STELLA!!!

On my social network news feed, a friend spoke of the current flare-up of Aurora Borealis (which I might be missing by writing this post), rueing her inability to get out of her head "that stupid Flock of Seagulls song lyric."  To wit:

I responded by citing the only song reference to Aurora Borealis that I knew of (although, when I listened to the above piece, I recognized it), namely the stellar standard "Midnight Sun."  Lady Ella's version is among the better ones out there:

I declared Fitzgerald the undisputed champion in this undeclared competition.  After the final bell and the ringside announcement, I leave the replay and post factum judgment to you, patient reader.

Substitute nearly any songster/songstress' version, and there would be no change in the verdict.  How about Carmen McRae?  Hers was the first rendition I knew, so there will always be a soft spot for it.

I take that back: June Christy's was the first version I heard, and I prefer it above the others:

Hope I catch some of the star show.

The Majestic And The Mundane

I don't get caught up in the strange symbols and events found in the book of Revelation and other apocalyptic literature in the Bible.  Given the panoramic view of the Scriptures (Hebrew and Christian, considered discretely and taken together) as the story of God's love affair with the human race, we may understand the apocalyptic literature as the sort of talk in which passionate lovers are known to engage. Yes, some Biblical love-talk resembles the Song of Songs with its playfulness and intensity; or it may display the purity of commitment that Ruth has for her mother-in-law Naomi.  Then there is the splendor of the heavenly synaxis, where the angels, saints, and all creatures unite:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.

To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.  Amen.

The life of heaven traditionally has been known as the "Beatific Vision."  At first hearing one wonders whether everyone and everything will be gathered in a huge Imax theater where the Trinity is repeatedly playing.  To an overstimulated, media-saturated people that sounds rather boring!  Even to those who are more accustomed to quiet contemplation and reasoned discourse, this is an inadequate understanding of the Life of All Living.

There's nothing wrong with the term "Beatific Vision" as such, but it merits deeper consideration of "vision."  Here it's not an activity of sedate spectators, but rather the interior electricity of persons connected to the Source and to each other.  It defies description, as Saint Paul has noted: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9).  The greatness of the Mystery of Faith cannot be sufficiently impressed upon us.

I don't personally think much about the itinerary of heaven, about who or what will be there.  I hope that doesn't betray a lack of concern about the blessings of this life.  If anything I try to be more conscious of the present moment as a "lower-case r" revelation of God's life.  Existence within the Trinitarian Embrace begins now, even as we trudge along with daily activities: apostolic fishing, dining, dressing, conversing, teaching and learning, witnessing: the actions mentioned in the First Reading and the Gospel account.

Heaven will resemble earthly life in that God is always the Center.  The Church is the Body gathered in mutual divine adoration, the end of all worthy conversation.  Like Peter, we need to hear ourselves engaging in praise, expressing the love that God's grace, and our repentance, purifies (in prayer, I often use Peter's simple words: "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you").  We also need to hear Jesus' reminder that the manner of our life ought to glorify God, especially when it comes to the acceptance of earthly trials.  The business of tending the flock happens in the midst of those trials; by no means is it a tidy process.

And yet this life is all suffused with heaven.  We are treated to the sneak previews of the hymns around the throne not as a tease, but as a pattern for our present praise.

The Spice of Life

Today the eighth graders were subjected treated to a presentation on Saint Thomas Aquinas: his early life, his intellectual formation, and his contributions to Catholic thought.

I wish I had my phone so that I could take a picture of the whiteboard to show you, patient readers, all that we talked about.  Reconstruction from memory is fairly reliable: Thomas' noble birth, his family's distaste for his vocation to the Dominicans (his parents imprisoned him for 15 months in a futile attempt to dissuade him), his education under St. Albert the Great, the compilation of the Catena Aurea, the Summa Contra Gentiles and the Summa Theologiae, and especially the mihi videtur ut palea incident of 1273.  You know that one, where a spiritual experience moved Thomas to stop writing because it all seemed to him "like straw."  And his obedience to the Pope who had asked him to travel to the Council of Lyons as a theological expert...which he never got to do, because he died en route.

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight a long time

The presentation seemed to go well.  It helped that the teacher was in the room, and many of the students just had gym class, which tuckered them out.  Before I left the classroom, one of the boys came up to me and asked me some questions about the origin of my interest in the priesthood, and what I was like at their age.  Encounters like that are what it's all about.  I suspect that not so many priests get to chat with kids, because we're afraid, or "too busy," or whatever.  How else will they learn what a priest is like, so that they might possibly consider themselves as potential candidates?

