most smelly, messy, insecure, fragile, broken, forsaken, and alienated. Yet, this is just one part of the challenge of Wholly Thursday. The other aspect of entering into a true and saving relationship with God means being willing to "wholly give" the gift that we've received. In other words, we must also be willing to condescend and serve by reaching, touching, washing, and healing those parts of others and our world that are smelly, messy, insecure, fragile, broken, forsaken, and alienated. For, Jesus himself says at the end of this Gospel, “Do you realize what I have done for you?  You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.  If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,  you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow,  so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” Pat, TOR

"Wholly Week": Wholly Impenetrable Mystery of Christ, Life, and Our Very Selves

2011-04-20T08:23:00.006-05:00

In Monday's blog reflection I proposed that Christian's shift the focus during Holy Week from viewing Christ's passion and death as primarily an offering for sin and exploring it as a "bridge" to a deepened, healing, and transformative communion with the Trinity of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, I proposed that Christian's view this week as "Wholly Week": the week in which we remember how Christ gave himself "wholly" for us that we might never be alone in all the experiences that constitute human life: especially experiences of struggle, suffering, tragedy, rejection, abandonment, and, even death. The reason for this shift of focus is quite straightforward: it forms a robust basis for a life-long love relationship with God.

When God gives himself "Wholly" to us in Christ and Holy Spirit, this means that God pours out for our pleasure, delight, contemplation, adoration, and intellectual, spiritual, and soulful stimulation the full, impenetrable mystery of Christ and, by extension, the full mystery of life and human life. A large part of what makes God, life, and, human life so exciting and adventurous is the impenetrable mystery inherent in it! By "impenetrable mystery" I very definitely do not mean that God, life, and human life cannot be fathomed or understood at all. Rather, I am referring to the inexhaustible depth of complexity and beauty that penetrates every nook, cranny, and corner of our world and lives. I was recently talking with a friend about the explosion of knowledge and technology in the last thirty to forty years. Both of us marveled at how these areas have been expanding so quickly. We came to the conclusion that the more humans delve into all that there is to know and all that can be created, the more rapidly and deeply will the vistas of science and technology unfold before us. In other words, there will likely be no end to the exponentially rapid expansion of our understanding and creativity! It truly boggles the mind and heart, doesn't it?

Bearing this in mind, let's consider the full, impenetrably mysterious plan of God in offering himself wholly in Christ. In yesterday's daily Mass Gospel from John, Jesus says to the disciples at the last supper after Judas has left them to betray him, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." (John 13:31). If we measure what Jesus is saying through how we normally understand God's glory (meaning, God's truth, beauty, power, majesty, sovereignty, etc...) these words appear utterly absurd. How can God and Christ be glorified in and through betrayal, rejection, and eventually murder? What we've stumbled upon here is the wholly impenetrable mystery of Christ, life, and our very selves. Perhaps what is being said by Jesus is something akin to what Paul says in another part of scripture, namely, that "power is made perfect in weakness." Perhaps what is going on here is God bending so low in embracing the depths, ambiguity, and even tragedy of life that NONE OF IT, no matter how dark, dank, stinky, crappy, hazy, or crazy is outside of God's capacity to turn it into the very basis for the experience of God's Glory and the power of Christ's Resurrection. Maybe, just maybe, God is turning the "rules of life" inside out and making the basis for true life the willingness to sink into the mire of our lives and world and risk ourselves in the self same way that Jesus did. How mysteriously contrary this is to the conventional approach to life as consisting of security, wealth, prosperity, and a sense of ease and comfortability. Maybe our celebration of "Wholly Week" consists in accepting this impenetrable mystery of Christ, life, and our very selves as the bridge to experiencing God's Glory and true newness of life. Pat, TOR

2011-04-18T18:44:00.005-05:00

Holy Week 2011

The Way We Treat Ourselves:
A reflection on the anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill.

by Bro. Jeffrey Wilson, T.O.R.

originally appeared on Franciscan Action Network:

http://www.franciscanaction.org
http://www.franciscanaction.org/Upload_Module/upload/2011.04.20_FANHolyWeek.pdf

April 20, 2011 marks the one-year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the “largest accidental marine oil spill in U.S. history, an acute human and environmental tragedy.”[i] Having been born and raised on the Florida Gulf Coast, I was especially troubled by the disaster. After a year’s time, $3.5 billion of the $20 billion compensation fund has been spent to restore the ecology and livelihoods of those impacted by the spill.[ii] The sugar-white beaches of the Gulf Coast are still in the process of being cleaned of the black oil and tar, now with large sand-sifting tractors called Sand Sharks. Bird nesting season started on March 1st, complicating the process and raising concerns for their health.[iii] Nearly all of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico have been reopened to commercial fishing.[iv] Coastal towns and cities hope to rebuild their economies with the return of tourists this spring and summer.[v] In February, the U.S. government approved the first deep water oil drilling permit since the spill. However, the ultimate environmental consequences of the spill may not be known for some time to come. Most of the oil slick disappeared from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in July 2010, but in March 2011, a study found that “huge quantities of oil […] now taint the Gulf of Mexico's seafloor” in what is described as an “invertebrate graveyard.”[vi] Also, just in the months of January and February alone, the infant mortality rate of the dolphins living off the shores of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana is already 10 times the yearly average.[vii] Although the direct cause is still unknown, this is a very disturbing development.

Despite the overall ecological impact of the oil spill, it is very important to remember that eleven people lost their lives from the explosion and their families and loved ones will carry their loss for the rest of their lives. What is most tragic is that the loss of human life and negative impact on the Gulf ecology appears to be the result of sheer negligence and mismanagement on the part of BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and federal industry regulators.[viii] There is mounting evidence that the companies involved put short term profits over the safety and lives of workers and of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.[ix]

The worst thing that we can do is not learn from this experience; and learn especially that there is an interconnected relationship between humanity and the natural environment. Concerning this relationship, Pope Benedict XVI explains, “The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa.”[x] This relationship is clearly evident in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The same negligent, short sighted, and dare I say it, greedy acts of BP, Transocean, and Halliburton hurt both people and the natural environment.

However, the basic problems that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster are not just isolated to a few companies or a specific industry. They can be seen in our culture and society as a whole. Over the past century, war and genocide have become more and more prevalent and destructive.[xi] The brutality we show towards one another is reflected in our brutality against the natural environment as we destroy forests, level mountaintops, drain estuaries, and erase barrier sand reefs in our quest for modern progress.[xii] In the short-sightedness of our “buy now, pay later” culture, we exchange moderation and sustainability for luxury, extravagance, and excess while we spend money that we do not have and increase our personal debt. This consumption mindset translates into the use and hoarding of the world’s natural resources without regard for our own future, let alone the needs of future generations. Our culture values ease of use and disposability. We throw away an estimated 60 million plastic water bottles each day.[xiii] Likewise, we view human life as disposable and throw-away: the U.S. aborts over 800,000 babies and disposes of an estimated 8,000 human embryos each year.[xiv]

Clearly, something needs to change. Pope Benedict XVI explains, “What is needed is an effective shift in mentality which can lead to the adoption of new lifestyles in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness, and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings, and investments. Every violation of solidarity and civic friendship harms the environment, just as environmental deterioration in turn upsets relations in society.”[xv]

It is the Franciscan mission to cure the wounded, to bind up the broken, and to recall the erring.[xvi] Accordingly, we are called to minister to the wounded victims of this disaster, rebuild the broken human and natural ecologies, and recall the erring from their destructive mindsets and actions. What is needed today, as individuals, a nation, and a human family, is a conversion of heart, mind, and action that recognizes that the way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa. St. Francis of Assisi had the unique insight of this relationship and manifested it in his words and deeds. Let us follow his example. To walk in the footsteps of Francis, who is the alter Christus, the other Christ, is to conform oneself completely into the likeness of Jesus Christ, He who is the image of the invisible God; to see the world through the eyes of Jesus; and to love the world as Jesus does, for all things were created through him and for him and in him all things hold together.[xvii]

Francis showed charity and concern for both humans and creatures.[xviii] He called all creatures by the name of brother and sister and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to all creation: people, animals, and plants.[xix] This is a virtue that Francis came to develop over time. After all, metanoia, the conversion of heart, is an ongoing, lifelong process. The fruits of Francis’ conversion of heart and mind are manifested in his actions.

One great symbol of Francis’ profound conversion is his embrace and kiss of the leper. As Francis explains in his Testament, “What had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body.”[xx] Consequently, Francis’ embrace of the leper is the same embrace that Francis gave to the wolf of Gubbio. His gift of alms to the leper is the same gift of charity that he gave to animals in need.[xxi] His kiss of the leper’s wounds is the same kiss of praise that he gave God through his creatures. And Francis’ reconciling of the wolf and the townspeople of Gubbio is the same labor of reconciliation that Francis worked between the mayor and Bishop of Assisi. Clearly, Francis understood the relationship between humanity and the natural environment.

The one year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster falls on the Wednesday of Holy Week. I find the opening verses from the day’s first reading very appropriate, “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back” (Is 50:4-5). As we end our Lenten journey, let us be mindful of our transgressions against our brothers and sisters, both human and creature. As we remember the Passion of our Lord, let us commit ourselves to the ongoing conversion of our hearts and minds. And as we enter into the Easter Season, may we be renewed in the power of Jesus’ resurrection as we work to cure the wounded, to bind up the broken, and to recall the erring.

I would like to close my reflection with a prayer for the eleven workers who died on the Deepwater Horizon, April 20, 2010, and for the consolation of their families and loved ones.

Almighty and Good God, our faith in the resurrection of Jesus comforts us as we mourn the death of Jason Anderson, Aaron Dale Burkeen, Donald Clark, Stephen Curtis, Gordon Jones, Roy Wyatt Kemp, Karl Dale Kleppinger, Jr., Blair Manuel, Dewey Revette, Shane Roshto, and Adam Weise. May this passage be a reminder to us of our own mortality. Let it be a source of hope for us as we look forward to the day when we will be united with you and all your holy ones in the joy of eternal life. We ask this through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. [xxii]

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[i] National Commission of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling – Report to the President. (January 2011): 173. http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report. Hereafter DW.

[ii] John Roberts, “Oil Spill Victims Say Future Recovery of Gulf is Connected to Compensation Fund,” Fox News, March 2, 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/02/oil-spill-victims-say-future-recovery-gulf-connected-compensation-fund/.

[iii] Associated Press, “Florida Senate Passes Oil Spill Recovery Measure,” Pensacola News Journal, March 16, 2011, http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110316009.

[iv] Approximately 1,041 square miles, or 0.4% of the Gulf of Mexico Federal Waters, surrounding the BP Deepwater Horizon spill site remain closed to fishing as of March 31, 2011. NOAA Fisheries Service, http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/deepwater_horizon_oil_spill.htm.

[v] In fact, the Pensacola News Journal reports, “Hotel revenues in Escambia County soared 30 percent in February, boding well for the spring and summer tourist season.” Staff writer, “Hotel revenue soars in Escambia,” Pensacola News Journal, March 18, 2011, http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110318009.

