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If you are interested, a talk I gave a few years ago was featured recently on EWTN’s The Choices We Face. It was a talk I gave to priests and deacons in Michigan on preaching the “hard stuff.” Too many of us fear proclaiming and “owning” the truth. This must end if many souls are going to be saved. I am grateful for Ralph Martin, Peter Herbeck who have been great mentors to me over the years!

By the way, the injuries to my forehead were due to a fall I took in the airport that morning. Someone cut in front of me suddenly and I tripped over their bag. Alas, but it was a mere flesh wound; the devil is a liar.

Here’s the video:

 

The Catholic approach to the end times is different from that in certain (but not all) Protestant circles, especially the Evangelicals, who have a strong and often vivid preoccupation with signs of the Second Coming of Christ. Many of the notions that are expressed there are either erroneous or extreme. Some of these notions are rooted in a misunderstanding of the various genres of Scripture; others are caused by reading certain Scriptures in isolation from the wider context of the whole of Scripture; and some are rooted in reading one text while disregarding others that balance it.

The Catholic approach to eschatology is perhaps less thrilling and provocative. It does not generate movie series like “Left Behind” or cause people to sell their houses and gather on hillsides waiting for the announced end. It is more methodical and seeks to balance a lot of notions that often hold certain truths in tension with one another.

What I offer here I do not propose to call a complete eschatology, only a sketch of basic principles rooted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

While we cannot know the exact time of His coming, there are things that both remind us of and signal His approach—if we have eyes to see them. These signs give indications only. The presence of such texts cannot be seen to overrule that He will come “on a sudden” and that many will be caught unawares.

Here are some notes from the Catechism (in black, the Blue and Red texts are my additions/comments).

1. Soon and Sudden – Since the Ascension, Christ’s coming in glory has been imminent (Rev 22:20), even though “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority”(Acts 1:7). This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are “delayed” (Mat 24:44; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:3-12) (CCC # 673).

Of all the points the Catechism makes, this one sets the tone of balance that must be maintained. On the one hand Christ says that He is coming soon and that His coming could be both sudden and without warning, but this truth must be held in tension with other truths that set forth certain things that must be accomplished and certain signs that must appear before then. And these things are not easily or quickly accomplished.

2. Suspended – The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel” (Romans 11:20-26; Mat 23:39), for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” (Romans 11:20-26) toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. (Acts 3:19-21)” St. Paul echoes him: “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Rom 11:15) The “full inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of “the full number of the Gentiles” (Rom 11:12), will enable the People of God to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, in which “God may be all in all” (Eph 4:13; 1 Cor 15:27-28) (CCC # 674).

This going forth of the Gospel to all the nations and the acceptance of Christ by the Jews would seem to be matters that would take some time.

Has the Gospel really reached all the nations? Have the full number of Gentiles come in and are they serving God and repenting in sufficient numbers? Perhaps so, one might argue. There are very few places in the world where there is no Christian presence, and yet on a planet of seven billion people less than a third are Christian. And what is meant by the “full number” of Gentiles? That number is hidden from us and can surely be debated.

Has the “hardening” that has come upon the Israel been lifted? This, too, is debatable. Despite certain movements of “Messianic Jews,” it does not seem that the hardening that has come on Israel has been lifted in any wide sort of way or that Jesus has been recognized by “all Israel.”

3. Suffering and Sedition– Before Christ’s second coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers (Luke 18:8; Mt 24:12). The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh (2 Thess 2:4-12; 1 Thess 5:2-3;  1 Jn 2:18-22) (CCC # 675).

Clearly, many of these troubles have afflicted the Church in every age. There has always been persecution. Many have fallen away—most into schism, some into unbelief. There have also been times when the love of many has grown cold.

Clearly these are severe problems and they have grown to envelop most of the world today. Only God knows when these signs will be present in a definitive rather than merely prefigurative way.

4. Secular Utopianism Rejected – The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism (CCC # 676).

Many in human history, and especially in modern times, have advanced the notion that a secular utopia can be ushered in by human effort and by submitting to a government or worldly power or a charismatic figure.

Many repressive regimes and movements (often led by powerful or charismatic leaders) of the last century claimed the power to usher in such a utopia. The sad legacy of the 20th century shows how tragic and bloody such attempts have been.

