FRIDAY POTPOURRI: ASK NOT AT WHOM THE FINGER POINTS, IT POINTS AT THEE

Wherever you are reading this, consider the people who surround you.  If you are at home, consider the people in your house (or who will be in your house,) your neighbors, the people walking down the street, maybe the people doing work on your road or the mail courier making a stop.

 

If you are at work, there are your co-workers, customers, and the people making deliveries.  At the coffee house there are all of the other patrons and the barista.  At school (I’m sure that you are not reading his during class) there are your fellow students, teachers, and support staff.  Well, you get the idea.

 

So here is a question for you:  Of all the people you considered, how many were Catholic priests, deacons, or religious?  My guess for most of you the number would be: NONE.  For some, it might be one but probably in passing.  So how does the Gospel spread in these areas? 

 

Here is the answer:  You.  The last of the Precepts of the Church (I know, it’s been awhile hasn’t it?) is “Joining in the missionary spirit and apostolate of the Church.”  It’s the only this thing works.  Because, if not you, then who?

 

It doesn’t mean you have to carry a sign and mention Jesus’ name in every other sentence.  That tends to drive more people away than attract.  99% of it is striving to be a good Christian – trying to set a good example.  The rest is taking advantage of opportunities afforded you. 

 

Here is an example.  My Father was a confirmed Catholic but had become a Non-botherist.  He didn’t necessarily believe or not believe in God – the question wasn’t even on his radar though he was generally opposed to any organized religion.  (That made for interesting conversations with his priest son.)  Toward the end of his life he would ask me to help him – inferring helping him get over his illness – and I would say, “Dad, all I got is sacraments and prayer,” to which he would make a sour face that said, “as if that would help.”

 

One day after saying, “All I got is sacrament and prayer,” he said, “Okay.”  It took a while for that to register.  After clarifying that he actually meant it I told him to hold on to that thought as I RAN out to my car to get my oils (I’d long stopped bothering to carrying them in) and anointed him.

 

Missionary spirit – taking God where He is not found – giving example, having patience, an attitude of invitation, and keeping an eye and ear open for an opportunity.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: AND AMEND MY LIFE. AMEN

Do penance. 

 

This is the second to the last of the precepts of the Church.  Sounds like a bit of a downer.  There is no asking if you did anything that deserves a penance.  It doesn’t inquire about your self-esteem.  It doesn’t even ask you if you think it is fair.  It says, “Do penance.”

 

Are Catholics Debbie Downers just assuming the worst?  Scripture does say after all, “He who says that he is without sin calls God a liar.”  That’s pretty heavy stuff.

 

Not to sound like the Ministry of Double Speak, I think it quite the opposite.  In that directive to do penance is an indication that doing penance does some good, that there is something toward which it is pointing. 

 

Also is the thought that we don’t have to sweep things under the rug – DEAL with them!  The problem can be fixed!  The relationship can be repaired.  What is the best type of penance after all?  One in which a rift has been identified and something is done either to fix that rift or try to accomplish something that will prevent that rift from occurring again in the future (or both!)  When combined with an honest examination of conscience, penance is not a punishment but a pathway to the best version of yourself.  Catholics are constantly called toward the ideal, to achieve a little bit more, the grow in bravery with idea of sacrifice, to know oneself a little more deeply, all of which is obtained far more easily through trial.  And as each person grows in grace, the Church receives grace upon grace as each individual grows in holiness.  This is because we don’t save communities, or parishes, or countries, but a soul at a time.

 

WARNING: YOU MAY WANT TO STOP READING NOW.

 

And because it is one soul at a time affecting the whole body, we have communal times of penance, which we are obliged to observe.  This includes days of fasting and abstinence.  Every Friday of the year is a day of some form of penance.  Before Vatican II, every Friday was a day to abstain from meat.  Many mistakenly believe that this practice has been abrogated.  It has not.  What has changed is that the bishops of the United States have said that in place of not eating meat on Friday, we may substitute another penance.  For example, since I often do not have control over my diet, I might substitute fasting from breakfast on Fridays (a meal I dearly love.)  If you do not choose something different, then you may fall back on not eating meat.  (Unfortunately now you know.  That is why I suggested that you might want to stop reading.)

