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How Scripture is a Prophetic Interpretation of Reality and tells us what’s REALLY going on

When looking to Scripture it is clear that many historical events are being recounted. And while parts of the Scripture recount that history in the “strict” and modern sense of history,  yet,  many different genres are also used: poem, drama, moral tale, epic saga, wisdom saying, parable, apocalyptic, gospel, and so forth.

But all the Scripture amounts to a kind of sacred history where God, through his prophets, and apostles, his sages and scribes, gives us a prophetic interpretation of reality. As if to say, “What ever you think is going on, this is what is REALLY going on.”

In Scripture, God the Holy Spirit, does not just tell us what happens, but interprets its meaning. Events are not simply locked in ancient history but speak to us today. These are not just stories about what they (the people of old) did, they are stories about what us and what WE do, and what it means. I am Peter, Moses, Elijah, Mary, the Woman at the Well, and so forth. We are the ancient Israelites and their story is our story.

As such, Scripture prophetically interprets reality for us. It explains what is really going on, as God sees it, and as God gives it to his sacred authors to set forth. For us who believe that God the Holy Spirit is the Supplier of this perspective, it makes Scripture an invaluable source as a prophetic interpretation of reality.

With this brief (and perhaps inadequate) background in mind, it may be of some value to look at a passage from the Book of Judges that we are reading in the Office of Readings. And as we look at we ought to ask, “How is this a prophetic interpretation of reality? What does it have to say to us of the reality in which we are currently living? How does a passage like this explain to us what is really happening in our times?

The passage is at the beginning of the Book of Judges (2:6-3:4) and serves as a bridge text between the Book of Joshua, and the time of the Judges which followed. Lets read it and see how it prophetically interprets reality for our times. (My Comments are in red):

When Joshua dismissed the people, each Israelite went to take possession of his own hereditary land. The people served the Lord during the entire lifetime of Joshua, and of those elders who outlived Joshua and who had seen all the great work which the Lord had done for Israel.

Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, was a hundred and ten years old when he died; and they buried him within the borders of his heritage at Timnath-heres in the mountain region of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

It was Joshua who had warned the people to put away strange gods from among them and wholly serve the Lord God and carefully keep his precepts. If not disaster would befall them.

And here is the first interpretative key to reality for us in this passage: that we were made to know God, to serve Him and love Him. And in so doing, and seeking to base our life on his instructive and saving precepts, we will see long life, and as many blessings as this exile can provide. But if we do not follow that for which were made, burdens will multiply, blessings diminish and disaster will follow.

But once the rest of that generation were gathered to their fathers, and a later generation arose that did not know the Lord, or what he had done for Israel,  the Israelites offended the Lord by serving the Baals. Abandoning the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had led them out of the land of Egypt, they followed the other gods of the various nations around them, and by their worship of these gods provoked the Lord.

Note the beginnings of the problem: a generation arose that did not “know the Lord.” In the Scripture, “know” almost never means a merely intellectual knowing, but, rather, an experiential knowing. Thus, troubles begin when the next generation turns away from the primary reason for which they were made: “to know the Lord.” That is, to be deeply rooted in the experience of God in their lives; to keep an open door in their hearts for God; to seek His face, as their hearts admonish (1 Chron 16:11; Psalm 105:4) and to strive to know his ways.

This is our glory and our calling. And trouble begins when we turn from this to other and lesser “gods.”For  ancient Israel, the lesser gods were the “Baals.” For us, the lesser gods are the things, people and thoughts of this world.

Some turn from God to idolize money, or things, or popular “idols” in the latest celebs or gurus. Some idolize the latest “movements” of the world. Some idolize “scientism,” the error that subordinates everything to the judgment of the merely physical sciences. Others embrace materialism, the error that says only physical matter is real. Yet others embrace pseudo-Christian heresies and syncretist versions of faith. Still others cling to agnosticism and atheism in a sinful way, never seeking to overcome their doubts or difficulties.

In all these ways there is a turn from what, and Who we were truly made for: God, and his truth. Many today will turn to anything and anyone but the one true God, and they dispense with the One of whom their heart says “Seek the face of the Lord.”

Note the second problem, they did recall “what God had done for Israel.” For God had delivered them, fed them, given his law, led them, and set them in a good land.

Yet so easily and quickly we forget the blessings that God has given. One day the Lord asked the disciples, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” (Jn 13:12) So easily we forget that we have been delivered from the futile ways our fathers handed on to us (cf 1 Peter 1:18),  and forget that we have been given lives filled with hope at the glory that lies ahead. So easily we walk from the God who has given us every good thing, and who even makes the difficult things work ultimately for our good (Rom 8:28).

