Faith is movement

Faith is a two way movement, always initiated by God, who uses everything, especially our difficulties, to draw us to Himself. God uses our difficulties because it is precisely in this aspect of our existence that we realize we are not self-sufficient. Those who open themselves to God's loving care come to see, as Bl. John Henry Newman observed, that
"[t]en thousand difficulties do not make one doubt."

In writing about the works of Graham Greene, seeing that they are thoroughly imbued with grace, Owen Cummings observes that the greatness of Greene's oeuvre "lies in recognizing and struggling with the ambiguities not of life in general, but our own individual lives, even as we strive to remain faithful to God." He goes on to observe that "[t]he grace of Graham Greene lies in accepting our complexity, our fragility, our permeative sense of incompleteness and yet not giving up." Finally, the greatness of Greene's writing "lies in glimpsing, albeit occasionally and partially, that our holy God is"- here he quotes a Methodist hymn- "the Love that will not let us go" (Thinking About Prayer 75).

If you have never read Greene's The Power and the Glory, or his The Heart of the Matter, the latter of which Cummings uses for his discussion of Greene's narratively unpackaged theology of grace, you have two great things to which to look forward.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

God is on Lazarus' side

Below is the complete homily preached by Archbishop Thomas Wenski on the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Archbishop Wenski is the archbishop of Miami. Prior to being named the bishop of the Diocese of Orlando, Florida, where he was prior to being named to the See of Miami earlier this year, Wenski was a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami. He is a social worker by education, training, and experience. He worked closely with the Haitian community in Miami over many years as a priest/pastor. His homily was delivered at a Mass on Sunday, 26 September 2010, that marked the end of the meeting of the Haitian Conference of Catholic Bishops. I am very glad the Archdiocese of Miami made it available on their website.

It is worth reading and pondering in its entirety because Archbishop Wenski reminds us, by employing two great saints of the last century, Dom Hélder Câmara and Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, that the Gospel is not at the service of any ideology, but of the Lord and Him alone, which is why the Eucharist is not just central to, but the very center of all we do. The Eucharist is why I am religious and not merely spiritual. It is worth noting in reference to Dom Hélder being labelled a "red bishop" what made him "red" by using his own words: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." It was also held against Mother Teresa that she readily accepted that she could not save the world, but she could serve the poor and dying in the streets of Calcutta.

Readings: Amos 6:1a, 4-7; Ps. 146:7-10; 1 Tim. 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31

"Let me begin our reflection on the readings we have just heard with a quote.

"'…How can we exclude anyone from our care? Rather we must recognize Christ in the poorest and the most marginalized, those whom the Eucharist – which is communion is the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us – commits us to serve. As the parable of the rich man, who will remain forever without a name, and the poor man called Lazarus clearly shows, ‘in the stark contrast between the insensitive rich man and the poor in need of everything, God is on the latter’s side’. We too must be on this same side.'

"Who wrote these words? Was it Dom Helder Camarra? – Who as the bishop of Recife in Brazil won a well deserved reputation as a champion of the poor but was repudiated by his critics as a 'red bishop' always in trouble with Rome. Was it Mother Teresa? – That dynamic woman of faith who tended to the rejected and dying in the streets of Calcutta and the world but who also had her critics. If Helder’s critics came from 'the right', hers came from 'the left'. This was not just because of her unambiguous pro-life stance but also because she was content to serve the poor where she found them without setting into motion any great movement of 'social reform'.

"The words actually come from the late great Pope John Paul II in a message he gave for a World Peace Day some years ago. He wished to remind Catholics that involvement in what are sometimes called 'peace and justice' issues is not optional – nor it is the purview of those who would label themselves either 'liberal' or 'conservative'. Rather such involvement is a constitutive part of the living out of our faith. Solidarity as the late Pope once said is another word for justice in our day. It is 'a firm and preserving determination to commit oneself to the common good.' Sollicitudo Rei Socialis #38

"As Archbishop I am happy to have our visitors from Haiti and elsewhere come and see our seminary and some of its fine students. The seminarians, of course, have assisted us in our liturgies these past few days. But, more importantly, I am happy to have these seminari[an]s see you – and to understand better by seeing you how important our witness to solidarity is as members of a universal church. The collaboration of representatives of several Episcopal conferences with the Bishops of Haiti is an important expression of collegiality and solidarity – and though the work of our meeting here in Miami in discussing how our collaboration can be structured so as to assist the Haitian Church in rebuilding after the earthquake might seem a bit mundane and a bit far removed from what seminarians might imagine bishops to be normally preoccupied with, it is important for these future priests to understand how varied and complex the Church’s commitment to solidarity and to justice is.

"As Catholics, we must be involved in the issues of world hunger, human rights, peace building and justice promotion. This social ministry is not opposed to the ultimate spiritual and transcendent destiny of the human person. It presupposes this destiny and is ultimately orientated to this end. If this earth is our only highway to heaven, then we must seek to maintain it – and to make sure to the best of our abilities that this highway is cleared of the obstacles which sin -both personal and structural- has place in the path of those traveling on it.