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: 6TH PRECEPT

In my grandparents day, when many Slovenian immigrants were coming to my hometown, they wanted to start a Slovenian parish.  So they went about knocking on doors trying to raise funds.  The fundraisers were looked upon with suspicion however.  In the “old country” it was the government who built the churches through taxes.  People said, “You start building and then we will give.”  Of course, it doesn’t work that way.

 

That is one danger of government funding projects to too far of an extent.  We get the idea that things will always be there and I need not worry about it.  SOMEBODY official will make sure that things are taken care of.

 

Not so with a parish.  A parish does not have to exist.  It exists because some people are willing to show up, do ministry and projects, and donate resources.  As we have seen in our diocese, when people stop doing that (mostly due to flight to the suburbs,) parishes cease to exist. 

 

So we come across the 6^th precept of the Church.  It is to support your parish, provide for your priest, and also to look out for the good of the greater Church around the world and the work of the Holy Father.  Yep, some of that means hard, cold cash.  There is no getting around that.  If you want to feed the poor, you need a kitchen, and a kitchen costs money.  MORE IMPORTANT is prayer.  Then there is showing up.  There is engaging in ministry and cleaning pews.  There are mission trips, supporting the teachings of the Church, helping struggling parishes, and reaching out to the greater community, social justice, and evangelization.  When a parish does all of these things, it is healthy.  And for a parish to do all these things, it needs you to do them or it doesn’t get done.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WHEN THE ODDEST THINGS BECOME CONTROVERSIAL

This one would have seemed easy even five years ago.  Today it is almost heroic.  It is this: to live the life of marriage as it has been held by Christians for 2,000 years.  If it be one’s vocation, one is to give Christian education by word and example to children and to make use of Catholic opportunities for education.  Who would have dreamed that this would ever be controversial and hand in hand that human life would need to be defended as something to be held as special?  Yet it is.  This precept of the Church is more important than ever to be lived boldly and well.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: IFEELISTS AND THE MORALISTIC THERAPEUDIC DEISM

“I” and “feel” are two of the most damaging words toward the faith in the world today.  I think it should be its own heresy.  The “Ifeelists – Ifeelism.)   You’ll be having a perfectly good conversation about something faith related and somebody will say, “Well I feel . . .”  There are two problems with this.  The first is that it is an inherently selfish statement.  Who can say anything to you?  You are simply stating how you feel.  It’s like saying, “I feel satisfied.”  What can I say to that?  “No you don’t.” 

 

The second problem is that whatever is stated after “I feel” often has no connection to the lived faith of two thousand years of Christianity, the early Church Fathers, the writings and lives of the saints, the logic of the greatest minds of mankind, a children’s catechism, or even a casual conversation with someone remotely connected with any orthodox faith.  “I feel” is a cloud.  You can’t punch it, defend it, or debate it.  It is simply a thought someone has that makes them feel good.  The full consequences need not be thought through, possible blow back, inconsistencies, or the fact that it may have been held in the past and rejected due to its ill consequence.  Any debate is likely to be answered, “Well, I don’t agree.”

 

One author calls this Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism.  This is truly the opiate of the masses.  What you feel or think is of course truth – at least for you.  This is where relativism sneaks in.  “Well, that may be truth for you but . . .”

