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: 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: IN A VARIETY OF LIVES WE ARE ONE

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium paragraphs 46 & 47

 

What do you suppose is the benefit of having hermits in the Church?  These are men who live all by themselves as a religious discipline.  How does that benefit anyone?  Well, I heard a story once on NPR and they were talking about a type of bird that only lives in places in which the wilderness is truly present.  (After all these years I don’t remember the bird.)  If man starts encroaching at all, they disappear.  So if you want to know if a wilderness is truly healthy, you look for these birds.

 

It turns out that hermits have much the same function.  They usually only appear on the scene when the faith is truly healthy in a place.  If it is not healthy, they are nowhere or rarely to be found.  So we look to them to see how healthy we are.  We rely on them to pray for us.  They are the canary in the mineshaft.

 

In a similar way, all religious orders play a vital roles in the Church.  Without them we are less in some striking way.  Each order tends to live a part of the life Christ in a more dramatic way than most of us can.  “Christ in contemplation on the mountain, or proclaiming the kingdom of God to the multitudes, or healing the sick and the maimed and converting sinners to a good life, or blessing children and doing good to all men, always in obedience to the will of the Father who sent Him.”  What an absolutely beautiful way to explain religious orders.  It almost takes your breath away. 

 

With their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, they more closely follow the life of Christ, particularly in his poverty and virginity.  For this reason the Fathers of Vatican II most strongly lend their support to these ways of life in the Church whether it be in the monasteries, in schools, in hospitals, in the missions and wherever they may be. 

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.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: FOR WHAT ARE YOU WAITING? GO! MAKE DISCIPLES

“DON’T – JUST DON’T!”  It is one of the great failings of the teachers and catechists of the Church that much of our teaching is conveyed via negativa.  In this way it seems much more like we are a faith of limiting, stifling, of making life boring.  What a tragic and huge mistake!  The purpose of the faith is to do exactly the opposite!  As these last two paragraphs of Lumen Gentium make clear that we are “constituted to live in royal liberty and, by self abnegation of a holy life, overcome the reign of sin in (our)selves.”  Where most of the world desires license to do as one wants, the faith desires that you have the liberty to thrive, physically, mentally, and spiritually in joy – now and for all eternity – in the way that you were created to be!

 

I went to the doctor and he gave me a long list of foods that he said I had to give up.  It was the most depressing meeting.  And fish, of course, was not his negative menu.   What would have been better was a course on great food and encouragement on how great it would be for me.  Instead it was, “Olives will kill you.   Do not eat olives.”  I’ll get right on that.”

Summing up this section, every Catholic lay person is anointed priest, prophet, and king and is responsible for the spreading of the kingdom.  As you do this, bear in mind the goal: to bring people to life, joy, and true freedom.  This is a much better line than, “Stop that or you’re going to hell.”  It may be true, but does living with such negative people sound any more appealing?

 

To this end, the laity has the right to ask from the Church what it needs to accomplish these goals.  The laity also has the right to express their opinions to the institutional Church as it pertains toward these goals.  There is a certain amount of obedience that is called for then.  Not a happy topic.  But somehow a decision must be made concerning which direction we will head because until that is done, we can’t really move forward.  So pray for those acting on behalf of the institutional Church that they may be wise, active, and full of the Holy Spirit that we may accomplish all of these lofty goals.

 

Pastors must recognize the rights of the laity and foster their works.  Not everything can be or should be done by the ordained or even necessarily controlled by the ordained.  Go!  Spread the Good News without me!  There is more than enough work for everybody! 

 

Next time:  Call to Holiness

FRIDAY POTPOURI: ITS GOOD TO BE THE KING

There s a saying that goes like this, “He who is polite to you but rude to the waiter is not a polite person.”  Manners cannot be a veneer.  You are either a person of manners or not.  One is to be solid mahogany or be considered a charlatan. 

 

So it is with faith as we see today in paragraph 36 of Lumen Gentium, bringing us dangerously close to the end of this chapter.  The Catholic way of living the Christian life cannot be something we wear when convenient.  The Church is not something one joins, it is something one becomes.  Just signing up at the local Catholic parish does not make one a Catholic anymore than does an Italian become Irish because he wears a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” T-shirt.  There is a life to be lived.

 

Christ was exalted by God because of His obedience to the will of the Father and the extreme living out of that life in a world hostile to it.  He handed on that life to the Apostles and, in turn, to each of us.  So we cannot think that faith is something to do for an hour on Sunday, before meals, and for a few seconds before going to bed at night, it is who we are to be.

