Suffering With Joy

Homecoming of the King

May 15, 2013

The Ascension, 1304-06, Giotto di Bodone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze), Fresco, Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

Abbot Philip Anderson, O.S.B. of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek near Hulbert, Oklahoma, preached this sermon on the Ascension. I am attached to this abbey as a Benedictine Oblate.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear Sons,

With the entire holy Catholic Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, we celebrate today the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. Echoing the praises of the angels and archangels, of the seraphim and cherubim, of thrones and dominations, principalities, powers, virtues, and of the Queen who rules them all, we add the glow of our own gladness to the spiritual brightness of those blessed beings, who feast their eyes on the very vision of God, while the Son of God, in His sacred and resurrected humanity climbs to the height of His glory.

It was just forty days ago that Christ broke through the bonds of death to rise to a life that will know no decline, but already the time for this departure is upon us. Although there is a sadness in this separation from the Lord, Who must leave us here on the earth of our exile, nevertheless Christ’s Ascension is part of a chain of mysteries that leads to the final fulfillment of our personal destinies as well to the consummation of the life of the Church. Each phase of the life of Christ, as reflected in the liturgical year, leads to the next step toward the final realization of the plan of God’s infinite and divine Providence. This is the mystery of time, the “little by little” of creation.

But do we human beings really want to go to Heaven and move beyond the horizons of our familiar places? Do we truly want to vanish through the vanishing point of time and space in order to enter an unknown dimension, where God is said to dwell? There is a strong tendency in the men and women of our age to keep everything here below, to want to find Heaven on earth in the present moment, rather than longing for a distant world “over the rainbow”. In his analysis of the errors of Modernism, Saint Pius X referred to this tendency as “immanentism”, from the Latin meaning to “remain in”.

The fact is that our earth is both, on the one hand, a garden of wonders, a delightful and beautiful reflection of God’s Wisdom and Goodness, and, on the other hand – especially since the Fall of Adam and Eve – a place of imperfection, a kind of “rough draft” of human happiness, where much evil and misery lurk in the corners. There are simply too many dangers and sad things afoot for us to be able to sit back and enjoy an abiding peace. We can be happy only in the way a pilgrim is happy, knowing that he is on the way to his destination and making progress. To seek transcendence, that is to say tending toward a different, higher world, is a duty and a deliverance. We must raise our eyes above the mediocrity and evil of what too often surrounds us. How terrible a thing it would be if we had nothing other to hope for than what we find in this world!

So let us follow the Lord. Let us sprout wings of prayer. Let us be mystics and spiritual beings, acknowledging what is most pure and noble in our nature. Never should we despise the flesh, as if it were intrinsically evil. Never should we follow the error of heretics who condemn marriage. Nevertheless, we were made for greater things than the material necessities of life. True, there is danger in pursuing the more spiritual way. Legion are the false mystics who have led men away from the truth under the guise of hidden, secret mysteries. But the splendid success of the best-known Catholic mystics, few as they are, largely compensates for the damage done by false ones.

In a Saint Teresa of Avila or a Saint John of the Cross – not to mention our blessed father Saint Benedict – the Church finds the most beautiful realization – success – of what we call the spiritual life, where the transcendent element bears its finest fruit. What begins in us in Holy Baptism is nurtured throughout our lives by God’s grace, especially through the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. The saint is the person in whom these gifts have reached their greatest development, whose spiritual life on earth blossoms so well as to border on the very life of eternity. The Church in the twenty-first century teaches this same doctrine. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2558) quotes Saint Therese of Lisieux: “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

There is a small problem, however. How are we to reconcile these two ideas: that of an exaltation of human life and that of Christian humility? How do we follow Our Lord above the clouds and yet keep our feet on the ground – especially the moral ground of the poor in spirit? It is Satan who, in his pride, declares, “I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaias 14:13-14). Well, one of the liturgical texts for Masses of the Blessed Virgin during Eastertide gives us a clue:

Alleluia, The rod of Jesse hath blossomed; a virgin hath brought forth God and Man; God hath restored peace, reconciling in himself the lowest and the highest.

In fact, it is the Incarnation itself that assures us that our exaltation in Christ will not contradict humility: in the Word Incarnate, heaven and earth are brought together. In leaning upon the Son of God and His mystery, we will not be challenging God, but allowing Him to raise us up in a way that will achieve our supernatural destiny, rather than causing us to teeter on heights that are not for us.

It is clear that our contemporary society as a whole will have nothing of this heavenward gaze. But the world – the worldly world of today as of yesterday – is not a sure reference for our human existence. So much of it is simply make-believe and vanity. Souls pretend to be “in the know,” but are really looking – often desperately – for the truth that will save them. Everyone is looking for happiness, and no one finds it in mere worldliness. But new avenues of evangelization need to be explored. The text of the Gospel is there for anyone to see, but it takes more than a text.

One way to bear witness to the Gospel, one way to make transcendence real for the men and women of our day, is simply to live as if heaven mattered. One need not even say very much. To spend hours at liturgical offices, whether as a monk, a nun or a member of the laity, is to say to the world: “There is more here than meets the eye.” While others consume precious time in pleasures that are frequently harmful or spend their lives in amassing money, we live in the presence of the holy Angels, participating in the same liturgy that goes on in Heaven. It is so simple, but so profound! It may be that we never do so much for the salvation of the world as when we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament, apparently wasting time, but actually transcending time.

May God, Who ascends today amid shouts of triumph, may the Lord, Who climbs to heaven with the sound of trumpets, deign to look upon our weak but fervent desire to follow Him. May the Queen of Heaven smile upon us, as she delights in the homecoming of her King.

Amen. Alleluia.

I especially appreciated his reference to Mary, who is always beside Jesus in our celebration of the sacred liturgy.  And Abbot Anderson always shines a bright light on what our priorities should be.

A New Catholic Blog Network

May 14, 2013

Connie Rossini who writes the blog, Contemplative Homeschool, has started Catholic Spirituality Blogs Network, launching with Find your spiritual idiolect at Catholic Spirituality Blogs Network.  I learned a new word, idiolect, from the title post.

Everyone has an idiolect–a collection of personal speech habits that is different from anyone else’s. Have you ever thought about your spiritual idiolect? Since your soul is unique, you have a personal way of speaking to God that no one else completely shares. Today I am announcing the creation of a new blog that will help you find and fine-tune your spiritual idiolect.