Yet, forgetful, and thus ungrateful, we grow sour, demanding and grasping. Lacking gratitude we become fearful, we hoard, we buy things we cannot afford, we become greedy, and are afraid to help the poor. Being more rooted in the world, we become enslaved to it, and give it our loyalty. We turn from God and even become hostile to his reminder that we were not made for the world.

And herein lies the second interpretive key to reality for us: that Gratitude, the disciplining of our minds to count our blessings and daily recall the enormous and immense blessings of God, is essential to our well-being and freedom. Forgetting to root our praises and gratitude in God we become enslaved to the world and mistake its passing blessings, as the true meaning of our lives.

And the cruel “Baal” of this world feeds us just enough to keep us alive, but still hungry and increasingly enslaved; so enslaved that we are literally willing to sacrifice our children, our families and our very lives on the altar of this cruel “Baal.”

Among the central ways that God will save us from the cruel enslaving world is gratitude. It is no accident that the central act of Catholic worship is called the “Eucharist” (the great Thanksgiving).

Because they had thus abandoned him and served Baal and the Ashtaroth, the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel, and he delivered them over to plunderers who despoiled them. He allowed them to fall into the power of their enemies round about whom they were no longer able to withstand. Whatever they undertook, the Lord turned into disaster for them, as in his warning he had sworn he would do, till they were in great distress.

Even when the Lord raised up judges to deliver them from the power of their despoilers, they did not listen to their judges, but abandoned themselves to the worship of other gods. They were quick to stray from the way their fathers had taken, and did not follow their example of obedience to the commandments of the Lord. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived; it was thus the Lord took pity on their distressful cries of affliction under their oppressors. But when the judge died, they would relapse and do worse than their fathers, following other gods in service and worship, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct

And here we encounter and often misunderstood concept in Scripture: the wrath of God. Fundamentally the “wrath of God” is His passion to set things right. It does not mean God has anger like we have anger, that he is a moody God who looses his temper from time to time. Since God is love, we must understand his anger in this light. We must also understand his punishments in this manner.

The Book of Hebrews reminds us that God disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son (Hebrews 12:6). It further states that God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness (Heb 12:10), and that this discipline produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:11).

God’s wrath, His anger, is his passion to set things right for us and for others. And thus we see in this passage that God used various means to draw his people back on the right path. the sending of warnings, judges (charismatic, prophet-like and military leaders), and finally delivering them for a time into the hands of their enemies.

And here we see the heart of sacred history, the keynote of the prophetic interpretation of reality: that unfaithfulness, ingratitude, and stubbornness are disastrous and at the heart of most of our suffering. It is our failure to heed God’s warnings, to hear his prophets, and to return to knowledge of Him and His ways, that is the deepest source of our problems.

Put more positively, our only true hope is to collectively return to God, to know Him, Love Him, and Serve Him. Our only real solution is to turn from our “Baals” and seek mercy and grace from the One True God. Our only hope, and it remains a standing promise, is God’s tender mercy, his abiding grace and his saving Love.

As an interpretive key to reality, this passage tells us why we are in the mess we’re in. Why are our worldwide economies devastated? Is it not because we have yielded to greed, and spent money for years on things we cannot afford? Is it not become we have become enslaved to our desires and that, even when we know we cannot go like this, we still do it? And are we not slaves because we have worshiped the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever (Rom 1:25)? Is it not because we seek our joy and meaning in passing things rather than God? And have we not heard the warnings of the gospel against amassing wealth and of not seeking first the Kingdom of God?

And now God, after many warnings, has handed us over to our own stubbornness. And what are the “nations” that now trample despoil and plunder us? Is it not the crushing burden of our own debt, and the disgraceful and embarrassing bill we leave our children?

If you want to name a nation call it China, but in the end, China is not the problem, we are. We just can’t stop our addictive spending, our demands for more and more benefits, and our demands that “someone else” pay for it all. We can’t stop it would seem, unless God allows it all to crash.

The judgment of God is on us as never regarding our collective greed, our insatiable appetite for more. I offer this (humbly) as a prophetic interpretation of reality, not in the same sense that Scripture can, but in the sense of applying what Scripture says of God’s ways when we stubbornly refuse to repent. What is clearly scriptural is that our problem is our sin.

The same could be said of the grave sexual confusion of our times and the increasing dissolution of our families. After decades of reckless sexual misbehavior through fornication, adultery, homosexual activity and pornography, our families are in disarray and a host of social problems beset us; problems that are so deep, it is hard to image anything but a total collapse can return us to our senses. Problem after problem mounts: AIDS, Sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy, single mothers, divorce, abortion, broken homes, broken hearts and children raised in messy and confused situations. There are also declining birthrates and the social dynamite that implies.

And what are the nations that will surely despoil and plunder us. At one level it is the Muslims are are set to simply replace the Europeans whose birthrate implies they have decided to abort and contracept themselves right out of existence. In effect God’s judgement is on the sterile West: If you do not love life, there are others who do and they will replace you and populate your cities and, (as we have seen in increasing ways), oppress you.

