Here Comes MAC! Baltimore’s Brave New Conference

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If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. (John Quincy Adams)

I am psyched. I’m heading to Baltimore in March for a major new Catholic conference that seeks to bring hope to the Church by developing leaders in all areas of Catholic life and ministry.

The MidAtlantic Congress for Pastoral Leadership launches its first annual event March 8-10 at the new Baltimore Hilton (only a few blocks from the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), with the bracing theme, “Witness Hope!”

A joint effort of the Association of Catholic Publishers and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the “MAC,” as its visionaries call it, seeks to:

  • Bring the best of Catholic pastoral ministry, religious education/catechesis, and theology to parish leadership
  • Provide an opportunity for parish and school leaders to network with each other and meet in peer groups for support and enrichment with possibility of these meetings continuing through informal groups and emerging social media following the conference
  • Provide an opportunity for parish and school leaders to dialogue with the publishing community to discuss ministry resources and develop best practices
  • Provide an opportunity for skills development
  • Celebrate our faith through prayer and worship
  • Finally, for ACP members, it is hoped that this congress will provide a tangible benefit to its catechetical, liturgical, trade and music publishing members and support for the ACP. (Courtesy of Paul Henderson, MAC co-chair, and Director of Operations and Project Management, USCCB Communications)

Recalling the now-defunct East Coast Conference for Religious Education, ACP’s Executive Director, Therese Brown, who is also MAC’s General Coordinator, explains that in recent years the types of leaders in dioceses, parishes, and Catholic schools has noticeably shifted. “For decades, most ministry leaders were full-time staff, often religious, with master’s degrees.” But in recent years lay ministers are more likely to be part-time staff. Many are volunteers. “They have different needs,” she says.

“Without the ECC,” explains conference co-chair, and Baltimore’s Executive Director of the Department of Evangelization, Fr. John Hurley, CSP, “there was no catechetical conference on the east coast to provide for those needs.” So when the ACP approached the Archdiocese of Baltimore about creating something unique, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien gave his full support.

The location made good sense for several reasons, says Fr. Hurley. “When the ACP came to us, they needed a location that would be accessible to large numbers of people. At that time, many dioceses had begun to restrict travel,” he says, so it was unlikely that east coast parishes would be sending their staffs to events in Los Angeles or Dallas.

“With the economy faltering, attendance numbers at all such conferences are down,” he says, “and hotel prices north of Philadelphia are too high for an event like this to be feasible.” So giving the MAC a permanent home in the more reasonably-priced and centrally-located city of Baltimore made good sense for attendees.

And it’s good for Catholic publishing, too. Fr. Hurley explains. “Conferences like this help publishers get their resources out to their markets, but it also helps them to find new authors. We wanted to do this conference in a new way. We didn’t want to have the same people keynoting, just recycled from other events. We have a mix of headliners and new authors and theologians.”

As inspiration for the new congress, Brown cites the USCCB’s Lay Ecclesial Ministry Project (2005) and its signature document.

“Coworkers in the Vineyard of the Lord”  is the bishops’ pastoral statement on lay ecclesial ministry. It was the outgrowth of a longer process of observation and reflection on the part of the bishops that started many years ago, on the reality of the leadership of the laity in the parish. The MAC builds on the call of the bishops to form lay leaders for their roles in the life of the Church. All of our presentations will come from a leadership perspective,” she says. “Hopefully, one of the outcomes is that attendees will feel more strongly and passionately about their call to ministry.”

The event has an impressive schedule. Building in a dynamic diversity of people, languages, and topics, the 90+ presenters will give 39 master classes and 4 rounds of break-out sessions (75 breakouts total) that will cover such widely varied topics as catechesis for kids and whole communities, RCIA, youth ministry, liturgy, music, multi-cultural issues, social justice, Catholic schools, media, evangelization, and much more. ASL interpretation is available at all major events, and many Spanish-language presentations are offered.

One of the highlights of the congress will prayerfully embrace the season of Lent. A very special Way of the Cross will take place on Friday evening, March 9th, written and directed by Michael Ruzicki, Coordinator of Adult and Sacramental Formation for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. With beautiful banners created by Liturgical Press, this focal point for the congress is hoped to be a memorable and uplifting experience for attendees.

Fr. Hurley says, “We wanted to acknowledge that it was a Friday in Lent, but go beyond lamenting and recognize that the Pascal mystery gained us something! We need to celebrate that faith and enrich it.”

The congress will close on Saturday with something called “Parishioner Day,” which provides special attention to catechists, other parish volunteers, and those who serve on their parish boards.

“We need to be messengers of hope,” says Fr. Hurley. “All of us in leadership positions have challenges. These are the signs of the times. But our ‘young’ Church is full of energy and hopefulness. We have to meet it head on, meet them where they’re at with social communications. They need engagement. People don’t just want to be members, they want to be welcomed, to become a part of the mission.”