 

This is why the Church has always insisted on a formed conscience.  That means being in contact with Scripture and Tradition, it means having some training in the early Church Fathers, lives of the saints, and 2,000 years of Christian thought (which comes to us at least in part through the Catechism, Catholic schools, PSR, CCD, etc.)  All of which leads us to the third precept of the Church: to study and learn the faith in preparation for Confirmation, to be confirmed, and then to KEEP LEARNING.  I know that perhaps your particular parish is horrible at teaching the faith.  That doesn’t lift the responsibility of the individual from forming their conscience.  We are too rich of a nation with too much information at our disposal to say, “Nobody ever told me.”  At the click of a button on your computer (or at the library’s computer) there are all the Church documents, tweets by the pope, Church history, lives of the saints, writings of the Church Fathers, apologists, videos, podcasts, links, all floating around in the air just waiting for you to grab them and study them like angels surrounding us, just waiting for us to take advantage of them.

PRIDAY POTPOURRI - PRAY PRIEST

Second precept of the Church.

 

There are two categories of priests in the Catholic Church.  The first is the ordained priesthood.  These are the men who are trained and ordained by their bishop for service to the Church.  It is, admittedly, a rather small group.  But there is a second category of priesthood and it is the office into which you were anointed at your baptism.  You were anointed prophet, king, and PREIST.  This office has real and serious responsibilities.  It aligns with one of the precepts of the Church which requires us to live a sacramental life.

 

Minimally it means to go to Mass on Sunday and holy days of obligation and to receive Communion at least once in a year between the first Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday.  It also means that you the priest will go to confession at least once a year if there is any serious sin.  This is the bare minimum – the scraping of the bottom of the barrel.

 

Showing up at Mass is not enough.  A priest participates in the Mass.  The priest prays the prayers and offers them for himself, for the needs of the world, and for the praise of God.  For example, when the ordained priest says, “Let us pray,” that is not a signal for the Missal to be brought to him.  It is not “dead space.”  It is the time for the priesthood (the Church – you) to call to mind things that need to be prayed for and then the celebrant collects those prayers in a  prayer called appropriately enough the Collect and presents them to the Father.  For someone not to pray during this time is for the Church to be less, for prayers to be less encompassing, for someone to miss out on the benefits of the Mass.

 

If the Mass is to transform you and the world, it must soak into your skin, radiate your marrow, and marinate your mind.  Only the engaged priest, the pray-er, the one that is THERE in mind as well as body is fulfilling this.  This is true if you are at a Mass in the ordinary form or the extraordinary form.  Being involved does not mean you get to read, or serve, or bring up the gifts, or sing (all important and wonderful) but that you do what is primary: PRAY.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

I’ve been looking all over for this and finally found it in the “Catholic Source Book”. It is the seven precepts of the Church. These are the obligations of members of the Church for those who want to be considered Practicing Catholics as opposed to Cultural Catholics. Supposedly the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore approved them in 1884. Perhaps you might find them interesting.

1. To Keep holy the day of the Lord’s Resurrection: to worship God by participating in Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation; to avoid those activities that would hinder renewal of soul and body; for example, needles work and business activities, unnecessary shopping, and so forth. (In other words; praise God and take a day off and relax and recreate. How many organizations require that of you?)

2. Lead a sacramental life: to receive Holy Communion frequently and the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a year if in serious sin, minimally, to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, between the first Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday (aka Easter duty). (Once again, this is for our benefit; enter into and enjoy a state of grace. Cool.)



3. To study Catholic teaching in preparation for confirmation, to be confirmed, and then to continue to study and advance the cause of Christ. (A calling to become fully mature in the life of Christ. Continue to grow and learn!)



4. To observe the marriage laws of the Church: to give religious training (by word and example) to one’s children; to use parish schools and religious education programs. (And now that you are fully initiated, start passing that faith on to others starting, for those who marry, in the home.)



5. To strengthen and support the Church: one’s own parish community and parish priests; the worldwide Church and the Holy Father. (Having enjoyed the sacrifice of those who have gone before us, now make sure that it is there for future generations.)



6. To do penance, including abstaining from meat and fasting from good on the appointed days.



7. To join in the missionary spirit and apostolate of the Church.



To recap: Strive for holiness and wholeness, continue to grow with passion in your relationship with God, pass this opportunity on to others both by example and missionary zeal, and by doing your part to make sure that that which was here to support your journey will be here to support others.