God then concludes his prophetic interpretation of reality in this way:

In his anger toward Israel the Lord said, “Inasmuch as this nation has violated my covenant which I enjoined on their fathers, and has disobeyed me, I for my part will not clear away for them any more of the nations which Joshua left when he died.” Through these nations the Israelites were to be made to prove whether or not they would keep to the way of the Lord and continue in it as their fathers had done; therefore the Lord allowed them to remain instead of expelling them immediately, or delivering them into the power of Israel.

In other words: “This is a Test.” Will we choose to follow God and see an end to many of the disasters that have befallen our culture, or will we persist in our stubborn disobedience and see things worsen? The decision is ours.

Now again, this is a prophetic interpretation of reality. In other words, the passage, and others like it tell us what is really going on. We, in the West like to analyze our problems in worldly ways. Hence some say our problem is a lack of resources, or the wrong political party in power, or the International Monetary Commission, or some fictional Trilateral commission, or the wrong credit to cash ratio, or not enough AIDS medicine, or contraceptives in the “third world” or, or, or….

But God says our problem is a sinful stubbornness, our mistaken and sinful priorities, our idols, our greed, our lust and our refusal to repent. This is a prophetic interpretation of reality and we may go on ignoring it,  and this sinful and unbelieving world may even ridicule such an interpretation. But we ignore it to our peril and ultimate demise as a nation and culture.The enemy is within and the blame is ours.

Pay attention, this is a prophetic interpretation of reality. Are we listening?


Here’s a little call to conversion I put together last year:

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If you can use anything Lord, You can use me. A Meditation on the Readings for the 11th Sunday of the Year

The readings today speak of God’s providence often displayed in humble, hidden and mysterious ways. While it is true that God and does work in overpowering ways, yet, his more common method would seem to be using the humbler and even unlikely things of the created order to accomplish his goals.

For we who are disciples, there are three related teachings given us that speak of how God will make use of us and others. It will also be good to link these teaching to Father’s Day which occurs this weekend in the US. In a word, each of these three teachings are described as: Adaptability, Awe-Ability, and Accountability.

I. ADAPTABILITY. We hear in both the first reading and the Gospel how God can take what is very humble, and adapt it to be something very mighty and powerful.

Perhaps it is the tender shoot of the first reading that becomes a mighty oak: I, [the Lord], will take from the crest of the cedar…a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain;…It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. (Ezekiel 17:22-23)

Perhaps it is the mustard seed of the first reading which becomes a great shade tree: The…kingdom of God…is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade (Mk 4:32-33).

Yes, God adapts us for his purposes and no one should say, I cannot be used. An old song says, “If you can use anything Lord, you can use me.”And old litany says,

The next time you think God can’t use you, remember:

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses was murderer had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt and depressed
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer.
Lazarus was dead!

No excuses then, God chooses the weak and makes them strong

In fact, it is often our very weakness that is the open door for God. In our strength we are usually too proud to be of any use to God. Moses was too strong at age forty when he pridefully murdered a man, and thought he was doing both the Jews and God a favor. Only forty years later, at age 80, was Moses weak and humble enough to depend on God. Only then could God use him.

Yes, God often uses the humble things, and the humble people of this earth to do his greatest work. St Paul says,

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Cor 1:25-29).

Therefore, we are invited in this principle to consider that it is not merely the biggie-wow things that we do, where God can work. It is also in the humble and imperfect things about us, the mustard seed faith, the tiny shoots and humble growth, that God can magnify his power.

When I think of my father, I do not remember all the wise sayings he bestowed, but I do remember who he was: a man passionate about what was right, a man who did what was right, often a great personal sacrifice. I remember how he fought for my mentally ill sister when the insurance company wanted to forsake her. I remember how strong and manly my father was. I remember that I always had food, clothing and shelter. I remember that I had a college education, all paid for. I remember his love for learning and his capacity to speak and write with persuasive power. I remember how he cared for my mother in the struggle of her final fifteen years and how he almost never left her side.

In all these things, great and small, but especially in the small, daily duties, that God worked through my father to sustain his family and give us the most lasting example of what it means to be a man, a father and a disciple.

My Father was not perfect. Among other things he struggled with anger, but it was also that anger that made him passionate about what was right and which pointed to his integrity. Yes, even in the humblest things, our shortcomings, God can work and bring forth mighty things.

So the first principle is adaptability, that God can take and adapt even the humblest, ordinary and lowly things and bring forth might and lasting fruit. Never despair of what is most humble about you, or that you are of little account on the world stage. It is precisely our humble state which God will most often use to bring forth his greatest and most lasting works.

