FRIDAY POTPOURRI: DID IT REALLY SAY THAT?

Granted, this was earlier on in the whole Vatican II frenzy and has (at least in my experience) largely passed, but for a while there was a strong push to rid the Catholic Church of too much Mary.  Statues were taken down or moved aside, devotions were cancelled, and songs not sung because Vatican II said we should stop focusing on her and solely focus on Jesus.

 

That’s what was said about Vatican II (along with a host of other things) not what Vatican II actually said.  (Thank goodness we seem to be recovering well from this misconception.)  In one of the Church’s constitutions, Lumen Gentium, (para. 67) it, in fact, says the Council, “admonishes all the sons of the Church that the cult, especially that the liturgical cult, of the Blessed Virgin, be generously fostered . . .”

 

Now what it did advise against is an extreme in either direction.  On the one end, we do not attribute to Mary that which is not attributable to her or does not point toward her Son (makes sense) especially when such false doctrine would cause scandal to our “separated brethren,” but neither should our attention of her grow sterile lest we miss out on her excellence as Mother of God and in her example of virtues.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: MAKE SURE YOUR WINDOW IS CLEAN AND CLEAR

One of the images of Mary is that of a window.  One does not look at a window, one looks though it at something else.  Mary is a window through which we look to see her Son.  Another image of Mary is that of the moon.  The moon is a cold rock.  But when the sun hits it, it gives a glorious brilliance for us to see on earth on a dark night.  So Mary’s brilliance is in that she reflects her Son to us.  “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

 

In the same way this next paragraph (66) of Lumen Gentium states it, William Wadsworth once said more poetically is that Our Lady is “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.”  She is our exemplar par excellence.  Where Jesus is a divine person, Mary is fully human and so is set at our head to lead us in the way of fully following her Son.  Such has been the case since the very inception of the Church.  This is attested to in Luke where Mary says, “All generation shall call me blessed.”

 

A devotion to Mary is essentially different from the devotion given to the Trinity.  A devotion to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is an end unto itself.  The buck stops there so to speak.  God is the object of all true worship.  Devotion to Mary is a pathway to a deeper understanding and love of the Trinity.    

 

Think of it this way:  You might have a particular devotion to a preacher that simply wows you.  You might follow this person around, attend many services, and listen to numerous recordings of sermons and teachings.  But if the person’s preaching only leads you to like that person more deeply, that person has failed.  The inspirational talks are supposed to be a pathway to heaven and entice you further up that glorious trail.  True and loving devotion to Mary is to do the same thing.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THAT WORD YOU KEEP USING, I DON'T THINK IT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS.

“If you want to know the wrong definition of a word, look it up in the dictionary.”  This was maxim given to us in the seminary.  Often words that the Church uses to describe something has been co-opted by popular culture and given a new meaning so that when the Church uses it the way it had for a very long time, all of a sudden she appears not to be saying what she intends.  A parallel example would be the word “gay.”  150 years ago describing someone with this word let you know that the person was happy.  To describe a guy with the same word today intending to imply that he had a positive disposition might lead one to assume something about him that could lead to an awkward situation.

 

That being said, the next section of Lumen Gentium is called, “The Cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church.”  The word “cult” has fallen on hard times within the Church as of late.  It has been reinterpreted as meaning something controlling and the phrase, “Drink the coolaid” comes to mind.  But that is not at all what is meant in this context. 

 

In Church speak, “cult” means a devotion or honor afforded to a particular person.  Of course there are healthy and unhealthy cults.  Somebody who bases their faith on a particular priest, for example, would be unhealthy.  The cult of Mary, for example, as far as it leads a person more deeply into the faith and into the arms of her Son would be healthy.

 

Another unhealthy cult, written about here before, would be a type of cultish dependency on a saint that says something like, “Sure fire novena!  Say these prayers for nine days in a church and leave nine copies of this prayer for others to find and you will get your prayer.”  That delves into superstition and the idea that we can control God.  This is very unhealthy.

 

The next couple of paragraphs of Lumen Gentium will describe the proper cult of Mary and how she is to lead us more deeply into the heart of Christ.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

Lumen Gentium paragraphs 63 - 65

 

Wow.

 

If you didn’t want to read this whole chapter about Mary, these last three paragraphs will carry the day.  They are awesome.  They explain well why we Christian Catholics (and as of late even much of the Protestant Church) thinks Mary is the bomb.

