A Thanksgiving apologia of sorts

Ah, Thanksgiving! The day that people in the United States pause to express gratitude. It seems that some people, a small minority, both in the U.S. and abroad, have a problem with this observance. As Christians, it goes without saying that every day ought to be a thanksgiving. We should be thankful everyday to God for everything, even life's seeming setbacks and challenges, as well as to other people. We should, to employ a popular and apt slogan, cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Means that serve that end seem to me laudable, not lamentable.

Dedicated days of Thanksgiving, it seems, have been part of the history of these United States since our founding. It was President George Washington who issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation on 3 October 1789. But it was not until 1864 that an annual day of national Thanksgiving was proclaimed and instituted by President Abraham Lincoln.

I think it is significant that our national institution of Thanksgiving came during a time of great national strife, our Civil War, or, the War Between the States. A lot can and has been said and written about the results of the outcome of this bloodiest of conflicts in light of our constitutional principles. I certainly have my own views on these matters, but that is not my point today.

These days harmonious convergences between the sacred and the secular are rare enough. Many who decry the increasing godlessness of Western civilization often turn, and, with their very next breath, denounce institutions like Thanksgiving in the United States. Such a dichotomy strikes me as self-evidently incoherent and contradictory.

Is it really so bad to heed St. Paul's exhortation to Christians in ancient Thessaloniki, "In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess 5:18)? Let's not forget what St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans (Rom 13:1-7), which passage, like interpreting the results of the U.S. Civil War vis-à-vis our founding principles, certainly requires some unpacking and explication in light of what the apostle writes elsewhere. I also think that gratitude for what I have inevitably brings to my awareness those who have not and that, in light of my bounty, I am duty-bound to share, to give. Acts of genuine giving, in my view, are acts of justice and gratitude, not necessarily of charity.

So, today as a Christian, as a citizen of the U.S., I have no qualms whatsoever about pausing from the busyness of my day-to-day life and expressing gratitude: "Give thanks to the LORD for he is good. His love is everlasting" (Psalm 107:1). Besides, I think it only human to long for an idyll, at least once in awhile. It is nothing more than our longing for home.

Who stood up for Stephen?: Deacons as Evangelists

Since I am a deacon and my blog is Καθολικός διάκονος, I think it appropriate to note the following from Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, released to great fanfare today: "How good it is when priests, deacons and the laity gather periodically to discover resources which can make preaching more attractive!" (Evangelii Gaudium, par 159). I cite this because it is the sole mention of deacons in the entire document. It would be disingenuous of me to insist that I don't find this a bit disappointing because the nature of the restored and renewed diaconate is nothing if not evangelical (see here). Of course, this omission does nothing to dampen my own evangelical fervor.

St. Stephen in glory, by Giacomo Cavedone, 1601

Since Pope Francis' "exhortation" is the post-synodal exhortation for last Fall's Synod on the New Evangelization, convened by Pope Benedict XVI, it is necessary to point out that deacons didn't receive much consideration during the Synod. Hence, it is hardly surprising deacons don't receive much of a mention in the Holy Father's post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation.

It also bears noting, again, as I did at time of last Fall's Synod, that it was the Anglican Bishop of Sheffield, England, Dr. Steven Croft, who mentioned deacons during his brief intervention, during which he said, "Finally, who will be the new evangelisers? I commend further reflection on diakonia and the ministry of deacons." A commendation that largely seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Deacons were mentioned in the Propositions submitted to the Holy Father at the end of the Synod's deliberations, towards the end of Proposition 49 to be exact: "The Synod recognizes and encourages the work of deacons whose ministry provides the Church great service. Ongoing formation programs within the diocese should also be available for deacons."

Looking at the Lineamenta, or, preparatory document, for the Synod on the New Evangelization, there are 30 questions posed in section 22. Number thirty is: "How has the ministry of the permanent deaconate (sic) been included in the Church's mandate to evangelize?" This is the only place where deacons or the diaconate is mentioned. It's not an open question. Deacons, by the very nature of the ministry of our order, are evangelists!

Apostolic Exhortation: Evangelii Gaudium

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
EVANGELII GAUDIUM
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY,
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL
IN TODAY’S WORLD

1. THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to come.

I. A JOY EVER NEW, A JOY WHICH IS SHARED

2. The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ.

3. I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. Christ, who told us to forgive one another “seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22) has given us his example: he has forgiven us seventy times seven. Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will. May nothing inspire more than his life, which impels us onwards!