Every serious Catholic wants to grow closer to God, but there isn’t any magic formula that works for everyone. That’s because God has His creative intentions for polishing us up for heaven that are custom designed to fit His overall plan for us and the communion of saints.

Through reading the posts you’ll find at CSBN, you’ll discover writers whose lives may mirror your own and inspire you to greater heights of charity. You might also be a contributor to all of us on the journey to eternal life. Take a peek and think about whether it has something to offer you on the path through the narrow gate.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

When Sacred Scripture Becomes a Dead Letter

May 7, 2013

As usual, the meditations from Divine Intimacy really pack a punch. If not one day, surely the next.

With all the turmoil in the Church concerning erroneous interpretation of Sacred Scripture by certain theologians and Scripture scholars especially over the past sixty years, a burning question has seared my heart. “How can they do this? These are supposedly intelligent people.”

At times like these I think of the painting of St. Thomas Aquinas on his knees praying. One of the most brilliant theologians in the entire 2000 year history of the Church never picked up his quill without first praying on his knees to our Lord.  You can’t write about a Who without knowing the Who intimately or you will just be wasting trees and filling pages with pure fantasy, giving readers lies at worst and dubious facts at best.

Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene wrote in meditation #175,

All that we can study and learn about the things of God is a dead letter if the Holy Spirit does not enlighten us concerning them. Our need for Him is absolute; our desire for His coming should be unbounded.

That’s the answer to the question. Don’t pray with an open and sincere heart when you pick up the Bible. Read it with your own agenda. Never humble yourself by getting on your knees in front of Christ crucified and begging the Holy Spirit to fill your soul. Just be out to make a name for yourself and join the “in” crowd. Be recognized as an “authoritative scholar” by today’s standards, full of knowledge but signifying nothing because your truth is all that counts. Study, study, study and debate, debate, debate without praying. That’s how they did it – made Sacred Scripture a dead letter. You can’t attack and destroy Magisterial teaching without first having lost focus on the Who of God, the Blessed Trinity, with which you must have a personal, intimate relationship.

St. Thomas shows us the right way. Ironically it was these same theologians and Scripture scholars who suppressed the study of St. Thomas in the seminaries post Vatican II, and it was Pope John Paul II who said that St. Thomas’ writings should be the basis for theological and scripture study, reviving his work for a new generation of seminarians and ordinary Catholics like me.

One of my favorite theologian/Scripture scholars is Father William Most (RIP). Among his other titles at Amazon, you might particularly enjoy Free from All Error : Authorship, Inerrancy, Historicity of Scripture, Church Teaching, and Modern Scripture Scholars. You can absolutely rely on his orthodoxy.

As Pentecost approaches, I pray that all my readers as well as I will experience a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that the things of God will never be a dead letter to us.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: Bible, Scripture study, St. Thomas Aquinas, theology

To the End of the World

April 26, 2013

Pope Francis, good old-fashioned Jesuit evangelizer that he is, has been speaking lately about spreading the Gospel. This week when we celebrated the feast of St. Mark, the Holy Father noted that shortly before ascending into heaven Jesus instructed His disciples to “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15). After His ascension St. Mark tells us that “…they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them…”.

The good news was not to be restricted to the Jews, but the disciples were to carry it to the end of the world. The Holy Father said:

Go all over the world. The horizon … great horizon… And as you can see, this is the mission of the Church. The Church continues to preach this to everyone, all over the world. But she does not go forth alone: she goes forth with Jesus. So they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord acted with them.

The Lord works with all those who preach the Gospel. This is the magnanimity that Christians should have. A pusillanimous Christian is incomprehensible: this magnanimity is part of the Christian vocation: always more and more, more and more, more and more, always onwards!

The politically correct Christians who have compromised with the world must squirm in their seats at being called “pusillanimous.” We can’t hide behind false “prudence” or fake “obedience” when leaders, political or ecclesiastical, who should be setting a good example and speaking the truth, are undermining  the Gospel every day. In our own small ways, we must be the counterpoint to their deceit, and where we are able, call them to account.

Catholics are especially fortunate to have both Sacred Scripture and Tradition along with the Magisterium, to guide us in our witness. However, the manner of our witness has to be according to the criteria set forth by St. Peter in his first letter as Pope Francis said in his sermon.

The style of evangelical preaching should have this attitude: humility, service, charity, brotherly love. “But … Lord, we must conquer the world!” That word, conquer, doesn’t work. We must preach in the world. The Christian must not be like soldiers who when they win the battle make a clean sweep of everything.

The Christian proclaims the Gospel with his witness, rather than with words. This is divine – it is like a tension between the great and the small…

When we go forth with this magnanimity and humility, when we are not scared by the great things, by the horizon, but also take on board the little things – humility, daily charity – the Lord confirms the Word. And we move forward. The triumph of the Church is the Resurrection of Jesus. But there is first the Cross. Today we ask the Lord to become missionaries in the Church, apostles in the Church but in this spirit: a great magnanimity and also a great humility. So be it.

I can’t help but think of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She founded her religious community not to evangelize, but to serve the poor and dying. Yet her conduct was one of the loudest proclamations of the Gospel in the latter twentieth century and she preached it to the end of the world. What she accomplished was done with Jesus and by no other means than through His power and mercy.

Many towns and neighborhoods have their own little Mother Teresas. They have their own little Francis of Assisis, their own Don Boscos, their own Gianna Mollas, all doing their work with and for the Lord. All being His strong back, His arms, legs, and feet. All sustained by Him.

Jesus’ command is for all of us. He is an equal opportunity employer who discriminates against no one. He gives all of us the opportunity and grace necessary to follow Him and spread His word. As Christians, we have no greater adventure in our lives than to bring the Gospel to the end of the world.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: evangelizing, Pope Francis

The Spirit of Faith

April 24, 2013

The Repentant Peter – El Greco, 1600

Discovering God in everything – what a daunting task! Most of us consider it impossible, which says a lot more about where we are on the path to sainthood than about God’s accessibility to His creatures.

In meditation #163 of Divine Mercy, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. teaches us about faith:

Faith is not limited to knowing God in Himself as the Trinity; it makes us see Him also in all creatures, in all circumstances of our life, since He is always present everywhere by His providential action.  [He is revealing Himself through the supremely difficult people in our lives, on those days when multiple things go wrong and it seems as if a dark cloud is over our heads, in the chronic illnesses, pain, and psychological disturbances most people eventually suffer if they live long enough. He is present when we suffer injustice and persecution from our governments and are victims of corporate and individual sins.]

