Articles by Jason Godin
Our many hues of blue
Sep 2, 2013 / 00:00 amColors both captivate our ordinary senses and, at the same time, capture extraordinary meanings. Consider blue. It can describe how low we might feel. But it can also depict, as a symbol, higher callings proposed by faith to humanity.Science defines blue as the color between green and violet in the optical electromagnetic spectrum, with a wavelength between 450 and 495 nanometers. But hearts, minds, and other human senses attach values to blue beyond the visible rainbow. We try to comfort people that we say are suffering from “the blues.” We also react when skin turns blue, with icy aid when bruised or with more urgent alarm when too cold to the touch due to lack of oxygen. Even recent analyses of voting trends – designating individual states that tend to vote for the Democratic Party as “blue states” – employ the color to help us greater understand the world.Definitions and perceptions, like a lot in life when we take time to pause and ponder, find earlier expressions in the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church. Meanings for blue prove no different. Beginning in the 12th century, European architects and artists incorporated ultramarine, a bluish pigment imported from Asia, into their works. People can still see its splendors shining through the stain glass of countless European cathedrals. Artists such as Fra Angelico, Giovanni Bellini, and Raphael, to name just a few, also employed blue in their paintings to depict the clothing worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary. Their masterpieces used blue in her robes to distinguish holiness, humility, and virtue. Consequently, the color blue has surfaced over the centuries as one symbolic of Mary and her qualities that the faithful seek to practice in service to Christ and his Church. Interestingly, it seems that even our basic tool for illustrating relationships between colors – the color wheel – confirms how faith, science, and art intersect seamlessly. Children learn at very early ages that mixing the three primary colors – blue, along with red and yellow – makes new colors. Blue combined with red produces purple. The eyes of faith that glimpse towards the altar during the seasons of Advent and Lent find purple lifting their thoughts to the idea of God’s royalty. Blue blended with yellow makes green – the color of the great outdoors reminding us of new life. The season of Ordinary Time testifies with green linens and vestments to the vitality of life found in faith. In such a diversity of seen and unseen ways, one might say that the red blood of the sacrificed Savior, the yellow radiance of the risen Son, and the blue Marian mantle combine to shine forth the light of the saving Word into the world.As you celebrate Labor Day, open your eyes toward others who see blue as no more than the word which describes for them hopeless sadness and lifelessness. Show them blue instead as living informed by a hopeful, happy, and full faith. Introduce them to the beautiful array of architectural and artistic masterpieces that use blue. By doing so, and in a very personal way, you may very well bring them closer to the Master and Maker of our many hues of blue.
Because she said 'yes'
Aug 19, 2013 / 00:00 amThe Solemnity of the Assumption (Aug. 15) celebrates the Immaculate Mother of God being taken up body and soul to heaven. The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Aug. 22) memorializes Mary as our royal and heavenly queen due to her entire life lived in perfect union with God.August also features the memorials of St. Dominic (Aug. 8), who preached widely about the Rosary; St. Maximilian Kolbe (Aug. 14), who founded the Immaculata Movement in Poland, and St. Stephen (Aug. 16), who placed Hungary under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the early 11th century.Why does the Church offer such a feast of Marian devotion? According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Mary personifies “obedience” and the “purest realization” of faith in God, most notably at the Annunciation (CCC, 148-149). But it seems to me that a Catholic man can also explain the answer by affirming how particular women said “yes” to him at some key moments in his life.First, consider mothers, who stand alone in their ability to make men, literally, by saying “yes” to life. They show how our bodies – at their tiniest, most helpless stages – bear unspeakable beauty within the womb and afterward thanks to her hard labor. In molding us over the years, moms teach us to act in charity and discover dignity in others. It is no wonder that our mothers, even many years after they’re gone, set standards by which Catholic men measure all other women.Many Catholic men do find such women, of course, who say “yes” to the bold proposal of spending married life together. Wives shine Marian radiance into the lives of Catholic men by helping them achieve their fullest potential. No longer alone, a husband discovers “his equal, his nearest in all things” that God has placed in his life to help hold him accountable (CCC, 1605). Marriage between one man and one woman forms a sacramental bond where “Christ dwells with them, gives them strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens” and “to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love” (CCC, 1642).The greatest fruit produced from the bond of married love is a child, marking also the birth a father from a man. Daughters, similar to sons, hold their father’s finger at their birth. But daughters hold a special place in their father’s heart for life. Daughters call upon the finest forms offered by masculinity – provider, protector, proponent, and preview of what she wants in her future husband. A dad weeps on his daughter’s wedding day not because his girl has blossomed into a wonderful woman, suggesting one of life’s sunrises. He sheds a tear because his grown daughter sees in her groom a part of him that a little voice once affirmed would be his alone, a happy memory previewing the sunset of his own life.Catholic men focus on Mary because doing so takes them to her and, consequently, to her Son. Their hearts of faith flow knowing that precisely because Mary said “yes” at the Annunciation, they may find the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven clothed with sunlight and crowned with stars after natural death (cf. Rev 12:1). Their hearts hope for a moment when mother, wife and daughter arrive with him into their true, eternal homeland. And they pray to see the face of God forever because Our Lady says “yes” on their behalf.
