God Didn't Have to Make it Beautiful

Posted by Erika Glover on 5/17/18 7:00 AM

Have you ever felt that overwhelming feeling of peace and awe and God-fearing silence when looking at the sunset engulf the horizon, or waves lap at the shore, or the mountains pierce heaven? 

It’s beautiful isn’t it? Yet, it didn’t have to be. Color didn’t have to be so bright and white didn’t have to be so pure, but yet, it is. Have you ever thought about that? Why is there beauty? What is the purpose of this wonderful gift, and why does it make us feel so good?

What Defines Beauty?

When our eyes set upon something that is beautiful, there is usually something that is uniquely good about it. Something that serves no practical or just function other than just to be wonderful. Now this doesn’t have to be extravagant material things, I’m talking about the small blessings that God gives us, without us noticing. Food, for example, doesn’t have to taste good for it to nourish our bodies, but God created sweets and salty and sours anyways. 

The beautiful thing about the way that God loves us is the same love that parents give their babies zerberts when they are young. Never mind that there is no practical reason to tickle their babies, the joy on their face after is the pure bliss that is the true reason. Our Heavenly Father loves to do the same. He delights in gifting us with small moments of joy— a sweet orange, a vibrant sunset, or a soft rain storm— and seeing our faces light up with bliss. Each of these gifts are simply oozing with his mercy and grace and generosity.

How Are We Beautiful?

Humans have a special relationship to beauty that no other creature has. We’re the only creatures that can fully appreciate beauty and find in it a source of prayer, because beautiful things raise our hearts and minds to heaven. They call us to contemplate the source of the all beauty. Maybe it is that we love beautiful things—nature, music, films, books, artwork—because they tell us something about ourselves. We see in the beauty around us the handiwork of the same Divine Artist who created us.

There is beauty in creation—in its glory and extravagance. And with a level of humility, there is nothing extravagant about me. None of this had to exist. But our loving God freely chose to create it all. And because of that, it is with a full heart that I believe he freely chose to love me into existence. 

Just like a sunset or laughter, a painting, or a fresh snowfall, I am the artwork of God—and so are you. This beauty teaches me to be who I am because my value is not measured by how useful I am or what others think of me. My true inherent beauty is there, whether I notice it or not. It comes from the passionate artist who created me, who delights in all of God's creation.

How can Beauty Help Us to Pray?

I love to paint. Lots and lots of sunsets and clouds. I’m a fan of painting water and mountains and reflections. I began to realize how much of a meditation this was when I was filling a blank space with color and blending mediums on a surface until I have just what I see in my head. In these times, I am able to recognize beauty. I am able to feel the source of creativity and beauty and feel what God must of felt as he crafted the oceans. 

When we find beauty near us, it is natural to be grateful for it and to wonder about the one who created it. As Catholics, we have the privilege of knowing intimately the one who created all these things. God is no stranger to us; he is our Father, our Savior, and Lover. And he has left love notes to us, if only we pay attention to them.

What if We Cannot Find Beauty?

My advice is this, because I struggle too. Sometimes beauty seems hard to find, especially when the cross is hard to bear, when it is splintery and heavy. It seems that it is in these times we must remember what He has given us. 

Of all the beauty on earth, there is none that compares to the Eucharist. Of all the gifts God has given us, there is nothing so extravagant as the Eucharist because he has given us his entire self. This is the beauty we receive in the Eucharist, and in times of doubt or desolation, God invites us to return a little piece of that love. He invites us to find beauty in the most unlikely of places—in the cross. 

Take some quiet time. This can be when you first get up in the morning, during your prayer time, or before you go to bed. Sometimes our lives are so filled with noise that we can’t quiet our hearts, but sometimes a little bit of silence is all we need to become more aware of God’s presence and the beauty that he has surrounded us with. 

Make a gratitude list. Beautiful things are things to be thankful for! Take stock of all the little moments of beauty that you might have missed before.

Journal. Find a Bible verse or song lyric that especially speaks to you and write it out by hand. Don’t rush it: take your time. Journal about why it’s meaningful to you. Write about a moment that you saw God, no matter what the size. 

When our hearts are expectant, they receive beauty more easily. And why shouldn’t they be expectant? The God we worship is all truth, beauty, and goodness, and he has created us to share in it. Let’s not hesitate to start now. Because finding beauty in our everyday lives isn’t difficult if we keep our hearts ready. 

Remember that God didn’t have to make the world beautiful. He created the world with awe-striking views, never-ending fields, mesmerizing sunsets, blooming flowers, joyful laughter, contagious smiles, soothing comfort, and intense warmth all because he loves us. He delights in our joy.

Parishes grow only when people are welcomed, heard, Pope Francis says

Pope Francis attends a meeting with leaders from the Diocese of Rome at St. John Lateran Basilica May 14. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)

ROME (CNS) -- After months of study and discussion, the parishes of the Diocese of Rome have recognized "a general and healthy exhaustion" with doing the same things over and over, touching the lives of fewer and fewer people as time goes on, Pope Francis said.

Changing the way parishes -- and their priests and involved laity -- operate will not be easy, the pope said, but members of the diocese must set out to follow the Lord more closely, deal with the reality in their neighborhoods and learn how to show everyone living within the parish boundaries that they are recognized and loved.

Pope Francis addressed some 1,700 diocesan leaders, both clergy and laity, May 14 at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the diocese of Rome. 

In the process of identifying the "spiritual illnesses" of the diocese, the pope said, the priests and parish leaders made it clear that they are tired of being content with what they have been doing for years.

A renewed outreach, the pope said, must begin by "learning to discern where God already is present in very ordinary forms of holiness and communion with him."

There are people in the parishes, he said, who might not know their catechism, but they see the basic interactions in their lives through a lens of faith and hope.

Calling for a "revolution of tenderness" in parishes and the diocese, Pope Francis said that while "guiding a Christian community is the specific task of the ordained minister -- the pastor -- pastoral care is based in baptism and blossoms from brotherhood and is not the task only of the pastor and priests, but of all the baptized."

The pope's speech marked his formal reception of a diocesan report on "spiritual illnesses" afflicting the city. Through a process that began in Lent, parishes identified the main challenges as "the economy of exclusion, selfish laziness, comfortable individualism, wars among us, sterile pessimism and spiritual worldliness," according to a statement from the diocese.

The priest who summarized the findings at the evening meeting told the pope that a lack of education in the faith was identified by many of the groups; that lack was seen regarding basic church teachings but also regarding how the Gospel and its values could be brought to bear on modern problems.

Pope Francis told them the process of identifying the problems had two benefits: a recognition of "the truth about our condition as being in need, sick," but, at the same time, a recognition that even if people have failed, God is still present and is calling his people to come together and to move forward.

"Our parishes," he said, "must be capable of generating a people, that is, of offering and creating relationships where people feel that they are known, recognized, welcomed, listened to, loved -- in other words, not anonymous parts of a whole."

To move forward, he said, Catholic communities must look at "the slaveries -- the illnesses -- that have ended up making us sterile."

Often, he said, parishes are slaves to doing things the ways they always have been done and to investing time and energy in projects and programs that no longer meet the needs of the people.

"We must listen without fear to the thirst for God and to the cry that rises from the people of Rome, asking ourselves how that cry expresses the need for salvation, for God," he said. "How many of the things that emerged from your studies express that cry, the invocation that God show himself and help us escape the impression that our life is useless and almost robbed by the frenzy of things that must be done and by time that keeps slipping through out hands?"

Too often, he said, evangelization also is stifled by "faith understood only as things to do and not as a liberation that renews us at every step."

Pope Francis asked the diocesan leaders to dedicate the next year to "a sort of preparation of your backpacks" for setting off on a multiyear process that would lead to a "new land," a place marked by new pastoral action that is "more responsive to the mission and needs of Romans (parishioners worldwide) today, but also more creative and liberating for priests and those who directly collaborate in their mission and in the building up of the Christian community."

People will remember how you made them feel

MAY 16, 2018 BY TOM RAPSAS

At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou

I start most mornings with some spirituality-based reading and over the past several years this has included the works of the late-John Templeton. Better known for the investment fund that bears his name, after his retirement Templeton wrote several philosophy and religion books overflowing with spiritual wisdom.

What’s compelling about Templeton’s work is that his spiritual teachings can often be immediately incorporated into your daily life. I recently ran across such a teaching, one I found so essential to living a more compassionate, connected life, and so easy-to-do, I thought I would share it with you. His idea starts with a simple premise:

Each of us walks through life engaged in our own personal ministry.

While the term “ministry” is often used regarding religion, for Templeton it takes on a broader meaning. Our ministry encompasses “the way we live our lives—how we handle situations, our values and ideals, our goals and the way we strive to attain them.” But most importantly, our ministry revolves around “how we treat others.”

Templeton believes that the key to the success of your own personal ministry, and the success of your life on this earth, relates to how you interact with the people around you. How do you connect with those you encounter each day? What type of messages or signals do you give them? Do make them feel special or a little better about themselves? To that end, he advises us to:

“…reach the hearts of others and give them something of vital value, something that will broaden and enrich their lives. Desire that every person be open and alive to higher inspirations and filled with a beauty and truth so splendid that it elevates his or her soul.”

Well, that sounds well and good, you might say. I do want others to feel good. But how do I go about elevating the people I come across in my everyday life?