[vi] NOAA reported that of the estimated 5.4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, only 27% remained with 49% having evaporated and biodegraded, 15% having been contained, 5% burned off, and 3% skimmed. NOAA, “Deepwater Horizon MC252 Gulf Incident Oil Budget,” August 2, 2010, http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/PDFs/DeepwaterHorizonOilBudget20100801.pdf. Raloff, Janet, “Gulf Floor Tainted by Oily Deposits,” Science News, 179, no. 6 (March 12, 2011): 17.

[vii] Jonsson, Patrik, “Baby dolphin die-off in Gulf: Cold water, not oil spill, the culprit?” The Christian Science Monitor, March 4, 2011, http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2011/0304/Baby-dolphin-die-off-in-Gulf-Cold-water-not-oil-spill-the-culprit.

[viii] The National Commission’s report to the President concludes, “The well blew out because a number of separate risk factors, oversights, and outright mistakes combined to overwhelm the safeguards meant to prevent just such an event from happening. But most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure – a failure of management. Better management by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean would almost certainly have prevented the blowout” (DW, 90). “[…] What we nonetheless do know is considerable and significant: (1) each of the mistakes made on the rig and onshore by industry and government increased the risk of a well blowout; (2) the cumulative risk that resulted from these decisions and actions was both unreasonably large and avoidable; and (3) the risk of a catastrophic blowout was ultimately realized on April 20 and several of the mistakes were contributing causes of the blowout” (115). “[…] The company does not have consistent and reliable risk-management processes–and thus has been unable to meet its professed commitment to safety. BP’s safety lapses have been chronic” (218).

[ix] As reported by the National Commission, “Decision-making processes at Macondo did not adequately ensure that personnel fully considered the risks created by time- and money-saving decisions. Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money). There is nothing inherently wrong with choosing a less-costly or less-time-consuming alternative–as long as it is proven to be equally safe. The problem is that, at least in regard to BP’s Macondo team, there appears to have been no formal system for ensuring that alternative procedures were in fact equally safe” (DW, 125).

[x] Pope Benedict XVI. Caritas in Veritate – Charity in Truth, 51. Italics are preserved from the original document while bold is added for emphasis.

[xi] Genocide has plagued our world for the past century with the Armenian genocide (1915-1923), Jewish holocaust, or Shoah, (1941-1945), Roma and Sinti holocaust (1941-1945), Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin (1971-1979), Cambodia (1975-1979), “Red Terror” in Ethiopia (1977-1978), repression of indigenous peoples in Guatemala (1981-1983), anfal campaign against the Kurds in Northern Iraq (1988-1991), Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995), Rwanda (1994), Democratic Republic of Congo (1998-2007), and Darfur in Sudan (1998-2007). McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, http://efchr.mcgill.ca/Genocide_en.php?menu=3.

[xii] Pope Benedict XVI remarks, “How many natural resources are squandered by wars! Peace in and among peoples would also provide greater protection of nature.” Caritas in Veritate – Charity in Truth, 51.

[xiii] Pat Franklin reports, “Health-conscious Americans are consuming water from disposable plastic bottles at a rate of more than 70 million bottles each day. […] More than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day – a total of about 22 billion last year.” Pat Franklin, “Down the Drain – Plastic water bottles should no longer be a wasted resource,” Waste Management World (May-June 2006): 62-5.

[xiv] The CDC reports, “A total of 827,609 abortions were reported to CDC for 2007 […]; the abortion rate was 16.0 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years, and the abortion ratio was 231 abortions per 1,000 live births.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Abortion Surveillance – United States, 2007,” MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 60, no. 1 (February 25, 2011): 1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6001a1.htm?s_cid=ss6001a1_w.

It is difficult to determine exactly how many human embryos are disposed of each year. A report issued by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology in 2003 reports that a total of 396,526 embryos are in storage in the United States as of April 11, 2002 with 8,840 embryos “awaiting destruction per patient request.” It is assumed that these embryo storage and destruction rates are consistent with 2010-2011 rates. David I. Hoffman, Gail L. Zellman, and C. Christine Fair, “Cryopreserved embryos in the United States and their availability for research,” Fertility and Sterility, 79, no. 5 (May 2003): 1066. http://www.asrm.org/uploadedFiles/ASRM_Content/News_and_Publications/Selected_Articles_from_Fertility_and_Sterility/cryoembryos_may2003.pdf.

[xv] Caritas in Veritate – Charity in Truth, 51.

[xvi] “He [Francis] used to tell them: ‘As you announce peace with your mouth, make sure that you have greater peace in your hearts, thus no one will be provoked to anger or scandal because of you. Let everyone be drawn to peace and kindness through your peace and gentleness. For we have been called to do this: to cure the wounded, to bind up the broken, and to recall the erring. Many who seem to us members of the devil will yet be disciples of Christ.’ ” Legend of the Three Companions, 58.

[xvii] Col 1:15-17

[xviii] “The holy man overflowed with the spirit of charity, bearing within himself a deep sense of concern not only toward other humans in need but also toward mute, brute animals: reptiles, birds, and all other creatures whether sensate or not.” Thomas of Celano, The Life of St. Francis, 77.

[xix] Ibid, 81.

[xx] St. Francis of Assisi, The Testament, 3.

[xxi] Illustrating an example of Francis’ charity to animals, Thomas of Celano writes, “In the winter he had honey or the best wine put out for the bees so that they would not perish from the cold.” The Life of St. Francis, 80.

[xxii] The prayer is taken from the Common for the Dead in Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise: 1276.

"Wholly Week"

2011-04-18T15:16:00.008-05:00

Would there be a difference in our lives and spirituality if the Christian tradition slightly changed it's focus concerning the meaning of Holy Week? Traditionally speaking, Holy Week commemorates the final days of the Lord's life and it's redemptive import for our lives. Perhaps the greatest stress and emphasis is placed on Good Friday, when Jesus is arrested, charged, scourged, condemned, and crucified. The tendency to focus so much importance on Good Friday has resulted in a perhaps one-sided focus on Holy Week as the commemoration of Jesus' self-offering for our sins. However, what if Holy Week was less about an offering for atonement of sin and more an offering so that we might come into a newness of life marked by unparalleled healing and transformative closeness with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit?

In today's Gospel reading from John, Jesus states something of monumental importance that could easily be overlooked or glossed over. In response to the betrayer Judas Iscariot's objection about why Jesus allowed the anointing of his body with costly perfume instead of selling it and giving the money to the poor, Jesus says, "you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me." (John 12:8) We can focus so much attention on Jesus' redeeming us from sin that we forget that Jesus' offering was also, and, perhaps, primarily, about us having him, God, and the Holy Spirit. Holy Week is really the week in which Jesus gives himself "wholly" to us by entering into every experience that can be constitutive of human life, to include the abysmal depths of rejection, abuse, torture, abandonment, betrayal, and, if that weren't enough, even being unjustly condemned and murdered.

If we were to shift our focus just a tad and approach Holy Week more as "Wholly Week" (the week in which Jesus gives himself "wholly" to us), we would perhaps come more into the awareness of how it can form the basis and bridge for a vital, healing, and transformative bond, relationship, and communion with the God who will never leave us, no matter how far we sink into the mire and ambiguity of all that makes us fully, tragically, and gloriously human. Pat, TOR

Assimilating the Light of Christ

2011-04-07T14:28:00.002-05:00

In today's Gospel from daily Mass, Jesus gives a long speech in defense of his ministry to the religious leaders who have called him to account (John 5:31-37). An interesting part of his diatribe refers to the ministry of John the Baptist and how the religious leaders, "for a while...were content to rejoice in his light." However, we know how John the Baptist ended up - namely, with his head on a platter! What accounts for the fact that the light of John, and Jesus for that matter, became attenuated to those who initially rejoiced in it? Why did John's head end up on a platter and Jesus' body hung from a cross? In today's first reading (Exodus 32:7-14) we have a similar dynamic going on between God and the Israelites in the Sinai desert. God has just led the Israelites out of Egypt by a very impressive "pillar of fire" and, after initially rejoicing in this light, they have already begun falling away from God by worshipping idols! What gives? How is it that such an impressive sign of light and fiery concern of God for his people could become attenuated by the Israelites in such quick fashion?

You may have noticed that I highlighted the word "attenuated" twice in the above paragraph. The word means to "reduce the force, effect, or value of" something or someone (dictionary.com). The impressiveness of the light of John the Baptist, Jesus, and even God's fiery pillar was eventually "reduced in force, effect, or value", or, attenuated over time by the fact that it wasn't assimilated into the lives of those who witnessed it. In other words, the outward signs and symbols that God gave in the fiery pillar, John the Baptist, and, above all, Christ must be internalized if it is to illuminate, motivate, and animate our lives for the long haul. To give an example of how the light of Christ can be ritually and practically assimilated, let's consider the Easter Vigil celebration on Holy Saturday. The celebration begins in the darkness, with candles being lit from the Easter Candle and distributed to all who are gathered. The refrain that echoes throughout the Church is, "receive the light of Christ." Than a series of readings are read from the Old Testament which recount the great themes of salvation history. Finally, a New Testament reading is read and than, as the great crescendo, the Gospel account of Jesus' Resurrection. The theme of light and newness of life pervades. To assimilate the light of Christ through this ritual means finding and taking our place in the saving stories that we hear on this sacred night, and, above all, allowing ourselves to be drawn into the saving embrace of Christ. Of course, this is not something that is done once and for all. In order for the saving mysteries of scripture and Christ to become our light and life, we must continually strive to assimilate their meaning for our daily lives. Pat, TOR

Entering the "Waters of Siloam" as the Means to Encountering the Beauty of Life and Christ

2011-04-03T09:17:00.007-05:00

Unlike the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Gospel of John is highly symbolic and metaphorical. The reason is that it represents a "faith vantage point" of Jesus and the Christ "event" thirty or forty years more mature than these three Gospels. Therefore, the Gospel reads not only like a narrative but also has the characteristics of a very refined theological and spiritual treatise of who Jesus is and what the life of faith entails. Today's Gospel story of the healing of the man born blind (John 9:1-41) is a story rich in symbolic and metaphorical meaning. It is much less a story about an historical event than it is a parable of encounter with the Christ and the progressive deepening of the life of faith.

When Jesus encounters the man born blind, he makes a salve of spittle and dirt, smears them gently over the man's eyes, and than instructs him to go and wash at the "pool of Siloam." Siloam means, "sent" and has the connotation not of being sent to a pool to wash but being "sent" to give witness to God and Christ through the Holy Spirit. The word is intimately connected to the word "disciple" which also means "to be sent." The man is not so much being sent to wash as he is being sent on a journey: a journey of a progressively deep faith encounter with Jesus the Christ. How does this faith encounter unfold and deepen? To begin with, after the man washes and regains his sight, he admits that Jesus healed him when asked by curious bystanders and the religious authorities (they want to know because this miracle took place on the Sabbath, and it is expressly forbidden to do any such work on this day). The religious authorities than call him to the carpet in order to examine the man with the hope of having something to indict Jesus with. When the man is pressed to give an account of who he thinks Jesus is, he responds "a prophet." Than, when the authorities ridicule and threaten him and push his back up against a wall, he suddenly goes into a very profound and powerful mode of witnessing to Jesus and defending him. At this the authorities cast him out of the community - he once again finds himself at the margins, the very same place that Jesus encountered him to begin with. However, this time, Jesus approaches him and helps the man to finally see him fully as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The man's journey of faith has come to a sort of "full-circle" consummation.