"To go back to the parable of Lazarus: the rich man was condemned not for anything he did (though certainly one can go to hell for doing bad things) but for what he did not do. A faith without works – without concrete engagement with the least of our brethren is dead.

"The Eucharist reminds us that our commitment as Catholics to work for peace and justice in the world is not born of some ideology or political platform; rather, it is born of a person, Jesus Christ. And therefore, our 'solidarity' with the world of pain is a call to a commitment expressed in allegiance not to lofty propositions but to concrete persons in whom we are to see the face of Christ – this solidarity is lived out through the practice of what the Catechism calls the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. God takes the side of the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized – through the works of mercy, we take their side too."

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

The Première Memorial of Bl. John Henry Newman

Today, 9 October 2010, marks the first ever liturgical memorial of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, beatified by Pope Benedict XVI a mere few weeks ago during his apostolic journey to Great Britain.

A diaconal bow to Deacon Greg over at the Bench for a timely reminder of this important day. For those familiar with my own conversion, Cardinal Newman's writings, not merely his Apologia, but more centrally his still timely Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, were decisive for me. I also love Newman's Dream of Gerontius, especially since Dr. (Deacon) Owen Cummings' lecture on it and the performance by our Cathedral Choir of Edward Elgar's oratorio for last year's centenary of The Cathedral of the Madeleine. The poem begins:

"JESU, MARIA—I am near to death,
And Thou art calling me; I know it now.
Not by the token of this faltering breath,
This chill at heart, this dampness on my brow,—
(Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!)
'Tis this new feeling, never felt before,
(Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!)
That I am going, that I am no more.
'Tis this strange innermost abandonment,
(Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,)
This emptying out of each constituent
And natural force, by which I come to be."

"O God, who bestowed on the Priest Blessed John Henry Newman the grace to follow your kindly light and find peace in your Church; graciously grant that, through his intercession and example, we may be led out of shadows and images into the fullness of your truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Amen!

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

Unmasking our often invisible and ineffectual religiosity

During August's International Assembly of Responsibles of Communion and Liberation, Prof. Marta Cartabia, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Milan, gave a witness about a year she spent teaching at New York University. Towards the beginning of her remarks she staked out what she would speak about: "'Without Christ,' then, does not mean that religion is missing in people's lives. But from what I saw [during a year living in New York], it is an invisible and ineffectual religiosity..."

Quoting from E.L. Fortin's essay, The Regime of Separation: Theoretical Considerations on the Separation of Church and State, she states her thesis:

"Nietzsche has warned us a long time ago that God's death is perfectly compatible with 'bourgeois religiosity'... . He did not think for a moment that religion was finished. What he questioned was whether religion can move a person and open up one's mind... . Religion has become a consumer's good, a form of entertainment among others, a source of comfort for the weak... or an emotional service station, meant to satisfy certain irrational needs that it can address better than anything else. One-sided as it may sound, Nietzsche's opinion is right on" (from Living is Memory of Me Assembly of Responsibles of Communion and Liberation).

At least with regard not only to religion, but particularly to Christianity in the United States, Fortin hits the nail on the head. Philosophically, I would say that this results from our pragmatism. After all, William James didn't devise Varieties of Religious Experience out of thin air. This same kind of pragmatism, which accommodates itself very well to secularism either by gladly stepping to the sidelines, or by going to the extreme and self-consciously operating on the fringes of public discourse, seems all too evident. In either case faith is reduced, which results in the invisible and ineffectual religiosity Prof. Cartabia experienced during her year at New York University. Whether faith gladly takes a powder or moves to the extreme, like staking out positions rooted in a peculiar form of biblicism, there is a discernible split between believing and knowing

Charles Taylor's revisiting of James' Varieties several years ago demonstrates the tendency for religious belief to become an exercise in navel-gazing because it is reduced to belief and doubt in the lives of individual persons. This approach renders faith, or what passes for faith (i.e., a believing that remains at odds with experience, with knowing and deeply suspicious about what is believed), as a form of relativism, not an encounter with the Truth, who became incarnate for our sakes.

It is precisely this relativism that reduces the Church as nothing more than a human polity in the minds of many. Viewing the ekklesia in this way quickly leads to ideological battles in the Church and the overall reduction of faith to ideology, be it of the left or the right, when it comes to how the Church gives witness to the world. This is why the brilliance of PP. Benedictus XVI shines forth so brightly, as we all witnessed during his recent apostolic journey to Great Britain. Faith is reduced in many ways, to moralism, to sentimentality, but also to suspicion, to intellectual and practical unease, which results in an inability to fully live, to fully embrace, the One we constantly implore, like the disciples in last Sunday's Gospel, "increase our faith," in the confidence he will answer our humble request, borne of our affective weakness and near constant distraction. As Bl. John Henry Newman observed- "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt." Hence, we need an effective method to verify His faithfulness, which cannot be other than an unusual approach to Christian existence.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

"To watch it all burn away, burn away"

This is such a great song on so many levels, certainly a great song as fall sets in. Grapevine Fires by Deathcab for Cutie is our meditative Friday traditio- it's like a down tempo 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (I Feel Fine)'. A mediative and personalized apocalypse (Ἀποκάλυψις = unveiling) as summer dies.