 

Now, obviously Mary is close to God right?  She is, after all, the mother of Jesus (Who is God) and she is “full of grace.”  In the other direction she is close to the Church.  She is a symbol of the whole Church in faith, charity, and unity with Christ.  She does what we all strive for – to be full of grace.  Mimicking her our Catholic Church is the womb in which new sons and daughters of God are conceived and born just as Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, both through the action of the Holy Spirit.  She remains chaste, loyal to God alone and so does her Church in perfection. 

 

Interesting how we speak about the Church remaining every pure and spotless – “without wrinkle.”  And we also speak about how we are the Church and “we” are certainly not without spot or wrinkle.  In fact, we quite desperately need to see a dermatologist.  In one sense, we stop being Church when we sin.  And it is that Church, both as community and as an organ that provides guidance and grace, that leads us back to that purity and unity.  In that way she is our spotless mother as was Mary Jesus’.

 

So why do we hold her up and try to follow here example?  It is she who gives us an example of how to be united as Church to her Son.  When we preach about Mary, when we pray for her intercession, we follow the example of how to be united to Him.  She is the perfect fingerpost to her Son.  Her whole being magnifies the Lord.  She is a window through which we see Him.  To, in any way, honor her, is ipso facto to be lead more deeply to her Son.  And that is who we are to be as Christians to others.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: ITS COLD OUTSIDE. COME CLOSER TO THE FIRE

Lumen Gentium paragraphs 61 & 62

 

I have a friend who became a Universalist Unitarian Minister.  For a long spell we would write letters back and forth asking each other questions of faith and compare answers.  He had the idea that some day we would compile all of the letters and put them in book form but the project kind of fizzled out. 

 

Around this time the title Mediatrix for Mary was being bandied about more than usual (though it is a title afforded her in Vatican II) and it was causing consternation in certain circles that were concerned that too much power was being given to this human.  One of the questions received from my friend expressed a certain amount of uneasiness with the Catholic Church seemingly to be granting Mary a godly status, as if becoming a part of the Trinity, which of course would now be a Quadernity.  Anyone the least steeped in true Catholic theology would know this is impossible to do and remain a Catholic, but there were concerns none-the-less.  I find this understandable.

 

But God always works in concert with His people.  For example He does not baptize us in secret without our knowledge, consent, and cooperation.  In fact, it requires the community to do this.  (You can’t baptize yourself.)  So God (Who is so powerful He can work outside of His sacramental system) awaits our cooperation and man (Who is so weak he can do nothing without God’s power) must say yes to God.  This is why we have a priesthood.  Yet (almost) nobody thinks that having priests acting in God name, celebrating the sacraments, and speaking in His Name is taking away from God’s power or majesty.  The case is the same for Mary.

 

Mary, for her part, said yes to God’s requests.  She gave her body to house the God child.  She presented Him in the temple to the Father.  She raised him and stood by Him in His ministry, Passion, and death.  In a “wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the work of the Savior restoring supernatural life to souls.”  In this way she is called our Mother, not to compete with God, but to show His power breaking into the world just as we are all called to do.  Christ remains our one true Mediator, but Mary, in her singular role (as similarly any minister who baptizes brings life to a soul) plays a significant role.  Her role has universal significance and continues to this day and so we call her “Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”  Her role is clearly subordinate to that of her Son, but by becoming closer to her who is so close to God, we come closer to her Son just as coming closer to the heat brings you closer to the fire.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: COME ON BABY, LET'S DO THE TWIST

One of the reasons I like G. K. Chesterton so much as he takes conventional wisdom that is aimed against the faith, gives is a slight twist, and throws it back at his adversaries who then go scrambling.  The next paragraphs of Lumen Gentium (59 – 60) do much of the same thing.  It is often a criticism of the Church that we rely too much on Mary and that somehow diminishes God and makes out tie to Him appear weaker.  Au Contraire says the Church.  It proves just the opposite.  It is true, there is but one mediator between man and God and that is Jesus Christ.  The devotion we have for Mary does not lessen this fact but show’s God’s great power.

 

By the fore merits of her Son, Mary is declared by the angel “full of grace.”  Grace is any Divine help that we receive to bring us closer to God (simple definition – work with me.)  Mary isn’t touched, or has a bunch of, or even is pretty close to having it all, but is declared full of grace.  As a human person, she is as close to God as a human person may be.  She was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceived the God child, was with Him through His life and death, persevered in prayer with the apostles after His death, and was then assumed into heaven. 