God knows creatures as they exist in relation to Himself; and faith, showing creatures to us as dependent upon God, makes us, in this way, see and judge them somewhat as God Himself sees and judges them.

Faith teaches us that nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in the world which is not subject to divine control. It is true that God cannot will evil; and therefore He does not will sin or its consequences, such as injustice, litigation, war; but He does  permit them, simply to safeguard the liberty of His creatures. [God cannot will evil because, being all-perfect, He cannot go against His nature. His perfect love accepts only love freely given to Him and so, if someone chooses not to love Him, He will not stand in the way of that person's unloving heart.]

However, He sometimes intervenes in situations, even in those caused by sin, so as to make everything enter into His divine plan, which is ordained for His own glory and the salvation and sanctification of souls. My spirit of faith must be so real that it will convince me that no circumstance, either in my private life or in my relations with others, escapes God’s jurisdiction, which is so wise that it can draw good even out of evil. Consequently, I can see nothing apart from God; I can find Him in any person, in any situation.

Our questions in the middle of misery might be: Where is God in all this? What does He want from me now? What is He trying to teach me? If we don’t understand immediately what His plan is, if we ask Him for the faith to comprehend, eventually, when we are ready, He will give us the grace to see.

To be able to recognize and meet God in every creature, even in the ones that hurt us, offend us, or make us suffer, and in every happening, even the most disagreeable, painful, and disturbing ones – this is a great secret of the interior life. Then the world becomes an open book, on every page of which is written in large letters the one word: God. Before God, His will, His permission, His plans, everything else becomes secondary; we see how stupid it is to fix our gaze on creatures, which are, as it were, only a veil which hides the Creator. We need, however, assiduous practice before we can reach such deep faith.

As humans, we are gifted with an intellect above all creatures except the angels. That doesn’t mean we aren’t slow learners. This is why we often get stuck in sinful repetitive behavior patterns that cause us pain. We have the power to choose to let God enlighten us in the negative or evil circumstances of our lives or to hang on to our darkness. We can choose to see God or to let our obsessions with controlling our situations plunge us deeper into misery. Alcoholics Anonymous has their famous Twelve Step Program. One of those steps is “Let go and let God.” Whenever we are tempted to pride, impatience, grumpiness, etc., maybe it’s because our focus is in the wrong place. Maybe we aren’t surrendering to God.

As we examine our conscience each day, perhaps in reflecting on where we collected a bunch of bad feelings, gave into depression and frustration, and stored up anger, we might pray:

Lord, teach me what You want me to know. Let me see all the circumstances of my life through Your eyes. Help me to let go of anything that takes my focus away from You. Help me to practice letting You be in charge. Help me fulfill my daily responsibilities out of love for You and not out of self-love. Let me see You in everything. Make me a woman (man) of true faith.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: Faith, prayer

Permission to Be Holy

April 9, 2013

Divine Mercy in the Confessional

Easter season – rejoicing – Divine Mercy – cause for great joy. The Catholic Church requires that we receive Holy Communion at least once a year. It is, after all, the great sacrament of unity, and that law is the Church’s way of telling us how important it is to nourish the Mystical Body. To receive it worthily and not bring condemnation upon ourselves (1 Cor. 11:27) we must be clean in our hearts and souls. This means we must have taken advantage of the Sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion if we are in the state of mortal sin.

Hardly anybody who is paying attention to what is going on in the world can miss that we are repeatedly openly invited to sin every day all day long. The opportunities to immerse ourselves in it are endless. A person who becomes blind in sin from constant exposure will also have lost sight of the fact that God has commanded us to be holy (Lev. 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16), especially because that ubiquitous Everybody Else is doing publicly all sorts of unholy things and many of us want to “fit in” so we join in.

By expecting us to be holy, God has given us permission to be holy. Going to Confession is taking advantage of that permission. God through His Divine Mercy is saying to us, “In spite of what is going on around you 24/7, it’s OK to be holy. You don’t have to be caught up in bad company and spend your time in vain pursuits. You don’t have to live in chaos and misery in your hearts. Come to Me all of you who are weary and burdened with sin and I will give you rest” (cf. Matt. 11:28).

When I wrote An Appointment with Jesus, I had an image in my mind of Jesus behind the priest in the confessional. Thanks to Father Byers at Holy Souls Hermitage, I found the perfect picture to show what I mean and used it at the top of this post.

Divine Mercy is waiting for us all year long. We think of Lent as the time to turn over a new leaf, give up what is destroying us, and move forward on the road to the narrow gate. In case we let that opportunity go by, it’s still not too late. Take these beautiful words from the Psalms and call upon the Lord in Confession:

Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in Him. (Psalm 37:5)

Confess to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. (cf. Psalm 106:1)

I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.  (Psalm 32:5)

And now, dear pastors, Fathers, spouses of the Bride of Christ, remind us. Give the people in your charge renewed permission to be holy. Call us to Confession again and again and again. Show us the Divine Mercy of the Risen Lord.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

This post linked to Sunday Snippets.

Tags: confession, Divine Mercy, Sacrament of Penance

Sabbath Moments

April 6, 2013

Awareness of God

Sabbath moments are those times when we encounter God in rest or in the ordinary times of our lives when we lift our hearts up to Him or experience His presence as we go about our daily work. Join us at Colleen’s blog, Thoughts on Grace, to connect to other bloggers and read their Sabbath Moments.

Rain, rain, rain, keep coming!

Normally I associate Easter with fresh spring breezes, sunshine, birds chirping, etc. However, this year Holy Week and a few days this week were wet, cold, and a little snowy. That’s great. The Lord is slowly resolving the drought of the past several years. All those prayers are being answered. The few sunny and mild days sandwiched between the rain have, by contrast, been all that more precious. In any case, a certain restfulness has permeated the Easter season this year. We are looking forward to getting veggies into the ground and letting God do more of the watering this year.

Meditation time

Waking up early and lying in bed pondering things of God is a luxury of old age and compensation for not being able to gad about as in my younger, much more thoughtless years. Pope Francis gave us many ponderables in his sermons over the past couple of weeks which formed the subject of my morning prayer time and a few blog posts, too.