Plans are well on their way for the next MAC congress, says Fr. Hurley. “2013 will incorporate the 50th Anniversary of Vatican II, the 20th Anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Year of Faith. We’ll focus more on young leaders next time, school boards, and more tracks in English and Spanish.”

The organizers are offering a special group registration deal for staff members or teams attending together from dioceses, parishes, and schools. “For every four people who register they get one admission free. So, five for the price of four!” says Fr. Hurley.

I hope to see many of you there. I’ll be tweeting (@lisamladinich #macongress) and blogging all three days, live, from the conference, at Patheos via the “Summa This, Summa That” blog.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be interviewing some of the MAC presenters, so stay tuned, and spread the word!

God bless you!

I led them with cords of human kindness, with leading strings of love, and I became for them as one who eases the yoke upon their neck and stoops down to feed them. (Hosea11:4)

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“Someone” Beautiful for God

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Monday of the Fifth Week
1 Kgs 8:1-7; 9-13; Mk 6: 53-56
February 6, 2012
Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

Malcolm Muggeridge was an English controversialist and journalist whose life spanned just about the entirety of the twentieth century – he was born in 1903 and died in 1990. He was first an agnostic and then later on became a Catholic – a deeply committed Roman Catholic at that. His conversion was hastened along by the witness of an Albanian-born nun by the name of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who even before her death in 1997 was regarded as a living saint. Muggeridge was so moved by the founder of the Missionaries of Charity that he decided to make a film about her in the late 1960s so the rest of the world could come to know what he had discovered in this very holy woman.

After he finished making the film, Muggeridge was at a loss as to the title he would give it. While reading through a piece of correspondence from Mother Teresa, he found the right words to capture the vision he had brought to the big screen. Mother Teresa had written: Let us do something beautiful for God. There it was – Something Beautiful for God – that’s what he would call his film.

In my view, he could just as easily have titled his film Someone Beautiful for God – although Mother Teresa would not have liked it. She was much too modest to accept this kind of designation about herself. Her focus was always on the work she was doing for God; it was never on herself. In fact, she would have regarded the personal attention as a betrayal of her service to the poor, as something not in keeping with the humility we should have about ourselves in imitation of Christ.

Nonetheless, there is a sense in which someone beautiful for God is an apt description for Mother Teresa. I’m referring to the sense of every man, every woman. Every man, every woman is someone beautiful for God. Certainly that’s what Mother Teresa believed – every dying person she and her Sisters pick up from the streets of Calcutta is someone beautiful for God. Each dying person, treated with the utmost dignity and respect by Mother Teresa and her Sisters, has wounds bandaged because the Lord has already bound up the wounds of our sins. By His dying on the Cross, He has healed us by His stripes. (cf. Is 53:5)

In today’s first reading, the sacred author describes for us the solemn dedication and consecration of the temple in Jerusalem. We hear in the text how the ark of the covenant is carried forward in procession by the priests and Levites. (cf. 1 Kgs 8:4) We can just imagine the precision and exactness it required on the part of the Lord’s ministers. In this dedication and consecration, a column of smoke fills the temple, indicating the presence of the Lord’s glory. (cf. 1 Kgs 8:10) How majestic a sight this must have been to set your eyes on! It’s no wonder that Solomon, addressing the Lord of glory, cries out, “I have truly built you a princely house.” (1 Kgs 8:13) Solomon was no doubt wise, but modest he was not!

The temple was something beautiful for God with all its gold, silver and precious metals. But was it the most beautiful thing of all?
Early on in Jesus’ public ministry, Saint John the evangelist has Jesus in the holy city of Jerusalem, in its temple area where he finds moneychangers and drives them out of His Father’s house. (cf. Jn 2:14-15) Overturning their tables in an act of righteous indignation, Jesus boldly proclaims at the same time, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:19) The evangelist informs us just two lines later that Jesus “was speaking about the temple of his body.” (Jn 2:21)

In today’s gospel, the evangelist records how Jesus ministered to the sick. Wherever Our Lord visits – whether villages, towns or the countryside – the sick on mats are brought to Him. (cf. Mk 6:56) All they want to do is touch the tassel of His cloak; and Jesus of course obliges their request. (cf. Mk 6:56) These sick people are unable to walk; their legs and presumably other parts of their bodies are severely compromised. Saint Mark indicates very simply at the end of the text that these sick men and women are healed of their infirmities. (cf. Mk 6:56)

There is a story told about Saint Lawrence the Martyr, the third century deacon in Rome and it goes like this: Lawrence, the servant of the Lord and His people, is instructed to produce the most coveted and most valuable possessions belonging to the fledgling and persecuted Christian community in the Eternal City. Instead of bringing forward the most precious sacred vessels used at the liturgy, the deacon presents the lame, the crippled, those whose bodies are racked with pain. These are the ones who are beautiful for God!