Fortunately, Templeton gives us a very simple guide to follow. It consists of three key action words we can act upon each day, with each person we encounter: 

·                     Recognize

·                     Encourage

·                     Praise

I personally began using the acronym REP to remember the first three letters of the words Recognition, Encouragement, Praise. And for me, the meaning and intent behind these words can be simply explained. It starts by walking through life alert and aware, then taking three actions:

Recognize those you know, and even those you don’t, with eye contact, a warm smile and when appropriate, a “hello” or friendly greeting. Take the time to stop for a chat and most importantly, to listen.

From that point, you can take the next step and add encouragement or praise to the mix:

Encourage those who need a kind word, who appear to be having a rough day, who need to be uplifted. This can be as simple as a “keep up the good work” for the garbageman or silently wishing all you encounter happiness.

Praise those who are doing something/anything of value, even if it’s complimenting the barista at the coffee shop or commenting on the smart fashion choice a coworker made that day.

Think you can’t do it? Templeton tells the story (also found in the book Spiritual Literacy by Frederick and Mary Ann Brussat) of a woman named Maxine F. Davis, who has a job that is both hectic and stressful—she’s a cashier. Yet her personal ministry involves helping others feel good daily. According to Maxine:

It’s the way I present myself to others that will determine whether my customers will leave the store feeling better or worse because of their brief encounter with me. By doing my job well, I know I have a chance to do God’s work too. Because of this, I try to make each of my customers feel special. While I’m serving them, they become the most important people in my life.

As Templeton points out when you discover and develop the abilities of others, you’re not only helping others. At the same time, you’re helping yourself. And the fact is, it feels good to help others feel good.

R.E.P. Recognize. Encourage. Praise. Three simple words that when put into use each day, with each encounter, can help you become a better you—and help the world become a better place, too.

Deacon Tom's Homily for May 17th

Did you know that Jesus prayed for us while he walked this earth? It’s in today’s Gospel reading, in the High Priestly Prayer. He is praying not only for his apostles, but also for those who will believe in him through their word. That is extraordinary language. But this is Jesus. Jesus is praying for every believer that ever was and ever will be. And because his love for us is infinite, I believe he was thinking of each one of us when he prayed those words.

Every day, Jesus is praying to the Father for you and me. He desires for us to learn how to listen better, to put aside the desire to be right or comfortable, and love sacrificially, even to the point of laying down our lives. This love is what pleases him so much, and what he wants the world to see in us.

Jesus goes on in today's passage to refer to his disciples as God’s gift to him. Try to imagine Christmas’ past. It’s Christmas Eve and you’re struggling to assemble a bicycle or toy. It takes time to fit the pieces together. But we spend the effort because we know it will be worth it when we see the look of delight on our child’s face on Christmas morning. So, our gospel today tells us we are gifts from the Father to Jesus. This means we are precious and valuable to him.

It also means that just as you are a gift to Jesus, so is every other person. We are all gifts individually and we are gifts as a group. It’s not a perfect analogy, but the body of Christ is like the bicycle the father is putting together. There are many parts but all one body[1], together forming a precious gift that God delights in giving to his Son.

Sometimes when we look at our parish, all we can see are unrelated parts spread out. How can we become united to form one people singing to the glory of God? It may seem impossible to us, but not to God. Jesus says today: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one”. That means the union of the Church is of the same nature as that between the Father and the Son, and the union of the Church results from the union of individual members with the Father through the Son.

Like that Father on Christmas Eve, he won’t stop working until all the pieces fit together. God wants to bring Jesus joy by giving each of us as a gift of priceless value. But he also wants to bring Jesus joy by giving him the entire Church and all of humanity, united-as-one, united-in-love.

We don’t always have to agree with one another. But we must love one another. For the Mystical Body to live out its mission in the world, we must all come to embrace God’s plan for our individual lives so that we can be brought into unity by the fire of the Holy Spirit to serve with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I read a recent projection by the United States Census Bureau that says that by the year 2030, the number of elderly will eclipse the number of children — for the first time in our nation’s history. There’s more to this looming scenario than the data indicate, however. There are the serious emotional aspects of aging that people in their so-called “golden years” will face — and it is far from glorious.

Think of the people today who are elderly, disabled, lonely and lost, starving for love and attention. They have no one to tell them that God loves them. Sue and Judy and others with Meals on Wheels will tell you that the people they deliver meals to need to hear the good news of God’s love. All peoples need to hear that Christ is present here and now for us in the unity we are called to live, in the Church. So today and every day, let’s show the love of God to others. This is our mission.

[1] 1 Corinthians 12:12

What Makes A Person Catholic?

Recently someone asked me what makes a person a Catholic. I don’t know if I have ever been asked that question before in my 56 years as a priest. I had to think. Certainly being baptized in a Catholic church is part of the answer. But there are many who are baptized in a Catholic church as a child but are not brought up Catholic by their parents and do not identify themselves as Catholic in their adult life. So there is more to the answer than being baptized in the Catholic Church.

As I gave more thought to the question I began to think of the many things that make a person a Catholic. There are our Catholic beliefs, doctrines, and moral teachings. The Eucharist is at the very center of Catholic worship. We Catholics accept seven sacraments as given to us by Jesus. We have created over the centuries many sacramentals like the rosary, novenas, statues, vigil candles, crucifixes and crosses we wear around our necks, and countless others. In addition to Sacred Scripture, we Catholic accept Tradition as part of God’s revealed word. Our Catholic worship is ritualized when compared to most other Christian denominations which use little ritual. We accept a hierarchy in our Catholic faith: the Pope, bishops, priests, deacons, and laity. We accept that the Pope and bishops have teaching authority. Devotion to Mary and the saints (St. Anthony, of course) is natural for us. Many Catholic devotions and customs are unique to us, for example, Benediction, the Way of the Cross, the Rosary, and abstaining from meat on the Fridays of Lent. Some gestures such as the Sign of the Cross and genuflecting when we enter and leave church are very Catholic.

I think I have listed most of the things that identify a person as a Catholic. I suspect there are others I have failed to list. When all is said and done, there are many things that make a person a Catholic. Very importantly, let us hope that people identify us as being a Catholic because of the good witness we give in the way we lead our lives. St. Anthony help me to be the kind of Catholic you were, always faithful to living the Gospel life of Jesus.

Fr. John St. Anthony Shrine 

The Incredible Descent of the Heavenly Temple

Pentecost, which we celebrate next Sunday, draws obvious comparisons to Babel.

In the first event, mankind lost his unity when his common language was broken up into many tongues as punishment. In the second, mankind rediscovered his unity despite linguistic difference through the ‘tongues’ of the Holy Spirit.

But Pentecost reversed Babel in another way. In order to see this, we first need to identify what Babel was about. It wasn’t just an attempt to unify humanity — it was an effort to reach heaven. “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth’” (Genesis 11:4).

When the people were trying to do was attain heaven by themselves, without the aid or even consent of God. It might not be obvious from the translation, but what they were building was a temple. Many of the ancient temples in the ancient Near East were quite tall. These temples, known as ziggurats, were designed to be the true skyscrapers of their time. One in Babylon is reputed to have been 300 feet high, which would have dwarfed the Statue of Liberty, according to one site.

The thinking at work in these ancient construction projects is clear: the heavens are the home of the gods. In order to be closer to them temples, whose purpose is to manifest the presence of the divine, must be tall (as the above site explains). One of the defining features of these ziggurats was the extensive stairways, which led all the way to the top of the structure. One writer fittingly calls them ‘stairways to heaven.’

The spirit of Babel was at odds with the message of the early books of the Old Testament, which was that the man could never return to God on his own. The initiative rested with God. It was God who would bring heaven to man—not the other way around.

One story that shows this clearly is Jacob’s dream:

Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it (Genesis 28:12).

The dream centers around the staircase, which like those of the ancient temples, reached to the top of the heavens. This might not seem like enough to make it a temple, except that when Joseph wakes up that is exactly how he describes the place of his dream:

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the LORD is in this place and I did not know it!” He was afraid and said: “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” (verses 16-17).

The Hebrew word translated as house here is bayith (pronounced: bah’·yith). It is a common way of talking about the temple of God, especially in the Psalms. (See for example Psalm 66:13, 69:9, 84:4, and 91:13, among others.) Moreover, at the end of the chapter, Jacob sets up a ‘sacred pillar’ to be ‘the house of God.’ So in a sense, he constructs an informal temple. But this comes after the vision of the ladder not before it: God’s initiative calls upon us to respond, not the other way around. (A source that helped me to recognize this is as specifically a temple is my father G.K. Beale’s scholarship on the temple. See God Dwells Among Us, 44).

In a way, the ancient temples were meant to be sort of artificial mountains, for the latter also achieved the effect of bringing one closer to heaven. Hence, mountains themselves also became sacred places in the ancient world. This is also reflected in the early books of the Pentateuch, particularly in the stories of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and the Israelites at Sinai.

In a sense, what happened at Sinai was Moses’ entrance into the heavenly temple. As strange as that might sound, key details of what happened on Sinai are reflected in later accounts of the temple of Solomon.

Key details of the temple’s dedication in 1 Kings 8 connect it with Sinai:

• The tablets: The holy of holies contained the ark of the covenant with the copy of the Ten Commandments, which had been delivered to Moses at Sinai.
• The dark cloud: When the priests left the temple, a ‘cloud’ filled it (1 Kings 8:10). Solomon later describes it as a ‘dark cloud’ (verse 12). Likewise, the cloud that settled at Sinai was ‘dense’ or ‘dark,’ depending on the translation (Exodus 19:9). Since the exodus account recounts lightning and thunder atop Sinai it’s likely this was a storm cloud, so the image of darkness fits.
• The consuming fire: In fact, in the version of this story that is found in 2 Chronicles 7, at the end of Solomon’s prayer, a fire comes down from heaven to consume the sacrifices he offered (I’m indebted to The Temple and the Church’s Mission, also by G.K. Beale, for helping me to make this connection and also confirming the parallel).
• Mediation: Finally, the dedication concludes with a long intercessory prayer from Solomon, recalling how Moses acted as mediator for his people while on Sinai.

