"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.

Encountering the Numinous (continued)

In a recent post, I mentioned the three things that all of the major religions have in common from the Introduction to The Problem of Pain, a classic C.S. Lewis work.  They are: [1] an awareness of the numinous (or supernatural) elements existent in the universe, [2] an understanding that the moral law is written on the human heart (i.e., not learned), [3] an eventual awakening that [1] and [2] are necessarily related to each other which is another way of saying that all of the major religions deduce that God put morality in us when he made us. 

Christianity has a fourth thing which is an historical event:  the coming of a Jewish messiah, born of a virgin, and who claimed to be the son of God and also one "in being" with God.  He made a most extraordinary claim, a claim that he came to redeem us, that is, to take our sins away.  No one had ever said that before.  It is extraordinary in the sense of its universality.  What I mean by that is this:  I can forgive you if you sin against me and in some small measure redeem you, but Christ claimed that he could forgive the sins that I commit against you, that you commit against me and all other sins that are being commited and that ever will be committed to the end of the world.  The redemption in the case of Christ's forgiveness restores our friendship with God, opens the gates of heaven, and changes the world for ever.  But he had to pay a price for this universal redemption.  He not only claimed that he had to suffer brutally, and die on a cross for us, an act of unequalled love, but he did it. 

So Lewis makes the point that a person who would make such fantastic claims:  "I am God," "I forgive the sins of all," "I must die to accomplish that forgiveness," and then who in fact does die, must be either who he says he is, the God of the universe, or a raving lunatic.  Lewis posits that there can be no middle way.  He was not just a great teacher, prophet or king.  God or a madman.  Pick one.  

Mr. Lincoln, We Could Use a Hand . . .

Thanksgiving Day is one of my favorite holidays. Its main purpose, I submit, is to give thanks to God for the blessings He has bestowed upon us. Beginning in 1863, U.S. Presidents took the opportunity to invoke the name of God in their official Thanksgiving Day Proclamation and to specifically thank Him and encourage the nation to do likewise. In fact, when Lincoln made it a national holiday beginning in 1863, he made it clear that the purpose was to give thanks and praise to God:

"I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore if, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union." 1863 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation -- Abraham Lincoln.

All succeeding presidents, save one, followed suit as can be seen from the following excerpts from their inaugural Thanksgiving Day Proclamations. It is noteworthy that although the 2009 Proclamation recalls the words of George Washington wherein Washington mentions God, the President neither explicitly thanks God nor calls on the nation to do so. It is a sign of our times and not a very encouraging one at that.

Read more (click link below)

Tobin v. Kennedy

I have been trying to resist writing about the current public dispute between Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island and his bishop, but there are some aspects of it that are noteworthy.  Without getting into all of the details, the basic scenario is that Kennedy publicly lashed out at the U.S. bishops' opposition to the pro-abortion aspects of the health care reform bill as it was working its way through the House of Representatives a few weeks ago.  Kennedy asserted that a person can be a good Catholic and also support a woman's right to abort her child.

Bishop Tobin, believing that he has an obligation to the Catholics in his care, publicly rebuked Kennedy for making those patently erroneous statements.  Tobin's basic premise is that being Catholic means being pro-life and when a public official who is in a postion of power and influence, uses that power and influence to teach error to the faithful, scandal results.  The scandal has the effect, so the logic goes, of forcing the hand of the bishop to correct the error and since the scandal is inherently public, so too must be the rebuttal.

The dispute took center stage this week as Chris Matthews and Bill O'Reilly each invited Tobin on to their television programs and proceeded to defend Kennedy and attack Tobin.  Tobin likely knew that he was entering a hostile environment, so you have to give him credit for being courageous as he tried to defend his position.  I say "tried" because the program hosts had no intention of giving him the chance to make his points.  So what does it all mean?  Here are some thoughts on the matter:

[1] Being a Catholic means certain things and one of those things is that abortion is morally wrong.  To say that a Catholic can be Catholic and pro-abortion is like saying that an elephant is a giraffe. 

[2] Kennedy may have been baptized as a Catholic, but his actions show that he is not practicing his faith now.

[3] He is, instead, an astute politician who is trying to advance his pro-abortion agenda.

[4] He hopes to persuade Catholics to support pro-abortion policies by deceiving them into thinking that he is their brother in the faith. 

[5] He hopes that Catholics will think that he speaks with moral authority which he does not, but some will be duped and then go on to conclude that it must be true what he says "that it is acceptable to be both Catholic and pro-abortion."

[6] What Kennedy is doing is the definition of scandal. 

[7] Tobin knows scandal when he sees it and knows too that it is his moral imperative to correct it.

Tobin has been made to look like he is attacking Kennedy and publicly exposing Kennedy's sins.  The record, however, reveals that Tobin tried mightily to keep the matter a private pastoral issue (see November 24, 2009 article by Phil Lawler).  It was Kennedy who took the matter public at each and every turn and he did it, I submit, as a pure political ploy to deceive Catholics on the abortion issue.  Tobin should be applauded for having the courage to stand up for the truth of the faith.




  

Stover gets another game winner. . .

Colts 17 Ravens 15

Yesterday, the Colts got another win thanks to the clutch kicking of Matt Stover.  He once again kicked the game-winning field goal in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.  I like encountering signs of God in the world, and although there was perhaps nothing numinous about the football game yesterday, Matt's gesture heaven-ward reminds us to whom the glory and praise belongs.  Thanks for that Matt.  It made my day.

I like it too that he wears the number "3" as it makes me think of the Holy Trinity.   

Living, breathing tabernacles. . .

Catholics believe that the bread and wine (i.e., the Eucharist) literally (not symbolically) becomes the body and blood of Christ during the consecration that occurs each and every time holy Mass is celebrated. The scriptural basis for this is sometimes referred to as the "Bread of Life Discourse" and can be found in John 6:41-71. I was listening to my Catholic Answers podcast  on my drive into work  a few days ago and the guest was Michael John Michael Poirier. (Poirier Podcast)  He said something that I never thought of before and helped me better understand what it means to be "properly disposed to receive."

Poirier said that "we are living, breathing tabernacles" when we receive. A tabernacle is the sacred place in a church where the consecrated hosts reside. Catholics always bow or genuflect before the tabernacle because Christ in the Eucharist resides there. So Poirier's statement made me think differently about what it means to receive the Eucharist.  If I am a living, breathing tabernacle, that means that I too am a sacred place where Christ resides, or at least I should be. How awesome a concept that I would receive and then be the receptacle of the king of the universe. That is a concept that is difficult to truly and fully grasp. How can a fallen, sinful and unworthy creature, be capable of appearing before, much less communing with, the Creator? At a minimum, it seems logical and right to be humble, contrite, awestruck and full of gratitude at such a time.   Sometimes, I am afraid that I lack those attributes and just go through the motions. God willing, may it not be so the next time.