 

And like Christ and apostles we are not just to live it for ourselves.  Among the offices into which we were anointed at our baptism is that of the kingly office.  It gives us mandate to involve ourselves into the temporal workings of this world when they do not serve the proper means and ends of the human person.  We are to steer our homes, schools, communities, governments, workplaces, our very world into the right order before God.

 

There are two pitfalls here.  The first is the thought that the goal is just to win and turn everyone into Catholics.  The point is not to be on the winning side but to bring true joy and freedom to all.  It is like debating.  If your goal is just to be right, even if you are you will not win friends.  If your goal is to bring someone to truth, then you have a much better chance of winning over your opponent. 

 

The other side of the coin are those who think you simply want to ram your religion down their throats.  (Of course what nobody sees is that they too want to ram their beliefs – even secular as they may be – down your throat.  There is the mistaken idea that there is some sort of neutral position.  There is not.  Every belief, even atheism comes with presuppositions that cannot be scientifically proven.  Hence Atheism is a belief.)  Never think because your position happens to be Catholic that you have no right to share it and to try to imbue your nation with its ideas.  EVERYONE has that right and you are not a second class citizen.  Youy voice is just as important and civilly valid as anyone else’s trying to sway the nation.

 

There is a way in which we were designed to live.  And it is living that life that gives us the best chance at joy.  It is our mission to do what we can to establish true justice, love, and peace.  “The laity enjoy a principal role in the universal fulfillment of this task.  Therefore, by their competence in secular disciplines, and by their activity, interiorly raised up by grace, let them work earnestly in order that created goods through human labor, technical skill and civil culture may serve the utility of all men according to the plan of the Creator and the light of His Word. . . and in their own way may be conductive to universal progress in human and Christian liberty.”

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON AND WOULD ANYBODY KNOW IT?

The gist of my homily last weekend was: “This ain’t heaven.”  Which is why, according to Michner, God gave us mosquitoes.  No matter how great life here may be, those little buggers remind us that there’s got to be something better.

 

In the mean time, that does not stop us from doing our best to make this life a blessing.  We live in a state that some refer to as, “Already/Not Yet.”  Jesus Christ has come and in reality, death and sin have already been defeated – the end is clear – the battle is won.  It is like the mathematical certainty of the population of the United States and Europe is headed for a sharp decline due to smaller families, contraception, and abortion.  At this point there is nothing to be done except try to minimize the damage.  The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  We can either participate in it or, for some strange reason, choose to join those who have already lost.

 

That being said, His Kingdom is not yet fully established here on earth.  It won’t be until He comes again.  We are living in the aftermath of war waiting for our cities to be rebuilt.  The government is not yet fully established, order does not yet reign supreme.  (This may be overstating the case a bit, but I think it helps one imagine the state we are in.  We are rejoicing, but not yet fully.)

 

So in this next uber long paragraph of Lumen Gentium (35), the laity, in particular, are given their marching orders toward the building up of the Kingdom.  To aid us until the King comes to fully establish his rule, he sent us not only a hierarchy but the laity.  Interestingly the document says that he gave us “not only the hierarchy” but also the laity to fulfill the prophetic office to the world.  Once again the documents call the Church’s people to their proper roles.  There are no passive members of the Catholic Church and in this role, hierarchy and laity alike are held to the same level of responsibility. 

 

Once again, whatever you are doing today, wherever you go, whomever you meet all can be used to advance the Kingdom of God, bringing people over to the side of life, freedom, and dignity.  In fact, the laity can do this more effectively because their efforts are, “accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world.” 

 

Of high importance is married and family life.  (Today more than ever!)  More often than not at the end of a wedding homily I remind a couple that their marriage is not just for them.  It is for me, the servers, the people attending the ceremony, their future children, and all those with whom they will come in contact throughout their married life.  They are going to live the inner life of the Trinity – love between two persons that is fruitful and becomes a third person, a community of love that spills over and nourishes the community now and in the future.  “Hence by their example and testimony, they convict the world of sin and give light to those who seek truth.”

 

WOW!  Think of that today as you are taking the trash out, mowing the lawn, driving to work, loving your family, or going over to the neighbors for beers and brats.  THIS IS YOUR CALLING and the purpose of marriage.

