Confirmation: A Lump Sum and an Annuity

Following the Catechism’s treatment of the Sacraments, which itself mirrors the ancient order of receiving them, I speak now of Confirmation. The Western Church by and large has reversed the order of the Sacraments of Initiation for historical reasons, postponing Confirmation to a time when children are “more ready”—more ready to stop going to Mass, that is, if ever they did go with any regularity.

I spot a condemnatory sarcasm in my words and tone, through which I nevertheless shall proceed in writing. At least I am conscious of it; the Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom and counsel are prompting a gentle self-policing with the virtue of prudence. But exercising prudence doesn’t mean excusing the obligation to speak the truth in Jesus’ Name, whether it is the truths of Christ and the Church teaching, or the reasoned reflection on my own feelings and experience.

Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit completes and perfects the baptized Christian’s identification with Jesus and His Church. Whereas Baptism makes the down payment of the Spirit’s sevenfold gifts, Confirmation instills those gifts in fullness.

If a child profits from the care and direction of baptismal sponsors (Godparents) in the earliest years—even if "care and direction" are entrusted more concretely to the parents—all the more can a Confirmation sponsor’s efforts help the neophyte to live Jesus. Without necessarily hovering, the sponsor should initiate some degree of regular, Christ-centered communication. How the sponsor lives Jesus as a Catholic, publicly and “privately,” is just as important. 

I use quotation marks with "privately" because (1) nothing seems fully private in this technological time except for the seal of Confession and (2) Jesus ominously declared, “Whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Lk 12:3).

In that section of Luke 12 Jesus is exhorting courage in the face of persecution from the Enemy of Salvation. Jesus reminds His followers that He “has our back,” we used to say fifteen minutes ago. “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (12:7). 

Now that's an understatement, because the human person is on a different plane from birds and puppies and every other creature. That difference entrusts to us a certain stewardship (care and direction) over the other creatures, but also invests a certain humble pride: “Wow: God thought enough of me to create me as a human person, for whose salvation God the Son Himself became man.” 

Now God thought no less of the sparrow to create it a sparrow (for each creation has its contributions to the Kingdom), but “to which of the sparrows did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; this day I have begotten you?” (Heb 1:5, except the original text reads “angels” in place of “sparrows”).

I just wish these thoughts might seize the heart of a person, sufficient to enflame him with love for the fullness of truth, goodness, and beauty found in the Catholic Church, so that the Confirmation administered sooner or later might “take.” It doesn’t have to happen according to my personal expectations, preoccupied with outcomes as I am; it just has to happen before the person dies.

Priest, Prophet, and King: The Way of the Church

I promised, did I not, that my weekly parish bulletin columns would make their way onto this blog? I didn't forget; I just remembered later. The delay enables me to group together the last three weeks' reflections on the baptismal anointing into the Lord Jesus' threefold munera (L., "offices," "gifts") of Priest, Prophet, and King/shepherd, which spell out His identity and mission as "Messiah" (Heb, mashiach; Gk, Christos), and become for the Church the sacred tasks of sanctifying, teaching, and governing. 

23 October 2016 — 30th OT C

As Priest we are hard-wired for sacrifice. The priests of the First Covenant offered grain and animals to God in atonement for sin, in thanksgiving for God’s blessings. Our Church’s Catechism quotes an early Christian author who said, “Mankind is a beggar before God.” We cannot help but declare our dependence on God as “giver of breath and bread” (G. M.Hopkins, Wreck of the Deutschland).

According to the early understanding that persists into our day, God gives everything—good and evil. We will say with greater nuance that God permits evil, but we still experience many bad things as “happening to” us. Before the omnipotent Creator of all things we declare our need for repair and redress, our need to persevere in life amid our trials.

We offer the sacrifices of our private prayers of adoration, thanksgiving, contrition, and supplication (“ACTS”). But above all, we participate in the sacrifice of the Church’s common prayer: the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If we [as individual Catholics, and as a parish; Ed.] are not doing that, we’re simply not firing on all cylinders. 

