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Three Prophetic Insights from Pope Leo XIII That Still speak powerfully 120 Years Later

042113A reader alerted me to an interesting and insightful analysis by Pope Leo XIII of three trends that both alarmed him and pointed to future problems. He wrote of these three concerns in 1893 in the Encyclical on the Holy Rosary entitled Laetitiae Sanctae (Of Holy Joy). The Pope enunciates these three areas of concern and then offers the mysteries of the Rosary as a necessary remedy. Lets look at how the Pope describes the problems and then consider too what he sees as a solution. His teaching is in bold, italic, black. My remarks are in plain text, red.

There are three influences which appear to Us to have the chief place in effecting this downgrade movement of society. These are–first, the distaste for a simple and laborious life; secondly, repugnance to suffering of any kind; thirdly, the forgetfulness of the future life. (# 4)

Problem 1 – The distaste for a simple and laborious life – We deplore….the growing contempt of those homely duties and virtues which make up the beauty of humble life. To this cause we may trace in the home, the readiness of children to withdraw themselves from the natural obligation of obedience to the parents, and their impatience of any form of treatment which is not of the indulgent and effeminate kind. In the workman, it evinces itself in a tendency to desert his trade, to shrink from toil, to become discontented with his lot, to fix his gaze on things that are above him, and to look forward with unthinking hopefulness to some future equalization of property. We may observe the same temper permeating the masses in the eagerness to exchange the life of the rural districts for the excitements and pleasures of the town….(#5)

One of the truths that sets us free is to simply realize and come to accept that life is hard. It involves trials, arduous work, and setbacks, along with some of the progress we can and do experience. Very few things of true values come to us without a significant cost. Simply put, life is hard. But, coming to accept this is a freeing thing for many of our resentments are minimized or removed by this acceptance. The fact is, many today expect that life should be peachy. And when it is not, there is resentment, anger, even threats of lawsuits. Many today think of happiness as a God-given right. Our Founding Fathers recognized the pursuit of happiness as a goal. But today many expect that happiness to be the norm and to be a sort of right. When it does not exist for them, there has been a failure of the system somehow. Many today expect to live lives where there is little danger, and where things come easily. This has been one of the factors that influenced the growth of government. For as insistence on a comfortable life grows and hard work seems unreasonable, we expect government to ease our burdens and provide increasing levels of comfort and happiness, and we are less willing to work hard for these things. Rather we see happiness and comfort as things to which we are entitled.

But unrealistic expectations are premeditated resentments. And so, with often unrealistic expectations, people quickly grow resentful and even pout. It would seem that our ancestors who lived even as recently as 150 years ago had different notions. They looked for happiness alright, but largely expected to find that in heaven. Many of the old Catholic prayers bespeak a vision that this world was a place of travail, of exile, a valley of tears, where we sighed and longed to be with God. Most Catholics of those earlier times lived lives that were brutal and short. Most were peasants, and lived with far less creature comforts than we. There was no central air, electricity, running water, and medicines were few and far less effective. Entertainment was limited, houses were smaller, even tiny and transportation was far more limited.

We live so well compared to them. And though we are more comfortable, there is little evidence that we are happier. Indeed, we seem more resentful, because we expect more, a lot more. As the Pope notes, young people resent discipline and expect to be spoiled. The majority of parents seem willing to indulge them and shun giving correction since it raises tensions and causes difficulties.

The value of hard work and the satisfaction that comes from it seems lost on many today. Cardinal McCarrick used to counsel us priests that if we did not go to bed tired, something was wrong. We all need some rest and relaxation, sure, but hard work actually brings greater satisfaction to times of rest.

The fact is, high expectations of this world like we have today, breed discontent and resentments. For by it these unrealistic and high expectations, we really insist on living in a fantasy that this world is, or can be paradise. It cannot. A better strategy is to accept that life is difficult and, though it has its joys, it presents arduous difficulties to us that must be met with courage and acceptance. Though this is a hard truth it brings peace when it is accepted.

To the first error Pope Leo commend to our attention the Joyful mysteries and particularly a meditation on the implicit lessons of the home at Nazareth:

Let us take our stand in front of that earthly and divine home of holiness, the House of Nazareth. How much we have to learn from the daily life which was led within its walls! What an all-perfect model of domestic society! Here we behold simplicity and purity of conduct, perfect agreement and unbroken harmony, mutual respect and love….devotedness of service. Here is the patient industry which provides what is required for food and raiment; which does so “in the sweat of the brow,” which is contented with little….These are precious examples of goodness, of modesty, of humility, of hard-working endurance, of kindness to others, of diligence in the small duties of daily life, and of other virtues…., Then will each one begin to feel his work to be no longer lowly and irksome, but grateful and lightsome, and clothed with a certain joyousness by his sense of duty in discharging it conscientiously….home-life…loved and esteemed….(# 6).

Problem 2 – Repugnance to suffering of any kind – A second evil…. is to be found in repugnance to suffering and eagerness to escape whatever is hard or painful to endure. The greater number are thus robbed of that peace and freedom of mind which remains the reward of those who do what is right undismayed by the perils or troubles to be met with in doing so….By this passionate and unbridled desire of living a life of pleasure, the minds of men are weakened, and if they do not entirely succumb, they become demoralized and miserably cower and sink under the hardships of the battle of life. (# 7)

Yes, today more than ever, there is almost a complete intolerance to any sort of suffering. This has been fueled by the fact that we have been successful in eliminating a lot of suffering.

As noted, we have many creature comforts that protect us from the elements, medicines that alleviate physical pain and bodily discomforts, appliances and technology that provide unprecedented convenience and make a lot of manual labor all but unnecessary.

This, as we have also noted, leads to expectations which are ultimately unrealistic. Namely, that all suffering should be eliminated. There is almost an indignity expressed when one suggests that perhaps some things should be endured or that it is unreasonable to expect government, or doctors, or science to eliminate every evil or form of suffering.

Further, we seem to refuse the notion that accidents sometimes happen or that unfortunate circumstances will just occur. Instead we demand more laws that are often intrusive and oppressive, and we undertake huge lawsuits that often discourage the very risk taking that makes new inventions, medicines and medical techniques possible.

We often hold people responsible for things they can do little about. Sometimes economies just have cycles, climates too. Governments, laws and politicians cannot be expected to solve every problem or alleviate every burden. Sometimes accidents just happen.

Not a Padded room – While we can and should undertake to fix unnecessary hazards and seek to ease one another’s burdens, life isn’t a padded room. Suffering, sorrows, accidents, burdens and difficulties are part of life in this valley of tears. Acceptance of this truth leads to a kind of paradoxical serenity. Rejection of it and indulgence in unrealistic notions that all suffering is unreasonable leads to resentments and further unhappiness.

