Author: Msgr. Charles Pope

We live in times of what I would call “designer religion.” Many people seem to think they have a right to assemble religious teachings they like and discard what they do not. The idea that faith is revealed by God and that we are to discover what He has revealed (in both creation and Scripture) and conform ourselves to it is at odds with our consumer culture. But faith is not a consumer product. We can’t just select the commandments we like or the doctrines we prefer, and still remain faithful to God, who reveals on His terms, not ours.

An article was written recently by Ana Marie Cox at The Daily Beast that shows forth some of these trends. I’d like to comment on some of what she has written.

I want to be careful as well. I do not take lightly critiquing someone else’s description of his or her faith. However, when one writes publicly and in a way that reflects or reinforces problematic trends, some response seems necessary.

Perhaps I would do well to emphasize that I am responding to Ms. Cox’s article because I think she articulates what a LOT of people think today of faith and how they express it. Hence, please see my critique of her description of faith more as concern for erroneous trends than as a personal assessment of her. She is getting my reply because she wrote the article. However, she is not alone in these views and so my criticism should not be seen as a personal rebuke of her, but more as a rebuke of the mindset of our culture related to what I would call “designer religion.

The full article is available here: Why I’m Coming out as a Christian. In the excerpts that follow, her words are in bold, black italics, while my comments are in plain, red text.

Ana Marie Cox writes,

I’ve lately observed conservatives questioning Obama’s faith with more than professional interest. Because if Obama’s not Christian, what does that make me?

For the record, I am not interested here in the question of the President’s faith except insofar as it affects his salvation. I want everyone to be saved.

But for context, her article focuses on “conservatives” who question President Obama’s faith. I have certainly heard these critiques and do not wish to comment on that viewpoint except to say that his personal faith rises more to the fore due to his often hostile stance against “believers.”

As Catholics, we have suffered many violations of our religious liberty and have had to spend millions defending our rights in court against HHS mandates, etc.  

The President has also spoken quite glowingly about Islam while at the same time being quick to critique Christian “extremism,” both historically and at present. But as a political question, I am not that interested in the matter.

I am more interested in what Ms. Cox says about faith, because, sadly, I think what she writes here reflects the erroneous views of many about faith. Those are the things I want to reflect on here in my “commentary on her commentary.”

I have not been public about my faith …

This is problem one, and rather reflective of most Christians today, especially Catholics. We seem to more anxious to blend in, to be undercover Christians and secret agent saints than to be doing job one: making disciples of all nations by witnessing to the faith. However, maybe it is just as well that she is not too public about her views in this matter, as we shall see.

In my personal life, my faith is not something I struggle with or something I take particular pride in. It is just part of who I am.

And here are problems two, three, and four. As she describes it, it would seem that the faith she has is a minor part of her landscape. She does not “struggle” with it.  But is not a dynamic faith unsettling, something that should challenge us and summon us to struggle against the drives of our flesh? Does not St. Paul speak of the deep conflict between our spirit and the flesh? Is not the purgative summons of the Lord something that calls us to often-times difficult choices and the carrying of the cross? Many today have the idea that faith is something more to console us than challenge us. Faith should challenge us and draw us into the battle of struggling for our soul and the souls of others. 

I could go on, but note problem three, wherein she says she is not proud of her faith. Why not? To be clear, the pride I refer to here is not sinful pride. Rather, it is the joyful exuberance of someone who has found real answers that he is convinced will really help others, or of someone who has laid hold of an amazing vision she wants to share. Is this not the appropriate stance of someone who has life-changing faith?

As for problem four, she also says faith is “just part of who I am.” Is it? I cannot say in Ms. Cox’s case, but too many Christians pay mere lip service to the Lord and to the faith He bestows. Their faith, to the degree it exists at all, is too often tucked under their politics, career, and secular views. And if the faith comes into any conflict with these areas, guess which has to give way? True faith has to be more than “just part of who I am.” In fact it has to be our foundation, and the very template by which we see the world, determine what is to be done, and judge what is right and wrong.

… My hesitancy to flaunt my faith has nothing to do with fear of judgment by non-believers … I am not smart enough to argue with those that cling to disbelief. Centuries of philosophers have made better arguments than I could, and I am comfortable with just pointing in their direction if an acquaintance insists, “If there is a God, then why [insert atrocity]?” For me, belief didn’t come after I had the answer to that question. Belief came when I stopped needing the answer. Nicely put.

No, I’m nervous to come out as a Christian because I worry I’m not good enough of one. I’m not scared that non-believers will make me feel an outcast. I’m scared that Christians will.

After this she goes back to citing those who question President Obama’s faith, etc. As stated, I am not interested in that particular question.

However, her objection to Christians questioning her faith or her degree of commitment is rather too sweeping in my view. I will grant that Christians can be a little too hard on one another, but I will not grant that there is no legitimacy to insisting on some baseline of both creedal beliefs and moral views rooted in what the Lord clearly teaches.

“Branding” is important, especially in the corporate world and in areas such as sports. Those who like baseball, for example, are right to insist on certain standards, boundaries, equipment, and rules for baseball to be baseball. At some point if even a few of these things are cast aside, the sport ceases to be baseball and becomes something else.

In the world of marketing, if a woman buys a Gucci bag and then discovers later it is not the real thing, but is Gucci “in name only,” she has a right to be angry and to demand reparation. 

It is the same with faith. Christians are right to insist on certain basics, even if agreement on every small detail cannot reasonably be demanded. No one should be outraged by this.

Jesus said things like, Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters (Lk 11:23), and, For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory (Lk 9:25-26).

So the content and authenticity of our faith as well as the stance we make to the world ARE important. And pardon me for saying so. 