4. The books of the Old Testament predicted that the joy of salvation would abound in messianic times. The prophet Isaiah exultantly salutes the awaited Messiah: “You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy” (9:3). He exhorts those who dwell on Zion to go forth to meet him with song: “Shout aloud and sing for joy!” (12:6). The prophet tells those who have already seen him from afar to bring the message to others: “Get you up to a high mountain, O herald of good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, O herald of good tidings to Jerusalem” (40:9). All creation shares in the joy of salvation: “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth! Break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones” (49:13).

Zechariah, looking to the day of the Lord, invites the people to acclaim the king who comes “humble and riding on a donkey”: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he” (9:9).

Perhaps the most exciting invitation is that of the prophet Zephaniah, who presents God with his people in the midst of a celebration overflowing with the joy of salvation. I find it thrilling to reread this text: “The Lord, your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives you the victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing, as on a day of festival” (3:17).

This is the joy which we experience daily, amid the little things of life, as a response to the loving invitation of God our Father: “My child, treat yourself well, according to your means… Do not deprive yourself of the day’s enjoyment” (Sir 14:11, 14). What tender paternal love echoes in these words!

READ THE ENTIRE APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Today we liturgically celebrate the end of time, when Christ will return in glory to judge the living the dead and establish His reign. He will/can judge everyone because He, and He alone, is King. Nonetheless, as our Gospel reading demonstrates, He is not a king like other kings, like any king, who has ruled in this world over passing kingdoms. Even the most benevolent monarch pales when compared to kingship of Jesus Christ.

In addition to our Gospel reading of St. Luke's account of Jesus' death, our second reading from the first chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians also gives us deep insight into why Jesus Christ is a king unlike any other:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.(1:15-20)

It is important to note, in reference to our first reading, that the only reason Saul was anointed as king of Israel was because Israel wanted to be like the other nations and have a king, which, as the prophet Samuel pointed out them, constituted their rejection of God as king (see 1 Samuel 8, especially verse 7 "The LORD said: Listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king").

The Church is the new and everlasting Israel. Jesus Christ is King of Israel. It is important as Western civilization becomes less and less Christian, or, de-Christianized, that we never lose sight of this fact. I believe that a lot of how Pope Francis engages matters concerning the state, which is deliberately less confrontational than his predecessors, at least going back as far as Pope Pius XI, who instituted today's solemnity back in 1925 to combat growing secularism and even the glorification of the state, is for the Church's witness to stand out in bolder relief. He is not making concessions to the world, acting as though evil is not evil, injustice is not injustice, but recognizing and seeking to foster our Christian call to joyfully live and give witness to what is good, true, and beautiful. As Pope Benedict XVI made clear in his first encyclical, Deus caritas est: "The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable" (par 25a).

This past week here in the United States we marked the fiftieth anniversary of our first (and to date, our only) Catholic president, John F. Kennedy. To mark the occasion, Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete wrote a brief piece that appeared on the English language page of Il Sussidiario- "Catholicism and the American Understanding of Freedom," which I makes a lot what I am trying to say quite clear. It seems to me that, when it comes to political matters, it is all too easy to get all crazy and engage reality from an imaginary position. The way I see it, the only true stance is to face circumstances as they actually are. not as we want them to be. In the end, whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to democracy U.S.-style, as Albacete observes, "The problem is whether all the public expressions of faith [have] to be respected, or only those limited to the area of worship."

Of course, the correct answer to the question posed, especially in the context of the U.S., is that ALL public expressions of our faith must be respected and permitted, which is why standing up against the terribly unjust HHS mandate is so important. But this serves as an excellent case-in-point for today's observance of Christ the King. Christ bids us not to be content to wage battle in the courts against the state's unjust mandate, but to return to complete fidelity to Him, that is, to the clear proclamation and observance of the truth. What is the truth regarding this matter? The intrinsic evil of contraception, the widespread use of which, even among Christians, as Pope Paul VI prophetically predicted in Humanae Vitae, has played more than a bit part in the dissolution of marriage.

I like very much the reading from Morning Prayer for today's glorious observance: "Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love" (Eph 4:15-16).

"To thee do we come poor, banished children of Eve"

Contrary to something that seems to be growing in popularity, we're not saved by an abstraction, even an "objective" one, but by a Person, who works by loving us to our destiny. I remember reading in one of his Assemblies with Memores aspirants, in a volume of Is It Possible to Live This Way?, Don Giussani saying it is not enough to know that Jesus died for world, which can easily be and usually is an abstraction, I must know He died for me!

I think only that can make me fall on my face.

With this, as November winds down and we approach (tomorrow) the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, I am able to synthesize, at least somewhat, what I have written on sin, Purgatory, and indulgences throughout this month. In my first post I cited then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who, addressing the topic of Purgatory, concluded: "The encounter with the Lord is the transformation, the fire, that fashions us into the unsullied being that can be the vessel of eternal joy."