Understanding Sinai as a temple event now enables us to better appreciate significance of the parallels between the exodus account and Pentecost:

• The fire: In both instances, fire represents the divine reality. Moreover, the ‘tongues of fire’ indirectly connotes the lightning that flickered at Sinai. In fact, the Hebrew word for lightning here could be translated as torches, further reinforcing the connection.
• A loud sound: At Sinai there was thunder and ‘a very loud blast of the shofar’ (Exodus 19:16). Compare the beginning of Pentecost: ‘And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind’ (Acts 2:2).
• The voice: One way of translating the Hebrew word for the ‘noise’ of the shofar, or trumpet, is voice. This also ties in with the Pentecost account, which places much emphasis of the voice, or ‘tongue,’ of the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostles.
• The strong driving wind: It is hardly reading too much into this phrase to recognize a wind storm, which recalls the storm cloud at Sinai.
• Heavenly source: One of the most important details is so obvious it’s easy to miss. But notice that the source of the wind at Pentecost is the sky. In fact, in the Greek the word is ouranus, which could also be translated heaven.
• The giving of the law: In light of all that has been said above, it can be no coincidence that one of the purposes of the Jewish feast of Pentecost was the celebration of the ‘giving of the law’ to Moses. In fact, Exodos 19-20, which has been cited repeatedly above, was one of the texts for the synagogue liturgy of Pentecost.

(A note on sources: Again, The Temple and the Church’s Mission, 204-205, assisted me greatly in identifying these parallels, in particular the lightning as torches, the loud noise, and the giving of the law. The below conclusion about this being a temple event is also owed to this source.)

The bare facts of Pentecost are incredible — the wind-driven, heaven-sent tongues of fire that come to rest above the heads of all the apostles. But it turns out that what happens at Pentecost is even more amazing than most of us realized: what occurs is nothing less than the descent of the heavenly temple. Finally, the error of Babel is rectified in the most fitting way possible: rather than a man-made temple reaching into heaven the God-made temple reaches from heaven down to the earth.

This is how miracles are approved by the Church

The Church is careful to declare only certain events as miraculous.

Humans have always been fascinated with miracles. In every age there have occurred events that can not be explained through natural reasoning and which are seen as divine in origin.

Being a Christian entails a belief in the miraculous. Jesus’ entire life was full of miracles, from his virginal conception to his resurrection and ascension.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the importance of miracles for the Christian believer: “the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church’s growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability ‘are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all’; they are ‘motives of credibility’ (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is ‘by no means a blind impulse of the mind.'” (CCC 156)

In other words, miracles are real and they confirm for us the reality of the supernatural and reassure us of the existence of God.

However, the Church doesn’t believe everything that is difficult to explain by science is a miracle. She has a strict procedure that examines each event and determines if it indeed was of “supernatural origin.”

Miracles are described by St. Thomas Aquinas as “those things … which are done by divine power apart from the order generally followed in things.” This means that a miracle must have hard evidence that it did not follow the rules of nature.

One of the most common type of miracles is the sudden healing of someone. According to Michael O’Neill, “For the cure to be considered miraculous, the disease must be serious and impossible (or at least very difficult) to cure by human means and not be in a stage at which it is liable to disappear shortly by itself. No medical treatment must have been given, or it must be certain that the treatment given has no reference to the cure. The healing must be spontaneous, complete and permanent.”

In all cases the local bishop is the first authority to investigate a miracle. He creates a board of medical professionals to evaluate the event and then they report to him their results.

In most cases the event is not verified as a miracle. For example, “the Lourdes Medical Commission, while documenting over 8,000 extraordinary cures, has only validated [70] of them.”

This type of skepticism is employed in every type of miracle examined by the Church. Whether it be an apparition of the Blessed Mother or a Eucharistic miracle, a team of scientists investigate the event to determine if it follows the rules of nature, or if it is impossible to explain outside of a supernatural cause.

Yet, despite this strict procedure, miracles are proclaimed on a regular basis. For almost each beatification and canonization the existence of miracles are a primary requirement, clearly showing the power of God through the intercession of an individual.

This confirms the interest God has in our affairs and his willingness to help us in our time of need. He is not a distant “god of the clouds,” but a loving God who is present among us and keeps us and all creation in existence.

In a certain sense, every day is a miracle and all of creation proclaims the power and glory of God.

Pope Francis explains the Hail Mary phrase by phrase.

And he remembers a mother who had an amazing gift of counsel. Here's the advice she gave her son:

We all recite the Hail Mary, but how many of us know its true meaning? What is the prayer really saying?

In the book, "Mary, Mother of All" ("María, Mamma di tutti"), Pope Francis himself teaches us the meaning of the words of this essential prayer.

Full of Grace

The Angel Gabriel calls Mary "full of grace" (Lk 1:28); in her, the pope explains, "there is no room for sin, because God has chosen her from all eternity to be the mother of Jesus, and has preserved her from original sin."
"The Word became flesh in her womb. We, too, are asked to listen to God, who speaks to us, and to accept His will. The Lord always speaks to us."

The Lord is with you

What happened in a unique way in the Virgin Mary, Francis says, "happens on a spiritual level in us as well when we welcome the Word of God with a good and sincere heart, and put it into practice. It happens as if God were to become flesh in us; He comes to live in us, because He makes His home in those who love Him and obey His Word. It's not easy to understand this, but, yes, it's easy to feel it in your heart."
"Do we think that the incarnation of Jesus is only a past event, that it doesn't affect us personally? Believing in Jesus means offering Him our body, with the same humility and courage as Mary."

Blessed are you among women

How did Mary live her faith? "She lived it," the pope answers, "in the simplicity of the many daily occupations and worries of every mom, such as providing food and clothing, and taking care of the house... Precisely this normal existence of the Virgin was the ground on which a singular rapport and profound dialogue between her and God, between her and her Son, developed."

Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Mary is receptive, but not passive, Francis explains.
"Just as she receives the power of the Holy Spirit at a physical level, but then gives flesh and blood to the Son of God who takes form in Her, so also on a spiritual level, she receives grace and responds to it with faith. For this reason, Saint Augustine says that the Virgin 'conceived in her heart before in her womb.' She conceived faith first, and then the Lord."

Holy Mary, Mother of God

The Mother of the Redeemer, the pope continues, "precedes us and constantly confirms us in the faith, in our vocation, and in our mission. With her example of humility and readiness to obey God's will, she helps us to translate our faith into a joyful proclamation of the Gospel, without borders.”

Pray for us sinners

In order to explain the meaning of this passage of the prayer, Francis relates an anecdote:
"I remember how once, at the Shrine of Luján, I was in the confessional, in front of which there was a long line. There was also a young man who was very modern, with earrings, tattoos, all those things... And he had come to tell me what was going on with him. It was a big problem, very difficult. And he said to me, 'I told my mom all of this, and my mom said: Go to the Blessed Virgin and she will tell you what to do.' Now, that's a woman who had the gift of counsel. She didn't know how to solve her son's problem, but she pointed out the right path: go to the Blessed Virgin, and she will tell you. This is the gift of counsel. That humble, simple woman gave her son the best advice. In fact, the young man said to me, 'I looked at the Blessed Virgin and I felt that I should do this, this, and this...' I didn't need to talk; his mom and the young man himself had already said everything. This is the gift of counsel. You moms, who have this gift: ask that it be given to your children. The gift of counseling your children is a gift of God."

Now, and at the hour of our death

Let us entrust ourselves to Mary, Pope Francis says, "so that she, as the Mother of our first-born brother, Jesus, can teach us to have the same maternal spirit towards our brothers, with a sincere ability to accept, to forgive, to strengthen, and to infuse confidence and hope. And this is what a mom does."
Mary's path towards Heaven began "with that 'yes' she spoke in Nazareth, in reply to the heavenly Messenger who announced to her God's will for her. In reality, that's exactly how it is: every 'yes' to God is a step toward Heaven, toward eternal life."

6 Traditions Handed Down to Us That Need to Be Changed

Josh Daffern May 10, 2018

In Acts 6, Stephen (the first martyr) was on trial for challenging the religious traditions and customs of the day:

They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” Acts 6:12-14

History has a funny way of repeating itself as the church today still struggles with traditions and customs that drag us away from our mission of making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). So, in honor of Stephen, here are six traditions handed down to us that need to be changed:

1. Agreeing with the Word of God rather than obeying it. Somewhere along the way we began to assume that mental assent was enough. We’re great about agreeing with the Word of God. Americans believe in the Bible! Obedience, however, is a different matter. What’s the problem? Jesus said that it’s the application, not the intention, that matters (Matthew 7:24-27). Even demons believe in God (James 2:19). Agreeing with the Word of God is not enough; we need to start obeying it.

2. Getting discipled rather than making disciples. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), Jesus is explicit in his instructions to his followers: make disciples of all nations. And for centuries that’s exactly what they’ve done. But today American Christians seem like they’d rather get discipled than make disciples. This inward-focused, head-knowledge, navel-gazing brand of religion has the church in a spot where we know more than ever before, yet our churches are dying, not growing. That tradition needs to change!

