Inspired

Lent is not my favorite liturgical season.  Something happened yesterday that inspired me, however, and gave me a fresh perspective.  My 19 year old son was home from college on Spring Break and we had lunch with a neighborhood friend of his.  During the course of the meal, my son asked him, "so what did you give up for Lent?"  The friend replied, "sleeping in my bed."  During this Lent, he sleeps on the floor.  I had never heard that one before and admittedly thought it was a little unusual.  The funny thing about it, however, is that I kept thinking about it.  There was something appealing about it that I could not quite put my finger on. 

The next day I asked my son what he thought about it.  He said the most perceptive thing I have heard in awhile:  "Most people give up something for Lent that is not good for them anyway.  Things like caffeiene, alcohol, smoking, sweets, eating between meals, etc.  Those are things we should not do in the first place, arguably, and so the thing that is being given up, while a sacrifice, is also a help to physical health.  But what my friend gave up is of no help whatsoever to him physically.  The benefit he gets is a purely spiritual one."

As I reflect on this, it seems to me that such a sacrifice is "better" in the sense that it is harder.  It is one thing to stop doing something because it will benefit you physically.  It is another thing altogether to find something to sacrifice where the benefit is purely for the love of God, that is to say, "entirely spiritual."  It is a way of denying the flesh in an even greater way and brings to mind the words of Christ in John 6:63: "It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail." 

Something to ponder.  Happy Lent. 

  

God and Dog lovers

Haiti

Obviously, what happened in Haiti is horrific. Tragedies like this punctuate our responsibilities not only as Christians, but as Americans in possession of most of the world's wealth and resources. Christ commands us to feed, clothe and care for our brothers and sisters in need. It is simply imperative that we live our Christian values. I agree with almost none of President Obama's opinions, policies and decisions, but his decision the other day to send our troops and $100,000,000 in aid made me extremely proud to be an American. He said that we will stand with Haiti and help them recover. He did not put any conditions on the help; just a steely resolve to do the right thing and I suspect more will be done as the gravity of the tragedy unfolds. Parishes all over America are taking second collections today. Let's follow the example set by our President and share our treasure with Haiti.

The Secret is in the Preparation

I always dreaded the "Christmas Season" and when people asked me why, I told them that the meaning of it had lost out to commercialism and secularism. Maybe, but I think the real problem was me and my lack of preparation, so I approached it differently this year with good results. I changed my focus from Christmas to Advent. After all, life's pleasures for me have always been in the anticipation just as much as the in the thing anticipated, so why not Christmas too? Advent is all about preparing our hearts, minds and homes for Christmas, so I made Advent spiritually real and meaningful for the first time.

I made it a point to wish folks a "Happy Advent," to go to daily Mass more often, receive the sacrament of Reconciliation, as well as some little things like setting my cell phone alarm to remind me each noon to pray the Angelus. The Angelus is a prayer about the Incarnation which is really, if you think about it, what Christmas is all about. I mean, the birth of Christ is awesome, yes, but it is awesome because it is the manifestation to the world of the Incarnation. That is what we really celebrate -- the making of the Word into human flesh from which flows our redemption and salvation.

In the Angelus prayer we say, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." It was made flesh at the time Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb, but it began to dwell among us, change everything for ever, at the first Christmas. My favorite part is at the end where we say "Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord." There, in a simple sentence, is the story of salvation. We are saved by grace which is free for the asking and God was made man so that he could share our nature and redeem us so that we could partake of His nature.

Prayer is a strange and powerful thing. Saying and meditating on the words of the Angelus made Christmas meaningful this year.

Christmas is not Modern

I heard Christmas music on the radio and in the malls this year -- a day or so before Thanksgiving. I saw some weird lawn art too: Santa in a bass boat, the Grinch, and even an inflatable manger scene. I don't know where a person buys that stuff, but it all looks so tacky and silly to me. I know, it's for the little kids. Kids love cartoons, and tacky, silly stuff, so I chuckle and drive on resisting the evil temptation to unplug the blowers and douse the lights. My pastor commented on this subject in a recent homily that gave me a fresh perspective. The gist of it was that all the lights, music and silly lawn art was nevertheless a reminder that this is ultimately and undeniably all about Christ's birth, so bring it on; the more, the merrier! The Christmas music before Thanksgiving was good too. After all, Advent was once a season that lasted a full 40 days.

The thing is that Christmas is not a modern notion no matter how hard folks try to secularize, modernize and commercialize it. I've been told that all the clerks in the stores are required to say "happy holidays," but I bet 90% of the responses I heard were, "and a Merry Christmas to you too." Not a small number of the clerks responded with a "Merry Christmas." Also, I was thankful for that little double standard amongst retailers that seems to survive year after year -- none of them in my town sold "holiday trees" this year.

Christmas forces us to look backwards in time to the first Christmas. More folks attend Mass (or go to their church) on Christmas. Why? There is, I submit, a longing for something relevant, meaningful and ancient that people inevitably find, even if just a little bit, in their many and varied Christmas traditions each year. Some of it is subliminal and unwitting, even unconscious.