The Freedom of Chastity
Aug 5, 2013 / 00:00 amMy column in this space, two years ago this month, identified lust as a form of slavery that distorts human sexuality. To the stunned surprise of this columnist, readers responded in large numbers to its message from places as near as Philadelphia and as far as the Philippines, and many places in between. They shared with him how that column’s words helped them discuss with others what still needs to be said with clarity and conviction: forms of lust – particularly masturbation, pornography and rape – shackle marriages, families, and communities because, left unidentified and unchecked, they enslave all parties involved with unhealthy addictions, destructive passions and traumatic crimes.Sadly lust continues to enslave countless men and women. An escape from such sinful chains, however, is within reach. Chastity, proposed particularly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to all humanity, provides an independence that offers genuine hope together with a responsible love.The Catechism defines chastity as the “integration of sexuality within the person” that “includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery” (CCC, 2395). To many of us, its most observable form is consecrated life led by priests as well as men and women of religious orders vowed to celibacy. Yet all men and women, in all walks of life and of all sexual attractions, are called through Baptism to lead chaste lives modeled after Christ (CCC, 2347-2350, 2394). Engaged couples, for example, can participate in a very beautiful form of chastity characterized as a “discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God” (CCC, 2350).Knowing the rigors required not just to find but also maintain it, the Catechism speaks about chastity in ways that also make it as much a journey as a destination, a path as well as purpose that embraces senses subject to “laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfections and too often by sin” (CCC, 2343, italics original). The Church shares with that single teaching a treasure of knowledge obtained over millennia by observation: stumbles can serve as stepping stones to salvation. Human purpose transcends animal passions by finding purity a prize to be won through discipline, intellect, and will tempered by reason (cf. CCC, 2518).Make no mistake – the freedom of chastity, like all genuine freedoms, requires perseverance through disappointments, commitment when faced with falsehoods proclaimed as truth, as well as protection renewed by each generation. It is a battle for purity in a war that is both personal and cultural in character (CCC, 2344). Chastity, in short, summons us all to pull from the deepest reservoir of our very selves to live with honesty and integrity in a world where feeling good finds first favor.“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” Jesus said (John 8:31-32). This week, begin to see chastity both as a purpose in life and promise for life. Declare it always worthy of protection. And, with Christ your surest guide, may you and those around you begin to escape the slavery of lust and move toward a future in the freedom of chastity.
Moments with millennials
Jul 15, 2013 / 00:00 amThe decisions Windsor v. U.S. and Hollingsworth v. Perry reached by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26 reflect attitudes held among many youth today. Statistical studies have shown in recent years that large numbers of the Millennial Generation – those born since 1977 – favor legalizing homosexual unions and think effective parenting has little to do with marriage. As financial worries now surface as an even higher priority among millennials than getting married and having children, we need to ask what can be done to start turning such a troublesome tide of opinion.In March 2013 the Pew Research Center released a report titled “Growing Support for Gay Marriage: Changed Minds and Changing Demographics” as the latest addition to its research initiative “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next.” It found among millennials that:70 percent support allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. 74 percent say homosexuality should be accepted by society.78 percent agree that same-sex couples can be as good as parents as heterosexual couples.The report also revealed that millennials make up 27 percent of adults in 2013, up from just 9 percent in 2003.Millennial views on marriage and parenting aren’t the only ones shifting.Hadley Malcolm reported recently in USA Today that repaying student loan debt now trumps getting married and starting a family in most young minds. Student loan debt per college graduate in 2013 averaged approximately $27,500 when adjusted for inflation. Millennials loathe the idea of still paying off their own loans as their own children go off to college. To cope, Malcolm learned, they’ve decided that marriage and family are investments with too high a price.Such attitudes and financial factors, bleak as they are, can still change. The solution starts with witnessing – with civility, humility and understanding – to what the faith tells us about the relationship between strong marriages and healthy families. Our present culture produces a politics that believes no union is worth preserving. Millennials must hear from their parents about the negative consequences that result when a mother and father do not live with their children under the same roof. They must understand that for one man and one woman to keep their marriage together for the sake of their family was, still is, and will always be worth it, whatever the private tears or public struggles.Millennials must also see what families staying together would mean for society. The Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the “values and principles” of the family “constitute the foundation of social life” (457). The millennials who have gotten married, dared to start families, and are now reaching milestone wedding anniversaries are literally making the future.It is worth knowing that the Millennial Generation reached adulthood during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Millennials may fear their financial futures. Days may come when it is all too easy to conclude that millennials are helplessly and hopelessly hostage to the false idea that only bigotry speaks with moral absolutes. But we must never be afraid to spend moments with millennials, telling them the truth about God, the Church and the future, and thus continue the fight against the dictatorship of relativism they live under.