II. AWE-ABILITY, the capacity to reverence mystery and to have wonder and awe at what God does. In the Gospel Jesus emphasizes that, though a man plants seeds he does not really know the deeper mysteries of life and growth:

This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. (Mk 4:26-27)

Despite our often self-congratulatory celebration of our sciences, and of how much we think we know, there is much more we do not know or understand. We do well to maintain a reverential awe of the deeper mysteries of God’s works, and his ways. We are also rather poor at assessing whether, and how effective, our methods may be. We may come away from a project and consider it to have been very effective, and little comes of it in the long run. And then too, some of what we consider a poor effort, and ineffective, may often bear great fruit. God works in his own ways and we do well to remember that God may well surprise us and remind us he is able and is in charge.

Some years ago, a friend of mine had at her desk a “God can.” In was a metal cookie box, and on the cover was the saying, He worketh in strange and mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. Into this box she would place slips of papers on which were written the challenges, struggles and failures of her life. These were the things where, when she met the limits of her strengths and abilities, she would say, “I can’t…..but God can.” And into this metal “God can” went the slips of paper, placed there in hope that God could make a way out of no way. And, quite often He did.

We do well to cultivate a sense of wonder and awe and who God is and what and how he works. Not only does this bring us joy, but is also opens us to hope, and to the possibilities that God can work in hidden ways to exult what is humble and to bring great transformation to those who are cast down and troubled, including ourselves and our culture. As we saw in point one, it is often in the humblest things that God does his mightiest works.

III. ACCOUNTABILITY. If it is true that we can’t, but God can; if it is true that God can use us mightily despite our humble state, our weakness, and even our sin; if all this is true, then there can be no excuses for not bearing fruit in our life. And, to one extent or another, all of us are accountable to the Lord as to how we let him use us and work through us, to further his Kingdom,

The second reading reminds us For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:9-10)

For, as we have seen God is able to adapt,  and to work in wondrous and hidden ways to lift us up, even if we are humble and struggle. Given this capacity of God, we must one-day render an account to how we have responded to God’s grace and his invitation to be exulted.

On that day of judgment the expression “I couldn’t” will ring hollow, because as we have seen: “God CAN” Today’s readings remind us to be open to what God can do, often in mysterious ways, and even with the most humble things in our lives.

On this Father’s Day’s, all men who are fathers are asked to stand up and be counted; to stand up and receive a blessing. Fathers, of course, have great obligations. But as we have seen, God can do mighty things even in our imperfections and struggles.

The first thing every Father must do is turn to God and say, “If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me.” He then has the obligation to let God go to work through him and to realize that he will be held accountable if he blocks God’s grace or refuses to let God work.

My father, in his later years became something of a penitent. He had been away from the Church for more than twenty years, and returned in 1989, the year I was ordained. I know my mother and Grandmother had surely prayed for his return.

But my father never did anything halfway. When he returned he went to weekday Mass (never missed a day, even on vacation), daily rosary, daily Stations of the Cross, daily Chaplet of Divine Mercy. One day I said to him, “Wowsa Dad, that’s really high octane!” He said, “Listen son, I did a lot of sinning early on, and I’ve got some serious ground to make up!”

Yes, for all the prayers he had not said and all the masses he missed, he surely made up lost ground, and then some. And while one may argue as to the theology of grace operative in his thinking, he surely had his judgment in mind and knew that, whereas once he had blocked God’s grace from flowing through him, now he would open the floodgates and let God’s work flow through like him a mighty stream.

I know his family and this world benefited enormously from his largely hidden hours in Church and at other hours of the day. I have little doubt that I am in great debt to him for his many prayers for me, and now I render some of the debt by praying often masses for the repose of his soul and that of my mother.

In my own parish, I am calling the men to account in this year. I am summoning them to spend a year preparing, with prayer, Bible study and fellowship to make the following pledge:

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.

I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.

I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.

I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.

I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.

I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.

I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.

I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.

I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. —Joshua 24:15

This resolution comes from the movie Courageous, which I strongly recommend you see, if you have not already done so. We will gather with men from, I pray, five other parishes, study, pray and prepare, so that the men can knowingly, and with reflection. make this resolution.

Indeed, all of us, men and women will be held accountable. For even if we can’t, God can. And even if we feel too humble and insignificant, God does his greatest work with humble things and people. For us it is simply to say that we have an adaptability that God can use, and this should inspire in us an Awe-ability that joyfully acknowledges God’s often secretive and hidden power. If that be the case, then, knowing our accountability, it simply remains for us to say, “If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me!”

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Sacred Heart of Jesus

This entry was written by Sr. Mary Dolora Keating, R.S.M., Delegate for Consecrated Life, Archdiocese of Washington.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Blessed Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

I would like to present 3 points for your reflection as we participate in the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland:  1) the Theme of the Eucharistic Congress for this Solemnity; 2) Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and 3) Devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist.