I’ve been reading Esther de Waal’s Living With Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality which is rich with meditation subjects. I like spiritual books that one can pick up, read a little, and then put down until next time. The thinking time between reading brings many Sabbath moments.

Simplicity in prayer

Meditation #146 today from Divine Intimacy was on prayer.  Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. wrote some basic observations that I always find help me refocus on the simplicity of prayer. No matter how many times I read these meditations, I always gain something new.

“For me,” said St. Therese of the Child Jesus, “prayer is an uplifting of the heart, a glance toward heaven, a cry of gratitude and of love in times of sorrow as well as of joy” (Story of a Soul, 11). In this perspective we must understand the traditional definition of prayer: elevation mentis ad Deum, the raising of the mind to God, and not only the mind, but also, and especially, the heart. Prayer may be a silent movement of the mind, or simply a cry, a request, a colloquy; in these latter motions are verified the other aspects of prayer,…a pious conversation with God, and…a confident request for His graces.

Whatever form it takes, true prayer is not complicated or constrained; it is the breath of the soul that loves its God, the habitual attitude of the heart which tends toward God. The soul seeks Him, wants to live with Him, knows that every benefit, every help, comes from Him. Thus, spontaneously, without even thinking about it, the soul passes from the simple elevation toward God to the prayer of petition or to intimate colloquy, to arrive finally at the transport of the heart, the glance toward heaven.

Prayer understood in this way is always possible, in all kinds of circumstances and in the midst of varying occupations; furthermore, for a soul who really loves God, it would be as impossible for it to interrupt prayer as it would be for it to stop breathing.

To get to this point we, with or without words, must ask God for the grace to live this way. It is actually a grace to even want to do it. On the surface it seems an impossibility to reach this goal, and, if it were up to us alone, a definite impossibility. But knowing that God desires this intimacy with us, we can be confident that He will make it happen with our cooperation. The minute we think that our own doing alone will get us there, we are sunk.

Praying always is a habit, and we might also say, a state of being. It makes even the most mundane tasks endurable and sanctifying. For instance, you can’t get more mundane than picking up dog poop in the yard. My husband takes care of this most of the time, but I sometimes do it. While my first reaction is, “Yuck,” God takes over. My prayer seems to jump right out of my heart:

Thank You, Lord, for the ability to do this. Thank You, Lord, for Francie. We are so blessed to have her as a companion. You know the laughs she gives us and the affection we prize from her. This is such a little thing to do for such a great gift. Lord, provide for us as we provide for Francie with Your help…

The sun sure feels good today, Lord. Thanks for its healing rays. Thanks for our yard and the places to grow veggies. Thanks for good neighbors and please bless them. Bless our not so good neighbors, especially the drunk next door. He really needs your help and so does his family. Thanks for Your love and attention to our needs…

And on it goes. Ordinary people might think these prayers are stupid, but I know that God wants to hear from me and since He is the one who set our lives in motion to include the ordinary as a big chunk of our existence, I figure there’s no point in wasting all that valuable time worrying about stuff I can’t do anything about and instead spend it with Him. What about you?

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: prayer

Mortal Sin

March 4, 2013

Thanks to Michael Seagriff at Harvesting the Fruits of Contemplation, a great web site for quick moments of inspiration and promoting love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, for calling this video to our attention.  I want to share it with all my readers, too.  This is basic Catholic teaching.  Anything opposed to it is heresy.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: sin

Source of Temptation: The World

February 22, 2013  Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

This post is a continuation of the series on sin.

Spiritual warfare is one of the requirements of being a soldier of Jesus Christ and a member of the Church Militant. Failure to go to war will result in the loss of our souls, but we cannot step onto the battlefield and expect to win without understanding what we are dealing with. In my post The World, the Flesh, and the Devil I introduced these three sources of temptation, all of which interconnect to draw us away from God.

The meaning of “The World”

In ascetical theology the world does not refer to grass, trees, mountains, hills, etc. as I thought in my childlike simplicity long ago. The world is the realm of Satan in time, a realm with standards radically opposed to God’s way of seeing.  It presents itself as an end in itself, whereas it can only ever be an obstacle to the eternal end God has intended for us.

Money, power, and pleasure constitute the realm of the world.  None of these things are evil in themselves, but when sought only for themselves they distract us from battle. The enticements suck us deeper and deeper into obsession until we become so entangled in their pursuit we can’t recognize the needs of our neighbor nor the presence of God in our lives, calling us to Himself.

Money, power, and pleasure are what Satan offered to Jesus in Matt. 4:8-10 when he took Him to a high mountain to tempt Him. Satan was offering Jesus the world.

Money

Money begs us to love it.  We can do so many good things with money, and much evil, too.  Money buys favors from corrupt people.  It buys power and position and the highest political offices in nations. Money buys almost unlimited pleasures – the “wine, women, and song” symbol of hedonism every culture of the world expresses in one phrase or another.

Because money can help us easily accomplish fulfillment of what is enormously destructive to ourselves and our neighbor, St. Paul cautions us in 1 Tim. 6:10 that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Having a fallen nature we tend to desire things that we think will satisfy us now but which fall into the realm of vanity as spoken to us in Ecclesiastes 1.  Money tempts us to seek it for itself, for what we can gratify ourselves with, and along the way of seeking it for this purpose we do much evil.

Power

Like money, power can be used for great good, for making possible the alleviation of much suffering. Often, though, power is perverted by those holding it who have sought it not for the good of others, but to acquire increasing money, fame, pleasure, and yet more power in the future for themselves.

Power lures by promising to those who desire it as an end the authority to control others, to orchestrate persons and events according to one’s own selfish purposes. Some people are satisfied to be able to lord it over others in their communities or churches or volunteer organizations, but others desire much more. These want to control when or if people shall be born, when they die, and how they shall live.  They desire adulation from all and the increase of lands and nations to expand their reach. 

One of the greatest lures power has for some is the ability to force ideologies contrary to Christian morals on many, or to force others to act against their conscience.  Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Therein lies the grave danger of this enticement of the world.

Bacchus, Caravaggio

Pleasure

No evil in itself, pleasure offers legitimate enjoyment when it points towards God.  Who hasn’t felt uplifted at a beautiful sunset, certain kinds of music, great works of art, or a masterfully executed film or play?  Who doesn’t enjoy on occasion a good wine and delicious meal in pleasant company, or a hobby that banishes the tensions of the day?  We are human and pleasure in moderation and with the right intention is good.