Our sacrifice of praise includes the confession, or acknowledgment, of our sins! That’s about the most original thing we can offer Him, for our good works come from His inspiration and direction, even though we may not perceive that inspiration and direction. But those works truly become ours. We cooperate with God in carrying them out. “Confession” means acknowledgment: acknowledgment above all of the goodness of our God, Whose love for us extends even unto the forgiveness of our sins and restoration to friendship with Him and our neighbor. If we’re not doing that [i.e. making a regular, conscientious Confession], we’re simply not firing on all cylinders.

30 October 2016 — 31st OT C

From the days of Moses and Elijah up to John the Baptist, God drafted the biblical prophets (Gk pro, "for, on behalf of" + phemi, "to speak"), to their own testimony, against their will– or at least it wasn't their idea to take up prophecy. They considered their call as something that predated the development of their own understanding and freedom: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jer 1:5). The initiative is always God’s. But the Prophet always experienced the response as an option– perhaps "an offer he couldn't refuse," at least not without difficulty. Many of the prophets certainly tried to refuse, but the content and drive of prophecy had a certain inexorable urgency to them: God’s word needed to get out!

The Father sent the Son into the world as a continuation of that prophetic tradition, yet with the unique and unrepeatable newness that comes with being God. “Behold, I am doing something new” (Isa 43:19)—these words to Isaiah found in the Christ their definitive fulfillment.

One way the Old Covenant's prophetic continuity shone through with the end that Jesus met: like most of the Prophets before him, he was put to death. To retrofit a famous movie phrase, his listeners couldn't handle the truth. “Humankind cannot very much bear reality” (T.S. Eliot).

In the time of the Church, martyrs have met their Maker in much the same fashion, for much the same reason.

Does the Catholic Church have a “death wish”? On the contrary, we have a Life Wish, in communion with the Lord Jesus, who said, “I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Therefore we continue to proclaim the Gospel of Life and Love in the face of societal and interior forces that militate against life and love, against reality. Our adversaries claim we are the unrealistic ones– the very same claim they levied against Jesus. Whether we shall meet the same end, offering the witness of our lives, will depend on our fidelity to our calling. In any case, we pray that our witness will be the means to renewal in the Church and the world.

6 November 2016 – 32nd OT C

Recall God’s initial reluctance at Israel’s request for a king to rule over them (cf. 1 Sam 8). The dialogue takes place in an all-too-human manner, which I shall paraphrase:

God: “You don’t know what you’re getting into. A king would tax you in ways you might never have imagined. He’ll enlist your sons for his military and your daughters for his harem. Eventually you’ll want the bum out, but it won’t work that way.” Israel: “So what? Everyone else is doing it!” God: “OK—suture yourself!”

Despite Israel’s willful insistence on having a king, and despite those kings’ predictably lascivious, deceptive, and bellicose predilections [think the upcoming election? Ed.], the Lord’s active care never ceased. In the spirit of Moses and David (who acted as both prophets and rulers), the Father sent His Son as the foretold shepherd after God’s own heart (cf. Jer 3:15). The watchful eye of the “Good Shepherd” (Jn 10:11) extends beyond Israel’s borders, even unto the limits of time and space. And “His dominion is vast and forever peaceful” (Isa 9:6), rooted in the security of His relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus exercised His kingly office “with authority,” but not so as to “lord it over” people with aggression (Mt 20:25). Instead, He embodied the very directive He issued His disciples: “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant” (Mt 20:26). Nowhere was this concept of authority as service clearer than His farewell overture in the Upper Room, where He washed the disciples’ feet as an example for them to follow (Jn 13:1-20). Jesus’ activity of healing the sick, forgiving sins, and proclaiming truth derived its force from the Father, and became the substance of the Church’s pastoral care.

Our participation in that ministry has numerous forms; I couldn’t begin to exhaust them in this short space. We could start along the lines of the “Works of Mercy,” both corporal (e.g. giving food to the hungry, visiting the sick or imprisoned, burying the dead) and spiritual (e.g. forgiving all wrongs, instructing the ignorant, praying for living and dead). It also includes efforts to promote justice, as for safeguarding the lives of unborn children, working to improve social conditions that tempt parents to abortion, and assisting in the healing of parents who have chosen abortion.

