On reading Sacred Scripture

Cutting to the chase, as he often did, St. Jerome once insisted that "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ." I could point to the writings of other Church fathers who state much the same thing. Take for example Origen, who said, writing of King David, he "knew that the one perfect and harmonious instrument of God is the whole of scripture. The one body of truth. You are, therefore, to understand the scriptures in this way: as the one, perfect body of the WORD."

It is not just reading Sacred Scripture (though that is a great place to start), but how we read the Scriptures, how we engage these inspired writings. In the first chapter of his book Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, Cistercian monk, Fr. Michael Casey, discusses very well how to engage Scripture in a meaningful manner. He insists that it is not enough to read Scripture in the way we read so many things these days (i.e., merely looking for information, scanning in a superficial way).

It is important to note that the Holy Spirit inspired, not the books of the Bible, but the authors of the books of the Bible. Hence, in addition to the divine imprint, the books of Scripture also bear the imprint of the human authors. It is not stating the matter too glibly to write that, through our careful reading, we need to get to know the inspired authors, have a feel for who they are, where are coming from, etc.

As to the divine imprint, when, in 2 Timothy 3:16, we read, "All scripture is inspired by God," the words "inspired by God" are the English translation of one Greek word: theopneustos, which literally means "God-breathed." As the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei verbum, teaches us clearly, "Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church" (par. 10). They "form one deposit" of divine revelation because Scripture is tradition written down and handed on (tradere = the act of handing on; traditio = the content of what is handed-on) in a specific manner. I could write much more about this, particularly the acceptance of the Church of the Hebrew Scriptures we call the Old Testament, but this suffices for my purpose here.

When it comes to Tradition, Fr Casey does us the favor of pointing out that it "is meant to be a servant of the present and the future, not a tyrant imposing its own preferences on a very different world." This is to more concisely make the point Pope St. John XXIII made in his address to open Vatican II: "In order, however, that this doctrine may influence the numerous fields of human activity, with reference to individuals, to families, and to social life, it is necessary first of all that the Church should never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers. But at the same time she must ever look to the present, to the new conditions and new forms of life introduced into the modern world, which have opened new avenues to the Catholic apostolate."

When reading Scripture we must enter deeply into what we are reading, giving ourselves over to it. Citing St. Paul as an example as to why this is necessary, Casey notes that Paul never begins his writings by getting to the point. Hence, each one of Paul's letters is constituted by a "unity"; "one part cannot be understood without reference to the totality." Paul is often misinterpreted not so much because he is so difficult to understand (though there is something to that when it comes to certain passages), but because in our rush to reinforce our own preconceptions, or merely arrive at some meaning, we simply don't read him in the careful manner befitting an inspired text. Fr Casey is spot on when he observes that because "God's word is addressed to us for our salvation," it is easy to "forget that this gift of salvation often runs counter to our own perceptions and expectations." Therefore, we must approach reading the Scriptures with "a willingness to be guided and changed." In other words, we need to "approach our reading as a disciple comes to a master: receptive, docile, willing to be changed."

We also have to be willing to venture into parts of Scripture with which we are not familiar because, as my current reading through the entire Chronicles of Narnia with my 8 year-old son is showing me:

God's saving of us takes place by dragging us beyond our own comfort zone into new territory and new adventures. It is an act by which we are drawn or even compelled to leave behind the boundaries that our selfhood has imposed upon our lives. We are called to transcend our own limited vision of the good life and to accept something of the all-inclusiveness of God's plan for human fulfillment

Having finished the next-to-last (I resisted using "penultimate"- 2 days in a row seemed gratuitous) story of the Chronicles- The Silver Chair- just this week, this insight of Fr Casey's strikes a very resonant chord with me today. Casey further insists that the Bible "is an instrument of salvation only because it challenges our habitual beliefs, attitudes and behavior" (italics added by me). Because of this, Fr Casey notes the utter importance of safeguarding "the Bible's radically alternative viewpoint."

I don't think that it's an exaggeration to note that many people avoid reading Scripture, preferring instead to hear someone tell them about it, preferably someone who reinforces and justifies their own preconceptions, precisely because what personal exposure they have had to God's word has challenged their way of seeing God, themselves, others, and the world.

St. Paul lived the Gospel

This Sunday we read from St. Paul's Letter to Philemon, a rarity in the lectionary for sure. In the passage we read from this short missive, Paul is pleading with Philemon to take back his slave Onesimus, who escaped, as it were, to be with Paul. As Paul makes clear, both Onesimus and his master Philemon are Christians.

