Christopher Smith, OP, Author at Amazing Catechists

About Christopher Smith, OP

Mr. Christopher Smith, OP was born and raised in Northern Michigan. After graduating high school, he joined the United States Navy and had the honor of serving his country for almost 21 years. He retired from active duty in March 2010 and now works as a cybersecurity consultant for the Department of Defense. Christopher, his wife, and their two children live near Baltimore, Maryland.

Christopher earned a BA degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2005 and a MA degree in Theology (AOC: Moral Theology) from St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland in 2010. In June 2007, he was received into the Dominican Order as a member of the Immaculate Conception Chapter of Third Order Dominicans located at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C.

When he is not blogging, Christopher is involved in several ministries in his parish, including: RCIA catechist, adult formation leader, and parish council. He also conducts workshops on a variety of theological subjects. Some of Christopher’s favorite research topics include: apologetics, theodicy, just war theory, church/state relations, and public theology. He also enjoys digital photography, soccer, reading, and playing on his drum set.

In addition to writing for AC, you can find Christopher on his blog Christopher's Apologies. He also hangs out on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and YouTube.

What is “Holy Indifference?”

By Christopher Smith, OP

Indifference is an uncomfortable word, isn’t it?

Imagine if someone called us, “indifferent”. I suspect we would either be offended, because we don’t think that accurately describes us, or we might feel convicted if we felt the word did accurately describe our attitude.

The word “holy” we tend to think of only in a favorable way. If something is holy, then it is good, pure, or “of God”.

But now bring the two together – “holy indifference” – and I think the most likely impression is the phrase represents an oxymoron. The terms are too dissimilar to be used in conjunction with one another.

We might be surprised to know that “holy indifference” is an attitude recommended by the Saints for hundreds of years. For example, Saint Francis de Sales (1567 – 1622) wrote a chapter entitled, “Holy Indifference Embraces All Things” in his book, Of the Love of God. In it he wrote:

We should seek to practise such indifference with respect to all that concerns our natural life such as health or sickness, beauty or deformity, strength or weakness, honour, rank, and riches; so, also, in all fluctuations of the spiritual life, dryness, consolation, and the like.

In a later chapter of the same book, St Francis de Sales writes:

Unquestionably it is a most pious mental attitude to bless and thank God for all that His Providence may ordain; but if, while leaving God to will and do whatever He pleases in us, we, indifferent to all surroundings, could devote our whole heart and mind to His Boundless Goodness and Mercy, blessing them, not merely in their appointed results, but intrinsically, this would assuredly be a higher spiritual exercise.

Jesus encouraged his followers to be detached from this world and some isolated verses of scripture might lead us to the conclusion that our “holy indifference” is to be so radical as to almost be hostile towards the world. For example when Jesus says of the man who wished to bury his parents before following him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:59-62). Is Jesus really telling us we need to adopt a hostile attitude towards the world in order to be “fit for the kingdom of God”?

I don’t think so.

Jesus taught us to love God and love neighbor, calling these the greatest two commandments (Mt 22:36-40). So right away we can see that we need to love our neighbor through concrete actions (i.e. Corporal Works of Mercy). This is not something we do in the abstract.

So for example, it’s the dead of winter and you’re leaving your office early to head home because the weather forecast is calling for snow and freezing temperatures. You put on your brand new winter coat (man, you really love this thing) and head outside towards your car. You’re getting ready to put your keys in the door when you see a homeless person walking by with a tattered blanket wrapped around their shoulders. It’s decision time. You really love your new coat (and that’s okay) but an attitude of “holy indifference” doesn’t love the coat more than the homeless person. You know you can get in your warm car, drive to your warm house, and take out last year’s winter coat, which is still in fine shape, and use that.

There is nothing wrong with having a new coat. Also, there is nothing wrong if you really enjoy it. But when an opportunity presents itself for us to fulfill our Savior’s command to love our neighbor, we can’t love the coat more than that. That’s having an attitude of “holy indifference”. It says, “This thing is nice, but it is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to my Lord.”

Pope Innocent XII (1615-1700) wrote the following on “holy indifference”:

In the state of holy indifference, a soul no longer has voluntary and deliberate desires for its own interest, with the exception of those occasions on which it does not faithfully cooperate with the whole of its grace.

In the same state of holy indifference we wish nothing for ourselves, all for God. We do not wish that we be perfect and happy for self interest, but we wish all perfection and happiness only in so far as it pleases God to bring it about that we wish for these states by the impression of His grace.

In this state of holy indifference we no longer seek salvation as our own salvation, as our eternal liberation, as a reward of our merits, nor as the greatest of all our interests, but we wish it with our whole will as the glory and good pleasure of God, as the thing which He wishes, and which He wishes us to wish for His sake.

The bottom line is we can love our things so long as we don’t become so attached to them that we no longer have the strength to become detached when they begin to interfere with our eternal destiny. Everything and everyone must be subordinated to our pursuit of God. That’s “holy indifference” in contrast to the world’s indifference which would have left a homeless person without a coat.

Help Me Make a Top 10 List For Why We Evangelize!

By Christopher Smith, OP

Why do we evangelize?