3. Withdrawing from the messes rather than running toward them. We’re on the wrong side of Luke 15. In the famous parable of the prodigal son, Jesus tells the story of a son who simply makes a mess of his life and then decides to come home. How he’s received is contrasted by the father and the older brother. The father saw the son from a distance and ran towards him (Luke 15:20), indicating our Heavenly Father’s heart towards the world. But how often do we truly (as a church) run toward the messes around us? How active are churches today in our communities? More often we withdraw from the mess, choosing to stay safe inside our sanitary church buildings.

4. Judging the world rather than loving it. The older brother in Luke 15 chose not to embrace his brother but judge him. Are Christians today known for their judgmental attitudes towards those around them? Far too often! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:12 “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?” This was a practical application of Jesus’ overarching command to “love one another” in John 13:34-35. Honestly, for many of us in the church toay we have these commands bass ackwards.

5. Maintaining uncompromising dogma rather than celebrating uncommon fellowship. Not only do we judge the world, we judge other Christians who don’t maintain our narrow stripe of Christian beliefs. Denominations draw boundaries beyond which we dare not venture. This was the point Andy Stanley was recently trying to make when he said that church unity (John 17:23) trumps theological correctness. The overwhelming response? Judge Andy Stanley and double down on the need for uncompromising dogma. Is it any surprise that Christians aren’t united today? A house divided against itself cannot stand.

6. Living in spite of eternity rather than in light of eternity. Let’s be honest: most of us (myself included) live like heaven isn’t really going to happen. How can I say that? Just look at how we spend our time, our energy, our resources. We spend the overwhelming majority of our incomes on ourselves, our pleasures, making ourselves comfortable in this world, as if this world is all that there is. We’ve completely forgotten the command by Jesus to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not treasures on earth (Matthew 6:19-20).

QUESTION: What other traditions would you add to this list?

Our Lady of Fatima, Woman of the Promise

Our Lady of Fatima, Woman of the Promise

This Sunday, we will have arrived at the 101st anniversary of the Fatima apparitions. Devotion to Fatima surely grew during the 100th anniversary last year. When I made my way through some of the latest books about Fatima, something struck me about Our Lady’s message in Fatima. When Our Lady appeared monthly from May to October 1917 she consistently made promises to the three shepherd children, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia. As Mary spoke those words to the children, she revealed not only to them, but to all of us that she is a woman of her word.

In Fatima, Mary not only revealed herself as the Queen of the Rosary but also as the Woman of the Promise, a title not confined to the apparition alone but also to Mary’s very identity.

The Promise to Appear

Mary invited the children at the end of each apparition to return to the Cova on the 13thof the following month.  Giving such an invitation tells us that Mary promised the children she would return the next month if they kept their promise to return.  Mary kept her promise, except for August, when she appeared on a later date because of the children’s imprisonment.

The Promise to Reveal Her Name

Another promise Mary made to the children was the promise she would reveal who she was if they continued to return each month until October.  Every month the children asked who she was, and repeatedly she promised to share her name in October.  And it was a promise Mary kept.  On October 13, 1917, Mary told the children she was the Lady of the Holy Rosary, which was fitting since in each of the apparitions Mary requested the recitation of the rosary.

The Promise of a Sign

Another promise Mary made to the children was the promise of a sign (or miracle) in October which would lead to many people believing in the supernatural events.  And again, Mary fulfilled that promise, on that rainy day, the sun emerged in the sky and began to dance, as if it was going to collide with the earth.  People began to refer to the event as the Miracle of the Sun, and knowing that Mary promised a sign, she fulfilled the promise she made to the children, and consequently many people came to believe in the children’s accounts of the apparitions.

The Promise of Peace

Mary made a request of the children during each apparition: pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world.  A promise which was fulfilled with the cessation of the First World War, and it’s a promise Mary wants to fulfill, but it relies on us to bring about its fulfillment.  Heeding Fatima’s message and praying the rosary everyday will allow the world to receive Heaven’s promise of peace.

Mary’s Promise of Prayers

Every time a Catholic prays the Hail Mary, they ask Mary to pray for them “now and at the hour of our death.”  When we pray that prayer we place our hope in this promise of Mary’s prayers, not only in the immediacy of the moment the prayer is uttered, but also at the promise of prayers when we draw our last breath.

When Mary appeared in 1925 to Sister Lucia and further explained the First Saturday devotion, Mary said “I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary.”  This is further proof of Mary’s promise to pray for those who were devoted to her during their life.

Mary, Woman of the Promise

Mary is the woman of the promise who kept the promises she made to humanity.  Since the Fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, God promised to right what was wrong by sending His son into the world.  The prophets foretold that a virgin would give birth.  Mary is that woman.  She fulfills God’s promise to the world by giving birth to Emmanuel.

As the mother of all believers, she has made promises to her sons and daughters.  She brought to fulfillment the promises she made in Fatima, and we can be certain she will do so for all eternity.

Deacon Tom's Homily for May 10th

Today we encounter one of the major themes of the Gospel. Jesus comes from God and is returning to God. This time the theme is expressed in a puzzling way. There is the term "little while" and the verb, "see." On one level, it can mean the death and resurrection of Jesus. On another level it can mean the return of Jesus "on the last day." The verb "see" is often connected with faith in the gospel and indeed the faith of the disciples would be shaken and then strengthened by the arrival of the Holy Spirit. In tomorrow's segment Jesus will use the image of childbirth to describe what the disciples will experience in his death and resurrection. Again, all of this is part of his explanation to the disciples about what is about to happen.

Jesus' orientation for the time between his first coming and his return in glory at the end of the world is a reversal of the world's fortunes. The world says take your joy now in whatever pleasures you can get from this present life. Jesus points to a joy that transcends anything this world can offer. Jesus contrasts present sorrows with future joy. We cannot avoid pain and sorrow if we wish to follow Jesus to the cross. But in the cross of Christ we find victory over sin and death that brings us supernatural joy without end. Thomas Aquinas said: "No one can live without joy. That is why a man or woman deprived of spiritual joy will turn to carnal pleasures".

Jesus contrasts present sorrows with the future glory to be revealed to those who put their hope in God. Nothing is wasted or lost in our faith journey. Every loss can help us to become more sensitive to the sufferings of others and to reach out in empathy and action.

Today we have an example of God’s providence bringing unexpected good into our lives. The man who would become St. Damien of Molokai was born in rural Belgium in 1840, the youngest of seven children. Growing up on the farm, Jozef was prepared to take over for his family, but he did not want the responsibility. Instead, he wanted to follow his older brother and two sisters who took religious vows. He aided his family until he was old enough to enter the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He took the name Damien, after a sixth century martyr.

In 1866, Hawaii established a leper colony on Molokai, known as Devil’s Island. It was still mistakenly believed that leprosy was highly contagious. This belief resulted in the forced quarantine of leprosy patients. The local bishop believed that the people living on the island, numbering over 800 at the time, needed a priest. Yet, the bishop knew that ministering to a people of this contagious and deadly disease would be a death sentence for the priest who went. The bishop asked for priests to volunteer to serve in Molokai. Fr. Damien was the first to volunteer. In 1873, Fr. Damien made the trip to be with these people in their colony.

Upon arrival he found anarchy reigned among the people. Many patients required treatment but had nobody to care for them. Every kind of immorality and misbehavior was on display in the lawless colony. Fr. Damien realized the people needed leadership, so he provided it. He asked people to come together to build houses and schools and the parish church, St. Philomena. The sick were cared for and the dead buried. Order and routine made the colony livable. Fr. Damien grew attached to the people and his work. He asked permission to stay at the colony to serve. He wrote: “I make myself a leper with the lepers, to gain all for Jesus Christ.”

Leprosy is not as contagious as most people of the period assumed, however five percent of the human population is susceptible. The disease can also take several years to show symptoms. Fr. Daminen became one of those people. After several years of work, he contracted leprosy in 1885. After sixteen years in the colony, Fr. Damien succumbed to leprosy on April 15, 1889. His sainthood was confirmed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Let’s also remember Saint Francis who met a man afflicted with leprosy while riding his horse near Assisi. Though the sight of the leper filled him with horror and disgust, Francis got off his horse and kissed the leper. Then the leper put out his hand, hoping to receive something. Out of compassion, Francis gave money to the leper.

But when Francis mounted his horse again and looked all around, he could not see the leper anywhere. It dawned on him that it was Jesus whom he had just kissed. In his Testament, Francis wrote, “When I was in sin, the sight of lepers nauseated me beyond measure; but then God himself led me into their company, and I had pity on them. When I became acquainted with them, what had previously nauseated me became the source of spiritual and physical consolation for me.”

The reason these saints and their story is so moving to me is that I spent time at the site of the last leprosarium in the United States, the National Hansen's Disease Center situated on 350 acres in Carville Louisiana, near Baton Rouge.

The Louisiana Guard took operational control of this facility in the early 1980s when the U.S. Public Health Service transferred ownership to the State of Louisiana and it was renamed the Gillis Long Center. The Guard uses this site to provide operational and training support and resources in support of the units of the Louisiana National Guard. There are now seven residents who voluntary remain in a wing on the grounds.

Both St. Damien and St. Francis had to discern who Jesus was and what God was asking of them. The memories of their words and actions should inspire us to go beyond our comfort zone and to risk becoming something more. And with that faith and courage we can change the world.