One does not need to be a priest or sister, or belong to organizations like the St. Vincent de Paul Society or the Knights of Columbus, in order to cooperate in Christ’s ministry of shepherding. But Catholics have found access to shepherding opportunities by entering into a lifelong dedication to the Faith and joining parish associations. It comes down to trusting God and investigating possibilities with an open heart and mind.

The Springs of Salvation

In our responsorial psalm we heard, “With joy you will draw water from the fountain of salvation” (Is 12:3). The Christian story locates that fountain in the Sacrament of Baptism, where for the first time we concretely experience, where we see, hear, and feel (and perhaps taste) the water that signifies and accomplishes salvation.

To be more precise as to what Baptism does: it makes us children of God, heirs of heaven, temples of the Holy Spirit, and members of the Church. It frees us from the original sin and (in the case of adults) from personal sins committed beforehand. It plants in us the seeds of faith, hope, and love—the “theological virtues” that dispose us to divine realities that both lie beyond this world and permeate this world. 

Baptism moves us to continue in the path of grace (1) by activating the gifts of the Holy Spirit (viz., wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence, and fear of the Lord) and (2) by acting in accord with the human virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. And that “path of grace” continues in us when we receive the sacraments that complete our Christian initiation (Confirmation and, in an ongoing way, Holy Eucharist), as well as the sacrament that continually repairs and renews our relationship with God and neighbor (Penance). And without Baptism, we cannot invest our lives in the Sacraments of Marriage or Holy Orders, or in consecrated religious life. So it’s pretty much the key to everything.

Now what John the Baptist was doing wasn’t Christian Baptism, insofar as Jesus hadn’t yet appeared on the scene. You might say that, because of its focus on sorrow for the past and commitment to the future, it was the next best thing; but, as their old commercials used to say, “When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.”

The curious thing is, when Jesus did appear on the scene and met His saintly prophetic cousin, He didn’t seem to co-opt John’s baptism into His own. As it turned out, John continued to have disciples of his own for some time. Recall the incident when some of Jesus’ purported enemies were objecting to how His disciples were conducting themselves in contrast to John’s. Jesus assured them that the two camps were not opposed to one another, but that the Best Man and fellow groomsmen certainly would be fulfilled (and, one might infer, more joyful) by attending to the Bridegroom. As the former himself said, “One mightier than I is coming…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

And, if we are open to it, by the fire of His love He will separate the chaff from the wheat in us, the sin from the grace. For our life’s duration they will co-exist to various degrees in various respects. But our intentional movement along the Baptismal Voyage contains within itself the promise of Our Lord’s Presence—the same Presence He promised to the Apostles when He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Mt 28:20).

The Tonight Show and The Baptism of the Lord

While Johnny Carson may remain for many the all-time favorite host of The Tonight Show, I am also fond of the newest host, Jimmy Fallon. He has a whimsical, self-effacing wit, and embraces technology in his skits. He fits in with the younger generation [although, after the first Mass, an older woman came up to me, put her arm on my shoulder, and said, "I like Jimmy Fallon, too" and walked along--which made the day]. Whatever shoes he's had to fill, he seems content to be himself.

Just the other night Jimmy was interviewing actress Nicole Kidman. He recalled that they had met ten years before. On that occasion, a friend of Jimmy called him to say that he wanted to bring Nicole Kidman by his apartment.

Jimmy later realized, and Nicole affirmed, that it was a set-up date, and he’d given her a rather bland reception: playing video games, not talking much. Nicole then revealed that she had been romantically interested in Jimmy, but he was clueless about it! Imagine: he could have been Mr. Nicole Kidman—if he wasn’t so—aargh! The whole interview unraveled rather humorously after that admission, but they took it in stride. Although the awkwardness of the past could not be erased or redone, the interview opened the door to a new perspective in friendship.

Many times in life we recognize a choice before us, and many times there doesn’t seem to be a choice. In that instant when Jimmy realized the opportunity he’d missed, the audience also could see the present outcome, where both are happily married with children.

