Suffering With Joy

Advancing the Reign of Christ Here and Now

August 20, 2010

For some time now I’ve been moved to start something at this blog, regardless of the subject of the post.  It has to do with Christ the King.

Christ in Glory, 1597-98, oil on canvas, Annibale Carracci (b.1560, Bologna, d. 1609, Roma), Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Few people would deny that the world is against God or that many people who claim to be Christians twist the Word of God to suit their own agenda which often masquerades as “social justice” which always seems to create more injustice, not less. You would have to be a sleeping Rip van Winkle not to see that this is the most godless age ever in the history of the world since God called Abraham – or even maybe before.  Since the beginning of the age of enlightenment man has steadily become more homocentric as opposed to theocentric. The heresy of modernism has, since its spawning in the 19th century, greatly facilitated this trend. Sadly, many in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church have become infected to the point of over-emphasizing the horizontal aspect of worship at the expense of the vertical dimension and social work at the expense of spiritual growth.

Interwoven with the de-emphasis on the first three commandments we can see that doctrinal truth has been sacrificed at the expense of ideology of all kinds. Natural law is violated without regard to the consequences.  “If it feels good, do it!” is a prevailing mantra which originated in the 1960s and has become the rule of life for many today.

Inconvenient truths in many places simply are not taught, such as contraception being a grave offense against God.  Priests have been punished for speaking the truths of the Faith from their pulpits and in their parish bulletins while other priests who speak falsely are rewarded.  I have direct experience with a bishop who opposed the Pope and Catholic tradition on a number of issues and earned a very bad name for myself among his supporters.  It seems the word “obey” applied only to those of us he strove to corrupt and not to himself. But we cannot obey unjust commands from anyone, which is why some Catholic dioceses are shutting down Catholic adoption agencies, for example.  The state demands same-sex couples be allowed to adopt children into a life style opposing the very clear will of God as spoken in sacred scripture, and the Church cannot act opposite to her teachings.

The answer to the corruption of the world

On Facebook and other places you can find groups dedicated to the “Social Reign of Jesus Christ.”  That is an admirable and desired end for the world, but Christ must rule in every heart first. If our Savior does not reign in our hearts, our actions will not be congruent with His words.  It is up to each individual to examine his conscience daily on the subject of whether he is putting God first and not himself.  Only when sufficient numbers of Christians really put Christ first in their hearts, when they ruthlessly root out attachments to their own wills, when they are willing to stand up and live the Two Great Commandments – not just the one, will we have anything approximating the “Social Reign of Jesus Christ.” No doubt, as in the past, we will have many martyrs spilling their blood before this comes to pass, if it ever does in this life.

The difficulty of achieving the preeminence of Christ in this life is no reason for any of us to shirk doing battle with ourselves.  Many useful practices and devotions are available to help us, bringing graces upon our souls that strengthen us in fortitude, for the virtue of fortitude is most necessary to fight the human inclination to want to be liked, to blend in and do what everybody else is doing, and to talk and think like the majority – and the majority is not and has not been for Christ in centuries.

We are the servants of the Lord.  The servant is not above his Master (Matt. 10: 24).  Standing up for Christ is an invitation to get publicly clobbered by the many who want to enforce their self-originated version of truth.  But we need not fear the majority because Jesus tells us in Matthew 10: 26-31:

Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

And in Matthew 10: 32-33 we hear the glorious promise to those of us who stand strong against the world:

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

In the times of Ruth and Boaz, the people had a custom of greeting one another with the phrase, Dominus vobiscum (tecum), meaning “The Lord be with you.”  The response was, “The Lord bless you.”  Today at Mass we hear “The Lord be with you” many times, and we respond, “And with your spirit.”  I do not intend to go into the theology of this today, but simply wish to use this as an illustration of one practice people used in Old Testament times to keep the Lord in mind, a practice that is enshrined within our sacred liturgy today.

In religious communities in the 1960s and before, the common greeting when meeting someone in the halls or entering a room was the phrase, “Praised be Jesus Christ.”  The answer was, “Now and forever.”  I don’t know if this practice is still observed, but I am convinced that if Christians greeted each other this way every time we meet, it would be a big help towards the world being brought back into a right relationship with God.

To do my part in witnessing to the supremacy of Christ the King and to building the virtue of fortitude in my soul, I am going to try to remember to end each blog post with this phrase regardless of the subject.  I trust that this practice will keep my posts on track with pure intentions and charity, and that it will always be a reminder to me to suffer with joy.  I will explain the “Amen” addition in another post.  Will anyone stand with me?  I invite you all.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ.