Pope’s Morning Homily: Don’t Dialogue With Devil, Keep a Good Distance

Pope’s Morning Homily: Don’t Dialogue With Devil, Keep a Good Distance

During Morning Mass, Francis Reminds Devil Is Smarter Than We Are

MAY 08, 2018 14:45

The devil is a great liar. Don’t talk to him or even get close. He tries to seduce and like a chained rabid dog, if you caress him, he bites.

According to Vatican News, Pope Francis stressed this during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta as he reflected on the figure of the devil who is not dead, but “has already been condemned” as said in today’s Gospel of today’s Liturgy, taken from John (Jn 16: 5-11).

Fighting and overcoming temptations, the Pope reminded, requires being on guard, praying and fasting.

We must be attentive to the devil, the Pontiff underscored, as he “seduces us, knows how to touch our vanity, curiosity and we buy everything,” that is “we fall into temptation” and suffer “a dangerous defeat.”

Beware, the Pope warned, of the devil’s seduction.

“The devil is a seducer,” Francis reminded, saying, he “knows what words to tell us” and this is dangerous as “we like to be seduced.”

“He has this ability; this ability to seduce. This is why it is so difficult to understand that he is a loser, because he presents himself with great power, promises you many things, brings you gifts – beautiful, well wrapped – -‘Oh, how nice!’ – but you do not know what’s inside – ‘But, the card outside is beautiful.’ The package seduces us without letting us see what’s inside. He can present his proposals to our vanity, to our curiosity.”

His light, Francis said, is dazzling, but it vanishes.

The devil who ‘is very dangerous,’ the Pope admitted, presents himself with all his power, yet “his proposals are all lies.” “We, fools,” he said, “believe.” Stressing the devil “is the great liar, the father of lies,” the Pope noted, “He can speak well,” “is able to sing to deceive.”

“He is a loser but moves like a winner,” whose light is dazzling, “like a firework” but does not last and fades, whereas the Lord’s is “mild but permanent.”

“If I know that spiritually if I approach that thought, if I approach that desire, if I go that way or the other, I am approaching the angry and chained dog. Please do not do it. ‘I have a big wound …’ – ‘Who did it?’ – ‘The dog’ – ‘But he was chained?’ – ‘Oh yes, I went to give him a caress’ – ‘But you are sought. ‘It’s like this: never approach …. Let him chained there.”

Do not converse with the devil

Finally, we must be careful not to dialogue with the devil as Eve did.  Jesus does not dialogue in the desert, but rather responds with the Word of God. He hunts the demons, sometimes he asks for his name but does not make a dialogue with them. The Pope’s exhortation is therefore very clear: “With the devil he does not dialogue, because he wins us, he is smarter than us”.

Noting the devil disguises himself, the Pope said: “He is a convict, he is a loser, he is chained and about to die, but he is capable of making massacres. And we must pray, do penance, do not approach, do not talk to him. And in the end, go to the mother, like children. When the children are afraid, they go to the mother: ‘Mom, mom … I’m scared!’ When they have dreams … they go to their mothers.

“Go to the Madonna; she guards us. And the Fathers of the Church, especially the Russian mystics, say: in the time of spiritual turmoil, take refuge under the mantle of the great Mother of God. Go to the Mother. May she help us in this fight against the defeated, against the chained dog to win it.”

Why is this popular devotion called the “Rosary”?

Why is this popular devotion called the “Rosary”?

 Philip Kosloski | May 06, 2018

Here's what the name Rosary comes from and why it is used in reference to a well-known devotion.

Most Catholics and many Christians know what the Rosary is. However, has anyone ever asked why it is called a “rosary”?

After initially looking at the English word, there is nothing immediately evident that would point to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or prayer in general. However, looking at the Latin roots of the word reveals a beautiful symbolism that isn’t widely known.

According to the Dictionary of English Etymology, from the Latin “Rosarium … signifying properly a collection or garland of roses, was a title of many works … consisting of compendiums of flowers as it were culled from preceding authors … In the course of time the name was specially appropriated to a string of Paternosters and Ave Marias to be recited in a certain order in honour of the fifteen mysteries of our Lord in which the Virgin was a partaker, and from the collection of prayers the name was transferred to the string of beads used for the purpose of keeping count in the recitation.”

Initially the Rosary was called “Our Lady’s Psalter,” referring to the 150 Psalms that monks would pray and from which the tradition of the Rosary originated. The Latin word rosarium became associated with the devotion over time, especially after the spreading of a particular legend.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “An early legend which after travelling all over Europe penetrated even to Abyssinia connected this name with a story of Our Lady, who was seen to take rosebuds from the lips of a young monk when he was reciting Hail Marys and to weave them into a garland which she placed upon her head.”

Thus, the rosary became viewed spiritually and in art as a way to present a garland of roses to the Blessed Mother in a similar way that roses would be picked for a person’s earthly mother.

The name has stuck ever since, and the Rosary is the most popular Catholic devotion around the world.

By Keeping ‘His Commandments, which Are Summarized in Loving One Another’ as He Has Love Us

By Keeping ‘His Commandments, which Are Summarized in Loving One Another’ as He Has Love Us

MAY 06, 2018

 Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!

In this Easter Season, the Word of God continues to point out to us coherent lifestylesto be the community of the Risen One. Among these, today’s Gospel presents Jesus’ charge: “abide in my love” (John 15:9). To inhabit the current of God’s love, to have a stable dwelling is the condition so that our love doesn’t lose its ardor and daring on the way. Like Jesus and in Him, we must also receive with gratitude the love that comes from the Father and abide in this love, trying not to separate ourselves by egoism and sin. It’s a demanding but not impossible program.

First of all, it’s important to be aware that Christ’s love is not a superficial feeling, but an essential attitude of the heart, which is manifested in living as He wishes. In fact, Jesus affirms: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (v. 10). Love is realized in everyday life, in attitudes <and> in actions, otherwise, it’s something illusory. Jesus asks us to keep His commandments, which are summarized in this “phrase”: “that you love one another as I have loved you” (v. 12).

How can we make this love, which the Risen Lord gives us, be able to be shared with others? Jesus often pointed out who was the other to be loved, not in words but in deeds. It’s he whom I meet on my path and who, with his face and his history, questions me; it’s he who with his very presence, pushes me to come out of my interests and my securities; it’s he who waits for my willingness to listen and to go a little way together. Availability to every brother and sister, regardless of who he is and in what situation he finds himself, beginning with one who is close to me in the family, in the community, at work, at school . . . So, if I remain united to Jesus, His love can reach the other and draw him to Himself, to His friendship.

And this love for others can’t be reserved for exceptional moments but must become a constant of our existence. That’s why we are called to protect the elderly as a precious treasure, and with love, even if they create economic problems and hardships. That’s why to the sick, even if in the last stage, we must give all the assistance possible. That’s why the unborn are always received; that’s why, in the end, life is always protected and loved from conception until its natural end. God loves us in Jesus Christ, who asks that we love as He loves us. However, we can’t do this if we don’t have in ourselves His very Heart. The purpose of the Eucharist, in which we are called to participate every Sunday, is to form in us the Heart of Christ so that all our life is guided by His generous attitudes. May the Virgin Mary help us to abide in Jesus’ love and to grow in love towards all, especially the weakest, to correspond fully to our Christian vocation.

The Healing Encounter of God's Mercy

The Healing Encounter of God's Mercy

Pope Francis —Penitential Celebration March 9, 2018

What great joy and consolation are offered us by the words of Saint John that we just heard: God so loves us that that he has made us his children, and, when we see him face-to-face, we shall discover all the more the greatness of his love (cf. 1 Jn 3:1-10.19-22). Not only that. The love of God is always greater than anything we can imagine; it even reaches beyond any sin with which our conscience may charge us. His is an infinite love, one that knows no bounds. It is free of all those obstacles that we, for our part, tend to set in front of others, out of fear that they may strip us of our freedom.

We know that the state of sin distances us from God. But in fact, sin is the way that we distance ourselves from him. Yet that does not mean that God distances himself from us. The state of weakness and confusion that results from sin is one more reason for God to remain close to us. The certainty of this should accompany us throughout our lives. The words of the Apostle are a reassuring confirmation that our hearts should trust, always and unhesitatingly, in the Father’s love: “No matter what our hearts may charge us with, God is greater than our hearts” (v. 20).

His grace is constantly at work in us, to strengthen our hope that his love will never be lacking, in spite of any sin we may have committed by rejecting his presence in our lives.

It is this hope that makes us realize at times that our life has lost its direction, as Peter did in the Gospel account that we heard. “And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times’. And he went out and wept bitterly” (Mt 26:74-75). The evangelist is extremely sober. The crowing of the cock startles a man who is bewildered; he then recalls the words of Jesus, and at last the curtain is lifted. Peter begins to glimpse through his tears that God is revealed in Christ, who is buffeted and insulted, whom he himself has denied, yet who now goes off to die for him. Peter, who wanted to die for Jesus, now realizes that he must let Jesus die for him. Peter wanted to teach the Master; he wanted to go before him. Instead, it is Jesus who goes off to die for Peter. Peter had not understood this; he didn’t want to understand it.

Peter is now confronted with the Lord’s charity. Finally he understands that the Lord loves him and asks him to let himself be loved. Peter realizes that he had always refused to let himself be loved. He had always refused to let himself be saved by Jesus alone, and so he did not want Jesus to love him completely.

How truly difficult it is to let ourselves be loved! We would always like a part of us to be freed of the debt of gratitude, while in reality we are completely indebted, because God loved us first and, with love, he saves us completely.

Let us now ask the Lord for the grace to know the greatness of his love, which wipes away our every sin.