 

So full of God’s presence is she that it flows from the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to touch us.  It is His super abundance of grace and power that we feel.  Our connection to the Father rests solely on the shoulders of Christ “and depends entirely on Him and draws all its power from Him.”  Devotion of Mary in no way hinders the immediate union with us and God but fosters it, bringing us closer through Christ.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: I BEG YOUR PARDON

When I was a kid the song was out with the words, “I beg your pardon.  I never promised you a rose garden.”  I remember taking it quite literally and wondering if the song was about some door to door salesman scam gone awry: someone made an assumption of services, paid the cash, and then was disappointed in not getting what they assumed they were getting.

 

Sometimes it seems that this problem exists with Christians.  They sign up thinking, “Since I gave myself to God and try to be good, everything will now be great in my life.”  Read: Prosperity Gospel (a bunch of malarkey.)  In fact, expect quite the opposite.

 

In Lumen Gentium we are reminded that Jesus said, “blessed are those who hear the world of God and cherish it!”  Mary, who was full of grace (grace being Divine help that brings us closer to Him – can you imagine being full of that?  Wow!) heard the word of God and said yes with her entire life.  One would think that if anybody would be promised a rose garden in this life it would be Mary.  She heard the word of her Son, her Creator to Whom she gave birth, and faithfully contemplated these things in her heart and lived them out.  She was present at the beginning of His ministry and “faithfully persevered with her Son unto the Cross, where she stood keeping with the Divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of His suffering, associated herself with His sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and loving consented to the immolation of this Victim which was born of her.”  Is that not devastating?  No rose garden (at least in this life.)  And by that same Son, she is given to us through St. John when He says, “Woman, behold your son.  Son, behold your mother.”

 

Only by meditating (praying) on His words and promises could she accept such tragedy and understand that from such devastation true life would spring: eternal life – a life of joy.  And so the lesson, though the mother, is given to us.

 

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: TYING UP ADVENT

Paragraph 56 of Lumen Gentium

 

God is so cool.  In the same way He allows us to make up for sin by our asking forgiveness just as He allowed us to sin by an act of our own free will, so also is Salvation brought about.  In Eve, we have a person who chose to act against God by an act of her free will.  In Mary, we have a person who chose to radically unite man and God together by an act of her free will.  Thus, as Scripture says that Eve became the Mother of all the living since she was our first mother, Mary again becomes our Mother since it is she, through saying yes to God, brought all of us a life of grace. 

 

Someone recently was telling me that one of their favorite images of Mary is “Untier of Knots.”  Eve’s knot of disobedience is untied by the Virgin.  I saw this images for the first time at the bookstore at St. Paul Shrine this past month.  Still learning new things!

 

Happy almost end of Advent!

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: NEVER COUNT YOURSELF OUT

Now here’s a case when I will use the term “the spirit of Vatican II” and think it has merit.  As we head into the last throws of advent (or perhaps slow boil of advent would be better,) we enter that part of Lumen Gentium that makes clear Mary’s role in salvation history – Totally unplanned which makes it cool.

 

One of the reasons the Harry Potter books were so popular was that it held out hope that even if it seemed completely unlikely, there is a chance that you are special; your ordinary life was masking great power, notoriety, talent, and all that.  So can you think of being a young girl in a backwater town, dirt poor, and of no note?  What if, in actuality, your life was actually part of one of the greatest stories ever told – of the greatest family lines in history – of a dynasty that would last forever?  And look at you sitting at home wishing something exciting would happen in this one light town.

 

The story concerning Mary goes back to Genesis (para 55 of LG).  There will be a virgin and a conquering of the serpent.  In Isaiah further prophecies are made.  Throughout Scripture, a blurry picture becomes clearer and clearer until one night it snaps into sharp focus on a young, faith filled woman, by the announcement of an angel.  From obscurity she is plucked, though in God’s eye she was never out of the center of His plan.  From her our God is given flesh and entrusted to her care until He could go about the business of saving us from our self destructive ways.

