A Weapon of Mass Instruction

Some time ago I was shown a fine video on the New Roman Missal.  Tolle et vide.

Give Us New Vision

Above you will find: the parish sign of Incarnation of Our Lord Parish in North Philadelphia, where a seminary classmate of mine is Pastor; a posting in favor of vouchers for school choice; and the Pastor's Best Friend, Norman.  The viewer will note something in his attentiveness to the camera.

This Week in Catholic Liturgy: No Doesn't Mean Yes

People who, late in life, commit to the Gospel (or at least repent for not having done so) are better off than those who fall away after initial enthusiasm.  God, knowing His creatures' weakness, is grateful for what He gets; yet when faced with the Rude Awakening, once-quiet ingrates will soon say, "The Lord's ways are not fair!"  There is nothing wrong with a high standard for human beings, whose greatness consists in the ability and command to love with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

What I Would Have Said on the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A (2011)

I am grateful that our parish has a fine deacon who preaches for one of us each month.  Unmindful that it was my turn to be "relieved," I proceeded with the gathering and recording of my reflections on the Sunday readings.  Then Monsignor reminded me.  Phooey!  Ah well--it gave me the chance to enter more deeply into the sacred mysteries that I soon will celebrate.  (What if everybody reflected on the Scriptures enough to compose a "homily"--or least a few salient thoughts--before coming to Mass?  I submit that such reflection would help the would-be homilist to get more out of Mass.)  At any rate, this is more or less what the assembly at my Masses this weekend will have been spared from hearing; the patient reader's sparing will depend on how soon he or she navigates to another site without looking back.  Remember Lot's wife.

         The first reading from Isaiah encourages us to “seek the Lord while He may be found.”  It sounds like one of those “limited-time offers” you see on TV, and to be honest, it is: limited in the sense that our life is.  As far as the Lord’s generosity is concerned, there is no limit; for as the Gospel relates, He mercies forth in ways that stump the levelheaded and the pious.  While Saint Paul encourages his listeners to “conduct themselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ,” oftentimes and to varied extents we do not.  And there’s the rub: precisely in response to human waywardness and disgrace our God manifests Himself as the Love that makes worthy and gives direction.

         A couple of months ago we promoted a guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation that is always available in the church vestibules.  The front page of the guide quotes a document from the Second Vatican Council: Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from the mercy of God for the offence committed against Him and are at the same time reconciled with the Church, which they have wounded by their sins, and which by charity, example, and prayer seeks their conversion.  Because the quotation comes from the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, it holds great weight for us as Catholics who are intended to participate faithfully in that sacrament.

         From this quote two points are worth noting: first, sin is an offense against God and against the Church; second, both God and the Church actively seek to restore the sinner to the fullness of communion.  (And remember that “the Church” refers not only to the hierarchy, but also to every initiated Catholic and, most broadly, to all Christian faithful).

         In a pluralistic, democratic society we aren’t used to hearing about objective, rational standards of right and wrong.  Rather we may hear of truths that apply to those who have devised them, and to no one else; and even these are subject to revisiting and revising as their creator sees fit.  Now since we haven’t collapsed into complete anarchy yet, we can conclude that radical subjectivism must have its limits.  While the Ten Commandments may have disappeared from public displays, the public still gives them a dutiful, if theoretical, nod.  Certain human choices always, and in every circumstance, are an insult to our Creator.  The criteria for offense derives not from the Creator’s arbitrary will (“I choose this to be wrong, just because”), but rather from the very nature of human persons for whom the Law is intended.

We are made to respect our Creator as He deserves and not according to our liking.  We are made to serve our fellow creatures as we desire to be served and not according to our liking.  As members of the Church, we stand out among all our fellow creatures as people to whom we owe a certain debt of attentiveness and gratitude.  Sin is our lack of attentiveness and gratitude toward a particular person or class of persons.  Our greatest creditor, to whom we owe the greatest debt, is God, whose Law gives unity and direction to the Church and to human society.  When we fall short of God’s Law, we let each other down; but when we uphold that Law, we contribute to the betterment of all and each.