Ms. Cox, after setting aside other metrics for being a believer (like going to Church), next takes up knowledge of Scripture. She writes,

What about Bible literacy? Mine is mostly limited to dimly remembered excerpts from the Old Testament we read in my college humanities class and a daily verse email. I read spiritual meditations, but the Word is still a second language I speak less than fluently …

OK, so let’s set aside the extreme notion that everyone must be a Bible scholar and be able to conjugate Greek verbs.

But honestly, is it wrong to ask that Christians have a little more than “dimly remembered excerpts” of Scripture?  

Maybe one reason that she and others she describes don’t know Scripture very well is that they think Church attendance isn’t important.

But whatever the case, knowing Scripture and at least squaring your beliefs with the revealed word of God is important!

Too many people today think they can make up anything they want to believe in or reject whatever they please and yet still go on calling themselves “Christians” or even “devout Catholics.” It doesn’t work that way.

“Designer religion” is a serious problem today. A fundamental baseline for Christian belief has to be a faith that is squared with the revealed Word of God. And as a Catholic, I would add that the true faith must be squared with God’s Word as understood by and in Sacred Tradition.

Making up your own faith used to be called heresy. Making up your own version of God used to be called idolatry.

Ms. Cox goes on to say that she personally knows Jesus Christ. I cannot read her heart, but I do agree with St. Jerome, who said that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. That she has met Christ is good news. But has she met the real Christ? And how would she know, since her Bible literacy is limited to “dimly remembered excerpts from the Old Testament”?

Many claim to have met Christ. But remember, Satan masquerades as an angel of light! Discernment rooted in the revelation of God is necessary to be sure you have met the real Jesus.

Here is why I believe I am a Christian: I believe I have a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior. I believe in the grace offered by the Resurrection. I believe that whatever spiritual rewards I may reap come directly from trying to live the example set by Christ. Whether or not I succeed in living up to that example is primarily between Him and me.

So here is her “money quote.” Except for the last sentence, what she has said is OK, but it is also incomplete for the reasons already stated.

I will ask further, what “example” set by Christ does she mean, since she says her knowledge of Scripture is “dim”?  Here too, I do not refer simply to her, but to the legions of people today who refer to the “example” set by Christ but do not mean it in a scriptural way. Usually the “example” to which they refer is kindness detached from truth, detached from the deeper love that insists on commitment and obedience. One of the great errors of our day is the proclamation of mercy without repentance.

If I have a relationship with Jesus, I want to make sure it is the real Jesus, not some “fake Jesus” I invented who just so happens to agree with me on nearly everything and almost never challenges me. To know the real Jesus, I must come to know Him not just “personally,” but also in relation to the revealed Scripture and His Body, the Church, which has known him for over 2000 years.

Everyone should have a personal relationship with Jesus, but not a relationship isolated from Scripture and Sacred Tradition or the Liturgy.

Again, I do not mean to single out Ms. Cox here. She represents multitudes today who share her view. Her final sentence, referring to her faith and faithfulness as only being “between her and Jesus,” is emblematic of an isolated faith, a silo mentality.

But Faith comes by hearing, so it is not merely personal. St. Paul says that for faith to be heard, authentic and approved  preachers have to go forth. The same Paul corrects error and insists on Church discipline (e.g 1 Cor 11- 14; 1 Cor 5; 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, inter al). He also tells Christians to instruct and admonish one another (Col 3). Jesus sets forth an order of fraternal correction (Matt 18:15ff) that starts with the individual but ends with “telling it to the Church” and indicates that His apostles have the capacity to forgive or retain sin (Jn 20). I could go on and on. Ms. Cox is not alone in her erroneous and unbiblical notions about purely “personal” faith and relationship with Jesus. Legions think this way, including many Catholics.

I will leave it to you, dear reader, to read the rest of her article if you wish. Please remember that I do not know Ms. Cox and do not believe I have ever even heard of her before. My critique is not of her personally. I leave that to God. But I DO critique her publicly stated and (I would argue) deeply flawed notions about faith. I respond to them to answer not just her but the many who think just like her.

In summary, “designer religion” and a purely “personal” faith without reference to the sources of Revelation and Christian antiquity is a grave danger today. It is dangerous because it takes up the trappings of the true faith but without its saving truth. This amounts to a strong delusion, having the form of godliness but not laying hold of its power (cf 2 Tim 3:5). It lives revealed truth not on its terms, but rather insists on merely “personal” notions. It reports to a “god” of one’s own personal understanding, the “god-within,” not the God who has revealed Himself.

I usually like gospel music, but this song gets it wrong. It says, “Long as I got King Jesus, I don’t need nobody else.” Sorry, that’s wrong. Jesus has many members of His body. We all have different functions, but we need each other. Jesus set it up that way.

The Wisdom Tradition of the Scriptures emphasizes that God speaks and is discerned in things He has made. Scripture says, The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament (stars) shows forth his handiwork (Psalm 19:1). Indeed, when God spoke His Word, creation came forth.

And the Word that God spoke was the Logos, Jesus. Scripture says, Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (Jn 1:3). It also says, For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16).

It makes sense, then, that creation would reflect Jesus Christ and point to Him. For from Him and through Him all things are. And central to Christ is His Cross. So it also makes sense that we would find His Cross etched into the very heavens and earth.

As the Wisdom Tradition in the Scriptures (Wisdom, Sirach, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, etc.) teaches, the created world has a Logike (a kind of logic) based on the fact that God made it through His Logos (Word).

The New Testament takes this up and teaches that when God spoke creation into existence through His Word (Logos), His Logos set things forth and impressed them with a Logike (logic) that is discernible. We draw from this scriptural teaching, Natural Law. In effect, we can discern a logic of rationality to what God has made, and come to know of God and His will for us. Central to this Logike is the Cross.

