I am writing this post early on a Friday, to automatically post at my usual time. I have been staying at Bethany Beach Delaware, just north of Ocean City Maryland.
We received a mandatory evacuation order last night due to impending hurricane Irene. SO my vacation ends one day early. Alas.
This evacuation comes two days after an East Coast Earthquake that damaged the beach house where we were staying (not serious). Back in DC the earthquake damaged my parish: cracks in our newly restored frescos on the Church clerestory, and the smokestack at the school was cracked and leaning. It will have to be taken down on Friday before the high winds of the hurricane come.
Ok we’ll survive, but all this is a humility lesson. Message to humanity: you are small, the world as you know it is passing away. In fact we’re so small that we have to run when that point is made obvious. What a sight to see, all the bureaucrats and politicians, in the “most powerful city in the world” running out of buildings and standing on the street. Imagine me now, sitting in a long backup of evacuees fleeing the beach lest we be crushed or drowned by the power of swirling winds and rain.
From space a hurricane looks so beautiful, so symmetrical. But beneath its beauty terrible destruction awaits things and people in its path.
We are small, and we are contingent. And twice this week many folks on the east coast have had to run for their life. I am mindful of the words of an old hymn:
O tell of God’s might, O sing of God’s grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space,
His chariots of wrath, the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is God’s path on the wings of the storm.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail;
thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
Yes, humility should make us turn to God who alone can be said to over power the things of this world that make us run. We may be troubled that he allows such destructive things, but his wisdom does permit them.
For our pride is the most deadly thing in our life, it is our greatest enemy. Perhaps the greatest gift God can give us is the gift of humility. Trust God, our maker, defender, redeemer and friend.
Here’s a little video I put together to recall humility
Elizabeth Lent, junior at Notre Dame and parishioner from Little Flower takes us back to World Youth Day. Read about her final night at WYD.
After Benedict XVI drove through the crowd in his Popemobile, we could actually see him walk on stage. He gave an opening prayer as the youth continued its energetic cheers, again and again… “Esta es la Juventud del Papa!” A group of youth carried a life size cross across the stage while the audience quieted in reverent anticipation of the Pope’s words.
Sitting all day under the heat of the sun, we were hoping to be blessed with shade to cool ourselves and water to quench our thirst. As the vigil approached, threatening clouds appeared and youth murmured about the approaching rain storm in fear that it would soak our sleeping bags (lying out in our assigned sleeping zone).
Then it began to drizzle. The crowds erupted into cheers, not relenting in their enthusiasm for God and the spirit of Catholic youth. It continued to rain harder, and the high winds forced the Pope to take cover under the stage. The youth cheered louder and louder; they would not give up. We were all fighting against this act of the devil who was trying to prevent our celebration of faith, The Holy Father, and God the Father. Well we won. The Pope addressed the Youth, “Say a little prayer and then maybe the rain will stop.” Hail Mary’s in all languages scattered the crowd, “…Salve Regina, Madre de Dios… In minutes the rain had stopped. It was a miracle. I felt completely engulfed in God’s love.
Though the rain did start up again, this was the climax of World Youth Day.
Pope Benedict XVI prepared the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and everyone knelt in adoration of Our Lord for some time. It was powerful to see the juxtaposition of the Pope with the actual presence of God himself. We had all been cheering and praising our Pope, but God our Savior is the true omnipotent being we are honoring.
The rest of the night was spectacular. Renewed by the spirit of the youth and of Our Lord, we slept happily (though a little uncomfortably) on a sandy dirt ground among fellow believers. Waking up to a gorgeous sunrise and Mass with the Holy Father, the experience could not have ended any better. As a friend and I sprinted with our backpacks after the final blessing to the metro in order to catch our plane home, thoughts about what we had just witnessed were running through my head…
Wow, that was crazy. I just saw the Pope, like with my naked eye, no big screen needed or anything. What am I supposed to make of all this? I sure hope I make my flight… I don’t even know what to think right now, I guess I am just so overwhelmed by the amount of faithful Catholic youth out there. And we talked to so many people who were so energetic about sharing their faith. That one French girl was really geared up, so cool! I am so blessed to have been able to come here, wow, thanks God. And that rain, amazing! This will be a week I will never forget.
God bless you all and thank you so much for your prayers!