The Theme

Today is the 5th Day of the Eucharist Congress in Dublin, Ireland which, as you know, has the theme of, “Communion in Suffering and in Healing.”  The daily congress theme informs both the presentation/workshops and Liturgies of each day.

In his words of Welcome at the Opening Mass, His Excellency Most Reverend Diarmud Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland said that “. . . the Church in Ireland is suffering” and that each member may, in this time of prayer at the Congress, turn to the Lord who will renew, heal, and strengthen them in their faith.  He reminded us that the graces flowing from this Sacrament would offer the members of the Catholic Church in Ireland the love, peace, hope and courage to accept their own share in suffering at this time.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,

And let the one who believes in Me drink.”  John 7:37

The mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is both gift and choice.  This gift given by Jesus Christ requires an assent of faith both to come to the Sacred Heart and then to drink of the Precious Blood pouring forth from His Pierced Heart on the cross.  Will we allow Christ and His Love to be the primary Mover in our heart?  Will we allow Him to reveal all that hinders this intimate exchange and then do all we can to protect, preserve and nourish this life of grace within us?  May all else be secondary to receiving Christ’s Love from this wondrous Fount of our Salvation!

Pope Pius XII wrote in the Encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, On Devotion to the Sacred Heart, of 1956 the following:

 “. . .it is beyond question that this devotion is an act of religion of high order; it demands of us a complete and unreserved determination to devote and consecrated ourselves to the love of the divine Redeemer, Whose wounded Heart is its living token and symbol” [P. 6].

It is a great gift that this Solemnity occurs during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland.  Through the fervent participation in this marvelous devotion, may many graces be bestowed upon the Church of Ireland.  At His General Audience on Wednesday, June 13, 2012, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, asked all members of the Church to pray for the success of the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin as he said,

“I invite you to remain spiritually united to Christians in Ireland and the world, praying for the work of the congress, that the Eucharist may always be the pulsating heart of all church life.”

 Devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist

Because the Congress Theme of this day is “Communion in Suffering and in Healing,” I will address briefly how the Blessed Sacrament is a great remedy for our hearts most in need of healing.

We often say to one another, “I will pray for you.”  This is most fitting for us to pray both for the living and deceased.  We also ask the saints’ intercession for particular needs.  It is noteworthy, however, to recall that the Blessed Sacrament is the actual Presence of God without any intermediary.  He alone can heal our every infirmity of mind, soul or spirit.

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches in Summa Theologiae, III, q. 73, art. 1, that, as in the body, it is necessary that our physical life be maintained through nourishment, so too, in the spirit, our life as adopted children of God must be nourished by the Holy Eucharist. As vegetative life needs nourishment both to be preserved and grow, so too does our spiritual life need food to sustain the life given us in Baptism and called to the perfection of growth through the Sacrament of Confirmation.

I close with the prayer to the Most Blessed Sacrament recited customarily at the North American College in Rome,

 “May the Heart of Jesus

In the Most Blessed Sacrament

Be Praised, Adored, and Loved

With Grateful Affection

At every moment

In all the Tabernacles of the world

Now, and until the end of time. 

Amen.”

We thank sister for the photos as well!

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Vive la différence – Appreciating that Men and Women are Different

On Friday evenings when I blog I often like to feature some commercial or poignant video and today is no exception. The videos at the bottom all highlight the fact that men and women are very different.

The first two videos are Verizon commercials that illustrate how men and women handle a farewell ritual. The mother and her daughter departing for college interact very emotionally, while in the second commercial the father and departing son interact very subtly, but with no less affection.

Granted, the differences are exaggerated, but exaggeration only makes sense if there is some kernel of truth in its observation. Men and women are different, and thank God.

Early in the pages of Scripture God decreed that It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable helpmate for him (Gen 2:18). And God made woman. And she is quite different from Adam and yet one with him.

The physical differences are obvious, but, in Christian and biblical anthropology, these physical differences arise from important differences in the soul. It is the soul that is the form of the body. In other words it is the qualities of the male and female soul give rise to physical differences.

This is to some, politically incorrect today, yet it remains true. It is a common modern error to be dismissive of the profound differences between the sexes. No one can deny the physical differences, but they are dismissed as surface only, of no real, deeper significance. But the truth is that our bodies are expressions of the faculties of our soul and male and female differences are far more than skin deep.

It also remains true that these differences often give rise to tensions in the marriage and the overall relationships between men and women. That men and women perceive differently, think differently, and have different emotional experiences, is just a fact and it is always healthy to recognize and accept reality.