Pope Benedict (as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) wrote of the Cross that it is etched in the very cosmos. I want to present some excerpts from his teaching here, along with a few comments of my own. These are drawn from his work The Spirit of the Liturgy, which is now taken up in his Collected Works Volume XI: Theology of the Liturgy, pp 111-114. Enjoy this thrilling excursion into cosmology. As always, quotes from the book are in bold, black italics, while my remarks are in plain, red text.

The Fathers belonging to the Greek cultural world were … directly affected by another discovery. In the writings of Plato, they found the remarkable idea of a cross inscribed upon the cosmos. Plato took this from the Pythagorean tradition, which in its turn had a connection with the traditions of the ancient East.  [There are] the two great movements of the stars with which ancient astronomy was familiar: the ecliptic (the great circle in the heavens along which the sun appears to run its course) and the orbit of the earth. These two intersect and form together the Greek letter, Chi which is written in the form of a cross (like an X). The sign of the cross is inscribed on the whole cosmos.

In the video below, I have cued the footage to begin where this X, this cross, is observable. The video generally shows the dual X-like motion of the stars rotating at one angle:  while the earth turns at the other: /  We can see this easily in fast-forward motion. It is remarkable that the ancients (who knew and observed the heavens far better than the average person today) could perceive this dual motion at the slower pace of “real time.” 

St. Justin martyr … came across this platonic text and did not hesitate to link it with the doctrine of the Triune God and his action in salvation history in the person of Jesus Christ … The Cross of Golgotha is foreshadowed in the structure of the universe itself … The cosmos speaks to us of the cross, and the cross solves for us the enigma of the cosmos. It is the real key to all reality.

Quite stunning. The cross is the true crux, the intersection of God and creation. The downward thrust of man’s pride in the tall beam is intersected with the wide beam of God’s love in the outstretched arms of Christ on the Cross. Or, alternately, the downward action of Jesus’ descent from the realms of heavenly glory intersects with the world turning up and out toward God, who alone can save us. Here is the cosmos’ inclusion in the divine perichoresis, the movement of love in the Trinity, the dance of loving union. God descends and earth turns up and out in dance of love and unity, meeting at the intersection of the cosmic cross. This is the deeper and truer reality of what is going on. It is what St. Paul described when he said, 

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Rom 8:19-22).

[This was] one of the fundamental ideas in patristic theology … that the crucified one is the very word of Almighty God, who penetrates our universe by an invisible presence. And for this reason he embraces the whole world in its breadth and length, height and depth. For through the Word of God all things are guided into order. And the son of God is crucified in them, since, in the form of the cross he is imprinted upon all things.

Jesus, the Word of God, orders all things, and through His cross imprinted on the cosmos, restores all things. We now, in our souls, are the first fruits, but one day all creation will be liberated. The great Cross in the sky announces this! 

The epistle to the Ephesians exhorts us to be rooted and grounded in love, so that, we “May have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:18 ff). There can be little doubt that this epistle emanating from the school of St. Paul is referring to the cosmic cross, and thereby taking up traditions about the cross-shaped tree of the world that holds everything together.

Indeed, like sturdy branches holding all the leaves and smaller branches together.

In his eschatological discourse, Jesus had announced that at the end of time “the sign of the Son of Man” would appear in the heavens (Matthew 24:30). The eye of faith is now able to recognize that this sign has been inscribed into the cosmos from the beginning, and thus see [our] faith in the crucified Redeemer confirmed by the cosmos.

Once again, the Cross is the key. It has always been there to see, but now in these last days, through faith, we can see it plainly. And in doing so, we can take up with all creation the hymn we have only lately learned, but the cosmos has always known and sung:

CRUX fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis; nulla talem silva profert, flore, fronde, germine. Dulce lignum, dulci clavo, dulce pondus sustinens!	FAITHFUL Cross! above all other, one and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peers may be; sweetest wood and sweetest iron! Sweetest Weight is hung on thee!
Flecte ramos, arbor alta, tensa laxa viscera, et rigor lentescat ille, quem dedit nativitas, ut superni membra Regis miti tendas stipite.	Lofty tree, bend down thy branches, to embrace thy sacred load; oh, relax the native tension of that all too rigid wood; gently, gently bear the members of thy dying King and God.
Sola digna tu fuisti ferre saeculi pretium, atque portum praeparare nauta mundo naufrago, quem sacer cruor perunxit, fusus Agni corpore.	Tree, which solely wast found worthy the world’s Victim to sustain. harbor from the raging tempest! ark, that saved the world again! Tree, with sacred blood anointed of the Lamb for sinners slain.

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Here’s the video showing the chiastic movement of the stars and earth. Note the double movement: the stars moving downward to the right and the earth turning slowly upward to the left. A few of the angles feature a moving camera, which obscures the result a bit, but you still get the point. (Sorry for the brief concert interruptions.) To experience the greatest effect, click on full screen; it is awesome that way!
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In a courtroom, the judge can bring an unruly outburst to an end by shouting, “Order! Order in the court!” I often feel the same urge in the debates of our time about God’s existence and His role in the created universe. It is not so much that the debates can get unruly, but that I, with the  insistence of a town crier, want to shout, “Order! Order, there IS order the universe!” And I want to ask everyone to be quiet and listen to the universe herself declaring, “I am ordered! I am designed! I am remarkably complex, from the largest galaxies to the smallest atoms! And even what you think is chaos is but an order currently hidden from your limited view.”

As a prelude to a series of articles I plan to post this week on cosmology, liturgy, and Sacraments, I would like to begin with a summons to this call: “Order! Order in the universe!” I want to apply some of the insights of creation, a kind of root “sacrament” that underlies the seven Sacraments, and the reason for liturgy. For our seven Sacraments presuppose that matter and creation are not just dumbly present but that they bespeak order and purpose, and manifest God, their maker. Today I’d like to simply ponder order and then listen to a liturgical hymn that celebrates, in the Wisdom tradition, the One who in His wisdom designed and ordered the cosmos.