When pleasure leads to self-indulgence or flaunting status symbols as in “So-and-so is dating the top model, drives a Lamborghini, or vacations on the Riviera,” or “So-and-so got high and was really funny last night,” or “Willie and Sally are hooking up tonight,” pleasure has claimed another soul.

Pleasure plays into the concupiscent nature of all of us.  The world provides us many opportunities for pleasure and extremely easy access to it via all kinds of media.  Nobody has to be rich to look at pornography or engage in drugs, alcohol, or illicit sex these days.  The amount of leisure time and wealth available to vast numbers of people the world over allows pleasure to become a priority leaving God out of the picture.

The spirit of the world

Accompanying these three enticements is a spirit that appeals solely to the flesh (biblical meaning) and draws us into sin.  This spirit is one of laughter and derision of sacrifice and penance or making upright choices the world doesn’t approve of. It invokes cowardliness by blaming, distorting truth and making political correctness the norm.  It tells us we are not OK if we don’t keep up with the Joneses, think like everybody else who has given in to it, dress like everybody else no matter how immodest, go along to get along, and above all, it condemns us if we are not “nice” according to its definition of “nice.”  The spirit of the world is a predatory tyrant that respects no one.

One of the most striking scenes showing someone fully imbued with the spirit of the world occurs in the movie, Murder, Inc., available on Hulu.  Peter Falk gave an award winning performance as Abe Reles, a psychopathic killer for the mob as it existed then in the 1930s.  As he lectures one of his trapped underlings who suffers from a not yet extinguished conscience, his voice rises to a roar.  At 48:15 we hear:

Take!  Ya see, what you can get your hands on you take.  Don’t ask questions.  TAKE!  What you want, you take!  What I want I take.  Nothin’ means nothin’ unless I got it.  What d’ya got hands for? TAKE!

He exits, slamming the door behind him.

We live in this world by the plan of God.  It is our battlefield. If we are to be friends with Christ, we cannot get cozy with the world (James 4:4).  If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us (1 John 2:15) and we cannot, therefore love our neighbor. Our only choice not to fall into its clutches is to crucify ourselves to it and it to us (Gal. 6:4). This crucifixion demands the virtue of  humility.  Out of humility we take on a mind of sacrifice, a mind we especially polish up during Lent but must keep alive all during the year.  We do well to pray with Cardinal Merry del Val the litany of humility to strengthen ourselves in battle.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: sin

Surrender: Let God Decide

February 21, 2013

As I write this, sleet is tick-ticking vigorously against my windows while thunder rumbles and rolls nearby. Darkness like dusk, only with no warm sun slowly slipping below the horizon, is out of place at this mid-morning hour. 

This week, between the surprise attacks of exhaustion that punctuate the life of someone with fibromyalgia, and an unusually long (twelve hour) day trip to St. Louis for Roger to see his lung specialist, my series on sin is being delayed and all my Lenten practices have been interrupted.  The partial abstinence I planned to observe flew out the window for the week and fasting became inadvisable.

My inner ear issues create a feeling of nausea and instability that sap my will to research, think and write, and allergens blown in by high winds and stirred up from dry soil have tormented me for several months in spite of the antihistamines and nasal sprays I use.

Colleen Spiro wrote Desert Time this week in which she said, “Let God decide my path.”  We can be sure that when our good intentions are blocked, God has something else in mind.  When we are trying to move out of the space to which He has confined us, He moves us back to where He wants us – all for our spiritual safety and to give us practice in surrendering.

I’m not complaining. The low mental and physical energy are a blessing.  I can enjoy visiting blogs like Catholic Spiritual Direction where I feasted on Spiritual Liberty in the Night by Anthony Lilles. This post uplifted me today, comforted me as do so many others by Catholics in love with Christ. Right now it seems I am not meant to stress out over research and writing, but rather to be fed by others so that I can take my turn later and contribute to the table when I have more energy.

I am also enjoying some exceptionally well written, acted, directed, and edited Korean dramas that have elevated comic relief to a fine art. It’s too easy to become locked into our own problems and forget that a well-balanced life needs to include some laughter. If I feel better tomorrow, I’ll get on about the heavy mental lifting.  If not, I’ll continue to enjoy what the Lord is setting before me, no doubt to teach me something I can later use for His greater honor and glory.

Thanks to all the dedicated Catholic bloggers whose sites I enjoy visiting and who never fail to educate, inspire or prod me into becoming a better person.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: health, Lent

Sabbath Moments

February 16, 2013

Awareness of God

Welcome to this meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace. Visit her for more from other bloggers.

Rain and snow

This week the Lord sent us both rain and snow.  Today, sunshine and birds singing – the Lord’s serenade for the pleasure of His creation.  We are still in a deep drought and need all precipitation He can give us.  I am already thinking about what to plant where for a good vegetable harvest this year. Just being grateful for His natural blessings is a Sabbath Moment.

Mortification

Lent is a great time to do some spiritual housecleaning and form some good habits to carry forward through the year. The Pope’s renouncing his seat of Peter and my recognizing the great spiritual needs of the Church at this time have motivated me to put extra effort into the season.

For starters, even though I am well past the age requirements for fasting, I am going to do what I can.  This year I have also decided to observe partial abstinence on a consistent basis.  Every time I’m tempted to snack or eat meat more than once a day (Sundays excepted) will be a Sabbath Moment to check in with the Lord.

However, other mortifications are possible.  That list of things needing to get done around the house, like freeing up a sluggish sink drain which is more complicated than you would think because of the design of the plug, makes me hurt all over just to think of it, let alone getting all those other things done.  Instead of ducking the jobs until the situation demands, I’ll be tackling them as best I can in a joyful spirit according to my physical capabilities of the day.

Then there is the necessity of caring for a highly deficient body whose muscles never stop hurting. You might think it not a penance to use the Wii to bowl an hour a day on those days we don’t go to the therapy pool, but you’d be wrong.  All physical movement, even fun, carries a price.  In this life exercise is a necessity to avoid accelerated deterioration, and the discipline of doing it a great trainer of the will.  I’d rather be reading, writing or watching art films and drama.

We can’t resist temptation without some kind of physical mortification, which is why the Church has always followed these practices throughout the year.  Lent is our time to strengthen our will to move towards God by increasing mortification, and as the Holy Father said in his Ash Wednesday sermon, doing it as part of the whole Body of Christ.