It is with these pieces, and only with them, that I can begin to grasp what Pope Paul VI wrote in Indulgentiarum Doctrina:

Every sin in fact causes a perturbation in the universal order established by God in His ineffable wisdom and infinite charity, and the destruction of immense values with respect to the sinner himself and to the human community. Christians throughout history have always regarded sin not only as a transgression of divine law but also—though not always in a direct and evident way—as contempt for or disregard of the friendship between God and man, just as they have regarded it as a real and unfathomable offense against God and indeed an ungrateful rejection of the love of God shown us through Jesus Christ, who called his disciples friends and not servants (par 2)

If I am following Pope Paul, he insisted that we must regard sin "in a direct and evident way" precisely "as contempt for or disregard of the friendship between" us and God, which Jesus Christ came to establish, calling us friends and not servants (John 15:15). In confession when I say my Act of Contrition, I acknowledge this: "In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things."

For many it seems to be all about the tired old objectivity vs subjectivity (realism vs idealism) debates of the early 20th century. As I see it, it is really about how the infinite breaks into the finite, how the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts (Rom 5:3-5).

And so on this Saturday, the day between our weekly day of penance and our celebration of your Son's resurrection, we turn to you O Most Blessed Virgin Mary- "to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears."

Remembering the unforgettable C.S. Lewis

In addition to marking the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination, yesterday was also the anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis (as well as of Aldous Huxley, who wrote Brave New World, which is one of those books that should be read along with Orwell's 1984, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Chesterton's The Ball and the Cross, and Benson's Lord of the World). While I posted a lot on Facebook concerning Lewis, it occurred to me this morning that I did nothing here. An oversight that needed to be corrected.

Before I was in my mid-to-late 20s I had never heard of C.S. Lewis. Once I knew about him, I quickly read several of his so-called apologetics works. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I read Til We Have Faces, which remains my favorite among his fictional works. I have read his Space Trilogy and, as of about a month ago, having received them all in one nicely bound volume last Christmas, I finished reading the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time, which I read out loud to my son, Nate, something we did over a number of months.

Culture is not only important, but unavoidable. I did not grow up in a culturally refined milieu, but that does not mean I was lacking culture. So, those books, films, and television shows, as well as the music I experienced shaped and formed me. This is why I am not terribly concerned about whether you like what I like, or whether I like what you like. Nonetheless, I remain open to new things, like reading the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in my late 40s, or opening myself to Chesterton's fiction. For example, a year ago I would not have included his novel The Ball and the Cross in the list at the top of this post.

In The Weight of Glory, Lewis wrote the following:

The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited

"You used to hold my hand when the plane took off"

(Another) Late Friday traditio. Man this week went by quickly! Nothing since writing on Purgatory. With no apologies, I love the music of Sinéad O'Connor. I always wished she could've met with Pope John Paul II after her SNL performance. I feel quite certain that he would've given her a big fatherly embrace.

"Last Day Of Our Acquaintance" is a sad song for certain. I've been reading a lot lately about what canonical and legal remedies are needed in order to "save" marriage. I am not opposed to this approach, or even to some of what is being suggested. However, I do not think any canonical or legal remedy, or various combinations of them, can ultimately "fix" what's wrong with marriage. What's wrong with marriage is what's wrong with us.

Divorce, I think, rather than the way it is often described by people arguing for the permanence of marriage (something I think is of huge importance), as something done for a lot of glib reasons that can be reduced to statistics and then subjected to reductive analysis, is excruciating for most people who get divorced. Very often divorce is like a death, sometimes even worse, which is why this song is a kind of dirge. So, reductive analysis and policy prescriptions are way too abstract and cold. My pastoral and personal experience with friends who have gone through a divorce is that divorce is much more like what O'Connor sings about in this song: devastating. If a devastated person cannot find shelter in the Church, which extends the arms of Jesus, then where?

Endlessly repeating social statistics in not persuasive here. As with anything that truly matters, the ultimate answer cannot lie with external remedies, but in the heart, by Jesus' Sacred Heart, with which He loves us all the way to our destiny, especially in and through our brokenness. Why do think, though now risen and never again to die, He still bears the scars? To me, His scars are His most beautiful feature.

Two years ago the seed was planted/
And since then you have taken me for granted/
But this is the last day of our acquaintance/

Honestly, there are times in even marriages that don't end in divorce that some of what is sung about here happens. In my view, the answer is not to de-personalize marriage, but precisely to re-personalize it, or, more accurately in my view, personalize it for the first time. I refuse to live my life in loyalty to an "institution," which are always abstractions and ephemeral, but only to a Person and to (through?) other persons. Love has a face. Love has a name.