If you knew a guest was coming to your home for dinner tonight, what would you do beforehand? I imagine you’d plan a menu, go shopping, cook, clean the house, and set the table. We’d do this because if our guests arrived and we were unprepared, we would be embarrassed, to say the least, and our guests would think we were very poor hosts.
Jesus tells us today that we need to prepare for his arrival, or more specifically, his second coming. As we heard in his parable of the wise and foolish virgins, this will be a cause of celebration for some, but a time of judgment for those who are unprepared. On the one hand, this parable is a source of hope, because it speaks of the wedding banquet of Jesus to which we’ve all been invited. At the same time, it’s also a call to repentance, conversion, and amendment of life.
Perhaps we might ask ourselves the question: If we knew that Jesus were coming today, what would we do? St. Francis of Assisi was once asked that question while he was working in a garden, and he said that if he knew that Jesus were coming, he’d continue working in his garden, because he was ready to meet him. Francis was at peace, because he was prepared. Jesus calls us to prepare today, that we might live in his peace, forever.
A recent report from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicates the need for continuing sobriety among members of the Catholic Church in terms of the critical need for personal evangelization. We cannot remain unconcerned when it comes to declining numbers. More on this in minute. But first, I’d like to present excerpts from the CARA blog, written by Mark Gray. The full post can be here: Research on Catholic Replacement Matters. As always, text from the CARA post is in black, bold, italics. My remarks are plain text red.
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In a previous post, we noted that infant baptisms have been declining year-to-year…generally moving in step with the overall fertility rate, which has also been falling (more so since the recession in 2008).
We have commented many times on this blog of the declining birth rate and the problem of contraception. It would seem that the judgment of God is upon us, wherein God says, in effect, “If you don’t love life, you don’t have to have it.”
But of course, having sown in the wind, we reap the whirlwind. With declining birthrates and lower Mass attendance, what do we see, but closing parishes, schools, and overall decline in vocations (thank God there’s some small recovery in this), and the shutting down of any number of various other Catholic agencies and apostolates.
It takes new lives to sustain and grow the Church and have many ministries. We must also be serious about handing on the faith.
There is little doubt that we are in trouble on all these accounts. Due to contraception, abortion, the delay of marriage, a failure to hand on the faith, evangelize and attend Mass consistently (only 27% go on Sunday), we collectively have said to God that what he offers (life and a relationship with him rooted in faith) does not interest us. And the Lord seems to have said, “If you don’t want it, you don’t have to have it.”
Yet, of course, many, often lukewarm, Catholics still expect the Church to be there for them when it comes to having weddings, funerals and baptisms, parochial schools, food pantries and social services. So they go to knock on the rectory door of “their parish” and, surprise, it is closed. The Church is strong in her people, and when there are fewer of us, we are weaker.
In each of the past three years the number of people entering the faith (of any age) has dropped below 1 million. Since 1947, during only one other period, from 1973 to 1979, did the annual number of new U.S. Catholics number less than 1 million.
Some will be quick to blame the liturgy, others the sex abuse scandal. But CARA and other studies show little correlation to these issues.
The biggest issue is secularization. Our wider culture has become secular as never before. Back in the 1950s and before when the Church was stronger in numbers, so was the culture also more religiously observant. Most Americans were expected to have a church home and attend regularly. God was spoken of more in public settings and there was more of a sense that we were accountable, one day to God.
Secularization has swept all this aside and most Americans, Catholics included, not only consider religious observance unimportant, but even something to be dismissed and despised as many go beyond indifference to be downright hateful of religion. Many actually feel righteous as they indicate that they are “spiritual but not religious,” a rational freethinker rather than a superstitious religionist.
Straight out atheism is on the ascendancy and it has a “religious zeal” all its own. The rise of rampant even militant secularism is surely a big factor in the decline of all religious observance, not just the Catholic faith.
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Further, even among Catholics who still attend and are supportive of parish life to some extent, there are often problems with secularization. For many, the spiritual life is not their priority. Thank God they still attend Mass, but their first priorities center more around career, houses and possessions, and they are more focused on getting their children in a good college and career than handing on the faith to them.
Not only are infant baptisms in decline so are entries into the faith among children, teens, and adults. These had been steadily increasing from 1997 to 2000 and reached a historic peak of 172,581 in 2000. Then something happened….
In just one year, from 2000 to 2001, the number of these non-infant entries into the Church fell by more than 20,000 (down 12.6%). This drop predates the emergence of news of clergy sex abuse cases. In fact the number of entries into the Church increased from 2001 to 2002 when these stories emerged in the media. From 2002 the number of new non-infant entries stabilized until 2006 and 2007 where another steep decline occured.