We are still a few weeks away from the beginning of Lent and we have an even longer distance to cover liturgically before we get to Holy Week. Still, I do not think it imprudent to invoke an image from that penitential season now. Jesus is the Suffering Servant. He is the One of whom Isaiah prophesied long ago: “There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him . . . . One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned.” (Is 53:2-3) There was no beauty there, or so it seemed.

Father Richard John Neuhaus, the founding editor of the journal First Things, once preached the Seven Last Words of Christ devotion in New York City and turned his reflections on that occasion into a volume entitled Death on a Friday Afternoon. He referred to Jesus’ death there as a dreadful beauty – something physically repugnant yet spiritually and morally splendiferous at the same time. In going to the Cross obediently, Jesus did something beautiful for God. Through His humility, He showed Himself as Someone Beautiful for God. So might we turn our own lives into something beautiful for God, and thereby become someone beautiful for God by choosing not the way of self-fulfillment but self-abandonment.

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Spirituality for 2012 – part 2

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Talk about famous last words…I concluded my last post on Amazing Catechists – “Spirituality for 2012” – with the statement, “I will be publishing a follow-up to this article in a few days.”  Ummmm….that was over a month ago.  Yikes!  Obviously, I need to invest in a new watch or a new planner.  Or maybe I should learn how to use the ones I have!

I suppose I could have moved on and written about something else; I haven’t seen any indications that the masses are sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for the conclusion to my ideas about spirituality in 2012.  However, the ideas that I started kicking around in my head over a month ago are still floating around up there (which I’m interpreting as a good sign) and so I really felt like I needed to get out what I’ve been thinking.

I would certainly encourage you to familiarize yourself with my first posting prior to jumping ahead into this one.  The overarching theme for that first post can be expressed in the following statement from the former Master General of the Dominican Order, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, who once said the Christian life is one that is “moral, reflective, prayerful, and imaginative.”

The big news story in the United States, as far as the Catholic Church goes, is the recent decision by the Obama administration to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans, including ones provided by employers who have a moral objection to such procedures and prescriptions (e.g. Catholic Church).  In addition to the news cycle, there is a constant stream of commentary on what the Church should do in response to it.  Admittedly, I have contributed to that stream on my own blog.

But as I keep tabs on that developing story line in the news, I come back to this post on spirituality and on looking forward in 2012 and I see a connection that I didn’t see 5 1/2 weeks ago when I wrote the first installment.  So instead of being distracted maybe it was the Holy Spirit that lead me to wait so long to write part two.  :-)

In the ongoing remarks on the USCCB and HHS, I’ve seen a lot of commentators offer potential responses the Church should take.  The two most common are: 1) the Church should just retreat in to itself and 2) the Church should just get with the times.  I would like to label these two ideas as the “Catholic Ghetto” and “assimilation,” respectively.  Additionally, I would add that both of them are dead-ends.

The idea or label, “Catholic Ghetto,” does not belong to me.  I think a good definition of it is provided here:

It is common for certain sociologist and theologians to refer to the Catholic situation of the 1940’s and 50’s as a time when the Church in America lived in a Catholic ghetto.  What this is getting at is that the Catholic population in the U.S. lived as a minority population that held together strongly by means of clearly defining itself over and against the rest of American culture.

As parishes in the United States became less nationalistic and more inclusive of a variety of ethnicities, the Catholic Ghetto largely broke apart.  For the most part, the break up of Catholic Ghettos is a good thing because in addition to the ones listed above, another of its characteristics was that Catholics “did not see themselves as called to influence the culture around them,” a view that is contrary to both scripture and the Church’s teaching.

You can still see some signs of the Catholic Ghetto mentality.  For example Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, has tried to create a “Catholic” town in Ave Maria, Florida.  In this town, with Monaghan’s Catholic College in the center, Catholic families will live together, their children will grow up with other Catholics, marry other Catholics, and live in Ave Maria.  Monaghan’s vision is founded on the premise that Christianity, along with many academic disciplines, was kept alive in the Dark Ages in monasteries; they were small pockets of truth in an otherwise corrupt world.  At first brush this idea seems solid but as I’ll point out later, it is not without significant flaws.

The other dead-end is “assimilation,” where Catholicism just becomes like everything else and Catholics look like everyone else.  Through assimilation, Jesus can henceforth be referred to as a “good man” and Christianity can be seen by society as “good thing” but neither should be spoken too loudly.  In this way, Catholics and the faith they profess becomes invisible.  In 1994, Jonathan Sacks wrote a book called, “Will we have Jewish Grandchildren?“  In it, he reflects on how to keep the faith of Jewish antiquity alive and flourishing in future generations.  This idea is something we also need to reflect on within the Catholic community.

