Will You Marry Me? --God

Vatican YouTube Website Opens

2009-01-24T21:20:00.002-06:00

I am very excited about the new site where we can see and hear the Holy Father on the Vatican YouTube site. Have some fun, see Papa, and learn you faith here.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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Christ as Husband of Church: Pope Benedict XVI

2009-01-14T13:53:00.005-06:00

Today in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall the Holy Father gave a general audience where he said this:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Continuing our catechesis on Saint Paul, we turn to the “twin” letters: Colossians and Ephesians. Similar in language, they are unique in developing the theme of Christ as “head” – kephalé – not only of the Church, but also of the entire universe. These letters assure us that Christ is above any hostile earthly power. Christ alone “loved us and gave himself up for us” (Eph 5:2), so that if we remain close to him, we need not fear any adversity. It was God’s plan to “recapitulate” all things in Jesus “through whom all things were created”, so that “by the blood of his Cross” we might be reconciled to the Father. Christ’s headship also implies that, in a certain sense, he is greater than the Church in that his dominion extends beyond her boundaries, and that the Church, rather than the entire cosmos, is referred to as the Body of Christ. These letters are also notable for the spousal image they use to describe how Christ has “won” his bride – the Church – by giving his life for her (cf. Eph 5:25). What greater sign of love could there be than this? Christ thus desires that we grow more beautiful each day through irreproachable moral conduct, “without wrinkle or defect” (Eph 5:27). By living uprightly and justly, may we bear witness to the nuptial union which has already taken place in Christ as we await its fulfilment in the wedding feast to come.

What I want to highlight here is that Jesus' bride is the Church and that each of us awaits the wedding feast to come when we get to heaven. Each of us is to become more beautiful as a bride as we strive to always do what is right and grow increasingly morally perfect. Christ is our husband, and the more we give ourselves entirely to Him, the more we look like Him and the more He bears good fruit in us by our good actions.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
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God is a Spring of Living Water

2009-01-06T13:09:00.004-06:00

I just ran across a great quote by Saint Louis de Montfort: "Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray."

This ties in well with my thoughts on the heart as the tree of life and the four rivers flowing in the garden of Eden.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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Pope's Address to Religious on 11.20.08: The Call to Marriage to Christ

2008-11-28T22:41:00.006-06:00

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the participants of the plenary assembly of the congregation for institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. Here is the first full paragraph of the body of his address:

This year the Plenary Assembly of your Congregation has focused on a topic particularly dear to me: monasticism, a forma vitae that has always been inspired by the nascent Church which was brought into being at Pentecost (Acts 2: 42-47; 4: 32-35). From the conclusions of your work that has focused especially on female monastic life useful indications can be drawn to those monks and nuns who "seek God", carrying out their vocation for the good of the whole Church. Recently too (cf. Address to the world of culture, Paris, 12 September 2008), I desired to highlight the exemplarity of monastic life in history, stressing that its aim is at the same time both simple and essential: quaerere Deum, to seek God and to seek him through Jesus Christ who has revealed him (cf. Jn 1: 18), to seek him by fixing one's gaze on the invisible realities that are eternal (cf. 2 Cor 4: 18), in the expectation of our Saviour's appearing in glory (cf. Ti 2: 13).

The form of life known as monasticism takes its inspiration from the newborn Church birthed at Pentecost. The aim of this life is seeking God through Jesus. The next paragraph from his address is my main focus; it follows here:

Christo omnino nihil praeponere [prefer nothing to Christ] (cf. Rule of Benedict 72, 11; Augustine, Enarr. in Ps 29: 9; Cyprian, Ad Fort 4). These words which the Rule of St Benedict takes from the previous tradition, clearly express the precious treasure of monastic life lived still today in both the Christian West and East. It is a pressing invitation to mould monastic life to the point of making it an evangelical memorial of the Church and, when it is authentically lived, "a reference point for all the baptized" (cf. John Paul II, Orientale lumen, n. 9). By virtue of the absolute primacy reserved for Christ, monasteries are called to be places in which room is made for the celebration of God's glory, where the mysterious but real divine presence in the world is adored and praised, where one seeks to live the new commandment of love and mutual service, thus preparing for the final "revelation of the sons of God" (Rm 8: 19). When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ, on whom this Congregation's Instruction Verbi Sponsa (13 May 1999) extensively reflected, monasticism can constitute for all the forms of religious life and consecrated life a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.

The precious treasure of monastic life is preferring nothing to Christ. “When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ…monasticism can constitute… a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.”

When men and women religious have a contemplative prayer life as a spouse of Christ, they are a witness and a reminder to all Christians of what is most important: seeking Christ and loving Him above all else. The point the pope is making here is the main point of all that I am saying in this blog: all of us are called to an intimate spousal union with Christ.

The Holy Father’s next paragraph is here:

The path pointed out by God for this quest and for this love is his Word itself, who in the books of the Sacred Scriptures, offers himself abundantly, for the reflection of men and women. The desire for God and love of his Word are therefore reciprocally nourished and bring forth in monastic life the unsupressable need for the opus Dei, the studium orationis and lectio divina, which is listening to the Word of God, accompanied by the great voices of the tradition of the Fathers and Saints, and also prayer, guided and sustained by this Word. The recent General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, celebrated in Rome last month on the theme: The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, renewing the appeal to all Christians to root their life in listening to the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture has especially invited religious communities to make the Word of God their daily food, in particular through the practice of lectio divina (cf. Elenchus praepositionum, n. 4).

The path to a deep, intimate union with Christ is through the Word of God. Our hunger for God grows and is satisfied through immersion into His Word, and we love His Word the more we desire God. We are to make the Word of God our daily food by listening to Him together with His friends, the Fathers and Saints, and through our conversation with Him.

The pope next paragraph is his concluding one. Here is a portion of it:

Let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord, the "woman of listening", who put nothing before love for the Son of God, born of her, so that she may help communities of consecrated life and, especially, monastic communities to be faithful to their vocation and mission. May monasteries always be oases of ascetic life, where fascination for the spousal union with Christ is sensed, and where the choice of the Absolute of God is enveloped in a constant atmosphere of silence and contemplation.

Here the Holy Father prays that the “woman of listening” who sacrificed all for the love of her Son may help monks and nuns, “in a constant atmosphere of silence and contempation,” forsake all else for the choice of God and the relationship of Christ as their spouse.

All of what I am saying goes back to this foundation and wellspring: that each person is made to be a spouse of Christ. This is the teaching of the Church as evidenced by this short address by our Holy Father.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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God's Jealousy and the Lukewarm

2008-11-16T22:31:00.004-06:00

Did you know that God is jealous? I thought jealousy was a bad thing, so how could God be jealous? There is a bad jealousy and a good jealousy. Jealousy comes about when a person detects that what is due to them in a relationship from another is not given. The jealousy is sinful when one makes a rash judgment and so improperly detects infidelity or when one expects more than is warranted from the relationship. An example of this would be when a guy and a gal are friends, but he really likes her than more than just friends. He might be tempted to jealousy if she starts to date another guy. Their relationship does not warrant the jealousy, but he wants to have a more exclusive relationship, and so he feels hurt that she is with another.

The good and healthy type of jealousy is when a couple are committed, especially in a marriage, and one of the spouses is not faithful. It is right and good for the other to be hurt and jealous for the exclusive love of the unfaithful spouse. Marriage is a permanent, exclusive relationship entailing the complete gift of self to the other for life, and when this is lacking, it is right for the other to cry foul and set things aright.

There are a number of passages from the Bible talking about God’s jealousy. The first two are from the book of Exodus; notice that God is jealous when the people go after false gods; He says that worshipping other gods is harlotry.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 34:13 You shall tear down their altars, and break their pillars, and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods and make your sons play the harlot after their gods.

The next passages come from Deuteronomy. Here God is not only jealous, He is also a consuming fire. The image is of a husband consumed with the fire of his love for his beloved.

Deuteronomy 4:23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

The next book in the Bible after Deuteronomy is Joshua. In that book, toward the very end, it states this:

Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.”

Two passages from the prophets come both from Zechariah, and the emphasis here is on the immensity of God’s jealousy. God is not only a little jealous:

Zechariah 1:14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.

Zechariah 8:1 And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.

God is so jealous of us because He views us as His spouse. We owe Him our perpetual and exclusive complete gift of self as one spouse to another, and He is jealous when we do not.

I was explaining a passage from the New Testament to my junior high students the other day. We were looking at God’s words to the church in Laodicea that Saint John recorded in the Book of Revelation. Speaking through the angel, God said:

Revelation 3:15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

The point I want to highlight is that it seems that Jesus would rather we were completely bad than being partly good and partly bad. That doesn’t seem to make sense. Wouldn’t He rather that we were at least somewhat good than being entirely bad? Isn’t it better to be a person who does some good but occasionally falls into sin than a person who can’t even be good at times? Isn’t the generous glutton better than the cold-hearted killer? In a juridical sense, certainly, he is. But this is not what Jesus is talking about to the church in Laodicea.

Jesus is not talking juridically so much as He is relationally. In a romantic context, we want either a “yes I am interested” or a “no I am not interested.” The one thing no one wants is the “I’m not sure if I’m interested,” or the “I really like you (as a friend).” What is even worse is someone who is interested one day but not the next. In romantic, spousal relationships, we want all or nothing.

This is the sense of Jesus’ words here. He thinks of the lukewarm as so much vomit that He can’t wait to hurl so He can feel better. He wants the church of Laodicea, and all of us, to be exclusively His, not the one who is a sometimes Christian. The rest of the message to Laodicea makes it more clear: they are the ones who are rich and do not think they need Jesus. They do not think they need to pray everyday. Jesus advises: be zealous and repent and pray: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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"The Heart" by Saint Escriva

2008-11-15T22:15:00.002-06:00

I give you thanks, my Jesus, for your decision to become perfect Man, with a Heart which loved and is most loveable; which loved unto death and suffered; which was filled with joy and sorrow; which delighted in the things of men and showed us the way to Heaven; which subjected itself heroically to duty and acted with mercy; which watched over the poor and the rich and cared for sinners and the just.

I give you thanks, my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours!

– St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, #813

Go here to read my thought on the heart.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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Sarah Palin's Pro-Life View

2008-10-11T22:22:00.002-05:00

Today in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Governor Sarah Palin spoke about her views on protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Go here to see this beautiful talk on a video from CNN.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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Scott Hahn spoke today in Minneapolis

2008-09-27T23:29:00.009-05:00

I hadn't seen Scott since the last time he spoke here in 2004; it is always a blessing to see my old professor, mentor and friend. After his two talks about the Holy Name of God, oath swearing and covenant making, taking the name of the Lord in truth and sincerity, and the Eucharist as the paramount taking of God's name, I asked him a question. I asked him why taking an oath creates sacred family bonds.

Assuming that I could follow how fast he spoke, he answered quickly. I am not sure I understood all that he said. I don't remember all the words he used, but I think I have taken away the point of what he said. In my own words and with some extrapolation, this is the essence of what he said: that God's Word is effective; it does what it says. God is love and He is Family as a Trinity of Persons so the Word He speaks is The Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. From all eternity the Father fathers the Son; from all eternity He speaks His one Word. In heaven, God has always and will always give His Word, which is the Son.

God created so that He could share His life of love with us, creatures. He elevated us to make us His very sons and daughters in the Son and to make us part of His Trinitarian family. What God is doing for all eternity in Heaven He wills to do in creation. The means for achieving this is taking the name of God, swearing an oath. When we call upon the name of the Lord and enter into a covenant with Him, we become his children and enter into His family. When we take His name and give our word, He gives His Word and draws us closer into our relationship with Him. In other words, what God always does in the ever present we call eternity, He does in time
via oath swearing and covenant making. He gives Himself and shares His Trinitarian life in time through our faithful use of taking His Holy Name in Truth.

Dr. Hahn said it with a lot fewer words and referred to a paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (I think it was 300 something). Hopefully, I haven't botched what he said too badly.

Thankfully, Scott clarified via email his answer to my question. Here you can witness firsthand just how badly I botched his answer by comparing what I wrote above to what he wrote here. Here is what he wrote to me:

First, I referred you to the hugely important paragraph, CCC 236, where we read about the inseparable bond between the "oikonomia" of what God does is history and the "theologia," which refers to Who God is, from all eternity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit); the former reveals the latter, while the latter illumines the former. Second, the eternal communion of the one God-in-three-Persons consists of two eternal processions: 1. the procession of the Son (as the Word/Logos) from the Father's act of eternal generation -- by way of intellection (i.e., the Father's eternal knowing of divine Truth, Who is the Son); and 2. the procession of the Holy Spirit from the eternal act of spiration by the Father and the Son (i.e., the Filioque) -- by way of volition (i.e., the mutual act of the Father loving the Son, and the Son imaging/returning that love to the Father -- their mutual love, Who IS the Holy Spirit). Third, what God does in salvation history, by way of the divine covenant (i.e., speaking the word of promise and then swearing the oath that binds persons-in-communion; cf. Hebrews 6:13ff. and the two "unchangeable things in which it's impossible for God to prove false" -- the promise & the oath), is thus an historical revelation of Who God, as the eternal Trinity. This is almost exactly the way that it's stated in CCC 236: what God does reveals Who God is; and conversely, Who God is illuminates what God is doing throughout salvation history (speaking the WORD of promise & binding persons in covenant communion). In sum, covenanting is what God is doing throughout the economy of salvation history -- to impart divine kinship/communion to His people -- because a Kinship/Communion is Who God eternally is... I realize, of course, that this is still very dense and difficult (I offer a slightly simpler explanation in First Comes Love). In any case, I hope this helps.

Thanks a million, Scott!

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
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Free Logos Commentary

2008-08-26T22:53:00.002-05:00

My Bible program and electronic library is offering a free commentary for a limited time. Go here to check it out. I love my Logos Bible software and electronic library.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
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Dependence on God: Walking on Water

2008-08-10T23:54:00.006-05:00

"Learn to depend on God alone and serve Him with a wholly pure and detached heart. Then you will be able to say 'I do not regret that I have given myself up to Love.'"

This was said by Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, otherwise known as Saint Edith Stein.

She also said, "It is this faith that unites us to him as the members are joined to the head and opens for us the stream of his life. And so faith in the Crucified--a living faith joined to loving surrender--is for us entrance into life and the beginning of future glory." This comes from page 123 of The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein.

God wants us to be dependent upon Him. He wants us to lovingly cling to Him. This faithful clinging unites us to Him and fills us with life. Abundant life is the fruit of a faithful, loving, complete clinging to God."

One of my main points is that the four rivers coming from one source in Genesis 2:10 is the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 2:9, and both of them represent the heart. Since what we treasure is where our heart is, if we treasure God, our heart is with God. Our heart is the center of our being and is capable of holding all that we value. Treasuring God and what pleases Him opens our deepest self to Him, and since He is existence itself and life itself, our heart is what is capable of holding Life itself. As the receptacle of Life, the heart is the tree of life. As Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross said above, "It is this faith that unites us to him...and opens for us the streams of his life.

God desires such unbounded trust from us. In today's Gospel, Matthew 14: 22-33, Jesus tells Peter after he had the faith to step out of the boat in the storm and walk on the water toward Jesus, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" He chides Peter because Peter got frightened by the strong winds as he was walking across the water, and so he started to sink. Jesus desires us not only to step out of the boat and walk across the water, He also wants us to constantly keep our eyes fixed on Him and not be disturbed by anything, even a very strong wind and storm while we are walking on the sea! How much Jesus wants us to trust Him, and how little we do.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
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"Prayer is the inner bath of love"

2008-08-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

Today is the feast day of Saint John Vianney. One thing he said was:
“Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”

It is prayer that is the means or receptacle for receiving God’s grace, God’s very life. God pours Himself out like water, and since God is love, God pours out love. The “water” of God’s life is love, and we tap into this superabundance when we pray. Indeed, it is prayer that opens our hearts more to receive the awesome graces of the sacraments. When we pray, rivers of living water flow out from our hearts because prayer is the inner bath of love. Prayer cleanses us and re-invigorates us and fills us with God’s love.

From the deepest part of our hearts, God dwells and gives Himself to us. Since He respects our free will so much, He waits deep within our heart to give Himself more fully to us. As long as we are in the state of grace, He is there abiding with us. We do not become a flowing spring of God’s love and light until we give ourselves more completely to Him and open ourselves to Him—which means we must pray each day. With daily prayer we open the “faucet” of God’s splendid shower of love. It is that infusion of God’s love which gives us the strength to do all things for love of Him.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
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"The Paradise of God is the heart of man"

2008-07-25T23:18:00.003-05:00

In the adoration chapel today I picked up a book by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori entitled, How to Converse Continually and Familiarly with God. I was actually looking for another book I had picked up last week, but then this one grabbed my attention. I read a few chapters (they were very short), and then I read the chapter “The Paradise of God.” I found a shortened version of the chapter on the Vatican website.

One of the main points of my theory is that our hearts are made for God, that God created them to be His home, that, in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life is the heart. In paradise, man’s heart is the tree of life. If Adam had trusted God in his heart and obeyed, he would have found life.

God’s paradise, that is, His Eden, is man’s heart. Eden means delight. God’s delight is our hearts. He made us so that we could be His. He does not force Himself on us. He does not show us His infinite glory, which would essentially force us to worship Him.

He humbly hides Himself and does a million different things to show us He loves us. We are His delight. If we choose, we can give ourselves to Him completely; only in doing so will we have abundant life. When we give Him our heart, it becomes the tree of life. It is through the love we have for God that we have life, that He fills us with His life.

Here is the summary passage from the Vatican site:
The Paradise of God is the heart of man
"Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum(‘My delights were to be with the children of men.’ Proverbs 8:31). The paradise of God, so to say, is the heart of man.

Does God love you? Then love you Him. (…)
Become accustomed to talking to Him face to face, familiarly, with confidence and love, as to a friend, the dearest friend you have, who loves you so much.

It is a great mistake, as we have seen, to treat God with diffidence (…) An even greater mistake is to suppose that conversing with God is nothing but tedium and bitterness.

No, it is not true. Non… habet amaritudinem conversatio illius, nec taedium convictus illius (‘Her [Wisdom’s] conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness.’ Wisdom 8:16). Ask those souls that love Him with a true love, and they will tell you that amidst the sorrows of their life they find no greater and truer relief than in conversing lovingly with God.
You are not yet required so to apply your minds as to make you forget all your business and all your pleasure.
It is only required of you that without neglecting your occupations you should act towards God as you act towards those whom you love and who love you.

Your God is always with you, indeed inside you: In ipso… vivimus, et movemur, et sumus (‘In him we live and move and be.’ Acts 17:28).
There is no doorkeeper, for whoever wishes to speak to God; indeed, it is God’s pleasure that you should talk familiarly with Him.

Speak to Him of your business, of your plans, of your sorrows, of your fears, and of all that concerns you.
Above all do it, as I have said, with confidence and with an open heart, because God is not accustomed to speak to the soul that does not speak to Him. Such a soul, being unused to dealing with Him, will not well understand His voice when He speaks.
When you desire His love, without waiting for you to approach Him, He will anticipate your desire and will make Himself present to you, bringing all those graces and remedies of which you stand in need. He is only waiting for you to speak, to show you that He is near and is ready to listen to you and to console you (…).

Our God dwells in the highest heavens, but does not disdain to pass days and nights with His faithful children, allowing them a share in His Divine consolations, any one of which surpasses all the delights and pleasures of the world. Only they who have not tried such consolations have no desire for them: Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus (‘O taste and see that the Lord is sweet.’ Psalm 33:9)."

From the “Ascetical Works” of St Alphonsus of Liguori (1696-1787).

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Out of Our Heart Flows Rivers of Living Waters

2008-07-25T00:45:00.002-05:00

The readings for Mass today (yesterday, at this time of night) were wonderful. The first reading was Jeremiah 2: 1-3, 7-8 and 10-11; here it is, and notice the marital analogy, the fruit language, and the mention of water:

“This word of the LORD came to me:  Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear!   I remember the devotion of your youth,  how you loved me as a bride,  Following me in the desert,  in a land unsown.  Sacred to the LORD was Israel,  the first fruits of his harvest;  Should any presume to partake of them,  evil would befall them, says the LORD.   When I brought you into the garden land  to eat its goodly fruits,  You entered and defiled my land,  you made my heritage loathsome.  The priests asked not,  “Where is the LORD?”  Those who dealt with the law knew me not:  the shepherds rebelled against me.  The prophets prophesied by Baal,  and went after useless idols.   Be amazed at this, O heavens,  and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.  Two evils have my people done:  they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;  They have dug themselves cisterns,  broken cisterns, that hold no water.”

At first, Jerusalem loved God as a bride loves her husband, and Israel was the first fruits of God’s harvest. God’s people went after other gods; they abandoned the true God who is the “source of living waters.” Our hearts should be turned toward the source of life and living waters and not be consumed with what is not God. Here, the heart, as the source of love, and water are connected.

The Responsorial Psalm was 36: 6-11, and again notice the emphasis on water and its connection with the heart:
R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.  O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;  your faithfulness, to the clouds.  Your justice is like the mountains of God;  your judgments, like the mighty deep.  R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.  How precious is your mercy, O God!  The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.  They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house;  from your delightful stream you give them to drink.  R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.  For with you is the fountain of life,  and in your light we see light.  Keep up your mercy toward your friends,  your just defense of the upright of heart.  R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.  

God is the fountain of life who is abounding in mercy and justice. The water language is overflowing: flowing, mighty deep, delightful stream, drink, and fountain of life. The upright of heart are they who receive this overflowing mercy from God. Here the heart motif and the water motif are joined together.

The Gospel is from Matthew 13: 10-17, and the main word in this passage is heart. Everything else is built around the word “heart” which stands in the middle and makes sense of the whole. Here is the passage:

  The disciples approached Jesus and said,  “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”  He said to them in reply,  “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven  has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.  To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;  from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  This is why I speak to them in parables, because  they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.  Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:   You shall indeed hear but not understand,  you shall indeed look but never see.  Gross is the heart of this people,  they will hardly hear with their ears,  they have closed their eyes,  lest they see with their eyes  and hear with their ears  and understand with their hearts and be converted  and I heal them.   “But blessed are your eyes, because they see,  and your ears, because they hear.  Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people  longed to see what you see but did not see it,  and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”  

Why does Jesus speak in parables? Is it so everyone can understand more easily what He is saying? Jesus says that He speaks in so that some people will not understand Him. Why don’t they understand Him? It is because their heart is “gross.” Their heart is not sensitive as it should be; it ignores and doesn’t care about what is most important. They look and hear, but nothing is registering as significant or worthy of attention. They don’t care. They don’t want to see or hear. God is boring. The things of God don’t matter. They are there more out of curiosity or some ulterior motive but not because they really care. So the little they had is taken away: they understand nothing of Jesus’ message.

To see and understand and have Jesus heal us, our heart has to turn to Him and open up and want to see and understand what He is saying. If our heart loves, trusts and obeys Him, then we will able to perceive and understand the Gospel. Those who have faith, who have love, who do obey have what it takes. They have a responsive heart, and those with such a receptive heart will be given more faith, hope and love to better love, trust and obey. The good heart will become a very rich heart. Jesus is not speaking about material riches; rather, He is speaking about having abundant faith, hope and love. Those who turn away from God, who don’t need Him, who close their hearts to Him, are not able to receive the good gifts He desires to give us. The more we open up to Him, the more He is able to fill us with every good gift.

Tying the three readings together, when we are God’s bride and open ourselves to Him completely, He is able to fill us and make us rich in faith, hope and love. When our heart turns toward Him, we drink deeply from the fountain of life and goodness, we drink deeply of Him, and so we become fully alive. When our heart is in the right place, it is connected to God who is the “source of living waters.” When we are connected to the source, out of our heart flows rivers of living waters.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI's Farewell for World Youth Day 2008

2008-07-24T01:02:00.001-05:00

On Monday, July 21, the Holy Father gave his farewell address from the international airport in Sydney, Australia. I have taken some excerpts here, and what I want to highlight again about his trip to Australia is his emphasis on the heart. Toward the beginning he said:
“To the host families in Australia and New Zealand who have made room for the young people in their homes, I am especially grateful. You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world’s youth, and on their behalf I thank you.” The families opened their hearts to give the youth a place to stay.
A little further on he said:
“As I look back over these stirring days, there are many scenes that stand out in my mind. …And without doubt, the gatherings at Barangaroo and Southern Cross were high-points of my visit. Those experiences of prayer, and our joyful celebration of the Eucharist, were an eloquent testimony to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, present and active in the hearts of our young people. World Youth Day has shown us that the Church can rejoice in the young people of today and be filled with hope for the world of tomorrow.”
In the events of World Youth Day when Benedict XVI was with the young people, he saw the Holy Spirit present and active in those young people’s hearts. That indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those young hearts is cause for rejoicing and for having hope for the future of the world.
The Holy Father ended saying:
“Dear friends, as I depart from Sydney, I ask God to look down lovingly upon this city, this country and all its inhabitants. I pray that many of their number will be inspired by Blessed Mary MacKillop’s example of compassion and service. And as I bid you farewell with deep gratitude in my heart, I say once again: May God bless the people of Australia!”