I guess the question presupposes the reader actually is evangelizing others, or at least trying to. But why do we do it? Or, if we’re not actively engaged in evangelization, why are others?

Well, I would like to offer you my top seven reasons we might be trying to evangelize others, all of which can found in scripture.

First, we feel called to evangelize. St. Paul writes to Timothy:

“For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do” (2 Tim 1:11-12a).

And again…

“For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Tim 2:7).

Secondly, the evangelist may feel a divine compulsion. St Paul wrote the following to the believers at Corinth:

“For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).

Luke records the following response of Peter and John in the book of Acts:

“…we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Thirdly, evangelization is seen as a God-given responsibility. Paul, once again, writing to the Church at Corinth:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men; but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience” (2 Cor 5:10-11).

Fourth, the evangelist has a desire to win the lost. St Paul certainly possessed a heart for the lost and so he wrote to the believers in Rome:

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (Rom 10:1).

And again…

“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish: so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome” (Rom 1:14-15).

A fifth reason we evangelize is because we recognize the eventually of a coming judgement:

“My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (Jam 5:19-20).

A sixth reason believers work at evangelizing others is because they are responding to God’s grace in their own lives:

“For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor 5:13-15).

The seventh reason Christians evangelize is because of their confidence in the Gospel. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16).

I know a “top seven” sounds a bit strange; why not a “top 10?”

Well I was going to write a “top 10” but then I thought I’d ask YOU to come up with remaining three. So how about it; can you help me round out my “top 10” reasons why we evangelize?

Tell me why you evangelize in the comments section below. If you have a corresponding scripture reference to share, that is great, but not required. I’m looking forward to your answers!

Family: Its role in the New Evangelization

By Christopher Smith, OP

I read Pope Francis’ address to the Spanish Bishops who were in Rome two weeks ago for their ad limina visits. In his remarks he mentioned the role of the family in the context of the New Evangelization:

An evangelized family is a valuable agent of evangelization, especially radiating the wonder that God has worked in it. Moreover, being by nature the ambit of generosity, it will promote the birth of vocations to the following of the Lord in the priesthood or consecrated life.

“An evangelized family…” I like that phrase. I also like the vision Pope Francis has for it; specifically, that an “evangelized family” radiates God’s wonder and is the birthplace of new vocations.

So I decided to do some poking around to see what the modern popes have said about the role of the family in evangelization, in ministry, and in the Church in general. I thought I would be able to find a decent amount of material, but man, oh man, I never expected to find so much!

Here are some selections of what I found, presented in no particular order.

Secularity is the true and distinctive mark of the lay person and of lay spirituality, which means that the laity strive to evangelize the various sectors of family, social, professional, cultural and political life. On a continent marked by competition and aggressiveness, unbridled consumerism and corruption, lay people are called to embody deeply evangelical values such as mercy, forgiveness, honesty, transparency of heart and patience in difficult situations. What is expected from the laity is a great creative effort in activities and works demonstrating a life in harmony with the Gospel” (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, #44).

“God the Creator, by forming the first man and woman and commanding them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (Gen 1:28), definitively established the family. In this sanctuary life is born and is welcomed as God’s gift. The word of God, faithfully read in the family, gradually builds it up as a domestic church and makes it fruitful in human and Christian virtues; it is there that the source of vocations is to be found (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, #46).

I therefore invite all the Catholics of America to take an active part in the evangelizing initiatives which the Holy Spirit is stirring in every part of this immense continent, so full of resources and hopes for the future. In a special way, I invite Catholic families to be “domestic Churches”, in which the Christian faith is lived and passed on to the young as a treasure, and where all pray together. If they live up to the ideal which God places before them, Catholic homes will be true centers of evangelization (Blessed Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, #76).

The family’s catechetical activity has a special character, which is in a sense irreplaceable. This special character has been rightly stressed by the Church, particularly by the Second Vatican Council.(118) Education in the faith by parents, which should begin from the children’s tenderest age, is already being given when the members of a family help each other to grow in faith through the witness of their Christian lives, a witness that is often without words but which perseveres throughout a day-to-day life lived in accordance with the Gospel (Blessed John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, #68).

Our thoughts turn also to Christian families, to ask them to remain faithful to their vital mission in society. May they consecrate themselves in this jubilee year to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! For married couples this act of piety will be a valuable aid in performing their conjugal duties of chastity and faithfulness. It will keep pure the atmosphere in which their children grow up. Even more, it will make the family, inspired by its devotion to Mary, a living center of social rebirth and apostolic influence (Pope Pius XII, Le Pelerinage de Lourdes, #53).

Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in these our days: fathers and mothers of families, those who are godparents through Baptism, and in particular those members of the laity who collaborate with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer occupy an honourable, if often a lowly, place in the Christian community, and even they under the impulse of God and with His help, can reach the heights of supreme holiness, which, Jesus Christ has promised, will never be wanting to the Church (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, #17).

Everyone knows that the Christian family is a special sign of the presence and love of Christ and that it is called to give a specific and irreplaceable contribution to evangelization (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Homily during Mass for the National Day of Croatian Catholic Families).

The good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded upon marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, #29).