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Here again, note the cause does not seem to be what many people quickly decide it is. It does not seem to be the sex abuse crisis for the reasons stated.
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Further, it is not the “new Mass” as some are quick to judge, for the fields were reasonably ripe through the 1990s and past the new Century mark, a period well endowed with the Novus Ordo Missae.
One may speculate as to what the Church’s current condition would be had we never changed the Mass, but the sweep of secularization and many other trends seemed already underway before liturgical changes and it is hard to imagine we would have largely escaped, changes or not.
The rather sudden collapse of Catholic numbers seems to indicate we were ill-prepared to face the cultural revolution. Further, the generation that led the sexual and cultural revolution surely had large numbers of Catholics in it who went to parochial schools in 1950s, and were raised on the Latin Mass. Something was wrong in the Church long before 1970 or even 1962.
There were more than 28,000 fewer non-infant entries into the Church in 2007 than in 2005 (down 19.2%). Since then, the decline has flattened out a bit but [the decline] still continues through to the numbers for 2010.So the numbers have stabilized, but at the lower number. It would seem we now have a “new normal” and the numbers of the 1990s and before have shifted downward.
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You and I will likely look to causes and solutions. And the temptation is to look outside ourselves and say the bishops ought to do something. Perhaps, but allow me to offer that the solution to this problem is no further than your very self, my very self.
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What would happen to the Church tomorrow if every Church-going Catholic pledged to bring one fallen away family member or friend back to communion with the Church in the next two years? Well of course our numbers would nearly double. A few of us might not be successful, but, if we really worked at it, we’d probably come close to doubling. And the Lord would surely be pleased and also reward our efforts.
The answer is not really so difficult, but it is hard work. Yet, we do not need to go to a mountaintop to get the answer. The answer is staring you in the mirror: Go make disciples. If you need to, grab a partner and work on two people together. But get started. It goes without saying that you ought to have something approaching a relationship with the Lord to be a good evangelizer. More on that next week. But for now, don’t wait to be perfect just get started.
“Stay awake!” These are Jesus’ words to us in today’s gospel, and they’re very timely at this hour of the morning!* Seriously, however, Jesus spoke them so we would live in anticipation of his coming again.
But do we do this? I can’t imagine that our first thought this morning was: “Maybe Jesus will return today!” But perhaps it should be. Because if we lived in real expectation that Jesus might appear at any time, we would probably live very different lives. I say this because we so often we don’t do today the things we can put off until tomorrow.
This tendency to procrastinate affects our spiritual life. We say things like: I’ll work on getting rid of that bad habit- tomorrow. I’ll start praying more regularly- tomorrow. I’ll apologize to that person I hurt- tomorrow. I’ll become more generous with my money- tomorrow. I’ll make my confession- tomorrow. And so on and so on. What’s worse, our “tomorrow” often becomes the next day, and then the next, until whatever it is we should have done doesn’t get done at all.
But the truth is that one day there will be no tomorrow. That’s why Jesus insists that we “stay awake”- so we don’t put off until tomorrow, the things he wants us to do today.
In our modern culture we tend to use the word “mystery” differently than the Christian antiquity to which the Church is heir. We have discussed this notion on this blog before. In this brief post I’d like to review that, and add a new insight I heard recently from Fr. Francis Martin.
As we have noted before, our modern culture tends to think of a mystery as something to be solved, and the failure to resolve it is considered a negative outcome. So, in the typical mystery novel some event, usually a crime, takes place, and it is the job of our hero to uncover cause of the problem, or the perpetrator of the crime. If he does not, he is a failure. And frankly, if word got out that, in a certain mystery movie, the mystery was not solved, there would be poor reviews and low attendance. Imagine in the series “House MD” if Dr. House routinely failed to “solve” the medical mystery. Ratings would drop rather fast.
But in the ancient Christian tradition, mystery is something to be accepted and even appreciated. Further, the attempt to solve many of the mysteries in the Christian tradition would be disrespectful, and prideful too.
Why is this so?
One reason is that the Christian understanding of mystery is slightly different that the worldly one. For the world, a mystery is something, currently hidden, that must be found and brought to light. The Christian understanding of mystery is something that is is revealed, but much of which lies hidden.