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Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene writes in #96-97 of Divine Intimacy of mortification as proof of love:

After the Incarnation, the Cross of Jesus is the greatest proof of His love for man.  Similarly, mortification, which is suffering eagerly accepted for the Love of God, is one of the greatest proofs of live that we can give Him.  It means freely giving up a satisfaction or a pleasure in order to impose on ourselves, for love of God, something which is contrary to our own natural inclinations; we thus prove that we prefer to satisfy God rather than ourselves…

…The value of voluntary mortification consists much more in the good will with which it is practiced than in the intensity of the suffering which is imposed, although the latter may contribute to it in the sense that a more painful mortification requires more good will.

The amount of suffering must be wisely proportioned, and limited to the physical strength of each one; but what must never be limited is the love, the spirit of generosity with which we perform each act of sacrifice.  From this point of view, a slight mortification done with all the love of which a soul is capable has greater value than a painful penance performed in a material way, with no interior spirit.  Hence…it is necessary to arouse our good will and our sincere desire to suffer willingly for the love of God.  This will prevent a mere mechanical performance of the act that has little or no value.

The spirit of mortification has more than a purely physical aspect of mortification; it also includes renunciation of the ego, the will, and the understanding.  Just as in our body and in our senses we have unruly tendencies toward the enjoyment of material things, so also in our ego there are inordinate tendencies toward self-assertion.  Love of self and complacency in our own excellence are often so great that, even unconsciously, we tend to make “self” the center of the universe.

The spirit of mortification is really complete when, above all, we seek to mortify self-love in all its many manifestations… There is little value in imposing corporal mortifications on ourselves if we then refuse to yield our opinion in order to accommodate ourselves to others, if we cannot be reconciled with our enemies, or bear an injury and a cutting word with calmness, or hold back a sharp answer… As long as mortification does not strike at our pride, it remains at the halfway mark and never reaches its goal…

The true spirit of mortification embraces, in the first place, all the occasions for physical or moral suffering permitted by divine Providence.  The sufferings attendant on illness or fatigue; the efforts required by the performance of our duties or by a life of intense labor; the privations imposed by the state of poverty [religious life reference]- all are excellent physical penances.  If we sincerely desire to be guided by Divine Providence in everything, we will not try to avoid them, or even to lighten them, but will accept wholeheartedly whatever God offers us.  It would be absurd to refuse a single one of those providential opportunities for suffering and to look for voluntary mortifications of our own choice…

It is exactly the same in the moral order.  Do we not sometimes try to avoid a person whom we do not like, but with whom the Lord has brought us into contact? Do we look for every means of avoiding a humiliation or an act of obedience which is painful to nature?  If we do, we are running away from the best opportunities for sacrificing ourselves and for mortifying our self-love; even if we substitute other mortifications, they will not be as effective as those which God Himself has prepared for us.  In the mortifications offered to us by Divine Providence, there is nothing of our own will or liking; they strike us just where we need it most, and where, by voluntary mortification, we could never reach.

In order to arrive at sanctity, a certain specified amount of voluntary penance is not required of all; this varies according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the advice of superiors, and each one’s physical strength.  All, however, must have that truly deep spirit of mortification which can embrace with generosity every opportunity for renunciation prepared or permitted by God.

The paragraph on the moral order demands, I think, the greatest interior strength of will imaginable because it is about our relationship with our neighbor and crucifying our pride.  Watch out for the demons of hell prowling about with the intention of disrupting mortification this Lent or getting us to nullify our good resolve, especially regarding the moral order.  They will do everything they can to prevent us from developing holy habits and doing all for the love of God.  Fortunately, we can call on our ferocious guardian angels to intercept their evil intents.

And now I am off to get started on that sluggish drain problem.  Time to get going on becoming a gold medalist in the Spiritual Olympics by the grace of God.  May your Lent be joyful, holy, and fruitful.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: mortification

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

February 6, 2013

Photo credit: Alvimann from morguefile.com

This post is a continuation of the series on sin.

Temptation wears many masks of enticement, all hinting that evil is good for the one being drawn from the narrow path.  Siren songs emitted from the deadened lips of the deceiving image promise what can never be, driving souls ultimately to permanent and irrevocable loss unless they resist again and again or repeatedly repent.

Of itself, temptation is neither good nor evil.  It is always an opportunity to use our free will to say yes or no to God. He allows us to be tempted to humble us; to show us that we are helpless on our own because we, of our own power cannot defeat temptation.  Only by God’s grace, which He bestows upon us abundantly, can we be victorious (2 Cor. 12:9).

Temptation is not sin, but to deliberately place oneself into temptation is a sin.  It is purposely flirting with evil, just as the alcoholic who steps into the bar places himself in grave danger of committing the mortal sin of drunkenness.  It is the moral equivalent of deliberately placing ourselves into grave physical danger for no good purpose such as walking through a bad area of town where drive by shootings happen frequently.

Hanging out with bad companions who read pornographic magazines or watch pornographic videos, do drugs, gossip, lie, cheat, steal, and commit violence against others is a sin because when we associate with these people we are knowingly placing ourselves into temptation. Moreover, we are tempting God and will most likely fall into sin ourselves.  “Oh, I can handle it,” or “They’re the ones doing it and I’m just going along for the ride,” has brought more than one soul to the brink of hell. Amusing ourselves with bad companions is like jumping into a cesspool. We can’t expect to come out smelling anything but revoltingly stinky.

Sometimes we unwittingly place ourselves into temptation or stumble into it because we haven’t been taught proper vigilance or knowledge of where the danger originates. This is a failure on the part of those who are supposed to teach us morals and the powerful defense mechanisms necessary for victory in spiritual warfare.

Sometimes we are forced into occasions of sin where we do not will to be, or presented with opportunities to sin we did not invite and do not welcome.  We cannot control the placement of lascivious billboards we must pass on the way to work, nor the gatherings of spiteful gossips in the break room, but we can choose not to look and not to participate.

Three great figures of the spiritual combat, the world, the flesh, and the devil, challenge us unremittingly as Soldiers of Jesus Christ. They are the sources of temptation that sweetly beckon us to choose everything that is Not God.  They are most effective when we discard our ascetic practices of fasting, penance, self-denial, and our weapons of prayer – the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Bible reading and prayer (Lectio Divina), the Rosary, and other practices of communicating with God appropriate to our state in life. They represent the swamp all souls must navigate to arrive on the other side of the narrow gate.