After watching the interview I wondered whether there were any times I was simply unaware of others’ intentions about me, and how things might have been different, especially if I had handled them better. But that practice is a kind of spiritual and emotional quicksand. My thoughts needed to turn to a more productive and worthwhile theme: the mysterious workings of God’s Providence, which aims to reinforce within each of us our fundamental identity as God’s beloved son or daughter.

That’s what Baptism does for us: makes us children of God, heirs of heaven, temples of the Holy Spirit, and members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church. It frees us from the Original Sin and, in the case of adults, from any personal sins we have committed. Baptism confers upon us a new identity and a new mission, leaving behind the way that leads to death. Though, like Jimmy with Nicole, we may be unaware of God’s loving intentions for us, through Baptism He inaugurates for us the strange and wonderful journey that is discipleship, where, though we participate freely, there is always Another Hand at work.

Along our life’s course we will stray, we will miss the mark, we will sin. Not just instances of wry regret like the way that Jimmy Fallon initially regarded Nicole Kidman, but snubs of the most meaningful relationships of our lives: intentional choices against God’s commandments to love Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves. But no sinful choice that we ever make will erase our splendid identity as God’s beloved, made for communion with Him. That’s not to say that we can’t reject that communion or don’t need to repair it; but, even if we rejected it completely, we’d still have been made for it, which would add all the more to the frustration that is hell.

But God the Son fully identified Himself with the human race by becoming man and submitting Himself to the baptismal waters. He knew and owned His identity as the Father’s Beloved and the Savior of mankind. Through Baptism He invites all to receive that dignity and to walk in that dignity each day. In view of that wise and loving plan, God will use even our sins and our missed chances for His glory and for the good of all. Though much of life may cause real and deserved shame, God allows us to participate in our redemption and renewal.

The Church of God, To Be Precise, Welcomes You

I was startled to learn of recently-approved revisions to the Rite of Baptism of Infants. According to the Catholic News Service, it was one of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's last decisions, along the lines of the addition of the name of St. Joseph to the second, third, and fourth Eucharistic Prayers.

What might we conclude about the nature of the Church: Were these acts a kind of eleventh-hour move for Pope Benedict? or does Holy Mother Church move so slowly that the decisions moved through the channels, finally to the Ecclesial News Desk. as late as they did? Who cares?

To review:

After the minister of Baptism asks two questions that we so often take for granted (each one post-worthy in its own right): "What name have you given your child/ren?" and, "What do you ask of God's Church for [your child/ren]?" the minister succinctly reminds the parents about the spiritual and religious responsibilities. Then he secures the parents' understanding of these, as well as the godparents' commitment to assist the parents in discharging their parental duties.

Finally, immediately before the Liturgy of the Word, the sacred minister will henceforth say the following: "[Oscar/Matilda], the Church of God welcomes you with great joy."

Previously, the rite read, "[Oscar/Matilda], the Christian community welcomes you with great joy."

Once before on this blog I modified Tip O'Neill's dictum "All politics is local" by replacing "politics" with "religion." I do not rescind that statement (although my end-of-life Retractationes will likely include many things I said from the pulpit, in classes, in beer gardens, etc.). But sometimes a little context helps.

Philosophy talks about how the universal is found in the particular (though I will leave it to the first beer garden dwellers, the philosophers, to discuss the finer points). I have a homily to finish.

In my own untutored words:
While the particular parish may happen to be the place of welcoming for little Oscar or Matilda, that parish is the local instance of the One, Holy, Catholic (kata holon, "according to the whole"), and Apostolic Church, where "what it means to participate in The Church of God" is most fully found: a parish united to its diocese, itself in communion with the Sovereign Pontiff, the Bishop of Rome.

Earlier I had received the impression that the changes to the Rite would include a brief elaboration on "the Church of God" that would include the hotly contested words, "subsists in," found in the eighth paragraph of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium; the quotation in its immediate context, along with some discussion, is lovingly lifted from Wikipedia):

This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity.