Here too, Pope Leo commend to us the rosary, in particular the sorrowful mysteries:

…If from our earliest years our minds have been trained to dwell upon the sorrowful mysteries of Our Lord’s life…we [may] see written in His example all the lessons that He Himself had taught us for the bearing of our burden of labor– and sorrow, and mark how the sufferings…He embraced with the greatest measure of generosity and good will. We behold Him overwhelmed with sadness, so that drops of blood ooze like sweat from His veins. We see Him bound like a malefactor, subjected to the judgment of the unrighteous, laden with insults, covered with shame, assailed with false accusations, torn with scourges, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, accounted unworthy to live….Here, too, we contemplate the grief of the most Holy Mother…”pierced” by the sword of sorrow…. (# 8 )

Then, be it that the “earth is accursed” and brings forth “thistles and thorns,”–be it that the soul is saddened with grief and the body with sickness; even so, there will be no evil which the envy of man or the rage of devils can invent, nor calamity which can fall upon the individual or the community, over which we shall not triumph by the patience of suffering….But by this patience, We do not mean that empty stoicism in the enduring of pain which was the ideal of some of the philosophers of old, but rather….It is the patience which is obtained by the help of His grace; which shirks not a trial because it is painful, but which accepts it and esteems it as a gain, however hard it may be to undergo. [Men and women of faith] re- echo, not with their lips, but with their life, the words of [the Apostle] St. Thomas: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John xi., 16). (# 9)

Yes, indeed, the cross is part of this life. But Christ has made it clear that the cross yields ultimately to glory if we carry it willingly and with faith.

Problem 3- Forgetfulness of the future life – The third evil for which a remedy is needed is one which is chiefly characteristic of the times in which we live. Men in former ages, although they loved the world, and loved it far too well, did not usually aggravate their sinful attachment to the things of earth by a contempt of the things of heaven. Even the right-thinking portion of the pagan world recognized that this life was not a home but a dwelling-place, not our destination, but a stage in the journey. But men of our day, albeit they have had the advantages of Christian instruction, pursue the false goods of this world in such wise that the thought of their true Fatherland of enduring happiness is not only set aside, but, to their shame be it said, banished and entirely erased from their memory, notwithstanding the warning of St. Paul, “We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one which is to come” (Heb. xiii., 4). (# 11)

I have become increasingly amazed at how little most modern people think of heaven. Even Church-going believers talk little of heaven, priest preach little on it. Our main preoccupation seems to be making this world a more comfortable and pleasant place. Even in our so-called spiritual life, our prayers bespeak a worldly preoccupation: Lord, fix my finances, fix my heath, get me a better job. Almost as though we were saying, “Make this world pleasant enough and I’ll just stay here.” It is not wrong to pray for better health etc. It is not wrong to work to make this world a better place. But in the end, our home is in heaven and we ought to be solicitous of it and eagerly seek its shores. It should be a frequent meditation, and to be with God forever, the deepest longing of our soul. Instead we fear getting “older” and hide death away in our culture. It ought to be that we can’t wait to see God. Sure, it would be nice to get a few things done that we’ve started, but as heaven and being with God draw closer, we ought to be happy that the years are ticking by faster. Each day is one day, closer to God!

Here too, our prosperity and creature comforts have mislead us into a love of this world that is unhealthy. A friend of the world is an enemy to God (James 4:4). We are distracted and too easily dismiss that this world is passing away. The fact is, we are going to die. Only a proper longing for heaven can correct the absurdity that an obsessional love for this world establishes in our soul.

Meditate on heaven often! Read the scriptures, such as Revelation 1, & 4-5, 20-21. Ask for a deeper longing from God.

Pope Leo commends the Glorious mysteries of the rosary to our attention as a medicine for this absurd attachment to this passing world and our forgetfulness of heaven:

These mysteries are the means by which, in the soul of a Christian, a most clear light is shed upon the good things, hidden to sense, but visible to faith, “which God has prepared for those who love Him.” From them we learn that death is not an annihilation which ends all things, but merely a migration and passage from life to life. By them we are taught that the path to Heaven lies open to all men, and as we behold Christ ascending thither, we recall the sweet words of His promise, “I go to prepare a place for you.” By them we are reminded that a time will come when “God will wipe away every tear from our eyes,” and that “neither mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, shall be any more,” and that “We shall be always with the Lord,” and “like to the Lord, for we shall see Him as He is,” and “drink of the torrent of His delight,” as “fellow-citizens of the saints,” in the blessed companionship of our glorious Queen and Mother. Dwelling upon such a prospect, our hearts are kindled with desire, and we exclaim, in the words of a great saint, “How vile grows the earth when I look up to heaven!” Then, too, shall we feel the solace of the assurance “that this momentary and light affliction produces for us an eternal weight of glory beyond measure, exceedingly ” (2 Cor. iv., 17).

Here then are three diagnoses, and three remedies. It is interesting to see that the roots of them were already evident in 1893 and how they have come further to press upon us more than 100 years later. It is helpful to have a Doctor of Souls to help us name the demons that afflict us. For having named a demon, we have more power over it and learn its moves:

  1. Demon, your name is “laziness” and “distaste” for hard work. By the joyful mysteries of the Lord’s Life, be gone.
  2. Demon your name “refusal of any suffering” and an “resentment at the cross.” By the sorrowful mysteries of our Lord’s life, be gone.
  3. Demon your name is “forgetfulness of heaven” and “obsession with the passing world.” By the glorious mysteries of Lord’s life and our Lady’s too, be gone.

Photo: Orchard Lake via Creative Commons

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What Did Jesus Call Me? A Meditation on the Gospel for Good Shepherd Sunday

Close-up of a Sheep's head in front of a crean backgroundThe Lord says, “My Sheep hear my voice…” That’s right he called you a sheep. No come on, get a little indignant with me here! The Lord is comparing us, not to the swift eagle, , the beautiful gazelle, the mighty bear, the swift horse, the mighty lion, or the clever and intelligent dog. No, he looks at us as says we’re like sheep. Hmm… While reality may hurt, the truth can liberate. For the fact is, sheep are lowly animals, but they are valuable as well. Let’s consider this Gospel in three stages: The Sign of the Sheep, the Safety of the Sheep and the Salvation of the Sheep.

I.THE SIGN OF THE SHEEP – In the text,  Jesus said: “My sheep…. “ What does the Lord mean in using sheep as a sign for us? Lets consider some qualities about sheep that may help illustrate what the Lord is teaching.

1. Sheep are WAYWARD – It means that they just tend to wander off. It just grazes awhile then looks up, and looks around and says, in effect, “Where am I?” A sheep will nibble here and browse there and get lost lost, he doesn’t know how to get back to the sheep fold unless the shepherd goes and brings him back. Sheep just keep on going and don’t come back. Dogs and cats can find their way home, The horse can find the barn, But not the old sheep. It doesn’t know how to get back to the sheep fold unless the shepherd goes and brings him back.

Now don’t tell me that doesn’t describe us. All we like Sheep have gone astray, every one to his own way (Isaiah 53:6). This is how it is with us. We get easily lost. We need the sheep fold of the Church and we need the Shepherd, who is Christ, ministering through his Pope, bishops and priests. Otherwise we just wander here and there.

2. Sheep are WITLESS – That is to say they just plain dumb. Ever hear of a trained sheep? We train dogs and birds, horses and even lions. But the sheep cannot be trained!

Now we human sheep like to think we are so smart. Sure we’ve been to the moon, and we have all this technical computer stuff. But too many of us aren’t even smart enough to pray every day, get to Church on Sunday, and follow God’s basic directions for life.

We’re so witless that we even do things that KNOW harm us. Even the simplest directions from God we either confuse or get stubborn about. We cop an attitude and say “We know a few things too.” That’s right, we do know a very few things.

We’re so dumb, we think we’re smarter than God! We think we have a better way than God’s way. No that’s really dumb.