R. Now and forever.  Amen.

Tags: Catholic Church, pro-life, virtue

Sabbath Moments

May 6, 2010

Every Saturday Colleen at Thoughts on Grace hosts the Sabbath Moments feature where fellow bloggers get together to share the moments of the week when we have “rested in the Lord.” Please visit Colleen and join us.

I’ve been contemplating what the effect of joining memes like “Sabbath Moments” has on my spiritual life.  What comes to mind is the image of the early Christians being dragged off to the lions in the Roman Coliseum, encouraging each other all the way.  The coliseum of this world is full of roaring lions designed to distract us from our one job – to stay on the narrow road through the narrow gate to Paradise. Fellow bloggers who share so openly their spiritual insights are really inspiring to me. Nobody is out there working big miracles.  We are all simple souls using simple means who just keep urging each other along to stay focused on the prize. To me, this, and they are priceless.

Nobility of Spirit

My Sabbath Moment for this week is the time I spent today thinking about St. Michael the Archangel. Today is the feast of his apparition on Mount Gargano in Italy. St. Michael was created in the second lowest choir of all the angels – the Archangels.  His place or status in the heavenly realm didn’t make any difference to him when it came to standing up to Lucifer, who was of a much higher choir. His nobility of spirit shone.

In human terms, I think of St. Michael as the best street fighter in the biggest revolution in creation. True, he was the five-star general of God’s army, but the battle took place in the “streets” of heaven.  That he could get angels from every level to join him in humility and love of God to take on the most brilliant angel created is a testament to his nobility of spirit.

From the time of our birth we are engaged in one long street fight against Satan and all his deceits. We need the help of St. Michael always at our side along with our Guardian Angels to inspire us to take up our arms, rise when wounded, and persevere through the din, heat, and smoke created by the enemy. We need to share in St. Michael’s nobility of spirit to be successful.  Fortunately, by the grace of God nobility of spirit is accessible to everyone no matter what our station in life is.  St. Michael, whose name means “Who is like unto God” shows us the meaning of this nobility.  It is humility, dignity, truthfulness, justice and charity, fulfilling the purpose for which we were created – to glorify God now and for all eternity. Thank You, God for St. Michael and thank You for this Sabbath Moment.

Tags: virtue

Sabbath Moments

May 1, 2010

Sabbath moments are the moments we rest in God, when we take time to just Be with God rather than Do. Sabbath moments are those times when we live in the moment and find the holy in the ordinary.  Visit Colleen at Thoughts on Grace to read about the Sabbath moments others have had this week.

Keeping Life in Perspective

Throughout Paschaltide a Chapter reading at Lauds in the Divine Office causes me to stop and think about our destination in the next world.  It is St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, 3:1-2:

If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Mind the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.

Nearly every morning this week after I finished praying my Rosary, I contemplated his words for awhile as the fresh breezes of late April blew through my window and the birds twittered happily about their morning business.  To me, St. Paul is urging us to keep our minds on heavenly things and not get caught up in earthly concerns as an end in themselves. His words encourage us to “do all things in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4: 13).  If we follow them we practice the virtue of detachment, we keep our lives simple, and we go about our daily duties without being obsessed with power, approbation, wealth and possessions.

Christ in Glory, 1597-98, oil on canvas, Annibale Carracci (b.1560, Bologna, d. 1609, Roma), Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

St. Paul is saying to keep everything in perspective as if we were somehow seeing through God’s eyes.  He is not telling us to neglect our daily duties nor turn aside from the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  We are in this world because God created us and we work out our salvation through this world, but always as St. Paul urges, with the Grand Prize (Acts 17: 11) of heaven in mind.  Moreover, his words say that God is always in charge and imply the necessity to do our best while trusting Him in everything.  For myself, I’ll know that I have perfect trust in God when I quit worrying about “the things that are on earth.”

Tags: trust in God, virtue

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

February 6, 2010

Welcome to Sunday Snippets where Catholic bloggers can read each other’s favorite posts for the week.  All are welcome.  If you’re not a blogger but you want to see what others have to say, click on the Sunday Snippets and go visit RAnn, our great hostess, where you’ll find a bit about the partying in New Orleans this weekend and see links to other Catholic blogs.

This week I opened a custom Amazon store where you’ll find my hand-picked recommendations on books, CDs and DVDs about Our Lady, the saints, and the Catholic faith.  If you shop online, please visit my store.  You can not only buy my recommendations, but you can search for anything you need from Amazon.  Shopping from here helps me keep this site going.  You can find the store tab at the top of the page or click on the custom shop on the sidebar.