Haec Ecclesia, in hoc mundo ut societas constituta et ordinata, subsistit in Ecclesia catholica, a successore Petri et Episcopis in eius communione gubernata, licet extra eius compaginem elementa plura sanctificationis et veritatis inveniantur, quae ut dona Ecclesiae Christi propria, ad unitatem catholicam impellunt.

According to my original impression, the words of the elaboration were the words in red type, but I gathered from the CNS article that the Church's Congregation for Divine Worship used those words to explain the motive for the change. (Whew!)

Had that amplification been the actual revision, the baptizing priest or deacon would be presuming of the whole assembly a basic understanding of the statement and its theological underpinnings. (Not bloody likely!) However, even if "the Church of God" is as far as it shall go, that phrase could be variously understood by all persons attending the baptism, and would therefore merit a succinct and accurate explanation by the baptizing minister. (No doubt the pre-Jordan instructor also might take the opportunity to explain the phrase!)

Properly handled, this and every word in the Liturgy can become what the Church of God's entire sacred Liturgy is: a moment for evangelization and catechesis...which might well incite some interesting dialogue after the ceremony, if anyone cares (or remembers) to discuss it.

Obiter dictum: We have bled much on the subject of "The Church of God," but theologians, priests, deacons, catechists, and other detail-dealing persons must not forget the words "welcomes you with great joy," and must endeavor to convey that joyful welcome in the celebration of Baptism and indeed in every execution of their sacred craft.

Starting with this priest.

Water Works

Recently I saw a photo of a former student of mine holding her little goddaughter. I love it when the legacy of care continues into the younger generations. It’s good that they pick up on it, just as their elders did. We need more of that care. As a celebrant of the sacrament of Baptism I am occasionally trusted to hold a child. I know that (especially) parents get "used to it"; but, wow! Holding and beholding a little one is a kind of Eucharistic Reception and Adoration! Such is the pool of miracles in which we wade.

When I teach about the sacraments, I often present a handout that lists the Church’s legal definitions of each of the seven sacraments.  Here’s how Canon Law defines Baptism:

…The gateway to the sacraments and necessary for salvation by actual reception or at least by desire, is validly conferred only by a washing of true water with the proper form of words.  Through baptism men and women are freed from sin, are reborn as children of God, and, configured to Christ by an indelible character, are incorporated into the Church. (CIC 849)

Gateway: a person cannot receive a sacrament unless he or she has first received Baptism.  This includes the sacrament of matrimony: if a baptized person marries a non-baptized person in the Church, the marriage is valid but not sacramental, because an unbaptized person cannot confer the sacrament of marriage.

Necessary for salvation: we can find evidence for this in the end of Mark’s Gospel (16:15-16) where Jesus hinges salvation on faith and baptism; at the end of Matthew’s He commands the apostles to baptize.  Baptism is the ordinary means to eternal life that our Lord and Savior entrusted to His Church.  God certainly reserves the right to work around it (and who are we to say otherwise?); but like any rule, it wouldn’t have been made in order for exceptions to abound.  God certainly takes account of a person who desires baptism but for whatever reason never actually receives it (especially the person who dies in the preparatory process, which used to happen more often when martyrdom was all the rage).  A family’s desire for baptism would apply to its infants and small children, although one ought not delay very long when baptism is readily available.  

Why haven't you scheduled my Baptism yet?

True water: nothing may be added, and no water-based liquid (e.g. Kool Aid, motor oil) can be used.  

Proper form of words: the “Trinitarian formula” that Jesus prescribes at His Ascension (Mt 28:18-20).

The canon goes on to list the effects of baptism:

Freedom from sin, both the original sin and, for adults, any personal sin committed before baptism.  The effects of sin remain: weakening of the will, darkening of the intellect, confusion from the passions.  Such is the lot of every son or daughter of Adam, but that’s why we rejoice in the gifts of Prayer, Word, and Sacrament that sustain us in making good moral choices, lest we lose our cherished freedom.  

Rebirth: the baptized become “in Christ, a new creature” (2 Cor 5:17).  Like our first birth, the grace of baptism is a gift, unexpected and unmerited.  By it we share in the relations of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, most notably as sons-by-grace in Him who is Son-by-Nature.  We get to call God our Father, Jesus our Brother, and the Holy Spirit our Advocate and Guide.  As baptized persons we can and should tap into these relations all the time.