3. Sheep are WEAK– A sheep just has no way to protect himself. The mule can kick, the cat can scratch, the dog can bite, the rabbit can run, and the skunk…you know what he can do. But the old sheep? Without the care of the Shepherd and the sheep dogs, the sheep is history. The wolf comes and all he can do is stand there and get killed.

And so it is with us, if it were not for the care of Jesus the Good Shepherd, the world, the flesh and the devil have got us cornered. And if it were not for the Lord, and the power of his grace, we would be toast.

We like to think we’re strong. We have armies, we amass political power, monetary power, star-power. It all gives us the illusion that we are strong. But then the slightest temptation arises and we fall. We need the Lord and his grace and mercy or we don’t stand a chance because by our self we are weak and prone to sin.

AND YET…

4. Sheep are WORTHWHILE animals. The sheep is a valued animal. In Jesus’ day many a man counted his wealth by sheep. Sheep give meat and milk, produce lambs and wool. Shepherds made many sacrifices in Jesus’ day to breed, herd, and protect these valuable animals. And so it is with us. We may not feel worthy at times, but apparently we were worth saving because the Lord paid the price of our redemption. He saw the price, and paid it all. And not with any diminishable sum of silver and gold but with his own precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19).

5. Sheep WALK together – Sheep flock together, and thus are safer. To be a solitary sheep is dangerous. It’s a good way to get devoured.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). The scriptures also say Woe to the solitary man! For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up (Eccles 4:10). Sheep are not supposed to go off on their own, neither are we.

We are called to part of a flock and to be under the care of a shepherd. Most of us realize this in a parish setting. But in the wider sense, we are under a bishop’s care and ultimately the care of the Pope who is the chief Shepherd and the Vicar of Christ, the Good Shepherd.

The Lord Jesus said there is to be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16). God wants us to be in the protection of the flock with a shepherd watching over us. An old spiritual says, “Walk together children. Don’t you get weary. There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.” Now too many like to say, “That old Pope doesn’t know this or that.” But again please consider that to wander from the care of the flock and the Shepherd is a mighty dangerous thing.

6. Sheep are WARY– Jesus says elsewhere, He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:11-14).

Sheep have the remarkable quality of knowing their master’s voice and of instinctively fearing any other voice and fleeing from it.

In this matter, real sheep are smarter than most of us. For we do not flee voices contrary to Christ. Instead we draw close and say, “Tell me more.” In fact, we spend a lot of time and money to listen to other voices. We spend huge amounts of money to buy televisions so that the enemy’s voice can influence us and our children. We spend large amounts of time with TV, radio, Internet.

Yes, we can so easily be drawn to the enemy’s voice. And not only do we NOT flee it, but we feast on it. And instead of rebuking it, we turn and rebuke the voice of God and put his Word on trial, instead of putting the world on trial.

The goal for us is to be more wary, like sheep and to recognize only one voice, that of the Lord speaking though his Church, and to flee every other voice.

II. The SAFETY OF THE SHEEP – Jesus goes on to say, hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.

Note the promises that Jesus will not be overpowered, no one can snatch from his hand. Dan 7:14 says, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom that shall not be destroyed, his kingship shall not be destroyed. In other words, the devil can’t sheep-steal, in no way can he have power over Jesus or his flock.

But it’s all predicated on what’s been said. If we want protection and safety, we have to know only Jesus’ voice and stop running after all sorts of false shepherds and voices. We have to stay with the true Shepherd, Jesus, and in the protection of the flock. You want safety? Stay in the shelter of Jesus’ shepherding.

Let us be clear on this point, no weapon waged against us can ever prosper (Isaiah 54:17).  Satan cannot harm or get to any of us, UNLESS we open the door. Satan is like a dog on a leash, he can only harm us if we get too close by our own foolish decisions! Satan is a chained dog…do not stray into his range or territory!

Yet so many do! They savor pop culture, with all its darkness, click over to pornographic sites, take a steady diet of revengeful “action” movies, and watch endless commercials telling them to buy the latest product with its promises of empty fulfillment. A steady stream of polluted water and then we wonder why we are sick and weak, full of the parasites of sin.

Is it any wonder that our thinking is distorted, unbiblical, dark and foolish? At least sheep know to flee a false shepherd. What about us. Too many of us are intrigued by the ranting of false shepherds. We glamorize evil, and have our minds filled with false teaching and improper priorities.

And thus, while no one can snatch from Jesus’ hand, this is not some magical protection that prevents us from foolishly and sinfully walking away from him. And if we walk, woe to us, if we stray, our strength will fail!

Every ancient city had walls and gates to protect its citizens. But that citizen was fool who thought he could enjoy the protection of the city by journeying outside its protective walls. Yet too many Christians think they should enjoy the promises and protections of Jesus,  and yet stray form the safety of the protective walls of his kingdom. It simply doesn’t work that way.

Jesus calls anyone who hears his teaching and does not follow it a fool (Matt 7:26). Fools do not enjoy protection, since wisdom is of the Kingdom but foolery is of the world, headed for destruction.

And old spiritual says, Some seek God, don’t seek him right, they pray all day and fool at night! Well, living a double life is no way to enjoy the Lord’s protection. That only comes to those who live in the protection of His Kingdom, not for those who merely visit there. The Shelter of the Shepherd is the only safe harbor.

Yet another old song says, My mother taught me how to pray. My mother taught me how to pray. So if I die and my soul be lost, it’s nobody’s fault but mine. My savior taught me how to live, My savior taught me how to live. So if I die and my soul be lost it’s nobody’s fault but mine. 

Pay attention fellow sheep: do not stray from the Shepherd. He can protect you. But if you want to live a double life or open doors in your heart to Satan, understand that the protection of the Lord is only for those who desire and freely choose such protection. The Lord is not a slave owner. He is a lover who invites us to freely accept his offer of new life rooted in a loving and trusting relationship to him.

Do you know his voice? Do you know ONLY his voice? Do you run form every voice contrary to is? Or do you collect counselors who tell you what your itching ears want to hear? (cf 2 Tim 4:3).

If so, you have the protection of the Savior Jesus Christ, and nothing will ever harm you (Luke 10:19). But if you stray, be not surprised at the presence of wolves.

In deliverance ministry we look especially to the doors that the afflicted open to demons. For, unless they have opened a door does a demon have any power to be there. The key is to repent and close all doors, desiring only the care of the True Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25).

III. THE SALVATION OF THE SHEEP – The text goes on to say, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

Note that, for the flock of the Lord there is the gift of “eternal life.” Too many Christians equate this with some far off, distant future that they vaguely hope to attain.

But eternal life refers not only to the capacity to “live forever and never die.” It does mean this, but eternal life is so much more! It begins now. And “eternal” refers not only to length of life but toe the fulness of it.

In this sense, eternal life is now as we become ever more aware of an experience that, If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation!” (2 Cor 5:17). Of this I am a witness, being far more alive at 51, than I ever was at 21!My body ages, but soul is younger and more vibrant than ever.

And here is the promise to lay hold of of: those who are in the shepherd’s care, come, by stages to experience life more fully, to become more fully alive. Jesus our Shepherd promises us eternal life. But this does not wait till heaven, it is now. The sheep are brought to salvation, to healing, we you will accept it.  If we choose freedom and the shepherd’s cares, it is ours! If we reject some or all of it, then we live apra from his care and vision and too easily savage wolves come and attack.