We cannot escape exposure to the world, the flesh, and the devil.  One we live in, one we live with inseparably, and one lurks in our vicinity seeking to capitalize on our inherent weaknesses.  Sometimes all three combine to suck us into a vortex of sin.

What exactly do we mean by the world, the flesh, and the devil?  These terms are centuries old in moral theology and spiritual development.  All the saints now in heaven and on earth fought victorious battles resisting their enticements. Each one deserves exploring in a blog post so that we have sufficient information to make the choice for God.  To try to cover all three here and now would make this post too long.  So stay tuned as we take a hard look at each one in turn and study ways to win against them with the help of God.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

This post is linked to Sabbath Moments at Thoughts on Grace.

Tags: sin

What is Sin?

January 21, 2013

“Sin? I don’t want to think ’bout no stinking sin!  God loves me and wants me to be happy.  Don’t show me no sin.  I just want to feel good about myself.  I should be able to do anything that makes me happy and feels good.”  Such might be the words of the average person for whom the subject of sin is a morbid one best not to be discussed.

Then there might be this reaction: “I already know what the Catechism teaches on sin.  Don’t bore me.  Show me something new.”

I’d have to ask, “So if you know all about it, do you still sin? Yes? Why?”

I think that a key reason why a lot of people don’t want to hear about sin is that we’re afraid that if we admit to ourselves something is wrong in our behavior, we are going to have to change what we’re doing in different aspects of our lives.  We’re going to have to admit that certain things we do are harmful to others and to ourselves.  We’re going, in some cases, to go through a lot of pain to correct bad behaviors we’ve engaged in for a long time.  We have to admit (gulp) that we are wrong, maybe stupid, not as smart or clever as we like to think we are.

I also believe that a lot of people want to become better persons and are willing to look at sin for what it is: sick behavior originating from disordered desires within – the result of our fallen human nature.  We can’t get well if we don’t get a diagnosis first. If we want to come closer to God to let the Divine Physician heal us, we need to understand what sin really is and what it does to us so that we can develop habits that will place us on the path to virtue and an ever more solid life in Christ.  It is life in Christ that brings true happiness and joy, and the reason to feel good even in the midst of the perpetual suffering life brings.

Knowing that something is a sin because we’ve memorized a list from the Bible or the Catechism isn’t enough.  We need to engage our intellect and look deeper into the subject if we are to fully appreciate what sin is and what we are doing to ourselves and others when we sin.  In CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) #1849 we read:

Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. [That is, things we, in our disordered wills and intellect deem good.] It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity.  It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.” [St. Augustine, Contra Faustum 22: PL 42, 418; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa I-II, 71, 6.]

Don’t be intimidated by the references.  I just put them there because they’re in the Catechism and the more scholarly inclined might want to look them up.

An offense implies a relationship.  After all, we can’t offend somebody if there’s nobody or nothing to offend.  Here we see “reason” listed first.  Sin is unreasonable, illogical, even though we might convince ourselves at the time that it is perfectly logical.  Later on, after we have become sadder and wiser, we can see the unreasonableness of our actions, such as having sex with somebody because we believe we “love” him when we are clueless about the meaning of love and have confused lust with real love.

Sin is an offense against truth (and the Truth) because by sinning we are denying revealed truth given to us by God.  Coveting our neighbor’s wife offends the truth that marriage is sacred between a man and a woman, and that we haven’t any business even thinking about disrupting God’s plan for two people to create a stable family that prepares new souls for heaven.  Moreover, sin is an offense against the truth that God has made us for Himself but we live the lie that we exist for our own selves and whatever we define “truth” to be, acting accordingly.

Sin is also an offense against right conscience because we have an obligation to know what is morally right and wrong.  This natural law is written on our hearts and the Ten Commandments are revealed truth about that law.  Right conscience is necessary to guide us and is always rooted in truth and reason.  To have a right conscience requires a lot of work to seek the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be to hear.

The Pharisees resisted a right conscience which is why they kept getting into trouble with Jesus and why they conspired to kill Him.  We do the same thing today that the Pharisees did so long ago.  We silence people, sometimes arranging for attempts on their lives, who speak the truth about climate change, for instance, or what marriage is, or what abortion does to persons involved and society as a whole. We demonstrate against politicians, sometimes violently, who support workers rights to not belong to unions and be forced to pay dues.

“Wounds the nature of man” means that by sinning we become less human, less of what God intends us to be, which is free to do that which is good.  Our nature is not meant to be enslaved but free, but the more we sin, the less free we are because the sin starts to rule us.  We are shackled by our own doing. We spend our time figuring out how to get our next “fix” instead of being concerned with what God wants. That next shot of gratification, whatever it may be, obsesses us.  The One who can satisfy us completely is traded in for something that never satisfies permanently.  We remain focused not on the things that are above but on things here below (Col.  3: 1-2).

Human solidarity is disrupted because we are not looking in the same direction – towards God – but instead look every which way to satisfy ourselves.  Selfishness prevents unity, peace, and the common good, all necessary for a stable and just society.

CCC #1850 says:

Sin is an offense against God: “Against You, You alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight” (Ps. 51:4). Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it.  Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become “like gods,”(Gen. 3:5) knowing and determining good and evil.  Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God” (St. Augustine, The City of God 14:28: PL 41, 436).  In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.

The committed sinner, whether he believes in God or not, denies God what He has the right to have from each of us: our love, devotion, and submission to His will which is only ever ordered to our good.  The great news is that we don’t have to live this way, this miserable stumbling about in darkness bruising and tearing our hearts, bodies and souls. Our first step toward healing is to admit that we aren’t and never will be smart enough to run our lives without His grace and mercy. On our own, we don’t know what is best for us, but He does and He is waiting for us to wise up, listen to Him and act accordingly.

We remind ourselves of these truths every time we recite the Act of Contrition:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

And from Jesus Himself we then hear these words: “Go and sin no more” (Jn. 8:11).

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: sin

Sharing in the Sins of Others: By Defending the Ill Done

December 10, 2012

Expulsion of the Money Changers from the Temple, c. 1675, Luca Giordano (b. 1632, Napoli, d. 1705, Napoli), Oil on canvas, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

This is the ninth and final way we share in the sins of others.  In John 2: 13-22 we have the cleansing of the temple event.  The priests and elders were incensed that Jesus drove out the money changers and animal vendors from the outer court of the Gentiles.  Picture the scene: a crowd of people loudly haggling and shouting, animal noises and smells and poop all over.  Money changers charging vicious fees for exchanging Greek and Roman coins for Jewish coin because that’s all the temple officials would accept.  This racket made prayer in the outer court of the Gentiles an impossibility, but also disturbed worship in the inner courts.