I think of an oak tree with its roots running deep into the ground where it draws life giving nutrients and water, the things necessary for its survival.  The trunk of the tree, its base, provides the foundation for continued growth.  But ask yourself: where do we see the greatest signs of life on a tree?  Do we see it when we look at its trunk?  No.  It is when we look at its tips, where new leaves sprout each spring.  We see the greatest signs of life, growth, and vitality at its extreme ends.  But all parts, from the massive trunk to the smallest buds sprouting at the tips of the highest branch, are 100% oak tree.

The tree is a familiar metaphor for the Body of Christ, the Church.  The ground represents God where the tree trunk (i.e. the Church) is firmly planted.  It is the ground (God) that feeds the oak tree (Church) all it needs to survive.  From the trunk, branches (individual Catholics) grow, reaching out in an endless amount of directions, always springing forth with new signs of life and vitality.  This metaphor shows us God’s plan.

God has promised to provide everything we need, but we can’t get it when we are not connected to the tree trunk; we can’t just be a branch suspended in the air (cf. Jn 15:5).  Nor can we be a branch just laying on the ground, cut away from the tree.  When that happens, the tree is weakened and the direction that particular branch was growing out towards will not be reached.  The fallen away branch just lays on the ground and eventually dies.  It is possible, indeed it is necessary, for the tree branches (Catholics) to be 100% Catholic and reaching out to a world that is not the same as itself.

The unity within Catholicism of God, the Church, and its people, is an earthly example of the the most perfect unity, that of The Blessed Trinity.  The doctrine of the Trinity is what Christianity has that no other religion does and we can demonstrate it by living our lives, firmly grounded in the Church.  In fact, I would submit the doctrine of the Trinity may be the most important aspect of a spirituality for 2012 and beyond.

During the Enlightenment, man developed a deep seated resentment towards doctrine, especially Catholic doctrine.  Nicholas Lash wrote in his book, Believing Three Ways in One God:

The Enlightenment left us with what we might call a crisis of docility. Unless we have the courage to work things out for ourselves, to take as true only that which we have personally attained or, perhaps, invented, then meanings and values, descriptions and instructions, imposed by other people, feeding other people’s power, will inhibit and enslave us, bind us into fables and falsehoods from the past. Even God’s truth, perhaps especially God’s truth, is no exception to this rule. Only slaves and children should be teachable, or docile.

But the ancient doctrine of the Trinity, regardless of what those enlightened individuals might believe, may be the most exciting thing we have to offer as Catholics.  However, it will only be exciting if it is in contact with something outside of itself.  Keeping it locked up, like in a Catholic Ghetto, will strip the doctrine of all its power and vitality.

The doctrine of the Trinity is often held up as something remote and obscure.  I would submit that it only becomes remote and obscure in its presentation, not in its actuality.  The best way Catholics can communicate the truths encapsulated in the doctrine of the Trinity is to communicate their faith in the doctrine through conversation.  It is the personal aspect of taking time to talk with people that will resonate with others.

This should make perfect sense to us!  After all, what is the Trinity but the eternal, equal, living conversation between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  Additionally, we see the Trinity made real for us in the person of Jesus, who, among many other things, is a man of conversation.  Take a look at him through the eyes of John.

  • Jesus’ conversations when calling his disciples (Jn 1:29-51)
  • The conversation with Nicodemus who came to talk to Jesus at night (Jn 3)
  • The conversation with the Samaritan Woman at the well (Jn 4:4-42)
  • The Bread of Life Discourse (Jn 6:22-71)
  • The conversation with the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11)
  • The conversation with the man born blind (Jn 9)
  • Last Supper discourses (Jn 14)
  • Jesus’ conversation with Pilate (Jn 18:28-40)
  • Jesus’ conversation with Thomas (Jn 20:24-29)

There are a couple of keys to understanding these passages and to ultimately discerning our own response to challenges in our time.  Jesus was constantly in conversation with people and not just his disciples, but he was reaching out to people that were outside his “comfort zone” or outside convention (e.g. conversation with the Samaritan woman).  We continually see Jesus in contact with “the other” and offering them the love and peace of his father.  This is what the Catholic Ghetto can not do.  It betrays the openness to the other that is so obvious in the Gospel.

Secondly, true conversation, the type that has the potential to be life-changing, is open, mutually respectful, and loving.  We don’t see Jesus talking down to people nor do we witness him talking about people; rather, he spoke to them.  The story of the man born blind really illustrates that point.