For the third time in his short address, Benedict XVI mentions the word, “heart.” This time it is in reference to his own heart and the deep thanks he has for all the events of the past few days. It is the heart which is the center of our being, it is what needs to open if we are to be generous to others, it is what needs to open if God is going to dwell within us, it is what needs to open if we are to take in what happens around us and give thanks for it. Above all else, it is our heart, and its state of spiritual health, that matters.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI's Angelus Reflection at World Youth Day 7.20.08

2008-07-21T22:46:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI gave a little meditation before the noon Angelus at World Youth Day. His reflection revolved around the angel Gabriel’s message at the Annunciation that Mary was to be the Mother of God. Mary was “utterly overwhelmed at the prospect that lay before her.” God provided for her need with the power of the Holy Spirit.

“It was the Spirit who gave her the strength and courage to respond to the Lord’s call. It was the Spirit who helped her to understand the great mystery that was to be accomplished through her. It was the Spirit who enfolded her with his love and enabled her to conceive the Son of God in her womb.”
“This scene is perhaps the pivotal moment in the history of God’s relationship with his people. During the Old Testament, God revealed himself partially, gradually, as we all do in our personal relationships. It took time for the chosen people to develop their relationship with God. The Covenant with Israel was like a period of courtship, a long engagement. Then came the definitive moment, the moment of marriage, the establishment of a new and everlasting covenant. As Mary stood before the Lord, she represented the whole of humanity. In the angel’s message, it was as if God made a marriage proposal to the human race. And in our name, Mary said yes.”

The Holy Father uses the image of marriage to describe the personal relationship between God and His people. He uses the words: courtship, engagement, marriage, marriage proposal, and yes. The New Covenant is the establishment of a marriage between God and the whole of humanity.
“In fairy tales, the story ends there, and all “live happily ever after”. In real life it is not so simple. For Mary there were many struggles ahead, as she lived out the consequences of the “yes” that she had given to the Lord. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. When Jesus was twelve years old, she experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when, for three days, the child went missing. And after his public ministry, she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death. Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude. And she was gloriously rewarded.”
Saying “yes” to God, saying “yes” that we will be His faithful spouse is only the beginning of the story. Struggles always ensue. Mary had a sword pierce her heart on a number of occasions as a consequence of saying yes to God. Yet, she always remained faithful to her personal commitment to her God, her Husband.
The Holy Father ended the Angelus reflection with these words:
“Dear young people, we too must remain faithful to the “yes” that we have given to the Lord’s offer of friendship. We know that he will never abandon us. We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit. Mary accepted the Lord’s “proposal” in our name. So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship that God has established with each one of us. She is our example and our inspiration, she intercedes for us with her Son, and with a mother’s love she shields us from harm.”

God desires to be our friend. He desires to be the most intimate of friends, for which we use the analogy of marriage between a man and a woman. Mary said “yes” to the proposal, and as such, she is our guide, example, inspiration, intercessor and mother who will bring us closer to our best friend and husband, Jesus. He will never fail us. His invitation to intimacy to me personally is the singular life-giving relationship that makes me fully alive. And that is why He came…so that we may have life and have it abundantly.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI's Homily at World Youth Day 7.20.08

2008-07-20T23:40:00.003-05:00

Today, the Holy Father celebrated Sunday Mass at World Youth Day. The first reading of the Mass was the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles when Jesus tells the apostles, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). This passage is the springboard for Pope Benedict XVI’s wonderful homily. In the second paragraph, he said:

“In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ’s Spirit and the richness of his gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people “from every nation under heaven” (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room. May the fire of God’s love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ!”

The Holy Spirit, the fire of God’s love, wants to come to fill our hearts and unite us to one another in His Church and unite us to Christ Himself. Our hearts are made for the Holy Spirit because our hearts are made for love, and the Holy Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son.

The Holy Father continues:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”. These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at today’s Mass. But they are also addressed to each of us – to all those who have received the Spirit’s gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist. At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord’s body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, “one body, one spirit in Christ”.

Notice that the pope again mentions the heart and the Spirit’s filling the hearts of those who welcome Him through the sacrament of Confirmation. At Mass, not only are the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, but each of us is made into another Christ, insofar as we give ourselves to Him to be made new.

In the next paragraph, the Holy Father explains the power of the Holy Spirit:
But what is this “power” of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life! It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21). He himself, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin May, came among us to bring us that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.
The Spirit hovered over the waters in the beginning and raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit is poured out over all humanity and is the soul of the Church and the light of the world.

Two paragraphs later, he continues the connection of the Spirit with water:
The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life! Through the grace of the Church’s sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit’s power dwelling within us. He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: “Come, come to the Father” (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).

The Holy Spirit is like an underground river drawing us always closer to the source of true life. And then he quotes the first Saint Ignatius who said that the Spirit is a fountain of living water flowing out of our hearts quietly, drawing us to the Father. Saint Ignatius was making a reference to John 7:38 when Jesus says, “Out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

The Holy Father mentions heart three more times in the next paragraph:
Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God’s grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly Father. In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive “power from on high”, enabling us to be salt and light for our world.

For God’s love to transform us, we have to be open and receive His gift, and so we must pray. We pray in the heart of the Church through the liturgy, and we pray in the quiet of our hearts where Jesus is always present and waiting for us to spend time with Him.

After asking the young people what they are going to do and what difference they are going to make, the pope said:
Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith’s rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished – not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.

The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning – the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment [sic] in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.

Again, the Holy Father uses the imagery of water with the empty cisterns. Those who have cut God our of their lives are empty deep inside; those filled with the Holy Spirit have streams of living water welling up within them. We are made for life and love, and only in them, in God, do we find fulfillment.

He continues:
The Church also needs this renewal! She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4)! In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the Body of Christ. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people. She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness. Open your hearts to that power! I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say “yes” to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!

Again he mentions the heart and giving oneself completely to Christ. In the next paragraph, he continues the analogy of water and refreshment:
In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be “sealed” with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ’s witnesses. What does it mean to receive the “seal” of the Holy Spirit? It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation. For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same! Being “baptized” in the one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God. Being “given to drink” of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lord’s plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others. Being “sealed with the Spirit” means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.

The Holy Father ended his homily with one last call for every heart to open its doors to Christ:
Through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, may this Twenty-third World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the Risen Christ and to draw every heart to him! Amen.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict's Address at the Vigil of World Youth Day, July 19,2008

2008-07-20T01:24:00.005-05:00

Today, the Holy Father spoke at the evening vigil at World Youth Day. I am providing some of his words here. What struck me are his references to the heart, God’s love, the Holy Spirit and the spring of living water. It is striking not so much that he mentioned them but that he connected them. Below are the excerpts; go here to read it in its entirety.

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY  OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI  TO SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) ON THE OCCASION  OF THE 23rd WORLD YOUTH DAY  (JULY 12 - 21, 2008)
VIGIL WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Randwick Racecourse  Saturday, 19 July 2008

Toward the beginning he said:

Friends, when reciting the Creed we state: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life”. The “Creator Spirit” is the power of God giving life to all creation and the source of new and abundant life in Christ. The Spirit sustains the Church in union with the Lord and in fidelity to the apostolic Tradition. He inspired the Sacred Scriptures and he guides God’s People into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13) In all these ways the Spirit is the “giver of life”, leading us into the very heart of God. So, the more we allow the Spirit to direct us, the more perfect will be our configuration to Christ and the deeper our immersion in the life of the Triune God.

This sharing in God’s nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4) occurs in the unfolding of the everyday moments of our lives where he is always present (cf. Bar 3:38). There are times, however, when we might be tempted to seek a certain fulfilment apart from God. Jesus himself asked the Twelve: “do you also wish to go away?” Such drifting away perhaps offers the illusion of freedom. But where does it lead? To whom would we go? For in our hearts we know that it is the Lord who has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-68). To turn away from him is only a futile attempt to escape from ourselves (cf. Saint Augustine, Confessions VIII, 7)….

The third insight – the Holy Spirit as gift – Augustine derived from meditating on a Gospel passage we all know and love: Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Here Jesus reveals himself as the giver of the living water (cf. Jn 4:10) which later is explained as the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 7:39; 1 Cor 12:13). The Spirit is “God’s gift” (Jn 4:10) - the internal spring (cf. Jn 4:14), who truly satisfies our deepest thirst and leads us to the Father. From this observation Augustine concludes that God sharing himself with us as gift is the Holy Spirit (cf. De Trinitate, 15, 18, 32). Friends, again we catch a glimpse of the Trinity at work: the Holy Spirit is God eternally giving himself; like a never-ending spring he pours forth nothing less than himself. In view of this ceaseless gift, we come to see the limitations of all that perishes, the folly of the consumerist mindset. We begin to understand why the quest for novelty leaves us unsatisfied and wanting. Are we not looking for an eternal gift? The spring that will never run dry? With the Samaritan woman, let us exclaim: give me this water that I may thirst no more! (cf. Jn 4:15).
Dear young people, we have seen that it is the Holy Spirit who brings about the wonderful communion of believers in Jesus Christ. True to his nature as giver and gift alike, he is even now working through you. Inspired by the insights of Saint Augustine: let unifying love be your measure; abiding love your challenge; self-giving love your mission!
Tomorrow, that same gift of the Spirit will be solemnly conferred upon our confirmation candidates. I shall pray: “give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence … and fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe”. These gifts of the Spirit – each of which, as Saint Francis de Sales reminds us, is a way to participate in the one love of God – are neither prizes nor rewards. They are freely given (cf. 1 Cor 12:11). And they require only one response on the part of the receiver: I accept! Here we sense something of the deep mystery of being Christian. What constitutes our faith is not primarily what we do but what we receive. After all, many generous people who are not Christian may well achieve far more than we do. Friends, do you accept being drawn into God’s Trinitarian life? Do you accept being drawn into his communion of love?....

In the end, life is not about accumulation. It is much more than success. To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God’s love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you too can transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!

The Holy Father ended with these words:

And now, as we move towards adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in stillness and expectation, I echo to you the words spoken by Blessed Mary MacKillop when she was just twenty six years old: “Believe in the whisperings of God to your heart!”. Believe in him! Believe in the power of the Spirit of Love!

I say: the Holy Spirit is the love of God which fills our hearts as a spring of living water, speaking to our hearts and giving us the strength and energy of His love to be transformed into Christ and so transform those around us. God desires to give us the Holy Spirit ever more fully as a pure, undeserved gift. All we have to do is open our hearts and accept this most wondrous gift. Come Holy Spirit!

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Fire Within--Finished

2008-06-11T22:32:00.005-05:00

I finished reading the book Fire Within by Father Thomas Dubay, S.M. I've owned the book for many years, but I only read bits and pieces of it until recently. This time I was determined to read it from cover to cover and write notes in it as I read. I plan to re-read and meditate on it to let its message soak into my brain. The biggest and most important task is to put into practice what I have learned. For me right now, what I need to do is to set time aside each day to pray and to give myself more fully to the One who loves me. When I give myself to Him more and more generously in every aspect of my life, God will give me more and more of Himself. Christianity is a relationship, a radical love relationship, with God. I just need to live it better. There is no end to how well that relationship is lived and how intimate and close one becomes to God.

I want to share a few thoughts from the first chapter of Fire Within.
"A second thing I have learned is what St. Teresa herself learned regarding the sanctity and prayer of her companions in the early years of the reform: they were saintly women, and most of them had lofty infused prayer. That combination, holiness of life and radiant contemplation, is no mere coincidence. So it is today: men and women in any vocation who live the revealed word as Thomas More (married man), John Vianney (diocesan priest) and Catherine of Siena (consecrated virgin) lived it do enjoy a profound intimacy with the Lord they serve so completely and untiringly. Life-style and prayer grow or diminish together. If people today or in any age lack mystical prayer, it is not because it has been tried and found lacking. It is the Gospel that has not been tried" (p. 9).

Two pages later it continues:

"'I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I would that it were already blazing.' How perfectly this captures the contents of this book. The radiant Image of the Father's glory has come to light a fire in us, a burning love, a consuming yearning. There is nothing lukewarm about the God of revelation. Always radical and total, never does He reduce what He expects of us to fractions. Our communion with Him is to become a blazing fire, a perpetual ecstasy. These strong words will sound strange and exaggerated only to those who have not tasted that the Lord is good. They may have studied and read, but they have not drunk deeply.

"Reflecting like mirrors the very brilliance of the Lord, we are even in this life to be 'transformed from one glory to another into the very image that we reflect--this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit'. This text, too, is an excellent summation of much of this present work, namely, the gradual but inevitable transformation of a generous person that accompanies parallel growth in depth of communion with the indwelling Trinity. They who think that fullness of contemplation is meant to be confined to an elite few do not understand the contents of Sacred Scripture. Nor do they understand the great patristic commentators (e.g., St. Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century) who join with John and Teresa in writing of this transformation (p. 11).

"'Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned upon our human imagination what things God has prepared for those who love him.' This pauline statement, astonishing however one understands it, refers not only to our final destiny in beatific vision and risen body but also to the unspeakable, indeed unimaginable, gifts God has in store on earth for totally generous lovers" (p. 11-12)

Everyone is called to this deep union with God; that, indeed, was why we were created. God made us to be His house, temple, bride and spouse. He is the Divine Bridegroom.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict XVI's Angelus Message of June 1, 2008

2008-06-10T12:09:00.003-05:00

Following is the message from the Holy Father:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this Sunday, which coincides with the beginning of June, I am pleased to recall that this month is traditionally dedicated to the Heart of Christ, symbol of the Christian faith, particularly dear to the people, to mystics and theologians because it expresses in a simple and authentic way the "good news" of love, compendium of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. Last Friday, after the Most Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the third and last feast following Eastertide. This sequence calls to mind a movement toward the centre: a movement of the spirit which God himself guides. In fact, from the infinite horizon of his love, God wished to enter into the limits of human history and the human condition. He took on a body and a heart. Thus, we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene. In my first Encyclical on the theme of love, the point of departure was exactly "contemplating the pierced side of Christ", which John speaks of in his Gospel (cf. 19: 37; Deus Caritas Est, n. 12). And this centre of faith is also the font of hope in which we have been saved, the hope that I made the object of my second Encyclical.

Every person needs a "centre" for his own life, a source of truth and goodness to draw from in the daily events, in the different situations and in the toil of daily life. Every one of us, when he/she pauses in silence, needs to feel not only his/her own heartbeat, but deeper still, the beating of a trustworthy presence, perceptible with faith's senses and yet much more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world. Therefore, I invite each one of you to renew in the month of June his/her own devotion to the Heart of Christ, also using the traditional prayer of the daily offering and keeping present the intentions I have proposed for the whole Church.

Next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the liturgy invites us to venerate the Immaculate Heart of Mary. With great confidence let us entrust ourselves to her. Once again I would like to invoke the maternal intercession of the Virgin for the populations of China and Myanmar struck by natural calamities and for those who are going through the many situations of pain, sickness, material and spiritual poverty that mark humanity's path.

My thoughts:

The center of the Catholic faith, the source of truth and goodness, and the font of our hope is the Heart of Christ. Pausing in silence, we are to sense, at a level deeper than our own heartbeat, the heartbeat of Christ Who is always with us. Our life revolves around our awareness of and meditation upon the heart of Jesus beating within us. From His heart we have light, peace, joy and truth.
Mary, the one whose heart was most in union with the Heart of Jesus, shows us the way to give ourselves totally to Him. Entrusting ourselves to this most loving of God-given mothers, we have great confidence that she will be there for us and bring us more into conformity to her divine Son.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The School Year is Over: The Plan for the Summer

2008-06-07T22:36:00.004-05:00

Now that the students have gone home for the summer and all the many tasks that I do doing the school year have for the most part come to completion, I have more time once again. I have a multitude of things I need to do this summer, but my primary task is to make significant progress in my writing once again. Actually, the most important task for me is to live out what I am saying, to put it into practice. That means I must pray and be very committed to my prayer life. That means that I must take my personal relationship with Jesus very seriously, as the most important relationship in my life. I must take a good chunk of time for prayer each day, and I must make all I do a prayer. God made me with enormous and seemingly insatiable desires; those desires are the consequence of making me to be a home, temple and spouse of Himself. I am made for God; I desire to be perfectly known and loved; I desire to be completely happy forever, and all this makes the joys of this world to be of little consequence. The joys of this world can't begin to fulfill me--they are too little. Only God can and does give me the life and joy that, in my deepest self, I desire. The Good News is that my enormous desires are made to be fulfilled and that there is hope. That hope and fulfillment is a person: Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Number Six On The Way!

2008-05-23T23:26:00.002-05:00

My wife and I recently found out that we are expecting little one number six in January. We are very blessed to be given the gift of new life again. Thanks be to God.

That reminds me of our last baby, Joseph. I have four sisters, and all within two months about a year ago, all five of us welcomed new babies into our homes. All five babies are boys. The local news here in Minneapolis picked up the story which you can watch here.

We are still waiting to hear from the others that they are on board again. We started the train this time; last time Heidi started it with the news of her pregnancy, and we all followed suit. So, sisters, who is going to join us on this one? Come on, it'll be fun.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The Culmination of Prayer: Marriage to God

2008-05-17T00:17:00.002-05:00

I was first introduced to Saint John of the Cross when I was an undergraduate in the Great Books Honors Program at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. It is from him and from Saint Teresa of Avila that I first heard that the highest point of prayer is the transforming union or mystical marriage. Knowing that this was the endpoint of prayer and the culmination of our lives here on earth, when I first started considering my theory on Genesis 1-4, I figured that it would make sense that God would have begun with that end in mind. God would have created us to be married to Him, and that would have been the case right from the beginning with our first parents. These two Doctors of Prayer teach us that the reason we were created was to be married to God. I am saying the same thing, but my argument is drawn first and foremost from Genesis 1-4, secondarily from the rest of Sacred Scripture, and all with a view of the doctrine and dogma of the Catholic Church.

That we are made to have a deep union with God, similar to a husband to his wife, is the teaching of the Church. The highpoint of Father Thomas Dubay’s book, Fire Within, is chapter ten entitled “The Transforming Summit.” The climax of chapter ten is subtitled: “Transfiguration, deification, marriage.” He begins this sections saying: “Actually, this final trait of the summit is far more than a trait. A summation of the whole, it biblically and profoundly expresses the deepest essence of contemplative culmination, the complete reason for the Incarnation and the redemption. It is the fulfillment of the divine plan for the planet. We men and women were never made simply to be men and women on a natural plane. Because God never thinks prosaic thoughts, never condones lukewarm dilutions, He had in mind nothing less than that we should be deified, that is, transfigured and oned with Him in a union beyond human words” (pgs.192-193).

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pentecost is Coming: Come Holy Spirit!

2008-05-08T00:02:00.004-05:00

The Great Feast of Pentecost is Coming. Keep Praying: Come Holy Spirit!

Today at the Pope's Wednesday general audience, he said that, "the Church is always, so to say, in a state of Pentecost. Gathered in the Cenacle, she prays incessantly to obtain ever new effusions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit ... and is not afraid to announce the Gospel to the furthest confines of the earth. This is why, faced with difficulties and divisions, Christians cannot resign themselves or give way to discouragement." The Church, in a certain way, is always in the upper room praying to God to send the Consoler. We are always asking that the Holy Spirit renews the face of the earth, starting with our own hearts. Our renewed heart is not afraid. In the face of trails and roadblocks, we are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations.

Benedict XVI continued: "This is what Christ asks of Christians: to persevere in prayer in order to keep alive the flame of faith, hope and charity...." Continuing in our daily prayer and in our hourly prayer and in our minute by minute prayer, we stay alive. Prayer is the breath of the soul. Our bodies require that we breathe rather regularly and frequently, almost daily. We only need to pray as often as we breathe.

I haven't been writing as much lately. The main point of my book and my blog is that God wants to marry each one of us. That marriage only happens through a deep and regular prayer life and radical commitment to the One we love more than anything or anyone else. And I am saying that this is for everyone. That got me thinking. I figured that I should at the very least get my own prayer life in better shape. If I am telling everyone else that they are called to deep communion with God, I should have a deeper relationship with Him myself. How can I tell everyone else that they should be doing it when I am not doing it?

I haven't stopped. I've just begun. Also, I'm not living my faith life in a totally inept manner; I would be a much bigger jerk and idiot if I were.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict XVI's Message to Young People and Seminarians Followed by My Summary and Thoughts

2008-04-25T23:09:00.004-05:00

Subtitle: “What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God.”

It was almost a week ago when the Pope spoke to young people and seminarians in New York a day before he left the U.S. I have wanted to write about it since then, but I have only just now made the time. I will provide the full text of his address, and at the end I will summarize parts of it and include my thoughts. Following is the full text as found on the Vatican website:
Address to Seminarians and Young People, St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie), New York
On Saturday 19 April 2008, the Holy Father gave the following address to the seminarians and youth gathered at St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie), New York.
Your Eminence,
Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear Young Friends,
“Proclaim the Lord Christ … and always have your answer ready for people who ask the reason for the hope that is within you” (1 Pet 3:15). With these words from the First Letter of Peter I greet each of you with heartfelt affection. I thank Cardinal Egan for his kind words of welcome and I also thank the representatives chosen from among you for their gestures of welcome. To Bishop Walsh, Rector of Saint Joseph Seminary, staff and seminarians, I offer my special greetings and gratitude.
Young friends, I am very happy to have the opportunity to speak with you. Please pass on my warm greetings to your family members and relatives, and to the teachers and staff of the various schools, colleges and universities you attend. I know that many people have worked hard to ensure that our gathering could take place. I am most grateful to them all. Also, I wish to acknowledge your singing to me Happy Birthday! Thank you for this moving gesture; I give you all an “A plus” for your German pronunciation! This evening I wish to share with you some thoughts about being disciples of Jesus Christ ─ walking in the Lord’s footsteps, our own lives become a journey of hope.
In front of you are the images of six ordinary men and women who grew up to lead extraordinary lives. The Church honors them as Venerable, Blessed, or Saint: each responded to the Lord’s call to a life of charity and each served him here, in the alleys, streets and suburbs of New York. I am struck by what a remarkably diverse group they are: poor and rich, lay men and women - one a wealthy wife and mother - priests and sisters, immigrants from afar, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior father and Algonquin mother, another a Haitian slave, and a Cuban intellectual.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, and Padre Felix Varela: any one of us could be among them, for there is no stereotype to this group, no single mold. Yet a closer look reveals that there are common elements. Inflamed with the love of Jesus, their lives became remarkable journeys of hope. For some, that meant leaving home and embarking on a pilgrim journey of thousands of miles. For each there was an act of abandonment to God, in the confidence that he is the final destination of every pilgrim. And all offered an outstretched hand of hope to those they encountered along the way, often awakening in them a life of faith. Through orphanages, schools and hospitals, by befriending the poor, the sick and the marginalized, and through the compelling witness that comes from walking humbly in the footsteps of Jesus, these six people laid open the way of faith, hope and charity to countless individuals, including perhaps your own ancestors.
And what of today? Who bears witness to the Good News of Jesus on the streets of New York, in the troubled neighborhoods of large cities, in the places where the young gather, seeking someone in whom they can trust? God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns ─ just as it did for our saints ─ through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday life: within your families, at school or college, during your recreation activities, and in your parish communities. All these places are marked by the culture in which you are growing up. As young Americans you are offered many opportunities for personal development, and you are brought up with a sense of generosity, service and fairness. Yet you do not need me to tell you that there are also difficulties: activities and mindsets which stifle hope, pathways which seem to lead to happiness and fulfillment but in fact end only in confusion and fear.
My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers; its influence grew – infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion – before it was fully recognized for the monster it was. It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good. Many of your grandparents and great-grandparents will have recounted the horror of the destruction that ensued. Indeed, some of them came to America precisely to escape such terror.
Let us thank God that today many people of your generation are able to enjoy the liberties which have arisen through the extension of democracy and respect for human rights. Let us thank God for all those who strive to ensure that you can grow up in an environment that nurtures what is beautiful, good, and true: your parents and grandparents, your teachers and priests, those civic leaders who seek what is right and just.
The power to destroy does, however, remain. To pretend otherwise would be to fool ourselves. Yet, it never triumphs; it is defeated. This is the essence of the hope that defines us as Christians; and the Church recalls this most dramatically during the Easter Triduum and celebrates it with great joy in the season of Easter! The One who shows us the way beyond death is the One who shows us how to overcome destruction and fear: thus it is Jesus who is the true teacher of life (cf. Spe Salvi, 6). His death and resurrection mean that we can say to the Father “you have restored us to life!” (Prayer after Communion, Good Friday). And so, just a few weeks ago, during the beautiful Easter Vigil liturgy, it was not from despair or fear that we cried out to God for our world, but with hope-filled confidence: dispel the darkness of our heart! dispel the darkness of our minds! (cf. Prayer at the Lighting of the Easter Candle).
What might that darkness be? What happens when people, especially the most vulnerable, encounter a clenched fist of repression or manipulation rather than a hand of hope? A first group of examples pertains to the heart. Here, the dreams and longings that young people pursue can so easily be shattered or destroyed. I am thinking of those affected by drug and substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation – especially of girls and women. While the causes of these problems are complex, all have in common a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people being treated as mere objects ─ a callousness of heart takes hold which first ignores, then ridicules, the God-given dignity of every human being. Such tragedies also point to what might have been and what could be, were there other hands – your hands – reaching out. I encourage you to invite others, especially the vulnerable and the innocent, to join you along the way of goodness and hope.
The second area of darkness – that which affects the mind – often goes unnoticed, and for this reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of truth distorts our perception of reality, and tarnishes our imagination and aspirations. I have already mentioned the many liberties which you are fortunate enough to enjoy. The fundamental importance of freedom must be rigorously safeguarded. It is no surprise then that numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda.
Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person? Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere. And in truth’s place – or better said its absence – an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a “freedom” which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others (cf. Spe Salvi, 28).
How then can we as believers help others to walk the path of freedom which brings fulfillment and lasting happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. How did their witness truly free others from the darkness of heart and mind? The answer is found in the kernel of their faith; the kernel of our faith. The Incarnation, the birth of Jesus, tells us that God does indeed find a place among us. Though the inn is full, he enters through the stable, and there are people who see his light. They recognize Herod’s dark closed world for what it is, and instead follow the bright guiding star of the night sky. And what shines forth? Here you might recall the prayer uttered on the most holy night of Easter: “Father we share in the light of your glory through your Son the light of the world … inflame us with your hope!” (Blessing of the Fire). And so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles we pass the light of Christ among us. It is “the light which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride” (Exsultet). This is Christ’s light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope – Christ’s light beckons you to be guiding stars for others, walking Christ’s way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace.
At times, however, we are tempted to close in on ourselves, to doubt the strength of Christ’s radiance, to limit the horizon of hope. Take courage! Fix your gaze on our saints. The diversity of their experience of God’s presence prompts us to discover anew the breadth and depth of Christianity. Let your imaginations soar freely along the limitless expanse of the horizons of Christian discipleship. Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth! Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of his creation, and the beauty of our Christian faith.
Dear friends, the example of the saints invites us, then, to consider four essential aspects of the treasure of our faith: personal prayer and silence, liturgical prayer, charity in action, and vocations.
What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God. That relationship is expressed in prayer. God by his very nature speaks, hears, and replies. Indeed, Saint Paul reminds us: we can and should “pray constantly” (1 Thess 5:17). Far from turning in on ourselves or withdrawing from the ups and downs of life, by praying we turn towards God and through him to each other, including the marginalized and those following ways other than God’s path (cf. Spe Salvi, 33). As the saints teach us so vividly, prayer becomes hope in action. Christ was their constant companion, with whom they conversed at every step of their journey for others.
There is another aspect of prayer which we need to remember: silent contemplation. Saint John, for example, tells us that to embrace God’s revelation we must first listen, then respond by proclaiming what we have heard and seen (cf. 1 Jn 1:2-3; Dei Verbum, 1). Have we perhaps lost something of the art of listening? Do you leave space to hear God’s whisper, calling you forth into goodness? Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness, listen to God, adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your journey as an unfolding of holiness.
In the liturgy we find the whole Church at prayer. The word liturgy means the participation of God’s people in “the work of Christ the Priest and of His Body which is the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). What is that work? First of all it refers to Christ’s Passion, his Death and Resurrection, and his Ascension – what we call the Paschal Mystery. It also refers to the celebration of the liturgy itself. The two meanings are in fact inseparably linked because this “work of Jesus” is the real content of the liturgy. Through the liturgy, the “work of Jesus” is continually brought into contact with history; with our lives in order to shape them. Here we catch another glimpse of the grandeur of our Christian faith. Whenever you gather for Mass, when you go to Confession, whenever you celebrate any of the sacraments, Jesus is at work. Through the Holy Spirit, he draws you to himself, into his sacrificial love of the Father which becomes love for all. We see then that the Church’s liturgy is a ministry of hope for humanity. Your faithful participation, is an active hope which helps to keep the world – saints and sinners alike – open to God; this is the truly human hope we offer everyone (cf. Spe Salvi, 34).
Your personal prayer, your times of silent contemplation, and your participation in the Church’s liturgy, bring you closer to God and also prepare you to serve others. The saints accompanying us this evening show us that the life of faith and hope is also a life of charity. Contemplating Jesus on the Cross we see love in its most radical form. We can begin to imagine the path of love along which we must move (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 12). The opportunities to make this journey are abundant. Look about you with Christ’s eyes, listen with his ears, feel and think with his heart and mind. Are you ready to give all as he did for truth and justice? Many of the examples of the suffering which our saints responded to with compassion are still found here in this city and beyond. And new injustices have arisen: some are complex and stem from the exploitation of the heart and manipulation of the mind; even our common habitat, the earth itself, groans under the weight of consumerist greed and irresponsible exploitation. We must listen deeply. We must respond with a renewed social action that stems from the universal love that knows no bounds. In this way, we ensure that our works of mercy and justice become hope in action for others.
Dear young people, finally I wish to share a word about vocations. First of all my thoughts go to your parents, grandparents and godparents. They have been your primary educators in the faith. By presenting you for baptism, they made it possible for you to receive the greatest gift of your life. On that day you entered into the holiness of God himself. You became adoptive sons and daughters of the Father. You were incorporated into Christ. You were made a dwelling place of his Spirit. Let us pray for mothers and fathers throughout the world, particularly those who may be struggling in any way – socially, materially, spiritually. Let us honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life. Let us always appreciate that it is in families that vocations are given life.
Gathered here at Saint Joseph Seminary, I greet the seminarians present and indeed encourage all seminarians throughout America. I am glad to know that your numbers are increasing! The People of God look to you to be holy priests, on a daily journey of conversion, inspiring in others the desire to enter more deeply into the ecclesial life of believers. I urge you to deepen your friendship with Jesus the Good Shepherd. Talk heart to heart with him. Reject any temptation to ostentation, careerism, or conceit. Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the Eternal High Priest, of whom you are to become living icons (cf. Pastores Dabo Vobis, 33). Dear seminarians, I pray for you daily. Remember that what counts before the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others.
Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests contribute greatly to the mission of the Church. Their prophetic witness is marked by a profound conviction of the primacy with which the Gospel shapes Christian life and transforms society. Today, I wish to draw your attention to the positive spiritual renewal which Congregations are undertaking in relation to their charism. The word charism means a gift freely and graciously given. Charisms are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, who inspires founders and foundresses, and shapes Congregations with a subsequent spiritual heritage. The wondrous array of charisms proper to each Religious Institute is an extraordinary spiritual treasury. Indeed, the history of the Church is perhaps most beautifully portrayed through the history of her schools of spirituality, most of which stem from the saintly lives of founders and foundresses. Through the discovery of charisms, which yield such a breadth of spiritual wisdom, I am sure that some of you young people will be drawn to a life of apostolic or contemplative service. Do not be shy to speak with Religious Brothers, Sisters or Priests about the charism and spirituality of their Congregation. No perfect community exists, but it is fidelity to a founding charism, not to particular individuals, that the Lord calls you to discern. Have courage! You too can make your life a gift of self for the love of the Lord Jesus and, in him, of every member of the human family (cf. Vita Consecrata, 3).
Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free. With these sentiments of great hope in you I bid you farewell, until we meet again in Sydney this July for World Youth Day! And as a pledge of my love for you and your families, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing.

Following is my summary and my thoughts:

The Holy Father’s main theme is being disciples of Jesus Christ and that when we walk in the Lord’s footsteps our own lives become a journey of hope. He then tells of the “six ordinary men and women who grew up to lead extraordinary lives.” These six were very different, and yet they did have something in common: “Inflamed with the love of Jesus, their lives became remarkable journeys of hope….For each there was an act of abandonment to God….”

People today are looking for someone they can trust. How do we bear witness to the One to be trusted? “God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey twists and turns ─ just as it did for our saints ─ through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday life: within your families, at school or college, during your recreation activities, and in your parish communities.” That is the second time the word “ordinary” was used by the Pope in this document; only one paragraph separated the two usages. We bear witness to Jesus in faithfully living our ordinary life.

Our country has wonderful opportunities, and we tend to have a strong sense of generosity, service and justice. Yet there is a common mindset among many that promises to lead to happiness but only results “in confusion and fear.” This darkness overtakes both our hearts and minds. Our hearts are darkened by such things as “drug and substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation – especially of girls and women.” These, too, are different realities, and yet they “all have in common a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people being treated as mere objects ─ a callousness of heart takes hold which first ignores, then ridicules, the God-given dignity of every human being.” Our hearts are darkened when we treat ourselves or others as an object for our use or pleasure.

Darkness also burdens our minds; this entire paragraph is worth repeating: “The second area of darkness – that which affects the mind – often goes unnoticed, and for this reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of truth distorts our perception of reality, and tarnishes our imagination and aspirations. I have already mentioned the many liberties which you are fortunate enough to enjoy. The fundamental importance of freedom must be rigorously safeguarded. It is no surprise then that numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda.”

Freedom is a delicate reality, very easily misunderstood and misused. We over-exalt freedom and worship it above all other realities, even that of the truth. “Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere.” Truth causes divisions and makes judgments, and what is seen as most important is freedom and not infringing on anyone else’s ideas. This steroid-laden freedom exalts the individual and each individual’s beliefs, making everyone’s views equally valid and important. We are not allowed to judge ideas or beliefs; there is no absolute truth; each of us has to create our own truth for ourselves: “This we call relativism.” Truth is the enemy. Freedom is the liberator.

That sort of freedom is a deep darkness leading to a lifeless despair. “Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others (cf. Spe Salvi, 28).” Jesus is the Truth, and we are truly free when we abandon ourselves into His hands and follow His footsteps. With a paragraph in between, the Holy Father restates this point: “Sometimes we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth! Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of his creation, and the beauty of our Christian faith.” True Christians are truly free and freely seek the truth because they are in love with the Truth. We are in love with Jesus.

The majority of the remainder of this address is focused on “four essential aspects of the treasure of our faith: personal prayer and silence, liturgical prayer, charity in action, and vocations.” The very next sentence is: “What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God.” What a great sentence. Silent contemplation is essential to develop this relationship with God and gives us space to hear His whisper. Liturgical, sacramental prayer, especially the Mass and Confession, are the sources of abundant grace wherein the Holy Spirit “draws you to himself, into his sacrificial love of the Father which becomes love for all.”

Flowing out of our deep love of Christ deepened and nourished by our personal prayer, silent contemplation, and liturgical and sacramental life, we are prepared and moved to serve others and live a life of charity. This practical laying down of our lives for others in service and sacrifice, leads to vocations. Each person’s vocation is the particular way God has called an individual to lay down his life, to love, trust and obey God, and to be a person for others. “Let us honor the vocation of matrimony and the dignity of family life. Let us always appreciate that it is in families that vocations are given life….I urge you to deepen your friendship with Jesus the Good Shepherd. Talk heart to heart with him….Remember that what counts before the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others.”

Skipping a paragraph on religious life, I move on, finally, to the Holy Father’s concluding paragraph. This paragraph is worth repeating as well and marks a fine end to this rather long summary of his address: “Friends, again I ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find the courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today. Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free. With these sentiments of great hope in you I bid you farewell, until we meet again in Sydney this July for World Youth Day! And as a pledge of my love for you and your families, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing.”

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict XVI's Message to Catholic Educators and My Thoughts

2008-04-17T23:24:00.006-05:00

I will include the full text of the Holy Father given today at the Catholic University of America, and then I will make some comments. (Check out my own philosophy of Catholic Education.) Here is the full text which is rather long:

Address of Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic Educators of the United States
Thursday 17 April 2008, Catholic University of America
Your Eminences, Dear Brother Bishops, Distinguished Professors, Teachers and Educators,
"How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news" (Rom 10:15-17). With these words of Isaiah quoted by Saint Paul, I warmly greet each of you - bearers of wisdom - and through you the staff, students and families of the many and varied institutions of learning that you represent. It is my great pleasure to meet you and to share with you some thoughts regarding the nature and identity of Catholic education today. I especially wish to thank Father David O'Connell, President and Rector of the Catholic University of America. Your kind words of welcome are much appreciated. Please extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire community - faculty, staff and students - of this University.
Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth (cf. Spe Salvi, 4). This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord's disciples, the Church.
The dynamic between personal encounter, knowledge and Christian witness is integral to the diakonia of truth which the Church exercises in the midst of humanity. God's revelation offers every generation the opportunity to discover the ultimate truth about its own life and the goal of history. This task is never easy; it involves the entire Christian community and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God's truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve. In this way, Christ's Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth which, in transcending the particular and the subjective, points to the universal and absolute that enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Set against personal struggles, moral confusion and fragmentation of knowledge, the noble goals of scholarship and education, founded on the unity of truth and in service of the person and the community, become an especially powerful instrument of hope.
Dear friends, the history of this nation includes many examples of the Church's commitment in this regard. The Catholic community here has in fact made education one of its highest priorities. This undertaking has not come without great sacrifice. Towering figures, like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and other founders and foundresses, with great tenacity and foresight, laid the foundations of what is today a remarkable network of parochial schools contributing to the spiritual well-being of the Church and the nation. Some, like Saint Katharine Drexel, devoted their lives to educating those whom others had neglected - in her case, African Americans and Native Americans. Countless dedicated Religious Sisters, Brothers, and Priests together with selfless parents have, through Catholic schools, helped generations of immigrants to rise from poverty and take their place in mainstream society.
This sacrifice continues today. It is an outstanding apostolate of hope, seeking to address the material, intellectual and spiritual needs of over three million children and students. It also provides a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to contribute generously to the financial needs of our institutions. Their long-term sustainability must be assured. Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.
Some today question the Church's involvement in education, wondering whether her resources might be better placed elsewhere. Certainly in a nation such as this, the State provides ample opportunities for education and attracts committed and generous men and women to this honorable profession. It is timely, then, to reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions. How do they contribute to the good of society through the Church's primary mission of evangelization?
All the Church's activities stem from her awareness that she is the bearer of a message which has its origin in God himself: in his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal himself and to make known the hidden purpose of his will (cf. Eph 1:9; Dei Verbum, 2). God's desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 31). It can be described as a move from "I" to "we", leading the individual to be numbered among God's people.
This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? - vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.
From this perspective one can recognize that the contemporary "crisis of truth" is rooted in a "crisis of faith". Only through faith can we freely give our assent to God's testimony and acknowledge him as the transcendent guarantor of the truth he reveals. Again, we see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning. Yet we all know, and observe with concern, the difficulty or reluctance many people have today in entrusting themselves to God. It is a complex phenomenon and one which I ponder continually. While we have sought diligently to engage the intellect of our young, perhaps we have neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with distress, the notion of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in - a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand ourselves. A particular responsibility therefore for each of you, and your colleagues, is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of faith, encouraging them to commit themselves to the ecclesial life that follows from this belief. It is here that freedom reaches the certainty of truth. In choosing to live by that truth, we embrace the fullness of the life of faith which is given to us in the Church.
Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe Salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God's active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ's "being for others" (cf. ibid., 28).
The Church's primary mission of evangelization, in which educational institutions play a crucial role, is consonant with a nation's fundamental aspiration to develop a society truly worthy of the human person's dignity. At times, however, the value of the Church's contribution to the public forum is questioned. It is important therefore to recall that the truths of faith and of reason never contradict one another (cf. First Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, IV: DS 3017; St. Augustine, Contra Academicos, III, 20, 43). The Church's mission, in fact, involves her in humanity's struggle to arrive at truth. In articulating revealed truth she serves all members of society by purifying reason, ensuring that it remains open to the consideration of ultimate truths. Drawing upon divine wisdom, she sheds light on the foundation of human morality and ethics, and reminds all groups in society that it is not praxis that creates truth but truth that should serve as the basis of praxis. Far from undermining the tolerance of legitimate diversity, such a contribution illuminates the very truth which makes consensus attainable, and helps to keep public debate rational, honest and accountable. Similarly the Church never tires of upholding the essential moral categories of right and wrong, without which hope could only wither, giving way to cold pragmatic calculations of utility which render the person little more than a pawn on some ideological chess-board.
With regard to the educational forum, the diakonia of truth takes on a heightened significance in societies where secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth and faith. This division has led to a tendency to equate truth with knowledge and to adopt a positivistic mentality which, in rejecting metaphysics, denies the foundations of faith and rejects the need for a moral vision. Truth means more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good. Truth speaks to the individual in his or her the entirety, inviting us to respond with our whole being. This optimistic vision is found in our Christian faith because such faith has been granted the vision of the Logos, God's creative Reason, which in the Incarnation, is revealed as Goodness itself. Far from being just a communication of factual data - "informative" - the loving truth of the Gospel is creative and life-changing - "performative" (cf. Spe Salvi, 2). With confidence, Christian educators can liberate the young from the limits of positivism and awaken receptivity to the truth, to God and his goodness. In this way you will also help to form their conscience which, enriched by faith, opens a sure path to inner peace and to respect for others.
It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon you a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people - parents in particular - recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of their children. As Mater et Magistra, the Church shares their concern. When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual's immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
How might Christian educators respond? These harmful developments point to the particular urgency of what we might call "intellectual charity". This aspect of charity calls the educator to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love. Indeed, the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated. In practice "intellectual charity" upholds the essential unity of knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do. Here they will experience "in what" and "in whom" it is possible to hope, and be inspired to contribute to society in a way that engenders hope in others.
Dear friends, I wish to conclude by focusing our attention specifically on the paramount importance of your own professionalism and witness within our Catholic universities and schools. First, let me thank you for your dedication and generosity. I know from my own days as a professor, and I have heard from your Bishops and officials of the Congregation for Catholic Education, that the reputation of Catholic institutes of learning in this country is largely due to yourselves and your predecessors. Your selfless contributions - from outstanding research to the dedication of those working in inner-city schools - serve both your country and the Church. For this I express my profound gratitude.
In regard to faculty members at Catholic colleges universities, I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church's munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.
I wish also to express a particular word of encouragement to both lay and Religious teachers of catechesis who strive to ensure that young people become daily more appreciative of the gift of faith. Religious education is a challenging apostolate, yet there are many signs of a desire among young people to learn about the faith and practice it with vigor. If this awakening is to grow, teachers require a clear and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education. They must also be ready to lead the commitment made by the entire school community to assist our young people, and their families, to experience the harmony between faith, life and culture.
Here I wish to make a special appeal to Religious Brothers, Sisters and Priests: do not abandon the school apostolate; indeed, renew your commitment to schools especially those in poorer areas. In places where there are many hollow promises which lure young people away from the path of truth and genuine freedom, the consecrated person's witness to the evangelical counsels is an irreplaceable gift. I encourage the Religious present to bring renewed enthusiasm to the promotion of vocations. Know that your witness to the ideal of consecration and mission among the young is a source of great inspiration in faith for them and their families.
To all of you I say: bear witness to hope. Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy. With Saint Augustine, let us say: "we who speak and you who listen acknowledge ourselves as fellow disciples of a single teacher" (Sermons, 23:2). With these sentiments of communion, I gladly impart to you, your colleagues and students, and to your families, my Apostolic Blessing.

My thoughts and summary of the Holy Father, and I am looking at it primarily as a teacher and what I need to do as a teacher based on his message:

One point is that since "The Church's primary mission [is] evangelization," and since "educational institutions play a crucial role" in evangelization, "Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News." Then, if a Catholic school is really an institution strongly concerned with evangelization, it would follow that, "Christian educators...ensure that the power of God's truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve." We are not talking just about religion class here, and we are not talking about a little decoration on the side; we are talking about everything and about something of a saturation.

If a teacher himself is not permeated and saturated with Catholicism, it is impossible to have all dimensions of the school be so. I cannot give away what I do not possess myself. That is why the Pope concludes his message with these words: "Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy." It is because we pray and encounter Jesus and love Him that we are able to share that with our students.

It is for this reason that he can say, "We see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning." If teachers and administrators have a deep intimacy with Jesus, which is what Catholicism is all about, then they will be able to participate in the evangelizing mission of the Church. This is what makes a Catholic school Catholic. "Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith." It is not about getting the Catholic thing "down," so to speak, or having good Catholic curriculum, but it has to do with each staff person being filled with the faith of the Church.

In another place the Holy Father puts it this way: "A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold." Do we really believe in Jesus, do we really commit our whole self to God, do we fully accept all that Christ reveals in the teachings of the Church, and do we whole-heartedly express our faith in all we do in the school so that that faith is palpable? This is what makes a school Catholic.

Yet another time the Holy Father says the same thing: "Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual."

No teacher or administrator can do this without a deep prayer life and personal love of Jesus Christ and His Church.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

My Philosophy of Catholic Education

2008-04-14T00:25:00.001-05:00

I wrote this paper shortly before graduating with my undergraduate degree from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 1993. I wrote this for my "Catholic Philosophy of Education" course, which cross-listed as either theology or education.
I found this on my old Mac, and it took some fancy work to bring it back to life in a Word document. For this blog, however, the footnotes did not follow very well, so I stuck them at the end of each page. I will add numbers so it is easier to figure out which footnote belongs to which quote, but the numbers will not be in superscript.
This is the first time that I have looked at this paper since 1993, fifteen years ago.

Also check out my thoughts on what Benedict XVI said about Catholic education when he visited the U.S. recently.

My Personal Philosophy of Catholic Education

We are in the midst of war, a spiritual war for souls.1 It is essential to educate and arm the members of Christ’s Church, especially our children. In today’s world the obstacles placed against forming strong characters in our children are particularly fierce, pervasive and ruthless; therefore, “the Church is prompted to mobilize her educational resources in the face of the materialism, pragmatism and technocracy of contemporary society.”2 We must do whatever it takes to fully present Christ and His Church to our children and our children to Christ and His Church.

The Essence of a Distinctly Catholic Education

“The proper and immediate end of Christian education is to co-operate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect Christian, that is, to form Christ Himself in those regenerated by baptism....”3 It is essential to keep before our eyes the end of education in a distinctly Catholic manner--forming Jesus Christ in our children. The end and corner stone of the Catholic school is Christ; it is built on Him and He is its completion, goal, and prize.
“In fact, since education consists essentially in preparing man for what he must be and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created, it is clear that there can be no true education which is not wholly directed to man’s last end, and that...there can be no ideally perfect education which is not Christian education.”4 A distinctly Catholic education must have Christ as its corner stone and end. Losing sight of, ignoring, or being antagonistic toward Christ as the end and foundation of education is in no sense Catholic. I seek an ideally perfect (but not impossible) education which, by enabling students to live holy lives in the know-ledge and wisdom of God, will help them along the steep and narrow path of becoming sons in the Son, of becoming more fully “partakers of the divine nature,”5 of becoming mature “children of God,"6 of becoming other Christ's spreading His light and love.
The Catholic school is a family, a small body of the Body. As the Catholic Church’s life is centered on the Eucharist, so is this family. Out of the Eucharistic celebration flow the life of our community in unity, and, as such, serves not only as a superabundant source of grace, but also as the inspiration, encouragement and primary teacher of the life of Christ lived in His Body the Church. We need to comprehend and utilize the reality that “The liturgy is one of the most powerful educational instruments at the disposal of the Church.”7

1 See Ephesians 6:10-20.
2 The Catholic School, The Congregation of Catholic Education; Daughters of Saint Paul, Boston MA, 1977; p. 7.
3 Christian Education of Youth, Pope Pius XI; Daughters of Saint Paul, Boston MA, 1983; pgs. 50-51.
4 Ibid, p. 6.
5 2 Peter 2:4
6 1 John 3:1
7 To Teach as Jesus Did: A Pastoral Message on Catholic Education; National Conference of Catholic Bishops; November 1972; #45.

Because the Catholic school “is a genuine community bent on imparting, over and above an academic education, all the help it can to its members to adopt a Christian way of life,”8 “The school must be a community whose values are communicated through the interpersonal and sincere relationships of its members and through both individual and corporate adherence to the outlook on life that permeates the school.”9 The common outlook on life is the life of Christ as set down by the teachings of the Catholic Church, His one and only Body. Catholicism is the very blood in the body of the Catholic school; it is the food we eat; it is the very air we breathe. The Catholic school, wholly given over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, is, first and foremost, a community of believers living in Christ, living out Christ, living through Christ, and living for Christ.
The Catholic school is not a place for non or anti-religious “objective instruction.” Nor is religion simply an isolated class taken in isolated moments throughout the week. I firmly believe that, “It is necessary not only that religious instruction be given to the young at certain fixed times, but also that every other subject taught, be permeated with Christian piety. If this is wanting, if this sacred atmosphere does not pervade and warm the hearts of masters and scholars alike, little good can be expected from any kind of learning, and considerable harm will often be the consequence.”10 Knowledge tends to puff-up and pervert when it is not received in an atmosphere drenched in righteousness. The fire of Christian love is the focal-point and life of the entire school: students, teachers, religion, science, history, English, sports, plays, free time, lunch time--all are burning with this love. There are no exceptions.
This saturation of love and piety is needed and essential to the Catholic school. Within this distinct atmosphere, “Disorderly inclinations then must be corrected, good tendencies encouraged and regulated from tender childhood, and above all the mind must be enlightened and the will strengthened by supernatural truth and by means of grace, without which it is impossible to attain to the full and complete perfection of education intended by the Church, which Christ has endowed so richly with divine doctrine and with the Sacraments, the efficacious means of grace.”11 The Catholic school seeks the total perfection of education, the increase of the Christian spirit, in the fruitful bosom of Holy Mother Church.
I do not seek to develop minds filled only with facts, figures and dates. It is essential that students develop the ability to think for themselves; “For the sole true end of education is simple this: to teach men how to learn for themselves: and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.”12 In a Christian atmosphere students will learn how to think for themselves within the fullness of truth; they will have, “the search for truth, and the certainty of already knowing the fount of truth.”13 They will have boundaries and guidance14 within which they will have the freedom to develop and strengthen their mind, to increase self-control, and to be inflamed in love. Further, they will take the knowledge they have acquired and embrace it as their own, living it out, meditating on it day and night, developing it further, all of which sets them free to fully be the mature children God desires.

8 The Catholic School, p. 26.
9 Ibid, p. 15.
10 Christian Education of Youth, p. 44.
11 Ibid, p. 33.
12 Lost Tools of Learning, Dorothy L. Sayers; “Journal of Christian Reconstruction”; p. 16.
13 John Paul II, Discourse to the “Institute Catholique de Paris,” June 1, 1980: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, Vol. VII 1 (1980), p. 1581.
14 See Orthodoxy, especially chapter IX, “Authority and the Adventurer,” G.K. Chesterton.

The Proper Responsibility and Role of the Catholic Teacher

“Teachers must remember that it depends chiefly on them whether the Catholic school achieves its purpose.”15 For, “The extent to which the Christian message is transmitted through education depends to a very great extent on the teachers.”16 It is primarily the teachers themselves who influence and instruct their students in a school. They are the ones who help, “to form human persons.”17 Thus, “The teacher can form the mind and heart of his pupils and guide them to develop a total commitment to Christ, with their whole personality enriched by human culture.”18 It is the teachers who are in direct contact with the students, and thus, it is the teachers who are imparted with the joy and responsibility of teaching students the truth, and drawing them deeper into Christ and His Church. The teacher must lead and direct, not follow, his students, or he will deform them into “infantile followers of false leaders”19 unable to consider the truth or know the way of the Catholic life.
“The fundamental aim of teaching is...a personal integration of faith and life,”20 because one cannot impart to another what one does not already possess. Teachers who are not faith-filled should not be members of a Catholic school, at least, and primarily, in the formative pre-college years of education. These tender years cannot withstand well the admixture of significant and influential non-Catholic formation. A non-Catholic teacher tends to form non-Catholic students. Teachers impart what they are to their students. Teachers need “to be witnesses and educators of authentic Christian life, which evidences an attained integration between faith and life, and between professional competence and Christian wisdom.”21 Christian life lived in the community of the Catholic school imparts Christian life to its members, especially to its students.
What is needed for a perfect school? “Perfect schools are the result not so much of good methods as of good teachers, teachers who are thoroughly prepared and well-grounded in the matter they have to teach; who possess the intellectual and moral qualifications required by their important office; who cherish a pure and holy love for the youths confided to them, because they love Jesus Christ and His Church, of which these are the children of predilection; and who have therefore sincerely at heart the true good of family and country.”22

15 Gravissimum Educationis, Vatican II, article 8.
16 The Catholic School, p. 18.
17 Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith; The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, Daughters of Saint Paul, Boston MA; p. 11.
18 The Catholic School, p. 19.
19 Christ and the Catechist, Michael Leary; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987; p. 65.
20 The Catholic School, p. 18.
21 Ex Corde Ecclesiae, John Paul II; Washington D.C., 1990; p. 19.
22 Christian Education of Youth, Pius XI; p. 48.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Why We Were Made: Infused Prayer

2008-04-13T01:18:00.002-05:00

Going back to my little book, The Spirituality of Saint Faustina, it says that Saint Faustina was often in the prayer of infused contemplation. It gives this example from the saint’s diary: “I more often commune with the Lord in a more profound manner. My senses sleep and, although not in a visible way, all things become more real and clearer to me than if I saw them with my eyes. My intellect learns more in one moment than during long years of thinking and meditation, both as regards the essence of God and as regards revealed truths, and also as regards the knowledge of my own misery” Diary #882. When God infuses Himself in a person through contemplative prayer, the person’s knowledge and love and all the other virtues grow very rapidly, much faster and far deeper than one can ever achieve without infused contemplation. This is evidenced by the fact that Saint Faustina had no theological training, and yet she had many and deep theological insights and a profound understanding. Her heroic virtue was also do to this infusion of God.

In another place in her diary, she wrote: “My communion with the Lord is now purely spiritual. My soul is touched by God and wholly absorbs itself in Him, even to the complete forgetfulness of self. Permeated by God to its very depths, it drowns in His beauty; it completely dissolves in Him—I am at a loss to describe this, because in writing I am making use of the sense; but there, in that union, the sense are not active; there is a merging of God and the soul; and the life of God to which the soul is admitted is so great that the human tongue cannot express it. When the soul returns to its habitual form of life, it then sees that this life is all darkness and mist and dreamlike confusion, an infant’s swaddling clothes. In such moments the soul only receives from God, for of itself it does nothing; it does not make even the slightest effort; all in her is wrought by God” Diary #767.

The sense are not able to contain God, so deep prayer requires that the sense be bypassed in order that the true receptacle of God, the soul, may be ready and waiting for whenever the Lord decides to act and infuse Himself into one well prepared for His wondrous self-gift. If one is inordinately attached to anything, he will not be able to be free to be attached to the only True Attachment, the Divine Bridegroom. Penance, suffering, humiliation, and deprivation all help prepare our sense to be bypassed so that we can get on with the real reason we were made. Obedience and trust prepare our wills so that it can come into perfect union and harmony with God, and so that He can infuse Himself into our wills. When one gives such a love to God, the Lord always gives so much more in return because He gives Himself, and He is God, the Almighty, Eternal One.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict XVI's Preliminary Message to America

2008-04-08T22:50:00.004-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the United States of America,
The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you! In just a few days from now, I shall begin my apostolic visit to your beloved country. Before setting off, I would like to offer you a heartfelt greeting and an invitation to prayer. As you know, I shall only be able to visit two cities: Washington and New York. The intention behind my visit, though, is to reach out spiritually to all Catholics in the United States. At the same time, I earnestly hope that my presence among you will be seen as a fraternal gesture towards every ecclesial community, and a sign of friendship for members of other religious traditions and all men and women of good will. The risen Lord entrusted the apostles and the Church with his Gospel of love and peace, and his intention in doing so was that the message should be passed on to all peoples.
At this point I should like to add some words of thanks, because I am conscious that many people have been working hard for a long time, both in Church circles and in the public services, to prepare for my journey. I am especially grateful to all who have been praying for the success of the visit, since prayer is the most important element of all. Dear friends, I say this because I am convinced that without the power of prayer, without that intimate union with the Lord, our human endeavors would achieve very little. Indeed this is what our faith teaches us. It is God who saves us, he saves the world, and all of history. He is the shepherd of his people. I am coming, sent by Jesus Christ, to bring you his word of life.
Together with your bishops, I have chosen as the theme of my journey three simple but essential words: "Christ our hope." Following in the footsteps of my venerable predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II, I shall come to United States of America as Pope for the first time, to proclaim this great truth: Jesus Christ is hope for men and women of every language, race, culture, and social condition. Yes, Christ is the face of God present among us. Through him, our lives reach fullness, and together, both as individuals and peoples, we can become a family united by fraternal love, according to the eternal plan of God the Father.
I know how deeply rooted this Gospel message is in your country. I am coming to share it with you, in a series of celebrations and gatherings. I shall also bring the message of Christian hope to the great assembly of the United Nations, to the representatives of all the peoples of the world. Indeed, the world has greater need of hope than ever: hope for peace, for justice, and for freedom; but this hope can never be fulfilled without obedience to the law of God, which Christ brought to fulfillment in the commandment to love one another. Do to others as you would have them do to you, and avoid doing what you would not want them to do. This "golden rule" is given in the Bible, but it is valid for all people, including non-believers. It is the law written on the human heart; on this we can all agree, so that when we come to address other matters we can do so in a positive and constructive manner for the entire human community.
[I removed the paragraph in Spanish]
Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends in the United States, I am very much looking forward to being with you. I want you to know that, even if my itinerary is short, with just a few engagements, my heart is close to all of you, especially to the sick, the weak, and the lonely. I thank you once again for your prayerful support of my mission. I reach out to every one of you with affection, and I invoke upon you the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

My thoughts:
First of all, the Holy Father asks us for our prayers for his upcoming visit; that I will surely do. He goes on to make a powerful statement: "without the power of prayer, without that intimate union with the Lord, our human endeavors would achieve very little [emphasis added]." The only way to achieve much of lasting value, to become holy, to be a saint, is a close, personal, intimate love relationship with Jesus our Lord. Apart from our union with Him, we are capable of very little. God made us for Himself, He made us to be holy, and the only way to be vessels of God and be holy is to have that union with Him that is only possible with a deep, daily prayer life.

The theme of his journey here to America is: "Christ our hope." Our deepest hope is to be completely and utterly happy forever and ever; this is not an impossible and unrealistic fantasy; it is the God-given hunger for Him. He is the fulfillment of our deepest hope, and, as such, Christ is our hope. He is the hope for every person individually and the hope for the entire human family; only in Him can we become a united family in fraternal love. The world has never had a greater need for hope, "but this hope can never be fulfilled without obedience to the law of God, which Christ brought to fulfillment in the commandment to love one another." There is no true hope apart from the truth and obedience to that truth given to us in the law of God. The Holy Father goes on to say that the golden rule is valid for everyone, regardless of their beliefs, for it is written on our hearts by God Himself. Hope is only possible if we obey that God-written law inscribed on our hearts. With this universal truth as our foundation, all peoples can work together for the benefit of the whole world.

As he stated the other day, the Holy Father again said, "I know how deeply rooted this Gospel message is in your country." We have much to be proud of in our founding and our history. He will remind us of the treasures we have been given. Lastly, he regrets that his stay is so short, but, he said, "my heart is close to all of you," and " I reach out to every one of you with affection." Let us reach out to him in return with our prayers and our loving affection.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Infused Prayer: God-"Poured" Prayer

2008-04-07T23:37:00.004-05:00

What is infused prayer? In response to a comment I received about a week ago, I posted this:

Infused prayer is not a technique; rather, it refers to who the acting agent is. In discursive prayer, we are the acting agent, and in infused prayer, God is the one primarily acting. He infuses Himself into us to a greater or lesser degree, depending on how prepared we are to receive Him. We have no ability to influence the infusion, for it comes from and is initiated by God; we are only able to prepare ourself.

Thomas Dubay says, "Infused contemplation is by no means a dry or sterile intellectualism, a platonic gazing upon abstract essences. Nor is it an oriental, impersonal awareness. Rather, it is a 'loving awareness of God...a loving contemplation...a loving wisdom...a loving light and wisdom'. Indeed, it becomes 'a fire of loving wisdom'. When we put these traits together, a yearning or delightful loving with a cognative contact touching the divine, we have, as John [of the Cross] so well puts it, an inflow of God Himself. Contemplation is a deepening self-communication of the Trinity, a self-communication that we are given to experience."

He continues his explanation: "Though we have said it already, the point must be made explicitly and with some development: the prayer of which we are speaking can in no way be originated, intensified or prolonged by anything we can do. It is divinely given in its entirety. This is the literal meaning of infused, a word stemming from the Latin infudere, infusum, to pour in, that which is poured in. John therefore writes of a 'tranquil reception of this loving inflow...the touch of burning in the will...the touch of understanding in the intellect...an inflaming of love'. These expressions make it clear that the prayer is not a result of our efforts, our reading, imagining or reasoning. It is not of human origin" (p.63 of Fire Within).

In the beginning stages of this prayer, people usually do not even know that it is happening. It is so subtle and gentle that for those just beginning down this path, it doesn't seem like anything.

I will write more on this topic in the days to come.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict XVI is Coming to America

2008-04-06T23:52:00.005-05:00

What will the Pope say to us when he arrives for his visit? That is one question many are asking and one question that I have some ideas about. As with any good shepherd, he will encourage the good and redirect the wayward. A little more than a month ago, February 29, he welcomed Mary Ann Glendon as the new US ambassador to the Holy See. On that occasion, he praised America as "a nation which values the role of religious belief," and went on to say that a just government, "must be the fruit of a deeper consensus based on the acknowledgment of universal truths." Valuing religious belief and basing society on universal truths, which is how America was founded, is essential to building and maintaining a good and just society. In this way, the Pope will call Americans back to their roots and to the traditions that have made us a great country.

What is endangering America and the entire world, especially Europe, is the attempt to eradicate religion, especially Christianity, from all aspects of public discourse and life. Truth is reduced merely to what is empirically verifiable. Anything beyond the five senses is, at best, considered subjective, and it has nothing to do with universal truths, so it is seen. This is the message the Pope made in his famous Regensburg address, in which toward the end he said: "For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding." Faith is a source of knowledge which all too often is ignored or despised. Reasonableness is reduced to the sensory while religion is reduced to the garbage heap.

He continues: "The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur--this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time." For a long time, the universal truths upon which our country is founded, have been cut off from the Christian heritage out of which they grew. The Pope lives within the European Union which has decided to build its unity without any connection to Christianity and so has no lasting anchor for its foundation. To do whatever he can to encourage us to avoid that deadly mistake, the Pope will reiterate one of the primary messages of Regensburg; he will tell us that the only way we will overcome the dangers and evils of the world are, "if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically falsifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons." The rationality of faith is the anchor for the world to thrive and avoid self-destruction.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Saint Thomas Aquinas: Mystical Marriage and Mary

2008-04-05T22:53:00.005-05:00

I was wondering about Saint Thomas Aquinas and mystical marriage the other day, and so I googled it. I came across this short article by Sister Thomas Mary Mc Bride, O. P., entitled: "The Marian Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas." The full article may be found here.

Toward the end of the article it states this:
"In the contemplation of St. Thomas the virginal body of Mary, as well as her soul, overflowed with grace. 'The soul of the Blessed Virgin was so full of grace that it overflowed into her flesh, thus fitting it for the conception of God's Son.'1 Her immaculate heart, her feelings, mind and will were all involved in the conception and care of her Son, just as it is in helping each of us conceive and bring forth Christ in our soul."

As Mary's soul overflowed with grace into her body to prepare a place for Jesus and then nourish Him as a baby, so she is the conduit of God's grace to you and me to conceive Christ in our soul, give birth to Him, and nourish our relationship with Him through prayer and the sacraments.

The article continues:
"Mary not only brings Christ to us, she also brings us to Christ. St. Thomas, in interpreting the mystical meaning of the wedding of Cana considers that Mary is present in the mystical marriage of the soul with God and that it is she who 'arranges the marriage, because through her intercession, the soul is joined to Christ through grace.'2 St. Thomas points out that it was the fiat of Mary which allowed the spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature to take place. In the plan of God, Mary's "yes" stood for the "yes" of all God's people thereby making it possible for every person to pronounce his or her own fiat and attain intimate union with the divine nature.3 St. Thomas calls Mary mediatrix and consolatrix4 and in his prayer he entrusts his entire person to the intimacy of her pure, grace-filled and loving heart."

It is interesting to note that the author of this article and Saint Thomas Aquinas assume that souls are mystically married to God; the point Saint Thomas is making here is that Mary is present and is the one who arranges the marriage between the soul and God. It was Mary's yes to God that allowed God to become man, that wedded divinity to humanity forever in Jesus, and so now we are all able to say yes to God and enter into intimate union with Him. As children of Mary, you and I are introduced to her preeminent Son Jesus, and it is her sole desire that we become intimate with Him. We, too, are to become houses, temples and spouses of her Divine Son. Entrusting ourselves into her care, she protects our heart and encourages us to love, trust and obey God. She cooperates with God to help form Christ in us so that we can become other Christs.

Notes:
1. St. Thomas Aquinas, The Three Greatest Prayers: Commentaries on the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Apostles' Creed, trans. Laurence Shapcote, O.P. with intro. by Thomas Gilby, O.P. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1956), Commentary on the Angelic Salutation, Namely, the Hail Mary! , 32.
2. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, ed. James A. Weisheipl, O.P. (Albany, N. Y.: Magi Books, Inc., 1980),1,10, n.201, 98; and 2,1, n.336, 338, and 343, 151-152.
3. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 3a, 30, 1.
4. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John, 2,I,n.344, 152. See also St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, vol. 51, Our Lady, Appendix 1, ed. and trans. with Appendices by T. R. Heath, O.P (N.Y.: Blackfriars-McGraw Hill, 1969) 94.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Saint John Vianney Seminary: The Largest College Seminary in the U.S.

2008-04-03T21:54:00.003-05:00

These are my very first posts that have YouTube videos embedded in them. I was emailed these videos, and I wanted to share them with you. This seminary is in my backyard, as it were, and some of my old friends are priests there. If you are looking for an excellent, faith-filled and faithful place of formation for men, Saint John Vianney Seminary is a must see.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Blessed Feast of Divine Mercy

2008-03-29T23:59:00.005-05:00

Continuing where I left off in my little book, The Spirituality of Saint Faustina: The Road to Union with God, we have part of the answer to a question with these words, "In her life Sister Faustina came to know the mystery of Divine Mercy in the work of creation, redemption, and glory by very simple means, such as spiritual reading, daily meditation, listening to conferences, reflecting on the mysteries of the rosary and the stations of the way of the cross, participating in retreats, profoundly experiencing the holy sacraments, the solemnities of the Church throughout the liturgical year, as well as pondering and perceiving all the good that God had placed in the world and in her personal life" (p. 24-25).

The question is, "How do I draw close to God? You say that we are all called to be married to God, but how does one do that?" I will attempt to answer this question more and more as the days go by. I have been mostly concerned trying to show that we are called to such a state. I have put precious little time learning and trying to explain how one does it. The how has been much better answered by others, so I will do what I can to explain what these others have said.

My little book continues saying that Saint Faustina knew that she needed to "constantly work on herself, develop the attitude of continuous conversion, and strive for Christian perfection. Such a disposition of soul leads to the state of contemplation of God" (27). That is easy to say and demanding to put into practice. It can be simply put: it is a state where one continuously seeks to turn fully to Christ, imitating Him in all possible ways.

So do I need to enter a monastery or a convent to reach the state of the mystical marriage? No. That can be a great help, but it is not necessary. "Sister Faustina's life, while running its course behind convent walls, demonstrates that contemplation is possible anywhere, not only in the chapel or during prayer, but also at work and in all the circumstances of daily life. For its essence does not consist in being secluded from the world, but in consciously staying with God" (28, emphasis added).

Shortly after beginning her life as a religious sister, Saint Faustina wanted to leave it to go to a more contemplative order. It was God's will that she stay where she started, and by her staying there it showed "that is is possible to attain even the peaks of contemplative life in every vocation, in every circumstance, in the drab, everyday human life by carrying out the most mundane duties" (29). Of course, she lived a life of prayer and penance, and "She spent all her free time with the Divine Guest within her soul" (33).

This corresponds to what Father Dubay says when he says that union with God "cannot be produced by techniques, because it is above all a love matter before it is anything else--and precisely because interpersonal intimacy is its heart, it is suffocated, even killed, by selfishness in any form" (p. 81 of Fire Within). Also, if one is going to make any real progress in loving God more, it is essential, "as far as his state of life permits, to try to put aside all unnecessary affairs and business. For those who hope to reach the principal Mansion, this is so important that unless they begin in this way I do not believe they will ever be able to get there" (82).

Personally, that is my focus these days. Am I wasting any of my time? Am I keeping the presence of God throughout the day? Do I remember that Jesus lives within me and waits to spend time with me? Am I selflessly giving myself to others, especially my wife and my five children? Do I take pains to help make my home a secure and supportive environment where joy is palpable?

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Universal Call: Mystical Marriage

2008-03-23T23:40:00.007-05:00

Blessed Easter!

I picked up a little book a few weeks ago at church when two Divine Mercy sisters came to speak. The book I bought is called The Spirituality of Saint Faustina: The road to union with God. Years ago I bought her diary; that was before she was even beatified. I read some of it at the time; I figure I must have given it away at some point because I don't remember having seen it for years and years. I was going to buy it from the good sisters the other day, but they were sold out of her diary. I started reading my new little book today.

On page twenty-four I found this beautiful quote from her Diary #1523: "I can never help being amazed that the Lord would have such an intimate relationship with His creatures.... Every time I begin this meditation, I never finish it, because my spirit becomes entirely drowned in Him." That corresponds well with what I am trying to say. One of my main points is that we are all called to such an intimate relationship with God.

The Church teaches that all are called to holiness. Holiness comes through a deep prayer life. The well-known and very faithful spiritual guide and author, Father Thomas Dubay, S.M., has an entire chapter on this question in his classic, Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel--on prayer. He says there is no true holiness without deep, mystical prayer: "Ss. Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross are emphatic that without a deep rooting in a serious prayer life no one comes close to living the Gospel ideals with completeness" (199).

Father Dubay poses the question this way: "Is everyone called by God to infused contemplation and to the very fullness of it, the transforming union? Can a person attain to perfect holiness without this kind of prayer? Are there two ways of sanctity, an active, ascetic way and a passive, mystical way? Or is there only one way meant for all, active and ascetic in the beginning, but becoming passive and mystical in full development?" His answer is that in the Scriptures, Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and the constant teaching of the Church, there is only one way to holiness, and it is the transforming union.

This is what I am trying to say: all are called to mystical marriage with God. I am not saying that many get there; I am only saying that all are called. I am arguing it primarily from the Scriptures with an emphasis on the first few chapters of Genesis. Father Dubay says "...That most people, lay, religious and priestly, assume without study that they are not called to advanced prayer. They take it for granted that the prayer of which Ss. Teresa and John write could not be meant for them. They lose sight of the fact that both of these saints are presented by the Church as universal Doctors precisely because of their teaching about the lofty reaches of the spiritual life. So deeply engrained among us is the minimalistic view that the majority are surprised to hear it said that the heights of prayer are open also to them. Yet people who really want God are, I find, thrilled at the thought that they too can aspire to fullness" (200-201).

I am not a good guide for reaching the heights of prayer; others like Father Dubay are able to do that. My ability is to better enable others to understand the Scriptures; of course, understanding God's Word is helpful in loving Him more and drawing nearer to Him. First and foremost, my goal is to awaken in people the realization that God created us for a marvelous reality. He created us for Himself, to be His spouse. That is why He was willing to become a baby, live an obscure, poor life for thirty years, and die a horrible death as a man nailed naked to a tree. He did all that because He thirsts for you and me.

I'll end with one more quote from the good Father Dubay: "...Once we understand the universal call [to mystical marriage] we are more likely to be willing to pay the price to attain its object. Advancing in prayer is not the result of a mere velleity any more than the selfish loving of another human person issues from wishful thinging. Both demand great detachment from self-centeredness and a strenuous carrying of the cross. If we see that the summit is open to us, we find in the vision a fresh impulse to go sell all that we have and buy the pearl of great price" (201).

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Good Friday Office of Readings

2008-03-22T13:02:00.005-05:00

From the Catecheses by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop (click on this entry's title to go to the entire office of readings)

The power of Christ's blood

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish”, commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors”. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.

If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.

“There flowed from his side water and blood”. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolised baptism and the holy eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit”, and from the holy eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.

Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.

That is the end of this passage from Saint John Chrysostom taken from the Liturgy of the Hours for Good Friday.

Jesus is the Passover Lamb who gives birth to the Church from the blood and water which flowed from His side and Sacred Heart after He died on the cross. The water symbolizes baptism and the blood symbolizes the Holy Eucharist, and these two sacraments give birth to the Catholic Church. Eve, the bride of Adam, was formed from our first father's side as he lay asleep; in like manner, the Catholic Church, the Bride of Christ, was formed from Jesus' side when He was in the sleep of death. As a mother feeds her baby with her own blood before birth and her milk after birth, so Jesus feeds His Church with the shedding of His own blood before her birth and His blood and water at her birth and daily after in Holy Communion. The Church is Christ's child, and it is also His bride; so we are made Children of God in the Church and we are called to complete union with Him in mystical marriage. As a husband provides for his bride and fills her with life so that she gives birth, so Jesus provides for you and me and fills us with His body and blood so that we have life and give birth to faith, hope and love in our hearts and deeds.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI: Reflections after the Way of the Cross

2008-03-22T10:11:00.004-05:00

The full text of the Holy Father's talk is found by clicking on the title of this entry. Below is the section that I want to highlight:

"Jesus Christ died to liberate the humanity of old of their ignorance of God, of the circle of hate and violence, of the slavery to sin. The cross makes us brothers and sisters.

But let us ask ourselves, in this moment, what have we done with this gift, what have we done with the revelation of the face of God in Christ, with the revelation of the love of God that conquers hate. Many, in our age as well, do not know God and cannot encounter him in Christ crucified. Many are in search of a love or a liberty that excludes God. Many believe they have no need of God.

Dear friends: After having lived together the passion of Jesus, let us this night allow his sacrifice on the cross to question us. Let us permit him to challenge our human certainties. Let us open our hearts. Jesus is the truth that makes us free to love. Let us not be afraid: upon dying, the Lord destroyed sin and saved sinners, that is, all of us. The Apostle Peter writes: "He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). This is the truth of Good Friday: On the cross, the Redeemer has made us adoptive sons of God who he created in his image and likeness. Let us remain, then, in adoration before the cross.

Christ, give us the peace we seek, the happiness we desire, the love the fills our heart thirsty for the infinite. This is our prayer for this night, Jesus, Son of God, who died for us on the cross and was resurrected on the third day."

How often we ignore God's love for us. How seldom do we look in the direction of the One who is calling us to friendship and union. How hard it is to truly walk the way of the cross with Him. My wife and I watched "The Passion of the Christ" last night as has become our tradition on Good Friday. We didn't want to watch it. We wanted to go to bed early. But we both knew that we needed to watch it. It never gets old. It is always horrible. Jesus became the Passover Lamb to set me free from the slavery of sin and death. He was slaughtered in a most horrible manner. How could I ever sin again after seeing what it cost Him? What won't I do to draw close to Him after all He did to draw close to me?

God invites us draw near to Him. He invites us to open our hearts to Him. We seek complete and total peace, happiness and love forever, and this is what God alone is able to give us. He died to give us what we desire. What are we doing with this gift? God asks us: Will you marry me? How do we respond to this invitation? It is all a matter of the heart. Do we close our heart and refuse Him? Or worse, do we simply ignore His invitation and greet it with indifference? True life is found only in our opening our heart to the One who loves us and died for us. "Let us remain, then, in adoration before the cross."

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI: Explanation of the Easter Triduum

2008-03-20T22:28:00.003-05:00

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Easter Triduum, which the Church now prepares to celebrate, invites us to share in the mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. These days are the heart of the liturgical year. On Holy Thursday the Church recalls the Last Supper. At the Chrism Mass, the Bishop and his priests renew their priestly promises and the sacramental oils are blessed. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper commemorates Jesus’ institution of the sacrament of his Body and Blood and his commandment that we should love one another. On Good Friday, we ponder the mystery of sin as we listen to the account of the Lord’s passion and venerate the wood of his Cross. Holy Saturday, a day of silence and prayer, prepares for the joy of the Easter Vigil, when the light of Christ dispels all darkness, and the saving power of his Paschal Mystery is communicated in the sacrament of Baptism. May our sharing in these solemn celebrations deepen our conversion to Christ, particularly through the sacrament of Reconciliation, and our communion, in the hope of the resurrection, with all our suffering brothers and sisters throughout the world."

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI: "We must see with heart."

2008-03-20T21:57:00.006-05:00

Pope Benedict XVI's homily last Sunday for Palm Sunday ended with these words:

" Jesus shows God as the One who loves and his power as the power of love. Thus, he tells us what will always be part of the correct worship of God: healing, serving and the goodness that cures.

And then there are children who pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David and acclaim him the Hosanna. Jesus had said to his disciples that to enter the Kingdom of God it was essential to become once again like children. He himself, who embraces the whole world, made himself little in order to come to our aid, to draw us to God. In order to recognize God, we must give up the pride that dazzles us, that wants to drive us away from God as though God were our rival. To encounter God it is necessary to be able to see with the heart. We must learn to see with a child's heart, with a youthful heart not hampered by prejudices or blinded by interests. Thus, it is in the lowly who have such free and open hearts and recognize Jesus, that the Church sees her own image, the image of believers of all ages.

Dear friends, let us join at this moment the procession of the young people of that time - a procession that winds through the whole of history. Together with young people across the world let us go forth to meet Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be guided toward God by him, to learn from God himself the right way to be human beings. Let us thank God with him because with Jesus, Son of David, he has given us a space of peace and reconciliation that embraces the world with the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray to him that we too may become, with him and starting from him, messengers of his peace, adorers in spirit and truth, so that his Kingdom may increase in us and around us. Amen."

That was the end of the Holy Father's homily. He said that Jesus shows us the power of love and that to see that power of love that Jesus shows we need to see with our hearts. The children cheered Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the Pope invites us to join them in their jubilation. To join them and to be able to see Jesus, we must become like them; it is not too much for you and me to become like children if God Himself was able to do it in Bethlehem. We must flee from pride and see with a child's heart unencumbered by prejudice or selfish interests; becoming humble and lowly, our hearts will become free and open like a child, and we will be able to recognize Jesus. Jesus, in Himself, gives the world a space for peace and reconciliation, for healing and goodness, for worship and love, and we encounter Jesus as He seeks us out and embraces the world in the Holy Eucharist. It is in our encounter with Christ in the Holy Eucharist that we worship in spirit and truth and that the Kingdom of God increases in us and spills out of us to all those around us.

This Holy Thursday, the commemoration of the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, let us encounter Jesus anew with the eyes of faith, with the heart of a simple, trusting child, and entrust our whole selves to Him as He gives Himself to us. This is why Jesus came and became a man. He wanted to give Himself to us and become one with you and me. He says: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you." Let's earnestly desire to receive Him in every Holy Communion, and hold Him dearly within our hearts throughout each day.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The Three Passovers and the Meaning of Life

2008-03-19T22:21:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow is Holy Thursday and the celebration of the Lord's Supper when He perfects and completes and fulfills the Passover by Himself becoming the Lamb of God to give us His Flesh and Blood to drink to save us from the angel of death and nourish us with His heavenly food on our journey to the Promised Land, heaven. Almost three months ago I wrote about the Last Supper in two entries. Here is the first one published on December 24, 2007 and entitled "The Three Passovers":

Most everyone is familiar with the Passover which is explained in Exodus 12; it was the last and most powerful plague that was the impetus for the Egyptians freeing their Israelite slaves. The plague attacked all the Egyptian firstborn; for the Israelite firstborn to be passed over, they had to slaughter an unblemished year-old male lamb, put its blood on their doorpost using a hyssop branch, and eat the lamb.

The Last Supper is a re-presentation of the Passover; Jesus is re-making and fulfilling this ancient and liberating sacrifice and meal. A very important difference in the Last Supper is that Jesus did not finish the Passover as usual; there were four cups of wine in the Passover, but Jesus stopped after the third. He finished the Passover as He was crucified on the cross and drank the vinegar (cheap wine) from the sponge on the hyssop branch: “After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished’; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:28-30). What Jesus finished is the re-making of the Passover.

The Last Supper and the Crucifixion are of one piece “For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed” (1Cor.5:7). Jesus takes on the role that the lamb plays in the Passover. He is sacrificed, and we are passed over. As the Israelites had to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on the doorpost and eat the lamb to be passed over, so we need to be baptized and receive Holy Communion. Baptism is the lamb’s blood on the doorpost because the “doorway” into our “house” is our eyes and face; therefore, the doorpost is our forehead. The water of baptism is the blood of Christ since we are baptized into Jesus’ death. Through these two essential sacraments, we are given the grace to be passed over by the angel of death.

The one Passover that is usually forgotten is Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac back in Genesis 22. I talked about this momentous event a few days ago on 12/19/07, and it is this event and the faithfulness of both Abraham and Isaac that brings about God’s saving actions with his ancestors, the Israelites. The foundation for the Passover is Isaac’s self offering for it is the only time God explicitly swears an oath. The Crucifixion is mostly a re-presentation and fulfillment of Isaac’s sacrifice, and the Last Supper is mostly a re-presentation and fulfillment of the Passover. Thus, there is a parallel structure of events that forms one piece, one reality:
A Isaac’s Sacrifice
B Passover
B’ Last Supper
A’ Jesus’ Sacrifice

One of the common themes here in these three Passovers is the first-born son. In the Passover, not only were the first born Egyptians killed and the first-born Israelites passed over, all of Israel was passed over for they are God’s first-born son: “And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me’; if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your first-born son’” (Exodus 4:22-23).

The other common theme in all of these is the symbolism of baptism and the Eucharist. Even after the Passover, the Israelites had not completed their escape from their enemies. The Egyptians pursued Israel and had them trapped up against the Red Sea with no where to escape. God opened up a way of escape through the water which gave new life to Israel and destroyed their enemies in the process. Once they were out in the wilderness, they grew hungry, and God provided food from heaven. After leaving Egypt, the Israelites again were saved through the water and fed by the heavenly bread. A further structure could look like this:
A Isaac’s Sacrifice
B Passover
C Through the Red Sea (symbolic of Baptism)
C' Manna in the Wilderness (symbolic of the Eucharist)
B’ Last Supper
A’ Jesus’ Sacrifice

One thing we can learn from all this is the immense importance of the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. If we receive baptism and Holy Communion, we are given the grace to pick up our cross and follow Jesus; we are given the new heart, the new tree of life, so that we can lay down our life in our everyday activity, so that we can be a person for others, so that we can love God with all our heart, mind and soul; we are given the grace to lay down our life for our friends and to be crucified alongside our Savior Jesus.

We, the baptized, are making our journey through the desert of this life on our way to the Promised Land, heaven. To make our way well, we need our daily bread which is daily prayer and Holy Communion. Many of the Israelites who ate the manna died along the way and did not make it to the Promised Land because of their faithless hearts. Likewise, just receiving the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist does not guarantee anything. We still have to step out in faith and follow our Lord wherever He leads and do whatever He asks. We still need to give ourselves entirely to Him. Thankfully, He provides even the grace to do that.

What I would like to examine next is the significance of the first-born in these key events and how it might possibly relate to the Fall of Adam and Eve.
This is where the first post ends.

The second post on the Passovers was published in the early morning of Christmas Eve, 2007, and it is entitled, "The Meaning of Life." Here it is:

I left off on Tuesday in my post on The Three Passovers introducing the idea of the importance of the first-born. The three Passovers, Isaac’s sacrifice, the Passover, and Jesus’ sacrifice all deal with the first-born. Isaac is the first-born, and he offers himself up as a sacrifice; he was passed over with a ram taking his place. Israel is God’s first-born, and they were passed over by the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and by eating the lamb. Jesus is the Father’s only-begotten Son: “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Jesus, as pre-eminent first-born, sacrifices Himself in order for you and me to be passed over. We are united to Him in baptism and Holy Communion wherein we put His blood on our doorpost and eat the Lamb, respectively.

In the first two Passovers, the first-born was passed over; in the final one, the first-born is the sacrifice. Is there another first-born that was passed over in Jesus’ saving actions? -Perhaps it is you and me: “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:14-16). Paul speaks of the Church as the Israel of God; therefore, since Israel is God’s first-born, and we are now the New Israel, we and all members of the Church are God’s first-born. So we are first-born who are passed over by the angel of death, and our Passover Lamb is Jesus at the Last Supper and on the Cross.

The question that arises in my mind is why is the first-born so important, and why does it hold such a pivotal place in these highly important events in Salvation History? As usual, I think the answer lies in the events at the beginning. The course the man and the woman set the human race upon is the answer to much of human history and to the questions we have today. According to my theory, the direct result of the Fall was the conception of Cain. They wanted him and were trying to get him; hence, his name means gotten. He was the first-born of the human race. He was a murderer and a son of the evil one. The first-born son of man belonged, in a certain respect, to satan, and Cain gave himself over to his ways and so slaughtered his righteous brother.

Cain imitated his fathers in killing his brother: humanity is like a brother to the angels, and satan wants to destroy us and has destroyed many of us; Adam’s fall resulted in the spiritual death of the human race. Both satan and Adam murdered their brothers so to speak, and Cain only imitated what they did. In one sense it is amazing just how bad the very first person born of man was, yet in another sense, Cain was merely a chip off the old block. Either way you look at it, humanity’s fruitfulness started off with a horrible beginning. And his name was Cain for he was gotten. He was gotten.

So why did the first-born need to be sacrificed or passed over? A clue resides in the three main sacrifices of the Old Testament: bulls, sheep and goats. Bulls needed to be sacrificed because people were worshipping bulls and the bull-god, Apis. The Golden Calf was part of this worship where people were seeking fertility and prosperity and so the men and women would imitate what bulls would do to female cattle. Seeking life, they had an orgy. The result, they hoped, would be a conception: thus, the golden calf. Here, too, they were seeking a child, and they sought this child in a way contrary to their dignity, to God’s plan, and to trusting in God. After the golden calf, bulls needed to be sacrificed as a financial penance and so that the people would no longer worship them.

After the Golden Calf, the people went after another false god symbolized by goats. It was another fertility cult, and the people were again seeking life and a child in their own way and by their own terms. “So they shall no more slay their sacrifices for satyrs, after whom they play the harlot” (Leviticus 17:7). The satyrs are the goat gods who are obsessed with continually having sex, and those who worship these false gods would imitate them. Since the people were involved with this evil practice, God had them sacrifice goats. Again, it was a financial difficulty to sacrifice one’s livestock, and one’s gods did not look kindly on being killed. It was a God-given help to avoid this near occasion of sin.

Sacrificing bulls and goats was mandated because they were worshipped. Sheep were never worshipped, so why would God have us sacrifice them? A sheep is the sacrifice of the Passover, and Jesus is the Lamb of God. They are the most important animal sacrifice, but why does God mandate this sacrifice? Was their any sin associated with sheep or lambs? I think there was. Sheep symbolize humanity. We are like sheep; we are incredibly stupid. So sheep need to be sacrificed because they symbolize us; we worshipped ourselves. When did we do this? We do it every time we sin, but we do it especially when we seek humans over God.

The man and the woman sought a child over and against God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God wanted them to have a child, but He wanted to give it to them virginally as He did with Mary. They sought a child, and they got him, and they named him gotten (Cain). So here the theme of the first-born and sheep come together. The Passovers all have to do with sheep and with first-borns because our first parents worshiped, as it were, their first-born son and even disobeyed God to get him. Their souls were sold to satan in order to get Gotten; that is why he and all of the human family needs to be bought back or redeemed from the prince of this world.

We all deserve death and are in bondage to sin and satan, and we are like lambs, so the solution is for a lamb to take our place that we may be passed over and live. That is why sheep were sacrificed in the Old Testament, but those “sacrifices are offered which cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper” (Hebrews 9:9). These Old Testament laws were good, but they were the symbol, not the reality. “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1). Those sacrifices do not make perfect; however, Jesus’ sacrifice is capable of such a feat.

“For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’’ as it is written of me in the roll of the book” (Hebrews 10:4-7). We are given a body in order to have something to sacrifice, and with our bodily sacrifices we are praying with the body. We are given a will in order that we can sacrifice that, too, and by saying “Thy will be done,” we are praying the most important prayer. Prayer and sacrifice, the prayer of the heart and of prayer of the body, when they are combined are the most powerful. When we completely trust God and seek to do whatever He asks of us, especially what He asks us to do with our bodies, then we are far along the path to unity with Him. It is in this full faithfulness that we have abundant life and belong to Him, and that is the meaning of life.
That is the end of the second entry.

May you and yours be fully blessed by your losing yourself in the celebration of this most Holy Triduum of our Dear Savior's awesome saving deeds. Remember His words: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you" and ask Him that you, too, may earnestly desire to eat this Passover which is Him.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Blessed Solemnity of Saint Joseph

2008-03-15T23:45:00.004-05:00

In honor of the great Saint Joseph, I want to direct you to the posts wherein I talk about him. The articles may be found here, here, here, here and here and indirectly here.

Most of us do not realize the grandeur of Saint Joseph and the intensity of his faith and trust in God. If my theory is correct and God originally planned that we conceived children virginally as Mary and Joseph did, and if the test of virginity was the test of our first parents, then Joseph is more than the foster father of Jesus. If God had originally planned that parenthood was to be obtained via a deep union with Him and a profound trust in His provision, then Joseph would be a true father of Jesus. We usually don't say Joseph was the true father of Jesus because that implies, in the common way we use that word 'true,' that Jesus was conceived in the normal manner. Mary conceived from the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her, not from the generative powers of Joseph.

Fatherhood is more than physical generation. There are plenty of men walking around today that have physically generated children who have little or no resemblance to being a father. And on the other side of that reality, there are a great number of wonderful men and women who could not have children, and yet they sacrificed and brought children into their life through adoption; they are mothers and fathers in the full sense of the word. Parenthood has more to do with the care of children than with their generation.

In their trial of faith, Mary and Joseph trusted in God immensely; they desired children more than anyone has, and yet God asked them to remain virgins forever. That doesn't make sense, and yet they trusted in God's unintelligible request. The reward for crucifying their greatest earthly desire? They are entrusted with the Son of God as their very own child. In addition to that unimaginable gift, Mary is the mother of us all, and Joseph as the patron of the universal Church is the father of all. Trusting in God, they let the seed of children fall into the ground to die, and it has become the greatest of all plants bearing overabundant fruit. Their sacrifice has become their reward.

With all that being said, I think it can be said that in the true and full sense of fatherhood, Joseph is the human father of Jesus. Since Jesus was conceived through Mary and Joseph's unity as spouses and their unity to God in their trust of Him, they passed the original test of our first parents. They did what Adam and Eve did not, and as such, they did what God had originally intended man to do to become a parent. Fatherhood has to do with caring for children in that unique fatherly way together with union with God, and in that regard, no one has been more a father than Joseph was to Jesus.

On a side note, this is partly why priests are called father. They are united to God and have passed the test of virginity as Joseph did, and they care for God's flock, the children of God. Priests truly are fathers who daily lay down their life for the protection and care of their children. Priests also participate in the spiritual birth to the children of God when they baptize, and they cooperate in bringing the dead children back to life through the sacrament of Confession. It is commonly said that priests take the Church as their spouse, and some saints have said that they take Mary as their spouse. I think that is true. To priests: take Mary as your spouse and give your whole self to her as Saint Joseph did so that together in your complete trust in God you may bear abundant fruit, giving birth to Christ Himself once again and bearing Him to the world.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"When You Lift Up the Son of Man"

2008-03-12T00:32:00.005-05:00

In the first reading today from Numbers 21:4-9 there is the story of the Israelites complaining in the desert about their lack of food and water and accusing God that He brought them into the desert to kill them. God was taking care of them but not in the way that they wanted; their patience was worn out, and they called God a murderer, essentially. They accused God of being Satan. God responds by sending them seraph serpents to bite and kill them.

Since they called God Satan, He showed them what Satan would do to them. In the Garden of Eden, Satan came as a serpent and as the murderer of the human race; God sends images of the evil one to do what he does, and so they are bit and many die. The antidote to these venomous snakes is to look on a bronze serpent mounted on a pole. When they look at an image of what they called God and so repent of what they had done, they are healed.

In the gospel from John 8:21-30, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and says to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always to what is pleasing to him” (8:28-29). The communion antiphon comes from John 12:32: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself, says the Lord.”

Jesus is the fulfillment of the bronze serpent mounted on a pole that brought healing. Jesus’ skin was most likely bronze in color, and He was mounted on a tree for the healing of the nations. How does the bronze serpent help us to understand what Jesus did? The Israelites were hungry, thirsty, tired, bored and fed-up with all the ceaseless wandering in the desert. They accused God of seeking their destruction, and in so doing, they were essentially calling Him Satan.

In John 8:25 when the Pharisees asked Jesus who He was, He responded saying, “What I told you from the beginning.” The words “serpent” and “beginning” bring us back to the beginning of the Bible to Genesis 1-3. According to my theory, the man and the woman were hungry and thirsty for a child, the child God implicitly promised when He said to be fruitful and multiply. Since He commanded them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, i.e. not have sexual relations, they were in a metaphorical lifeless desert. They got fed up waiting for the promised child, much like Abraham and Sarah did with Isaac, and they listened and obeyed the voice of the serpent who promised them life. He promised them that they would be like God; they primarily knew God to be the Creator and giver of life, and so they, too, wanted to be like Him and give life by making a man.

By looking at the bronze serpent the Israelites could see what they had called God. What can you and I see when we look upon our crucified Lord? On the one hand, we can see that the man and the woman and you and I rely upon our own strength for our life instead of trusting in God. The man and the woman were tested to trust in God for their life and fruitfulness, but they chose to utilize the strength of their bodies, contrary to God’s singular command, in order to give life and have a baby. They were saying that it was by their bodies that they would have and give life. Looking at Jesus on the crucifix, we know that they who loose their life are given life, and they who let their bodies die who will rise again.

The man and the woman did not trust God’s command and did not believe that He would take care of them in their desert. They did not believe that He had their best interest at heart. It made no sense to them that they should be fruitful and multiply and yet not have sexual relations, so God must be playing a cruel trick on them and He was not to be trusted. The serpent was trustworthy, they thought, and by clinging to life and utilizing the generative powers of their bodies they would have life.

Jesus’ crucified body on the tree signals that it is in trusting God to the point of death that one has life. He gave birth to the Church when His heart was pierced and blood and water flowed out just like at a birth, and so He shows that life and birth come primarily through a circumcised and trusting heart. The heart, i.e. the tree of life, is that through which we trust in God and so have life.

In the passage quoted above Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man.” He does not say the Son of God but the Son of Man. Jesus is the Son of Man, i.e. the Son of Adam. Because of the man’s faithless, uncircumcised heart of stone, all humanity fell, and the actual result of the act which was the Fall was Cain. We are all sons of man, but we are made to be sons of God; that is why the Son of God became a Son of Man. On the crucifix we also see the Son of Man; we see the humanity that was the result of Adam’s sin (not that Jesus had original sin).

Gazing on the crucifix and meditating on the Passion of Our Lord, we learn to what extent God goes to redeem us. We see His boundless love. We learn that it is not by our strength that we have life but by obedience to every word which comes from God. We learn that it is the loving, trusting and obedient heart that is the tree of life. We learn that we need to get rid of our old faithless heart given to us by Adam, and that we need the new heart of Jesus which we receive when we are baptized into Jesus’ death and every time we receive Him in Holy Communion. We learn that God provides to the one who puts his trust in Him as we wander throughout this desert. The crucifix and the Passion are the antidote to everything, to every sin which ails us; the crucified and risen heart of Jesus which we receive in the Eucharist is the tree of life, our new trusting heart, and the healing for the nations from the bite of the serpent. With Jesus' heart within us, we can say with Him: "I always do what is pleasing to Him."

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

John Paul II: God is our Spouse

2008-03-07T23:08:00.003-06:00

Today in the meditation section of the Magnificat there is a passage from our beloved, late Pope John Paul II from the book Memory and Identity, Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium, pp29-30. I will quote the passage that was given in the Magnificat here:

“With the passage of time, if we persevere in following Christ our Teacher, we feel less and less burdened by the struggle against sin, and we enjoy more and more the divine light which pervades all creation. This is important, because it allows us to escape from a situation of constant inner exposure to the risk of sin—even though, on this earth, the risk always remains present to some degree—so as to move with ever greater freedom within the whole of the created world. This same freedom and simplicity characterizes our relations with other human beings, including those of the opposite sex. Interior light illumines our actions and shows us all the good in the created world as coming from the hand of God. Thus the purgative way and then the illuminative way form the organic introduction to what is known as the unitive way. This is the final stage of the interior journey, when the soul experiences a special union with God. This union is realized in contemplation of the divine being and in the experience of love which flows from it with growing intensity. In this way we somehow anticipate what is destined to be ours in eternity, beyond death and the grave. Christ, supreme teacher of the spiritual life, together with all those who have been formed in his school, teaches that even in this life we can enter onto the path of union with God….

“If the kingly way, indicated by Christ, leads definitively to the state in which ‘God will be all in all,’ the union with God that can be experienced on earth is attained in just the same way. We can find God in everything, we can commune with him in and through all things. Created things cease to be a danger for us as once they were, particularly while we were still at the purgative stage of our journey. Creation, and other people in particular, not only regain their true light, given to them by God the Creator, but, so to speak, they lead us to God himself, in the way that he willed to reveal himself to us; as Father, Redeemer, and Spouse.”

John Paul II did his doctoral dissertation on Saint John of the Cross, a doctor of the Church and a master of the spiritual life. Saint John delineated these three levels of prayer: the purgative, illuminative, and the unitive. The endpoint of prayer is deep union with God also known as mystical marriage or the prayer of union. One of the main points that I am promoting in my writings here is that what God wants for all of us is to reach this highest level of prayer. He made us for Himself to be His spouse. I am not arguing from my own experience of deep mystical prayer as Saint John of the Cross did; rather, I am arguing it from the Bible, in particular from the first few chapters of Genesis.

When one reaches unitive prayer, he is not so easily tempted to sin and to be inordinately attached to any object other than God. This person is united to God and is daily being filled more and more with God’s love and life. All other attachments pale in comparison. Thus, not only is one less likely to sin, but one is also more likely to truly and fully appreciate all created realities, and those very realities, because they remind one of God, become a vehicle through which one draws even closer to God. This is why someone like Saint Francis of Assisi could have such a love of creation and animals without falling into the trap of a false worship of them; he saw them as a beacon which revealed God and His goodness and beauty. Creation leads us “to God himself, in the way that he willed to reveal himself to us: as Father, Redeemer, and Spouse.” God is meant to be our Spouse, and He asks you, “Will you marry me?”

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Moses Wrote About Jesus & The Life-Receiving Heart

2008-03-05T23:37:00.002-06:00

The Gospel for tomorrow’s Mass comes from John 5:31-47, and I would like to examine a sentence or two in the middle and at the end of this passage. Here are the two passages from 5:39-40 & 45-47: “You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life….Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus’ point here is that He is the source of eternal life, and that to obtain eternal life it is necessary to believe in Him. People search the Bible for life, but what the Bible points to and reveals is Jesus. The Scriptures in general testify on behalf of Jesus, and Moses in particular wrote about Jesus. If one rejects Moses’ writings, he will be deaf to Jesus’ words.

One of my assumptions is that the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses or the Torah, go a long way in preparing the way and revealing who Jesus is and what He came to do. My theory revolves around the first three chapters of Genesis, in fact, and there are many more clues and much more evidence in support of my theory in the remainder of the Pentateuch. The better one understands the Pentateuch and its beginning in the first three chapters of Genesis, the better one is able to understand the person and mission of Jesus and His Church. It is also true that the better one understands the Old Testament as a whole, the more one is able to fully and truthfully understand the New Testament.

My theory makes much progress in understanding the Old Testament, and, as such, it helps to better and more fully understand what Jesus did, why He did it, and how we need to respond to His saving actions and death on the cross. I spend a good bit of my time writing, you may have noticed, commenting on the readings of the day for Mass since the basic outline of my theory can be applied to just about anywhere in the Bible to much good effect. That is part of the reason I have been skipping around and commenting on the readings of the day; one of the other reasons I do this is because I don’t think my theory could be proved in an absolute, syllogistically logical manner; if it is going to be proved, it will be largely through thousands of other passages which connect to the beginning of Genesis and which both illuminate Genesis and are illuminated by it.

Another point from today’s Gospel comes when Jesus says, “you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent” (John 5:38). God’s word abides in us when we believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus results in God’s word abiding within us. Believing in Jesus is how we are saved and have eternal life. Believing in Jesus means coming to Him for our life. Believing in Moses opens us to believe in Jesus. Belief is a matter of the heart, and, as such, the heart is the conduit for being saved, having eternal life, being a home for God’s Word, and coming to Jesus for life. In other words, the believing heart is the life-receiving heart; the heart is the tree of life.

What I was just saying reminded me of part of today’s Gospel which comes from the passage right before tomorrow’s passage in John. The segment I want to highlight is:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5: 25-29).

Hearing and believing in the Father through Jesus is what gives eternal life; the Father and Jesus have life in themselves, and those who do good deeds, that is, obey, will be connected to their life and so have the resurrection of life. As I have said many times, our salvation and eternal life, that is the tree of life, is the loving, trusting, and obedient heart. The heart that loves, trusts and obeys God is the vehicle through which God imparts to us life here on earth and life everlasting in heaven.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Why The Trees Aren't Reversed

2008-03-03T23:42:00.008-06:00

I received a comment containing a question from 2.29.08. Here is the question: "I am not familiar with your theory (although I'd like to be) but I'm curious to know why the trees' representations aren't reversed -- The tree of life being our power and ability to conceive children and the tree of knowledge being the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God."

God put us on this earth, but He made us for heaven. We spend a very short time here on earth; it is but a brief stop on the journey to our true and everlasting homeland. We have eternal life only through our love, trust and obedience of God; we begin our eternal life here on earth by our union with Him; if we don't, then there is no eternal life in heaven for us when we die. Life, in the fullest sense of the word, is only given to us insofar as we are united to God, and our unity with God only happens via a heart that loves, trusts and obeys God. The heart is the channel through which we receive God's life. God's life is the life of our soul, and we have nothing, we are nothing, we have no life if we don't have God dwelling within us.

Having children is a wonderful reality and a marvelous gift from God. Raising children is one of the best God-given ways that He shows us and provides the arena for us to learn how to love, to learn how to be a self-sacrificing lover. One of the best adult educations is raising children; I remember Scott Hahn having a plaque in his office saying: "The best adult education--children." As much a blessing as having children is, it is not what gives us supernatural or everlasting life. The children we do have need to be born again in baptism for they are born spiritually dead without sanctifying grace. What really matters in the end is God's life in our soul, and that life only comes from the tree of life: the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God. Marriage and children are a God-given calling to lead us and help us on our way to heaven, but there is no help in them if our heart is separated from God.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is our ability to have children because this is what served as the test of faith that God established for our first parents. Why it is given this name I haven't fully digested yet. I think there are a number of viable possibilities for why it has this name. For now, I am not going to get into this question.

Mary fulfilled the test of faith that the woman (after the Fall named Eve, mother) failed. Mary ate fully of her tree of life and trusted in God when it did not make sense. I have discussed Mary's test in a few other places. Because she ate of her tree of life, God provided her with a Son. He is no ordinary son, and God also gives all humanity to Mary as her children. Mary trusted God to provide her with children virginally, and God made her the greatest mother of all time. So Mary did have children through her tree of life, but only after she passed her crucifixion of her greatest earthly desire. Mary does not rely on her own abilities to provide life; rather, she trusts wholly in God, and He satisfies her greatest desires and infinitely more so. God is such a good God who wants us to be fully alive and our deepest desires abundantly fulfilled to overflowing. If we place ourselves entirely in His hands, we will be blessed beyond measure.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Hosea 14: "From Me Comes Your Fruit"

2008-02-29T23:58:00.004-06:00

The last chapter of the Book of the Prophet Hosea, the first reading for Mass today, is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Hosea, under God’s direction, marries a harlot named Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. God had said to Hosea, “Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods” (Hosea 3:1). Hosea is to do what God does: love an unfaithful wife. Each of us sins, and so we are an unfaithful wife to God, but that does not extinguish God’s love for us. God hates our sin and calls us back to Himself; when we turn back to Him through God’s unrelenting tenacity, “in that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband’ ” (Hosea 2:16).

The final chapter of this amazing book of the Bible goes like this:

Thus says the LORD: return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to the LORD; say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls. Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; we shall say no more, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion.” I will heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; he shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar. Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; they shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. “I am like a verdant cypress tree”– because of me you bear fruit! Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them (Hosea 14:2-10).

And so the words of the prophet come to an end. If we understand what he is saying here, according to him, we will have wisdom. What is that wisdom? It is primarily this: “I am like a verdant cypress tree—because of me you bear fruit!” The RSVCE states it as such: “I am like an evergreen cypress, from me comes your fruit.” God is merciful and forgiving, and He will forgive and heal us if we are humble and turn to Him. We will be destroyed if we persist in our disobedience and separation from Him. Turning to Him and giving ourselves entirely into His hands, we will become like a lily, an olive tree, a Lebanon cedar, a blossoming vine, and the wine of Lebanon, God is like a tree who is always green, and from Him comes our fruit.

God makes us fruitful. We bear fruit through God’s power and grace. This is true on at least two levels. On the one hand, God is the one who provides children, and on the other hand, He is also the one who gives us the grace to do anything good that we do. Bearing babies is one way we bear fruit, and the other way we bear fruit is through all the good that we do. Both are fruit, and they were symbolized by the two trees in the Garden of Eden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life symbolizes the heart which loves, trusts and obeys God; therefore, it is the tree which always does the good, and so it is united to God, the source of all life. The tree of knowledge of good and evil, according to my theory, is our power and ability to conceive children.

What we need to learn is, and where wisdom is found is in this passage here: God provides. He makes us fruitful. He is the source of life and children, and He is the source of goodness and every good action. In the Blessed Virgin Mary, these two forms of providing fruit are fulfilled. God makes Mary filled with His life and a plenitude of virtue and trust in Him; that trust in God within her heart is rewarded with the most exalted reality: God gave Mary His own Son to conceive, bear, and raise as her own Son. God provides life and virtue, and He provides His very own Son to be Mary’s Son.

What that means for you and me is that, on the one hand, we need to realize that anything good that we have ever, are doing, or will ever do is because God has given us the grace to do so. On the other hand, we need to realize that children are a gift from Him, and they are not to be shunned as a burden or sought after regardless of the means (i.e. in vitro fertilization) as if we had a right to them. We are to welcome and thank God for our gifts, both our virtues and our children.

God is Father. One of the primary roles of a father is to provide for his children. Unless we become like children, we cannot enter the kingdom of God because children are totally dependant upon their parents. God wants us to be totally dependant upon Him and upon His provision for us. This does not mean that He wants us to be childish or big babies. Parents don’t want their children to be helpless, hopeless, childish brats. We need to be strong and mature, all the while knowing that our strength and life and love come from Him. He wants us to trust Him, to cling to Him, to rely on Him for everything, to call Him “Father,” or “Abba” or “Dad.”

The danger of being “rich” in any way whether it is regarding money or fame, intelligence or abilities, beauty or health, family or friends, the danger of riches is that we tend to forget that we need God and that every good that we have is His gift. We are like the fickle, self-absorbed friend who only calls when he needs something; we tend to only remember Him when we are in trouble and we need something from God. No one likes to be treated like a sugar daddy or a slot machine or a fast food restaurant or a spa or an amusement park or an ATM machine or a witch doctor. God doesn’t let Himself be used like that for He isn’t an object for our use. He is a person (three to be exact), and He wants to be in the most intimate relationship with us; He is meant to be our husband, and so He is jealous for our love. He is the very best of husbands, and only in giving ourselves totally to Him are we truly happy and satisfied. Nothing else quenches the infinite longings of our soul because that is how He fashioned us. As Saint Augustine said, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Jesus of Nazareth

2008-02-26T23:37:00.005-06:00

I plan to work my way through Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, published by Doubleday in 2007. Tonight I want to start by focusing on the last sentences of his introduction on page eight:

“The disciple who walks with Jesus is thus caught up with him into communion with God. And that is what redemption means: this stepping beyond the limits of human nature, which had been there as a possibility and an expectation in man, God’s image and likeness, since the moment of creation.”

Putting what the Pope says in my own words, I would say: Jesus is the Way by which we are united to God and have a relationship with Him. This union and friendship with God is what redemption is, for heaven itself is nothing other than being with God. Jesus enables us to go beyond the merely natural and be transported into the supernatural reality for which God created us. Being made in God’s image and likeness bespeaks the reality that God made us to be in relationship with Him.

What I find most interesting in this quote from our Holy Father is that he connects our communion with God to our being created in the image and likeness of God. That makes sense. It relates to what I say which is that being created in the image and likeness of God means that we are created to be God’s spouse and to have the deepest union with Him. Our two statements are not mutually exclusive; my statement is more specific and strongly stated.

The first chapter of the book is a reflection on the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. John is shocked that Jesus wants to be baptized by him, but Jesus replies to John saying, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). The Pope reflects on Jesus’ words on page seventeen of his book:

“The key to interpreting Jesus’ answer is how we understand the word righteousness: The whole of righteousness must be fulfilled. In Jesus’ world, righteousness is man’s answer to the Torah, acceptance of the whole of God’s will, the bearing of the “yoke of God’s kingdom,” as one formulation had it. There is no provision for John’s baptism in the Torah, but this reply of Jesus is his way of acknowledging it as an expression of an unrestricted Yes to God’s will, as an obedient acceptance of his yoke.”

One is baptized then, in Jesus’ understanding, as an expression of an unrestricted Yes to the whole of God’s will and an obedient fulfillment of God’s commands. Pope Benedict says that the Eastern Church sees Jesus’ response here to John’s bewilderment as an anticipation of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father…not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Jesus is wholly given over to the will of His Heavenly Father, even unto death.

Today, when one is baptized, he enters into the death of Jesus, and he is given the very heart of Jesus which led Him to His faithful-unto-death self-offering. With Jesus’ heart within us, we are able to take on the impossible task of following and loving God and obeying His commands. We too are given the courage and spirit of sacrifice to say together with Jesus: “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The Eucharist is an extension and celebration of our baptism, and as such, the Eucharist is the new heart we need to be wholly given over to the will of God. Jesus frees us from our slavery to our own wills and makes it possible for us to follow and please God perfectly.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"Those Who Trust in You Cannot Be Put to Shame"

2008-02-25T23:45:00.003-06:00

Tuesday’s first reading comes from the book of Daniel 3: 25, 34-43. Azariah (named Abednego by the Babylonian in charge of him) and two others from the tribe of Judah would not fall down and worship the false god King Nebuchadnezzar set up. For their punishment, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. While in the fiery furnace, Azariah stood up and prayed aloud:

“For your name’s sake, O Lord, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant. Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one, to whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea. For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; as though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame. And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy. Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord.”

Surely this is an extremely heartfelt and urgent prayer showing forth the beauty of the heart that trusts in God. Let’s examine this prayer a bit. The beginning asks for God’s mercy as He remembers His covenants with the patriarchs, and then it moves to acknowledging his sins and the sins of God’s people. In their present state, both he and God’s people have nothing of sacrifices to offer God, nor have they a leader to draw them closer to Him.

The heart of the prayer is in the center: even though we have sinned and have nothing for leadership or in the way of sacrifices, we do have humble, contrite hearts which, entirely trusting in God, follow Him without reserve. Azariah prays to God that He might accept his sacrifice of following God with his whole heart in place of burnt offerings and sacrifices which were usually offered. He ends his prayer seeking God’s kindness and great mercy to deliver them from their ever-present and all-consuming ordeal.

The story ends with God delivering the three young men from the fiery furnace. Once again, the centrality and immense importance of the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God above all things is shown forth clearly. We have God’s life in our souls when our heart completely trusts God and follows Him in all things; it is the tree of life, and there is no other. God desires us to have such a heart beating within the walls of our rib cage, and His plan is to give us that heart, Jesus’ heart pierced on the cross and resurrected to new life, in the Holy Eucharist. That is what the Eucharist is, and, as such, it is our tree of life which enables us to love, trust and obey God in all things and at all times, so that we too may offer ourselves as living sacrifices upon the Calvary of our life.

On another, related note, the gospel today, Matthew 18: 21-35, is powerful. It is hitting home with me in new and more powerful ways; on my retreat, it was one of the main themes that was running through my mind. God has been and is so merciful to me on countless occasions, and how little am I merciful to those indebted to me. May I have God’s mercy in my heart to those in my debt.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The Four Rivers are the Tree of Life and the Heart

2008-02-25T00:17:00.004-06:00

The woman at the well was the gospel yesterday. One further point that I have not developed much in this blog but which is very important in what I am saying is that there is a very strong connection between the living waters and the heart and that connection goes way back to the very beginning of the creation of man. Let’s look back at this original connection that occurs in the creation account:

“And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Genesis 2: 9-15).

The very first mention of the tree of life in the Bible is immediately followed by this passage about the singular river which breaks into four different rivers. Rivers work in the exact opposite manner: many rivers become one great or mighty river. Here in Genesis, however, one river becomes many rivers. This description of an unnatural river is the symbolic representation and clue about what the tree of life is. The tree of life is mentioned, and it is followed by its symbolic description so that we may better know what the tree of life is.

As I have said in previous posts, the Garden of Eden is not so much a place as the man and the woman; Eden means delight, and we are God’s garden of delight. He created us for Himself and to bear much fruit. He made us to be His children, His temple, and His bride. From Him comes our life and our fruit. This life was lost through sin, but Jesus comes to restore our relationship with God and so that we may have life and have it abundantly.

The two trees of the garden singled out are two abilities God has given us; the tree of life is the heart and its ability to love, trust and obey God. God then symbolizes the heart with the one river which flows into four rivers because our one heart is divided into four chambers which are connected to the four sections of “rivers” bringing differently equipped blood all around our bodies. Oxygenated blood is pumped out of our heart to our entire body and is taken back to our heart to be pumped to the lungs which oxygenate it and send it back to the heart afresh to be pumped out all over again. Four chambers are needed to accomplish this life-giving and life-sustaining task.

Earlier this winter my children and I were playing in our front yard and digging a tunnel in our six-foot high mountain of snow from the driveway. Toward the end when I was getting worn out, I lay back on the snow looking up at the two large, leafless Elm trees which dominate the front, and I noticed that, from the ground up, there is a resemblance between trees and the circulatory system. Physically, they look somewhat similar, in my opinion, and how fluid moves in both the circulatory system and a tree is also very similar. In the circulatory system, the life-giving oxygenated blood is transported throughout the body through its “rivers,” but it only provides that life and oxygen at the very end of the line in the capillary system; likewise, the “blood” within a tree is circulated with in by its “rivers,” but the exchange of life and oxygen only takes place at the very end of the line in the leaves. Leaves and the capillary system themselves look very much alike, and in them both take place the exchange of life.

So why is the heart called the tree of life? Well, looking at the human body and focusing on the circulatory system, we look much like trees, and the circulatory system and trees operate in a number of similar ways. We are like trees. Throughout the Old Testament, in fact, we are compared to trees many times, and even in the New Testament there are connections and symbolisms between humans and trees.

The tree of life is the four rivers of water, and those four rivers of water symbolize the heart. Here we have the connection between the heart and living/flowing waters. The most important reason why the heart is the tree of life is that the only way we have spiritual life is by loving, trusting and obeying God, and these good actions are matters of the heart. With a good heart doing what it was made to do, we will have abundant life. Just as the heart is the center of the circulatory system, so our heart is the center of our spiritual life and our relationship with God and others. In the end, we will be judged on how much we loved.

The exchange of life happens in the smallest parts of an organism: the exchange of life in a tree is in the leaves, the exchange of life in our bodies is in the capillary system, the exchange of life in our spiritual lives is in living our ordinary life well. Being faithful and trusting in the small and little ways of our ordinary life is where God meets us and forges us into saints. Relationships consist and are built up with a myriad of little events and ordinary occurrences that further cement and strengthen the connection and union of people; our relationship with God is no different. When we fulfill our deepest desires with the only One capable of doing so, our whole life changes and becomes His. To this person Jesus says, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’ ” (John 7: 37-38). Our thirst for happiness and meaning is fulfilled and quenched only in Jesus, and being thus quenched with the life of God, our heart itself becomes a life-giving font of water and joy. We become other Christs who spread the truth and life who is Jesus.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Our Daily Bread: the Source of Holiness

2008-02-24T01:42:00.006-06:00

A few days ago I reflected on Jesus’ encounter with and words to the Samaritan woman at the well; toward the end of that event, Jesus tells the apostles that his food is to do the will of him who sent him and to finish his work. Today, the third Sunday of Lent, the gospel is the entire passage of the Samaritan woman at the well.

I have been pondering this passage more where Jesus tells his apostles what His food is, and that made me think of the Our Father prayer He teaches them. In that prayer, I think the only prayer He teaches as recorded in Scripture, He says, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). In the singular prayer we have from Jesus, He does not teach us to pray for tomorrow’s bread. We only pray for the bread for today. There is no retirement account for this bread. The same was true for the manna in the wilderness; it vanished after a day, so no matter how much one gathered in a day, it would not be there for tomorrow. Each day they gathered it in a new. The one exception to that was on the Sabbath; they did not gather on that day. They would gather a double portion on Friday which would last them through Saturday.

In a similar manner, we can not store up our prayers seeking the bread of today for tomorrow. Each and every day we must pray for that bread. What is this daily bread? Certainly, Jesus wants us to rely upon Him for all our physical needs and to thank Him for all of our overflowing blessings. The more significant and life-changing bread that we pray for each day is God’s life in us; to have life and live it abundantly, we need to have a deep communion with God wherein we put on the mind of Christ and conform our wills to His. He dwells in us and we dwell in Him. For this sharing of our lives together with our Merciful Father, we need to pray each day as Jesus showed us.

Thinking about this word “daily,” I looked to see where else this word is used in the New Testament and checked it in the Greek to make sure it is the same word (καθʼ ἡμέραν). One of the places it is also used is two chapters earlier in Luke where Jesus says: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” Luke 9:23-26.

Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily. We are to pray each day for our daily bread, and we are to take up our cross daily. Is there a connection between these two, our daily bread and our daily cross? I think there is. For you and me to be willing to lose our life, to lose the world, to take up our cross, we have to be filled with God’s life. Unless we are fully alive and entirely given over into the hands of our Savior, we aren’t going to be able to give up everything. The only motivation strong enough to do such a seemingly crazy thing is that God has won over our hearts and we trust Him fully with all that we have and with all that we will need in the future. To take up our daily cross, we must have our daily bread.

Another instance of the use of “daily” is found in the other writings of Saint Luke. In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles when the Church is just getting off the ground, Luke uses the word “daily” (καθʼ ἡμέραν) twice in a short passage: “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2: 46-47).

With glad, generous hearts, the disciples gathered daily for their bread, and daily the number of disciples increased. Earlier, I mentioned the connection between daily bread and being able to carry one’s daily cross. Here, the daily bread is what is the impetus and source for growth in the Church. Daily bread can simply be God’s grace that He showers down upon us for strength for the day, but it is most completely the Holy Eucharist itself. Jesus Himself, the True Bread from Heaven, is the perfect daily bread. When we gladly and generously give ourselves to Him when we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist, then we are able to carry our daily cross and then we will be fruitful personally; partly because our holiness is attractive and partly because God provides the fruit, our faithful and worthy reception of the Eucharist brings others into the Church as well.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life (Lumen Gentium #11): it is our daily bread which gives us strength to carry our daily cross and which bears much fruit, especially with the expansion and growth of the Church. As the second Eucharistic Prayer states right before the epiclesis, “Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness.” The fountain of grace God has established is the Eucharist; as it says in today’s gospel, it is the gift of God and the source of living water. All that we need for life and sanity, for hope and trust, for generosity and self-sacrifice, is found in the Eucharist: the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is the very Love Exploding Heart of Christ which poured itself out completely for you and me, and with that heart within us, we have life and we can carry our cross and we will bear much fruit.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

We are "The One and Only Bride of Christ"

2008-02-21T22:37:00.003-06:00

Today in my Magnificat the meditation of the day is from Saint Peter Damian, a doctor of the Catholic Church who died in 1072. What he says has some application to what I am saying; I will quote some of it. This selection comes from pages 111-112 of A Word in Season, Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours, volume V.

“The Church of Christ is united by a bond of mutual love so strong that not only is it a single entity subsisting in many members, but in each member it is also mysteriously present in its plenitude. So it is that the entire universal Church is rightly said to be the one and only bride of Christ, and each person, through the mystery of the sacrament, is believed to be the Church in its fullness. One in all and entire in each, holy Church is single in the plurality of its members thanks to the unity of faith, and manifold in each of them thanks to the bond of charity and the diversity of charisms, for they all come from One.”

What I understand Saint Peter Damian to be saying is that the Church is one Body with many members, as Saint Paul says, and the Church is also present in Her fullness in each of Her members. The part that I don’t remember hearing before is that the Church is present in each of Her members; I had thought something like that, but I don’t remember ever reading it. If you and I, as members of the Church, bear within ourselves the plenitude of the Church, could what is said of the Church, in some sense, be said of us?

Since the “entire universal Church is rightly said to be the one and only bride of Christ,” could it not also be said that each of us participates in that one spousal relationship with Him? The highest level of prayer and the spiritual life is called mystical marriage or mystical union with God; in prayer, the endpoint is to become the spouse of Christ, and this we already know, especially from the works of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Theresa of Avila. The Catholic Church also teaches that all are called to be holiness, that there is a universal call to holiness. There is no holiness without a deep communion with God in prayer, so in some sense, it could be said that there is a universal call to contemplation and to its fulfillment: mystical marriage.

One of the pillars of my theory is that God made us to be His spouse. When, in the very first chapter of the Bible in Genesis 1:26, we were made in the image and likeness of God, since every other living creature was made according to its own likeness and kind for reproduction and we were not made according to our own likeness and kind but in the likeness of God, that passage is saying that we were created to be the spouse of God. It is in our mystical union with Him that we bear much good fruit. We see this best lived out in the Blessed Virgin Mary who was so closely united to God and trusted in Him above all else, that she bore the best possible fruit, the very Son of God, and she did so virginally as a pure gift from God Himself.

How great a dignity we have; we are indeed temples of the Holy Spirit; God lives and dwells within us; when we foster that relationship with God and give ourselves to Him more and more each day, our mind, heart and will more closely conform to His; the more we become like Him, the more able we are to receive Him and His life; having removed all attachments to sin and created realities from our souls and desiring to please only Him, we approach the deepest spiritual union with God; it is in this that we become the bride of Christ as an individual, participating in the life and reality of the singular bride of Christ, the Catholic Church.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Eat the Tree of Life

2008-02-20T23:33:00.003-06:00

The first reading from Jeremiah 17:5-10 is one of those perfect readings that harmonizes so well with my theory. I will quote it here in full:

“Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it? I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.”

The first line of this passage is exactly, according to my theory, what the man and the woman did in the garden. They trusted in themselves and the strength of their flesh as their heart turned away from God and trusted in the serpent. My theory, which I have mentioned multiple times on this site, is that God made man to be His spouse. He created the first man and woman and gave them a test of faith.

He told them to be fruitful and multiply and then told them to remain virgins, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This doesn’t seem to make sense. God told them to forgo the highest of the natural goods to obtain the highest of the supernatural goods; He wanted them to give up (sexual) marriage to a human being to obtain marriage to Himself; He asked them to give up the good and holy image of union with God (marital intimacy) to obtain the very thing itself: complete union with God forever in heaven in never ending bliss. Desiring to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, they took matters into their own hands, trusted in themselves and their reproductive powers, distrusted God’s singular prohibition, and had marital relations.

They immediately realize they are naked and hide from God; their punishments revolve around bearing children and planting bad seed; the very first thing the man does after the punishments is re-name his wife. Now that she has conceived from the very first sin, she is no longer just woman, she is a mother. She has become a new reality, and so the man names her Eve, mother of all the living. The child she wanted and now conceived is Cain; when he is born, she names him “gotten,” i.e. Cain.

Back to Jeremiah, those who trust in man receive barrenness and death, and that is what the man and woman received: Cain the murderer. On the other hand, he who trusts and hopes in the Lord is fully alive. He is a tree planted next to the stream whose leaves stay alive in any condition and still bears fruit. It doesn’t matter how little rain falls, the tree is close to the stream, and so it receives all the water it needs. The tree flourishes and bears fruit because it trusts in God.

The tree of life is the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God. The heart that trusts God has its roots deeply inside God, the source of all life. The trusting, obedient heart is the conduit for receiving God’s life, for being in communion with Him; therefore, since it is the means by which we stay connected to God, the heart is the tree of life: a heart united to God is united to Life.

The passage continues: “More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?” The heart is the location of the battle which determines where we will spend eternity. When a heart doesn’t trust, nothing, other than a miracle of God’s grace, can help it trust. All our actions, all our deeds, flow from the abundance within our hearts. If our heart is full of disobedience and suspicion toward God, we will do all sorts of evil deeds; if our heart trusts Him and longs to please Him in all we do, then of course we will most always do what is good. The passage concludes: “I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.” Our deeds matter and decide our eternity because they reveal what is in our heart. In the end, all that matters is that we love, trust and obey God—that we eat of the tree of life.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Each of Us is the Woman at the Well

2008-02-20T00:06:00.003-06:00

I have been meditating on John 4 the past several days. At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus is passing through Samaria on His way to Galilee when He stops to rest at the city’s well about noon. A woman comes there to get some water, and Jesus, being thirsty, asks her for a drink. She is stupefied by the fact that a Jewish man is talking with her, and He replies, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

Wells in the Old Testament were the places that the patriarchs often met the woman they would marry, so there is a marital undertone throughout this passage by the well of Jacob. The Samaritans were some of the most hated people to the Jews since they were the unfaithful remnant of the ten northern tribes of Israel after they had been mostly wiped out by Assyria in 722 B.C. and partially repopulated with foreigners. Samaria, for the most part, was what was left of Israel while the Jews remained strong down south in Judea. The Jews and Samaritans simply didn’t talk to one another if they could help it.

So here was Jesus, a Jew, talking to a Samaritan and a woman at that. She could not believe it. Jesus tells her that if she knew that she was speaking to God, and if she knew the good gifts God wants to give, she would ask Him to give her living water. She asks Him how He is going to get the water, and He responds, “…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Jesus doesn’t answer her question, but He further clarifies the water He is talking about: the living water that He gives becomes in the one who receives it a spring of water which leads to eternal life.

The conversation moves toward the woman’s husband; she currently has no husband. She has had five, and the one she is with now, she has not married. This has a double meaning since the Samaritans had had five rulers, or husbands, too. Both the woman and the Samaritans were looking for ultimate, lasting happiness in their husbands, but they had not found it. Now Jesus, True Husband of Souls, meets her at the place of meeting a spouse, and offers to give her His life which we call grace and which is symbolized by living water.

His disciples come back from going to buy food and are amazed that Jesus is talking to this woman. The woman left her water jar to go and tell other Samaritans that she had found the Christ. “Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Has any one brought him food?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work’ ” (John 4:31-34).

This is the passage I want to look at most closely. When Jesus says to His disciples, “I have food to eat of which you do not know,” He is making a linguistic reference back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Jesus has food to eat of which they do not know, and in a similar manner, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not to be eaten: in both instances, there is food and not knowing or not eating. Jesus refers to the tree of life when He says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.” The tree of life is the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God; in other words, it is to do the will of God and accomplish the task given by Him.

The Samaritan woman at the well, unfaithful and sinful, symbolizes every one of us. Even though we are unworthy, Jesus is thirsty and seeks us out. He thirsts for our love, and asks us for a drink; He asks us: “Will you marry me?” On our own, we have nothing to give Him, but we can ask Him, and He will pour out His life into our hearts, making them springs of living water. In the middle of each day as we go about our mundane tasks, Jesus asks us if we will satisfy His thirst. We do so when we give our entire self to Him in love and trust and do what He commands, even and especially in the little ways.

Jesus seeks to be our husband and to give us the gift of God, which is God’s very life. To receive this most awesome gift, we have to ask for it just as the Samaritan woman did. Jesus is eager to give His life to us if we ask Him for it; He does not force His life upon us. When we receive His life in our souls, it becomes a spring of living water and leads us to eternal life.

A while later, Jesus went back to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles and said the same thing that He had said to the woman at the well. “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, ‘If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’ ’ ” (John 7: 37-38). When we love, trust, and obey God, our heart becomes a tree of life which flows with living water and bears fruit ever month of the year.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Ratzinger: the Cross and Eucharist=the Tree of Life

2008-02-18T23:13:00.004-06:00

This weekend I went on my yearly silent retreat with Opus Dei, and that is why I haven’t written anything these past several days. While on the retreat, I read a short book that consists of four homilies during lent that Pope Benedict XVI gave back before he was pope or even the prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith. He gave the lectures during lent in 1981, right before he was the prefect (at least I don’t think he was just yet). Ratzinger didn’t publish them for five years; the edition I read was from 1995 and is titled: ‘In the Beginning…’ A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.

One of the overriding themes of these homilies is that the belief that God created the world is extremely important to properly understanding not only ourselves, but reality and the Faith itself. I am not going to summarize the reasons for this, at least not tonight. I assume this point in everything I write, and it was encouraging to know that, hopefully, I can do a small part to lead others to re-examine the creation account. In the beginning of the preface of the book, Ratzinger laments how “…the creation account is noticeably and nearly completely absent from catechesis, preaching, and even theology.” That was true when he preached these homilies in 1981. “Since then, from the perspective of my new work [as prefect], the critical state of the creation theme in the present-day kerygma has become so much more evident that I now feel pressed to bring out the old manuscripts again and prepare them for printing.” That is why he published them five years later and created the book I read this weekend.

I want to quote at length his conclusion to his forth homily:

“Thus Christ is the new Adam, with whom humankind begins anew….The cross, the place of obedience, is the true tree of life. Christ is the antitype of the serpent, as is indicated in John 3:14. From this tree there comes not the word of temptation but that of redeeming love, the word of obedience, which an obedient God himself used, thus offering us his obedience as a context for freedom. The cross is the tree of life, now become approachable….Therefore the Eucharist, as the presence of the cross, is the abiding tree of life, which is ever in our midst and ever invites us to take the fruit of true life….To receive it, to eat of the tree of life, thus means to receive the crucified Lord and consequently to accept the parameters of his life, his obedience, his ‘yes,’ the standard of our creatureliness. It means to accept the love of God, which is our truth—that dependence on God which is no more an imposition from without than is the Son’s sonship. It is precisely this dependence that is freedom, because it is truth and love.”

Of course, I love this quote; I do because it resonates so well with much of what I have been saying. For someone who only desires to write within the context of Catholicism, in the strict sense of the word, having the Pope say some of the very same things is sweet music to my ears. I am glad that I found this quote this weekend; I plan to work my way through the Pope’s most recent book, Jesus of Nazareth, so I can see what else he says that may resonate with what I am saying. Isn’t his next book coming out soon, too?

At the same time, what I am saying is only in part what the Pope is saying. I say that the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God is the tree of life, and that that is the way it was from the beginning with the man and the woman in the garden. Their hearts trusted in Satan and his wisdom, and so they brought death into the world for themselves and all their descendants. The problem with us then, is that we have hard hearts, hearts that trust in themselves, rely upon their own power, turn away from God, are disobedient and in love with self and the good things of this world. We need hearts of flesh that love, trust and obey God in all things, at all times, and against all difficulties even unto death. We receive that loving and self-sacrificing heart of flesh at Baptism when we are united to Christ in His death and resurrections; being united to Jesus, we receive His very heart which was crucified and pierced; every Eucharist is a celebration of our Baptism wherein we receive that Heart of Christ, crucified and risen. With such a heart, we are able to fully and truly love, trust and obey God. That is the awesome gift we receive at every Eucharist, but it is up to us to open the present and use it. Nothing less than sanctity awaits us when we take the heart of Jesus given to us and make it our own.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

My First Poem: Offered Back

2008-02-14T23:45:00.008-06:00

(Other poems)

Offered Back

Love began the flame within the fragile cells.
Love, too, completed the Love began, in nourishing womb.
Husband and wife, united, made into the perfect body of one,
An image of the Perfect Triune Body of One
Presented with the new creation--the new born babe.

In this Love, I AM embraces this chalice
Freshly fashioned, radiating being.
The molded golden handle bulb--its heart
Living to be held...by Him.
The reflecting receiving concave belly--its mind, its soul
Living to be filled...with HIm.

Like an eagle fledgling floundering in cliff-hung nest
Pushed out to fly, to live
Tumbling, follows not its guardinas in flight
Looking away, follows the pull
Insatiably darkly driven insensible.

Thirsting chalice, numb, leaves home, prostitutes itself
Corrupt hands unable to hold, to draw near
Dry tasteless drink unable to fill, to satisfy and sustain
Clang! Happening hard upon frozen stone, violated and broken.

Shattering into its world the Shepherd finds this chalice,
Holding it close to the Loving Pierced Heart,
Reality penetrating eyes know its every construction.

Deep, dirty, disjointed dings destroy the dance
Gouges and scrapes scathingly show sustaining
Deathly emptiness, stark cold lonely nakedness
Once poured over, twice poured over, thrice poured over
Washed in pure water, cleansed by the bath.

Grime regrasps its gauche grip, holding to fester
Particles hiding, hibernating in the caves.
Mercy Infinite, Love Exploding, hands of light drudge deep
Polishing till perfection, holy and without blemish.

Rest is given, new wine poured in.
Both united--Him holding its heart with Pierrced Palms
Living within each other--it holding the Bleeding Wine
Chalice breathing Blood, Blood breathing Life.
This lost chalice is now His chalice.

Through Him, With Him, In Him, offered back to I AM.

I began this poem while in pain on my bed as a freshman at the Franciscan University of Steubenville after a serious ankle sprain playing basketball. I worked on it for some time and turned it in for my poetry class. The next year, I took it out again and worked on it some more. I revised it and published it in the university's literary magazine, which, for that year, was entitled "Offered Back" after this poem.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Will You Marry Me? Poem

2008-02-13T23:51:00.005-06:00

Interestingly, one of the main ways people find their way to my blog is by looking for a “Will You Marry Me?” poem on a search engine, usually google. I suppose that is because I have posted a few poems and my blog has as part of its name: will you marry me. I feel bad that these people usually don’t find what they are looking for when they visit here. On the eve of Valentine’s Day, it seems more people than usual are looking for such a poem as they prepare to pop the question. I’ve wanted to provide some sort of engagement poem here for some time, and with tomorrow’s celebration, it seems a good time to compose such a poem; I write it from a man’s point of view.

Keeper of My Heart, Keeper of My Life, Will You Be My...

My heart has found a home in your care
Your gentle and firm hands receive it well
And make it better and more true to tell
You inspire it with your vibrant flair.

With the keeping of my heart I want to say
That I want to be your protector and your sure stay
I want to lay down my life for love of you
Pouring myself out each day as the sun’s radiant hue.

You make my heart sing and give me life
With my heart in your hands, Will you be my wife?
I want to be yours till the day I die
Will you be mine, too, may I be your guy?

I am down on my knees and humbly beseech
That you be the keeper of my life
And my only cherished peach
Will you be mine, will you be my wife?

Let’s journey together on our way home
Let’s make a home together open to God’s gifts
That at the end of our journey we may not roam
But be taken to heaven where there are no rifts.

Will you be my wife and the center of my life
Except for God who is always number one
His name is Jesus, God’s only Son
Together we journey to Him through all life’s strife.

Well, you can’t say I didn’t try. It’s a first draft done in about twenty minutes. Feel free to use it and/or modify it to your needs. It is generic and a bit sappy, I fear. If it is too good, she may think you didn’t write it, right? This is just bad enough for her to think that you wrote it; of course, you wouldn’t want to deceive her, so you would have to modify it to take any credit for it. Or, you could just blame it on me; I mean give me the credit. Happy Valentine’s Day!

For a Bible passage that reflects some of what is in my poem, read this from Proverbs 31:

When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil,
all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax
and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors,
and let her works praise her at the city gates.

God's Word Makes Our Heart Flow with Living Water

2008-02-12T23:32:00.004-06:00

The first reading today in the Mass was a short one and came from Isaiah 55: 10-11. Here it is:

“Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

Although this is such a short passage, the context surrounding this little one is packed with awesome passages that resonate very well with my theory. I’ll have to unpack these chapters more on another occasion; for now, I will begin to explore this passage and two short sentences right before this one.

The two other passages I want to highlight are 54:5 where it says, “For your Maker is your husband,” and 55:1 which states, “Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters.” I bring up these two because these two themes, the husband and water, are the two themes of today’s reading. Rain and snow come from heaven and water the earth making it fertile; in the same way God’s word comes from heaven and waters the earth, making it fruitful. Water makes the earth fruitful. God’s word makes the earth fruitful.

How is a woman made fruitful? It is her husband who pours out his “water” so that she can bear fruit. In that sense, the husband makes the wife fruitful through water. God is our husband, but He is not so in a sexual sense. God pours out His Word to us in order that it accomplishes what He desires—our fruitfulness. How are we fruitful? We are fruitful when our tree of life is alive. How is our tree of life alive? It is alive when we have a heart that loves, trusts and obeys God. When we love, trust and obey God, we bear good fruit for Him, and He is our Husband.

How do we receive God’s Word in an effective manner? We do so by opening wide our hearts to Him to do whatever He asks of us. The responsorial psalm today says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves” (Psalm 34:19). Those who are humble, those whose hearts turn from their sin and turn back to God, those who are grieved that they hurt God who loves them so much, those who want to share in the sufferings of Christ and be a self-sacrificing lover, these are the ones who have a heart open to God to receive His Word and bear much fruit. Yes, these are the ones; he is the one who believes in Jesus, and “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). When we open our hearts to God, He fills our hearts with His water so that out of our very own hearts, rivers of living water flow.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The Temptation of Christ was the Temptation of Adam

2008-02-10T23:57:00.000-06:00

Tonight is the three month anniversary of my blog’s launch; technically, I started it late at night on the ninth, but I did not really put anything in my first post other than that I was going to start writing. I started writing on the tenth. This is my 83rd post in these past 90 days or so, and it has been much fun for me. One of the main reasons I had not written before was that I was simply too busy with life; that hasn’t changed. In order to write, I just get less sleep. Most of my writing takes place late at night; I try to finish before midnight, but it is usually sometime after when I can actually hit the hay. Since I love it, even though I wish I were doing a much better job of it, it is not difficult to keep going. Thanks to all the people who keep me and my writing in your prayers.

What better readings could there be today for this first Sunday in Lent for my three month anniversary! The first reading talks about the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the Fall itself. I will reprint the whole thing here. I usually use the RSCVE Bible, but of course the Mass readings are using the NAB; it will be interesting to compare the two. It comes from Genesis 2:7-9 & 3:1-7:

The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

One thing I like about this translation is that the various trees God plants in the garden are delightful to look at and good for food. The word Eden means delight, and the trees planted there are delightful. That makes sense. Part of my theory is that the Garden of Eden is not so much a place as it is the man and woman themselves; the garden refers to them and to their bodies. The trees refer to all of their abilities and powers as humans. God created us good, and how we are created is beautiful. Our bodies are beautiful, and our abilities are beautiful; in an unfallen state, we were perfectly harmonious and in order; we would not die or get sick; our will and intellect and body worked together toward one good common goal; all was well, and all was beautiful. We are still created good and beautiful, yet we are disordered and tend toward the evil; it is a battle to choose the good. It is a battle not to be selfish and not to forget about God. It is a battle not say, My will be done.

The two most important delightful trees, which are in the middle of the garden, are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. My theory is that the tree of life is the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is our ability to have marital relations and conceive children. Since God had put us on earth but made us for heaven, and since He gave the man and the woman to each other as spouses but made us to be married to Him forever in heaven, He told the man and the woman not to have relations.

He asked them to forgo the greatest of this world’s blessings as a sacrificial test and trial of faith in order be given a child by God directly, virginally, and so also be given the greatest supernatural blessing: complete beatitude and union with God Himself forever in Heaven. We are first and foremost created for heaven, which is to be married to God forever; we are not made for earth or earthly marriage, ultimately; earth and earthly marriage are the pathway we take to prepare us for heaven, where there is no earthly marriage. God still requires this same sort of test for all those who live the priestly or religious life; it is the test of celibacy. And it still takes great trust and love of God to pass this test, but the fruit of a well-passed test is bountiful.

The responsorial psalm is the great penitential psalm David wrote after he acknowledged his sin with Bathsheba; there are a number of parallels between his sin and the Fall, as I see it. Perhaps the most important element of this psalm is David’s request to God to create a clean heart in him. David asks God for a clean heart. Repentance is a matter of the heart. Turning back to God is a matter of the heart. Being faithful and loving God is also a matter of the heart. Life comes through union with God, and in that respect, the faithful heart is the source or conduit of life. The heart is the tree of life.

I will include all of the second reading today from Paul’s Letter to the Romans 5:12-19:

“Brothers and sisters: Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come. But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many. And the gift is not like the result of the one who sinned. For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation; but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal. For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.”

I think Paul’s argument here is relatively simple. He is saying that through one man, Adam, sin and death entered the world. He was disobedient, sinned, and brought death upon his family, the human race. The implication is that all his children and their children, the sons of Adam or the sons of man, are born dead to God, born without sanctifying grace. In Adam, all sinned, all were condemned, and all died. The one man brought disobedience and death upon everyone. Adam is a type, as in typology or image, of Christ, yet Christ undoes what Adam destroyed. The one man, Jesus Christ, was obedient, and so He brings grace, acquittal, justification, righteousness and life to the many. The one man, the Son of Man, enables us, sinners, to have life again and have our relationship with God renewed.

How is original sin passed on? It passes on through human generation; each child born is born in the state of original sin. This is no personal sin on the part of the baby; it is a state of being not born with sanctifying grace in our souls. Without sanctifying grace, which is the very life of God, we are born dead to God. We need to be born again. That is the state of things Adam left us in by his one act of disobedience.

How do we go from being sons of men to being sons of God? How do we become children of God and born alive to Him? We need to be born again, born from above, born of God in the sacrament of Baptism. Baptism is being really, spiritually united to Jesus, specifically His passion, death and resurrection so that we can die, be set free from our old master, sin, and be born again to be married to our new spouse, Jesus (see Romans 7:1ff). As Adam gives birth to spiritually dead babies through natural generation, so Jesus gives birth to children alive in God through His death and resurrection, which we truly share in through the sacrament of Baptism.

One of my main points here is that both Adam and Jesus beget children; the first through disobedience because of the fear of death and trying to save his own life, begets dead children, and the other through obedience and going through the worst possible death, makes the dead into a new creation and alive to God. Each of these singular men, through their one act, beget children: the first begets children who are dead, and the second begets those dead children to new life in Him.

Lastly, we have the gospel which today comes from Matthew 4:1-11, and it depicts the temptation of Christ by Satan after Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert. Jesus was hungry; I think we can assume that He was most hungry; physically, I do not know how much longer one could possibly fast and still live. It would be difficult to be hungrier than Jesus was when Satan approached Jesus and told Him to turn stones into bread. Then Satan told Jesus to throw Himself down from the temple because, as the Bible says, God gives His angels to watch us to keep us from getting hurt. Lastly, Satan tempts Jesus by saying that he would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would simply lay flat on the ground and worship him.

As the New Adam, I would assume that Jesus’ temptation would have some similarities to the temptation Adam underwent. My theory is that God commanded Adam not to have relations with his wife. Barrenness was death for the Jews, and wanting to be like God who creates, the man and the woman, fearing the death of not having children, disobeyed God to obey God’s other command to be fruitful and multiply. Abraham and Sarah, after God promised them a son, waited twenty-five years, from the time he was 75 until he was 100, before God actually sent that promised son, Isaac. They were hungry for a son; they were so hungry that Abraham had a son through Sarah’s maid in an attempt to fulfill God’s promise.

How long did the man and the woman wait to have a child? It could have been a very long time. It could have been very short, or it could have been decades or even centuries. We don’t know. I speculate that it was a long time and that they were extremely hungry for a child, to be creative like God and fulfill God’s command to be fruitful. And Satan hit them were they were most weak. Jesus was hungry for bread, so Satan proposes that He make bread from stones. The man and the woman were hungry for a baby, so Satan proposes that they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to have one. And they do, and they name him “gotten,” which is Cain.

When you purposely throw yourself down from a great height to test God and make Him protect you against your own stupidity, you of course sin, and obviously you will get critically hurt. You will probably die. This is similar to what Adam did. Adam was created without sin and unaffected by death and sickness; he had a great dignity and was the very first human created. He took all that dignity, all that height, and threw it down by his sin. He disobeyed God’s singular prohibition; that is as smart as jumping off a cliff, and it has the same consequence—death. He, the father of the human family, becomes the father of death by his stupid sin. One other thing, Adam was made as a temple of God, and by his sin he threw himself down from such a dignity as temple of God; he was made from dirt, but he was made to be God's temple; he forsook being God's temple and choose to be dirt.

Lastly, Jesus was offered all the kingdoms of the world if He prostrated Himself before Satan. This, too, has parallels to what Adam did, according to my theory. If the Fall was having relations with his wife, the woman, then they both would have been prostrate on the ground, as it were. They did it through the wisdom of the serpent, and by trusting in him, they were choosing to worship him instead of God. That, then, covers the falling prostrate and worshipping Satan. What about the having the kingdoms of the world? What are kingdoms made up of? People. If there are no people, there certainly are no kingdoms. There wouldn’t even be a state, city, town, village or hamlet. Adam, hungry for a child, could have also been promised as part of his temptation to be the father of all the people of the earth. By his trust of and obedience to the wisdom of the serpent, if my theory is correct, Adam did become the father of all the earth and in that manner possess all the kingdoms of the earth. Everyone on the earth is a son of Adam, a son of man. So the Son of Man came to undo what Adam had done, making the sons of men into sons of God.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.rom

"You Will be a Watered Garden"

2008-02-09T23:52:00.001-06:00

On Friday there were some good scripture passages on which to comment. The first came from the responsorial psalm, Psalm 51: “For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.” God wants our hearts, and when we turn to Him, humble and seeking His help, He loves to come to our aid.

God is not pleased in animal sacrifices in themselves; the Israelites were worshipping fertility gods symbolized by bulls (calves) and goats, so God had them sacrifice their very gods. Killing and eating one’s gods does not make for happy gods. They had to sacrifice lambs because, insofar as they sinned, they were worshipping themselves. Thus, animal sacrifices were a good penitential act showing God that one wasn’t going to worship those false gods, but it didn’t mean that one couldn’t find some other false gods to worship. Animal sacrifice didn’t guarantee that one was loving and obeying the one true God. We show God we love Him when, humbly, we give Him our heart and our whole selves.

The second scripture passage was from Matthew 9:14-15: “The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’.” Here, Jesus refers to Himself as the bridegroom. He is our husband. Part of my theory is that right from the beginning, God made us to be His spouse; when man and woman are made in the image and likeness of God in the very first chapter of Genesis, He is making us to be His bride. We were stolen by Satan in the garden, so God comes to earth to win back His wayward bride. The Catholic life is the life of a bride of Christ who receives His body and blood in the Eucharist to bear fruit for God.

Today, Saturday, also had some readings which resonate with my theory. The first reading is from Isaiah 58: 9-14: “Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; ‘Repairer of the breach,’ they shall call you, ‘Restorer of ruined homesteads.’ If you hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; if you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

This passage consists of two parallel parts. They are both structured saying, if you do this good deed, then something good will happen to you. The good that will happen in the first half is that God will give plenty, renew your strength, and you will be like a watered garden and an ever flowing spring of water. The second half says that you will delight in the Lord and be nourished. The two rewards seem to be arranged in a chiasm that looks like this:
A God will give you strength and plenty
B You will be a watered garden and an ever flowing spring
B’ You will delight in the Lord
A’ You will be nourished by the Lord

What is most significant is what is in the middle. The two parallel middle parts are 1) being an ever flowing spring of water and 2) taking delight in God. They are the same thing, if my theory is correct. I say that the tree of life in Genesis two and three is both the river broken into four sections and the heart, the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God. Remember that Eden means delight, so here we have a garden and Eden. When our heart loves, trusts and obeys God, it delights in Him; when it delights in God, our hearts become the four-sectioned river or spring which always produces water and good fruit and the fulfillment of what Jesus said: “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7: 38). When our hearts are turned toward God, then He gives us strength, nourishment and plenty.

The responsorial psalm is Psalm 86, and the refrain is from verse 11: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.” In order for our hearts to be obedient to God, we need to know what pleases Him. We ask Him to teach us His ways so that we know how to please the One who loves us.

In the gospel, Jesus calls Levi, the tax collector, to follow Him and then goes to a great banquet at his house. The scribes and Pharisees were upset that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, but Jesus responded: “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners” (Luke 5:32). Of course, we are all sinners, but only those who realize they are a sinner, only those who are contrite and humble of heart as we saw in Psalm 51, only these please God. So, we have come full circle tonight.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Total Surrender

2008-02-07T23:48:00.000-06:00

The readings for Mass on this second day of Lent are worth examining. The first reading comes from the end section of the book of Deuteronomy; the reading is 30:15-20:

“Moses said to the people: ‘Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’.”

Moses tells us that we have a choice between life and death; if we obey and turn our hearts toward God, we will have life and blessing; if we disobey and turn our hearts away from God, we will have death and the curse. We will have life if we love God and heed His commands; an obedient, trusting and loving heart will be blessed and have life. Again, my theory that the tree of life is the heart finds resonance in this passage from Deuteronomy. When our heart turns toward God, clings to Him, loves Him, and obeys Him, we have life. God is the source of life, and when our heart is attune to Him, our heart receives His life. The heart is the vehicle through which God gives us His life.

The theme of the heart continues in the responsorial psalm; today’s psalm is Psalm 1:

“Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.”

The one who despises God’s law disobeys God’s law and is a wicked, insolent sinner; he is like chaff which vanishes in the wind. The one who delights in God’s law and constantly thinks about it is blessed, and he is like a tree planted close to a river. His leaves do not fall off, and in season, he bears fruit. Delight comes from the heart, and we meditate and think about reality in our heart; Mary pondered all that happened to her in her heart. Therefore, when our heart loves what God loves, we are a fruitful tree. When we love, trust and obey God, our heart is a tree of life.

The gospel for today takes a slightly different, yet related, route. It comes from Luke 9:22-25, but I will only quote the second half of it:

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Immediately before Jesus said this, He was telling His disciples about His crucifixion. When Jesus says we must take up our cross and follow Him, the place He is leading us is to our own crucifixion. When we are following Him with our cross on our back, we are not out for a joy ride and a relaxing, pampered destination. We are on the way to our very own complete self-offering on our very own Calvary. Jesus died not so that we don’t have to, but rather, He died so that we would have the heart to do what He did. Jesus’ mission is to give us a new heart, His very own heart, so that we too can be a self-sacrificing lover.

When someone tries to save his life, it signifies that he does not trust in God. When one gains the whole world, he is trying to control his life and not need God. This saving of our life and this gaining the world is another way of saying that one has abandoned God. If we seek life and try to save our life, death is our keep. The reason for this is that life comes through trust in God. Life does not come through ourselves or our abilities. The heart that trusts God is willing to face death, embrace his cross, and follow Jesus to Calvary. The heart that trusts God will lose his life, lose the world, lose himself, and become a pleasing sacrifice to God. In no other way is there life. The trusting heart is the tree of life.

There is no difficulty trusting if everything is easy and everything is just as I would have it. There is no trust when all is well and I have whatever my heart desires. There is no trust when I am doing exactly as I would like to do. There is no trust when it is “My will be done.” Trust enters the picture when it is “Thy will be done.” Trust enters the arena when it is “Not my will be done.” Trust enters our hearts when all we have to hold onto is God, when we are racked with pain and suffering, deprivation and discomfort, and shattered plans and empty hands. When life is easy, we are dead for we cling only to ourselves. When life is a whirlwind and a hurricane, we are fully alive for only then do we cling to God, He who is life and existence Himself.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said on page 111 in the book, Jesus, The Word to Be Spoken words that I think resonate, in part, with what I have been saying:

“Total surrender to God must come in small details as it comes in big details. It’s nothing but that single word, ‘Yes, I accept whatever you give, and I give whatever you take.’ And this is just a simple way for us to be holy. We must not create difficulties in our own minds. To be holy doesn’t mean to do extraordinary things, to understand big things, but it is a simple acceptance, because I have given myself to God, because I belong to Him—my total surrender. He could put me here. He could put me there. He can use me. He cannot use me. It doesn’t matter because I belong so totally to him that he can do just what he wants to do with me.”

“Lent is a time when we relive the passion of Christ. Let it not be just a time when our feelings are roused, but let it be a change that comes through cooperation with God’s grace in real sacrifices of self. Sacrifice, to be real, must cost; it must hurt; it must empty us of self. Let us go through the passion of Christ day by day.”

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Lenten Plan Resurrects Our Tree of Life

2008-02-06T01:36:00.000-06:00

Lent begins today. The first reading for Ash Wednesday comes from Joel and begins with verse 12. I have included part of the verse prior to 12:

“For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it? ‘Yet even now,’ says the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil” (Joel 2: 11-13).

It was common in the ancient world to rip one’s clothes when confronted with a great sorrow. God is not so much interested in how we look on the outside; He cares what is in our hearts. When our hearts are attached to sin and to the good things of this world, its receptacles are filled up and have no room for God. We need to free our hearts from all its attachments and pray as it says in today’s psalm: “A clean heart create for me, O God” (Psalm 51:10). God tells us that we need to rend our hearts; that is a powerful image; it is a painful route to take, but it brings us new life.

The key to our living the faith is turning our heart back to God. The repentant heart is the key. We express that repentance by our fasting, sorrow for our sin, and our almsgiving, and they are meant to be painful as we rend our hearts. We also rend our hearts by the confession of our sins and by our prayer and charitable deeds. These penitential activities help to turn our dead hearts of stone into hearts of flesh which seek to please God. They resurrect our dead, fruitless trees of life into fruitful, abundant, overflowing trees of life which bear good fruit each month and out of which flow rivers of living water.

There are three main parts to a plan for Lent, a program for our increased daily conversion of heart: 1) we need to cut out the ways we sin; 2) we should give us something good as a sacrifice to God; 3) we should increase something better we already do or start something new.

An example for a Lenten plan could look something like this: first, I am going to be committed to avoid that near occasion of sin which I am too comfortable with right now; second, I am going to give up alcohol; third, I am going to say a decade of the rosary each day and do the stations of the cross on Fridays. Another example: first, I am not going to gossip; second, I will give up coffee and chocolate; third, I will get to daily Mass and read the daily Mass readings for the next day the night before. Of course, the options are endless, but it is important to stop sinning, have a sacrifice of something good and put something better in its place. All these items help our hearts to draw closer to God and attach to the only worthy and life-giving attachment.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"Live as Though You are Not Married"

2008-02-04T00:15:00.000-06:00

I started my read through Saint Augustine’s “Of Holy Virginity” back in January, and this tonight is the fourth and final post on this work. In its concluding paragraphs, there are many wonderful quotes. Saint Augustine spends his remaining paragraphs encouraging virgins to be faithful to God and their virginity through their love of God and their humility and meekness of heart. In Sunday’s gospel reading today from Saint Matthew 5:5 it says: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.”

In paragraph 52, Saint Augustine says that virginity is guarded by love, and love’s home is humility: “Therefore there is none that guardeth the virginal good, save God Himself Who gave it: and God is Charity (1 John 4:8). The Guardian therefore of virginity is Charity: but the place of this Guardian is humility.” We all, therefore, need to learn from Jesus who said, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” With a humble heart, we can draw close to Jesus and learn from Him, Saint Augustine says, and in a holy humility, Jesus finds rest for His head.

In the next paragraph, 53, Saint Augustine continues to state the absolute necessity for humility and for not justifying oneself: “Let such among your number [of virgins] as persevere, afford to you an example: but let such as fall increase your fear. Love the one that ye may imitate it; mourn over the other, that ye be not puffed up. Do not ye establish your own righteousness; submit yourselves unto God Who justifies you. Pardon the sins of others, pray for your own: future sins shun by watching, past sins blot out by confessing.” We are to give ourselves to God and realize, if we stay free from certain sins, it is due to His grace and help. Therefore, we can love much because we have been forgiven much (either by confessing our sins or by being preserved from falling into the in the first place). We can also be merciful to those who do fall into sin and so pardon them.

Virgins, Saint Augustine says in paragraph 55, have given up marriage to a human person so that they can be married more fully to God. If this is true, then they should put all the energies one normally puts into loving one’s earthly spouse into loving their Divine Spouse: “If, therefore, ye despise marriages of sons of men, from which to beget sons of men, love ye with your whole heart Him, Who is fair of form above the sons of men; ye have leisure; your heart is free from marriage bonds. Gaze on the Beauty of your Lover: think of Him equal to the Father, made subject also to His Mother: ruling even in the heavens, and serving upon the earth: creating all things, created among all things. That very thing, which in Him the proud mock at, gaze on, how fair it is: with inward eyes gaze on the wounds of Him hanging, the scars of Him rising again, the blood of Him dying, the price of him that believes, the gain of Him that redeems. Consider of how great value these are, weigh them in the scales of Charity; and whatever of love ye had to expend upon your marriages, pay back to Him.” Since Jesus is a virgin’s primary and immediate Spouse, Saint Augustine says, virgins should love Him passionately, with all that they have and are.

In the second to last paragraph, 56, Saint Augustine repeats what he said in the previous paragraph and adds that it would be unlawful for a virgin not to wholly love Jesus: “If therefore ye should owe great love to husbands, Him, for Whose sake ye would not have husbands, how greatly ought ye to love? Let Him be fixed in your whole heart, Who for you was fixed on the Cross: let Him possess in your soul all that, whatever it be, that ye would not have occupied by marriage. It is not lawful for you to love little Him, for Whose sake ye have not loved even what were lawful. So loving Him Who is meek and lowly of heart, I have no fear for you of pride.”

Surely what Saint Augustine says of virgins is true: they are specially married to the Divine Spouse and are bound to love Him with their complete and entire self. Since all members of the Church are called to holiness and thus to deep prayer and intimacy with Jesus, all of us are also called to marry God. That is why He made us. A virgin has the opportunity for a special intimacy with Him, and he lives, to a certain extent, the life of heaven here on earth. Yet all people are called into a most intimate relationship with God. Marriage is a symbol of God’s relationship with humanity; in living in a committed and self-sacrificing marriage, one learns how to love and be loved and draws closer to God.

Our goal on this earth is heaven, where there is no marriage. There is no marriage among human persons there because we are all married to God in heaven. For those called to the vocation of marriage, it is the way God has called us to become holy and to love Him. Marriage is a God-given calling which sanctifies those who live it well and generously, as does any vocation. Earthly marriage will eventually pass away at the end of time, and it passes away for all of us who are married when our spouse dies. Earthly marriage, as our vocation, is the path to our heavenly, divine marriage with God. Human marriage is not the end point; it is our path to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

I think that is why Paul says a rather difficult sentence in his first letter to the Corinthians: “I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:29). Paul is not saying that we should think little of marriage. He is saying that it is not the ultimate reality; the ultimate reality is our life in heaven and our marriage to the Divine Spouse. In a similar manner, sex, which the culture of death worships, is not the ultimate reality as good as it is; union with God is the ultimate reality. "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O God."

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

2008-02-03T01:43:00.000-06:00

It is late at night, so it is Sunday now; however, it still feels like today, Saturday, and not tomorrow, Sunday, because I am still awake. All day I’ve wanted to write about the feast of Saturday: the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. For a good while, I’ve suspected there is some connection of my theory with the need to present one’s children in the temple and redeem them. Why does one need to present and redeem one’s newly-born child?

The first instance of this mentioned in the Bible comes from Exodus 13:11-16, right after the Passover and the Exodus, which states: “And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstlings of your cattle that are males shall be the LORD’s. Every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every first-born of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man and the first-born of cattle. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb; but all the first-born of my sons I redeem.’ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes; for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

All first-born male cattle are sacrificed to God; a first-born ass can be redeemed with the sacrifice of a lamb instead or it can be sacrificed itself; all first-born sons need to be redeemed. It does not say how our sons are to be redeemed here; we will find that out in a later passage. God passed over all Israel’s first born in Egypt as He set them free, so now they need to sacrifice or redeem all the first-born.

A woman needs to be purified after she gives birth; she needs to wait forty days for having a boy and eighty days for having a girl. The presentation of a baby in the temple is also about the woman being purified after birth. Here we find out with what a child is redeemed. “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, and he shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her; then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean” (Leviticus 12: 6-8).

A baby was to be redeemed with the sacrifice of a lamb as a burnt offering. A young pigeon or a turtledove was also sacrificed for a sin offering. The poor do not need to sacrifice a lamb; rather, they are allowed to bring a pair of turtledoves or pigeons for both of these sacrifices—the burnt offering and the sin offering.

We also find out that man’s redemption price is five shekels of silver. “Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the LORD, shall be yours; nevertheless the first-born of man you shall redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts you shall redeem. And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs” (Numbers 18: 15-16).

So here is what I am thinking right now about all of this:

My theory is: The man and the woman in the Garden of Eden sought after a child of their own, they wanted to be creative like God and make a man, and so they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is they had relations, and they conceived and had Cain. Since they had children in a manner contrary to God’s command, the children they bore were children of men, not children of God, so they were born without God’s life in them, which we call sanctifying grace, and their passions were disordered, which we call original sin.

Abraham is given a similar test as the man and the woman, and after ten years of waiting for his promised son, Abraham sins and has relations with Hagar, his wife’s servant. Twenty-five years later, they finally give birth to their own son, Isaac. Since they never really passed the test, God tested Abraham again and told him to sacrifice Isaac. As Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, God stops him, and Isaac is passed over for the ram caught by the horns of its head in a thorn bush.

Because of Abraham and Isaac’s faithfulness, God swears by Himself to make his descendants a blessing to all nations. It was because of this covenant God makes here that about five hundred years later the Israelites are redeemed and set free from Egypt. The first and foundational Passover was Isaac, and the second was the Passover of all the first-born from Egypt. Because of God’s redeeming work of freeing Israel from Egypt, for all their descendants afterward they need to present and redeem all children shortly after they are born.

Due to the fear of death, the fear of not having children, sin entered the world. The second reading for the Presentation is from Hebrews 2: 14-18. “Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life” (2: 14-15). It was the fear of death that led humanity into slavery; it is Jesus’ death which destroys this fear and power of death.

Jesus destroys the power of death by dying on the cross; we participate in His death by our baptism since by baptism we die with Christ and are raised up with Him in His resurrection. In the Old Covenant, children had to be redeemed shortly after birth; in the New Covenant, children are redeemed shortly after birth in baptism. Now instead of redeeming our children with the sacrifice of a lamb or a pigeon or turtledove, our kids are redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb. This turns our sons of men into children of God, and the original problem from the beginning is fixed. The specific antidote to the Fall is found first of all in Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection and secondly in our participation in those saving deeds most notably through baptism and Holy Eucharist.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"The Deepest Passion of the Soul is Meant for God"

2008-01-31T23:37:00.000-06:00

I subscribe to Magnificat, a monthly magazine which provides the daily Mass readings, prayers for the morning, evening and night, meditations, essays, poems, blessings, the order of the Mass, short saint biographies, etc. I enjoy it, and a donor at my school provides so that all the sixth through eighth graders get a copy each month.

The meditation after Mass yesterday, January 30th, was a selection from Peter Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College and an author of many books. It comes from his book, Back to Virtue, copyright 1992 and 2002 by Ignatius Press. On page 409 it says:

“First, remember a principle of God’s grace: God often withholds from us the grace to avoid a lesser sin because we are in danger of a greater sin. To avoid pride, he sometimes lets us fall into lust, since lust is usually obvious, undisguised, and temporary, while pride is not. So to conquer lust, we should focus less on lust and more on pride. Only when we are truly humble does God give us the grace to conquer lust.”

We live in a culture today that is ever increasingly lustful, saturated by sex, where more and more good men fall into this trap. What is the solution? How does one overcome this temptation and this sin? Peter Kreeft says that it is not by focusing on the lust; one needs to look more at the pride in one’s life. He continues:

“Second, remember Saint Thomas’ diagnosis of lust, which I think he must have learned from Saint Augustine: ‘Man cannot life without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.’ God is not a substitute for sex, as Freud thought; sex is often a substitute for God. The deepest passion of the soul is meant for God. When the true God comes, the false gods go. To conquer lust, forget about lust and love God.”

When the deepest passions of our souls are not directed toward God, when we have no spiritual joys, it is then that we seek satisfaction elsewhere. We seek joy in bodily pleasures, but of course those never really satisfy either. Since we don’t have God in our life, we put sex or other pleasures in His place. As I said in an earlier entry, sex is not bad; sex is good. Carnal pleasures are a good, but they need to be rightly ordered and directed by our mind and will toward the good. It is easy to be consumed with the constant pursuit of carnal pleasures and only grow in our selfishness as a result.

What Peter Kreeft says here resonates with my basic theory. My theory is that God made us, right from the beginning, to be His spouse, His bride, His temple, and His home. The man and the woman were to be God’s spouse by eating of the tree of life, which is having a heart which loves, trusts, and obeys God. He tested the man and the woman by saying be fruitful and multiply but don’t have sex. Wanting to be like God, wanting to create a man as God had just done, they disobey God and have relations. God wanted them to trust Him to provide as Mary did and have children virginally. Instead, they trusted in their own powers and had Cain.

Pride, as Peter Kreeft says, is worse than lust, but lust is much more common. Lust is a symptom that our love for God has grown cold. The solution to lust is to increase our love for God. The antidote for many of our problems today living in this culture of death is to realize the great dignity we have as children of God, as temples of the Holy Spirit, as creatures called into the closest intimacy with God Almighty, as the very brides of Christ, and love Him more, give ourselves to Him completely and renew that total self-gift each day, place all our hopes and desires in His hands trusting in His provision, look to Him as the source of life and our solace in life, cling to Him as a rock of safety in the raging storm, ask Him for what we truly need, seek from Him a greater outpouring of His Holy Spirit, knock at the door of His heart with the hands of our heart so that our hearts speak to each other, heart to heart.

If we fully devote ourselves to the love of God and do everything within our power to grow and develop in that love, all else falls into its proper place. Saint Augustine said, “Love God and do what you will.” If we spend ourselves in the love of God, lust and pride and jealousy and hatred and laziness all fall by the wayside to make room for the real thing. God is the real thing and the only thing that truly and fully satisfies. His satisfaction is not of the bodily sort; it is of the spiritual sort, which far outpaces the bodily. Being fully united to the Living God is the greatest joy; it is to begin to live heaven on earth.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Our Temple

2008-01-30T23:41:00.002-06:00

Two days ago I mentioned that David was fulfilling a command instituted in Deuteronomy 12 that stipulated that Israel would worship in one central location, Jerusalem. He joyfully brings the holy Ark of the Covenant into his home city to make it the Holy City. The Ark of the Covenant is fulfilled in the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary; we are called to bring her into our home, like David did, for her to show us the way to follow Jesus. This is what Jesus wants us to do, and as Jesus honors His mother and fulfills the fourth commandment, we imitate Him.

Some of the very last words that Jesus said right before He died on the cross were spoken concerning His mother. “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19: 26-27). Jesus gives every beloved disciple to His mother, and she takes us as her own. Since she is now our God-given mother, we are required to obey the fourth commandment and honor her. Jesus also gives his mother to every beloved disciple in order for us to take her into our home. Jesus gives us the true Ark of the Covenant, and faithfully bringing her into our home will bring us closer to Christ.

Why was Jerusalem stipulated in Deuteronomy as the sole place of worship? Many new laws were added in Deuteronomy which were never seen prior, and one of those laws was the necessity for a central place of worship. Why are laws given? “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made” (Galatians 3: 19). There had to be a singular, central location of worship because the people were continually going after false gods. They had been led out of Egypt in the Exodus, but they were still Egyptian at heart. I think Scott Hahn said it something like this: “God could take them out of Egypt, but He couldn’t take Egypt out of them.”

Why was Egypt so difficult to get out of the hearts of the Israelites? Didn’t the Israelites hate the Egyptians who were their taskmasters? We tend to forget that the Israelites were down there some 430 years; in comparison, the USA has only been a country for just over 230 years. The Israelites had been there so long, they either thought of themselves as Egyptian, or they simply assimilated much of the culture of the Egyptians, particularly their polytheistic religion. As soon as they think Moses has died on Mount Sinai after forty days, they immediately worship the Golden Calf, an old Egyptian god named Apis. A year later, the people are worshipping goat demons; after forty years of wandering in the desert, as the second generation is about to enter the Promised Land, they sin again with false gods, and that is why the book of Deuteronomy with all its new laws is given.

God is a loving Father who gives His children what they need to come back to Him. The more they sin, the more laws He gives to help keep them from drifting too far from Him. One of their main and constant sins was the worship of false gods; they would worship these false gods all over the place; to help prevent them from doing so, they were only to worship in one place; that place was Jerusalem.

When the ten northern tribes separate themselves from Judah during the reign of David’s grandson, Rehoboam, the main problem with this separation of Israel and Judah is that the Israelites no longer come down to Judah to worship in Jerusalem. They start building shrines all over Israel, and they forsake the true God. Their sins are so great and so many, that eventually, after much warning, God sends the Assyrians to come and destroy Israel in 722B.C.

What does all this mean for you and me today? The temple in Jerusalem, according to Jesus, was a symbol of His body; His body is the true temple, the true place of worship. Since we are baptized into Jesus’ body, we too become God’s holy temples. We must only worship the One, True God and not go after other gods. The other gods that the Israelites went after were primarily fertility cults and prosperity cults; they sought the goods of this world: money, power and pleasure. The question we need to ask ourselves is: do we have any side altars to any of these worldly goods set up in our hearts? Do I have an inordinate attachment to money, power or pleasure? Is my heart filled with God and His life, or is it “filled” with the pursuit of happiness which this world gives?

The other question we can ask ourselves is do we have a true devotion to Mary? Do we love and honor her as our mother as Jesus does? She is the Ark of the Covenant and is the precious container which houses the presence of God; she is our Christ-given mother. Do I bring her into my home and welcome her as my mother? Do I seek her aid as I would seek the aid of my own earthly mother when I was a child in need? No one has ever gotten as close to Jesus as Mary is; she knows the way to Him, and she knows better than anyone how to please Him. Do I rely upon her constant motherly help to overcome the temptations to worship false gods? Do I cherish her as my mother and queen who will lead me ever nearer to her Divine Son? Do I rejoice at her coming into my life and home as David rejoiced when he took the Ark of the Covenant into his home town? Never fear of drawing too close to the Blessed Virgin Mary, for she only seeks to bring us to her Divine Son, the True Temple within which we worship.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Jesus, the New David, is the Sower of His Life In Our Tree of Life, Our Heart

2008-01-29T23:39:00.000-06:00

In tomorrow’s first reading at Mass, David seeks to fulfill the prophecy from Deuteronomy 12:8-14 by building a temple for God’s house. God is very pleased with David’s actions and replies through the prophet Nathan saying: “I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you” (2 Samuel 7: 11). Establishing rest from one’s enemies was a prerequisite for establishing Jerusalem as the sole place of Israelite worship; God will complete that task of providing rest round about Jerusalem. David wanted to build God a house, so God is going to make David a house, which is a kingly dynasty. God ends saying, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

Because of David’s goodness and his trust in God, God is establishing David’s kingship forever. God does this by entering into a covenant with David as the responsorial psalm says in this Mass: “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will make your dynasty stand forever and establish your throne through all ages” (Psalm 89:3-4). Covenants cannot be broken, so God is absolutely required to make good on His covenantal promise: David’s dynasty must endure forever. God did make good on it by sending His own Son, Jesus, who will reign forever in heaven as the King of David.

We get a hint of how God will fulfill this oath through His own Son when he says: “He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father, my God, the Rock that brings me victory!’ I myself make him firstborn, Most High over the kings of the earth” (Psalm 89:26-27). Jesus is the one God sends to fulfill His covenant with David; Jesus calls His Father, “Father,” of course. Jesus is called the firstborn, but of course He was begotten not made; Jesus was born as a man through Mary, but as God He was not born. Yet, He is still called the firstborn.

Jesus is a new David, and as David established peace around about Jerusalem by defeating all his enemies, so Jesus establishes peace round about each one of us by conquering all our sins. As the temple was the center of Jerusalem and what made Jerusalem holy, so our hearts are our center and the place where Jesus dwells. Jesus gives us a new heart that loves, trusts and obeys Him and is able to be set free from the slavery of sin. Jesus gives us a heart that seeks to please Him, a heart of flesh that has God’s laws written upon it, a tree of life that keeps us alive in relationship to Him.

This ties into the gospel reading for today’s Mass; it is the parable of the sower who went out to sow his seed. Jesus is the sower who seeks to plant His seed which is His Word in good soil so that His seed bears much fruit. Jesus still sows His seed everywhere, but many of those places do not well receive His seed. There is the path, the rocky ground, and the ground covered with thorns; the path is hard, trampled ground where nothing has a chance to grow; the rocky ground are those who initially rejoice in the God’s word but only receive it shallowly, having no roots, the plant soon dies; the thorn-covered ground are those who receive God’s word, but the thorns of “worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit” (Mark 4:19).

“But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20). Jesus seeks our hearts; He seeks to be loved by you and me; Jesus wants to give us a new heart that is the rich soil that will receive His seed fully and provide a good environment for growth. He seeks to give us abundant life through the good reception of His grace. He desires our heart; He desires our heart to desire what He desires; He wants to be of one mind and heart with us. The heart is our tree of life; when we eat of the tree of life, when we love, trust and obey God in all things, we are fully and truly alive in relation to God. Our relationship daily deepens, and it can be said more correctly as each day passes that we are another Christ. The good fruit we bear is Christ; He is the vine and we the branches, so we bear the fruit of that divine vine. Christ was a self-sacrificing lover, so becoming another Christ means that we are transformed into a self-sacrificing lover like Him. We eat the tree of life so that we may be empowered to lay down our life and be crucified to our death on a tree. Jesus did not suffer and die so that we don’t have to; on the contrary, Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we have the power to sacrifice ourselves.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.