James for July
Jul 1, 2013 / 00:00 amThe sounds of technology seem to amplify in July. Cellular phones chirp with greater urgency as we try to get away for vacation. Ear buds blast a bit louder in our summer travels. Artificial voices direct us to our vacation destinations. Such melodies testify to an advanced world and, at the same time, an increasingly disconnected people.Thankfully Catholicism provides us with ways to reconnect, both with others as we play and with God as we pray. The short New Testament Letter of James is a case in point. In five chapters, James writes in an accessible way about the nature of communication, the source of strife in our words, and how Christ and his Church can help us all communicate better.“Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God,” James writes. “Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls” (1:19-21).The Letter of James recognizes authentic human communication as both a sensory encounter and spiritual endeavor. In addition to the ears and mouth, communication requires the mind to focus on the meaning behind words both said and unsaid, and challenges the heart to attune itself to the array of emotions conveyed through language. It dares us to slow down, drop what we believe has to be done right away, and let the fires of the Holy Spirit enflame every activity and relationship in our life. For a world captivated in many ways by social media, the Letter of James proposes a bold code of conduct that contrasts with conventional wisdom – to listen before talking, and to rediscover virtue in moderation.The Letter of James also explores the true source of anger. Wrath in the form of rivalry, revenge, and ridicule all begin with a single, untamed human tongue, a “restless evil, full of deadly poison” that can “bless the Lord and Father” one moment and, in the next, “curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God” (3:8-9). It is, in short, the tongue animated by sin that licks away at our strengths to feed our weaknesses.The healing serum for our woes surfaces when we start to move outside our own wants to understand and meet the needs of others. It arrives when we stand ready to serve, like Christ, with doses of mercy, humility and charity in a world that prizes pride, pleasure and possessions. It finds true life not in staring at screens made by men but by standing before the faces of our fellow men and acting out of love and in the name of Love.Sit with the Letter of James in July. Find in its pages a summons to accept, act, and adapt with courage and compassion the teachings and traditions of Christ and the Church. Permit its wisdom to arrive with a whisper. May it help you share with others what – and who – connects you to the source of life, liberty and happiness.
A Fortnight with Civility and for Clarity
Jun 17, 2013 / 00:00 amThe Fortnight for Freedom begins on June 21. For the secondtime in as many years, prayers and activities will seek to educate Americansabout current challenges to religious liberty.One such contest surrounds calls for redefining marriage toinclude homosexual unions. With dimensions that illuminate the broader subjectof sexuality in contemporary culture, the latest push to legalize gay“marriage” presents an opportunity in the days ahead to discuss specificallywhat the Catholic Church can contribute on the topic, with civility, and forthe sake of clarity. “An Apprenticeship in Self-Mastery”The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that sexualitybecomes “personal and truly human” when “it is integrated into the relationshipof one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man anda woman” (CCC, 2337).Appreciated in these ways, the moral virtue of chastityemerges as a vocation that challenges us all to enter freely into “anapprenticeship in self-mastery” mentored by graces of temperance that strive“to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason” (CCC, 2339,2341). Chastity calls for an entire lifetime – and by no means an easy life –of striving for greater self-knowledge, discipline, adaptation, obedience, andprayer in the face of “stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin”(CCC, 2340, 2342-2343). It also “presupposes respect for the rights of theperson”, particularly “the right to receive information and an education” that“respect the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life” (CCC, 2344).“Intrinsically Disordered”It is within this context of Christian charity that we mustview the issue of homosexuality, which is a “sexual attraction or orientationtoward persons of the same sex and/or sexual acts between persons of the samesex”. Although encountered in a diversity of forms, cultures, and historicaleras, the Catholic Church has always taught through the eyes of SacredScripture and with unequivocal clarity that homosexual inclinations andactivities of any kind are “intrinsically disordered” because they: “arecontrary to the natural law”; “close the sexual act to the gift of life”; and“do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity” (CCC,2357).Centuries of study and reflection by the Church have led toa rich treasury of observations and experiences that must be heard fully in thepublic square. Chastity proposes perfection for a person of any sexualorientation. It sees the sum total of all that humanity is, that humanity hasto share, and all that humanity could be tomorrow. It celebrates sexuality asresponsible love incorporating body and soul. Homosexuality, with the movementto legalize gay “marriage” its latest form, rejects the same criteria. It palesand fails in comparison, and it is destined to lead to disappointment.Yet each man and woman, regardless of professed sexualidentity or orientation, deserves respect, compassion, and sensitivity (cf.CCC, 2358). Each one of us is made in the image and likeness of God, and we allfall short of that perfection. But any understanding of the human person basedexclusively upon sexual identity is unacceptable. If our world is to nurtureand support stronger marriages, flourishing families, and true human liberties– worthy goals for us all – we should ponder during this fortnight for freedomthe necessary relationship between chastity and homosexuality, present Churchteaching with humility and civility, and do so for the sake of clarity and thecommon good. Christ’s charge to practice charity rules out making a chargeagainst others.