Let us allow ourselves to be purified by love, in order to recognize true love!

Pope Francis —Penitential Celebration March 9, 2018

Deacon Tom's Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter

SUNDAY, MAY 6TH SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

[Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4: 7-10; John 15: 9-17]

James Shaw Jr, along with his best friend, had just sat down early Sunday April 22nd in the Waffle House — one of their favorite haunts, when they heard a loud, crashing sound. They had been watching a dishwasher pile plates high and wondering when they would topple. At first, they thought the sharp crackle was gravity’s work. It quickly became clear it was something else. Bullets shattered the restaurant’s windows. A man collapsed onto the floor. Servers ran. A young man whom Mr. Shaw had seen minutes earlier, silhouetted in a pickup truck, was gripping a rifle. He was squeezing the trigger and squeezing it again as he moved toward the building. Then the firing paused. Mr. Shaw could see the man reloading his weapon just after entering the restaurant. He sensed a moment when he could fight back. “I acted in a blink of a second,” Mr. Shaw said.

James Shaw Jr. was hailed as a lifesaver after he disarmed a shooter who killed four people and injured others early that Sunday morning. Authorities said Shaw's bravery saved numerous lives, but he has refused to call himself a hero, saying: “I’m not a hero. I’m just a regular person”. He later said: "All I can say is ... this was a true test of a man.

Five days earlier, Capt. Tammie Jo Shults was acclaimed for her nerves of steel when she safely landed Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 in Philadelphia after one of the plane’s engines exploded in midair, tragically claiming the life of passenger Jennifer Riordan. Shults said she and her team were “simply doing our jobs.”

Angels, heroes — apply whichever label you prefer to both James and Tammie. But heroes often are ordinary people who do extraordinary things on behalf of others. Shaw and Shults meet not just the dictionary’s definition of “hero,” but ours. Shaw tried to downplay his heroics, saying anyone else would’ve reacted the same way. But some of us are probably wondering: What would I have done in that situation?

The truth is, we don’t know until we’re confronted with it. Yet it’s clear, given the instances of heroism we hear about, and sometimes witness, that people find amazing reservoirs of strength when they need to. We’ve seen it so many times. They are in fact, acts of transcendent love. “No one has greater love than this,” Jesus says in today’s gospel, “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Love is Christ’s great message to his followers this Sunday – his parting word. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you,” Jesus says. Think of that: how deep and how eternal that love must be.

But Christ follows that with a challenge so bold, and so daunting, it seems impossible. “Love one another,” he commands them, “as I have loved you”. In other words: As deeply as God loves his son, and as powerfully as Jesus then loves us, that is how we are to love one another.

It’s wild to think about loving like this. Even if we aren’t called to martyrdom in the physical sense, radical love asks us to lay down our lives for our friends in real ways every day, just like James and Tammi. We pour out what we have in love so that others might live more fully. Jesus calls us all his friends.

In a good marriage, spouses can say that, and they can say it to their children. It is more than a natural bond when faith enters the relationship. It is "supernatural," but still very possible. We can experience it in close friendship as well. We "remain" united in each other. Jesus is offering us a different way, an ultimate way, that we can share with others. It takes courage, but we have the Holy Spirit he has promised, and this means both joy and sacrifice that will make an ultimate difference in our lives. 

Love is not merely a sentiment; it is an act of will. We cannot be ordered to “like” someone or to “fall in love”, but we can “choose to love” our enemies. More importantly, when we experience God’s love for us, the joy of being loved leads us to want to respond to that love. And God has loved us first: “It was not you who chose me[1]….” We experience his love for us each time we receive the sacraments, but also each time we reflect on the fact that he is keeping us in existence.

Most of us probably feel we could never measure up to the standard that Christ is setting for his disciples. We have a hard-enough time just getting along with our neighbors and co-workers and family members. But we are called to something greater. “This I command you,” Christ says. “Love one another.”

It’s his commandments that are the path to joy. It’s through obedience to God that we’re going to find joy and peace. He is calling us not just to love, but to love sacrificially, to choose the good of another over and above our own good, even to the point of laying down our life for the sake of the other.

In friendship with Jesus, all of humanity becomes our friends as well. Little sacrifices teach us slowly how to lay down our lives for one another fully. This was achieved in life by James and Tammie in ways that led those who were saved by them to call them a hero or angel. Would our friends say anything like that about any of us? Are any of us able to love so powerfully?

It is giving, when we know we’ll get nothing back.

It is sacrificing, when we know there’s nothing to be gained.

It is jumping into the pit, when we aren’t sure how we’ll get out.

It is an offering on an altar – or on a cross.

“This I command you: Love one another.”

[1] John 15:16

We Are in the Hands of God

We Are in the Hands of God

Posted by Jim Van Vurst, OFM on 5/2/18 7:00 AM

We know that God is a pure and infinite spirit. But Scripture also attributes human characteristics to him. In his wisdom, God wanted to be real for his children. He wanted to be someone we could hold on to. In God’s own words to us, he has described himself in physical images. For example, Jesus described the Father like a “hen who gathers her chicks safely under her wing” (Lk 13:34). It seems significant, too, that there are 122 references to the hands of God. 

We understand how our own hands are so important in expressing our love and care for one another—a touch, a caress, a protective hold. That image also tells us so much about our Creator. In the creation story, God creates the heavens and earth by an act of will. However, when it comes to the gift of life, Genesis says, “Let us make human beings in our image and likeness” (1:28). 

The image of us being held in the hands of God is such a help in understanding how close he is to us. We even think of God as picking us up after a fall. Of course, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, used his hands to touch, to hold, and to heal. Jesus “lays his hands” on a leper (Mk 1:41). To touch a leper would be unthinkable, making Jesus ritually unclean and unable to enter the temple. But that is exactly what he did. The leper was healed. 

Put simply, we are all in the Almighty's hands. This should remind us that the Father is not distant from us. He is not just with us, but actually within us. 

Remember Jesus’ description of the Prodigal Son? The young man’s father saw him returning from his foolish venture into society. He was returning home with all his dreams smashed to bits. Luke writes, “When he was still afar off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced [threw his arms around] him and kissed him” (15:20). 

Thus, when we pray for our loved ones, there is that beautiful way of telling God, “Lord, I give my loved ones to you. Take them and hold them safely in your hands.” Even for ourselves, we can say, “Lord, I give myself into your hands.”

First-time mothers have told me that when they are home from the hospital with their newborns, they can’t keep their hands off them. They can only gaze at the miracle of new life in their arms. Now imagine how the Almighty looks upon us as sons and daughters. Imagine God speaking to us, “You are mine. I will do anything for you. I want you with me for all eternity.”

That is our loving God speaking.

What’s the difference between Ignatian Spirituality and Centering Prayer?

What’s the difference between Ignatian Spirituality and Centering Prayer?

 MAY 2, 2018 BY CARL MCCOLMAN

  What is the difference between centering prayer and Ignatian spirituality?

To answer this question, let’s consider the difference between meditation and contemplation — or, perhaps we could say, the difference between a beautiful painting and the expansive wall on which it is hung.

A reader of this blog recently posted this on Facebook:

As I work with people interested in Centering Pray I also find an interest in Jesuit Spirituality. Could you do a short compare and contrast, or at least give us a few thoughts?

I’m so glad you asked me, because this question represents the two “centers” of my spiritual community here in the Atlanta area. You see, I am a member of a Catholic Church with Jesuit priests in charge, so of course we place a great emphasis on the treasures of Ignatian (or Jesuit) spirituality. But I’m also a professed lay associate of a Trappist (Cistercian) monastery — just like the monasteries where the centering prayer movement emerged over the last 40 years.

Sts. Ignatius of Loyola and John Cassian — teachers of two very different, but complementary, forms of Christian prayer.

The Ancient/New Practice of Centering Prayer

Although the centering prayer movement is a new (post-Vatican II) development in Christianity, it represents an ancient form of spiritual practice, going all the way back to the desert mothers and fathers of the third and fourth centuries (maybe even farther back than that, but that’s where our documentary evidence begins). Similar spiritual practices have been promoted by great Christian writers/thinkers like Evagrius Ponticus, John Cassian,  John Climacus, and various Orthodox saints and mystics (whose writings have been preserved in a classic anthology of spiritual writings called the Philokalia) as well as the anonymous medieval author of The Cloud of Unknowing and — especially in the eastern churches — modern figures like Theophane the Recluse.

What this great lineage of Christian spiritual teachers — nearly all of whom were monks — have in common is a commitment to contemplative prayer as an attentive, yet wordless, prayer of the heart — what John of the Cross called “silent love.” Centering prayer, which emphasizes a prayer of resting silently in the presence of God, placing our attention on a single “prayer word” so that our hearts may wordlessly rest in God’s love, represents a long tradition of Christian teachers who emphasize silence, restful watchfulness, and the recitation of a single word, verse, or phrase as a focal point of awareness — which allows the real work of prayer to take place, in the heart, below the threshold of conscious attention.

So the key word for centering prayer is silence. Not just an external silence (turn off the TV, smartphone, laptop, etc.), but more crucially, resting in the interior silence that is deeper than words or thoughts.

Incidentally, centering prayer, proper speaking, is not synonymous with contemplation — for contemplation is a gift from God, not something we achieve by our own efforts. But centering prayer is a prayer which disposes the praying person to contemplation. It’s a way, so to speak, to say to God, “Here I am, and I choose to wait for you in silence, to be still and know you, God, in my heart.”