Third, everyone that hears the conversation is converted.  Converted to what and to what degree can not necessarily be determine and in the grand scheme of things, it is not that important that we know.  A good conversation will take you to unfamiliar ground and lead you in unexpected directions.  Through them, all will grow in grace.  We are not in charge of that grace; at best, we can only hope to be channels of it.

We never know who may be touched by our conversations.  It may be the person we are most directly involved in speaking with is the least moved, but the person who merely overheard it is changed for ever.  Jesus held many conversations in crowds, big and small, and we read in the scriptures how people would “murmur” among themselves while Jesus spoke.  They were being touched by what Jesus had to say and they weren’t even in the conversation.

Our thinking is mostly dualistic: white/black, up/down, left/right, Republican/Democrat, Catholic/Protestant, etc.  It is these oppositions that help give us our identity.  But this dualism, does not allow for openness or for love.  Instead we should allow ourselves to be swept up in a Trinitarian love that opens up possibilities for going places beyond these simplistic, either/or distinctions.  We can be immersed in the love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This love is not introverted; it can not be kept in a ghetto.  Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit that pushes us to be in contact with people and situations that are beyond ourselves.  It is so alive, so bursting forth with vitality that it can not be made to look like everything else (i.e. assimilated).

The doctrine of the Trinity is the most exciting thing we have to offer others.  It is what should guide our spirituality in 2012 and beyond.  It is the doctrine behind the words of the God who says: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5)

 

I am indebted to Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP who has helped me see these things in a new, fresh way.

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Spirituality for 2012

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One of the things you hear from people during this time of year is they “need to beat the rush.” For example, “I need to get up at 4am on ‘black Friday’ so I can get to the mall and beat the rush.”

So in keeping with that idea of needing to “beat the rush,” I’ve decided, on Christmas Eve, to write about next year, 2012, in order to beat the rush and get a leg up on all the other bloggers out there.

Okay, that’s not really why I’m writing about the new year before we even have celebrated The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.  I know most Catholic bloggers have focused their writings on the coming of the Messiah, or the meekness of the King of Glory as he lay in the manger; their pieces are timely, powerful, and excellent for reflection and guiding prayer.  But I am looking ahead.  I really want us to be taking those familiar Christmas themes and carrying them forward beyond the Christmas liturgy and into the new year.  I want us to find the spirituality associated with Christmas and recognize that it is not just for the month of December, but for everyday.

I know, I know.  I can imagine the collective groan as people start moving their cursors to the red “X” in the upper right hand corner of the screen.  Most people believe that when Catholics start talking about “spirituality,” orthodoxy gets thrown out the window.  I get it.  I’ve seen plenty of that material too.  However, I can assure you, this is not that kind of post and if you indulge me for a few more minutes, I’ll prove it.

One of my sons, Noah, is seven years old and he has been going crazy for the past two weeks, waiting for Christmas.  In fact, one of the traditions in our home is to buy everyone a new pair of Christmas pajamas to wear to bed on Christmas eve and on Christmas morning.  This year, Noah’s expectation is running so high, that he has been wearing them for the past two days; as in, he hasn’t worn anything else!  I can already see the debate we’ll have later when it’s time to go to Mass.  But, I digress…

This expectation is an important part of Christmas, not only for children, but for adults too.  Indeed, Advent is a season dedicated to expectation.  Consider these snippets taken from the Advent Gospel readings:

  • “Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming….” (first week of Advent)
  • One mightier than I is coming after me.  I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.  (second week of Advent)
  • I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said. (third week of Advent)
  • Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (fourth week of Advent)

We can see the Lord’s coming is unexpected, but anticipated.  We don’t know when it will occur, but nonetheless we are exhorted to, “Watch!”  We see John’s testimony about the Lord in the next two weeks.  It not only highlights the coming of Jesus, but serves as foreshadowing of our efforts to evangelize, always pointing to the “one mightier than ourselves.”  And finally in Gabriel’s message to Mary, the Kingdom which Jesus shall rule over will have “no end.”

The expectant message of Advent is not only in anticipation of the Lord’s coming as a baby, the celebration of a historical event, but also serves celebration of a future event when the King of all the Ages comes at the end of history (cf. CCC 526, CCC 1042).  Therefore, the first (i.e. Christ’s incarnation) should influence our spirituality as we journey towards the second (i.e. Christ’s second coming).  But what should our spirituality look like as we anxiously await a world that is not here yet?

Almost exactly forty years ago, in October 1971, John Lennon released the song, “Imagine.”  In it, the former Beatle sang, “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try.”  Coincidentally, for the past forty years people have been living as if there is no heaven; they are not anticipating the return of the King of Heaven.  It would seem the pervasive idea of no heaven and hell, articulated in John Lennon’s famous song, resonates more with modern man than Catholicism’s call for people to lead lives of holiness and charity.