Beyond its beads
Jun 10, 2013 / 00:00 amRosaries seem so simple to the senses, initially. Eyes find spheres in a circle linked to additional spheres and a crucifix. Ears hear what sounds like chanting. Mouths profess a collection of beliefs at the start, repeat the same three (maybe four) prayers in five successive and identical cycles, and finally hail an unseen queen at the end. Hands touch the spheres to mark progression.Sensory experiences can comfort even the most faithless heart. The Rosary is no different in that respect. Security arrives in knowing what comes next. It is also always available for purchase (maybe even for free!) in a variety of makes and models. It takes about 15-20 minutes to pray from beginning to end. It appears perfect for a world that today values little more than pleasing as many senses as quickly and as cheaply as possible.Yet ask a person who prays the Rosary daily about its true value. You’ll find that it transcends their natural senses, for the Rosary according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a meditative form of popular piety that “engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire” to “deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ” in order to bring “knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus” and “union with him” (CCC, 2708). The full measure of its mysteries is found beyond its beads, by the soul that speaks with no words, directed totally to the source and summit of all life.Blessed John Paul II termed the Rosary the “school of Mary,” a place where Christians walk in prayer with the Blessed Virgin to “contemplate the beauty of the face of Christ” and “experience the depth of his love” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1). Since the 16th century the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries have awakened Catholics to a curriculum fully informed by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It is such an awesome treasury of knowledge, in fact, that may seem daunting. Some may even find it impossible to pray without the Blessed Sacrament before them or Scripture beside them. Regardless, applying the mysteries beyond its beads begins with the Rosary itself, rightly and humbly understood, as a healthy habit necessary in our daily life.In his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography on John Adams, David McCullough recounted one Sunday afternoon in 1776 when the future president of the United States attended Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Fifth Street in Philadelphia. According to McCullough, the event proved “an experience so singular” for Adams that he “reflected on it at length” both in his private journal and in a letter to his wife. Among reviews about the homily, hymns, priestly vestments and objects in the sanctuary, Adams also expressed pity for “the poor wretches fingering their beads, chanting Latin, not a word of which they understood” (p. 84).It is perhaps ironic that by his comments Adams was the one who did not understand what was going on. The simple piety of the common Catholic can bring unseen graces. So I encourage you this week to meditate upon the mysteries as you touch the beads, with the language of faith that understands what waits beyond its beads. And do so knowing that the grace of God works in amazing ways, even with the poorest and most wretched sinners.
Catholic Memorial Days
May 27, 2013 / 00:00 amMemorial Day first began as Decoration Day. The Grand Army of the Republic – the group of Union veterans that survived the American Civil War – first established the day in May 1868 to decorate the graves of war dead with flowers. The focus for that day, and the array of activities that had come to define it, expanded after World War I to include all service personnel from all wars who lost their lives in service to the United States.The Catholic Church has its own version of Memorial Days that date back two millennia, to the days of the Roman martyrs. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the liturgical calendar contains days that celebrate saints, men and women “who lived for Christ, who suffered with him, and who live with him in glory” (242). This last week in May presents an opportunity to better understand these sacred memorials, how they both broaden and deepen our faith, and how they display Christianity awake in all places.The Roman Rite distinguishes memorials from solemnities and feasts. It also defines two distinct types of memorials. Obligatory memorials celebrate a specific saint during daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours with particular prayers, readings and writings. Optional memorials, if chosen to be recognized, always draw from common weekday prayers and readings. Obligatory and optional memorials are never celebrated if they fall on a Sunday, solemnity, feast, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, or during the Octave of Easter (cf. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 355, 357).Perhaps confusing at first glance, another way to distinguish between obligatory and optional memorials is by the accomplishments of the respective saint. For example, this past month had an obligatory memorial for St. Athanasius (May 2), recognized as a Doctor of the Church for defending the faith against Arianism in the 4th century. He stands clearly apart in Church history from other saints with optional memorials: Isidore (May 15), John I (May 18), Bernardine of Siena (May 20), Venerable Bede (May 25), and Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).Why do memorial days matter? The Catholic Church “proclaims the fullness and the totality of the faith” as well as “bears and administers the fullness of the means of salvation” (CCCC, 166). Within this context, memorials produce a patchwork that appeals to the world and its history. The lives of some saints have clear universal implications. Other saints may find a place only in the heart of certain localities, cultures, and nations. One saint may mean more to you than to another. The teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church understand, respect, and bear witness to these realities. Yet all the blessed in heaven are a part of the same Church we belong to: One, Holy, Catholic (Universal) and Apostolic. We profess a “communion of saints” of those decorated with grace for a life lived and died in service to Christ – a communion that reaches across national borders, ethnic backgrounds, age groups and political ties. All the saints are one in Christ.As you enjoy a long weekend with family and friends to start summer, take the time to commemorate all the men and women who died in service. Place flags and flowers beside the graves of those who have fallen in military uniform. And in the Church’s memorial days to come, petition the saints who are raised high in heaven to intercede for us.