This story is less about a person (the man born blind) as it is a highly symbolic and metaphorical story of "personification." What's being "personified" is the journey of faith and encountering the true beauty and magnificence of life and Christ. The journey begins with the Lord reaching into our lives to intimately touch and heal. This than leads to being sent to "enter the waters of Siloam" or, the waters of a life of faith. The life of faith implies embracing the sum total of all that makes for a truly human life. It means sinking to the depths of human neediness, weakness, brokenness, sinfulness, capacity for goodness, glory
and relatedness with God, other, and self. To "enter the waters of Siloam" is a metaphor of embracing all of the above in a spirit of faith, hope, and love. At times, it means "being called to account" by others and by life to give witness to what we truly value and strive for. If we are "disciples" or, those who are "sent", this means that when "push comes to shove", we bear witness through word and deed that God, Christ, and Holy Spirit are Lord alone and the one we love above all. This of course, means we may very well be pushed to the margins. In other words, when we make a decision to live life at depth, to open ourselves to the true beauty of life, and to live lives of honesty, integrity, vulnerability, and openness, we will be misunderstood and perhaps even rejected; at times this might be by those who were nearest to us. However, in the face of such difficulty and even suffering, we live in the hope of knowing that the more deeply we enter the "waters of Siloam" the more we will encounter the beauty of life and the power of the Risen Lord.

In his book, "Beauty", John O' Donohue speaks along similar lines of how we encounter the depth of true beauty (meaning also, Christ) that comes through making deliberate and difficult decisions for a life of depth, a life of being drawn into the "Waters of Siloam": "The experience of beauty has for the most part a particular force. It envelops and overcomes us. Yet there are times when beauty reveals itself slowly. There are times when beauty is shy and hesitates until it can trust the worthiness of the beholder. Human culture seems to build its temples of meaning in the wrong places, in the garish marketplaces of transient fashion and public image. Beauty tends to avoid the siren call of the obvious. Away from the blatant center, it prefers the neglected margin. Beyond the traffic of voyeuristic seeing, beauty waits until the patience and depth of a gaze are refined enough to engage and discover it. In this sense, beauty is not a quality externally present in something. It emerges at that threshold where reverence of mind engages the subtle presence of the other person, place, or object. The hidden heart of beauty offers itself only when it is approached in a rhythm worthy of its trust and showing." Pat, TOR

The Healing River and Refining Fire of Faith

2011-03-29T14:11:00.004-05:00

The first reading from Monday's (2 Kings 5:1-15) and Tuesday's (Daniel 3:25, 34-43) Daily Mass are quite intriguing stories from the Old Testament, laden with very stark and interesting imagery. The story from Second Kings is about the healing of the Aramean army commander Naaman by the prophet Elisha. Naaman travels all the way from Aram to Israel and is told in quite matter-of-fact fashion, that, if he wants to be healed of his leprosy, he need only bathe in the Jordan River. Naaman is quite put off by this simplistic proposal and says to his servants, “I thought that he would surely come out and stand there  to invoke the LORD his God,  and would move his hand over the spot,  and thus cure the leprosy.  Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,  better than all the waters of Israel?  Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” Just as Naaman is about to return to Aram in anger, his servants prevail on him to at least give the prophet's instruction a try (since he is already so close to the Jordan). Naaman indeed does go to the Jordan, plunges himself into the River seven times and is healed! In today's first reading from the book of the prophet Daniel, we encounter the Israelite exile, Azariah, standing in the "white hot" fiery furnace of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar (he was tossed into the furnace for refusing to worship an idol crafted by the King's artisans). Instead of being burned to bits, Azariah sings a great hymn of faith to the God of Israel, and is miraculously protected against the flames lapping up all around him!

These two stories reminded me of a line from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption." This movie tells the story of a prison escape by the central character, Andy Dufresne, who was unjustly imprisoned at Shawshank Prison for a murder he didn't commit. In order to be freed from the prison, Andy had to crawl through a mile long septic tunnel nearly filled with human refuse. His friend, a fellow inmate named Red, summed it up best by stating that Andy, "crawled through a river of sh*t and came out clean on the other side." The above mentioned readings from Second Kings and Daniel, along with this profound and loaded statement by Red, point to difficult truths that we very often don't want to face: in order to "come out clean" (i.e., be healed and made relatively "whole") or arrive at a strong, fire-tested faith, we almost certainly have to "bathe" in less than desirable "waters", "go through the fire", or, even crawl through a "river of sh*t". In other words, there is no magical formula or way in which we can come to meaning, purpose, and even a sense of the beauty of our lives apart from the murky, muddy, stinky, and fiery experiences that make up life and the story of our lives. It's only by directly facing, embracing, and enduring the sum total of all that makes up life and our lives in a spirit of hope and reverence that even the most putrid waters can somehow miraculously heal and the most blazing fire can refine our trust in the God who accompanies us through it all. Pat, TOR

The "Repentance Ripple Effect"

2011-03-22T13:26:00.002-05:00

Wash yourselves clean!  Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;  cease doing evil; learn to do good.  Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,  hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right,  says the LORD:  Though your sins be like scarlet,  they may become white as snow;  though they be crimson red,  they may become white as wool (Isaiah 1:16-18).

These words from the prophet Isaiah are from a classic "Lenten time" text that is meant to highlight the loving largesse of God in continually calling the Israelite community to repentance and renewed fidelity to the covenant. What makes this text so vitally important and relevant for Christians of the 21st Century is that it points to the communal dimensions of penance and how focusing on this can create a "ripple effect" that than results in healing and forgiveness at a personal level.

For the past hundred years or so, Lent and the penance inherent in it has been approached largely as a personal or individual affair. Lent was a time for getting one's own house/relationship with God in order so as to be prepared to celebrate Easter. The practices associated with Lent include prayer, fasting, works of mercy, and confessing one's sins to a priest. While these practices are good in and of themselves, when they are not in any way, shape, or form connected to the larger community and world, they risk becoming purely individualistic practices that don't really result in a change on this larger scale. What Isaiah, and many prophets for that matter, indicate through their writings is a quite opposite process. They teach that by reaching out to the larger community as an arm of advocacy and voice for justice, one's personal house will quite naturally be put in order and one's "sins" will become "white as snow." The point for Christians living in a very individualistic culture is that regardless of whether we begin with "our house" or the "larger house" of the community and world, our repentance should create a "ripple effect" that impacts both our lives AND the world for the better. Pat, TOR

Jesus' Transfiguration: Hope for When Life Gives Us "Too Much."

2011-03-20T15:05:00.003-05:00

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,  and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them;  his face shone like the sun  and his clothes became white as light (Matthew. 17:1-9).

I recently spoke to a man going through a very difficult, trying, and even tragic set of life circumstances, most of which he was enduring to no fault of his own. He shared that, when he approached other Christians looking for support, he was told by one or more, "the Lord doesn't give you more than what you can handle." Do you ever wonder where they grow people like this? It's bad enough that this man is in deep pain without having to have a fellow Christian do them the favor of suggesting God has ordained that they go through this or is even responsible for it! Such a naive, dismissive "pious platitude" overlooks the obvious fact that life and God ARE NOT one and the same (a "pious platitude" is a stock phrase that is often the equivalent of saying "I don't want to hear about it" but is used instead as a pious gloss to make the person saying it appear to be reverent when in fact they're not!). Granted, GOD may not give us more than we can handle, but MANY people can attest to the fact that LIFE at times sure as heck does!

Jesus' Transfiguration in today's Gospel gives us some insight into a reason to hope when life gives us too much. Prior to this extraordinary event in Jesus' life, he has come into the awareness that the storm clouds are gathering in the distant horizon and that he is likely going to meet with a very cruel and tragic fate. In a word, life, and NOT GOD is about to give him more than he can handle (anyone who thinks that crucifixion isn't more than a person can handle, raise your hand! Ok, now, for those raising your hand, go to the end of Matthew's Gospel, 27:46, when Jesus shouts the guttural cry from the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?". Sounds like someone who is a little overwhelmed, no?). However, what does God do for Jesus on the Mountain in today's Gospel? He doesn't promise to "transform" Jesus' destiny, but to "transfigure" it. There is an incredibly important nuance between one and the other.

To transform something is to change it completely and essentially. To transfigure has more the slight, nuanced connotation of changing the appearance or, in this case, the meaning of something. What may very well be going on in the transfiguration event is a symbol and sign of the hope that, while life is certainly about to dish out more than Jesus can handle in crucifixion, God will, in fact, make these circumstances the very thing that constitutes eternal life. In other words, Jesus' crucifixion as a total gift of self and love to the point of death will not end in wholesale abandonment by God but will become the very path to eternal life. Why is this a sign or symbol of hope for us? What it means is that there is nothing that we can experience in our lives, no matter how painful or tragic, that is beyond the Lord's capacity to use as a means through which our own lives are transfigured in God's love. Pat, TOR

The "Universal" Call To Repentance and Transformation

2011-03-17T13:42:00.003-05:00

When we think about Lent as a season of deepened reflection on our lives and the penance that we practice to align our lives more along the lines of Jesus' legacy of love and self-sacrifice, we usually frame the season and "penitential practices" (fasting, almsgiving, abstinence) in very personal terms. In doing so, we may inadvertently forget that the Gospel call to repentance and transformation applies to every nook and cranny of existence, to every area of our world, personal, interpersonal, cultural, social, political, and, even societal.

Wednesday's first reading from Mass serves as a reminder that we are called to work for the transformation of all areas of our society and world. The reading tells the story of Jonah, a jewish prophet sent to the pagan town of Ninevah to proclaim that impending doom will be upon them unless they essentially change their lives on a dime (Jonah 3:1-10). And, you know what, THEY DO! From the King all the way down to the normal, every day citizen, they proclaim a fast and respond favorably to Jonah's message! This reading serves as an illustration that God's call to repentance and transformation is "universal" in that it applies to all areas of existence. Furthermore, when change and transformation occur at the level of society, it creates an environment that makes it much easier to makes changes at the personal and interpersonal level. In the age of the internet, when we can come into contact with so many organizations striving to change our society, it takes very little to join one or more, and, like Jonah, call our society to the repentance and transformation that is needed in order to make more space for the Kingdom of God. Pat, TOR

Daily Mass Reflection: The "Long View" of God's Word Accomplishing All that God Wills

2011-03-15T13:37:00.004-05:00

Thus says the LORD:  Just as from the heavens  the rain and snow come down  and do not return there  till they have watered the earth,  making it fertile and fruitful,  giving seed to the one who sows  and bread to the one who eats,  so shall my word be  that goes forth from my mouth;  it shall not return to me void,  but shall do my will,  achieving the end for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

This beautiful verse from the prophet Isaiah is a tribute to the potent Word of God, spoken from the beginning of time and through which all things came into being (John 1:1-3). As wondrous as this passage is, how do we understand and appreciate its truthfulness given the fact that the Word of God has been spoken in many and varied ways, and, above all in Jesus, and yet there is still so much evil and sin that prevails? How can we "discern" the possibility that this word will, in fact, achieve the end for which God sent it? My suggestion is that we take a "long view" approach to this dilemma.

