Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
On Saturday, I gave a presentation on Sons and Daughters of Light: A Pastoral Plan for Ministry with Young Adults at the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual Catechetical Day. Goal One of this pastoral plan is to connect young adults with Jesus Christ.
After watching this video, I realized that my prayer is that every young adult would have such a personal experience with Jesus Christ. It’s powerful.
Cardinal Newman once said, “To Read the Fathers of the Church is to become Catholic.” This is perhaps no better illustrated than By St. Ignatius of Antioch, whose feast we celebrated Saturday. He wrote very early, about 110 A.D. He also knew the Apostle John. Hence he is an important witness to the life and think of the earliest days of the Church. He wrote six letters to the Christian Communities at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna and one Letter to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. In all these letters he clearly reflects Catholic teaching and demonstrates that the current Catholic understanding of authority in the Church, the Eucharist and Church life are consistent with the ancient Apostolic Age.
In celebration of his Feast Day consider a few of his teachings and see how Catholic the early Church was. Consider also how false is the claim of some non-Catholic denominations that they have returned to the “simplicity” of the early Church and overthrown teaching that only emerged later. St. Ignatius of Antioch gives a real portrait of the early Church. His writings debunk fanciful notions of a decentralized Church devoid of significant doctrine and presents a Church that clearly defined herself and was insistent on orthodoxy and Union with the local Bishop, a Church that was centered around the Eucharist Altar of the Lord. Go with me therefore to 110 A.D. and hear the voice of Bishop Ignatius Theophorus of Antioch who wrote these letters on his way to martyrdom in Rome: (The full text of these letters is available at www.newadvent.org: HERE and HERE
I have a love/hate relationship with slogans, philosophies of life, and pithy sayings. At one level I like the way they make me think. They sort of reduce all the complicated ways we think of things to a simple thought or insight. It’s good for a moment to cut through all the noise and consider “just one thing.” But that’s also my problem with these things. In reducing everything to one thing we lose the essential nuances and the sophistication that accept that not everything fits into a nice little saying.
For example, consider the saying “All things in moderation!” Well yes, moderation is a good thing most of the time. But there is also a time to throw moderation to the winds and become passionate about things. There is a time to fight (or celebrate) with gusto. Maybe its a fight for justice, or maybe we’re called to sell everything for the “pearl of great price.” So all right, “All things in moderation,… including moderation!” Anyway I hope you get the point about sayings and slogans: enjoy with caution and careful consideration.
The following video contains a very good collection of “philosophies of life.” Many of them I have never seen before and some of them are quite good. But remember, like analogies, many of the things said in them are as untrue as they are true. Consider them as a way to make you think: what is true about this saying? What is untrue? What distinctions are necessary, especially for a Christian? So think. But don’t think so hard that you fail to enjoy. Take what you like, take what is true and leave the rest.
It is a simple historical fact that the Church has always baptised infants. Even our earliest documents speak of the practice. For example the Apostolic Tradition written about 215 A.D. has this to say:
The children shall be baptized first. All of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, or someone else from their family. (Apostolic Tradition # 21)
Scripture too confirms that infants should be baptized if you do the math. For example
People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:15-17 NIV)
So the Kingdom of God belongs to the little Children (in Greek brephe indicating little Children still held in the arms, babes). And yet elsewhere Jesus also reminds that it is necessary to be baptized in order to enter the Kingdom of God:
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5 NIV)
If the Kingdom of God belongs to little children and we are taught that we cannot inherit it without baptism then it follows that Baptizing infants is necessary and that to fail to do so is a hindering of the little children which Jesus forbade his apostles to do.
So both Tradition and Scripture affirm the practice of baptizing infants. Strange then that some among the Protestants should criticize us for this practice. Even stranger that the Baptists are usually be the ones to do so. You’d think with a name like “Baptist” they’d be more into baptism. (Truth be told, most of the other Protestant denominations do baptize infants). It is primarily Baptists and some Evangelicals who refuse the practice. They seem to water down (pardon the pun!) the fuller meaning of baptism no longer seeing it as washing away sins and conferring righteousness per se but more as a symbol of faith already received when they said the sinners prayer and accepted Christ as their savior. But what a tragic loss for them for baptism and particularly the baptism of infants says some very wonderful things about the gratuity of salvation and the goodness of God. Consider these points:
Another post too long. Forgive me dear reader. But please spread the word. Too many Catholics are waiting months, even years to have their children baptized. Precious time is lost by this laxity. Infant Baptism speaks powerfully of the love that God has for everyone he has created and of his desire to have everyone in a right and saving relationship with Him. Surely baptism alone isn’t enough. The child must be raised in the faith. It is the nature of faith that it grows by hearing and seeing. Children must have faith given at baptism but that faith must be explained and unwrapped like a precious gift for them. Don’t delay. Get started early and teach your child the faith they have receved every day.