 

(This is not in this paragraph but my own thought.)  You, Christian, are not much different.  Scratch just below the surface there is greatness.  It is not in your wealth, your ability to command, your ancestry, or your prospects (or lack thereof!)  All that will pass and be forgotten.  But like in a C. S. Lewis novel, you have already been named a king or queen with great dignity, inheritance, and rule, and it will only come to light for the faithful who remain true to their nature and enter into the kingdom of our heavenly Father.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WHAT WERE YOU PONDERING MARY?

Lumen Gentium paragraphs 53 &54

 

What was she thinking?  What was she feeling?  What was she facing?  To some extent, these are easier questions to ask about Mary than they are about her Son.  Mary is, after all, a human person.  Jesus is a Divine Person and therefore it is often very dangerous to say, “At this point, Jesus was feeling (fill in the blank).”  How do we know?  True, He was fully human, but He was also fully Divine and to think we could know the inner workings of His mind might be presumptuous.  (This is my opinion, not part of this document.)

 

Mary on the other hand is fully human without divine being a divine person.  True, she was also sinless from her conception, but still, it is a little less tricky to ponder what she might be thinking.

 

As she was the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer, she is also our Mother.  By her saying yes to God, she helped bring about our birth into Christ and everlasting life.  In this way, while being the best of us, she is still one of us, “who occupies a place in the Church which is the highest after Christ and also closest to us.”  (54)

 

The II Vatican Council did not write a complete end all be all treatise on Mary and even allowed for further development of our understanding of her place and our relationship.  Immediately following VII, there was the erroneous thought in many circles that Mary was being downplayed in order to more fully focus on Christ.  Nothing could be further from the truth to anyone who actually read the documents.  In fact, all valid schools of thought on Mary were upheld while still allowing for future development by theologians.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: THE SPIRIT OF THE YOF

Greetings,

 

Sorry there was no post yesterday.  A funeral took up so much of the day that there was no time to post.

 

I keep getting “Join Twitter” messages.  I know that it must be some automatic thing.  I have no idea what it is or how to sign up for it.  Just so you know.

 

This weekend marks the end of the Year of Faith.  The YOF coincided with the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20^th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  During this year we have been looking at the constitutions of the Church on Friday Potpourri which we were encouraged to do during this year.  We did not finish and it has been suggested that we should continue to look at the Catechism and the VII documents to help guide our faith.  So, with your indulgence, we will continue to look at these documents for a little while on Fridays.

 

Chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium

 

With paragraph 52 the documents turn a special eye to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a chapter entitled, “Our Lady.”  Wishing for us full redemption, God in His supreme goodness and wisdom, sent His Son to be born among us.  Just like a good general or leader of a nation, He did not rule from a desk in a fancy office but walked with and among His people and shared our life.  It reminds me of the Food Stamp Challenge that some politicians are taking up at the moment to try to live on the Food Stamp allowance that they give to those in need.  Walk the walk and all that.

 

This mystery continues to be unfolded within the Body of Christ which is connected to Christ as its Head.  The Body is the Church (us, those in purgatory, and the saints in glory) united as one in Christ.  First among all of us is Mary.  As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said of her, she is “Our tainted nature’s solitary boast.”

 

Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;
Thy Image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in Thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: MORE THAN A STATUE

Lumen Gentium paragraph 51 (the conclusion of the chapter on the Pilgrim Church)

 

Catholics garner poor publicity when we misunderstand our own traditions and (even innocently) abuse them.  Take the cult of saints.  One of the mightiest reasons to develop a relationship with the saints is that they might influence you to live a better life.  We grow to know them and their situation better and try to emulate their faith and bravery in our own milieu.  Sometimes, however, individuals can become sidetracked with the various activities associated with the saint and miss out on what is truly important.  For example, instead of praying through the intercession of St. Jude, learning more about him, and trying to live a life in Christ more like he did, a person might become focused on some particular action such as finding a prayer with the instructions, “make 10 copies of this prayer and leave it in the church once every week for 5 weeks and then your prayer will be granted.”  So you check off that action and go on your merry way.  Where is the spiritual growth in that?  How did that bring you closer to Jesus?  How dangerously close that is to superstition such as “never walk under a ladder or you’ll have bad luck.”  “Run 10 copies of this on a copy machine and leave it in a church and you will have good luck.”

 

Eh.