At this point, Paul himself is a Roman prisoner "for Christ Jesus." From a worldly perspective, like Onesimus, whom he affectionately calls "my own heart," the apostle's freedom is greatly circumscribed. In this set of circumstances it would seem that only Philemon is "free." Paul sends Onesimus back because he "belongs" to Philemon even as he pleads with him to welcome back his runaway slave as he would welcome the apostle himself, as "more than a slave," as "a brother," gently reminding him that all of them, Paul included, belong to Christ.

It is interesting, though easy to exaggerate, I suppose, that the apostle writes that Philemon will have Onesimus back "forever." The Greek word translated as "forever" is aionios, which means, in this context, "without end, never to cease, everlasting." It is a word that appears no less than 67 times throughout the New Testament, usually in passages not as seemingly mundane as this one. I believe that such a thought could only emerge from the apostle's pen in light of both Philemon and Onesimus being brothers in the Lord and his spiritual discernment that Onesimus going back was somehow important either to both of their salvation, or to Philemon's, who may have been embittered by his slave departing to be with the apostle.

St. Paul and Onesimus

Jesus tells us in our Gospel for this Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time that we if are His we are not our own, that following Him does not just cost us something, but everything, even our very life. The Lord calls us today to live with detachment towards earthly goods, choosing Him before all else. St. Paul exercised the detachment called for by Jesus when he sent Onesimus, whom he loved dearly, back to Philemon for the Lord's sake, which means for Philemon's and likely Onesimus' sake, the sake of their salvation, which, at least it seems to me, Paul understood needed to be worked out together in some way.

Just as in last week's Gospel, we see once again how difficult it is not to put ourselves, our own needs, concerns, and wants before the good of others. To do so is exactly what it means not only to carry own cross, but to embrace it, relying on the Lord, trusting in His mercy, goodness, and tender care. Indeed, the Lord is our refuge. Besides, there is no person, apart from the Lord, who is capable of shouldering the weight of our great need. Comprehending this by experiencing it for yourself, verifying it in reality through the circumstances you face, is truly liberating.

"My Christian faith urges me to look to the Cross"

By most media accounts, around 100,000 people turned up in St. Peter's Square for the Vigil for Peace led by the Holy Father himself. While there are a few other things on my mind, nothing is more important today, at least for me, than the Universal Church praying for peace in Syria, Egypt, throughout the Middle East, and the whole world. I was greatly blessed to gather with around fifty people in The Cathedral of the Madeleine today to pray the Rosary and have adoration of and benediction with the Blessed Sacrament.

In his remarks at the Vigil he called for last Sunday during his weekly Angelus address, Pope Francis asked, "Is it possible to walk the path of peace? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?" He concluded that, yes, with God's help through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani (i.e., Health, or Help, of the Roman people), Queen of Peace, "it is possible for everyone!"

Madonna in Glory, by Carlo Dolci, ca. 1670

From every corner of the world tonight, I would like to hear us cry out: Yes, it is possible for everyone! Or even better, I would like for each one of us, from the least to the greatest, including those called to govern nations, to respond: Yes, we want it! My Christian faith urges me to look to the Cross. How I wish that all men and women of good will would look to the Cross if only for a moment! There, we can see God’s reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken. This evening, I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions, and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: violence and war are never the way to peace!

Preparing for our penultimate (like "fortnight," I can never find enough places to use "penultimate") meeting to discuss the Letter to the Hebrews this Wednesday, I was reading the twelfth chapter of this book of Sacred Scripture this morning. Undoubtedly due to the focus of the Church on this day, I was struck by verse 14, which says, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord." These types of verses, which stand up quite well on their own, are often overlooked. The Greek word for "Strive," which is sometimes translated as "Pursue," is dioko. In this context it means "to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavor to acquire." In other words, we are to be the initiators of peace!

In tune with what the Holy Father said, I am reminded of what St. Paul writes elsewhere in Scripture: "For in [Christ] all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross, whether those on earth or those in heaven" (Col 1:19-20).

If I may be so bold, please permit one more personal aside. Since the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary will, rightly, be superseded by Sunday tomorrow, instead praying Evening Prayer I of Week III of the Psalter, I prayed Evening Prayer for the Blessed Virgin's Nativity. The first psalm for this office is Psalm 122, which is surely a prayer for peace. It ends with these words-

For love of my brethren and friends
I say: "Peace be upon you!"
For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good.