Too often, in the modern age there has been a tendency to dismiss these deep differences as just archetypes of bygone “sexist” era. But what ends up happening is that an expectation is created that these differences will just go away when we decide to ignore them, or pretend they don’t exist. And thus resentments and anger follow, because these differences do exist. Too many marriages end in power struggles because neither spouse can accept that it was not good for them to be alone and that God gave them a spouse who, by design, is very different, so that they could be challenged and completed.

It is true, Original Sin has intensified our pain at the experience of these given differences. The Catechism links the tension surrounding these difference to the Fall of Adam and Eve:

[The] union [of husband and wife] has always been threatened by discord, a spirit of domination, infidelity, jealousy, and conflicts that can escalate into hatred and separation. This disorder can manifest itself more or less acutely, and can be more or less overcome according to the circumstances of cultures, eras, and individuals, but it does seem to have a universal character. According to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of man and woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. As a break with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the rupture of the original communion between man and woman. Their relations were distorted by mutual recriminations;their mutual attraction, the Creator’s own gift, changed into a relationship of domination and lust; and the beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth was burdened by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work. Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously disturbed. To heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need the help of the grace that God in his infinite mercy never refuses them. Without his help man and woman cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them “in the beginning.” (CCC #s 1606-1608)

In the end, it seems clear that we need to return to an appreciation of the necessity of our differences. Though our differences can be be intensified by sin, it is a fact that God made us different for a reason. These differences help spouses to complete each other. A husband should say, “My wife has some things important to teach me. I am incomplete without her.” Likewise the wife should be able to say that her husband has important things to teach her and that he somehow completes her. In this way we move beyond power struggles and what is right and wrong in every case and learn to experience that some tension is good. No tension, no change. God intends many of these differences to change and complete spouses. God calls the very difference humans he has made “suitable” partners.

And humor never hurts. So here are some videos. The first two I have already mentioned. The Third video contains the classic and wonderful comedy routine about the differences between a man’s brain and a woman’s brain. Humor is often the best of medicines to defuse some of the tensions that arise from our differences. Vive la difference!

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Living Eucharistic Lives

Written by Sr. Revelacion Castaneda

It is 10:30pm and the sun is just setting in Ireland.  Last night, as we concluded the Eucharistic Procession during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland, thousands of children, youth, adults and seniors (some even in wheelchairs and with canes) processed behind the Blessed Sacrament in the streets of Dublin for close to three hours. This public demonstration of our faith in the Real, True, and Substantial presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament follows a rich tradition the Catholic Church has had for centuries.

The International Eucharistic Congress focuses on renewing our faith in the Blessed Sacrament, “source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). “Apart from me you can do nothing,” says the Lord to His disciples the night of His betrayal (Jn 15:5). All our good works are empty—all our efforts in vain—unless our souls are filled with Christ. We will not be authentic witnesses—missionaries of the Good News—unless we draw all our strength and life from our communion with Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Out of all the seven sacraments, the Holy Eucharist is the greatest of all the sacraments because it contains Christ substantially (cf. Summa Theologiae III, 65, 3). Our lives must be Eucharistic—ones which we daily unite to the offering of Christ and which we allow His grace to transform in order that we may become more like Him. Last night, as parts of the Gospels were read and petitions were made for the Church both in Ireland and around the world, I could not help but recount of the innumerable souls who have given their lives for professing Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and imitated Him until the end.

“The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father” (Ad Gentes, 1). All our missionary efforts are aimed at union of the soul with His Creator. Communion with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament allows us to enter into this intimate relationship as long as we are in a state of grace and have rid ourselves of all the barriers of mortal sin. The life of the sacraments, especially Confession and Communion, give us the opportunity to enter more deeply into this communion with God which He Himself initiates. Our heart must grow to desire these two sacraments of grace just as our bodies seek nourishment to stay alive. Our love for Christ will grow in the proportion we know Him and spend time with Him present in the Blessed Sacrament. During this Eucharistic Congress, churches throughout Dublin (and I imagine in other parts of Ireland as well) have encouraged the faithful to participate in extended hours of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.  Today, our youth group visited St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral where Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament continues to draw in hundreds of pilgrims.

Our communion with Christ should impel us to share Him with others. The faith we have freely received in God’s Providence through other individuals must be likewise freely given by us to those who do not know Him or have grown lukewarm in their faith. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:19). Through our baptism, we have all been marked as missionaries for Christ and are called to preach the Gospel with our lives for His glory.  He promised to remain with us until “the close of the age” (most particularly manifested in the Blessed Sacrament) and assures us of the aid of the Holy Spirit in order that we may do great deeds in His name (cf. Mk 16:17).We see this reality at work in the lives of countless missionaries whose footsteps have trodden Irish soil, such as Saint Patrick, Saint Charles of Mount Argus and Saint Mary MacKillop, who through a deeper conversion to Christ Crucified were able to enflame the faith in the hearts of those whom they served.