It is a strange and remarkable thing to me that in this day and age, when we have discovered magnificent realities that show a universe steeped in order and unbelievable size, increasing numbers of people claim that the whole thing is just dumbly there, that it’s all the result of a series of random mutations. In other words, to more and more people today, the obvious order of the universe is accidental; we human beings are simply the result of random, blind, unguided mutations. All the order of creation we can plainly observe and all the sophisticated, interdependent systems that give rise to complex life are all just accidental. We are asked to believe that all this obvious order, order that no one can miss, somehow leapt together, unguided and accidentally, from a primordial soup; that from disorder came order.

Although things tend to fall apart and go back to their basic components (the Law of Entropy), we are asked to believe that in this case, in a random and accidental way, things actually moved from disorder to order all on their own, even though, as some insist, no outside force, energy, or intelligence acted on them.

To me, this sort of belief requires more “faith” than simply believing that a higher and intelligent being (whom we call God) both created and introduced the order that is so obvious in the universe, not to mention in our bodies, down to the smallest cells and atoms. And to be sure, the atheist/secularist notion of random, unguided, accidental order is itself a belief, for its conclusion is outside of what science can study or demonstrate. For all the denunciation by many atheists of philosophy, theology and metaphysics, those who deny God’s role in creation are not making a scientific claim; they are staking out their own philosophical, theological, and metaphysical claim and asking others to believe it. To me, such a “belief” in the random, unguided, and accidental existence of things, in the face of such overwhelming and consistent order, is unreasonable in the extreme.

The whole universe shouts, “Order! Consistency! Intelligibility!” Our bodies and every delicately functioning system on this planet echo back the refrain, “Order! Consistency! Intelligibility!” And while I cannot, and do not, ask scientists to specifically affirm the biblical and Christian God and our whole Catholic theological tradition, the existence of consistent order in the universe is obvious and serves as the basis of the whole scientific method. For if things were truly random, rather than orderly, intelligible, and predictable, science could not propose theories, test results, or verify them. No experiment would produce similar results if everything acted randomly. The scientific method presupposes order and consistency within a verifiable range. Thus while science need not draw conclusions as to how this order came about, it is wholly inappropriate (as some scientists have done) to be dismissive of believers, who conclude from order that someone ordered it so.

Yes, what a glorious and magnificent thing creation is! And to this believer, it loudly proclaims the God who made it.

There is a beautiful hymn, one that I have seldom heard sung in Catholic parishes, that takes up the voice of creation, especially that part of creation we call the stars (firmament) and the planets. The hymn is based on Psalm 19, and I think it is a minor masterpiece of English poetry. It was written by Joseph Addison in 1712.

It comes from a time before skeptical agnosticism and hostility to the very notion (let alone existence) of God had taken deep root in our culture. And, frankly, it also comes from a more sober time, when people accepted the plainly obvious fact that creation is ordered, and therefore that it was ordered by someone in a purposeful and intelligent manner. That someone we believers call God.

Consider the beautiful words of this song and its reasoned conclusion that, as Psalm 19 notes, creation shouts its Creator.

The spacious firmament on high,
with all the blue ethereal sky,
and spangled heavens, a shining frame,
their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day
does his Creator’s power display;
and publishes to every land
the work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
the moon takes up the wondrous tale,
and nightly to the listening earth
repeats the story of her birth:
whilst all the stars that round her burn,
and all the planets in their turn,
confirm the tidings, as they roll
and spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
and utter forth a glorious voice;
for ever singing as they shine,
“The hand that made us is divine.”

Yes, the hand that made us is divine, and He has done a marvelous thing!

Here is a sung version:

What is it that gives hope, peace, and serene joy to the Christian life? Briefly, it is the vision of glory, a glimpse into the Promised Land of Heaven, which the Lord can and does give to His people. Today’s gospel shows forth a kind of process wherein the Lord lays the foundations of hope, peace, and joy for His disciples and for us. Let’s look at four aspects of how the Lord lays this foundation.

I. The Paradoxical Prelude – The text says, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. Note how the Lord, in order to get them to a place where they can see glory, must first lead them “up a high mountain.”

Now we often pass over this fact: they had to climb that mountain. And the climb was no easy task. Anyone who has been to the site of Tabor knows what a high mountain it is. The climb was almost 2000 feet, and it is both high and steep. It may have taken the better part of a day and probably had its dangers. Once at the top, one feels as if one is looking from an airplane window out on the Jezreel Valley (a.k.a. Megiddo or Armageddon). So here is a symbol of the Cross and of struggle. It was a difficult, exhausting climb up the rough side of the mountain, and it tested their strength.

I have it on the best of authority that as they climbed they were singing gospel songs: “I’m comin’ up on the rough side of the mountain, and I’m doin’ my best to carry on!” Another song says, “My soul looks back and wonders how I got over!” Yet another says, “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, every round goes higher, higher.”

Now this climb should remind us of our life. For often we’ve had to climb, to endure, and we’ve had our strength tested. Perhaps it was the climb of earning a college degree, or raising children, or building a career. What do you have that you really value that did not come at the price of a climb, of effort, and of struggle? And most of us know that although the climb is difficult, there is glory at  the top. We have to endure and push through. Life’s difficulties are often the prelude to success and greater strength.

And herein lies the paradox: peace, joy, and hope are often the products of struggles, climbs, and difficulties. These things are often the prelude, the paradoxical prelude, to seeing and experiencing glory. Scripture says,

1. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady (Romans 5:3-4).
2. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return (1 Peter 1:6).