Are you smarter than a sheep? Do you know how to recognize the shepherd’s voice and follow only him? Or are you foolishly running after worldly advice and sinful priorities? On this Good Shepherd Sunday, strive to be a good sheep.

Yes he said it, a “sheep.” But sheep have this going for them, they recognize only their shepherd’s voice and run from any other.

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The Good is not the Enemy of the Better, it is its Foundation. As Seen in an Animated Video

041913Back when I was in seminary (24+ years ago), I was an organist, and Music Director of the Seminary. And in those years I learned an important, albeit, frustrating reality, namely that many did not always appreciate what I considered to be the finer things of Church Music.

I remember one November having the Seminary Choir Sing a rather elegant piece by Palestrina. It was a difficult piece to master, but oh how wonderful it was, sung in four parts, acapella. Yes! The high water mark of Catholic music. I was so sure the men would love to hear it sung. And we sang it beautifully. That same feast day of all saints we also happened to chant the Litany of Saints. We used the simple tone. We rehearsed it only once and sang it with little effort.

After the Mass I awaited the accolades that would certainly come! And sure enough they did. On the way over to dinner some of the seminarians walked up and said in different ways,

Wow, that piece you sang was really beautiful….so moving….We need to do more of that!
Ah, yes! I replied, Palestrina is the best!
To which they all responded, Pala..who? I was talking about the litany.
Oh! said I, Well what did you think of the piece we sang at offertory?
Looking puzzled, as if they were trying to remember it, came the answer,
Oh that was pretty good too…, What was it?

Sigh….

And thus I learned that sometimes the glory of finer things escapes the average listener. The Litany was beautiful, but, for a trained musician, its simplicity made it seem insignificant. And yet, sometimes, less is more, little things mean a lot, and the good is not the enemy of the better, it is its foundation.

At the end of the day, liturgists and Church musicians, do well to mix with simple and accessible with some of their more lofty offerings. While we might wish that everyone would appreciate the finer things instantly, frankly not everyone does. Some of the finer things are an acquired taste and require some background to appreciate.

I have found that certain types of music and art have grown on me over the years. I was not born appreciating Palestrina, or a Bach Fugue, or Gospel music for that matter. But over time I learned the intricate and internal moves of these sorts of music and came to appreciate them like fine wine.

That said, I still like a “good beer” every now and then too. My iPod has many offerings from 70s pop and rock, when I was in High School and College. Most of it is not high art, and lacks the intricacy of the Brandenburg Concertos, but I enjoy it. And frankly some of that music served as a foundation for my later appreciation of classical and Choral music.

One thing that Church liturgists and musicians should surely avoid is snobbery. Nothing can so slam the door on what they hope to inspire than snide remarks about what people clearly like. Snobbery is no way to inspire an openness to finer and more intricate things. Cheese snobs can sneer all they want at the rubbery plastic-wrapped Velveeta cheese all they want, but Americans eat it in abundance and with gusto. Sneering won’t get people to suddenly start liking Roquefort, or Gouda.

Once, I was drinking a glass of chillable red wine (the kind that comes from a box), and was rebuked by a wine connoisseur to the effect that what I was drinking was not even real wine. Frankly, I was less likely to try a “fine wine” with that sort of attitude. And my palate might not even be ready for some of the drier wines favored by connoisseur.

Work with me, don’t sneer at me. Perhaps my world of chillable red, boxed wine can be expanded. But my appreciation for it will likely grow in stages, rather than rushing to the dry red fine wine that, to me with my unrefined wine palate, currently tastes like liquid ashes going down.

It is the same with music and liturgy. Snobbery is highly to be avoided. I love the Traditional Latin Mass, but I do understand that appreciating it requires some history, some basic knowledge of Latin and so forth. I find that I can lead people in stages to it. But honestly, I wince every time on this blog or elsewhere, those who, like me appreciate the old, but sneer at those who like more modern forms, or simpler forms.

Snobbery wins few converts. I could listen to a Bach Fugue all day long, and enter deep prayer with Renaissance polyphony, but I do understand why not everyone is of the same mind, and I feel blessed to like what they like too. Perhaps, in stages and through friendship, rather than snobbery, I can open bigger worlds to others, and they to me.

Simple chanted Litanies are good! So is Victoria and Palestrina. Appreciation for fine things is built on an appreciation for other things. Life builds and expands, it need not narrow and become fussy. The Good is not the enemy of the better, it is its foundation.

This video illustrates these points well. A little girl sees in a baker’s window what she wants, a simple cherry. But the baker will have non of it! She must try this delicacy and that delicacy! But so fine is what he offers her that she barely recognizes it as food at all. It is really the simple red cherry she wants. At the end, the Baker finally meets her where she is, and presents her with the prettiest cherry she has ever seen! And thus, he builds on what she knows and likes. He shows her the finer things in stages, respecting the true and actual goodness of what she likes.

Pay attention liturgists and musicians, and all who appreciate the finer and more advanced things in many areas of life.

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A Pet Peeve about the New Roman Missal from a Priest Who Otherwise Loves It.

"Missale Romanum" Original uploader was Lima at French Wikipedia - Transferred from fr.wikipedia to Commons.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
“Missale Romanum” Original uploader was Lima at French Wikipedia – Transferred from fr.wikipedia to Commons.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

I am a big fan of the New Roman Missal. The English is edifying, and rather close to the Latin in both meaning and cadence. At times, it challenges the priest who must carefully prepare to pray it well. But that is good. Reading the prayers of the missal cold is a bad idea, and at least glancing at the collects before Mass is to be encouraged as preparation.

But one thing about the new Roman Missal disturbs me. Where is the Latin? The old “Sacramentary” had the Eucharistic prayers on other common and proper settings in Latin in the back of the book. And this gave the priest the option of praying some of the Mass in Latin when it was deemed appropriate.

A helpful option – I frequently celebrate Mass at the convent in my parish and the Sisters will not infrequently sing the ordinary responses in Latin. In the past, when they sang a Latin Sanctus, I would responding in kind by proclaiming the Canon in Latin. It was easy, all I had to do was flip to the back. But now I’d have to have an entirely different book at hand.

This should not be. Basic Latin settings of the Mass should be in an appendix in the Roman Missal.

Perhaps there is a published version out there does supply this? If so let me know. Remember I am speaking of the altar missal that the Priest reads from at Mass, not a hand missal. Perhaps the Latin is in some super secret place in the books I have? I have looked in four published versions, and with the exception of the Pater Noster, from what I can tell, there isn’t a lick of Latin anywhere in the book.

Perhaps if some of you know a version out there that does supply the Latin texts, great, but another question still remains: Should not any approved version of the English Roman Missal supply the basic Latin prayers, as did the “older” version of the “Sacramentary?”

Again, I like the New Roman Missal. But its lack of Latin options does not serve the Church or the Liturgy well. Perhaps we can desire and ask that future editions be required to supply basic Latin Options. Is this too much to ask?

A funny story about the convenience of having the Latin comes to mind. Back before I was ordained a priest, in seminary years, I worked for a brief time in a parish with an older pastor. And every now and then a rather disruptive woman came to daily Mass who, among other things, insisted on standing, hands extended, and praying the Eucharistic Prayer aloud while the priest was proclaiming it.

After the first incidence he took her aside after Mass and asked her to stop, but she said she had “every right” to exercise her “priesthood” and would continue to pray along with the celebrant aloud.