Real men pray the Rosary
May 13, 2013 / 00:00 amOn May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for the first time to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. She shone radiantly before those whom the world initially took no notice – as the Mother of God tends to do – during a year that also saw the rise of Soviet communism and the horrors of World War I. Brutalities inflicted by Russian Bolsheviks and trench warfare, however, only further underscored the Fatima message – the need to pray the Rosary daily and for the conversion of Russia.The Marian summons to pray the Rosary daily still resonates almost a century later. An apostolate based in southern Texas called Real Men Pray the Rosary (RMPTR) promotes praying the Rosary “in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives” (cf. Blessed John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 43). Founded in March 2009 by David Calvillo, a lawyer in McAllen, and his wife Valerie, RMPTR has flourished online – over 27,000 “likes” for its Facebook page to date – and continues as a vibrant movement with the recent publication of Real Men Pray the Rosary: A Practical Guide to a Powerful Prayer (Ave Maria Press, 2013).In just 134 pages, David Calvillo combines personal accounts, a historical primer of the Rosary, examinations of its prayers and mysteries that are rich with Scripture passages as well as magisterial teachings, and a “pray it forward” challenge to reveal some of the many fruits of praying the Rosary. He begins by sharing how praying the Rosary helped him avoid a future seemingly headed toward a failed marriage, a shattered family, and decisions steeped in a shallow spirituality. Where most men today take any hardships as tickets to quit, Calvillo proposes that a Rosary prayed with a friend, with music, in parts, or while exercising brings a person closer to Jesus through Mary and all other Christians suffering in daily life. A link to a community of prayer that transcends place and time, the Rosary frames earthly tragedies within heavenly triumphs. An entire chapter, in fact, shows how saints and popes have taught such a lesson.What also makes the book worth reading is a chapter by David’s wife. Valerie explores a theme worthy of its own book, but one that fits very effectively into a practical prayer guide for men – a man of faith has a strong (if not occasionally stronger) woman of faith in his life. She writes about how women, as friends, wives, or mothers, can engender greater faith in men through encouragement, inspiration, and devotion to a life fueled by the sacraments. She reminds readers of worthy objectives in a world that objectifies women.As the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima today, it is a good time to read Real Men Pray the Rosary. It directs readers during this month of May – this month of Mary – toward deeper devotion and discipline in prayer. Its pages alert our senses to the great piety offered by the Fatima message, to rediscover peace and purpose, to live fearlessly and full of hope, and to begin doing so on our knees and with Rosary beads in our hands.
An Iron Lady of Siena
Apr 29, 2013 / 00:00 amAmong the many admirable accolades that the late Margaret Thatcher accumulated over 30 years in public life, perhaps none looms larger or longer in memory than her nickname. In January 1976, a Soviet military officer used the phrase “Iron Lady” to profile Thatcher. But words intended only to alarm old men in the Politburo instead captivated audiences around the world to a broader fact – here was a woman who could (and eventually would) defeat a Cold War adversary, and wouldn’t shy away from acting on beliefs that never wavered with the latest popularity polls.The Church has had its fair share of iron ladies long before Thatcher. The 14th century, for example, found Christians and Christendom suffering on the outside from the deadly diseases of the Black Plague, and on the inside from the Great Western Schism. St. Catherine of Siena, whose feast day the Church celebrates on April 29, helped remedy both through bold public witness nourished by deep prayer, humble penance, and steadfast charity. She proved provocative by speaking fearlessly both to supporters and critics about the sure way, genuine truth, and everlasting life offered in service to Christ.Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once observed that Catherine had a “gift of tears” which contained “an exquisite, profound sensitivity, a capacity for being moved and for tenderness.” Such words add even more depth to her title “Doctor of the Church.” According to historian Robert S. Gottfried in The Black Death (1983), Siena lost half its population to the Black Plague in the spring and summer of 1348 alone. Yet Catherine literally doctored the sick through it all. She assuredly lost close friends and family, but that never stopped her from kneeling to care for the surrounding sick and suffering. In hindsight, pestilence never stood a chance before a tireless practitioner of the Beatitudes, who saw the face of Christ behind the black boils of the afflicted.Catherine also wept and cared for the Body of Christ she loved during the Great Western Schism. A sad chapter in history, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church grew increasingly divided during the early 14th century over personal jealousies and national rivalries. Today it is hard to imagine a world where popes struggled against antipopes, but the Schism tore Christendom to the core as clerical factions poured more energy into securing earthly riches and less time shepherding poor souls.It took Catherine to arouse Pope Gregory XI from spiritual stupor with beautiful bluntness: “Up, Father, like a man! For I tell you that you have no need to fear. You ought to come; come, then” from Avignon, France, back to Rome.Forged by the purifying fires of the Holy Spirit, an iron lady from Siena galvanized the medieval Church with a divine love that brimmed beyond hateful rivalries. Catherine found the source and summit of that love, like all the saints before and after her, in treasures of heaven worth far greater than any earthly treasures (cf. Mt 6:20-21). It is a Love that still summons Christian men and women to act courageously by faith.In our difficult days, we need her witness more and more. St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!