The Church also rejects religious forms of this idea, which hold that prior to the Second Coming of Christ a period of a thousand years is set aside during which Christ will reign on earth or during which the Church will somehow attain a total victory prior to His Second Coming.

5. Second Coming follows a final unleashing of evil – The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection (Rev 19:1-9). The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven (Rev 13:1ff; Rev 20:7-9; Rev 21:2-4). God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world (CCC # 677).

A final and intense unleashing is envisaged by Scripture and the Church, and this cosmic conflict will usher in the great triumph and the Last Judgment. This unleashing of the full power of the Devil in the very end is mysterious and difficult to understand, but it is clearly set forth in Scripture—perhaps as a final test for the Church, perhaps as a definitive demonstration of the power of God.

Balance! Please note that while we may wish to focus on just one or two of the points above, each of the five points must be held in balance. In one sense all of these signs have been present in the Church’s history, yet not in the definitive and final sense.

Thus, while these are signs that do in fact signal, accompany, and usher in the last things, exactly when and how they come together in a definitive sense cannot be known by us. If we could know, then Christ’s clear words that He will come at an hour we do not expect (cf Mat 24:44) and that no one knows the day or hour (cf Matt 24:36) would be violated.

The key point is that we must hold all five principles in balance and must accept the tension of knowing the signs but not the definitive timing.

Most errors in eschatology proceed from a lack of balance and a failure to appreciate that the final age in which we live is steeped in mysteries and meanings known fully only by God. Time itself is mysterious as are the deeper meanings of events and human history. The Lord, while giving us a framework that reminds us of His coming and signals us in a merciful way to remember, has insisted that it is not for us to know the time or season fixed by the Father, let alone the day and hour.

Humility, prayerful vigilance, readiness through obedience and the gift of holiness, along with an eager, longing heart for the Kingdom in all its glory, represent our best posture.

The Catholic approach may not be the stuff of movies or bestsellers, but it is the balanced and trusting faith to which we are summoned.

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen (Rev 22:20-21).

 

In Friday’s post, we reflected on some of the historical problems related to catechesis and how they have negatively impacted us in the aftermath of the cultural revolution that swept through beginning in the late 1960s. Even prior to that time, some of the strategies and pedagogical philosophies common were problematic in that they tended to remove catechesis entirely from the home, and also focused almost exclusively on the education of children. This left adults (including parents) little opportunity to deepen their own understanding and move to a more mature experience of the faith.

In this second part I present a model for parishes that includes the parents—indeed the whole family—in the catechetical process. I do not propose here an entire curriculum or program. Rather, I suggest a general model that can be adapted as necessary. My proposal is not original and has been presented by others in various forms, generally termed “whole-family catechesis.” I have applied this model in two parishes where I have pastored. In terms of content, the curriculum emphasizes a “back-to-basics” approach that focuses on the fundamental kerygma and its message of sin, redemption, and grace.

Perhaps it is best to begin with a story to serve as background.

About eight years ago, when I was speaking to sixth-grade Sunday school students, I mentioned Adam and Eve. Within a few minutes, it became evident that they didn’t really know who Adam and Eve were. One of the students was able to say that he thought they were “in the Bible or something,” but couldn’t provide any details.

It became clear to me in that moment that we could no longer do “business as usual” when it came to catechesis. Luckily, my Director of Religious Education (DRE) had similar concerns and did not resist my insistence we had to try something new, something radically different.

That “something new” was really “something old” and amounted to a back-to-basics approach that taught of sin, redemption, and grace—in that order.

Clearly, if God’s people have lost touch with the awful disaster of Original Sin and of all our personal sins, then the gift of redemption and the glory of grace are underappreciated—even dismissed—as being of no value. Further, how can people experience Jesus as their Savior if they don’t even think that they need to be saved?

So we have to go back to basics and tell the “old, old stories” again: the stories of mankind, lost in sin, living in the dark shadows of death, and ensnared in the mystery iniquity. Yes, it was time to re-read the Genesis account of Original Sin and all the old stories.

In order to avoid the pitfalls discussed in the first part of this article, we chose in my parishes to structure the Sunday school curriculum around the whole family. Sunday school would include the parents as well as the children and any other adults who wished to come. Frankly, the main goal was to teach the parents, who should be the chief educators of their children in the ways of faith. To that end, I drew from a number of home-school curricula such as the “Seton Program,” since they already have a curriculum and resources in place to assist parents.