 

We are to grow closer to the saints in order to be more like them who strive to be more like Christ so that, rather than taking away from the worship of God, it will lead us more deeply into worship of Him Who is the glory of the saints.  By working together this Body of Christ shall all be united at the banquet of the Lamb.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: DON'T FORGET US BACK HERE

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium paragraph 50

 

 

Growing up we heard stories about our grandparents coming to the United States from the “old country.”  Though things have changed dramatically since then, back in “the day” the little mountain village from which they came was rather cut off from the rest of the world.  There were no phone lines, electricity, nor indoor plumbing.  The priest only came to the remote village a few times a year for Mass both because it was so remote and because there were so few people. 

 

So one set of grandparents came over to the “Promised Land.”  During the Second World War, news reached the family in the U.S. via snail mail that there was a family member ailing and they needed penicillin.  The further problem was that the hospital would only give the penicillin to our cousin if enough was sent for everyone.  So, my grandparents were able to obtain the needed medicine here in the U.S. and ship it back and bring healing to our cousin as well as others.

 

Now imagine that (remembering that all analogies limp) as being a metaphor for our faith journey.  We who are in this life struggle as best we can in Christ with our eyes firmly set on the new life waiting for us in the Promised Land.  Some of us have already made the trip.  And though we must do without the physical presence of those brothers and sisters, we are somehow still united in Christ and in His one Body.  We can still get messages to them.  But unlike a letter we might send by ship, these missives are called prayer.  Those already passed over are before the throne and still make intercession with us and in such a manner are able to send back help if you will.  They are of our merry band who are already close to the warming fire.  But we are not divided between us and them; we are one and we work together to bring the whole Body into holiness.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: HOWDY PILGRIM

Lumen Gentium Chapter VII : The Pilgrim Church - paragraph 48

 

The Church (we) will only reach perfection in the next life.  Here we struggle the best we can in Jesus Christ.  The word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’ and as such the Church is set up by God as the sacrament of salvation for all leading them to that next-life perfection.  Here Christ is still active in the world leading us toward that place where He reigns with the Father.  He nourishes us with His Body and Blood, guides us with the Holy Spirit toward the promised restoration of our original state for which we were intended: walking in perfection with our God.

 

The battle is already won.  It is not like a movie where we sit on the edge of our seat wondering if the forces of good or evil will win.  Christ has already claimed victory, though the vestiges of the battle still linger in this life. But even now the restoration is taking place.  We are on the path.  The goal is in view.  There are many temptations wooing us off of the path.  “Stop here and enjoy my delights.”  But these will pass.  We are called to forge onward to our true home; the only place we will be fully happy – the place where our long desired for inheritance awaits.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WHAT DOES THIS COUNCIL ACTUALLY SAY?

Vatican II is often misunderstood.  Actually that is not true.  In truth, Vatican II is often unknown particularly by its biggest proponents.  As mentioned here before on several occasions, people will often claim to be acting in the spirit of VII even when their actions are in direct contradiction to the council.

 

Another symptom of this reared its ugly head when the Vatican sent people to investigate nuns in the United States.  Some were happy to greet the Vatican representatives and others were not.  Those who were not cited VII as if they were given carte blanche to do as they please.  It should be remembered that religious – male and female – are part of the institutional Church.  The institutional Church has very little to say to any group of people who wants to get together and support each other living holy lives in any manner that they see fit.  But if you want to plaster the word “Catholic” on your institutions, if you want the advantages of being an officially recognized Catholic order, if you want your charism and rule recognized canonically, then you must work within the structure of the Church.  If you don’t, then one side or the other must change or disassociate yourself from the official, institutional Church.  Period.

 

Paragraph 45 of the Church’s constitution, Lumen Gentium, from VII points this out.  It is the responsibility of the hierarchy of the Church to “feed the People of God and to lead them to good pasture.”  The Church is to act “in docile response” to the promptings of the Holy Spirit when presented rules of religious life that are presented to it for approval. (emphasis added)  When this happens it is understood that the Church is being entrusted with both a protective and supervisory role to make sure that the order meant for the building up of the Body of Christ will flourish in accord with the spirit of the founder. 

 

In other words, if you don’t want to play by the rules, don’t apply to be on the team.  Go do something else.

 

So if word is getting to Rome that something funny might be happening among certain religious orders in the United States, of course they are going to come and investigate despite the bad press it might generate.  It is their job.  They would be remiss if they didn’t.  The very fact that some religious orders fought this visit is a sign in and of itself that it was time.