Obedient surrenders and Good Friday
Mar 25, 2013 / 00:00 amThis week Christians will weep within shadows cast by the Crucifixion before shedding tears of joy outside the empty tomb that radiates the Resurrection. As we find, in prayer, Mother and Beloved Disciple at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, we discover the path to eternal glory made manifest on Easter Sunday. We also learn along the way some truths about Mary, the apostolic tradition, and how our lives must be formed and informed by obedient surrender to Christ.Gospel accounts reveal that among the people present at Golgotha on Good Friday were the Blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, and John, his Beloved Disciple. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus spoke directly to both of them from the cross. “Woman, behold, your son,” Jesus said to the Mary before turning to John and continuing, “Behold, your mother” (John 19:25-27).These seven simple words – “Woman, behold, your son” and “Behold, your mother” – speak about deep relationships grounded in obedience. They’re ties beyond compliance, submission, or duty. They’re forged by love that Jesus has for Mary, John, and importantly, each one of us. Over the years, I’ve found these bonds still best explained in the book Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross (Basic Books, 2000) by the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. Fr. Neuhaus proposed that the mother-son relationship shared between Jesus and Mary – “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man” according to the Nicene Creed – illustrates an obedient surrender to the “infinitely greater will” of the Heavenly Father (p. 76). The mother always stands near the center of salvation history of her Son, saying “yes” at the Annunciation, instructing Cana wedding waiters to “do whatever he tells you” with her last documented words (cf. John 2:5), and standing in sorrow as her Son hung on a cross. Such obedient surrender also explains, although in a different dimension, the nature of the relationships shared between Jesus and all Christian followers. Good Friday found John taking Mary into his home (cf. John 19: 27). The Catechism defines this new association forged by Christ as the start of a “spiritual motherhood” that “extends to all men” (CCC, 501). By taking the Mother of God into his home, John served as more than support staff. He modeled discipleship for the Church for all time.Fr. Neuhaus eloquently centers obedient surrender on the love shared between a parent and child. “To be a child again, one must be the child of another parent. As an adult, one can only surrender in the way that a child surrenders, if one surrenders to a love that comprehends all. In short, such a surrender means becoming a child of God” (pp. 100-101).The obedient surrenders witnessed at the foot of the Good Friday cross changed lives. They transformed a young man into a disciple “child” with a new spiritual mother, who was long ago changed by her first “yes” to Christ. Turn Good Friday into a great day for your faith by letting obedient surrenders begin to change your life, too.
The 'conclave' within
Mar 11, 2013 / 00:00 amAs the cardinals gather to elect the next Bishop of Rome and Successor of St. Peter, it is time to reflect on what this event means to the world and to us personally as Catholics.A conclave has always intrigued a waiting world, with its legitimate secrecy, seriousness and drama. Men dressed in red processing prayerfully into the Sistine Chapel, heavy doors locked in their wake, folded ballots placed singularly atop a gold plate before dropping into a large urn, results counted, a specified majority verified. Then all related papers promptly burned, white smoke, Latin proclaimed from the high center balcony in St. Peter’s Square: “Habemus papam!” We have a pope! A new pontiff blesses the multitudes. The entire process never ceases to capture even the most faithless of imaginations. Yet a conclave isn’t simply high-profile pageantry. It is a universal opportunity to learn about a true treasure shared by the Catholic Church. A new pope emerges from a conclave with more than a new name. His cardinal brothers have entrusted him with an extraordinary responsibility – to witness to the entire world, with humility, the teachings of Christ and the traditions of the apostolic Church. It is, in short, a model sacrifice of love for Love.Appropriately, as conclaves cause change, conditions and conduct for conclaves have changed a bit within modern memory. The long mourning period before beginning a conclave need no longer apply for a papal vacancy caused by resignation. More cardinals arrive to Rome from geographical distances once unimagined. Greater numbers of cardinals are “young” enough to participate. Cathedral bells also now ring together with rising rings of white smoke to signal a selection.A conclave can also cause change us inside, too. In an interview with the Catholic News Agency, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., compared a conclave to “a very, very strong, heavy retreat” with the Holy Spirit as director. Such words could and should radiate far beyond the Sistine Chapel. Appropriately, as the journey of Lent once again brings the Body of Christ to the threshold of Holy Week, the conclave calls for our prayers and petitions. It summons spiritual support to the cardinals, to be sure, but also proposes Christ to the world as the path to authentic, eternal life.Tune out temptations this week to gossip about what will happen within the conclave. Seek instead to take the time to convene a “conclave” within yourself, where guidance arrives by the tiny whisper of the Holy Spirit. With Him, recall not just sorrow for your sins but consider the eternal joys of the saints. Gaze upon the crucifix and find the source of everlasting life. And, with your inventory of faith complete, emerge from your personal “conclave” forged with new hope, radiant with an enriched faith, and as a humble witness to a world that desperately needs the love found in friendship with Christ.
