Penance is freedom

Amid summer's dog days, I offer the first Καθολικός διάκονος Friday traditio in awhile. For this I am sticking with tradition by going with a beautiful choral verse of Psalm 51, known in Latin by its opening line: Miserere Mei Deus, or simply Miserere. Usually, Psalm 51 is first Psalm of Morning Prayer (Lauds) on Fridays. At least for Roman Catholics, Fridays are days of penance. Normatively, this day of penance is observed by not eating meat combined with some sort of fasting (sacrifice) and perhaps some devotion, like praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin's Rosary, reciting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or walking the Stations of the Cross.

This is a beautiful tradition, one that Catholics should not lose. Just as every Sunday is a "little" Easter, each Friday is a "little" Good Friday. Such practices, I believe, help draw us more deeply into the Paschal Mystery, which is the very heart of reality.

Blessed Christoph LeBreton, OCSO

For my morning spiritual reading, I have been making my way through a remarkable book. This book is the journal kept by Fr. Christoph LeBreton, OCSO, between late 1993 and early 1996. Père Christoph is one of the 7 monks martyred in Algerian during that country's civil war, which raged throughout most of the 1990s. The cause for the canonization of 19 Algerian martyrs is underway.

The title of the book is Born from the Gaze of God: The Tibhirine Journal of a Martyr Monk (1993-1996). It is a remarkable testament as to how Christ conforms willing hearts to his own Sacred Heart. I have to say, Père Christoph's writing is helping to me cooperate in the renovation of my heart. As I also contemplated the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday, I need to not become discouraged by my lack of love. In the end, it is God's love given us in and through Christ, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that matters. To this end, I have been seeking Père Christoph's intercession daily.

In the wake of reading Etty Hillesum, Christoph records:

"Do you know that I have the power of killing you?" says the executioner. And the martyr replies: "Do you know that I have the power of being killed?" Christian [De Chergé- the Abbot] reminded us of these words of Etty, stressing that in Arabic, "to choose" and "good" have the same root- when the leader affirmed: "You have no choice."

What's at stake here is your freedom

Because they can only be freely chosen, acts of penance are fundamental for freedom. Acts of penance are acts of love.

Foregoing sacred choral music is a great deprivation during this pandemic. I accept it penitentially.