There may be good reason for that.  The rise of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism in the past half century, both  inside and outside of Christianity, has paved the way for a popular (and profitable) backlash against religion in general and Christianity in particular.  Books by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and recently deceased Christopher Hitchens (God is not Great) fly off the shelves in great quantities, demonstrating the popularity of the idea that there is no heaven and no hell.

If you survey the “religion” section of your local bookstore, I believe you are likely to see, in addition to books by Dawkins and Hitchens, books written to direct people to a new kind of spirituality apart from religion, or books dressed up as orthodox (i.e. Richard McBrien) that really get many of the facts wrong.  Interestingly, there is no shortage of this type of material being distributed.  From these facts, I can only assume there is a great interest in religion/spirituality, there is a thirst for God, but there is a lot of aggression and ignorance too.  Unfortunately, people like Dawkins and McBrien seem to have the lead in telling the story – our story!

In order for Christianity to grow and truly become the life changing force it is in 2012 (and beyond), it must be something more than just “spirituality.”  The life of the Christian must be, as the former Master General of the Dominican Order, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, once said, “moral, reflective, prayerful, and imaginative.”  The Christian life, truly understood and lived, would be a synthesis of these four items.   We must use our imagination to combine ethics (i.e. morality), theology (i.e. reflection), and spirituality (i.e. prayer) into our daily lives.  If these items exist apart from one another the result is never good, even sometimes tragic.  For,

  • Ethics/morality detached from spirituality and theology reduces the Christian life to a list of do’s and don’t's.  It is overly moralistic.
  • Theology detached from spirituality and ethics can be arid.  The Christian life was meant to produce fruit, not be a dry wasteland.
  • Spirituality detached from theology and ethics reduces the Christian faith to set of principles based on warm, fuzzy feelings.

The challenge for our spiritual lives in 2012 is to bring together all these aspects.  Advent and the season of Christmas, with all its expectation, awe and wonder should inspire to dive deeper into our faith.  As we contemplate the awesomeness of God becoming man, being born in a state of lowliness, and the worshiping Magi during this season, we should be renewed in our desire to pray more, study more, and live virtuously.

 

I will be publishing a follow-up to this article in a few days.  Right now, I have to go begin to get my seven year old out of his PJ’s and ready for Mass!  Have a blessed Christmas!

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The Good Shepherd Revealed at Bethlehem

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               “I live over the store.” We are not accustomed to hearing that expression much anymore. I suspect that is so for two reasons. The first might be termed a sociological explanation. With increased prosperity, it is no longer necessary for people to live where they work. The suburbs sprang up, in part, because people could afford to live more comfortably apart from where they engaged in commerce. The second explanation is clearly more psychological in nature. People fare better when they are able to put some distance or separation between their working “selves” and their living “selves.” People enjoy better mental health and endure less stress when they can work in one place and live in another.

Being able to separate working and living has not eliminated every problem, however. What about when there is a police emergency? When there is one, you the proprietor are called. What if a water main breaks and there is a flood? You the owner are called.

On balance though, most people prefer having their work in one domain and their living in a different sphere. That having been said, could we still allow that “living above the store” has more than just a nostalgic appeal? Yes, I think we can.

In today’s gospel, the evangelist describes the Infant’s birth as having taken place in Bethlehem. (cf. Lk 2:4) After the birth, the Virgin wraps the Christ Child in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger. (cf. Lk 2:7) Apart from the Holy Family, the only persons present for this blessed event are the shepherds. (cf. Lk 2:8) They are, as the text indicates, astonished at what has occurred and the angels announce to them a message of great joy: “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” (Lk 2:11)

It is not just the wonder and awe of the shepherds which should catch our attention. For the gospel says of them that they are living in the fields, keeping the night watch over their flock. (cf. Lk 2:8) The shepherds are completely devoted to the work at hand. The fields constitute both their work and living space at the same time. For the shepherds, there is no time away, no distance or separation. Work and living are not neatly compartmentalized, each with its own distinct allotments and priorities. In a manner of speaking, the shepherds do indeed live over the sheep, their work.

For their dedication and commitment, the shepherds are deserving of commendation and praise. What word then is fitting for them? Surely, we cannot call them “fair” or “mediocre”; no, they are much better than these assessments. Let us call them good then. On second thought, let us call them not good enough.

In the course of His public ministry, Jesus is asked what good must be done to gain eternal life. (cf. Matt 19:16; Mk 10: 17; Lk 18:18) To attain eternal life, Jesus answers, one must keep the commandments. (cf. Matt 19:17; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20) But there is more to this encounter between Jesus and the rich young man. Jesus adds in the accounts rendered by Saint Mark and Saint Luke that no one is good but God alone. (cf. Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19)  Explaining this remark of Jesus, Pope John Paul II writes in Veritatis Splendor (1993) that “[o]nly God can answer the question about what is good, because he is the Good itself.” (9)

There is no denying that the Incarnation is a very big mystery. It has to be – creation is correspondingly very big. However, the restoration of creation begins very small. It begins with a Baby. And in the manger, that Baby is a Shepherd even if He is yet to identify Himself as such.