Why did the temple officials allow such disrespect in the house of God?  Probably because they were getting a cut or fee from the commerce.  Even today we can’t set up a business without paying the local government a fee.  But these leaders were angry and defensive about the evil they permitted under the pretext that Jesus had no authority to do what He did. See how they changed the subject? It became no longer that they were permitting disrespect to God in His house, but rather, “Who do you think you are?!” Above all, they didn’t want their power challenged.  Never mind that they had no fear of God and had turned the law into an opportunity to feather their nests.

Defending evil goes on all around us daily.  It most notably appears to be the job description of many of those in the media and writing personal blogs related to the things of this world.  The vast majority of television and radio “journalists” don’t practice true journalism but rather adopt the flawed ideologies of those they promote who, above all, advance the culture of death.  We should rather call these “journalists”, “opinionists.”  We can’t get a straightforward factual report from any of them.

Media personalities, though, aren’t the only ones who defend evil.  Many scientists got on the bandwagon to promote man made global warming to advance a political agenda that will make the poor in the world much poorer.  Never mind that a series of emails surfaced that showed their science was faulty and manufactured, and that they were covering up the fact that there is no proof of their claims.  They are still shamelessly declaring something to be true which is not and defending each other and the bad science.

Then there are those in the medical profession that accept and promote an impossible condition called “brain death” as a reason to harvest organs from a live person .  A person has to be alive to harvest organs like the heart.  If a person’s heart is still beating his brain is still working.  He is alive, but the organ transplant industry defends this practice and presents it as saving the life of another.  They won’t admit that the heart they take is from a still living person because that would mean admitting to murder. To me, there is no difference in the outcome between organ harvesting and vivisection of a human being.  In both cases the person ends up dead from having vital parts removed.

Other ways we can find ourselves defending the sins of others

• Participating or campaigning for abortion “rights”, assisted suicide, euthanasia, legalized prostitution, legalized controlled substances, free distribution of condoms and other birth control, etc.

• Parents arguing with teachers over just disciplining of a child. (My child is perfect syndrome.)

• Ostracizing and ridiculing others who have rightfully challenged abuse of authority in any organization including Catholic parishes that engage in liturgical abuse and disrespectful behavior in front of the tabernacle.

• Taking the side of abusive parents at Little League games or other events.

• Writing papers or theses or letters to the editor that support any kind of moral degradation from drug abuse to sex crimes to just about anything you can imagine against the Ten Commandments.

• Actively supporting and campaigning for any governments or political entities attacking the natural law and natural rights of citizens.

• Commenting positively on blogs that promote immoral activities or ideas that degrade the human person.

• Ridiculing pastors when they present authentic Church teaching that the general public considers politically incorrect, or when they attempt to correct problem behavior in the congregation.

• Defending and making excuses for friends or family members who are engaging in any kind of immoral activity.

If you can think of other examples, please leave them in the comment section.

Probably the temple leaders didn’t think what they were doing was wrong (they had so deadened their consciences through many misdeeds), but when Jesus reacted violently and righteously to the abuses they refused to see the light.  Instead, they turned on Jesus and verbally attacked Him for disturbing the status quo.

Jesus had every right to drive out the money changers and vendors.  We, on the other hand, in zeal to do good but remembering that we too are sinners, must be cautious in handling what may or may not be genuine righteous indignation.  Prudence, yet with willingness to stand up for what is right, must govern our actions.

As Christians we must be careful to associate ourselves only with people whose hearts are directed to what is good, true, and beautiful in the eyes of God.  In our families, we must be vigilant to exercise charity towards others when they fail, but we must not defend evil behavior as good, especially repeated bad behavior.  That would be the height of uncharitableness because somebody’s eternal soul is at stake, including our own.  And that’s the bottom line in all of this, isn’t it?

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: sin

Sharing in the Sins of Others: By Silence

December 4, 2012

Silence in the face of injustice or evil – does it imply consent?  We cannot know the heart of another, that is, his intentions, but we can say this about ourselves: if we are silent because we are afraid of retribution, or if we hide behind the Nazi claim “I was just following orders,” or if we stand in support of evildoers even if we say nothing or do nothing, we are sinning by silence.

The Punishment of Core and the Stoning of Moses and Aaron (detail), Sandro Boticelli, Sistine Chapel

In Numbers 16-17 we learn of the rebellion against Moses and Aaron by Core and his adherents.  Two-hundred-fifty men, community leaders, council members, and men of note followed Core, Dathan, and Abiram in a confrontation with Moses and Aaron over their right to leadership.  Core’s chief claim (an excuse, really) was that everyone in the community was holy and the Lord was with them all.  How dare Moses and Aaron set themselves above the Lord’s congregation?

The followers of the three let their leaders do the talking and stood by while they committed the first act of schism and heresy in a divinely instituted religion.  It was schism to rebel against the lawful authority of Moses and Aaron; and it was heresy to deny that God had given jurisdiction and the priesthood to Moses and Aaron.

In the end, God punished the leaders along with most of their families (except the sons of Core) with a frightful death – being swallowed up by an earthquake. The 250 followers were burned alive by fire from the pillar of cloud.  God showed many things by this, among them that silence doesn’t exonerate a person from serious sin.

Some ways of sinning by silence today

• Doing nothing, not even praying, to stop abortion.

• Following sinful orders from a superior without protest or refusal.

• Remaining silent when knowing somebody in our family, church, school, or workplace is falsely accused.

• Shunning arguments and controversy when speaking the truth would save someone from continuing in sin.

• “It’s not my problem,” the attitude of those who silently watch while another is abused.

We can’t go around minding other people’s business nor does God want that from us.  But He does allow us to recognize sin and at times gives us what we need to take action – authority, know-how, law, etc.  If we don’t make use of the virtue of fortitude in these moments and instead look the other way, we are guilty.  We must also be very careful who we choose to lead us and who we support lest we end up behind leaders whose agendas are sinful and we, by our silence in the face of their perfidy, find ourselves on the wide road to hell.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.)

Tags: Bible, sin