How do we "tap into our relationship with the Trinity?"  Prayer; reflection on the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church; participation in the Liturgy; acts of charity...

An “indelible mark”: Baptism is a kind of "spiritual tattoo" that nothing can remove.  Even though mortal sin destroys charity within the heart, there remains an interior identification with God that His mercy and our repentance can restore: this we must never forget, though never take for granted either.  

Insertion into Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church: We become brothers and sisters to one another with the deepest and most enduring bond.  St. Paul designates as the “household of faith” (Gal 6:10) everyone who calls God Father and the Church Mother.  Fellow members of Christ are called to exercise fraternal charity and guidance toward one another.  Unfortunately this is something that we don’t often take as seriously as we could, but it is one of many responsibilities that accompany baptismal grace, along with the command to divine worship and obedience to the moral law.

For an interesting presentation on Jesus' Baptism, click here.

When God became flesh in Jesus, He did not have to undergo any sort of purification rite; but that’s what John’s baptism was.  By submitting to that ritual Our Lord identified most profoundly with sinful man, foreshadowed the plunge of His Passion and Death, and instituted Christian baptism as the ordinary way to share in the fruits of His life, death, and resurrection.  

Baptism starts the believer along a lifelong path of holiness and mission—getting to heaven and bringing along with us whoever we can find.  These are our marching orders, so let us begin!

Tony Bennett with Bill Evans: A Child Is Born (1976)

Conversion: Baptism and Beyond

If Charles Dickens could write A Tale of Two Cities, I can write A Tale of Two Words.  

The words are paranoia and metanoia.

Last week Jesus called us to be vigilant.  If this call is taken to a neurotic extreme, it winds up in paranoia: the sense of a looming presence that is not at all reassuring, but rather induces fear and the desire to escape.  Metanoia is an interior dynamism, challenging but consoling: the Gospel renders the word as "repentance."  It's a step beyond the prophets' exhortations to repentance (meta can mean "beyond" in Gk), to an external action that embodies the internal transformation.

People received John's baptism of repentance as an outward sign that they wanted to live differently.  They would need to sustain that choice by their actions.  The effectiveness of John's baptism lay in the sincerity and effort of its recipients.

Christian baptism is a further metanoia, a deepening of interior transformation.  Christ instituted the outward act of baptism as a sacrament.  It does not merely point to a person's sincere desire to change; it changes him.  Baptism renews the recipient as a child of God and an heir of heaven.  It actually forgives original sin and personal sins (for those guilty of them).

Baptism begins a lifelong transformation.  It is nourished by our continued participation in the sacraments--certainly Confirmation, which perfects baptismal grace (cf. CCC 1285ff), but also the Eucharist and Reconciliation, two supporting pillars in the life of a faithful Catholic.  Baptismal life is further reinforced whenever we take in the Word of God, whether in a liturgical context or in personal prayer.  And it is certainly being perfected in our firm commitment to obey the commandments and to pattern our life after the Beatitudes.

Metanoia is not supposed to be paranoia.  We are not supposed to be living in fear of impending damnation.  The prophet Baruch reminded us that Jerusalem (the people of God) may now remove her "robe of mourning and misery" (5:1); we can rejoice that we are "remembered by God" (5:5).  That realization is perhaps the better part of conversion!  St. Paul further elucidates metanoia as our recognition of, and response to, "what is of value" (Phil 1:10): namely, to know Christ and to be known by Him; to know others in Him, together forming a "partnership in the Gospel" (Phil 1:5).

Neat phrase, that: a "partnership in the Gospel" (κοινωνίᾳ (koinonia) - Communion!) is just what the Church herself is, and what every local manifestation of her is called to be--every parish, every family.  Holy Guardian Angels Parish celebrated its first parish Mass on the eighth of December 1929, just over 83 years ago.  With our commitment to seek deeper metanoia--as a parish, as families, and as individuals--HGA will continue to move forward, in Communion, with confidence.