 

It is a two edged sword and it cuts both ways.  If you want the advantages you must also accept the responsibility.  For example, the pope may make a particular order exempt from local authorities and subject them to himself alone.  That may allow them to flourish in a way that would otherwise be difficult depending on the situation.  On the other hand, religious “must show respect and obedience toward bishops in accord with canon law, both because these exercise authority in their individual Churches and because this is necessary for unity and harmony in the carrying out of apostolic work.”

 

Those who want to live this specific type of life approach the Church, the Church doesn't go after them.  The Church, in turn, gives legal sanction of the life by raising it to the dignity of a canonical state and receives liturgically the consecration of such individuals.  The Church receives the vows, prays for those in these states of life, and unites their sacrifice of their lives to that of the Eucharist. 

 

All that beings said, people will still think otherwise and that is Okay.  Just don’t invoke Vatican II.  It is a false premise.  Now we can have an honest discussion.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: YOU BETCHA SISTER

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium on Religious Life, paragraphs 43 & 44

 

One of the great effects of the Second Vatican Council has been the renewal of religious life.  Granted, what exactly that renewal means greatly differs from community to community with differently results.  But there is no doubt that religious life is still an essential aspect of Catholic culture and life.

 

These men and women take on living out more fully the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  The institutional Church role is to make sure that these are lived out in keeping with the teachings of Christ.  (For example, she would put her foot down if part of obedience meant forced self flagellation.  That would not be acceptable.)  This way of life has always been so popular with some of our brothers and sisters that a great variety of forms of this way of life have grown up with the Church.  Different rules, different charisms, community or solitary life appear helping individuals toward a holier life which in turn feeds the life of the Church. 

 

Members join in order to receive help toward the call we have to be saints.  It is not some sort of middle ground between the lay and ordained state, but a way of life all its own to which both lay and ordained may be called. 

 

There is the story of a priest who went to visit a friend who had become a monk in a monastery.  The friend lived his life within the monastery boundaries while his priest friend was free to come and go where he pleased.  “I don’t know how you do it,” the priest exclaimed, “I could never live confined to these walls like you.  You must have great spiritual strength.”

 

The monk replied, “Funny, I was thinking what great spiritual strength you must have to be out in the world with all of its distractions and temptations.  I don’t know that I could do that.”

 

We are all called to certain ways of life that are best for us.  The men and women of the religious order seek out this way of life, a community bound in poverty, chastity, and obedience, as their means for them to live the best lives possible.  

 

They are also symbols for us of the spiritual promises made to us that are reaching out to us even in this life.  They are visual reminders that we are built for the life to come where eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love Him.  The life they lead is an arrow pointing toward that heavenly life, the wedding feast of the Lamb. 

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE

Lumen Gentium paragraph 42

 

Love is not a feeling.  If love solely consisted of the ache you have in your heart, then virtue would consist of sitting on your bed aching for those who mean something to you.  But as it is, that is the feeling of love, it itself is not love.  Love is in deeds.  It is who you are and what you do.  God, Who is love, gives us, through the Holy Spirit, charity.  But if it is to mean anything within us, “each of the faithful must willingly hear the will of God and carry out His will with deeds, with the help of His grace . . .”  And ground zero for the source of our ability to carry this out is our celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments followed by prayer, self denial, works of “brotherly service,” and the practice of the virtues.

 

The supreme act of love is in the laying down of your life for others as did our Savior and those who do so become more fully like him.  That is why the Church has always so highly esteemed martyrs.  And in a world that is highly suspicious of such things, she has also always fostered the lifestyle of virginity and celibacy for those who wish to devote their lives more fully to the service of God.  Also held in high esteem are those who actively choose poverty or simple lifestyles, subjecting themselves to the love of God and conforming themselves more fully “to the obedient Christ.”

 

A lifestyle say of poverty is not in and of itself holiness, but a great pathway to holiness.  What do we need to do to make our lives a pathway to holiness?  We can begin pondering this with the warning from Scripture, “Let those who use this world not fix their abode in it, for the form of this world is passing away.”  1 Cor. 7:31

This brings to an end the chapter on holiness.

FRIDAY POTOURRI: THIS MEAN YOU

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium paragraph 41

Holiness is not the job of the clergy.  It is everybody’s calling.  Bishops are called to personal holiness, called to lay down their lives for their flock.  They may be called to lead their people to holiness but it is first and foremost by their example.  They are first to be holy.