By "long view" I mean looking back and forward in time, speculatively piercing through the mists of what we know about the beginning of all things and also what we believe will be the destiny of all things. The long view, in short, means imagining the role of the Word as the means or motor through which all things came into being and by which all things will come into their final, Resurrected fullness. When we look back in time to the beginning of all things through the lens of faith, we see a God who creates through what Irenaeus, an early Church Father, referred to as "the two hands of the Father", the Word and the Holy Spirit. This doesn't mean that the Word and Spirit "physically" fashioned and formed each creature (this occurred through evolutionary unfolding over billions of years), rather, the Word and Spirit can be discerned through the lens of faith as inherent in the "relational dynamism" that draws, attracts, and bonds creatures at an "elemental" level and a relational level. Hence, insofar as this pattern of drawing, attracting, and bonding continues, the Word can, in fact, be said to "achieve the end for which God sent it."

More important to appreciating how the Word will accomplish all that God wills, however, is the speculative "long view" with regard to all things "being gathered up" in Christ (Ephesians, 1:10). Yesterday I gave a talk on "caring for creation" to a group of young adults and spoke about how, in order to make the Christian faith compelling, we need to RADICALLY re-envision our expectations about the after life. For many centuries, the prevailing notion of heaven is that it would consist of the saints and angels gathered before God's throne, singing God's praises for eternity. This doesn't do justice to God's total plan for creation in Christ, and, furthermore, is a relatively boring conception of heaven! The metaphor that captures a more accurate depiction of the after life is a "New Heavens and New Earth." This metaphor is found in Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21:1 and refers to God's plan to "conserve" and utterly transform our present world into a "resurrected" one in which Heaven and Earth come together in perfect communion and form the "place" where we will dwell in eternity. It is through the Word, Spirit, and the Resurrected Son that God will gather up all things and give them final, glorified, and everlasting permanence. Quite an exciting prospect if you ask me! Through the "long view" of what God is doing in God's Word and in Christ, we can come to appreciate the truth of Isaiah's notion that God's Word is accomplishing, and will accomplish, all that God has willed. Pat, TOR

Fasting in Lent a Hungering for Justice

2011-03-12T12:10:00.004-06:00

"Thus says the Lord GOD:  cry out full-throated and unsparingly,  lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;  Tell my people their wickedness,  and the house of Jacob their sins.  They seek me day after day,  and desire to know my ways,  like a nation that has done what is just  and not abandoned the law of their God;  They ask me to declare what is due them,  pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it?  Afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,  and drive all your laborers.  Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,  striking with wicked claw.  Would that today you might fast  so as to make your voice heard on high!  Is this the manner of fasting I wish,  of keeping a day of penance:  that a man bow his head like a reed  and lie in sackcloth and ashes?  Do you call this a fast,  a day acceptable to the LORD?  This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:  releasing those bound unjustly,  untying the thongs of the yoke;  setting free the oppressed,  breaking every yoke;  sharing your bread with the hungry,  sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;  clothing the naked when you see them,  and not turning your back on your own.  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,  and your wound shall quickly be healed;  your vindication shall go before you,  and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,  you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! (Isaiah, 58:10-9a).

These words from the prophet Isaiah, an indictment of the Israelite community of his day (especially the rich and powerful) offer in a very summary, condensed, and concise formula the reason and rationale for fasting and repentance. The Church put forward this reading for consideration on the Friday after Ash Wednesday in order to help remind us what the Lenten season means in terms of a time of penance, fasting, and sacrifice. In general, the Lenten season is a 40 day period of reflecting on and remembering the Passion of the Lord: his devotion to humanity as the "Son of Man" (or, servant to all), his teachings, his legacy of love for the outcast, marginated, poor, and afflicted, his determination to be God's fullest expression of love and mercy despite the rejection and malice of those who opposed him, and his resolve to love until the end by carrying the cross, being wholly rejected by his own, and being hanged from a tree. Our fasting, repentance, and sacrifices are meant to unite us more and more to the above legacy of Jesus, referred to as the "Paschal Mystery."

Over the past several days, I have been receiving email alerts from Catholic or Christian advocacy groups who are calling on people to decry some of the cuts that Congress is proposing to balance the budget. One of these groups, called "Sowers of Justice" (the advocacy arm of the Office for Social Justice for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis), listed some of the cuts as follows: $100 million from Emergency Food and Shelter Program, $2.3 billion from job training programs, $1.08 billion from Head Start, $875 million from International Disaster Assistance, $800 million from International Food Aid, $2.5 billion from affordable housing, $1 billion from Community Health Centers, $904 million from migrants and refugees. When I received this email, I didn't respond immediately. I admit that in my busyness I let the email sit in my inbox for a couple days. But, after reading the above passage from Isaiah, I made an immediate connection to what it means to do penance, to fast, and to sacrifice in light of the attempts to balance the US budget in part on the backs of the some of the poorest in our world and on the backs of those struggling in this country. It means repenting and fasting from my indifference, and expressing my outrage and even anger at the injustice of cutting these programs while the defense budget, for the most part, will get a "free pass" and endure only minimal cuts relative to so many other areas. There's no easy way around it, according to Isaiah: For our fasting, sacrifice, and penance to be meaningful to God and to unite us to Jesus' legacy, it must lead us to act and cry out in the face of the grave injustices currently causing so much suffering in our world. Pat, TOR

Choosing the "Filters" that Help Us To See and Choose Life

2011-03-10T12:11:00.003-06:00

In today's first reading from Mass, Moses reminds the Israelites about the promises and obligations of the covenant and tells them, "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19). This seems straightforward enough, right? However, were that it was so easy! If it was so easy to simply "choose life", much ink wouldn't have been spilled writing the rest of the Old Testament, which tells one story after another about how the Israelites failed to keep the covenant! What accounts for such categorical failure for humanity to consistently "choose the good", even when we know it is in our best interests? While there are no doubt many and varied reasons for this, one in particular may have to do with recent theories in the field of psychology.

Psychology has demonstrated that much of what we choose in life has to do not simply with moral or ethical uprightness but is attributable to the conscious or unconscious "filters" that we perceive life and the world through. Throughout our history, messages or beliefs about life and the world are stamped into our awareness through parents, peers, friends, experience, religion, the media, and culture (among others). These messages or beliefs form lenses or "filters" through which we than subsequently interpret our world and life. Some of these lenses or filters are "good", functional, or helpful; others may be indifferent; still others may lead us to the suspicion that the world and life are not to be trusted nor lived in a spirit of openness, honesty, integrity, and vulnerability. It makes perfect sense to suggest that we make choices for "the good or the bad" based largely on our underlying and secret (meaning, unconscious) filters or beliefs about ourselves, others, God, life, and the world that surrounds us. If our filters are a bit "off" and we wish to "retool" or altogether replace them, we might attempt to explore our unconscious in the hopes of identifying the problematic beliefs that we have so that we can than choose healthier options. However, there is another way that we can begin changing our filters.

By reading, reflecting on, mulling over, and pondering at length the great stories of scripture, we can begin appropriating and integrating symbols and metaphors that will, over time, become filters that help us to choose "the good." Many of the stories in scripture are universal in the sense that they capture experiences common to nearly every person who has ever lived. Motifs, symbols, or metaphors such as "Garden of Eden," "Exile," the "journey to the promised land" resonate with nearly every person and can therefore be integrated into a person's life as filters that help one not only derive meaning, but also make choices that lead to life. For the Christian, the "filter" par excellence is the Cross of Christ. In today's Gospel Jesus tells his disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself  and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  What profit is there for one to gain the whole world  yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Luke 9:23-25). This is quite a tall order! In order to choose the "good" of carrying the Cross and voluntarily loosing one's self (which is quite contrary to prevailing cultural notions about what constitutes the good life), one must simply become so familiar with the Master's life that his teachings, stories, parables, and very life becomes one's own. For, before we can choose the good, we must be able to recognize or see it. In order to do this, we very often have to change one set of filters for another. Pat, TOR

The Many Shades of Ashen Grey on This, The Holiest of Wednesday's

2011-03-09T15:00:00.003-06:00

Today as I was vesting for the morning celebration of Ash Wednesday, I overheard a conversation about a parishioner's daughter who was struck by a sudden illness while attending school at Florida State University. Without knowing the specifics of the condition, apparently blood has to be drained from her right arm, plasma has to be added to it, and than it will be sent back into this appendage. From the sounds of it, this must be a somewhat serious condition. As we gathered at the baptismal font, I saw the parishioner in question, Adam, talking with our pastor, Fr. Robert. Fr. Robert was expressing his concern. I immediately went over to express my own. From what Adam shared with us, his daughters immune system had been compromised due to carrying a heavy load of stress, making her susceptible to this relatively serious ailment. The concern in his face was marked. I knew this because I've seen Adam on a number of occasions and know him to be very even-keeled, not expressing too much emotion. There was little doubt in my mind as he reached out to take my hand and shake it that this was a Father who was very worried for his little girl.

As I began the celebration and looked out at where Adam was seated, I wondered, "what does Ash Wednesday mean for Adam?" What does the call to, "repent, and believe the Good News" imply for him and his situation? By extension, what does it imply for all of the persons who packed the Church this day (which was quite surprising, I might add). The universal "shade of grey" that we associate with Ash Wednesday is turning away from personal sins such as the standard litany of, lust, greed, impatience, avarice, sloth, hatred, or sins agains one or more of the Ten Commandments. Yet, what I realized by looking out at Adam, and considering what this day means for him, is that Ash Wednesday, reflected in the ashen look of worry and concern on his face, is about repenting of something far more primordial or deep. It occurred to me that before we take stock of our personal sins and repent of them, perhaps we must "repent", or turn away, insofar as we are able, from the age-old temptation to despair of life as little more than a random occurrence of either fortunate or unfortunate events that eventually comes to little or nothing at best, or, that ends in utter oblivion at worst. As I looked at Adam and the many persons who packed our Church today, I believe that they were here not just to repent of personal sins, but to cling to hope in the midst of so much difficulty, challenge, trial, heartache, pain, and tension swirling in our world right now. I imagine the current state of the economy, job market, and all the confusion about how to fix things are some of the main motivators for observing Ash Wednesday.

In Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians (today's second reading from Mass), Paul tells us that Jesus was "made sin for us" so that we might become the "righteousness of God" in him (2 Cor. 5:21). What is so important about this statement with regard to holding on to hope in the midst of seemingly impenetrable darkness, is that Jesus became sin so as to assure us that there is absolutely no experience under the sun that can definitively cut us off from God's presence. There is nothing we can do to cause God to withdraw God's forgiving, supportive, and healing hand. Furthermore, there is nothing that life can do to separate us or our loved one's from God's all-encompassing embrace or relentless chase of us. Through Adam's experience, and what I imagine to be the experience of so many others who packed St. Patrick's Church today, I'm coming to believe that there are "many shades of ashen grey" that make Ash Wednesday a solemn day of the recognition that we are called to a radical renewal of hope, despite all the varied reasons that may very well threaten it. Pat, TOR

Oh, to Have a Heart Like Tobit!

2011-03-07T17:42:00.002-06:00

Today's first reading for Daily Mass comes from the Old Testament Book of Tobit (1:3;2:1-8). The excerpt tells the story of how Tobit, a faithful, law-abiding Jew exiled in Assyria with his fellow Jews from the Northern Kingdom, responds instantaneously to news that one of his fellow kinsman was found slain in the local marketplace. The story goes that Tobit had just sat down to a sumptuous feast and had sent his son out to look for a fellow Jew with whom to share the meal. The son comes back and tells Tobit the disturbing news about the murder. Tobit responds by springing to his feet, leaving his dinner untouched, and carrying the dead body back to his own home to be buried later, after sunset. The story continues by stating how Tobit wept while eating and buried the man after sunset, much to the chagrin of his neighbors. It turns out that Tobit had done this same thing before, putting him at cross purposes with the Assyrian powers that be, and was nearly executed! His neighbors mock him saying, “He is still not afraid!  Once before he was hunted down for execution  because of this very thing;  yet now that he has scarcely escaped,  here he is again burying the dead!”

Oh, to have a heart like Tobit! First he shows charity by sending his son out to look for a neighbor to share his meal with. Than he immediately foregoes his meal to retrieve the murdered body of a fellow Jew. Finally, if that were not enough, he buries his kinsman, risking life and limb in the process! This story and the character of Tobit exemplify what true religion is about: so thoroughly imbibing and integrating the laws and customs in letter and spirit that one can than be open and responsive to the moral challenges inherent in life. This is really the purpose of religion and spirituality, isn't it? To condition our minds and hearts, through story, symbol, and sacrament, to be radically opened to the sum total of what constitutes human and humane life so that we can embrace and live it as fully as possible. Part of what constitutes life, as was the case in this story about Tobit, are situations that are heavy with moral and ethical implications. Depending on how we respond to them, we become more opened and attuned to what life should and could be about or less. Religion and spirituality really is precisely about this: attuning our bodies, minds, hearts, spirits, and souls to respond to life with a heart like Tobit. Pat, TOR

True Freedom: Freedom in Faith

2011-03-06T10:53:00.004-06:00

The readings from the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time are an "exercise in contrasts" that serve as an opportunity to explore an important and relevant theme of life (especially for American Christians): the notion of freedom. The second reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans highlights the fact that God's gift of salvation in Christ is totally free, is extended to us apart from our worthiness, and is dependent only on faith (Romans, 3:21-25, 28). In the Gospel (7:21-27), Jesus teaches that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" nor even those who do mighty deeds in the Lord's name will necessarily enter the Kingdom. Only those who do the will of the Father (i.e., those who live by faith). The exercise in contrasts consists of Paul telling us that God's gift of salvation is unconditioned by what we do and Jesus instructing his hearers that one must do the will of the Father in order to be citizens of the Kingdom. The bridge between the two is the concept of faith and, furthermore, practically living out one's freedom in faith.

Faith is not something that is lived out in a cultural vacuum. It takes root, and is either stymied or nurtured, precisely in part by the cultural values that swirl around us. One of the predominant US cultural values that can nurture or stymie faith is the value of freedom. We hear this word constantly in our culture, in media, advertising, social and political forums, in day-to-day conversations, it is a word that is extremely diffuse in our society. Yet, we may be unaware of how the cultural approach to freedom conditions our faith and either harms it or emboldens it. While there are many particular expressions of freedom, three come immediately to mind that can stymie or nurture one's ability to live the Christian faith fully in true freedom. The first is freedom of choice. This value can stymie faith when it is taken to mean that all choices are equal. We obviously know, for example, in surfing the internet, that not every site builds up our faith in the beauty of life and the goodness of humanity - some sites are downright dehumanizing! This value, however, builds up faith when we make discerning choices in light of the Gospel, understanding that they directly impact who we are and who we become.

A second value is self-assertion. It becomes an obstacle to faith when one asserts one's self over and against others. Think about last week's Supreme Court ruling securing a certain Christian sect's right to protest at service member's funerals (not protesting war, but protesting against what they believe are the moral ailments of our culture). Their so called exercise of "freedom", has actually enslaved them to hatred, bias, prejudice, and imposing themselves in a way that is quite emotionally damaging to the families of the dead service members. The freedom of self-assertion nurtures faith when it emboldens the dignity of a person or a group of persons and moves them to work for change in our society (think of Women's Suffrage or the Civil Rights Movement). Finally, there is the freedom of self-entitlement. It is detrimental to faith when it results in persons believing they have an absolute right to their time or wealth as if they were the complete masters of their own fate. Do you think that an over-aggrandized sense of self-entitlement might have had something to do with our current economic crisis? In it's healthy expression, this value nurture's faith when a person has the understanding that self-entitlement applies to all persons: everyone should have equal access to what is needed to live a fully human life.

Whether or not we are people of faith largely depends on what we do with our freedom. A case in point of a person who illustrates how true freedom is freedom lived in faith is Dr. Paul Farmer. Farmer graduated from Duke University and than went on to earn an MD and PhD in cultural anthropology from Harvard. Talk about someone who had had the world in the palm of his hand and could have chosen whatever he wanted for a career and lifestyle, asserted himself for his own gain, or given in to a sense of self-entitlement! Nevertheless, Farmer chose a life of freedom of faith by going to Haiti, Rwanda, and depressed areas in Russia to put his gifts wholly at the service of the poor. He also founded Partners in Health, a global healthcare initiative that not only seeks to serve the poor, but to change the conditions that keep them from having access to adequate healthcare. To experience the power of Christ's salvation in our lives, and to experience true freedom, doesn't imply doing exactly what Dr. Paul Farmer did (few of us have the gifts he does). Rather, it simply means opening our lives, and our sense of freedom, to a much larger, needier reality and responding with the gifts that we do have by exercising our freedom so that others bereft of the freedoms we take for granted might experience the saving love, light, and life of God. Pat, TOR

The Wisdom Tradition: Mining for a Life Richly and Deeply Infused with Heart, Spirit, and Soul

2011-03-03T12:53:00.005-06:00

Today's first reading from Daily Mass comes from the book of Sirach (a book of "wisdom") and is essentially a profound meditation on the mystery of God and of existence. No doubt the wisdom figure and writer was the beneficiary of a long tradition of "wisdom" sayings that formed his own perceptions about God and creation. What the wisdom tradition and the books of wisdom in the Old Testament remind us is that God, human existence, and existence itself is something that is meant to be mulled over, reflected upon, contemplated, and experienced at great depth.

Bernard Lonergan, a theologian of the last century, said that "God is the inexhaustibly comprehensible." What this implies is that God can, in fact, be grasped to a degree by the human mind, heart, spirit, and soul - though not completely. What this also means is that human existence and life itself is intended to be pondered, contemplated, mulled over, reflected upon, and subsequently lived at greater and richer depth. So, what keeps us from "diving" to the depths and mining the richness of God, our lives, relationships, and world?

To begin with, much of our media, advertising, and society choose to simply "ride along the surface" of life. Very often popular culture focuses on the basest human drives and instincts and manipulates these to create insecurity, inferiority, and a sense of need where none should rightfully exist. It's a bit of a conspiracy, if you will, that we all go along with to some degree in order to prop up a culture focused largely on materialism and consumerism. To "go deep" in such a culture is to risk being liberated from such "programming" and to live according to values that might very well radically question much of what our society currently stands for. Therefore, deliberate, deep, purposeful living obviously is not very much encouraged!

Another reason why we don't readily and reflectively dive to the depths of contemplating God, human existence, and life itself is simply because of fear and trepidation. What do you think of when you hear the word "depths"? Probably NOT a sunny, warm, wide open meadow full of daises and butterflies! Rather, what is conjured up are words such as "darkness", "obscurity", "uncertainty", "fear", and perhaps the image of an unyielding, uncontrollable abyss. Nevertheless, the "pearl of great price" of a life truly worth living is to be found not in the contrived, "sunny meadows" nor the "slick and smooth" ride along the surface of life but in the difficult and laborious plumbing of the abyss of God's heart, our hearts, the heart of our relationships, and the heart of life itself. The question posed to us by the wisdom tradition is essentially, do we settle for the surface reality that life presents, or do we "dive" into the abyss, "mining" for a life richly and deeply infused with heart, spirit, and soul. Pat, TOR

God's New Way of Speaking and Working in the World

2011-03-02T11:13:00.006-06:00

"Come to our aid, O' God of the Universe....Give new signs, and work new wonders." (Sirach 36:1, 5)

These words from The Book of Sirach (an ancient book of Hebrew wisdom literature) call on the God of the Universe to manifest his presence through signs and wonders to a people who are likely between a rock and a hard place. They echo the primordial, incessant need of the human person to know of God's abiding and supportive presence in the midst of the trial, tribulation, and challenges inherent in life. Yet to call on God to "give new signs" and "work new wonders" means attuning one's mind, heart, spirit, and soul to be able to perceive such signs and wonders.

At times it may seem that God no longer speaks as God did in the Bible nor gives signs nor works wonders. Why is it that God worked so impressively in many parts of the Old Testament and in the ministry of Jesus but now is seemingly silent? What has changed in God's communication that requires a corresponding adaptation in the way that we attune our minds and hearts in order to hear what God is saying and in order to "see" the "new signs" and "new wonders" that God is bringing about?