I was looking through some old family photos recent and came upon the one to the right. I was astonished as I looked at it to discover that absolutely no one and nothing in it exist in this world any longer. My sister is blowing out the birthday candles on her 7th Birthday in 1967. She has since died (in 1991). My mother who leans over her died in 2005. My Maternal Grandmother who looks on died in 1978. My Father who took the picture died in 2007. The building in which the picture was taken (my Grandparents apartment) was demolished in 2004. The Polaroid camera is also long gone. Even the original picture that this was scanned from is now gone. Absolutely nothing and no one in this photo remain any longer in this world.
The scripture says, “We have here no lasting city.” (Heb 13:14) It also says, As for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like the flower of the field. But the wind blows and he is gone and his place never sees him again (Ps 103:15-16).
Texts like these may seem sad but they are also hauntingly beautiful. There is something sad as I look at what once was or as I walk past the vacant lot where my Grandmother’s building once stood. But I take consolation in this, that although pleasant things pass so do difficult things. The Book of Psalms says, “Weeping may endure for a night but joy will come with the morning light.” (Ps 30:5). The text above may say that we have here no lasting city but it goes on to conclude “but we are looking for the City that is to come.” (Heb 13:14). The other verse above may speak of the wind blowing and we are no more but the next verse says, “But the love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. (Ps 103:17). The world is passing but God is everlasting. For now the brief forms of this life are like shadows that appear but soon vanish. Soon enough we will journey to that place where loss is no more and joys will never end.
Consider this very consoling advice from St. Teresa of Avilla who stitches together life’s passing quality with the gift of peace:
Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you.
All things are passing.
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains all things.
Whoever possesses God lacks nothing,
God alone is sufficient.
“How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
Let me add a little something to Msgr. Pope’s Meditations on Wealth. I had a conversation with someone I consider materially wealthy. And she said literally – I hate this Gospel passage. I think I know why. Because, like the rich man, she has many possessions. And like the rich man, she is a person who tries to obey the law. So, what is wrong?
Brothers and sisters, one of the main effects of Jesus’ preaching was to reorder our priorities and redirect our desires. In the Jewish culture of the time, material wealth was seen as direct reflection of God’s favor. Throughout the Old Testament, God seemed to reward the faithful with material goods. In the Book of Job, God “blessed the work of his hands and his livestock spread throughout the land.” In the Book of Psalms, we read, “What your hands provide you will enjoy; you will be happy and prosper.” The prophet Isaiah says, “Happy the just, for it will be well with them, the fruits of their works, they will eat.”
In other words, Jewish society equated the acquisition of material wealth with the promise of redemption. And Christ said no. That is why the disciples were so amazed because Christ was telling them that the acquisition of material wealth might in fact hinder one’s ability to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is where I have heard some homilies and reflections on this Gospel go wrong. This is the part where I have been told that material things are bad. This is the part where I have been made to feel guilty because I drive a car now rather than riding a bus like when I was in college. I submit to you however, that the desire you have for fulfillment is something God built into you and I think that desire is good. I think God made desire a part of human emotion on purpose. I think that each and every day, we seek fulfillment in one form or another. But, I also think that material fulfillment is sometimes good, sometimes bad but always temporary. Let me tell you and example of that kind of fulfillment.
My mother and I are pretty huge Redskins fans. In fact, my mother, my wife and a good number of my uncles and cousins have a veritable family reunion each Sunday the Redskins are at home. Whether the team is good or bad, we are there.
Well, three years ago, we were playing that awful team from Texas. Late in the game, the score was tied and that awful team from Texas was about to kick a field goal and win the game. They kicked the ball, it was blocked, and the Redskins recovered the ball and started running the other way. Then, right when we thought the game was going into overtime, the referee called a penalty on that awful team from Texas and within 30 seconds, the Redskins were in position to kick a field goal. We kicked it and won the game. The stadium erupted. We cheered as we left our seats. We cheered as we got to the parking lot and we even cheered getting into the car. And, here I was in my thirties but I felt ten years old again and I said to my mom, “Mom, I wish this night would never end!”
Well, it did and so did that feeling of euphoria that went with it. And this is an example of how temporal wealth and temporal fulfillment is temporary. And that is OK, as long as I know it. The rich man in this gospel did not. He was seeking fulfillment. That is why he came to Christ in the first place. Redskin tickets or any other earthly possession certainly will not provide me with satisfaction every Sunday. But Christ will! In fact, if my family and I failed to go to Mass on Saturday or first thing Sunday morning, I am quite certain that Jesus would say to us, “Go sell what you have and follow me.” The danger of material wealth does not lie in the possessions themselves. Rather, it lies in the fact that material wealth, temporal power and earthly merit all tend to generate false security. Wealth tends to make us think that we have somehow earned these things on our own without God’s providence. Temporal power tempts us to ignore God and not rely on his goodness. Earthly merit tends to make us forget the true source of our sustainable joy in Christ. That is why Jesus rejects wealth, power and merit as a claim to his Kingdom.