Yes, there is a paradoxical prelude to glory and it can only come through God’s wisdom, for human beings just don’t think this way. An old hymn says,

“Trials dark on every hand. And we cannot understand, all the ways that God will lead us to that blessed promised land. But he guides us with his Eye and we follow till we die and we’ll understand it better by and by.”

II. The Practices Portrayed – The text lays out various aspects of how Peter, James, and John come to experience a joyful peace in the presence of the Lord’s glory. The text says, And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  In effect we can see three ways that they come to this joyful peace:

1. They are those who see. The text speaks first of the event itself that they see. It uses a word that says the Lord was μετεμορφώθη (metemorphothe), that He was “transfigured,” that His appearance was gloriously altered. In many ways, this word, while common in the Christian vocabulary, is mysterious and difficult to understand. The text supplies some information, telling us of a brightness that shone through the Lord, a kind of dazzling light.

But we ought not get lost in speculation and miss the point. And the point is that Peter, James, and John are given a glorious vision. Beams of heaven! Yes, this is Jesus. This is who He really is. And the magnificence of His glory so astounds them that they fall down in reverence.

Have you ever seen or experienced glory? Maybe it was at the birth of a child, or upon hearing some wonderful news. Perhaps it was a profound experience of relief, or a deep vision in prayer, or at the Liturgy. Yes, look for glory and rejoice when it comes! Ask God to open your eyes to that glory, a glory we often walk right by with barely a notice. We’re all in a big hurry. Or we’re fumbling with our camera to capture the moment, but we’re actually missing the moment.

We have got to learn to see things as they really are. Regardless of the trials and struggles we must endure on the way, if we are faithful our end is glory.

So look for glory and expect to find it. The Lord can and does give us glimpses of glory in our life, beams of Heaven as we go! Do not minimize glories when they are revealed, and cultivate a spirit of wonder and awe at what God has done and continues to do in creation and in your life. Glory is all around us. Learning to see this glory is one of the ways God produces peace in us.

2. They are those who are scriptural. Do you notice that the text says that Moses and Elijah appeared with Him? Why Moses and Elijah? Because Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, which is a Jewish way of speaking of the Bible. And thus another way of having peace produced in us is to search the Scriptures. The other day, I “cheated” and looked at the last page of the Bible. I know, we are not there yet, but I looked anyway. Guess what it says? It says that Jesus wins and so does everyone who is with Him. We have to stay rooted in our story. At the end of our story, if we stay with Jesus, is glory. Know your Scriptures, and thereby know your story, a story that ends with glory.

3. They are those who savor. Peter wants to stay on the mountaintop, to pitch tents and stay put. Some preachers give him a hard time for this, but I see it as a good thing, even if excessive. The point is to savor glory, to store good memories and experiences of joy and glory deep in our soul, to cultivate a deep gratitude for the good things the Lord has done for us, to savor deeply our experiences of glory.

III. The Prescription Proclaimed – The text then says, Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

The prescription couldn’t be simpler and yet how poorly we often follow it. Listen to Jesus! In other words, carefully ponder every word of His teaching and begin to base your life on what He says.

How much pain, anxiety, and strife come into this world and our lives simply because we do not listen to the Lord and obey His teachings. Our stubbornness, our lack of forgiveness, our unchastity, our greed, our lack of concern for the poor, our idolatry, our lack of spirituality, and the fact that we are often just plain mean, bring enormous suffering to us and to others.

If we would but give our life to the Lord and ask Him to conform us to His word, so much suffering would vanish. We would have so much more peace and would experience greater joy and hope.

Listen to Jesus and by His grace conform your life to what you hear Him say. There is no greater source for joy, peace, and hope.

IV. The Persevering Purpose – The text says, As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

There is fairly universal agreement that the purpose of this mountaintop experience of glory was to prepare the apostles for the difficult days ahead. And thus, while Jesus tells them to keep it to themselves, He wanted them to keep it, to remember it! Having seen and savored glory, having “seen what the end shall be,” having been bathed in beams of Heaven, they need to keep this memory alive and remember who Jesus is as the Passion begins. If they do this, they will be able to endure the folly and suffering of the Cross.

Did they successfully persevere in keeping the memory alive? Well, only John made it to the foot of the Cross, but, frankly, one out of three isn’t so bad. Having experienced peace and joy, and having seen the Lord’s glory, John made it to the Cross, enduring its shame and remembering the glory he had seen.

What of us? Have you seen the glory of the Lord? Have you experienced His love and glory deeply enough that, when difficulties come, you don’t allow them to overwhelm you? Have you come to experience and possess a peace and joy that the world did not give and hence cannot take away? Have you allowed the Lord to lay a foundation of hope in your life? Have you let Him take you up the mountain and show you glory? Have you seen the promised land and have you seen what the end shall be? This is what this gospel describes and promises.

There is an old hymn by Charles Tindley that says,

“Beams of Heaven, as I go, / Through this wilderness below / Guide my feet in peaceful ways / Turn my midnights into days / When in the darkness I would grope / Faith always sees a star of hope / And soon from all life’s grief and danger / I shall be free some day.”

Notice what it is that gets us through: beams of Heaven! Yes, it was those same beams of Heaven that Peter, James, and John saw on the mountaintop. And those beams, having been experienced and remembered, shine on every darkness and show the way. Those beams of Heaven give us hope and turn our midnight into day.

Let the Lord show you His glory; savor every moment and never forget what the Lord has done for you. The light of His Glory will lighten every way. The hymn goes on to say,

“Burdens now may crush me down / Disappointments all around / Troubles speak in mournful sigh / Sorrow through a tear stained eye / There is a world where pleasure reigns / No mourning soul shall roam its plains / And to that land of peace and glory / I want to go some day.”