If God can be described as a "person" and, even more, as a "communion of persons" (Father, Son, and Spirit), than this seems to imply the necessity of change when it comes to the way that God relates to us. Karl Rahner, the famous Jesuit theologian from the last century, used to say that, "the giver is himself the gift." What this means is that God doesn't communicate something "about" himself, but has always communicated his "very" self and nothing less. Such a mode of communication requires adaptation on the part of the one communicating (God) and the one receiving the communication (humanity). In other words, God has always spoken words that can be understood by humanity and humanity has progressively become more attuned to God's "speech." Over the course of time, God has spoken more deeply about God's self to humanity. This speech reached it's fullness in the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In the Christ event God perfectly melded the "speaker" and the "hearer" of God's word. Rahner also had a saying that, "humans are the event of God's self-communication." What this means is that humanity was always intended to not only receive God's fullest communication, but to become that very communication in Christ (or, to become as God) and Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us, we are called, in a very real and dynamic sense, to speak God's words, to give new signs, and to work new wonders. Far from being silent, God now speaks in, through, and with us when we aspire to live as Christ and allow the Spirit to take firm hold of our minds, hearts, spirits, souls, relationships, communities, and even, the entire world. Pat, TOR

"Go, Sell What You Have, Give to the Poor" (Mark 10:21), and Receive The Riches of The Reality of God

2011-02-28T09:33:00.010-06:00

Today's Gospel from Daily Mass tells the story of Jesus and the rich man. The man, a truly good, law-abiding Jew, approaches Jesus, kneels in deference, and asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by instructing him to simply follow the non-negotiable laws of Moses (You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother). The man responds that he has kept all of these since his youth. Jesus than looks upon him with affection and love, and, no doubt noting the man's finery, tells him to sell his possessions, give to the poor, and than follow him. The man goes away downcast because he cannot muster the wherewithal to give everything away and follow after the Master.

The high irony in this story is that Jesus perceived a "lack" in someone who apparently had everything! Furthermore, the irony reaches even greater heights given that the "lack" has to do precisely with the man's riches! As a commentary to this interaction, Jesus teaches the crowds, "how hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God." This absolutely floors Jesus' hearers because they were under the impression that if one abided by the covenant, one would be rewarded by God with prosperity. Simply put, in Jesus' day wealth was regarded as bona fide proof of being in God's good graces (an extremely flawed and egregious error that persists in many Christian circles to this day).

Why is it that Jesus found fault with wealth? A footnote in the New American Bible theorizes that, "Since wealth, power, and merit generate false security, Jesus rejects them utterly as a claim to enter the kingdom." While this is certainly one valid explanation, it can conceivably be used to argue that wealth isn't the problem so much as the attitude of the one who possesses it. In other words, insofar as one doesn't rely on wealth to provide a false sense of security, than it matters little how much one possesses. The fact is, however, it obviously does matter, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have addressed wealth as the issue!

It may be closer to the mark to suggest that wealth and a life of relative ease simply create a "false, superficial reality" that runs counter to the much larger, more diffuse, and hence, "truer" reality of poverty and the struggle to simply survive from day-to-day. This more dominant, and "truer" reality is precisely where God's Kingdom manifests - not in the crushing, de-humanizing poverty itself, but in the struggle to survive and to bring about change, transformation, and justice. The situations in Egypt and Libya can illustrate this point well: if we had to place a bet on "where" the values of God's Kingdom were present, would it be on the side of the wealthy, deposed (or soon to be deposed) dictatorial leaders, or would it be on the side of the poor and oppressed masses who have rightfully revolted to bring about reform? What the rich man is invited to do in today's Gospel is not only give up his false sense of security, but to "receive the riches of the reality of God" in the ministry of Jesus who revealed that God is most profoundly present in the struggle of the poor and those who labor and long for the total transformation of the world. Pat, TOR

Reflection on Mass Readings for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Stewards of The Mysteries of God

2011-02-27T14:55:00.006-06:00

With all the disturbing news and experiences regarding the sluggish economy and the even more sluggish job market, how are we to approach the following words of Jesus from today's Gospel: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,  what you will eat or drink,  or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? " (Mt. 6:25) If we too easily apply these words of Jesus to our own situation, it could make this Gospel teaching seem quite difficult to believe and make the Lord seem a bit "detached." After all, in the face of all the signs of the times concerning the housing market, unemployment rate, rising gasoline prices, rising costs of college education, and the agonizingly slow economic recovery, to not be the least bit concerned nor to worry a tinge would be to live in utter denial! Certainly Jesus would not teach us to do that! So, what is REALLY being taught by the Lord?

At the heart of today's Gospel isn't so much a teaching about anxiety but a teaching about priority. At the beginning and end of today's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, "You cannot serve God and mammon", and "seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness." Jesus is far less concerned about emotional states (anxiety and worry) and far more concerned with "attitudinal states": living an upstanding, truly human, godly life, and deriving ultimate value not from wealth but relationships, especially one's relationship with God. Now, this is all well-and-good in principle, but what does it look like to "serve God" and to "seek first the Kingdom of God"?

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians (today's second reading), he exhorts the Corinthians to be "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." Therefore, scripturally speaking, to "serve God" and to "seek first the Kingdom" means having the attitude of Christ, who, "though he was in the form of God, didn't deem equality with God....but took the form of a slave" (Philippians, 2:6-7). Seeking the Kingdom means striving to be aware, mindful, sensitive, and responsive to the needs of others. It means curbing our own wants so that others might have what they need. It implies cultivating a healthy ability to sacrifice for the sake of another or others. It means, in short, to love in a way that brings life to others. To acquire the attitude of Christ, like Jesus himself, we must become "stewards of the mysteries of God." For the Christian, this means a familiarity with the way that God has revealed God's divine heart in scripture and, above all, in and through the life of Christ. It means finding our "place" in the great story and mystery of salvation history, making it our own, and sharing it with others in the way that is most helpful to them. Whether or not we feel anxiety or worry is really not the issue. What is essential is that we give priority of place to embodying the values of Jesus by living as ambassadors of the Kingdom and being "stewards of the mysteries of God." Pat, TOR

"Who Do You Say That I Am?" (Mt. 16:15): Discovering One's Self and the Christ Within Through Relationship

2011-02-22T14:05:00.008-06:00

In today's Gospel reading from daily Mass, Jesus poses the question to his disciples, "who do you say that I am?" At first glance, it is very tempting to see this question as a "pass" or "fail" test of the disciples. Is Jesus asking a question that he already knows the answer to or is he genuinely interested in hearing about the disciples take on his life? How we answer this question has much to do with our presumptions concerning Jesus. Do we believe that Jesus had "infused knowledge" of his person and mission from very early on, or, rather, did Jesus have to "learn" about his identity and purpose over time? If we take scripture seriously that Jesus was human in every way except sin, than we necessarily have to opt for the latter.

There's no question that Jesus had to learn about his Hebrew faith from Mary and Joseph. Likewise, he learned a trade (carpentry) from Joseph. If Jesus had to "acquire" these aspects of his identity and person, than it is reasonable to also postulate that Jesus had to come into the awareness that he was the Messiah, or Christ. This was not automatic for him (just as our identity does not come automatically for us!) In posing the question that Jesus did in today's Gospel, it is at least somewhat likely that he was struggling a bit to understand the precise nature of his identity and mission. Up to this point in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus' ministry has met with mixed reviews: the poor, blind, lame, hungry, thirsty, sinners and ostracized have received him with open arms; however, those who should have recognized him (the Pharisees, Saducees, and Scribes) have in large part rejected him and are even beginning to conspire to get rid of him. If Jesus was fully human than it is likely he must have had at least an inkling of doubt! In the face of his own questioning, Jesus turns to his trusted disciples. They are the one's he choose to be his closest confidantes and partners, they are the one's who are supporting him by remaining with him when so many others have turned away. The question Jesus asks is likely not a mere test, rather, he is simply following the truly human path of seeking out his self through openness and vulnerability in relationship.

The question Jesus poses gives us a priceless lesson on what it means to be fully human and to acquire an authentic sense of self. A robust sense of self cannot be acquired through rugged individualism; rather, it is only reached, touched, embraced, and, gifted by being open and vulnerable enough to see it reflected in the eyes of others. At some level do we not all desire to pose the question, "who do you say that I am?" to those who are near and dear to us? And do we not hope to hear, "you are my friend", "you are valued," "you are unique," "you are gifted," "you are my beloved," "you are my brother, sister, mother, father, lover," etc. However, what oftentimes gets in the way of posing such deep and profound questions is our fear of what someone might say, good, bad, and indifferent. Given many of our broken histories and experiences of pain, rejection, abandonment, and loss, it may be just as difficult to hear that we are beautiful, valued, and loved, as it is for someone to gently remind us that we are fragile, wounded, broken or at times difficult and challenging. Yet to have our truest self drawn out from the depths, and to have the Christ affirmed and drawn out as well, we are called to the adventure of discovering ourselves through relationships of openness and vulnerability. Pat, TOR

Reflection on the Daily Mass Reading: "Temples" of God's Spirit and "Channels" of God's Reign

2011-02-19T13:34:00.007-06:00

"Brothers and sisters:  Do you not know that you are the temple of God,  and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Cor. 3:16-23.

The above passage from Paul's letter to the Corinthians refers to his conviction that the entire Corinthian community is the temple of God's Spirit. When he uses the pronoun "you", given the context of what immediately precedes this verse (Paul talking about the building up of the Church), we can deduce that he is speaking in the plural sense of "all of you." However, given the tendency in our culture to individualize or overly-personalize the Christian faith, the notion of being a "temple of the Holy Spirit" is usually used to refer to individuals. This raises an important question concerning the ways in which we can legitimately (meaning, with a basis in scripture) approach the notion of being a temple of God's Spirit, and, by extension, a channel of God's Reign.

The three "interlocking", "mutually penetrating", and "mutually conditioning" ways that we can approach the concept of being a temple of God's Spirit and a channel of God's Reign is intra-personal, interpersonal, and communal. "Interlocking" means that these three modalities of God's presence are necessarily and integrally connected. "Mutually penetrating" implies that each mode is intended to enhance the other modes. Finally, "mutually conditioning" means that each is as necessary as the other and none can be arbitrarily disregarded. The point being made here is that all three of these modes need to be appreciated and integrated into the lives of contemporary Christians if the Spirit and God's Reign are to take firm hold of our lives, community, and world.

"Intra-personal" refers to the conviction that every Christian person is indwelled to at least some degree by the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This, of course, implies that singular persons can be thought of as temples of God's Spirit and channels of God's Reign. Interpersonal speaks to the fact that no one believer has a "monopoly" on the divine presence and must of necessity be in meaningful and supportive relationships with others if the "presence of God" and "God's Reign" is to be an active force within one's life. Last, but by no means least, the Spirit and God's Reign manifest not only within individual persons, nor merely in relationships, but in communal networks that represent humanity's best effort at organizing supportive societal structures (such as the Church). By extension, God's Spirit and Reign also manifest in the "web of life" that is the community of Creation. One contemporary theologian has gone so far as to speak of how the Earth can be thought of as part of God's Body (she's simply drawing out the full implications of Jesus becoming not only human, but a creature and a part of creation). Therefore, there is a theological basis for talking about all of creation as God's Temple and channel of God's Reign. In sum, if we desire to experience at greater depth what it means to be a Temple of God's Spirit and Channels of God's Reign, than we must not only go "inward" to discover this presence within ourselves, but must allow the Spirit to thrust us beyond ourselves into interdependent relationships of commitment for the good of community and all creation. Pat, TOR

Imaging God Through Actions That Preserve, Conserve, and Foster Life

2011-02-17T12:04:00.006-06:00

In today's daily Mass reading from the Book of Genesis, the waters recede from the Earth after the Great Flood and God establishes the first Covenant with humanity and all creation (Genesis 9:1-13). The story includes themes present in the two creation accounts in the first two chapters of Genesis: God instructs Noah and his family to be "fertile and multiply" and also instructs them to "subdue" the Earth. Finally, God reaffirms the fact that humans are made in the divine image and likeness. In a curious twist to this story, God reveals that humans and animals alike will be accountable for blood that is needlessly or recklessly shed. To God, the lifeblood of a creature is precious and holy. This command of God mirrors the ancient belief that an animal's and person's life and spirit were contained in the blood, thereby making it sacred. What is also revealed about God in God's concern about not needlessly shedding blood is that God desires that, as much as possible, life be preserved, conserved, and fostered. The preservation, conservation, and fostering of life offers insight both into what it means to "subdue" the earth and what it means for humans to be made in the divine image.

For a number of centuries now, especially since the industrial revolution and the dawning of technology and science, Christians have largely taken the divine command to subdue the Earth as license to "subject" the Earth to the impulse of making technological and economic progress and to consume. Unless we are hopelessly deluded or willfully ignorant, we cannot help but notice the irrefutable evidence that technological progress has it's limits and that the drive to consume is resulting in an unparalleled ecological and environmental crisis. In the face of such evidence, Christian theologians and spiritual writers are revisiting the ancient prerogative and notion of humans exercising "dominion" and "subduing" the Earth. Jurgen Moltmann, a leading theologian and author of "God in Creation", states that a more adequate and scripturally sound interpretation of "dominion" and "subduing" the Earth would have humans caring for it like a gardener tends a garden.

What might this "corrective" of this ancient prerogative and notion offer in terms of coming to a deeper understanding of what it means to be made in the image of God? To begin with, being made in the "image" of God does not suggest a physical resemblance but a capacity to act as God acts. To image God means that humans have a capacity for self-possession and to go beyond one's self in a mode of gratuitous and disinterested care, compassion, and concern for others. In other words, humans are wholly unique among all creatures as the one being that can fully receive the gift of self and that can fully give the gift of self. What this implies with regard to our relationship with the Earth is that we most fully image God on Earth when we restrain the selfish and destructive drive to make progress and consume at all costs and care for the Earth through actions that preserve, conserve, and foster all life. Pat, TOR

Our Understanding God Continually Evolves from Genesis to Revelation and Beyond

2011-02-15T15:58:00.008-06:00

When I was studying scripture as a seminarian, I distinctly remember a very important principle that was taught to me by one of my professors: Jesus the Christ (and all that is revealed about him) is the ultimate norm or interpretive "key" in discerning the truth claims of any area of the Bible. The reason why this principle was taught to us is because the Bible is not exactly consistent in what it reveals about God and there are times when the "truths" being communicated are at odds with each other. Such is the case with today's daily Mass reading from the book of Genesis about the story of Noah and the Great Flood.

At the beginning of the story God is lamenting having created the world as a result of all the "wickedness of man on the earth." Consequently, God decides not only to wipe humanity off of the face of the earth, but every single living creature as well! Just as God is about to wipe the slate clean (and perhaps even pitch the slate out), Noah finds favor with him and God decides to spare Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal species that exists. At first glance there doesn't seem to be any problem with the "truth claims" about God in this story. When faced with the prospect that God almost destroyed all of creation, one can take two obvious tacts to avoid a problem. First, God can do whatever God chooses to do. The alternative approach is that God, in fact, didn't destroy creation so God gets a passing grade. The problem with the first response is that God, in fact, CANNOT do whatever God pleases. If God is all good and nothing but Good, than God CANNOT choose to arbitrarily wipe all life off of the face of the earth. Even if humans deserved it, what the heck did the poor animals do? To arbitrarily erase life without just cause would, in fact, be indifferent at best and evil at worst. The problem with the second line of reasoning is that, even though God didn't in fact wipe all life out with one fail swoop, he intended to nevertheless. That implies that God COULD have done it and demonstrates ill will on the part of God. The simple fact of the matter is that God in this story is depicted as a bit impetuous and even a little schizophrenic (if my blog entry ends abruptly here you'll know I've been incinerated by a lightning bolt and you can just go ahead and forget all of the above!!)

(Whew! Ok, I'm still here! Let's move on!) If we go back to the principle I started with, namely, that Jesus is the ultimate criterion for evaluating the accuracy of truth claims about God, it seems as though we must draw the conclusion that something is off kilter here. The God of Jesus Christ is neither impetuous nor schizophrenic. The God of Jesus Christ wills life to the full for every creature and especially every person and has never ceased willing this from the moment God said "Let there be Light." So what do we do with these images of God handed down to us from Genesis (and other images that depict God as vengeful, bloodthirsty, etc....). Instead of "throwing them out" or "dismissing them out of hand" we may want to examine them more carefully - not to learn something about God - but to learn something about ourselves. You see, revelation and images of God don't simply "drop out of the sky", they issue forth from very human and fallible individuals who saw reality in a very limited, and sometimes even biased, way. What this suggests is that our understanding God is meant to continuously evolve, from Genesis to Revelation and even beyond! Bernard Lonergan, a great theologian of the last century put it this way, "God is the inexhaustibly comprehensible." What this means is that God can, in fact, be understood, but NEVER fully! And you know what is so exciting about this prospect? Just as we contemplate and learn to "fall in love" with God in the here-and-now, so we likely will for all of eternity! Such will be the ecstasy of eternity: "falling" gently into the unending depths of the divine abyss of God's truth, goodness, and beauty, and the corresponding depths of our own mystery and that of all creation. Pat, TOR

"Stuck on Signs": Valentine's Day and Today's Daily Mass Gospel (Mark 8:11-13)

2011-02-14T12:42:00.004-06:00

When we think of Valentine's Day as it is observed in the United States, we imagine many different signs of love that people exchange: an embrace, kiss, terms of endearment, words of warmth, affection and love, greeting cards, flowers, candy, a special meal, etc. All of these things serve as "signs" in the sense that they point to the reality of a shared relationship of mutual and reciprocal friendship or intimate partnership. As nice as these signs are in themselves, however, we know that they can ring relatively hollow if they don't point to something of depth, substance, spirit, and soul. No matter how delicious a box of chocolates might be in itself, it's all the more sweet when it serves as a sign of a love that has been carefully, patiently, and deliberately nurtured. In other words, the reality of the love that has been cultivated in a relationship is what makes for the full value of the sign and not vice versa.

In today's daily Mass Gospel reading, Jesus takes issue with some Pharisees who come to him asking for a sign. It would appear that they are seeking proof of Jesus' authority. However, Jesus rebuffs them with the words, "why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation." Had Jesus simply acquiesced to the Pharisees request, the "sign" he gave likely would have been misinterpreted by the Pharisees. He probably would have simply been labeled a "miracle worker" and than been hemmed in by even larger numbers of persons seeking to be entertained and enthralled. But Jesus knew better. As Son of God (lover of God) and Son of Man (lover of humanity), Jesus no doubt had an acute intuition that it isn't the sign that makes the reality of love but the reality of love that makes the sign. In other words, prior to Jesus reaching out and healing persons or enacting another form of miracle (such as the multiplication of loaves and fishes), there had to be at least a rudimentary relationship of faith between himself and the subject (or subjects) of his graced outreach. Just as in the case of the signs associated with love and Valentine's Day, the signs that come to us from God will only be as robust as the depth, substance, spirit, and soul of the love that it points to. Pat, TOR

Sharing Our Catholic Social Values with Others Through Collaboration

2011-02-12T11:22:00.002-06:00

Below is a talk for a Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) parish committee on the topic of sharing our Catholic social values with others. Through the use of the topic of infused and acquired cardinal virtues, I hope to persuade the audience that we, as Catholics, can work together with environmentalists and conservationists of other faith traditions, and even with atheists, in our “care-for-creation” endeavors. As we work with others, we will be sharing our values and spirituality. There is the mindset among some Catholics that all environmentalists and conservationists are left-wing, hippie, tree huggers that should be avoided and ignored. I hope to demonstrate that, even though we might have different goals, or ends, our actions with respect to the environment and care-for-creation are the same in many cases and we can work together in partnership. It is assumed that the audience already believes in the importance of caring for creation, so the majority of my talk is directed to comparing care-for-creation, which has a supernatural end, with environmentalism and conservationism, which both have natural ends.

- Bro. Jeffrey, T.O.R.

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I am going to discuss how we, as Catholics, can share our values and spirituality with others, especially with those outside of the Church, through our care-for-creation endeavors. I’m sure that you all have heard about St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecologists, and the great love and respect he had for all of God’s creation. Even to the point of calling all created things his brother or sister: Brother Sun and Sister Moon; Brother Fire and Sister Water; Brother Wolf and Sister Bird. He had a unique insight that God loves all creation and that created things mirror God. Francis’ love for all created things came from his love for God. Likewise, our desire and work for the caring of God’s creation comes from our love for God. Every action that we perform has a purpose, or goal.[1] As human beings, our ultimate goal in life is our true happiness which is to be united with God for all eternity.[2] We can achieve this only by doing God’s will in response to God’s gifts of faith and grace. So, the ultimate goal of caring for creation is a supernatural goal: the doing of God’s will because we love Him.[3]

Now I am going to make a statement that might be a little controversial for some of you. We, as Catholics, can work in caring for creation by cooperating and partnering with non-Christians and, dare I say it, even atheists. Many of the things that we do in caring for creation are the same things that atheist and non-Christian conservationists and environmentalists do. The difference is that we are ultimately working towards a supernatural goal which requires God’s gift of grace to know, while they are working towards a natural goal, or a goal that can be known through unaided reason. However, this distinction does not mean that we cannot all work together or that we cannot achieve our supernatural goal and their natural goals simultaneously.

I want to take a moment and briefly discuss conservationism and environmentalism in general. First, conservationism is concerned mainly with consumption. Its goal is to conserve the earth’s natural resources for the present and future generations. These natural resources include fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas; animals that are used for food such as the world’s fish population; natural wilderness and beaches that are used for recreation; etc. So, conservationists do certain things, or perform certain actions, in the pursuit of conserving natural resources for the present and future generations. For example, they work to recycle, to conserve water, and reduce pollution, among many other things. Secondly, environmentalism is concerned mainly with preserving ecospheres, or the interdependence of living organisms (including humans) in an environment. Its goal is to ensure the health, integrity, and wellbeing of the world’s ecospheres. So, environmentalists do certain things, or perform certain actions, in pursuit of protecting the environment. For example, they work to recycle, to conserve water, and reduce pollution, among many other things. Sound familiar? Even though they have different goals, conservationists and environmentalists do some of the same things to achieve their respective goals. Likewise, we, as Catholics, in caring for creation, work to recycle, to conserve water, and reduce pollution. However, the goal of caring for creation is to do the will of God. God made us stewards of this world; He “who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, But formed it to be inhabited” (Isa 45:18 NAS). Your dedicated involvement in the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation committee demonstrates your understanding of this important point. So I don’t want to preach to the choir, so to speak, about the importance of caring for creation. But I do want to stress that the ultimate goal and purpose of caring for creation is to do the will of God. And doing the will of God aids in achieving the ultimate goal and purpose of every human being: our true happiness, the union with God for all eternity.

In addition to being directed towards particular purposes, or goals, the actions performed in caring for creation, conservationism, and environmentalism are all virtuous, particularly in respect to justice. “A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good” [4] or, in other words, it is a good state that makes one good and able to perform one’s function, as a human being, well. Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues which are the hinges of all other virtues and concern our natural flourishing as human beings. Simply put, justice is the good state of one’s actions in relation to others.[5] It is giving others what is due them.[6] Thus, the actions of conservationism are just actions in that they give to the current and future generations what is due them, that is, the use of natural resources. The actions of environmentalism are just actions in that they give to others what is due them, that is, healthy ecosystems to live in. The actions of caring for creation are just actions in that they give to God what is due Him, that is, the responsible stewardship of His creation in conjunction with His divine plan and will.[7] However, the justice of conservationism and environmentalism is an acquired virtue with a natural goal, or purpose. It is acquired by habitual, or consistently repeated, actions. In a certain way, acquiring the virtue of justice it is similar to acquiring the good habit of exercising. To develop the habit of good exercise, one must continually work at it. It is only by forcing oneself to endure the initial discomfort of exercise that one can build up the good habit of exercise. Likewise, as with the acquired virtue of justice, one must consistently do just actions to gain the habit, or virtue, of justice. Once achieved, one will be inclined to do just actions in the future. Acquired virtues are achieved in conjunction with unaided reason, and thus, have a natural goal.

In contrast, caring for creation, as said before, has a supernatural goal and its justice is an infused cardinal virtue because its attainment is aided by the grace of God through the work of the Holy Spirit.[8] But by practicing the infused cardinal virtue of justice, we can also, at the same time, attain the natural end justice it is directed towards.[9] Thus, through our care-for-creation endeavors, our actions are just actions in relation to God by doing His will and they are also just actions in relation to our fellow human beings by giving them use of natural resources and healthy ecosystems to live in.

So in summary, care-for-creation, conservationism, and environmentalism share some of the same actions in pursuit of different goals. We, as Catholics, in our care-for-creation endeavors have a higher goal, a supernatural goal, which is the doing of God’s will. We do this not out of obligation, but out of love for God, in the hope of achieving of our ultimate goal and purpose in life which is our true happiness; the union with God for all eternity. We can better achieve our care-for-creation plans by cooperating and working with non-Christian and atheist conservationists and environmentalists. Doing so will not only allow us to achieve our supernatural goal, but we can share our Catholic values and spirituality and become conduits for God’s grace in their lives and facilitate their personal conversion. As Pope John Paul II wrote, “Nor does divine Providence deny the helps that are necessary for salvation to those who, through no fault of their own have not yet attained to the express recognition of God, yet who strive, not without divine grace, to lead an upright life. For whatever goodness and truth is found in them is considered by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel and bestowed by him who enlightens everyone that they may in the end have life.”[10]

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[1] Throughout the talk, I will refer to our teleological nature to be directed towards an end as directed towards a goal. So, the terms “purpose” and “goal” are synonymous with “end” and the term “ultimate goal” is synonymous with “final end”. Aristotle explains, “What, then, is the good of each action or craft? Surely it is that for the sake of which the other things are done; […] but in every action and decision it is the end, since it is for the sake of the end that everyone does the other actions” (Nicomachean Ethics; Book 1, Chapter 7, 1097a:15-20).

[2] As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, “Now it is clear that whatever actions proceed from a power, are caused by that power in accordance with the nature of its object. But the object of the will is the end and the good. Therefore all human actions must be for an end” (Summa Theologica; Part I of Book II – Question 1, Article 1). He also states, “In the first sense, then, man's last end is the uncreated good, namely, God, Who alone by His infinite goodness can perfectly satisfy man's will. But in the second way, man's last end is something created, existing in him, and this is nothing else than the attainment or enjoyment of the last end. Now the last end is called happiness. If, therefore, we consider man's happiness in its cause or object, then it is something uncreated; but if we consider it as to the very essence of happiness, then it is something created” (Summa Theologica; Part I of Book II – Question 3, Article 1).

[3] St. Augustine states, “If virtue leads us to the happy life, then I would not define virtue in any other way than as the perfect love of God. For in speaking of virtue as fourfold, one refers, as I understand it, to the various dispositions of love itself” (The Way of Life of the Catholic Church, p. 22).

[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), paragraph 1803.

[5] “Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” Justice toward men disposes on to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good” (CCC, paragraph 1807).

[6] According to Aquinas, “[…] every virtue that causes the good of right and due in operation, be called justice […]. […] justice, the virtue which is about due actions between equals” (Summa Theologica; Part I of Book II – Question 61, Article 3) “the formal principle of the virtue of which we speak is good as defined by reason […]. […] according as the reason puts its order into something else; either into operations, and then we have “Justice”[…]” (Summa Theologica; Part I of Book II – Question 61, Article 2).

[7] St. Augustine explains, “[…] justice is love serving alone that which is loved and thus ruling rightly […] not love of things in general, but rather love of God, that is, of the supreme good, the supreme wisdom, and the supreme harmony, we can define the virtues thus: […] justice is love serving God alone and, therefore, ruling well those things subject to man […]” (The Way of Life of the Catholic Church, p. 22-23).

[8] Servais Pinckaers explains, “The virtue of the philosophers, no matter how elevated and open it may be, leaves the human person alone in his efforts, always tempted to enclose himself in his own excellence. The infusion of love into the roots of the virtues effects a vital transformation: By placing us in communion with the person of Christ, charity renders us so receptive to the motion of his Spirit that we can no longer regard our virtues as our own property. Although they remain something deeply personal within us, they have become the property of the one who now inspires them. […] the involvement of the Holy Spirit in our growth in virtue shows us that the Spirit acts in us through the normal paths of daily effort, rather than through extraordinary revelations, sudden motions, or exceptional charisms” (Morality: The Catholic View, p. 87-88).

[9] Aquinas explains, “And because such happiness surpasses the capacity of human nature, man’s natural principles which enable him to act well according to his capacity, do not suffice to direct man to his same happiness. Hence it is necessary for man to receive from God some additional principles, whereby he may be directed to supernatural happiness, even as he is directed to his connatural end, by means of his natural principles, albeit not without Divine assistance” (Summa Theologica; Part I of Book II – Question 62, Article 1).

[10] Pope John Paul II quoting the Second Vatican Council in Veritatis Splendor – The Splendor of Truth, paragraph 3.

The Glory of the Human Person as Memory of the Earth

2011-02-12T08:45:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I attended a funeral Mass of a woman named Joann who, after a long life of illness, succumbed to death at the age of 78. She had been married for 58 years and was a devoted wife to her husband and a loving mother to her seven children. She also had a real verve for life despite all her many physical hardships. Joann loved a good glass of wine, good food, friends, family, beauty and ballet. The funeral Mass was quite beautifully done. For the responsorial psalm, the cantors sang the following refrain, "restless is the heart.....until it comes to rest in you. All the Earth, All the Earth will remember, and return to our God."

This refrain got me thinking about Joann's return to God and how it wasn't empty-handed! She brought with her many memories of her life and all the many and varied ways in which she loved and loved so well. On a larger scale, I began to reflect on the glory of the human person as memory of the Earth. This past week the Church selected a number of readings from the book of Genesis. These readings focused on the creation of the world and, more specifically, the creation of the human person. One of the readings spoke about how God decided to create the human person in his own image and likeness. When we reflect on the glory of what it means to be human, we generally start with God's image. However, what I'd like to suggest is that in doing so we may be putting the cart before the horse!

In the second story of creation found in the second chapter of Genesis, God forms the human person from the clay of the Earth and breathes his breath into the person's nostrils, animating the person with life. It needs to be emphasized that the person was formed from the Earth. What this implies is that the glory of being human is not only being the image of God but also being the image of the Earth! Unfortunately, this fact is very often overlooked in Christian spirituality. We forget that to be fully human means "imaging" all of the beauty, history, grandeur, glory, hopes, travail, longing, sorrow, and even tragedy of the Earth. Out of all the creatures on the face of the Earth and all abiotic and biotic life, the human person alone has the sacred vocation of historical consciousness and biographical memory. This isn't only for the sake of remembering human affairs, but being cognizant and attuned to the affairs of the Earth community, which has a history that is destined for Eternal Life as well. In Isaiah, 2 Peter, and Revelations, we are told, "what we await is a new heavens and a new Earth." The beautiful memories that Joann took with her to God, and the memories that we take, are not simply our own, they are also part and parcel of the storehouse of the memories of the Earth, which will also make a sacred "return to God." Pat, TOR

Side-by-Side in a Partnership of Mutuality and Equality

2011-02-10T12:02:00.003-06:00

Today's first reading from daily Mass relates the "primeval" story of the creation of woman and how man and woman came to be united as "one body" through marriage (Gen. 2:18-25). The word "primeval" means that the story refers to something that predates recorded history and therefore doesn't intend to communicate an "eye-witness account" of the creation of the human person and the institution of marriage but, rather, points to the meaning of relationships between male and female.

At the beginning of today's story, God notes that, "it is not good for man to be alone, therefore, I will make a suitable partner for him." (Gen. 2:18). God than creates various animals from the earth, presents them before man for naming, and than sees what kind of relationship unfolds between them. The Genesis author notes that, "none proved to be a suitable partner for him." God's next move is to "put the man under" by casting him into a deep sleep and removing a rib from his side - from which he forms a woman. The man responds with, "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." (Gen. 2:23). The explicit moral of the story is explained as, "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body." (Gen. 2:24).

Again, to reiterate, since this account from Genesis relates a primeval story, it doesn't intend to communicate facts but meaning. So than, what meaning might we derive from this ancient story about the relationship between male and female, man and woman? Without exhausting the meaning that can be derived from this story, what stands out are three primary points 1) animals did not make a suitable partner for the man 2) a suitable partner was formed directly from the man and 3) it is the man who leaves father and mother and clings to his wife (rather than vice versa).

To begin with, the fact that animals were not a suitable partner for man and that this was only realized by woman being formed from man's side indicates that partnership is forged through mutuality (interdependence). It is quite significant that it was precisely a bone taken from man's side that God than formed into a woman. This is symbolic of the fact that partnership is constituted through a mutual, "side-by-side" dynamic in which the interests of one occupy the concern of the other. As important as mutuality is in any real partnership, so is equality. The equality between man and woman is highlighted by the fact that it is the man who leaves father and mother to be joined to his wife (one would normally expect a woman to leave her parents and be joined to her husband). This part of the story offsets the temptation to see the woman as partly indebted to man for her existence and therefore overly dependent. The overall gist of this fascinating and symbolic story from Genesis is that love between persons is most fully realized side-by-side in a partnership of mutuality and equality. Pat, TOR