If cold, hard justice reigned on earth, we could scarcely make that second point: the same community of persons that sin has wounded is eager for sinners to be reconciled.  We don’t want anyone to be thrown under the bus to heaven, any more than we would want to be!  Precisely how do we express this desire?  The document cited above gives us three ways: charity, example, and prayer.  It wasn’t merely suggesting that we do it; it was saying that we are doing it.  Our every good choice actively seeks to draw fellow human beings and fellow members of the Church closer to us and closer to God, as a sort of countersuit to their divisiveness.  Charity: Our patience and tolerance toward fellow sinners may be all that they need to change their ways, even though it may take longer than we’d prefer and even though it may never happen at all.  Example: Because people are convinced more by witnessing virtuous actions than by hearing virtuous words, it is important for us to demonstrate interest in the welfare of our oppressors and offenders.  Prayer: Our business in praying is not to manipulate God into doing what we want Him to do, but instead to align our interests with God’s interests, among which we can safely include the salvation of souls.

At any given point in life we may find ourselves among the reconcilers or among those who could stand to be reconciled.  Wherever we are we aim to find a deeper identity with the others than previously expected.  By our commitment to reconciliation in all our relationships, past and present, and by our willingness to enter frequently into the sacramental transaction of divine mercy known as Confession, we as members of Christ’s Mystical Body the Church are seeking Him while He may be found; we are enlisting His help at all hours of the day and offering a lavish wage to the latest of latecomers; and all because it is really Christ whom we seek and find in the course of life’s journey.

Spirituality, Si; Religion, No

"Spirituality, Si; Religion, No" seems to be the moderns' cry.  How much longer can this fractioning continue?  This cafeteria-style, tenuous allegiance to the Faith?

It would be a bold proposition, and I'm sure that others have made it:

What is your beef with Catholicism (whether it be in theory or in practice)?

That's right: what if there were an open forum for the airing of grievances?  They must be aired somewhere--that is, if the aggrieved were honest and bold enough to air them.  Anonymity would be a selling point, I'm sure, for those who desired it.

I won't lie: coming from the standpoint of a faithful Catholic, and a priest to boot, it is not easy to simply hear people out without the initial mental response...laced with no little suspicion.  Despite these "judgment-free" times, I don't think this sort of "countersuit" judgment would fly.  At least keep it to yourself, Father.

Am I making the offer?  Is the objector willing to be heard, let alone to hear me out?

This Week in Catholic Liturgy: Binding and Loosing

The terms "binding" and "loosing" have scatological connotations nowadays, but they are perfectly appropriate for God's purposes.  Resentments, fears, and unworthy conduct can adhere to our soul like so much waste that causes spiritual sepsis.  The sacrament of Reconciliation is the "general anaesthetic" that enables the Divine Physician to clean us out--a procedure in which the patient's involvement is far from passive, although s/he is not the Agent of healing.

A Fitting Prayer For The New School Year

Today the Holy Guardian Angels Regional School community celebrated Mass for the opening of the formational year.  I say "formational" because it is more than academic, more than artistic, and more than athletic: it is all of these, and...more.  Our school strives to be a "community in formation"--by which we mean (in a sense not originally intended but certainly welcomed) a work in progress.  New methods and technologies are being employed, and new students are being added to our number.  It is like the Gospel reading of this weekday, in which Jesus' apostles lower their fishing nets (a type for the Church) into the sea and receive a large quantity (a school!) of fish.  Our catch ought to fill us with astonishment in the power of God; it further fills us with repentance for our weak faith in and cynicism toward the newest generation.

St. Paul's letter to the Colossians offers his prayer for the spiritual welfare of that formational community:

From the day we heard about you, we do not cease praying for you
and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding
to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit
and growing in the knowledge of God,
strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience,
with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
He delivered us from the power of darkness
and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

To most readers of this column it is unnecessary to demonstrate in an itemized fashion how this passage applies to children.  Just read it as if you were addressing your own children with those words and realize that this was how St. Paul regarded not only the Colossians, but every Christian community.  Perhaps, however, the last few lines of the prayer are worth considering for their universal application.  We are encouraged to thank the Father who is mercifully preparing us for an inheritance precisely by aligning us with the mind and will of Christ.  I heard somewhere that Aquinas distinguished redemption from salvation: the former being the act already accomplished for us by Christ, the latter being the process by which it is being worked out in our lives.  While our school and our families are "communities in formation," we can rejoice in what the Lord already has done for us, which can urge us on to a more mindful and grateful daily appropriation of that gift.