“The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, mystery of faith and source of the new evangelization, the faith of the Church is proclaimed, celebrated and strengthened. All of the faithful are invited to participate in the Eucharist actively, fruitfully and with awareness, in order to be authentic witnesses of the Lord” (Note on Pastoral Recommendations for the Year of Faith made by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). As we approach this Year of Faith and embark on a journey of evangelization and renewal of the Catholic faith, let us beg of these great Irish saints the desire of greater union with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament among all the faithful in order that, filled with His life and grace, we may be able to bring more souls to Himself.

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Love Conquers All – A Short Meditation on the Feast of the Sacred Heart

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a feast which celebrates a love that conquers evil by the sheer acts of love and mercy. More on that in a moment.

I am afraid that, growing up as a boy and later as a young man, I found the devotion to the Sacred Heart came off as syrupy and sentimental. I hope I do not offend but I must say that some of the images of the Sacred Heart present Jesus in an almost feminized manner. His long locks of flowing blondish hair, red lips and an almost “come hither” look were bothersome to me. (For example: HERE & HERE & HERE & HERE) Such qualities look fine on a woman, but not a man.

Again, I hope this does not offend. There are surely good depictions of the Sacred Heart out there, I just think some are in bad taste, at least from my perspective as a man. I realize especially that many women do not share my view of such art.

But, beyond sentiment this a serious feast. It took time for me, growing up to understand that the devotion to the Sacred Heart was not simply to be identified with the art I saw. Yes, Jesus has a strong, manly and loving heart too, he had a courageous will to save rooted in love. He never hesitated to speak the truth in love. He loved us enough to warn us of sin, and call us to repent. He loved us enough to summon us to sacrifice and taught us that the greatest love was to lay down your life for others. He loved us unto the end, dying for us to bring us salvation, consolation and peace.

In the end it was not nails that held him to the cross but love, love for the Father, and love for us. The heart of Jesus contains not just a sentimental love, but a saving and summoning love. His heart is strong and spacious, vigorous and victorious. And his love alone is powerful enough to drive back sin and restore grace. For some reason I am mindful of the Words of Dr. Martin Luther King who sad: Darkness cannot conquer darkness, only light can do that and hatred cannot conquer hatred, only love can do that.

And his love conquers in this paradoxical way for it ends the cycle of violence by not returning violence. It ends the cycle of retribution by not paying back, but by forgiving gratuitously. It is ends the cycle of hatred by returning love in the face of hatred. For the Lord’s love stands its ground and will not be drawn into the world of hatred and revenge, will not be defined by them or succumb to their demand to act on their terms. Love conquers simply by being love.

The video you are about to see is the furthest thing from sentimental. It is from the passion of the Christ and shows the moment of Christ’s death.

But notice how, in the video, love conquers. Shortly after Christ’s death, a soldier thrusts open Christ’s side and reveals the very Heart of God. The way the movie depicts it, Christ’s love, his Holy Spirit almost explodes from his side. And this love “confuses the proud in their inmost thoughts” and “lifts up the lowly.” The Temple leaders are in confusion, the Roman guards are in flight. But Mary, John and Mary are at peace beneath the Cross of Christ. His heart has been revealed. They know his love and are at home with it.  Christ’s vigorous love makes Satan howl in frustration and defeat.

Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart. May you know the tender and powerful love of Christ.

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God Always has his "Seven Thousand." A Meditation on hope from the Story of Elijah

In the first reading at Mass today (Wednesday of Week 10), we have recounted for us one of the great prophetic actions of all time. It takes place at Mt. Carmel on the beautiful slopes overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Elijah Calls the Question – Grieved and angry that his own people had largely abandoned the Lord God, and gone over to the worship of god Baal (the god of the cruel and oppressive Queen Jezebel), Elijah called the question:

How long will you straddle between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him! (1 Kings 18:21)

Then Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, the Canaanite god, to a kind of prophetic duel. Both he and they would prepare sacrifices and see whose deity would respond. After many hours of calling on their god to no avail, and even being taunted by Elijah, the prophets of Baal were told to stand aside and watch a real God go to work. And Elijah prayed, and God sent fire from on high to consume the sacrifice:

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD–he is God! The LORD–he is God!” (1 Kings 18:39).

The passage ends darkly: Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. (1 Kings 18:40)

As you may have guessed, none of this pleased the wicked Queen Jezebel much, and she announced that Elijah must die. Elijah fled into the desert and there began to despair.

And here is where it may be of some benefit to stop a moment and ponder a possible inner struggle of Elijah, one that we all likely share from time to time. For it is too easy in times like these to fear that all are falling away, that all is lost, and that there is little hope for recovery. And even recalling the promise of the Lord that hell would not prevail over the Church (Matt. 16:18), yet still, many remembering the days of full churches and schools, seeing the increasing emptiness may wonder, “Whither the Church?”