 

FURTHERMORE, the Church foresees times when there will not be clergy present.  For example, in times of persecution the laity are called to supply sacred functions to the best of their abilities.  (Now that doesn’t mean trying to consecrate bread or forgiving sins, but the door, in emergencies, is open wider than most people think.)

 

“Let the laity, therefore, diligently apply themselves to a more profound knowledge of revealed truth and earnestly beg of God the gift of wisdom.”

 

Again I say, “Wow.”

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: EVERYTHING MATTERS

St. Therese was all about doing every little thing with love and for the glory of God.  If she washed floors, she gave thanks that she was able to do this for someone and did the work with great care because she did it for God.  That way every action we perform – every action we perform – can become a greater connection to God.

 

I try to remember that as I wash dishes while our machine is down.

 

“Try” is the operative word.

 

The next paragraph of Lumen Gentium (34) reminds us that God wishes to give His Spirit to every person in order that they may perform these “good and perfect works.”  Julian of Norwich fans might see a little of her theology reflected here.  All things given to God can be made good and for the glory of God and our benefit.

 

At your baptism, Sacred Chrism was put on your head and (among other roles) you were anointed priest.  For a priest to fulfill his duties he must offer sacrifice.  (That is the definition of a priest – one who responsible for the sacrifice.)  There are many chances to offer sacrifices in daily life – “in family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body” and even hardships, if they are accomplished in the Spirit and through Christ are sacrifices acceptable to God. 

 

Personally I find it very cool that relaxation was included.  Not only do we have a great God who is almost like a doting grandmother, “You need your rest!  You will take it easy today!” we also have a Church that says the same.  When possible, as a priority, we are to rest.  But not simply rest, but rest in God.  Even rest can be for our sanctification.  (So be careful about going to see that R rated film for your rest.)

 

Of course this culminates in the Eucharist, our source and summit.  After have received God’s gifts, we are sent out into the world to be priests, prophets, and kings, living the life, transforming our world, and offering sacrifices.  But then we are to return to the Eucharist and offer all that we have done with the Eucharistic sacrifice.  That is why we must have full, conscious, and active participation at the Mass.  We must actively offer our sacrifice.  Remember the new translation, “Pray my (brothers and sisters) that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.”  What a monumental missed opportunity Mass is when we go through it brain dead not offering our own sacrifice and relying on the priest to keep us entertained.  We are not there to be entertained.  Hopefully we are given the environment to do what we are supposed to be there to do, to offer ourselves and our sacrifices as the priesthood of the laity.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: MAY YOU BE THE SPILLED TOMATO JUICE OF LIFE

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium

 

Wow, wow, wow!  The pope just told a million youth at World Youth Day that he wants them to go home and make a mess of their dioceses!  He wants to set them on fire and then send them home drifting on the winds like sparks to land where the wood and grass of faith is dry and set those places on fire.  Luke 12:49, “"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”

 

Gads, I hope they have the energy to keep burning when they hit barriers to this missioning.  What I wouldn’t give to have the resources to hire a team of ministers (and send them for schooling) at the parish just so that we might implement all of the great ideas that come our way.  I imagine more than a few of these firebrands coming home and finding overworked, over harried, (or lazy) pastors and their sparks growing dim – or worse yet – finding a mega-church that will say, “We’ll take your energy and ideas and help them grow.”

 

But it need not be so, even if you have such a pastor.  Somewhere along the line we got the idea that in order to be Church, we have to do EVERYTHING through the parish.  Granted, there are a lot of advantages not the least of which include a common space, perhaps a budget, and some legitimacy.  But if we focus everything we do at the parish, then we become a Catholic ghetto and those places that most need exposure to the Word will never get it.  The faith needs to seep into the fabric of our society if it is to have any effect at all.

 

Not too long ago I spilled tomato sauce in the refrigerator.  Before I caught it, sauce had dripped down behind shelves and under drawers – it was a mess.  I had to take the refrigerator apart to clean everywhere that needed cleaning.  Places that come in regular contact get cleaned now and then, but these hidden spaces almost never.  (It is an old bachelor house.)  If it hadn’t been for the sauce reaching those hidden spots, they would have never been cleaned.

 

That is where to focus attention!  Not only these youth, but all the People of God need to soak in to those areas that “hierarchical Church,” or “parish,” or “diocesan programs” don’t reach, which, quite frankly, is most of the world.  According to paragraph 33, “The laity . . . are given the special vocation: to make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth. . . All the laity, then, have the exalted duty of working for the ever greater spread of the divine plan of salvation to all men, of every epoch and all over the earth.”