Some years ago, the movie Bruce Almighty was near the top of the box office charts. Unfortunately, one of my favorite scenes was cut from the released version of the movie. I was only able to see it in the “deleted scenes and outtakes” section of the DVD version. Why they deleted the scene is unfathomable to me, since I think it really decodes the whole movie.

The movie features a prideful man (Bruce) who has complaints about how God runs the universe. “God” shows up and turns the tables on Bruce, “permitting” him to be “God” for a day. As you might expect, Bruce makes a real mess of the whole thing. He abuses his power and plays with a lot of people.

Even worse, he just gets tired of considering requests (prayers) and says “Yes” to every one. Before you know it, the whole world is so messed up that only the real God could ever sort things out.

In one deleted scene, which you will see in the video below, “God” explains to Bruce that simply relieving people’s burdens means that they are not able to reach their full potential and in fact may even self-destruct. “God” shows Bruce how interference and simply removing struggles actually destroyed the lives of several people. Here are the key points of “God’s” discourse:

1. Triumph is born of struggle.
2. Faith is the alchemist (i.e., it produces gold from less valuable things).
3. If you want to paint [beautiful] pictures, you have to use some dark colors.

Great wisdom here! Apparently too great for Hollywood, since the scene ended up on the cutting room floor. Nevertheless, it was a powerful outtake.

We might always wish and pray that God would “answer our prayers” by taking away our struggles. But God knows that sometimes the best answer is “No,” for out of our struggles, our strengths emerge and our faith is made stronger and more genuine.

I have cued this clip to the critical scene, in which “God” teaches Bruce these truths. If you watch the whole clip, you might get more context. Remember, because it is an outtake reel, it jumps around and not all the scenes are filled in or finished. But you’ll get the point.

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

Some forty years ago, the Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen admonished the priests of his day with these words:

We become real priests when we empty ourselves, and no longer seek our [own] identity, and where we are lifted up to the cross, not going “down to people.” Too many of us today feel we have to be loved … [thinking] the young will not love us unless we talk like them, eat like them, drink like them, clothe ourselves like them. No! They will not love us simply because we go down; they will love us when we lift them up. Else, the world will drag them down … (Retreat for priests, “The Meaning of Being a Priest”)

I remember especially my teenage years (the seventies), when priests, religious sisters, and adult parish leaders wore jeans, sandals, and flashy sweaters. The men grew their hair long and the parish leaders recast “Sunday school” as a “rap session.” (In those days, to “rap” did not mean anything related to music; it meant to “talk,” but in a way that was “real” and “down with the struggle.”)

The goal, it would seem, was not for the clergy, religious, or adult leaders to teach, but rather to “relate” and to “facilitate a discussion.” I remember it was considered “hip” (i.e., cool, popular, etc.) to have the class sit on the floor in a circle. The “teacher” was “one of us” and would often start off by saying something like, “I don’t have the answers, but together we can explore the questions.”

Even those of us in our rebellious teens knew there was something amiss. I wonder if the “hip” priests, nuns, and youth leaders knew that we laughed at them behind their backs. Frankly, they DID look strange trying to dress and act like us. And though we humored them, we knew that we had them in our back pockets. They were not to be taken seriously, and so we didn’t.

I will not excuse our violations of the 4th commandment, but it was hard not to laugh and even mock them behind their backs. We used to laugh at one cleric in particular, who showed up with a guitar strapped to his back. He thought he did a pretty swift “Peter, Paul, and Mary” gig; he didn’t. And when he left the room, convinced that he had “reached us,” we would “imitate” him derisively (I am sad to say), playing our air guitars and changing the lyrics to the silly songs he sang.

Ah, the ’70s; a sad and “dorky” time that endured well into the ’90s and is still operative in some places today.

I think most younger priests today are clear enough that people, both young and old, are appreciative when we dress and act as clergy. Religious Sisters, too, are far more respected and appreciated when they wear the full habit and exhibit the qualities of dignity and grace that go with their honored state. It is no coincidence that the traditional orders are attracting vocations, while the secularly clad, “aging hippie” orders are all but dead.

We serve a Lord who, while popular at times, made a journey to the Cross that few, even among his 12, were willing to follow or found pleasing. They were looking for a Messiah who was “down with the struggle” on their terms, who would usher in a new worldly kingdom of power and prosperity. Yes, this is what it meant for them that Jesus be “down with the struggle.” But when Jesus went up to the Cross, few would follow him. Only St. John, Mother Mary, and several other women made it there.

Those of us who lead (clergy, religious, parents, and laymen) must point to the Cross and be willing to shepherd others there. As for pointing to what is popular and what will make us seemingly “loved” and accepted, any newscaster or Hollywood star can do that.

It is true that we ought not engage in all-or-nothing thinking or set up a false dichotomy. Being “up with the Cross” is not in absolute conflict with being “down with the folks.”

We preach the Cross not as an abstraction, but as focused on very real and sometimes difficult choices. We preach a Cross that includes turning away from the pleasures of sin and of the flesh, embracing chastity, self-control, and openness to life, even in difficult circumstances. The Cross means there is to be no abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. It means we are to work out our marital difficulties instead of splitting up. We hold up the Cross in calling the unmarried to chastity and homosexuals to perpetual continence. We preach the Cross of enduring persecution, forgiving our enemies, humbling ourselves through confession, atoning for our sins, and obeying the Commandments. We hold up the Cross when we insist upon generosity to the poor and the forsaking of greed and the accumulation of so many unnecessary things. We hold up the Cross when we remind others of their duty to family, community, the Church, and the nation.

This goes not only for clergy but for parents as well. We are to preach His gospel, the whole counsel of Christ, in season or out-of-season, popular or unpopular. We point the way of Christ.