Kyrie eleison

It seems fitting not only because it's Friday, but because it's the eve of the day of fasting and prayer the Holy Father has called for tomorrow for peace in Syria and throughout the entire Middle East, to have the Kyrie from Bach's Mass in B Minor for our Friday traditio:

Acknowledging our need for God's mercy, so freely given in and through Christ Jesus, is a good way to begin our prayer, which is why the Penitential Rite comes at the beginning of Mass. Certainly when it comes to resorting to violence, most everyone of us needs forgiveness and a firm purpose of amendment.

I was most blessed to have been able to observe a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament in my favorite prayer chapel at Holy Family Church in South Ogden on my way home from work. When I arrived there was one brother, whom I had never met before, we prayed together. An even better blessing. God is good. By way of encouragement, here's a bit of a bonus, an oldie by Wayne Watson, "When God's People Pray."

This Friday traditio is the 2,600th post on Καθολικός διάκονος.

Moralistic political theater

I had the misfortune this afternoon to watch and listen to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on Syria. Before the committee were Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey. Of these three, the only one whose remarks and answers were coherent was Gen. Dempsey. No case could really be made as to why we should attack Syria apart from standing up to the tyrant Bashir Assad who crossed an administration-imposed "red line" by using chemical weapons on his own people. But the concern expressed by those senators not deprived of their critical faculties for political reasons was, What would such an attack mean for the people of Syria, who are fleeing and flooding as refugees into neighboring countries at an alarming rate, or, even more, for those who have not fled? What would this mean for the U.S., whose stated intention is dislodging Assad, but according to Kerry and Hagel, not by means of this military strike, which, they seemed to insist, would be done for purely moral reasons, as punishment and with the hope of inflicting damage on Syria's command and control infrastructure, thus preventing future use of such weapons?

According to some open sources, like Juan Cole, writing on the blog "Informed Consent," the decision to employ these weapons may not have flowed through the national chain-of-command, but were likely made by a local commander with access to these weapons. We're certainly not planning to destroy chemical weapons with kinetic strikes.

The same case Kerry and Hagel were trying to make was made in the British House of Commons last week by Prime Minister David Cameron, only more forcefully and more eloquently than the self-contradictory bumblings that passed for making an argument today at the U.S. Capitol. Commenting on Cameron's case, which he lost, the Parliament refusing to give the go-ahead for a strike, Peter Hitchens, who nobody can accuse of being a soft leftist, writing about these "moral" arguments, said, "these days, our moral worth is not judged by such things as constancy and trust close to home, but by our noisy readiness to bomb people for their own good." He went on to note that "[t]he moral bomber is one of the scourges of our age. He gets it into his head that he is so good that he is allowed to kill people (accidentally of course) in a noble cause."

Even as this hearing was in progress, the Obama Administration was busily preparing to provide more aid to the Syrian rebels, most of whom are Islamists, who represent for Syria what the former opposition now governing Libya is for that beleaguered and betrayed country, which is actually worse off as a result of our armed intervention. Syria, with its proximity to Israel and Iraq, it's complicated relationship with Iran, it's involvement in Lebanon, is far more strategic than Libya.

Secretaries Kerry and Hagel before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, photo by Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Unlike Libya, there is too much at stake in Syria to screw this up. In this context, it is important to mention that we have been aiding Syrian rebels for quite sometime in an attempt to bring about the collapse of the Assad regime. In December 2012 the U.S. even went as far as to recognize the Syrian opposition as Syria's "legitimate" government, only then to see this same opposition, now with U.S. recognition, refuse to participate in peace negotiations this past March. The Assad regime also balked at these negotiations, not seeing the U.S. as an honest broker. This is not the path to peace! While Assad and/or his minions bear full moral and legal responsibility for using chemical weapons, morally, we need to ask how much the success of the opposition, which coalition consists mostly of Islamist groups, brought about the level of desperation.

Senator Rand Paul, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, appearing Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, noted, as he did when this same Senate Committee incomprehensibly voted to provide aid for the Syrian opposition, which he voted against, pointed out that "the Islamic rebels winning is a bad idea for the Christians. All of a sudden we'll have another Islamic state where Christians are persecuted." There is a lot more that could be said about all this, including the insistence of both cabinet secretaries that the president does not require Congressional approval to launch a strike, which, forces the question, Then why, apart from seeking to mitigate political risk, is the president, especially a president who has eschewed working through the Congress whenever he has been able, asking for a go-ahead? But these are political questions, which increasingly do not interest me very much.