Christmas reveals the radical incompleteness of earthly things. The gospel tells us that magi from the east (cf. Matt 2:1) came to Bethlehem and offered the Infant gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (cf.  Matt 2:11) One interpretation of Little Christmas is that the magi were kings. If so, their kingship now becomes forever subordinate to Christ’s eternal kingship. As committed and faithful as the shepherds are living in the fields, they are seeing for the first time in the birth of Christ what it means to be a good shepherd.

Jesus proclaims Himself to be the Good Shepherd in Saint John’s Gospel. (Jn 10:10) He guides and directs even from the manger. He can do this because the wood of the manger is like the wood of the Cross. The Cross is the gate to which Jesus refers in the tenth chapter of the Fourth Gospel. (cf. Jn:10:9) Whoever enters through the gate of the Cross finds life, an abundance of it. (cf. Jn 10:10)

All shepherding, then, remains unfulfilled until it can promise eternal life. In the One who lies in the Bethlehem manger, the promise of eternal life has indeed been actualized. To share in it ourselves, we must follow wherever the Lord leads, careful to hear His voice above the cacophony of other voices, and making His word the very center of our lives – not just on Christmas of course but every day.

The shepherds living in the fields, through their encounter with divine goodness, have  started to become good themselves. And they have made known the message about the Christ Child by telling others, according to the evangelist’s description. (Lk 2:17)  That is how our goodness grows and deepens – by taking up in a most serious way the demands of the new evangelization. We who are baptized and confirmed, we who share in the Holy Eucharist have a responsibility to imitate the heralding of the shepherds even if we do not live in the fields as they did. Whether we “live above the store” or not, there is an urgent summons to know the goodness of Christ and the incomparable gift of everlasting life He offers us now. The goodness of the Christ Child in Bethlehem was announced by a multitude of the heavenly host. (cf. Lk 2:13) May we sing out with them: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Lk 2:14)

Merry Christmas!

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Humanity Now Counts the Face of God Among Its Own

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Belief in the Incarnation is distinctive to the Christian faith.  It is a basic tenet in the Creed: Jesus Christ “was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.”

The Incarnation is a unique and singular event. Its truth transforms the way we view God and ourselves: The Incarnation of Christ is the height of centuries of Divine Revelation…. Divine Revelation, of course, being the revealing, or making known, of God Himself to humanity.

In the Incarnation, God now chooses his divine communication to be made known through the Person of His Son.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) defines the Incarnation as “the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it  (CCC 461).”

St Paul taught:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:5-8.)

 

This holy condescension of God means we can never accuse God of being absent or lofty or unreachable or inaccessible. The Incarnation – the taking on flesh in the Virgin’s womb – is the moment whereby the inexhaustible, inexpressible, invisible, omnipotent, and almighty holy One takes on human visage. The divinity of God shines through a human person now. And God used the humanity of Jesus to save us all.

CCC 479:

At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.

The Second Vatican Council had this to say about the Incarnation:

The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.

He Who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled, by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too.  (Gaudium et Spes, 22.)

As God reveals Himself and his love for us via the Incarnation, he reveals much about the humanity to which we belong:  we are now enlightened by Christ.  Having once been darkened by the sin of Adam, human life is restored and re-dignified to an even greater height than when it was first made in the image and likeness of its Maker.

Humanity now counts the face of God among its own.

Never again may I look at another person, or my own self, with disdain or disrespect. For there is an inherent dignity in all: we too are robed in flesh; now the Son of God, the Savior and Lord, images us.

For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin. (Gaudium et Spes, 22.)

This is why we celebrate Christmas: the Nativity is the realization of the Incarnation.

This is why we kneel with wonder, praying at the manger. The Christ Child gives us insight into the God who truly knows us, loves us, and still chooses to save us. And as we yield to that love, we receive a keener understanding of our own true selves.

CCC 477:

The Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus “we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see” [Roman Missal, Preface of Christmas I].

The individual characteristics of Christ’s body express the divine person of God’s Son. He has made the features of his human body his own, to the point that they can be venerated when portrayed in a holy image, for the believer who venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted.

Come, the Crèche awaits us… let us pray and gaze into his Holy Face.

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This article was previously released at CatholicExchange.com as “The Unique and Singular Event of the Incarnation”, and is reprinted and re-titled here with the author’s permission.

 

 

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The Annunciation

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The Baker-woman in her humble lodge
Received a grain of wheat from God.
For nine whole months the grain she stored

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Make us the bread, Mary, Mary
We need to be fed…

Traditional hymn, translated from the French by Hubert Richards.

 

Theotokos is the Greek term used to describe Mary, Mother of God. The Madonna God’s instrument in redemption; the virgin-mother who fulfils Isaiah 7:14 and links heaven and earth.

The central focus of this feast is the Incarnation of God Made Man, of whom it was said “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” [John 15:13].  The Gospel of Luke tells us that Archangel Gabriel proclaimed to Mary that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Christ. Since it is practical to presume that Jesus was conceived then, immediately after this.

We celebrate the Annunciation nine months before Christmas Day, on 25 March. The word is from the Latin annuntiare, to announce.

We are all encouraged to emulate Mary, Mother of God – and yet sometimes, we are discouraged from doing so because we know we can never be as holy, as blessed, as at one with God. But the point is that just as Mary gave her “fiat” (let Your will be done) and consented to do God’s will, so must we be “handmaidens of the Lord”.

 “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-34)

Jesus, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, became the Logos (“Word”), and dwelt among us. This is why in the Nicene Creed we say by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and became man.

Mary and Joseph were not yet married; so she asked Gabriel how that would come to pass. He replied that the Holy Spirit and the power of God would descend upon her, and that the child to be born would be called Holy; the “Son of God.”

Gabriel had another surprise; he told Mary that in her old age, her cousin Elizabeth had also conceived a son in her old age; for God, “nothing is impossible”.

In the Annunciation, which is not a Holy Day of Obligation, we remember both that Jesus was made man to save us, and also that Mary said yes to God. Most of the paintings of the Annunciation present the occasion as one of prayerful joy, with the angel on the left side and Mary looking towards him in wonder, or in prayer.

In some pictures, Mary is kneeling – in others, she is seated on a chair that looks like a throne, to show her high holy status.

Sometimes, Mary is spinning yarn of a red hue, recalling the curtain of the Temple in Jerusalem. In some other pictures, Mary’s hand is raised, to indicate that she has accepted the blessing, and the invitation to become the Mother of the Saviour.

Different paintings give different interpretations of the Annunciation – it is interesting to note how in some of them Gabriel appears to be running, as if he is in a hurry to spread the Good News. Sometimes, however, the Archangel is presented kneeling, and his right hand and that of the Virgin Mary reach out to one another, but do not touch.

When we see the Archangel holding a staff, it is to indicate that he is a messenger – if he holds a lily, it symbolises the purity of Mary.  When the right hand of the angel extends toward Mary, it signifies that he is passing on God’s blessing. Sometimes, the angel’s hand is raised, his finger pointing towards heaven.

The Annunciation is usually the first of The Seven Joys of the Virgin, which date from medieval devotional literature and art. However, different lists give different instances in the life of Our Lady. It is noted that originally, there were five joys of Mary; later lists had seven, nine, and even fifteen.

Mother Church teaches that the divine nature of the Jesus remained distinct from His human nature; He was God and man simultaneously. Saint Athanasius taught that Jesus was the incarnation (“made flesh”) of the second person of the Trinity.

The First Council of Nicaea (AD 325); the Council of Ephesus (AD 431); and the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451). These councils affirmed that Jesus Christ was begotten from, but not created by, the Father; and fully man, and that He took His human nature from His Mother. In layman’s terms, Jesus is Son of God on his paternal side and Son of Man from his maternal side. The essential nature of Jesus Christ is that in which the divine and the human are hypostatic, and the Son of God became a man so that he could save us from our sins.

Many people still abstain from meat during all of Lent, and not just on Fridays. This brings us to the question of whether, especially if the Annunciation and Saint Joseph’s Day fall on a Friday, it would be permissible to eat meat.

The Annunciation (also known as Lady Day) is a solemnity, like Easter, Pentecost Sunday, and Christmas, Trinity Sunday, the Feasts of Saint John the Baptist, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Joseph, as well as other feasts of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A solemnity, for which the Liturgical Vestments are generally white, is the highest-ranking of any feast in the Catholic liturgical calendar, considered as important as a Sunday, which is never a day of abstinence or fasting. Indeed, the Code of Canon Law (Can. 1251) states that:

Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday.

 

The Angelus

The Angelus reminds us of the Incarnation.  The name of the prayer is derived from its opening words.

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ.
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.

V. Ecce Ancilla Domini.
R. Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.

Ave Maria…

V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
R. Et habitavit in nobis.

Ave Maria…

V. Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus: Gratiam tuam quæsumus, Domine,
mentibus nostris infunde;
ut qui, angelo nuntiante,
Christi Filii tui Incarnationem cognovimus,
per passionem eius et crucem,
ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.
Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

—————————–

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the power of Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to your Word.

Hail Mary…

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary…

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Glory be…

 

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