From Silence to the Imagination

What, then, is Ignatian or Jesuit spirituality, and how does it differ from the contemplative exercise of centering prayer?

Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus, wrote a classic book for spiritual directors called Spiritual Exercises. In this book, he commends a specific approach to prayer that emphasizes the use of imagination as a way of praying.

Think of it this way. Instead of just reciting words to Jesus, like you were speaking to him via telephone, for your prayer you take a story from the Gospels and visualize it in your mind’s eye, and then imaginatively place yourself in the midst of the story. So you might see yourself in the crowd when Jesus rescues the woman who committed adultery from the men who want to stone her. Or you might be listening to him as he preaches the sermon on the mount, or even imagine yourself as one of the 5000+ people who are fed through the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

The beauty of imaginative prayer is that is allows us to use an ordinary human faculty — the mind’s eye, our inner ability to visualize events with our imagination — and create an inner forum for encountering Christ, or Mary, or one of the saints. And that’s truly the heart of Ignatian prayer: it’s not a passive type of visualization, as if we were watching a movie in our minds. Rather, the point behind Ignatian prayer is that we encounter Christ through the medium of our own minds, our own capacity for visualization, imagination, and wonder.

Even though Ignatian spirituality (like most classical forms of spirituality) values silence, technically speaking Ignatian prayer is not “silent” at least not in an interior way. We may seek out exterior silence to allow our prayer to be undisturbed, but on the inside we enrich our prayer with all our imaginative senses: we smell the incense, feel the dusty road beneath our feet, shield our eyes from the dazzling light of the sun, and listen for the words of Jesus as he speaks directly to us.

Apophatic and Kataphatic

Here are a couple of theological words to help understand the distinction between Ignatian and Centering forms of prayer. Ignatian prayer is kataphatic — from a Greek word that means “to affirm” or “to speak emphatically.” Kataphatic prayer is a type of prayer that uses positive ways of imagining, thinking about, or speaking of God. It finds God in created things, in our thoughts and feelings, in our ordinary human capacity for imagination and visualization.

By contrast, centering prayer is apophatic — from another Greek word meaning “without words” or “away from words.” This kind of spirituality stresses the mystical and essential hiddenness of God: “Truly you are a God who hides yourself,” as Isaiah put it (45:15). Apophatic prayer is the prayer that recognizes that no words or images are ever adequate to understand or comprehend God; that ultimately human language and comprehension fail before the divine mystery and majesty. Therefore, silence becomes the most reliable medium for prayer. As the medieval Jewish writer Rashi put it, “Silence is God’s most eloquent praise, since elaboration must leave glaring omissions.”

Put another way, Ignatian spirituality seeks to find God in all things, while centering prayer recognizes that God is so much great than any or all things, that ultimately only silence can bring us into the divine presence. Kataphatic spirituality we could compare to a colorful painting; apophatic spirituality, therefore, would be the simplicity of the empty wall behind the painting: imageless and colorless, but present and beautiful in its own austere way.

Which kind of prayer is right for me?

How do we choose between the richly imaginative exercise of Ignatian prayer, or the unadorned yet restful silence of centering prayer? Which type of prayer is right for you, or me, or anyone?

The answer is, “It depends.” Some people by temperament are more comfortable with kataphatic or aphophatic types of spirituality. Others may enjoy both forms. And still others may find that at one point in their lives they prefer Ignatian meditation, and at other times they are drawn to centering prayer as a way of preparing for contemplation.

A wise person once said, “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” Don’t make the mistake of thinking one of these types of prayer is “higher” or “better” than the other. Think of them rather as different paths leading up the same mountain. The goal is to get to the summit, no matter what route we take.

The Greatest Love: Inspiration for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Archbishop Follo: The greatest love

With the Invitation to Answer the Love of Christ by a Loving with Trust and by a Total Surrender.

MAY 04, 2018 19:02

FRANCESCO FOLLO

Roman Rite – Sixth Easter Sunday – Year B – May 6, 2018
Acts 10.25-15.34-35.44-48; Ps 98; 1Gv 4, 7-10; Jn 15: 9-17

Ambrosian Rite
Acts 26, 1-23; Ps 22; 1Cor 15, 3-11; Jn 15, 26-16, 4
Sixth Easter Sunday

1) The name of Christ’s disciples: “Friends”.

On this sixth Sunday of Easter, Jesus, who continues to invite us to “remain” in Him, reveals to us who He is, the Beloved, and that his life is a relationship of Love. This is why he calls us to be a community of people whose vocation is to share His love.

After exhorting his people to remain in him as the branches in the vine (see the last Sunday’s Gospel), today Jesus asks us to remain in his Love, not to move away from the source of life, and to open ourselves to Him who, in the gift total of himself, has included us in his relationship with the Father.

The love of Christ is the utmost love because he gives his life for us, his friends: “There is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s friends. And you are my friends “(Jn 15:13).

Let us not forget that among the friends whom Jesus addresses in the cenacle there is Judas (who has just gone out after having called him “friend”); Peter (who will deny him three times) and the others (who will leave him alone during the passion). However, he calls them “friends”. Today we are in the cenacle of the church and are called by him “friends”, even if we are fragile and sinful.

In fact, at the last supper, but not only then, Jesus calls his friends and his peers (the love of friendship is among equal persons and is mutual) those who will betray him disowning him and going away from him. Why? Because he loves them with a gratuitous love and knows that they will respond to his love. Even if they do not love him with fullness, at least they want to love him, grateful for the love he has for them.

When they see him crucified and when they discover his boundless love, they will believe in this “excessive” love.

We too are called to become his friends by knowing his love for us. This statement is beautiful: “I call you not servants, but friends” (Jn 15, 15) because the noun “servants” (in the Greek text there is written “slaves”) per se has an honorary title and indicates the ministers of the king. Minister is a word of Greek origin which means servant. So Ministers are the most important persons after the King. The most important, after God, are the servants of God, the prophets, the saints. However, today Christ teaches “You are not” servants “, not even the greatest ones. You are something more. You are equal friends among yourselves and with Him. We are called to become equal to God. Why? Because the love that the Father has for the Son, the Son has given to us and we can love with the same love of God and become like God who is love. So we are friends, peers. It is precisely this brotherly love in Brother Jesus, which makes us equal to God. In the final part of v. 15 of the chap. 15, Jesus continues: “the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. “Jesus explains what he means by” friends “. Christ recognizes the disciples as friends because they do what He asks them namely if they believe and love. In front of the King of Kings, the condition of the disciple is per se that of the “servant”, a term that in the Bible (but not only) represents a title of importance, because it characterizes the relationship with God. It indicates a person faithful and available to the Lord. It does not have the meaning of a slave, except when it indicates a man subjected to a master of this world or (see Jn 8:34) to the power of sin. The title of “servant” is already important, but the title “friend” indicates that at the center of the life of God and of man, there is friendship, the most perfect form of Love, the free and non-possessive relationship that realizes the communion of people.

2) Friends of Christ.

Today Christ reveals to us that we are not only servants and disciples, but friends.

If we were not ministers (= servants), we will, in any case, be subservient to the King. Even if we are happy to serve a good cause, we will always be subjects who are compelled to observe the law. If we were only disciples, we would have to be schooled by the Master, happy to learn the truth and to receive words of eternal life.

But we are also “friends”, we are “subjects” to the law of freedom generated by the Love to whom He has entrusted himself and that makes us participate in it if we remain in his word: “This I command you, love one another”.

This, more than a command, is a plea that Jesus addresses to us because He first loved us and now He gives us strength so that we can also do it. It is the novelty of the ecclesial community: to be a school of friendship where we learn the logic of gift and faith.

To remain in the friendship of Christ means to enter into a new relationship with God, the God of the New Covenant, who is not so much a supreme legislator who asks us to observe the Law but a Father who implores us to believe in a Love that has reached the point of giving his own Son.

In this friendship with Christ, He – who is the shepherd, the way, the truth and the life – becomes the door through which the Father’s Love becomes our home. It is so because, today, Christ repeats that we are at home in the love that the Father has for him, the Son. How do we remain in this house? We remain in the house of love if, in turn, we love.  “Love one another as I have loved you”. By loving our brothers, we are in the Father’s House. This fraternal love makes us friends of Christ. By loving our brother we become like God, like the Son, who is such because he loves his brothers with the love of the Father.

In this friendship

• the way is not a journey to make, it is a person to follow: Christ;
• the truth is not an abstract concept, it is a man to spend time with Christ;
• and life is not simply a biological fact. Life is to love as we are loved, to love the One who loves us; it is to love Christ.

“Friends” is the truest name of the disciples of Jesus. We are no longer servants, forced to observe a law, but free friends of that freedom generated by the love to which he has entrusted himself and which makes us participate in it, if we remain in his word: “This I command you, that you love each other”.

3) The consecrated virgins, witnesses of friendship with Christ.

The vocation to friendship with Christ for the consecrated virgin should be understood in the light of the Song of Songs where we read: “Now my beloved tells me:” My lover speaks and says to me, “Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come!”(Song of Songs 2, 10 – 13).

These women, consecrated to Christ with the gift of themselves, show that they believed in the love of God and offer themselves without reserve to Jesus, Spouse and Friend, testifying that “at the beginning of being Christian there is not an ethical decision or a great idea, but the encounter with an event, with a Person, which gives life a new horizon and, with this, the decisive direction “(Benedict XVI).

As brides of Christ, the consecrated virgins bear witness to the love of friendship, which God fills us with and which we must communicate to the others.