Further, in the Christian view, some, even most, of what lies hid, ought to be respected as hidden, and appreciated rather than solved. We can surely seek to gain insight into what is hidden, but, respectfully, and we dare not say we have wholly resolved or fully comprehended everyone or everything. For, even when we think we know everything, there are still greater depths beyond our sight. Thus mystery is to be appreciated and accepted rather than solved.
Perhaps an example will help. Consider your very self. You are a mystery. There is much about you that you and others know. Your physical appearance is surely revealed. There are also aspects of you personality that you and others know. But, that said, there is much more about you that others do not see. Even many aspects of your physicality lie hid. No one sees your inner organs for example. And regarding your inner life, your thoughts, memories, drives, and so forth, much of this too lies hid. Some of these things are hidden even from you. Do you really know and fully grasp every drive within you? can you really explain every aspect yourself? No, of course not. Much of you is mysterious even to you.
Now, part of the respect that I owe you is to reverence the mystery of who you are. I cannot really say, “I have you figured out.” For that fails to respect that there are deep mysteries about you caught up in the very designs of God. To reduce you to something explainable merely by words is both disrespectful to you and prideful unto myself. I may gain insights into your personality, and you into mine, but we can never say we have one another figured out.
Hence, mystery is to be both respected and even appreciated. There is something delightfully mysterious, even quirky, about every human person. At some level we ought to grow in an appreciation that every person we know has an inner dimension, partially known to us but much of which is hidden and gives each person a dignity and a mystique.
Another example of mystery is the Sacraments. Indeed, the Eastern Church calls them the “Mysteries.” They are mysteries because, while something is seen, much more is unseen, but very real. When a child is baptized, our earthly eyes see water poured and a kind of washing taking place. But much more, very real, lies hidden. For, in that moment the Child dies to his old life and rises to a new one, with all his sins forgiven. He becomes, in that moment, a member of the Body of Christ, he inherits the Kingdom, and becomes the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Spiritually dead, he is now alive, and the recipient of all of God’s graces. These things lie hidden from our early eyes, by they do in fact take place. We know this by faith. Thus there is a hidden, a mysterious dimension to what we see. What we physically see is not all there is, by a long shot. The mystery speaks to the interior dimension which, though hidden from physical sight, is very real.
So mystery in the Christian understanding is not something to get to the bottom of. Rather, mysteries are something to appreciate, something to reverence, something to humbly accept as real. Aspects of them are revealed to us, but much more is hidden.
That said, we are not remain wholly ignorant of the deeper dimensions of things either. As we journey with God, one of the gifts to be sought is that we penetrate deeper into the mysteries of who we are, who God is, the mystery of one another, the mystery of creation, Sacraments and Holy Scripture. As we grow spiritually, we gain insights into these mysteries, to be sure. But we can never say we have fully exhausted their meaning or “solved” them. There remain ever deeper meanings that we should reverence.
In the video that follows, Fr. Francis Martin develops how mystery is the interior dimension of something. In other words, what our eyes see, or other senses perceive does not exhaust the meaning of most things.
Fr. Martin gives the example of a man, Smith, who walks across the room and cordially greets Jones with a warm handshake. Jones smiles and reciprocates. OK fine, two men shaking hands, so what? But what if I tell that Smith and Jones have been enemies for years? Ah! That is significant. So the handshake has an inner dimension that, knowing it, helps us to appreciate the deeper reality of that particular handshake. To the average observer, this inner dimension lay hidden. But once we begin to have more of the mystery reveled to us, we appreciate more than the surface. But we cannot say, “Ah I have fully grasped this!” For, even here, we have grasped only some of the mystery of mercy, reconciliation, grace, and the inner lives of these two men. For mystery has a majesty all its own and we reverence it best by appreciating its ever deeper realities, caught up, finally, in the unfathomable mystery of God himself.
This video begins with an introduction and a prayer. The section where Fr. Martin speaks on mystery begins at 2:00 minutes through 4:15 minutes. You are certainly encouraged to view the whole video. In fact, this video is part of a series Fr. Martin has done on the Gospel of John. I would strongly encourage you to podcast the series and view it or listen to it. It will bless your soul. Here is the podcast site for the whole Fr. Martin Gospel of John Series: Fr. Martin Gospel of John Series.
Elizabeth Lent, junior at Notre Dame and parishioner from Little Flower takes us back to World Youth Day. Read about her experience at Cuatro Vientos.