And Christ had this “crazy” way of the Cross. The Cross is like a tuning fork for us. It is the “A 440” that helps us to know if we are in tune with Jesus or just reflecting the world, if we are just “down with the people” or “up with Christ” on the Cross.

On that Good Friday, many told Christ that they would be believe if He came down from His Cross. But He would not come down from the Cross just to save Himself. He stayed … to save you and me. Had He been “down with the people” where they wanted Him, He could not have saved them or lifted them up.

Here are a few quotes from Scripture to finish:

1. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it … If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mk 8:34-38).
2. Jesus said, “I do not accept glory from human beings” (John 5:41).
3. Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Cor 1:20-25).
4. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified (Gal 3:1).
5. If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be under God’s curse! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal 1:9-10).
6. We speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else … (1 Thess 2:4-6)

Are we with Christ, or just “down with the people”? If we are with others, as we should be, are we there with Christ? Do we preach His way of the Cross, or do we seek merely to please men?

Are we up with Christ and the Cross, or merely down with the people and the pillow of popularity and the esteem of men?

Here is a favorite video of mine, one I have used here before. It illustrates both the silly ’70s and the dark side of “tolerance.” Meet Professor “Stanford Nutting” (i.e., stand for nothing):

In yesterday’s post, we considered the twelve steps of pride set forth by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. In escalating ways, the twelve steps draw us to an increasingly mountainous and enslaving pride.

St. Bernard also enumerates the twelve steps to deeper humility (I am using the list from Vultus Dei HERE)  and it is these that we consider in today’s post. As with yesterday’s post, the list by St. Bernard is shown in red, but the commentary on each step is shown in plain, black text and represents my own poor reflections. Take what you like and leave the rest. To read St. Bernard’s reflections, consider purchasing his book Steps of Humility and Pride.

(1) Fear of God – To fear the Lord is to hold God in awe. It is to be filled with wonder and awe at all God has done, and at who He is.

Cringing, servile fear is not recommended here. Rather, the fear rooted in love and deep reverence for God is what begins to bring us down the mountain of pride.

It is a look to God, and away from ourselves and our egocentric tendencies, that begins to break our pride.

Scripture says, The fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10).  To fear the Lord is to turn to the Lord, seeking answers, seeking meaning, realizing that in God is all wisdom and knowledge. To fear the Lord is to hunger and thirst for His truth and righteousness. To fear the Lord is to look outside and upward from myself to God.

Here begins our journey down the mountain of pride, a simple and loving look to God, who alone can set us free from the slavery that pride and sinfulness created for us.

(2) Abnegation of self-will – In the garden, Jesus said to his father, Father, not as I will, but as you will (Lk 22:42). And this is what abnegation of the will means. It means to be willing to surrender my will to God’s will, to allow His decisions to subsume mine.

Pride demands to do what it pleases and to determine whether it is right or wrong. But in this stage of humility, I am willing to look to God.

The saints say, “If God wants it, I want it. If God doesn’t want it, I don’t want it.” The prideful person says “How come I can’t have it? It’s not so bad. Everybody else is doing it.”

But on the journey away from pride, having come to a fear of the Lord, we are now more joyfully ready to listen to God, and to submit to His vision for us.

(3) Obedience – And now, having attained a more humble disposition of heart, we are more able and willing to obey. Obedience moves from hearing God’s word to heeding it, to obeying God’s holy will, to being willing to surrender our stubborn wills to His. We are made ready, by God’s grace, to  execute that will, to obey and put into action the will of God. And thus the descent of the mountain of pride begins, toward the freedom of children of God, little by little.

(4) Patient endurance – Embarking on this journey down the mountain of pride and  striving to hear and understand God’s will and to obey Him, one can surely expect obstacles, both internally and externally.

Our flesh, that is, our sinful nature, does not simply and wholeheartedly surrender, but rather continues to battle. Our flesh resists prayer, resists being submitted to anything other than its own wishes and desires. And thus, internally, we suffer resistance from our sinful nature.

But little by little, we gain greater self-discipline and authority over our unruly passions. This is truly a struggle, requiring patience and an enduring spirit and will.

Externally, too, we often encounter resistance as we try to come down from the mountain of pride. Perhaps old friends seek to seduce us back to former ways. Perhaps, too, the structures of our pride remain standing, structures such as willfulness, self-reliance, powerful positions, etc. They continue to draw us away from our intentions: to come down the mountain of pride and further embrace humble submission to God. Perhaps the world continues to demand that we think and act out of old categories that are not of God, and still hold us bound to some extent.

Patient endurance is often required to see such things borne away. Yes, it often takes years, even decades, of patient and persistent action, for the sinful world to lose its grip on us.

(5) Disclosure of the heart – As we come down the mountain of pride, perhaps the most humble journey is the one into our wounded hearts. Scripture says, More tortuous than all else is the human heart; beyond remedy; who can understand it? I, alone, the LORD, explore the mind and test the heart (Jer 17:10).

Making this journey requires a lot of humility, as we recognize our sinful drives, and misplaced priorities.  We must often uncover unpleasant memories and even traumas from the past, ones that we have experienced ourselves or have inflicted on others. And in that place of our heart, we are called to repent and show forgiveness and mercy, or to accept that we must be forgiven and shown mercy.

We may be asked to remember and to realize that we have not always been 100% right, that we have sometimes acted unjustly and sinfully toward others, that we have at times been insensitive. This is a very humbling, but necessary journey, as we continue to come down from the mountain of pride.