A few weeks later she returned and adopted her orans posture and began to pray aloud with the opening lines of the canon. The priest stopped, and publicly asked here to refrain, again she refused. So he said, “OK, pray with this.” And he flipped to the back and began to pray the Canon in Latin.

She was twice stymied. Not only was she unable to recite along, but it seemed she also clearly hated Latin and left. The congregation that day gleefully smiled at the charitable but clear way the pastor had corrected the problem. I don’t recall that the woman ever returned to that particular parish.

Any way, just a little pet peeve about the New Roman Missal. Has any one else commented on this? If so, I missed it. In the mean time I have purchased a Missale Parvum (Small or thin Missal) to keep near at hand.

Oremus!

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A Look at Some Biblical Texts in Opposition to Contraception

041713In the following post I seek to lay out a few of the biblical texts related to the Church teaching against contraception.  This is not a post intended to give a full defense of the teaching against contraception. I have done that elsewhere, e.g. HERE & HERE & HERE

This post is intended only to set for the kind of biblical logic and background for the teaching which comes to us from antiquity. In fact, no Christian denomination prior to 1930 ever taught the contraception was anything but sinful. The first denomination to depart from this received teaching was the Anglicans,  who at the 1930 Lambeth conference set aside more than 5000 years of Jewish and Christian wisdom and embraced the modern contraceptive notion that there is no necessary connection between procreation and sex. One by one the other Protestant denominations fell, such that today, only Catholic and Orthodox Christians, as well as some Orthodox Jews, are left holding the light of ancient antiquity.

These biblical texts display that ancient and beautiful light which reverences and rejoices in new human life, and with God seeks to diffuses this blessed gift far and wide. It is a light which sees human life as a blessing, not a burden, as full of hope, rather than simply being a hardship.

Some proponents of contraception declare that the Bible has little or nothing to say about contraception. And to some extent, they are right. Contraception just wasn’t part of the biblical worldview. People then, loved children, and wanted many. Barrenness was a curse. Fertility, pregnancy, and childbearing were some of life’s greatest blessings. Why would the Bible speak extensively about something that wasn’t even going on?   In a certain sense, the Bible’s relative silence on this matter, should shame And startle us, showing how far we have departed from the Biblical norms, and worldview.  To a large degree the texts that follow show us how steep has been our fall, and how deep the darkness has become.

Let us then looked at these lightsome texts that show for the biblical case against the contraceptive mentality. The texts are in bold black and italic, in my own comments are in plain red text.

Genesis 1:27-28 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.

And thus, having established marriage, God gives them their primary directive, “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it!” It is clear, the God loves human life, and is eager to see this first couple not merely replace themselves, but to multiply, yes,  to fill the whole earth. 

God is love, and seeks to share his love and diffuse it far and wide. God loves life, especially human life. Here then is a great testimony of the sacredness in the beauty of human life,  in the God’s joy at the existence of every human person, and his eagerness to see human life growing and prospering.

It is true, that in biblical history, God will sometimes have to prune, and discipline the magnificent vine he has planted. But His most fundamental demeanor is for life and if he does punish or prune, it is only to foster better growth.

How different is God’s expressed mentality from our own modern mentality, which often sees human life as a problem, which frets over apparent overpopulation (a common modern myth we have discussed. More of that, here Are We Really Overpopulated?). How peevish, how small, and selfish we moderns have become, thinking that every new human life somehow gobbles up resources that I would rather have for myself. There’s little sense of God’s expansive providence or bounty. Having largely dismissed God for our culture, there is no one to trust.  And thus we worry of our own resources. 

Yes, we are very far from God’s hopeful and joyful proclamation to be fruitful and multiply. Everywhere birthrates are plummeting, our social networks are failing, economies are stagnating, and our selfishness turns back to bite us. To the modern contraceptive mentality God has one thing to say, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Fruitful, faithful and full families are the answer.

Exodus 23:25-26 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

Note that, listed among the top blessings of God, is the fruitful womb.  Notice here that God ties it to the blessing of food and water and a fruitful land. We moderns tend to oppose these concepts. Thomas Malthus this and other Malthusian doomsayers have long predicted that we would not be able to produce enough food to feed an increasing population. Time and time again they have been proved wrong.

But note too, they do not have God in mind when they think this way. They think only of diminishing human capacities, but not of God. For a believer, the same God who produces the fruit of the womb, can also bring greater abundance to the land.  What seculars separate God joins.  God never fails, He sends life, he sends resources.

That there are famines in the land at all this due more to human greed and selfishness. There’s more than enough food in this world, food in abundance. Sadly, in this country we pay farmers not to plant since food is so abundant, it is cheap and has a low profit margin.  In other parts of the world, where famines do sometimes occur, We have food to send them but, corruption and war make it difficult to get the food to them.

Deuteronomy 7:12-14 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb….You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.

See that children in abundance are considered a great blessing from the Lord.  Israel will be blessed more than any other nation with many, many children. How different this mentality is from the modern contraceptive age, anxious of of overpopulation even as we close schools see our populations age.

Psalm 127:3-5 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Psalm 128:1-4 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.

Again, something of a striking contrast to modern times is expressed in these Psalms. In the biblical world, children are very great blessing, they are to be desired in great numbers.  Oh the blessing of a fruitful life! Oh, to have many children like arrows in a quiver, like fruitful olive plants around the table. The joy of new life in abundance. Such a blessing to be sought! 

Compare this to the modern disdain, even scoffing and harsh criticism for any family that dares to have more than two children. Yes there is even a kind of dismay over how someone can possibly enjoy life with “so many children!“

1 Chronicles 25:5 Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael and Jerimoth; Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-Ezer; Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth. All these were sons of Heman the king’s seer. They were given him through the promises of God to exalt him. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

1 Chronicles 26:4-5 Obed-Edom also had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sakar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh and Peullethai the eighth. For God had blessed Obed-Edom.

See in both these passages what a blessing it is considered for these two families to have so many children. One has 17 children, another 8. Apparently these ancient Jews never got the memo that these children are going to “be a burden and inhibit the enjoyment of life’s pleasures.”  Many moderns would consider such a family size to be downright irresponsible. Thus what the Bible calls light, the modern world calls darkness, and what God calls blessed the world calls burdensome.

Hosea 9:10-17 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved. Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them! I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer.” What will you give them LORD? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry. “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I loathed them there. Because of their sinful deeds…. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.” My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations.

Here is, our first dark passage. In effect, due to her infidelity of sleeping with other gods, Israel will lose for a time her fruitfulness. Embracing the darkness of idolatry and turning away from the light of God, Israel has sinned mightily, even going so far as to offer her children in sacrifice to the Canaanite gods.

If Israel will desecrate life and treat it as fodder for false gods, her punishment is that she will not be blessed with life at all. The punishment ancient Israel my have considered among the worst punishments of all, God decrees, namely, that at least for a time their wombs will be barren and their breasts dry.

And what of us, in the decadent West who have also turned to the dark side, offering our children, through abortion, in sacrifice to the false goddess of sex and the false god of greed.  What of us who no longer love life?

In effect, God says fine,  you will not have it. And thus, in many places the birth rates of some of the most decadent populations has gotten that they risk nonexistence. God’s message is clear, that we should love life, seek to foster its growth, and treat all human life as sacred.

Genesis 38:6-10 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.

The word “contraception,” is a modern word. The biblical word, and the word used by Christian antiquity to describe what we moderns call “contraception” is Onanism. The word comes from this passage wherein Onan “spills his seed on the ground” and God kills him for it.  