And on and on and on…

There is no doubt of the importance of the family unit in building up future members of the Church (and society) through evangelization and by producing vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life. I pray that during this Lenten season you take inventory of your family’s spiritual health and find ways to strengthen it.

2013 First Communion Class at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (Vermillion, MN)

A slightly different version of this post was originally published online at Christopher’s Apologies on March 6, 2014.

Mass Explained App Review

By Christopher Smith, OP

I was recently contacted by Dan Gonzalez and asked to check out his new iPad app, Mass Explained. As someone who loves both the Church and technology, I was so happy he did!

I have gone through a dozen or more “apps” in the last couple of years which focus on Catholicism. As of today, I may only use three or four of them. As for the others, I got rid of them because I found the application either lacked intuitiveness or the depth of material was just not sufficient.

It is critical, from a technology standpoint, for an application to have a good “flow;” it must make sense when the user is interacting with it. If a user has to “hunt and peck” to find what they are looking for, then they’ll quickly become frustrated or lose interest. With the number of apps available today, a user will not waste time navigating a cumbersome product; they will just simply delete it and move on to the next one.

As someone who has spent over two decades studying the Catholic faith, I have found “apps” lack the level of detail and scholarship I would like to see in a product. I have concluded most Catholic applications built for smartphones and/or tablets are for people only seeking information at the introductory level.

Mass Explained for iPad hits a home run both in its easy functionality and for its scholarship! I can’t think of any other Catholic app which allows you to zoom in and out of pictures, spin 3-D objects, and view 360 degree panoramic images?

Mass Explained allows the user to use buttons, drop down menus, or swiping gestures to navigate through the material. That type of flexibility, allowing the user to customize their experience, is a great feature! The use of pop up windows also allows the user to stay a page while “drilling down” to the information they want.

From a scholarship perspective, Mass Explained, succeeds where others have failed! Hundreds of quotations and references to scripture, the Early Church Fathers, the Catechism, church councils, papal encyclicals and more! Mass Explained even has audio files, allowing users to hear prayers in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English. This is great application for people looking to go beyond a basic understanding of the Mass. I could easily see RCIA catechists using Mass Explained to introduce the Mass to prospective Catholics.

The current Mass Explained app is “Volume 1,” which looks at the Introductory Rites and the Liturgy of the Word. A planned “Volume 2” will cover the Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Concluding Rites.

Congratulations to Dan on creating a beautiful, easy to use and informative product for Catholics and non-Catholics alike! I heartily recommend adding Mass Explained to your list of Catholic iPad Applications!

This is a slightly modified version of a post under the same title which appeared on Christopher’s Apologies on 17 Feb 2014.

Does the Bible require full immersion baptism?

By Christopher Smith, OP

Recently I participated in an online discussion about baptism. One of the comments made, by a non-Catholic, was that the Bible requires a person to be fully immersed during baptism. I wanted to share my reply to her with the readers of Amazing Catechists.

Scripture is not exactly clear on this. I can tell you, for the record, I have seen Catholic Churches where infants have water sprinkled on them and adults are fully submerged. It’s rare for full immersion in a Catholic Church, but it is out there.

After Peter preached his first sermon, it says in Acts 2:41 that 3000 were baptized. I’ve read that archaeologists have demonstrated there was not a sufficient enough water supply for so many to have been immersed and even if there was, the people of Jerusalem would not have allowed for the contamination of the city’s water supply to have 3000 dirty people immersed. If that is true, and it seems reasonable, then either 3000 people were not baptized or they were not baptized by full immersion. Something to think about.

I know you prefer to focus our conversation on scripture, so I want to look at the word for baptism using immersion: βαπτίζω or baptizō

In Luke 11:38, Jesus is going to have dinner. Luke writes, “The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash (baptizō) before dinner.” The word used for “wash” is baptizō. I suppose an argument could be made that Jesus would “fully immerse” his hands during washing, but isn’t it more likely that he would pour water over his hands above a small bowl or basin? So therefore, baptizō has meanings apart from full immersion baptism.

There is a Greek word for washing (hands). It is νίπτω or niptō and we can see it used in Mark 7:3: “For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash (niptō) their hands, observing the tradition of the elders.”

Then we can see another use of baptizō. In Luke 12:50 we see Jesus saying, “I have a baptism (baptisma) to be baptized (baptizō) with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!”

So now we see baptizō being used metaphorically to describe the suffering (i.e his Passion) Jesus is to endure.

Final point regarding the use of baptizō: In Acts 1:4-5, Jesus instructs his followers not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for “the promise of the father,” for ”John baptized (baptizō) with water, but before many days you shall be baptized (baptizō) with the Holy Spirit.”

Now, an argument could be made that one would be fully immersed in the Holy Spirit, thus confirming the understanding of baptizō as full immersion. However, let’s look at the second chapter of Acts. In three instances in that one chapter (2:17, 2:18, 2:33), the Spirit is described as being “poured” out (ἐκχέω or ekcheō) (i.e. not immersed).