Did Elijah struggle in this way? It would seem so. For, even as he boldly challenged the prophets of Baal he said,

I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. (1 Kings 18:22).

Whether this was literally true is dubious, as we shall see later. Yet it is Elijah’s sense that he is all but alone and that the whole of the people and even the religious leaders have all defected.

As he flees his despair deepens:

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life…. He went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep…..All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night…..

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:3-12 varia)

Thus we see Elijah’s despair and his sense of being all alone. And some among the faithful today struggle also with this to one degree or another.

But note how God answers Elijah.

Yet I have seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him. (1 Kings 19:19)

In other words, you are far from alone Elijah. I have seven thousand like you though your despairing eyes see them not!

God then says,

“Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu..” (1 Kings 19:15-18

In other words, find these seven thousand and go rebuild my people, go rebuild my Church. Now is not a time for despair, now is a time for action. Gather them, appoint leaders and I will be with you to win this battle and reestablish the faith in glory.

In speaking this way to Elijah, the Lord also speaks to us. Though all seem in decline, and losses mount, Yet God still has “seven thousand” who have not bent the knee to Baal of this present evil age, who have not departed. And from this faithful remnant he expects us to draw hope and continue our work.

Most of you who read my blog regularly know that I have often chronicled the decline in numbers and, like most, insistent on the need to evangelize. There is indeed much to be sober about when glancing at the downward trend in Mass attendance, the closing of parishes and schools and the weak faith evidenced in our culture.

But to be sober is not to be in despair. For God has accomplished revivals before, and he can and will do so again. There are any number of famous figures who pronounced the end and doom of the Church. Yet where is Caesar now, where is Napoleon, where is the Soviet Socialist Republic? And when the latest neo-gnostic, rationalist, materialist, and atheist movements of the post Cartesian West have run their course, the Church will still remain, and still be speaking of Jesus. It is for us to stay the course and for God to win through to the end.

There have been times when the “practicing” Church got very small. On Good Friday all but five had fled: Mary of Magdala, Mary Clopas, Mary Solome, Mary, Mother of Jesus and John. And there they were with Jesus. They even added a sixth that day, the repentant thief. Small, and things looked pretty grim, but still the Church at worship, looking to Christ her head.

Yes, like Elijah we can sometimes think there is little hope, that we are all but alone. But it was not so for him, and it is not so for us. God always has his “seven thousand.”

Image Credit: McNichols Icons

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Don’t miss the signs

Signs and symbols are key to Catholic spirituality and ritual.  Using John’s Gospel as a text, Archbishop Robert  LeGall, OSB, Archbishop of Toulouse, France spoke of how gestures within our liturgies and rituals open the believer up to a greater perspective, a reality that takes us beyond the gesture itself. Archbishop LeGall is one of a number of bishops who are serving as catechists at the Congress.

Symbols

Archbishop LeGall pointed out that in Greek, symbol means “to put together” and in John’s Gospel, particularly in chapters 1-12, Jesus is using gestures and signs to help people put together the concrete symbol with the deeper meaning. By way of example, he spoke of the parable of the multiplication of the loaves.  The miracle of providing enough food to feed the people gathered was not the main point. Jesus was preparing people to make the connection between he providing bread and he who would become bread. The Archbishop reminded us that indeed, Jesus later reprimanded the people for missing the point, they couldn’t get beyond the obvious and the concrete.  Jesus says “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).

To appreciate our sacraments, to grow in the spiritual life, we need to explore the signs and symbols of our faith–we need to go deeper and put together the “material and the mystical” so to speak! Another example in the talk was from John 19 in which we read “And bowing his head, he handed over the Spirit.” On first reading we understand that he died, reading this with the eyes of faith, we are invited to see in this gesture, that Jesus is also, in his death, transmitting his Spirit.

What helps us catch the signs? How do we begin to open ourselves up to a greater perspective? Not surprisingly, the Archbishop suggested full and active particpation in the liturgy and the practice of Lectio Divina which helps us to read Scripture prayerfully and to listen in a way in which we begin to see differently.

In the question and answer period that follwed, a young man asked if we also face a challenge in the reality that not only do believers need to explore the meaning of symbols,  we seem to face the same problem in secular culture as well. Some gestures and symbols go unrecognized for their deeper meaning.  Do you think this is true? How have you come to understand the symbols of our faith in a way they have brought a new perspective?

The Congress is unfolding in a really beautiful way. As we contemplate the Eucharist as the source and summit of the faith, we are doing that by focusing on its relationship to one of the other sacraments on each day. Monday was Baptism, Tuesday, through Marriage, today we celebrated Holy Orders. Thursday is Reconciliation and Friday, the Sacrament of the Sick.

(the photo is a shot of particpants enjoying lunch on the  Green and is courtesy of the Congress Press staff)