Some argue it was the breaking of the Levirite Law that was wicked and thus God slew Onan. But if this is so, why were his brothers, who did the same not killed by God? Onan is uniquely killed by God for the unique thing he did, namely spilling his seed on the ground.

Further, death is not the prescribed penalty for breaking this Law (a custom really): For we read in Deuteronomy 25:5-10 of the true penalty for breaking this law: If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

Hence the sin of Onan for which he is killed is not the non-observance of the Levirite duty, but of spilling his semen on the ground. Ancient moral manuals until 20th Century see the sin here for what it si and thus termed what we call today “contraception” as Onanism.

Luke 23:28-31 A large number of people followed him (on the way to Golgotha), including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Here is a stunning passage where the Lord Jesus points to a time that would be so dark and miserable, that people would actually say “Blessed are the wombs that never bore, and the breast that never nursed.

While some argue that he was speaking of the events of 70 A.D., Scriptural texts which may have historical references, also point beyond themselves and the first Century. And the Lord’s words also prophetically describe our times, when so many say “Blessed are the wombs that are barren, that are sterilized, blessed are the breast that never nursed.”

The Lord is saying that times can get so dark that people actually think like this. So, welcome to the dark times of the 20th and 21st centuries where people are terrified of children, fear fertility, and call God’s greatest blessings a burden.

The Lord tells us to weep regarding times like these, times which get so dark that God’s blessings are perceived as burdens. Yes weep for times like these when contraception is held out as a virtue, when being against what God is for, is called good and responsible.  Weep for yourselves says the Lord and weep for the few children you do have. For in sowing the wind, you are reaping the whirlwind.

The following texts all center on the use of the Greek word “Pharmakeia” which many (rightly argue) is associated with, among other things contraceptive and abortafacient drugs used among prostitutes and libertines in Greek culture. Hence in the passages that follow I indicate the Greek term in the body of the scriptural text and then comment on it below the three passages.

Galatians 5:19-20 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery ( φαρμακεία (pharmakeia); hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts  (φαρμάκων (pharmakon)), their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Rev 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts  (φαρμάκοις (pharmakois)), the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

In each of these texts the word φαρμακεία (pharmakeia) is used. It is from pharmakeuo (where we get the word pharmacy) meaning the use of medicines or potions, drugs or spells. Such drugs where often used by sorcerers to induce ecstatic states. But pharmakeia were also used by prostitutes and libertines to suppress fertility and to induce abortion. 

Some will argue that pharmakoi can refer to a wide variety of things, and while many modern translators prefer to couch their use in witchcraft and magic arts, note that each time the reference to pharmakoi is made in the verses above, it is in a verse that also directly references sexual immorality. Hence the more ancient manner or seeing them as references to contraceptives and abortafacients seems more plausible.

Here then is a setting forth of the Biblical logic against contraception. We can see, in reading texts like these how 180 degrees out of phase the modern world is with the biblical wisdom, a wisdom that loves life and seeks this gift in abundance. We moderns, despite, or on account of our affluence, fear life, and see children as a threat to our enjoyment of “better things.” Perhaps it is best to end with the advice of the Lord, “Weep for yourselves and your (few) children.”

We are a sad and shrinking lot from any biblical perspective.

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On Finding Out Where Home is and Staying There. Some advice from Jesus for Saving Souls and Evangelizing

There is a small bit of advice that Jesus gave his first evangelizers that we do well to heed, lest we be overwhelmed with the task of trying to evangelize a culture that has gone increasingly dark. In effect Jesus counsels:

When you enter a place, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house (Lk 10:5-7).

Note the two counsels:

1. Find out where home is and
2. Stay and work there.

A few brief thoughts on both these areas.

As for finding where home is, all of us in the Church, have both a vocational call and  some specific gifts within that call. Are you called to marriage, priesthood, religious, or perhaps a life of dedicated celibacy?

As a priest, I am a parish priest. And thus my primary work is to till the ground of my own parish, which is understood not merely as a roster of people, but a physical territory with boundaries. I, and my parish with me, are responsible to see that every human person in our boundaries has heard the call of Jesus Christ to be disciples. And, to all who will answer that call, I and my parish with me, must help to deepen the faith of one another, through Word, Sacraments and Witness. This is the “house” I am to find and stay here.

It is similar with religious, who may move about in a wider sort of way and be less territorial, but who nonetheless find their home in the charisms and apostolic work of the community they join.

Those who live the live of a kind of dedicated celibacy, (perhaps because they cannot marry, or have simply not found a suitable marriage partner) need to find “home” by assessing the gifts God has given them and using them in a focused sort of way, whether in a specific place or manner.

If you are married, your primary responsibility is your spouse and children, any grandchildren, and to some degree, your wider family. Evangelization is most essential here. This is the house your are to find and stay there.

But note, in all these areas, the key is to find out where “home” is and stay there. It is to find out where and what God has called me to do and do that with stability and regularity.

It is too easy for us to get out of our lane, and range far from home. And this leads to several problems.

Problem of the Perfunctory – We can cast our net too widely, and become involved in too many pursuits, or in too many far flung places. If we are not careful, our work for the Lord ends up being a thousand miles wide and only two inches thick. Depth is often more important that width.

Problem of Proximity – It may well be argued that our culture has suffered such a rapid decline because there is too much mobility, and cultivating the deeper relationships necessary to handing on the faith and culture are largely absent. Even members of nuclear families spend little real time together. Parishes too have very ephemeral memberships, and often experience little continuity in leadership. No one knows where home is anymore. But that is where the faith is cultivated. There is a lot to be said for proximity and stability.

Problem of Pride – Finally there is a sense in which not staying in our lane leads us into others lanes. In particular today there is the problem of easily critiquing the vineyard of others, but not tending our own. It is easy for a priest to critique the Bishop or bishops, and yet his won parish has serious problems. It is easy to critique the pastor or bishop for the poor condition of the Church or even the culture, and yet, meanwhile, some of those who critique have numerous family members who are away from the faith, living in sin and disorder.

Yes, when we fail to stay in our own lane and work our own issues, it is so much easier to find fault with others. The best course is to find out where home is and stay and work there, to find our lane and stay in it. To be clear, some mutual critique is necessary and helpful, but only if offered in the humility and experience of having worked and struggled in one’s own vineyard.

There is a second sense of staying it might be of some value to pursue. For another of our modern tendencies is to want quick results, and to give up easily when results are not fairly instant. In this since we do well to ponder another meaning of the Lord’s command to stay.

We sometimes speak in English of “Staying in the conversation.” Generally this means that we appreciate that persuasion, and drawing someone to some aspect of the truth, is not often accomplished merely in one moment. Rather a conversation stretching over many sessions, even weeks for years is sometimes necessary bring about the kind of consensus we seek in the truth of Jesus Christ.

One sermon, class or talk is seldom enough to draw forth sudden and instant conversion. Rather, the ongoing conversation of a lifetime is what it really takes to prepare us to meet God.

This is also true in our desire to draw others to the faith, especially those closest to us. Ongoing conversation, and the deepening of relationships is usually what it takes to effect lasting conversion.

Thus, in this sense, when the Lord says “stay,”  he means “persevere.” When a farmer plants a seed, he would be foolish to expect a harvest the very next day. Rather, the seed having been planted, it is now necessary to cultivate around the seed, see that the field is irrigated, and the crop is kept safe from the poison of disease and insects. It is an ongoing work which, by God’s grace yields and abundant fruit in due season.