G.K. Chesterton (died 1936) loved Christmas. Here is some of what he said about it: "Christmas is an obstacle to modern progress. . .. Born among miracles reported from two thousand years ago, it cannot expect to impress that sturdy common sense which can withstand the plainest and most palpable evidence for miracles happening at this moment. . ..Christmas is not modern. . . . Christmas is medieval. . .. Christmas is a survival of the past."

No matter how much progress we see in our world, Christmas is unchanging. All the trappings, even the silly, tacky stuff, just serve to remind us all the more. I like to fly fish. I think I'll go to Wal-Mart and see if they have any after Christmas specials on inflatable fly fishing Santas -- hopefully one with waders on. Merry Christmas!

"To suffer and be despised for Thee"

Today, December 14, is the memorial of St. John of the Cross (1542-1591).  He was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pius XI in 1926.  Teresa of Avila persuaded John to help her reform the Carmelite order and in so doing, he suffered much at the hands of his bretheren.  When Christ asked John what reward he would ask for his labors, John answered: "To suffer and to be despised for Thee."  What would I have said?  I don't want to suffer.  I don't want to be despised.  What is the lesson here?

John had an unusually intimate relationship with Christ and his Passion.  He had to in order to want to be despised.  The paradox, the thing that we do not clearly see at first blush is that there is power in the weakness that comes from suffering and being hated.  We are told to "be in the world but not of it," but what does that really mean and how hard is it to truly live that way?  We seek the affirmation of others and the rewards of this world -- money, power and status.  John showed us what it really means to live for Christ.  God grant me the grace to follow, even in a small way, that example.

Encountering the Numinous in the Sacraments

In the past weeks, I have had a few occasions to relay to friends my personal experiences of having received grace through the sacraments.  Their verbal and non-verbal responses to what I said revealed their incredulity.  This post is my attempt to explain the supernatural nature and power of the sacraments. 

If we wish to obtain a supernatural end, we should avail ourselves of the supernatural means instituted by God for obtaining that end.  Catholics believe that the sacraments are one of the means to such an end.  The end to be obtained, in the case of sacraments, is sanctity.  The Catechism of the Council of Trent defines a sacrament as:  "Something perceptible by the senses which by Divine institution has the power both to signify and to effect sanctity. . .."  Three things are necessary:  an outward sign (e.g., water as in the case of baptism), grace and Divine institution (i.e., God has to have created the sacrament).  Note too, that the person must be properly disposed to recieve the grace given in the sacrament, or stated differently, if the person intentionally places an obstacle in the way of the grace being infused, then the grace will not flow to the person.  For example, in the case of the sacrament of confession, if contrition is absent in the penitent, the sacrament will not "work" -- the grace will not flow.  Faith and human will need to work in cooperation with God's free gift of grace in order to make the sacraments efficacious. 

There are seven sacraments.  Two are the sacraments of the dead and five are the sacraments of the living.  The sacraments of the dead are baptism and confession.  They are called sacraments of the dead because the effect of those sacraments is to remove what is dead in us, namely sin.  The sacraments of the living are confirmation, eucharist, marriage, priestly ordination and annointing of the sick.  In order to receive one of the five sacraments of the living, the recipient must be in a state of grace (i.e., not in a state of mortal sin).  If one is properly disposed, the grace will in fact be conferred.  It is not a "sometimes" thing, it is an "every time" thing and therein lies the power and the awe.  Think about it for a minute.  If you ask, in the case of the sacraments, for grace, and you follow the means laid down by Christ for getting the grace, you WILL get it.  That is a little hard to comprehend, but comprehend and partake, we must.   

For the believer, reception of the sacraments, including frequent and regular reception of those sacraments that can be received more than once (e.g., confession, eucharist), is the manner in which participation in the life of Christ is made most fully possible.  This is so, again, because the supernatural end that is being sought is holiness.  All Christians believe that following Christ and seeking to do his will (i.e., seeking to be more holy -- even if we fall short -- and we do) results in a closer relationship with Him.  The grace that He pours into our hearts also has a healing effect in our lives by removing the stain of sin and the later proclivity to commit sin.  Wow!

Proofs of the dogma of the sacraments are not found in Scripture alone, but in Scripture and Sacred Tradition.  In Sacred Scripture we find expressions which clearly indicate that the sacraments are more than mere signs of grace and faith: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5);  "He saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5); "Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17); "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life. For my flesh is food indeed: and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55-56).  For Sacred Tradition's part, it is enough to say that the Church has, since Christ created the Church, confected the sacraments in the same manner.  There is nothing new under the sun here -- Christ taught the apostles how to do it and the Holy Spirit has safeguarded those teachings down through the ages to the present day.  A quick review of the writings of the early Fathers of the Church makes this abundantly clear. 

It is important to mention that the sacraments are not the only means of receiving God's grace and to suggest otherwise would be to foolishly place limits on the omnipotence of God.  It is sufficient to say that the sacraments were instituted by God as an ordinary, but not the only, way of conferring grace.

For more exegesis on the subject of the sacraments, see the Official Catholic Encyclopedia.