If you love art or photography, you like my post on beauty which has a link to an absolutely fantastic Japanese photographer.  I’ve been relaxing by looking at his work.  Yes, I am a Japanophile.  Can’t help it.  A Korean lady told me this week that I have an Asian mind.  Don’t know about that but I appreciated the compliment.

If you want to see some great photos of hoar frost, I posted the work hubby and I did when God blessed us with a stunning display this week.

Forgiveness is a tough virtue to acquire and St. Jane of Valois was an expert.  If you’re a Catholic trivia nut, there’s some about St. Jane and the Angelus here.

Do you like Carthusians or want to see a great spiritual website? I found one thanks to an FSSP priest.  Secret Harbor is really beautiful and I put links to some fantastic frescos of Carthusian founder Saint Bruno that I discovered when I was looking for a picture of him.  It was a great trip to Italy thanks to the web.

Lastly, I posted a couple of articles at Helium.

1.  Reflections: seeing God with a pure heart

2.  Is there really such a thing as purgatory?

It’s been a busy week.  Please keep me in your prayers as I move towards some personal goals. And for Super Bowl fans, have a good time.

Tags: virtue

Finding Purpose Beyond Our Pain by Paul Meier, M.D. and David L. Henderson, M.D.

This book helps people understand and act on the potential for growth through seven common sources of pain in life.  Biblically based but with practical approaches to dealing with injustice, rejection, loneliness, loss, discipline, failure, and death, the authors challenge us to discover the lessons a loving God is teaching. 

Readers can grow in appreciation of how God works in their lives, drawing closer to Him through the unpleasant and sometimes devastating circumstances we all suffer because of our fallen nature.  Think: building virtue, avoiding despair.

Smoothly written and logically composed, it offers the flexibility of going directly to sections of interest, losing nothing when bypassing previous sections.  Moreover, the “Finding Purpose Beyond…” suggestions and challenges at the end of each section help to focus on moving toward real happiness through the suffering we cannot escape. I found the content of this feature very thought-provoking and helpful.

Engaging stories of individuals the authors have treated in their practices illustrate their points and enliven the subject along with appropriate Biblical quotes.  I highly recommend this book to people looking for answers to circumstances troubling them, wondering where God is in all of it, and how life can be better. 

I am a member of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger program: http://brb.thomasnelson.com/.  In exchange for posting reviews I received this book free.

Tags: joy, pain, suffering, virtue, wellness

St. Peter of Alcantara

When my siblings and I were attending Catholic schools as youngsters, we were told to avoid “bad company”.  That is, people who were likely to lead us astray.  In connection with that we were also told to avoid the “near occasions of sin.” That is, persons, places, objects, or behaviors we can easily encounter and which are likely to cause us to break one of the Ten Commandments.

Logic says that if we avoid bad company, we ought to seek out good company.  If we avoid the near occasions of sin, we ought to seek out occasions to practice virtue and live up to the two Great Commandments.

When we are ill, in mourning, or otherwise suffering great trials, we may not feel like having company at all.  But these are just the ideal times when we can invite into our hearts the members of the Church Triumphant who now see the face of God, to consider and imitate their virtues in the privacy of our souls so that we may join them one day in heaven.

Spain produced many great saints in the 1500s and St. Peter of Alcantara was one.  As a youth he entered a convent of Discalced (barefoot) Franciscans to do penance and suffer for the sins of the world.  At the age of forty, he founded the first convent of the “Strict Observance”, living an even more severe lifestyle and inspiring many to follow him.  St. Peter was known to be a great preacher and a learned man, bringing many young people to vocations in religious life and the priesthood.  He was spiritual director to St. Teresa of Avila, now a Doctor of the Church, encouraging her in the reformation of the Carmelites. She likewise encouraged him.

The mutual encouragement St. Teresa and St. Peter gave one another is a good example of keeping good company.  The time spent in pursuing holy discourse was an occasion to practice virtue. 

We do not have to leave behind us great accomplishments as these saints did in order to get to heaven.  We only need to imitate their commitment to fulfilling the will of God for us.  He always gave them the grace to do what He asked no matter how difficult the circumstances – and these two endured prodigious difficulties.  He will do the same for us.  All we have to do is say is “Yes” to Him and with His grace, we can endure anything.  Suffering becomes the occasion to practice virtue and be blessed by God. 

St. Peter of Alcantara died at age sixty-three in 1562.  October 19th is his feast in the 1962 liturgical calendar.

Tags: near occasions of sin, virtue