The human person of course may require more than a season. All the more reason that we must stay in the conversation with others.

Indeed, sometimes we must be content to plant seeds that others will harvest. As a priest, I have sometimes had the joy of harvesting where others have planted. Perhaps there is a knock at the rectory door and someone returns to the Church after 30 years away to make a confession. I am simply bringing in the harvest someone else planted. I am continuing conversation to someone else began.

In my parish, as we go out in the neighborhood and knock on doors, or witness in the local park, we experience both the planting of the seed, and also sometimes the harvest. Sometimes too we are engaged in cultivating. For some only grudgingly accept our invitation for a moment of their time, and we are breaking hard ground to plant seed. In other cases, some joyfully receive us and tell us how their mother was Catholic or their  spouse and that they are happy to join us in prayer, or  for the Mass on Sunday. Still others are not ready for the harvest, but we are able to cultivate a bit, perhaps clearing out the weeds of misinformation or misunderstanding, or showing for the smiling supportive face of the Church, where as they had been hurt in the past.

But all of us need to be willing to initiate and stay in the conversation in our families, our parishes, and wherever the Lord calls us to work.

Mad, Sad, Glad – Finally, one of the things I have discovered as a priest is that, as our culture has become more secular, and soft, many biblical themes are  shocking when people hear them, often for the first time, or for the first time in a long number of years.

When I was first ordained, people often called me “a different sort of priest.” This was because I spoke of things that many of them had not heard from the mouth of the priest for many, many years, or ever. I trained myself to preach by listening to everything Bishop Fulton Sheen had ever uttered, or written. I had also listened to a great number of Protestant evangelical preachers. And thus when I preached, I spoke in the terminology of the “old-time religion.”  I warned of death, and judgment, heaven and hell. I spoke plainly of the reality of mortal sin, and the need for confession and repentance.  And I named certain sins such as contraception, fornication, abortion. I also took plainly the meaning of the Lord’s words it if we did not learn to forgive, we would not be forgiven and that we ought to develop a holy Fear of the Lord.

And speaking in this way, I noticed that people at first were quite shocked. A few were pleased, but many more were angered and dismayed. They had grown accustomed to the abstractions and generalities of common Catholic preaching in the 70s and 80s. In those years there was a  sort of unwritten rule among Catholic preachers to do no harm, and offend no one, ever, under any circumstances.

Despite early push-back from parishioners and some fellow clergy, something in me (I pray it was the Lord rather than my pride) told me to stay in the conversation, to not give up. I figured it might take time, but the people would get used, once again, to hearing basic biblical and Catholic terminology. And largely, I have found this to be true.

Today, when I first go to a parish, people don’t often know what to make of me. But, to their praise, most of them stay in the conversation, And little by little, we both day and I move forward To re-appropriate the  biblical vision that had become somewhat obscured in these secular and soft times. There tends to be a kind of cycle where they go from mad, to sad, to glad, at least collectively speaking. Some never adjust and, while denying that I should mention Hell, tell me to go there 🙂 But, most people readjust to God’s truth just fine. By God’s grace too, many younger priests with the similar thinking have also emerged to do this work of speaking again in strong and clear biblical terminology.

So, if you are a parent, or family member, a priest or religious, it is important for all of us to learn how to stay in the conversation, and to be patient with one another as we try in stages to grow in a holy conversation. All of us need to accustom our ears to hear the unvarnished Word of God, and also to have our lips trained to speak it clearly and with love.

It is a process that takes time on both sides of the equation. And thus the Lord says to us today, Find out where home is and stay there;  find your part of the kingdom to cultivate your part of the culture to convert. Find your gifts and use them. And in doing this, stay put, persevere, have the long run in mind, develop deeper relationships, and stay in the conversation.

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On The Mystery of Iniquity, in times like these. A Meditation in the Wake of Boston Bombings

041513Some years ago I worked in a parish with Religious Sister from radicalized and dying order. And she had all the usual aliments of radicalized women religious which, for brevity I will not recite here. But Among her ailments was the denial of the doctrine of Original Sin.

She had read a book published in those years by a radicalized priest, named Matthew Fox, who has since left the Catholic Priesthood. And in his book, Original Blessing, he denied Original Sin an proposed that we were all basically good, and that the concept of a cosmic fall, was negative not only to Man but also to creation. Frankly it is hard to distinguish Fox’s overall views from simple Pantheism. This is no place or time to recite his manifold errors here.

But poor Sister X (we’ll call her) she sat in a gathering of parishioners and outright denied Original Sin and declared that we are all basically good. As a young priest, though resistant to correcting an elderly person in public,  I rushed to defend Church teaching and correct her erroneous teaching in that meeting.

Later I took her aside and questioned her: “You cannot possibly be serious about this are you?” With wild gesticulations of dismissiveness, she declared, “Oh you young priests are all so negative! I grew up in the bad old Church and you’re trying to bring all that back….All you think about is sin. Do you really think some apple in a tree caused some terrible fall?”

Hmm…, I said, “I don’t think it was so much the apple in the tree as it was the pair on the ground. I think that’s where the sin was. But seriously Sister, sin is a pretty significant problem, yet it does supply a kind of necessary premise to grace and mercy, don’t you think? I mean, if were all so good, and basically in good shape, who needs Jesus and what was he doing on that Cross? It is also clear to me Sister that you have never raised children!”

What I meant by this was that even the youngest “innocent” children, show forth the deep wounds left by Original Sin that the Church calls “concupiscence.” I find it remarkable, having observed my youngest brother (who was ten years younger than I) as he emerged from infancy, and other children as well, that there are enormous issues with selfishness, temper, anger and rebellion right from the start. The “terrible twos” are called that for a reason. Meltdowns are common in young children, temper tantrums, clenched fists,  and red faces are not rare.

Yes, there are very deep wounds in the human heart, and they are not merely acquired by bad experiences, they seem present right from the start. Baptism takes away the source of the problem, but the many wounds need life long healing, especially since we “pick at the scabs” through life.

So I was on an errand with Sister. Every day for several weeks I brought her the Newspaper filled with stories of treachery, crime, corruption, sex scandals, murder, gang violence, you name it. And I said, “Sister, if it isn’t Original Sin, what is it?! Come on, you have to admit that there is something basically wrong with us as a human family!”

“Oh,” she said, “They are not depraved, they are just deprived.” Lovely, I thought, so now we’re quoting musicals (West Side Story) for our authority, instead of Scripture or the Church. It is true that Catholicism does not teach the “utter depravity” of the human person as do some Protestant sects, but that does not mean all is well either.

As we saw in yesterday’s Boston bombings, the cause of which is still largely unknown as I write, there is a great tendency toward evil in the human family, a tendency to which people are drawn to grater or lesser degrees, but a tendency that afflicts us all at some level. This concupiscence is a wound that needs healing.

At present there is the outworking of something Scripture calls “the mystery of iniquity” (2 Thess 2:7). There is evil in this world, and we are strangely drawn to it. Indeed, in these dark times we often celebrate it by calling “good” was God calls sin. We also turn it into a form of entertainment through pornography and violent movies and games. We glamorize gangsters, and “bad boys” in the hood. Illicit sexual union receives sympathetic treatment even outright exultation.