Look carefully at the scripture; the Evangelist Mark tell us that Jesus, looking at the rich man, loved him – loved him and said to him, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.” Treasure in heaven is the same thing as everlasting fulfillment. Jesus did not reject the man because of his wealth no more than he would have accepted him because of his wealth. Jesus indentified one thing that was hindering his relationship with God; God built in us a desire for fulfillment and perhaps the rich man was literally looking for love in all the wrong places. That is why some people I consider rich don’t seem to have enough.
For me, if you have a million dollars, I wonder ‘why are you out there trying to make more?’ A million dollars would seem to be enough for me. But, for those whose eyes are not on Christ, for those who are seeking fulfillment from wealth rather than from Christ, a million dollars is not enough. For those type of people, 10 million dollars would not be enough. I think that this is at the heart of some addictions; the ultimate seeking of eternal fulfillment in temporary things. And in our attempt to make that fulfillment eternal, it ends up being damaging.
Again, it may not be money or possessions. There are plenty of materially wealthy people whose wealth is not a hindrance to their salvation. I suspect that those people are well grounded in the satisfaction of a growing relationship with God. In fact, I suspect that for most of us, it is not money or possessions. The football example I gave had very little to do with the material possession of Redskins season tickets. But, if my investment of emotion is in the time spent with my family, then the possibility of sustained fulfillment increases. It is still temporary but, it makes God smile too.
Nonetheless, the everlasting fulfillment, the kind of fulfillment that made me say to my mother, “I wish this night could last forever” can only be found Christ.
Brothers and sisters, it is indeed difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, especially if the rich man thinks he has already gained entry. We have not. But, for those of us who have chosen to faithfully follow Christ, and to shed not all material things, just those material things that are in our way, Jesus promised, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.” This is so cool because, Jesus is not really saying that you have to wait for fulfillment. We have to wait for eternal everlasting fulfillment but, genuine fulfillment, though temporary, is possible now. And by following Christ, even when he tells us to do something difficult, fulfillment can increase every day until one day, it becomes eternal.
When I take my nineteen-month-old nephew over to the holy water fount, he’ll dip his fingers in the water, make a catawampus sign of the cross, and start clapping and smiling.
My three-and-a-half-year-old nephew had recently learned the Our Father and knew that it ended in Amen, just like all prayers. But when the Our Father was recited during Liturgy of the Eucharist, he yelled “Hey, they didn’t say Amen!”
A young mother had recently shared with her five-year-old daughter the theology of transubstantiation, that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. During Mass, as the mother was returning to her pew after receiving communion, her daughter ran down the aisle to meet her and asked, “Is He inside you?” “Yes,” the mother replied. At that, the little girl knelt down to adore Jesus Christ physically present inside her mother.
It’s amazing watching young children grasp the customs and theology of our Faith. Slowly but surely they understand how we prepare for Mass, what we do at Mass, what’s taking place on the altar, and how that affects our life outside the church building.
A few years back I asked my friend’s mother how she had managed to keep her eight children in line during Mass.
“We sat in the front row. That way the kids didn’t get bored because there was always something going on. And they also didn’t dare misbehave because they were in full view of the priest and the entire congregation.”
Great idea! Obviously, until children are a certain age, they can’t control their behavior. However, once they reach that age, why not offer them an up-close-and-personal experience of the Mass? You might be surprised at how much they gain.
A man comes to Jesus in today’s Gospel and, in effect, he wants to purchase heaven. He’s also looking for a sale. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” In other words, “What does heaven cost me?” He’s a rich man and the wealthy are able to procure much of what they need:
“Just tell me the price and if it seems worth it I’ll peal off a few bills and get it for myself. After all, if I need new windows, I buy them. If the car needs service, I pay the guy. So, what does heaven cost?”
Well, says Jesus, Keep the commandments.
“Not a problem,” the wealthy man says, “I’ve been well raised and am a decent chap. I’ve got the necessary resources to cover this bill.” Any other surcharges, taxes or shipping?”
“Well actually there are other charges,” Jesus says looking at him with love, “Because, truth be told, eternal life will cost you everything you have. But fear not, you will have treasure in heaven!” And the man went away sad for his possessions were many.
So what do we learn?
Here’s one of my favorite songs. Take note of the following verses: God and God alone created all these things we call our own. From the mighty to the small the glory in them all is God’s and God’s alone….God and God alone will be the joy of our eternal home. He will be our one desire, our hearts will never tire, of God and God alone!