At the heart of our “whole-family catechesis” approach is a structure in which every grade level is studying the same subject, reading the same Bible stories, and following the same curriculum. While the kids are in Sunday school class, I am out in the cafeteria teaching the same material to the parents.

I teach the parents both method and material. For source material I use the old classic, My Catholic Faith, which provides a great summary and curriculum of the faith in a kind of flyer format that is both handy and properly detailed. I give the teachers of the children the Religion 5 for Young Catholics book (Seton Press), in order to help them review the material for each class and make it relevant to younger children. I also teach and review the curriculum with the Sunday school teachers before the beginning of each segment of study, so that they will know what and how I will be teaching the parents.

Each Sunday all the families gather in the school cafeteria for prayer. The children then go to their classrooms while I remain with the parents and other adults in the cafeteria. Once again, at every level (including the adult level), the same subject matter is taught. The only brief exception to this is that the second-grade students spend time after January focusing on preparation for First Confession and First Holy Communion.

In each session we not only cover the subject for that day (e.g., the Sacraments or the Ten Commandments) but we also read a Bible story. One of the great losses in modern times is the loss of storytelling—and the Bible has great stories!

Frankly, standing instruction # 1 for parents is READ THE BIBLE TO YOUR CHILDREN—every day if possible! And I model that with the parents. In each class we spend the first 20 minutes or so reading a Bible story, usually from the Catholic Children’s Bible, which does a good job presenting the whole Bible in story form. Then, having read a story (e.g., the Tower of Babel, or David’s Battle with Goliath), we discuss its teaching and I link it to the catechetical material we are covering in the curriculum.

In modeling this, I hope to show the parents how they can do the same with their children at home. Bible stories are memorable and they teach fundamental truths in ways that reach deeper than merely the intellect. They touch the heart and draw the children into the world and mind of God.

Bible stories don’t just teach, they imbue. To imbue means “to inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality; to saturate, suffuse, or steep one in what is taught or presented.”

Thus Bible stories are essential if we want to communicate the culture and world of the Bible to our children and help them to make sense of our glorious faith.

In terms of an overall curriculum, our back-to-basics approach is broken into three main sections. The sections are based on the words of an old hymn that says,

“I once was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in, and then a little light from heaven filled my soul!”

Part 1 (Sept. to Jan.) – Sin – “I once was lost in sin” – We start with the story of Original Sin and read the early chapters that show how God made all things to be very good. But through Original Sin and all the other sins committed and described in the early chapters of Genesis, both creation and man were devastated. Sin and our conniving with the devil are responsible for most of the suffering in the world. Through Bible stories and about forty pages of the My Catholic Faith catechism, we learn of sin’s devastating effects. We distinguish between Original Sin, actual sin, mortal sin, venial sin, the seven deadly sins, and so forth. In so doing, we paint of picture of how we are lost in sin. But we always begin with a review of the story of Original Sin.

In some years we then go on to review the Ten Commandments. In other years we use notes from the My Catholic Faith material that explain specific sins (e.g., Original, personal, actual, mortal, and venial).

Part 2 (pre-Lent through early Easter) – Redemption – “but Jesus took me in” – Having welcomed Jesus as savior of the world at Christmas, we now look to the paschal mystery, wherein Jesus undertakes to save us from our wretched condition. Here, too, we read Bible stories and connect to the elements of Jesus’ ministry to heal, drive out demons, and ultimately ascend the hill of Calvary to engage Satan in battle, suffer, die, rise, and ascend for us. The goal here is to instill a sense of gratitude rather than just to provide information. We strive to “remember,” that is, to have so present in our mind and heart what Jesus has done for us that we are grateful and different because of it. In this module, depending on the year, we study the Sacraments, the public ministry of Jesus, and/or the four pillars of the Christian life (Scripture, active Church life, Sacraments, and prayer) from Acts 2:42 (They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer). And thus we meditate on how the Lord Jesus takes us in and ministers to us.

Part 3 (early Easter through Pentecost) – Grace – “And then a little light from heaven filled my soul!” – In saving us, Jesus gives us a new mind and heart, a whole new life. The graces of the Christian life are explored: faith, hope, charity, patience, joy, chastity, forgiveness, mercy, and so many other virtues and gifts. We reflect on the whole new life that Jesus has given us and encourage testimony about the transformation brought about by God’s grace working through Scripture, Sacraments, fellowship, and prayer. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

It’s a back-to-basics approach, rooted in the basic kerygma. It is meant to draw people into the great drama of life: sin, redemption, and grace.