With simplicity but with perseverance, these women show that friendship with Christ coincides with what the third question of our Father expresses: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. In the hour of Gethsemane, Jesus transformed our rebellious human will into a will conforming with and united with the divine will. He has suffered all the drama of our autonomy, and just by bringing our will into the hands of God, he gives us true freedom: ‘Not as I want, but as you want’.

Our redemption is realized in this communion of wills: to be friends of Jesus, to become friends of God. The more we love Jesus, and the more we know him, the more our true freedom grows and the joy of being redeemed grows. Let’s thank Jesus for his friendship and be more and more fraternal friends among us. “Yet we cannot celebrate this free gift of the Lord’s friendship unless we realize that our earthly life and our natural abilities are his gift. We need “to acknowledge jubilantly that our life is essentially a gift and recognize that our freedom is a grace. This is not easy today, in a world that thinks it can keep something for itself, the fruits of its own creativity or freedom”. Pope Francis, Es. Ap. Gaudete et exultate, on the call to holiness in the contemporary world, No. 55).

An almost patristic reading

In his Magisterium, several times Pope Francis spoke to us about friendship, about this important human feeling, but evidently also divine, as the Gospel teaches us.

Talking to the Serra Club, Pope Francis recalls that in the Gospel “Jesus himself strips this concept of every ‘sentimentalism’ and points to ‘an uncomfortable truth’, namely that ‘there is true friendship only when the encounter involves me in the life of the other up to the gift of myself ‘. Friendship is , herefore ‘a commitment of responsibility, which involves life’ in the sense of “sharing the destiny of the other, compassion, and involvement that leads to giving oneself to the other”. A true friend, according to the Pope, is someone who “comes up beside discreetly and tenderly to my path, listens to me deeply, and knows how to go beyond words, is merciful towards my defects, is free from prejudices, knows how to share my path, making me feel the joy of not being alone. He does not always indulge me, but, precisely because he wants my good, he sincerely tells me what he does not share; He’s ready to help me get up every time I fall. ”

In the same speech ,the Pope dwells on the difficult friendship that binds priests and lay people who want to help them. “How sad it is to see that sometimes we churchmen do not know how to give up our place, cannot delegate our duties with serenity, and we struggle to leave in the hands of others the works that the Lord has entrusted in us. “These are the words of Pope Francis at the Serra Club International, an association of entrepreneurs and professionals who want to help priests by offering friendship and financial support. “You too, then, siempre adelante! With courage, creativity and boldness”, the Pope exhorted. “Without fear of renewing your structures and without allowing the precious journey to lose the momentum of novelty. May you always be ready – concluded Pope Francis – to pass the torch above all to future generations, aware that the fire is lit from Above precedes our response and overcomes our work. This is the Christian mission: one sows and the other reaps”.

Five Keys to Friendship from Pope Francis

1. 1. A good friend knows your secrets: Good friends are those we can confide in and open up our heart to, in order to share with them our joys and sorrows, without fear of being judged. Scripture says: A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure.There is nothing as precious as a faithful friend(Sir 6:14-15). But friendship doesn’t come about in just one day. As Pope Francis says: “A friend isn’t just an acquaintance, someone you enjoy passing the time of day with. Friendship is something much deeper.” “Patience is needed to forge a strong friendship between two people. A lot of time talking with one another, spending time together, getting to know one another—that’s how friendship is forged. Patience makes a friendship real and solid.”
2. A good friend never abandons you: Jesus said: Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends (Jn15:13).Pope Francis insists: “When you love someone, you want to be at their side, to care for them and help them, to say what is on your mind. But you never abandon them. That’s how Jesus is with us; he never abandons us.” True friendship is disinterested; it seeks to give rather than to receive.
3. A good friend always defends you: “Never allow weeds to grow on the path of friendship. Be loyal” (Furrow, 747). Good friends never abandon their friend when difficulties arise; they never speak badly of their friend, or allow that person to be criticized when absent. Pope Francis says: “It is a great joy to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the other person, to embrace and forgive them. We all make errors and mistakes, thousands of them. Therefore those who can assist others in their errors, in their mistakes, are happy. They are true friends and never abandon anyone.”
4. A good friends doesn’t offer you “smoke and mirrors”: “True friendship also means making a heartfelt effort to understand the convictions of our friends, even though we may never come to share them or accept them (Furrow, 746). “Jesus doesn’t offer us merely ‘smoke and mirrors,’” says Pope Francis. “He knows that true happiness, a happiness that fills our heart, isn’t found in having trendy clothes or smart shoes, or a popular brand. He knows that true happiness means having a sensitive heart, in learning to weep with those who weep, in being close to those who are sad, in hugging someone. A person who doesn’t know how to cry doesn’t know how to laugh, and therefore how to live. Jesus knows that in this world of so much envy and aggressiveness, true happiness requires learning how to be patient, to respect others, to not condemn or judge anyone. Jesus wants to bring us the fullness of happiness. He wants to bring us friendship, true friendship, the friendship that we all need.”
5. A good friend always gives you strong support: True friendship means giving our friends the best that we have. And our greatest good, without any comparison, is being friends of Jesus. Pope Francis encourages us to be true friends of our friends, with a friendship like that of Jesus. “Not just remaining among ourselves, but rather heading out onto the ‘court,’ in order to make new friends. You have to spread Jesus’ friendship throughout the world, wherever you may be, at work, when studying, by WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter. When going to a dance, or having a good aperitif. Out on the street or playing a game of pick-up basketball. That’s where Jesus’ friends are. Giving them the conviction that we should be happy, since we have a Father in heaven who loves us.”

Why Can’t I Go To Communion If I Don’t Go To Mass Every Sunday?

Why Can’t I Go To Communion If I Don’t Go To Mass Every Sunday?

By Fr. Thomas V. Berg, Ph.D. On Apr 18, 2018

DEAR FATHER:

I don’t go to church that often, but I enjoy going with the relatives on holidays like Christmas and Easter. On those occasions I also like to go to Communion with all the family — it gives us a special sense of togetherness, and it wouldn’t be Mass without Communion. I am writing because this past Christmas, my mother-in-law, who is a fanatical Catholic, told me we needed to go to confession before going to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve if we wanted to receive Communion. I told her to mind her own business, that we would all be going to Communion as a family, and that I don’t believe God’s love depends on whether you go to Mass every single Sunday. So, who is right, me or my mother-in-law? —Very upset

DEAR VERY UPSET:

Thank you for the sincerity and candor of your question. I can understand how this could be very upsetting. The quick answer to your question, however, is that your mother-in-law is basically right (even though the way she expressed herself was perhaps not the best). 

A fuller explanation requires us to address one by one the closely related issues you raise here: Why do Catholics attend Mass in the first place, and why are we supposed to go every Sunday? Further, what does it mean to receive Holy Communion, and what is required of us in order to do so?

As always, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is our best guide here. 

“The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin” (CCC, 2181).

The Catechism further explains that “it is in keeping with the very meaning of the Eucharist that the faithful, if they have the required dispositions, receive Communion when they participate in the Mass” (CCC, 1388).

First of all, it means that a Catholic can certainly attend Mass without receiving Communion. (So, contrary to part of your question, yes, it certainly is the Mass, even if one does not receive Communion.) Our essential obligation is to participate in the Christian Sabbath worship by attending and participating in the Mass as far as possible. Under certain conditions, however, that might have to fall short of actually receiving Holy Communion. The Catechism speaks of those who approach Communion as having “the required dispositions.” 

The first indispensable disposition for receiving Holy Communion is that we believe what the Catholic Church believes about the Eucharist. 

We live in a world today where other Christian communions, unfortunately, believe different things about the Eucharist. But that is not the faith of the Church. That is not the faith that the martyrs gave their lives for. We do not believe in “transignification,” the idea that the bread and wine, after being prayed over, now merely “mean” or “signify” or “remind us of” Christ.

Our Catholic faith tells us, on the contrary, that when the priest —acting in the person of Jesus — says the words of consecration (“This is my Body … . This is the chalice of my Blood … .”), he brings about what Jesus himself did at the Last Supper: Jesus becomes present under the appearances of bread and wine. This miracle that takes place at every Mass is called “transubstantiation.” The appearances of bread and wine remain, but the substance of bread and wine is replaced — miraculously — by the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. That is the Catholic faith. And from the beginning, to this day, only the baptized who believe that were allowed to come forward to receive him. If a baptized Catholic finds honestly that she does not believe this, then, very simply, she should not approach Holy Communion — not until some later time when she comes to recover the faith of the Church. 

But believing what the Church believes about this sacrament is not enough.

The second key disposition required is that we are free from having the guilt of any un-confessed serious sin on our heart. Technically that means that we are honestly not conscious of having committed any “mortal” sins —sins that rupture our friendship with God — since our last confession. If that were the case, then before coming to meet Jesus in Holy Communion, we very much need to meet Jesus in the sacrament of penance, confess our sins, receive absolution, fulfill the penance given to us, and then — and only then — approach Holy Communion at Mass.

With those dispositions, indeed, it would be a supremely joyous thing to receive Jesus in Communion with the whole family. Sadly today, far too many baptized Catholics who receive Communion fall short of those dispositions. Holy Communion is not a “blessed wafer” that “represents” Jesus; we shouldn’t be going up to Communion because it gives us a “special feeling of togetherness.” Rather, we should believe that we are about to receive Jesus: Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. This is our incredible, amazing faith — our response to the incredible, amazing love of Our Lord who desired to remain with us in this way in the sacrament of the Eucharist.