Saturday, August 20th-Sunday, August, 21st
The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind of emotions, culminating World Youth Day 2011 in an unimaginably high spirit of enthusiasm and hope.
At 9:15 am on Saturday morning our group head out to make the 5 mile hike to Cuatro Vientos, an airport outside of town where the vigil would be held that evening. That night everyone would sleep outside and then wake up to attend mass with the Pope on Sunday morning. Carrying backpacks stuffed with our next three meals, sleeping bags and pads, we prayed the Joyful mysteries of the Holy Rosary and sang the Chaplet of Divine Mercy…For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world… We also joined in signing praise songs with other groups walking along side us. Making friends with some fellow Americans from California, we got lost with them a few times during the hike; don’t we all lose our way in life occasionally, knowing though that the Lord will always come after us like the lost sheep, just as he did through the helpful volunteers scattered all over to help direct the crowds.
Arriving at Cuatro Vientos at noon we maneuvered around masses of people all gathering to honor the Pope andreceive his words and blessing. We left our things in section D8 where we would be sleeping that evening and then proceeded to stuff our pockets with food, water, a journal, cards, and anything else we would want for the rest of the day. Next stop was to claim our seats in front of the stage where Pope Benedict XVI would lead a vigil celebration that evening and we would not return to our backpacks until 11pm. Our group, fortunate to receive tickets for the front section of seats, secured the seventh row in the second bunch of seats, front and center from the stage. As we waited for the Pope’s arrival at 7pm, the sun’s heat beat down on us but we were all just so pleased to be sitting down, it was a blessing to see how much we take for granted in our ordinary life, something so simple as a chair. We also may take advantage of how present Our Lord is to us each and every day. We may not always make us of his love for us, believing that we can do it on our own, but nothing can be done without the power and love of God.
Throughout the afternoon, several bands performed and pop culture music was played on loud speakers. It was purely fun the many times the whole community of youth stood up on our chairs, waving flags, singing, and dancing along to these songs we were all familiar with, uniting us into one body, one family. As we had these 6 hours to spare, my friend and I who are working on a documentary film about World Youth Day had a lot of time to go around and meet with youth from several countries. Asking why they came to WYD and what they believed to be the significance of the youth in the Catholic Church, we had the opportunity to interview two young adults from Ethiopia, several girls from Canada, two English guys, an Aussie, and others. At one point we talked to a brother and sister from Southern France. The sister answered our questions in French, and though we had no clue what she was saying, it was clear to see she was quite hyped up and enthusiastic about her faith. The excitement and emotion that came through in her eyes, hand motions, and tone of voice was absolutely powerful. It makes me smile now, remembering how alive this young women was. This is the spirit of the youth in the Church, the spirit that we are all hear fighting to renew in the world.
Written by: Elizabeth Lent, Junior at University of Notre Dame and parishioner at Little Flower in Bethesda
Today we celebrate the legacy of someone we know next to nothing about. You’ve heard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Perhaps we could call today the Feast of the Unknown Apostle! I’m speaking, of course, about St. Bartholomew.
We know that he’s an apostle. We know that he was born in Cana of Galilee. We know that he was first brought to Jesus by Philip, because today’s gospel tells us that. And we know that he was sometimes called Nathaniel, because today’s gospel tells us that too. Later traditions say that he traveled to India, maybe he wrote a gospel that’s now lost to us, and was martyred for the faith. But that’s about it!
But perhaps it’s a good thing we don’t know much about St. Bart. Maybe the fact that we don’t have a lengthy chronicle of his teachings and mighty deeds should remind us that as Christians, we aren’t meant to draw attention to ourselves.
Instead, we’re asked to die to self, and live for Christ;
We’re to build up God’s kingdom, not our own reputations;
It’s God’s glory we are to seek, and not our own;
Self-sacrifice, and not self-promotion, is our goal;
We are to ask: “Lord, what can I do for you?” and not, “Lord, what’s in it for me?”
History doesn’t always remember those who answered this call, but heaven is full of them. And we know that St. Bartholomew is in heaven! But at the end of the day, perhaps that’s all we really need to know.
A recent report from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicates the need for continuing sobriety among members of the Catholic Church in terms of the critical need for personal evangelization. We cannot remain unconcerned when it comes to declining numbers. More on this in minute. But first, I’d like to present excerpts from the CARA blog, written by Mark Gray. The full post can be here: 