Its strength is that the entire family is asked to participate. As noted, the real goal is to equip parents to teach their children further at home. In this way the parish acts as a partner rather than seeking to replace the parents in teaching the faith to the children. As pastor I have an obligation to present the truth faith to all. This includes equipping parishioners to hand on the faith and to reach a full, adult (mature) faith. Having every age group present for Sunday school is the fundamental way I seek to accomplish this.

The drawback to this approach is clear: the program is very pastor-driven and pastor-centric. While my director of religious education is very much on board and supportive, who is to say that the next pastor will be willing or able to do the work each year of assembling a curriculum and teaching in the program each Sunday? Further, I have a parish whose size and Mass schedule permit this sort of Sunday morning approach. Not every parish has a sufficient gap between Masses to enable the pastor to be present and teach at that time or to that extent.

Thus this basic model needs to be adapted in different settings based on time and skill sets.

Also, I am unaware of a “spiral curriculum” that currently exists to meet our needs. Thus I have needed to assemble it and find resources working with my DRE.

A “spiral curriculum” refers to one that has all grades studying the same material and centers on the three themes of sin, redemption, and grace in a repeating three-year cycle.

1. 1. Three-year cycle for sin:
      1. the story of Original Sin and its aftermath,
      2. the Ten Commandments,
      3. and the species of sin.
   2. Three-year cycle for redemption:
      1. the paschal mystery,
      2. liturgy and sacraments,
      3. the ministry and miracles of Jesus.
   3. Three-year cycle for grace:
      1. the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
      2. the fruits of the Holy Spirit,
      3. the species of grace (sanctifying, actual, personal, the charisms, and so forth).

Perhaps another pastor would structure the program differently. But this is my approach and I have tried to teach it to other pastors and DREs. Many have been receptive and have adapted elements of it for their own use.

The key is that the whole family is educated and that parents and other adults must be assisted in their teaching of children.

So, back to basics! No more handing over catechesis to a “professional class.” Religious education must also take place in the home. Parents, are you reading Bible stories to your children? How are you growing in your own faith? And don’t be anxious. The basic curriculum is not that hard. It’s easily memorized in the words of an old song:

I once was lost in Sin

But Jesus took me in.

And then a little light from heaven filled my soul!

Sin, redemption, and grace. Keep it simple; don’t complicate it. The details may vary each year after the mastery of the basic elements.

Don’t wait for your parish to get on board. If you’re not already a homeschooler, get a children’s Bible and start reading the Genesis stories to your children (and to yourself)!

Here’s a kind of jazzed-up version of the hymn I referred to above. It looks as if it was filmed in the 1970s, so take that into consideration.

In the Gospel this Sunday, the Lord gives four important principles for a disciple. He also teaches on the concept of being worthy of Him. We tend think of being worthy as acting in a way that meets a certain standard, but the Greek word for “worthy” involves more than merely external behavior, important though that is. To be worthy of the Lord is to ascribe worth and give proper weight to who He is and what He teaches. Let’s take a look.

I.  The priority of a disciple – The text says that Jesus said to His apostles, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”

The Lord could not be clearer: we are to love Him more than we love anyone or anything else. There is to be no person or thing in our life that has greater importance than the Lord. So fundamental is the priority of our love and obedience to Him that it eclipses even the most fundamental relationships in our family. Our love and honor for our parents is very important; it is mandated by the Fourth Commandment: Honor your Father and your Mother. And yet, even it cannot overrule the most fundamental of all the commandments, the First Commandment: I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me.

Therefore, even the love and respect owed to parents and the love that parents should have for their children cannot be preferred to the love and obedience we owe to God. If a son or daughter, even while still a minor, were to hear a parent instructing him or her to disregard a clear teaching or commandment of God, the child would have to respond, “Sorry, Mom, Dad, but I love God more. I cannot obey you in this matter.”

The same is true for any other relationship. If a spouse, a sibling, a boss, or a government official were to try to compel us to act contrary to God’s truth and commands, the answer must always be the same: “I’m sorry but I cannot comply; I love God more. Even if I suffer at your hands as a result, I cannot and will not comply.”