The point behind this linguistics exercise is simply to point out one thing: baptizō, the word used by born-again Christians to insist on full immersion as the only valid means for baptism, is used broadly enough in scripture to incorporate “pouring” as well as “immersion.” Combine the massive amount of scriptural evidence with writings apart from scripture and art from that period (below), and the evidence is overwhelming that pouring or sprinkling over the head is as valid a means for baptism as full immersion and possibly even the preferred option.

Painting which depicts a baptism by pouring water over the head while kneeling in a river.

Let’s talk about love

By Christopher Smith, OP

Love. Love. Love.

It is word used quite often in church circles. And rightly so. I mean, the bible might mention something about love once or twice. Okay, actually it’s closer to 772 times in 649 different verses of scripture, but who’s counting? (RSVCE edition).

The trouble with so many references to love in the bible, and in Christianity, is it can be such a nebulous word. In fact, it can mean almost as many things inside the church as it does outside the church. That can lead to some real confusion.

With this post I hope to clear up some of that confusion. If I succeed – great! If I don’t then the worse thing that could be said about me is that I only contributed to the already blaring cacophony of people offering their ideas on the subject.

First, since I am talking about love in the Christian context, it seems only appropriate to use Jesus’ words, life, and actions as the benchmark to measure our own words, lives, and actions. The gospel accounts show Jesus as fundamentally oriented towards his father’s will. So to begin with we too must orient our lives towards God’s will. There can be no divided heart in us, serving two masters. We must not be consumed with the pursuit of wealth and/or honors, even our family is to be considered second when it comes to showing where our allegiance belongs (cf. Mt 6:19-21, Mk 10:42-44, Lk 14:26).

Second, what we know about God’s will is that it does not waver (ST I, Q.19, A7). What we can also know about God, and his will, is that he wills nothing for himself. He is not in search of more power, greater glory, or mankind’s servitude. Humanity can do nothing to enhance or make greater the glory which God already possesses. God’s will then, since it is not self-serving, is to provide for mankind’s well-being. From the first verse of the bible to the last, God wills for a definitive and comprehensive good for mankind (i.e. salvation). God wills life, joy, peace, freedom, and happiness for each individual and the whole of humanity (ST I, Q.19 A2).

Third, since God’s will is directed towards the well-being of mankind, and we are to follow Jesus’ example of orienting our lives to the will of the father, then it should become clear now that our will should be directed at service towards men and women.

It is really quite simple, in theory. Since we can not do anything which can greater God’s glory nor can we adequately praise him for the abundance of his mercy, and since God is not interested in receiving that type of worship anyway but in the bettering mankind, then our focus should be on loving our neighbor. Too often, we become so busy “serving God” that we forget to serve others around us. However, “serving God” never excuses us from our duty to serve our neighbor. In fact, it is in serving (i.e loving) our neighbor that our service to God is proved.

I must say at this point, while not wanting to get too far off course, I am not advocating for us to stop worshipping God because it “doesn’t do any good anyway.” There is “good” accomplished by praising God; St Thomas Aquinas notes at least three (ST II, II Q.91, A1). He writes:

“Consequently we need to praise God with our lips, not indeed for His sake, but for our own sake; since by praising Him our devotion is aroused towards Him…”
“And forasmuch as man, by praising God, ascends in his affections to God, by so much is he withdrawn from things opposed to God…”
“The praise of the lips is also profitable to others by inciting their affections towards God…”

Additionally, we need to continue to receive the sacraments for they are the means by which God gives us the graces to live like his son (cf. CCC 1070, CCC 1131).

Returning now to Jesus, our benchmark, we must ask ourselves, “What is love to Jesus?”

To used a well worn phrase: “actions speak louder than words.” Jesus’ idea of love is not talk, but action.

Jesus summed up the entirety of this life and works by identifying the two “greatest” commandments:

He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment (Mt 22:37-38).

Followed by:

And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 22:39).

When we consider what “loving God” means, I think we can see it as some kind of mystical union with the Lord, where we retreat to a private place in order to fully take in the experience. Even if a person is graced with having those types of experiences, as we read about in the lives of many of the saints, there is still a need to fulfill the second commandment and that cannot be done in isolation. Even the most mystically inclined saints came out of their cells to minister to others.

The fourth point I’d like to make is that our actions, if they are truly to resemble Jesus’ and manifest the will of the father, can not be selfishly motivated. We should not attempt to call the Lord’s attention (or other people’s) to our actions. Reaching out to our fellow man can not be our attempt at scoring “brownie points” with God.

In the story of the final judgment, Jesus says neither the sheep nor the goats recognized him in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, or the prisoner. The difference was the sheep, those at Jesus’ right, didn’t care. They helped those in need anyway. Those are the ones who inherit the kingdom. Had the goats, those at Jesus’ left, known Jesus was present in the needy, they would have helped, but their motivation for helping would have been all wrong (Mt 25:31-46).

A fifth observation I would like to point out is that “love of mankind” is too general and does not meet the criteria of following Jesus’ example of dedication to his father’s will. Jesus never spoke in terms of loving humanity universally, but in much more concrete terms. As Hans Kung noted in his book, On Being a Christian, “A kiss of that kind costs nothing: it is not like kissing this one sick, imprisoned, underprivileged, starving man.” Pope Francis recently gave the world an example of what a real concrete love looks like when he embraced and kissed a man covered in boils.

We can not, using Jesus’ example in scripture, think some abstract universal love of mankind is what Jesus was commanding his disciples to do when he told them to love their neighbor. The measuring stick Jesus gives his disciples for how to love one’s neighbor is one they should have been familiar with as he reminded them of a teaching from the Old Testament’s Holiness Code:

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord (Lv 19:18)

Loving oneself not only implies how much we should love our neighbor, since our nature is to protect and take care of ourselves, but it also implies proximity. Our neighbor must be close to us!

We can see clearly now that love of God and love of neighbor has the same foundation; specifically, they are built on the concepts of abandonment of selfishness and the will to self-sacrifice. Only when we no longer live for ourselves can we be unreservedly open to God and to others (Lk 17:33).

We are still not done yet. The sixth part of this post on love is, Jesus revealing the perfect will of his father in the command to “love your enemies” (Mt 5:43-48). This goes far beyond the “golden rule” which can be found in various expressions in the other religions of the world. Many of the world’s religions, to include Jesus’ own Judaism, while espousing the golden rule still favored hating one’s enemy.

By saying we must love our enemies, did Jesus take things too far? By asking for some kind of moral perfectionism, as he does after issuing this command (i.e. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48)), isn’t Jesus setting us up for failure?

To be sure, we will all fail during our attempts to love God, ourselves, our neighbor, and our enemy. However, what did you expect from God? What did you expect of Jesus? To give less than all? To draw a line in the sand and say, “You only have to love to this point, no further?”

In the commandment to love one’s neighbor there is still room for selfishness to creep in which is why Jesus expands the teaching to include one’s enemy. A neighbor, which could include family, friends, fellow countrymen, members of the same clan, etc., would likely be inclined to reciprocate your loving action. Therefore, desire for reciprocation could be our motivating factor, thus preventing us from loving as Jesus did.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (Lk 6:32-35).

Human love, if it is truly to reflect God’s love, as shown in Jesus’ living example, must incorporate all that is good about our humanity. While many times our decision to love is just that, a decision of the will, a love like God’s will also include emotion, vitality, creativity, and affection, the things we typically reserve for those closest to us, and offer it to our enemies. To love like Jesus, we must hold nothing back.

Five things to know when evangelizing in modern society

By Christopher Smith, OP

There are two things which prompted me to write this article: the New Evangelization and Pope Francis’ insistence that believers must get out of their comfort zones and reach out to others.

German theologian, Heinz Zahrnt (1915-2003), wrote on numerous topics, but he is arguably most known for his writings on secularization and how Christians can still provide an effective witness in the midst of it. In order to lay the groundwork and provide context for my own comments on Zahrnt’s work, I think it is important to show why I think it is important to study the work of theologians like Zahrnt. First off, I think he rightly defines secularization and it’s spread throughout our culture:

In the modern age, secularization, the ordering of the world on it’s own terms, has overwhelmed every province of life like an avalanche…. The process of secularization has largely been complete and is the accepted characteristic of our whole life and existence (The Question of God).

Therefore, given this “accepted characteristic of our whole life,” Christians must be able to articulate the Good News in a world seeking to order itself on “it’s own terms,” a concept contrary to the Gospel (cf. Prov 16:3, MT 6:33, 2 Tim 4:2). Zahrnt believes Christianity has been presented a challenge:

Christian faith must be confronted in ruthless honesty with the changed reality of the world…and also the changed relationship of man to the reality of the world…” (The Question of God).

In his book, Gott Kann Nich Sterben (God Cannot Die), which was released in 1972 under the English title, What Kind of God? A Question of Faith, Zahrnt offers five presuppositions which he feels need to be accepted as givens when preaching the gospel in the modern world. While he outlines particular challenges associated with each presupposition, I can see there are also unique opportunities which Christians can benefit from individually and collectively. Additionally, I believe both Zahrnt’s challenges and the opportunities I outline help to create inroads for believers to share their faith.

The first presupposition is: there is a scientific explanation for most of our experiences in the world. Whether it is the weather, medical cures, fortunes/misfortunes of individuals, or victories in war, there are explanations for these things, and almost all other phenomena, which do not require any reference to God (I say “almost” because miracles still happen). Many people left the Church over the centuries because their faith had been damaged by the discovery that a reference to the divine is not required in order to know or understand how things work in the world.

There are some who like to create a “tension” between religion and science which, in reality, does not exist. A scientific explanation for many of the phenomena in the world, formerly attributed to God, provides the opportunity to invite people to a more personal, inward encounter with God. People who seek God in secondary effects (e.g. thunder, financial reward) are missing the point of the Incarnation: God has invited us into a personal relationship with him (that is a phenomenon (an experience) science can’t explain).

People don’t (or at least they shouldn’t) maintain close, earthly relationships because of what the other person can do for them; they maintain them because they want to be in relationship with the other person. So too with God. People should want to be in a relationship with him and not just see him as their “genie in the bottle,” granting wishes or showing off his limitless power.

The second presupposition Zahrnt offers is: people’s concept of authority has changed. Nothing is accepted as “true” any more without being subjected to the judgement of reason. No longer will people accept, “because it’s in the Bible” or “because the Church says so” as sufficient justification for anything.

The opportunity now available is Christians can deepen their faith, truly trusting in God with their whole heart, and not only when good fortunes are plentiful (cf. Job 2:10, Mt 5:45). People are not slaves, in the sense that they have no will of their own. Believers can take their faith to greater depths because of what they learn. Consider what Thomas Aquinas writes on this subject:

Reason and intellect in man cannot be distinct powers. We shall understand this clearly if we consider their respective actions. For to understand is simply to apprehend intelligible truth: and to reason is to advance from one thing understood to another, so as to know an intelligible truth. And therefore angels, who according to their nature, possess perfect knowledge of intelligible truth, have no need to advance from one thing to another; but apprehend the truth simply and without mental discussion, as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. vii). But man arrives at the knowledge of intelligible truth by advancing from one thing to another; and therefore he is called rational (ST I, Q.79, A. 8)

Christians should not persist in having a “blind faith.” There may be a time when a person first accepts the gift of faith (CCC 162) that their faith is “blind,” in the sense that it has not matured through the use reason. However, Christians are to progress in their faith, deepen it, through the use of their reason and intellect (cf. Rom 12:2, 1 Cor 13:11, 1 Cor 14:20, 2 Pt 3:17-18).

The third presupposition pointed out by Zahrnt is people today are more critical of ideology. The modern world, with all its technological advancements (especially in communications), is able to see the social misuse of religion by individuals or by groups, both inside and outside the Church. The most obvious example is the scandalous actions of some priests brought to light in the last 15 years even though most of the incidents occurred 30-50 years ago. The complicity of their bishops, an arguably even worse crime, who used their power to protect an unjust status quo is what creates and nurtures the distrust of the Church’s leadership. People will not accept a lack of transparency justified by a claim to divine right to protect those who have broken the law.

However in the midst of this there is an opportunity for both individuals and the Church. People should walk before God, and before temporal rulers, with their dignity intact. There is a possibility to (re)discover what it means to be “fearfully and wonderfully made” in the “image of God” with an intrinsic and undeniable dignity (cf. Gen 1:27, Ps 139:14, CCC 1700). Additionally, the Church should focus on it’s primary mission of saving souls by introducing them to love, which is most perfectly expressed in the relationship of the Trinity (CCC 850). I definitely see this message coming through loud and clear in Pope Francis’ pontificate.

Zahrnt writes, as his fourth presupposition, that men and women in modern society are more focused on the here and now and not the hereafter. Modern society recognizes, even promotes, the autonomy of earthly structures (e.g. science, academia, politics, etc.) from religion. The Church will continue to makes its voice heard on issues within these structures, but the days of the Church having any real control, or influence, in those realms is gone, or at least is quickly fading.

However, there is great opportunity in the midst of this reality. Believers can now look at how very intimate God wants to be with his people. God does not want to be the metaphysical “big brother,” enforcing his will through temporal means (e.g. government); that is not what it means to be in a relationship. Additionally, God offers his children opportunities to deepen their relationship with him and to experience the depths of his unconditional love in the midst of secular society, not through its structures. Consider what the Council Fathers taught during the Second Vatican Council:

This life of intimate union with Christ in the Church is nourished by spiritual aids which are common to all the faithful, especially active participation in the sacred liturgy. These are to be used by the laity in such a way that while correctly fulfilling their secular duties in the ordinary conditions of life, they do not separate union with Christ from their life but rather performing their work according to God’s will they grow in that union (AA #4).

The fifth and final presupposition Zahrnt mentions is modern man’s orientation to the future. People today don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on the past. In fact, today it could be argued progressivism is regarded as some kind of universal virtue. One of modernity’s critiques of religion is that it is too rooted in the past: rituals used to worship deities are antiquated, steeped in tradition. In today’s culture, even the very idea of God’s existence is considered by many as out-dated. Modern man claims people must move beyond the childish idea of religious superstition (i.e. first presupposition) and recognize the brightness of man’s future can only be dimmed by mankind’s refusal to let go of religious belief.

Within modern man’s obsession with progressivism there is an opportunity for Christians to create new expressions for belief in the eternal dimensions of their faith. Do Christians take seriously Jesus’ eschatological promises: that he will come again to judge all of mankind and that he is preparing a place for his friends in heaven (cf. Mt 16:27-28, Mt 25:31-46, Jn 14:3)?

This idea of a “final judgement,” which often carries a negative connotation, can be showcased positively in light of the previous points made here; specifically, the eternal dimension of faith can begin right now by accepting the invitation to an intimate, loving relationship with God.

Make Jesus Known

By Christopher Smith, OP

Today’s gospel reading comes from the beginning of the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, running from verse one through six. This section is commonly referred to as, “The Mission of the Twelve.”

The scene depicts Jesus commissioning the apostles to continue the work they have seen their master doing throughout his Galilean ministry as detailed in pervious Lucan accounts, specifically: proclaiming God’s Kingdom (Luke 4:43, 8:1), exorcising demons (Luke 4:33-37, 8:26-39), and healing the sick (Luke 4:38-40, 8:40-56).

Jesus has equipped them for their journey by providing them with only one thing: his “power and authority.” Everything else they may think to bring (i.e. walking stick, sack, food, money, and second tunic) is to be left behind.

I wonder what a modern day version of this story would sound like. Jesus would gather his disciples and tell them to go out and preach the gospel, leaving behind their GPS equipped car, luggage, cooler filled with food, credit cards, and change of clothes. Thanks to readily available fast food restaurants we could probably do without the cooler of food, but we would never think of traveling any significant distance from our house without all those other things. We depend too much on them to ever think of being without them. But do we really need them to announce the Kingdom of God?

Consider the type of journey Jesus is sending his disciples on. It is not a trip to visit family or friends. It is not a vacation to the beach at the Sea of Galilee. I suspect that if Jesus was sending them on one of those types of trips, he would have no problem with them taking along the creature comforts of their day (e.g. a walking stick). But he was sending them out on a missionary journey, a journey to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and make known the Kingdom of God. By instructing them to leave everything behind he was actually assisting them in the best way possible: Jesus was ensuring the disciples would seek God first during their journey.

A journey to preach the gospel requires the missionary to be utterly dependent upon on God. That is ultimately what this story is about. A journey like that must begin with prayer and be sustained with trust and obedience.

Popular legends abound about St. Dominic. Some say his only possession was a copy of the Gospel of Matthew and all he ever did was talk to God or about God. For today’s modern missionary, a few more material items may be required and a few more conversations about practical matters would also likely be necessary. However, the lesson from today’s gospel and from stories about saints is that our utter dependence on God never changes!

The disciples in today’s gospel reading were given one mission: make Jesus known. They weren’t to worry about anything else, just concentrate on that one thing. The saints of the Church also lived their lives with a singular purpose: to make Jesus known. And despite whatever we may think our lives are about (work, family, recreation, etc), we too really only have one purpose in this life and it’s the same one as the disciples and the saints: we are called to make Jesus known to those we encounter in our lives.

By depending solely on God, as today’s gospel message teaches us, we remove the stress of thinking our evangelization efforts depend on our delivery technique. That is how Jesus helped his disciples: he made sure they would be dependent on God by removing all other things they would depend on (e.g. money).

We can make Jesus known through a word or deed specifically designed to attest to the reality of God’s love or it could be through the simple witness of our daily lives. In all that we do within our families, our careers, and even our recreation, if we are always pursuing love as our highest goal (cf. I Cor 14:1), we will always be successful in our “missionary journeys” even if they take us no further than our workplace. Begin each “journey” (i.e. day) with prayer and continue forward in trust and obdeience.

In closing, I’ll leave you with one of favorite quotations from scripture: Paul’s “charge” to his disciple Timothy:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry (2 Tim 4:1-5).

Jesus, a theologian, and a rock star…

By Christopher Smith, OP

I know the title for this post might raise an eyebrow but I promise, in a few minutes it will make sense. It’s not the beginning of a bad joke like, “A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar…” And even though the title is, Jesus, a theologian, and a rock star, I am actually going to discuss each of those people in the reverse order. I mean, Jesus has to get top billing in the title, right? First, the rock star…

I was listening to satellite radio (i.e. Sirius) yesterday and stopped on the hard rock station, Octane. The band that was on at the time is called Stone Sour and they were singing their new song, Do Me a Favor. I am familiar with the band but had never heard this particular song before; the lyrics didn’t strike me as any radical departure from the norm of today’s hard rock.

The song had plenty of angst and rage directed outwardly; the lyrics didn’t really leave me with an understanding of who or what the target was for all the rage, although the imagery in the video suggests the lyricist has some daddy issues and a beef with the Catholic Church.

Basically, I see the song as just another contribution to a culture that is already bursting at the seams with angst and rage. In fact, the first line of the song begins with, “I am an anti-everything man…” so that kind of lets you know from the beginning where the whole thing is going.

Despite the rage, the second time the chorus was sung, it did get my attention. The first half of it goes like this:

So do me a favor
Your behavior
Is just a reason why
There is no savior

I know it may be a little difficult without the melody, such as it is, but the way it is sung leaves the listener with the impression that someone’s behavior is why there is no savior. Now objectively that is ridiculous. No one’s behavior, good or bad, can cause a savior to exist or not exist. Or can it? Let’s hear from our theologian – Dr. Ralph Martin.

Dr. Martin’s latest book, Will Many Be Saved: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization, is the published version of his doctoral dissertation which dug deeply into the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). In working his way through the doctrinal developments of Lumen Gentium, Dr. Martin also refers to the Council’s Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) and at one point quotes from paragraph four of the decree. I think after reading it, you may begin to pick up on the connection to song lyric I mentioned above:

For although the Catholic Church has been endowed with all divinely revealed truth and with all means of grace, yet its members fail to live by them with all the fervor that they should, so that the radiance of the Church’s image is less clear in the eyes of our separated brethren and of the world at large, and the growth of God’s kingdom is delayed (UR 4a (my emphasis added)).

Do you see that? Members of the Church – Christians – failing to live their life of faith adequately are impeding the growth of God’s Kingdom! Dr. Martin adds his commentary on this section of Unitatis Redintegratio:

Not every proclamation of the gospel can be deemed “adequate,” either because of deficiency of content, manner, or witness of life, and therefore not everyone who apparently rejects such an “inadequate” preaching of the gospel can be judged culpable of unbelief” (Martin, 53 (my emphasis added)).

This is really significant and should be a wake up call for Christians. If our “witness of life” (i.e. “behaviors”) is an inadequate representation of the gospel, then it is the Christian who will be held accountable for their neighbor’s unbelief.

For example, if you preach and preach at your neighbor about reforming their lives and returning to the Church, but everything they see you do is contrary to the gospel, then the fact they didn’t choose to believe and return to the Church is as much on you, as it is on them, maybe even more.

So this leads us to Jesus (as everything should). How many different instructions did Jesus leave us on how to act? Honestly, not a lot; it was always the same instruction, just perhaps worded a little differently each time:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another (Jn 13:34)
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (Jn 13:35)
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these (Mk 12:30-31).
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (Jn 15:13).
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Mt 5:44).
If you love me, you will keep my commandments (Jn 15:14)

I think you might be catching on by now on what Jesus’ expectations for us are (I sure hope so!).

It is possible, sadly it is even quite common today, for people not to believe there is a savior, to think one doesn’t even exist. And why is that? Well, it might be they have hardened their hearts to such a degree that no amount of persuasive talk and loving generosity will change their mind. If that is the case, we are not released from our obligation to love them but they will held culpable for the unbelief.

However, there is a chance that some are not as convinced by persuasive talk as they would be by seeing a living example of Christ’s love. If they can’t see that in us and decide all our talk is just that – talk – then it us who will be held accountable for their unbelief.

Don’t be a Whiner!

By Christopher Smith, OP

The title of this post must seem a bit strange. It becomes a bit stranger still when you consider the one telling you not to be a whiner is not me, but Pope Francis!

He said it (basically) during his homily on Tuesday, May 7th, while reflecting on today’s first reading from the Book of Acts, Chapter 16, where Paul and Silas are in prison yet they are joyful, even “singing hymns to God!” Imagine that! Being in prison and yet finding a voice to sing joyfully unto the Lord (cf. Ps 95:1). I know there are plenty of times when I find myself in far less precarious situations than being in prison and I struggle to even pray, much less sing a hymn of praise.

The Holy Father said in his homily (my emphasis added):

“When the difficulties arrive, so do temptations. For example, the complaint: ‘Look what I have to deal with … a complaint. And a Christian who constantly complains, fails to be a good Christian: they become Mr. or Mrs. Whiner, no? Because they always complain about everything, right? Silence in endurance, silence in patience. That silence of Jesus: Jesus in His Passion did not speak much, only two or three necessary words … But it is not a sad silence: the silence of bearing the Cross is not a sad silence. It is painful, often very painful, but it is not sad. The heart is at peace. Paul and Silas were praying in peace. They were in pain, because then it is said that the jailer washed their wounds while they were in prison – they had wounds – but endured in peace. This journey of endurance helps us deepen Christian peace, it makes us stronger in Jesus.”

Not only does Pope Francis say that people who constantly complain can become “Mr. or Mrs. Whiner,” but they “fail to be a good Christian.” Wow! Talk about cutting through all the excess and getting down to the heart of the matter.

But suffering is not something new to God’s people, nor is it news to God that his people suffer. He knows, understands, and acts decisively in the midst of his people’s suffering in order to bring about their good (cf. Rom 8:28). For example, consider God’s intervention on behalf of the people of Israel:

Then the LORD said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Ex 3:7-8).

The Holy Father reminded those at Mass this morning (and by extension all of us) that Christians are to be imitators of him who moves to relieve his people’s suffering and therefore Christians are to act decisively to relieve the suffering of others (cf. Mt 5:48 and Mt 10:8). Consider the following quotation from The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (my emphasis added):

The Church, “since her origin and in spite of the failing of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defence and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere.” Prompted by the Gospel injunction, “You have received without paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8), the Church teaches that one should assist one’s fellow man in his various needs and fills the human community with countless works of corporal and spiritual mercy. “Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God,” even if the practice of charity is not limited to alms-giving but implies addressing the social and political dimensions of the problem of poverty. In her teaching the Church constantly returns to this relationship between charity and justice: “When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”(#184).

One of the things I like most about Pope Francis so far is the simplicity of his language. Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoy the mysticism in the writings of Blessed Pope John Paul II, and the deep theological language employed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, but with Pope Francis you don’t have to spend a lot of time wondering what he was saying; you just have to think about how to apply it. In closing, check out this example from his homily today (my emphasis added):

And the Lord invites us to this: to be rejuvenated Easter people on a journey of love, patience, enduring our tribulations and also – I would say – putting up with one another. We must also do this with charity and love, because if I have to put up with you, I’m sure you will put up with me and in this way we will move forward on our journey on the path of Jesus.

Easy to understand…tough to put into practice!