During the hearing Secretary Kerry floated what I would call the most improbable outcome of such an action- making him arguably an even greater fantasist than PM Cameron- getting Assad to the bargaining table to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power. If the consequences of such constant warfare were not so dire, this would be funny stuff coming from a man, who as a senator voted for and then later opposed military action in Iraq, claiming during his 2004 presidential run to have been bamboozled by the Bush Administration (famously summarized as "He was for it before he was against it"). Given that the administration issued an ultimatum (i.e., "red line"), isn't it safe to assume that they will feel obligated to follow through, with or without Congressional approval?

As with Libya, where we "led from behind," I thought we could expect better from President Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for "extraordinary effort promoting diplomacy and nuclear disarmament."

Even as we prepare for our fasting and prayer for peace this Saturday, let's pray that Congress, like the British House of Commons, will be resistant to the propaganda they are being fed and insist on a different, even more strenuous course of action, in concert with our allies, and vote not approve such a strike. This Saturday, 7 September, let's gather together, as the Holy Father has asked, "in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace!"

Year C Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Sir 3:17-8.20.28-29; Ps 68:4-7.10-11; Heb 12:18-19.22-24a; Luke 14:1.7-14

Humility is a virtue the value of which is now and probably has always been underrated. To be humble is really to go against our fallen human nature, which bids us to assert ourselves, to hold our own, to win the argument, not to be shown to be in any way lacking physically, intellectually and, yes, even spiritually.

The Christian assembly, or, to use the word employed by the sacred author of the Letter to the Hebrews in our second reading, paneguris, meaning a festive gathering of the entire people for a public celebration, something very like what we mean when we us the word "liturgy," in an important sense, is nothing more than a gathering of sinners who recognize that our need for God’s mercy is gratuitously met in and through Jesus Christ and made perceptible to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, especially in this Eucharist.

To acknowledge each day our need for Christ is an act of humility because it requires us to recognize and acknowledge that we are not self-sufficient and that our humanity is largely constituted by our need, our incompleteness, which surfaces each time we take a self-centered approach to life. According to the author of Hebrews, what constitutes "the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven," is that they have been washed clean by being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ, who is "the mediator of a new covenant" (Heb 12:23-24) of grace.

Sirach, in our first reading, tells us the more we humble ourselves, the greater we are, adding that it is by humbling ourselves, living in the awareness of our great need, that we "find favor with God" (Sir 3:18). As a natural virtue, as opposed to a theological virtue, humility is acquired through habit, that is, by training ourselves. The Catechism exhorts us, as people reborn in baptism, to "train" ourselves "to live in humility" (par. 2540).

Traditionally, when virtues are discussed in Christian terms, we also discuss the contrary vice that a particular virtue is cultivated in order to overcome. The vice to which the virtue of humility is opposed is envy. But even when it comes to the natural virtues, we find that we can do nothing apart from Christ, and even as we seek to cooperate with God through the experience of our everyday lives, we continue to require healthy helpings of God’s grace; the sacraments are the objective and effective means of acquiring God’s grace.

Elizabeth greets Mary, the Mother of her Lord

Not surprisingly it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who gives us a wonderful example of humility when she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who, like Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, unexpectedly and by the intervention of God, conceived a child in her old age. Of course, this event is the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. The fruit of this mystery is love of neighbor. We know from reading the Gospel of Luke that our Blessed Mother and St. Elizabeth were so happy for each other. As the great preacher St. John Chrysostom averred, "Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother's progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised" (Catechism par. 2540).

Other objective means God uses to impart grace are daily prayer, Scripture study, alms-giving, which includes acts of selfless service, especially when these require us to sacrifice something we would really rather be doing for the good of others and not done simply to make us feel better about ourselves. This is exactly why Jesus exhorted His hearers in today’s Gospel that when they hosted a meal not to invite people who would feel obligated to repay them, but to serve precisely those who were wholly unable to pay them back (Luke 14:12). Sirach also asserts, in a phrase reminiscent of something we find in St. James’ letter (i.e., "love covers a multitude sins" 5:20), that "alms atone for sins" (Sir 3:29).