 

Priests are called to a similar role, imitating the holiness of the great priests that came before them and gave them example.  I think of my home pastor, Fr. Ozimek, and his influence on me.  I took my confirmation name in part because of him.  One summer when it seemed that I was serving Mass a lot I walked in to the sacristy and he said, “You again!”  I responded, “Yeah, I have to serve again.”  He got a somewhat serious look in his face and said, “You get to serve again.”  That quite inspired me and I try to remember his example in my priesthood.

 

Deacons and those in the lay state that the Church calls upon to help with her mission in a specific way are no less called to this holiness.  Married couples give public witness to holiness in the love they are called to minister to each other and to their families.  We are only as healthy as “Church” as we are first in the domestic Church.  Widows and single persons are not exempt from this calling and have their unique way of growing in and exemplifying holiness particularly as they work to help others to holiness. 

 

The sick, the poor, the infirm all share in the universal call to holiness and are not exempt.  Furthermore they have much to offer for the salvation of the world.

 

The Church is a big place and it is more than the institution with which we often associate the word.  The institution is a necessary help which cannot do without, but the call to holiness is to all.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: CALLWAITING

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium - paragraph 40

The title of this section is interesting in and of itself: “The Call to Holiness.”  That there is a call and an expected response means something.  The faithful life is more than just saying, “I accept You my God as my Lord and Savior.”  Actions are expected of us.  If I adopt you and move you into my home, it would not be enough for you to call me “Dad,” there are certain behaviors that I would expect from you.

 

That being said, there is nothing that you can do to win your salvation.  Jesus did that.  We are “called to God not in virtue of (our) works, but by His design and grace, and justified in the Lord Jesus” and have been made sons and so truly sanctified.

 

But not Christ, or the disciples, or the early Church Fathers, or the Christian Church for most of the history of Christianity said that was enough.  We are called to holiness – to purify ourselves.  “You, therefore, must be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”  We are to “live as is fitting among saints” (Eph 5:3) and to “put on as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience (Col 3:2).  In fact, the New Testament is positively dripping with calls to works and conforming our lives.  Though salvation may be freely given, its effects can be lost.  We can throw it away.  There is no such thing as “once saved, always saved.”  The saved are called to something.

 

However, we will sin.  The best among us will stumble and fall.  Perfection is not that to which we are called in this life.  We can’t do it.  If we could, we wouldn’t need Jesus.  But our call is in untiring striving.  For the rest, we rely on God’s unfailing mercy for His children.  If we follow this plan, we will grow in holiness.  It is a proven path.  One only need look at the history of those carved in stone or wood, or whose images are captured in glass, to know that this is path Christ marked out for us.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: HOLLIER THAN THOU

I remember sitting on the front lawn of my hometown with kids from the neighborhood, each of whom when to another Church.  Of course the question on our minds was, “How can we know that we are in the right Church?”  Those innocent ponderings has always been on the mind of people of faith.  In fact, it was so wondered upon that a formula was developed – a four part litmus test – to see if a Church is the True Church founded by Christ.  You already know it though perhaps unwittingly.  Here it is: the True Church must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.  (Which seems easy enough though one must then go through the process of defining one’s terms.)

One, to which we now turn in our journey through Lumen Gentium (39), is holiness.  The Church is called to be “holy.”  So holy, in fact, that Christ gave Himself up for His Bride, the Church, so that she might be sanctified and made perfect.

 

“But wait,” you might say, “I know plenty of stories about the Church where not so holy stuff has happened.  In fact, there is this pastor over at . . .  well that’s a little off topic but you get what I mean.”  That the Church is holy does not mean everyone claiming to be a part of her is holy or that it can institutionally not sin.  The Church is made up of sinners and as such things happen.  We are all at different spots on the journey.

 

But what are the fruits of those who follow her well?  They end up in glass and wood and stone.  Those who most conform themselves to her purifying will are called saints for they have striven to be more like their Creator.  We call them saints. 

 

A second means by which we judge something to be holy or of God is that they are also fruitful.  Do they lead others to God?  Look at a religious order that is taking off and sustains or grows in number.  Something is happening there.  There is a perfection in love.  A sign of growing in actual holiness is that it desires and assists others to grow likewise whether privately or in a Church recognized fashion.  It desires others to be holy.