From there it was off to the Seniors Club meeting, where my ministry includes pulling the winning tickets for the 50/50 raffle, being an occasional musical act, and catching up with people whom I have visited in the hospital, or whose spouses I've buried since coming to this parish a little over five years ago.  To think that I left last month's meeting to watch the election of the Pope with a few elderly parishioners!

Add to that a handful of phone calls, hospital visits, and some clerical work (in the other, more typical sense: reorganizing instructional materials), and seal it with a kiss (the 7:30am Mass), and you have a day in the life of a parish priest.

The variety of people and circumstances in the diocesan priesthood was a major selling point for me, not to mention the idea that the priests I knew were wise, intelligent, humorous, considerate, and happy men...all the qualities I wanted for myself.

If I can exercise most of those qualities most of the time, for God's glory and for the good of souls, bueno!

A Love-Hate Relationship

A tip of the biretta to Arleen Spenceley over at Ignitum Today for her recent article, entitled "People Who Hate Chastity Secretly Love It."

First, a word from the source's mouth: "Ignitum Today provides Catholic perspectives on every topic that matters to young adults--life, religion, relationships, and entertainment."  Originally it styled itself as the "Social Network of the JPII and BXVI Generation"; but what to do, with the election of Pope Francis?  Add to the Alphabet Soup?  Their response:

If you can't read this, you may no longer be a "young adult."

The "New Evangelization Generation."  I like!  Depending on the standard used, the Reverend Blogger may no longer qualify as a young adult, either.  Because my greatest aspiration from an early age was "to be older," it doesn't much matter to me.  But my qualification for the N.E.G. is clear, insofar as I had just turned two when JPII was elected.  He's the pope of my youth and early priesthood.  I got to meet him in January of 2003, six months before my ordination, when several dozen of us spent a fortnight in the Eternal City.  Two years later, as a young priest and high school chaplain, I prepared to "meet" Papa Bene alongside a million or so young people who would gather in Cologne for World Youth Day.  Pope Benedict's age was no impediment to our affections, as his predecessor gracefully permitted us to accompany him through his physical decline, all the way to the Father's House.  Benedict has not exactly deprived us of that chance, but we must accompany him from afar, respectful of the low profile that he is keeping for the sake of his successor and for the good governance of the Church.

The N.E.G. moniker is most appropriate because JPII and his successors have alerted the Church to a "springtime of evangelization," already underway around the globe.  Many young people are getting excited about Catholic doctrine and liturgy.  They are eagerly pursuing God's pursuit of them in daily prayer, and channeling their altruism into ardent sacrifice.

And they are being challenged by the Church's moral teaching...but are more up to the challenge than many people think.  Ms. Spenceley's article aptly demonstrates as much.

She quotes Karol Wojtyla (JPII)'s epic tome Love and Responsibility, where resistance to chastity is located in, of all things, resentment.  Chastity is resisted because it is hated, and it is hated because it is hard.  As for resentment, the future pope traces it to "an erroneous and distorted sense of values...a lack of objectivity in judgment and evaluation," ultimately because of "weakness of the will."

"It's too difficult [weakness of will].  I can't do this [sloth].  This sucks [resentment]."  Sound familiar?

The component called "sloth" is sadness at the difficulty of attaining the good.  Even amid the resentment, there is a modicum of reverence for the value that one appears to be rejecting.  The goodness of those who genuinely strive to live a chaste life; the truth of the value of a chaste life and the incontrovertible evidence of the chaste; the fascinating beauty of the chaste: these can be torture for the willfully unchaste to behold, for it seems to them that they can worship only from afar.

Appropriately, then, did I encounter this post on Divine Mercy Sunday.  What better time than the Present to hear the full truth about human sexuality!  Though at first it be a cross, yet it leads to resurrection.  "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:13).

Be assured: sexual integrity is not easy for anyone, regardless of his or her state in life.  The rejection of chastity, indeed the pursuit of its opposite (dis-integration!), underlies much of the sadness, anger, and fear in this world.  The fallout of unchastity is all around us, all within us.  But the seeds of new life are sown in the Paschal Mystery that we are now (and always) celebrating.  The same mystery is renewed in each day's perseverance in chastity, and in every repentance from unchastity.

To be part of the "New Evangelization Generation" one doesn't have to be young; one has only to think and pray young.  And, perhaps, to speak young, by joyfully witnessing to the reality and relevance of the Faith through good old-fashioned conversation and good newfangled social media.  Every age has contended with chastity, and I believe that this generation will strive to witness to purer, deeper, truer love.

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, so that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy Will, which is love and mercy itself.  (Our Lord to St. Faustina, Diary, 950)