"We watched the plumes paint the sky gray/
She laughed and danced through the field of graves/
And there I knew it would be all right"

My dear Don Giussani describes what this burning away is all about:

"Christians may not win. This is exactly the point: that we always win, even if we were to be always defeated, where ‘winning’ is realizing a greater humanity, and ‘being defeated’ means not having power. As one of you said once in a discussion: ‘We aim for a victory without power!’ This was what he meant. It’s the victory of the human. By facing life according to faith, we achieve a victory of the human, our gesture is more human. This does not mean that our position prevails politically, economically, and so on, that we attain power." Luigi Giussani, (The I is Reborn in an Encounter via Cahier Péguy).

In these days during which the impulse to make a political powerplay, to assert ourselves in an ideological way, this is a good reminder. We live and speak the truth with great love, saying "Yes" over and again to the One we serve, who asks nothing less of us than our entire selves.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

October is the month during which we pray the rosary more and with more fervor. Today marks the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. As Owen Cummings wrote in his wonderful little book, Thinking About Prayer: "For countless generations of Catholics, living and dead, daily praying has taken the familiar shape of the rosary..." The second of two epigraphs that stand at the beginning of his chapter on the rosary is by Warren Dicharry, an insight that links October (the month of the rosary) to November (the month during which we remember our beloved dead), just as the Hail Mary does:

"When our brief candle is wasted and this body is laid to final rest, someone may very carefully wrap a rosary around our hands. It is our proper rest. Only thus can we slip decently into the next life. Only thus are we ready to meet our Maker. Whether or not we ever prayed the Rosary during our life, whether the Rosary ever nestled gently in our hands, often our relatives and friends would not consider it fitting to bury us in any other way."

Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam

Divine Mercy, the limit to evil in the world and in our own hearts

Our celebration of the saints continues today with the Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, to whom our Lord appeared and delivered, again, His message of Divine Mercy.

It is easy to get bogged down when we look at the world and even in our own hearts and see darkness. We become like modern day psalmists, lamenting that the wicked seem to prosper while the righteous seem relegated to suffering. Sometimes this even seems true in our own experience: when I behave like everyone else I seem to get ahead, but when I really seek to live for Christ things seem to take a turn for the worse. This is not foreign to anyone who seeks to follow Christ in an intentional way. This forces us to ask, by what criteria do I judge reality, my own experience? All too often according to Freud's pain/pleasure principle. To paraphrase Bl. Teresa of Calcutta- worldly success is not a Gospel category. A cursory look at the even the lives of the Little Flower and St. Faustina, both of whom lived in cloisters, will show us this! In the very beautiful first part of his book Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium, Pope John Paul II, who, like St. Faustina, was a Pole, writes about the "limit imposed upon evil."

He observes that one cannot "think of the limit placed by God himself upon the various forms of evil without reference to the mystery of Redemption." He goes on to ask, "Could the mystery of Redemption be the response to that historical evil which, in different forms, continually recurs in human affairs?" All too easily we can come to see "the evil of concentration camps, of gas chambers, of police cruelty, of total war, and of oppressive regimes - evil which, among other things, systematically contradicts the message of the Cross - it can seem...that such evil is more powerful than any good." But if we pay close attention to history "we discover that this is precisely where the victorious presence of Christ's Cross is most clearly revealed." Against a dark background the light shines forth more brightly. For "those subjected to systematic evil, there remains only Christ and his Cross as a source of spiritual self-defense, as a promise of victory."

If the Cross of Christ "marks the divine limit placed upon evil, it is for this reason only: because thereby evil is radically overcome by good, hate by love, death by resurrection." Hence, our taking up our Cross daily and laying our lives down in loving service to others for "the sake of His sorrowful passion" is the only way to experience resurrection, that is, life, in the words of St. Augustine to the widow Proba, that is truly life! This is what I call the inverse property of redemption: no Easter without Good Friday and Good Friday makes no sense apart from Easter morning.

Divine mercy is the limit placed on human evil. So, the more often I acknowledge my own need, which is also my deepest desire, the more God's mercy given me in Christ Jesus sanctifies me, helps me first to resist and then overcome evil by grace. Devotion to Divine Mercy, just like devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is so much more than a conglomeration of a bunch of self-absorbed pious acts and half-mumbled prayers. It is a way to live the Gospel fully, which is nothing other than participating fully in the mystery of Redemption.

St. Faustina, pray for us.

"For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."