The experience of Christians throughout two millennia has also demonstrated that engaging in penitential acts, such as fasting and abstinence, are also means God uses to impart His grace because by practicing them we humble ourselves, acknowledging our great need, our dependence on God.. We can be confident that these means work because the lives of holy women and men throughout the entire history of salvation bear witness to their efficacy. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. Never forget that Jesus was never more exalted than when He hung on the Cross for you, "the just for the unjust" (1 Pet 3:18).

Love of neighbor is one of the two great commandments given us by our Lord Himself, which, along with loving God with our whole being, fulfills the Law and the prophets. In our Gospel today, just as He did elsewhere in St. Luke’s Gospel when He taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus seeks to answer the question, "Who is my neighbor?" "Who is the one I am to love, not to envy, not to feel threatened by and so seek to put myself above?" Jesus’ answer is a difficult one, everybody, but especially the person towards whom I am the least inclined to esteem myself less than! Stewardship, my friends, is all about discipleship, which amounts to nothing more than following Jesus, listening to Him, keeping in mind what Sirach tells us, "an attentive ear is the joy of the wise" (Sir 3:29), and doing what He says. This is what it means to step out in faith as an act of hope, an act of trust.

There is no better way to bring this reflection on God’s word to an end than with the words of our Lord Himself, spoken as a challenge to us today: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11). I challenge everyone to take some time today to think and pray about how Jesus’ challenge applies to your life, to your circumstances. Consider what person, or group of people, you look down on, consider yourself better than, and then set about doing some concrete act of selfless kindness for that person or group this week. I can tell you that it is only by taking up Jesus’ challenge that you will ever see others the way Christ sees them and experience for yourself what it means to be God’s friend.

Pope Francis pleads for peace and calls for action

Today in his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis declared this coming Saturday, 7 September, which is the Vigil of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as the Holy Father noted, is the Queen of Peace (her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, being the Prince of Peace), "a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world." He invited "each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative."

I fervently urge all readers of Καθολικός διάκονος to participate fully, that is, to fast and to pray in an especially fervent manner from sundown on Friday, which is already a day of penance (offer your Friday sacrifices for this intention too!), to sundown on Saturday. I encourage you during this period to pray the rosary and/or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. If you can, pray before the Blessed Sacrament. As we do so, let us bear in mind what we read in Sacred Scripture: "For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens" (Eph 6:12).

So, let us use the weapons appropriate to our warfare- prayer, fasting, and alms-giving (give aid to humanitarian organizations who serve the refugees: Catholic Near Eastern Welfare Association and Catholic Relief Services, to name just two). Our job is to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:19-21). As the Holy Father noted in his urgent plea, "How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children will not see the light of the future!"

During the Crusades Brother Francis, who some sources indicate was a deacon (we know he was never ordained a priest), traveled to Egypt and Palestine. In Egypt he met with the Sultan Kameel in order to bring an end to the fighting, as well as to testify to Jesus Christ before the sultan. Befitting his namesake, Pope Francis today pleaded for peace- for negotiations, a ceasefire, and not retaliation. He did this even as he vehemently condemned "the use of chemical weapons," noting "that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable!" He went on to plead-

A Syrian family flees the fighting

With all my strength, I ask each party in this conflict to listen to the voice of their own conscience, not to close themselves in solely on their own interests, but rather to look at each other as brothers and decisively and courageously to follow the path of encounter and negotiation, and so overcome blind conflict. With similar vigor I exhort the international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation, for the good of the entire Syrian people.

May no effort be spared in guaranteeing humanitarian assistance to those wounded by this terrible conflict, in particular those forced to flee and the many refugees in nearby countries. May humanitarian workers, charged with the task of alleviating the sufferings of these people, be granted access so as to provide the necessary aid.

Then Pope Francis said, "I repeat forcefully: it is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace." Let us respond with a fervent and heartfelt "Amen" by fasting and praying for peace in Syria and throughout the Middle East and providing aid for those in need.

Preparing for my weekly meeting with a man who is on the verge of becoming Catholic, I was reading a passage on the Church's catholicity from Introduction to the Christianity, which is a book-length reflection on the articles of the Apostles Creed, written by then-Professor Josef Ratzinger, which struck me as quite relevant to all of this: "In a world torn apart, [the Church] is to be a sign and means of unity; she is to bridge nations, races, and classes and unite them. How often she has failed in this, we know..." (346). Let's seize this opportunity to succeed!

As Pope Francis said in his Angelus address: "All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian of other confessions, as well as to followers of every religion and to those brothers and sisters who do not believe: peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity!" Let's heed his call!