(6) Contentedness with what is – Contentedness is a form of acceptance and is a very great gift to seek and to receive. We can distinguish between external and internal contentedness:

External  contentedness is rooted in the capacity to live serenely in the world as it is and to realize that God allows many things that we don’t prefer for a reason and a season. Acceptance does not connote approval of everything. Indeed there are many things in the world that we ought not approve of. But acceptance is the willingness  to live and work humbly in a world that is neither perfect nor fully according to our preferences. Some things we are called to change, other things to endure. And even in those things we are called to change, we may have to accept that we cannot change them quickly or even at all right now. Jesus told a parable about the wheat and tares and cautioned us not to act precipitously to remove the tares lest the wheat be harmed as well. It is a mysterious fact that God leaves many things unresolved. Part of our journey in humility is to discern what we are empowered to change and what we must come to accept as beyond our ability to change.

Internal contentedness is gratitude for what we have and freedom from resentment about what we do not. In pride, we demand that our agenda, our menu be fully followed. In our journey toward humility, we come to be more content with gratefully accepting what God offers and saying, “It is enough, O Lord. I am most grateful!”

(7) Lucid self-awareness – In pride, we are often filled with many delusions about ourselves and think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We are often unaware of just how difficult it can be to live or work with us.

But as we continue down the mountain of pride, fearing the Lord, submitting our will to His in docility and obedience, being more honest about what is in the deep recesses of our heart, our disordered drives and unrealistic agendas, we become increasingly prepared to embrace true humility.

Humility is reverence for the truth about ourselves. It is a lucid self-awareness that appreciates our gifts, remembering that they ARE gifts. It is also an awareness of our struggles and our ongoing need for repentance and for the grace of God.

With lucid self-awareness, we increasingly learn to know ourselves more the way God knows us (cf 1 Cor 13:12). This is because, as we come down from the mountain of pride into deeper humility, God discloses more to us about just who we really are. We become more and more the man or woman God has made us to be, and our self-delusions and the unrealistic demands of the world begin to fade. The darkness of these illusions is replaced by the lucidity of self-awareness. We are able to see and understand ourselves in a less egocentric way. We are mindful of what we think and do, and how we interact with God and others. But we do this in a way that we are strongly aware of the presence and grace of God. We come to self-awareness in the context of living in conscious contact with God throughout the day.

(8) Submission to the common rule – The egocentric and prideful person resists being told what to do and is largely insensitive to the needs of others and the common good.  The proud man thinks he knows better than the collective wisdom of the community.

But as our journey down the mountain of pride into deeper humility continues, we become more aware of the effects we have on others and understand that we must learn to interact and cooperate with others for goals larger than ourselves. Humility teaches that the world does not revolve around me and what I want; sometimes the needs of others are more important than my own. Humility helps me to accept that although my individual rights are important, laws exist most often to protect the common good. Humility also makes me more willing to submit my personal needs and agenda to the needs of others and the wisdom of the wider community.

(9) Silence – Silence is a respectful admission that other people have wisdom to share and important things to say. The proud person interrupts frequently, thinking either that he already knows what the other person is going to say, or that what he has to say is more important. But as humility grows, we become better listeners, appreciating that others may be able to offer us knowledge or wisdom that we currently lack.

(10) Emotional sobriety – Many of our emotional excesses are rooted in pride and egocentricity. When we are proud we are easily offended, easily threatened. For fear begets anger.

And, as we saw yesterday, the initial stages of pride are often rooted in inordinate curiosity, mental levity, and giddiness. All of these things cause our emotional life to be excessive and disordered.

But as we now grow deeper in humility we are less egocentric and thus less fearful and less easily offended.

Having our mental life focused on more substantial and less frivolous things adds stability to our thought life. We are less carried off into gossip, intrigue, rumor, and so forth. We are less stirred up by the machinations of advertisers and less disturbed by the 24/7 “breaking news” cycles of the cable news marketers. We are more thoughtful and less likely to rush to judgments that often unsettle us.

The humble person trusts God more and is thus not easily unsettled by all these mental machinations. And it is thoughts that generate feelings.

Thus as our thought life becomes more measured, and our conclusions more humble and careful, our emotions are less volatile and we attain greater emotional serenity and sobriety.

This is a very great gift to seek and cultivate by God’s grace.

(11) Restraint in speech – As we become more emotionally stable and less anxious and stirred up, we see that serenity reflected in our speech and demeanor. We are less likely to interrupt, to speak in anger, or to be unnecessarily terse or harsh. We don’t need to “win” every debate. Rather, we are content to stay in the conversation or to just sow seeds and leave the harvest for later or even for others. Our serenity tends to lower our volume and speed in talking and we are more able and content to speak the truth in love, with clarity, and also with charity.

(12) Congruity between one’s inside and one’s outside – We saw in yesterday’s post on pride the problem of hypocrisy. The Greek word “hypocritas” refers to acting. Hypocrites are actors playing a role that is not really who they are.

The proud and fearful are always posturing, trying to align themselves with what makes for popularity and profit. But as humility reaches its goal, integrity, honesty, and sincerity come to full flower.

This is because, by the gift of humility, we open ourselves to be fully formed by God. Having turned our gaze to God and made the journey into our heart, we discover the man or woman God has made us to be. We begin to live out of that experience in an authentic and unpretentious way. In humility we are more focused on God and less nervously self-conscious.

By the gift of lucid self-awareness described above, we are comfortable in our own skin. We do not need to posture, dominate, compare, or compete.  Rather, our inner spiritual life and focus on God now inform our whole self.

Humility has now reached its goal: reverence for the truth about our very self. We are sinners who are loved by God. And as we make the journey to discover our true self before God, we become ever more grateful and serene. Living out of this inner life with Him, we are enabled to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).

Thanks be to God for these insightful lists of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Benedict, which have so aided in this reflection! Pray God that we are all able to make the journey down from the mountain of pride and into deeper humility.