The love of Jesus, who is Lord, supersedes every other love, respect, or honor due to others, be they persons, philosophies, nations, or political parties.

Truth be told, many Christians manifest greater allegiance to political parties, careers, and the opinions of men in general than to the Lord and His Church. Many prefer worldly thinking to what the Lord teaches. Many cave in and compromise to what others demand of them in order to ingratiate themselves to others, to gain access, or simply to preserve a false peace. Silencing the Gospel is never a recipe for true or lasting peace.

II.  The Profundity of a Disciple – Jesus speaks strongly and says that such people as this are not “worthy” of me. As noted above, we tend to measure worthiness externally, by whether we live up to expectations of us. While this is proper, it overshadows the more internal dimensions that are the deeper part of being worthy.

The Greek word translated here as “worthy” is axios, and which is related to weights and scales. Most literally the word means “drawing down the scale,” and thus implies weighing as much or more than something else.

Internally, the concept of being worthy of the Lord here is that we assign a greater weightiness in our life to Him than to the passing treasures and trinkets of the world. We are to ascribe greater “worth” or “worthiness” to Him than to anything or anyone else. We take the Lord seriously. His teaching is to weigh on us and to carry a weight in our life. This internal disposition of being worthy of God produces the external behaviors that are worthy of Him.

The Lord paints a kind of picture for us to show that if we love anyone or anything more than we love him, the scales are tipped wrongly; we are not ascribing enough weight or worth to Jesus and are thus living in an unworthy way.

As we “size things up” in life and weigh the true importance of things, remember this: No person, no political party, no boss, no person at all who seeks our money, time, loyalty, or acquiescence ever died for us. None of them can ever save us, for none of them is God. If we esteem anyone or anything more than we do Him, then we are weighting His Blood and His saving love too lightly.

III. The passion of a disciple – The text says, … and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Every disciple must be willing to take up his cross; if he does so, there is ample reward. The Lord originally offered us paradise, but Adam and Eve wanted a better deal. Welcome to that better deal: Paradise Lost. In Paradise Lost, suffering is a reality. But suffering, by God’s gracious mercy, is also redemptive. The Lord teaches us that we must join our cross to His. Taking up the cross is a way of “losing” our life in the sense that it often diminishes our enjoyment of this earthly existence. But in dying to self and to this world, we find our true life: God and the things He offers!

It is interesting to note that we are often willing to take up crosses for worldly gain. We work hard for a paycheck or to earn a college degree. Why not then for the Lord? An old song says, “No cross, no crown.” The Lord asks of us no less than what the world demands for its trinkets. The Lord teaches that rewards far greater than worldly trinkets come with the cross He instructs us to take up. The Lord’s insistence on the need for the cross is not unreasonable, yet many of us bristle. Although we will gladly spend several years and a lot of money in order to obtain a college diploma, going to Church on Sundays or giving up some of our favorite sins is viewed as unreasonable, or just too much trouble.

In effect, the Lord demands that we take him seriously, that we give weight to His words and to His promise. If we dismiss His words lightly then we are not worthy of Him, if we do not give proper weight to His words then we do not take Him seriously. This is a bad idea because He who mercifully summons us now to His truth will one day be our judge.

Be worthy of the Lord. Give sufficient weight to what He says. Respect and obedience are the proper virtues for a disciple who accords worth (weight) to the Lord’s teaching and acts in such a manner.

IV.  The prize of a disciple – The text says, Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.

The Lord promises reward if we get our priorities and passions right, if we welcome His word and give weight to what He says and who He is!

Even now, we can enjoy the fruits of God’s Word as we listen to His prophets and see our life change. In welcoming the Word in my life, I have seen many positive changes. I am less anxious, more patient, and more loving than before. I have greater wisdom. I have seen sins and sinful attitudes reduced and graces come alive. Word and sacrament have had their effect; accepting the prophecy of the Church has given me a prophet’s reward. How about you?

Further, the Lord says that He will reward every work of mercy by us, which is in effect a small share in the cross. We pray that God will forget our sins, but it is said that God will never forget the good things we have done and will never be outdone in generosity.

The Lord does not demand the cross without pointing to its reward. The cross ushers in the crown. Do you believe this? Do you take the Lord seriously? Do you give weight to and count as worthy the Word that He speaks to you?