Benedictine individuality
Feb 25, 2013 / 00:00 amPope Benedict XVI ends his eight-year pontificate on February 28. The decision by the Holy Father to step aside has resulted in a range of responses. Some recollections reflect high admiration for a humble man. As the day has drawn nearer, other reports share in the silly speculation about who is the odds-on favorite cardinal to replace him.Understandably the decision draws attention. No Holy Father has resigned in some 600 years. But as important as the event assuredly is within the view of yesterday, the final official act by Benedict XVI teaches us just as much for today and tomorrow. Early 21st century culture celebrates an individuality that rejects tradition, favors no limits while exploring the full sensual spectrum, and calls to accomplish all in the here-and-now. The pontificate of Benedict XVI, from its beginning to the end, teaches a new kind of individuality.Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger emerged before a world audience as Benedict XVI in 2005. For the millions of Catholics born during the dusk of the Cold War, the word “pope” had only one face – and one known the world over at that – in their lifetime. John Paul II had reigned for nearly 28 years. The old adage about filling big shoes seemed appropriate as people heard words from the new pope about simple service in the Lord’s vineyard. If the shoes of the fisherman had been boats, John Paul II, in the minds of many, had left Benedict XVI two huge yachts to fill. No simple task and certainly no easy position to ever really “be yourself,” to be sure.Yet Benedict found ways to do it “his way” and, importantly, in ways that never wavered in genuine testimony to “the way, the truth, and the life” of Christ (John 14:6). The Holy Father endured with rugged love criticisms thrown at him. For example, he acted like a white-clad John Wayne following his Regensburg Lecture in September 2006 on the origins of Islamic jihadism. Rather than combat hateful replies quickly and with wounded bitterness, Benedict offered opportunities to join him in long conversation, deep prayer and genuine civility moving forward.His deep intellect attracted faithful admirers, too. Benedict loved to write and wrote a lot of works out of that love. Good luck trying to find a book that doesn’t have the name Joseph Ratzinger or Benedict XVI as the author the next time you look for Catholic books at any noteworthy bookstore or online bookseller. One could make a similar remark about John Paul II. Such prolific production, however, yielded unique styles. The Polish romantic discussed every dimension of the question before answering. The German technician answered the question directly before explaining all the supporting evidence. Both men and their works rightfully share a place in the echelon of great theologians and, perhaps in time, the pantheon of great popes.Benedict XVI steps aside not at the hour of his death but by a choice made during the twilight of his life. The current captain of the bark of St. Peter stands down willingly. A new successor of St. Peter will assume the helm in the weeks ahead. But whoever it is does so informed by Benedictine individuality, where terms respect traditions, limits lead to evangelization and new life, and accomplishments are measured in centuries.
Faith language lessons
Feb 13, 2013 / 00:00 amLent begins this week by recalling remembrance of our origin – dust – and earthly outcome – a return to dust. The weeks after Ash Wednesday invite Christians to conduct an inner inventory, to note in silence the words said and left unsaid, and to sense in stillness a world filled with words increasingly in service to worldly concerns alone. As the Year of Faith continues, Lent seems an appropriate season to appreciate how the language of faith reveals some healthy heights and tender depths. Boundaries with PurposeSome people in the modern world refuse to entertain one faith language lesson: boundaries serve a purpose. Libertines, for example, find the purpose of life is to live without any limits. Statements today about absolute truth underwriting authentic freedom face stern replies of how respecting limits is to reject certain “rights” or, worse, surrender to silly superstitions. The eyes of faith, however, aren’t blind to the purpose of borders. True wisdom speaks truthfully when it admits that humanity doesn’t know it all. Human language about God is limited because human knowledge of God is limited (cf. CCC, 40). The language of faith helps nourish open debate by admitting what we know now and, importantly, what we could and should know tomorrow. Finite expressions of language never shrink the horizons of knowledge and language. When expressed in faith, they expand its borders closer toward the “infinite simplicity” of God (CCC, 43).Renewal in PurityAnother faith language lesson relates renewal and purity. The Church admits that “human words always fall short of the mystery of God”. The challenge before the people of God, consequently, is to “continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited, image-bound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God” with “our human representations” (CCC, 42).Such purified, renewed language nourishes the public square. Faith expresses more than simple “spirituality” marginalized to private worship. Hope finds its object in the Real Presence at Mass, not in earthly promises of utopia for the masses. Love becomes charity with humility, unity with diversity, and fraternity that respects the dignity of all human life. Patriotism also never yields to expressions of an ugly nationalism, but searches for tranquility as responsible partners in global society. Every year large corporations pay millions of dollars for mere seconds to flash images, amplify sounds, and maybe even say a few words on television. Online social media constantly collect user data hoping to pinpoint present demands and anticipate future wants. How many companies have profited handsomely by convincing, with just a short Super Bowl commercial, that a good or service will supply and satisfy our specific likes?The Church has not only taught but lived lessons of language millennia before computers and coaches hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Jesus instituted the Eucharist when he lifted wine as well as bread in his name at the Last Supper (cf. Luke 22:14-20). He proclaimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The language of faith since that Holy Thursday, as limited and as in constant need of renewal as it is, still leads us to a closer relationship with the Living Word (cf. John 1:14). And that is the faith language lesson worth sharing with others most of all.