Yes, there is evil, sin and darkness in this world we are strangely attracted to it. We live in a fallen world, governed by a fallen angel, with our own fallen natures. As Boston reminds us, we need to be sober about the reality of sin and about our need for grace and mercy. Without grace and mercy, Hell begins now, and gets only worse. Only grace and mercy can really heal us.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has some important things to say about Original Sin that may be helpful in the wake of yesterday’s explosion of evil. Since this may be a sort of teachable moment about the “Mystery of Iniquity” let us listen to some excerpts from the wisdom and heart of Mother Church:

Sin is present in human history; any attempt to ignore it or to give this dark reality other names would be futile….Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind’s origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc…

The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.  Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God,…Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls “a murderer from the beginning.”…Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command. This is what man’s first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness. (#s 386-398 selected)

Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image – that of a God jealous of his prerogatives. …The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.

Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay”. Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground”, for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history. (# 400)

After that first sin, the world is virtually inundated by sin There is Cain’s murder of his brother Abel and the universal corruption which follows in the wake of sin. Likewise, sin frequently manifests itself in the history of Israel, especially as infidelity to the God of the Covenant and as transgression of the Law of Moses. And even after Christ’s atonement, sin raises its head in countless ways among Christians.

Scripture and the Church’s Tradition continually recall the presence and universality of sin in man’s history: What Revelation makes known to us is confirmed by our own experience. For when man looks into his own heart he finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which cannot come from his good creator.

Often refusing to acknowledge God as his source, man has also upset the relationship which should link him to his last end, and at the same time he has broken the right order that should reign within himself as well as between himself and other men and all creatures. (#s 400-401)

Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam’s sin and the fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the “death of the soul”. Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin. (# 403)

Original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin – an inclination to evil that is called “concupiscence”.

Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.  The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity. (#s 405, 409).

The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the “reverse side” of the Good News that Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. The Church, which has the mind of Christ, knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ. (# 389)

So there it is. The clear water of faith. Whatever the details we learn about the Boston Bombings in the days ahead, this is the back-story. A story of a terrible fall, a grave wound in the human heart that leads to an obtuse spirit and inclination to evil. Jesus alone can heal and save us from this present evil age (Gal 1:4).

Lord, Jesus: For the sake of thy sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

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Fighting fear with Fear – A Meditation on the Healing Gift of the Fear of the Lord

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091014In the first reading from yesterday’s (Sunday) liturgy from the Acts of the Apostles (Full text here) we encounter Apostles and see that they are changed men. Prior to Pentecost, these had been frightened man, men who fled at the sight of trouble, en who could not be (except for John) found anywhere near the foot of the Cross. Even after the resurrection, these were men who gathered only behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.”

But in this reading, which took place at yesterday’s liturgy, we see men who are no longer afraid. The Holy Spirit has quickened their faith and courage. In this passage, having been arrested for speaking of Jesus, then miraculously released by the angel of the Lord, we find them right back in the public square announcing Jesus. The  temple leaders having apprehended them yet again, say to them, We gave you strict orders [did we not?] to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching (Acts 5:28). In response to the is second arrest, the Apostles once again display courage, also known as  “Foritude,” one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which they had received it Pentecost. But, in effect, they root their courage in another of the seven gifts, the gift of the “Fear the Lord.”  They say, We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)

Note therefore how their confidence, their courage, is paradoxically rooted in Fear. It is not a cringing fear, but rather, a holy Fear, the Fear of the Lord. In effect, the Apostles fight fear with fear. More specifically, they conquer unholy fear with Holy Fear.

What is the fear the Lord? It is, as we have already noted, not a cringing fear, a fear merely rooted in servile anxiety about consequences or punishments. Rather, the Fear the Lord is the gift to hold God in awe. It is a gift, rooted in love of Him. Because I love God, love him with all my heart, I want to please him, obey him. I hold him in loving awe and respect, and I fear offending him who has  loved me so, and done so much for me. We do not have time to fully set forth here the biblical basis for this definition of the Fear the Lord. But I have written elsewhere on this and have analyzed quite extensively a biblical understanding of what is meant by the fear of the Lord. You can read it here: Understanding the Fear of the Lord and here: Studying the Fear of the Lord in the Psalms

Our context in this post, is that to Fear the Lord, as is counseled and commanded of us in Scripture, is not some mere egocentric demand of of a demanding God.  Rather, it is his loving way of both simplifying our life, (making it about one thing), and also, by this Holy Fear,  of helping us to cancel and diminish all other fears.

For if I truly fear the Lord, and to the degree that this becomes a reality not just a slogan in my life, but I really Fear him, I do not need to fear anyone else, and  my life also becomes simpler because I do not have to please ten thousand people, but only my loving Father in heaven.

But as it is, many of us struggle to experience this  magnificent gift of the Holy Spirit, called the fear the Lord, because we either have resisted it or have not laid hold of it. And on this account, our fears are many, our lives are disordered and focused on many things, rather than one thing. Because we have not received the gift and the desire to please and Fear God, we end up trying to please everyone, and our fears  multiply because there are many contradictory and contrary demands by the ten thousand voices we seek to please and pacify.

Jesus speaks to this grave condition by saying, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Mat 6:24). To be frank, our condition is far worse than simply trying to serve two masters. Most of us have many more masters, and our lives are too easy dominated by many anxieties and fears, rooted in many contradictory, complex and conflicting priorities, given by the many different people, groups, and ideologies we seek to please, placate and serve.

The book of James says, The double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). Would that we were simply double-minded, but in today’s complex situations we are often divided fifty-fold, even a hundredfold:  so many things to do, so many people to please. Frankly, too many of us are afraid of everyone and everything. What if person A is displeased with me?! But what if pleasing person A displeases person B,  and how will I explain things to person C?!! And thus our lives are divided, anxious, full of fears.

The Lord’s plan is to fight fear with Fear. His plan is to fight unholy fear with Holy Fear. God’s loving plan is, in effect, Fear me, reverence, respect and seek to please me out of love, and you will be less obsessed with what others think. “Yes,” says the Lord,  come to know me, not as some stranger, some abstract Deity running the universe, come to know me as your Father, someone who loves you, someone whom you deeply reverence and want to please. And to the degree that this happens in your life, that you receive this anointing of the Holy Spirit, this gift of the Holy Spirit called the Fear the Lord, you will be set free from ten thousand other fears and anxieties.

And this leads us back to the Apostles in Sunday’s reading. A mere few weeks ago they were frightened, even terrified men,  behind locked doors. Now they boldly go about preaching Christ and him crucified. What happened to them? The Holy Spirit has happened, and in particular, His gifts of courage (fortitude), and the Fear the Lord. And thus the apostles are boldly able to speak to those who demand their loyalty, demand obedience, and they say We must obey God rather than men.

They say this with serenity because they’ve come to know the Father, have come to know Jesus and the power the Holy Spirit. Fearing God, they no longer fear any weapon waged against them, they no longer fear any man. And this is how fear is fought with Fear. One Fear eclipses all others fears. It is Holy Fear, loving Fear, yes, even a joyful Fear. When I fear God I need fear no one else. When I kneel before God, I can stand before any man.

Here then is the gift of the fear the Lord. Seek it, lay hold of it, allow it to have its effects. If we can do this, so many other fears go away, so many other conflicts are resolved. When we need to please only One, we no longer need to please many. When we Fear one, the fear the others goes away.