The 'Roe Generations'
Jan 21, 2013 / 00:00 amForty years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. In terms of demographics, that means almost two generations of Americans have lived their entire life in a country with legalized abortion. It is an anniversary worth noting because it has come to define, devastate, and destroy millions of people – who, in this one college history teacher’s view, we could call the “Roe Generations” – across the United States. The First Generation, 1973-1993Lives changed just as much as vocabulary with the Roe decision. For the first generation that came of age between 1973 and 1993, legalized abortion and its consequences warped their understandings of marriage and family. And although most people didn’t want to debate it publicly, the shaky legal foundations constructed for abortion by the Supreme Court poisoned an already bitter political climate.The source for understanding the basis for such shifts is the opinion authored by Justice Harry Blackmun. According to Blackmun, a majority of the justices considered abortion a woman’s right of privacy guaranteed primarily under the Fourteenth Amendment. The history of abortion up to 1973 that the Court presented furthermore claimed that the definition of person under the Fourteenth Amendment “does not include the unborn.” Equally shocking for a generation already scarred by the fallout of Watergate and Vietnam, Blackmun declared that the Court “need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins.”“When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus,” Blackmun concluded, “the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.”The Second Generation, 1993-2013Yet the practical life-and-death consequences of legalized abortion permitted by the Roe decision demanded (and still demand) answers to such important questions. The good news is that science and faith converge with a clearer voice on many issues today about the origins of human life and the connections among all persons. Thanks to ultrasound technology, for example, it is impossible today to make a compelling case that a “fetus” isn’t a human life. In Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (2008), Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen explain how embryo science confirms that “human embryos are, from the very beginning, human beings, sharing an identity with, though younger than, the older human beings they will grow up to become” (3, italics in original).For Catholics, the Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs with unequivocal clarity that conception - the “very beginning” – marks the point when human life “must be respected and protected absolutely” as well as recognized as possessing “the rights of a person” (CCC, 2270). It is a position by the Church on abortion that “has not changed” and “remains unchangeable” (CCC, 2271).This week, as we look forward to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., consider the wisdom that speaks about every life across all generations: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Take time to talk about life with the ones you know. Speak about its dignity, how abortion scandalizes it, and pray for the roughly 55 million unborn persons who are a part but will always remain apart physically from the “Roe Generations.” Do it so that 40 years from now others in our place don’t think that the Roe decision allowed them to see the dignity of human life as little more than a dream.
A perfect gift
Jan 2, 2013 / 00:00 amThe days before Christmas found people rushing to buy “perfect” gifts. A variety of advertisements and news reports displayed store shelves that sought to satisfy with overflowing abundance. Many shoppers even tried to complete the task by clicking from the comfort of a home computer. Flushed with determination, and maybe the best of intentions, perhaps you found that the quest for a perfect gift transformed into a necessity to impress this Christmas season, and you may have entertained the thought that to give from the heart meant spending beyond your financial means.
Triumphs of Tepeyac
Dec 10, 2012 / 00:00 amA constant reality during the Season of Advent is Christmas art. Our mailboxes fill with religious cards displaying choirs of announcing angels, the Holy Family, maybe even the Three Wise Men. Admittedly, the avalanche of so many images may most times blur our senses like a heavy blizzard.
Kingship of Love
Nov 26, 2012 / 00:00 amThis week the Church ends its liturgical year by celebrating the Solemnity of Christ the King. It is a prominent feast day that speaks with as much truth now as it did when first established in 1925.
The Faith introduction
Nov 12, 2012 / 00:00 amAs the Year of Faith continues, the 2005 introduction to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, written by the present pope as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, can help us learn more about our faith. Catholics can explore the broad contours of their faith and, over time, use it to introduce to the world the treasures of Catholicism. The introduction explains three important features about the Compendium: